Chapter 4

We walked along, hardly talking at the start, too scared to in case someone heard us, but as we got further and further from our homes, we began to talk and enjoy ourselves as we walked through the forest.

"what do you think humans are like?" Elena asked as she turned to walk backwards to look at us, which was not a good idea for someone as clumsy as her. She is always falling over her own feet. 

"Who cares? It's not like we have to hang out with them or anything," Lillie answered as she tried to open the pack of flower chips she had been trying to open for the past twenty minutes.

"They can't be any worse than our own kinds," I said, knowing that I was dampening the whole thing but not really caring because I was overwalking and just wanted to hurry up and get there.

"you haven't said much this whole time, winter. is everything okay?" Elena asked.

But before I could answer, Lilly let out an angry scream, throwing the pack of flower chips as she did. I stood walking, and Elena did, both staring at Lilly. " You know I would have opened them if you asked," I laughed. 

Lillie crossed her arms over her chest. "shut up, we can't all be super strong."  

I rolled my eyes at Lilly's comment, knowing she was just being her usual stubborn self. But before I could respond, a loud rustling noise interrupted our conversation. We all froze in place, listening intently to the sound coming from the bushes nearby.

Elena grabbed onto my arm, fear evident in her eyes. "What do you think it is?" she whispered.

I shook my head, trying to stay calm despite the growing sense of unease in my gut. "I don't know," I replied quietly. "I'm going to go check it out,"

"No way!" Elena protested, grabbing onto my arm to stop me. "It could be dangerous."

I shook her off gently, trying to reassure her. "It's probably just an animal or something. I'll be careful," I said as I slowly made my way towards the bushes. As I got closer, the rustling grew louder and more frantic.

Suddenly, a figure burst out of the bushes, causing me to jump back in surprise. It was a bird. I laughed as I calmed down and thought of how stupid it was that I was scared of a bird. I turned around to head back to the other, but as I did, a large figure appeared in front of me. I stood there frozen, and as it came into the light, I realised that it was a werewolf. So many things started racing through my mind. I'd been courted. My family had found me. I stepped backwards, falling over a root on the ground. The werewolf approached me slowly, its eyes glowing in the darkness of the forest.

I had never seen this wolf before, which I found strange. Why would my family send a stranger after me. The werewolf stopped in front of me, towering over me with its sharp teeth bared. I could feel the fear coursing through my veins as I tried to think of a way out of this situation. I closed my eyes, ready to meet my fate. As I couldn't see any way out of this, I didn't have time to shift into my wolf, and there wouldn't be any point because this wolf was much bigger than mine. But as I readied myself, the growling stopped, turning into snipping. Slowly opening my eyes, I was confused with what was happening. The wolf stood there smelling me all over. He then took a step back before turning and running away. I sat there in shock, trying to process what had just happened. The werewolf had spared me for some reason unknown to me. 

Jumping to my feet, I made my way back to Elena and Lillie, pulling myself together so they wouldn't see the fear that I was feeling. When I got back to Elena and Lillie, who were both staring at me with wide eyes. "What just happened?" Lillie whispered.

"I... I don't know," I replied, still shaken from the encounter. "But we need to get out of here before it comes back." I grabbed Elena's hand, pulling her along the path faster, Lillie right behind us. 

"What was it winter?" Lillie asked in a worried voice. 

"It was a werewolf," I finally admitted, the words leaving my mouth with a sense of finality. "But it didn't attack me. It just... sniffed me and then ran away."

Elena gasped in shock, her grip on my hand tightening. "We need to get out of here now," she urged, fear evident in her voice.

"I don't understand. If it was someone looking for us, then why did they let you go?" Lillie asked. 

"I don't think it was someone looking for us. I've never seen that wolf before," I said, trying to wrap my head around the strange encounter. As we hurried through the forest, my mind raced with questions and fear.

"So it was a ruge?" Lillie was trying to put the pieces together, but all her questions were not helping us. We needed to get as far away from here as we could. Whether it was someone looking for us or a ruge, our lives were in danger.

I stopped walking and turned to face them. "I don't know. I'm sorry, but I can't answer your questions. All I know is we need to get as far away from here as we can. It's not safe."

"but were with you?" Elena said, her voice sounding like a small, scared child. "you can keep us safe, right?"

I ran my hand through my long black hair, wishing that I could give her the answer that she needed, but I couldn't lie to her. There was no way that I could protect them from that wolf. He was more than double my size. He would have me killed in a matter of minutes. I have always been a good fighter because of my small size. I'm fast and agile, but against that werewolf, I wouldn't stand a chance. There was something about him that told me he had never been beaten in his lifetime. "I wish I could say yes," I finally replied, my voice barely above a whisper. "But we need to keep moving and find somewhere safe."

We continued walking through the forest, the sounds of our footsteps echoing in the silence around us. The fear that had gripped me earlier was still lingering in the back of my mind, but I pushed it aside, focusing on getting us out of there.

After what felt like hours of walking, we finally emerged from the forest and found ourselves on the outskirts of town. The streetlights illuminated the path ahead, casting long shadows on the ground. We all stood there, taking it all in. We hadn't expected to reach a town so soon; we thought it would have taken days to get there. If we had known that a human town was so close to us, then we would have made our way here sooner to check it out. But now, standing at the edge of town, my mind was still reeling from the encounter with the werewolf. I couldn't shake the feeling of unease that lingered within me. We needed to find a place to stay for a few hours to rest up and regroup before figuring out our next steps.

I looked between my two friends, knowing that I was going to have to be the brave one here and take the first step. I smiled at them, taking one large step out of the forest and into the street before turning around and holding out my hands to them. "Come on, you too, don't be chickens. There's no turning back now." 

They laughed before doing the same as I had and took a big step into the street. Grabbing each other's hands, we made our way down the street, and for the first time in a long time, I felt at peace, like I was free I no longer had to worry about being a disappointment to my family. All I had to worry about now was myself and my two best friends. 

The sun was starting to show itself in the distance. We were as far away from home as we would have liked, but we had got enough of a head start. And a human town would be the last place they would ever think to look for us. 

As the sky became lighter, the town started to come to life. People were beginning to emerge from their homes, starting their day with a sense of normalcy. It was nothing like back home. I looked around in amazement. As we got closer to the middle of town, the busier it got, cars going in every direction. It was kind of scary. We had the odd car at come, but most of our moving around was done on foot or by the house. It was easier and faster to get around that way. We came to what I could only think was the centre of town, the smell of pasture filling my nose and making my mouth water.

"come on, let's get something to eat, then we can work out where to go from here" I rushed across the street, darting between cars as I did. Lillie and Elena chose the safer option and waited for the light to turn red.  

As we walked through the quiet streets, I kept a close eye on our surroundings, making sure we weren't being followed. Elena and Lillie stayed close to me, their fear palpable in the air around us.

We found a quaint little diner on the corner of the street and decided to grab some breakfast. As we walked in, everyone who was in there stopped what they were doing and stared, giving me an uneasy feeling. I had to push my wolf deep inside of me so it wouldn't show itself out of defence. We made our way to the back of the diner and took a seat in one of the booths, placing our bags under the table. 

"oh, thank god I couldn't carry that thing a second longer", Elena complained.

"Well, maybe if you didn't pack so much crap", Lillie bit back. 

"Like you can talk. I felt how heavy your pack is, and it's twice as bad as mine."

I tuned out the sound of them fighting and sat there looking around, studying the people in the diner. Whenever I looked at someone who was staring, they would quickly look away, giving me an uneasy feeling. "Hey guys, did you notice that everyone is staring at us?" I asked as I looked around the room.

They both stopped bickering and looked to see what I was noticing. "They're just staring because they've never seen three girls as beautiful and awesome as us", Lillie joked as she threw her long red hair over her shoulder.

 I turned my attention back to the table, playing with a sugar packet in front of me. "Hey, did you know everything here costs money?" Elena whispered. he slipped the menu in front of me. "what's money?"

I studied the menu in front of me, reading, "something we don't have but are going to need."

I went to grab my things and stand up to leave, but as I did, a waitress came over to our table, holding a notepad in one hand and a coffee pot in the other. "Are you ladies wanting to order?" she asked.

I sat there trying to think of a reason for us to leave that wouldn't be embarrassing, but as I stared blankly at her, I couldn't come up with anything. "We, um, don't have any money, sorry," I said as I started to stand, wanting to get as far away from her as I could. 

She smiled sweetly at me, placing her notepad down on the table and turning over the coffee cup on the table. "this ones on me." she said with a kind smile. 

I was taken aback by her generosity, feeling a wave of gratitude wash over me. "Thank you so much," I replied, feeling a sense of relief.

"thank you, I'm so hungry", Elena complained, making the waitress laugh.

We gave her our order, and she went on our way to go and get it for us. "humans are so weird, like, look at them all here stuffing their faces and judging everyone", Lillie said as she started around the diner.

"You are literally about to do the same thing, Lillie," I laughed. "And wasn't it just the other day you were saying how weird witches were?" 

"yer, but I'm doing it while looking fucking amazing." she flicked her hair over her shoulder. "I think we've been friends for long enough that you should know that anyone that isn't us is weird, gross or a fucking moron." 

I couldn't help but laugh.

"do you think they've noticed that were missing yet?" Elena asked with a worried look on her face as she played with her necklace. 

I ignored her question. I couldn't let myself think about that right now. Instead, I sat there staring out the window, staring out at the street, watching the people walk past.  I really hoped that I had done the right thing here and I wasn't putting my two friends in danger.