Luna Queen Pariah

Chapter 7: Stella the Schemer

Chapter 7: Stella the Schemer

Sariah

“What does my wanted ad say?” I asked while Wisteria applied bleach and foil to sections of my hair.

“You heard it on the news just now, didn’t you? It says you’re wanted for questioning in connection with injuries sustained by the Alpha King’s sister,” said Wisteria as she continued applying bleach to my hair with what looked like a small paint brush.

She had a bowl of the bleaching stuff and the chemical smell emanating from it was overpowering. We had opened the windows to help air out the room.

“All of this will help cover your scent,” said Rodney, forever the optimist.

“There’s no bounty on my head?” I asked, confused.

“What do you mean?” Asked Wisteria, slathering the last long section of hair in bleach and then covering it with foil. “I’ll check it in fifteen minutes to see how much it lifted. Rodney, be useful, set a timer.”

“I am being useful,” snapped Rodney. “I’m checking for road blocks!”

He had an app on his phone he kept looking at.

“A bounty,” I continued. “Like advertising how much money you’ll get if you kill me?”

Wisteria’s eyes widened in alarm.

“Um, no!” She said, shocked.

“Or capture me?” I added. “Assuming they want me alive instead.”

“There’s a number to call to report sightings of you,” she said. “No money was advertised. They want you for questioning so that would mean alive. You can’t question the dead.”

“You can with a ouija board,” said Rodney absentmindedly.

“Sure, if you want your house to be haunted forever,” said Wisteria with a disapproving look at Rodney.

“Stella has a ouija board,” said Rodney.

“Stella has femme fatal vibes,” muttered Wisteria.

“Maybe, we could not talk about her. I know she’s probably your mate but she ruined my life,” I said, feeling guilty the moment the words came out of my mouth.

Rodney was doing a lot for me and it was all behind his supposed mate’s back.

“You’re right,” said Wisteria with a faint smile.

Rodney did not say anything. He just glowered at his phone, studying the roadblocks.

“So they don’t say what I did in this wanted ad?” I asked.

“What you did?!” Snarled Rodney. “I thought you said you didn’t hurt Stella!”

“I didn’t!” I squeaked.

“Chill out!” Growled Wisteria, her eyes darkening from brown to black.

She had her wolf just like Rodney. She was a few years older than him.

“I didn’t hurt her, Rodney. I swear,” I said, my voice shaky.

Rodney refused to look at me. He kept his eyes on his phone.

“You’re cranky, Rodney! You need your rest! You haven’t slept and it’s almost three in the morning,” said Wisteria.

“How am I supposed to sleep with that smell burning my nose and my eyes?” Muttered Rodney, referring to the bleach.

“This was your idea,” said Wisteria calmly. “And we’re almost done.”

Rodney turned off the bedside table lamp on his side of the room. Wisteria kept my lamp on. She was checking my hair under the foil.

“Let’s do another fifteen minutes, okay,” she murmured.

“Yeah, sure,” I said softly. “So the ad doesn’t say anything about an altercation?” I whispered, lowering my voice as much as possible.

Rodney was facing away from us but I could tell he was still awake and I did not want to disturb or anger him again.

“No,” said Wisteria quietly. “All the reports and alerts I saw were vague. They kept saying ‘Sariah Prince, six days shy of her eighteenth birthday, is wanted for questioning in connection with injuries sustained by a close relative of his Majesty, Alpha King Sterling,’ said Wisteria, reciting the typical wording she had heard on the various news channels. “Also, they keep emphasising your age! Last night, they noted you were seven days away from turning eighteen and now, they’ve updated it to six days. They’re making it pretty clear that time is of the essence and they wanna capture you before you get your wolf obviously. Once you get your wolf, you would be able to evade them much better!”

I sighed.

“How am I going to get out of this mess?” I mumbled more to myself than to Wisteria.

“One thing at a time,” she said reassuringly. “You need to get some rest too! As soon as I’m done with your hair!”

I nodded, knowing it was sometime during the wee hours of the morning. Everyone was probably asleep by now. I wondered if Ashlyn was sleeping peacefully with the knowledge that she had hung her own niece out to dry. I doubted anyone was tossing and turning over me, not Ashlyn, Nova, not Layla and surely not Stella. She had no conscience. I was pretty sure she was sleeping soundly like a baby despite condemning me to a gruesome fate with her senseless scheming and lies. A pop song began playing suddenly. It was silenced too soon for me to recognise which song it was. I looked over at Rodney. It had been his ringtone. He put the phone to his ear.

“Stella?” He said groggily.

So she wasn’t in a deep peaceful slumber!

Stella

I could not sleep. I was too busy thinking about Rodney. It was a few hours after midnight. In six days, he would be mine. I could hardly wait. I felt a twinge of worry every time I thought about what he had asked me to do. He had asked me to help him get my brother to spare Sariah’s life. I grumbled inwardly just thinking about it. He wanted to help Pariah. I sighed. 

As soon as I had gotten home after my visit to Rodney’s house, I had asked Sterling to send his men to apprehend Sariah. I had made sure not to mention Rodney or implicate him in any way. The squad sent to retrieve her had returned empty-handed to my chagrin. Sterling, on the other hand, seemed indifferent about Pariah being at large. My brother had been acting really strangely ever since he had gotten that stupid droopy flower from Rodney’s bushes. I had ended up practically throwing a tantrum in front of my stepfather just so that he would guilt Sterling into putting Pariah’s picture on the news. I had gotten to choose the picture they used myself. I had gone onto her social media and selected the most unflattering photograph I could find of her. This was actually quite difficult to do since she looked so hefty in all of her pictures.

Now, here I was, unable to sleep because of that girl. I took a deep breath as I stared up at my skylight. It was a perfectly round glass window in my ceiling, directly above my bed so that I could see the stars at night. Thankfully, there was a remote I could use to cover the skylight so the rising sun didn’t wake me up every morning. What if Pariah was looking up at these stars? What if she was looking up at them while sitting next to Rodney? I had gotten Sterling to amp up security at the border. That meant Pariah was trapped in Ghost Moon holed up somewhere. But what if Rodney was holed up with her? Maybe, I should just help her leave.

I grabbed my cell and called Rodney. It rang twice before he picked up.

“Stella?” He said sleepily.

The sound of his voice was deep and comforting.

“What’re you up to?” I asked nonchalantly.

“Um, sleeping…Stella, it’s really late. Is everything all right?” He asked, his tone becoming worried.

“Yes!” I said quickly. “Well, no actually, I just can’t sleep.”

I heard an exasperated sigh. I did not want him to be annoyed with me. I had to think quickly.

“I’m too scared to go to sleep, you know, with that girl being out there still! What if she’s coming here to finish me off?!” I whispered, ensuring I sounded as frightened and paranoid as possible.

There was a long pause.

“Stella, trust me, you’re safe. You’re in the Alpha King’s castle! That thing’s a fortress! No one could break in there even if they wanted to and trust me, Sariah doesn’t want to,” he said patiently.

“How can you know that for sure? How do you know what she wants?” I asked pointedly.

“She’s been my friend for years. I know how she thinks. I’m pretty sure all she wants to do is leave and live to see her eighteenth birthday,” he mumbled.

“Do you still want to help her?” I wondered aloud, dreading the answer.

There was an even longer pause.

“No,” he said bluntly.

Alarm bells went off in my head. Why had he changed his tune all of a sudden? He had been pleading with me to help him help her escape earlier? Why had he taken so long to respond? My instincts told me she was right there in the same room as him, telling him not to tell me anything, even if it meant refusing my help to escape.

“I’ve been having a change of heart,” I lied. “I’ve been thinking about helping you…you know…get Sariah over the border,” I said, whispering the last few words.

There was a tense silence on the other end.

“Hello?” I said, my patience waning. “HELLO?”

“That would be so great and forgiving of you but Sariah took off,” said Rodney with a heavy sigh. “You know that.”

“As if she didn’t tell you where she went,” I said incredulously.

“She didn’t,” said Rodney firmly. “If she did, we could both go find her and help her leave the pack lands together but she fled. There’s nothing we can do but wait and see. And trust me, you’re not in danger. Sariah’s not usually violent so whatever must have come over her is probably gone already. I bet she’s remorseful. You’re totally safe at home,” he said, trying to reassure me.

“So where are you? At home?” I asked, not buying his story.

“Yeah, I told you I was sleeping, remember,” said Rodney, sounding a bit aggravated.

“Can you send me a selfie?” I asked slyly.

“Sure, next week, when you’re eighteen,” said Rodney.

“Ugh! Not that kind of selfie,” I grumbled. “Just a cute mirror selfie!”

I should be able to tell if the background looked anything like what I’d seen of his house. If he was reluctant to send it, then he probably wasn’t at home.

“Good night Stella! Sleep tight! Sweet dreams!” Said Rodney pointedly.

He was somewhere else but I could not act too suspicious. I sighed. I did not want to push him for information. Nagging was unattractive. Mom always reminded me of that fact.

“Ok, good night,” I mumbled sadly.

“Please promise me you’ll get some rest, okay, beautiful?” He said sweetly.

“Okay, handsome, I will,” I promised, grinning.

I hung up and immediately called the only other person connected to Pariah who might answer my call at this hour. The phone rang once.

“Stella? Is this really you?” Came that desperate wannabe’s voice.

“Hi Delilah!” I said brightly.

“Um, it’s actually Layla,” she mumbled.

Ugh, so what?!

“Oh, okay, my bad, Layla,” I said cheerfully.

“Um, it’s before dawn,” said Layla.

“I know,” I said with a sad sigh. “But this conversation just couldn’t wait! There are lives at stake here!”

“You mean Sariah’s?” Said Layla, perking up.

Who else, you dumb-ass.

“Yeah, exactly,” I whispered. 

I took a deep breath. It was time to turn on the charm.

“The truth is…I’ve always been a bit jealous of Sariah…” I began.

“Really?!” Squeaked Layla. “You? Why? You have everything! You’re popular, you’re rich, you’re the Alpha King’s sister! You look like a supermodel…”

“Layla, cut it out,” I said dismissively. “All of that means nothing. Sometimes, I wonder if…if Ruby and Scarlet are really my friends, you know what I mean?”

“You think they’re using you?!” Gasped Layla.

“They could be…I’m not sure but I am sure about one thing. Sariah is really lucky to have a friend like you,” I said like I was admitting some huge secret. “And my Rodney of course. And Nova! But especially you! I wish I could have people care about me even if I had like nothing to offer, just like Sariah, you know!”

Layla was quiet for a minute.

“You there?!” I asked impatiently.

“Yeah,” said Layla. “I’m here!”

“Anyway, this whole thing, the fight with Sariah, it got out of hand!” I said seriously. “I want to fix it but Sariah skipped town!” I cried. “I feel awful knowing she’s out there practically homeless and on the run because of me!”

I sniffled.

“Well, can’t you just call it all off?! Can’t you drop the charges?!” Layla asked eagerly.

“Do you think Sariah would really come back and bury the hatchet if I dropped the charges?” I wondered.

“Are you kidding me?! Of course!” Shrieked Layla.

“Do you know where she is?” I asked pointedly. “I need to hear that directly from her! I need to talk to her and let her know it’s fine to come back now. I’m not even mad anymore!”

“What really happened between you two?” Asked Layla quietly.

“She hit me…but I hit her too! It was a fight. A stupid cat fight over a hot guy who neither of us are dating yet,” I said offhandedly.

“Oh, I see,” said Layla.

“I wish we could reconcile,” I said, sighing deeply.

“I wish I could reconcile with Sariah too actually! The last conversations we had felt more like arguments! I don’t want to leave things on that note if she really moves away,” said Layla.

“Then don’t!” I insisted. “Let’s get in contact with her and make things right! Let’s pretend like none of this ever even happened!”

“How are we supposed to do that?” Asked Layla.

A sly smile spread slowly across my face. I thought she’d never ask.

“I have a plan! Don’t worry!” I assured her. “All you have to do is follow my instructions very carefully, okay?”

Layla was quiet.

“Okay?” I asked, getting annoyed.

“You really want to help Sariah?” Questioned Layla.

“Yes! I want all this bickering over and done with! I was thinking as a show of good faith Sariah and I could have a joint birthday party with all of our friends! My treat obviously! Well, my brother’s treat!” I said airily.

“Sterling would be there?” Asked Layla.

“Of course! Any friend of mine is a friend of Sterling’s!” I said brightly. “You’re our friend, right Layla?”

Silence.

“Right,” said Layla finally.

“That’s what I thought,” I said with a satisfied smirk on my face. “If you want to get your best friend Sariah back and to party with me and Sterling, here’s what to do!”