6

"Where is your home?" I have my duffle bag open on the futon, and I'm folding my small amount of clothes carefully inside. Some clothes, a framed picture of me and my mom and a photo album from my childhood are the accumulation of everything I own and will be taking with me. It's sad, I know, but these things are mine. They're what I hold closest to me and have held onto over the years, jumping through the foster care system. "The Lotus pack. It's a few hours or so from here," I don't have to look at him to hear the smile in his voice. I can't help but wonder what it must feel like to feel so much pride in where you come from that the mere mention of it brings a smile to your face. I zip up my bag and turn to sit next to it. Caspian stands by the door, ready to leave. If I were easily offended, I would think that this small apartment with all the second-hand furniture, makes him uncomfortable. But the truth is probably more along the lines of him wanting to get back to his people with his Luna by his side. Something I still don't understand. "Caspian," I sigh, my hands fidgeting in my lap, Are you sure about this? I mean, I don't even know what a Luna is, and -" "Hey," Caspian cuts me off, walking until he can kneel in front of me, "take a breath, it's okay. I know there is still a lot you need to learn but if I gave you all the answers you're asking for now, it would overwhelm you" He stands quickly, reaching and taking my bag from the bed before reaching for my hand. "You are the future of my pack, Mia, that's the most important part." He starts walking us to the door, his shoulders straight and pride radiating off of him. He feels accomplished and it's radiating from him. "Wait, I have to leave a note," I pull my hand from Caspian's moving back into the room to grab the pad of paper I use for taking orders in the diner. I can feel Caspian's annoyance from the door, but I don't care. Charlotte at least deserves a goodbye after everything she has done for me. It by no means is enough, and a part of me is sad and feels that I am taking the chickens way out. But sometimes goodbyes are too hard in person and I don't think I'd want to go if I have to face them. Does this make me a coward? Yes, absolutely. I'm not proud of that, but at least I'll admit it. "Let's go home, Mia," Caspian opens the door and motions for me to go through first. With one final look at the apartment that I've called home for the past few months, I take a deep breath and embrace the future that's to come. It feels weird to finally be leaving Crest Falls. It's something that I have dreamed about for so long that I wasn't expecting it to be so bittersweet. A part of me is sad, ironically enough, to be leaving all this behind me. But this is what's best for me. This is my chance to start new. I am (somehow) the future of a wolf pack, and they need me. Caspian needs me. Wow. This is still too weird to think about. It's starting to feel like a dream more than anything. "Um," it takes me a minute to realize that Caspian is leading me back into the trees behind the diner, "How do we get there?" "Oh, right," Caspian looks at me and at Forrest, indecision clear on his face, "okay. We'll steal a car," he shrugs like it's no big deal, before placing his hand on my lower back, leading me towards the front of the diner. "Wait, what?!" I stop in my tracks, causing him to turn around and look at me in clear annoyance, "We can't steal a car, Caspian!" Caspian sighs, running a hand through his hair as he takes a deep breath. "You're human and can't run there like I can." He says like it's the most obvious thing in the world. Truthfully, I didn't think about that. I didn't really think about how we would get there at all actually until it was time to leave. I just assumed Caspian had some sort of plan in place. I mean, I guess technically he does now. Still, I can't help but hesitate. Stealing cars is a huge felony and I just can't get over that. Can't just go along with it. "No. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea," I take a step back out of his grasp, towards the stairs, "Maybe this is a sign that I shouldn't be so impulsive and should think more before leaving with a virtual stranger," Despite the fact that it's dark outside and there is only a small amount of light provided from the diner security light, I can see Caspian's face darken considerably. At this moment, he looks lethal - every bit of what I would expect from a man that says he is half wolf. He drops my bag to the ground, his hands flexing as he watches me carefully. Fear pricks at my skin, washing over me in a cold sweat as I try to refrain from shaking. Something in my face must show the fear I feel because Caspian snaps out of whatever it was, just as fast as it came on, schooling his features into a mask of calm. "No, no, I'm sorry," he closes his eyes and sucks in a deep breath, holding it for a moment, before letting it out, "look you have a point, we shouldn't steal a car. I was just excited and -" Caspian takes a step closer to me and on instinct, I take a step back still unsure of what to make of what just happened. "I'll go first thing in the morning to rent a car, and we'll leave then," he smiles and puts his hands up in a surrender pose. That sounds like a good compromise. I mean we won't be committing a felony, and it gives me time to sleep on this whole thing. "Okay," I nod slowly as he picks up my bag from where he had dropped it and offers it to me, "I'm going to head upstairs to sleep then," I take it quickly from his grasp, unsure if there is anything else I should say. "Goodnight, Mia." Caspian leads me to the stairs and watches me until I get to the top, "I'll see you in the morning," I nod as I open the door but before I walk in, a thought occurs to me. I glance between Caspian and the open door to the apartment, wondering if I should invite him to sleep on the floor or something. Would it be too forward to give such an invitation? I mean, I was about to leave everything for him even though we have just met. And it's not like he's put any actual moves on me to get into my pants. "Where will you sleep?" I ask, deciding that that's the best way to approach the subject. "You don't have to worry about me, remember?" he says with a laugh and a shrug, "I'm used to the woods and sleeping outside," I'm about to ask if he wants to just sleep inside, but before I can get the words out, he's disappearing into the darkness. I stare after him for a few moments, before stepping into the apartment and closing the door. My bag drops with a thud on the floor as I stare at the futon. Exhaustion hits me like a ton of bricks and all I can think about is how the day took so many different turns. I don't even bother changing my clothes. I just collapse onto the futon and stare at the back of my eyelids until sleep finds me. My eyes slowly blink open, and I can't help but smile at the beginning of the sunrise over the blurring of the trees. I turn to look at Caspian, his face illuminated in the dim green lighting from the dashboard. He looks so content, so at peace at that moment, it brings a small smile to my face. My eyes begin to close but fly wide open when my brain catches up with my surroundings. This isn't my futon in the apartment, and it certainly is too early for any car rental place to be open. A cold dread fills my body as realization crashes over me. "What the hell?!" I screech as I sit up, choking on my seatbelt that Caspian must have put on. He didn't even flinch. He didn't even bother responding to me as I feel like I am on the brink of hyperventilating. "Oh my god," my hand's fist in my hair, my eyes wide as I look around the car, "Oh my God, you didn't rent this car did you?" "Calm down. It's fine," His posture remains relaxed and he doesn't even spare me a glance. "Fine? FINE!? This" My hands wave erratically around the cab of the car, "This is not fine! This is a freaking felony!" "Look, We won't damage the car and we will leave it somewhere where it will be found easily. No harm no foul." "No harm. No foul?" I shake my head in disbelief looking out the window, "this is foul. You lied to me. I told you I didn't want to steal a car-" "You didn't," he points out with an exasperated sigh, his fingers tightening on the wheel. "No, but I'm an accomplice now." I cross my arms over my chest with a huff, making it clear that I'm upset about this. Why would Caspian do this - just to get me back to his pack? I still don't understand the rush, and I'm starting to feel like he's not telling me something. It's a strange feeling - like a nagging in the back of my head. But what would he have to lie about? I agreed to go with him without hardly knowing him at all. I agreed to be the Luna of his pack, even though I still have questions about what it all means. Against my better judgment, I'm trusting him - so why would he lie to me? "I'm sorry it had to be this way, Mia," Caspian says finally breaking the small silence, "I had to get back quickly. I've been gone a while already," "I'm sure it could have waited a few more hours," I cut him off with a small glare. I'm not sure if there is anything more to say on the matter. So I decided to just sit and watch the scenery go by and give Caspian the cold shoulder. I don't pay attention to how much time goes by, but the sun is still rising beyond the trees when Caspian pulls into the parking lot of an abandoned building right of the highway. "We'll leave the car here," he says, reaching under the steering wheel and fiddling around before the car shuts off, "Come on," I stare at him in question as he exits the car, not even bothering to wipe down his fingerprints or anything. Isn't that what smart criminals do? Hide the evidence? Cover up anything that could link a person back to this moment? Instead, he opens the back door and begins rummaging around while I look at our surroundings. "Is this... it?" I'm careful with my wording, I don't want to offend him accidentally, but this place is, for lack of a better word, a dump. I walk to the hood of the car, squinting my eyes as if that would make this town better. The abandoned building we are in front of is one of only a handful of buildings here. All of them are in a similar condition; broken windows, rotting wood, and crumbling roofs. It's sad to see this place so broken and so deserted. Where is everything and everyone? I can't seem to reconcile this place as the town that Caspian had spoken so proudly of. "No, this is Holden Pointe," Caspian points to an old wooden sign up ahead, with overgrown brush and vines covering whatever was once written on it, "My pack is about an hour's run into the woods. We'll have to go by foot from here," he walks up beside me, holding out a pair of shoes to me. "What happened to this place?" I ask as I slide my sneakers on quickly. Caspian looks around, his hands resting on his hips as he surveys the surrounding area. My eyes are level with his abs, but I gave up asking about his clothes. He says he's fine and thinks he can walk through the woods barefoot, then so be it. I'm not bringing it up again. "It doesn't matter," He says finally with a shrug, "Let's go," he starts to walk towards the woods, only stopping when he realizes that I haven't moved yet. "Where's my bag?" I look at his empty hands, my heart beginning to pound in anxiousness. Caspian eyes flit from me to the trees before he gives me a slight shrug. I rush to the back door before he can answer, throwing it open, nearly bursting into tears. Aside from a car seat and a few random toys that probably belong to whoever he stole the car from, my bag isn't here. Still, I can't help but start moving things around as if my bag would somehow magically appear underneath the small stuffed elephant. "No, No, No," tears begin to make their way down my cheeks and I have to force air into my lungs. "I'm sorry, Mia, I must have forgotten to grab it," Caspian says from behind me, his hands gently resting on my shoulders and pulling me away from the car, "I'll send someone back to the diner to get it for you, but we have to go," "Let's just go back now," I try to move towards the front of the car again, but Caspian won't let me. It's like trying to move a mountain. No matter how hard I try to fight and push against him, I can't even get him off balance. I know I'm becoming hysterical, and maybe it's an overreaction, but everything that I have left of my mother is in that bag! Everything. Caspian sighs, wrapping his arms around my middle in an iron grip. He lifts me as if I weigh nothing at all, placing me over his shoulder as he calmly walks us into the cover of the trees. I probably look like a toddler throwing a tantrum in the store, crying and reaching for the toy she wanted but didn't get. "Caspian, Please! It won't take very long!" my voice is thick with emotion as I struggle to get free. My hands pound on his back as I beg him to put me down. "No, Mia," Caspian sighs, setting me down and turning me to face him with a tight grip on my biceps, "I told you I would send someone to get it, stop being so damn difficult." His voice is stern and his eyes fierce, the tone sends a shiver down my spine. My bottom lip trembles as I shake my head. He doesn't understand and maybe that's because he doesn't know. Maybe if I told him, he would change his mind. He'll understand what it means to me. "Caspian, everything I have left of my mom is in that bag," I hiccup and look up at him with the best puppy dog eyes that I can muster, "I have to go back for it, please." The little hope I had falls like a lead balloon when Caspian shakes his head no. "It's too risky. We have to get to the pack and that car was stolen," he points to the car just beyond the trees sitting in the empty parking lot, "We are not going back," his eyes softened a little during his speech, but the only thing I can focus on is the fact that he said no. That my mother is back in Crest Falls alone in a bag instead of with me.