AEGIS ↠ EMBRY CALL [R.U]

22| RUNNING INTO A FAMILIAR FACE

Even with the light from the sun shining in through the windows, Callas stayed asleep. For once, she didn't wake up before her alarm went off. Jacob had finally sealed her window shut and she had no other problems with it. Which made her life a hell of a lot more easier and calmer. Callas had her arm hanging limply from the side of the bed, her hair knotted and sprawled out across the pillows while her mouth hung open slightly. Her body was laying diagonally across the bed, her blankets tangled around her legs before she began to kick them as her legs got too warm.

A groan left her lips when her alarm went off. Callas slowly opened her eyes and glared at it, cursing herself for not turning the alarm off yesterday. Her hand slammed down on the alarm before she turned to lay on her back, staring at the ceiling. Someone knocked on her bedroom door, she furrowed her eyebrows, turning her head to the door as it opened. Reed popped his head in, carrying a cup of coffee and his own travel mug. He offered her a warm smile, opening the door more with his shoulder as he placed the cup down on the table, picking up her other empty cup from the night before. Callas sat up more yawning.

"So, I'm off to work," he told her.

"This early?"

Reed nodded. "Yeah, I promised Chief Swan that I'd come in early since I took the day off yesterday and half of Monday off." He watched as Callas rubbed her eyes. "Remember to call or text me if you need me to come home at any point, Chief Swan said he understood our situation, so I'm sure he won't mind."

Callas shook her head. "No, I'll be fine. You shouldn't have to leave work, I'm sure Gramps and Nana will be home if I need them." Reed hummed in response. "Besides, I'm probably just going to run for a while. Clear my head."

"Okay, I'll see you later when I get off work." He placed a kiss on her forehead before he placed the empty cup back on the table to ruffle her hair. Callas batted his hands away. Reed picked the cup back up, chuckling, before walking to her door. "Have fun," he told her as he closed the door behind himself.

She rolled her eyes, picking up the coffee cup, sitting against the headboard. Her eyes drifted to the window, her lips pausing at the rim of the coffee cup. Slowly, she placed the cup back down on the table, taking the blankets off her body, no cold air rushed to her skin, but she still shivered, goose bumps lined her arms and legs as she walked over, wobbling because of how slow she was going. Her curtains were open from the day before, but a faint red outline of a handprint remained on her window on the outside. Callas blinked, not believing that it was actually there. Her eyes darted towards the tree line, sighing when she saw nothing—why would she? It was probably just a practical joke. But who would do that?

Embry was there the other day, but he didn't have any red paint on his hand, and she had watched him leave on his bike. She also doubted any of the boys would have done it, they wouldn't be that cruel considering they knew how freaked out she was about it. Neither Paul or Jared would screw themselves over by getting her more annoyed at them than she already was. So, that ruled out all the boys, because she knew the others wouldn't have the heart to do such a thing and Henry was still stuck in the hospital. Besides, it wasn't there when she went to bed. Callas stepped back, realising how bad that sounded, it would have had to have happened while she was asleep if it wasn't there before she went to bed, and if Jacob had already sealed her window, then someone would have had to have climbed up.

She shuddered, not wanting to think about this again, but she knew it was going to linger in the back of her mind like the lasting smell of tobacco smoke and whiskey that still remained on her father's flight jacket. Callas walked back over to her bed, picking up the cup of coffee; she was going to need it. She sat down on the side of her bed, picking up her phone. A few messages were left by the boys, two by Henry and one from Embry. She opened by Henry's messages, she furrowed her eyebrows, not understanding a single word of what they said—so she guessed he was on strong pain medication and didn't know what he was doing. She opened Embry's message and smiled to herself: