The week of the 18th to the 31st I will be taking a break from posting my main story. I start my second year of college, and I want to give myself two weeks to get use to my classes. 

I will be back on 9/4.

I already have the scheduled chapter ready so no need to fear. I just like to make edits, and I feel in these two weeks I will have very little control to do so. But as a 'sorry' and maybe even a 'please don't forget about me' I will post short stories related to this book, and I will update those during breaks. Look out for that, and I will have more details on that as I'm preparing to take that break. 

But, hell, that's two weeks away, and we're here today!

I love you, and I will never try to disappoint you.

Playlist: 

San Dimas High School Football Rules by The Ataris 

Stressed Out by Twenty-One Pilots 

I Miss You by Blink-182

Heartbeat by Childish Gambino

----

"I shouldn't have agreed to go." Abe sighs out the window of the bus.

I lean over my homework I'm trying to finish early, so I have more time to do my last-minute packing. "The problems when you don't have any other friends."

"I have a lot of friends." He looks at me, offended. "So many that your head would explode."

I laughed. "Like who? And don't say Alfie and Dex."

"Excuse me, I said your head would explode and I don't want that."

"Are they going to pick you up?" I briefly glance up before getting back to work.

"Uh, no. No one likes going down my road."

"I wonder why."

"I'll walk up and wait at the end of my street."

"Why don't you come over to my place?"

While Abe laughs, I look up at him. "You don't mean come over and do the meeting with the parent's thing?"

"Yes? They know we're friends."

"Do they though?" He drops his devil may care attitude. "I mean, it doesn't seem like you want people to know we're friends outside of this."

I glare at him. "Come over for dinner, have your overnight bag, you'll see it's not weird."

"Okay," a slight grin appears on his face. "I don't normally agree to meet the parents until after me and the girl-" I slam my book close, as the bus came to a stop.

"Okay, never mind." I shove everything into my bag and shoulder it.

"Oh no, I was kidding." He gets up with me. "Vidal, I was joking, I would love to meet your mom and dad."

I shake my head and get off the bus. "Had your chance, and you blew it, Woods."

He takes me by my hand, and pulls me gently towards him, almost into his chest. His face is right above mine; I could smell the woods strongly on him again. "Hey, I promise no jokes like that tonight. I'll be on my best behavior." He reaches out and pushes a strand of hair out of my eyes.

"Wear something nice." I breathe out in a whisper.

He smiles, his voice crackling low, as he leans in so close, but that damn smile gives him away. It's all a joke. "Deal, should we seal it with a kiss?" I turn away and walk away from him. "Last joke, I promise!" He calls after me.

"Be there before dark, don't forget about the curfew!" I call over my shoulder.

When I get home, I open my homework, and finish it quickly, then go into my room and begin to pack. For the two nights away, I pack for four days, something my dad had instilled in my head at a very young age, my backpack bulged from all the stuff I had seem too essential to leave behind. I pick up my room quickly, with the impossible off chance Abe might come up and see it, then took a fast shower, blow drying, and styling my hair all before my mom came home.

"Hello Mom, you look beautiful today." I beam at her as I go into the kitchen.

"What more could you want? You're going to New York when I shouldn't be letting you out of my sight." She looks confused on why she had even let me.

I change the subject quickly. "My friend needs to get picked up with me and is going to have dinner here, if that's okay. I took out enough chicken before you panic."

"That's okay, who is it?" She asks, shifting through the mail.

"Abraham Woodman?"

She drops the mail on the counter, looking up at me. "He's going with you guys?"

"Yes?"

"Any other boys I need to know?"

"No, I swear it's him. He's really close with Charlie and Harper. I know Charlie's mom hates him, but Harper's family loves him. He's really nice, you need to give him a chance, he's not like his dad, I swear. You always say to give someone a chance, and here you are judging Abe based on his crazy dad."

"And what about your dad?"

"Hope there's a lot of traffic, and misses us?"

My mom sighs heavily, dropping her head. "Thea."

"Please mom, I really like him."

She looks up at me, studying my face. "You two aren't dating? Are you?"

"I don't think so? Not yet, but that's why I wanted to talk to you about this."

"We did talk about this."

"No, you talked about it without giving him a chance. You told me you wouldn't tell me who to or not to date."

"Fine, but your dad is going to absolutely lose it." She takes the chicken out of the sink. "Why the hell did I agree with this?"

It was Wednesday when she did. I have to share my Saturdays practices with a group who might quit after one day with him.

We did our laps in the now warmed pool as our cardio, then we were to move on to dummies. I was swirling my fingers in the water, watching bubbles go around in circles, waiting for Milo to give the okay to get out. He was talking about new strokes he wanted me to learn by next lesson, but with no pool, and no interest in doing homework outside of school, I let him rant.

"Are you even listening to me?" He sighed after a long pause.

"Nope." A single bubble stuck to my finger in its lazy twirl in the water.

"How do you expect to learn if you don't listen? Your attention span rivals a fruit fly."

I laughed, looking up at him. "Thank you for that."

He floated over to me. "How are you doing?"

Bewildered, I shake my head. "What? You want to know how I'm doing?"

"Saturday was harder with the other kites, I can't give you the attention you need, and this is the first time I've had the chance to ask."

"You've never asked me before." I smiled at him.

"Nya asks, and I thought now that Levi left that I should."

"Nya is still here." I teased.

He made his way to the wall, pushing himself out of the water. "Forget it. I hope you remembered a towel; you can't use mine."

"Wait, I'm joking." I swam to the wall and pushed myself out. This time I was in a pair of my brothers' swimming trunks over my bikini and an old t-shirt, I didn't want it to be awkward this week. "I'm doing great, actually. Thank you for asking. How are you, Milo?" I couldn't stop smiling at his attempt.

"Am I a joke to you?"

"Only sometimes." I picked up my towel. "But I do want to know how you're doing, now that you're in charge."

"Doesn't matter, I do what I do to keep people safe and alive."

"But how are you?"

He ran his fingers through his hair. "You're impossible, you know that?"

I laughed. "All I'm doing is asking how you are, like you asked me."

"I get it. I won't ask anymore, drop it."

"That bad, huh?"

"Drop it." He turned to me; his eyes are bright.

I held up my hands, still smiling. "My bad sorry. I won't be here on Saturday; I'm going to New York this weekend."

"And why do you think this is a good idea?" Milo was rubbing his hair with his towel.

"I'm going to meet the baby of my friend's brother? When I moved here, we drove through New York, I would love to go see it." I pulled the wet t-shirt off my body, replacing it with a baggy sweatshirt, the plan was to change in Nya's room.

"Wait until things are better when this threat is over. Why are your parents letting you go?" He pulled a shirt on over his body, sticking to his torso almost immediately.

"Well, they didn't say yes. It was a 'we'll see', but I was going to remind them like the day before."

"No." He started up the tunnel.

"You're not my mom." I ran after him. "You can't tell me no."

"She's going to say no, and when she does, remember I agree with her, and will not compel her to say yes."

"Milo!" But he kept on walking, heading in the direction of the main house. "Milo!" I yelled again.

"Are we yelling at Milo?" Nya asked as we came out of the closet door.

"He's not letting me go to New York this weekend."

"For overnight?"

"Yes."

"Oh, then I agree with him."

"Thanks Nya." I looked back at him. "Don't you think it would be best if-"

"I think it's best to keep you here, where we, as a collective group, can watch over you."

"We won't even be in the city at night, we're going to be staying at a house in Columbia County."

"I think you should be nearby though, right Milo, while Levi is gone?" Nya looked at him. "Right? He wouldn't let her go."

Milo's gaze suggested he was plotting after my revelation about our absence from the city. "Maybe..."

"No, maybe!" Nya stepped in front of him. "Levi will burn you for this."

"Maybe," he said, louder this time. "maybe it's best to let you go. If you're in a crowd, with friends, and in by dark. They won't know you have left, it might actually be safer for you this way, and we can try to flush out the danger. I can have a few people head to New York and stake out there until you leave."

"We don't have the manpower!"

"We do if I send some of the nonworkers." He considered her. "Think about it, we can make it seem like she's out unprotected while she's actually safe several states over. We need clothing, and a blood sample, if that's possible. We can't let the others know about this, probably Nik."

"You sound like a mad person." Nya turned to him in disbelief. "We cannot do this, it's a crazy plan."

"You're not realizing what it can do for us, it can give us an upper hand."

"You've lost your mind."

"We'll protect the house, compel the family, make sure it's safe for them. Guerrilla warfare is a very powerful tactic."

"Just because you want to..." Nya cut herself off, glaring between the two of us. "This is unfair when Levi hears about it." She turned, whipping her hair at us as she does.

"Nya, wait." As she walked down the hall, Milo called after her and she turned back to us. For an instant, I thought he'd actually going to realize how rude he was being and apologize to her. But of course not, it's Milo. "Can you call Nik for me? tell I need him here? Thanks."

I felt the room shift as Nya stares him down. "Bite your damn tongue." Milo eyes glazed over, and I watch as his jaw twitched as he does her demand, then he snapped out of it, spitting a glob of blood on to the floor. He glared up at her, fresh blood dripping from his lip. "Call him yourself." This time, she slammed her door closed as she entered her room.

Anxiety gnawed at me, dreading the moment when he would lose it, but he dragged the back of his hand across his blood smeared lips, mumbling in a different language as he began his pace. "Does she do that often?"

"What? Compel me? Let me use your phone." But I tilted my head in a disappointed look, and he sourly pulled out his phone and pressed it to his ear, never stopping in his steps. "No, it takes too much of her energy to compel even me."

"What do you mean, even you?" I observed at him, the strength he holds not in his body but in his mind was pure power, he was someone I would never assume was easily controlled. But he held up his hand to stop me from talking.

"Hey, it's me. I need you to come here and bring whatever kind of phlebotomy you have." He hung up without another word, I'm pretty sure Nik was even trying to ask him why. "Workers are strong beings. It takes a lot of energy to control a kite, but she's stronger than me because she can work where I can't do any kind of work."

"I'm impressed that you'd ever admit someone is stronger than you." I badgered. "Especially Nya."

"It's why I won't let her use her work. Yes, what she has is convenient, and yes, she can always fall back on it. But what happens when she runs across another mind worker? Or someone like you?" He took me in, slowing his pace. "Or you know someone stronger."

"Thank you." I grumbled.

"I, on the other hand, I need to work on being strong to make up where I lack. There's always been an imbalance of power, and most nonworkers give in to it."

"Nya said you'd say that."

"It's what I believe in. I have come across many workers, many nonworkers, and I can let you guess who holds a higher power in the community, in the entire race."

"That's sad." But I thought about it. "Well, not for you because you're an asshole, but for other nonworkers."

"That mouth of you astonishes me at times." He stops his movements and wiped his lips with the hem of his shirt.

I take a step closer to him, and his eyes lift up to me, his lips still parted slightly. In the dim hallway, his bright eyes seemed to see through me, understanding my unspoken words. There was that damn connection, as if I could perceive his thoughts, feelings, that hunger. I find myself surprised that I need to even ask. "Can...can I ask you something?"

Before his response, the door to the interconnecting tunnels opened. "You rang?" Nik stepped through the door.

"I need a blood sample from the human." He stepped away from me without a glance back at me.

"Here?" Me and Nik said at the same time.

"Yes, at the table is fine."

"Of course, you want him to draw blood at the kitchen table." I playfully teased, walking by him as he elaborated to Nik on his plan, and we discover our way to the chairs.

"Are you sure you want to use her blood? Won't that complicate things?"

"She bled outside the night of the fight; they probably tasted her already." Milo said from the hallway still.

"Got it." Nik pulled out a sterile needle. "You're the boss, are you going to stand over there?" Milo hesitated briefly, but then joined us at the table, sitting across from me. I extended my arm out to Nik, he tied the tourniquet around my arm, after he pulled on gloves he felt around in the crook of my arm. As he cleaned it, I spared a glance at Milo. He glanced down at his folded hands on the table, and I startled as the needle pierced unexpectedly. Even at a distance, I noticed the redness in his eyes before he closed them. "There, one vial will do?"

"Yeah." Milo's words came out quickly. "one, that's fine."

"Anything else?" Nik asked, pressing a cotton swab to my arm.

"No."

"Here you go." He held the vial out, and tentatively Milo reached out for it, the blood returning to his eyes. Nik recoiled at this, press the vile to his chest. "Better I hold on to it, don't you think?"

I expected Milo to get angry, maybe even attack, but he calmly lowered his arm to the table. "Yeah, that's fine."

"Are you okay?" Nik leaned forward. "Is there anything you need to tell me?"

"No, that's all." He shoved himself up from the table, ending the conversation.

I turned to Nik, noticing his eyes darting between me and Milo against the wall. "Alright, then I'll be out tonight on patrol. You should get home soon, before curfew." He got up, directing the last bit to me. It was nowhere near sunset, but he disappeared back into the tunnel, leaving me alone with him.

"Are you okay?" I watched Milo.

"Tonight, I'll put it in your parents' heads to let you go."

"What's wrong?"

"Nik is right, you should go." I opened my mouth to respond, but he left the room.

After everyone slept, I completed a paper due soon and switched off the light. I looked down at my doorknob, and before I turn to my bed, I locked it. The intense darkness in my room left me uncertain if my eyes were open or closed. Only listening was possible. If he had come by then, I didn't hear him. Sleeping is the best option; I anticipated a simple compulsion, yet I felt fear, or perhaps excitement, for his arrival. I couldn't help but imagine my doorknob turning, or a knock at the door, and whatever tension breaking between us, blood in his eyes. But as the hours passed by, the feeling waned into tiredness. Soon my mind drifted, and I find it harder and harder to stay alert. Just as the blanket of sleep wraps me in a warm embrace, I think I heard a creak in the floor, right outside my door.