Bonnie and I laugh. All three of us girls are completely surprised by Benjamin's sudden arrival. As if the cat appearing out of nowhere wasn't enough! Bonnie sighs and crouches down to caress the cat, who seems to like it.
"You could have told me, Ben," she says.
"Sorry, sis, last minute thing. Apparently, they hesitated on whom to send until the last minute."
"Selena decided on you?" she asked with a doubtful look.
Ben rolls his eyes.
"Yes, she did! Don't give me that look, I can do a good job!"
"Hm..."
His sister doesn't look convinced, and neither am I. We watch Benjamin help himself to a cup of coffee. That guy literally spilled a lot of things he shouldn't have the first time I saw him, and now he is supposed to be the one to watch me? While Bonnie quickly explains the whole situation to Kelsi, I cross my arms.
"So?" I ask. "How long are you going to... watch me?"
"No idea."
"And… what else did Selena say?"
"Well, you can basically go anywhere you want," he says, "as long as you don't get in contact with humans and I am with you, that is. Oh, and no playing with fire, of course."
I can't help but roll my eyes and turn to Bonnie.
"No contact with humans, is that a joke? How am I supposed to avoid humans?!"
She sighs.
"Well, we do have a few werewolf-only places, but–"
"We have a lot of werewolf-only places!" retorts Ben with a big smile, suddenly sitting on our kitchen counter despite Kelsi's glare. "Moreover, it's not like you can't walk on the same streets, just avoid getting into any direct contact! After all, no one knows what the Fire Witch looks like."
I raise an eyebrow.
"The Fire Witch? I thought my existence was a secret?"
Ben grimaces.
"It still is, but, you know, between what the werewolves do know, and the rumors... Anyway, most people know there is a Fire Witch in town, they just don't know who it is."
I sigh. Bonnie gets up while carrying the cat, looking a bit unsure too.
"I think you should lay low for a little while, Mara. You just came back..."
I nod. At least for a couple of days, maybe.
"I want to keep searching my room for clues anyway," I declare, "and, speaking of which..."
I take out the picture and show it to Bonnie.
"Do you know who that woman is?"
She takes it with a frown and spends a long minute staring at it, Ben looking over her shoulder as well. After a minute, she shakes her head.
"I've never seen her before... Is that little girl you? Do you think that woman could be your mother?"
I'm not sure. I'm mixed and judging by Amy's skin tone, my mom could be white-skinned like this woman... I try to look for any resemblance between the two of us, but this picture's quality is rather poor... Kelsi takes the picture to stare at it as well, but she doesn't seem to know either.
