The top half of the page is covered by an intricate design. The center of the design is a small square with a circle surrounding it. Around the circle are letters. Then several concentric rings surround the letters, each one larger than the last. Some are made up of circles connected together. Others are made of octagons and other shapes. The circles end and triangles form yet another circle around the design. In each triangle is a number and each number is different. Finally, there is one last circle that surrounds the entire design and connects the point of each triangle together. I am surprised to find that I can read the letters and numbers even though they are not written in any language that I can recognize. The numbers are in the same order as a clock and the letters at the bottom spell out ‘sleep’ over and over again. Below the design is a short explanation about the spell and how to cast it. “This is a sleep spell,” Aunt Shanna says, interrupting my thoughts.
“So if someone is cursed to sleep, what spell would you use to counter the curse?” I ask Aunt Shanna. “Ah!” she exclaims after pausing to think. “I know just the spell.” She begins to flip through the pages. Words fly past in rapid succession, but I manage to read a few. They mean guard, bind, and dispel. After flipping through half of the book, Shanna stops and points to a page. The explanation of the spell is short and merely states that the spell will wake up the recipient. The magic word is ‘izuzzu’ which means ‘arise’ in the language of magic. This is written at the center of the magic circle and is surrounded by lines that form the shape of z’s. Shanna seems to be watching me because when I glance up at her, she is staring back at me. “How do you end a spell? You said that you end a curse by casting it twice,” I question, looking away from her penetrating stare and back to the book. “Great question!” she cries. “Spells are normally negated by casting the opp
The green lights shoot around the room like little glowing rockets. They crash into my shields and fizzle out. I manage to see a green projectile heading towards the scientists despite the light show happening around me. I quickly throw up a shield around them. They will need to explain any information they have learned and then be judged for their involvement in this at a later time. “Nooo!” Emira shrieks as the green orb collides with the shield and harmlessly fizzles out. “This can’t be possible! I’ve always been stronger than the others!” “Others? What others?!” I question her. “The other lycans!” she wails. I glance at Tyler and notice that he is watching me. We share a look and he nods. “What do you mean ‘the other lycans’?” I shout back. “Did you think you were the first?” Emira lets out a vicious laugh as another round of green bullets collide with my shields. “There have been several before you. My father has been studying your kind for years. E
I become aware of many voices around me as my consciousness slowly returns. My fingers twitch to the side and bump against something. The thing moves and then a hand grasps mine. The pleasant tingles that shoot up my arm are all the information that I need to know that the hand holding mine is Tyler’s. “She’s awake,” I hear him cry and several other voices respond. Memories of being locked up in the lab flash through my head and I quickly cast a protective barrier around myself and Tyler. Shouting erupts on the outside of the barrier and I reach up with my free hand to rub my eyes. “Arielle?” Tyler asks. I squint my eyes at the bright overhead lights. All I can make out is a dark figure standing over me. Reflexingly, my fist flies up to remove the threat. It misses the figure and is caught by a warm hand that causes tingles to fly up my arm. “Arielle, look at me,” Tyler commands. I blink several more times, trying to adjust to the lights. My eyes slide around unt
“Be careful, Kyle!” I call to my eldest as he runs out the back door of the packhouse and into the yard full of people. His younger brothers, Tate and Noah, chase after him. The three boys run through the large tent set up in the backyard as I chuckle at their antics. After defeating the Grim Ire pack and Emira, Tyler and I were finally able to settle down. A year later, Kyle was born. We waited a couple of years to let Kyle grow up before having Tate and Noah. Today, the whole pack is celebrating Kyle’s ninth birthday. “Grandma Claire is here!” Claire announces as she enters the backyard. I chuckle as the boys run over to greet her. Claire was ecstatic when Tyler and I asked her to be a grandmother to our children. She knows that she will never replace my mother, but she still treats me like a daughter. “Alright boys! Let Grandma talk to Mom for a bit. There will be plenty of time to play with her later,” I tell them as they cling to Claire’s hands, trying to pull her
“Let’s go, Mommy! It’s picnic time!” I cry, grasping her large hand with my small one. I tug on her arm, but find my feet sliding backward on the hardwood flooring. My mom chuckles and, grasping my hand, leads me out the front door while calling for my dad. His heavy footsteps follow behind us and I turn to see my dad shutting the door while carrying our basket of food that my mom prepared. “Ready to go, Princess?” he asks me. I nod vigorously. “I can’t wait! We will have so much fun! We can go swimming and eat the food and play tag and making flower crowns and–” “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” My dad interrupts. “Slow down. How about we just plan on eating and going swimming? If we have time, we can also play tag.” “Okay, Daddy,” I sigh. I rarely get to go somewhere new, so I want to enjoy this opportunity as much as possible. My father’s large, warm hand grabs the hand that my mom isn’t holding and we walk into the woods together. The trees are beautiful and very tall.
My parents growl in response. “Shift,” my dad demands. The lead wolf shakes its head and steps forward again. My dad steps forward in response, shielding my mom and I. My mom turns to me and bends down to eye level. “Sweetheart, your father and I need you to run home. Don’t worry about us. We will return once we take care of these wolves, but we need you to stay safe,” she explains. “Can you do that for Mommy?” I nod. “Good. Now go ahead and run to the woods over there,” she instructed, pointing in the opposite direction of the wolves approaching us. “Your father and I love you very much. Please stay safe.” She kisses my cheek before standing up and turning to face the oncoming wolves once more. “I love you, too,” I tell both of them before running away as my mom instructed. My feet pound against the ground and my legs burn, but I don’t stop until I reach the tree line. I know that my mom told me to go home, but I didn’t want to leave them. Making a decision, I hide i
Beep. Beep. Beep……Beep. Beep. Beep. I jolt awake from the nightmare and lie still, letting my body relax. My face is still wet with tears and my heart is racing. I haven’t had this nightmare in a while. For several years after my parents died, I would wake up screaming and crying from the memory. The only reason I could think of that may have caused the memory to resurface was my graduation. I graduated college yesterday and couldn’t help but wish that my parents were with me. Thinking about them probably triggered the nightmare episode. After my dad died in my arms, I ran back to our house. I wasn’t able to bury my parents and that is something that I have always regretted. I continued my schooling at home and was able to get into my parents’ accounts and use the money. My parents had homeschooled me all of my life, so I simply continued my online classes. The only difference was that I no longer needed to take holidays as I had no one to celebrate with. I threw m