Apparently, mages and wolves take holidays off. Maybe not Halloween, but they must take New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day off because whenever I brought up the idea of going to check on the woods or that strange cabin I’d found the night before up to my pack at breakfast the next day, they all reminded me that it was a holiday, and I needed to chill out.
I’d laid away most of the night thinking about the things I’d seen, so I was in no mood to be playful. Knowing that it would do me no good to go to the cabin myself and not willing to go out to the forest to check to make sure that what they’d found out about the pink trees the night before, that they were gone, by myself, I retreated to my own trees and spent most of the last day of the year feeling the power of the forest flow through me. Most of the colors I saw were familiar to me. Colors of my pack members and mysel
After the fireworks ended, Ben took my hand and pulled me back toward the house. I had a feeling all of the couples would be headed to their rooms now, which would leave Brice on his own. I watched as he shifted and took off into the woods. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. He was the only one who didn’t have a significant other, after all. Still, I got the impression that he was trying not to let it bother him. Maybe he had a lady wolf waiting for him in the woods. When Ben tugged me into the house, I forgot all about Brice.In our room, with the door closed, only the moonlight filtering through the curtains to provide illumination, Ben walked me backward to the bed, his mouth back on my shoulder, where it had been when Raven interrupted us all of those hours ago. “Where were we?” he whispered, slipping the strap of my dress down off of my shoulder. “Oh, yeah. I was tak
I woke up on January 2nd wondering if this would be the day that Ben went to talk to Starla or if he’d wait until the next day. It was a Monday, and we were supposed to start school again on Wednesday. We’d gotten emails and phone calls from Principal Short that all of the damage caused before Christmas break had been repaired. None of those messages mentioned the crazy mage who had lit a bunch of students and a teacher on fire. They made it sound as if the damage had been caused by something accidental, like a Bunsen burner that was accidentally left on too long. I guess I couldn’t blame him if he was trying to help everyone forget about the horror fest that was our last day of school.I slept pretty late that day because I was still tired from New Year’s Eve and the fun we’d had the day before, celebrating New Year’s Day. When I woke up, Ben wasn’t there. I heade
As soon as Ben headed out the door, I flew up the chimney, switching forms into a bird that followed him home. He seemed to recognize me as soon as he saw me, slowing down on the porch and waiting for me to morph into my human form. “Well, hello there, Harlow,” he said, shaking his head. He sounded more like Sam now than I could handle. “Have fun eavesdropping?”“Did you know I was there?” I asked him, checking to make sure I didn’t have any soot on me.“No, I didn’t, but I’m not surprised you were. Did you hear the whole conversation?”“Not all of it,” I said, “but enough. Do you believe her?”Ben shrugged. “I have no idea. I didn’t
We had one more day before school was scheduled to start. After about a month of being home, it seemed like torture to have to go back, but I was also looking forward to starting my last semester in high school. I had applied to a few colleges online, and every day, I would wake up and check to see if I’d gotten any responses. I would’ve loved to be going off to college, like I’d always dreamt, but I knew now, wherever I went, at least for the next year, I’d have to do it online because I’d either be needed with my pack, or I’d be in Europe. I had no idea what Mage Jaye’s plans were since we’d had our tiff since I hadn’t heard from her since the phone call where we’d argued, but she’d promised me I’d be hearing from her soon. I was beginning to think perhaps she was bluffing.Until that day before we were to start school again. W
I had won. It was difficult to believe. Mage Jaye had come all the way to Montana from Europe, seething the whole time, ready to put me in my place, to take me down a notch, to teach me a lesson, and whatever other viscous thoughts she had had in her mind for that entire long, boring flight. But in the end, when she’d gotten here, I’d reminded her that she needs me a hell of a lot more than I need her, and now, here she was pretending like she had somehow settled things in her favor.I didn’t expect an apology, and quitting while I was ahead entailed me not asking for one. We just had an understanding now. I would do whatever I could to help the council, as I had been doing, and she would shut the hell up when it came to trying to “punish” me when she disagreed with what I determined was the right thing for me to do for myself and for my pack. I could’ve been bluffing a
We waited until dusk, and then, Mage Jaye, Mage Nuthatch and I changed ourselves into owls and took off toward the mountains. It wasn’t snowy or windy, and the sun was just starting to go down, so the trip wasn’t nearly as uncomfortable as it had been the last time I made it all by myself. That being said, it was still dangerous enough to make my feather stand on end as we took off, up into the air, on our way toward the mountains.I didn’t see the light at first. We were flying blind, except for my pack, that was running through the forest beneath us. They have a much better sense of direction than I do, so I stayed where I could see them. All of them stuck together and used their noses and the description I had given them from my last trip to figure out which way to go. Sam was with them, but Starla had stayed home, which was just as well. I felt more comfortable knowing the largest wol
The “old bird” next to me on the branch flew down to the ground, changing back into her human form as her shoes touched down on the snow. Nuthatch followed suit, standing behind her, and I decided I’d better do the same, even though I would’ve rather stayed in my current owl form in case I needed to fly away quickly. I still had no idea who this guy was, what he was capable of, or who was in the house behind him.“You’ve decided to show yourself at last, Dakota,” Mage Jaye said. I could tell without being able to see her face what expression she was wearing. Whoever this Dakota person was, he had disappointed her gravely.Laughing, he said, “You always insist on calling me that when you know I prefer Cody.”“I don’t give a damn what you prefer,”
After Mage Jaye gave Cody Buzzard her ultimatum, that he needed to pack up his mage friends and ride off into the sunset, or whatever the equivalent for evil people is, there wasn’t much else to say. Cody’s laughter basically told us all he wasn’t planning on going anywhere. So, Mage Jaye warned him that he had two weeks to get himself back into the shadows where he was no longer a threat to anyone, and then she shifted back into an owl and turned back toward my house.I wasn’t sure how having an enemy in the shadows was better than knowing where he was, but it wasn’t my place to ask her at the moment, in front of the threat himself. I was just about to shift into an owl and fly back, too, but just before I did so, Cody Buzzard said, “Come on, Harlow. You gonna keep answering to that crazy bitch your whole life?”I didn