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┏━━━━⋆.˚ ᑣ𐭩 .π–₯”Λšβ‹†β”β”β”β”β”“

A PLACE TO HIDE



BY NIGHTFALL, NO ONE HAD HEARD ANYTHING FROM NELLY.

The girl hadn't returned home, and her phone had been coincidentally discarded by the forest's edge. At that point, it had been almost ten hours since her family assumed she left to blow off some steam; but they thought she would've been back by now.

Evidently, she hadn't, and so Tabitha enlisted the best group of people who could help: the pack.

Sam was the first on the scene with Embry just a beat behind, the others gathering and using the Greene residence as their headquarters. Michael was undoubtedly confused by their conversations that were filled with code words and code names, but he let them do their thing.

Embry wanted to tear him apart, the man's nonchalance over the situation was grating on his every nerve. It was almost like he just wanted Nelly to return so they could leave, which the Call boy knew was the reason for his imprint's disappearing act.

They spread out at first, travelling in duos, but her scent was everywhere, circulating within the air on the reservationβ€” tainted with a sickening sort of sadness that made Embry's stomach churn.

He returned from his scouting with his head hung low, fists clenched at his sides, when Grandma Greene approached him by the back door. The old woman never let anyone see her down, but even Embry could tell she was worried. Everyone knew that Nelly could handle her own, she was one tough girl, but was she an equal match against a damn mountain lion?

"We've checked everywhere," he stressed, hands migrating to his head to tug on the strands of his cropped hair. "The beach, the Connweller's place, shitβ€” Paul even went to the school. Nothing, and yet I can smell her in the mountains."

The woman looked out to the swaying pines, a faraway look in her eyes. "The Greenes have always been tied so intrinsically to this place, just like the Blacks have," she told him, a sigh escaping her lips. "When we hurt, the land is the first to see it. The first to react."

Embry's frown deepened. "The land makes the hurt known," he posed, though it wasn't really a question. "That's why it seems like she's everywhere, all at once. Nell's probably hiding in plain sight." Tabitha nodded, knowing Embry got the idea.

"The land must have led her somewhere," she suggested, eyes raking over the treeline in thought, "somewhere safe."

The Call boy was combing through the memories in his mind, searching for a place that Nelly would either intentionally or unintentionally seek out.

One place had him swallowing around nothing, made him roll his shoulders back with a newfound urgency.

"I think I know where she is."


˚ ᑣ𐭩 .π–₯”Λš


The clearing in the dark looked much more different than it did when the daylight would shine through the tall trees.

Burial sites were scattered around him, some with stones and names while others went without. Flowers lay everywhere, traditional offerings at each grave. Without his enhanced vision, he knew he wouldn't have been able to spot the figure slumped against a newer, yet oh so familiar headstone that was jutting out from the ground.

There she was, the girl who'd been missing for well over half the day, with her body pressed against the stone that displayed her brother's name. In hindsight, this should've been the first place anyone checked, but the dispersal of her scent had effectively thrown everyone off course.

Embry approached his pyjama-wearing imprint like he would've approached an alley cat, with slow steps and bated breath. She was as still as a statue with her eyes were closed, albeit a little puffy, but the steady rise and fall of her chest assured him that she was asleepβ€” not dead.

Though, when he reached her and crouched just before her curled up body, her bloodshot eyes snapped open. For a split second, it was like she wasn't seeing him at all, her eyes unfocused and frantic all at once. Slowly, he watched as Nelly finally registered him there, her fingers shakily reaching out toward him.

He sat on the ground in front of her, arms outstretched, and that was all she needed to see before she launched herself into his lap. Almost immediately after her head was secured in the crook of his neck, the sobs began.Β 

"Everyone's worried sick," he told her, his chin resting atop her head. "I was worried... you can't run off like that."Β 

"He can't make me leave," she whimpered, ignoring his words. One of Embry's hands migrated to the back of her neck, and it would've grounded her on any other occasion. But not that night. "I– I can't leave Tate here."

"He wouldn't be alone," Embry told her, and all it did was make her drive her head deeper into his bare shoulder blade. "I'd come by everyday if you wanted, to keep the little man company. Your mom and grandma would do the same, I'd bet."

Nelly shook her head. "That's different," she vehemently denied, pulling her face upward to look at him. And shit, Embry felt himself frown at the disheveled sight in his lap. "When I chose to stay with our dad, Tate followed me; not because he wanted to go back to Lummi, but because we've never been apart."

"And he didn't want to start that up now," he concluded, earning a defeated nod from the brunette.

"He coughed up his own wants just to appease me, all of the time. He was such a good kid," she murmured, voice being carried by the onset of rolling wind. "Sometimes I wish the universe took me instead."

His hands found purchase on both sides of her face. "Don't ever say that," he muttered, shaking his head before it fell forward, his forehead touching hers. "What happened to your brother was awful, but don't ever say that."

"What am I supposed to do, Em?" she growled out in frustration, reeling her head from his grasp. "He's gonna take me from himβ€” from you! Do you know how bad it's gonna be for us?"

Embry had been thinking of that, though he didn't say it aloud. If the distance between them on the reservation was enough to make Nelly suggest their one-hour hangouts, how would the distance between them make them feel if she was across the damn state?

A phantom ache settled in his chest, and he closed his eyes. Embry couldn't give her the answer she wanted. "Let's just take a breather, yeah?" he offered up, knowing that both her emotions were anything but settled.

Yet without even looking down at her, he had a feeling she was frowning. "We can't stay here forever."

No; they'd have to face the music.


⋆.˚ ᑣ𐭩 .π–₯”Λšβ‹†

[ wyn's note ]

this scene came to me in a literal dream, and i woke up and immediately left myself this note in my drafts:

*embry finds nelly at tate's grave, sorrows sorrows prayers

two more chapters yall! tears in my eyes as we speakβ€” the end is near!

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