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THIRTY-EIGHT | ROWAN
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2020-09-11 17:31:45“Look, Ellis – are you sure about this?” Kathrena sounded nervous, and she refused to meet my gaze.
The truck rumbled along quietly as I pulled into Aspen High’s car park. The sun was golden, with a cold quality to the light that spoke of chilly evenings, of gloved hands stuffed into warm pockets, and of pumpkin spiced lattes. I smiled to myself at the thought of that, and I imagined Skye sipping at one, shyly glancing at me across the worn wooden table in the coffee shop.
“I’m certain,” I said, swinging the truck into a parking space. As I twisted the key, turning off the engine, I shifted in my seat to face her.
“But–“
“But nothing,” I interjected, my eyebrows raised. “Your friend wants to meet you in town. So does mine. So I’ll drive us both to town, straight after final period. I’m going to the library
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She Runs with Wolves THIRTY-NINE | MARROWS AND BUTTERNUT SQUASH
Kathrena was holding her books and binders close to her chest, and tapping her foot irritably when I reached my truck. The day had warmed, the autumnal chill receding for a few hours, but as the afternoon sky cleared there was a bite to the air that nipped at my fingers.I wished that I could feel it; really feel it, rather than being able to process the temperature change like an analyst. I wanted to shiver, to shove my hands deep into my pockets, and then, later, for Skye to coo over my cold hands, to pull them into his own and blow on them, rubbing them together with determination etched into the handsome lines of his face.I sighed, and Kathrena’s slack-jawed, anxious expression snapped into a frown. “You’re sighing?” She sniped. “You’re the one making me late. Again.”“Woah, Kath,” I said, holding my hands up. “Sorry. I got held up.”Her face softened, ever so slightly, and she shifted the weight of the folders in her arms. “I guess it’s only been a few minutes.”I narrowed my eye
Last Updated : 2020-09-12She Runs with Wolves FORTY | THE HAWTHORN CENTRAL LIBRARY
Skye carefully placed the pumpkin down on the small table we’d chosen. It was right by a wide floor-to-ceiling window, and it was secluded from the rest of the library.I laughed, seeing the flush of red in his cheeks as he dropped heavily into his chair. “You didn’t have to get me such a big one, you know.”He shrugged, but he looked hopeful and more than a little proud of himself as he looked at me. “Four years is a long time to go without carving a pumpkin. You deserve a big one. It doesn’t make up for the lost time, but it’s a good start.”“You’re sweet,” I smiled, dropping my gaze and fluttering my lashes as I felt the heat of his golden eyes roving across my face. “Thank you.”“You’re welcome. You – you look really nice today, by the way.”“Thanks,” I said, and my stomach flipped. I shook myself, and I managed to re-arrange my features into a smooth, confident grin. “So. What did you find?”“Well,” he said, swelling up with pride, “it’s a story. An old legend, about this good vam
Last Updated : 2020-09-12She Runs with Wolves FORTY-ONE | HOME
We looked through the books until the evening drew in, the warped glass of the windows dispersing the orange light of the streetlamps from outside into curved spirals and fragmented dots. It looked like golden-hued diamonds, scattered across a dark and turbulent sea.Skye stayed close as we searched, peppering my cheeks with kisses whenever I brushed past him to tug a heavy book out from the shelves. It was sweet, and I imagined myself blushing each and every time.I started to do the same, running my fingers along his bare forearm, or tracing the curve of his neck with my lips, as I stretched up or bent down. It was easy, light and teasing, but with an undercurrent of hot, heady passion, and of warmth, that kept the golden string between our hearts taut. I could feel him, steady and thrumming, at the other end of our shared bond, and he felt like home.But eventually my phone buzzed, vibrating insistently against
Last Updated : 2020-09-13She Runs with Wolves FORTY-TWO | RUMOURS
Kathrena’s eyes nearly fell out of her head as she gawped at the giant pumpkin in my arms. I was more than a little smug that I was able to carry it with the same ease that Skye had, and he’d laughed along with me, putting a hand on my shoulder and suggesting that I do the heavy lifting in the relationship from now on.Then we’d kissed goodbye, the pumpkin quickly forgotten, and the kiss had lingered on my lips, and in my thoughts, as I’d watched him slip away. The crowd had died down, now, and there were only a few dog walkers out, picking their way through the fallen leaves as their pets scurried along beside them, their noses to the ground.“It’s great that you’re getting in the Halloween spirit, El, but did you need to buy such a big one?” Kathrena grinned. Her friend, it seemed, had put her in a jovial mood.I wiggled my eyebrows at her. “My friend picke
Last Updated : 2020-09-13She Runs with Wolves FORTY-THREE | CLOUDED
“What is he, then?” I’d felt as though I’d been slammed against the wall as Skye had spoken, his voice distorted by the poor signal in the woods. “A human.”I ran the conversation back through my head as I got ready for the Pumpkin Fayre. My truce with Kathrena had become uneasy as of late, ever since Skye had passed on what Susie had said about her date in the coffee shop. Though I felt that I could trust her not to tell anyone about our trysts in the library and coffee shop, respectively, I felt as though she’d broken our fragile trust by meeting up with a human, rather than a werewolf.Even though it was my own fault. If I hadn’t gone digging, I wouldn’t have found something that I didn’t like. My brush caught in a knot in my hair, and I yanked it through, grimacing at my reflection in the mirror. I met my eyes, warm brown, almost gold in the candlelight, and my lips tugged up into a smile. In the week that had passed, I had to admit that everything else in my life had been good.
Last Updated : 2020-09-15She Runs with Wolves FORTY-FOUR | THE PUMPKIN FAYRE (PART 1)
The Pumpkin Fayre took place in a small meadow that edged the high street, and it stretched all the way from the pedestrianised section of the town to the back hedges of the meadow. Kathrena and I had to park further afield than usual, as the nearby lanes were littered with parked cars. Some were slung across verges, and others were left at crooked angles, half on the kerb and half in the road.“So,” she said, half leaning out of the truck door, “need to know?”“Need to know,” I nodded, with a tight-lipped smile. “We should probably stay close-ish, though.”“I agree.” Kathrena jumped down, and smoothed down the lapels of her checked blazer. “Just – don’t look too closely, okay? I – I will tell you when I’m ready. I’m just scared,” she admitted, her voice hollow-sounding as she dropped her eyes to the pavement.I averted my own gaze as I replied. “It is scary, Kath. But this would be easier if we could be honest with each other.”“And we will be.” Then the words spilled out of her, floo
Last Updated : 2020-09-17She Runs with Wolves FORTY-FIVE | THE PUMPKIN FAYRE (PART 2)
“Okay,” I laughed, shaking my head in disbelief. “This is incredible.”The dusky purple twilight, masked by a few thin, grey clouds, shone above the meadow. But the field below was cast into darkness, save for the flickering of a few dim solar lamps stuck into the ground. There were no children up here, and the meadow felt still in the comparative silence.The sounds of the Fayre carried – we hadn’t walked far – but the atmosphere was starkly different up here. The meadow was teeming with pumpkins, many of which had been carved into, forcing gory, threatening grins and narrowed slits for eyes into their rounded faces. Above, there was a brief buzzing sound, followed by a sudden shock of light. There were great bulbs strung across the meadow, too, it seemed, but as quickly as they’d come on, they shut off again.The sheer volume of pumpkins was what made the display
Last Updated : 2020-09-18She Runs with Wolves FORTY-SIX | THE PUMPKIN FAYRE (PART 3)
The scream echoed in my ears, long after the sound had stopped ringing through the meadow. The jovial chatter had silenced, and the coil of sirens was burning through the cold night air.My breath came in short, quick gasps as I ran. I could feel Skye behind me, could feel his footsteps ricocheting off the pavement as we thundered down the high street. I needed to know where Kathrena was. I needed to know that she was safe. If she wasn’t – if she was hurt – it would be my fault, all over again.I’d underestimated the attacker. I hadn’t thought that they’d risk an assault here, not somewhere so public. But, as I scanned through the crowd, pushing against the tide of people, I realised that somewhere public was the perfect place to commit such a crime. They could blend in, merge with the tide like a pebble being dragged across the shore, falling, seamlessly, back into the sea.There was a huddle of people just past the coffee shop, and I pressed myself to run faster, just a little furth
Last Updated : 2020-09-19
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She Runs with Wolves 108 | BOUND
The week following the defeat of the demon had been surprisingly normal. Well – as normal as a week could be for two vampires, a witch, and a werewolf.I leant back against Skye, pressing my body against his. His arms slipped around my waist, and I snuggled closer. I could see the darkness swelling outside, scattering the stars and drawing away the purple haze of dusk.Skye had all but moved in to the Clan house, and, whilst most of his belongings were stashed in the spare bedroom upstairs, he slept and spent all of his time in my room.I’d dragged another chair up the staircase and lugged it into my room, so that we could share my desk – though very little homework ever got done, what with our constant teasing and moments where, despite the desk and my laptop, despite the mounds of assignments and text books, nothing but Skye and I existed. Those moments ended in kisses, always, and though I was
She Runs with Wolves 107 | AFTER
The large, red-brown wolf in front of me panted, its claws digging into empty earth. I stepped closer, one quivering hand outstretched. The rain splattered onto its fur, slicking it down as it turned its huge, golden eyes to look at me.There was a nudging glee between our bond, as though we were both too scared to accept that we’d done it. We hadn’t failed. We’d won.I held the wolf’s gaze. He gave me a nod, and his jaw hung open in a lopsided grin.It was raining. I’d made it rain.I couldn’t make sense of everything that was happening. My grip on the knife loosened, and it clattered to the floor. Then Skye was shifting in front of me, and, rain soaked and bloody, we fell into each other’s arms. All around us people were waking up, witches and vampires alike, and I let out a breath I hadn’t realised I’d been holding. They were going to
She Runs with Wolves 106 | ICARUS
“If you have the power to do that,” I said, yanking the blade out from under my skort, “why not just kill us all now?”Cythraul clucked his tongue. “And what would be the fun in that? The realm I’m from is nothing like your world, Ellis. This place has hope, and fear, and love, and loss. There is duality in all things. It is a privilege for me to be here, you see. I plan to enjoy it.”“So this is just a game to you?” I spat, raising the knife. I tried to keep my eyes on the demon, not wanting to see the lifeless bodies of my family all around us.“Of course,” he grinned. “Though I’m afraid your chances are perhaps bleaker than I’ve made out. Your little witch friend, the red head – she was wrong about that stone around your neck.” He nodded at it. “It doesn’t mean what she thinks. Her first guess was right &n
She Runs with Wolves 105 | SIX MINUTES
“You know?” I whispered. My mouth went dry, and I swallowed thickly, trying to wet my lips. Ice flooded my veins. We had lost. We had failed.He stepped out of the shadows, snakes of black mist pooling around his body as he moved. His smirk deepened, and I saw a flash of white teeth as he struggled to hold in his laughter.He looked, for the most part, human. His skin shone with a pearlescent lustre, but two dark horns protruded from his forehead and his eyes glowed red. He was tall – taller than any person I’d ever seen, be they vampire, human, witch, or wolf – and, as the fog parted, billowing away from his legs, I understood why.He had the upper body of a human, and the legs of a large goat. But, as I watched, they shifted and shimmered in the darkness, stars and sparkles of an indeterminable colour – too matte to shine like that, too black to be so bright; it was impossib
She Runs with Wolves 104 | OBLIVION
“I guess this is where I have to leave you,” I said, though I didn’t slide my hand out of Skye’s, or make any indication that I was planning on walking away from him. I was reluctant to leave him alone, even though I knew that his job was more likely to be safe than mine. That didn’t mean I wasn’t scared for him.“I guess so,” he echoed, though his clutch on my hand grew firmer.We’d agreed before that Skye should stay to protect the humans in the maze. With every second that we put off the inevitable, we were putting lives at risk. Our jaunt through the maze had been undertaken with the knowledge that we would likely be to first to arrive at the scene of any attacks – but there had been none, and, so far, it seemed as though the demon was planning on giving the maze a miss.The thought gripped me with fear, icy and unyielding, a frozen cage that constricted my
She Runs with Wolves 103 | HALLOWEEN
We had an hour to kill before the Clan were due to start their fight. I didn’t want to think that it might be my last, but try as I might, my barricades were struggling to stay in place. The two thuds played on a loop in my head, and I had to concentrate very hard to keep the images of David and Toby out of my mind.No. I couldn’t think like that. Tonight we would avenge David, and we would keep the rest of the town safe. We’d been lucky so far in that there had been only one casualty – there was something odd about that, I was sure, though I was grateful that was the case – but I didn’t want to put anyone else at risk.I took a deep breath. “Do you want to go through the maze?” I asked, turning to face Skye.He slipped his hand out of mine and rubbed it on the thigh of his jeans. “Sure.” He pulled a smile onto his lips, but it seemed that I wasn’t alone w
She Runs with Wolves 102 | TALISMAN
“Okay,” Molly said, clapping her hands together. “I think that’s everything.”“Finally,” Rowan muttered under her breath, and I had to stifle my laughter.It was the night of Halloween, and we were all milling around at the entrance to the maze. The committee had grown considerably since our meetings – we’d needed more volunteers to fill the maze, and there were parents, teenagers, friends and family stood beside us, all in costume. Molly had given out costuming guidelines before the event, much to the dismay of most of those participating, but even I had to admit that she’d done a good job with organising the maze and the activities within it.And, to my absolute delight, she’d made Skye come as a werewolf.“You’re just tall, and muscular, and you have all that hair,” she’d shrugged. “It makes perfect sen
She Runs with Wolves 101 | VISIONS
Skye let out a tiny, defeated sigh, but then he pushed through his disappointment and stepped closer, peering into the window beside me. “Are you sure they haven’t just changed the display around?”“The display is the same.” I groaned, banging my head against his arm. We were being careful not to say what we were looking for out loud – there could be ears anywhere – but I’d been so pent up all day, so focused, and it felt as though our plan had fallen flat before we’d even had a chance to start.“Hey, don’t do that,” Skye murmured, prying my chin off his shoulder. “You almost went through a window yesterday.”I shrugged. “It’s pretty much healed now. But – thank you for being concerned. It’s sweet. I like that you forget what I am, sometimes.” I gave him a tiny smile, and he pressed a kiss to my forehead, rig
She Runs with Wolves ONE HUNDRED | OCTOBER
I’d thought that my classes had dragged today, but they had been nothing compared to the committee meeting that followed.Beneath the table, I linked my fingers with Skye’s. We were in the same dimly lit classroom as yesterday, and, though it was still light outside, the room was cast in shades of grey. Outside, most of the leaves had fallen from the trees, leaving behind gnarled and bony fingers stretching up into the white sky.“So,” Molly said, tapping her stubby index finger against the whiteboard, “we’ll put the tomb right in the centre of the maze, and then I’m guessing you two want to be the ones to jump out of the coffin?” She directed her gaze at Carys and June, who both nodded eagerly, before turning to grin at one another.“Awesome,” Carys said.“Where’s the centre going to be?” I asked, frowning. It looked close
