52 Definitely not Jos's room

They keep walking through the forest while I stay comfy in Jos's back, I like this, not walking and being carried around, before this experience I never thought I would've liked these situations.

Ah, I almost forgot.

"Guys" I start talking. Honestly, I don't think there's any need to explain this, but it's better if I do "From now on, I don't want any meetings between you, it's too risky" I sigh.

I should've told them this before, that way we would've avoided this situation. I pinch the bridge of my nose, being in charge is tiring, should I pass the title to Jos?

"What?" Linda's shocked voice makes me turn my head to face her. I frown, why does she sound so surprised? "Allie, we failed this time, but we will do better! We're not going to fail next time! You can trust us!".

She sounds angry? Why are these people so reactive?

I raise my hand to stop her "We're going to write letters" I explain before she keeps going, something tells me I got misunderstood.

"What?" Wesley asks this time.

"I will let one ghost around you, they can carry small stuff, so when you need to deliver information, use them. I know you can't see them, but they can see you. Just say you need to deliver the information and they will do it" After all, what's the point of training if they don't use what they learn?

We finally arrived at the pack house, Linda returned to the Red River's camp, and she plans on telling them they were attacked by the Blue Lake warriors, for a moment I felt tempted on blaming the Silver Dagger for the attack, but it was too risky.

The Red River trusts more in the Silver Dagger than in Aidan's pack, it's better to use the most obvious enemy. I know they don't trust Aidan's pack since they haven't told them that the Silver Dagger is their ally, it would be risky to put the blame on them.

Wesley got surprised when he saw the dome I could create, but I can only do this when I have a ghost strong enough as a medium, I can hardly do things alone, and when I do the recoil is bad, so I don't do it unless I have no other option. Another option is using the energy of the living, like with the tree but I hate to do that.

I sigh, Jos told me the name she thought for our pack... I don't like it, but Wesley and Jos seemed to love it, so I just let it be.

I want to sleep so badly right now, so desperately, well... it's dusk so I don't have to wait for that much to go to sleep.

"Are you sure they're not going to see us?" Wesley's worried voice takes me out of my thoughts, we're in the backyard of the pack house and he's hesitating to take another step. I turn back and make eye contact with him.

"They will not see us" I already told him this, but I know it's hard to believe.

He nods and we walk to his room, he gets inside, and we say goodbye. Jos and I now walk to our secret base. Lucas should be there, I told Eliza to give him some signals. Eliza can't move anything, but she can create 'sensations', it's hard to explain but Lucas should've had the sensation we were going to arrive shortly.

Jos opens the door and Lucas is there biting his nails anxiously. The dome dissipates and we appear in front of him, making him scream. I cover my ears; his shout is awfully high pitch.

Jos runs at him and hugs him. "I was so scared" she sobs and buries her face in his neck. I hear her smelling him and I frown. Should I look away? That looks personal.

"I wish you could have that" Ben says with a sad expression.

I tilt my head confuse. Had what? A romantic relationship? Honestly, for as long as I can remember the idea of romantic love has been nothing but a distant dream, I'm not saying I don't crave it but I'm sure I'm not going to find that. I don't think I have the capacity to fall in love.

It seems they will stay like that for a long time, better get myself comfortable. Jos has a bean bag in a corner, I will sit there.

I walk to the bean bag and sit, I'm going to wait for them to finish what they're doing and then go to the kitchen to eat, funny... my eyelids feel heavy, I don't think I can keep them open...

Everything's black, I only see black everywhere, apparently, I really couldn't keep them open. I force my eyes open.

"..." well fuck, I'm in a moldy dark cell. I lazily look around and nod to myself. Yup, this is definitely not Jos's room.

I sigh tiredly. Where the fuck am I? was I kidnapped again? I groan annoyed, I just wanted to sleep. Wait... that doesn't make sense, even if someone managed to sneak through the pack house and find me in the secret room, Ben would've warned me. They wouldn't have been able to bring me here unless I wanted to... so that discards the kidnapping hypothesis.

"ugh" a raspy tired groan behind me making me flinch, the voice sounds oddly familiar. It took me by surprise, I didn't know I had company. I turn around and freeze.

A tall, muscular man with brown skin and clear grey eyes is looking at me, his arms and legs are chained to the wall and he's full of injuries and old scars product of torture. He's missing some nails, it seems someone pulled them out, he has a scar that goes from his right eye to his cheekbone, and his back has open wounds, apparently made by a whip, among many other injuries.

"Are you here to take my soul?" he's talking as if I'm his last hope. I tilt my head. I know I heard that voice somewhere. I know I did. I sigh, am I dreaming again? This doesn't feel like a ghost premonition so I must be imagining this, not even my dreams let me rest, fuck.

Well, talking doesn't seem like a bad idea. I sit next to him "I'm not here to take anyone's soul" how could I? I might see ghosts, but I don't eat souls. It's not like I collect them either.

"You're not an angel of death? Or maybe the reaper?" he sounds astonished; his expression makes me frown. How did he reach that conclusion?

"I'm not an angel and I'm not a reaper" I answer honestly. I hope he'll calm down once he realizes I'm not here to kill him... at least that's what I expected but instead, he starts crying silent heartbroken tears.

"...then..." he looks at me with glossy eyes "...then I will have to continue living?" his voice makes me shiver. It sounds so sad, so desperate... so broken. He's broken in a completely different way than me, it seems he had a lot of love and trust to give, but no one to give it to... no one to accept it, at least not for real. It feels as if he has been used and betrayed by those he loved.

I tilt my head. I must be having this dream due to what Ben said before I fell asleep.

"If you're not a reaper then what are you? A vengeful soul of the people I murdered? The people I tortured?" I look at him curiously, those were not questions I was expecting to hear in my dreams.

"Why do you think I'm a ghost?" I ask calmly. I'm curious, I can't help but ask.

He giggles and I flinch at the sound... it sounds oddly... nice? Charming?

"You're weird, I guess I must be imagining this" I frown, that's my line mister. "Well, to answer your question. You're a transparent short shadow appearing out of nowhere to a place no one should be able to enter".

I rest my chin on my hand. I see why he thought I was a ghost; I would've reached that conclusion as well if I was him. So, I look like a shadow to him, that's interesting.

"Hey... can you... can you help me?" he hesitates to ask but still manages to complete the question.

"No." I rather not raise the hopes of anyone, even if it's in a dream. He smiles sadly.

"Worth the try..." he whispers. He looks at me again and smiles, it was still a sad smile but better than the previous one "Will you keep me company, then?" I nod, that I can do.

"I'm Liam, you?" I stare at him, should I reply? This is a dream so it shouldn't hurt... right? But at the same time, it feels like I shouldn't reply.

"What do you want to call me?" I reply. He chuckles and his cheeks tint with a slight pink. I think he's embarrassed.

THUMP

The hell? What that my heart? Now I'm curious, why is my heartbeat raising? I tilt my head from side to side but I'm unable to find the answer, let's just ignore it for now.