CHAPTER NINE: SOMETHING STRANGE

The next morning, I woke up feeling different.

I couldn't explain it, but something inside me felt... awake.

Like a part of me that had been sleeping for a long time was finally stretching and yawning.

I got dressed and went downstairs for breakfast.

The kitchen was busy with pack members eating and talking before they started their day.

When I walked in, some people smiled at me, but others still looked at me with suspicious eyes.

I sat down next to Sophie, who greeted me with her usual cheerful smile.

"Good morning, Laila! How are you feeling today?"

"Better," I said, and it was true. The sadness in my chest wasn't as heavy as before.

Emma put a plate of eggs and toast in front of me.

"You have more color in your cheeks today," she said kindly.

"That's good to see."

As I ate, I listened to the conversations around me.

Some pack members were talking about problems with their gardens. The vegetables weren't growing well, and some of the flowers were dying.

"It's been a strange year for plants," said Tom, an older man who took care of the pack's food gardens.

"Nothing wants to grow properly. Even the herbs for the healing clinic are struggling."

Mrs. Chen, the sweet older woman from the flower garden, nodded sadly.

"I've tried everything, but my roses keep wilting. It's like the earth itself is tired."

I felt sad hearing about their problems.

Gardens and flowers had always made me happy, even when everything else in my life was terrible.

After breakfast, I decided to visit Mrs. Chen's garden again.

Maybe I could help her weed or water the plants.

At least it would give me something useful to do.

When I got to the garden behind the clinic, I saw Mrs. Chen kneeling by her roses.

She looked very sad as she touched the brown, dying leaves.

"Good morning, Mrs. Chen," I said softly.

She looked up and smiled, but I could see the worry in her eyes.

"Hello, dear. I'm afraid my garden isn't looking very welcoming today."

I knelt down beside her and looked at the roses. They were beautiful flowers, but they looked sick and tired.

"What's wrong with them?" I asked.

"I don't know," Mrs. Chen said with a sigh.

"They just started dying a few weeks ago. Nothing I do seems to help."

I imagined the flowers blossoming into beautiful bright healthy flowers.

Without thinking, I reached out and touched one of the dying rose stems.

The moment my fingers made contact with the plant, something amazing happened.

The brown leaves turned green again.

The wilted petals straightened up and became bright red.

The whole rose bush seemed to come alive under my touch, growing taller and stronger right before our eyes.

I and Mrs. Chen gasped. "Oh my goodness!"

I pulled my hand back quickly, scared.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do anything weird!" but Mrs. Chen wasn't looking at me with fear or disgust.

She was looking at me with wonder and excitement.

"Dear child," she said softly, "that wasn't weird. That was beautiful. You have a gift."

"I don't understand," I said, staring at the healthy rose bush.

"How did I do that?"

"Some people are born with special connections to living things," Mrs. Chen explained.

"It's rare, but not unheard of. My grandmother could do something similar."

I looked around the garden at all the other dying plants.

"Could I... could I help the other flowers too?"

"If you want to try," Mrs. Chen said gently. "But only if you feel comfortable. Don't push yourself too hard."

I moved to the next flower bed, where some daisies were brown and drooping. I touched them but nothing happened.

I frowned and imagined how lovely they would look if they were healthy and just as I was about stepping aside to apologize to Mrs Chen, just like with the roses, they came back to life.

Their white petals became bright and cheerful, and their stems stood up straight.

We spent the next hour working together in the garden.

Every plant I imagined looking beautiful as I touched became healthy and beautiful again.

Soon, the whole garden was blooming like it was the middle of spring, even though it was late summer.

"This is incredible," Mrs. Chen said, looking around at all the flowers.

"Laila, you've brought my garden back to life."

I felt proud and happy, but also scared.

"Mrs. Chen, do you think this makes me a freak? Like, more of a freak than I already am?"

Mrs. Chen took my hands in her gentle ones.

"Listen to me, child. Having a gift doesn't make you a freak. It makes you special."

"There are many different kinds of strength in this world, and yours happens to be the kind that heals and nurtures."

"But what if other people don't see it that way?" I asked.

"Then they're fools," said a deep voice behind us.

I turned around and saw Kieran standing at the edge of the garden.

His silver eyes were looking at the blooming flowers with amazement.

"How long have you been standing there?" I asked, feeling embarrassed.

"Long enough to see what you did," Kieran said, walking closer.

"Laila, this is... extraordinary." He whispered and my heart thumped.

"Is it bad?" I asked nervously. "Am I in trouble for doing something strange?"

"Bad?" Kieran knelt down beside me and looked at a rose that had been completely dead an hour ago.

Now it was full of beautiful red blooms.

"Laila, this is wonderful. Do you have any idea how rare an ability like this is?"

I shook my head.

"I've only heard stories about people who could heal plants and help them grow," Kieran said.

"My grandmother used to tell tales about the old magic, but I thought they were just fairy tales."

"Old magic?" I repeated.Mrs. Chen and Kieran looked at each other, and I could tell they were having a mind link because of their glazed eyes.

"Laila," Kieran said carefully,

"has anything like this happened before? Have you ever noticed plants responding to you in unusual ways?"

I thought about it.

"Well... sometimes when I was really sad, flowers near me seemed to droop too and when I was happy, they seemed brighter but I thought I was just imagining it."

"You weren't imagining it," Kieran said firmly.

"This is a real ability. A gift."

"But why do I have it?" I asked.

"I can't even shift into a wolf like a normal werewolf. Why would I have some weird plant magic instead?"

"Maybe," Mrs. Chen said gently, "you're not meant to be a normal werewolf. Maybe you're meant to be something else entirely."

That thought scared me and excited me at the same time.

What if I wasn't broken? What if I was just... different?

"Can we keep this secret for now?" I asked.

"I'm not ready for everyone to know about this yet."

"Of course," Kieran said. "We have to research and understand what's happening before telling others."

"Thank you," I said, feeling relieved but as we were getting ready to leave the garden, I heard footsteps behind us.

I turned around and saw Jessica, the mean woman from the library, standing there with her mouth open.

"What in the world..." Jessica said, staring at the blooming garden.My heart sank. She had seen everything.

"Jessica," Kieran said in his Alpha voice. "You will not speak of what you saw here to anyone. Do you understand?"

Jessica nodded quickly, but I could see the wheels turning in her head.

She was already planning how to use this information against me.

"I should go," I said quietly.

I couldn't deal with Jessica's mean comments right now.

As I walked away, I heard Kieran talking to Jessica in a low, serious voice.

I couldn't hear the words, but his tone made it clear that she better keep quiet about what she saw but I knew it was too late.

Jessica had seen my strange abilities and she would find a way to use them to hurt me.

Just like everything else in my life, something good had turned into something scary.

I went back to my room and sat on my bed, looking at my hands.

They looked like normal hands, but somehow they could bring dying plants back to life.What was happening to me?

More importantly, what would happen when everyone found out about my weird powers?

I had a feeling my life was about to get a lot more complicated.

I looked out my window and remembered Mrs. Chen's garden beautifully blooming garden.

For the first time in my life, I had created something good instead of just cause problems.

Maybe, just maybe, being different wasn't always a bad thing.

But I still wasn't ready to find out how the rest of the pack would react to having a freak like me living among them.