Chapter 114

114 Chapter One Hundred Fourteen

The whirring sound of the private jet roared at the small airstrip it had been packed in. Katie had never had reason to come to this part of Brigadia. Being one of the most remote towns in the world, the small town had endeavoured to have a small airstrip for the important hunters that lived there. People like Anthony, Frost and Jackeline were familiar with this part of the town.

For Katie, this was merely the last part of Brigadia that she was going to be seeing. She hadn’t even said goodbye to anyone in the school. Guilt weighed heavily on her heart. She didn’t want to face them and everyone had told her that she didn’t need to face them at all, but that was not enough to remove the feeling of guilt that weighed her down.

“If it’s any consolation, I told Dexter and the others that you were being transferred,” Sandra said to her. The girl could read through Katie like an open book. Most especially now that she was worse at concealing her emotions than before.

“Thank you...”

Katie let go of the joystick that controlled her electric chair and stopped several metres away from the plane. The werewolves around all had perfect hearing and noticed instantly that she’d stopped moving. “Is something wrong?” Davin asked, turning back to tend to his daughter.

“Not really... I’m just... waiting for someone,” Katie replied. Not many understood how the odd ability the Chase family worked and the family was surprised to hear that she’d learnt how to use it. Unfortunately, it didn’t exactly have an off button and currently, she didn’t feel like she would leave just yet...

“Who might you be waiting for? I did watch you say goodbye to an entire facility of werewolf hunters. You had a birthday as a farewell party for crying out loud,” the man complained.

“Honey, let’s load the plane. Maybe that will be enough time while Katie waits,” Queen Martha said, placing her hand gently on the King’s shoulder. The man instantly relaxed and gave in to her request. Cole couldn’t believe how impatient the man could be, although, after further thought on the matter, he doubted he would be so different if he was delayed beyond three hours.

“What is it, Katie?” he asked the girl. Sandra proceeded to back the plane and was soon followed by the two alphas that walked with Cole.

.....

“It’s the same thing I just said. I’m waiting for someone,” Katie replied. Cole looked back and sniffed the air. Maybe the air from the plane was interrupting his senses, but even his ears couldn’t pick anything. There was almost no one coming... If she was sure that someone was coming, then they were still far and the man feared to test the King’s anger much longer.

“Do you know who it is?” Cole asked.

“It’s all those that were dear to me in Brigadia,” she replied, looking to the ground. Regardless of the number of times she had spoken of waiting for someone; she didn’t turn back to the obvious direction they would have come from. She was, in a sense, still not ready to meet the one she was waiting for.

“Hey, we need to go. The plane is loaded...” Drake called out to them. The plane was ready to leave... However, Katie didn’t move an inch and continued to look at the same spot on the ground that she had been observing.

Sandra walked back out of the plane to tell her friend that they didn’t have all the time in the world. Just as she was about to reach Katie, a loud chorus of footsteps resounded through the airstrip, coming from the entrance to the runway. Those that had entered the plane came out to meet the source of the commotion. Katie didn’t turn to see them but remained with her back turned.

“That’s one audience you’ve got...” Cole said, stunned by the scores of people that had come to see the hunter off.

“Come on, Katie. You didn’t think you’d leave without saying goodbye,” Dexter’s voice came over a megaphone calling for her attention.

Slowly, Katie turned her chair to meet the eyes of those that had come to see her. Dexter and the werewolves that lived in Brigadia. A few red eyes confirmed that their alpha was also present. The hunters from the Hunter’s Agency stood, all of them dressed in uniform. The pros were dressed in black while the junior hunters were all dressed in grey.

One of the rare sights in the crowd was Shaemus and his mother. There was a chorus of gasps when they all saw her eyes, but this quickly brushed past them and was replaced with smiles. The last time most of them had seen her, she was ready to fight the Rogue king. “I didn’t think it was right to let the greatest hunter Brigadia has ever had leave without a proper goodbye,” Dexter said once more over the megaphone before getting an elbow to the gut from a girl next to him, “Oh, sorry, let me rephrase that. We all didn’t think it right to let the greatest hunter leave without a proper goodbye.”

A man graced with red eyes walked up to Dexter and asked for the megaphone, “I am the alpha of the Graymoon pack that lives here in Brigadia. I can say with certainty that for the past four years, Katie has without a doubt protected our town singlehandedly... So much so that we’d grown lazy. It had become useless to put up security against rogues in this town. I think I speak for all of us when I say that... We are going to miss you, Katie,” a chorus of handclaps rang through the gathering of people.

“I’ll miss my home as well,” Katie replied. Her voice came out hoarse while tears threatened to fall from her eyes.

“Oh my... Katie’s crying... I guess a new eye colour is not all that’s changed,” Dexter said, chuckling over the megaphone...

“Oh shut up, Dexter,” Katie replied, laughing with him.

Dexter got serious after the short laugh, “Do you still have the same goal as before?”

“Yes, I still do. My resolve remains the same,” she replied to him.

“May the moon goddess be with you. I have no doubt you’ll bring us out of this war,” Dexter replied. For a jerk of a beta, he had surely matured. Katie had no doubt that he’d mobilised the town to come here with him.

Anthony stepped forward with Claire leading the hunters who stood in two lines from the entrance to the jet at attention. “Katie, you’ve served the Hunters in Brigadia well. For years you defended this town on your own. Sandra recounted the events of the day when you were granted your Prometheus gifts. You aren’t alone, Katie. We’ll take care of this,” the man spoke. His voice wasn’t as raised as it usually was, “We’ll take it from here, Hunter Chase.” With that, they all saluted.

Katie, however, didn’t move an inch. Cole, who had started the walk, looked back, “What is it?”

“Someone’s left,” she replied.

“Who else could...” the sound of thunder stopped the Prince’s words in half. From the entrance, making the flashiest entrance, three figures appeared, dressed completely in the black leather that was granted to hunters of very high status. One of them, everyone knew... Jim Gordon, the Thunderclap, but the other two were known only to Katie and the hunters. These two were the ones that had raised her for eighteen years.

To meet figures of such a high stature, Katie turned the chair and stood out of it. Her adoptive mother engulfed her in a hug, “You don’t have to stand just for us,” she said.

“It only felt right... It’s nice to see you guys have your powers back,” she replied. Uncle Tom was the next to hug her before he let her back into her chair.

“It’s been nice raising a girl as talented as you,” he said to her, “It almost feels like it went by in the blink of an eye.”

“You’re not going to cry now when you’ve always been the strong one in the family,” Katie said to the man.

“Hey, you won’t find tears in a family of hunters except when they are saying goodbye to their daughter,” the man said. ‘Who knew you were more emotional than Aunt Marie?’ Katie thought to herself.

“I’m glad I got to see Katie Sirius with my own eyes,” Jim said, taking his place in the line of hunters, but remaining at ease, “You might just make the greatest hunter yet.” With that, Katie started the journey to the jet. The entire town was present for her departure and that was exactly how she wanted it. Whether she left in a wheelchair or a stretcher, her goodbye was meant to be made to the entire town...

“Someone has a large following,” Cole commented as he fell into sync with her speed.

“It’s not a following, Cole. It’s the town I grew up in,” she corrected him. The people that had gathered weren’t there because she was a celebrity, but because she was the girl that had grown up in the town. Everyone there knew who she was... the girl that pushed the book to the position of number one among the safest schools in the entire world, the rogue killer and now the last one that had been added... The girl who’d risked it all to save the town from a horde of rogues...

Each member of the town felt a kinship to Katie Sirius and that was all there was to the send-off they were giving her. Information of her being one of the moon goddess’ Chosen had already spread through the town and they all understood that she couldn’t stay there after being discovered. A princess of that calibre just had too much to take responsibility for... It had been an interesting eighteen years, Katie thought to herself.

The stairs had been adjusted to make a ramp that let her wheelchair get into the plane effortlessly... a large uproar filled the crowd when the plane finally started moving. The citizens of Brigadia roared at the top of their voices as they watched the mightiest eighteen-year-old hunter leaving the town. Deep down, however, they knew they weren’t as safe as they had been before. With Katie around, everyone had relaxed. Learning of her special conditions helped them find peace with her departure and that’s where they drew the strength to give her a thunderous send-off...