Fire in the Heir

8.

The city seemed so much bigger than it was the last time I had been here. There were so many new homes, shops, buildings, and people all over the place.

Our driver took us to the community center which happened to be right in the middle of the city’s downtown area.

This is where a lot of people come to see the museums, galleries, and art exhibits, so he told us that this is where we would all be meeting this evening to return to the compound.

Our teachers were going to separate us into three groups and we could all go off to different areas, as long as we saw all of the destinations on our schedule and completed the photo scavenger hunt.

That was probably their way of trying to make sure that we all went where we were supposed to.

Luckily, Monika and I were put in the same group with most of our friends and Ms. Flores was our assigned teacher.

Each group still had one of the patrol team members with them, but it seemed like we were going to have a great time.

I just hoped that I would be able to get all of the forms from the college without anyone noticing me making a detour.

As we finally divided up and took off to our first stop, I could feel Kana on guard. Not that something was wrong, but it felt that she was on alert to make sure that nothing could happen.

“Everything will be fine,” I told her and I tried to ease her with my happiness, but even my best smiles didn’t make her budge.

“Yes little one, but I must keep you safe and be aware of our surroundings at all times. We are not near home and there are many things that could happen in an instant.”

Her words sounded ominous and I could feel the joy that had been radiating through me moments ago slipping away, but then I felt a warmth seep into me and knew that she was trying to apologize for worrying me.

I hadn’t realized that I had been staring at the bus while everyone was starting to walk away until Monika grabbed my hand and yanked it.

“Come on Taylor, we are finally here and I want to enjoy every second. I can’t wait to see what we can eat first.”

Smiling at her because I couldn’t help but laugh at the wistful look in her eyes at the thought of food. This girl probably ate more than her wolf and nothing meant more to her than food.

Our first few stops were great. We went to the aquarium and the children’s museum. It was so interesting to see all of the different sea animals and fish.

But the museum was so fun because there were so many hands-on activities that we got to play with. We all took pictures next to the jelly fish tanks and a mini-building block model of the entire city.

Soon after we were done playing on the wooden play structure, we all decided to head over to the food court. I was hoping that I could use this distraction to sneak over to the campus, which happened to be right next door, so I could pick up the brochures.

When we got to the food court it was all I could do to keep Monika from running head first into the first stall we came to.

It was amazing how large it was and how many different types of food vendors there were. The smells here were so amazing.

There was everything from pizza and pastas to tacos and giant pretzels. There were sweet and savory foods and so many types of drinks that there was no way one person could try everything on one trip.

But when I looked back towards Monika, I had a feeling that she was on a mission to try to do just that.

Just as I figured, this place was so distracting that once Ms. Flores gave us permission to enjoy our break. It was impossible to watch us all.

These wolves were running to obtain as much food as they could to devour. I waited less than a minute for Monika to completely lose control and practically trample half of our classmates to get to the first food vendor.

I knew this would be my only chance, so I left out the side door and I could instantly see the campus on the other side of a small courtyard. As I walked through the rows of benches and trees I could feel my heart begin to race.

“Be calm little one, you need to stay aware of your surroundings, but we can not shift here in the human city, so try to relax.”

I knew Kana was right, but I couldn’t believe that this was actually happening. I was giddy with excitement the closer I got to the actual campus.

I was so hopeful that this would happen, but I didn’t want to get my hopes too high if it didn’t work out, but now that I was here I couldn’t stop myself.

No, I wouldn’t let it pass me by. I was all the way across the courtyard when I heard someone call out, “Taylor”.

Right then shards of ice shot through my veins and I sped up so that I could rush through the doors of the building as quickly as possible.

“Oh goddess, oh goddess, oh goddess!” I pulled the handle of the door so hard and rushed through so fast that I didn’t see the large person in front of me until I ran into them face first.

“Oof,” puffed out of my mouth as it was still firmly pressed against the solid form in front of me. “Excuse you,” escaped from the tall, broad, and warm wall in front of me.

As my mind started to catch up to what was going on, I slowly took a step back from what I had just bumped into and realized as I looked up that it was more of a who and less of a what.

I stood there looking up at one of the most handsome guys I had ever seen, but I realized a little too late that the person looking down at me seemed extremely annoyed.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going,” I began to apologize, but the boy just rolled his eyes and brushed off his chest with one hand as if I had left dirt or something on his black t-shirt.

“Yeah, you should be more careful where you’re going, little girl.” As the words came out of his mouth, I heard laughter from around us and realized that we were not alone.

There were two other guys with him and I guessed that I must have run into them on their way out of the building.

It took me a second to think of what else to say when he replied,”are you just going to stand there and gawk at me? I have things to do!”

I picked up my hand to rub my nose and I mumbled out another, “sorry” as I took a step to the side so that he could go around me.

“What a nerd, she’s in such a hurry to get to class she practically ran you over,” the shorter of the other two guys said.

For a second, I thought I could feel Kana trying to tell me something, but I was feeling too many things at once to try to focus on what she was saying.

“I am not, I don’t even go to this school,” I barked out a little too harshly.

“Oh, she’s one of those high school kids here on that field trip. That makes it even worse,” the other guy said, laughing now.

This was taking too much time. I needed to get the information and get back before whoever was calling me comes in and finds me, and these guys are making me waste precious time.

“Look, I said I was sorry. I’m not a nerd or a little kid, it was just an accident.” The guy I had bumped into just sneered at me as if I was an annoyance, but then his look changed into one of anger.

Quickly, I turned around and rushed over to the desk that said, Registration and Student Services.

I could feel someone staring at my back as I rushed to the desk. There was a kind-looking older woman who wore dark glasses and a pencil stuck in her hair sitting behind it.

Taking a deep breath, I told her what I needed and as she turned around to grab some paperwork and brochures for me, I finally realized what Kana had been trying to tell me. “Go back, go back now, he’s a wolf!”