Chapter 50 - "What Was That, Bella?"

The sun began to rise, causing the warm rays of sunlight to touch Ethan's skin as he walked back home, with Umb hidden inside his backpack.

Ethan was happy that he was able to evolve his skills, but he walked back the whole way with the image of that lynx agonizingly in his mind. He felt a little bad seeing the animal like that, desperate with fear. It wasn't the same feeling he had felt when he had scared that guy who had harassed Jessica.

The lynx didn't just try to kill Ethan out of spite. He was supposed to be looking for food and attracted by the noise of the deer, but when he realized he couldn't feed on the deer's body, he would have to kill something else. Ethan could feel his target closer.

This made him feel a sense of guilt along with an emptiness.

Ethan arrived home, jumped out the window, and went into his bedroom. He tried to make as little noise as possible, since Enid should be waking up now.

He took Umb out of his backpack, stroking under the little shadow cat's chin, and put that inside the closet so that Umb could get some rest.

From the window, Ethan could see his mother leaving with the car, which made him remember to look at his cell phone.

"All right! Take care going to school tomorrow. Anything at all, call me! I love you, son!".

"Good morning, Ethan, are you up yet?".

Enid sent two messages.

"Good morning, Mom! I'm up already. I'm going to school! Love you.". Ethan sent back, lying down in bed for a few minutes to rest.

The sun that day was hotter and brighter than usual in that city. Ethan barely felt like sleeping because of the brightness.

He decided to take a shower and go to school.

When he arrived, classes hadn't started yet. Ethan leaned under the awning near the front door of the school to protect himself from the sun. He didn't have a problem with the sun because of his power, he was just feeling too hot to be out in the sun.

Ethan looked around the parking lot for his friends and found everyone gathered under the sun, as if they were warming up.

Suddenly, Bella looked at Ethan strangely, as if she suspected something.

She started walking toward Ethan, who was following her with his eyes.

"Hi Ethan!" Bella said, with a dull smile, as she put her hands in her pants pockets.

"Hi Bella, what's up?". Ethan asked, confused.

"Why don't you stay with us?" Bella asked.

"Oh, I just don't feel like it. The sun is too hot. Ethan said, looking toward the sun, which caused him to close his eyes.

"Oh, come on! Come sit with us! It'll be fun!". Bella said, putting her arm around Ethan's arm and pulling him over to the table they were sitting at.

Ethan stared at her with a strange expression.

"What? No, why?" Ethan said, trying to get back to the seat he was in, but Bella kept pulling him into the sun. "What are you doing?".

Then they put their feet out of the shade, causing the sun to hug Ethan's body. He started to stare at Bella, very confused by her attitude. Bella stared back at him, but looked even more confused.

Then she let go of his arm and looked away. She looked a little frustrated and confused.

"I think you'd better have some water. You're going crazy!" Ethan laughed and walked back into the school.

And so the day went on. The classes had been good, and the prom was getting closer and closer, so the students couldn't stop talking about it. Ethan had already planned to ask Alice, but he wasn't sure if she would accept because of her family, who didn't seem to like Ethan very much.

Ethan walked to the cafeteria and saw that his friends were gathered outside at the tables under the hot sun.

He could see Bella and Jessica talking. Jessica was sitting at a table, sunbathing, while Bella was sitting on the seat at the same table.

Ethan sat down next to Bella, who was wearing only one headset.

"Hi, girls!" Ethan said, opening a soda.

Bella, noticing Ethan's presence, quickly pulled a clove of garlic from inside her backpack and placed it in front of his face, causing him to smell that striking but not bothersome scent.

Ethan slowly turned his head toward Bella, his mouth open, very confused.

"What was that?" Ethan asked, frowning.

Bella continued to stand still for a few seconds with the garlic in front of Ethan's face, staring at him, and then slowly lowered her arm, returning to acting normal.

"I don't know, I... I think I'm going crazy anyway!". Bella said, looking away.

Ethan brought his mouth close to Bella's ear.

"You think I'm a vampire?" He said, whispering.

"Are you?" Bella whispered back, looking into Ethan's eyes, realizing that they had changed color.

"No!" Ethan giggled and replied.

"Your eyes...". Bella whispered, still staring at Ethan as if she had been hypnotized.

"Oh, they change color in the sun. They get more orange!". Ethan said, looking away.

"They're not orange, they're red!". Bella said, trying to hold Ethan's face so that he would look at her.

"No, they're not, Crazy Swan!". Ethan said, laughing, forcing his face to the other side.

"Guys, I'm going to the dance with Eric!". Angela arrived at the table, super excited, drawing Bella's attention to the other side.

"I told you everything would work out!". Bella said, hugging Angela.

"I thought you didn't like him!". Ethan cut in.

"I don't think he's one of the best choices in the world, but he's kind of charming!". Angela replied, pushing Ethan's arm away, laughing.

"Do you really have to leave town?". Angela asked, sad.

"Oh, you know... Family thing.". Bella replied, shrugging her shoulders.

"Well, we're going shopping in Port Angeles today! You're going, right, Ethan?". Jessica asked hopefully, with puppy dog eyes.

"Ah, I need to sort some things out... I don't think I'll give but Bella probably wants to go, don't you, Bella?". Ethan asked, throwing the subject to Bella.

"Port Angeles... I'd like to go with you guys!". Bella said, smiling.

"Sure! We need your opinion on the dresses!". Angela replied, jumping for joy.

They continued talking and time passed until Ethan was already leaving for home.

When he arrived, he found, as usual, a note from Enid on the table.

"Hi Ethan, there's some frozen food in the freezer! I didn't have time to prepare something today! Have a nice lunch - Mom."

Ethan ran upstairs and opened the closet.

"Wake up, lazybones! Let's go! I want to see what you've evolved into besides your looks!". Ethan said, excitedly, while Umb was slowly opening his eyes still.

Umb jumped to the floor, stretching, and sitting down in the middle of the room.

Before Umb could reason, Ethan ran toward the window and hurriedly opened it, letting the sun's rays in.

Umb jumped up, startled, and ran under the bed.

"Come here, Umb! We need to test your endurance." Ethan said, trying to pull Umb by the tail.

Umb bared his teeth, informing Ethan that he needed to back off.

"When you were a bunny, you didn't try to bite me! Stop being silly! Come on!". Ethan pulled on Umb's paw, causing him to take a scratch.

Ethan quickly removed his hand, seeing that the scratch released some blood, but instantly regenerated, letting only a single drop out.

Ethan snorted, realizing what Umb had done.

"Is it going to be like this then? Beauty!" Ethan said, angry.

He began to concentrate the energy of the shadows, causing the shadow arms to reveal themselves. Ethan noticed that they were strong and dark in brightness, but when he took them toward the sun's rays, the arms became lighter. They didn't seem to be at their full potential, but they were already very strong.

Ethan brought his shadow hands under the bed, pulling Umb, who was growling in fright, afraid to die again.

Then he opened his hands, letting the brightness hit Umb, but not the sun's rays.

Umb was trembling, with his eyes closed, but realizing that nothing happened, he slowly opened his eyes and raised his ears, excited about it.

"See, you have to be braver, Umb! You're an animal made of shadows, man!". Ethan said, stroking the shadow cat's head. "Now go! Try to touch the sunbeam! I want to see if you're strong enough for that yet!".

Umb began to slowly walk towards the ray of sunlight. He slowly put one of his paws in, but as soon as he did, Umb's paw began to lighten more and more, almost disappearing.

Umb took his paw off immediately, licking his paw, which was gradually turning dark again.

"Hm, you're not ready for that yet! But I'm glad you can already stay in the daylight!". Ethan said happily. "That way I don't have to worry about you so much, since it doesn't get as much light here!".

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