Blue Violet - By Abigail Owen Page 0,32

back to the bigger problem?”

“Oh yeah!” Ellie pulled her thoughts back to the more immediate issue. “I’ll take watch tonight. You just spent all day out tracking.”

“Alright,” Griffin agreed, tossing the chopped veggies into a sizzling pan. “I’m pretty beat. It takes a lot of concentration to use your power continuously like that.”

Ellie walked over and wrapped her arms around her brother giving him a big bear hug. “Thank you. I know you didn’t want to get involved originally. And I haven’t really thanked you yet... So thank you.”

In typical Griffin fashion, he gave her a brief hug back. “No problem,” he whispered.

As she started her watch that evening in her falcon form, Ellie’s concern for the Jenners and Pierces had her heading directly over to their property. She spent about an hour circling the area looking for any sign of the wolves. Seeing nothing, she decided to see if she could track them from the ground. She started with the last place she and Griffin had spotted them.

As soon as she arrived at the right spot, she blurred and shimmered, morphing from falcon to jaguar. Once she settled into the shape of the massive black cat, she sniffed the air…nothing. She sniffed again…still nothing. She shifted back into her human form and continued to look around, oblivious to her close proximity to the houses. She was crouched directly across a large field from the back of one of the homes, when she looked up and saw Alex. He stood by a window, looking her way.

Ellie froze and swore softly under her breath as she slowly stood up. She didn’t think that he could see her at the very edge of the trees, but she couldn’t be certain. She would’ve tried Griffin’s power on him, but she had to be closer to her brother in order to have access to his powers.

Gingerly, she inched back into the woods until she was sure Alex could no longer possibly be able to see her. As soon as she felt safely hidden, she turned into the falcon and flew home as quickly as possible. Griffin was already waiting for her.

“He saw you,” he confirmed her worst fear the second she flew in the window. “But he’s not entirely sure of what he saw. Apparently, you were already on his mind.”

Ellie sat down and buried her head in her hands. “Is he going to say anything to me?”

Griffin listened for a moment and then shook his head. “He’s still debating it. He won’t come tonight.”

Ellie groaned and tapped one fingernail on her teeth. “Well, at least tomorrow is Saturday, so he can’t catch me at school. I guess I’ll skip my run in the morning. Unless…”

Griffin shook his head, following her thoughts, “We shouldn’t tell them. Not quite yet. With that wolf sighting today at school, there’s still too much danger involved in bringing us all together.”

“But that wolf wasn’t watching me. He was watching Adelaide,” Ellie insisted.

Griffin placed his hands on her shoulders, calming her agitation. “Trust me please, Ellie. If the Vyusher are after the Jenners and Pierces, maybe we can help. We would have the element of surprise on our side. If they’re after us, then we protect your friends by staying away from them. If your friends are with the Vyusher, then we protect ourselves by keeping our distance. The timing of telling them is as important as the telling.”

Ellie’s shoulders slumped. Her brother was right. She would protect her friends without hesitation or thought. And she couldn’t argue with Griffin’s logic.

“Go to bed,” Griffin ordered. “I’ll keep tabs on them until morning.” He glanced outside. “Besides, it’s starting to snow.” Winter and summer apparently battled for dominance during the spring season in the mountains. They’d just had a warm streak, and now the snow had returned.

Ellie nodded her agreement and went up to bed. She’d had such an emotional day that she fell asleep the second her head hit the pillow.

The next morning she woke up to the urgent ringing of the doorbell. Groggily she pulled herself out of bed, threw on a robe and some warm slippers, and made her way downstairs. She noticed with bleary eyes the fresh blanket of snow covering everything outside. She also realized that Griffin wasn’t home.

The doorbell went off again. She went to answer it, shielding her eyes from the sun that bounced off the bright powder.

“Alex?” Ellie stepped back and tried to hide her astonishment at seeing him standing on her