Page 14 of When Storms Awaken

The lunch table fell silent. I believed Sloane, and I’m sure Tess did too after what we saw last weekend, but we weren’t about to admit that in front of everyone else. I would see if I could run into Sloane later and compare details about the wolf. This was something that needed to stay between us.

The rest of the lunch period passed painfully slow with the only topic of conversation being which style handbag was going to be on trend this coming spring. I couldn’t imagine Tess buying another handbag. She would need to evict her parents and make their bedroom a floor to ceiling walk-in closet for all her shoes and accessories. I couldn’t be less interested in talking about fashion trends, but I was thankful to Tess for changing the subject and taking the attention off Sloane. The last thing I wanted was for rumors to be spread around about her. She was my friend and Tess and I would protect her. She hadn’t imagined what she’d seen, but there was nobody else that would believe that except for us.

I put my lunch tray away and quickly made my way down the hallway to art. I was anxious to see if I would get to talk to Nik again, or if he would ignore me as he did yesterday. I wondered if Tess’ presence would make any difference in the matter.

Tess was close on my heels, still conversing about the do's and don’ts of fashion with someone from our lunch table. I threw my bag down onto the table closest to the door again and grabbed a chair. Tess curled her lip when she saw I was honoring the new seating arrangement and reluctantly pulled out the chair next to me.

“I forgot we switched seats so you could sit with your newboyfriend.”Tess laughed. I kicked her under the table and her eyes went wide.

“Hey! That’s the second time today,” she responded, giving me her best faux pout.

“Don’t say it so loudly, someone could overhear,” I whispered.

“Well, we certainly wouldn’t want that,” Tess said with a roll of her eyes.

“Did you know about the rumors? That people were making fun of Sloane for seeing a giant wolf?” I asked.

“No, I swear I didn’t. Maybe I’m falling out of the gossip loop by spending so much time with you,” she joked with a raise of her eyebrow.

“Hah, hah. I just don’t want people to give her shit for it.”

“I agree. Don’t worry, I will talk Christine and the rest of the girls down,” Tess assured me. Sloane made this the fourth wolf sighting, assuming that this was the same wolf that had attacked Mrs. Madden. It had to be the same wolf. What were the chances there was more than one giant black wolf that had wandered into Silver Oaks?

The bell rang and Nik was nowhere in sight. A substitute teacher walked in and put his briefcase down on Ms. Finch’s desk.

“Ms. Finch is absent today, and I was told to have you work on your portfolios. Get to work,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. He sat in the rolling chair at Ms. Finch’s desk and propped his feet up, pulling his phone out.

“Something isn’t right with Ms. Finch. She hasn’t seemed right these past few days. She’s been anxious and tired, and all we ever do is work on our portfolios. We haven’t learned anything new,” Tess commented. Something with Ms. Finchdidappear off. She had gotten angry at Nik on Monday for being late, and she had been frazzled and disheveled all the time lately.

Tess and I collected our portfolios and returned to our table.

“Am I late?” Nik asked as he sauntered in, pausing by the door. He had his hands in his pockets, no backpack in sight. Did he not carry any books around? How did he plan on graduating in a few months if he didn’t study?

The substitute merely waved a hand, motioning for him to sit. He pulled out the chair next to mine and sat, his knee bumping into mine. Our eyes met, and I quickly glanced away, but not before I saw the smirk plastered across his face. Suddenly, I felt nervous. Should I say something first? I didn’t want to sit here in silence, awkwardly. I could say something first…what was the big deal? I swallowed my anxiety, determined to stop overanalyzing, and pulled a piece of art from my portfolio.

“Seeing as the bell rang a solid five minutes ago, I think it’s safe to say the hallways are deserted and you know you’re late,” I pointed out without meeting his eyes. I uncapped a black ballpoint pen and began working on the Mandala art that I started, but never finished, a few weeks ago.

“I guess I’m lucky Ms. Finch is absent then, huh firecracker,” he replied with another bump of his knee. He rested his arms on the table, leaning in towards me, and Tess coughed. I felt the urge to kick her under the table again. Hard.

“What are you working on there?” he asked, watching me intently.

“My portfolio,” I answered after a long pause. “I presume you aren’t interested in working on yours?” I asked, indicating the blank tabletop in front of him.

“Nah.” He shook his head. “Not unless you plan on modeling for a portrait session,” he laughed. So, he was just messing with me, then. He ran a long hand through his hair and met my eyes from under his thick lashes. That pang of familiarity hit me again, and I couldn’t help but stare. His eyes were the precise shade of blue that I had seen on the wolf at the landing, and they were the same round, open shape. What were the chances?

Tess cleared her throat loudly and Nik broke eye contact first, giving her a look of disdain. I turned my attention towards Tess, who gave me a wide-eyed glare. I cleared my throat and drew my attention down to her portfolio piece. She had drawn the landscape at the mountain’s landing. Even without much natural artistic talent, she had managed to capture the landing on a spring day; blue and purple flowers in full bloom. The scene reminded me of the wolf article that I had printed in the library and folded into my jacket pocket. I had almost forgotten about it.

I reached into the pocket of my jacket and grabbed it, unfolding it in front of me. I passed it to her without a word, and she let out a soft gasp when she saw the headline. Nik inclined his head, interested in what I had passed to her.

“You don’t think…” Tess trailed off, meeting my eyes.

“I do think. This could be the same one,” I told her. “We need to look into this.”

Nik whipped his arm out and grabbed the article from Tess before either of us could stop him. He held the thin piece of paper in his long fingers, his eyes darkened when he saw the title.

“Where did you get this?” He turned to me, his tone serious.

“I printed it off the library computer. It’s from the school newspaper. Why?” I asked.

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