3

"How can a necklace protect me?" I asked.

Lana just shrugged.

"Do you want to go to the lake? I'd like to go for a walk."

I thought for a moment about the possibility of leaving my house and going back to that forest and lake. I didn’t want to; I was scared that wolf might show up again. However, Lana was here, and according to her, she knew how to take care of herself very well. I guess she knew when and where the wolves appeared. It was strange to think she might know that.

"I'm not sure, I haven't had good experiences going out," I whispered, feeling unsure.

"Come on, I'm sure this time will be different. I promise."

I sighed and nodded.

"Alright."

"Perfect, I'll show you the most fun places around here."

We walked through the same forest where I had been running a few hours ago, the same place where the wolf chased me and tasted me with its tongue. I felt scared right now, and for some strange reason, I gripped the necklace with my hand. I felt a bit silly for doing that. We reached the lake, and the kids were still in the water, apparently having some kind of barbecue there.

"Do you get along with those kids?" I wanted to know.

"More or less, yeah. I talk to Cristine, but that's about it. I also talk to her mother; she's friends with mine. I was supposed to be there with my brother, but I didn’t want to go. Plus, my mom wanted to introduce me to you."

"Okay. Where are we going?"

"Come," she said as she moved further ahead, so I followed her. There was a large rock and a rope hanging from a tree. "This is fun," she told me as she took off her shoes and clothes in the process. She climbed onto the rock and grabbed the rope. "Try it, you won't regret it." Lana swung with the rope, and when she was over the deep water, she let go. It looked like a lot of fun. Yes, I wanted to try it, but I had already bathed twice today, and a third time... poor hair. Plus, who knows how dirty that water is? Although it didn’t look dirty. The water by the shore was somewhat crystal clear; you could see the sand.

"Lana, come join us!" a boy shouted from the house when Lana surfaced.

"I can't, I'm busy!" she shouted back. "Come on, Angelique, it's your turn," she said to me. I shook my head.

"I'm scared," I told her, hugging myself.

"Come on, don’t be a coward. You’ll see you won’t regret it."

I thought about it for a moment. I was here to start over, to forget the old Angelique and become someone new. This is what the old Angelique would do—stay on the sidelines for fear of getting an infection or ruining her hair. This confusion was getting to me.

"Okay," I agreed, taking off my clothes, leaving only my underwear on. My skin was as white as a sheet of paper; I needed a bit of a tan. I climbed onto the rock as best I could, knowing those boys from the house were probably watching me. I knew because they started to whistle. I rolled my eyes and ignored them. From here, it looked pretty high.

"Come on, you can do it!" Lana cheered me on.

Yes, I can, I told myself, I can. I took a deep breath, grabbed the rope, and let go. A scream escaped me at first. I let go and fell into the water. I went pretty deep, lucky I knew how to swim and surfaced.

"See?"

It really wasn’t that bad; I had felt the adrenaline rush through my body.

"It was good," I told her.

"Oh no," she murmured, looking behind me.

"What?" I looked in the same direction. About three boys were swimming towards us.

"It's my brother and his friends. We’d better get out."

I ducked underwater one last time, then resurfaced again. I swam until my feet touched the sand.

"Where are you going, Lana, hiding?" one of the boys asked. I turned to him; he was coming closer. He looked like Lana, and his friends were behind him. "Why don’t you introduce me to your friend?" he said, getting closer to me.

"She's Harry’s daughter, you idiot," she responded.

The boy seemed to understand a little.

"I didn’t know. Sorry. I’m Luka," he extended his hand. I took it so as not to be rude.

"Angelique."

"Nice to meet you, Angelique."

"Introduce her to us," his friends told Luka.

"Don’t be idiots," he told his friends, "she’s already taken."

I frowned because I didn’t know what that meant. Taken? By whom? What do they think I am to talk about me like that?

"It was nice meeting you, Angelique."

I nodded. Luka and his friends left the way they came. I got out of the lake and started putting on my clothes, at least just the oversized shirt. Putting on the pants would be too tedious for me.

"Shall we go?" she asked me. I nodded. "How was it?"

"Good, but it was too short."

"I'm sorry, but I noticed someone was nearby."

"Who?" I got a little scared. "A wolf?"

"No, Damian."

"Damian? So what?"

"One day you'll understand everything, Angie, just be patient. We’re going to the fair tonight; do you want to come?"

"Who’s going?"

"Some friends and me."

"Alright. Just give me the address, and I'll meet you there."

"It wouldn’t be good for you to go alone from here; it’ll be a little late, and it's kind of dangerous. The necklace protects you, but it doesn’t work miracles."

"Sometimes I feel like you all talk to me in a strange way. I don't know if it's in metaphors or what. You should get to the point and say things as they are."

"You wouldn’t understand," she said.

"Of course, I'm the one who understands the least, and that’s why everyone keeps lying to me."

"We're still talking about us, right?" she looked at me. But no, I had gotten upset because I remembered what happened with Monique and Colton. I was tired of that situation.

"Yes. See you later," I hurried into the house. I heard Liana and my dad in the kitchen. They were laughing. They looked happy. I envied that happiness. I wished that for once in my life, there would be someone who chose me for who I was, without wanting to change me or anything. But it seems that will never happen. I went to my room and took another shower. This time, I didn’t plan to leave my room all day; I was having a serious existential crisis right now. I got out of the shower, put on some pajamas with pants and a tank top. I took my laptop and started researching random things until I came across one of those weird ads. It was something about occultism. But it wasn’t that that caught my attention; it was the jewel in the picture. I clicked on the ad, and my laptop screen went black, with letters in blood-red. It was a very well-made website. The necklace was called Slavic Wolf and was supposedly made with witchcraft. I got scared at that moment. What the hell had my dad given me? According to the description, the necklace protected you from supernatural things, like wolves, vampires, ghosts, or evil entities that wanted to harm the person wearing it. The necklace was magical and would awaken the powers within you, if you had any, of course.

This is crazy.

I made the grave mistake of reading aloud a phrase that said:

"On this night and this full moon, I invoke the powers within me that have been dormant for years. Water, fire, earth, and air give me the strength I need to control them. So be it."

Was that some kind of spell? I got a terrible headache, like a stabbing pain in my temple. I closed that absurd page and got up, looking for a pill, but the window suddenly opened, blown by the wind. I went to close it but noticed that the water in the lake was moving in the distance as if waves were forming. The wind was strong. I noticed the ground near the house was splitting in two, as if it were cracking open. I immediately left the room and ran downstairs to find my dad.

"Dad!" I called out.

"Angie!" I heard his shout from outside. I opened the door and went out, but I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw that my dad's car was on fire.

"What’s happening?!" I exclaimed. Dad was pouring water on it, but suddenly everything calmed down, and the fire went out. It all seemed like something out of a movie. "What just happened?"

"I don't know," Dad looked thoughtful, "but it’s all very strange."

"Look at your car..." I pointed out to him. It was all burned.

"Yeah, it's no good anymore. Are you okay? Let's go inside," he guided me to the entrance. My dad was looking towards the forest as if expecting something to come out of it. Once inside, he secured the door.

"Is everything okay?" I wanted to know.

"Yes, don’t worry."

His cell phone rang, and he answered immediately.

"Hello? Yes, she’s here. She’s fine, I’ll tell her." He hung up. "Lana says she’s waiting for you at the fair. Are you sure you want to go?"

It would be better to be there than here, bored out of my mind.

“Maybe, I'm getting bored being so alone.”

“Alright, but take care, okay?”

“Okay.” I went upstairs to change clothes in my room. I put on shorts and a long-sleeved shirt, along with boots that reached my knees. I grabbed my phone and car keys.

When I stepped outside, seeing my dad's burned car gave me chills. What had happened was very strange; I had never experienced anything like it. I got into my car and started driving down those dark, deserted streets. They should at least put up some streetlights along this road; it’s creepy and looks almost abandoned. I felt nervous, thinking that the wolf might appear and intercept me at any moment. I took a deep breath and sped up. Despite the full moon, it was a bit cloudy. I was getting close to town; according to the directions, the fair should be somewhere nearby, in a vacant lot near the highway.

Ah, there it is.

I parked near some other cars and got out. There were quite a few people; maybe this was the only entertainment the locals had. When I walked in, I felt like most people were looking at me. They were probably wondering who the new girl was; that’s how it is in small towns, any unfamiliar face catches everyone’s attention. There were rides, a roller coaster, a giant Ferris wheel. I looked around for Lana.

“Angie!” I heard a shout behind me. I closed my eyes for a second and then turned around. I didn’t like people shouting; it drew too much attention. Lana approached me with two other girls.

“You actually came. Look, these are Estefanía and Maritza, my friends. They’re also in their last year.”

“Hi,” I greeted them with a small smile.

“Oh no,” murmured Lana, looking behind me. My gaze followed hers, and there was Damian coming in with a girl. More guys followed behind them.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Here comes Lara, the worst person I’ve ever met.”

“Stuck-up,” said Estefanía.

“Hated by most,” added Maritza. The girl, Lara, was tall, slim, and blonde. Very pretty, to be honest.

“She’s Damian’s girlfriend,” Lana told me.

Damian, as always, was expressionless. They passed by us without even glancing our way. Who did they think they were? The town's royalty? I rolled my eyes and focused on the rides. I wanted to have fun tonight.