How The Allies of Old began: (Novella) BORN Chapter Seventeen "Search Party"

Painting in Acrylic by @therealpaul

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3

Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9

Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12

Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15

Chapter 16

For those of you who missed the post of the release, I briefly explained how the series began as an idea for a Young Adult novel, and that I had in fact written what amounts to a novella taking place the summer before REBORN begins, and I decided to release it here on steemit.

BORN

Chapter Seventeen

“What do you mean she’s lost?” Jenna demanded.

“I thought she’d be here,” Ty told her defensively. “She said she’d be back, I assumed she was going to the bathroom, but when she didn’t come back I thought she must’ve come back here.”

“And you waited over an hour to find out?” Jenna’s voice rose.

Marina unfolded her long legs, and got up from the chair, pulling her blonde hair back into a ponytail. “Okay, no sense arguing about it, let’s go find her.”

“Find who?” Austin asked as he strode into the camp.

“Oh good, you’re here!” Jess exclaimed.

“Anna,” Nate answered him.

Austin’s gaze swung over to Ty. “How long?”

Ty looked away guiltily, “An hour or so.”

Austin took charge, “Where’s Macey and Holly?”

“Here.”

Austin turned around as the two girls walked into camp.

“Jess texted us a second ago, but we were already almost here, and no we haven’t seen her.” Holly told him.

“I sent out a blanket text,” Jess told him, “and those that answered haven’t seen her...okay, nobody panic,” she stated, “she might’ve ran into other people from school that I don’t have on my phone…

“And she wouldn’t use their phones to text or call any of us?” Jenna cut in.

“Well she was pretty drunk,” Ty said bringing Austin’s focus back to him.

“She was pretty drunk and you let her take off alone?” He asked incredulously.

Ty glared at him, “Actually I thought she’d taken off after you.”

“Wait, you said you thought she was going to the bathroom.” Jenna glared at him.

“Yeah well that was one possibility, but I saw Austin standing in the back of the tent and she asked me to put her down a second later so….

Austin’s eyes widened, “In the back of the tent…that was close to two fucking hours ago!”

“Whatever man, like I said, I thought she was heading over to you!”

Austin stared at Tyler and realized it was a possibility. He’d thought she’d locked eyes with him for a moment- but he’d left right after that. Shit. He took a deep breath.

“Okay, we go in pairs-Nate and Jess take the main grandstand, go the long way around, Jenna and Macey second bandstand, cut across the bottom, Marina and Holly third grandstand, go through the middle, Ty you’re with me and Gina, we’ll go check out the circle where the vendors are, everyone check in as soon as you reach your destination and if we don’t find her, we head to the tenting areas, got it?”

There were several affirmatives and they headed out.

Anna sat on the bench in front of the pizza tent listening to the band from the nearest grandstand, still trying to get a handle on her jangled nerves. It had been about an hour since her encounter with the black eyed man and her stomach still felt sick. At least her hands weren’t shaking anymore. She really needed to get back to the camp and she was pretty sure one of these vendors could point her in the right direction, but she was afraid to move from this brightly lit, well-populated spot.

“Got her!”

Her head whipped up at the familiar voice and her heart filled with elation as she spotted Austin striding toward her. Her face broke into a grin and she nearly flung herself at him until she saw who was with him.

Austin reached her and grabbed a hold of both arms, “Where the fuck were you?” He demanded.

“I got lost.”

He let her go and shook his head. “Everybody’s been worried sick.”

She bit her lip. “I’m sorry.”

“Why didn’t you ask one of the vendors how to get back?” Gina asked, her tone more acidic than normal.

Anna glared at her, “I just got here, I was wandering forever and I needed to rest.”

“Shut your hole Gina,” Ty spat as he joined them, “it’s not like she did this on purpose.”

“Shut your hole?” She hissed, turning to Austin. “Are you going to let him talk to me like that?”

“Okay, this is great fun, but I really want to go back to the campsite,” Anna interjected.

Gina shot her a dirty look and stalked off in the direction they’d come.

“It’s okay dude, I got her,” Tyler told Austin.

“Oh you do huh? Good. See that you don’t lose her this time,” Austin turned and strode after Gina.

“It’s not your fault Ty,” Anna assured him, “I should’ve asked you to come with me.”

Ty cocked his head to the side, “To talk to Austin?”

She blinked at him and her face reddened. “I went to the bathroom.”

“Once you couldn’t find him?”

She met Tyler’s inquisitive stare and her lip curved slightly.

He smiled wryly in return and took her arm, walking her down the lighted path. “It’s a’ight, I figured it was like that. But then I thought, what the hell, might as well make a move before I lose the chance.”
Anna looked at him in surprise. “Then…this wasn’t…I mean you already…

His smile turned up a few watts, “You’re cute as hell Anna, I’ve had a thing for a while. But it’s no big deal. ‘Sides it’s obvious you and Austin were made for each other.”

She bit down on her lip to hold in the denial and they walked the rest of the way back in silence, listening to the music of the campfires they passed.

Buy Your copy of The Allies of Old: Reborn HERE-

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