Chapter 4

Azalea was still shaking. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Duska's face, close to hers. She was walking behind him now, promising her the answers she looked for if she cooperated. Azalea's mind traveled back to the woman in her car, and she stopped walking. Duska turned around, stopping as well.

"What about the lady? In the car? Isn't it dangerous to be stopped on the highway all alone?" Azalea asked, her eyes low. Duska studied her for a moment, then turned away from her, continuing on.

"Finn is taking care of that." He replied, walking away. Azalea started to follow him again.

"Finn?" She asked, looking around them. How many of these strange people were there?

"Finn is another student, like me." He replied, still walking away. Azalea furrowed her brow.

"So he can move fast, like you?" She asked, jogging a little to catch up.

"No, Finn can do different things." Duska answered.

"Oh. Like what?" Azalea asked. She couldn't stop herself from asking questions, and she felt a little bad, but she was glad to get answers.

"You're not ready for that either." He replied quietly. Azalea remained quiet after that, following Duska obediently. Her mind kept traveling back to earlier, when he had said those same words to her. Her cheeks flushed, and she quickly dismissed the memory. Duska came to a clearing, and stopped walking, he turned around and faced Azalea, looking her up and down. Azalea shifted uncomfortably, looking around. He whistled a tune, and then waited. Azalea looked confused, and then turned as she heard something walking towards them. There were two boys, messing around and shoving each other, both making their way towards them. Azalea looked at Duska, then back at the boys. She contemplated running away again. How badly did she need these answers? Not bad enough she decided, waiting until Duska's back was turned. She hadn't even started running when one of the boys walking towards them shouted to her.

"I wouldn't, if I were you." He said. He was tall, with dark hair, darker than Duska's. It was neatly cut, and he was built like a tank. Just huge. Azalea froze as all of them looked at her silently. She decided against running, as all of the boys looked ready to pounce. Her eyes moved to the last boy. He was shorter than Duska and the other boy. He had blonde curly hair, and a mischievous smile. One of his teeth were chipped, and his eyes glinted with either pure glee or pure ornery. Azalea felt conflicted, on one hand the boys were cute, but on the other she had no idea who they were, what they wanted with her, and why they all seemed to be dangerous. The tallest boy stepped forward a little bit.

"I'm Finn, and this one here is Ezekiel, but we just call him Zeke." The tall one said, gesturing to the blonde boy. Azalea gave a small, awkward smile in acknowledgement.

"You don't need to be afraid of us, we aren't going to do anything to you." Finn said, his face remained emotionless. Azalea didn't reply. She had to clear her head, and all of this wasn't helping. She didn't even know there were other boys when Duska stopped them on the highway. She thought it was just the two of them. Azalea looked down, trying to hide her disappointment. She had dated before, but her dad always had to complicate things. It was better if she didn't date anyone, she had decided this her second year into Highschool. But regardless of her rule of no dating, she couldn't help but think of how cute the boys in her school were, or the boys standing in front of her right now. Finn tried to hide his smile and Azalea cocked her head.

"We should get going, don't want to be late!" Zeke suddenly said, and Azalea blinked. His voice didn't match his face, it was too low. Finn nudged Zeke and Zeke rolled his eyes.

"Fineee, no teasing. I won't mess with you anymore, for now." Zeke said, winking. His voice seemed to match his face now, and Azalea couldn't think about it anymore. Things were starting to get too much for her.

"Okay, I suppose it is time to go. Let's get back to the car." Duska said, and Azalea looked down again.

"Are you sure you can jump us? You seem tired." Zeke said, and both Finn and Duska stared at him silently. They all seemed to have a conversation with their eyes. Azalea looked between the three of them, and jumped when Duska broke the silence.

"Everyone hold hands, let's go." Duska said, reaching out to Azalea and Finn.