by Abigail Owen
Ellie turned to Brian and grinned. “Sure, I’d love to join you. Thanks!”
After grabbing their food, she and Brian sat down at the table.
“Hey, guys, this is Ellie,” Brian introduced her.
Ellie sat down next to a beaming Adelaide, pulling out her homemade lunch. School lunches somehow still managed to be atrocious. “Hi, Ellie, welcome to the table.”
Ellie spent the lunch hour being good-naturedly grilled about anything and everything. She didn’t need Griffin’s mind reading skills to know that several of the girls in the group weren’t thrilled with her joining them. They already saw her as competition rather than as a potential friend. Ellie confined herself to a mental eye roll. This was nothing unusual for girls. The boys—other than Nate, who only had eyes for Adelaide—all vied for her attention. Some overtly, some more subtly. Ellie avoided talking about herself as much as she could, preferring to turn the conversation to other topics. She knew the cardinal rule when trying to get into any clique –Always make friends with the girls first. And the best way to do that was to not appear too interesting to the boys, or too interested in them.
“So what do you do around here for fun?” she asked as she popped the top on her Coke can.
“Oh, there’s a ton to do,” a boisterous girl named Kayla answered. “Especially in the summer.”
“If you can manage to avoid all the tourists,” a boy named Mark grumbled with a smirk.
“Hey, Mark, don’t knock ‘em.” Brian grinned. “Didn’t you date a tourist girl last summer?”
Mark gave him a dark look in return.
Lila continued. “In the summer there’s all the outdoorsy stuff. You know… hiking, biking, camping, white water rafting. There’s lots of shops downtown… if you can afford them.” Everyone groaned at this. The shops had great stuff, but weren’t exactly priced for the average teenager.
“What about in the winter?” Ellie glanced out the window. Snow covered everything outside. Today was particularly cold and windy, the air snapping crisply. Ellie actually enjoyed this weather after many years in the heat of Texas. Snow was a rare thing in Austin.
“There’s not too much skiing close by,” Nate explained around a large bite of his sandwich. “But there’s still other outdoor stuff, snowshoeing, that kind of thing. Mostly we hang out indoors during the winter.”
“Ellie, you should come with us to the movies this Friday,” Brian suggested. He named a recently released movie with one of Ellie’s favorite actors, and she decided that she actually liked the thoughtful boy. Using Griffin’s power, she could tell that the invitation was friendly and genuine.
“Sure!” she accepted happily. “Sounds like fun.”
After her last class of the day, Ellie suppressed a flash of disappointment when she saw that Alex wasn’t in the parking lot like he’d been the day before. It was ridiculous to feel this way…she’d barely spoken two words to him. But still, the tightening of her chest was hard to ignore.
She faked a smile and waved bye to Adelaide. Although the temptation to ask Adelaide about her brother poked at Ellie, she forced herself to remain quiet. She headed to her car, jumped in, and drove quickly down the road. She didn’t head straight home, taking some time first to get some errands done.
When Ellie got home and tromped up the stairs from the garage in the basement, she found Griffin in the kitchen making dinner. She dropped her backpack on the floor by the stools. “Hey, Griff, what’re we having?”
“Pork chops,” he replied.
“Mmmm… with your cherry sauce? My favorite! You trying to butter me up for something?”
Griffin gave her one of his rare grins. “Nope, just had all the ingredients on hand.”
Ellie went to stick her finger in the sauce for a taste, but got her hand playfully slapped as punishment.
“Were you listening in today?” she asked him, sneaking a taste anyway.
“A little,” he grunted. “Adelaide sure gets props for being able to get people to do exactly what she wants without their knowing.”
Ellie laughed. “Seriously… I am now officially part of her circle of friends without having to lift a finger or read a single mind.”
“I don’t think you have to worry that they suspect anything,” Griffin said. He turned back to the pork chops in the frying pan.
“Well, that’s something. Did you listen to any of the rest of their family today?”
Griffin shook his head. “No. I spent most of the day moving in and listening to you at school.”
Ellie hid her impatience. She wanted to know more about the others. Especially Alex. What was he like? What could he do? What had he thought about their encounter that morning? …Although she’d rather find that last bit out for herself.
Ellie started to set the table when her cell phone beeped, signaling a text message. With a small frown, she picked it up, and then almost dropped the phone. A text message from Alex blinked at her.
“Hi,” the message said.
“Hi, yourself. Chickening out on our run?” she messaged back.
“Lol. No. Still on for that.”
“Okay… what’s up?”
There was a pause long enough for Ellie to get nervous.
“Just wondering how your day was,” he eventually answered.
Ellie blinked. And a small ray of hope lit up inside her chest.
“Typical day in the life of a high school student. You? “
“Typical day in the life of a law office intern.” Another pause and then, “I’ll see you tomorrow at the crack of dawn.”
Ellie sent back a smiley face. “See you tomorrow.”
Chapter 10
Dinner was fairly quiet, with both Ellie and Griffin preoccupied with their own private thoughts. When she was done eating, Ellie gathered up the dishes and took them to the kitchen.
“Hey,” she called to Griffin, who merely grunted. “I’ve got to get out of the house. I’m going to go fly for a bit. Okay?”
Her favorite and strongest morph was that of a Peregrine Falcon, inherited through her grandfather. It wasn’t unusual for Ellie to spend some time each night in this form, she so loved the feeling of freedom and the power of soaring through the open sky.
Usually when she went flying, Griffin couldn’t care less. This time, however, he looked up at her with slightly narrowed eyes.
“You’re not going to go watch them, are you?” he demanded, moving around the bar and into the kitchen.
“As a matter of fact, I’m not.” Tempting as it was, she had no intention of going anywhere near the Jenners and Pierces tonight.
“…Because we agreed that I would do most of the watching right now since they don’t know anything about me, remember?” Griffin continued.
“I remember what we agreed to,” Ellie put her hands on her hips, her voice ringing with irritation. It drove her nuts when Griffin got on his superior soap box—like he was so much older than her, when really he was younger by ten whole minutes.
“Okay,” he finally relented. “Just so you keep to the plan.”
Ellie didn’t bother to reply. She headed out of the back of the house and trudged up the snow-covered hill and into the woods. As soon as she was camouflaged by the thick trees, she transitioned into her falcon form.
To any onlooker she would’ve appeared to blur before their eyes, shimmering like a mirage in a desert. There was no sound to accompany her transformation, and in mere moments a falcon appeared where Ellie had just been. In all of her morphs, Ellie’s exotic coloring showed through as a midnight black body and violet-blue eyes. As a falcon, this was quite striking up close, but from a distance, no one would notice anything unusual about her appearance. She spread her long wings, and with a mighty whoosh, she took flight.
Ellie quickly gained altitude. She worked off her frustration and impatience with the situation in a series of incredible dives. She would flap her strong wings to get high up in the air…spread out her feathers hov
ering a moment, enjoying the view, and then rocket back toward the earth. Sometimes she would level out well above the ground, other times she waited until the very last second before pulling out of the stoop. Her maneuvering left her both exhilarated and in a much-improved mood.
Ellie kept her word and didn’t go near the Jenner and Pierce properties, although she couldn’t resist occasionally turning her powerful sight in their direction, hoping to catch a glimpse of any of them. She had no luck, however. Cold and tired, she eventually turned back for home. Once she reached the clearing where she’d started, Ellie quickly morphed back into her human form, fully clothed. The control of her shift happened in her mind, and so when she returned to human form, it was exactly how she’d left it. She’d always been entertained by descriptions of shifters in stories showing them as naked when they turned back to human, thankful that that wasn’t how it worked.
“That was stretching it a bit, don’t you think?” Griffin called out the second she walked in the door. So he had been watching.
“If you don’t want me to block you from reading my mind completely, I suggest you keep your nose out of my business and have a little faith,” she replied using the fake voice she knew drove her brother nuts. She found him in his room reading a book. She paused in the doorway, leaning against the frame. “I stuck to the plan.”
He grunted and narrowed his eyes.
“I’m going to get some homework done, and then I’m going to sleep,” Ellie continued, too tired to argue. She knew he didn’t approve of her decision to come here, despite his agreeing to help her. In Ellie’s mind it was too important to pass up this chance. More important than keeping the peace with her twin.
The next morning at five-thirty on the dot, Alex pulled into the parking space beside Ellie’s car.
Ellie didn’t need Griffin’s mind reading ability to know that the bleary-eyed, I’m-so-tired routine Alex gave her was a pretense. He was Svatura after all. He needed just as little sleep as she did. But she grinned and played along.
“Come on, sleepyhead.” She grabbed his sleeve, careful not to touch him directly, and pulled him on to the path. “Time to wake up and get moving.”
They both started jogging. Alex adjusted his pace to stay beside Ellie.
“So do you compete in track at school?” Alex asked after a few minutes of comfortable silence while they jogged.
“Nah.”
“Do you participate in any extracurricular activities?” he prodded.
“Not yet. I’ve only been at this school a little while,” she reminded him.
“Well, what about at your previous school?”
“Yeah, a few,” she answered.
Alex chuckled. “There’s that vagueness again.”
“Ugh. Sorry!” Ellie snagged a loose lock of hair and tucked it behind her ear. “I mostly participated in academic extracurricular activities like scholastic competitions and language clubs.”
“Ah! So you’re a brainiac rather than a jock?”
“Not really.”
“Because…?” Alex prompted after a lengthy pause.
“Mostly because we move so much. It’s easier to get into academic activities because the seasons for athletic activities are very specific, and I’d frequently miss try outs.”
“You move a lot, huh?” Alex almost sounded disappointed at that news, but glancing at his face Ellie could only see mild curiosity and so dismissed that thought as wishful thinking.
“Yeah, family reasons.” Ellie shrugged.
Alex cocked an eyebrow at her, mouthing, “Vague.” Ellie responded by wrinkling her nose at him.
“What about you? Law intern, huh? You must be some sort of brainiac yourself.”
“Nah,” Alex shrugged modestly. “I just worked really hard in school. I plan to go into environmental law like my dad.”
“Any sports?”
“Not really. Like you, we’ve moved around a lot. You know… family reasons.” Alex winked.
Ellie just pursed her lips and shook her head at him.
They chatted easily the rest of their run, and eventually made their way around the lake, arriving back at the point where they started. As they leaned against their cars to stretch out their muscles Alex said, “Breakfast?”
“Sorry. Can’t. I have some more studying to do for class.” Ellie lied.
“Maybe tomorrow, then,” he said, trying not to appear disappointed.
Ellie’s heart rate picked up and she smothered a dorky grin. “Sure.”
“Same time and place?”
Ellie nodded. “See you here.”
They hopped in their cars and with a wave, both drove away.
*****
Alex headed home from his run with Ellie with mixed feelings. She really was adorable, although a little reticent about her background. When he’d seen her at the coffee shop the previous morning, he’d thought about walking away before she’d noticed him. But something about her drew him to her, and he’d approached her despite all the reasons he knew he shouldn’t. And then he’d gone and not only asked to run with her, but he’d practically insisted on it. And now he’d made it a standing thing between them.
What are you doing Alex? He questioned himself. As much as everything in him insisted that he pursue her, it simply wasn’t possible. And beyond stupid. Regardless of the age difference, he might be putting her in danger based on Lucy’s latest premonitions. I have no choice. I’ll keep everything light and casual with Ellie, and walk away if things got intense. He made the mental vow.
And then he immediately went back on those few good intensions by texting her again later that night.
“Hey.”
“Hey back atchya.” Alex chuckled. He loved her sassy little text comebacks.
“Had fun on our run this morning.”
“ : ) Me too.”
“We still on for tomorrow?”
“Same bat time, same bat channel.”
Alex shook his head, completely confused. “Huh?”
“Didn’t you ever watch that old hokey Batman show on TV?”
“Lol. Can’t say that I did.”
“Sheesh. I thought everyone knew that expression. You missed out.”
“Sounds like it. See you tomorrow.”
“With bells on.”
Chapter 11
Ellie’s life fell into a pattern. At school, there were a few more people she recognized. A few more friendly faces in the halls. Her days of being the focal point of everyone’s curiosity were over. Now she was just another regular student.
Meanwhile, she was becoming addicted to her mornings with Alex. They’d take a quick run around the lake and then breakfast at the little shop where they’d bumped into each other the first time. They chatted about any and everything, a casual comfort stealing into their interaction that had Ellie opening up a little bit more each day.
She felt a little thrill when she thought about their time together, despite the fact that he treated her more like a little sister than anything else. A disappointment she chose to ignore for the time being. And he’d stopped the flirty little texts. She wasn’t quite sure how to feel about that either. Thankfully, Griffin had kept whatever thoughts he had about the situation to himself.
Ellie spent time with the Adelaide, Lila, and Nate at school, and felt like they were becoming true friends. Although they never mentioned how Alex and Ellie met every morning to run. After the first day, Griffin informed her that Alex hadn’t shared this fact with his family yet. So Ellie kept their secret.
One day, as she was just about to get into her car, Ellie heard someone calling her name and turned around.
“How’s it going?” Adelaide asked once she made her way over. She searched in her purse, pulled out sunglasses, and popped them on.
“Same ol’, same ol’.” Ellie grinned, leaning an arm along the top of the car door.
Adelaide got straight to the point. “So, I know it’s been a while since I asked…” She gave El
lie an apologetic look. “But things seem to have calmed down at home since Alex got back. So how about that study session we talked about?”
Ellie had been patiently waiting for this invitation. Griffin had assured her that it would come eventually, but it had been almost two months and she’d started to lose hope. “Sure! That sounds great!”
“Okay. So how does Thursday night sound to you?”
They had a French test coming up, so it was perfect timing. Ellie had a ready answer this time, and, for once, was thankful for the recent snowfall.
“Um…” Ellie feigned remorseful surprise. “I’d love to come over, except my family doesn’t feel comfortable with me driving all the way to your house in the dark while it’s snowing. We didn’t have snow very often where I was in Texas, and I’m not very good at driving in it yet.”
“Oh.” Adelaide bit her lip, clearly disappointed. But Ellie had a plan. She couldn’t invite them to her house; Griffin needed to stay off their radar for as long as possible. Plus, she’d have to explain about having no parents. While she and Griffin already had their story prepared, Ellie didn’t want to lie to her new friends. But there were other places they could study.
A little hesitantly she asked, “Would your parents be okay with you staying in town and studying at the library with me?”
Adelaide perked up. “Yeah! At least, I think they’d be fine with that.”
“We could study after school, and maybe get some pizza for dinner before you go home?”
“Sounds great! I’ll ask my parents tonight. Is tomorrow still okay?”
“Sure.”
As the two girls exchanged hugs, a car horn sounded close by. Adelaide turned, raised her hand and waved. “There’s Alex.” Turning back to Ellie she explained, “He had to borrow the car today so he’s picking us up. Gotta go, see you tomorrow.” She skipped away to join Lila and Nate.
