ASHLEY{Wednesday, 2 days to the blood moon}…. “And they have Henry Luther in their custody.”A few days ago, my parents were the Chesterfields. Abby and I were just teenagers, and I never knew about a town called Westview. How fast things change. “I didn’t know he was still alive!” Jacob exclaimed. “I thought they killed both my parents.”“He’s in the red chapel,” Kelvin said. “I was one of the people who kidnapped him when I was with the shadow clan. So, I’m certain that he’s alive. They want to use him and Ashley for the blood moon sacrifice.”I stared in silence as they spoke. I had never asked Jacob about our parents, and we hadn’t discussed the fact that we were siblings.“Westview must be a very eventful place,” the sheriff tittered. “The shadow clan has a chapel there for their sacrifices. And Jericho’s primary base is also there.”“Here’s what we’re going to do,” Molly demanded. “We would head to Westview this morning on the helicopter. Once we get there, we go after the sh
ASHLEY{Wednesday, 2 days to the blood moon}“I've never seen teenagers being interested in the green chapel,” the sheriff {of Westview} said. “So why did you come to Westview to see the chapel?”I shook my head. “I didn't really come here for the carnival, nor did I come to see the green chapel,” I said. “But I can't tell you why I'm here. It's a long story.”“If you were certain that your surname was Luther instead of Chesterfield, I would've asked if you were familiar with Henry Luther,” he smirked. “But I suppose you don't know him.”I felt a shock wave across my body as I heard his name. I wasn't used to hearing it yet. “What do you know about Henry Luther?” I asked. “How do you know him?”“Well,” he said. “First of all, I know he's not human…”“Yes, he's a werewolf,” I interjected. “What else do you know about him?”“I know he had twins who got abducted by scientists about 17 years ago,” he said. “And I know their names were Abby and Ashley.”“Yes, I'm Ashley. I'm his daughter,”
TREVOR{Thursday, a day to the blood moon}The thought of Ashley's blood flowing through my veins terrified me. Ashley? Not Abby, the girl I'm in love with. Not Abby's blood, symbolizing a deeper connection. Not Abby being close to me from a distance. Ashley, her sister. Oh, I don't know, but that doesn't sound right at all.Numerous thoughts ran through my mind as I stared at the bullet I just pulled out of my ribs. Would we ever be normal again? What happens after the blood moon? What happens to Abby? What happens to me?We had all been so fixated on the day of the blood moon that it seemed like nothing else mattered. All willing to risk our lives in Westview, fighting an enemy we barely knew about. “Wow!” Jacob exclaimed. “I didn't know for sure that you would survive that shot. I used a silver bullet which usually kills werewolves, by the way. But I'm glad you survived.”“Why the hell did you use silver bullets?” Tiffany roared at him. “You could've killed him.”“You were the on
ABBY{Thursday, a day to the blood moon}I felt a hand stroking my hair as I struggled to open my eyes. It relaxed me, so I lay still and let the warm fingers massage my scalp, thinking they were my mom's fingers. But when I opened my eyes, I grimaced as I saw Mrs. Chesterfield.“Hey, Abby,” she whispered. “How are you?”“I was better before I saw you,” I hissed.“You don’t need to be hostile to me, Abby,” she smiled “I’m still your mother. At least I was.”“What do you want?” I asked as I got up from the bed.“Well, Mr. Gordon asked me to bring you up for breakfast,” she said and tried to hold my hand.“Well I'm not hungry,” I snarled.“Your mom is in the cafeteria,” she said. “You can stay here and do nothing, or you can come to the cafeteria and eat with her. It's your choice.”I stared at her for a while before agreeing to go with her to the cafeteria. Armed men in black suits guarded the hallways. They were wearing masks with the symbol of Jericho on them. Mrs. Chesterfield opene
ABBY“What about Ashley?” I asked. “What happens to her after the blood moon?”“I have completed the experiments I intended to run on Ashley,” he said. “She won't hear from me again. Neither would your friends.”He furrowed his eyebrows and held his stomach after speaking, then staggered to a chair and sat on it. “What’s wrong with you?” I asked. “I’m fine!” He yelled. “Go back to your room.”I stared at him for a while and turned to walk away, but he called me back. “Please get me a glass of water.”I hurried to the cafeteria and picked up a glass. Then I rushed back to give it to him. But I was taken aback when I saw blood dripping from his palm as he extended it to take the water. “What happened to your hand?” I asked. He got up and stared at the hand without looking at me. I noticed the puzzled look coupled with fear on his face as he left the room, so I followed him. We went into a room for Mrs. Chesterfield to examine the palm, but the wound healed before she could look at
ASHLEY {Wednesday, 2 days to the blood moon}“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” My dad asked as I stared at the picture. “You look exactly like her, and not a day goes by that I don’t miss her.”“We need to find her,” I said. “You and I know that she's at Jericho's base. And you already know where it is. All we have to do is attack and rescue her.”“We've been over this, Ash,” he sighed. “You don't know how much I miss her. But we have to be logical. A thousand werewolves are no match for Yarikh’s box.”“Then we should find Kelvin and Molly,” I said. “It won’t be difficult for Kelvin to enter the base. He’s a shadow.”My dad paced the room and repeatedly tapped his finger on his lap. “Getting in might not be a problem for Kelvin, but how would he get out?” He asked. “And even if getting out wasn’t a problem for him personally, how would he get your mom out?”“Molly,” I said. “She can create an illusion to distract them.”“It won’t work!” He yelled and stormed out of the living room.He wa
MOLLY{Wednesday, 2 days to the blood moon}I asked Ashley to run because I recognized the place Jacob landed the helicopter. It was the meeting point of the order of wolves in the shadow clan. The alpha pack surrounded us as Ashley ran away and they seemed ready to attack.“I thought you pulled out of the shadow clan,” Kelvin said as he wiped his blade with his jacket sleeve.“We considered it,” Jacob said. “But they offered to make us actual shadows after the blood moon sacrifice, the same way they made you.”“We won't let you use Ashley for the sacrifice,” I snapped. “If you want her, you'll have to get through us.”“Getting through you won't be a problem at all,” Jacob grinned as more werewolves emerged from different directions. “They'll escort you back to the red chapel,” he said. “Then they'll find Ashley and take her to the chapel as well.”Kelvin held his blade and stood in the Jōdan-no-kamae stance as he stared at Jacob. “There’s no getting through us,” he said. “I can take
ABBY{Thursday, a day to the blood moon}Mr. Gordon escorted me back to my room with a briefcase in hand. And I noticed as we walked down the hallway that almost all the armed men in black suits who were supposed to be guarding the base were going out with him. So I knew I would be able to sneak around to find the control room when he leaves.He smiled and handed me a key card. “I’ll be back soon,” he said. “And I hope I will be coming back with your sister. But in the meantime, you can go to the cafeteria when you’re hungry. And use the card to open the door.”“Okay,” I nodded as I took the card and walked into the room. I waited till I heard the rattling of engines before I tried talking to Blake with my mind. “Blake? Can you hear me?”“Yes,” he said. “I think Mr. Gordon just left the base.”“Yes, he gave me a key card before leaving. I’m coming to your room now”It was surreal to me. The fact that we just spoke with our minds. It made me wonder if I could do it with anyone else,
ABBY{Friday, new beginnings}The sunrise had never been as beautiful as it was when I woke up. Ashley and my parents agreed last night to stay in Lockwood since I would rather not move with them to Westview, so it was a breath of fresh air to wake up to the sound of Ashley snoring, as it was before Project Jericho made its way to Lockwood. Trevor and I also got a chance to talk after Blake left the town. So, as I woke up that morning, I woke up as Trevor's girlfriend, and he, my boyfriend. A new beginning for both of us.I was pissed that I still had those werewolf genes in me, though I was glad I wouldn't have to worry about Mr. Gordon anymore. My dad and I finally talked last night about how being a werewolf was when he was growing up. He asked me not to view the wolf as an entirely different being, but as an extension of myself or an alter ego, if I preferred. He said the only way to tame it was to become one with it. So, when I slept last night, I saw the wolf in my dream.
ABBY{Thursday, 6 days after the blood moon}It would've been foolish to think Mr. Gordon would leave without a fight, and I wasn't a fool. Neither was Molly. I would've preferred it if Mr. Gordon took out the wolf genes from my body as he did my sister before they made him leave, but Molly wasn't keen on listening to anyone. She believed I would find a way to control the wolf, a way to speak to it and tame it. But I didn't think so. Even if the wolf could be tamed, I didn't know if I wanted to. Taming it would mean constantly carrying it in me, fighting to suppress it every day, every night, and every full moon. How long could I keep up with that? I wondered. How long till the wolf refuses to be suppressed? How long until I became a monster?“Abby? Are you okay?” Blake asked as he gently stroked my arm. “Just a little tense,” I sighed. “Molly should be back by now. They should all be back.”“Speak of the devil,” Blake grinned as the sheriff's car approached, leading a convoy of
ASHLEY{Thursday, 6 days after the blood moon}I was woken by the unsettling sound of someone wheezing beside me, and I noticed something which felt like a pipe in my throat as I opened my eyes. Peter removed the Venturi mask on my face and carefully pulled out a tube from my mouth as he struggled to stop himself from wheezing. I coughed and gasped for air as I tried to stand up, and Peter rubbed my back to ease the cough. Apart from the sound of both of us coughing, three beeping monitors were in the room. Some of the monitors were connected to my arm with wires I just pulled out, and there were wires on Peters's bed. He must've removed them from his arm before I woke up. “Are you okay?” Peter asked, still wheezing. “Breathe,” he said. “Just breathe.”“What's going on?” I asked, darting around the room. We must've been unconscious for a while, seeing as I could barely remember a thing. “We need to get out of here,” he said. “This is about the time they come to sedate us. We nee
ABBY{Wednesday, 5 days after the blood moon}I could barely hear the drumming over the sound of my heart beating loudly in my ears. Trevor stood with Omari as I entered the circle to meet Blake, and I saw the fear in his eyes as he looked at me, even after I said I trusted him. Omari howled, and everyone followed as the full moon emerged from the clouds. I saw Blake pull a dagger out of his jacket pocket, and I felt my muscles expanding and my bones shifting. My vision blurred, and everything around me seemed red as I fought within myself to remain in control. For an instant, it seemed as though everything moved in slow motion, and I was a spectator rather than an actor. It felt like I was watching my body take form and move without me being able to control it.Blake took off his jacket as his fingers turned to claws, and lunged at me with the dagger, cutting me on my arm and pushing me to the ground. He wasn't fazed by how quickly I got back up, and I didn't feel pain from th
BLAKE{Wednesday, 5 days after the blood moon}I glanced at all the rooms in the base through the monitors, and I was amazed at how lightly guarded they were, as opposed to how it was before the blood moon. My dad, unconscious, was in one room, Ashley and Peter in another. The Chesterfields were in the hallway, arguing about something, and... My eyes widened as I saw Henry Luther and his wife in another room with Venturi tubes on their faces. “Yes,” Mr. Gordon grinned, noticing the shock on my face. “It's going to be a big family reunion tomorrow,” he said. “Abby and her parents, you, and your dad. Everyone would be happy in the end. Don’t you think?”What did I think? Well, he didn’t know what was coming. “I’ll bring them tomorrow,” I muttered. “And my dad better be in good shape.”“Not you won’t,” he grinned. “You see, I don’t trust you, Blake. Stay in your house, and I’ll send your dad to you once I see Abby and Trevor. If I don’t see them in my base tomorrow, and I have to find
MOLLY{Wednesday, 5 days after the blood moon}“Well, we didn’t have to wait too long to meet again,” Abby grinned as I entered the house. “We didn’t,” I tittered and looked away.I wish I could’ve stayed away, but the thought of the Gordons still breathing didn’t sit right with me. Abby beamed as she stared at me. My presence must’ve been somewhat comforting to her. She needed a distraction to take her mind off the elephant in the room, or rather, the wolf in her body, but I wasn’t there to give her comfort. I clarified it for Blake as much as it was clear to me that the only reason I was in Lockwood was for vengeance. As I looked at Trevor behind Abby, I envied them because I knew they could still have their whole love story when the issue with Project Jericho was over. If they wanted. Abby could even have Blake if she wanted to, but who did I have? What did I have apart from vengeance to keep my heart pumping? I had nothing. Nothing at all. I didn’t tell Blake what my mom saw
BLAKE{Wednesday, 5 days after the blood moon}The only thing worse than losing a loved one is losing another, knowing you could've prevented it. I wish I could’ve done more for Kelvin before he died, but even in his last moments, I was busy carrying Abby and caring so much about her well-being instead of him. We fought each other a lot in this lifetime. Him joining the shadow clan, and me, remaining in the pack. But watching him die was difficult, knowing it wasn't one of Molly's illusions. When I accepted Kelvin’s death, I knew that the only family I had left was my dad. So I had to get him back, no matter what.As I drove down to the Lockwood signpost to wait for Molly, I knew I wanted nothing more than to leave Lockwood behind and everything in it. My feelings for Abby aside, I had nothing else to do in that town. And loving her wouldn't compensate for how miserable I felt. Molly and I had already agreed that the only thing we had to do in Lockwood was to find my dad and ave
ABBY{Wednesday, 5 days after the blood moon}Perhaps it wasn't so bad to be loved by more than one person, and maybe it's not outrageous to love them back. Blake and Trevor were very divergent people. Different views, different interests, and different ways of expressing themselves. The ever-erratic Blake, and the calm, collected Trevor. One, an Alpha werewolf. The other, a normal teenager. It worried me that I would come to a point where I had to choose between them because I knew what my decision might’ve been.Perhaps if I wasn't so good at being loved, I wouldn't have had to decide in the first place. “Let's get you back to the house before Omari sends his goons after us,” Blake sighed as he turned on the car and steered it into the road. “Molly has mastered control over her wolf instincts, and I can't remember the last time she turned. Maybe she could help you with that when she arrives:”I didn't know if I wanted to tame the wolf as much as I wanted to get rid of it, but I h
ABBY{Wednesday, 5 days after the blood moon}I was terrified by the dark thing that slept in me as I struggled to wake up. I saw myself running in the woods from a wolf with green eyes like mine, but I couldn't get far before it caught up with me. I was scared when the wolf turned human and approached me because I was standing face-to-face with myself. Other werewolves were one with their wolf, but the wolf in me had a mind of its own. The last thing I saw before walking up was Xavier, covered in blood on the ground and begging me to stop.When I opened my eyes, I saw Omari sitting on my bed with a strange bottle and glass of water. “Good morning, Abby,” he grinned as he gave me the glass. “How do you feel?I finished the water in a single gulp and tried to get up, but a sharp pain in my head stopped me. “What happened?” I asked as I lay back on the bed. “I don't remember falling asleep.”“Do you remember almost killing my son?” he asked. Not accusingly, nor did he sound angered. H