Chapter 34 - "Mom, Who is Hayden?"

Ethan looked at the door, wide-eyed.

"Hi, Mom! You're not here! Hold on!" He shouted, grabbing the little smoke ball and throwing it under the bed, where it was darker.

He got up and started looking for a bandanna to wrap around his arm, since he had taken the other one off in the bathroom. Ethan rummaged through the drawers and found some bandages, wrapping them around his arm to hide that the bruises were no longer there.

He walked toward the door, letting the light into the room. The little ball, who was watching everything Ethan was doing, ran under the bed, afraid of the light.

"How did it go today? Is Mike cool?" Enid asked, heading toward the kitchen.

Ethan closed the bedroom door behind her and went downstairs next to his mother.

"He is! Everything went well today!". Ethan replied, running his hand through his hair, tidying it up.

"Oh good! Did you eat? What about your arm? How's it doing?". Enid asked, reaching for the coffee pot to brew her a cup of coffee.

"Yes, I did! My arm is much better now. I hardly feel any pain at all...". He answered, sitting down. "How was work? Did you find out what that animal was?". Ethan asked.

"They think it was really wolves. They haven't found out anything else about. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait for someone to report if they saw anything, so we'll know where they're headed. I hope they don't come to Forks." Enid said, sipping coffee.

"Do you guys already know what you're going to do in case they come here?" Ethan asked.

"Not yet, but I'm going to send you to your grandma's house. It'll be better for you!". Enid replied, eating some cookies.

"Mom... Can I ask you something?". Ethan said, a little shy.

- Would this be a bad time? I hope not... - Ethan thought, remembering the name he had read earlier.

"Sure son! You can ask me about anything. Is it some girl...?". Enid said thoughtfully.

"Who's Hayden?". Ethan asked, looking into the depths of his mother's eyes.

At the same moment, Enid choked on her coffee, almost spitting it out on the table.

"What? What are you talking about?" She said, wiping her mouth with a napkin.

"There's a name crossed out on my box of video games... It's written Hayden. Who is it?" Ethan asked, insisting.

"Oh, is that it?" Enid said, more relieved. "It's just an old box I picked up to make the move. I don't know who Hayden is!". Enid replied, shrugging.

Ethan continued to stare at her for a few seconds, but decided to leave it alone. He knew his mother wouldn't talk. From his recollection, Enid wanted distance from Hayden, he seemed to be dangerous to Ethan and Enid. It was clear that she wasn't going to give away that information that easily.

"I think I'll get some sleep...". Ethan said, getting up.

Enid seemed to be a little upset that Ethan would bring that up, but she didn't want to talk about it anymore. She just wished him a good night and went back to doing her own thing.

Ethan went upstairs to the bathroom to take a shower. He took off his clothes and stepped into the shower, not paying much attention to what he was doing. As he ran shampoo through his hair, which caused him to keep his eyes closed, he could only remember what Hayden had said in recollection.

- "You know he's going to need me!", "It's in his blood"... The shadows? Did I come from some kind of ritual? - Ethan thought.

He finished showering and stopped in front of the mirror to brush his teeth.

That's when he realized that his chain was completely black again, and then things started to make sense.

The chain held energy, which is why he was able to use his strength in the middle of the day, to protect Bella.

- On the little bag that the chain was stored in, there was an H written in black. It was H for Hayden! Of course! - Ethan thought, holding the chain in one hand. - But if my mother didn't want any more contact with him, why did she keep this? - Ethan thought, confused.

He dried himself off and went to his room. Ethan closed the door and sat on the bed, looking out the window.

- Where are you, Hayden? - He wondered, as he looked up at the moon, which illuminated his room a little.

Then the little shadow ball approached Ethan, trying to reach his hand, but when it touched part of her body to the light coming through the window, a small part of it evaporated, like smoke, and caused the little shadow ball to run back into the dark, hiding.

Ethan closed the window so as not to disturb the little ball and took it in his lap. He began to run his hand over the little ball's head, as if it were a small pet hamster, but smarter than one.

"I'm going to give you a name... I think I'll call you Umb." Ethan said, petting the little ball's head. "I wonder if I can make more of you? Or maybe evolve you...". Ethan wondered.

He then closed his eyes, wrapping his hands around Umb's body, and began to focus his energy on the little ball, causing the shadow particles to hug the little shadow ball.

Umb stood still on Ethan's lap, as if concentrating with him.

After a few minutes of doing this, Ethan opened his eyes and saw that Umb's little body had regenerated. He wasn't strong enough to regenerate on his own, but Ethan could get it to evolve over time.

Suddenly, Ethan remembered that he would have the tour the next day, but he was sure he wanted to miss that day.

He picked up his cell phone and decided to text Mike:

"Mike, are you going to the ride tomorrow? I've been meaning to miss it, I don't know if it's worth a point in the subject... :T". Ethan sent Mike a message.

"You'd better go. Mr. Molina said it's going to be worth a point. I'll have to go, I'm about to fail, lol. Mike sent back, right away, as if he already had his cell phone in his hand.

"Ok!". Ethan replied, putting his cell phone back in his pocket.

He decided that he would stay up all night, gathering energy. That way he could recharge, since he wouldn't feel sleepy anyway.

And so he did. Ethan stayed up all night gathering energy from the shadow and trying to evolve Umb.

He alternated between meditating and taking his energy to the little ball, which seemed to get denser with each amount of energy Ethan passed to Umb.

The hours went by, and the day was clearing up. Umb looked tired. It was sprawled out on Ethan's bed, like a crumpled little ball, while Ethan kept gathering energy and taking it to the little ball.

It was then that Ethan's watch went off, indicating that he should go to school on account of the ride.

Ethan turned off the alarm and looked at Umb, who was slumped on the bed.

"Okay, you look tired! You can go to sleep now, you're free!". Ethan said, lightly patting Umb's back, who was still sprawled out on his bed.

Umb stretched it little body out, as if yawning, and crawled into Ethan's hand, who gently placed it under the bed. Umb rolled over into a dark corner and lay still. It looked like just another part of the bed's shadow, almost invisible to ordinary eyes.

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