New Pack Members Sophomore year

Chapter 11

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ASHLEY POV

For the next several hours, dad trains me on the office side of Alpha duties. We go over more laws, the history of the royals, how the elder council was formed, and some of the duties Alpha’s have to do. Some of those duties include, helping with disagreements between pack members, helping to train the head warriors that are used for protection detail of high ranking pack members, running the pack business, keeping good relations with other packs nearby, etcetera.

When dad breaks us for lunch, we both head down stairs to the kitchen. I made both of us a sandwich with chips and veggies, yes I know it's weird that I actually like my veggies, and a tall glass of milk and my dad poured himself a small glass of Whiskey. While eating we discuss the ideas that I had, and my dad asks, “Ash, where were you at? Or what were you doing, when the enchanted packlands talk to you?”

“Well I’m usually taking a walk around the packhouse or in the gardens, and thinking out loud about things that are on my mind when they respond. Sometimes I’m alone and sometimes I’m with Matt or Alice. I don’t call out to them, but I guess they can sense when I’m stressed about something.”

“To be completely honest dad, I don’t even know how I’ll be able to ask them about putting up a mirage around the packhouse when the human surveyors come next week.” I said. My dad says “Hmmm, maybe tonight or tomorrow after school, you should try taking a walk in those areas, and see if you can ask them about that, and maybe one other thing for me.” “What other thing dad?” I asked.

“Well, I tried looking in the Alpha library for anything about the previous pack that was here, and what might have happened to the remaining pack members after the last rogue attack. Why didn’t the enchanted lands protect them? Did the pack members all vanish or did the human mated ones just start the little town of Wolf Creek?” my dad said.

At that moment the enchanted packlands came to me in my head, and told me that there is a hidden door behind a bookshelf in the Alpha library. In that hidden room, I’ll find those answers and more. Before they faded out from my mind, I asked them about making the packhouse and the houses around it look like just a huge mansion with little shacks around it for when the surveyors and architects are here. They told me that they can do that, but it will only last for 6 months, and it will look like a Mansion to anyone who is not from our pack. Then they told me if I ever need to talk to them, to just call out to them with my mind.

When I came to, my dad was looking at me wide-eyed, he could tell I went somewhere, but it didn’t look like I was mind-linking someone, instead it looked like I got lost in a deep thought. I told him what happened, that the enchanted packlands came into my mind and told me to find the hidden bookshelf in the Alpha Library, that that was where we would find the answer to what happened to the last pack. Also, that they could put up a mirage, that would make the packhouse look like a big mansion to anyone not in our pack, but that the mirage would only last for 6 months. I Also told him that the enchanted packlands told me how to contact them, if I ever needed to talk to them again.

“Well even though I’d like us to finish your Alpha training today, I think it might be better, if we go find that hidden room in the Alpha Library.” my dad said. “I couldn’t agree any more with you dad” I say.

We both finish our lunch, then head up to the Alpha Library to try and find that hidden door. We look at the bookshelves to see if any of them move when pushed against. None of them budge, so we start looking for hidden catches behind the edges of the bookshelves, nothing there either. We stand back to see if we can see anything out of the ordinary with the bookshelves. Nope, nothing there either. “Okay dad” I sigh while saying, “you start on the left bookshelves, and I’ll start on the right bookshelves, to see if any books look super old or like they don’t belong, and we’ll meet in the middle.” “Sounds good to me sweetie.” my dad says.

2 hours later while still looking at all the books, I find a super old looking book with a bluish worn spine, it has what looks to be a brand new book right next to it. I pull the old book from the bookshelf and nothing happens. I try to see if there is a hidden catch at the back of where that book was sitting and nothing happens, until I touch the new looking book next to it. When my hand grazes against it I feel a magical pull to it. I put the worn book back into its place, and pulled the new book out. I can feel magic in it, so I open the book and start reading the 1st page. The book gives me a feeling to go to a certain chapter, which turns out to be chapter 44, and when I start reading it, it tells me to go to page 33, line 36, I see the phrase, ‘hidden catch’. Right after that phrase it says, ‘Go to the right side of the Fireplace Mantle, on the back of the trim, is where you might find a catch, push in the catch and a door will open to give you a much wanted surprise.’.

As I walk over to the Fireplace, I keep the book with me because I feel the need to keep them close together. I go to the right side of it and find the catch. I push it in and a panel between the fireplace and the bookshelf pops out. “Hey, dad?” I say, “I think I found it.” My dad stops looking on the bookshelf he was searching on, turns around and sees the panel popped open a crack, and says “Great job sweetie. Let’s go see what we find. I’ll go 1st to protect you from spider webs.”

I quickly read the rest of that paragraph to make sure there aren't any more hidden messages, ‘Note: take this book with you, as it will be your key to get out as well. The hidden door will close as soon as the book passes over the threshold.’. My dad tries to get me to leave the book, but I tell him what the rest of the paragraph said.

My dad moves the panel wider open and steps through, and then when I step over the threshold the panel closes behind me and seals itself back up. I jump a little bit, as a bunch of dim lights start to turn on by themselves. The dim lights lead down a small path to another door that seems like it’s locked when dad tries to open it. However as soon as I step closer with the book, 2 circles appear, 1 on the door and another on the back of the book. I line them up with each other and there is a sound of deadbolts unlocking and the door swings open on its own accord.

Behind the door is a large room that has many shelves full of scrolls, books, and what looks like tapestry hanging on the walls, along with herbs and other magical items witches need. In the center of the room is a large table and a podium with a massive book on it. I walk over to the book and it magically flips open to a page that reads about the Enchanted Packlands.

“Well this might take a while, might want to mind-link your mom to let her know where we are, and that we’ll be late for dinner.” dad says to me. I try to mind-link mom, but I can’t seem to reach her, it’s like I’m blocked from her. I tell dad what happened, and he tries to mind-link her as well, but again it's like a block is in place preventing him from reaching her. “Well, that might be an issue.” my dad says.

As my dad walks over to where I’m standing, the book slams shut, even when I try to manually open the book it doesn’t budge. When he steps away towards the bookshelves, the book reopens. I step away from the book to see if it will open if dad and I switch places, but It stays closed. “Maybe it can Sense the Magic in me and will only open to someone who possesses magic?” I say. “Maybe sweetie, I guess we’ll have to get your mom in here to help test that theory.” dad says. 

When he comes back to where I’m standing, and pulls down a scroll the writing disappears. He then walks to a different bookshelf and takes a book out and tries to read it but the language changes to something unreadable. My dad turns to me and says, “Ash, help me test something, I want you to pick up that scroll I picked up and see if the words reappear on it.” “Okay dad” I say. I pick up the scroll and the words reappear on it. “Yep, the words came back and it says ‘Only chosen people can read anything in this room, anyone else that tries, the words will disappear or change to a dialect that they cannot understand.’” 

“Well I guess that answers that question with this book I picked up. I’m not a chosen person for this magical room.” Dad says. “I can stay in here with you while you find the answers, or we can go back out and try to mind-link your mom and see if she is a ‘chosen person’ that can come help you find the answers. It’s your choice sweetie.” “I think it would be a good idea to see if it’s just magically inclined people with moms’ help or people the Enchanted packlands choose.” I say.

When we exit the room, the door closes behind me and I can hear the door as it relocks itself. We walk back up the small path, and I see another circle on where the panel was that we walked through. I held the book up to it and the panel opened again. Dad and I both walk back into the Alpha library, and the panel closes after I pass over the threshold. Dad mind-links mom to come to the Alpha Library to help test something. 

When mom gets here, both her and I go through the panel again, and back to the hidden room. She walks up to the book on the podium and it opens to the 1st page, and the language changes to an olden dialect that she can still read. Mom and I walked back out of the hidden room, and let dad know that she could read everything just fine, so we decided that it was only magical users that could be in there. 

Mom then decides to mind-link Alice, Kim and their moms to meet us in the Alpha Library to discuss something. When they get up here, we tell them what I found, and that only magic users can read anything in there. So we make a game plan of Kim, Alice and I creating an inventory of everything that is in there, while the moms search the books for the info my dad is wanting. 

We decide that us kids will start to tackle the inventory part tomorrow after school, while the moms start the research while we’re in school. We tried to see if the girls or their moms could open the door to get in there themselves, but the panel only opened, when either mom or myself did it. It kinda makes sense though, as the hidden room is in the Alpha Library. We call it a night and all head down for dinner. After dinner, us kids head up to bed for school tomorrow.

The next day after school, Alice, Kim and I quickly do our homework and head to the hidden room, and start creating an inventory of everything in there. There’s books, Grimores, scrolls with spells and wards on them, tapestry, art work, rugs, herbs and things in jars. Mom calls them magical ingredients, and says to write on a separate piece of paper what they are according to the labels. Anything we don’t know of the herbs, she tells us to pick up with a towel, because it might be harmful to our wolves, or other shifter counterparts. There are books on Dragons, Wolves, Fae, Witches, Vampires, Gryffin, Fairies, and several types of shifters like: Swan, Lion, Bear, Eagle, Hawk, Unicorn, Tiger, Leopard, Jaguar and so many more. The only book we couldn’t find anything on was Pixies, our best guess is that they didn’t know anything about them.

THE INVENTORY LIST:

HERBS AND SPICES: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, Thyme, Mint, Lavender, Rose Petals, Cinnamon, Cloves, Ginger, belladonna, wolfsbane.

BODY PARTS: Bat Wings, Frog Legs, Snake Scales, Eye of Newt, Tongue of Dog, Unicorn Horns; Dragon blood, scales, teeth, and bones.

MINERALS AND GEMS: Gold, Silver, Copper, Pearls, Diamonds, Dragon Scales.

PLANTS AND FLOWERS: Nightshade, Mandrake, maca root.

Mom told dad that with everything that we found, and now have to go through, it would be best to pause my Alpha training. That way Alice, Kim and I can focus on witch training, and we can help to find the answers we need about the packlands, and the history of the town. Dad agreed to postpone my Alpha duties training, until my senior year of high school. That way we can get the town set up, start construction on the new 11 buildings, and some of the houses around the packhouse, move-in ready for when new families join.

Over the next 3 months we start the construction of the buildings, and mom says she found the perfect sized house for a family that is coming to join the pack at the beginning of summer. She says that they go to my school, but that they have no idea that they are a shifter yet, only 1 family member knows about it. However much I ask who it is, my mom still won’t tell me.

From all the witch training that we have been doing, the blue streaks in my hair have become more pronounced everyday, even Alice and Kim are starting to get them in their hair as well. Matt told me the other day, that when he’s near the packhouse or in the garden area, he gets this weird tingly feeling, like someone is trying to figure out what he is. 

I called upon the Enchanted packlands to see if it’s them doing it, and they told me yes, so they can add it to the archives in the hidden room. I asked the packlands, if that is how all the books on different shifters ended up in that room, they told me yes, everytime a new species comes onto the lands they study them to figure out what they are so they can add new information to the history books. I tell the packlands that Matt is a Fae/Pixie and ask them if it's okay for him to join us girls in the hidden room. The packlands agree and Matt now joins us in magical training.

At the end of freshman year Bella tells me that her mom said that both parents got offered a new higher paying job and that they were moving. However, her parents’ wouldn’t tell her where they are moving to, or if she is even staying in the state. I’ll be sad if she leaves the area, she really has been a great friend, and I’ve enjoyed the times we were able to hang out together.

The day the new family was moving in, my mom asked us kids if we could help the family settle in. We went over to the house where the moving truck was, and as soon as the mom stepped out of the back of the U-haul, I instantly got excited. Bella was next out the back of the truck and when she saw us, she dropped the box she was carrying and ran over to us, and squealed with excitement. Bella was the new family moving in!! 

We helped her family unload the moving truck, and then my dad came over to welcome them to the ‘neighborhood’. Bella’s mom introduced her family to my dad and my dad asked if he could talk to them privately away from the kids. My dad said he needed to go over a few things about their new jobs, and that it was boring adult stuff and asked us kids if we could watch Bella’s little brother Jacob. We easily agree as they walk away. We show both Bella and her brother Jacob around the little town, mainly the playground and the obstacle course. 

When the parents come back to the house, I can hear Bella’s mom in my head, like OMG she has joined the pack. Holy Fuck, that must mean Bella is the one mom was talking about that doesn’t know that she is yet. That's going to be a crazy 1st experience for her. Paula, Bella’s mom, tells me through the mind-link that her husband only recently found out that she was a wolf shifter, and that was a major shock to him. Especially when she told him that both Bella and Jacob have the shifter gene as well, even though they are only a half breed. Paula then asks me if I can help with Bella as she gets closer to going through her 1st shift. I tell her ‘Of course I would gladly help Bella when she goes through her 1st shift, that is such an honor to be able to help with a new shifter’. 

The rest of the summer flies by and a few of the buildings are completed. The gate is one of them with the guard shack and I call upon the Enchanted packlands to see if they can just do the mirage again around the gate that the humans can see. They tell me yes, and since it’s a smaller area to project the mirage with, that it will last a year.

We celebrated my 16th birthday which was on August 3rd, with a party at the brand new events center. All our friends from school came and it was a blast. I had cake, balloons, streamers, a live DJ with a rocking dance floor, and a buffet table for food and drinks.

Sophomore Year started a week later, and it was business as usual. AP classes for us kids, Spanish 2 and this time, we were able to sign up for Computer Coding 101 for our elective class, instead of Home Economics.

During this 1st semester of school, we found out that our school celebrates many weird holidays, like October 31st for ‘Halloween’, fall break is a week off school for ‘Thanksgiving’. We had to have Bella and her family explain those to us and a few other celebrated holidays like Labor Day which was a 3 day weekend.

 Speaking of Bella, she has integrated into our pack very well, she still gets confused as to why we train for combat and run along the edge of the forest every night before bed, but when she 1st shifts she will understand then, and be able to officially join the pack, same with her little brother Jacob, that is if he shifts.

 Kids can’t mind-link anyone outside their family until they have either shifted for the 1st time or joined a pack at the age of 18, even if they stay human and don’t have the gene, once they join a pack, they gain the ability to mind-link. We found this out once John, Bellas’ dad officially joined the pack. He’s still getting used to the fact that we can shift into wolves, fairies, pixies, and dragons, and that we can communicate via mind-link, not going to lie, that was a funny conversation to try to explain. The only way a kid can mind-link with their parents, before their 1st shift is to have been born into a pack already.

Damn, once again I’m ‘Rambling’ as my parents say, anyways like I was saying Bella and her family are settling in great, there were even a few other of our friends' families that moved in as well, to houses closer to the town side. Their parents were either Doctors, nurses, teachers, day-care workers, lawyers, retail owners/workers, police officers, fire fighters, paramedics, etcetera. 

The construction on all 11 buildings was finally completed around December 15th. We had lots of humans in our little town, to help with the construction, to get all the buildings completed as fast as they did. One of the construction companies even asked if they could set up a HeadQuarters in our town and asked dad if they could join our pack. Turns out his family were Bear shifters. Of course my dad agreed, and so his family moved into 3 of the other houses behind the gate. His whole family moved in, spouse, kids, cousins, siblings, and his parents.

Towards the end of December, marked the 1st year since we moved to Wolf Creek Colorado. We’ve accomplished a lot, and even had 2 different species of shifter families move in and join our pack. Those families even reached out to other shifters that they knew of nearby to see if they would like to join our all shifter species pack. Some said no, while others said they would once the winter season was over. We’ll be getting Lion, Tiger, and more Bear shifters in the spring joining us, as well as a few more Fairies, Fae, and Pixie families. I’m obviously super excited, so is Matt’s family.

Oh, I forgot to mention a few things with how the magic room is coming along. So Alice, Kim and I, along with Matt and our moms, found out that the Enchanted packlands were created by an ancient witch coven, that focused on research and development of magical attack, and general assistance to neighboring covens, they were considered to be The Grey Witches.

We also found out that the Enchanted Packland, EP for short, as I started calling them, didn’t protect the last pack, as that most of the higher ranks turned impure in their ways, and that was one of the most important rules that EP made me promise, when we asked if we could start a pack on this land. EP protected the people that stayed pure and kind hearted but ignored the ones that didn’t. The ones that EP protected, all scattered to different areas of colorado. Some that had human mates, started the town of Wolf Creek and the magical shifter world kinda bled out of existence, in the area. Some of the shifters stayed in the area but just led human lives. 

A few months later….

The other shifter families have moved in and our pack is growing, word is spreading to the other shifters that were protected by EP, about our pack that accepts all shifters of pure intentions, and they are planning to come join us as well, come summer, at least that’s what my dad said. 

Sophomore year is almost over and I can’t wait for summer and August when I turn 17. Mary Jo and her 2 minions, Angie and Sasha, are still a nuisance and torment us, but that will hopefully change next year. Next school year will be the 1st year that the high school that we built will be open, and all of us kids in the pack and small town are transferring to it. The Elementary and Middle school opened in January, at the start of the 2nd Semester, along with the Daycare/Pre-K/Kindergarten.

Now that we have looked through most of the inventory, of the books and scrolls, mom said she was going to call, and set up a day for the witch council of elders, to come and see the history that we have found. She is also going to tell them to bring the historical witches, to help with preserving the found history.