Lonely Monsters

twenty-eight

Adhira had done a fantastic job. After the weapons were complete, she shoved a bag into my hands.

"Go home." she said, pointing a finger at me. "...Time won't have changed much on the outside world, so you have a leg up on your mission. Please... just... don't fuck this up?"

I opened the bag to find it looked deeper inside than the outside. The outside looked like a green canvas laptop bag. Maybe able to hold a laptop, textbook and some pens. Inside, I saw at lease a dozen folded clothes, bottles of blood, ampules of medicine, the weapons I just had made, and some hard cover books.

"....Um... thanks." I said, pulling the strap over my head to let the bag rest on my left hip. It felt light and comfortable, probably weighing less than any of the bags I had in highschool.

"Do not let those Alchemists give you any more of the swill. You don't need it." Adhira turned away from me as she reached out for a door. "...It'll be difficult... readjusting. But you don't need it. Got it?"

I nodded, closing my bag. It was pretty light. "...how will I keep in touch?"

Adhira motioned to the bag. "There is a pair of studs in a velvet box with your bangles. They're telepathy gems. Put them on, think of the person you want to talk to, me, Linden or Chaitra, and we'll respond."

"And the other guys?" My mind drifted for a bit. Those warriors looked useful, if I was ever in a serious bind.

".....if you want?" Adhira perked a brow.

"I won't get them in trouble or anything?" I paused to look at myself in the full length mirror Adhira had in the armory. Fitted black jeans, navy and mauve infinity scarf around my neck, and a olive green, vneck long sleeve T-shirt. Adhira had also made me a pair of shoes, that were navy blue suede with mauve and dark purple accents. No heel, and the back of the arch was decorated with sharp jetblack gems that jutted outward.

"I should think not," she waved her hand dismissively at me, "Now get to it. I have orders to fill."

She clicked her fingers and pointed to a door at one end of the room. I heard the lock click, and a series of gears and cranks turned. The large bars that held the door shut at the top and bottom lifted inward and the door opened towards me. I grasped the handle and stepped through.

I smelled salt water, and felt a cool breeze dust me with water droplets. A gust of wind pushed me forward, then back, pressing me into an uneven surface. I put my hands out to catch myself, so I wouldn't fall back into the door only to find it was gone.

I turned my head some to see the sun setting, casting the ocean into a cascade of colors. The clouds looked like pink cotton candy, the surrounding sky warm oranges and and the softest of blues. The closer to the sun I looked, the more orange and red wine it looked. All of that was reflected on the water's surface, only where the waves broke was the illusion different.

I pushed off the wall, and began making my way up the natural steps cut into the rocks by decades of salt and wind. I made it to the landing, and saw a few vehicles parked by my house.

Two work trucks from the wolves, and a vehicle I didn't recognize.

Three warrior wolves stepped out, and a fourth came up growling at the men from the Jerad Pack. The did not smell like Ada or her pack. They were smaller, lanky and had moved with purpose but had short sharp movements.

Good thinking would be to stay quiet, keep low and wait until they left to make it to my house. When we all know me very well to be a complete and utter idiot.