Chapter One

       I could feel the cool fall breeze blow through my ash gray fur, as I ripped through it, running down the path. The fresh pine needles reached endlessly at the ends of my fur coat as I jumped the brush going deeper into the woods. Any other time anything about the woods of Brunswick, Maine would have frightened me. But I guess that was only in my human form. This felt amazing, this felt like….freedom. I let my legs out more, taking the lightly snow covered terrain at full speed. Although I was running with all my power, my movements were quiet, tamed. Just as I hit the North Perimeter and the cliffs came into view, my ears shot straight up. Had I heard correctly?

I turned my head lightly as I ran, my ears still alert.

Jesse.

          There was no mistaking it then, someone had called my name. I suddenly heard another set of feet running to the West of me. To the human ears it would have been invisible, but I heard the padded feet ripping the path almost, mocking my same motions. I heard my name again and suddenly a flash of black fur zoomed past the trees at the far end of me. I know I wasn’t mistaken, it looked like a black tail of fur, but it was also a blur of darkness on the trees. I slid to a stop and howled in pain; it felt like my ears were going to start bleeding. The high pitched ringing was unbearable and made every part of me throb. I bent my head low to the dirt and placed my paws over my ears.

          My eyes shot open and I looked around the room. Demon, my Siberian husky was barking and going insane at the foot of the bed. My foster brother August stepped into the door way of my bedroom. In his hand he held a long, very skinny, silver flute like cylinder, with a dog chain hanging from it. Demon growled at him slightly.

“August don’t do that, it irritates him.”

“Well it’s the only way I can get him to be obedient.”

“Why don’t you just ask him to come here?”

“He doesn’t listen.”

          August put the cylinder back up to his lips and inhaled deeply. I closed my eyes tight and groaned in pain, putting my hands up to my head. The earsplitting pain had returned, the ringing had returned. It felt like my head was going to split in two.

“D****t Demon, will you just go” I growled menacingly.

          Demon leaped from the bed and bolted out of the bedroom. August smiled victoriously, turned and vacated my bedroom. That new little flute my foster Mom had bought him was more than annoying. I yawned, stretched, got up and made my way across the hall to the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror and sighed. My tank top was pasted to my chest from perspiration and my hair was wild and wet all over my head. It wasn’t the first time I’ve dreamt of wolves; in fact it was a reoccurring dream since my sixteenth birthday. But oddly this was the first dream I’ve had where I was actually seeing things from a wolf’s eye; I had become the ash gray wolf. I could still smell the trees and feel the crisp, cool, wind in my fur; it was amazing.

I could already smell the scent of breakfast creeping its way under the bathroom door. After getting dressed and putting my long black hair up into a ponytail I made my way down the hall into the kitchen. My foster Mom Gladys, wasn’t the wealthiest woman in the world, in fact she was far from it. But she made enough to afford a very small three bedroom apartment and ends meet for her to keep me and August. Gladys had been taking care of me since I was three years old and August since he was four. After my parents supposedly died when their Indian reservation was burned down, society saw fit to place me with Gladys, which was awesome.

“Hey you” Gladys smiled, over her shoulder at me as she was making she and Augusts’ plate.

“Hey.”

          I stepped around the counter in the center of the kitchen, grabbed a plate out of the dish drain and began filling it up with the contents of breakfast that were on the counter.

“Ready for that Geometry test today?”

“Oh gosh please don’t remind me. I think I crammed until at least midnight.”

“Well that’s what happens when you wait until the last minute to study something. You should do that ahead of time instead of staying on the phone all night with your boyfriend” Gladys explained.

“I was not on the phone all night.”

I rolled my eyes and sat down at the kitchen table.

“Of course you weren’t” Gladys smirked.

“Okay honestly what is it about David that you hate so much?”

“He’s a jock.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me?”

I bit into my bacon and ate a fork full of eggs.

          “Now wait a minute before you misconstrue what I’m saying. Jocks usually have a huge rep to uphold in every aspect of everything they do. That could put a lot of pressure on a young woman dating a jock, because she also has to be a certain way” Gladys explained.

I raised an eyebrow.

“Is this brewing into a sex conversation?”

“No, w, why are you and David having sex?”

“Oh gosh, ew, no way.”

“Oh thank God.”

Gladys sighed with relief, her hand on her chest.

“Dial down the panic attack lady, I’m headed to school” I laughed getting up from the kitchen table.

“Alright, hey I have to work a little late tonight, so do you think you will be okay fending dinner for you and August?” Gladys asked.

“I’m sixteen, I’m good.”

“Alright, go educate yourself.”

“Whatever.”

          I walked around the front sidewalk and over to my powder blue Kia Rio. I know it was like totally a chick car, but I was a typical chick I guess. I hopped inside my car and crank it up. I pulled out of the driveway and blew my horn as I reversed. James Porter Junior Senior High school was really just like any other typical high school. The only difference was, we had no school song, we had no football team and not one student could possibly tell you anything about the guy our school was named after. I know sad right? I pulled into my usual parking space at school between my friend Bethany’s 2001 Ford Escape and David’s hummer. They both made my sad excuse of a car look even more pathetic.

          I pushed through the double doors of the back entrance and started down the hall. It wasn’t quite time for homeroom so the halls were alive with movement, chatter and occasionally laughter. To me, describing the halls of James Porter High would be moving stain glass windows, or abstract art that came to life. The array of colors from different wardrobes were brilliant and blended perfectly with the sunflower colored walls and brown lockers. It was almost like it was perfectly planned. It were these moments that made me question if my real parents were artists or hippies or something, because I saw the world so differently. A swift blaze of flames flashed through my peripheral vision, along with a dazzling silver accent to it.

          Suddenly I felt a trapper keeper smack my right shoulder. I turned to face Bethany smiling big at me, her mouth laced with metal.

“Ow” I groaned, rubbing the spot in which she had inflicted pain.

          Her smile soon faded and her face became serious, her eyes wide, with was nothing but horror.

“What?” I asked.

“Did you see the news last night?”

“No, I went to bed early I had a headache last night, cramming for a test at the last minute just isn’t my thing” I explained.

“There was another wolf attack in Ashland two days ago. They found the girl’s body, face down in a ravine, her back was totally ripped and mutilated” Bethany explained, moving her red bangs to the side.

“Too bad it wasn’t Cherish Silverman” I said quietly, then snickered at my own vicious joke.

“It’s not funny, that’s the third attack this month and it’s always in a different town, the wolves are getting closer.”

“So” I shrugged, as I began putting in the combination on my locker.

“So, what if they came here?”

          Bethany was always the worrier out of the two of us. She constantly worried about everything, while I usually just sat back and let the day play itself out, if certain things were meant to happen they were just going to happen, simple as that.

“Beth you worry too much. If you keep on at this rate you’re going to chew your fingers down to nubs and you’re not going to have any hair” I smiled.

“You can laugh all you want, but I’m taking precautions” Bethany said, narrowing her eyes at me.

          Just then the back double doors came open and someone stepped into the entrance. The sunlight shined in behind them, playing delicately on their silhouette. The hall quieted down and a few people turned to look, even put their hands up the shield from the blinding sun. The person stepped in, but the doors stayed open. He was about six feet tall, kind of muscular, but not real muscular, but built in the arms and chest. He wore an ice white V-neck t-shirt, under a tan, long sleeved button up shirt, with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. He had on a pair of black jeans and black and white sneakers. His hair was cropped short and slightly messy, with a wet, spiky like look to it. Around his neck he wore a sort of short necklace, with what looked like a silver waxing crescent moon on it.

          In his left hand he cradled a text book and a notebook and a pen rested comfortably behind his right ear. His lips were full, thick, his eyes the color of dark chocolate and impossible not to get lost into. His nose, if you could get away with saying it to a guy, was a cute button nose, which fit his face well. He was….beautiful, and too my luck an Indian kid like me as well. He turned to look at us, but his expression was hard to read. It occurred to me that he was staring at Bethany, who was gawking at him mindlessly. I nudged her hard with my shoulder and she blinked back to earth. The boy smiled lightly; a smile only described as breathtaking, and continued down the hall. Just then the first bell rang.

“Who-is-that?” Bethany blinked.

“That’s Koda Ateara” a familiar voice said.

          Suddenly I felt a pair of strong arms wrap around me, and gentle lips find my temple and place a small kiss on it.

“He is a total babe” Bethany said.

“He’s new. Some of the guys and I ran into him earlier, when he came up in the front” David explained, as he still held me.

“I’m feeling like a boyfriend” Bethany smiled deviously.

“Since when?” I asked with one eyebrow raised.

“Since that gorgeous angel stepped into my life” she exhaled, being overdramatic.

“Come on silly girl” I giggled.

Reviews

[lawrence bear]

an awesome chapter, held my interest the whole way. One question though, you mention she had this reoccurring dream since she was 18, and while she was having breakfast, she mentioned she was 16. is this a story before we reach her 18th? but other than that, this was magnificent :)

lawrence