Bab 23: Chapter 21: Back to school

An hour later, Erick finally arrived at Paccia's house where Roel had dropped him there. At first, he was surprised to see Luka in Erick's arms. He was about to ask Erick some questions but Erick had said that he will explained later after he gave the Adorosa to Paccia. Roel nodded and trusted Erick will tell him what had happened in Kraken forest. Personally, Roel was actually surprised to see Erick safe and sound. He was expecting a broken leg or something. He did not expect Erick to be safe and added to that, has a little wolf with him, as well.

Standing at the front door of Paccia's house, Erick knocked on the door, with Luka on one arm and one hand holding the pot with Adorosa. Erick had hoped to finish this mission as soon as possible. So that he can rest before moving on to another mission.

The door slowly opened.

Before he could say anything, the pot that was in his hand was suddenly taken from him.

Erick's eyes widened and he began to panic. "What the-" he stuttered, his hand still in the air. He thought that there was a fast thief waiting to steal the pot.

"I knew you can do it!" a gleeful voice rang out.

Erick looked up and saw Paccia holding the pot with both of her hands, an excited look on her face. She was rubbing the pot gleefully, snickering. Behind her, stood a huge cauldron, that was nearly her height. It was a black metallic cauldron, similar to how it looks like in most books with witches. It also has a wide mouth, supported by four legs. Though, Paccia was a witch herself, so no surprise there.

Erick followed Paccia inside, who was walking towards the boiling cauldron. He watched in shock, at the same person who has been cradling the pot like a newborn baby earlier on and now, had roughly opened the lid of the pot . She then grabbed the plant out of the pot and threw it unceremoniously into the boiling cauldron. There were sounds of hissing and crackle coming from the cauldron.

Erick became more shocked as he watched Paccia grabbed a long wooden stirrer, which was the height of a small child and used it to stamped the plant inside. She began to roughly grind the plant in the cauldron until it flattens.

"Uhhhh…" Erick began. "What are you doing?" he asked nervously. In his arms, Luka began to yelped non-stop at the cauldron. It seems like it, too, suspected something foul and suspicious. Erick began to feel that something was wrong.

Paccia stopped and turned to him. She then let go of the stirrer and walked towards Erick. She stood in front of him and on her tip-toes, took a strand of his hair.

"Ouch!" he howled, his hand went straight to his head where she had plucked a strand of his hair. "Why did you take a strand of my hair? What do you need it for?" he began to shoot questions at her.

Paccia ignored his question and walked back to the cauldron. She dropped the strand into the cauldron and continue stirring.

"What are you making?" he asked again. He was confused by Paccia's weird actions.

"I'm making a love potion," she declared. "I'm gonna get me a man!" she chuckled as she waved away the smog and fumes coming from the cauldron away from her face.

Erick unconsciously stepped back in fear, his eyes widened. Funnily enough, Luka also nestled deeper into Erick's arms. Again, it seems like it, too, was suspicious and scared of Paccia

Paccia, who noticed the pair's action, let out a loud laughter. "Haha! I was just kidding, pup," she reassured him, as she turned back to the cauldron, stirring.

Erick ran a hand through his hair, cold sweat still on his back. 'Why does it seem like she was not kidding?' he thought, inwardly shuddering.

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A couple of weeks later, Erick had fully recovered from the injuries that he had. It was his first day of school, after the weeks he had spent in the forest. His father dropped him near the entrance of the school with a warning to not get into trouble again.

Erick could only nodded wearily. He was getting tired, mentally and physically. Ever since he got back from his small adventure at the forest, Paccia and his father had given him lots of tasks. Other than looking for certain items, he had helped around the house, doing his mother's chores as well as helping the elderly humans at the town's nursing home. He did not expect that the elderly people could be so demanding and nagging.

Erick was still standing on the sidewalk, watching his father drive off. He could see Luka inside the car, his paws on the window, looking at him. He felt like he was the one who was being abandoned by the little wolf.

For Erick, he was glad that Luka had healed pretty well. After being nursed to good health by Melody, Erick had adopted Luka as his pet. His parents were surprised when they saw Erick brought it back home. At first, Luka was scared of them, not used to other people, other than Erick. Soon after, his mother had 'bribed', wait no, babied it with lots of food and love. It then slowly came to like his mother. In fact, it probably loved his mother more than him. It was still scared of Lachlan. Probably, it could sense Lachlan's Alpha aura.

Even though it was still scared of Lachlan, his mother still ordered his father to bring Luka to work. This was because his mother had to clean the house again. She has this obsessive-compulsive disorder when it comes to cleaning. It seems like she was not satisfied with the work Erick had done around the house. Not that he really care much.

Erick sighed. He wished that he was Luka right now. He doesn't feel like going to school. But he had missed so many classes so he could not afford to miss one more. Also, he misses practice a lot.

He was still standing on the sidewalk. Hamish had texted him earlier that he was on his way to school. So Erick decided to wait for him.

A few minutes later, Hamish arrived. He waved his father goodbye as he stepped out of the car. After watching him drive off, Hamish turned to Erick with a weary look on his face. There were bags underneath his eyes, which can be seen through his glasses. Even though, he looked tired, but it doesn't stopped Hamish to looked smart, wearing his usual dress shirt and slacks.

"That bad, huh?" Erick commented, looking at him from head to toe.

Hamish could only sighed in resignation.

The two of them walked together towards the school. There were a group of girls hanging out near the entrance of the school. One of them broke away from the group and went towards them. She slid an arm around Erick's arm. "Hey, you're back! How are you?"

Erick looked down at the pretty girl beside him. 'Feck,' he thought. He was racking through his mind, trying to remember her name but still, nothing rings a bell. Erick let out a forced smile. "Hey, yeah. Doing good here, babe."

The girl tightened her hold on Erick's arm, pressing it closer to her chest. "That's great. What do you say to a movie with me later tonight?" she asked, giving him a flirty smile.

Before Erick could say a word, Hamish cut in and said, "We're still grounded, Tania."

'Oh, that's her name,' Erick thought. 'Thank god Hamish has good memory.'

The girl, Tania, pouted. "Grounded? How old are you to still be grounded?" she protested.

Hamish stared at her with cold eyes. "Who's to say that age has to do with being grounded? Even if you've become an old hag, you'd probably be grounded for disturbing the peace with your face."

Tania gasped.

Erick inwardly face-palmed himself. Sometimes, Hamish can be too blunt with his words. Especially to those who annoys him, no matter what gender.

The girl dropped Erick's arm and huffed. "Well, I've never!" She then stomped off towards her group of friends, who had been watching the whole conversation.

If it's not Dane, it's usually Hamish, who "help" push the girls away from him. Sometimes Erick wonder what has he done in his past life to deserve a "friend" like Hamish or a "wolf" like Dane.

Erick sighed as he watched another girl slipped through his arms. All "thanks" to Hamish. Erick whirled around and frowned at Hamish, who pretends to not know anything.

Erick sighed again as he followed Hamish inside the school.

At the locker area, they were stopped by Coach Gundlach, who reminded them to not forget about practice after school.

The two of them cursed inwardly. They nearly forgot about practice, which was unusual for them. They assumed it's probably because they were too tired from the punishment given by the pack.