They headed towards the suburbs, where just a few cars passed them every now and then. Most people were at work it seemed, and Remy was more than okay with. Em looked around, very curious to learn everything about this place. She was pretty sure she knew where they were now based on the few signs she had seen. It was a long way home from here but at least she was little less lost now.

Out of the blue someone shouted: “Arthur! Arthur!” Remy didn’t react to the call but Em turned to look who was shouting and to whom. A young woman wearing a long sundress ran towards them, waving her hand and smiling: “Arthuur!”

Now Remy stopped too and turned to look; his face very pale and stiff. The young woman stopped in front of them.

“Oh my god, hi Arthur. What a crazy coincidence we bump into each other here. How are you?” she said smiling and trying to catch her breath.

“Hi, Felicity. This is unexpected,” Remy said pretty unenthusiastically, glancing at Em who was very confused. Why did this woman call Remy Arthur? “We were just on our way to meet a friend.”

“Oh really? That’s so cool,” Felicity replied now properly looking at Em for the first time. She looked at the panda shirt she was wearing and then she turned towards Remy again.

“Is she your little sister? I kinda expected her to be a bit younger…”

Remy laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, she is. She just…two years younger than me actually.”

“Oh, nice to meet you then. I’m Felicity,” Felicity said giving her hand to Em who took it still very confused.

“Nice to meet you too…” she said. “I’m Em…”

“…ilia”, Remy added quickly and smiled.

Felicity smiled as well, looking at Em. Then she squinted her eyes a bit and looked like she was thinking about something very hard. “You know,” she said, “you look really familiar somehow.”

“I do?”

“Yeah, like I had seen you somewhere before. I just can’t put my finger on it right now.”

“Okay… It was super nice to see you Felicity, but we really need to go,” Remy said suddenly grabbing Em’s hand and starting to drag her with him. “See you later, maybe. Bye.”

“Bye?” Felicity was left standing alone while Remy hurried forwards, dragging confused Em with him.

As Felicity turned to continue her way, a few meters away someone stuck a rock concert poster on a lamp post and covered half of another poster, leaving only a part of a picture and a few letters were visible: MISS, EMM, CALL, REWA…

“Remy. Remy! Slow down, you’re ripping my arm off. What is going on?” Em said, irritated. She yanked her arm from Remy’s grip and stopped. Remy stopped too and sighed. “Who was she? And why did she call me your sister? Or you Arthur?”

“That…she was Felicity. She works at the food bank where I get our food. I may have come up with a false identity for the first time I went there. Also, I may have said that I have a sick mother and a younger sister to take care of in order to get some pity and more food,” Remy said with just a small hint of embarrassment in his voice.

“Remy!”

“What? Don’t say that you wouldn’t do the same! Well, actually you probably wouldn’t because you’re so sweet and kind, but I need all the food I can get and if I get just a bit more by saying that my mother has a pneumonia and my father has left us for another woman then I will!” The embarrassment quickly changed to grumpiness and annoyance. Em had no idea how hard it was to live alone. If she dared to start moralizing him, he wouldn’t listen any of it. This was about surviving, and in that game, it was the fittest, the smartest and the most resourceful who came out on top. Remy would be lying if he said it didn’t bother him to trick Felicity and lie to her, but he would rather lie to someone than starve if that what it came down to.

“I understand.”

“What?” Remy hadn’t expected this.

“I said I understand. You’ll do what you have to do. I’m not saying that I fully accept what you’ve done but I understand.”

“Oh, that’s great. Umm, sorry that I kind of snapped at you. Didn’t mean to. It’s just… I don’t even know how to explain.”

Em smiled a little. “Don’t worry about it,” she said.

The continued their walk passing few city rabbits and parents with their kids grabbing their hands and legs. The awkwardness in the air could’ve been shaped with hands. Remy was embarrassed about his outburst and Em was still bothered by Felicity.

“So, that Felicity seemed really happy to see you,” Em said then glancing at Remy.

“Yeah… I think she has a crush on me. She keeps asking me out.”

“Oh.” Em’s face fell. Remy didn’t seem to notice it though since he wasn’t looking at her. Maybe it was a good thing. “How…how do you feel about her then?” she asked charily, trying to avoid eye contact.

“She’s nice,” Remy said looking at Em now, “but I’m not interested in her that way.”

Em felt a little flutter in her chest and a pinch in her stomach.

“D--do you have anyone you like then?” she asked. The words kind of slipped from her lips before she could think about them too much.

“Umm, I… I don’t really know,” Remy mumbled. He felt burning on his cheeks. Before he was able to say anything else, a familiar voice called out to them:

“There you are! I thought you wouldn’t show up at all!” Carter was waving his hand and smiling very happily. He was sitting under a big tree with another guy who had short brown hair. Remy cleared his throat a bit before they went closer.

“Hi,” Em said smiling. Carter jumped up and hugged her.

“Nice to see you again,” he said. “So nice that Remy brought you here too and didn’t just keep you to himself.”

Remy rolled his eyes and did the man hug with the brown-haired guy who then shook Em’s hand, bit awkwardly, when Carter finally released her from his embrace.

“Mikey,” he introduced himself.

“Em. Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.” Meanwhile Carter and Remy manhugged as well.

“How are you guys? It’s been a while since we saw you.”

“It’s been a week Carter.”

“But I haven’t seen you in months. I missed you man. And Mikey did too, right?”

“Yeah, hasn’t been the same without you.”

“Sure...”

“No, no, it’s true. It’s terrible in the pack now. Tanner’s gonna marry her girlfriend and I tell you Liv’s a bridezilla. She’s trying to turn us all into her wedding slaves. It’s torture,” Carter said. Em couldn’t tell if the pain in his voice was just exaggeration or actually real.

“And Tanner is pissed all the time because she complains all the time. And Lance is getting sick of it too,” Mikey added.

“And so are we, so we basically escaped,” Carter said smiling.

“And will probably get yelled at when we go back,” Mikey added.

“Yeah, probably.”

“Wow, I’m not envying you guys,” Em said. She had watched enough wedding shows to have a pretty good idea about what the guys were going through. Crazy brides were scary.

“And it’s still two months before the wedding too,” Carter sighed.

“Are they getting married at the manor?” Remy asked. “Probably a very nice surprise for the priest and guests to find a random house in the middle of the forest.”

“They’re getting married in a church,” Carter said and looked like just saying the word ‘church’ made him feel sick. “When they’ll walk out from the church ‘The Festival March’ from ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ will play and two white doves are released when they step out. And there’s gonna be soap bubbles instead of rice but everyone has to make sure they don’t blow then in Liv’s direction so that her dress doesn’t get ruined.”

“The reception will be at the manor, but most the guests are wolves so it’s alright. We have been instructed to be workers and not people who live there so the few participating family members won’t even know that she’s gonna live with animals instead of having a beautiful manor for herself,” Mikey said and smiled drily.

“Oh, yikes. That’s bad,” Em said.

“I know right?” Carter said. “You could adopt us,” he said then, smiling very sweetly.

“Keep dreaming,” Remy smirked. “The bed is only big enough for two and those spots are already taken.”

“Oooh, did you hear that Mikey?” Carter gasped. “Remy said they’re just friends but now they’re sharing the bed.”

“How scandalous,” Mikey replied.

“Has he been deceiving us all this time?”

“What else has he been hiding from us?”

Remy’s brow twitched a bit. “We’re just friends as I’ve said. I’m her mentor in werewolf related things since that is my responsibility, that’s it. And if you had tried to sleep on the cursed armchair you’d share the bed too even if the other person was some wrinkly old lady.”

Em laughed a bit. Carter and Mikey were so funny and despite seeming very annoyed and serious, Remy liked this too. Em could just sense that he was enjoying being with his friends like this. He must’ve missed them a lot. Maybe now Remy would be more interested in coming to the city, to spend more time with his friends. Em was sure it’d do him good since he had been alone for such a long time. Maybe she could come too. Em had a feeling that she’d get along with this group very well. In that moment all worries seemed to disappear. It was nice and refreshing.