Chapter 13

“Logan,” I moved over to his bed where he lay sprawled with the blankets askew. I waited for my brother to move to show signs that he was awake but, instead, he chose to ignore me. I turned and sat cross-legged on my own bed, adjusting the bandages on my wrists. All my wounds weren’t completely healed and probably would never be completely healed, I’d known the scars would be there forever but I was also hopeful. I sighed and tapped my knee as I looked around the room, patiently.

“Logan! There’s a ghoul in the hotel room!” I shouted at the top of my lungs and watched as Logan immediately fell out of his bed and jumped up with at least three weapons at the ready. His hair was a tangle of red hair that curled out of its natural state in the stuffy room. He dropped to a knee, bracing himself to attack all the while I watched with amusement. It took Logan a few more minutes to figure out that there was no ghoul but just an empty wall that opposed him.

“Not funny, Oz,” Logan grumbled after turning to see me laughing at his expense. “I like you better when you’re broody.”

“The General just called,” I said. “He’s got a case for us.”

“Are you sure you’re up for it?” I looked over to see Keno leaning in the doorway.

“Of course I am,” I shrugged. “It’s been over a month and I’m tired of this hotel room.”

“How long until you’re ready to go?” Keno asked Logan.

“I have to gather up everything,” Logan stretched with a yawn. “You guys go and get the case file; I’ll be ready by the time you get back.”

It was a nice winter day, the air was crisp and cold, a few rays of light from the hidden sun tried to burst through the clouds. I stepped over a puddle from the previous night’s snow where the flakes had melted upon impact and then turned to see Keno watching me with concern.

“What?” I asked.

“I don’t know, you’re just,” he paused. “Chipper.”

“It’s a nice day,” I shrugged though I suddenly started feeling my good move wither away.

“I know,” he said and then stood beside me. “It’s just that I expected more of a repercussion.”

“Am I not allowed to be fine?” I asked.

“No, Ozzie,” Keno sighed. “I’m glad you’re okay it’s just unexpected!”

“I’m stronger than you think,” I said and looked at him. We arrived at the CCOR building and Keno said nothing more about it, my hint going unnoticed. A whole month of these subtle hints, a whole month of silently trying to convince Keno that we should talk about this but he was either neck deep in denial or I just really sucked at hints.

“Well, look who’s back,” Bennett said with mock enthusiasm. “Just in time too.”

“Why? What’s the case?” Keno asked and took the file that was thrust into his hands.

“It’s a hostage situation.” Bennett said.

“Who’s the hostage?” I asked and looked at the file.

“A village nearby by the name of Normont.”

“A whole village?” I blurted out in shock.

“We just barely got the message before losing signal.” Bennett said. “Listen to the message.”

The General pushed the button to start the message. The voice was gravely, almost inhuman and hard to hear. Static plagued the message but we could still catch a few words here and there. “Normont…all die… send Noir… Only Noir…”

“Noir?” Keno said and looked up at the General.

“Yeah,” Bennett said. “Only Noir.”

“Which one?” I asked.

“We don’t know,” Bennett shrugged. “That’s why we’re sending all three of you.”

“So, we’re basically going in blind?” Keno said and sighed after Bennett nodded. “That’s always fun.”

 

We parked outside of the town of Normont and looked in through the small plaza. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, there were no bodies, no bloodshed, no monster, and no people. That was a little strange. We got out of the car and looked around, the silence was almost deafening.

“Logan, you and Kotori go through the plaza,” Keno said quietly. “Ozzie and I will go around the perimeter. Look for the villagers.”

We moved quietly and carefully around the town. I wasn’t too thrilled about this, not knowing what may be watching us, ready to attack. I could hear my heart beating in my chest; it could have been the demons. It could have been Hiero, coming to drag me away screaming as he promised he would.

“Stay focused, Ozzie?” Keno whispered and then turned to look at me. “Are you sure you can do this?”

“Yeah, yeah,” I whispered back and moved past him to go over the bridge that went over the shallow stream to a large field. It had been recently dusted over by the first snow and the only thing that seemed precarious was the large apple tree that stood cockeyed. I started towards it, seeing the scarred bark and fallen apples that lay molding in the field.

“Ozzie!” I twirled suddenly after hearing the cry. A large creature with gray-blue fur and a wolf face had attacked Keno but he was able to dodge before being knocked over. I could see him holding his side, four long and deep gashes in his torso. Keno didn’t have the time to pull out his weapon or time to recover as the wolfish demon went after him again.

“Keno!” I shouted and threw a left over, half rotted apple at the beast. It hit the demon’s shoulder but he didn’t even turn. Keno was finally able to stand and attempted to fight back. He pulled out a dagger and stabbed the demon’s clawed hand. The dagger was embedded deep enough that it was lost but it didn’t seem to slow the creature down as it continued to come not giving Keno any time to strategize.

The paw like hand swiped Keno to the side, sending him skidding along the ground. “My brother,” it said in a gurgling voice, the same one from the call.

“What?” Keno wiped the blood from his mouth and looked up at the monster hovering over him.

“You killed my brother, Keno Noir,” it growled.

“I don’t know your brother,” Keno said.

“He work for alpha demon, body guard,” the wolf said.

“The warehouse,” I said.

“Yes, my brother die that day,” the wolf snarled. “Now you die!”

I threw another apple, hitting the wolf demon on the head. It yelped with surprise and glared at me with malice, drool dripping from its menacing chops.

“You kill my brother,” the wolf said thoughtfully then looked back at me. “Maybe I kill yours!”

“Oskar, run!” Keno shouted but I barely even had time to think. The demon charged with alarming speed, something a being that massive shouldn’t have been able to do. It leapt through the air with teeth bared and claws at the ready. A dark shadow flashed before my eyes making me fall back against the tree.

“That is enough, Fenris!” I looked up to see Hiero standing before me, but he looked different. He had lost the jacket before intervening and now wore a simple tank-top. His arms were covered in the same marking as his face, a metallic crystal blue that glowed along with the energy that emitted off the human-demon hybrid. It looked a sickly green, flowing in mass from his hands and to the other demon, creating a sort of force field. Hiero pushed the other demon back, sending it flying through the air to crash into the grass as it had just done to Keno.

“We had a deal, Fenny,” Hiero said. “We let you take care of Blondie over there and the other brother but you leave this one alone! Got that, doggie?”

“Keno?” I shouted over seeing that Keno was barely conscious. He’d lost a lot of blood and was probably in a lot of pain. “Keno!”

I started to stand but suddenly my body went rigid; breathing became difficult, nearly impossible and my body was so stiff that I couldn’t even lift a finger. Try as I might, I just couldn’t move a muscle. I looked up at Hiero to see that his hand was held out towards me, a much softer, faint green wave of energy flowing from his splayed fingers.

“Stay there and be a good boy,” Hiero said and turned back to the fight. Keno had started to get up again, though slowly and painfully, holding his bleeding chest. He glanced over to make sure that I was still okay. I’ll never forget the look on his face when he saw the demon standing over me. His face had gone completely pale, fear took over his eyes that turned so dark that they were almost black. He never saw Fenris coming at him.

The larger wolf-demon crashed into Keno, sending him back to the ground. It bit into my brother’s chest, ripping a chunk from his flesh. Keno screamed but tried to hold back his suffering, trying desperately to keep control.

“I’m going to tear you apart,” Fenris placed a paw over Keno’s neck, drool dripping onto his face. I frantically tried for the gun Niall had given me, if I could just reach it and fire then I could help Keno but those bare inches seemed to turn to miles, I just couldn’t reach. Keno was running out of air with the paw on his neck, too weak to push it away.

“Keno!” I shouted and then I heard it. The sound of a sniper riffle firing from a vantage point rung throughout the field. The sound of a bullet specially made for beast-demons embedding into tough flesh with a loud thud and Fenris fell. An arrow flew through the air, the aim straight and resilient as it projected towards Hiero. The demon ducked, however, and the arrow went through the apple tree with a loud thud and landed in the grass behind. I just barely saw Kotori jumping through the window that Logan had just disappeared from after firing the shot.

“Pesky humans,” Hiero frowned and dropped his arm but I still couldn’t move. I was forced to watch as the demon walked over to Keno who had rolled to his side. He was shaking but had gathered enough control to keep from showing all his pain.

Hiero looked down at Keno with disdain and his arms crossed. “We’ve had more trouble disposing of you two than any other part of our mission.”

Hiero kicked Keno in the ribs and onto his back. He knelt down to look at him scrupulously.

“I would’ve let the mutt do this, he was so eager to sink his teeth into you and yet he failed.” Hiero sighed. “I wanted to do this quick and clean but it looks as though that’s out of the equation. It looks as though you’re having trouble with your heart, poor thing.”

Hiero held out his hand as he had done to me. The sickly green light came back and suddenly Keno started screaming with more agony than he had before.

“What are you doing?” I shouted. “Stop!”

I was completely ignored as Hiero stood back up, looking down at Keno’s still frame. I felt my heart sink and my hands shaking. He couldn’t be…

Suddenly my gun was in my hand and this time I didn’t hesitate to shoot. Hiero dodged and disappeared without a trace to leave the field bloody and vacant. I stood and ran over to Keno just as Logan and Kotori crossed the bridge.

“Keno?” I dropped to his side to find that he was still breathing if only just barely. Logan slumped down and pulled out his transmitter.

“Try to stop the bleeding,” Logan said and moved to the side to allow Kotori to help while he called for assistance.

“Keno, wake up,” I said while applying pressure to the hole in his chest. My hands were still shaking and dyed red. Logan ran back over with a first aide kit and a towel that he pressed against the gushing wound.

“What happened?” Keno demanded weakly.

“You were attacked,” Kotori said.

“Is Ozzie okay?” Keno asked.

“Yeah,” I answered feebly. “I’m right here.”

“And the villagers?” Keno coughed, blood had now reached his mouth.

“They’re fine, Keno,” Logan sighed with frustration. “Don’t worry about it! Bennett’s sending an ambulance.”

“I’m perfectly fine,” Keno muttered. He was becoming lethargic, his eyelids drooping heavily until he slid into unconsciousness.

 

I was really starting to get sick of hospitals, my new found phobia temporarily put on hold while we stood in the waiting room. I stood by the window with my forehead against the obsessively clean window, staring out as a blizzard began to whip around outside. It had just started snowing by the time we’d made it back to Headquarters, a drive that was originally only twenty minutes seemed to take hours, even with Logan at the wheel.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Rain standing beside me. Logan was at the front desk, fighting with the receptionist while Ila tried to calm him; we’d sent Kotori to the hotel to check us in while we went to the hospital.

“He’ll be okay, Ozzie,” Rain whispered reassuringly. “Just wait and see.”

“Do you know that from your abilities or are you just being hopeful?” I asked and was answered by her silence. “That’s what I thought.”

“What kind of hospital is this?” Logan shouted. “That’s my brother in there!”

“I know, sir,” the young receptionist sighed with annoyance. “The doctors are doing all they can, you’ll just have to wait.”

“We’ve been waiting a whole hour!” Logan hissed.

“Logan, you’ll get nowhere fighting with the desk nurse.” Logan ignored the General who’d just walked in. Bennett went over to the desk and calmly spoke with the woman. “How much longer do you think these boys will have to wait.”

“I really don’t know, sir,” the receptionist said. “It could be another hour.”

“Then that is how long we’ll wait,” Bennett said. “Oskar, come sit.”

“No thanks,” I muttered and didn’t budge.

The receptionist was right, it had been an hour and then another and still we waited. Logan had given up on trying to interrogate the desk nurse and resorted to standing in the middle of the floor with his fists at his side. Night had begun to fall and still nothing, every hour that we waited my heart seemed to sink deeper and deeper.

“Are you two going to stay here?” Bennett asked. I hadn’t noticed that he’d started talking, Rain’s hand gently squeezing mine brought me out of my trance.

“Yeah,” Logan said. “We are.”

After they had all left I finally turned away from the window and took a seat in one of the tasteless chairs. I wasn’t sure how long I’d been sitting in them before the surgeon finally came out of the Emergency Room. Logan and I both rushed over to the older man.

“How is he?” I asked and swallowed hard when the doctor shook his head sadly.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “We’ve done all that we can, the best that we can do now is make him comfortable. He’s in room 108.”

“What? ‘Make him comfortable’, what does that mean?” I said anxiously.

“It means-”

“It means that he’s not going to make it, Ozzie,” Logan interrupted darkly. I turned to see that he was looking away, his eyes darkened. I looked back at the surgeon who nodded sadly. I pushed past him suddenly, running down the hall of the hospital despite Logan’s call. I burst through the door of Keno’s room and came to a halt.

I’d never seen Keno look so awful. His hair was down and rested against his bandaged shoulder. His face was ghostly pale except for the dark rings around his eyes that seemed to match their color. Wires were hooked up to his arms, so many that I couldn’t even count them. He tried for a smile but couldn’t pull it off.

“Ozzie,” his voice was weak, almost inaudible and I sunk into the chair next to his bed.

“You look like crap,” Logan muttered, trying for a joke but his voice lacked the proper mirth.

“I know,” Keno said and sat up a little. The room went silent and I could have sworn that I could hear the snowflakes falling noiselessly to the streets. Logan cleared his throat to fill the silence.

“How long?” The question was so quiet that I really only saw Logan’s mouth moving rather than hear the words.

“I don’t know,” Keno shrugged painfully. “The doctor said it could be weeks or it could be days. My heart’s damaged beyond repair.”

“There has to be a way.” I murmured

“There isn’t,” Keno sighed. “There’s no way out of this one, I can try to hang in there for a few more days but I’m going to die, Ozzie.”

“No,” I whimpered. “You… you can’t. There has to be a way to-”

“Shut up,” Logan grumbled.

“No,” I glared at him. “We have to-”

“I said shut up!” Logan yelled and crossed his arms. “God, you act like such a little baby.”

“Logan,” Keno started.

“Bad things happen, Oskar,” Logan said. “That’s the way life is but mostly all the bad things happen to us because of you! We always have to save your a*s, Ozzie, and look what happens! Why don’t you just grow up and take some responsibility?”

“Logan, stop!” Keno shouted before Logan could go on. Logan snapped out of his tirade and looked back at me as I stood. He looked as though he couldn’t believe that the words had come out of his own mouth.

“Ozzie, I-”

I cut him off by pushing past him roughly and slamming the door behind me. I leaned against the door before slipping to the cold floor. A teardrop that I hadn’t noticed drip off my cheek hit my hand and I sighed, listening through the doorway.

“Why would you say that to him?” Keno asked quietly.

“I didn’t mean to,” Logan said. “It just came out!”

I heard Keno sigh heavily, thinking about what he was going to say next. “There’s something that you and Ozzie don’t know that you should. About the demons…”

I stood up from the door and braved the storm roaring outside by myself.

 

“You are back quickly,” Kotori said with surprise after opening the door to let me in. I didn’t reply but took off my jacket and shook the snow, making my hair appear white rather than black, off my head. “Oskar?”

The hotel room was small; one roomed with two beds and a small bathroom to the side. There was a window seat between the beds and a small table in the corner. I moved to the window seat and laid there despite the frosty air that seeped through the thin glass.

I unraveled the bandages on my wrists and looked at the scarred tissue of my wrists. Logan didn’t even know about any of this and yet he was right. Keno’s whole life had been about protecting me, keeping the demons away and now he was going to die for it. He was going to die and it would be my fault, you didn’t have to know that the demons were after me to see that.

The door of the room opened and closed with a soft, slow creak. I could see Kotori and Logan’s reflection through the windowpane, the Sa’harielan had just been standing there watching me for the last half hour, unsure of what to do or say. Kotori looked at Logan questioningly but my brother only shook his head and said a few quiet words that I couldn’t hear. Kotori put a hand on Logan’s shoulder reassuringly before stepping out of the room.

“Ozzie?” Logan said and moved to set something on the table. “I brought you some food. French toast always used to be your favorite, right?”

He didn’t get an answer but he didn’t really expect one. He sat down at the table in a rickety old wooden chair and leaned against the table. The past day’s activities finally seemed to be catching up with him, he appeared as exhausted as I felt but I knew that neither of us would sleep much that night.

“Listen,” he said suddenly. “I’m sorry about all that I said back there, Ozzie, I didn’t mean any of it. It’s just that…”

I turned to look back at him after he paused, he took a deep sigh before moving over to the bed and sitting with his legs crossed.

“I’m scared, Ozzie,” he whispered. Now I sat up fully and watched as he shook his head. “I’m not used to being the oldest and most responsible. I’m not used to taking charge or taking care of a little brother all by myself. Keno always did that stuff. Ever since that day by the river, I just let Keno take care of all these things but now it’s all up to me. I panicked and was a total jerk and I’m sorry.”

I turned just as he looked up at me but I could still see his face in the window. I could see the fear he had been talking about but I could also see the pity and desperation as he looked at me. Keno had told him everything and the weight of it all was what was causing most of the fear. He didn’t have a clue about how to take care of this, even less of one than Keno had. The information was just thrown on him last second while Keno had had several years to strategize.

“None of this is your fault,” Logan said after a few minutes silent and I looked at him again. There was fiery determination in his eyes now as he stood up. “We’ll find a way to get by, Ozzie, I promise.”

The resolve suddenly disappeared and he moved to adjust the plate on the table and peer inside the syrup bottle beside it. His next words were quiet so only I could hear them. “Do you forgive me?”

“Yeah,” I replied just as softly. “I do.”

 

It was midnight and I was still awake even with the constant nagging of my body that begged for sleep, my mind was just too restless to allow me to sleep. The covers made me feel claustrophobic, as though the blankets were crushing me and taking away my air.

I sighed and kicked off my blankets, too agitated to try and sleep anymore. I could hear Logan’s soft snoring, despite the haunts that should have been keeping him awake. I guess he was just luckier than I was, he didn’t have the guilt that I had.

I moved to the window, wiping away the frost to peer outside. It was dark outside and it had stopped snowing except for a few rogue flakes that refused to give it up. The street lamp was but a faint glimmer cutting through the darkness but that’s not what I was paying attention to.

Hiero stood under that street lamp, he leaned against it idly before looking up to my window. He smirked and beckoned me to come down to talk to him. I looked over to see that Logan was still fast asleep, his chest slowly moving along with his breath. I grabbed my jacket from the hook, looking over to see that Kotori was also fast asleep.

It was cold when I stepped out of the hotel and I could feel my hands almost instantly turn red with the threat of oncoming frostbite. I pulled my jacket closer to my body before stuffing my hands in the pockets and walking over to the demon.

“You came,” Hiero said with surprise. “I thought I was going to have to come up there and-”

“Why?” I shouted and slammed him against the light post, glaring with all I had.

“Why what?” Hiero said.

“Why are you doing this?” I cried. My hands shook with anger and fraught as I held onto his shirt.

“Your brothers have been in the way for much too long,” Hiero pushed my hands away. “It’s their time to step down.”

“He’s dying!”

“He was supposed to die ten years ago!” Hiero replied.

“Eleven,” I whispered with the sudden realization. “It’s eleven years now.”

“Either way it’ll end the same,” Hiero said and turned to walk. “Goldie Locks gets mauled by the bears and Little Red Riding Hood up there gets eaten by the wolf. You’ll be alone and then you’ll be more inclined to come with us when it’s time.”

“Over my dead body,” I snarled.

“No, sorry,” Hiero said. “Maybe over one of your brothers’ but not yours.”

“Shut up!”

“Hey now, no need to get feisty!” Hiero said. “I’ve got a proposition for you, a way to save Blondie and ensure that no harm will come to either of them.”

“What is it?” I asked suspiciously but with interest.

“You’re not going to like it but it’s your only chance,” Hiero warned. “And there will be no turning back.”

“What,” I paused, trying to control my anger but did a poor job of it. “Is it?”

“Temper, temper,” Hiero shook his head with disappointment and sighed. “You will leave them here and go on your own to my Master. They can not follow you and you can’t go back. You will belong to my Master and do as he tells you. In return, my Master will allow Goldie Locks to live and he will leave them alone.”

“I don’t trust you,” I said with uncertainty. “You’re demons! How do I know you’ll keep your promise?”

“You don’t,” Hiero said. “But as I said, it’s your only shot.”

I looked up at the window of our hotel room unsure of what I should do, what my other options I may still have.

“You don’t have to decide now,” Hiero said. “We’ve decided to give you two days before coming up with your decision but in exactly three days, twelve hours and four minutes Keno will die. Choose wisely.”

After that he disappeared, leaving me in the cold almost as though he hadn’t even been there from the start. I sank to my knees, my legs not strong enough to carry the burdens of my world. The snow melted through my pants and I cried like I hadn’t since the night our mother had died.

 

“Ozzie?” Keno turned to look at me curled up in the seat next to his bed my chin resting on my knees after he’d woken up. “What are you-? How did you-?”

“The desk nurse recognized me and let me in,” I whispered. “I couldn’t sleep.”

“Does Logan know you’re here?” Keno asked sympathetically and I shook my head.

“He was asleep.”

“What’s wrong?” Keno said and waited but I said nothing. “I know this is hard, Ozzie, but it’s a natural part of life. You and Logan will survive.”

“Yeah, right,” I muttered and looked up at him. “I’m sorry.”

“For what? This is not your fault in any way,” Keno said sternly. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”

“Just say that you forgive me?” I whispered.

“Okay,” Keno replied softly. “I forgive you. What’s going on?”

“I remember when I was a kid,” I smiled at the memory. “I wanted to grow up to be you or Logan. I thought you were the coolest person in the world. I still feel that way. You’re the only protector I’ve ever really known, Keno, even having mom around was short lived. I don’t want you to go.”

“Now it’s my turn to be sorry,” Keno sighed and I looked at him. “I promised mom that I would always protect you and, now, I can’t do that. I just want you to know, Ozzie, that I’ll always be there.”

“Yeah, because that’s not cheesy,” I snorted and he attempted to laugh but ended up coughing painfully.

“I know, but it’s true,” Keno said and then grew serious again. “Just promise that you’ll keep fighting, no matter what happens or what you and Logan find. Just stay strong and keep fighting and promise to never forget who you are?”

“I promise,” I whispered and allowed him to ruffle my hair as he’d always done. I turned to the window, looking up at the black vastness of the sky.

 “Are you sure you’re okay?” Keno said.

“Yeah,” I said softly. “I’ll be fine.”

Logan and I spent the next two days at the hospital with Keno, ignoring the nurses who urged us that visiting hours were over. I left before Logan did at the end of the second day, allowing him to ask whatever questions he may have had.

Kotori was lounging about the hotel room with boredom. It was hard for him to be cooped up in the room, not allowed to leave should he be seen. As soon as I opened the door he jumped up for any news.

“So? How is he?” Kotori asked.

“Getting worse,” I whispered.

“In exactly three days, twelve hours and four minutes Keno will die.” Hiero’s words had been running through my mind all day long. I was running out of time and I still had nothing to show for it, I hadn’t found another way to save Keno.

“Kotori,” I said suddenly.

“Yes?”

“Your mission,” I started. “You said you were going to complete it?”

His eyes narrowed suspiciously as he watched me closely. “Only if I have to.”

“You won’t hesitate?” I asked.

“No.”

“Promise?”

“What is wrong with you?” Kotori asked. “You are acting very strange.”

“Do you promise?” I asked again.

“Yes,” Kotori said and I nodded. Just then, Logan walked in and blew the hair out of his face from where the frigid wind had left it.  He looked up at us and quirked an eyebrow in question.

“Am I interrupting something?” Logan asked.

“No,” I answered simply.

“Kotori, the restaurant is closing downstairs, I think it’s safe for you to go and get something.” Logan said.

“Thank the gods, I am starving,” Kotori said.

“You could have just asked him to leave,” I said.

“Yeah,” Logan said and sat down. “Take a seat.”

“What?” I asked and sat in the chair across from him.

“I just want to make sure you’re okay,” Logan said.

“I’m fine,” I sighed. “What about you? You haven’t eaten anything in days and you’re going all strict granny on me.”

“I’m new at this whole responsible big brother thing, Keno was the same way the first few years we were on our own.” Logan said. We were both quiet for a few moments.

“You shouldn’t beat yourself up to much about the whole incident with the river,” I said. “It wasn’t really your fault and no matter what happens you shouldn’t blame yourself. I know you’re trying your best.”

“Where did that come from?” he said and watched as I went over to the window.

“I don’t know,” I said. “Just saying. Have you ever wondered what the sky looks like? Without the clouds?”

“It’s never really crossed my mind before,” Logan said.

“I’ve always wondered about blue skies and a bright sun or the stars’ twinkle dotting the night sky in synch with the moon.” I continued. “I’ve heard that the moon can sometimes be seen through the clouds but it’s so rare that it can’t be confirmed. I wish I could have seen it.”

“Maybe you still can,” Logan said.

“Maybe,” I repeated.

It was early morning when I woke up and made my bed quietly so I wouldn’t disturb Logan, sleeping peacefully. I stepped out into the frozen air and walked down the street without looking back.

Author's Note

Hello all! I am back after a month! Sorry but as I probably said I had no access to a computer for about a month...
So here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy it!