Escaped the Night (43 page)

We managed to make our way to
a road.

‘
This is where we
must
part ways. We’ll always be in your debt
,
Shanntal. Thank you so much for releasing us from the dark spell and showing us the way back i
nto the light where we belong.’

I couldn’t help myself. I walked right over to the largest unicorn and wrapped my arms around her neck. “
I’m
so happy I could help
.
I hope to see you aga
in
soon
,
and t
hank you for everything.”

‘You are very welcome
. I’m glad I had the pleasure of
meeting you
in person
.’

I smiled at the glorious animal
s
t
anding
before me and found myself wondering
, what kind of names did unicorns have?

‘
Oh, sweet girl, y
ou know me. We met
once before
in your dreams. I knew you were coming to save me. We all did.’

“Gabriella?” I asked.

‘
Yes, I am Gabriella,
’
s
he said
,
shaking
her flowing white mane.

“Wow!” w
as all I could say.

Gabriella turned and wandered
away. I quickly proceeded over to the
other unicorn, gave her a big hug and
thanked her for everything.

I walked back
towards the g
uys, but turned to take a final
look at the unicorns
as they departed
. “Thank you again for helping me. I’m so
glad I got to believe in you!”
I
called out to
them
before heading
out of the forest with Kaleb and Kael.
The three of us strolled down the road
enjoying the
warmth
and freedom
of
the
bea
utiful
sunny
day
.
A little ways
down the road,
I
pull
ed
my phone out of my pocket. “Perfect!” I announced to the guys.

They both stopped
to look
at me.

“We have service!”
I said
,
waving
my phone, accompanied
by
a little dance. I was going home
today
!

I
dialed
and
Uncle Dane answered the phone on the second ring.

“Hi, Uncle Dane.
It’s Shanntal.” I couldn’t wipe
the
smile off my face
even if I tried. It was so nice
hear
ing
his voice.

“Hey
,
kiddo! What’s going on?”

“Well, actually I was just calling to check and see if you were home. I’m on
my way with Kaleb and Kael. I
need to speak with you when I get there. Are you going anywhere today?”

“Nope,
should
be around all day. Can’t wait to see you.”

“Great! I
’ll see you soon then. Love you,” I said before hanging
up.

I was l
ooking
so
forward to going home,
almost to the point
I
couldn’t contain my
excitement. I wanted to
start running
, just
so I could get there as quickly as possible
.

“So?” Kael said
.

“
So, h
e knows we are on our way and
sounds very pleased. I’m sure it won’t be a problem
for
us to stay there.
So, let’s go.
”

“Wow! Someone’s
pretty
e
xcited to get home,
” Kael said
,
sounding hurt.

I knew exactly what
he was getting at.
“Kael, you and Kaleb will be staying with me. The three of us are a team now. Wherever one goes the other two follow.” I smiled at him and
then
over
at Kaleb. I was
glad to have them
both
on my team.

Kael grinned
at me and then charged Kaleb
,
almost kn
ocking him to the ground. H
e let out his renowned laugh and we headed home.
A short while later we
arrived
on my road
.
I co
uld see the tall evergreens standing
proudly in the front yard.

Excitement coursed
through
me. I couldn’t cont
ain it anymore. I wanted
to race
the rest of the way,
burst through the
front
door
and
tell them
everything was going to be okay
.
I’d never leave th
em scared or worried ever again, but t
he truth was,
I didn’t know how things were going to turn out.
Jayce wasn’t speaking
to
me and
I was trying to keep my di
stance from the elements and other shifters
. Daray was
still missing and I’
d just betrayed
Lakylee
.

Argh! Why did everything
always have to be so complicated? I wanted simplicity, I longed for it. How did my life get
so turned around? Was I ever going to be able to fix it?

We made our way onto
the front lawn and I stopped
upon reaching
the fr
ont door. Did I need to knock or c
ould I simply
walk in?
S
uddenly
, I
felt
unsure and m
y excitement
was
replaced with insecurity. I had
n’t been home in a while and it
almost
didn’t feel like this was my home anymore. After the fight and how I’d left here, I felt
more like
a houseguest
now
.
I
lifted my arm to
knock when the front door swung open. Auntie Steph
stood
in the doorway
,
wearing
a smile
reaching
from
ear to ear.

“What took you so long?” s
he asked
,
reaching
in
for a hug.

“
Trust
me, we came as fast as we could,
”
I said
,
hugging her back tightly
and forgetting about my previous inhibitions
.

“I’m happy to see
you
all
. I’ve missed
your faces.”

“Hiya, Steph!”
Kael said.

“Nice to see you again,
” Kaleb said
,
a bit more politely.

“Well come on in, we’ve been waiting for you all day
,
it seems like.” She moved off to the side
allowing us to
walk in. She hugge
d each of us as we entered
.

Now
I
felt
ridiculous for thinking
I didn’t belong
here. This was my home and these people were
my f
amily. Of course I belonged
.
Uncle Dane
sat
on the couch
not bothering
to get up as
we entered the room
. Then, I
noticed
that
s
omeone
was
sit
ting beside him, but
I
couldn’t make out who the
other
person was because
Uncle Dane
was
blocking most of my view.
I walked over closer so I could
greet
the
m
;
my uncle
,
who
was grinning ear to ear
, looked
up at me
.
My
heart stopped as
soon as I recognized the other person
. It was Jayce.

“Jayce? What
…
what
are you doing here?” I asked
stopping
in my tracks. I
felt dumbfounded;
was my mind
playing tricks on me? I waited
to jolt awake
from this dream
.

“Well, hello to you too,
”
h
e said.

My heart raced as
the butterflies
built up
. He l
ooked so perfect as he sat
there in
fron
t of me. He was everything
I wanted, all that I needed, but
it w
asn’t safe for him to be here and he knew this.
It didn’t make any sense. W
hy was he here?

Jayce stood u
p from the couch and moved
closer to me. I noticed
the
little nod
he gave
to my uncle
,
so
I shifted the direction of my stare
towards Uncle Dane
and watched as he
quietly retreated
out of the living room
. I looked around
and
noticed
that
everyone
else
had
also
gone
into the kitchen.
They stood close enough to see and hear what w
as happening between Jayce and me
, but not one of them spoke a word.

Great, n
ow I felt ambushed.
They
all
seemed
fine with
the fact
that
Jayce
was
here
, but how could they forget
that
this was
a
very dangerous
situation
for him?
My emotions were conflicted
. I was so happy to see
him and
at the same time angry
he was here.
Then, I realized, he was choosing me over the elements
,
and I wasn’t able to live with that decision. I couldn’t be the one who broke them up
. He
needed
to leave.

“Jayce, I’ll ask you again.
Why are you here?”

“I’m
here for you
,
Shanntal.”

“Jayce, you can’
t be
. The elements…
”

“
I need you more than anything else.
Don’t you understand?
I need you more than life
, you are my life
.” He moved a stride closer.

I melted
with his words
, but reality sa
nk back in.
“
Jayce, you must think about the elements. You can’t leave them, t
hey nee
d you.” I sat down on the couch.
I didn’t like
feeling
so
exposed with everyone watching and
eavesdropping
.