Strings of Fate

114- Charms and check-ins Logan looks contemplative as he thinks it through.

“Would Darrien be there?” He demands. | shrug.

“Sure, we could invite him too.” | agree.

“What about Aaron and Bellamy?” He continues. Megan decides to step in.

“We can invite anyone you want Logan. We could have a big dinner party and you could explore the whole Shifter compound if you want.” She tells him. His eyes open wide.

“Really!?” He says excitedly. Megan nods.

“Of course, Ryann is really important to us, you know, so all her good friends are important to us too.” She tells him. He bounces excitedly in place.

“Oh, wait, | just remembered something!” he blurts out. He yanks his hands from mine and kneels on the floor by his backpack. He spends a minute digging through it before dumping the contents out on the floor in frustration.

After a minute of frantic searching where several pens, a half-eaten sandwich and what I'm pretty sure is a bouncy ball scatter over the floor, he jumps to his feet, waving something in the air. He dashes to stand in front ofwith his hands behind his back, then reaches out with his left hand and presents... something toproudly. | take it and find it’s a necklace made of clunky, rainbow coloured plastic beads.

“Uh, thanks Logan, it’s-" Logan interrupts and savesfrom coming up with something polite to say.

“It's a friendship necklace! | made it. | have one too, see!” He pulls his other hand from behind his back and waves around a second necklace. He immediately pulls it over his own head.

“My teacher said | should give it to someone so that they don’t forget that they have friends. It's meant to help you feel better. It's basically magic.” he confides. His smile dims a little and he continues.

1/5 114- Charms and check-ins “I want you to have it. It can be a lucky charm to keep you safe and so you don’t forget to call and answer my phone calls.” he explains. Okay now | want to cry again. Instead, | pull the necklace over my head. It catches in my hair a bit but | don’t mind. I pull my hair out and then grab Logan and crush him to my chest in a huge bear hug.

“Ugh, Ryann, Can't. Breathe.” he struggles out. | loosen my arms and he grabsaround the neck in a tight hug.

“Thankyou Logan, I'll take good care of it.” | promise as | release him.

Now that Logan has broken the super serious atmosphere with his rainbow necklaces, Maggie insists on making hot chocolates for everyone, of course | use my favourite mug. Logan takes her seat on the couch next to me, leaning in and hugging my arm while Maggie bustles around the kitchen. She pulls a tray out of the oven. | should have known she was baking something, | mean | can smell the cookies. But her halways smells like baked goods because she bakes so often the smell basically never fades. No wonder Logan likes it here so much more than his mum'’s place. Although to be fair, I'm not sure his mum gives him much choice about where he spends his time. Everyone in the room perks up as she starts sliding cookies onto a plate. The guys look like they're doing their best not to seem too eager, but they're failing epically. Maggie passes the plate around and we all get warm cookies to with our hot chocolates. Mmmmmbh yes, Maggie is an absolute treasure and must be protected at all costs. We finish eating and | reluctantly herd everyone out the front door. It did tell Bellamy | was just grabbing my stuff, | don’t want to give the guy an anxiety attack, although I'm fairly sure that Aaron has been texting him updates. Maggie shoves a container of cookies into my arms along with my freshly washed mug items like the and | cradle both treasures they are.

We pile into the car and I pull out my phone and start messing with the calendar app.

go “Whatcha doing?” Megan asks, peering over my shoulder. Shaun is on my other side and seems equally as curious.

“I'm setting a repeat reminder to senda notification every three days remindingto check in on Maggie and Logan. | probably won't need it, but when things get stressful and busy it’s easy to forget things like that.

Out of sight, out of mind and all that. I don’t want to lose them so I figure | need to make sure to make an effort.” | conclude. Megan smiles and nods.

2/5 114- Charms and check-ins “I get that. You're making sure you don’t go too long without checking in. It's sweet.” she ngrees.

“Thanks.” Speaking of checking in, | send a text off to Bellamy.

Ryann- Got my stuff and checked on Maggie and Logan. On my way back now.

Bellamy You okay? Right... so Aaron did tell him about my slight meltdown... Well, | guess I'm not really surprised.

Ryann- Yeah I'm okay. Just got a bit emotional for a moment. We can talk about it later.

Bellamy- No problem. As long as you're okay. Did you get everything you wanted? Ryann- | think so. If I've forgotten anything | can ask someone else to pick it up later. I'm starting to like being able to ask people to help with things.

Bellamy- Ahh, growing into your secret bossiness | see. | approve.

Ryann- I'm not bossy!... Am I? Bellamy. Not particularly. More like... determined and firm to the decisions you make. It's a good thing, particularly for an Alpha.

Ryann- | should have known that was where this was leading. Whatever, I'm gonna go make sure these guys take the tto eat lunch, you Shifters are all complete workaholics | swear. | also want to help Megan with re- arranging her class schedule since it's partially my fault she’s on lockdown too.

Bellamy- It's not your fault. But by all means, help her if you like. I'll be back before dinner. Make sure at least one of the guys stays with you, or two. Two is better.

Ryann- I'll ask them to stay and hang out, don’t worry. We won't go crazy and burn the place down if you're gone for a few hours.

3/5 114- Charms and check-ins Ryann- Probably not at least...

Bellamy-...

Bellamy- Maybe order in lunch? Bellamy- Please don’t burn the house down.

Ryann- No promises. Byeeee xox Bellamy- XOX We make it back and the guys escort us inside, carrying all my stuff forof course. I instruct them to just drop it all against the wall in the hallway forto sort later and they pile it haphazardly but do their best not to obstruct the walkway. | face them all with my hands on my hips.

“So... Pizza?” | suggest. Megan shootsa thumbs up as she wanders upstairs. Shaun is the next to respond.

“Can we polish it off with more of Maggie's cookies?” He asks. | laugh.

“Sure, why not?” He holds two hands 1. up. Darrien and Aaron smack his hands with firm high fives.

“We're in.” Darrien answers. Aaron nods and gives a half smile.

“Perfect. I'll order online.” Megan says as she comes back down the stairs clutching her laptop to her chest.

Shaun’s phone rings.

“Oh hey Alex. Oh, yeah | am back but we're getting pizza. Yeah at the Alpha’s house. Right. Sorry, yeah | already agreed to lunch here.” | tap him on the shoulder and he lowers the Phone a moment.

“Invite him along. It'll be fun.” I tell him. He nods happily.

4/5 114- Charms and check-ins “I take that back. Miss Gale says | should invite you too. She brought back sof Maggie's cookies.” he says, clearly trying to tempt his more shy friend into accepting the offer. A moment later he hangs up the phone and tellsthat Alex will be over in ten.