C H A P T E R F I V E

Melissa

We stand in a row facing the main gate waiting for our last goodbye from father and mother. Ethel stands behind us with almost twenty guards behind him. We stand holding hands and when Ethel sees us he joins in too. Mom and Dad both emerge from the main door and walk towards us holding a sack in hand.

‘’What are they holding?’’ Alicia asks.

‘’Snacks?’’ Ethel whispers. Patricia sighs and looks at him.

‘’Were you always an idiot?’’ She says. Ethel still sticked to dropping another wild assumption.

‘’Just an example, besides it might be. Because Hallsenberg is really a long distance away. We might end up reaching by dawn. We might get hungry on the way. I guess that’s a goose inside.’’

This time both Erica and Catty look at him.

‘’Unbelievable Ethel! You’re more like a kid.’’ Erica shakes her head in disapproval.

‘’Did you go hunting all the way to a place that far away?’’ I have no idea what Catty was talking about.

‘’Well, Reno suggested! And even if it took half a day to reach Hallsenberg, it didn’t matter. Because Reno was with me.’’

‘’Half a day? HALF A DAY!’’ I try not to panic at my own fear. Half a day to reach Hallsenberg? Where are we exactly going I wonder!

‘’It’s going to be fine Melly! Besides, I assure you, you won’t even know how time will pass.’’ One thing for sure, Never believe a word Ethel says!

Father hugs Catty as soon as he sees her. And mom hands over the sack to me.

‘’It’s for you and your sisters. I made them when each of you turned fifteen. But I thought to give it to you when you would start learning hunting. Looks like you need them right now.’’ She weeps. She looks still as young as us. No one would even believe if I told them she was more than 400 years old. I take the sack and untie it. Inside are five beautiful red silk long hooded capes. Each with our names embroidered in black. We take the hoods and wear them. Its longer then I thought. Almost touching the ground.

‘’How do I look?’’ I ask.

‘’Beautiful. All of you.’’ Mother says.

We hug both mom and dad. I try my best not to cry. I can see Catty trying to hold her tears back as well.

‘’Stay safe. And we will be sending letters. Don’t worry.’’ Father says, finally breaking the hug.

‘’We need to leave. It’s getting late.’’ Ethel says. And by that we start heading towards the carriage.

I and Patty in one, Alicia and Erica on the other and finally Ethel with Catty on the last one. I turn around one last to see mother and father. My eyes catch Catty doing the same. I feel sorry for Catty. She is too young. The only thing that comforts me is that, Catty is the strongest one among us. Even a single spell of hers can get rid of our powers. Even she is good at sword fighting. She can do it. I talk to myself.

Almost ten soldiers stand in front of our carriage with their horses. And the rest behind Catty and Ethel’s carriage. Ethel nods at the soldiers in the front and they get on their horses and start moving. Soon after them our carriages start to move too. I turn again to get at least a glimpse of mom and dad. I can see father hugging mother. I keep staring until the carriage takes a turn and the forest covers my sight. All I see is trees and the tower of The Vampire Academy which then vanishes in the dense fog.

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Ethel was right. The institutes are not as close as we thought. We keep taking turns and turns and then stops for the horses to rest. And just like I said, I wasn’t falling for his words of comfort.

‘’How long is it going to take? ‘’ Catty asks ,getting her hood off her head. ‘’It’s almost dawn!’’

‘’Just a little bit more way to go.’’ Ethel replies, hitting tiny pebbles to a tree.

‘’You said that before and look at us, we are still here. How long? I wish I had this thing called ‘sleep’. Can’t Erica just teleport us to the institutes?’’

‘’I would have loved it if she could. But you’re not the only one here. And besides father told us to not use teleportation in places where there are mortals. How would you feel if someone appeared in front of your gate from thin air? One minute you’re standing and then suddenly five vampires appearing in front of your eyes from no were…..AHHHH gives chills in my body. Can’t let that happen sister.’’ Ethel says. And then he holds Catty’s hands.

‘’Sit.’’ He pulls Catty down next to him and makes her sit. She leans her head on his shoulders.

‘’Now close your eyes. And take deep breaths. Once you do that you will feel better.’’ He says patting her head. And Catty does as he says. I smile seeing them. He was always by her side. Even after Reno left, no one but only Ethel could keep her happy.

‘’Hey! Have you seen Melly and patty?’’ Erica walks in with a twig and ruins the whole scene.

‘’Ahhhh! Seriously? I was trying to make her feel better!’’ Ethel never loved being interrupted. ‘’Go ask the guards.’’

‘’Sorry.’’ She says, standing there quietly with her head drooping.

‘’I am here.’’ I walk my way out of the bushes. The scene was already ruined by Erica. It didn’t matter if I showed up as well.

‘’How long- ……..never mind. You always love eavesdropping.’’ Ethel was for sure getting more irritated.

‘’I wasn’t trying to. It was just……coincidence. And is she already asleep? I mean she isn’t even waking up. Not even before when Erica came neither now did she even move.’’

‘’Catty! Catty! You asleep?’’ Ethel starts nudging her with his elbow.

‘’I am not asleep.’’ Catty replies with her eyes still shut. ‘’I am just resting. No time to reply to your talks.’’ She says and then moves her head from Ethel shoulder to his chest. He smiles and leans to the tree closing his eyes and hugging her.

What an awkward scene to see!

‘’Let’s leave them alone.’’ Erica suggests, with a pursed lips.

‘’Yea…..Better.’’ I say, walking away with Erica.

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We start to move once again after the horses and the guards are done resting. The sky was slowly turning orange, which means the sun was almost up. We walk inside our carriages once again and resume our journey.

The forest keeps getting denser as we keep traveling further. Now the fog has started to disappear due to the sunlight. The sounds of the birds chirping keep getting louder. Suddenly the carriage stops and the horses start to make noises. The rest of them start jumping and flipping the guards off their back. What happened? I think. Patty looks at me confused. We both open the carriage door and step out. I can see Erica, Catty and Alicia standing outside their carriages as well. They come running to us as soon as they see us.

‘’Ethel said something is wrong. Someone is here.’’ Catty eyes were scanning the forest.

‘’Is it……..KU….KRULI….Krulisa?’’ Erica asks.

‘’I don’t know. He said the horses were getting scared because they sensed something wild.’’

‘’Wild?’’ did he say what it was? It’s not Krulisa for sure.’’

‘’He didn’t.’’

The five of us stand in a circle holding hands. We keep looking everywhere but nothing shows up. Suddenly Ethel comes running to us and says that the forest is not safe and that this is the forest were most of Krulisa’s army stays in order to hunt and eat both animals and humans.

‘’Why this specific forest? There are more than enough forests.’’ I ask.

Ethel looks at me and gives a sigh.

‘’Because this is not a normal forest. He says. It’s the forest of Hallsenberg.’’

‘’The forest……of Hallsenberg…….you mean the one facing…’’

‘’The Institutes. Yes, you’re right.’’ He nodded.

‘’So we are almost near the institutes?’’ Erica asks.

‘’The moment we get out of this forest……you will be able to see the Institutes.’’

‘’Then what are we waiting for?’’ I ask.

‘’We are surrounded.’’ He kept looking back and front as if something was awaiting for us. The panic at his face was making me scared.

‘’Surrounded by what?’’ Catty asks.

‘’Krulisa’s army’’

As soon as Ethel says that a beast like figure jumps out of the bushes and grabs hold of one of the guard, releases a large shriek as he tears the guard apart.

‘’STAND BACK!’’ Ethel screams. ‘’Protect the sisters.’’ He orders the guards and walks at the monster with his sword. His eyes turn red, He takes the hood off his head and raises the sword.

‘’What are you waiting for, Asshole!’’ He says. The monster growls in anger and charges towards Ethel. But Ethel is too fast. In an instant blink of eye, the monster falls before us in two half’s. The body turns back to a young man.

‘’What is that? And how did it transform……. into a beast. WHAT IS GOING ON!’’ I might sound like a coward, but this was something we were never warned about. The rest of them stood behind me startled!

‘’We call them Forest Beasts.’’ Says the guard. ‘’They are a part of Krulisa’s army. And their power is transformation. They can transform into wild beasts and animals. That’s how they hunt the mortals and immortals.’’

Why didn’t father warn us about all this? I wonder.

‘’YOU GUYS ALRIGHT?’’ Ethel screams from where he was standing.

‘’YEA WE ARE!’’ I reply. Ethel smiles at me. Blood splattered all over his face. Suddenly three more beasts come to view from the bushes behind Ethel. Ethel who is still unaware of them keeps smiling at me until he notices the smile in my face fading. I cover my mouth under my palms.

‘’ETHEL! WATCH OUTTT!’’ Patty screams her lungs out. Ethel turns around to see the beasts jump towards him. Scared, I close my eyes tight.

Suddenly everything gets silent. The birds, the growling of the beasts and the screams of the guards. I open my eyes and see the beast hanging to nothing in the air as if an invisible noose was holding them through their necks. Ethel was staring at them too. Surprised. He turns back to look at us and his eyes go wide open with shock as he looks at someone behind me.

Who is it? I whisper. Both I and Patty turn around. And that’s when I see her. Catty, Her eyes clouded into a foggy mist, lips curled into a snarl as her right hand hanged outstretched towards the beasts, which were now clawing at the invisible noose tied to their throat. Catty? I whisper. She looks at Erica and nods gently. Erica follows after her and then teleports herself behind the beasts as she slits their throats with her sword. The lifeless bodies of the beasts fall to the ground before Ethel. Catty’s eyes go back to normal. She removes the hood off her head and heads off to Ethel. Alicia, I and Patty follow them too.

‘’You alright?’’ Catty scans every part of Ethel to assure herself if he was fine. Ethel looks at her for few seconds. His face looks confused and shocked at the same time. At the moment, we were all still going through the shock we just faced. He holds her hands and pulls her to his chest and hugs her.

‘’Thank you sister.’’ He says. ‘’That thing almost killed me.’’

‘’It’s okay…. You’re safe now.’’ Catty says hugging him back.

Ethel looks at Erica and forwards his hands.

‘’OHH nooo… I am not going to hug you! There’s blood all over your body. You’re dirty right now. But yea your welcome.’’ She says. Ethel smiles at her and she smiles back. ‘’Just kidding. I almost died seeing those three behind you.’’ She steps forward and hugs him.

‘’Guys!’’ Alicia holds her head in pain and closes her eyes shut tight.

‘’Alicia!’’ I hold her. ‘’Are you okay? What happened?’’

‘’Voices…..more are here. They are surrounding us. I can feel them. I can feel their pain. I can feel their anger. They want us dead. They are angry-’’

‘’You mean the forest beasts?’’ Ethel cuts her out.

‘’Yes.’’ She says, under her breath.

And that’s when fifteen beasts emerge and stand before us. This forest was dense and hollow enough to hold thousands of beast like that! Now that they sensed our presence, they are trying to kill us all. Ethel ones again gets prepared with his sword.

How many more times does he have to fight for us? I whisper to myself. What are we here for?

‘’I can’t see this anymore.’’ I say. ‘’Lets fight!’’ I open my hood and remove the cover of my sword.

‘’Are you serious?’’ Ethel holds my sword and stops me.

‘’Do I look like I’m joking right now!’’ I pull back my sword from Ethel.

Patty and Alicia follow me with Erica and Catty behind them. The five of us stand in a row facing fifteen giant beasts. Ethel nods at me and then joins us. The guards get in position as well. As we get prepared to fight, fifteen more beasts emerge from the behind.

‘’Wait… WHAT?’’ Alicia says. ‘’You gotta be kidding me!’’

‘’We have to turn.’’ Catty says. ‘’Ethel, I and Erica will defeat the once in the back.’’ She says and they turn around. We stand with three on the front and three in the back.

‘’On my words.’’ Ethel says. ‘’NOW!’’

The guards run after Ethel and one after another they start slashing the beasts with their swords. Patty raises her hands to the sky and round it in circles creating a mixture of air and leaves followed by tiny branches and targets it at the beasts. She releases the pressure from her body as she hits them with the wind. One after another the beasts fly up and then fall down. Some fall dead while some only injured. The injured ones walk furiously towards Patty again. And that’s when Alicia controls them with her mind and makes them break their own bones. Ones dead, she looks on with a smirk.

Erica and Catty both fight together. Erica teleports from one beast to another killing them with her sword while Catty uses her sword as well as her spells and kills the beasts one after another. She swings her sword from left to right. And when there are more beasts attacking her, she uses some sort of spell that makes their heads explode.

Catty is as fast as Ethel. But seeing her right now I can say she is even stronger than Ethel. I join her and Erica and we fight the beasts together. I let the electricity flow inside me; it almost burns my whole body when I finally let it out. My sword, which is now charged with the electricity from my body, hits the beast hard on its shoulder making it explode. Not just one but I see almost five of them explode and turn to ashes. Catty looks at me with a tiny smile in her face, her eyes covered in white fog again.

It’s all messed up. The forest is a mess with blood and flesh splattered everywhere. I look around and see that it’s not only the beasts but a few guards of ours too. We stand there holding our swords and panting hard once we are done killing all of them. Only three guards survived, and the rest…..Dead. Catty walk to one of the injured guard who whines for help. His arms ripped from his body, claw marks in his back and a broken leg. Catty sits beside him and places her palm in his chest.

‘’Catty don’t!’’ Ethel says in a low voice. But Catty ignores Ethel and continues.

‘’I, Catherine Cross cast the spell of life in you. You are going to live again. Those that made you like this will suffer instead of you. Rise.’’ She says raising her hands slowly. His body rises as she orders and his arms start to grow back again, the claw mark disappears. ‘’You will live again.’’ She says. Finally the guard stands back amazed looking at himself all fine and well as if nothing ever happened to him.

‘’You shouldn’t be doing that, what if father knows about it? You think he will let it slide?’’ Ethel pulls Catty away holding her arms.

‘’You can’t cast a spell to bring back someone to life. You have never tried it before. What if something happens to him later?’’ Catty looks at him, the fog in her eyes starts to disappear.

‘’So you are saying….you want me to let them die? Is that what you suggest?’’ Catty looked mad. ‘’Ethel, they came here for us. The reason this guards are dead is also because of us. And yes, I did this before. I bought back a dead bird back to life. Nothing happened to it. It was alright until it died with your arrow!’’

Well she is right. It was in winter last year when Erica and I found a dead Raven in the forest. We bought it to the Academy. When Catty almost broke down seeing it. That was the first time she used the spell of life and bought it back. She was so happy every time she saw at it until one day it flew out and an arrow just bought it back down. It was later when we realised that the one who killed Catty’s little raven was her beloved brother, Ethel.

Ethel looks at her in silence. Of course poor Ethel was speechless at the moment.

‘’It was an accident! And besides, that was a bird! Not a vampire. Do you not see the difference?’’

Or maybe I was wrong. He had words prepared.

‘’No I don’t.’’ Catty pushes Ethel and walks her way to the carriage. ‘’Even if I did, I would still volunteer to save any thing that risked their lives for us.’’

The rest of us stood like four normal girls seeing a couple argue. At midst of all this, what scared me was the sudden whisper of my name. I turn to her Alicia holding her head in pain. Again.

‘’Melly!’’ she whispered in pain. ‘’Something is wrong, I can still feel them, or one….. maybe.’’

‘’Alicia what are you saying? One what?’’ Erica and Patty look on pressured.

‘’Something is not right.’’ She says. ‘’One is still here. The beast, one of it is still here hiding somewhere. I can feel its presence.’’

I turn around to warn Ethel, but it’s too late. As soon as I turn and run to him, I see the silhouette of a beast right next to the carriage were Catty was. NO! I whisper. NOOOO! I run for her and at the same time the beast shows it self behind Catty with its claws ready to charge. Finally Ethel notices it too.

‘’CATTY BEHIND YOU!’’ he screams. And as she turns, she runs her hands for the sword on her back. But to all of our surprise, someone already pierces a sword at the beast’s broad chest from the behind. Catty looks on surprised gasping hard. Her hands still on her sword. I stop running too. Everyone stand still at their positions until the body of the beast falls to the ground, and reveals his killer. The one that saved Catty. Blue eyes, Blue lips, Raven black hairs and snow white skin.

‘’Reno!’’ Ethel runs to him and throws his arms at Reno’s shoulders.

‘’Two idiots reunite!’’ Erica says giggling.

I look at Catty. Still surprised from what happened, she stands in her place all silent. Her eyes locked with Reno’s. I can see a tiny smile in his face but Catty, emotionless.

‘’This isn’t going to go well.’’ Patty whispers standing behind me. ‘’Why is he here anyway? How did he know we are here?’’

‘’Believe me…..even I am thinking the same!’’ I say, my eyes still gazing at Catty and Reno. All four of us stand there looking tensed at both Catty and Reno and their awkward faces. Ethel, who was busy embracing Reno untangles his arms and gives a gentle smile to Reno.

‘’Glad you came.’’ He says and looks at Catty. The smile in his face washes off as he realises the kind of awkward fellow he was to butt in between two broken couple.

‘’Why are you here?’’ Finally the words spit out of Catty’s mouth. The smile in Reno’s face disappears as he sighs.

‘’I came here for you.’’ He says. ‘’I can’t let you go alone. Krulisa and her army, they are not as easy as you think. And the mortal world, you’ve never been there before.’’

‘’You think I don’t know that you would be here to save me if I were ever in danger? My question is, how did you know we are here? And how did you know about all this?’’ Catty walks closer to Reno and grabs his shoulder. Reno’s face fills with confusion. The sort of look that describes that the person is not really sure of where this whole conversation was going to.

‘’Catty…..the letter, you sent me a letter. That’s why I came here.’’

Both I and Patty exchange quick glances.

‘’Letter? What letter?’’ Catty was getting frustrated. She let go of Reno’s shoulder.

‘’Ahhhhhh…..Actually……. It was me!’’ Ethel walks back to his position between Catty and Reno. ‘’I send the letter.’’ He says.

‘’You did WHAT? YOU INSANE MORON!’’ Erica had seen enough of Ethel’s worst behaviours today. In fact, all of us have!

Reno’s gaze finally falls on the ground. Broken. I can say he was completely broken.

‘’That’s impossible!’’ He says quietly, and then looks back at Catty. ‘’It was your handwriting.’’

Catty doesn’t reply. I don’t know why are we supposed to witness all this!

‘’Because she wrote it!’’ Ethel replies. ‘’She wrote the letter but was nervous to send you. So I picked it up from the junks and send it. But I swear, I didn’t read it!’’

The smile in Reno’s face returns back.

‘’It doesn’t matters who send it as long as the writer is Catty.’’ He says. ‘’ I am glad you wrote to me.’’ He walks closer and try’s hugging her but she pushes him off.

‘’Glad? Why glad now? This isn’t the first time you received letter from me!’’ I knew that it hurt her every single day not getting a reply from Reno after she sends him tons of letters. It was so hard for her to give up. The one reason I hated Reno was because, he moved on really quick.

‘’Catty….I….’’

‘’Don’t! Please leave. You better leave.’’ She says walking to the carriage. Reno grabs hold of her left arm and pulls her closer to him.

‘’Say what you want, but I am not leaving. I loved you and I still do. It’s just too hard for me to explain why I did all that in the past and hurted you. I am not letting you in this mission alone, I can’t let you die. Because every time I think about my future, you’re in them.’’

Another awkward moment for me, Alicia and Patty.

‘’I am not going to melt by your words again! Do what you want, but don’t you dare come closer to me again. Yes, Stay away from me!’’

She pushes Reno out of her way.

‘’Let’s go, we can’t waste another day here!’’ Catty was full of rage and anger right now. She closes her door before Ethel could get in.

We all get back to our carriages. Only three soldiers survived to assist us including the one Catty bought back to life. Reno, who was upset, accompanies Ethel. The both of them stand behind our carriages with their horses.

‘’Let’s get moving!’’ Ethel orders. And with that, the three guards in the front start moving and our carriages follow.

We move a few miles further from one direction to other. And soon after we get out from the dense forest of Hallsenberg, three big institutes stand right in front of our eyes. They look just like our Academy.

‘’Here we are!’’ Both I and Patty glance at each other and then back at the institutes.

‘’It’s kinda bigger than our Academy!’’ she says.

As we get closer the institutes grow even larger. And if you look it from far the institutes look like they are joined to one another, but as we go further, they are not as close as we thought. They have a really huge distance between each other.

The carriage stops right in front of the giant fountain. And we all get out of our carriages.

‘’We walk from here!’’ Ethel suggests.

‘’Fine, let’s go then!’’ Erica looks excited. ‘’But we need to go to our own institutes, right?’’

‘’We will drop you and Catty here first. This is where you and Catty will stay. After that I will drop the rest of them and then I and Reno will head back to the forest. Understood?’’ Ethel says.

‘’Wait!’’ Catty looks around the institutes. ‘’I need to do something first.’’ She says and walks a few distances away from us backwards whispering some sort of spell. Her eyes turn foggy again as she raises her hands facing the sky. Suddenly a spark of blue light appears in the sky and as she slowly lowers her hands down the light starts to grow bigger and bigger. Like a cave, she covers the three institutes with the light, whispering something. Her eyes turn back to normal and she walks back to us.

‘’That was……amaz..zing…’’ Ethel’s eyes were still wandering the blue giant cave.

‘’It’s a protection spell.’’ Catty says. ‘’No immortals can pass through it. Except for us and you two.’’ She points at both Ethel and Reno. ‘’It’s the most strongest and deadly protection spell,’’

‘’But the light… the mortals….’’

‘’They can’t see it. Only immortals can see the shield that I created.’’

‘’That’s amazing Catty.’’ I say.

‘’Thanks.’’ She says with a tiny smile.

We send off Catty and Erica to their institutes and just like that, one after another we part our ways.

‘’We meet at the forest! Don’t forget.’’ Ethel hugs me one last time before sending me off.

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