Blue Violet

chapter 10



Dinner was fairly quiet, with both Ellie and Griffin preoccupied with their own private thoughts. When she was done eating, Ellie gathered up the dishes and took them to the kitchen.

“Hey,” she called to Griffin, who merely grunted. “I’ve got to get out of the house. I’m going to go fly for a bit. Okay?”

Her favorite and strongest morph was that of a Peregrine Falcon, inherited through her grandfather. It wasn’t unusual for Ellie to spend some time each night in this form, she so loved the feeling of freedom and the power of soaring through the open sky.

Usually when she went flying, Griffin couldn’t care less. This time, however, he looked up at her with slightly narrowed eyes.

“You’re not going to go watch them, are you?” he demanded, moving around the bar and into the kitchen.

“As a matter of fact, I’m not.” Tempting as it was, she had no intention of going anywhere near the Jenners and Pierces tonight.

“…Because we agreed that I would do most of the watching right now since they don’t know anything about me, remember?” Griffin continued.

“I remember what we agreed to,” Ellie put her hands on her hips, her voice ringing with irritation. It drove her nuts when Griffin got on his superior soap box—like he was so much older than her, when really he was younger by ten whole minutes.

“Okay,” he finally relented. “Just so you keep to the plan.”

Ellie didn’t bother to reply. She headed out of the back of the house and trudged up the snow-covered hill and into the woods. As soon as she was camouflaged by the thick trees, she transitioned into her falcon form.

To any onlooker she would’ve appeared to blur before their eyes, shimmering like a mirage in a desert. There was no sound to accompany her transformation, and in mere moments a falcon appeared where Ellie had just been. In all of her morphs, Ellie’s exotic coloring showed through as a midnight black body and violet-blue eyes. As a falcon, this was quite striking up close, but from a distance, no one would notice anything unusual about her appearance. She spread her long wings, and with a mighty whoosh, she took flight.

Ellie quickly gained altitude. She worked off her frustration and impatience with the situation in a series of incredible dives. She would flap her strong wings to get high up in the air…spread out her feathers hovering a moment, enjoying the view, and then rocket back toward the earth. Sometimes she would level out well above the ground, other times she waited until the very last second before pulling out of the stoop. Her maneuvering left her both exhilarated and in a much-improved mood.

Ellie kept her word and didn’t go near the Jenner and Pierce properties, although she couldn’t resist occasionally turning her powerful sight in their direction, hoping to catch a glimpse of any of them. She had no luck, however. Cold and tired, she eventually turned back for home. Once she reached the clearing where she’d started, Ellie quickly morphed back into her human form, fully clothed. The control of her shift happened in her mind, and so when she returned to human form, it was exactly how she’d left it. She’d always been entertained by descriptions of shifters in stories showing them as naked when they turned back to human, thankful that that wasn’t how it worked.

“That was stretching it a bit, don’t you think?” Griffin called out the second she walked in the door. So he had been watching.

“If you don’t want me to block you from reading my mind completely, I suggest you keep your nose out of my business and have a little faith,” she replied using the fake voice she knew drove her brother nuts. She found him in his room reading a book. She paused in the doorway, leaning against the frame. “I stuck to the plan.”

He grunted and narrowed his eyes.

“I’m going to get some homework done, and then I’m going to sleep,” Ellie continued, too tired to argue. She knew he didn’t approve of her decision to come here, despite his agreeing to help her. In Ellie’s mind it was too important to pass up this chance. More important than keeping the peace with her twin.

The next morning at five-thirty on the dot, Alex pulled into the parking space beside Ellie’s car.

Ellie didn’t need Griffin’s mind reading ability to know that the bleary-eyed, I’m-so-tired routine Alex gave her was a pretense. He was Svatura after all. He needed just as little sleep as she did. But she grinned and played along.

“Come on, sleepyhead.” She grabbed his sleeve, careful not to touch him directly, and pulled him on to the path. “Time to wake up and get moving.”

They both started jogging. Alex adjusted his pace to stay beside Ellie.

“So do you compete in track at school?” Alex asked after a few minutes of comfortable silence while they jogged.

“Nah.”

“Do you participate in any extracurricular activities?” he prodded.

“Not yet. I’ve only been at this school a little while,” she reminded him.

“Well, what about at your previous school?”

“Yeah, a few,” she answered.

Alex chuckled. “There’s that vagueness again.”

“Ugh. Sorry!” Ellie snagged a loose lock of hair and tucked it behind her ear. “I mostly participated in academic extracurricular activities like scholastic competitions and language clubs.”

“Ah! So you’re a brainiac rather than a jock?”

“Not really.”

“Because…?” Alex prompted after a lengthy pause.

“Mostly because we move so much. It’s easier to get into academic activities because the seasons for athletic activities are very specific, and I’d frequently miss try outs.”

“You move a lot, huh?” Alex almost sounded disappointed at that news, but glancing at his face Ellie could only see mild curiosity and so dismissed that thought as wishful thinking.

“Yeah, family reasons.” Ellie shrugged.

Alex cocked an eyebrow at her, mouthing, “Vague.” Ellie responded by wrinkling her nose at him.

“What about you? Law intern, huh? You must be some sort of brainiac yourself.”

“Nah,” Alex shrugged modestly. “I just worked really hard in school. I plan to go into environmental law like my dad.”

“Any sports?”

“Not really. Like you, we’ve moved around a lot. You know… family reasons.” Alex winked.

Ellie just pursed her lips and shook her head at him.

They chatted easily the rest of their run, and eventually made their way around the lake, arriving back at the point where they started. As they leaned against their cars to stretch out their muscles Alex said, “Breakfast?”

“Sorry. Can’t. I have some more studying to do for class.” Ellie lied.

“Maybe tomorrow, then,” he said, trying not to appear disappointed.

Ellie’s heart rate picked up and she smothered a dorky grin. “Sure.”

“Same time and place?”

Ellie nodded. “See you here.”

They hopped in their cars and with a wave, both drove away.

*****

Alex headed home from his run with Ellie with mixed feelings. She really was adorable, although a little reticent about her background. When he’d seen her at the coffee shop the previous morning, he’d thought about walking away before she’d noticed him. But something about her drew him to her, and he’d approached her despite all the reasons he knew he shouldn’t. And then he’d gone and not only asked to run with her, but he’d practically insisted on it. And now he’d made it a standing thing between them.

What are you doing Alex? He questioned himself. As much as everything in him insisted that he pursue her, it simply wasn’t possible. And beyond stupid. Regardless of the age difference, he might be putting her in danger based on Lucy’s latest premonitions. I have no choice. I’ll keep everything light and casual with Ellie, and walk away if things got intense. He made the mental vow.

And then he immediately went back on those few good intensions by texting her again later that night.

“Hey.”

“Hey back atchya.” Alex chuckled. He loved her sassy little text comebacks.

“Had fun on our run this morning.”

“ : ) Me too.”

“We still on for tomorrow?”

“Same bat time, same bat channel.”

Alex shook his head, completely confused. “Huh?”

“Didn’t you ever watch that old hokey Batman show on TV?”

“Lol. Can’t say that I did.”

“Sheesh. I thought everyone knew that expression. You missed out.”

“Sounds like it. See you tomorrow.”

“With bells on.”