White Rabbit

Chapter 42: Tethered

CLATTONIA

I decided to choose the room with purple walls that has a bed with black sheets and fluffy, black pillows. Reece and Essence chose this room too, meaning we'll be switching out every so often. The two of them have since unpacked their bags in the closet and currently I'm unpacking my stuff with my bag on the bed as Jace walks in.

"Oh, hey," I say as I look over at Jace as he hovers a few feet in from the doorway.

"What's been on your mind?" Jace asks.

"Hm?" I raise a brow at him and can't help but seem slightly surprised.

"Nothing, it's just..." Jace trails off, "you seem like you've been distracted lately. Is it your mother?"

"Oh," I pause for a few seconds, "it's just, Katsuro mentioned to me that he's seen a woman with hair like mine who resembles me and I can't help but wonder if it was my mother now that I've learned she's actually around."

"It's possible," Jace says, "do you hope that it was?"

"I mean, I kind of hope that it was. Is that weird?" I ask as I glance over at Jace.

"No," Jace says with a slight laugh and a shake of his head, "that's not weird at all. I know that I'd like to see my mom again if I ever could."

"What happened to your mother? If you don't mind me asking," I tilt my head to the side slightly in curiosity and furrow my eyebrows.

"She um," Jace rubs the back of his neck nervously and forces a smile, "she was killed whenever I was little by a Supernatural. It's the reason why my dad is the way he is."

"Oh," I frown and wince, "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," Jace says and shoves his hands in his pockets as he glances around the room, "do you mind if I stay with you in here?"

"That's fine," I nod, "Reece and Essence chose this room too, so the four of us will just have to rotate sleeping two at a time."

"Alright," Jace says and moves to lean against the wall, "so, how are we going to go about following my dad?"

"Well, he arrives tomorrow, right? I'm going to go scouting with Rai, Kazuki, Caliber, and whoever else wants to come along in order to try and find him once he arrives," I say.

"You can count me in," Jace gives me a lopsided smile and I nod in gratitude.

"Alright, I think that should be good then unless we want an extra person or two to come along. The others can find some other way to help us," I say.

"Sounds good to me," Jace says, "I'll go get my things to unpack."

"Actually, could you do something for me first?" I ask and Jace raises a brow at me.

"Sure. What is it?" He asks.

"Could you go outside and mail this letter to Asylum? I know you already informed him on what's going on and about how we're following your dad, but I have a few questions for him that I wrote down. Plus I have a favor to ask him," I say as I pull a letter out of my bag.

"Sure," Jace says as he walks over and takes the letter from me before glancing at the mailing address, "You listed a fake address? I'm guessing so that it doesn't get intercepted?"

"Mhm," I nod and smile slightly, "there should be a public post box outside Rai's apartment down at the bottom of the pathway."

"Got it," Jace says and starts to head off, "I'll be back."

"Thank you!" I call out after him as he heads down the hallway and turns before going out the front door.

I glance out the bedroom window and frown slightly from guilt whenever I realize that it began to lightly rain. I hope he doesn't mind getting wet...

***

JACE

"Ah, damn," I sigh as I glance up at the sky upon stepping foot outside and getting splashed in the face by raindrops, "oh well..."

I lightly jog down the concrete pathway and my eyes spot the blue public mail box sitting by the end of the pathway next to the fence. I make my way over to the mailbox and slip the letter through the opening, which rattles back shut afterwards. Just as I'm about to go back up the pathway, my eyes land on a blond haired guy standing by the beginning of the pathway and leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets, one of his calves crossed over his other leg as he leans his head back and watches the sky. His green eyes land on me after a few seconds whenever he lowers his gaze and he watches me with a slightly amused expression, which makes me raise a brow at him.

"Can I help you?" I call out to the strange guy.

"No, I don't think so," The male says with a slightly sad smile but his eyes seem vibrant and full of energy, "I don't think anyone can."

"What?" I ask cautiously and one of my hands slowly creeps closer to the pistol in my jacket.

"You won't be needing that," The male says as his eyes watch my hand and I instinctively freeze as I watch him cautiously, "I'm not out to get you, trust me."

"Then what do you want?" I ask, my gaze piercing through his presence and it almost seems as if the outline of his figure is glowing slightly.

"I'm just here to watch over my world," The male says with a slightly reminiscent smile.

I furrow my eyebrows at him before shaking my head and starting to walk towards the pathway back to Rai's apartment.

"Hey," The male says and I look over my shoulder at him to find him watching me, "look after her for me, okay?"

"Who are you?" I ask and he chuckles slightly.

He doesn't answer for a few moments and so I sigh before continuing to go up the path.

"I think you mean who was I?" The stranger says after a few moments before looking back up at the sky once more.

"What?" I ask as I stop in my tracks and turn around, but he's already gone.

I shake my head and blink a few times as I stand there and scan my surroundings, unable to find him.

"It's almost as if he disappeared into thin air," I breathe out in a puzzled manner before frowning and finishing the walk back to Rai's apartment.

I open Rai's front door to find Juniper cooking dinner with Rai, Caliber sitting on the floor and polishing one of her guns, Reece and Essence sitting at the bar and talking, and Lucian reading a book as he sits on the third stool at the bar.

"What took you so long?" Clattonia asks as she comes out of the bedroom and looks at me slightly worriedly, "also, while you were gone, Juniper texted Katsuro to see how the others are doing, and Ink and Indigo are working on finishing the deterrents to Nightshade's poisons with instructions from Juniper that she sends every so often."

"Good, good," I nod and glance behind me as if paranoid that the random stranger will show up behind me, "and sorry, I just...ran in to somebody..."

"Oh?" Clattonia raises a brow.

"Yeah," I shake my head, "don't worry about it. I'm sure it was nothing."

"If you say so..." Clattonia says uncertainly.

And, if I'm being honest, I'm not so certain that it was nothing either.