Chapter Three
CASSIE
I turned around instinctively and put my jacket over Lou’s face. “Stay down.” I was firm with my words. I felt a sudden electric urge within me to do something. Lou yanked the jacket from her face and gave an indignant ‘what the fuck?!’ expression. She tugged at my arm and told me to let us head back, but I couldn’t leave that poor girl on the floor amidst those beasts – like us.
I yanked my grip away from Lou and charged at them. Immediately, the Silver wolf turned in my direction and swiped its sharp claws at me. Before it could reach me, another white Wolf jumped from behind me to attack it to the ground – It was my sister, Lou.
The last time I saw her in her complete form was when we were still children, I had always admired the wavy and beautiful white fur that enveloped her, and I thought amidst the chaos, that my sister looked magnificent. The two other wolves charged at her, but I tore out of my human flesh and became my true self. The alarm that blared within me made me reach that point subconsciously.
I flung my claws at them and I saw them fly across the berth and crash into the dumpster. I turned to Lou, and she was still pinning down the silver Wolf, struggling with him. I wanted to help her, but the girl from earlier caught my attention. She scampered to her feet and I couldn’t tell if she was human or a wolf like us. Her scent was masking, and it confused me. She took a step away from me and backed up against the wall.
The two wolves from earlier started to struggle back up and I suddenly felt the need to leave. I thought about my mother, and how disappointed she will be in both of us. I grabbed the girl without thinking and tossed her on my back. I bellowed to my sister, and when she saw that I had secured the girl, she pushed off the silver wolf, grabbed our bags and we both dashed towards the major streets.
We could hear the boys running after us, but we couldn’t afford to slow down now. “Hang on!” I yelled to the girl who dug her fingers into my blue fur to keep her from bouncing off my back.
Lou dashed into one of the alleys and I followed. “Change!” She screamed at me, and I suddenly turned back to my human self. The three of us crashed into the corner and scampered against the wall. I held the girl firmly by the mouth to keep her from yelling as Lou did to me and we all hushed.
We heard the heavy hooves of the male pack bushing past us and it wasn’t until they had gone far away that I realized that I had been holding my breath.
Once we figured out that we were safe, Lou turned to me and yelled in my face, “What the hell, Cassie!”
Yes, what the hell? Why did I involve myself in something that was none of my concern? I turned to look at the girl we had just saved, and she was also panting heavily. We were wolves, and our vision at night was impeccable so, I could see her clearly. Her hair was blonde like ours, and her eyes were deep sea blue. She swallowed hard and stood to her feet. She eyed me up and down, and pointed to my forehead. “You are bleeding.’
I had not realized it until she mentioned it. I touched my forehead to put pressure on the wound, but I still needed her to answer the question. “Who are those guys?’ I asked.
“You shouldn’t have followed me.” Her voice shook. “They are the young blood of Advanian Southern Pack.” She said. “They’ll find you.” She said. Before I could get another word in, she turned on her heels and ran off. It was then I realized her speed was nothing compared to the speed of other mystical creatures I had seen. I made to go after her, but Lou caught me by the arm.
“Have you lost it?” Lou was angry. She rarely went angry, but I could tell she was trying her best not to punch me in the face at the moment.
“What are you going to tell ma now? How are you going to explain your battered forehead? If only you could fucking think for one second!”
“She needed help…” I tried to justify my actions, but Lou didn’t want to hear any of them.
“Never Show, Never Tell!” She yelled. “Now people know that we are…” she trailed off as she ran a hand through her hair. “You heard her right, we should have minded our fucking business.”
“They could have killed her…”
“First of all, how the hell do we even get clothes? In case you don’t realize, we are wearing nothing but our underwear right now.” Lou grabbed her bag from the floor and my jacket. She worked herself into the jacket and marched down the street. She was mad, and I couldn’t blame her.
I stopped at the voice of my mother. She was seated at the kitchen counter waiting for us. School had closed many hours ago, and the night had come – where the hell did we go? She stood up slowly from my seat on seeing my forehead. I had used my hair to cover it as a lame attempt to disguise the wound. “Cassie…” her voice was firm. “What the hell happened?”
I wanted to come up with an elaborate story to get us out of having to reveal to our mother that the one rule we lived by had been broken on our first day of school. While I thought about things to say, Lou bowed her head in embarrassment and told our mother the truth. She was unlike me; she was well-nurtured and truthful.
I saw the blood drain from mother’s face as she looked from Lou to me and back to Lou. I saw tears brim in her eyes as she spun into the house and started to pack random things into our luggage.
“We are leaving!” It wasn’t a request. That night, we were going to pack our home in our suitcases again and leave for another unknown place. It was all I had ever wanted, but all of a sudden I felt conflicted. I wanted to leave Advania, but not like this. Not when I realized a few hours ago that people like us existed. I remember looking into the eyes of that girl and feeling a strong connection. It almost felt like I had purpose all of a sudden – I didn’t know if I wanted to throw all of that away. I felt there was something more…
Lou looked at me with bitter eyes. She was trying to put her life back together, and I had ruined it all. She turned to help mother pack but my voice stopped them.
“Where could we possibly go?” I asked. “Advania is the only safe place – you said that, mom. Aren’t you tired of running?”
Mother walked towards me with anger. “You broke the rule.”
“I can fix it,” I said.
“How?!” Her voice shook me down to the bones.
That was a good question, how?