“You can’t be serious!” Melanie squealed the second I brought up the topic of all of us moving to Europe as soon as graduation was over. “I wanted to spend the summer back home with my family.” Real, actual tears sprang to her eyes. I was stunned. I’d just thrown it out there for us to talk about, I hadn’t committed to anything yet. I certainly wasn’t expecting anyone to cry about it.
“Mel,” I said, trying to stay calm and not escalate the situation even further. “I’m just asking. It doesn’t mean that we have to do it.”
“I wanna do it!” Brice said, his voice full of enthusiasm. “Running around all over Europe, fighting evil mages, storming castles…. All of that sounds really amazing to me.”
Most of the
“He’s lying?” I asked Sam. “How do you know?” He seemed so certain that Alec was lying when he said that he was scared. “Maybe he is legitimately scared that something is going to happen to him, you know? It can get dangerous out there.”Sam was shaking his head. “No, that’s definitely not it. He’s just a mooch. A giant mooch who just wants to be part of our pack so that he can take advantage of all of the stuff you can make for us for free.”I shrugged. “Maybe you’re right, but I honestly don’t care if he goes with us or not, as long as Brice does. I want them to stay together if he still makes Brice happy, but I don’t think it’s gonna work out between them. I think they’re just too different.”“You&rsq
After Joshua made his statement--that he didn’t love Melanie, and he had feelings for someone else, someone that was in a relationship already--he didn’t stick around. He took off, out the door, and I figured it was to go for a run.I turned around and looked at Sam, my eyes wide. “What the hell just happened?” I asked him.He was shaking his head. “I don’t know. I’m really not sure. But… I don’t think it’s you, if that’s what you’re concerned about.”I wanted to ask him why he was so sure and be offended that he didn’t think that Joshua was in love with me, but then I realized that was a good thing. I didn’t want Joshua to be in love with me. We’d tried that a bit last year and discovered we were much better off a
That night, I laid awake on my back in my bed, alone, staring up at the ceiling, wondering why I’d said that to Sam and what I was going to do about it. Outside of my window, I heard familiar howls and knew that a large part of my pack was out there roaming around, doing whatever it was they do at night.A thousand thoughts ran through my head, but mostly, I just kept thinking about what I had said to Sam and what it meant. I’d told him I loved him. I’d said it in a joking way. But I knew in my heart that I meant it.Did that mean I didn’t love Ben anymore?I couldn’t say for sure. But I felt like the more space Ben tried to give me, the more I found myself learning to live without him. That also scared me. I didn’t want to have to live in a world without Ben in it, and I di
The next few weeks dragged on, and then it was time for our big day. Graduation. A day I’d been looking forward to for as long as I could remember. As much as I enjoyed school, I was ready for it to be over with. I was ready to close this chapter in my life and start a new one. Even though I still wasn’t completely clear about what was going to happen next, I knew I was ready to get on with it.My parents were coming for the event of course. When they arrived at the house a few hours before we were due to arrive at the high school gym, where the ceremony would be held. My mom rushed up the porch steps before Max even managed to get the van in park, her arms open wide. It had been too long since we’d seen each other.“There she is!” Mom gushed, wrapping me up in a tight hug. “Oh, how I’ve missed you!”
I wanted to concentrate on all of the graduation speeches, but it was hard. I kept touching my earrings, twirling them in my ears, brushing my hair back behind my ears so that everyone could see them. They were a distraction, but so was the fact that I knew Sam was sitting in the bleachers with my parents. I wanted to turn my head and look at him, sitting there all handsome in his tie and suit pants.I kept my eyes focused on the dais in front of me, though. We were out on the football field that was never used for football because the town wasn’t big enough to have a team. I think they may have used it for soccer, and they used the track around the outside for the track team, but it probably shouldn’t have been called a football field. Nevertheless, the graduates were all sitting facing the stage, and the family members and guests were in the bleachers to our left. Eventually, all of the speec
Being out of school felt weird. I’d missed a lot of days of school that year, but knowing I never had to go back to high school, that I might never have to go back to a school building again to attend classes, seemed almost unbelievable to me.The night of graduation, I had spent alone in my bed, even though I wanted to be with Sam. My parents and Grayson were spending the night, and it just seemed weird to be sleeping with a guy while they were there. Especially since Sam wasn’t even my boyfriend.Saying goodbye to my parents the next morning was difficult. I wasn’t sure why it seemed so sad for them to be leaving this time any more than it was any other time, but I had to hold back tears when I hugged them goodbye. I hate crying because I think it makes me look weak, and I don’t like to look weak in front of my pack--or anyone else for
Joshua was ready to talk to me, to tell me what his big secret was. Of course, I wanted to hear, not just because I'm really nosy--which I am--but also because I wanted to be there for him. “Okay,” I said. “Where do you want to go?”“Let’s go back to your stump,” he suggested, running his palm along the back of his neck. I could tell that he didn’t want to tell me whatever it was that he was about to say.“You know, Joshua, if you’re not ready to talk, it’s okay,” I told him. “I know that you said this has something to do with what I just saw, but if it helps any, I have no idea what I was looking at.”Joshua turned and looked over his shoulder, smirking at me. “Just come on, Harlow,” he said, like he thought I was being
I didn’t need to stick around to hear the conversation between Brice and Joshua to know what they were going to talk about. I could tell by their faces what was happening, and even though I didn’t want to get my hopes up in case I was wrong, I had a pretty good feeling that it was going to all end up for the better.With a small smile on my face, I headed back to the house.I walked into the kitchen and heard sobbing coming from downstairs and wanted to beat my head against the kitchen wall. While I was ecstatic for what was likely happening between Joshua and Brice, it wasn’t good for everyone; it wasn’t good for Melanie.Walking briskly down the steps, I went to check on her. She had her face buried in a pillow on the couch, and Tony and Raven were with her. Raven was stroking her hair whil
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