Hyacinth - By Abigail Owen Page 0,14

going to dig our way out of this mountain of debt. We should do what we can to maintain our market share lead without looking like we gave up on revenue. I think we do that by launching another car now. It’ll be too late after this.”

A collective groan arose from the group. They’d been arguing this point for the last hour or so and were no further along.

“Do you need me to explain again the concept of making money?” Gordon, the finance whiz of the team, asked.

“Okay, okay!” Josh threw both his hands in the air. “No new car. But I’m telling you now that if we still don’t end up cash positive this round, it’s all on you.”

“Finally he gives in!” Cindy cheered.

“On that note… ” Selene stood up and started gathering up trash to throw away. “Anyone want to take home some pizza?”

“You paid, so you keep it,” Elayne said, looking at the slices of pepperoni with longing in her eyes.

Selene knew that they were all the typical broke college kids, which meant food was low on the priority list for bills. “I don’t like reheated pizza. So it’s just going in the trash if I keep it. Seriously, someone take it off my hands.”

“In that case, I’ll take some,” Josh said. The other four quickly followed his lead. Selene pulled some foil out of the pantry and wrapped up their slices while they all shut down their computers and packed up their bags.

She walked her friends out. “See you in class tomorrow, guys.” She waved goodbye and went back inside.

Smiling to herself, she went to close the blinds and happened to see a falcon in the pine trees. Without hesitation she snapped the blinds shut and then started pacing the confines of her living room. She was so angry she wasn’t sure what to do with herself. That golden-colored falcon had a glow inside him.

“Griffin,” she muttered. He was keeping tabs on her. Deep inside, her wolf gave an irritated growl.

If she’d been thinking rationally, she’d have realized that she shouldn’t be surprised by Griffin’s stalkerish behavior and that he might even be entitled to keep an eye on her. She wasn’t even sure she was safe to leave by herself. Maybe someone needed to stop her. But she wasn’t thinking rationally at the moment.

Maybe she should just turn off his power and watch him fall out of that damn tree. She held in a giggle at the mental image. Or maybe she should drop her mental blocks and tell him to go away.

Eventually, Selene decided to do neither of those things. She calmed down and finished cleaning up the apartment. Then she got ready for bed. It was only several hours later, as she still lay in bed wide awake, tossing and turning, that something occurred to her.

If Griffin was watching, and she ended up dream walking in her wolf form, then he’d see, follow, and maybe even stop her. If the dreams were real and she really was the one killing those people...

Suddenly, strangely, knowing that Griffin was keeping an eye on her brought her a modicum of peace.

And that finally allowed her to fall asleep.

*****

Selene was back on her bench a few days later, despite the unseasonable chill in the air. She was studying for an upcoming econ exam when Ellie plopped down beside her.

“Hi, Selene.” Ellie gave her an impish grin.

Selene shook her head. “Griffin is going to be so mad at you.”

“So what?” Ellie shrugged nonchalantly and pulled a protein bar from her backpack. “We’re staging a rebellion.”

“We?”

“Yeah, we,” said another female voice behind them. Selene turned and was stunned to see Lila and Adelaide standing there. Other than her brief exchange with Lila when she’d first arrived, she’d had no contact with the two girls. Now that she saw them together, she realized how alike they looked. The girls got their coloring from their mother, also a honey blond. Adelaide kept hers shorter than Lila’s though. A pair of green eyes twinkled at her.

Selene narrowed her eyes. “Okay. What’s going on here?”

“Well, we’ve discussed it,” Ellie began. “Lila knows you’re being truthful, and Adelaide, well, she never shares what she can see, but she does say it’s not bad. And you led me to Alex and to my new family. You helped us.”

Selene just shrugged. “Okay?”

“So we’re staging a minor rebellion,” Adelaide said. “We’re going to be friends.”

“Huh…” Selene ignored the small spark of hope those words inspired. She glanced