As I stood outside the school, taking in the sight of the old, stone buildings and towering spires, I couldn't help but feel a sense of awe and wonder. The school looked like something out of a fairy tale, with its ancient architecture and mysterious aura. It reminded me of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter series. Quite large for a small community if I must say, unless they accepted intakes from other communities. As a matter of fact, I think they do. I can remember Peter saying distinctively last night that the school was one of the best in the witches society, or realm. Whichever. The walls of the buildings were weathered and worn, covered in ivy and moss that gave them a magical, otherworldly appearance. The windows were tall and narrow, like something you might see in a castle, and the doors were carved from solid wood, with intricate designs that hinted at the school's long history.Despite the grandeur of the buildings, there was also a sense of familiarity to them, like I had be
“You don’t look surprised. I’m not sure if I should be happy or wary about that. But you most certainly have Laura’s cool temperance.”A slight pause.“My daughter was around at the ball scheduled for the celebration of the union between the community and the wolf packs. She mentioned that you had challenged the temperance of the king…whatever that means. I hadn’t been available—hadn’t seen the need for it.” Ohoo! Another person that didn’t like the pack. I still maintained the cool demeanor though. It was the common denominator in Laura, Peter and Diana’s advice—don’t be easily triggered. And then I relaxed further into the chair, holding back the smile that threatened to break on my lips when the principal piqued an eyebrow. He was a middle aged man, the same age as Peter, I believed. Blonde hair, stylishly kept as if he was still looking for a bride; and his scent was like the whistle pine. Not bad. “Did my indifference to the packs create some sort of camaraderie between us,
“Would that be a problem?” I finally settled on one of the options that stuck to my head at Sinclair’s question. Why was he interested in knowing my relationship with Diana? When I had told Peter and Laura that I would love to take their last name last night, they had been—I don’t know how best to describe it—shocked? That would be the closest word at least. They had kept asking me if I was sure, and when I had kept nodding my head until I feared my neck was sore, Laura had embraced me. Dora Akwoods. Peter had been the first to taste the name on his lips. Not bad. He had mused, before gently holding me by the shoulder. ‘Welcome to the family, Dora Akwoods.’ He had chanted in happiness.I had laughed, and had given him a playful jab, when I had seen him battling with his emotions. I had arrived at the decision of changing my name after the meeting with Adam. His determination had convinced me that if I kept answering Maya in the community, it would only take this weekend for h
I was back at the bleak place again. That place thrumming with filth and despair. It was like a rewind tape, like I was going through the motions, which has been replayed before. The dream that I had when I had been thrown into the holding cell, when I had been in a coma.I didn’t know what it meant, but it seemed it would keep coming until I discovered its purpose, its reason for visiting me.Yet, why me?I sighed when a woman’s despairing cry echoed in my soul, tearing at me, reprimanding me, drawing me back from the edge of a great precipice. I was starving. It was just as before.Every cell in my body craved food and something else, something I could lay my finger on, mostly because I had rehearsed the dream by now. Blood.I was somewhere underground.The hunger raked at me with merciless claws until a red haze covered my sight and my pulse hammered with the need for immediate sustenance. Desperate, I scanned the area above my resting place for the presence of enemies and,
I knew that in this realm I wasn’t human, I knew I was different. I wished though it transcended to the reality realm. However, not the blood-needing part.Things moved in the forest, banshees wailed, unfamiliar creatures gathered in the bushes and along the ground. It made no sense, not for one of my kind. What kind?The night should have welcomed me-soothed me. Enfolded me in its rich blanket of peace. The night had always belonged to me-to my kind. Information should have flooded me with each breath I took into my body, but instead my mind played tricks, saw things that couldn’t be there. I could hear a dark symphony of voices calling to me, the sounds swelling in volume until my head pounded with moans and pitiful cries. The spider legs are next. I passed to myself, right before I felt it.Bony fingers brushed at my skin, spider legs crawled over me so that I twisted left and right, flailing my arms, slapping at my chest and back, brushing vigorously in an effort to dislo
A snap of fingers right at my left ear drew me up—away from the vacuum of the bleak rainforest in my dreams—into the presence of a blue-eyed professor whose eyes burned with gentle fury.“Sleeping in class on your first day??”A repeat of the sentence scrawled past his parched lips which informed me that his voice had been what had interrupted my dream. I wasn’t sure if I should be grateful for that or not. On one hand, I had been cut off from being plagued by those wraiths, and on the other hand, I hadn’t learnt something new. If…Wait a minute!I pushed my body to sit upright on the chair, as I discovered that I could remember the dream vividly.Was this the purpose for its repetition? For remembrance? “Professor, I think a blast of magic on her cheeks would wake her up faster than a snap of your fingers.” I knew that voice. Rachel. There were a few bouts of laughter at her suggestion. “You think so, Rachel?” When had she joined the class? Had she been in the meeting?I shoo
My heart pounded in my chest as I awaited the Professor's reaction to my silly outburst. The class was still very quiet, very quiet for my liking. It made me almost berate myself for being so stupid, for being so sensitive. I could deduct from the silence that the old, worn out looking professor was a menace to his students. Yet I refused to cower under his heated gaze, not even with the amount of eyes zeroed on every inch of me.When the professor started walking toward me, when his feet sounded so sure and tacky on the floor as they moved in my direction, I clenched my fists tightly then splayed them on my laps. Then I clutched them again; this time around, they were clutching my trousers with them. I felt a shin of sweat on my eyebrows, despite the good ventilation in the class, and knew that my nerves were breaking out.“You know, I was at the party…”I cocked my head to the side, pretending to be aloof, to be a little interested in whatever he was saying—a good cover to the
The desire to be helped floated in my horizon as I heard the question that was tinged with slight hostility.I turned toward the familiar voice, hope soaring in my chest when my eyes met Raul. His gaze met that of the professor’s headlong. Gone was his cheery smile.“Much? I don’t think so, Prince Raul. I actually think I’m being lenient, and I know you know that.” The professor answered, before his eyes finally landed on me.“Detention, Akwoods. If you flaunt it…”He chuckled drily now, before dealing the finishing blow. “I hope for your sake, that you don’t.”Flaunting it wasn’t even an option now, hearing that evil sound. I wouldn’t even dare it.But it seemed Raul wasn’t done pleading my case.Within the next minute, he spoke in that strange impenitent voice of his I didn’t get the chance to hear before.“She’s a new student, Professor Bulock. I think she deserves a stretch of mercy. She’s not yet aware of how things are done here yet. Surely, you understand that.” Professor Bu
This week has been uneventful. I surmised as I watched the professor summarize her teaching for the day. Even my magic classes that had been slotted on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays had been uneventful. Seeing as I had a better control of my magic, I just did as they asked me, without any extra flourish. There was not a note of extra in me, of having fun whilst doing magic—not with the threat of Adam and his brothers hanging over me. Since the week started, till now, I had been waiting for the drop of the other shoe, but so far nothing has happened. It was like last weekend didn't happen, like my scar hadn't shown itself. And for my neck, all efforts to cover the mark had been futile. So, I had taken to wearing scarfs around my neck, and since it was a cold season, no one had raised an eyebrow at the piece of accessory which had never been equated to me. I had also gotten more friends, than I would have liked, or rather acquitances—people who liked me because I wasn't an ordinar
As I walked out of the Queen’s palace which was now filled with suffocating air, my heart pounded like a drum. I couldn’t shake off the feeling that Adam might have found out who I really was. I couldn’t shake off the fact that he might put two together—the mark and my accurate information on Maya—and conclude that I was she whom he sought. Maya. The thought of this possibility sent shivers down my spine, and my mind raced with fear and uncertainty.For months, I've hidden my identity well, keeping the truth open to my adopted family alone, keeping it tucked away from prying eyes and whispers in the community and the pack. But now, a careless slip, a moment of indiscretion on my own end, and everything had come crashing down—it felt like the walls were closing in on me. Could this be the reason why my significant other hadn’t wanted me to speak to their parents?‘Was it the reason?’There was no response; just the thrumming of energy I felt. She was choosing to keep quiet? Quite unde
Had I dug myself deep into a hole by bringing up the subject about Maya? I wondered, sinking into the tension that had surrounded us after Adam's last statement. Rachel's mouth has never gotten around getting closed, and Raul's grip had tightened on my hand. The triplets all had smirks on their lips, masking, almost completely, the uncomfortableness that the topic on Maya had brought up. I shook my head. Even if I hadn't talked about Maya, the triplets wouldn't have allowed Raul to leave here with me, without making some lame agreement. "Dora, is this right? Did you agree to it?" Raul asked, incredulity ringing in his voice. I hissed from irritation, before I could stop it, causing Noah's smirk to get more prominent. "Why would you think I will agree to such stupid suggestion made by egocentric fools to soothe their egos because a girl turned them down?" "I'm sorry, I just…" "You thought I will be way over my head because three fine ass boys were coming for me." I freed my hand
At my question, I noticed first that the boys became confused. They were still sporting looks that claimed that I was lying, that I was wasting time, but at the same time, I could see the doubt of their own selves, of their own story accounts, like they weren't sure of their earlier stance. I saw it in Adam's jerk, and his subtle staggering back, as if I had dealt him a blow. I saw it in Noah’s lip biting intermittent motions. I saw it in Daniel’s subtle shifting of feet, and twitching hands. Then, I saw Adam dart a glance at his brother, Noah, then at himself—an inward look into his mind—as if trying to recall something that seemed out of his grasp. His brothers were in the same turmoil, and if I wasn't hearing their heart rate, if I wasn't as confused as they are, I might have called them liars. But my ears were attuned to their heart rate, my eyes were attuned to the several emotions that ran through their face in split seconds. The triplets were confused.They were confused abo
I would have said no to Raul's request if we were alone in the hallway, considering the topic I had just bashed Duke for, considering the fact he had been aware of the matter, but for the Lycan boys. Rachel had no place in my thoughts. If I were to deny Raul his request, then the purpose of kissing him in the first place would be defeated. I couldn’t allow that. Not that I regretted the kiss though. "Yeah, sure. I would love that." I managed to say without gritting my teeth, even going ahead to clasp his hand in my mine, when what I wanted exactly, was to slap him for endorsing his family's misconduct. He must have known my thoughts on him, because he instantly made an apology with his eyes. I diverted my gaze, I wasn't going to forgive him that easily, not even with those cute eyes of his. I made no comment as I and Raul walked past Rachel and Adam, not until Daniel called me, right after I walked past him and Noah. "You must think me a joke, if you believed I was going to let y
"So where did I stop with my story?" I asked, ignoring the subtle tap on my elbow—Raul was handing me a lame warning, to stop with it. That would be expected, considering the hatred I was seeing in Duke's face now. I had taken a huge guess when I had mentioned the fact about the throne—it had come up when he had spoken of me after the throne-as if Raul had the potential of being the next one on the throne, even though there was no strand of white hair on his head. It told me that either the Queen had so much faith in her second son, or she had placed the faith on the bethrothed. That brought my attention to Diana, and her former classes with the Queen. Could Diana be the bethrothed one? If she was, then I hoped that Raul had really denounced it. I couldn’t bare the thought of Diana being plunged into this mess of a family. As much she was strong willed, she would be broken. I loved my sister too much for that. I would have taken this incident as a pointer to start speaking to her,
Three seconds into my kiss with Raul, I forgot that I was supposed to disengage from the kiss when the boys went through the bend and came to hallway we were in, I forgot that they were coming, I forgot that I had made a plan like that, I forgot that this was a kiss meant to deliver a piece of information, not for pleasure. When Raul grabbed my ass however, and squeezed, when I moaned into the kiss biting his lips, enjoying the moan that escaped from his, there was an intentional cough that brought reality into my vision again, that brought my attention to the burning mark on my neck. Oh my god. This was good. I concluded, when I remembered myself. Raul was a good kisser. Despite knowing that there were more than three people watching us, I was adept enough to still play the game. I smiled at a Raul who was shocked by my gutsy kiss and smile, but who remembered quickly how to smile flirty. Satisfied with our interaction, I disengaged from the hug. Slowly. With infinite flourish, I
This time around, the shock on the Queen’s face lasted for more than two seconds. It lasted until she croaked out a sound of amazement from her lips, which was similar to one in my head, which was similar to the ones I heard from our watchers, which had increased by the minute. “You…” She stuttered, unbelief in her eyes. She was still holding the offending hair, an offending hair that I vowed to cut when I got home. As I was still cussing the offending hair, the Queen pulled another one, and this time around, it was a little lower than a chunk. What the hell!Without much ado, I pushed her away from myself, held my hair by myself, and swerved to one of the windows of the castle—the windows could do the job of a mirror. My mouth dropped open in shock when I noticed that almost one quarter of my hair was white hair-not together-some were scattered, mixed with my black long hair. It looked like a trend, like a swag, only that it was not. I wanted it gone. It had appeared first when I
The surprise on the Queen's face, however, didn't last two seconds. As quickly as she had seemed fazed by the fact that I could add and subtract flames without needing to make a gesture with my hand, as quickly as the surprise had left. The only indication that she had been shaken had been the slight shaking of her hand as she returned the cup to the table, a shaking that led the cup to spill some of its content. Its content was a blood red liquid. Wine then. I thought, taking my eyes off the cup to her face when she stood up from her seat, dusted her hands on each other, and started walking toward me. "So, it seems that you can control the fire with your mind, at such a young age. That's huge potential, I will have to admit. Let's see how far you can go…" She said, staring at me, from my hair which was tied to a ponytail, to my tennis shoes. My significant other recoiled further into my mind, as if the gaze was scorching her. What exactly was with the both of them? I wondered,