LEGACY OF THE FIRST WOLF

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No, that was impossible. He could not be that committed to someone like me to follow me all the way to Caelmont. My skin crawled and a shudder that had my heart racing passed through me.

“Are you okay?” The girl in front of me asked.

“Yeah.” I answered. But those eyes never left me. And the longer I stayed there, the more acid coated my tongue. This was no longer something I could brush away. I should have reported that I was being stalked. I should have told Maeve. I should have….

“Stop it.” I scolded myself, needing to pull myself together. I forced down my meal like I might not be dying in the next hour and immediately focused on my next plight. A place to sleep. I looked out. It was dark. I will be in the open and at the mercy of my stalker.

“You won’t get a place to sleep tonight.” The nice lady returned, breaking to shreds the hope my heart still carried for a nice warm bath and a place to sleep.

“I live upstairs. And if you don’t mind, you can crash with me for tonight.” She offered, and I jerked. Suspicious at the offer. Maybe she was also in sync with whoever was watching me. Staying wasn’t a good idea. But I only just came to town, and if he had followed me there, they couldn’t know each other so quickly. I was more at risk, outside.

“I don’t think I can intrude.”

“You already intruded.” She smiled.

“Moreover, we are the same. How can I just let you walk away without helping?”

“I won’t bite.” She picked my bag before I could speak and began heading upstairs.

I had no option than to follow.

“My name is Ellen, by the way.”

“I’m Soraya.” I answered.

“I should have expected such a unique name with that scent,” she smiled back at me and I frowned. I seriously needed a bath.

Her place was cozy and warm, but compared to downstairs, it was more than I expected. It was spacious, with glass all over, overlooking the massive sky and the moon. At the corner, right next to the window, was a large bed to fit at least five people, beside it was a single long sofa. A large tv opposite it, and a center table. On my other side was a door that I would guess led to the bathroom, while a small kitchen stood behind the couch.

I had a long bath after then joined her on the couch where she sat and watched a program.

“Thank you for this,” I said. She grinned.

“No need to thank me. Don’t just snore or you are out.”

I snort and relaxed.

“What if you snore?” I asked.

“It’s my house.”

I chuckled. And relaxed into the couch. Not realizing how tired I was.

~

A sharp sound had me jumping up with my heart thumping hard against my chest. I looked around, finding the entire place dark and my head a little foggy. My eyes adjusted quickly to find the moon was bright and large, casting an eery glow into the house. The tv was off and Ellen was nowhere to be found. However, I was on the couch with a blanket over me. I stood up, my heart still racing as I looked around, trying to remember why I was so startled. Nothing came.

“Ellen.” I got up, wary that she was nowhere to be found. When I heard nothing in return, I picked my phone immediately, only to find a sticker note on it.

“Left without you.”

I frowned. Left? Where? And why did it sound like I was supposed to join her? That made panic slitter into my veins, but I squashed it and slowly turned to the window. I walked towards it and took a sharp breath as I looked over the city. The street practically glowed, but it was quieter and calm, almost peaceful. If not for that hum, that energy that seemed to intensify with each breath I took. Probably my imagination.

I picked my phone and took a picture of the moon that seemed closer to Caelmont than any other city. And was about to go back to the couch when I noticed a flicker of something. Movement further away from the city. People. They moved further away from the city, into the mountains that only grew with more fog. Curiosity zinged into my veins like fire and I refused to tamp it down, not like I could to begin with.

Dashing into the closet, I picked a jean trouser, a snicker, a hoodie, my phone and immediately ran out. I wore my clothes quickly, went back in the closet. Took out a taser, my Glock, my small dagger and strapped it to me in places no one would see. I turned on my location, pinged it to my sister and my professor, wore the necklace that had a small camera in front of it. A gift from my professor, made sure it was turned on and immediately turned to the window again. It looked like animals one minute, then people the next. But there were so many of them, I could track them.

“I arrived in Caelmont hours ago and there is something pretty exciting happening.” I said, facing my necklace at the direction of the movement.

“You see that.” Another movement had another shot of excitement zipping into my vein.

“There is more to Caelmont, just as I thought. And this might not be connected to the myths of werewolves and were-humans, and my professor will be livid, but I am going out there to uncover its secret, anyway.” I turned to the door.

By the time I ran to the edge of the city, hours had gone by and the fog was so thick, I could not see a person even if he or she was standing right in front of me.

“This is creepy and scary and I am going in.” I continued to speak into the camera, panting hard.

My professor, sister, and my dad were clearly going to yell at me. Good thing my phone was on silent. And I should have probably thought about my stalker, but my excitement for this far outweighed that. Fire flicked in my blood, making my ears buzz while my heart raced with excitement. I walked right through the fog and shivered as the cold took a stronger hold.

“It’s cold.” My teeth clattered as I took another step forward. I wondered if I should have come with a heat sensor or night vision.

“I can’t see shit.” I whispered, now scared of the silence and the sound under my feet. But the deeper I walked, the more the air grew slightly warmer.

“The fog is clearing.”

The fog soon gave way and I came upon a clearing. While the moon gave just about enough light to let me see. I was surrounded my trees. Thick, haunting, tall and scattered all over the place. But there was a path. And foodprints.

“You see that?”

“What if this is the occult?” I chuckled darkly, even when I knew this shouldn’t actually make me so kiddy and excited. I pushed forward, following the path.

Then I heard it. The howl. I froze, my heart leaving me. And I instantly realized that was the sound that had woken me up.

“Fuck.” I cursed under my breath, digging into my hoodie for my Glock. They were not supposed to be in Caelmont. Countless howls followed in response, telling me I had my information wrong.

“Hey, Mavis.” I said, not needing to explain who she was to my followers. I tend to call out her name whenever I think I might be in big trouble during my field research.

“If I die here, I am sorry I didn’t listen to you and for making you cry or making your life miserable. Tell dad I am sorry too.” I whispered into my camera.

“And when we were 11 and 12 and you were scolded and given a curfew because of the tv that broke. I’m sorry I didn’t speak up, that was me. Sorry for letting you take the fall.” I continued, knowing she would hate me for this one. Every time I apologized like this, there was always confession to go. It was never ending.

Another howl had blood rushing to my head. Fear stung my nostrils, down to my lungs.

“Why is there a pack here?”

“There has never been news about wolves in Caelmont,” but there have been traces of wolf marks, howls, stories that never seem to add up. What if this was linked to my thesis? What if werewolves had existed in Caelmont? Were there werewolves in Caelmont? Are they linked to these forest wolves here now?

The howling didn’t come back for what looked like hours. And I breathed a sigh of relief and dropped my Glock again.

“Moving forward.”

This time, the woods grew haunting, thicker, almost like it was protecting something. However, nothing prepared me for the small cobblestone road that I came across the moment I passed the thickest trees.

“Guys.” I almost shrieked.

“Are you seeing this?” I paused, taking a look around. The trees were lesser, and moss grew like veins surrounding the road, hiding it.

I followed the road and walked a long time before I finally came up on something. A mass of fog that stretched like a wall from one end of the woods to the other. It was unreal, but it was right there, shielding something. My excitement tanked, sealing my thoughts. The fog was a façade hiding the deepest part of Caelmont than anyone realized, and it was trying to stop me from getting to the truth. It just met its match. I walked right through.

My skin pricked and the hum I thought I had left behind in the city was right back. It had not been a figment of my imagination. The silence made it louder, faster, quicker, my heart raced with the drums of it. Energy zapped through me, fire sped in my veins, my breath turned heavy with effort to breathe, to not dance the dance of the hum, to ignore that I could feel the energy racing from the sole of my feet to the crown of my head.

“Guys.” I screamed, panicked.

And it was gone. The fog, the hum, the energy. Just gone. I was in a clearing, heart pounding, and on my knees with yet another paved road. For a moment, it seemed like it had been an illusion. But my pounding heart and the sweat glistening against my skin was proof.

I didn’t move until my heart rate was back to normal. I wasn’t sure I should go further even. Whatever that was had me shuddering with each breath I took. But that thought died when I looked up. Right in front of me was a statue. A giant statue of a wolf howling into the moon.

“Wow. I think we are onto something big here.” I whispered, standing up to my feet. It towered above me like a mountain, an unbelievable, magnificent piece of stone. I ran my hand through the statue, not sure what was real and what wasn’t anymore. It definitely was real, and it was hot and firm against my palm. And the warmth reached me, transforming me. It spread from the centre of my head to the sole of my feet. My body turned lighter, my spirit drifted afloat, and a calm settled over me. This was familiar. It was a knowing. A calling. A knowledge.

“Home.”