E V E R E T T

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN Arjun has him? Wait, who's Arjun again?" I hurried after Lana as she limped across the Laker towards her friends.

"The guy who's gonna kick your ass tonight if you don't stop following me."

"Wait, what?-"

"-Hey, Weston! Carmen shouted, stepping in my way as soon as Lana reached The Sirens. "Keep your damn distance. What's wrong? What's happening here?"

"Arjun has Ali," Lana said, hurrying over to Jada.

That threw the Sirens' attention away from me and Isha's brows drew together. "What?"

"He's using him as bait to get Everett over there," Lana explained, leaving me more confused than ever.

Arjun? Wasn't that the guy I save Ali from on my first day at Lakewood High? The Lions' gang leader.

"I knew he was up to something," Jada muttered. "Let's get out of here."

"You know where he is? I'm coming with you?" I said, stopping them.

"Weston. Drop this hero act. Go home," Carmen said before they started heading out of the building together.

Without thought, I followed them.

"But I'm the bait. I can't just go home while you go right into a trap."

That made all four of them halt in their tracks. Isha whipped around first and pouted. "Awww. Are you worried about us? Because if you are, it's cute but go home. Ali is our friend. We'll take care of it."

Well, that accelerated quickly. Why weren't they letting me go with them?  I wasn't giving up that easily though. "No. I'm coming with you. Ali is my friend too."

Jada groaned and pushed open the crooked metal door. "Fucking hell. Then move it. Let's go."

Carmen shot Jada a what the fuck? look but she ignored her and I hurried after them. As soon as we stepped out of the Laker and into the crisp evening, Jada quickly led us to a corner through a shady alley and brought her hands to her hips.

"We have to go to The Lions' base. The plan is, get in, get everybody else in, grab what we need, and get out. Lana will keep a watch on everything."

My jaw dropped. "Seriously? That's the plan? To get in and get out? That's the infamous plan of The Sirens? The most powerful gang in town?"

They couldn't be serious. I was kind of expecting a legendary or at least a solid plan from them.

Jada sighed. "Remind me why he is talking again?"

Annoyance was fully blown across Carmen's face. "Cause he's an idiot. Listen, we've done this countless times before. We stick to or usual plan."

"Then what is it? You know other than getting in and out? I still need the details to know what we're gonna do. I'm going with you because I want to help," I argued, hoping they would at least tell me a little bit about what they were thinking. I didn't want to be completely useless to them.

Suddenly, Jada's brown eyes darkened and she took three solid steps towards me, glaring straight into my eyes. "Listen, new kid. Ever been mugged in an alley? robbed on the street, had your head hung upside down from a bridge?"

"Uh, no. No, I haven't-"

She smiled but it was the kind of smile that scared the living shit out of me. "Exactly. That's why you'll go with Lana. Stay behind her and don't talk unnecessary shit."

"Then what's Lana's plan?" I asked, feeling clueless.

Isha chuckled. "Lana doesn't make plans. She wings it. She's skilled at taking action from the spot. She doesn't need planning. All you need to be prepared for is climbing and spying."

"I'm not good at climbing or spying," I admitted.

Jada looked like she wanted to punch me square in the face."Did I ask you to spit out what you suck at?"

"No, but-"

"-So shut up and tell me what you can do-"

I caught a brief glimpse of the corners of Lana's mouth twitch.

"He's got brains. Well, not the kind of brains we need. He has the nerd's brain. You know, like Lana," Isha joked, followed by an amused laugh ringing through the frigid breeze howling past us.

With one swift movement from Lana, Isha was flat on the ground, rubbing her sore butt while crying, "I'm sorry! It was a joke."

Carmen grinned and Jada rolled her eyes before her lips pulled up into a small smile. I couldn't help but chuckle myself but when Lana met my eyes, my throat.

Jada dropped her hands from her hips. "Okay, that's enough. Let's go get Ali. Lana, take him with you."

Lana nodded and before the two of us parted ways with the three of them, Jada looked me in the eye when saying, "And let me be clear about the rules one more time. No touching and at least one-meter space between you and my spy. Now, go. Move it."

"Seriously? What's her deal?" I muttered following Lana through the alley.

"You."

"Fair point."

She suddenly stopped and I had to brace myself to not bump straight into her back. Before I could even think it over, Lana had put her foot on a small crack in the brick wall and then on another higher up. Afterward, she swung her left leg over before planting her both feet on top of the surface of the wall. Then, she launched herself off the wall and threw her arms around the thick branch of the closet tree to her.

It was obvious she was struggling with balance and strength on her left foot. Still, though, by the look of it, she seemed like she had years of experience.

"You coming?" Her raspy but soft voice startled me every time. Every time she spoke, she sounded like she hadn't talked for several hours.

"Yeah. I'm coming." I followed her steps, but I quickly realized this was a lot harder than it looked.

"So this is why they call you the wolf? You're so fast. But shouldn't they be calling you the monkey then? Or does monkey just sound weird while Wolf sounds cooler?" Or maybe-"

"-One more word, I'll kick you," she cut me off, watching me from the tree while I was getting myself up on top of the brick wall.

I shut my mouth and felt my cheeks grow warm. "Sorry. I'm coming."

When we were both seated on the tree branch quite high up in the air, Lana hoisted herself up on her two feet. One firm, another buckling, she bent her knees and I realized what was coming.

"Wait. Lana! Don't do that. You're gonna fall!" I whispered-yelled.

Lana ignored me and jumped anyways, landing on one of the thick branches to the next tree.

How the fuck did she do that? With that unstable foot of hers? Either she was trained and had been doing this for way too long or she just endured the pain? I had a feeling it was both.

When she continued on to the next tree, I realized she wasn't going to wait for me. So I followed her. After jumping from tree to tree a few times, there was a building towering in front of us.

When I saw Lana's gaze fixated on it, I asked, "Are they in there?"

"No, but we need to get on the roof."

The gap between the tree we were seated on and the building was quite small, but when a figure flashed before my sight, I almost fell over.

"What was that?" Panicked, I looked at Lana but she wasn't next to me anymore.

Instead, she was hanging on the railing to the rooftop of the building in front of me. My jaw dropped and my heart stopped for a brief moment. She was quick to swing her leg over, and then the other, leaving her whole and safe on the rooftop.

Forget the wolf. This girl was like the Flash. She waved me over. Did she really just expect me to get over there the way she did?

I swallowed hard before forcing out the words. "Uh, Lana. That was cool and all, but I don't think -I mean, I kinda don't wanna die."

She stared at me, blankly. "Jump. Now."

Well. I guess I'm screwed.

For Ali. Do it for Ali.

I inhaled a deep breath before focusing on the railing Lana was crouched down behind. Following Lana's guide, I gathered my feet, launched myself off the branch, and felt like I was flying in the air for a brief moment before I gripped the railing of the roof with my bare hands.

Hanging, I tried to not look down in case I got a heart attack. Instead, I looked up to feel safer but the moment I saw a glint of surprise touch Lana's onyx eyes, and create the briefest aliveness across her dull expression, my hands slipped.

"Oh, shit-" Lana cut me off by gripping my wrists with her thin hands. Relief burst through me but when I felt her hard grip through the fabric of my hoodie, her breath got heavier across my face and the smallest beads of sweat glinted on the pale skin of her neck. Her pupils widened, almost out of terror.

That's when it hit me. The rules. I wasn't supposed to go near her or touch her, but here she was with her fingers closed so tightly around my wrists that there was no chance I'd fall down in the pitch dark. Out of utter panic, I rapidly pulled myself over the railing, so I was crouching down in front of Lana. She was on her knees, still breathing heavily with her darkened gaze was glued down on the ground.

"Hey. You okay, Lana?"

Surprised, her head jerked up and our eyes met. "You're asking. me?"

It was so freaking weird and shocking to see emotion across her face.

"Yeah. You didn't have to do that," I said, sudden anxiousness brooding my chest.

Lana, however, instead of answering me, climbed to her slightly shaky legs and jerked her chin across the rooftop. "Come on. Let's go."

Despite desperately feeling the need to be sure that she really was okay, I followed her without demanding an answer from her. I decided to keep my distance to make her feel more comfortable. I didn't want things to get worse. The last thing I wanted was Lana to hate me too.

While we were sneaking across the rooftop, I saw Lana's eyes stay glued to the right, in the pitch dark alley that she and I jumped across a few minutes ago.

"What are watching out for?"

"The Lions."

"Oh. Yeah. Right." I needed to stop asking stupid questions.

"Baka." I caught her roll her eyes, but almost bumped into her again when she halted before quickly dropping herself flat on her stomach on the floor. Despite being taken off guard, I fell flat next to her.

"I feel like a spy on a top-secret mission," I admitted, feeling my nerves getting jittery.

Next to me with her cheek against the ground, Lana sighed. "Baka."

I shrugged and closed my eyes while inhaling a deep breath. Might as well take this as a break while trying to stay hidden from The Lions.

"I'm fine."

My eyes ripped open and I was suddenly staring into Lana's eyes as she stared into mine. The cold air flooded around us while her small words echoed in my ears.

Surprised, I smiled. "Okay. Good."

"Let's go." She got up to her feet again and jumped over to the roof of the next building, and I followed her silently. After we sneaked across the rooftop, we crouched down by the railing and Lana pointed down at a shadow in the alley dipped in darkness.

"Is that...?"

She nodded. "Arjun's boys."

"Are we following them?"

"No. We're going to jump them."

"Oh. Cool." As soon as the words left my mouth, confusion hit me and I snapped my head to the side to look at Lana. "Wait. What?"

In reply, she balled her hands into fists and started boxed the air in tiny. "Fighting time."

My jaw fell and I shook my head, repeatedly. "Wait, Wait, Wait. I don't want to hurt anyone. I'd rather not get arrested tonight or ever. Do we have to do this?"

"Violence equals survival on these streets. Or else you're a goner."

Goner? Did that mean screwed? Dead?

"Lana, I don't know how to fight!" I exclaimed in a whispering voice.

Lana sighed and returned her gaze to the boys lurking in the alley. Her gaze followed towards the end of the alley and then back to the boys. It kept going back and forth for a minute or two before she glanced at me.

"Come on. This way."

"Thanks," I said, which caused Lana to raise an eyebrow at me before she let me follow her towards the railing at the end of the rooftop and we silently climbed down the wall of the building.

"Keep a lookout," she said while she worked on unlocking the door to the building in front of us. I kept glancing to my left and right for a few seconds before Lana pulled the door open.

Shook, my eyes widen. "Holy, shit.  Lana, you're insane."

We hurried inside and I gently shut the door after us. It was dark until Lana switched on the lights and I found myself in what seemed like a quite narrow storage room surrounded with a bunch of stacks of boxes literally everywhere.

"Where is-" my voice was cut when the lights suddenly turned off.

I heard Lana gasp next to me.

"Shit. The lights went off," I said and turned back to the wall to turn it on again but it didn't work. 
I sighed. "Well. Great. Now we can't see anything."

I checked my phone but it was dead. "Even better. My phone is out of battery."

"Hey, Lana. Can you...?" My voice trailed off when I suddenly heard heavy, agitated breaths fill the silence in the storage.

"Lana? Are you okay? What's wrong?" I asked, but there was no reply from her. Just more heavy, painful breaths.

Shit. She was probably scared of the dark. Even if I couldn't see here in the pitch darkness I turned to where she was standing next to me and carefully said, "Lana, turn your phone light on. Can you do that?"

It took a few seconds, but she managed to turn on her phone's flashlight, automatically enlightening our surroundings, not fully but enough for us to both see each other and where we were going.

However, when I saw Lana's condition, I knew we couldn't continue further. Lana's face was so pale, she looked like a ghost. Her eyes went blank and the emotions across her face froze. Beads of sweat trickled down her forehead and neck. Her hands, shoulders, and legs were shaking.

"Lana?" I whispered, my heart starting to hammer in my chest.

And just like that, Lana Takumi, the master of sneaking through the dark like a wolf, unseen and like the wind, the infamous Wolf of Lakewood, fainted.

****

Author's note: Hi, everyone! I'm sorry for the late update. I hope you still enjoyed this chapter though. Slowly, Lana's weaknesses are coming to sight. What do you think will happen next?

Remember to
Vote⭐️
Comment❤️
Share with friends🌹
Follow me☺️