Episode 1 - I am what?

Pandora

Being named after the one woman who unleashed the darkness and evil beings into our world just simply opening a box has never been easy, especially when I need to meet new people. They hesitate to talk to me and even look at me or towards me. I've heard rumors that I'm a witch's hybrid with a wolf, that I was cursed when I was born, and even that I was cursed because I tried to seduce the mate of a powerful witch, but none of this is true, and it also makes no sense, I never crossed the boundaries of the lands of the pack. But even if these unfounded rumors amuse me, after all, we realize how far people's imagination scans, I have my responsibilities, such as: doing my homework, after all, I'm still in high school, helping to take care of my two younger sisters, helping my mother with dinner and preparing myself to the weekends’ trains, as you may have already noticed I’m a werewolf and just like high school, training is not optional. Another day of the same routine since I'm 12 years old.

But wait, I didn't even introduce myself, I'm sorry. Well, my name is Pandora Vaughn, I'm 17 years old, I'm 5 feet 3 inches tall, and I'm in my senior year of high school. My parents are Charlie Vaughn and Melissa Vaughn, my younger sisters are called Shopie Vaughn and Charlotte Vaughn. Now that I've introduced myself, I need to run and take these groceries to my mom.

- At Vaughn’s house   -

Coming home I can already smell my mother's delicious food, my mouth already filled with water just trying to imagine what she must have done for dinner tonight.

“Hey, mom! I’m home.” I greet her walking into the kitchen.

“Hey, love! Did you buy everything I asked you?” mom asks me.

“Yeah, sure. I brought extra strawberries today, hope you don’t mind.” I say.

“No, that’s quite alright, I know how much you love strawberries, especially this time in the year.” She says looking at me with a smile on her face. Mom and I have always been close, when she was pregnant with my sisters I’d spend the whole day with her, reading and singing for her and my sisters. I always thought that my sisters would look like mom and me, who have medium brown hair, hazel eyes, and slightly tanned skin but turns out Shopie is spitting image of our dad, with fair skin, chocolate brown eyes, and black hair, and Charlotte is the perfect mix of the two of them, tanned skin, black hair, and hazel eyes, which is incredible since Char and Shopie are twins, I really expected them to look a lot like each other but it didn’t turn out this way.

“What are my favorite girls doing for dinner?” Dad asks as he enters the kitchen and makes his way over to mom. He kisses her cheek gently as he always does when he arrives at home.

“Well, I thought you and the girls would love to have mac’ and cheese for dinner tonight.” My mom said putting a little bit of salt in the pan.

“Mac’ and cheese?” My dad said in surprise.

“Yeah, why the surprise?” Mom asks with that tint of curiosity in her eyes.

“You tell me, why are you making my favorite? Either you want to ask me something or…” My dad rubs his chin trying to think.

“Mel, are you pregnant again?” The question caught me off guard.

“Mom?” I ask cautiously.

“What? No! I’m not pregnant! What makes you think that I’m?” Mom answers.

“Well, in both of your pregnancies you announced to me in dinner over mac’ and cheese.” My father argues.

“Yeah, true. But not this time.” Mom answered him avoiding eye contact.

“Dora, can you go check if your sister has finished their homework, please?” My father asks me and I know this is a gentle way to say “Can you excuse us? I have to talk to your mother alone.” so I do as he asks and go find my sisters. Going up the stairs, I can hear them already so I walk up to their door and knock.

“Come in.” Char invites me in.

“What are you girls up to?” I ask, trying to see over Charlotte’s shoulder.

“Ahn…” Char mumbles.

“It’s alright, she’ll find out one way or another.” Sophie answers.

“So?” I ask again only this time I’m trying to make my ‘older sister finding something out’ pose.

“Sophie thinks she found her mate”. Char says almost in a whisper, I swear if I didn't have supernatural listening skills, I never would have listened to what she whispered.

“Wow wow wow. How do you know this person is your mate? You only find your mate when you turn 18.” I cross my arms in front of my chest and say the most basic thing about us werewolves. Mates are our destined ones, the one person we shall love, protect, and live with for the rest of our lives.

“Yeah, I know but something about this boy makes me feel attracted to him.”. Sophie explained with a little hint of hope in her eyes.

“But we're twins, doesn't that mean we have the same mate?” Char asks shyly.

“Well, not necessarily but I advise you to talk to mom about it. And do it soon. She’ll be able to answer your questions way better than I can.” I tell them.

“Yeah, you’re right, thanks, Dora.” They come over to me and hug me. Even though they are 15 right now, in my heart they’ll always be my baby sisters. I’d do anything to protect them and my parents. They never let me belittle myself because of what other people think about me. They really are everything. I let them go and we go downstairs to have dinner, this is the best part of the day for me, dinner. When we all sit by the table and talk over our days and joke and laugh, I love these moments.

“This weekend and the next two I’ll have to work one to two extra hours in the packhouse.” My dad announces.

“Why?” I ask almost immediately.

“Well, there is another pack coming to visit us.” My father starts explaining but gets interrupted by a very excited Charlotte.

“A whole pack is coming to visit us? Where will they stay? We’ll have to share our houses with them?” She asks with the hope of a positive answer.

“No my little girl, this is not how it works.” My father giggles while answering Char who is really disappointed with the answer she got.

“Just their alpha, his two betas, and his witch”. Dad explains to us.

“In resume, just the elite”. I say.

“I guess you can say that.” My father answers laughing.

“Why are they coming here for, my love?” My mother's question was filled with worry.

“They are hoping to ally with us. The Silver Moon and our pack, The Lake Moon, are the strongest packs that exist, this alliance will make sure that we keep this status.” My father answers.

“But why must we keep this status, dad?” Sophie asks with a rather confused look.

“It works like this, princess. When you have a weak pack, it is more likely that you will be attacked by rogues. So the stronger our pack is, the less likely we are to be attacked.” When my father explains this kind of thing with such a casualty tone it seems like these problems are so small but I know they’re not.

“But why are they staying for so long if they are coming just to make this alliance?” I ask without realizing I’ve been wondering how these wolves would look like.

“Well, it was a request from the other alpha, he seeks to look for his mate here, he’s rather young to be an alpha if you ask me, furthermore the alpha of The Silver Moon pack.” My dad says as if the guy had the twins’ age.

“But his mate is here?” I ask.

“That’s what he wants to find out.” My father answers me with a fork full of mac and cheese halfway to his mouth.

“And in a week we’ll find out who’s your mate, Dora.” My mom sneaks her comments with so much pride in her voice but made me and dad almost choke over our dinner. I was busy with school, training, and helping mom at home that I completely forgot about my birthday next week.

“What? But Dora is about to complete 17!” My father says with a bit of shock in his voice.

“Stop being in denial Charlie! You knew this moment would come, in fact, it’ll happen two times more.” Mom looked at him with a smirk on her lips.

“I wish you girl never had to grow up.” My dad answers with a defeated look in his eyes.

“Well, it might happen before you guys think.”. Char whispers but not low enough as our parents look at her with curious eyes.

“What did you just say, Char?” My mom asks her with a tone a little bit harsh.

“N-nothing, mom”. Char answers looking down and then at me and Sophie asking for help but when I was about to speak up Sophie spoke first.

“Well, this is not how I wanted to talk about this but I think I might have found my mate?...” Sophie said with a sheepish tone.

“What? How? Who? Where?” My father asks her, confused.

“Oh honey, that’s impossible, you’re just 15.” My mom tries to explain.

“I know but I haven’t been able to avoid him. Every time I hear his voice talking to me I can’t hear anyone else, I can’t smell anyone else. Sometimes I think I’m going crazy if I spend too much time away from him.” She explains sheepishly once again.

“Well, this definitely looks like a mate bond but before we jump to conclusions and I die way before I was supposed to because my little princess might have found her mate way before the right time I’ll ask for the witch’s pack if this is possible, okay?” my father says, looking even more defeated then before.

“Sure thing, dad”. Sophie answers sadly not even looking at our parents.

“Well, who wants the dessert?” My mom smartly changes the subject to try and cheer everyone up. My sisters and I might be different in our looks but if there’s one thing that all the three of us got from that is our passion for desserts. And mom knows that. The night ends just like any other despise the tension from earlier, filled with laughter and my dad making jokes. That night the sky was clear and I was able to see the stars and the moon shining really bright in the midnight dark sky. I fell asleep watching that perfect sky and smelling the sweet scent of the forest.

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A week has passed since that night, everything has been going smoothly as the pack has prepared themselves to receive the alpha of The Silver Moon and his betas and witch. The gossip about the young alpha was flying around the high school’s hallways, the girls were going crazy about the alpha and the betas while the boys were betting who would be the first to catch the witch’s eyes. I won’t lie, I was also wondering what the young alpha would look like but that wasn’t my priority right now. I was planning on spending my free period working on my project and homework so I could have more time to train later. I really needed more training time as I needed to become more strong and honestly, while I was training my mind would focus so much that I just couldn’t think about anything else and that was what I wanted right now. I didn’t want to think that in four days I'd be able to meet my mate. I wasn't ready to let go of my family and start a new chapter of my life without them in it. I shake these thoughts off of my mind and make my way to the school’s library. One of my favorite places in the whole pack’s land. The library was absolutely stunning, located on the third floor of the school, it was huge with tall bookshelves covering the walls, tables and chairs covering the middle of the space but my favorite part of the library to study, was on the mezzanine, wherein the background there was a wall covered by windows that went from floor to ceiling allowing a wonderful view of the trees of the woods next to the school. I went up there and chose a table close to the huge windows and dived into my books. The time flew and I didn’t even notice until I heard a book falling from a shelf behind me. I started to pay attention in the direction that I heard the sound.

“Hello?” I ask loudly.

“There’s anybody here?” I ask once again, loudly. As I’m about to return to my books thinking it could just be my imagination when I notice a petite girl hiding behind one of the bookshelves, it seems that she’s afraid of me?.

“Hey! That’s okay, I won’t hurt you.” I try to reason with her. “My name is Pandora, what’s yours?” I ask her with a sweet smile.

“I’m Penny” Her answer came off like a whisper.

“Hello, Penny, it is nice to meet you. Are you new? I haven’t seen you around here before.” As I try to make small talk with her, she starts coming out from behind the bookshelves, and as she does that I can finally see her. She has a petite but toned body, chocolate flawless skin with black straight hair that went until her waist but what intrigued me the most was her eyes, purple beautiful eyes that would make you drown in them before you could even realize, she was absolutely gorgeous.

“I’m not from here…” She answers looking at the floor.

“Well, that I could notice, no one around here has such beautiful eyes”. I answer giggling and that makes her giggle too. “So, where are you from?” I ask her.

“Well, I’m The Silver Moon pack’s witch.” She answers sheepishly and looks at the ground again.

“Wow! Seriously? That must be amazing.” I answer excitedly. I’ve never met a witch before! Not even my own pack’s witch. My excitement must be something new for her because she is looking at me with curious eyes.

“What is it?” I think she didn’t expect me to catch her staring at me.

“Oh! Nothing. Actually, I came because your alpha said that I could find a book I’ve been looking for in here but I’m finding it, this library is too big.” She says with a defeated tone.

“I can help you if you’d like. I know this library with the back of my hand.” I offer her.

“Really? Would you really do that for me?” She asks, surprised.

“Yeah, sure. Why the surprise?” I shrug. She doesn’t answer me, just rub her arms and look at the ground again. I sigh. “You heard the rumors, didn’t you?” I ask her a little bit annoyed. “Please ignore them, people are just too superstitious”. I tell her and almost immediately she answers.

“Actually, I owe you an apology, I judged you by rumors that were told to me instead of keeping my mind open, it was a real hypocrite of me.” She looks ashamed.

“Why is it hypocritical of you to judge me?” I look at her with my curiosity picked.

“Let’s just say that I’m you in my pack, the one people love to gossip about for having something different, but with me, the reason people talk about me is my eyes. Purple eyes haven't been seen in over 147 years.” She explains to me.

“Wow, you’re literally one of a kind. Well, let’s go find that book of yours.” I say standing up and grabbing Mrs. Linda’s note from her hand.

“You won’t find the book you’re looking for in here. It’s on special shelves.” I explain to her.

“Do you have access to it?” She asks hopefully.

“No, but Mrs. Linda will be able to guide you there. I’ll take you to her.” I nod my head to her so she can follow me.

We go downstairs, and I notice that it’s night already while I guide Penny to Mrs. Linda’s room.

“Night Mrs. Linda.” I greet the young librarian.

“Hello, Dora. I must’ve guessed you’d still be around here.” Mrs. Linda says giggling. “How can I help you?” she asks us.

“Penny needs access to the special shelves”. I say.

“And Penny has the authorization to access the special collection?” The librarian asks.

“Actually I do, signed by the alpha himself”. Penny answers by giving the paper to Mrs. Linda.

“Well, in this case, follow me, but you can’t come with us, Dora.” She says looking at me.

“That’s okay I’ll go grab my stuff I have to go home anyway”. I say

“Wait, Dora. I’ll just get the book and then we can go together, what do you say?” Penny offers.

“Yeah, sure. I’ll be waiting for you at the library entrance.” I answered her with a smile, and nobody has ever asked to go home with me, so as you can easily guess I was delighted.

“Deal.” She says to me with a smile before disappearing behind the huge double doors that were behind Mrs. Linda this entire time and I’ve never noticed before. I run up the mezzanine to grab my things and run downstairs again. It hasn't been five minutes that I've been waiting for her until I hear her giggles coming from Mrs. Linda’s office.

“Let’s go.” Penny came towards me with a big book in her arms. It was brown, it seemed like wood and had this golden roots hugging it. I waved Mrs. Linda goodbye and then we walked through the empty hallways of the school chatting away as we have known each other our whole lives. We left school and go walking down the main street, our pack was very well planned by urban planners, who happen to be also wolves and witches who live here, so, in addition to planning the entire pack, also worked on creating a magical barrier that hides us from the curious eyes of humans, expands whenever we gain more territory and that detects when someone unannounced enters the territory. We keep on talking until we have to go on separate paths.

“Well, I think that’s it”. I say.

“What? No!” Penny answers disappointed.

“I never saw anyone that disappointed in saying goodbye to me.” I joke.

“But I’ll spend the next two weeks and five days here. How about we meet again tomorrow in the library?” She suggests with a smile on her face.

“Yeah, sure. Why not?” I answer almost immediately.

“Then it’s settled. See you tomorrow, Dora.” She says goodbye to me on her way while I watch her as she goes on her way just to make sure she’s not gonna take the wrong turn but I notice that something fell off from the book she had in her arms. I run to catch it before I lose her sight.

“Penny!” I yell trying to catch her attention but as she puts her hair behind her ear I see she is wearing earphones so I run a little bit faster to catch up with her. Damn, she walks really fast.

“Hey, Penny…” I start to say as I reach for her arm but as I touch her skin I feel a bolt of lightning running in my body as I was being struck by it Penny turns around and I gasp. Her purple eyes are now shining in a light violet shade and she had this new atmosphere of her own around her that made her look even more magical than she already is. I'm in pure shock as she opens her mouth and says.

“You’re their chosen but you’re not ready yet. It’s a shame that when you become powerful enough you’ll have to choose between the ones you love the most and your destiny. Held your head high, Pandora Vaughn, but one misstep, and it may become darker than night.” As soon as she finishes talking, her eyes return to normal and everything around her too, she looks at me with a confused look, until the surprise takes the place of confusion.

“Penny? What was that?” I ask carefully.

“A premonition.” She answers with a serious look taking upon her beautiful features.

“A premonition?” I ask incredulously. “About what?”

“If what I felt is right…” She lowered her head a little bit. “Is a premonition that complements an old prophecy that might be happening.”

“What?” I am trying to process the information she just gave me. “Wait, but could you be telling me this?”

“No, but if my suspects are right, you have the right to know, you might be the one who’s gonna save us all. You’re God's chosen.” She looks at me with determination in her eyes.

“I am what?”