Awakening The Storm
Storm 20

KASSIDY

__________

After finding where Noah and Stylo were, we walked through the forest. My link to Wren was still alive, I still hadn’t contacted him yet, I had a feeling I didn’t need to. Noah was walking next to me while Stylo was walking a bit behind us with the box of materials for his spell.

“Okay, so we’re gonna get Wren to pull us out and put us in our dead bodies and bring us back to life?” Noah asked with his neck turned to look at Stylo.

“Um, yeah, that’s the plan,” he said quietly. I don’t know why but he’s been more quiet than usual lately. Ever since we planned on going back to the World of the Living.

“What’s wrong?” I turned and asked him. He shook his head and kept walking with the obviously too heavy box. “Are you sure?” He nods to himself and readjusts the box in his hands.

“I’m just a bit nervous about the spell, that’s all.” He admits with a small blush on his cheeks. I give him a small reassuring smile and a gave him a pat on the shoulder.

“We’re all gonna make it, okay?” I asked. He smiled bigger and nodded and we kept walking through the brush of the forest.

“Damn.” I heard Noah grumble before he stopped and picked up his dropped cigarette. I was about to open my mouth to tell him off about those things but he stopped me. “I swear I’m gonna stop smoking.” He grumbles some more. I shake my head and laugh and kept walking until I got to the edge of the trees.

Tree limbs slapped into me and left small scratches on my skin as I stepped between them until I made it out. I shook my hair out knowing that there were leaves and other pieces of nature in it and paused. Stylo and Noah tumbled out of the trees a second later and stopped too.

“Why’d you stop?” Noah asked me and looked forward.

That can’t be right.

Three familiar people were all linked at the hand stepping out of the cave we had been going towards.

“Wren?” I breathed under my breath. He nodded and Anais bolted from the his side coming full speed towards me.

She jumped into my arms and latched onto me. Noah had moved out of the way and Stylo stood awkwardly in the background. The both of us laughed and held each other tighter.

“Save some for me, huh, Anais?” Wren chuckled. Kash was next to him with a relieved smile on his face.

“It’s so good to see you,” she whispered into my ear. I smiled and sighed.

“You have no idea,” I sniffled a bit. The tears of joy of seeing everyone were staring to make their entrance. I unlatched my arms from around Anais and stepped towards Kash and hugged him. He kissed my forhead sighed happily.

“I’m glad you’re okay.” He whispered to me. I nodded and sniffled into his neck.

“I’m glad you’re okay too, Kash.” I croaked back. He gave a huff of a laugh and pulled away. I looked up at Wren and made my way into his welcoming arms.

Anais and the others talked for a short while before she spoke to Stylo, Noah and I.

“Let’s get home, guys,” she remeinded. We all gave a nod and let her lead the way to our new location.

“You know the plan?” I see Noah turn his head to Stylo. Stylo sighed and nodded while carrying the clinking box.

“Yup, let’s get to the place we all died,” he sighed again. This seemed to be stressing him out still.

Maybe I should pull him to side and ask him about it again.

“I can’t wait for things to get better,” I breathed. Wren’s hand clasps my own and I looked up at him.

He brought the back of my hand to his lips and placed a kiss on my knuckles. “Me too, darlin’—” he placed another kiss to the back of my hand “—me too.”

“So, are we all on the same page with how we’re all getting back?” Kash asked all of us.

“Well, I thought that we had to get you guys to raise us from the dead, so what are you doing here?” I asked Wren.

“Yeah, what are you guys doing here?” Noah asked skeptically.

Wren had begun to open his mouth to answer me but Anais answered instead.

“We have to get you to the place you ‘died’ and then just put your astral forms back into your bodies and that’s it.” She shrugged.

Wait, what?

“That’s it?” Noah asked just as surprised as I was. I looked to Stylo and he was shocked too.

“So does this mean that we aren’t really dead after all?” Stylo inquired with wide eyes.

“Nope, you were just put into a coma-like state and had your astral self placed into Purgatory for the time being,” Kash revealed. A smile graced all of our faces with the information just given.

This changes everything.

“We could even go and get Dad,” Kash uttered with a ping of sadness in his voice.

Dad?

“He wasn’t really killed, was he?” I implored. Wren nodded sadly next to me, squeezing my hand firmly.

“Wait, where is he?” I grabbed Wren’s hand harder and stopped walking while tears have formed in my eyes again.

“He’s in a different part than the part we’re in right now,” Wren said like he was sure. “He’s in the labyrinth part of this place.” He elaborated some more.

“What’s that?” I asked confused. Anais turned and walked until she was on my right side.

“It’s a maze of memories or of obstacles, and Xander is in Kash’s memory labyrinth,” she explained to me and I nodded in understanding.

I looked to where Kash was next to Stylo and Noah. “So you’re gonna go and get him?” I asked my twin, he nodded and kept walking.

“Yea, I know exactly where he is.” He said with a hint of hurt in his voice.

“What’s wrong?” I asked him. He shook his head and kept walking with a now straight face. Wren squeezed my hand and leaned down to speak in my ear.

“He had a a really hard time in there, so try not to pry too much, okay?” He asked me, I nodded and he straightened his body out and kept walking.

This is all so much.

I’m not really dead.

I can see my dad again.

But things will never be the same when we get back, I just know it.

“Kassidy,” Anais called out to me. “Wren will be with you when you find your place—” she turned and looked at Stylo and Noah “—you two are gonna be together since you died in the same place, right?” She speculated. The boys agreed and kept walking.

“Since we’re in the Other Plain, it’s the exact same layout of the town as it is in the World of the Living.” Wren announced. “So all we really have to do is get out of the forest and back towards the packlands and the city,” he concluded.

“Do you know where your body is?” I asked Stylo. He turned to look over his shoulder at me.

“Yeah, we were put to rest near that one shutdown warehouse where we kept all of our supplies in case of emergencies,” he replied assuredly.

“Well, the only thing we have to do is to go to your burial places and place you back into your bodies. And once we do that, we’ll be there to bring you home.” Anais asserted with a smile.

I wondered how she could still be a ray of sunshine after all the crazy shit she’s been through these past couple of months.

Looking her over, I could tell her hair wasn’t as lively as it used to be. Her curls were dull and flat and her skin was dry looking. And all she was wearing was an oversized T-shirt, which I’m pretty sure, belongs to Wren.

“How are you, Anais?” I worried. She turned her head towards me and gave a small smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

“I’m going to be okay soon enough, Kassi. We’re all gonna be together again so that should be our only concern right now, alright? Not how I’m doing or how anyone else is feeling,” she grabbed my hand. “I just don’t want us fail again.” She confessed. Her darker honied brown eyes seemed to have a dark showdown overcast them. They weren’t full of life or giddiness.

Just broken sadness.

“I promise that everything will get better,” I nudged her with a small smile.

I just hope I’m right.

__________

We were here. Wren and I were in the cemetery where I woke up last time. I guess they put me back. How polite.

On our way over here, I took a look at the surrounding city.

It was horrific to say the least.

Everything was run down and destroyed. The people of Raven’s Creek were no where to be found and the building and important stores had yellow caution tape around them.

What the hell happened while I was away?

“I know, right.” Wren chimed into my thoughts. I looked at him with wide eyes.

“How did you—” he chuckled and shook his head.

“I’m your mate, remember? I can read your thoughts and by the look in your face.” He jested and poked the tip of my nose. I snorted and swatted his larger hand away from my face.

“Yeah, I remember perfectly.” I gave him a smile. “I missed you, Mate.” I remarked with a warm smile. He just sighed and reciprocated the smile.

“I know.” He smirked and nodded toward the direction of my grave.

Wren mindlinked the others to see if they were all set.

′Is everyone ready to go?′ His voice rang throughout our minds at the same time.

′Yep, me and Stylo just got to our bodies without any complications or anything so we’re good to go,′ Noah announced over the link.

′I’m ready, but Kash still hasn’t gotten to Xander yet, so I’ll stick back and wait with him while the rest of you get back,′ Anais informed us. I gave a silent nod knowing that she can’t see it.

′Good, Kassidy and I just made it to her grave. We’re about to dig her out so good luck, guys.′ Wren said and closed the link for the time being.

“Alright, I’ll go get the shovels and we’ll dig and you need to get to Anais so you can get back without being apart of the spell,” I advised him, but he just shook his head and raised his brow at me.

“I’m staying until she calls me back. I need to help you get this done so we can all go back at and make up a plan.” He sighed, a bit of irritation in his voice.

“A plan for what exactly?” I wondered.

What else did we need to plan for?

“A plan to take back the pack and get rid of Alex, damnit.” He growled at me and shook his head, turning away from me.

“What the hell is your problem all of a sudden?” I grabbed his jaw and brought his face closer to mine. He pushed my hand away from his face and sighed running his hands down his face.

“My problem is the fact that we could have everything back if you would just listen to me for once, Kassidy.” He sneered. His crimson eye pulsed and blazed the angrier he seemed to get.

“Wren, just calm down. Please?” I reached out to touch his shoulder but he blurred back so he was now at the edge of the cemetery.

“I’m gonna go find Anais, dig yourself out.” He grumbled and walked out the gates.

What the hell was that?

′He hasn’t been laid in a while and all that pent up resentment he’s been holding in is coming out on you for not listening.′ A familiar voice filled my mind.

“Ben?” I mindlinked back. He smiled through the link and replied.

′Did you miss me?′ He chuckled. I laughed with him and he sobered.

“Why is he so angry?” I ask him. He sighed through the link and pondered for a while.

′Your his mate and the fact that you defied him even a little while he’s on edge set him off. The demon or the wolf side of him doesn’t like that, especially since we’re so close to being done with this shit.′ He answered with a small growl.

“But all I did was tell him to go.” I tell him. He sighed again.

′That doesn’t matter. He’s been held down in a cell for months without almost any recollection of these past months of killing and torturing people, only to find his mate's not listening to him. What if you were in his shoes, being captured and just wanting to help your mate but being dismissed by her?′ That made me think.

This is so messed up.

“Thanks, but how long were you listening in on us?” I was a little weirded out by it.

′Ever since Wren and the rest got there, I was there.′ He admitted jokingly. It wasn’t like him to joke.

He was more of the silent brooding type that hardly ever spoke. Except for when he was with Kash.

“That’s weird, Benji.” I scolded, he just laughed and simmered down the link.

I shook my head and went into the shed Theo used to work in and grabbed a shovel. It was weird being back here without him.

I hope he was still alive, or Alex is really gonna get what’s comin’ to him.

I started to dig, and it surprisingly didn’t take long. I blurred my way through the burial soil until I hit something.

I jumped on top of it and started to kick and swipe the remaining dirt from the coffin. Once I got most of it off, I lifted the door and looked inside.

There I was.

I was in the same outfit I was wearing now, but something else stood out to me. There was a bit laying on my chest.

I grabbed it and read it.

′I know that you’ll be coming back into our world again, so this grave is sealed tightly with magic and is guarded by warriors.

Yours truly, Alpha Alex.′

I growled under my breath as the heated rage began to soar through my veins.

“My grave is being protected.” I growled across the group link.

′What do you mean it’s protected?′ Ben asked warily. I set the note to flames and sat on the coffin.

“I mean Alex left a note for me saying that he knew I was coming back and that my grave was sealed with magic and guarded.” I growled some more. My flames aches to be released on the deranged wolf that called himself an Alpha.

′That doesn’t matter since Stylo is on our side.′ Ben assures me.

“What the hell do you mean that Stylo is on our side?” I jeered at him.

′Stylo is the one helping us with this spell, how else did you think this would work?′ Ben growled back.

“So you guys trust him now? After everything he’s put all of us through these past years?” I accused him. This was just downright insane.

′It’s either him or Alex, which one would you pick?′ He snapped over the link at me.

“Neither you, dumbass. They both betrayed us constantly, and now you wanna side with Stylo? What good reason do you have to place your trust in him?”

′Kassidy, he’s been getting used by Stylo too. He’s our only bet at being together again and taking back the pack. Do you really wanna risk this out of petty anger?′ He has a point.

“Fine. Let’s just get this over with.” I grumbled. He smirked over the link and simmered back again.

′Everyone ready?′ Anais called through the link to everyone.

′Me and Stylo found our bodies. We’re ready, Buttercup.′ Noah smirks through the link at Anais. She rolls her eyes and waits.

′I found Dad, and we’re ready to go.′ Kash announces. My heart thuds at the mention of seeing my dad again.

′What about you, Kassidy?′ Anais asks me. I sigh and look down at myself again from the closed part of the coffin.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

__________

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