Ruby tried dragging her shower out as long as possible, she hated the thought that downstairs she had a pack of teenagers arguing over something or other. She wasn't even sure why Salix was here, he obviously didn't want to be and didn't like the team that had been assigned to this job.

Her rib still hurt but was already starting to mend itself.

Throwing on a simple outfit, Ruby pulled her hair up into a messy bun then went downstairs to see what sort of chaos there was. Though surprisingly when she did come down the house was quiet, Ben was in the kitchen cooking dinner. Salix, Jonah and Yeva were all sitting at the table.

She could still see the tension in Jonah's shoulders but Yeva wasn't murderous.

"So?" Ruby asked as she came to a stop at the doorway, no one looked like they were willing to offer any more answers but Ruby wasn't going to budge on the subject.

"We're really sorry Ruby..." her eyes narrowed when Yeva went to offer an excuse for the earlier chaos, though on seeing Ruby's expression she clamped her mouth shut and said nothing further. Ruby might have lost in a sloppy fight against Hollis but she was known for being brutal when the time came if need be she would be brutal with her colleagues.

"We're going to start physical combat training again, ya'll are going to drive me nuts if you keep going at each other like that." Ruby was going to use it as a reason to hone her fighting skills, realizing that she could explain away her poor fight against Hollis and it wouldn't mean anything to the warriors of the pack.

Yeva celebrated the news with a fist bump, she was vicious when she wanted to be. Salix's expression remained the same, neutral. Ruby hated that particular expression of his, it didn't give her anything to go on, but she was also still contemplating sending him back to Mirithia in exchange for someone else.

Ruby knew that Jonah didn't need combat training, he was hulked out like some muscular god and had years of magic under his belt. He would be able to defend himself physically and magically with ease but Jonah also seemed enthusiastic about combat training, if the wide, satisfied smile on his face was anything to go by.

"Aw man! Do we have to?" Ruby rolled her eyes as Jonah laughed, of course, Ben would complain about it.

"Come on Ben! You need to get rid of that beer gut anyway, dad bods are not as attractive as people say these days." Yeva did have a point, Ruby thought. Ben had added a little weight over the last few months, she wondered if it was on purpose or life has just gotten in the way.

"Yes Ben, we have to. Besides, you won't be able to run far or fight for long if you don't start training now." Ben didn't offer any more arguments but instead looked down at his stomach with a frown on his face, he patted it a few times before shrugging.

"Yeah okay. I'd rather not have a repeat of last time," Ruby wondered briefly which 'last time' Ben was talking about but held her tongue as she let the idea settle in. Oliver was quiet, she assumed he was okay with training...the next step was figuring out how they were going to do it. She couldn't ask Jonah to disguise an area for them as his magic was likely stretched to its max capacity, then again he could always transfer some to the other warlocks that had arrived.

"We'll start with just us for now, human form too and no extra bits added. We'll add the others in as they arrive." There were a few groans but Salix still hadn't reacted, it was unsettling Ruby to think he actually enjoyed the thought.

"So I take it from the bruises on your face that you lost a fight and need the rest of us, namely me, to whip you into shape?" There it was, the biting remark she had been waiting for. Ruby had to close her eyes and take a deep breath to stop from yelling at or murdering Salix. Where had her kind Salix gone?

"Absolutely." Still, with eyes closed, Ruby leaned against the breakfast bar and wondered how she was meant to tolerate the idiot.

"Anyway, if we're done being petty and immature we need to go over your guy's profiles. Yeva I know you gave me a basic rundown earlier but give us the full details, you two Salix. We don't want any slip-ups if you're both starting at school tomorrow." Ruby was beginning to dislike this mission and Salix the more she sat around him, he was such a sour and unpleasant type that she wanted to run away.

But once Ben was done cooking dinner the six of them sat around the kitchen discussing plans, Salix was Yeva's older brother Mali. He would be in the same year as Ruby and Oliver while Yeva would be in the year below them, her slight size meant she could pass for someone a little younger than Ruby, Oliver and Salix.

"Okay, so now that we have your profiles out of the way we need to work on our schedules. Jonah and his team have been following leads around town, nothing much has been turning up. Jonah, I'm putting you in permanent control of that team, you make the calls for them from here on out. Just report back weekly, for now, we still have no leads on the woman and who killed her, right?" Ruby asked, it had only been a few days but she assumed that something would have turned up by now. The longer the days stretched out the more she wondered if this really was someone as old as the wind.

Just the thought of wind made Ruby shiver with the memories of what happened the other night.

"Still nothing, sorry boss. You might need to recruit that time walker to help us out." Ruby cringed, she hoped to keep Topher out of this side of things for as long as she could but Jonah had a point. They needed someone to time walk to the moment the woman was taken.

"He's naive, you know what sort of trouble a time walker can get into." She saw understanding in Jonah's eyes, Ruby knew he'd understand. He was a time walker after all and had rescued several time walkers before, though there was also the rare exception when others could not be saved.

"There's no harm in asking him, if you're going to p*ss around the bush like this through the whole assignment then we're f*cked." Ruby snapped her attention to Salix, there was being direct and then there was Salix.

"You've been here all of five minutes and you think your opinion counts for something? Do you know the situation and the people involved? Have you been here long enough to comment on anything other than how much of an absolute *sshole you're being? Because you are and I'm getting really f*cking sick of it, so either shut your mouth or change the tone, got it?" Ruby didn't wait for a response, she was done dealing with Salix for the night.

"We're done for the night, Yeva you're Kenia now so we'll all refer to you as that. Salix you're Mali so the same goes for you also, school starts at 8 am in the morning. Oliver, have you found your car yet?" Ruby didn't like the way Jonah, Oliver and Ben suddenly avoided looking at her.

"Uh yeah, found it at the bottom of the swamp." Jonah piped up, trying to hold back a laugh as Ruby looked at Oliver in shock.

"That has to be a record, you only had that car a few days. Jonah, can you work your magic on it? We don't want or need to all squash into the few vehicles we have. Take it back to the body shop if need be, I'll pay for the repairs if I have to. Oli I swear if anything else happens to that car you're walking for the rest of the assignment." Jonah nodded his head, Yeva raised a hand. Ruby laughed, it seemed so odd for Yeva to do such a thing when she often said whatever she wanted whenever she wanted.

"I actually have a motorbike arriving in a few days so you don't need to worry about me squashing into anything. What? Don't look so shocked, it goes with the damaged image. Girl with a motorcycle...wait, is that legal here?" Ruby had no idea what was legal in small-town America but she was sure that a 16-year-old student would look totally out of place on a motorcycle.

"You'll have to check but I'm pretty sure you need to be at least sixteen to drive here...unless you have a license from a state or country that allows you to drive from a young age. Luckily that can be arranged for you easily enough! So if you get onto it now you should have a license before the bike arrives." Yeva nodded and Ruby looked over at Jonah, just to make sure he'd heard her earlier question. After giving her a quick nod, Ruby carried on.

"Okay that's it," Ruby went up to her room after concluding the meeting. She had a feeling that meetings further down the track were going to take a lot longer than that one did.

Ruby headed to her room as soon as the conversation began dying down, she knew the others would likely sit up for a few more hours. She would too but had other things to think about and organize, everyone would have to fend for themselves when it came to sorting finer details out.

'He's coming.'

Ruby jumped, it felt as if someone had stood right next to her ear and whispered it. But when she looked in the direction there was nothing there, the thought that someone had penetrated Jonah's magic unsettled her but not enough to seek Jonah out and question him.

"Hey girl, I know you're probably tired and all. But I'm not sleeping on the sofa, I hope you don't mind sharing a bed? Seriously, I don't snore anymore." Ruby scoffed when Kenia's voice echoed down the hallway, the day she stopped snoring pigs would fly and the sky would turn pink.

"I swear if you're lying I'm going to throw you out the window." Kenia's answering laugh was enough of a truth teller for Ruby. Kenia was lying, Ruby was too. She wouldn't throw her out the window but she would throw pillows at her until the snoring stopped.

"I'm serious Kenny...I'm calling you Kenny FYI. If you snore so much you keep me awake I will murder you. But you can have one end of the bed, I'll have the other." Ruby tried to make it sound like she was doing Kenny a favour when it was the other way around. If someone else was in the room and Ruby had another 'visitor' she was sure that Kenny would be able to help her, she was fierce and protective.

"Whatever Ruby, we both know you'll end up on the sofa." Ruby groaned, she was right. Ruby was far too considerate of others and would take the sofa while Kenny took her bed.

"Get some sleep, this high school business is hard." It was and as Ruby drifted off to sleep that night she could still hear the whisper echoing in her head.

After tossing and turning for what felt like a few hours, Ruby forced herself to settle down. "Thank god, go to sleep. Your tossing and turning is keeping me from snoring." Kenny mumbled groggily as she yawned.

The next morning both Kenny and Ruby went to school in bad moods, they showed up to breakfast barely conscious. Ruby wouldn't say anything but she'd been having nightmares all night, they were nightmares that hadn't plagued her sleep in years and were suddenly back with a vengeance.

"New girl! Why don't you sit with us at lunch today?" Ruby looked at Kenia with surprise. They had decided to meet up during one of the switchover periods, both were going to skip their next class so that Ruby could catch Kenny up with everything they knew about the school.

"Whatever!" Ruby was sure it was Kenny's new favourite word.

The troubled student seemed to do well as Kenny hadn't had much sleep and was often the worst person to be around when that happened.

"You know that was a warmer reception than Oli and I ever got?" Kenny laughed at that but it was true, Ruby had been given a once over glance and barely looked at again. She kept telling herself that she didn't mind but seeing Kenny being accepted by the human children so easily brought memories of her own childhood flooding back.

"Anyway! Lay this plot on me thick and fast, what are we playing with?" Kenny asked once they found somewhere secluded and quiet to sit. Ruby still thought it was a little exposed but they could see in all directions but were still hidden from sight.

"There's a very low population of magical folk in the town when I say low I mean only about six or seven. I haven't yet identified them all but I know they're not part of our team...as extended as it is. There's a population of shifter wolves, they're the Caversham Swamp pack. Their alpha is a time walker and also my history teacher, he is aware of what we are and seems to be capable of processing information quickly and with an open mind. Jonah seems to think there is another pack across the Clearview river but he hasn't had any luck approaching them yet. He seems to think that pack and Topher's have some sort of beef." Ruby spoke in low tones and in a language that only Yeva could understand, it was an older language. One that human ears hadn't heard in generations, it was often spoken in Mirithia so both women were accustomed to it.

"Topher, I don't think I've seen him yet. Though I also don't think he's my history teacher unless the school is that small that he teaches several grades. Okay, I've got it, do you want me to do a flyover this afternoon? I came with my charmed things so Jonah doesn't need to charm anything for me." Ruby shrugged, she was sure he would cover a few grades with history. Hillcrest wasn't that big so surely if there weren't enough students Topher wouldn't be employed full time.

"Who knows, anyway we better get going before someone comes looking for us." That was the last thing Ruby wanted, making excuses again.

But as they left the area something caught her eye, when she turned to look properly there was nothing and no one there. For a moment she wondered, had they been watched the whole time?