This Is Not The End.

Chapter 28

"How are you guys with bikes?" Beck raised his eyebrows at us.

Kai laughed, "You ask that as if we've been on a bike in the last five years,"

"How were you guys with bikes?"

"Good," I shrugged, "Bit rusty, probably, but otherwise unfazed,"

"Good," Kai agreed.

Jack rubbed his eyes, "Not so good,"

"You're really letting the side down," Kai chided, earning himself a mighty glare.

Beck grinned, "This could actually work, then,"

Jack, Kai, and I shared a look which only we understood. Cara was happily agreeing with Beck, silent as usual, as she fiddled with her tape recorder. I remembered my promise and to honour it.

"What could actually work?"

"David – your dad, whatever – has a series of all-terrain vehicles which he's kinda collected over the years," he explained, "There's a couple of busses, jeeps, trucks, but what I'm planning to use are the bikes,"

"Like, motorbikes?" I did a double-take and nudged Kai to try to calm him down. At the sound of something fast and somewhat dangerous, he'd turned into his twelve-year-old self and everything else was foreign to him.

"Yeah," Beck grinned, "Like new-ish ones too, from the old dealership about three miles west of here. They're dead quiet, and I bet they'll take us back to Westport-Lahey quicker than anything else,"

"You're shitting me," Kai's leg bounced beneath the table. "You're actually pulling my leg – if you are, I swear to God..."

Beck held up his hands, "Nope. No tricks. I'm thinking me and Cara on one, you and Jack on another, and then Skye on the third,"

"I thought Cara wasn't coming?" I frowned, although secretly the idea of having my own bike seemed incredible.

"Oh, no, we've talked about it and we need her – as long as I'm there it'll be fine," I could tell Beck was as excited as Kai, and with his enthusiasm came Cara's. Jack and I seemed the only ones thinking rationally. Beck and Cara's conversation, undoubtedly, had been less than five minutes long, but she'd have all four of us looking out for her. We'd make sure she was fine.

Jack pulled a face, "Wouldn't it be better if we just took a truck or a van or something?"

"Yes, Jack," Kai raised his eyebrows, "Why don't we take a nice, white van to go take a bunch of kids,"

I kicked his shin under the table, and he let out a string of swear words.

"Let's vote," Beck grinned, "Those in favour, raise your hand,"

Kai, Beck, and Cara each raised their hands and outnumbered Jack and me. I rolled my eyes.

"We'll take a Mini," I said sarcastically.

"Better than a damn motorbike,"

Beck laughed, "You'll love it,"

"God, I doubt it,"

I looked over at the sun as it began its descent over the trees and the wall. After all this time, I still wasn't used to it. To me, the sun was something unachievable; a constant warmth and joy to see. The moon was worse. That was a reminder of our mortality, and how we could never be sure to see it again if we went out under its light. Like Jack, I never knew where I stood with it. The moon held our lives in the palm of its hand, it just didn't know it.

I was ready to be angry at the moon, but it still hadn't popped up yet, so I didn't get my chance.

Beck waved someone over from behind me and I snapped my neck around to see. The Shifter girl from the meeting grinned at him, clasped her friend's arm to tell him she was leaving and headed over to us. Her purple streak had faded slightly but when she moved I realised the entire underneath of her hair had been dyed various shades of the colour. Some of us avoided our brandings, the others embraced it.