The hunt for the wolf fairytale book was unsuccessful in the end.

When I'd asked Helmi about the book with children's tales about Pinewood the next morning, she knew exactly what I was talking about. But it appeared to be a sour topic for her. The Legends of Pinewood, as the inspired title of the book apparently was, was stolen several years ago from the library. They never caught the thief.

Of course I was disappointed but I could live with that. Helmi, on the other hand, ranted for half an hour about book thieves and how they deserved a life sentence in prison before I could escape. I only got away by mentioning poor Sean was waiting for my tutoring in the computer room.

When I got to the computer room, however, Sean wasn't the only one waiting for me there. Three tables away from little Sean, Aquila sat at a table with his arms crossed and a frown on his face. What was he already doing here? It wouldn't be his turn for 'tutoring' for another half an hour.

While I wanted to grimace, I made myself act civil and nodded at both Sean and Aquila. "Good morning," I wished both of them.

It was apparently too much to hope for that Aquila would stop showing up because there was no point to spending half an hour together in silence three times a week. It was also too much to hope that I wouldn't be the only one acting civil.

Aquila ignored my greeting (because why would he act like a normal human being for one?), and while I tried to help little Sean with his basic algebra exercises, I kept feeling eyes burning holes in my back. Whenever I glanced over my shoulder, Aquila was staring at me. It made it hard to focus on teaching Sean, but I did my best to ignore the staring since I didn't want to call Aquila out. I'd be talking to him soon enough, anyway. Not that I expected him to want to learn math with me any more than he'd wanted to learn English two days ago.

When Sean and I finished our lesson, Sean seemed happy to leave as fast as he could and get away from the weird, glaring student. I wished I could do the same. Unfortunately, the 'weird, glaring student' was waiting for me.

Sighing deeply, I gathered my things. I had an inkling Aquila wasn't going to move and come to me. I was right. When I looked at him, he was still sitting in the same position at his table, leaning back with crossed arms while staring at me.

"I suppose you're not actually interested in being tutored today, either?" I asked, settling myself in the chair opposite Aquila.

"No," Aquila replied.

"Alright, then I'm going to read," I said, taking my laptop out of my bag. Aquila followed my movements with his eyes and kept his gaze trained on me while I tried to select a book I wanted to read.

I absolutely did not understand this guy. I didn't understand why he insisted we met up, despite not being interested in being taught. I had no idea what the hell he'd been thinking when he'd brushed his shoulder against mine in the passing right after snapping at me, and I certainly couldn't focus on reading my book with him right in front of me staring at me like this.

I briefly closed my eyes in my exasperation, then turned to Aquila. "Are you going to keep staring at me?" I asked.

"That depends." Aquila squinted, as if scrutinising me. "I have questions for you, about hu— this town."

"Huh," I said. "Thought you hated it here so much."

Glancing at my computer, I mourned the loss of my precious reading time. But if Aquila wanted to learn, even if it wasn't math, Boris or his parents were paying me to teach him. So, I'd do my job. Someone had to behave like an adult here. I closed my laptop. "What are your questions?"

Aquila leaned in, resting his elbows on the table. "People really seem to like you and look up to you here," he said. "You have many friends and people who will take your word and listen to your advice. Why? You're not very strong, a good hunter, or a wise elder."

"Geez, thanks for that assessment," I said sarcastically. "You're not exactly a prize yourself. And those are not the criteria that make us decide who we like or dislike or who we choose to listen to, are they?"

Aquila looked at me like I'd just grown three heads. "If those criteria don't decide how you select your teachers, then how do you do it?"

It was my turn to stare at Aquila in disbelief. Why was I having this conversation with what was supposed to be an almost-adult? It almost sounded like Aquila came from a different planet.

"The people who become teachers went to school for it," I tried to explain. "And if you want to become a tutor like me to help your peers, you have to be exceptionally good at a subject and be interested and able to explain it to others. For your information, I am pretty 'wise'. I had straight As for everything in school."

As in school seemed to mean nothing to Aquila. He shot me a blank look, as if I'd just been reading out my groceries list to him.

I shook my mind and exhaled through my mouth. "Never mind that. Look, why don't you just try to talk to me and the other people here without immediately insulting them? I'm sure they would change their mind about you if you stopped, I don't know, growling at people and throwing their drinks away. And you could find out that the people here have plenty to offer in terms of friendship, even if they're not 'strong.' And you could find out Mrs. Bennett is actually very wise if you gave her a chance and stopped ignoring her."

Aquila scoffed. "I only throw coffee away, and I'm doing them a favour. They should thank me."

"Really? That's all you got from what I just said?" I asked incredulously. "Honestly, where did you come from? That coffee is thrown away and being a hunter is more important than schooling?"

"I grew up near Pinewood," Aquila replied proudly with his chin titled up. "And we have surely lived here longer than you have."

I snorted. "I'd say. You sound like you're from a secluded cult stuck in the middle ages, or a village from the Witcher, with your survival and your hunting."

"You know about witches?" Aquila's brows raised. "Maybe you are wiser than I thought. But, no, there are no witches in our village. They have their own settlements elsewhere."

I laughed, thinking Aquila was making a Witcher joke. He wasn't. At least, he wasn't smiling. My smile faded, too. "Please tell me you were joking... You do know the Witcher, right?"

Aquila gave me an impatient look. "No, I just told you they don't live in our village. I don't know any witches, no."

"I don't mean witches. I mean the show—" I opened and closed my mouth. "Never mind."

"I agree," Aquila said with a furrowed brow. "You're very confusing."

"I'm confusing?" I repeated indignantly. "You know what? Fine. Let's go back to silence."

"Fine."

Despite having a bizarre conversation that raised more questions than it gave answers, it seemed Aquila's curiosity was satisfied. He stopped looking at me, but he stayed in his seat while I opened my laptop to finally start reading.

Time trickled until half an hour passed and I was allowed to leave, which I'd gratefully do. When the clock read 8am, I gathered my things, told Aquila a quick 'bye' and headed for the door. But it seemed I wasn't quite yet done with uncomfortable conversations for the day. Before I could reach the exit, the door swung open and Mr. Murray appeared in the entrance.

Mr. Murray darted a nervous glance in Aquila's direction and attempted a smile at me. "Hello Xavier, I was hoping I could have a quick talk with you before you go home. I-if I'm not interrupting anything, of course."

Mr. Murray was paling right in front of me, and when I glanced over my shoulder, I understood why. Aquila frequently narrowed his eyes at me, but he really shot daggers at Mr. Murray with his gaze.

"No, we're already done, Mr. Murray," I said. "What's up?"

"Yes, right, uh, let's talk in my, uh, office."

Mr. Murray hastily gestured at me to come with him. I shot Aquila one last glance, then walked with Mr. Murray.

"You have that look in your eyes. Like you want to ask me a favour," I stated the moment we arrived at Mr. Murray's office.

With an apologetic smile, Mr. Murray clasped his hands together. "Yes, actually," he admitted.

I jutted a thumb over my shoulder in the computer room's direction. "That's fine, but do realise I'm still working on the last favour you asked me to do."

Mr. Murray let out a short laugh. "Yes, and I'm very grateful for that. And I'm happy to say this favour will be much easier. See, we planned an excursion into Pinewood's forests with the first graders tomorrow—we're going leaf and pinecone hunting for a crafts class—but unfortunately, Brielle got very ill. She won't be able to help."

"You want to go on a trip into the forest with a bunch of six-year-olds?" I asked, with one eyebrow raised. "Didn't you read my email? There are wolves near the town. I think we should really investigate that first. It could be unsafe for little children."

"Yes, yes, we know and we discussed your email with the volunteering parents," Mr. Murray waved away my concern. "It's very good that you warned us, but wolves aren't exactly known to attack people, are they? We're also going in the afternoon, so the animals shouldn't be too active. I'd be more worried if you said you saw a bear."

"This wasn't a normal wolf, though," I insisted. "It was larger."

Mr. Murray shrugged. "But it's still just a wolf. And thanks to you, we're warned now. I'm sure it will be fine, and the kids are really looking forward to the trip. We wouldn't want to disappoint them, do we? What do you say, Xavier? Can you help out tomorrow?"

I opened my mouth to protest, but Mr. Murray was giving me the puppy eyes, I knew the kids would be disappointed if we didn't go, and wolves weren't active during the afternoon. "Fine," I gave in with a roll of my eyes. "But only because of the kids."