Chapter 35
College move-in arrived in August.
Jake had somehow accumulated eleven boxes.
Noah had four.
Lisa looked at Noah’s pile.
“That’s all?”
“Yes.”
She disappeared into the house.
Noah looked at Jake.
“What did I do?”
“Exist near my mother.”
Lisa returned carrying two more boxes.
“Towels. Sheets. Medicine. Snacks.”
Noah opened his mouth.
“No.” Lisa said.
He closed it.
Jake whispered, “Most powerful creature in Missouri.”
Noah nodded.
Their dorms were in different buildings.
Jake liked that.
Not because he wanted distance.
Because choosing each other worked better when they still had places to go back to.
Noah’s roommate was named Chris.
Completely ordinary.
Business major.
Owned six pairs of identical sneakers.
Jake smelled no wolf.
No magic.
No hunter.
He nearly hugged him.
Chris looked at Noah’s compass keychain.
“Cool.”
Noah touched it.
“Yeah.”
Jake carried the last box inside.
Noah followed him into the hallway.
“You okay?”
Jake looked around.
Students.
Parents.
Carts.
Open doors.
A girl crying because her mother was leaving.
A guy trying to fit a television through a doorway sideways.
New memory being made everywhere.
Jake smiled.
“Yeah.”
Noah kissed him quickly.
“Come home?”
Jake touched the matching compass in his pocket.
“Always.”
***
Noah’s first day of college began at 6:40 in the morning because anxiety had apparently become an alarm clock.
He texted Jake.
NOAH: awake?
JAKE: no
NOAH: you answered
JAKE: sleep texting
NOAH: liar
Jake called him.
Noah answered immediately.
“What if I hate it?”
Jake sat up.
“Then you hate it.”
“Helpful.”
“You can change majors. Change schools. Become a professional goat.”
Noah laughed.
“I’m serious.”
“So am I about the first two.”
Jake rubbed his eyes.
“You don’t owe veterinary medicine to the version of you who wanted it before everything happened.”
Noah went quiet.
“What if I still want it?”
“Then go find out.”
An hour later Jake met him outside the science building.
Noah wore the compass keychain on his backpack.
Jake noticed.
He did not mention it.
Noah looked at the doors.
“I feel stupid.”
“You survived hunters and a memory monster.”
“Exactly. Why is Intro Biology scarier?”
“Grades are real.”
Noah shoved him.
Jake kissed his cheek.
“Go.”
Noah took three steps.
Turned.
“You’ll be here after?”
Jake smiled.
“Yeah.”
Noah went inside.
Jake watched the door close.
Then went to his own class.
That mattered too.