Chapter 17: Jamie
1109 Words
Grace's PoV:
It felt like my thoughts were made of treacle. It didn't make sense -- if Jamie was alive, then how did he escape? If Jamie was alive, why hadn't he found me yet? He had been gone for months and I'd seen no trace of him, though I had looked for any signs I could find. I stared at Alex, dumbfounded.
"How... how could you have found Jamie? I thought he was dead!"
Alex looked surprised at this, but he answered anyway. His voice was steady and level, as though he was scared of upsetting me.
"No, he was injured a little during the attack, but he didn't fight any of the wolves. Most wolves are quite serious about not hurting pups -- even Thomas's pack. They did manage to keep him captive a few days, trying to figure out what to do with him. I think, originally, they were going to try trade him for information about you."
Alex looked down at the dirt, settling himself into a more comfortable position. "Jamie escaped, though, and came to find me. We've been tracking you for a while now, though there's obviously been a lot of other things going on. Your father is worried."
I nodded. I was surprised Conner was alive, I had to admit. In the past few months I hadn't let myself think about him, my biological father, instead choosing to focus on pains I could more easily understand, the losses I could more easily quantify.
I turned my attention back to Jamie, back to my confident, my friend. Alex watched me as I thought about what he had said, giving me the time to process everything.
"Where is he now?" I asked, eventually.
Alex crossed his legs beneath him, a little smile on his face. "He's just gone to check the perimeters around us," he said, "he'll be back in a few minutes."
I had so many questions, but I felt suddenly unable to ask them. Was it possible that I would see Jamie, who I thought was dead only a short while before, in only a few minutes? The idea seemed ludicrous and naive -- childish, even. And yet, the reality of it was staring me in the face.
I wanted to distract myself, to take a break from thinking about Jamie.
"How did we get here?"
"We've been trying to find you for a while now, but we only found you at all because a wolf that knew about Thomas's plans warned us. It's a miracle we got to you in time."
"Oh." There didn't really seem to be an appropriate response to what he said.
"We're far away from Thomas now, but that means it's going to take longer to get you to our safe place in the East."
"Is that what Jamie meant when he told me to run to the Eastern mountains?"
"Yeah, probably. There's a rogue base that's been there for generations -- all the nearby packs have gotten used to the idea of rogues and are pretty friendly, as packs go. It's a safe place for us, for you. I doubt Thomas would be able to get to us, there's too many wolves to get through and you would be too hard to track among all the rogues."
He seemed confident in what he said; he was truly convinced that this base in the Eastern Mountains would be safe. It was jarring to imagine any place that could be truly safe after all those months spent running, but a little hope was better than nothing. I prayed with all my will that Alex was right about this.
A sound broke the comfortable silence we had drifted into -- a sharp snapping sound as someone broke though a load of twigs and came clumsily through the bushes. I looked up, eagerly, hoping I wouldn't be disappointed -- and there he was. The boy, Jamie, his eyes as soft and kind as ever, smudges on his clothes, his messily swept away from his face. The freckles that I knew so well were still all there, as was the little scar above his ear from an accident last year. His mouth was turned upwards in a crooked grin.
"Jamie!" I cried out, launching myself up -- or, rather, trying to. My ankle wouldn't let me stand up, and neither would Alex, who held me down with a gentle but firm grip so I wouldn't hurt myself.
"Grace!" Jamie said, his face flooded with relief. It was obvious that my injury, despite not being fatal, and the way I had passed out had both made him worried. He crossed the clearing to stand by my side in a matter of moments.
"I'm so glad you're awake, I'm so glad you're okay," he said, running his hands through his hair. "I was so worried about you."
"Me too, Jamie -- I thought you were gone," I pulled him into a bone crushing hug, trying to prove to myself that he was, in fact, real. "Don't you ever worry me like that again!"
Jamie laughed. "I'll do my best, ma'am."
I released him from my arms, taking a second to examine his face properly. There were tired bruises under his eyes and his face seemed a bit more angular, a bit more mature than before. He didn't look hungry or exhausted like Kayden and Ella had, though, and he was clean and uninjured from what I could see. He was fine -- he was nearly completely fine. I sighed in relief, a big boulder of worry finally lifting.
"So," I said, once I was sure of Jamie's well-being. "What's the plan?"
"We're going to travel down to the hideout," Alex said, "but your injuries are going to slow us down, so Jamie and I will carry all of you in wolf form." He gestured to me and my sleeping friends. "On our way there we're going to try and unlock your wolf, because there isn't a second to lose before your thirteenth birthday."
"My wolf?"
"Every werewolf has an inner wolf -- it's a part of your soul, I guess -- that they're born with but only get full access to when they turn thirteen. When you're a mutt though, if you don't unlock your wolf before your birthday then you can never get full access and it will remain a dormant part of you instead."
I nodded solemnly. "I understand, I guess. There's not a lot of time until my birthday -- will we have enough time to do it?"
Jamie looked at me, his face determined. "We'll make sure of it."
- Writer
