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Chapter Quote:
"What are you even doing here?"
~Calla Tor
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Chapter 34

Elsa

Anna and I sat in my room watching a movie on my laptop. Technically Anna had her own room but she hated being alone so she shared mine. After all she'd been through I couldn't blame her but I hadn't realized how used to being alone I'd gotten. I felt terrible when I thought of how I sometimes missed the alone time I'd had.

Halfway through the movie she fell asleep. I wasn't tired so I stayed up but I also didn't want to stay in my room. I opted for a walk around the Academy. Carefully I got up and slipped out of my room, careful not to wake my sister. She never woke up in the middle of the night so I wasn't worried she'd wake up to find me gone. I went straight to the garden where I was surprised to find Josilyn. She was sitting on the bench in front of the fountain, reading a book.

"Hey," I said. "Mind if I join you?"

"Hey... Elsa?" Josilyn replied.

I laughed. "Yeah, it's Elsa."

"I'm going to have to get used to figuring out who's who again. Speaking of the two of you, where is Anna?"

"She's asleep. I wasn't tired so I chose to go for a walk. How are you doing? I feel like I haven't seen you at all."

"I'm okay. It's weird not talking to you every day."

There was something in her tone that told me there was more to what she was saying but she wasn't saying it. "It is. I'm sorry if I haven't been talking to you much with just the two of us. Being with the Hunters has really screwed Anna up. She hates being alone. As long as she's with someone else she's fine, but she tries to stick to my side as much as she can. It's weird having her back. I love it, I just keep expecting her to be gone one morning and find out it was all just a beautiful, wishful dream."

"She's here to stay Elsa. I know you won't let anything happen to her and neither will the pack."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Are you okay? You've been acting different ever since Anna got back."

Josilyn sighed. "Please don't be mad at me when I say I'm worried that with Anna being back, you're going to forget all about me. I mean this is the first time we've really talked since she's been back and it's been a week. I just... I just don't want to lose my best friend."

I took her hands in mine and said, "Anna was- is- my other half. After she 'died', you were the closest thing I ever had to having another half. I don't know what would've happened if I hadn't had you to help me get through Anna's death and Caleb's departure. I owe you so much and you don't even know it. There's no way for me to repay you for all that you've done to help me, but I will spend the rest of my life making sure you are always okay, no matter what the circumstances are. I could never forget you Josilyn. You're my sister."

Josilyn's eyes filled up with tears as she pulled me into a hug. When we pulled away, I asked, "Has Hunter talked to you yet?"

"No... he won't even look at me Elsa. I don't know what to do," she admitted, burying her head in her hands. A plan started formulating in my head at how to get them back together.

"Josilyn, do you trust me?" I inquired.

"Of course, what kind of question is that?" she responded instantly.

"Okay, stay here. I have a plan to get you two back together. Text me if you need anything but this shouldn't take long." Giving her an affectionate rub on the shoulder, I darted out of the garden to the dining hall where a bunch of Searchers were gathered around the fire, exchanging stories, swapping jokes, and chatting about this and that. I was searching for a certain person in particular: Kit Lane. Son of Sabine and Ethan. I found him on the other side of the room staring at his phone.

"Hey," I said.

He looked up, smiling at me. "Hi."

"I need your help with something. You game?"

"What is it?" He shoved his phone back in his pocket and stood up.

"I need your help getting Josilyn and Hunter back together."

He squinted his eyes at me. "All right."

I grinned. "Awesome. Plan Captain Swan is in motion!"

"Captain Swann?" He repeated, following me out of the room.

"Pirates of the Caribbean. You know how Will ended up being Captain and then Elizabeth's last name was Swann and how she and Will were madly in love with each other but did nothing about that until like... the last movie? Well that's kind of what's happening between Hunter and Josilyn right now."

"That sounds more like you and Spencer to be honest."

"Shut up." Kit simply laughed.
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Anna

When I woke up, Elsa was gone. Panic rose in my chest but I reminded myself I had no reason to be afraid. I was safe at the Academy. I had a family again to protect me and a sister I knew who would never let anything happen to me again within the power she had. And whether I liked or not (I didn't), there was always Dom. I knew he had my back. I tried not to think about him though.

Deciding sleep wasn't going to come easily now that I'd been awake for a few minutes, I decided to get up to go see Ember. I wanted to get to know her more but that'd been difficult between splitting my time between Hunter and Caleb and not telling Hunter why I was spending so much time with 'Stark'. I don't know how Elsa had pulled this off for so long, not slipping up to her family that Stark was Caleb. Mom and dad had briefly mentioned Caleb but I could tell it was almost a taboo subject with them, especially mom. She got the really depressed look in her eyes, even if it was only a fleeting glimpse. I'd been trained by the Hunters to read emotion (among other things) so I could definitely tell how much Caleb's absence hurt her. My feelings towards Caleb were mixed, as they were with Hunter. Why couldn't Caleb deal with Hunter's words? Why did Hunter keep bringing up the past? Why hadn't he been able to let it go?

When I knocked on Ember's door, she answered immediately. After a couple blinks, she said, "Anna! Sorry, I had to figure out if it was you or Elsa. What's up? Everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just wanted to talk to you. I didn't wake you up did I?" I replied.

"No of course not. I'm not a night owl like Elsa but I stay up late too. Come on in!" I entered the room and my sister shut the door behind me. "So what did you want to talk about? You and Elsa have the same expression when you need to ask a question about something that's bothering you."

The two of us sat on her bed as I explained, "Elsa told me that Caleb ran away and she told me he and Hunter fought a lot but she never went into detail and I haven't asked Hunter because I think his answer might be biased and I don't want to talk to mom and dad about it because I can tell the memory of it still hurts mom. I wanted your side of it."

Ember gave me a sad smile. "I won't sugarcoat anything. Can you handle that?" I nodded. "All right then. When you died, mom and dad went on a rampage against the Hunters. They wiped all of the ones in Colorado out. They were gone completely. Our house was solemn for a good year. None of us laughed much. Elsa was the worst, which I guess is understandable since you two were twins. She never told me this but I'm pretty sure she knew when you'd 'died' faster than any of the rest of us did. I don't think she knew exactly what happened to you but I'm pretty sure she felt something that day. She barely came out of her room for weeks. She barely ate. The only people who could talk her into doing stuff was Caleb and mom. On occasion dad could. But Hunter and I, it was like we didn't exist to her. Elsa ignored any of our invitations to go out or to do anything with us. Hunter and I became close during that time. Caleb was closest to Elsa. I remember hearing her waking up screaming for you and screaming about Hunters. Caleb, even though he was the furthest away from her room, he was always the first to her room, cradling her in his arms and sitting with her until she calmed down. After a while, Hunter and I just never went up. Caleb was there every time for her. Even mom and dad let them be although I would hear them come up every time, they'd leave a little while later because they knew Caleb had a hold of things. As for what drove Caleb away, it was a multitude of things. He was never the same after it. Not only did he almost die the same day you did, but he saw them cut your throat which as you've explained, was a trick by the Hunters. There was this guilt, this burden on his shoulders, that he carried twenty-four-seven. He never forgave himself for what he let happen to you and neither did Hunter who was brutal in his accusations. He was always telling Caleb he wasn't fit to be alpha after what happened. Elsa and I were always caught in the middle. She always took Caleb's side but rarely showed that. I remember one time, Elsa and Caleb had been dragging a deer back to the compound and a mountain lion attacked them, injuring Elsa pretty badly. Caleb got the mountain lion away and carried Elsa back to the house where Hunter demanded what happened. When Elsa explained, Hunter said that Caleb was unfit to be alpha because he couldn't protect one pack member, let alone an entire pack. He said some more stuff that I don't remember but Caleb responded with that everything Hunter was saying, he'd already thought of it himself to which Hunter replied it should've been Caleb who died instead of you. Caleb said he thought of that too and thought about it every day. After that he went upstairs. Ran away a few weeks later. He only took his laptop and some clothes and a duffel bag. He left no note, never called, never emailed, never sent a letter. He just... vanished. We spent weeks searching for him until dad finally decided enough was enough and that Caleb obviously didn't want to be found. That didn't settle well with mom. Her relationship with dad became very strained. Loren was the only one seeming to get through to her which prompted both dad and Melinda to think that maybe the two were having an affair at one point. But they weren't. Loren was just trying a different tactic of getting my mom to agree to what dad had said. Dad had told the pack that the searching for Caleb was meant to stop, and anyone who continued, it would be considered treason. We listened."

Ember stopped talking and I stared at her in shock. My death had led to so much hurt and pain in my family. It caused my brothers to become estranged from one another. It caused Elsa and Ember to be caught in the middle of stuff they didn't want to be in. It caused a massive fight between mom and dad. My death had been a domino effect in my family. A death to fighting to running away to another fight. Although I knew I had no control over it all, I still felt guilty that I'd caused all this. My main worry was Elsa though. Despite my sister's ability to act like she was all right, I knew there was more she wasn't telling me. Whether it was because she didn't think it was important or she was too embarrassed to explain, I didn't know, but I wanted to.

"How did Elsa handle losing Caleb?" I queried.

"Terribly. Whenever I think back to those times, although I try not to, I just remember never seeing her. Much like when you died, she barely came out of her room. It was almost like a depression but she never told us anything, not even mom or dad because I know they would've told me and Hunter so we could help her. If anyone knows the extent of her grief, it'd be Caleb but considering no one knows where he is, that's kind of a dead end."

I tried not think of the fact that Caleb had been found and that he was much closer than anyone realized. My question is why hadn't any of them suspected that Stark was Caleb? Surely they found it suspicious that the Stark alpha never showed his human form in front of any of them?

Deciding to finagle the topic towards that, I asked, "Elsa seems like she's been okay for a while now though. What helped her move on?"

"After your death, it was tae-kwon-do. After Caleb left, it's been dance. She also threw herself into her schoolwork and homework and any other work she could. I think her method of not thinking about you or Caleb was by distracting herself with other things. She was rarely not doing something. So that was her coping mechanism and she seemed to get better. And then about a year ago, she met Spencer. That was really when she began to change. I noticed her smiling and laughing more and at first none of us knew why. We just thought she was really happy. I mean we'd heard of him because he was the only human in dance and Estes Park not afraid to talk to us but we didn't put two and two together about them. He even bantered with Thea and Riley when they were clearly trying to put him in his place. I guess it makes sense why he didn't back down since he's Guardian but we didn't know it at the time. According to Elsa, he and the Starks have been through hell and back. All of them were adoptees. She didn't go into detail but I can tell the reason they were placed with Michael and Elaine Stark was not a good one. Michael and Elaine were Spencer's real parents but he never knew that until the day the Hunters killed them. They hadn't been able to afford him financially when they had him so they gave him to the Searchers. When they could again, they took him back but didn't tell him at first because they thought he was too young to understand. But then they never told him because apparently Spencer had always had this anger towards his parents and the Starks wanted him to love them for who he thought they were rather than for who they really were. Callie, his girlfriend at the time, knew too. He said some things he didn't mean and left. Caleb ran after him, Lily went to go help at a wedding at their hotel business they own. While those three were gone, the Hunters attacked and blew up their house, almost exactly like what they did to our southern compound. I don't remember that and so I doubt you do. But on a lighter note, Spencer's the reason Elsa's changed. They bonded over their similar experiences and I think they helped each other."

"What do you think of the Starks?"

"Why? Haven't you met them?"

"I have. I just don't quite know what to make of them yet. I wanted other opinions," I explained.

"Oh, well, I'll start with Spencer since I know and like him best of the pack. He's sweet and he was rather shy at first but I guess he's much more comfortable around our pack now so he's really come out of shell. Also I think he's beginning to move on from the death of his family. Then there's Lily. I don't know her well. She's very blunt from what I've gathered. She seems nice but her air of superiority ticks me off. I know she's an alpha and all but her superiority seems to be an attitude. At least with Hunter it's because he's extremely protective of the pack. And then Stark, I don't know what to make of him. I like him because he is very protective of Elsa and he cares for her a lot, but then again he's also the reason she got into so much trouble and he has a lot of influence over her for a reason I can't figure out. He's very aloof and elusive. He doesn't eat whenever our pack does. He only eats in his room. If any of my pack sees him, it's as a wolf. Only Elsa knows what he looks like outside of wolf form. I think I saw him once in human form but that was when the Hunters kidnapped Elsa, Josilyn, and Sebastian so I was focusing more on getting to safety than getting a good look at him."

"They were kidnapped?!" I exclaimed. "Elsa didn't tell me that!"

"It was a little bit before you came. There has literally been so much going on that I'm sure it slipped her mind telling you. And just... remember that ever since you've been gone, Elsa has turned into one of those people who keeps everything bottled up inside. She's probably still in the habit and she's so exhilarated that you're back that she probably doesn't want to ruin the mood by telling you anything depressing. I wouldn't worry about it, okay?"

"Okay... thank you Ember. I really appreciate you talking to me," I said, standing up.

"You're always welcome to talk to me." My big sister pulled me into a hug and said, "I'm so glad you're back. I missed you."

"I missed you too," I responded sincerely, wrapping my arms around her. God it felt good to have a family again. I left my sister's room and decided to go back to my room. Well, more like Elsa's. I hated being alone in my room. I hated being alone in general. When I got there, Elsa was back, sitting on her bed and scrolling through something on her laptop. She looked up the second I stepped foot in the room.

"Hey, where'd you go?" she asked.

"I went to go see Ember. I wanted to talk to her, get to know her some more. What about you?" I sat cross-legged on the foot of her bed.

"I couldn't sleep so I went for a walk. I'm also waiting for Josie or Hunter to text me saying they're finally back together. I implemented a plan to get them back together because I'm tired of seeing them miserable without each other."

I smiled. "So Josilyn and Hunter, Thea and Riley is in the works, Dmitri and Gracie, Noah and Ember, and the others are still single?"

"Correct. My bet is that Oliver and Laurel will get together first. He's been trailing her around like a lost pup recently. No pun intended."

"What about you? Who are you into?"

"A guy I can't have," she laughed. "Not only is he leaving once this war is over but his ex-girlfriend also just came back from the dead."

"Sounds like Spencer."

"You would be correct."

"Elsa, any guy who would go with you in the middle of the night with thirty minutes notice to go rescue your thought-to-be dead sister is either family or he's in love with you. Since he isn't family, it has to be the latter."

"I never said he didn't like me back, and we were willing to try and long distance relationship after the war maybe but now that Callie's back, it's different."

"Why are you putting someone else's happiness before your own? Let alone a girl you don't even know?"

"Because it's easier for me to solve other people's problems than my own. Like Hunter just texted me saying he and Josie are back together. I saw their problem and I fixed it."

"What exactly did you do?"

Elsa grinned and was about to explain when someone banged on our door. We glanced over at the door, then at each other, and back at the door before getting up. Elsa opened the door. Barry stood there with his hands in his pockets.

"Hey you two, there's an emergency meeting in the foyer. Some Guardian just showed up," he explained.

"A Guardian? What kind?" I asked as we started heading to the foyer.

"Wolf. She's beaten up really badly but she's conscious. Seems to know Stark and his pack but she's not saying much."

I felt Elsa stiffen but Barry didn't notice. My sister asked, "Do you know her name?"

"Uh... Carly or Candy or something like that."

"Callie?"

Barry looked at her. "You know her?"

Elsa grimaced slightly. "That's Spencer's ex-girlfriend."
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