At this point, we are so close to California that we planned on making no more stops overnight. We left the motel at Clearwater Pier at seven in the morning. Unlike yesterday, it is much more sunny and crowded. Maybe everyone just hides when there's no sun because they know that supernatural assholes come out in the dark. Or maybe they just don't like the rain. Either way, the seaside town looked way better under the sunlight, I almost wanted to stay for another day.

But, I am on a mission to keep a werewolf alive so I must not be distracted. I jumped on the driver's seat with the said man himself next to me, and our lovely Rami in the back, enjoying a sandwich he bought at the cafe. Meanwhile, I drink coffee and drive, and Lysander devours the giant burger that I had yesterday. The boys and I are playing little games to deal with our boredom. Right now, we're on 'Who Is Most Likely To'.

"Who is most likely to have a sugar daddy?"

"You." I blurt out. "Come on. You know it's true."

Rami snickered. "Well..."

"What's a sugar daddy?" Lysander asked curiously, looking back at Rami. His mind is so pure, I love it.

"Nothing you should worry about." He shrugs. "Next one. Who is most likely to marry a celebrity? Me, duh."

"Excuse you." I scoffed. "I'm secretly married to Robert Downey Jr."

Rami snickered. "So, a sugar daddy."

"So be it." I'll take Robert Downey Jr. any day.

"Who's Robert Downey Jr.?"

Rami and I gasped dramatically at the wolf. "That's it. I'm done."

***

"Would you rather be in an arranged marriage with Voldemort or Joffrey Baratheon?"

"Boy," I whistled. "Voldemort."

"What?! Really?" Rami laughed. "Me too, honestly. Besides, young Voldemort was eye candy. Tom Riddle."

I nodded in agreement. "Would you rather be at Camp Half-Blood or Hogwarts?"

"Oooh. Tough. I gotta go with Camp Half-Blood. So great. Would you rather be the Doctor's companion or -- "

"Say no more. Yes."

Rami grinned. "Would you rather have the Doctor or Lysander?"

"Fuck you."

Lysander tilts his head, darting his eyes between us. "I don't understand."

"It's okay." I ruffled his greasy hair. My hand was then taken away from it and held tightly by the werewolf. Smiling, I checked Rami through the rear view mirror and blushed when I saw him looking back at me with that teasing grin. I quickly diverted my eyes back on the road and ignored the quiet giggles in the back.

***

After a few more hours in the road -- which involved an awful lot of Would You Rather's, What Would You Do's, and carpool karaoke, we finally reached California. Rami and I switched spots at some point. Once we reached Los Angeles, we have decided to stop by a beach to give my poor, worn out car some time to rest. Besides, it's about a hundred degrees and it's the perfect way to cool off. Weather in the west coast, California especially, is completely different than West Grove. Lots of sun, for sure.

Los Angeles is the second most populated city in America and I'd say just about everyone is at the beach because it took us so damn long to find a parking. We changed in the car, for some appropriate beach outfits, before joining the millions of Californians at Venice Beach. There's a lot of street performers and little shops at the side. There are a lot of weed shops, it's pretty funny.

Rami, Lysander and I bought some ice cream and sat on a table while watching the people around us. There's a skating rink full of teenagers on one part, an acoustic singer nearby, a group of adults getting high and a family of seven a few feet away from them. Right in front of us, there is a little outdoor Gold's Gym with men really just showing off. "This place is great." Rami comments, with his full attention on the ice cream cup in his hands.

"Why aren't you eating your ice cream?" I frowned at Lysander, who's just holding his small cup of chocolate ice -- Oh, I see the problem. "I forgot, you don't like chocolate." I said bitterly. We all got chocolate ice cream because for some odd reason, it's the cheapest?

Lysander let out a chuckle. "You're still not over that?"

"Never." I glared, finishing my own dessert.

He just laughed again. "If you think about it, there's more for you." He holds up his own ice cream, right in front of me. "Here. Say ahhh." Realizing that he had mocked me, from when I fed him In-N-Out when he was still in Silverstein and they were giving him shitty food, I smiled like an idiot. That felt like it was so long ago, but really it hasn't even been a month since that day. So much things happened!

"Hi." A fit young man greeted as he stops to pick up some weights in front of us, though he's looking straight at Rami. Rami put on his cracked glasses and turned to the blonde dude, looking quite irritated that he was interrupted from enjoying his ice cream. "Do you come hear often?" The blonde asked flirtatiously.

I put a hand over my mouth and hid my face behind Lysander's arm to hide my laughter. I didn't think people actually use that pick up line in real life.

"I'm Collin."

Rami nodded his head slowly. "Rami"

"Do you want to hang out? After I work out?" Collin asked while biting his lip, pointing at the machines behind him.

Lysander and I watched Rami, like watching a TV show. This is my favorite show ever. "No thanks. I'm not really interested." Rami rejected kindly.

Though the fit man didn't detect the 'kind' part. "Why not? It'll be fun." He persisted, picking up a couple of weights. "If you want, I can teach you how to surf. Or we could just eat or -- "

"I'm good."

Collin frowned. "Whatever. Your loss." He just returned to the gym like nothing happened. There are only two of them there. Collin and another man, who's keeping to himself with his headphones on him. There are a few people watching, mostly tourists and teenage girls.

"He thinks he's so cool." Rami murmured, crossing his arms. His eyes wandered towards Lysander and a mischievous grin appeared. Lysander looked back at Rami with a matching grin. "Lysander."

"With pleasure." What?

Lysander stood up right after, as if they had just had a conversation in their heads. The werewolf removed his shirt and left it on the table before entering the gym. I watched intensely as he positioned himself in front of a machine, right next to the cocky boy, and began to lift weights way heavier than what Collin had. Next, Lysander proceeded to the bench press that look quite heavy. Collin subtly watched Lysander and noticed an audience growing for him.

"Sweet Christmas." My heart can't handle this.

Collin, refusing to be outdone with, picked up a barbell and added more weights to it. Although he was successful, he struggled to pick it up. People cheered for him, which fed his big ego. "Here, man. Try it." He said to Lysander while smirking.

"Oooh. Challenge." A little girl from the crowd cheered excitedly, jumping to see what happens.

Lysander furrowed his eyebrows and walked over to the barbell. He then looked around, as if looking for something else. "What, this?" He picked up the barbell with one hand and still made it look easy. People clapped for him while Collin's mouth dropped. The poor boy just rolled his eyes and moved on to another equipment.

Lysander glanced at us. Rami gave him two thumbs up while I just sat there with my eyes wide. Grinning, the wolf continued to lift for a few more minutes. While he's facing us and had his back towards the other body builders, Collin had walked passed him and purposely bumped into him. However, it didn't go as he planned because he ended up bouncing back with pain. Lysander looked behind him and tilted his head. "Sorry, did you tap my shoulder? I wasn't paying attention."

"I love him." Rami laughed, putting a hand on my shoulder. "I just want to say, thank you for finding him and allowing this moment to happen in history."

***

We stayed in the beach for another hour. Rami hit the water while Lysander and I relaxed by the sand. I built a sand castle and Lysander destroyed it, begging some some attention. His words, "Pay attention to me!" So I buried him in sand and built an impressive sand castle on his back, before joining Rami in the water. Lysander didn't want to get in the water, but he did stand by the shoreline.

Afterwards, we returned in the road. From Los Angeles to Redwoods is about twelve hours. We departed at two in the afternoon, which means we will arrive in our destination around two in the morning, more or less. Fortunately, no one is on our tail just yet. No hunters, no vampires, no cops. We will try to keep it that way. According to Lysander, he hasn't sensed a vampire in the beach, but he was sure that there are a few of them lurking all over the west coast and they are not the friendliest.

Unlike earlier when we were all full of energy, we were all exhausted this time. However, I, the driver, must stay awake for everyone's sake. No one wanted to talk, as the two boys were tired, so I took the job. I don't even care if they were listening to me or not.

"Look at all these cars!" I complained. Traffic is hell. "Did you know that one average car releases about 20 pounds of Carbon Dioxide? I mean, mine doesn't release too much because it is a hybrid, but even I'm adding green house gas to the atmosphere. But still! There's hundreds of cars in this area alone, imagine the whole state? Imagine the whole country! We really need to work on those ecofriendly transportation. But we can't do that because our government is fucked up and only care about money and not realize what danger we're in. Like, they think climate change is a hoax. What kind of absolute -- "

"Hey, Drew. I love you but shut the fuck up." Rami groaned in the back.

I slammed my head on the steering wheel. Then all of a sudden, my face was lifted back up and I came in contact with Lysander's lips, pecking all over my face before a passionate one on my lips. "W-Why -- " I had to roll down my window to cool my face down, as it grew hot within matters of seconds.

"Just wanted to do that."

I was so close to falling asleep just minutes ago but now I sure as hell am completely woke.

***

It wasn't long until we arrived at San Francisco around five in the afternoon. We stopped by a fast food restaurant to eat, but we didn't stay long. Not only was it almost as packed as Los Angeles, but Lysander said he detected a few vampires roaming around and we wanted none of those right now. As soon as we ate, bought some snacks and refilled the car's tank, we drove off. Thankfully, Rami was energized again and took the driver's spot while I sat next to him.

When I was complaining about the environment earlier, Rami did the same thing, the two of us cursing the government. Lysander eventually got bored of us and fell asleep. Rami and I shared a cotton candy while we had a long conversation about controversial issues. After about three hours, we reached the part of the road where there's lots of trees, which means we're getting close to Redwoods. In the free way, there were hundreds of cars but once we took the path to the woods, we were down with five cars. I've done some googling in the past and heard a lot of weird sightings around this area, so I'm sure it's a place that many people would avoid.

"As soon as we arrive wherever we're going, I am going to lay down and sleep for about a week." At this point, Rami and I are playing upbeat, loud music to keep us awake. And the wolf? He's still sleeping. Maybe we should have taught him how to drive, after all. "Since we will be going to his house, does that mean it'll be like a house for werewolves? What do they even live in? I hope it's a big house like the vampires." Rami closed his eyes, probably dreaming about sleeping. That's ironic. "Now that I think about it, how do those vampires even get such a big house? They all look so young! I swear, it's like Peter Pan and his children."

"Did you really just refer to Idris as Peter Pan?" I snorted. "You're not wrong. He's like a vampire Peter Pan. But, they've lived for a long time. They are immortals, so I'm sure they worked for it. Unless, they just scared the hell out of humans and invaded the mansion. It's possible."

"Yeah. That guy is such a weirdo." Rami had a goofy grin but dropped it quickly. "Anyway, the sun is starting to go down and I'm low key getting the chills. This legit looks like those areas where scary ghosts or murderers randomly appear and we die. Have you ever seen The Blair Witch Project?" Eva and I watched that movie and stayed away from forests and woods for about two years. "Or Evil Dead? Friday the 13th?"

"What if we see a witch?" I wondered, watching the trees as we pass by them. They are getting thicker and taller as we go deeper into the woods. "You know, like Snow White kind of witches?"

"Burn them. You're pretty good with that."

"Oh, shut up."

"If we do, I hope they all look like Newt Scamander."

We had driven far enough that we are the only car on the road and it is now pitch black dark. The only light we have is from the car and that gives us a little, enough to see a few feet ahead of us. There's no stars and the moon is nowhere near us. The bit of light we get from it is being blocked by the trees, so we are completely in the dark.

"Are we going the right way?" I asked Lysander, who had just woken up.

He looked out the window. "Yeah."

"How do you know? They're just trees and everything looks the same." Rami ridiculed. "What if we see scary stuff?"

"Trust me, the scariest thing here is probably me." Lysander joked. Sort of. "Just keep going straight."

And we did just that. We drove straight for about thirty more minutes until Lysander finally gave us the sign to stop. However, our stopping point did not look anything like a place that would have a house. We parked our car in a hidden spot and got off the car, happy to finally do some movement and stretching.

"So, where's your house?" I asked, using my phone's light to look around. However, it was immediately snatched away from me and was thrown back inside the car. "Hey!"

"We can't use any lights or make too much noises." The werewolf advised. "There are other creatures living in the forest and we don't want to attract them. We'll take all of our things and leave the car here. Then we'll walk."

"Walk?" Rami choked. "You're joking"

"Do I look like I'm joking?"

"I don't know. I can't see a damn thing." Rami replied bitterly.

Just as Lysander instructed, we all took our belongings and abandoned my car. Lysander led the way as the three of us began to walk through the dark, spooky place. Rami had an arm looped around mine as the two of us remained close together. It is completely silent in the woods. The only sound we can hear is our heavy breathing and footsteps. I can barely see Lysander's body since it is very dark, but my eyes are slowly beginning to adjust to it. Even then, I'm depending on my ears so I know where he is and following the sound of his footsteps.

"Did you see that?" Rami gasped quietly, looking at our side. "I thought I saw something move behind the tree." He held onto my arm tighter while I breathed nervously. "This is like Slender Man." Lysander continued to walk, choosing to ignore us. I know he can see better than us, thanks to his werewolf visions. If he doesn't see a threat, then I suppose we're safe. But still, in a place like this, sometimes I just can't help it. All those horror movies are suddenly flashing on my head. "I've seen enough Big Foot documentaries. He lives here. What if we see Big Foot?"

We walked and walked until our feet were starting to hurt. Rami and I ended up stepping into each other's feet. "Sorry! I thought I heard something over there!"

"What? Where?"

"There. Do you see that -- "

"Oh my god!" I gasped, jumping away from Rami and spinning around. "I just felt something grab my leg." I squinted my eyes to try and find Lysander but I could see or hear him anywhere.

"What?! Drew what?!" Rami panicked, running to my side instantly.

I continued to spin around and squealed once I felt something on my hand. "I just felt something weird on my hand!" After a second, we heard a bark behind us. "Oh shit. It's just Lysander."

"Don't make me laugh, woman. I'm scared and I'm gonna pee my pants."

"Rami, shush."

"Don't shush me, I'm -- " I felt a tug at the bottom of my shirt, pulling me forward. My hand wandered down and felt Lysander's wolf face. His teeth are biting the hem my shirt, attempting to get me to keep walking. I clung onto Rami and kept walking, following the light sound of the wolf's steps.

As if things aren't creepy enough, we heard hoots from owls echoing throughout the woods. It's like being in a scary movie and I'm probably going to be the first one to die.

"The owls are not what they seem." I whispered to Rami, trying to sound scary but failed terribly by giggling at the end.

"Damn it Drew. Now is not the time to be a nerd and make Twin Peaks reference. What if we end up in the red room and meet our evil doppelgangers?"

I stopped walking when I couldn't sense Lysander anymore. His massive wolf is difficult to see in pitch black because his fur camouflages. "Lysander? Where are you?" I asked quietly, extending my hand to find him. "I can't find Lysander."

"Oh great. He left us here to die."

Rami and I searched for the werewolf, circling around the little area for about ten minutes. Then, we heard a twig snap, causing Rami and I to hang on to each other. "Wait." I know Lysander said we couldn't use light, but he never said anything about not using a Sonic Screwdriver, right? I pulled out the 10th Doctor's device from my backpack and pressed a button so blue light could appear at its top. As it lit up, it also made a noise and above all, a face popped out by the blue fainted light.

"Holy shit!" Rami ran immediately while I screamed, taking me with him. We couldn't even run ten feet as we both fell onto a hole and slid down somewhere through a rough, stair-like rock formation. I landed on my face and Rami landed on my back, knocking the life out of me. As we struggled to stand up, we heard footsteps follow us until they're right in front.

A red light suddenly came from above, a ceiling, and there stood Lysander, who is laughing his ass off. My mouth dropped while Rami let out a curse before punching Lysander's arm. "I hate you."

Lysander cleared his throat and grinned. He first eyed me up and down before moving aside to open a small, wooden door. I observed the area that we just fell through. A hole that hides a house from below. A house made of wood, underneath the woods. An underground house.

"Welcome to my home."