I walked into art class the next day with a new resolve. I was going to remind Brice Parker that we were not friends, that he could not just assume that, because we’d done a decent scene together in drama the day before, we were somehow “okay.” From the way he was acting, he thought we were friends or something, best pals. Well, he was in for a rude awakening because that was definitely not the case.
I wasn’t exactly sure what to do with Brice’s note. I’d shoved it in my pocket after art class ended, and kept it there, where I was certain it was burning a hole, not even through the fabric of my jeans but also through my thigh. More than once before lunch, I considered taking it out and tossing it in the trash can, but I didn’t do it. Instead, I attempted to pay attention during my classes, but my mind kept going back to that slip of paper. Where did he get off anyway? Why did he think I was spending so much time thinking about him?
That night, after dinner, I went to my room to call my sister. It had been a long time since I had really talked to her, and I wanted to see how her first week of school had gone. The last time I’d talked to her, Mom was planning to take her shopping to buy school clothes, and Grayson was super excited about that, even though she wasn’t thrilled at the prospect of starting a new school. I knew that I was actually funding all of those new clothes, but I was okay with it, as long as it made my sister happy.
There would be no fun trip to the donut shop on the way to pick up Melanie Saturday morning, or on our way to the shopping center, for that matter. Sam was in a mood, and I guess I couldn't blame him. We were supposed to pick Melanie up at 10:00 and left our house at 9:55. Sam was driving Ben’s truck because it had a front and back seat, whereas Sam’s only had enough room for three people, unless someone rode in the bed, and I didn’t see making Raven ride back there to another town, even though she said she didn’t mind. I minded.
“What do you think of this one?” Melanie asked, pulling out a red dress and showing it to me.I knew she meant for herself because of the size. She was a little bit bigger than me. The dress was form-fitting, a satiny red fabric that would’ve hit above her knee and showed all of her curves. It had little black accent lace pieces around the waist and neckl
It was a little after 1:00 when we entered the restaurant across the parking lot. The place was slightly crowded with the late lunch crowd, but it wasn’t too bad, and we were able to be seated in a booth right away. I slid in on the closest side quickly so I wouldn’t be forced to choose between sitting next to Melanie or sitting next to Raven. It made sense that either one of them would prefer to sit next to me, since they were both here because they were my friends, but I wouldn’t like to have to choose between them. Raven sat down next to me, and Melanie sat across from us. We decided to put the dress bags in the spot next to her.
Sam’s demeanor hadn’t changed much while we were shopping, unfortunately. I held my dress on my lap, my bag full of accessories and the shoe box by my feet. He was mostly silent, not asking us about how it had gone or anything else that would’ve made for polite conversation. I asked him where he’d gone, and he said a restaurant down the street. I asked him what he’d eaten, and he said, “Food.” That was about the extent of our discussion.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked Brice. I kept my tone in check. I wasn’t demanding or even rude, despite my choice of curse words, just inquisitive.He half shrugged as he leaned against the tree. “You brought a new wolf into our forest, and I wanted to know who it was.”
“What’s going on?” Ben asked me, his forehead furrowed as his eye locked on the area of the forest where Brice had just disappeared. “Why was Brice here?”I stood up and walked to Ben’s side, my hand on his arm to calm him. “He just came to see who the new wolf in the woods was.” It sounded like a legitimate explanation for B
There’s a comfy chair right next to the fireplace in the main living area of Brookstone. It has become my favorite place to sit. I can sit there for hours and do absolutely nothing but stare out the window at the beautiful forest and sparkling lake. It’s amazing to me to think how far I’ve come in just a year and a few months. I don’t just sit around and do nothing, though. I haven’t had to use my magic to fight off any other mages or shifters since we destroyed Grimly Grouse and his evil minions, but I do use my magic sometimes for other things, like producing presents for my friends or making mythical creatures to entertain us. Brookstone is as beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside. Part of that is the fact that we modernized it and redecorated a lot of the rooms. We wanted all of the modern conveniences we were used to, but we didn’t ruin the amb
My plan had been pretty simple. I’d bust into Brookstone, make the other mages and any shifters that were there think that the house was on fire, and I’d run them out to where my pack mates were waiting to take them down.I had no idea one of my pack members had her own idea of what should happen then. I guess I should have. It isn’t as if she hasn’t shocked me enough times in the past for me to expect Fionna to do something… unexpected.The mages in Grimley’s pack came streaming out of the house. Most of them went out the front door because I’d started the alleged fire in the kitchen, which was in the back of the house, on the east side. Fionna, being the tricky mage that she is, had opened a portal right on the other side of the front door so that every single one of the mages who ran out that exit sprinted right int
I didn’t bother to get a ride back to Brookstone the next day. It was clear that no one wanted to drive out there anyway, and it wasn’t as if it was a necessity. We had other ways of getting there, after all.I volunteered to change my wolves into birds so they could fly with us, but all of them passed on that. They said they weren’t used to flying and were afraid they’d fall out of the sky or something. Like I’d let that happen. I’d rolled my eyes, but since most of the area around where we’d stayed the night before was woodsy and rural, we decided it would be okay for them to walk out into the woods and shift there. The rest of us would fly over.My wolves weren’t going to be entering the property until after I knew the situation in the house. Once I knew whether we were on the defensive or the offensive, I woul
It was difficult to get rooms with enough beds for all of us, but my wolves decided they could always shift into their wolf forms and sleep on the floor, and since most of them didn’t sleep much anyway, we went with that. I was definitely going to be sleeping that night, though. I was so tired, I could barely keep my eyes open to discuss the plan for the next day. Fighting mages is hard work--apparently.“So what is our plan for tomorrow?” Kaylee asked. We were gathered in the room she and I were sharing, all of us sitting on the beds, the floor, and the small sitting area. “I take it we’re going right back there since you wanted to stay so close, Harlow.”“Yeah, we need to go right back over there and take care of things once and for all,” I said. “We just need a plan that will get rid of Grimly Grouse as s
With the ground shaking beneath our feet, the mages lifted themselves up into the air. I pulled up my wolves, too, but that didn’t help save my house. The thought of Grimly Grouse destroying my family home was enough to make me want to set his hair on fire.The ground was cracking beneath us now, some of them were at least a foot across. The idea of one of my people dropping inside of one of them was enough to make me want to fly everyone out of there and back to our rental right away.“Kaylee,” I shouted, wanting to try to fix the problem beneath us and keep my wolves out of danger. “Can you take over for me?”“You mean… float them?” she asked. “All of them?”“We can all help,” Liam said from the o
Looking around at my mages, I tried to determine who I needed to help and who was okay on their own. Liam was taking on a large male mage with a nose ring and the appearance of horns coming out of his bald head. I assumed those were placed there by magic, and he didn’t really have horns growing out of his head, but it was difficult to know for sure. “Give it up, Harlow!” I heard Grimly shout from far behind the line of advance. “I have more reserves. You cannot win.” It was difficult for me to keep my eye on this brute that was about to knock Liam out and respond to the maniac in the back. I decided to ignore Grouse and concentrate on Liam’s predicament. I was fairly far away from the fight, and there were other engagements going on between me and Liam, but I couldn’t let that stop me. The devil guy with the horn
The mages from Brookstone were slowly walking toward us, their long cloaks in a rainbow of colors not even moving from the wind they made, their steps were so even and slow. I stared at them for a long moment, trying to determine what the best thing to do was. A quick estimate told me that there were probably about thirty of them, which meant my team was outnumbered about five to one as mages went. The wolves would be able to help a little, but not much. They were mostly there to fight off any wolves that came our way, and Grimly Grouse had stopped using those, pulling out the big guns instead.We really only had two choices. We could stand there and fight and probably get annihilated because we were outnumbered so badly, or we could run away, regroup, and figure out when and how we should come back. I was really starting to lean toward Plan B, but when I looked at the faces of my packmates, I could tell t
I took advantage of the fearful flicker I’d seen in Grimley Grouse’s eyes and hit him with a bolt of power before he had much time to expect it. He got his hands up, but it wasn’t enough to completely deflect it. I ended up hitting him hard enough to knock him backward almost to the edge of the stream. The other mages around him took a few seconds to stare in shock before they remembered they had powers and could possibly do something to help him.They weren’t going to be able to help him, though. My mages were all ready, so before any of the red cloaked mages could hit me with their powers, mine had their hands up, shooting rays of light to counteract the ones directed at me. I watched the magic around me bend and shift, redirecting back the way it was coming. A few of the red mages were knocked off balance, but none of them went flying the way that Grouse did, probably because mos
I heard the first sounds of battle coming from my left, to the southwest of the house, but I couldn’t tell who it was that was caught up first by the wolves coming from Brookstone. I thought that Raven and Tony had been the furthest to the south, but I wasn’t certain. I decided I should fly over there and have a look. Of course, by the time I got over there, there was a good chance the rest of my wolves would be under attack as well since we’d seen the wolves shooting through the forest at an incredible rate spread out in a line. As I landed, I heard the sounds of battle echoing across the forest as Grimly Grouse’s wolves collided with mine. This wasn’t going to be pretty. I changed back into my mage form as soon as my feet touched the ground and immediately fired a