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Chapter 8: Footprints
The group arrived at the edge of the forest around 7:00AM. Nobody had really spoken the whole way there. Maybe the fact that we were finally doing this was hitting them. Avery was quiet because he had spent the entire car ride taking the stupid music box apart. He needed to see the inside. He don't know why but the only part of the box that mattered to him was the cylinder and metal comb. The instrument itself was small, it fit in his pocket. Physically touching the metal sent a wave of serenity through him. He was obsessed with this thing. To be honest he was obsessed with a lot of things lately. Or at least he felt strongly about a lot of things lately.
It took them several minutes to decide who would carry what. They couldn't believe that they had not thought that through even in the slightest before that moment. Avery had just figured each would carry his or her own things but the girls had different ideas. Considering that tents are just small aluminum tubes and a piece
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Royal Chapter 9: Viburnum
"Is that honestly all you guys packed for a hunt?" Avery asked angrily storming towards them. The wave of concern Roz had sent his way dissipated but the anger was still there, and now it had found a target, Kit. "What are you stupid?" He pulled on his bag roughly causing Kit to stumble to the side. He pulled away with a frown on his face."Don't lecture me like you know anything more than I do." He snapped back."But there is nothing in your bags?" Mike said looking into Anna's pack."You're six hours away from the nearest city, did you honestly think you weren't going to need food and water?" Avery continued battering him with questions. The anger was taking over him. The dancing lights were swirling around. It was mostly red. Bright red. They were pretty scattered now but he knew they would probably get stronger. "You're not supposed to be out here in the first place!""This is our hunt!" Kit spat back. He tried to stand face to face which was hard whe
Royal Chapter 10: Claws
Believe it or not this was the first time Avery had ever had to run for his life. He had trained for this in school but surprisingly getting a good grade was not as convincing as death to make a person try to run their hardest. He had not realized just how far away he and Kit had ran from the edge of camp. Mike and Roz's flashlight looked like small candles from where they were. Kit was falling behind, speed was the one thing he had on Avery and he was failing to prove it at a time like this? The only reason Avery noticed was because he was still holding on to the sleeve of Kit’s jacket."Faster!" Avery ordered stumbling over an uplifted root. He re-caught his balance several steps later and continued to move as fast as he could. The wendigoes were just yards behind them and getting closer with every step. They were screeching at them, it felt like they were trying to get in their heads, taunting them the way athletes taunt an opponent. The horrible sounds were coming f
Royal Chapter 11: Stagnant
The two young hunters could see the others walking around camp. Roz and Max were pacing back and forth, they were probably the most worried. Mike and Rei had worked out their system with the handkerchief to let the other know they were okay. The others didn't have that system. Besides there was no way Roz would have been calm after she saw something drag her younger brother away in the dark. Roz was the first to see them In the distance. They were at the edge of the viburnum circle where they had been when the wendigoes attacked. Roz began running towable them immediately. The others watched her move confused until they saw Avery and Mike. Rei took off running a second later."Please don't mention the wolves." Avery begged softly. Mike pointed to the ground by camp."The viburnum." Mike whispered as their sibling approached. Avery had not really thought about it, How was he supposed to go in and out if it blocked him. It only took a few seconds more before their older
Royal Chapter 12: Charred
Not one of the hunters was prepared to deal with how quickly things were going downhill. The Bishops sibling and Brooks arrived to see blood splattered on the floor. Anna lay on the ground face down trying to push herself over. She was shivering and grunting in pain. Roz ran to help her. Avery was the first to notice Max wrestling with one of the wendigoes on the other side of the tents. He drew his viburnum covered knife and ran to help him. Everything was happening too fast and too slow at the same time. Avery could feel the surge of emotions swirling around the camp. He didn’t get to Max, he was tackled to the floor. He landed on his back pain shooting through his injured hand. The wendigo that tackled him was quick to climb on top of him straddling him. Its arm was mangled, purple and black covered its maimed limb.“Avery!” His sister shouted moving towards him.“Help Anna!” He ordered. Max was not injured, so the blood wasn't his. He
Royal Chapter 13: Bloodbath
It was hard to distinguish which direction the screeching was coming from. The cave had several openings leading out, four to be exact, it could be any of them. Both wolves sat still using their heightened senses to pinpoint where the attack would come from. Mike, Roz, and Max stood close enough to hold hands but far enough to fight without hurting each other. In order to survive they would need to work as a group to the best of their abilities. Avery tried to stay in the shadows as best as he could waiting for the creatures to show up. He was hoping to be the secret weapon that the wendigoes didn't see coming. The screeching grew louder with every second. The sound of their claws scratching the surface of the cave projected throughout the system. Avery took slow steady breaths, the emotions in the room were about to sky rocket, he needed to try to keep his powers at bay. The first wendigo came rushing in from the opening farthest from the entrance, the one that they had entered fro
Royal Chapter 14: Questions
The walk out of the cave was quiet. Nobody said anything that didn’t need to be said. They had lost two from their group. They had lost them at the hands of their own. Even if it was thoroughly understood that there was really nobody to blame each person carried guild with them as they walked. Brooks blamed himself, he was a bad leader, a good leader would have been able to control Coral. Avery blamed himself, he had no control over his powers, his loss of control made Coral lose hers. Roz didn't blame herself, however she didn't feel good about hurting someone who seconds prior was an ally. The more time she spent with these wolves the blurrier and blurrier things in the supernatural world became. The group spend some time looking through the remaining caverns in search for Kit or at least his body but came up empty handed. There was countless caves, each one more disgusting than the last. Eventually Roz had to call it quits for Anna’s sake. It was a tough choice but sh
Royal Chapter 15: Normal
The young hunters were flown back to Chicago ten hours after they were questioned. They were each interviewed several times. The council made them handover everything they had for investigation. Avery was thankful that he had given his mother the pages on sirens, he wasn't sure how they could have been used against him unless they knew he was one. Either way he didn't want to risk it. The private jet back to Chicago only took a few hours. Roz’s SUV would be driven back by one of her father’s workers. The council found it necessary to search the cave system and further investigate Kit’s disappearance after the four hunters left. He was not found, there was no trail to follow. It was as if he had just walked away from the situation. The Battalignas stayed in the woods to help search for their son. Several other hunting families from the surrounding s
Royal Chapter 16: Deadly Dozen
Start of Book 2: It struggled against his hold. It was useless for it to resist him, but he was curious how long it was willing to fight him. It stood feet in front of him snapping its jaws at him, hissing and growling. It was pissed off, it was a good thing, and he was going to need it to be angry for when he finally released it. He chuckled, the deep sounds of his voice made the creature dazed for a second, then it would be back snarling at him. Its mouth filled with razor sharp teeth. Manticores were not an easy type to control, especially one so young and relatively new to its powers. It dropped on all fours, a lion ready to pounce on its prey. From this angle he could see the spikes jutting out of its spine, completely covered in poisons and paralytics. It flexed its claws on the soft dirt below it leaving marks. Dark reddish hairs covered its forearms and neck. They were spiky and sharp. To him, this thing was just an overgrown porcupine. Violently bri
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