The jewelry shop was about what I was expecting. We walked inside to see lots of counters with lots of pieces of jewelry on display including rings, earrings, necklaces, and pendants. There was a couple browsing, the woman already covered in large diamonds, her husband hanging back and letting her wander from case to case. They were well dressed and probably in their late thirties or early forties. I felt very out of place.
Sam pulled up to Grandma’s house a little before sunset. It had been a long day. We’d stopped at a nice restaurant in a town about halfway home and had a fancy-ish dinner. Italian always seems fancy to me. Now, I was tired and ready to get inside and share the good news with Grandma and the rest of the family. Of course, I also had to face the forest. But I didn’t think it was a good idea to go out there in the dark, so that would have to wait until tomorrow.
“Well?” Mom asked the second I walked in the door.“Well… what?” I asked her, staring from her face to Max’s, to Grandma’s, to Grayson’s.
Sam wasn’t at Grandma’s house very long, unfortunately. He basically brought the check to the door, handed it to me, my mom thanked him, and then he left, leaving me watching him disappear around the corner of the house. He’d come through the back yard on foot but come to the front door. Why, I’m not sure. But that’s what he’d done--and then he was gone.
I woke up around 3:00 in the morning to the sound of multiple wolves howling back and forth and knew there was something wrong. I had fallen asleep in my clothes again, which made it easier to get up, put on my shoes, and head outside. The thought of texting Sam or Ben came to mind, but chances were, they were already in their shifted forms, and I doubted they accepted text messages when they were wolves.
We took off through the forest in a hurry. I let Raven lead the way to Sam and Ben while Joshua stayed behind me, which made me feel safer, in case something tried to sneak up on me. I trusted the forest to let me know if there was anything to worry about, too, but it was also good to know a creature with sharp fangs was behind me, just in case one of those dark wolves happened to come back for more.
“How did she do that?” I whispered into the wind. No one answered me, though. Verina had disappeared in front of my very eyes, but her wolves were still there, at the moment.I heard growling behind me and turned to see that we had been joined by the remnants of my grandmother’s pack, as well as a few other wolves I hadn’t seen yet. We outnumbered t
After spending most of the day in the forest, I went inside around 4:00 to eat something and get ready for my date with Ben. I felt kind of silly going on a date when we only had a week until Verina would be coming for us, but Grandma said she thought I should go, that it would be a good way to take my mind off of the situation with the evil mage.
Grayson was standing between me and the stairs. I knew I had plenty of time until Ben got there, but I had intended on sitting in the living room with Grandma for a few minutes, just to chill out and kind of relax a little bit, not argue with my sister. I tried to keep my tone light as I asked, “What’s wrong, Gray?”She stood there for a few moments with