All Chapters of My Parents Missed My Awakening. I Walked Away: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

By sunset, I finally gave up waiting for Mom and Dad.I texted Mom to say I was heading home.An hour later, she sent back a voice message.My brother was shouting in the background, almost drowning her out.“Okay. You’re on your own for dinner. I’m taking Connor to buy training boots.”I’d been away at boarding school since I was fifteen. I hadn’t been home once.So when I opened the front door, I felt strangely nervous.The house was dark. No one was there to meet me.Dad’s patrol jacket hung by the door. Under it were Connor’s boots and Jasmine’s new purple heels.There were no slippers for me, so I took off my shoes and walked inside in my socks.I hadn’t eaten for hours.In the fridge, I found a container of roast chicken.A note on the plastic wrap read: Connor’s. Don’t touch.I gave a bitter smile and shut the fridge. Then I boiled some pasta and mixed it with the last of the tomato sauce in a pan.I was halfway through eating when the front door opened.Jasmine came in first, c

Jasmine’s ballet finals were coming up.At dinner, Mom brought up the cost of competing in neighboring Silver Moon Pack.“The entry fee and costume rental come to five hundred dollars.”Dad kept cutting his meat without a word.Mom turned to me as though the answer were obvious.“Abby, you’ve been working little jobs, haven’t you? Cover it for your sister. I’ll pay you back next month.”My fingers tightened around my fork.“Mom, I don’t have much saved.”“How is that possible? I’ve been sending you spending money for years.”“I pay your tuition. The school provides your meals and a place to stay. You hardly buy any clothes. What could you possibly be spending it on?”I looked down at my sleeve.She was right about one thing. I’d worn this sweatshirt for three years. The cuffs were fraying, and I still couldn’t bring myself to replace it.Mom only gave me three hundred dollars a month.A new pair of training gloves cost thirty-five dollars. When my old pair wore through, I washed dishes

The bus journey north took about twenty-ish hours.I leaned against the window as messages from home came in.Mom posted a photo of dinner in the family chat.There was roast salmon in the middle of the table, with Jasmine’s medal beside it.“Got there too late. They only had frozen left. I’ll go earlier next time.”Connor replied, “Still tastes pretty good.”Jasmine sent a heart.Dad said nothing.No one asked where I was, whether I’d eaten, or when I would arrive.At three in the morning, I got off in a small town at the foot of the mountains.Only a few lights were on in the parking lot. The other passengers were soon picked up by their families.I pulled my suitcase toward the waiting room.A woman in a dark jacket stood by the door, holding a whiteboard.Abby Merrick.The letters were large enough to read from a distance.“Abby?”I nodded.“I’m Greer, from Silverfrost Pack. How was the trip?”“Fine, thanks.”She took my suitcase and glanced down at it.“Just this one?”“Yes.”She

On my third day, I joined Greer on a border patrol.Before we left, the captain spread a map across the hood of a car. The wooden bridge to the north was being repaired, so the food trucks were taking the road through the woods.“There have been rogues in the area. If you see anything, alert the other teams first.”Greer and I were assigned to check the southern stretch of road.The convoy stopped to check the route ahead. A breeze blew out from under a truck, carrying a sharp smell.I went around the back and crouched down. Dark red powder clung to the inside of the frame.I leaned closer. It was the same smell I’d just caught.Greer rubbed some between her fingers. Her face changed.“Tracking powder. Once it’s on a vehicle, the scent sticks around for days.”The driver gripped the door.“Someone put that on the trucks? So they can follow our scent wherever we go?”I checked the other vehicles and found the same powder on another truck’s tire.When the captain heard, he ordered the co

It was dark by the time the convoy reached the border.The last family lived deep in the woods. The father was injured, and his wife waited outside with their child in her arms.I helped load their medicine and clothes into the car, but the little boy clung to a toy wolf and refused to get in.“Dad hasn’t got my blanket yet.”Greer went inside to get it and wrapped both the boy and his toy in it.The convoy turned around and headed back.Near the wooden bridge, I caught an unfamiliar scent. The grass by the road had been flattened, and fresh paw prints marked the mud.I pressed the button on my radio.“Stop. There might be rogues ahead.”A tree that had been sawed through fell across the road.The first car braked hard. Several rogues burst out of the woods and charged the truck at the back.The captain led the warriors toward them. Greer and I opened the car doors and told the families to get out and follow the ditch away from the road.“Take them to the old patrol station,” I told Gr