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Chapter 2

Author: Heart
Kyle probably hadn't expected me to actually leave. He chased me to the mouth of the cave and blocked my way.

"Stop making a scene, okay? It's not that big a deal. Is this really necessary?"

Not that big a deal.

The four of them dumping me in the brutal North so they could steal my spot. Not that big a deal.

Getting together to laugh at what an idiot I was, making me the laughingstock of the whole pack. Not that big a deal.

I looked up at him. Suddenly, it was like looking at a stranger.

Ever since Ella had shown up, he'd taken the others' side whenever I clashed with them over her. He told me to be the bigger person. To be sensible. To let it go.

I used to make excuses for them. They loved me. Everything they did was for my own good.

Today, I finally saw how wrong I'd been.

Deep down, they were sick of me now.

I didn't know exactly when it started, but somewhere along the way, I'd become an outsider to them.

I threw the posting orders in his face. "Fine. I'll stop making a scene. I'll go North, just like you all wanted. Happy now?"

He froze. "That's not what I..."

I didn't say another word to him. I went straight back to my place.

I finished packing, then went to the market to buy everyone goodbye gifts.

The first was for Jack: a pair of top-of-the-line Shadow Series tactical boots, built to withstand shifting.

They cost me three months' wages from the mines. I still remembered what he'd made me promise on his tenth birthday.

"If you ever leave me, you have to get me a pair of top-of-the-line combat boots first. Or you're not allowed to go."

I kept my promise. But he'd forgotten all about it. He took the gift with a smile. "Just leave it on the table. If you picked them, they'll fit. I don't need to try them on."

He couldn't even be bothered to unwrap them.

The second gift was a moonlight watch for David. It could boost his mind power.

I went to black market after black market before I finally found one.

At his last mind-power contest, he'd missed out on the finals because he didn't have a moonlight watch.

When I gave it to him, he ruffled my hair. "Don't be silly. It's not like we'll never see each other again. What's with the goodbye gifts? So dramatic."

"We really won't see each other again," I said quietly.

The last one was for Kyle: a wolf-fang ring I'd poured my heart into making.

When I went to give him the ring, Ella was sitting next to him, hugging her expensive handbag.

She turned away to avoid my eyes, then lowered her voice. "Sasha..." She bit her lower lip, looking pitiful. "That ring is so pretty. Could I have it?"

My chest tightened, and the words came out before I could stop them. "This ring isn't worth anything. What would you even want it for?" My voice was hoarse.

"So you won't give it to me?" Ella's eyes welled up, as if I'd bullied her.

Kyle looked torn as he glanced at me. He hesitated for a long moment, then handed the ring to Ella anyway.

"She likes it, so let her borrow it for a few days. I'll get it back after that. Okay?"

Then he ran a finger over the tip of my nose. "Be good. Don't be mad! I promise it's only for a few days."

I looked at Ella's face, so pretty, so sweet, so innocent.

She knew all of it.

She'd watched them slowly push me out, then taken everything right out of my hands. She'd even made a fool of me.

Then she got to enjoy her perfect little life in peace, while I was told, "Don't be mad."

"I'm not mad." I turned and looked out the window at the street.

Why would I be mad at a bunch of strangers?

That night, back home, I took the photo album out of my suitcase.

It held all the little moments the four of us had shared growing up.

Those memories barely stirred anything in me anymore.

I tucked it into the very back of a drawer.

I'd just shut the drawer when a message came in from Kyle.

"Still mad about the ring?"

"I'll find you plenty more treasures later. Don't throw a fit over some little thing."

I stared at the message for a long time.

In the end, I sent back just two words.

"I'm not."

Because someone who truly wants to leave doesn't need to make a scene to prove she's been hurt.
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