His heart dropped past his stomach and he found it a little hard to breathe. “What is going on?” His mind immediately went white and all he could see were visions of death. “We’re not ready Aceso.” His eyes hardened as he stared at her, “There’s got to be something you can do about this. I mean, look, we aren’t even a full pack anymore. There’s got to be something that can be done.”
Aceso returned William’s hard stare. “Be done about what, Will? What are you talking about?”
William took a deep breath, “We aren’t ready to go back there, Aceso. You and I both know it. We don’t even know if Charles is a hundred percent or not.”
Aceso had alarm in her eyes, “William! What are you talking about? Who said anything about the Whyte Plain?”
William shook himself as if coming out of a dream, “Isn’t that what you meant by, ‘we’re not going to train tomorrow’?”
Aceso held her palms outward as she looked upward toward the ceiling, shaking her head. “Calm yourself and listen to what I have to say before you give yourself a…what do you human born call it? Something to do with your bowels?”
William looked confused, “You mean diarrhea?”
Aceso shook her head, “No something else, something about your abdomen I think.” She gripped her own stomach with her claws. “An anniversary? Something like that.”
William knew that he had the most ridiculous look on his face but he couldn’t help it. He had no idea…than it hit him. “You mean an Aneurysm?”
Aceso dropped her claws from her midsection, “yes that’s it, an aneurysm, calm down and don’t give yourself an aneurysm. Thank You, Will.”
William nodded slowly, not quite sure of what had just happened, “No worries.”
Aceso looked sideways at him, “Are you all right? Does doing martial arts, or whatever it was you were doing, usually make you human born so irrational?”
William felt really stupid, “look, I’m sorry I just…I don’t know what I was thinking, I just…I’m sorry.” He looked up at her, “What is it you wanted to talk to me about?” Aceso had a weird look on her face that made William feel very uncomfortable. Just like that time when he was six years old and that stupid brick went left instead of ri…this was not the time for that. He brought his focus back to his alpha.
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Aceso took a sharp breath and shook her head, “As I was saying, we are not going to train tomorrow. Huan Li has informed me of a new strategy that they and all the scouts in the city will be engaging in tomorrow. As such the rest of the packs will be involved in performing city maintenance.”
William cocked his head to the side, “City maintenance? What kind of maintenance?”
Aceso smiled slyly at him. Without a word she turned back toward his door and started to leave the way she had come.
William raised his arm at her. “Aceso, wait! What kind of maintenance? What are you talking about?”
Aceso stopped and turned her head to look at him out of the corner of her eye, “If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise. Night, Will.” With that Aceso disappeared out the doorway.
William stared at the empty doorway for a time, as if staring at it would bring Aceso back into view and she would tell him everything that she had been so uncharacteristically vague about. Shaking his head he lifted himself off the bed once more and dropped his pants to the floor. Not bothering to shower or even go to the bathroom one last time he let himself fall backwards onto his bed. The soft furs caressed his warm naked skin and he fell to sleep almost instantly.
It was dark. He lifted himself from his bed and pulled his pants on from where he had left them on the floor. Remaining barefoot he walked out of his room and looked out over the city. For some reason it was darker than he had ever remembered it being. Maybe he was just tired from the long day yesterday. It was possible that today would be a break for them. Honestly anything was better than having Efraim run them through the obstacle course countless times. He gripped at his sore shoulder and massaged the flesh there and at the back of his neck. His muscles were tight, but nothing painful.
He had no idea where he was going and for some reason it didn’t really matter. He made his way down the ramp of his building and just started walking along one of the serpentine alleyways that he was pretty familiar with. The city had taken on a strange hue. It was beautiful.
He followed the known path around and through the various clusters of buildings that blocked most of his view of the city. It was really dark in here, but why? The question bit at the back of his mind like an aggressive insect that would not be ignored. But the harder he tried to focus on that question, the quicker the question would slip from his grasp and fade back into the mist of his mind.
He walked along the road seeing the familiar buildings and smelling familiar smells. Only the lighting was a little off and that strange hue coming from the underground cavern. Was that maybe, something to do with what Aceso had told him about the scouts and the Elders? Whatever it was it was pretty cool looking. The warm subdued light gave a hint of a sunrise in the morning. That color would paint the sky just before the sun came up in his valley. He knew those colors very well from watching the sunrise many times. The warm colors brought some life to the cool blackness of the stone buildings around him, and he heaved a sigh of contentment.
Cutting back along a sharp and narrow switchback he came across one of the broader streets in the City under the Mountain. This was the road that ran to the cafeteria and just off the Tower, in the heart of the city. He turned his head back toward where he had come, suddenly confused. I didn’t take a wrong turn, did I? This meant that he would have to backtrack a little ways and find the bathroom he had been looking for.