Chapter 3
2384 Words
We walked through the front door, right into Lockwood. "Oh shit." I thought.
"Lockwood? Is that you?" Hank asked.
"Hudson?"
"It's great to see you again!" My Dad was smiling.
"You too, Hud." I stared at them both, confusion written all over my face.
"Pen, you know my best friend." Hank said.
"I what?"
"Lockwood is my best friend."
"How is that possible?"
"I left when I was younger. That's why the name of this place sounded so familiar."
"Hud, tell me you still remember our shake."
"Damn right I do!"
I watched them as they did their 'shake'. It consisted of twists, turns, jumps, bumps, high fives, props, kick, head butts, shoulder bumps and finally a grapple that looked so wrong. I stood there as my jaw was on the floor. I couldn't think of anything to say other than, "What the fuck." Hank and Lockwood laughed at me.
"That was our shake. It took almost two months to get perfect."
"Sometimes I think I'm not yours." I stated bluntly.
"Oh come one. I bet you have a shake with one of your friends."
"No, because I don't have any friends."
"What happened to that one girl? Carrie was it?"
"Clara, she wasn't a friend. She was an insane girl with problems. She picked a fight with me and I kicked her ass."
"Oh." Was all he could say.
"Yeah. She was the only one, now there's only Snowflake."
"You have got to make some friends." Wolf pipped up.
"Not a chance. Not if it's going to be the same thing again."
"What's that?" Wolf tilted his head.
"Not going to tell you, now, I'm off to bed. I'm exhausted." I turned on my heal and headed off to my room, but was stopped by a lion. "And who are you?"
"I'm Hillyard. I was looking for you, Phantom would like to see you."
I groaned and rolled my eyes. "Can't it wait until tomorrow? I'm very tired."
"It cannot."
"Hillyard, tell Phantom that it can wait. The girl need rest." Wolf said, standing just behind me.
"It cannot wait Wolf! It is very important!"
I let out a sigh and said, "Make it quick." I followed him to a room on the second floor.
"Phantom, I have her here." The door flew open and I was yanked into the room, leaving Snow in the hall.
"Snow!" I called out.
"She can't come in here. Only you." Phantom spoke.
"Why not!?" I turned to face a well built man with tanned skin, black hair and striking electric blue eyes.
"Because I said so!" He boomed and I froze. "Now you must help me with something."
"Help you with what?" I was careful when speaking now. His yelling literally made my heart stop beating for a moment.
"I need to know what girls like." I blinked a few times, but he was completely serious, his eyes never leaving mine for a second.
"Umm-- what?" I was so confused. This 32 year old man was asking me, a 17 year old girl for help with other girls. His eyes darkened in annoyance.
"I. Need. To. Know. What. Girls. Like." He purposely spoke slowly, making me feel like I was stupid.
"That depends on what the girl likes." I humored him.
"She loved flowers. Pink ones, but we don't have those here. She likes chocolate cake, but I can't cook. She like jewelry, but I don't have the money to get her anything like that."
"I can teach you to cook, I can get pick flowers from the outside, and why not ask your Dad for some money?"
"I want to marry her, but I don't have the guts to even ask her out"
"In the morning ask her out than! As your relationship progresses, give her small gifts. Like flowers. A single rose will do. If is lasts longer than a month, invite her to dinner. Make her, her favorite things to eat. For dessert, make her a chocolate cake. When she has to go home, be a nice guy and walk her home. Make sure you are a gentleman, girls hate pricks. Well, most do. Unless she's a psycho."
"Okay. I think I got all that." He was calming down now.
"Now lay down and get some rest."
"Okay, I'll rest." He changed as I faced away from him and he laid on him bed. I walked across the room and tucked him in, laying a light kiss on his forehead. This damn mother's instinct is going to get me in trouble one day.
Walking out of Phantom's room, I turned the light off with a sigh and closed the door behind me. I sighed again and started heading to me room. "Are you Penelope?" A small black cat with bright green eyes stood in front of me.
"Yes, and you are?"
"I'm Starlight. Emily wishes to see you." Her voice was so quiet and light.
"I have time." Her eyes lit up and I followed her to the third floor. This time, I held Snow in my arms. I entered into a very dark room.
"Hello." A small voice said from somewhere in the room.
"Emily?"
"Yes. That is me."
"Why is it so dark in here?"
"Because I don't like the light."
"Oh, okay. Well, did you need something?"
"Yes. I would like to know why boys never take a girl seriously."
"Boys are just stupid, but most of the time when a boy picks on you, it means he likes you."
"Does that go for girls too?"
"No. Girls are just total bitches." My tone was flat. I was remembering Clara and what she did to me back in school before I had moved away with my Dad.
"I see. Well, I got a note in school today. It says; 'Meet me at the big willow tree at 5 o'clock tomorrow.' But I'm too scared to go."
"Who signed it?"
"No one. That's all it says."
"I see." I rubbed Snow's little puppy ears for comfort from such a dark room.
"Will you come with me?"
"Sure. I can do that." I shrugged.
"Thank you." I nodded at her and tucked her into bed, leaving a light kiss on her forehead. I turned away and left her room with Snow.
"Is anyone else going to need me tonight?" I said to no one in particular.
"I hope not. I'm tired." Snow said, after yawning. I headed toward my room once again. Again, I was stopped and asked to see someone.
"Hey, are you Pen?" A man with brown hair and green eyes asked.
"Yup." I popped the 'p'.
"I'm Chris. I need your help.
"With what?"
"It's Hound. He's not eating or drinking. I think he's sick or something." Chris said as he dragged me to his room at a quick pace. His room was across from mine. When he opened the door, I saw a small dog lying on the floor in the middle of the room. I went to him quickly.
"Hey Hound, I'm Pen. Tell me, what's wrong?"
"My mouth and tummy hurt." He whimpered and I nodded.
"Open up. Let me see in there." When he opened his mouth, I subconsciously opened mine too. I saw what was wrong immediately. "This might hurt a bit." I pulled out a pair of needle nose pliers from my shoe. "You'll feel better soon. I promise." I lightly touched the rotting tooth and Hound yelped. I ignored Chris's pacing and pulled out the tooth. It was more stubborn than I thought it would be. It took a bit or strength to remove it. "There you go. Now, that tummy pain is from hunger. Go eat, but slowly. Too fast and you'll throw up."
Hound yipped happily and took off. I headed to my my room across the hall. I was about to open my door when Snow was attacked by a large crow. "Snowflake!" I called out and dove at the bird. I caught it and held its legs in one hand while using my other hand to keep its beak closed. "Are you okay Snow?"
"Hey! Let go of him!" I saw a black haired, brown eyed man. He looked just a little bit older than me. He was walking quickly down the hall at me with a very angry look on his face.
"Only if he doesn't attack Snow again!" I yelled at him, feeling my anger rise.
"I told him to attack, you stupid girl!"
"Hunter! What have I told you about making Demon attack others!" Lockwood yelled at him.
"It's just for fun, Father."
"No more! Or I will take Demon away for a month!" Lockwood yelled. I thought of him doing that to me and Snow. The thought of it alone made me shiver. I let go of Demon and picked Snow up, cuddling her.
"Are you okay, Snow?"
"I'm fine, but I wouldn't say you are."
"Why would you say that?" My vision was blurring, but I didn't notice.
"Because the human partner obtains all injuries his or her animal partner was supposed to receive." My vision was getting worse now, I could hardly stand without using the wall to help. "Pen? Are you okay?" I could barely see Snow, but I could hear the concern in her voice.
"Yeah. I'm okay." I turned to my door, but the world spun and I hit the floor. Everything went black.
I slowly woke to Hank and Lockwood yelling at each other. "It was your son's partner that attacked Snowflake! You know what happens when the animal partner gets hurt! All its injuries go to its human!"
"I know that, but I cannot control that boy of mine! He's a damn animal himself!"
"Will you two shut the hell up!" I shouted at them both.
"Pen, you're awake." Hank looked happy that I was awake.
"Yeah. Now, I have a killer headache. So the two of you, Shut. The. f**k. Up." I purposely said that last bit as slow as possible.
"Yes, we're sorry. We didn't mean to wake you." They said in unison. I nodded at them and they left. I didn't end up going back to sleep. Instead, I got up and walked to the window.
"I wouldn't open that if I were you." Killer said, making me jump.
"Why not?"
"It's very bright out there. The sun is rising." Of course, me being me, I didn't listen to him and opened the curtains.I was blinded by the bright sun that assaulted my eyes.
"Ow." I closed my eyes instantly.
"I warned you."
"And I don't listen that well."
"I see that." Killer muttered. I rubbed my eyes, recovering form being blinded.
"So, where's wolf?" I blinked a few times to adjust to the light.
"He went for a swim. He asked me to give this to you." He paused and turned. There was a package tied to his back. "He also asked me to bring you to him."
I retrieved the package and opened it. A swimsuit. "This is really cute, but how did he get my size?"
"He looked." Killer said bluntly, like it was no big deal at all.
"He did what?!" I mean, it's not like I'm huge, but I do still have some baby weight on me and it is rather embarrassing to have at my age.
"He looked at the size on your breast contraption and your under panties."
"I'm going to kill him!"
"Kill whom?" Lockwood walked in. I assume he heard me yelling and wanted to know what was going on.
"Wolf!"
"What did he do to make you want to kill him?"
"He looked at my bra and underwear!" Okay, maybe I shouldn't have yelled that, but I was embarrassed!
"Oh yes. He did. He didn't do anything. Hud was there to make sure of that." My jaw hit the floor. Dad was there as he looked! Dad saw it all! Wait-- Why does Lockwood keep calling him Hudson? His name is Hank.
"His name is Hank, but still! He shouldn't have looked in the first place!"
"Alight. Just put it on and follow Killer to him. You can yell at him then." Lockwood said as he was walking out of my room. I sighed and changed and put a loose dress on over top of it.
When Killer took me to where Wolf was, I took my dress off. "I see they fit nicely." Wolf said, walking up to me from the left.
"Yes, thank you." I gave him a sweet smile like nothing was wrong. I planned this out on the way here. Play cute then hit him with my scary side.
"You're welcome." He smiled at me. Yes, he f*****g smiled at me like he did nothing wrong! How dare he!
"Oh and Wolf?" I paused waiting for him to look at me. I did still have a sweet smile on my lips. "Next time you want to know my size and I'm sleeping, WAKE ME UP!" I watched both him and Killer jump from my yelling.
"Sorry. I wanted it to be a surprise. I did ask your Dad, but he didn't know either." He looked down at the ground.
"Just wake me up next time."
"I will."
After a while of talking with him on the shore, I climbed up onto a rock. It was quite high up above the water. "What are you doing up there?" Wolf asked. He looked confused.
"I'm going to jump."
"What!? Are you crazy!? That height will kill you!!" He was starting to freak out. I shrugged and jumped in, curling into a ball. I landed in the water, making a huge splash. When I resurfaced, Wolf was panicking. I swam to shore. I didn't feel like dealing with anyone who was having a panic attack. Not today at least.
"Dude, are you okay?" I raised my eyebrow as I asked. He ran over to me and checked every inch of my body. "I'm okay. I've jumped from higher before."
"That was too high! That rock was 25 feet above the water!"
"Yeah. I've jumped from 36 feet before."
"How did you survive?" He looked shocked. Have they never had a swim team before?
"I know how to swim, plus I was the captain of the swim team."
Wolf tilted his head. "What's a swim team?"
"I don't know how to explain it. Just, you swim for metals."
"Metals?" He looked so confused.
"You have to go out more often." I was blunt with him. I felt like I could get closer to him.
"Than let's go. You have the power to open the gates."
"No I don't. They are just open whenever I look at them."
"Because you opened them." Wolf smiled at me. That same I know something you don't know smile.
"I don't know how to open them."
"Yes you do." His smile never faded or flickered.
"If you say so." I don't think I actually have this power he claims I do. I guess we will just have to see for ourselves.
- Writer
