SYDNEY

Sydney was never one for skipping school. Even when she was sick, Rachel or her father would have to convince her to stay home, arguing she needed to get better so she could go back 'full force.'

Waking up the following morning though from the night before and exhaustion of yesterday's events anchored down on her body like a weighted blanket.

After much debate she decided today was going to take a personal day. There was way too much at school that she wasn't ready to face. Having shared a kiss with Mat last night was equally heavy on her mind as it was learning of the pain he had undergone over all the years unbeknownst to her, on top of his sharing lineage with Jay.

Trying to convince Rachel that she wasn't dying was a difficult task though. Sydney just explained she was learning to see reason in taking a personal day, especially since she had been staying late at school, so she wasn't going to fall behind in anything.

She knew that Rachael was more on edge with this out of character behaviour especially after witnessing Aaron shift away from them after their father's death.

Swearing it was just a one time thing Rachael still seemed sceptical, so instead Sydney caved, saying she was getting things in order for a small day trip she was going to be taking with Jay the upcoming Saturday, not that Sydney really needed to. That quickly changed Rachael's tune and she pulled out three twenties leaving them on the counter before giving Sydney a kiss on the cheek and rushing out the door to head to work at the architecture firm.

With her sister taken care of, Sydney cooked two omelettes, one for her and one for Aaron. His green eyes went wide with surprise as he turned down the stairs into the kitchen to see her still home. He whispered his thanks gobbling down the food, before excusing himself out for the day.

Finishing the rest of her breakfast, she noted the silence filling the house without her siblings there. Her eyes found the family photos lining the dining room, and she couldn't help but miss her father more in lonely and confusing times like this. What she wouldn't give to hear his lofty steps down the stairs and deep happy voice wishing her good morning, followed by his bear hugs and his dad jokes.

Outside the rain started to pick up and clean the day. Despite some people thinking they needed to match the gloominess of the day, dampening on the emotion of the day, Sydney always found a calming and soothing.

That was till her eyes found her phone. Eyeing it nervously, she knew to keep Jay and Mat at bay so they wouldn't show up banging on her door, it was in her best interest to send them both a text.

Mat had simply replied saying he understood, to be safe, and to know that he was only a phone call or text message away.

Trying to deter Jay from coming to her door was a little more challenging undertaking. Seeing as things ended on a fairly good note the evening before between them, Jay saw this as an opportunity to spend the day with her getting her more familiar with the werewolf secret and just to protect her.

She ordered him away, claiming that she had some family matters to tend to and she needed to get things squared away before their trip that Saturday to the Enclave. Jay yielded but asked if she needed anything from school because he planned to stop by in the afternoon, as long as that was all right with her he quickly added.

A small smile spread across her lips with the kindness and thoughtfulness of Jay. She replied that she was looking forward to him stopping by and would appreciate him checking with a few of her teachers for any assignments.

The one thing working in her favor was that Jay would have practice after school. It would give her time to sort out her thoughts before confronting him about the knowledge Mat had shared with her.

Cleaning up the kitchen she quickly clambered up the stairs and changed into it outfit consisting of jeans tank top, thick cardigan and put on some cute little booties before grabbing mid thigh raincoat, and then grabbed her purse along with her wallet snatch the keys from the bowl near the front door and headed out into the rain ready to go downtown.

The sheets of rain across her windshield wipers was of an average temperance, not enough to cause difficulty while driving, but the mellow drifting of the rain reverberated a nice pitter patter on the exterior of her Jeep all while blanketing the mountainous area giving a pleasant smell to the wet mulch and dirt of the forest around them. The forest split and brick buildings with variously colored shutters and cast iron ornaments decorated façades came into view. Pulling her Jeep off the main road she parked on slanted parking spots and hopped out of the car into the rain.

At the front of the destination, she made her way up the gray water slickened steps, the heels of her boots made small thuds as she proceeded up them. At the top, she used her sleeve to pull open the wet door handle and immediately the beautiful aroma of coffee and books circled around her.

Sending a small smile to the librarian manning the desk on this Thursday morning, Sydney proceeded towards the java shop off in the opposite nook of the entrance. She'd been here thousands of times throughout her life, it was a place that she deemed comfortable, much like a warm blanketed hug accompanied with the soft whispers of a few people researching and the occasional young toddler and their parents coupled with the lovely smell of books enjoyed by many people.

She would usually find herself here late to study when her family was being rambunctious, she would be here coupled with Emery studying for the ACTs it Sats. On occasion Mat would accompany Sydney just so she wouldn't be alone.

Today she was on a different mission though. The far-fetched idea she figured the best place to start research would be the library even though the profound idea of simply being able to type in the keyword werewolf and find out anything of actual substance here seemed far from likely.

She ordered a warm white mocha saying hi to older women who were in their late 20s running the counter and the coffee machines.

"Taking a personal day to enjoy the rain?" the girls laughed and demanded Sydney take every personal day she could before adulthood saying she'd never get that privilege again except for every once in a blue moon.

Internally, Sydney couldn't help but envy their mundane sounding lives as mature women. Deep down, she knew she wasn't likely to have that path ever since she stumbled upon the insanity of this new world in the forest discovering not just wolves but that her best friend had a secret brother and was secretly abused by his community.

Distracting herself while waiting for her drink to be brewed, she saw she'd gotten a few texts from Megan and Emery double checking on her for her out of character actions recently. They offered to bring her soup or anything comfort food related during their lunch break. Sydney overwhelmingly realized how much she had neglected her two friends and hoped they didn't think she was chickening out of the prank. In the grand scheme of everything that didn't even rank as a stressor anymore.

She enjoyed the background noise of the bell dinging alerting customers coming into the cozy atmosphere of the joint coffee shop and library in the background. It was when somebody came to the stand rather close to her that she looked up and shockingly noticed the man, Logan, from after school who had stopped by looking for Mr. Greg.

The memory rung in her mind, Jay's words about how suspicious her was meeting with him right before being attacked.

"Oh," He feigned surprise looking down at her, "Fancy seeing you here." One of the baristas signaled his beverage was finished. He stepped forward and grabbed the beverage giving her a handsome smile before stepping back in line with Sydney. Popping off the lid she saw the stark black liquid, explaining how he got his drink before her. He took a sip and continued to keep an eye on her while doing so.

Sydney quickly weighed her options whether to just go back to staring at her phone waiting for her drink or offer the strange man her attention.

The decision was made for her,  "Aren't you supposed to be in school?"

Maybe I'll just ditch the drink and run.

Her nerves were beginning to grow unsettled. "I'm not sure you should be asking me that," she said somewhat surprised by the bravery she found in her voice.

He laughed and raised his one hand innocently as if surrendering, "Sorry, I guess it's a little strange of me asking a high school girl why she's not in school."

Sydney thought to herself that's exactly why that made their situation creepy, assuming his own words would hint at him to leave her alone. Her fingers were itching to pull out her phone and text or call someone and let her know her whereabouts were just in case something was gonna go sideways with this man, but she couldn't do that without obviously raising suspicions with Logan beside her.

Yet he didn't seem to get it or seem to care since he continued on, "I find it odd though honestly to see a girl who would spend her time after school preparing for Mr. Greg's class to be skipping out of school on such a dreary day."

Her eyes narrowed on him, but she knew better but still felt attacked by his words blackening her trustability and reliability. Refraining from giving anything away though she kept what she hoped was a blank face, then brought her attention to the barista indicated her drink was finally steamed to perfection.

His eyes flickered over her, seeming to note the missing book bag or usual supplies a student would need. "Alright Sydney, I'm going to get right to the point, I don't think you're a fool, and despite not particularly liking the soon-to-be alpha or animal spirited in general, I refuse to allow some belligerent neanderthal to senselessly attack the innocent without retribution."

Shocked, she stumbled backwards, but Logan saw this and grabbed a hold of her elbow to prevent her from bumping into a pair of chairs behind her. Smiling at the baristas, he led Sydney way and deeper into the library.

"So, I'm assuming you're skipping school to better understand what's going on. You were probably going to the religion and mythology section, pull out some titles that caught your interest then casually flip through them taking note of the table of contents and index looking for any keywords that would pique your fancy, only to find after flipping through maybe a dozen or so books how foolish it was to hope to discover the truth behind a lores and legends you probably don't even believe in."

It sadly had been exactly her plan when she arrived at the library. Embarrassment flooded her cheeks, but yanking her arm from his grasp she redirected that energy into a glare.

"Again not that it's any of your business what I do, but you'd better stay away from me, I'm going to call Jaycen right this second and you-"

He rolled his eyes, "Jaycen can't help you with what's going on."

"Is that a threat?! Cause I'll have you kn-"

Logan's hand slapped over her mouth, she was about to scream, "You're drawing attention to us you idiot." He yanked her into a row of books, away from the raised eyebrows. "No, that was not a threat, I'm merely explaining Jaycen doesn't know what's going on with you, but I do."

Pulling away, she stumbled into the row of books, "And you can help me how exactly? Don't you think it's suspicious how you show up right before I get attacked? Why should I trust you?"

He sighed, "I know, I know it doesn't look good, but that had to happen. Nature deemed it that way."

This startled her, "What way? How could you possibly know what Nature wants?"

"And that brings me to why I'm here Sydney, you and I are the same. We are the messengers and vassals of Nature."

"No, I'm not part of the Enclave-"

His arms crossed smuggly, "Nor am I."

"But, wait-"

Eyebrow cocked up, "Why don't you just shut up and listen to me explain." After ceasing her interruptions, he explained why he had been following her and what he was claiming they were. "We are not a part of the Enclave, the Enclave is just a group of worshipers to Nature who were finally deemed devote enough to occasionally receive messages from Nature. You and I are members of Nature's Expanse. We are a collection of Pure Souls, or White Souls, we are sometimes called. We are the vassals of Nature." Sydney had threatened to intervene in this nonsensical talk, but his sharp glare halted her. "Think of Nature as God and us It's Angels."

"But I've never done anything magical in my life."

Logan considered this, "While our definition of 'magical' is different, you have done your share of Nature's mission and will continue so."

Exasperated Sydney asked, "And what exactly is Nature's mission?"

His broad shoulders shrugged while he gave her a look of derision, "That I don't know. But for now I have been tasked with guarding you, and educating you when necessary."

"You didn't guard me against..." The mixture of hurt, anger, and an attempt to provoke him blended in her voice.

A look of regret crossed his face, "I was commanded not to intervene."

Anger tangled in her belly, and she threw out an agitated hand gesture, "So Nature, who has this big bad plan for everyone, wanted me to be almost murdered, and still expects me to just go with the flow of life? That sounds real fucked up if you ask me."

His chest puffed out as if it was his instinctual reaction, "I won't apologize for following orders."

This made Sydney snort frustratedly and begin to turn away, "I am so done with this Nature nonsense, it's complete and utter bullshit. Everything I have heard that Nature has 'deemed necessary' has been horrible and wreaked so many lives."

"Sydney wait." His large hand clasped her elbow, "You might think that now, and that's fine, but everything will piece together the way it was meant to. For now I'm here to aid and protect you."

Spinning back to meet the taller, more muscular man head on, she hissed, "Yeah, but protect me from what exactly? I was fine until I met you and was attacked!"

He groaned and looked up, " Nature you are trying me so." His eyes met Sydney's again. "There are other forces at play here, this animal spirited, Elliot, attacked you as a war against Jaycen. I am here to prevent anymore harm from befalling you."

"You just said that Elliot was 'meant' to attack me, now you're saying he's acting on his own?"

"Yes, unlike the Enclave and us, Nature lets people act out on their desires, and merely weaves us in or if necessary will intervene in drastic times."

Her temples were beginning to ache, "This is too much."

His exhalation was audible to her. Then his hand left her elbow and gently rested on her shoulder, "It is. I'm sorry all of this is happening right now. I will help in whatever way I can."

"Or that 'Nature deems necessary,'" The words came out bitterly.

While he looked provoked, this didn't stir him to reply.

Taking in her own deep breath she stepped out of his reach, "So what exactly do we do as 'Nature's Vassals?' You said our definition of magical is different."

Logan stepped back and stuffed in hands in his pockets, "We do have magic, we can craft and manipulate elements of Nature like water, earth, air, fire."

"Are you saying we're fairies?"

He barked out a laugh, "You're going to be the new jokester of the crew I can just tell." Crossing her arms, Sydney wasn't a fan of his joke. Logan saw this prompting him to roll his eyes, "Calm yourself Little Fire. If that helps you understand the power we have then yes, we're similar to fairies, but we are not as whimsical as they are depicted."

"Like I said though, I've never controlled anything, I don't have any magic."

"You've also never had any training or knowledge either, but that changes now."

Sydney mulled this over,  "So then I don't need to go to the Enclave then? Do I just tell Jay everything you said?"

Pursing his lips he shook his head, "You may tell him if you please, but you will still go with the soon-to-be alpha to the Enclave, it makes them feel useful. Nature wanted you to couple with the animal spirited, even if there are a handful of savages amongst them, and what better way to get to know him than a road trip."

That she could agree with, but the idea of being probed for no reason made her uneasy. Still, just like with Jay, she also couldn't blindly accept this information Logan was feeding her and a second opinion on everything would help settle her.

Not that she felt she could truly trust any one person's words.

The image of Mat flashed in her head, her usual go to person with everything, but then the sensation of the kiss pressed forward, making her insides turn.

"So unless you have any more questions, do you still need to conduct your hopeless research here or should we start training your magic?"