Page 38 of Shadow Wolf
Who was I to judge him?
Chapter25
Clare
It had been a week since everything happened. A week of Vicki calling me nonstop and me ignoring her. My parents found out I was failing and called the dean. I was to go back to Colorado and pass my classes. I had all of summer to do so, I had no idea what my parents did to pull these strings but I would take it. I would rather be at college than here.
I didn’t want to come back to Port Willow after all. There was nothing for me here. A house that was empty more than it was full. Parents who judged you on everything you did or said. I would rather be stuck studying something I didn't want, than be back here anymore.
When I got back on campus it was already late in the day when the taxi dropped me off. Vicki wasn’t in the dorm room. Maybe she knew I was coming and was avoiding me. I looked online to see where I had to get started with the classes. I logged in and blinked a few times. I had seen this a few days ago and it wasn't like that. All my grades had changed. I had no idea what had happened. They weren’t my grades. There must have been a glitch.
I stared at it for a long time before I sought out to speak to one of my professors who I knew was on campus late. He seemed surprised that I was going to stay back over summer. One said that I was one of the brightest students in his class and I deserved the break.
I walked slowly back to the dorm in a daze. What the hell had just happened? I stopped at the little bush and my heart dropped a little… Bagheera wasn’t here either. He was the only real thing in my life and I didn’t have him anymore. I dragged myself away. Feeling sorry for myself wasn't going to change anything.
I was nervous to see Vicki. Did she fake the whole friendship too? She obviously knew all about me, and I had no clue any of this was happening. I slowly walked the steps up to the room we shared. Hoping she wasn’t back, but then wanting her to be there so I didn’t feel anxious about what was going to happen, what would we say to each other. I wanted to get this over with tonight.
I opened the door and I could hear voices. As I got inside the room we shared, I could see it was Vicki and Jade. They were sitting on Vicki’s bed, watching me as I entered the room. I dropped my bookbag down on the floor beside my desk and took a seat on my bed. I took a deep breath and faced them both. Waiting for someone to speak first, because I was either going to cry or yell if I did, and I had done enough of that already.
It was Jade who broke the silence. She coughed and shuffled to face me directly.
“Hi Clare, How are you doing?” I raised my brows. How did she think I would answer that? She quickly added. “With all of this, all thesupernaturalstuff?”
Vicki, who had always been the bubbly, outgoing one of the two of us sat still and quiet and I didn’t like it. It wasn’ther.
“Fine.” I replied, how was I supposed to reply to it? My ex boyfriends were all shifters, and a vampire took my memories and my roommate…
“Are you a vampire?” I asked Vicki. Her brows rose and she chuckled.
“Ugh, god no. I’m not some midnight lurker who drinks blood. Gross.” Now that was Vicki, but midnight lurker… Mr. Donovani was our teacher in high school. He was in the sun, he drove to school. I had seen him once get out of his black old school car. It was loud, but looked so cool. I had told my dad once that I wanted one like it. He turned his nose up at it.
“Wait, they come out in the daytime too, right?” They both nodded and I held my chest letting out a deep breath. At least my roommate wasn’t a vampire.
“Yes, you can get day walkers too. It's a bit rare, actually.” Jade replied.Rare?
“How so? The one who took my memories was in the daylight.”
“So, what I know is they can walk in the daylight when they have a witch, or a mage cast a special spell. But to get to day walker, they are usually protecting that witch for many years. Some for a hundred years. It’s a very powerful spell so a witch usually leaves it as the last one they ever make, as it takes so much power it can drain them of all their powers. And a witch without her powers… dies.”
I looked between them. There were witches? What the fuck, my head was briming with questions.
“Witches are real? Like the real deal?”
Vicki’s grin grew and she flicked her fingers. The lights in the room went out, I gasped and looked up. I watched as tiny sparks like fireworks came down from the light fitting, filling the room with a yellow glow. Until I heard her fingers click again and the light returned, the spark gone and Vicki winked over at me.
“No way. This whole time you could do that?”
She wiggled her brows at me with a sly grin.
“I’m a witch, Jade is too. I’ve wanted to tell you for so long. The day I first met you I knew instantly we would be great friends, I felt so bad for lying to you. You can ask Jade, I told her I couldn't do this. That's why she was the one to report back to them. We had been paid by Jett and Mekhi to watch over you, protect you. Jade would ask me how you were each day, I would tell them you were fine. She let them know.”
My mouth dropped open. That wasn’t exactly what I was thinking she was going to say when I walked in here. My roommate was a witch. I knew that she had something to do with Jett and Mekhi but I didn’t know she was looking over me.
“I’m so sorry, Clare. Really. I have never had a friend like you and I never wanted to hurt you. Could you ever forgive me?”
Her big blue eyes were pleading, but I knew the moment she explained it all to me, I would. We would have never met if it wasn't for her coming here and protecting me.
“I forgive you… But you almost didn’t protect me.” I pointed to her, and shook my head. Her brow furrowed as she shook her head.
