Always Yours

Monster Thoughts

Josie POV-
Mom, Dad, Penelope and me begin our walk out to the woods with Hope and Lizzie right on our heels. We did our best to explain what we found but they wanted to see it for themselves. Dad called Hope to come check it out too. She looks like she has recovered from last night for the most part. She just looks tired but that is nothing new. Hope calls out to us. "So, you found these this morning after your run, P?" Penelope is getting more and more tense as we approach them. Her grip on my hand tightens until she lets go and moves to wrap her arm around my waist protectively. Her fingers twist into my shirt as she clenches her hand. "Yeah, Jo found them when we were just sitting in the Old Mill." We leave out the part about Penelope still being a wolf because Dad gets nervous with her wolf interacting with me. Even without our group bond, Hope and Lizzie see right through the lack of details and know what really happened.
We step up into the Old Mill and a small growl escapes Penelope's throat, her eyes flash gold. Only Hope, Mom, and I could have possibly heard her. I pull her back from the group for a second. "Penny, you need to calm down. I'm okay, babe." I place my hand onto her cheek and my other on her neck. "Breathe." She closes her eyes and leans into my touch. She takes a few deep inhales before her shoulders loosen up and drop from their tense position. I lean forward and peck her lips before we rejoin everyone.
I point out the black rocks to my Dad who begins to take a couple steps closer to them. Hope steps away from Lizzie and puts her arm out to stop him. "Maybe I should be the one to inspect them since I'm the only one who can't die?" The sass is evident in her tone. "Fine." He backs down. Lizzie steps closer to us for comfort as her girlfriend moves forward. Hope gets close enough to touch them before she stops. She looks over her shoulder and motions for Mom to come closer. "Can you smell this too?" I look over to see her eyebrows knit together. "Now I can. It smells like a bon fire. Like smoky." Mom has been a vampire for a while and has the ability to block out sounds and smells better than newly turned vampires. It explains why Penelope could smell it and Mom couldn't.
I turn to look at Penelope and talk in our heads. "They couldn't have been here last night. Someone would have found them." Penelope nods her head understanding my thought process. "So, they showed up sometime this morning." We nod in agreement before turning our attention back to my family. "We need to move these. We don't know what they are, and we don't need students wandering out here and finding them." Hope reaches her hand forward and carefully grasps one of the stones. We all wait with baited breathes to see if anything happens. Hope readjusts it in her hand and stands up from her squat. "Um, I don't think these are rocks." Hope runs her finger along the front of it lightly and turns around towards us. Lizzie can read Hope the best of us all. "What are you thinking, Hope?" She turns towards Lizzie and pauses for a second. "I think these are scales."
Penelope POV-
Alaric has Hope and me move the scales to the underground pathway beneath the school so they are away from everyone. When we are done, Hope sets up a protective boundary spell preventing anything from the scales from escaping the ring. "There, all done." I open the door to leave when Hope stops me. "P, wait." I look over my shoulder to see her motion me away from the door. She waits for it to click shut before she speaks. "I saw what happened earlier. Your emotions just got a little out of check. We have a full moon in three days which explains why your feelings were so intense. The same thing happens to me. Just, try to keep that in mind. Maybe we should do an extra run to try and help." Hope has been so helpful though this whole transition. I'm so glad I have someone who knows what I am going through. Josie is an amazing listener and helps me control everything but she doesn't fully understand some of the extra emotions I feel. "Yeah, that sounds good. Does tomorrow night work?" Hope nods her head. "Yeah, we can go after dinner." We head up the stairs to find our awaiting girlfriends. Alaric and Caroline send us away to do our homework assuring us that they will notify with any updates surrounding the mysterious scales.
Sunday night, the four of us sit down and enjoy a quiet dinner with all of us deep in thought before Hope and I leave to run. "Do you think they've found anything?" Lizzie twists the pasta on her fork in continuous circles never bringing it to her mouth. I think the scales freaked all of us out. They were huge which leaves our imaginations to run wild on how big this monster will be. Plus, whatever it was, it was close enough to drop the scales. It hits too close to home. "We can go check for an update with Mom and Dad while they run, Liz." Caroline asked Hope and I to keep an eye out for more scales whenever we go running. "Yeah, okay." We go our separate ways after dinner. Hope and I head to the woods and Josie and Lizzie head to Alaric's office.
Josie POV-
I stand in the kitchen mixing brownie batter in a bowl. I look down at my phone to see it's nearly 11:30. Penelope and Hope should be back soon. Almost right on cue, I feel a set of warm hands reach around my stomach. "Hi JoJo, why are you baking this late? I went to my room and found your little note." I pause momentarily to answer. "I couldn't sleep. I just kept thinking about yesterday morning. So, I placed a spell on the kitchen to hide me from the night watch guards." I finish mixing the batter and pour it into the pan while Penelope drinks from a blood bag she brought from her room. I set a timer on the oven then turn around to face Penelope. She waits patiently for me to start talking. "Mom and Dad had no update. They said they've been attempting to find research on the scales but they don't have much to go on. I just wish I could help more." Penelope screws the cap back on the bag and throws it in the trash as she steps towards me. "Let's give your parents a chance to find some information. How about we give them until next weekend? If they still don't have any news by then, we can conduct some research of our own." I step into my girl's embrace. Since she started running with Hope, she has started to smell more and more like the woods. She smells like home. "Deal." We grab our brownies from the oven when they are done cooking and quickly sneak past the hall monitors.
Neither one of us is truly tired or looking to go to sleep any time soon, so Josie grabs her laptop and opens Netflix. Our plate of brownies quickly depletes as I hold up the last brownie to Josie's mouth. "Come on, babe. One more bite." She closes her eyes and shakes her head with a lighthearted laugh. "Penny, I'm so full. You eat it. You are the one who ran today!" She lightly shoves my shoulder. I collapse back on the bed and huff. "How rude." I catch her off guard by reaching forward and grabbing her wrist. She falls forward and lands on top of me. Our laughs fill the silent night as our movie comes to an end. Josie scoots forward and rests her forearm next to my head and lightly runs her fingers through my hair. Her entire body is on top of mine. She speaks softly. "I never want to lose this, Pen." Her eyes stay focused on my neck as she speaks until she finally looks up to meet my eyes. "I promise we won't. It is us until the end, JoJo. How many times do I need to say it for you to believe me?" I cock my head slightly waiting for her response. She looks up to where her fingers rest in my hair. "Tell me forever because that means you never leave."
Josie POV-
Penelope and I didn't manage to fall asleep until nearly 3 am. We walk into our first period History class and lay our heads down immediately on the desk. "Long night?" Lizzie and Hope take their seats in front of us. "Yeah, had trouble sleeping." I lift my head to see Hope wiggling her eye brows at us as she starts laughing. "Nothing happened like that." Penelope lets out a small huff of air and lifts her head up from the desk to look at me. She grabs my hand in hers with a lazy smirk planted on her face. "Still was a wonderful night."
Mr. Williams walks in just moments later with a stack of books in his hand. He drops them down onto his desk before starting. "Alright guys, settle down. You have a new assignment to complete with a partner. We have been discussing the Greek and Roman Gods extensively where lots of monsters have been mentioned that do not exist in this world. You have one week to write a 2-4 page research paper on any mythical creature of your choosing; it does not have to be specifically from the Greek and Roman era. We will have a couple check in points for you to update me on your group's progress and research. You will present your research the week after you submit your paper. When choosing your monster, the only stipulation is that to your knowledge, the monster must not exist and no monster can be repeated. Bonus points for originality. Do your best and if you have a questions please feel free to come talk to me. I have brought in some old books discussing mythical monsters that you may use for research but our library also has an extensive amount of material. I will give you today to find a partner and to start your research."
The class quickly breaks apart to find partners. Penelope scoots her desk over next to mine so we can discuss the project. I place my notebook in my backpack and zip it shut. "Actually, I think I want a different partner," I go to stand up when Penelope grabs my arm. "Not funny, Jo." I can't hold the serious look on my face as I sit back down laughing. "Kidding, Penny." Her forced smile quickly turns into a real one when she hears me laugh. This full moon really has her on edge.
The class gets to work. Quiet chitchat can be heard between partners. "Okay, what kind of monster do we want to do?" Penelope titles her sheet of notebook paper with "Monster Thoughts:" then underlines it. "What if we do some research on monsters with scales?" Penelope writes down scales then stops. She hovers her pen over the word for a second. Her voice enters my head. "Do you think this project was orchestrated by your parents to gather more information?" I look up at Mr. Williams who has his eyes locked on us. He lifts his finger slowly in front of his lips and shakes his head no slightly. He had to know we would figure it out. "Looks like it was." Penelope follows my eye contact to see Mr. Williams dropping his hand back down into his lap.
Penelope drops her attention back down to the sheet of paper in front of her. She blinks a couple of times and rubs at her eyes. "Pen," I drop my hand onto her arm to get her attention. She tilts her head to the side enough for me to see her eyes. The gold color is back. I stay quiet and take her hand in mine. She takes a couple slow deep breathes before glancing back at me. "Are they back to normal?" Her voice is low. "Yes, they are back to their beautiful hazel color." She lets out an audible sigh before lifting her head to look at me. I speak in our heads. "Little overwhelmed?" She nods. "Just a little." She leans forward and places her forehead on mine. I pull away shortly after which surprises her. My stomach flutters as an idea hits me. "JoJo, what are you thinking? What's wrong?" I give her hand a quick squeeze. "Will you go on a date with me tonight? I'll plan everything, I just think a little time for ourselves away from everyone would be a nice break and-." She cuts off my line of rambling. "Yes, of course. That sounds amazing, JoJo. Thank you." The bell rings signaling the end of our class. We pack up our things and get ready to go our separate ways. I turn to the right to head towards my advanced witch magic class. Penelope turns to the left towards her vampire control class. Our fingers slip out of each others as we pull away. "I'll see you at seven, Penny." I wink at Penelope before turning on my heels. Her voice fills my head. "Wouldn't miss it for the world."