The Search For Peace 2

Chapter 36

It was an early, December morning, and Adrian Abbot was happy. Yes, he was still banished from his own Clan and frolicking in another. Yes, what Karen had said to him the night before really bothered him to the core. And yes, he had still not replied to even one of his sister's missed calls.

But, he had cereal in his mouth. He was finally the only one in the bar, and the winter sun shone beautifully through the frost-stricken windows, the dirty, sticky tables and beer mugs picturesque in the background. He smiled a milky smile, warming his hands in his lap.

Despite everything that had happened, he could say that he enjoyed the month or so he had spent here in the Sagittarius Clan. They were good people, albeit a bit rough around the edges, and they were the reason he now knew about his own powers.

If Karen hadn't pushed him like she did, he would've never known about his link with the wolves. He was grateful to her now.

The girl was interesting, he had to admit. As he picked at the soggy cornflakes left in his bowl, he couldn't help but recall the night he had met her after being attacked by that hound. He remembered how scared he was, and even more so when he saw her black and blue eyes.

They freaked him out at first, but gradually, after meeting so many people with eyes like hers, he got used to them. He realized they were actually kind of cool, all black with a speck of colour in between. Especially Karen's. She could have the most dangerous look in them, yet still pull off the gentleness to melt your heart.

Suddenly, his own heart started jumping inside his chest, and he fumbled with his spoon. Why was he thinking so much about Karen?

As he juggled his anxious knee, the wooden doors behind him swung open, and Joshua Aspen, the boy with the alluring scar and ginger undercut, briskly stormed in.

"Martin!" That was the name of the bar owner, Adrian knew. He turned in his stool to follow Joshua's hurried steps.

"Uh...Martin is asleep, I think..." But he was duly ignored, as the scar-boy had already pulled open the door to the bar owner's lodging, yelling into the small room.

"The bandits have escaped!"

"What?!" was the startled reply. If the man had been sleeping, he was wide awake now.

Meanwhile, Adrian froze in his seat. There was sweat trickling down his spine as he repeated what Joshua had just announced. The bandits had escaped. The bandits he and Karen and everyone else had worked so hard to catch....had escaped.

He didn't even notice the bar owner and Joshua proceed to leave. They were half-way to the door, when the boy with the orange hair looked back.

Suddenly, he was right by Adrian, grabbing his bony elbow. "You're coming, too."

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"I can't believe this..." Karen whispered her thoughts into the empty cell, where Karl, Charlotte, and Charlie had been imprisoned for further questioning.

The low walls of the jail made it quite difficult for a boy as tall as Adrian to stand underneath, but he stood, along with Joshua, the bar owner, and a few others.

A loose pipe dripped in the distance. The wind howled outside. Then, one of the injured guards spoke. "Didn't even see her coming." He said, rubbing the bandage on his left leg. His teeth were chattering uncontrollably, and he leaned against a wall for support. "If it weren't for that woman, we could've strangled those kids."

"What woman?" Karen's cyan gaze flickered his way.

"You know," the female guard answered instead, fresh burns lining her exposed arms. "The one with the eye-patch."

"Katy McClellan." The name itself had brought a hush over the usually rowdy Saggitarius, causing Adrian to gnaw at his lower lip nervously. Katy McClellan was the top dog of the Capricorn Clan. He knew that much because of all the praise she received from Karl. And judging by everyone's reaction, she was dangerous.

"God damn it." He flinched as a moustached man kicked a bucket into the empty cell. "If only we had killed them when we had the chance."

Adrian didn't dare look up. No, he would never look up now. It was clear whose fault all of this was. And he couldn't bare their scornful stares a second time.