Chapter 35

June 22, 2001

Stephanie McNally decided to join her coworkers for dinner and drinks after work. Emma's pack was based in Saint-Jerome, a city near their workplace. They went to The Wooded Tavern, a restaurant bar located right outside of Emma's pack-land. The establishment looked like a bungalow and sat at the end of an off-road that was hard to notice from the main road, because of the dense forest hiding its entry: people had to know it was there.

Despite being operated by werewolves, local vampires would sometimes hang out there. The Northerners' team members enjoyed going there once in a while after a game, when they didn't want to be interrupted by fans or journalists.

"It's Friday night, I don't know about you guys, but I'm in no rush to go back home. Wanna go to The Wooded Tavern?" said Steven, one of their defenders, who was in his first season with the flyball team.

"I'd be down for that, actually. Frank is working tonight and I didn't get called by any agency for a case or a meeting," said Coralis.

"All right, that's a plan then," said Lydia. "Are you coming with us, Sebastian?"

"Will sure do!"

Stephanie enjoyed going there with her coworkers. As she sat there, listening to her coworkers' conversation, she looked around, wondering if all the patrons were actually werewolves, now that she knew about vampires, elementals and other supernatural. She saw Coralis entering the restaurant, with people she had never seen before, and immediately stood up.

"Agent Blue is here, mind if ask her and her friends to join us?"

"Of course not, I like her," said Emma, turning her head in the direction that Stephanie was looking. "She is with three other people and there is no one sitting at the table next to us, we could pull it beside ours."

Clarissa got up and followed Stephanie.

"Cor…-Agent Blue!" yelled Stephanie, remembering what Coralis had told her regarding her names. "Didn't know you knew about this place!"

Stephanie hugged her as soon as she got to her. Coralis' teammates were amused by the scene.

"Uh, yeah… it's not far from where we play, we come here relatively often," said Coralis and gestured toward her friends. "Guys, this is Stephanie, she's uh, my boyfriend's sister. Next to her, is Clarissa. They both work at Healing Moon."

"Are they like you?" said Stephanie, looking at them. "Hmm sorry, I don't mean it like that. I just found out 2 months ago about other supernatural, other than werewolves. Want to sit with us?"

"We're also mages, yes, but I'm a water one. I'm Sebastian."

Sebastian stretched his hand to shake Stephanie's, then Clarissa's.

"Don't worry about it, I'm just glad you didn't call us witches from the get-go. I don't mind sitting with you, why not. I'm Lydia, I'm a spirit mage, like Blue."

Lydia shook their hand and Steven did the same after her.

"I'm Steven, I'm an earth mage."

The Northerners' team members followed Stephanie and Clarissa to their table and introduced themselves to Jessica and Emma.

"It's nice to see you here. Is Agent Suri with you tonight?" said Jessica.

"No, I have two full-time works. Eva is from my other work."

Emma and Stephanie pulled the table next to them beside theirs. Coralis sat next to Emma, and Steven sat next to Coralis, to her other side. Sebastian sat between Stephanie and Steven, and Lydia took a seat between Jessica and Clarissa.

"To be honest, I don't typically hang out with elementals and witches, but Agent Blue Thunder is the most competent one the CMMA has ever sent us, so I think I like you three by default," said Emma.

"Well, she's also the best flyball player our team ever had, it adds up. Our home field isn't far from here. We like to come here," said Lydia.

"You all play flyball together?" said Stephanie.

She remembered what Coralis had told her about flyball, and was hoping to be able to watch a game someday. Sebastian looked at her, as she said that, then turned his attention back to Emma.

"Isn't it interesting that technically, she isn't even working for the CMMA?" said Sebastian, then looked at Coralis. "I remember when the EBEE tried to terminate your partnership with Eva. I never found out what was said between High Mage Finnas and your elders, by the way, but my dad thinks that High Fay Ellya also spoke to them."

"Wait, are you serious?" said Jessica.

"Yeah, I am in fact an apprentice with the European Bureau of Elemental Energy, which is an agency similar to what the CMMA does, but won't typically get involved in non-elemental affairs. When I renewed my contract with The Northerners, our flyball team, my elders at the EBEE decided to terminate my collaboration with the CMMA, to have me working around London instead."

"Why? Trust me on that, I think you're the only witch, or elemental, that werewolf packs trust at the moment. When I called the CMMA after Owil went feral the way he did, I think I specifically asked if they could send you and agent Suri to us."

"You know, Blue, she's right. My dad said that a lot of werewolf packs had been requesting you and Eva to work their cases," said Sebastian.

"That certainly explains why we've been working on a lot of cases involving werewolves lately. I can see why the EBEE wasn't happy about me renewing my contract with The Northerners, especially if we consider the fact that the captain role is going to keep me busier with the team, but I never wanted to work for the EBEE in the first place."

"Could you just ask for a transfer? Packs barely trust the CMMA as it is, and usually only call them unless they absolutely need to, but if you don't actually work for them and your agency wants you elsewhere, I think it might be in everyone's best interest if you could actually work for the CMMA," said Emma.

"Hold on, did you say that you're only an apprentice? To whom, if you're not affiliated with the CMMA?" said Jessica.

Sebastian tried to keep his attention on the discussion, while paying attention to the one Stephanie was having with Steven, about flyball. He was sitting between them and wanted to be the one answering Stephanie's questions about their sport.

"Do you want to come to a game?" he said, looking briefly at her. "Yeah, she is, technically, so is Eva Suri."

"Really? I mean, sure, both of them look like teenagers, but honestly, they're the best damn agents that the CMMA has ever sent us. And you're telling me that they're APPRENTICES??" said Jessica.

"Hmm it's not that simple," said Coralis, not knowing how to answer this. She trusted those wolves, but didn't know who else was listening. "Me and Eva have been partnering for over a year. Like Sebastian said, we don't know what was said between the EBEE and the CMMA, but for now, me and Eva will continue to work together wherever we're asked to go."

"Well, I certainly hope so. I don't know how to tell you this, but you do remember our last feral patients, right? Thankfully, you've been able to restore the connection between them and their wolves, but do you have any idea what that meant for us? I told my alpha all about it, because he needed to know why we needed to pay attention to fays, and he wanted me to get your personal number. Don't worry, I didn't tell him about, uh, your personal connection to our student Stephanie, but damn, you need to keep doing whatever you do with the CMMA. The wolves NEED you," said Jessica.

"Are things that bad? My sister was telling me not to trust anything that comes out of the elves' mouths, but I honestly thought she was being paranoid," said Steven.

Coralis was becoming uncomfortable. She realized that she was in the middle of a werewolf establishment, but she was worried about who could be listening. Although the majority of the patrons were shifters, she knew all too well that not all of them were friendly to her and that this place was known by a lot of supernatural.

"Let's just say that there are a lot of things that aren't being reported by the media."

"Clearly! My twin sister told me that ghosts seemed agitated lately, but couldn't tell me why. I'm starting to think that this is all connected, somehow, and I never was a conspiracy theorist," said Lydia.

Coralis's hologram vibrated as Lydia finished her sentence.

"Hold on, I need to take this," said Coralis, as she turned it into a satellite phone.

She got up and walked away from their table, toward the corridor where the toilets were, and answered the call once she was in a secluded spot.

"Sorry guys, I gotta go pick up Eva, ghoul trouble in Grenville," said Coralis when she got back to her friends' table.