“For the first time, I’m sure that you have given a full effort, Nicolas,” Efraim said with a smile. Nicolas spit a few times into the street, and he wiped at his face with the back of his hand. Efraim pointed toward a building. “Go clean yourself up.” Nicolas nodded and walked toward the indicated building. “Nicolas.” He turned around to face Efraim. “Grab a towel and clean this mess up.” Efraim pointed to the puddle in the middle of the street.
Nicolas disappeared into the nearby restroom. Efraim turned back toward the three humans as Ares darted out from a dark alleyway. Aceso and Achelois were right behind him. The wolves remained in a full sprint till they were only feet away from the humans and then trotted to a halt. Achelois lowered her snout to the ground as her tongue hung out of her mouth, panting. Aceso remained standing up straight and looked at William. Her gold eyes were deep but she also showed no sign of fatigue. She shifted her gaze to Efraim who was standing in the middle of the street with his arms crossed over his chest.
Nicolas walked out of the building he had disappeared into. He was carrying a thick white towel. His face was dripping with water and his hair was matted down to his skull. He grimaced at his own mess and started to corral the splatters into one puddle. William couldn’t help but note that this was the first time he had seen Nicolas do anything with as much care as he was taking to clean up his vomit. Efraim watched as Nicolas carefully wiped up the rest of the puddle. Nicolas folded the towel in on itself so none of the mess would drip out. Efraim nodded as Nicolas walked the soiled linen back to the building that he had come from.
When he returned Efraim turned back to the rest of the group. “Go get some breakfast. I want you all back here in fifteen minutes.”
William wasn’t sure he had heard that correctly. The rest of the group hesitated as well. William voiced his uncertainty. “Did you say fifty minutes or fifteen, one, five?”
Efraim made a gesture to check the watch on his wrist that wasn’t there. “You have fourteen, now.”
William felt a little ridiculous but without any more encouragement he took off at a run toward the cafeteria, Charles and Katherine were right behind him. Nicolas followed at a slower pace. William wasn’t sure if it was because he wasn’t hungry or he was unsure about eating since he had just emptied his stomach.
The four entered the cafeteria. It was busy. William had no idea what time it was but it seemed like every human born in the city had chosen to eat at this time. William spotted Acharya on the far side of the building. He was sitting with his pack as usual. He also wore his characteristic smile. William raised his hand to the man and his pack. Malikah nodded her head toward William and his group. The wave was answered by Acharya and Tara. Aiman raised his eyes toward William but remained motionless.
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William got his food, a heaping stack of French toast with some sausage links and hash browns. He grabbed a small carton of milk and followed Katherine and Charles to an empty set of four chairs down the middle table. William hadn’t known just how hungry he was until he had a pile of food staring him in the face. The warm aroma of the fried potatoes and the thick sweetness of the maple syrup made his mouth water. He didn’t wait for any words, he dug in immediately. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that he wasn’t going to have enough time to eat all of the food, but he was going to try anyway.
Ten minutes later Charles got up to dispose of his leftovers and his tray. Katherine got up as well. William took one last bite of French toast. In those ten minutes he had devastated his tray but there was still more food left than he would have liked to have left. He gently patted Nicolas on the back who had been tentative to eat. Nicolas hadn’t eaten any of his sausages. He had made a small dent in his hash browns and only finished about half of his French toast. It was a wonder that Nicolas didn’t protest at all when William prodded him to get up. He grabbed his tray and followed the rest of his pack up to the counter and deposited his tray.
The four of them didn’t waste any time getting back to the city square where Efraim was waiting. Ares had returned with the other two wolves and William hoped that they were not late. Efraim looked over at Ares as the human born came to a stop in a cluster in front of the city’s Combat Master. The large brown wolf turned and walked away. William looked at Aceso for some kind of explanation, but she didn’t give one. Efraim starting walking down a narrow street. He called over his shoulder. “If I have to wait for any of you, you’ll be wishing for another break like this morning’s run.”
The threat was an empty one to William but Nicolas shot ahead of him and started walking quickly to stay in step with Efraim. He glanced sideways at Charles and Katherine. The brown-haired woman didn’t bother to hide her smile and Charles looked like he wanted to laugh. William didn’t have to look around for Achelois and Aceso. He could hear their claws clicking on the black street behind him.
Efraim didn’t look like he was in any real hurry. He almost strolled down the street. He made several turns along the way. William had lost track of where they were, which is probably what Efraim was trying to do in the first place.
On a street, just like any other street in the City under the Mountain, Efraim came to a stop in front of a nondescript looking building. The front end was open just like every other building in the city. William looked up and down the street looking for anything that might be special about this particular building, he couldn’t find anything.