ELLA

Noah lost track of the time as he sat there best the bed. The figure of the little mysterious girl was carved in the back of his mind like a stone. She was lying still on her back this whole time. It was hard to believe that she was still alive. Noah even asked Nurse Sarah if the little girl was even breathing. The nurse saw the worry in his eyes, she ruffled his ink-black hair and reassured him that the little girl was okay. 

Nurse Sarah leaned into Noah’s height with a hand on his shoulder and pointed to the little girl. 

“Do you see the steady rhythm of the rise and fall of her chest?” the nurse asked, her voice calming in Noah’s years. 

“That means that she is okay,” she added and turned to look at him. “If the rhythm stops, come and get me, okay, little Lord?” 

Noah scoffed. “I’m not that ignorant,” he continued. “Will she wake up soon?” 

For a minute there Nurse Sarah had a look of doubt in her eyes as she spared a glance at the pale figure lying on the bed. Her heart hurt seeing the terrible state of a girl that could barely be 10. But there was no chance she would say that in front of Noah. It was clear to everyone since last night, that he was the most excited to see the little girl open her eyes. 

“I’m sure she will wake up soon,” Sarah finally said. “Make sure not to scare her when she wakes up. Remember, she doesn’t know where we are.”

Noah blinked in ignorance as if he was going to do precisely what Nurse Sarah told him not to do. He nodded before the adult ruffle his hair one last time and left the room. 

Noah was back to being alone with the little girl.

‘Little girl…’ the title whispered in his head. 

More than anything, Noah wanted to know her name. Everyone called her ‘the little girl’ had spiked a curiosity inside him to know her name. Spending the time alone, doing nothing but watch her sleep, Noah found himself guessing names that suited her face. 

However, it was hard to tell with her eyes shut. Her pale skin was a few shades warmer than the color of her hair. 

‘Elizabeth?’ he thought. ‘No, that’s an ancient name.’

‘Alya?’ he thought again. ‘I…don’t think it goes well with the color of her hair.’

‘Mirelle?’ and again. ‘Too old…’

‘Ella?’ he thought once more, but he felt that he finally found it this time. 

Noah tilted his head to the side as he took the little girl in. “Ella…” he said the name out loud and it started making sense to his ears. 

A smile creaked to his lips, the first one since last time. Somehow, he was ten folds more eager for her to wake up. 

The next moment passed in utter silence in the room and Noah’s head. He started recalling bits and pieces of what happened last night. The strong stench of blood was enhanced by the water, his instinct kicking in and driving him to follow the trails. Nonetheless, he was proud that the wolf inside him was getting the hang of things. Noah couldn’t exactly explain why but, most of the time there was barely any difference between the shifter inside him and the human. 

“It’s because you are still a cub,” his father always told him when he came whining. “When the time is right, you will know what to do.” 

Noah doubted that the right time would come so fast. It was the first time for him to sense something real and not a hallucination of his young mind. He lifted his head and felt the throb in his neck from staring at his sneakers for too long. Ella still slept like a corpse on the bed, but Noah calmed his nerves by watching the steady tempo of her breathing.   

Minutes turned to hours and Noah couldn’t help but get drowsy as he watched Ella sleep. His eyelids closed shut before the darkness took him. 

~~~~

Run, Ophelia!

The heat of the flames felt real on her pale skin. The fire rose to the sky, covering the night sky with its smoke. The ash and smoke dense the air, suffocating Ophelia’s lungs as she felt her feet run across the blood-stained ground. The ground that once shimmered underneath the moonlight was socked with the blood of her people…her pack.

“Sister! Sister!”

Ophelia gasped at the breath she was holding back as her eyes jolted open. Her heart was beating loud in her head as she took in the unfamiliar white ceiling hovering over her. Panic cracked through her as she jolted upright. She scanned the room starting from the right and saw the single beds next to her. A window on the far end of the room. The curtains slightly parted allowing the first crack of dawn in the white room. 

Finally, she turned to her left and saw a boy cramped on a chair by her bed, fast asleep. 

The raven hair falling to his temples caught her first. For a minute, she forgot about her panic and realized that she has seen this face before. Moments before she closed her eyes when she fell into the lake. 

‘Oh, so I’m not dead…’ Ophelia thought, disappointed. 

The memories came rushing into her brain to the point where she felt her head throbbing. They are gone, she thought. What is there left for me to do? 

A tear escaped her violet eyes and then it stopped flowing. She felt dried up inside, there were no tears left in her fragile body to shed. But she could feel her heart tearing up inside her, the tight clench in her chest preventing her from shedding her tears. It was too suffocating for 10 years old to suffer. Her mind was a haze in this unfamiliar room, she couldn’t even begin to think where she should start. All she longed for was her mother’s embrace telling her that this is all just a bad dream. 

But the vibrant memory lingering in her mind was too vivid for her to deny. Mother, Father, Luke…they are all gone, she thought in agony feeling her heart torn to shreds. In the moment of misery, Ophelia recalled another piece of that wretched night.

‘The crest on their arms,’ she recalled. The imprint on the sleeves of the men who dragged her brother Luke away from her. The thorned rose felt like it was shaped like a star, covered in the blood of her people. It was the last memory she had before she turned her back on them and ran for her life. 

She felt the tears threatening to fall again and took a deep shaky breath. To take her mind off her sadness, she decided to figure out where she was first. Ophelia turned to look at the boy sleeping in the divan next to her bed and wondered if it was okay to wake him up. But she thought against it. After all, there was nothing to do. 

So, Ophelia sat there leaning her back on the headboard and waited without taking her eyes off the raven-haired boy.

Ophelia lost track of time and sat there with her head in the clouds. It took every bit of her to not recall the fire last night and focus on the present moment for now. She was too lost in her wonders and was caught off guard when she noticed the boy’s eyes fluttering open. She was captured instantly by the bright flame that gazed at her in a haze.

The boy blinked a couple of times, wiping the sleep from his eyes to regain focus. The strands of his hair flicked as he brought his head up to stare at the little girl sitting in the bed before him. It took a minute for his senses to kick in and realize what was happening. He jolted upright with a gasp.

Ophelia felt a shudder run down her bones and backed away further into the bed. The boy’s tamed his surprised expression as he read the fear looming in her violet eyes. He couldn’t look away.

“You…you are awake?” he faked a cough, saying the first thing that came to his mind and soon regretted it. A reply never came.

Instead, Ophelia clenched her tiny fists on the blankets over her thighs. She doubted this boy could do her any harm, still, the fear was able to crawl down her skin. She couldn’t trust anyone. Not even the boy who saved her life.

“My name is, Noah Hiraeth,” the boy began again, fixing his posture to look less threatening. “This is the infirmary…”

Noah paused forgetting something and jolted to his feet. “I’ll go call the nurse!”

He dashed out of the infirmary in a hurry without further words. But it didn’t matter to Ophelia, it wasn’t like she was going to stop him. She watched in silence as the door slammed shut after him 

‘Hiraeth,’ the name rang a bell. ‘Right, It’s the Royal family of Moonglade.’

Moonglade was one of the 8 clans of Glaham, Ophelia knew that much from her classes. 

Ophelia released the breath that she has been holding all along but, the peace never lasted as she could already hear the approaching footsteps. The door swung open and revealed Noah followed by a woman with chestnut-hair. Ophelia felt her heart racing and heard it loud in her ears. She flinched and cramped away at the far end of the bed. A relatively useless gesture but she couldn’t stop her limp from moving.

She kept her eyes fixed on the adult female as she approached closer to her bed with a gentle smile.

“You are finally awake?” the nurse asked, her eyes wrinkled as she smiled. “You have been out for a day…”

Sarah halted as if she has seen a ghost as she took in the delicate features of the scared girl before her.

Ophelia’s violet eyes struck her like thunder. She couldn’t help her complexion twitching. Ophelia noticed it, she wasn’t offended.

Sarah snapped after the silence lasted longer than it should. A smile returned to her face once more before she walked to the shelf opposite the bed. She grabbed what she would need before she returned to Ophelia.

“I’m Sarah,” she said. “This is the Moonglade pack territory. Little Noah here found you the other night and brought you here. You were very hurt.”

Sarah stopped next to the bed and made sure to leave the little girl her space.

“Would you mind if I…?” she continued and gestured to the tray with medical tools. “Just want to make sure that you are okay.”

Ophelia followed the nurse’s finger to look at the tray in doubt but nodded either way.

Throughout the examination, Noah sat on the chair away from the bed to make sure he wasn’t in the way. He fuddled with his fingers on his lap. He couldn’t contain the excitement inside of him. He stole glances at the little girl as Nurse Sarah tended to her. The bright violet of her eyes still captivated him whenever their eyes met. Noah couldn’t help but feel proud that he got the color of her eyes right when he barely saw them before she blacked out by the lake.

‘I wasn’t imagining it,’ he thought.

 Now there was one thing left to ask, her name. 

Noah kept staring at Sarah waiting for an opportunity to talk to her, but the nurse was too focused on her work. She didn’t say a single word since she started and Noah couldn’t help but notice the suffocation looming in the air. 

‘She should have asked for her name by now!’ he released a heavy breath as he shifted in his seat. Sarah straightened her posture and backed away from the bed before she turned to Noah and nodded reassuringly, her attention went back to the little girl. 

“You are much better than when you first arrived,” she said. “But we still have to take care of those burns so they don’t leave a mark.”

Ophelia held her gaze up at Sarah and nodded. The panic subsided inside her but still, she could feel the anxiety lingering somewhere within. 

“I’ll go and call the Alpha. He will fill you in on everything,” Sarah said in hesitation. She had no idea what the Alpha would say to…this. “I’ll be back soon.” 

Sarah turned on her heels and left the room. The last hope for Noah to know the girl’s name walked straight out the door.

 Now he was back to the awkward silence.