Connected: Chapter 2 (Patreon)

Chapter 2

Abby

The knock on my apartment door had me flying out of my seat, dropping my steaming mug of tea on the table so fast I almost tipped it over. I hurried to the door, throwing it open and meeting the grins on the other side with a massive smile of my own. It wasn’t a moment later that I had my arms around Kyla’s neck, and even though we’d both rushed forward, she hit me harder, so that we stumbled backward into my apartment in the midst of the hug. Camille and Luna followed us in, and after the tight embrace with Kyla, I shifted my arms to Camille’s waist.

“Good to see you, too,” Camille grunted through the strength of my hold. She was teasing to play it off, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t hide the thoughts that she was glad I missed her just as much as I had Kyla, and her arms were tight around my shoulders.

“Stop putting on a show,” Luna said, closing the door behind her, “I know you missed me the most.”

I laughed and let Camille go, moving to give Luna a light hug. “I didn’t want to make them feel bad.”

“It’ll be our secret,” she released me, but kept an arm around my shoulders to lead me toward the kitchen. “Is that fresh coffee I smell?”

I let Luna direct me through the length of my one-bedroom apartment. The front door opened up right into the living room. I was on the first floor, so there was a sliding door on the left side of the living room that led to a small, fenced porch, and past that door was the open kitchen. There was another door on the right side of the open concept living space that held the bedroom and bathroom. It wasn’t much, but I couldn’t live in the dorms anymore since graduating high school, and getting my own small place was more appealing than moving in with one of my parents.

“That is fresh coffee,” I confirmed, pointing to one corner of the kitchen when we reached it. Throughout the minor cases we’d worked on before they left for California, they’d been forced to drink instant coffee whenever they came over here. It was about time I invested in an actual coffee pot for them. “I hope I made it right…”

“You really do love me,” Luna cooed, leaving me at the start of the kitchen to skip to the brew.

“Hungry?” Camille asked as she and Kyla stopped at my side.

I nodded and gestured to the refrigerator. “I bought everything you listed in your text and I’m ready for the best pancakes I’ve ever had.”

“On it,” she said, making her way into the kitchen to start throwing breakfast together.

“You want any help?” I asked. She shook her head, already half-lost in thought about ingredients and measurements, so I wandered over and hopped up to sit on the countertop, where I could see what she was doing but was out of the way. “How was the drive?”

“Long,” Kyla answered. She grabbed my tea off the table and brought it over to me, and I mouthed ‘thanks’ before she moved to the coffee pot.

“And boring,” Luna added, carrying her own drink to the kitchen table to sit down, “with those two passed out in the back.”

“She thinks we were passed out,” Camille said, “really we were laughing at her singing Disney tunes.” Kyla laughed as she finished making two cups of coffee and handed one to Camille. “Thanks.”

“Hey,” Luna said, pointing at Kyla with offense, “you’re the one who introduced us to those, and you were singing with me at one point.”

Kyla shrugged. “I couldn’t let you sing both parts of all the duets alone.”

“You mean you each sang one part?” I asked.

“Nope,” Kyla said, and she came over to where I was sitting on the counter, standing in front of me to recline against my knees. “We both sang both parts.”

I furrowed my eyebrows trying to picture the verbal overlap, and Camille glanced at me, saying knowingly, “It was a mess.”

From her seat at the table, Luna threw her arms out in show and sang in a booming voice, “It was glorious!”

I laughed, leaning forward just enough to set my arms over Kyla’s shoulders, stealing some of her warmth in the frostiness of my apartment. It was a comfortable slouch, but it was also an open kind of affection that months ago I never would’ve dreamed of executing, especially in front of Camille. Only, Camille had long stopped caring about pretty much every touch that passed between Kyla and me. It wasn’t something we ever talked about, and there were unspoken boundaries we all knew not to cross, but Camille didn’t blink at things like this.

The only way it fazed her anymore was that, every once in a while, I got the feeling she liked it. She never wanted to think about it, and I wasn’t sure if it was how she felt or if it was because of their connection and how Kyla felt, but sometimes a touch left her just as satisfied as it did Kyla. On a rare occasion, Kyla kicking her legs out over mine while we sat on the couch filled Camille with a subtle warmth. Or Kyla’s fingers toying with the cuff of my long sleeve shirt or a loose spot of clothing made Camille’s fingertips tingle. Or now, in the moment she finally looked over again and caught how close Kyla and I were, it put a spark in her stomach that was the furthest thing from a jealous kind.

And that was it, that spark before she remembered I could hear what she was thinking, and then she purposefully ignored it to ask the question she’d turned to ask in the first place. “Flour?” I pointed to a specific cabinet, and while she went to dig through it, she asked, “How’s school?”

Luna added, “Are you going to give us a tour of campus before the semester starts?”

“Sure,” I said. “Come on Tuesday, my last class ends at two.” They both nodded. “And school is great. College is so much more fun than high school was. I’m actually learning the things I want to be learning.”

“History things,” Luna stated with a cringe.

“I don’t know why you all hate history so much,” I chuckled. “It’s important.” Before Luna could get out a comment about how boring it was, I told her, “I don’t know how you’re going to get through a criminal justice degree.”

“By looking forward to a future of kicking bad guys’ asses,” she said. Then she nodded toward Camille. “The real question is how Cami’s going to get through a science degree.”

“Beats me,” Camille laughed.

“You are dating a science nerd,” I told her, patting my hand against Kyla’s collarbone.

Kyla hummed her agreement and teased, “We’ll work out your payment for study sessions later.”

“Gross,” Luna mumbled. She almost made a joke to me about being glad she couldn’t read Camille or Kyla’s minds, but immediately bit her tongue and tossed me the laughed thought of, I bet you like hearing those thoughts. I narrowed my eyes at her, and she set her teeth in a grin that said she was all too pleased with herself. I wished she’d never caught on that her teasing was somewhat accurate… But at least she’d stopped worrying about the affection between Kyla and me when she realized Camille didn’t care.

Kyla dropped her head back against my chest so she could look up at me. “Did you close that case you were working on? With the monster in the sewers?”

“You were chasing a sewer monster?” Luna asked.

“Literally,” I answered. “I had to throw away the clothes I was wearing because I couldn’t get the smell out.” Camille paused from her work at the stove to show me how her face had twisted with disgust. “Yeah, it was bad.”

“What kind of monster was it?” Kyla asked.

“Swamp imp,” I told her. “Nasty little things. Like humanoid foxes with red eyes and gray fur and teeth like a shark’s.” I pinched the side of Kyla’s neck for emphasis, and she giggled and twitched away. “They’re dangerous when their territory is trespassed on. It’s usually not a problem since they’re nocturnal and like to live in secluded swamps, but seeing as this one took up residence in the sewers under the busiest part of town…”

“Did it hurt anyone?” Luna asked, leaning forward to wait for every dirty detail.

"Dragged some lady's dog into the storm drain,” I said. “And mauled some worker doing maintenance down there.”

Camille turned with a spatula in hand to lean sideways against the counter. “What’d you do with it?”

“Moved it to Virginia Lake out near Portland.”

Kyla grabbed my hands and raised them triumphantly. “And saved the day!” 

Camille laughed and rolled her eyes, returning to the stove. “Food’s almost done.”

“I’ll set the table,” Kyla volunteered.

While she grabbed plates and utensils and Luna got up to help, I glanced over into Camille’s half-empty cup. “More coffee?” She nodded, and so I jumped off the counter to refill her mug. She was putting the finishing fruity touches on the last pancakes before flipping them over, and what I hadn’t realized until then was that she’d put banana slices into the twenty she’d cooked before. Only, for these last three, she dropped blueberries on top and then flipped with the deliberate thought that I didn’t like bananas. “How did you know that?” I asked, handing her the full coffee cup.

“What?” she asked in confusion, but then glanced at the pancakes with realization. “Oh.”

“Sorry,” I murmured. She didn’t like when I was in her head.

“It’s fine,” she said, looking at the pancakes again and trying her best not to act as shy as she suddenly felt for having noticed. “You remember we went to that waffle place before we left for California?” I nodded. “You ordered the fruit waffle, but asked for no banana.”

“And you decided that information was important enough to remember?” I asked.

“I guess,” she huffed amusedly. In hopes I wouldn’t notice the blush in her cheeks, she gestured with her cup and asked, “How’d you know how I like my coffee?”

I tapped my temple. “Mind reader.”

She squinted one eye at me. “Except I didn’t think about it.”

“Right…” And now my cheeks warmed. “Not this morning you didn’t.”

Camille turned back to the stove, smirking even though her face had shaded darker. “And you decided that information was important enough to remember.”

“You know,” I said, leaning in like I was telling her a secret, “sometimes you’re an even bigger smartass than Luna is.”

“Don’t tell Luna that,” she whispered playfully. “She’ll take it as a challenge.”

“Don’t tell me what now?” Luna asked loudly from the kitchen table.

Camille and I shared a smile, and then I reached past her for the bowl of scrambled eggs and plate of bacon so I could carry it to the table, telling Luna, “That your shoes are untied.”

“Ha-ha,” Luna said, “I’m wearing slip-ons.”

“Are you really, though?” I asked seriously as I set the dishes on the table. There was a moment of doubt in her mind, and she couldn’t resist glancing down to double-check. She was wearing slip-ons, and Kyla, Camille, and I all laughed at the incredulous look she passed me afterward. “Tell me more about the trip,” I said to Kyla, as Camille brought over our mugs and the pancakes so we could all sit down to eat. “You didn’t say much other than that your parents were taking things well.”

“Yeah,” Kyla said, “they were happy to see me when I first got there, and didn’t ask too many questions even though I could tell they really wanted to.” She paused to shove down a massive bite of food. “It was good, though. They gave me a lot more space than last time.”

“You call that space?” Camille asked.

Kyla laughed. “Okay, they kind of followed me around the house for weeks, so maybe space isn’t the right word. Freedom?” And she glanced at Camille to see if that sounded more accurate. Camille nodded.

“How was it when you told them about Camille?” I asked.

“They were great about it,” she answered. “My mom’s always loved Cami anyway.”

“I’m a parent charmer,” Camille said to me, “I still can’t imagine why your dad doesn’t like me.”

“Life’s greatest mystery,” I sighed.

“You should come with us next time,” Kyla said.

I lifted a curious eyebrow, and Camille added, “Our parents want to meet you.”

“You talked to your parents about me?”

Luna rolled her eyes and said, “They wouldn’t shut up about you,” which made me both grin and blush.

“My parents want to meet my best friend,” Kyla shrugged.

Camille added, “And mine want to meet the Council girl brave enough to hang out with werewolves.”

“Makes sense,” I agreed, “hanging out with you guys is dangerous.”

Luna snorted. “Hanging out with you is way more dangerous.”

“So not true,” I protested.

“Kind of true,” Kyla laughed.

“Name one incident,” I challenged.

“The troll on Riverbend Trail,” Camille supplied readily.

“That thing was only like four feet tall,” I argued.

“And it hit like a Mack Truck,” Luna said. “My ribs still creak.”

“Okay, true…” I agreed.

“Also, the body swap at Harold’s,” Kyla added.

“It was only for an hour!” I said. “And Camille didn’t even get swapped.”

“Lucky her,” Luna said, “because an hour in your body is like an eternity.”

“Eh,” I shrugged, “you get used to the mind reading.”

Luna murmured, “But you never forget the things you hear...”

“We agreed never to talk about it,” Camille reminded desperately, face turning red when she glanced my way. “And just because I didn’t get swapped doesn’t mean it wasn’t miserable. You try looking your girlfriend in the eyes when she’s in your sister’s body.”

“It was only for an hour,” I laughed.

“Harold still lost major brownie points for it,” Luna said.

"Alright, so Council work is unpredictable,” I conceded. “At least it isn’t boring.”

"Cheers to that.” Kyla lifted her coffee cup.

I lifted my tea. “Cheers to an easier semester than any one from last year.”

“That I’ll drink to,” Luna said.

She and Camille raised their cups to mine and Kyla’s. It was damn good to have them home, and by the time we were done laughing and eating and I caught them up on the couple of cases they missed while they’d been gone, I still wasn’t ready to part ways.

While Kyla and I stood at the sink doing the dishes, I asked, “Are you planning on going straight to sleep when you get home?”

“I don’t know,” she said, glancing over her shoulder at Camille, “I ain’t really tired anymore.”

“Me either,” Camille said in response to the look.

Kyla knew me well enough that she could tell why I’d wondered. “You want to come with us?” she asked. “I got to fill out the schedule sheet Tollbridge sent me, and you can help Camille and Luna tell me which classes or teachers to avoid.”

“I thought you’d never ask,” I said with a grin, and it wasn’t more than ten minutes later that we were in the Jeep on the way to the Pack house, arguing about teachers at the high school. I turned halfway around in the passenger seat to see Kyla and Camille better in the back. “I don’t know what Luna’s talking about. Mrs. Bumgadner is great for math.”

“Her class was so boring,” Luna protested. “And she was constantly throwing me dirty looks.”

“How much did you talk during lectures?” I asked.

“Only a little…” she said with feigned innocence. “Camille, back me up.”

“I didn’t take calculus last year,” Camille told her from the back seat. “I had trig.”

"Alright,” Kyla cut in, “we’ll pick a math teacher later. What about literature? Someone in my lit class last year recommended Mr. Ross.”

“No,” the rest of us said in unison.

“He’s racist,” Luna said, turning down the final stretch of backroad a few miles from the Pack house.

“And sexist,” Camille said.

I added, “The only reason he still works at the school is because he’s so passive aggressive about it.”

“Well,” Kyla murmured, crossing his name off her list of options, “at least you all agree on something. It looks like there’s only one option for economics?”

“Ms. Costello,” Luna said happily. “She’s hilarious.”

“She is amazing,” I said. “Super cute, too.” Camille nodded her agreement.

“Good,” Kyla said with a smile, “maybe I’ll get through it-”

Before she could finish, there was a violent pop from outside the car. At least one of the front tires burst so forcefully it yanked the steering wheel out of Luna’s grip, and the next thing I knew, I was thrown forward against the dashboard. The Jeep flipped front end over, and I jerked so hard in the seatbelt that I couldn’t tell how many times we rolled. All I knew was sharp pain and the loud crunch of metal, and then a shrill grinding as we slid across the road and skidded to a halt on the gravel shoulder.

We were upside down – that much I was aware of – but I couldn’t focus on anything else through the agony. I’d hit my head on something. I could feel the tickle of blood trickling down my temple, and my ears were ringing, and every bone in my torso was screaming at me. I tried to move, but there wasn’t anywhere to go. I was held upside down in the seat by the seatbelt, and the weight of the Jeep had collapsed the roof to just above my head.

I made out the faint sound of my name over the ringing in my ears, but couldn’t tell who it was until Camille yelled again, “Abby!” I groaned a response, and her voice got distant again when she said, “She’s bleeding.”

There was a thud, and even though my vision was shaky, I glanced over to see that Luna had unbuckled herself and dropped, and was climbing out the shattered driver’s side window. While she staggered around the front end of the vehicle, another set of tires rolled to a stop beside us. Luna said something to whoever was inside of it, and I couldn’t tell if they responded, but then there was a noise. I barely heard it at first because it seemed to match the high-pitched buzzing in my head, but Kyla groaned loud enough for me to hear it, and moments later, Luna fell to her knees. She had her hands over her ears as if trying to block out the sound, but it must not have worked. Only seconds later, she fell completely, paralyzed on the gravel.

Two pairs of black boots slammed down from the vehicle that had pulled up, and then two men in ski masks squatted down and reached through the window at me. One of them grabbed my right wrist and pulled it to him.

“Wrong arm,” the second one said in a faded murmur. 

“Look,” the first one who grabbed me said, twisting my hand painfully so the other could see the rune scar on the inside of my forearm.

“Shit.”

“Should we abort?” the first one asked.

“No, let’s get what we came for.”

The first one dropped my arm, and then abandoned me to move on to Luna. I was too disoriented to focus on anything but the aching and the ringing in my ears, and with all the blood rushing to my head, I couldn’t even try to get a read on the men. I could barely hear their normal voices. But I heard the fierce growl from Kyla, and the thud as someone else was unbuckled. I watched Camille’s legs as she was dragged by the arms around the Jeep to the second vehicle. They were taking her.

“No,” I mumbled, feeling around my hips for the belt buckle and taking a few clumsy seconds to hit the button. I managed to tuck my head and fall straight onto my shoulders, yelping at the flare of pain, doing my best to ignore it as I grabbed for the window. It was a struggle, but I used the grip to pull myself free and shimmy weakly out of the Jeep.

“Hurry up!” one of the men said.

I couldn’t see straight, let alone find my feet. All I could do was grasp at the loose gravel, trying desperately to find purchase, as they picked Camille up and tossed her into the side of a van.

The driver clicked the button on a card-sized device in his hand, and that extra ringing in my ears stopped. “It’ll wear off in a bit,” he called. And they sped off.