“Who are you?” I growl at the strange woman standing before me. “My name is Emira, the strongest witch alive,” the woman, Emira, boasts. Laura steps closer to me and eases the berry bucket from my hand. She probably realized that I have a better chance of beating this woman than she does. I flex my fingers and prepare to shift. Before I can even start to change forms, the witch’s eyes flash bright green, and I find myself unable to move my arms or legs. “What did you do to me?” I growl at Emira, trying my best to make my hands move. All of my limbs feel like they have been encased in thick cement blocks, making them unable to move. "I cast an immobilization spell," Emira gloats. "You didn't even see it coming, just like you never saw any of our attacks coming." She cackles evilly and sparks fly from her fingertips, singeing the grass around her. "Oops," she giggles. "I got a little too excited. We-" "What are you planning?" I growl, cutting her off. S
I open my eyes, slowly becoming conscious. The soft fabric surrounding me and lack of pain have me confused. Where am I? Wasn’t I trapped in the lab? How did I get here? Looking around, the room seems familiar. I sit up on the bed and it dawns on me. I’m back home. Not the packhouse, but my old home. Why am I here though? I moved into the packhouse a while ago. I need to go talk to Tyler. He should know. I launch myself out of bed and get dressed as fast as possible. Grabbing my wallet and keys from where they lay on my desk, I practically sprint to my car. I definitely break several driving laws on my way to the packhouse. At one point, I took a turn so hard I nearly flipped my car. My tires squeal as I skid to a stop in front of the large mansion. I don’t even take the time to shut my car door before running into the building and up the stairs to Tyler’s office. The door flies open as I enter the room, accidentally using too much force. A loud gasp echoes in my ears a
Beep. Beep. Beep. A loud noise awakens me, but disappears as soon as I open my eyes. My vision remains blurry and I swear that I can see a lab room with doctors bustling about surrounding me. My limbs feel heavy and weak. Then I blink and am back in the same bed I woke up in yesterday. I sit up, rubbing my eyes. Nothing has changed when I open them again. I am still sitting in bed covered by my navy blue comforter. My desk stands opposite my bed in the right corner of the room. Both my closet door and bathroom door hang open the way that I usually leave them. I slide off my bed and wait until my feet are buried in the soft, plush carpet before standing up. Then I spot it. My keys are on my desk along with my wallet. I know for sure that I left them hanging up in the hallway as I always do before going to bed yesterday. Perhaps, the day is repeating itself the same as yesterday. If that is true, then I may be in a nightmare. Upon realizing this, my mood immediately improves.
My eyes open slowly, and I realize that I had fallen asleep on the couch. I sit up, ready to clean up my dishes from dinner, but freeze when I see the room around me. It is smaller than the bedroom in my house, but just as familiar. "Arielle, it's time for breakfast!" voice calls up the stairs to me. "Oh, no. Not this," I whisper as I slowly slide out of bed. The hardwood floor is cold against my feet as I plod down the hallway and into the bathroom. My head barely reaches halfway up the mirror, and my hunch is confirmed. I am the same height as when I was twelve, and I bet today is also my birthday. "Arielle!" The feminine voice calls again. "I'm getting done!" I yell out the open bathroom door. Clanging noises echo upstairs from the kitchen as I shut the door. I get done quickly and rush downstairs. It is hard to believe my eyes when I enter the kitchen. My mom stands in front of the stove, stirring something in a pan while my dad sits at the table reading t
My nightmare repeats itself over and over again and each time I am younger than before. My helplessness is driving me crazy as I am forced to watch my parents die, unable to help. I wake up for the seventh time and my room is different from how I remember it. The walls are painted purple, but I only remember them being light green. My bed is also smaller. It suits my small, five year old body better than my normal twin size bed. I decide to lie in bed and think about my options. I have tried practically all of them without success. During the third round, I pretended to be sick the whole day, forcing my parents to stay home with me in hopes of avoiding the wolves. This ultimately failed when the rogue wolves broke into our house and killed them. Then I tried going into the city, going to another country, and even visiting the top floor of a skyscraper. Nothing worked. Each time the wolves came without fail. “Good morning, Sleepyhead,” a voice says. I roll my head to t
The top half of the page is covered by an intricate design. The center of the design is a small square with a circle surrounding it. Around the circle are letters. Then several concentric rings surround the letters, each one larger than the last. Some are made up of circles connected together. Others are made of octagons and other shapes. The circles end and triangles form yet another circle around the design. In each triangle is a number and each number is different. Finally, there is one last circle that surrounds the entire design and connects the point of each triangle together. I am surprised to find that I can read the letters and numbers even though they are not written in any language that I can recognize. The numbers are in the same order as a clock and the letters at the bottom spell out ‘sleep’ over and over again. Below the design is a short explanation about the spell and how to cast it. “This is a sleep spell,” Aunt Shanna says, interrupting my thoughts.
“So if someone is cursed to sleep, what spell would you use to counter the curse?” I ask Aunt Shanna. “Ah!” she exclaims after pausing to think. “I know just the spell.” She begins to flip through the pages. Words fly past in rapid succession, but I manage to read a few. They mean guard, bind, and dispel. After flipping through half of the book, Shanna stops and points to a page. The explanation of the spell is short and merely states that the spell will wake up the recipient. The magic word is ‘izuzzu’ which means ‘arise’ in the language of magic. This is written at the center of the magic circle and is surrounded by lines that form the shape of z’s. Shanna seems to be watching me because when I glance up at her, she is staring back at me. “How do you end a spell? You said that you end a curse by casting it twice,” I question, looking away from her penetrating stare and back to the book. “Great question!” she cries. “Spells are normally negated by casting the opp
The green lights shoot around the room like little glowing rockets. They crash into my shields and fizzle out. I manage to see a green projectile heading towards the scientists despite the light show happening around me. I quickly throw up a shield around them. They will need to explain any information they have learned and then be judged for their involvement in this at a later time. “Nooo!” Emira shrieks as the green orb collides with the shield and harmlessly fizzles out. “This can’t be possible! I’ve always been stronger than the others!” “Others? What others?!” I question her. “The other lycans!” she wails. I glance at Tyler and notice that he is watching me. We share a look and he nods. “What do you mean ‘the other lycans’?” I shout back. “Did you think you were the first?” Emira lets out a vicious laugh as another round of green bullets collide with my shields. “There have been several before you. My father has been studying your kind for years. E
“Be careful, Kyle!” I call to my eldest as he runs out the back door of the packhouse and into the yard full of people. His younger brothers, Tate and Noah, chase after him. The three boys run through the large tent set up in the backyard as I chuckle at their antics. After defeating the Grim Ire pack and Emira, Tyler and I were finally able to settle down. A year later, Kyle was born. We waited a couple of years to let Kyle grow up before having Tate and Noah. Today, the whole pack is celebrating Kyle’s ninth birthday. “Grandma Claire is here!” Claire announces as she enters the backyard. I chuckle as the boys run over to greet her. Claire was ecstatic when Tyler and I asked her to be a grandmother to our children. She knows that she will never replace my mother, but she still treats me like a daughter. “Alright boys! Let Grandma talk to Mom for a bit. There will be plenty of time to play with her later,” I tell them as they cling to Claire’s hands, trying to pull her
I become aware of many voices around me as my consciousness slowly returns. My fingers twitch to the side and bump against something. The thing moves and then a hand grasps mine. The pleasant tingles that shoot up my arm are all the information that I need to know that the hand holding mine is Tyler’s. “She’s awake,” I hear him cry and several other voices respond. Memories of being locked up in the lab flash through my head and I quickly cast a protective barrier around myself and Tyler. Shouting erupts on the outside of the barrier and I reach up with my free hand to rub my eyes. “Arielle?” Tyler asks. I squint my eyes at the bright overhead lights. All I can make out is a dark figure standing over me. Reflexingly, my fist flies up to remove the threat. It misses the figure and is caught by a warm hand that causes tingles to fly up my arm. “Arielle, look at me,” Tyler commands. I blink several more times, trying to adjust to the lights. My eyes slide around unt
The green lights shoot around the room like little glowing rockets. They crash into my shields and fizzle out. I manage to see a green projectile heading towards the scientists despite the light show happening around me. I quickly throw up a shield around them. They will need to explain any information they have learned and then be judged for their involvement in this at a later time. “Nooo!” Emira shrieks as the green orb collides with the shield and harmlessly fizzles out. “This can’t be possible! I’ve always been stronger than the others!” “Others? What others?!” I question her. “The other lycans!” she wails. I glance at Tyler and notice that he is watching me. We share a look and he nods. “What do you mean ‘the other lycans’?” I shout back. “Did you think you were the first?” Emira lets out a vicious laugh as another round of green bullets collide with my shields. “There have been several before you. My father has been studying your kind for years. E
“So if someone is cursed to sleep, what spell would you use to counter the curse?” I ask Aunt Shanna. “Ah!” she exclaims after pausing to think. “I know just the spell.” She begins to flip through the pages. Words fly past in rapid succession, but I manage to read a few. They mean guard, bind, and dispel. After flipping through half of the book, Shanna stops and points to a page. The explanation of the spell is short and merely states that the spell will wake up the recipient. The magic word is ‘izuzzu’ which means ‘arise’ in the language of magic. This is written at the center of the magic circle and is surrounded by lines that form the shape of z’s. Shanna seems to be watching me because when I glance up at her, she is staring back at me. “How do you end a spell? You said that you end a curse by casting it twice,” I question, looking away from her penetrating stare and back to the book. “Great question!” she cries. “Spells are normally negated by casting the opp
The top half of the page is covered by an intricate design. The center of the design is a small square with a circle surrounding it. Around the circle are letters. Then several concentric rings surround the letters, each one larger than the last. Some are made up of circles connected together. Others are made of octagons and other shapes. The circles end and triangles form yet another circle around the design. In each triangle is a number and each number is different. Finally, there is one last circle that surrounds the entire design and connects the point of each triangle together. I am surprised to find that I can read the letters and numbers even though they are not written in any language that I can recognize. The numbers are in the same order as a clock and the letters at the bottom spell out ‘sleep’ over and over again. Below the design is a short explanation about the spell and how to cast it. “This is a sleep spell,” Aunt Shanna says, interrupting my thoughts.
My nightmare repeats itself over and over again and each time I am younger than before. My helplessness is driving me crazy as I am forced to watch my parents die, unable to help. I wake up for the seventh time and my room is different from how I remember it. The walls are painted purple, but I only remember them being light green. My bed is also smaller. It suits my small, five year old body better than my normal twin size bed. I decide to lie in bed and think about my options. I have tried practically all of them without success. During the third round, I pretended to be sick the whole day, forcing my parents to stay home with me in hopes of avoiding the wolves. This ultimately failed when the rogue wolves broke into our house and killed them. Then I tried going into the city, going to another country, and even visiting the top floor of a skyscraper. Nothing worked. Each time the wolves came without fail. “Good morning, Sleepyhead,” a voice says. I roll my head to t
My eyes open slowly, and I realize that I had fallen asleep on the couch. I sit up, ready to clean up my dishes from dinner, but freeze when I see the room around me. It is smaller than the bedroom in my house, but just as familiar. "Arielle, it's time for breakfast!" voice calls up the stairs to me. "Oh, no. Not this," I whisper as I slowly slide out of bed. The hardwood floor is cold against my feet as I plod down the hallway and into the bathroom. My head barely reaches halfway up the mirror, and my hunch is confirmed. I am the same height as when I was twelve, and I bet today is also my birthday. "Arielle!" The feminine voice calls again. "I'm getting done!" I yell out the open bathroom door. Clanging noises echo upstairs from the kitchen as I shut the door. I get done quickly and rush downstairs. It is hard to believe my eyes when I enter the kitchen. My mom stands in front of the stove, stirring something in a pan while my dad sits at the table reading t
Beep. Beep. Beep. A loud noise awakens me, but disappears as soon as I open my eyes. My vision remains blurry and I swear that I can see a lab room with doctors bustling about surrounding me. My limbs feel heavy and weak. Then I blink and am back in the same bed I woke up in yesterday. I sit up, rubbing my eyes. Nothing has changed when I open them again. I am still sitting in bed covered by my navy blue comforter. My desk stands opposite my bed in the right corner of the room. Both my closet door and bathroom door hang open the way that I usually leave them. I slide off my bed and wait until my feet are buried in the soft, plush carpet before standing up. Then I spot it. My keys are on my desk along with my wallet. I know for sure that I left them hanging up in the hallway as I always do before going to bed yesterday. Perhaps, the day is repeating itself the same as yesterday. If that is true, then I may be in a nightmare. Upon realizing this, my mood immediately improves.
I open my eyes, slowly becoming conscious. The soft fabric surrounding me and lack of pain have me confused. Where am I? Wasn’t I trapped in the lab? How did I get here? Looking around, the room seems familiar. I sit up on the bed and it dawns on me. I’m back home. Not the packhouse, but my old home. Why am I here though? I moved into the packhouse a while ago. I need to go talk to Tyler. He should know. I launch myself out of bed and get dressed as fast as possible. Grabbing my wallet and keys from where they lay on my desk, I practically sprint to my car. I definitely break several driving laws on my way to the packhouse. At one point, I took a turn so hard I nearly flipped my car. My tires squeal as I skid to a stop in front of the large mansion. I don’t even take the time to shut my car door before running into the building and up the stairs to Tyler’s office. The door flies open as I enter the room, accidentally using too much force. A loud gasp echoes in my ears a