Writer in the Dark - J. HALE

2 - ᴍᴇᴇᴛɪɴɢ

AFTER A school day where she had read through and annotated two books, Athena put her headphones back in and began to walk to the one place that still looked the same. Once she reached the edge of the forest, Athena stopped for a split second to listen for heartbeats. After a mother and her younger child had walked past, she took to a run through the forest. Athena had perfected avoiding the wolves centuries ago and made it to the spot on the reservation with little effort. She stopped at the white door and smiled as the familiar scent flooded through her nose. She quickly rapped on the door, feeling the presence of wolves getting closer with every passing second. The door swung open and she smiled softly, "Billy Black."

"Athena," he replied in the same blank voice. The two of them began to laugh and she stepped in the door, leaning down to hug him. "Has it really been long enough for you to be back here?"

"That makes it sound like you don't just adore my amazing presence," she laughed, walking into the house as he welcomed her inside. "It's been two hundred years-ish, I wanted to come back so," she shrugged, looking over all the pictures over the wall.

"To grace me with your presence?"

"Exactly," she chuckled, settling down a chair in the living room. "So, what's new in your life? I take it you're not phasing anymore, given the wrinkles plastered on your forehead."

"That and the wheelchair," he chuckled and she raised a brow, her expression turned stony. Billy grinned and suddenly she could see the nineteen-year-old wolf that she had gotten so close to. "I have a kid, a son."

She raised a brow in intrigue, "Really? Is he all wolfy like you?"

"No, not yet at least." Her ears picked up at the sound of a car approaching the turn into his house.

"So one less person that's going to want to kill me, great," she paused, feeling the wolf presence get even closer to the building. That wasn't a conversation she was looking forward to. "Let's not hold back information old man, come on tell me about him," she smiled, trying to force the looming threat back in her head. As she spoke Billy moved over to a table and picked up a framed photograph.

"His name is Jacob," he paused, handing her the photo. Athena took the photo and analysed every single aspect of it in seconds. He looked almost identical to how Billy did, down to the look in his eyes. "He's fifteen and the stubbornest person you'll ever meet."

"I think someone has already taken that position and given that I've met a lot of mortals, it's highly ranked," she chuckled, gently settling the photograph down. She listened intently to the slow, exhausted plodding of the approaching person feet and quickly figured out that they were not an immediate threat. The door clanked open and Athena shifted to sit more human-like, making sure she kept her breath rhythmic.

"Jacob," Billy called out, stopping the teen in halfway. She watched as he flinched at the name and soon heard why. Billy continued, "This is Athena, a... family friend."

"It's lovely to meet you, Jake," Athena smiled, watching as the teen turned to look at her. His eyes widened and cheeks turned a soft crimson, his gaze darting back down to the floor. She chuckled softly under her breath, not catching the attention of anyone in the room.

"Yeah you too," he smiled, confused as to how she knew the name he preferred to use. Jake walked forward again, gently knocking the side of his leg into a chair as he made his way to his room.

Billy mistook this for rudeness and shook his head, "Teenagers."

"Hey!" she exclaimed, fixing him an amused glare.

"You're hardly a teenager."

She laughed, "I'm eighteen!"

"No, you're two hundred and forty-six," he whispered, glancing to his son's bedroom door. Athena raised a brow, surprised that he had remembered how old she was exactly.