The Wolf and the Natural ✔️

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Aaaand the pictures are of Everly's room. Just ignore the floating boxes in the bottom pic please and thank you.

There's different reasons people are scared of heights. One reason, is because they're scared of falling. Obviously, this is a natural fear. You don't want to die. You don't want to fall and feel the wind slap your face.

The next, is because people are scared of hitting the ground. It's not the fall they fear, but the outcome of the fall. It's the internal thought of the body hitting the ground.

The last, is because they're scared they'll jump. Not because they're suicidal, or maybe it is. But mostly it's because they have the urge to jump. They have the urge to want to feel the wind slapping on their face, regardless of the outcome. They're scared of doing something they want to do. Scared that they'll give in to themselves. That they'll drive their car over the cliff.

I was at that third stage. So was Chleo.

His dark skin was even darker where the smoke had gripped him, making it look like he tattooed loops of black over his skin.

"We obviously have to steal the notebook." Chleo said, narrowing his eyes at me.

I'm not sure why I told him. Why I didn't just keep it to myself. Because he would know what to do? Push me to do what I want to do but won't because I'm scared? I almost backed out when I told Lilly I was leaving for a bit, but forced myself to come.

I tugged at my hair. "Arlis told me not too."

Chleo smacked his face lightly, pulling his hand down. "He would. Look, Arlis would sacrifice anyone over himself."

"He said to sacrifice myself too." I pointed out.

Chleo set his hands on my shoulder. "The world will not end if we give him the notebook. It'll just give him some information. So what? We can't loose Arlis, our only way to kill Konrad."

Chleo explained to me that Dalia's or Jonah's blood wouldn't work because it wasn't as strong as Arlis's. Arlis was the oldest sibling, the first born. And Dalia and Jonah were twins, younger. Only Arlis's blood would completely kill Konrad. Dalia and Jonah's blood would weaken him, but not kill him.

Because of this, we were at a Catch 22. If we gave Konrad the notebook, it would potentially harm us in the end. It would end the chances of us ever winning, depending on why he needed it. If we didn't give him the notebook, we wouldn't have a chance of winning. Either way... we were drowning in a major loss.

"Look, we need Arlis. We don't need the notebook." Chleo pointed out.

I bit my thumb nail and nodded. "Okay. You're right. We'll give him the notebook. We just have to find it."

He grabbed car keys out of his pocket. "You wanna leave now?"

I nodded and started walking back. "Yeah."

***

"How old are you?" I wasn't sure whether or not it was a rude question but, judging by Chloe's reaction, it didn't seem it was.

He chuckled quietly. "209." He responded.

My breath caught in my throat. He looked 27. Not 209. He acted 27. Not 209. "And you've known Arlis that entire time?"

He tapped the steering wheel. We were in town now. Passing people looked at the car in admiration. Most people around here drove trucks or old models and used cars. "Yes. Why?"

"What's something I don't know about him." I asked. I'm not sure why I did, I just wanted to know. Chleo was his brother, I'm sure Chleo could tell me something I didn't know about Arlis.