When the truck buckled hard over something on the road, I shook awake just in time to notice we were pulling up to something crazy. There were six barrack houses along the edge of the woods and troops upon troops of trained militias armed with automatic weapons and combat boots. I met an equally surprised look from Jesse whose shock didn't outweigh his usual demeanor.
"Good morning, sweetcakes."
I scrunched up my nose at the pet name and he grinned as he pulled down the dirt path and off to the side towards a lone one-stop general store with gas pumps outside. The last time I had seen Sleeping Hollow it had been a ghost town lacking any true development. Seeing at least fifty true soldiers and the barrack houses was unhelpful for my nerves.
"This place looks very different."
Jesse was frowning as he turned off the car and we both stepped out. The most concerning part so far was that I didn't see Frankford's van anywhere. We walked into the general store together, seeking water for our dry throats. I stopped at the checkout corner where a young man with a dangly headphone piece in one year was standing lazily.
"Morning, did you see a kid with a backpack come in here at any point?"
The kid scanned my face and then squinted his eyes as he tried to think about it. There was a buzzing in his ear that sounded kind of like funk music. He looked hardly older than Lance himself.
"I haven't seen any kids here today, I only work morning shift though."
I bit my cheek as Jesse met me up at the counter with a gallon jug of water. Lance likely had a several hour start on us and would have ended up here in the dead hours the night before. I asked again as we started to check out and pay for the item.
"Is there anyone else around here who might have seen them if they came by at, say 2am?"
The kid shrugged and stroked the scraggly stubble at the very end of his pointed chin.
"The soldiers are here 24/7, and I imagine they wouldn't let some kid just wander around with the woods being so dangerous lately."
Jesse raised an eyebrow and nodded. We walked out of the store and took turns drinking from our gallon before climbing back into the truck.
"We should start by asking the soldiers if they've seen Lance or the van."
I nodded but felt a knot in my stomach. Many of the troop's members looked suspiciously Southern. Same shiny dark hair as a certain other pack was somewhat notorious for. I swallowed my own selfish reluctance down and shuddered.
"What do you think that kid meant when he said it had gotten more dangerous?"
Jesse pulled off, gravel crunching under the tires as we wrapped around to head back towards the troops and barracks. He sighed and answered, running a hand through his luscious dark hair before he met my eyes, impossibly exhausted.
"I've never seen this many troops before, I imagine someone had to die for it to get this bad."
I shivered and apologised for making him drive the whole way. It was an eight hour trip afterall and we had to have made great time to get here so early in the morning.
"It's fine… but we wouldn't have that problem if someone would just learn how to drive."
I smiled a little and conceded to his comment. Maybe twenty six was an acceptable age to learn how to drive and he had a good point. Donte had learned how to before I had afterall, but frankly I never learned as a direct excuse not to have to do it.
"Tell you what, if we can keep Lance alive and unmaimed past the age of 17, I'll let you teach me."
Jesse grinned madly and answered in a singing voice.
"Deal, no shit don't go back on it."
The kid only had eight months left until he was considered of age to make his own decisions. I had probably told him a hundred times since he was fifteen to just wait. That he could do whatever he wanted when he was older and it was an argument he detested, claiming that waiting was a waste of time because he wouldn't change his mind. I pictured pin-haired Lance with his hair pulled back in his usual hair tie and red jacket.
I hoped beyond all hope that no harm had been done to him and he was somewhere interrogating soldiers about their run-ins with the witches.
We got out of the vehicle and approached one of the barracks, intercepted by an olive skinned man with a crooked nose as though someone had bashed him in the face with something.
"Who are you and what business do you have in Sleeping Hollow?"
Jesse answered the soldier quickly.
"We're looking for a kid named Lance. He ran off last night to come here."
The man looked from Jesse to me then from me to Jesse. There was some recognition in his eyes and then he gestured for us to follow him and started to walk through the camp. As we approached a barrack house towards the center with its back to the woods, the familiar excitable sound of Lance Ripley's voice filled my ears and relief flooded my body.
"Thank god."
I muttered to Jesse but he seemed to have frozen, distracted by something. We entered the barracks together and my eyes found Lance immediately. When Lance saw us he scowled and threw his head back in annoyance. I moved to run over to home when my eyes landed on the person beside him who stared at me with a strange calm.
Rosaura Valleriano stood right next to Lance staring through me in her ghost-like glory. When Jesse noticed Rosaura he shook off from whatever was distracting him and crossed the space between us and the woman quickly. He grabbed Lance by the red hood of his hoodie and moved to drag him off.
This time, Lance unzipped the jacket and slipped out of his grasp, running to the other side of a still standing Rosaura.
"Liana?"
Her siren song voice froze my feet to their spot as the dreaded knot in my stomach had swollen twice its size. By the time my mind registered the smell of pinecones it was too late to run away and act like I had never been here. I could feel her behind me and the air had become so thick with tension it would probably break the scissors you tried to cut it with.
Jesse looked at me, holding onto Lance with an apology in his ocean eyes. I turned around slowly and noticed her standing just a few feet away from me. Vallory Valeriano was staring at me in complete silence. Her eyes absorbed the scene in its entirety, glancing to Jesse and Lance and then back to me.
"Liana."
Her voice cracked and I could tell from the red of her eyes she was drunk. She looked quite terrible, wine red lips chapped and ten pounds thinner so her face had a hollow look to it. For a moment she was in disbelief, staring at me like I was some distant figure who only existed in her dreams.
Then when she realised I was really there, her inaction abandoned her.
"Is this boy from your pack?"
The smoothness of her voice moved something in me. She smelled like home. Even looking terrible as she did I wanted to kiss her lips- chapped and all. I had hoped five years would make me immune to her somehow, like I would manage to grow the willpower not to want her.
But I knew better. I frowned and nodded. I didn't want to speak to her. If we spoke alone after so much longing had built up in me I worried I would abandon my principles for her.
"Yes," Jesse answered for my sake.
"This is Lance, and he's only sixteen so he thinks now is the perfect time to fight witches."
His sarcastic humor did little to lessen the blow of the tension in the air. Val stood behind me, not daring to move closer in my direction at the doorway of the barrack. Rosaura's voice cut through the air next, rising involuntary chills down both of my arms.
"In a different time and place he will be a strong warrior."
She moved her eyes through Lance and onto Jesse, speaking words that made the both of us look to each other in horror and confusion.
"Your mate is nearby."
Jesse looked hopeful despite himself. I knew the last thing he wanted was to look desperate but it was impossible not to. The lump in his throat wasn't missed by me as he swallowed and let Lance go. Lance rubbed his arm, eyes glaring as he turned back to me and shouted loudly.
"They said I'm old enough to join the militia as an apprentice!"
My jaw felt tight as I clamped it shut and turned back to Val with hateful eyes. She stared back at me with a smooth and determined look that made my stomach flip. I didn't know what she wanted or what she was planning but this was incredibly not helpful to my situation with Lance.
"We allow wolves to join at the age of sixteen with the understanding they will see zero combat for the first year and a half and they will be subjected to boot camp."
I ignored her coldly, turning back to the eyes of a hopeful and defiant looking Lance. He was staring at me with stars in his eyes, like if I denied him this thing I'd be destroying his entire life. I exhaled and fought back the urge to scream from the overstimulating amount of different circumstances. Jesse had fallen completely silent at the first mention of his mate possibly being in proximity.
"Lance, I will hear you out, truly I will. Just come with me and Jesse for a second okay?"
The hope in his eyes was still sparkling and part of me felt guilt already. I didn't want to tell him no or to deny him this, but he had stolen our van and driven away without our knowledge and that behavior cannot be rewarded. Jesse followed at my side as I took a wide several steps around Val and practically ran back towards the truck.
When we got to the parking lot, I took Lance by the shoulders and forced him to look at me.
"Lance, you stole one of the only cars we had without telling anyone to come here alone in the middle of the night. Do you not understand the effects that this has on the rest of the pack?"
Being confronted with the truer effects of his actions, Lance's smile dropped and he looked to his feet. He sighed and I took his chin gently and made him look at me.
"What if one of the kids had a fever that night? What if we needed to take them to hospital and we couldn't because you stole the car and Donte was out gathering lumber?"
His eyes welled with wetness and he opened his mouth to defend himself but closed it again. Finally, he answered me earnestly and with the proper amount of culpability on his face.
"I'm sorry Liana. I didn't want anyone to get hurt."
Jesse spoke finally after his silence. He was stern and probing but not cruel.
"And what would the rest of us have done if something happened to you? Can you imagine how Isaac would feel if you had gotten hurt?"
With him looking properly accountable and understanding of all the possible effects of his actions I swallowed the worry and guilt in my own throat and hugged him. When I pulled away Jesse hugged him too and ruffled his hair. Then I sighed in reluctance and waited a moment.
When our reprimanding had enough time to ruminate on him, I asked with blatant distaste.
"Now go ahead, plead your case."
Lance's big eyes lit up again, and he started to ramble quickly like he was scared I would change my mind and refuse to hear him out.
"This is the perfect way for me to join the witch hunts so you can still know I'm safe! I can write you letters and I won't even be allowed in combat for a whole year. Plus it's not like Alpha Val is going to let anything happen to me now that she knows I'm in your pack."
Jesse cringed visibly but held a face of acknowledgement. All of Lance's arguments were accurate and this seemed to be the best case scenario in terms of allowing him to pursue his wish without being in immediate danger or causing further distraction from the rest of the pack and all of their individual needs. I sighed loudly and rubbed a hand over my mouth.
"Jesse, what do you think?"
His eyes struggled for a moment as he scanned my face and then the face of Lance and his brows drew together in true consideration. The kid's eyes were starry and huge when he realised we were truly considering it and his excitement pulled on my weary heart.
"I think we should seriously take a day or two to consider it before deciding. We can get a hotel here for two nights and ask around, see how soldiers are treated and what boot camp looks like. We don't even know what all you'll need and I only brought so much money with us."
Lance was over the moon. He nodded his head so fast his brain was probably rattling. An itch in me didn't want to stick around that long in proximity to my own mate.
Jesse was right, of course. We needed to be sure this was an acceptable place to let Lance stay if we were going to leave him here. Not to mention I had a sneaking suspicion I knew why Jesse wanted to linger here for just a little while longer.
"Alright, let's sleep on it. Okay Lance?"