I wrote so much yesterday holy moly. I really want to introduce Jason though lol also I know it's not Wednesday so this is a special update ;)
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    I must of taken like three different naps (interrupted by Peri) before I woke up and all of a sudden in was late afternoon.

"Where are we?" I asked, still dazed.

Ryan glanced out one of the windows. "Dunno, there's trees. Does any of this look familiar?"

"Me!" Peri called out.

"What?"

"I look familiar, get it?"

I stared at him for a second before I got the joke. I smiled softly but shook my head and he puffed out his feathers proudly. Staring out the window I noticed the sun was blazing though the forest almost horizontally. It was pretty late.

"Uh..." I started. "I actually don't know."

"I hope we haven't overshot your Pack." Eryan realized.

Ryan lightly patted the bus. "Something tells me this magic bus won't let us."

All of a sudden, as if the bus had hear her, we slowed down to a stop. Oratio, who was sleeping, began to roll towards to front of the bus and the momentum withered away. It was kinda funny.

It didn't take long to spot the platform. "Hey, wait a second. I do recognize this place. It's the bus stop Neve took me to when we went to the Capital."

That wasn't the best memory but I was relived to see something familiar. My heart began to ache as I thought about how close I was to home. My real home. The bus stopped and the door appeared again. We grabbed whatever small bags we had and stepped off.

"What is Kosmos name is that." Ryan declared, pointing her knife defensively at a...oh.

I snorted. "That's a pinecone."

"Are they...dangerous?" She asked, still eyeing it when I picked it up.

"I mean, if you throw it at someone hard enough it can hurt." I shrugged.

She blinked once then snatched it from me. "I love it."

I grinned, instead of remembering this bus stop for the moment Neve practically kidnapped me I can remember it for Ryan and her pinecone antics, problem solved.

"Come you guys, we're so close! I can't wait to introduce to my mom!" I said excitedly, balling up my hands and jumping slightly.

Peri flew off into the forest in the right direction and we fast-walked after him, Oratio jumping out of the bushes periodically. It was about thirty minutes later I saw the huts in the distance, with my heart pounding wildly I led our group around the outskirts until we reached mine.

    I threw open the door ready to explode. "Mom! Mom where are you?"

    There was a bang and my mom's head of frizzy black hair appeared from the other side of the fire pit. She looked around wildly until her eyes landed on me and grew to the size of fishnets.

    "Craig?" She gasped, running over and scoping me up and squeezing me. "Sweet Spirits, Craig! What are you doing here?"

    I was so happy I forgot how to speak for a moment. "We ran away! We didn't want to stay in Agrios and you guys weren't responding to my letters so we got worried and-"

    "Hold on sweetie take a deep breath." She giggled. "Your hair's green! That's new, I like it. Did you say you seen us letters? I never got any..."

She trailed off and frowned. "Neve...I'll talk to her when she gets back. Did you say we? Who else-?"

I blinked. "Oh yeah!"

I ran over to Ryan and Eryan who were kinda standing awkwardly off to the side and threw an arm around Ryan. "This is my sister! Her name is Ryan."

Ryan weakly waved yellow and my mom held up a hand to her lips and laughed again. "Hello! I'm so glad to meet you."

"And this is Eryan." I finished. "She's tagging along."

She shook both of their hands. "You can call me Lily, or Ms. Ainwir, whatever works. I'm so happy Craig's made some more friends, for years it's just been him and Felix."

"Mom." I groaned, even though I was still smiling. "Where is Felix by the way? Is he doing alright?"

My mom's ecstatic grin suddenly faltered and a sorrow look came over her eyes as she laid a hand on my shoulder. "Oh Craig I'm sorry."

A knife of sudden terror embedded itself in my gut. "What do you mean?"

She rubbed her forehead. "He was really upset after Neve took you and nobody was watching him. There's nothing we could have done."

I squeezed her arm unconsciously out of panic. "Where is he?"

"At his hut, but Craig listen to me first honey." She took my hand in hers. "We found him unconscious at the Summoning Circle. He hasn't woken up yet."

"On his birthday?" I gasped. "What went wrong?"

She shook her head. "It was before he turned fifteen, it was early."

My head spun and the ground dangerously slinkied before me. "Early? I thought Neve said it would only work if you were fifteen!"

My mom bit her lip. "Neve lies about a lot of thing if she think it'll keep us safe."

I pushed her arm off me and started walking towards the Chieftain's hut. "I have to go see him!"

"Craig!" Ryan called out, I heard the thump of her sandels behind me.

I opened the door and immediately went up to Felix's bed, Ryan following. Only he wasn't there. I glanced around the room, everything was neat and untouched, and absent of Felix.

"Where is he?" Ryan asked, picking up on my confusion.

I poked my head in the other side, he wasn't on Neve's bed either, or in her work room. He wasn't in the hut at all.

"I...I don't know." I said, wheezing as I struggled to control my breathing. "What kind of joke is this?"

I sunk to the floor, tugging on my hair and just about ready to cry.

"Whoa, Craig. Calm down, it's alright okay?" Ryan said softly. "Maybe he woke up, just to see you."

That made me feel better. I took a deep breath just when I heard glass shatter from the direction of the door. The two of us glanced up to see a woman standing in the door in a dark purple cloak, she had been holding a vile but it was broken now.

"Who are you?" She asked, her accent sounding rich and jungle-like.

"Who are you?" Ryan demanded back. "What are you doing in the Chief's hut?"

"Caring for the Chief son of course! I came here all the way from the South just to-" she paused, brushing a long strand of dark wavy black hair away from her face. "Are you Craig?"

My heart skipped a beat. "Yes? How do you know my-"

"It doesn't matter, you shouldn't be here. Where's Felix?" She snapped.

"I should ask you the same thing!" I shot back.

"I don't know where he is! Unless he's finally woken up and walked off, which is unlikely, I have no idea."

"It's not like someone just took him." Ryan pointed out.

The apothecary's eyes narrowed. "His muscles were degenerating from lack of use last time I saw him. He couldn't of walked even if he wanted to. He's been kidnapped."

"That's ridic-" I started before Ryan grabbed my hand and yanked me through the doorway, over the broken glass, and pass the woman.

"What was that for?" I asked, rubbing my sore arm.

She looked scared. "Did you see? Around her neck and under her hood?"

"No...?"

She looked me dead in the eye. "It was a snake, a big green one. Exactly like the one that chased us through the forest."

My stomach froze over from the realization. "That's...you don't think?"

"I do, I don't know who she is but that woman is dangerous." Ryan whispered huskily as we walked away. "I'll bet she has something to do with Felix's disappearance."

"You think she was acting?" I realized, feeling somewhat betrayed.

"Yes. Adults don't care Craig, they lie and act like it doesn't have consequence." She muttered sourly.

We shuffled back to my hut and opened the door to find my mom had made Eryan and us some tea. She looked up as we walked in and gave me a sympathetic smile.

"How is he? Any better?"

"He's not there." I explained, feeling shaky as I relived the last few minutes. "He's disappeared."

My mom blinked. "What? Where did he go?"

"We don't know. The lady who was there to presumedly give him medicine was acting shifty. She has a snake familiar and we were chased by the same snake just this morning. We think she has something to do with it." Ryan explained, picking up a cup of tea and drinking it bitterly.

I took one and sipped it gently. I wasn't sure what to do know. I still felt like crying because I wanted my best friend back and now he was gone again. If I had only been a little quicker maybe I could have at least seen him one more time.

"She is the same familiar we saw in the jungle, if that makes you feel any better." Peri told me, landing on my shoulder, I nodded silently.

My mom grinned softly. "Is that your familiar? Neve told me it was a bird but...wow."

"His name is Peri." I introduced.

My mom's wolf, Maude, perked her ears upon hearing his name. Peri started chatting with her.

    "You're beautiful Peri." My mom complimented. "Did you say you were...chased by a snake this morning?"

    "An emerald python." Eryan said matter of factly.

    My mom's face twisted up like she had eaten something sour. "Oh dear. I'm glad you've finally made it back here safely."

"We've got to leave soon though." Ryan announced, suddenly.

We all stared at her. "We do...?"

"Yeah." She said like it was obvious. "I haven't met Felix yet, we have to go find him."

"Do we have any idea where his is?" My mom asked. "You guys are just kids, we have authorities for this sort of thing."

"I appreciate your hospitality Lily, but we've already started something and we have to finish it." Ryan repeated. "We could find out more about the snake lady, she's our first suspect."

My mom still seemed hesitant. "I get it you guys want to help but this is super dangerous."

I thought for a moment. "She's right mom, we have to."

Ryan smiled at me, and my mom looked torn.

"Let's sleep on it. It's time for bed anyway." She decided. "I know I've got some extra blankets here somewhere."

"I agree with that, Oratio's already out." Eryan sighed, pointing down to her fox on the floor, who was curled up next to Maude, passed out.

"Yeah okay. Glad we could come to a compromise." Ryan nodded.

Maude suddenly glanced up at the door, and so did Peri, and Lucy. A small whimper sounded from outside.

"Don't open that door." Peri ordered, just as Maude let out a low growl.

"What's out there?" I asked, my heartbeat picking up again.

"A wolf."

"Like the one from the bus?" Ryan asked, talking with Lucy.

"A familiar wolf." Peri finished for me.

"So not like the ones from the bus." I hoped.

Peri didn't answer me.

"I'm seeing what is it. Maybe Neve's back or Kadyn wants something." My mom said, grabbing a staff anyways.

She opened the door and a small scrawny grey wolf walked in. It's coat was darker on the top, and it had dark and light spots brushing it's nose like freckles. It glanced around until it spotted me before collapsing at my feet.

"I've never seen this wolf before." My mom marveled.

The familiars still seemed uneasy. Maude had stopped growling but she was obviously still heavily ticked off.

Peri suddenly fluffed his feather as the wolf looked straight at him.

"His name is Matri." Peri blinked. "He's not talking though, it's freaking me out."

"He's a familiar right? Why wouldn't he be able to talk? His name is Matri guys." I translated for everyone else.

Peri didn't answer me, instead he flew up to one of the rafters and perched there, brooding.

"Are you going to answer me?" I asked him, with no reply.

I shook my head. "Why did Neve leave again?"

My mom started pulling out various blankets for everyone to sleep on while I tried to move the wolf on my feet. "She's been going crazy trying to find something to help Felix, I feel really bad for her. She's really pushed his needs in front of hers these last few weeks."

She looked up suddenly. "She going to loose her mind when she finds out he's disappeared."

I took the blankets from her, having untangled myself from Matri, and started passing them out. "You're right though, we can worry about that in the morning."

After a few minutes everyone was settled, and I was back in my old bed. It didn't take long for me to fall asleep. Matri stayed curled up at the foot of my bed the whole time.