Chapter 22
Chapter
Twenty-Two
Ikept telling myself I was temporarily running away from the werewolf kingdom, but I wasn’t sure how long I would be gone.
I didn’t want to be a coward, but my chest felt so tight that I couldn’t breathe freely. I needed space and time to heal my disappointment and from Dad’s and Torin’s betrayals.
I’d returned to the kingdom, not wanting to be here, to be back in the supernatural world, and I was escaping it again.
No, I wouldn’t escape. I was going on a short trip to refocus myself.
I didn't want to stay away too long. The kingdom and the people here depended on me.
I grabbed the plane tickets I was going to mail to Tammy. She was my closest friend. Torin wanted her to see me here. That’s why he got tickets from London to LA and back.
Early in the morning, I stood in the middle of my room, dressed and with a backpack strapped on my shoulders.
The sky was turning brighter as the sun peeked above the trees.
I had to wait for daybreak to see with my human eyes.
Although I had witch blood in me, I still felt human. I was a useless witch.
My cell phone was useless now since my parents would check for traces of my whereabouts. The phone could be easily tracked, so I only stared at it as if it were poison ivy.
I exhaled deeply and turned the door handle slowly, my heart pounding.
I hoped Hayden wouldn’t surprise me in the hallways and I could slip out unnoticed.
As I swung open the door, Mom stood before me, dark shadows encircling her bright eyes.
I froze, my mind racing with excuses, but she smiled knowingly at me.
She stepped inside my room and closed the door behind her.
“Mother’s intuition,” she said in a soft voice. “I know you need time on your own after what your dad told you. You’ve always needed peace and quiet when dealing with tough situations.”
Mom knew me best.
“Will you stop me?” I whispered.
She shook her head. “No, honey, but since you’ll be leaving our territory, you can make it count,” she said, her smile widening.
“Your father and the Alphas have been too busy with recent events and have not dealt with the disturbing reports they’ve received.
I fear it can be serious, and I think you can investigate while you’re recentering yourself. ”
My eyebrows rose high. “What reports?”
“Of weird things happening in LA downtown. I’ll give you the address of the shelter where humans seemed to have gone missing.”
“You’re sending me on a mission to find out what’s happening at a shelter?”
Mom usually didn’t get involved, but she seemed worried, or was she worried about me? Perhaps she had been involved in kingdom politics quietly from the sidelines without making a ruckus, but she did care about what happened to our people.
As if she could tell what I was thinking, she said, “I know you’ll return. And I don’t want important things to fall through the cracks here, so you can make your trip count. I’ll always worry about you, honey, but I believe you can get this mission done for us.”
After we hugged, Mom promised we would talk when I returned to her. I needed time away to refocus my thoughts, but at least now I also had a purpose to be away from the kingdom.
I sighed and tiptoed out of my room, holding my breath. Once in the manor’s garage, I picked up a car key that hung on a hook. Outside, I clicked the button until I found the SUV that beeped.
As I drove past the guard at the kingdom’s entrance, I waved, and he gave me a small bow. He wouldn’t call Dad immediately because I didn’t look suspicious. Pack cars had GPS installed in all of them.
I kept driving on the winding narrow road until I reached the two-lane highway. I parked the car on the shoulder, left the keys inside, and started walking on the side of the road.
I wasn’t a fan of hitchhiking alone. I must have walked for about twenty minutes before the rumbling of a car engine echoed from behind me. In the short distance, a small pickup truck appeared.
The truck stopped a few feet ahead of me, and I hurried toward it. The two younger men in the front were smiling. They had two surfboards in the truck bed. The surfers told me they were going to Leo Carrillo Beach but would go through downtown LA to drop me off.
I couldn’t believe how good I’d gotten at lying to people. I spun a story about how I was meeting my best friend in the city, something about my car breaking down, and how excited I was to do sightseeing in Hollywood and other places.
My body was tense for the entire hour and a half of riding in the back seat, and once we entered downtown, I told them to drop me off immediately. It was a street I chose off the highway but would take me to the address Mom had given me.
I thanked the guys and walked away from the truck. After a short walk on the narrow streets, a few feet away from me, a group of homeless people formed a line. Some pushed shopping carts with stuff piled inside. Others paced in the line, waiting to pick up breakfast at a long plastic table.
Behind it, two people in green aprons poured oatmeal into disposable bowls and handed out muffins. I had no money or a wallet. I was the most unprepared runaway mate in the history of mates.
I smiled, thinking about how Mom could have given me cash or other resources, but she hadn’t. She wanted me to do this my way.
I scanned the signs with the street names, confirming I was at the place Mom had told me about.
My stomach growled, and I walked toward the last person in line for food. The best way to find out how people went missing from this shelter and how the supernaturals were involved was to stay in it. Not that I had anywhere else to go now.
After I picked up a muffin, the woman directed me to the entrance doors of a shelter.
Munching, I strolled inside a large space that resembled a warehouse.
More than half of the area was filled with metal bunk beds, white bedding sheets, a pillow, and a blanket.
They crowded up so close to each other that they could easily fit a hundred people.
A few mattresses sat empty while others had bags with stuff on them. I walked among the beds until I stopped at a bunk bed with a young woman on top. She was brushing her hair and humming.
When she saw me, she lifted her gaze and stared right through me. As if I weren’t there. Her dark eyes looked wild. She had a dirty pink shirt on her, loose around her slender torso.
“Hello,” I said and smiled at her.
I dropped my backpack on the mattress. I’d have a place to sleep for the night.
“I like the mornings. I like it when the sun is out. I like the light,” she said and then repeated the same sentences three times.
The woman kept brushing her long hair and started rocking side to side.
“Why do you like the light so much?” I asked.
My chest tightened. I thought the woman wouldn’t answer, but after a moment, her gaze focused on me.
“They take them in the dark. Don’t go into the alleys when it’s dark outside,” she said and repeated her statement three times again.
“What happens in the darkness?” I asked.
“Some people talk to the strangers there and never return inside. They never come back to their beds.”
I blinked back tears, realizing that all this woman had was the bed. That was her home, her sanctuary. But she was afraid of the darkness outside.
“You’re safe here, right?” I said in a soft voice, wishing to comfort her.
The woman stopped rocking and uncrossed her feet.
“I came back, but I don’t remember anything,” she said, and her gaze darted around the space.
I sucked in a lungful of air. It could be that she was compelled, but I couldn’t make any conclusions yet. She moved her legs to the side of the bed and began kicking them up and down. The whole bunk bed wobbled.
I followed her gaze around the warehouse but saw nothing strange. At one side, more volunteers with green aprons handed out toothbrushes, soap, and hand sanitizers from large brown boxes.
A woman swept the gray epoxy floor in one corner, although I couldn’t see any trash there.
My ears rang with sounds of bedsprings creaking and chatter, and the stink of mildew and smoke hit my nose.
The woman was now lost in her world, not paying me attention. I’d have to check the dark alleys by myself tonight. But before that, I had to contact Tammy somehow.
I walked to one of the volunteers—a middle-aged woman.
“Excuse me,” I said, and she smiled at me, sending me a glance. “Is there a place where I can make an international call or send a text message to another country?”
She blinked and paused before pulling out more supplies from the boxes. I’d have to guess she didn’t get many requests like mine.
“If it was a call within the country, I wouldn’t have minded giving you my cell phone, but I don’t have an international plan.
It’s expensive to make the call,” she said and wiped her hands on her apron.
“But we have a small office here. Well, it’s more like a corner with an antique computer. I can let you use it to send an email.”
My smile broadened, and I nodded enthusiastically.
She wasn’t kidding when she said the computer was ancient. It had a large tower that sat on the floor. The monitor and keyboard slid back and forth on a wobbly small plastic table as I pushed the keys.
My email to Tammy contained the voucher numbers. I told her I was in trouble, and I needed her. Knowing Tammy, she’d drop everything and fly over here. I felt bad for asking her to do that for me.
I clicked the send button and let out a heavy sigh. The volunteer would let me check my email later. I crossed my fingers that Tammy read it as soon as possible.
The entire day, I stayed in my bed, strolled inside the building, and read books I found in a box.