4. Never Go Back For The Purple Pen

       Sienna was sitting in her room with her three cousins after dinner the next evening. She really couldn't imagine a worse way to spend the evening.

       First, her weird 13 year old cousin, Natalie, was obsessed with vampires and werewolves. If Sienna asked her how her day was, Natalie answered: "I thought I saw a vampire today, but it was just a really pale boy named Ryan."

       And then there were her annoying 15 year old twin cousins, Harmony and Melody (both girls) were always agreeing with each other. Plus, they looked so much like each other, Sienna could never tell them apart.

       "Sienna!"

       Sienna realized Melody (or was it Harmony?) was looking at her, waiting for an answer to a question she hadn't heard. "Oh, sorry. What'd you say?"

       The twins sighed in unison. "Have you met Jace Valdez yet?" Harmony asked.

       "Jace? Yeah, a few times actually," Sienna answered.

       "When did you meet him?" Melody asked.

       "Why do you care?" Sienna snapped, annoyed. "I met him a few days a go, in the forest."

       The twins looked a little hurt. Sienna instantly felt guilty. "Sorry. I'm just really annoyed with him. Jace, I mean," she apologized.

       "I don't blame you," Natalie said suddenly. "Jace is such a creep."

       "What do you know?" Melody and Harmony said together.

       "Have you met him?" Sienna asked.

       "Yeah. He's always got his group with him. I only met him once. He doesn't talk to me much," Natalie said. She didn't look upset by it.

       "You're just jealous that he doesn't date little kids," Harmony said.

       Natalie smirked. "Puh-leeze. As if either of you has ever gone out with him. Or is followers," she said.

       The twins glanced at each other and then glared at Natalie. "Whatever," they said together.

       They continued talking for a while, and Sienna found herself actually enjoying it. Even Natalie stopped talking about Sci-Fi stuff to chat, and the twins told her about Tremble Academy, the school she'd be attending after the summer was over.

       It was almost ten when someone knocked on Sienna's door. "Come in," she called.

       Jace walked in. "Hey," he said.

       "Hi Jace," Harmony and Melody said.

       "Hi," he said, surprised. "You know them?" he asked Sienna.

       "They're my cousins. Natalie, too," she said.

       Natalie just nodded once.

       "Not to be rude, but why are you here?" Sienna asked.

       "I wanted to ask you something. Do you mind if we step into the hall?" Jace asked.

       Sienna glanced at her cousins. "Um, just for a second, right?"

       "It won't take long," he assured her.

       They went out into the hall. "What did you want to talk about?" Sienna asked.

       "You remember that wolf you saw? Did you see anyone else with it?" Jace asked.

       "Are we still talking about wolves?" she asked. "No, I don't think anyone else was there. Is that it?"

       "Stay out of the woods. In fact, just don't go out after dark. Try to keep your family in after dark, too," he said.

       "Why?" she asked.

       "Just trust me," he said.

       "No. you can't just show up at my house and tell me when I can't go outside." she asked.

       Jace looked annoyed. "Fine. Don't listen to me," he said. "But don't expect me to come to your funeral." He turned to walk downstairs.

       "Wait. What's going on?" Sienna asked, pulling him back.

       He looked at her, a combination of fear and protectiveness. "Please. Just trust me." he said.

       "I..." she looked up at him. "Fine. I'll stay in. But everyone has to leave later tonight," she said.

       "I'll make sure they don't get hurt tonight," Jace replied, and walked down the stairs. "Goodbye."

       Sienna walked back into her room. "What was that about?" Natalie asked.

       "Isn't it obvious?" Melody asked.

       "He asked her out!" Harmony exclaimed.

       "No her didn't. He just wanted to talk," Sienna said.

       "Talk about what?" Natalie asked.

       "Nothing. It's not important," Sienna replied, and changed the subject. When her cousins had to leave, she was almost sorry they had to go.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

       It wasn't until the next night that Sienna realized she'd dropped her pen in the forest. Normally she wouldn't go back for a pen, especially so late, but her friend Rachel had given it to her as a moving gift. It was purple with little paw prints on it. Sienna went into the forest to find it.

       She was about in the place where she thought she'd lost the pen when I saw a man standing about fifteen feet away. He was pale, with gold eyes and dark clothes. He smiled cruelly at her, exposing gleaming,white fangs.

       Sienna screamed. He pounced toward her, and she braced herself to fall to the ground.

       It never happened. Suddenly, a huge, black wolf jumped on the vampire man. Sienna couldn't speak, she was so terrified. The wolf and the vampire grappled on the ground, the wolf clearly winning. For a second the vampire broke free toward Sienna, and as the wolf dragged him back, he scratched her arm with his long, sharp nails.

       Suddenly Sienna couldn't feel her arm. Then her whole body went numb, and she toppled to the ground.