June 24^th, 2012
Accalia

I woke up in a cold sweat, again. I had been waking up this way…for what seemed like forever and when I woke up, I could only remember snippets of what my dreams had been about, but I always woke up more tired than I had been when I went to sleep.

“Accalia dear, time to get up, it’s the last week of school dear.”

I didn’t answer my mother, instead I walked with still wobbly legs to my closet and threw on the first pieces of clothing my hands grazed upon. I could dress up my body as much as I wanted, but there was no hiding the dark circles under my eyes, or the worried look within them.

Stepping into the kitchen, I saw my mother placing a bowl of granola and fruit on the table. She looked up at me and smiled brilliantly,

“Happy birthday, mi tesoura.”

“Thanks mom.”

The only thing I could ever remember was the color orange, and fire. I had no idea what it could mean, and the dreams were so vivid. Some of them were terrifying, but some of them I felt so safe, so loved that I never wanted to wake up. I wish I could find out what it all meant. For now, though, I had to pick up my friends for the last week of school and finals.

I could focus on school and my plans for my campaign for Homecoming Queen… but I knew that would be a foolhardy effort. This dream left me with more of an impression that the previous ones. The color orange I had been seeing, was actually eyes that belonged to someone. Someone I knew was important somehow, I just didn’t know for certain as to why.

I had been dreaming of places I had never been or seen. Places best reserved for fantasy films, and they just weren’t visuals, I could feel the places I dreamt about. How hot or cold, if it was windy or wet. I could feel the people I touched, and I also knew that my way of dreaming wasn’t normal.

I kept what I dreamt about a secret, even from my best friends; how could they possibly understand? I told them they were nightmares, that they were nothing to worry about. Even if I did tell them what they were actually about, they wouldn’t believe me…and why would they? The only person I’ve ever told was my grandmother; and she seemed to believe me, but she also could’ve been placating me.

“Hey, what’s got you so lost in thought?”

I glanced in my backseat at one of my best friends, Echo. We lived the closest to one another so she walked to my house before we went to pick up the others.

“Nothing…just had trouble sleeping.”

“Okay…but if you need anything…”

“Just drop it, please Echo.”

“Fine. Let’s go and get Lycan and Snow then.”

Grateful for the distraction I pulled out of my drive-way and was met with a silent three mile drive down the block. As far as I knew, our families were the only occupants of this cul de sac which wasn’t even in the town plans. It was completely private with only a few properties that were a tie in from previous owners. I didn’t know the reason behind it, only that my father simply said it was for our security.

What kind of lives could our families be living if we warranted such privacy?

I glanced at Echo in the mirror, and she was on the phone, with Snow. Apparently, Snow was having a fashion crisis. I wondered if Echo knew just how in love Snow was with Lycan, and if she did, I wondered how she could stand to allow them to be in the same room, because it was no secret that Lycan had feelings for Snow as well.

Speaking of Lycan, I stopped in front of his house just as he was coming out of the front door. I had to admit he was handsome, and maybe that warranted two of my best friends being hopelessly in love with him…but I knew it was also because of the kind of person he was. He was selfless, overly kind, a genius on the football field, fiercely protective, and not to mention, he had an amazing body…but he paled in comparison to the boy I dreamt about every night.

“Hey sweet thang, ready for the last week of school?”

“Happy Birthday…the only person who’s said it today was my mother.”

“Happy birthday Accalia.”

“To you as well Lyc.”

“Is Snow ready?”

“Yep.”

I pulled away from the curb and swung to the other side of the road and waited for Snow. She could take ages to get dressed, and so could I of course but I just wanted today to be over.

June 24^th, 2012
Snow

I was knee deep in shoes telling one of my best friends; Echo, I couldn't find a pair that matched my new purple dress, over the phone. Echo was laughing on the other end saying something about how many shoes I had. I groaned knowing Echo was right, but at least Echo was nice about it; Accalia my other best friend would be laughing her ass off right now. 

I did have a separate closet just for shoes; that also held one of my deepest, darkest secrets. A shrine to the man I loved; a dark secret because he was dating my best friend. I had been in love with Lycan since I was twelve, but I never did anything about it, because I felt certain he didn’t feel the same way; but no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t stop thinking about him, and I had been for weeks. I felt mildly guilty about it of course, Lycan was my best friend’s boyfriend.

I finally picked out a pair of shiny black stilettos and since everything else was done I pulled them on and grabbed my bag, I told Echo I was ready. A few minutes later Accalia pulled up with Echo and Lycan. Luna was at camp with her parents working out issues. Or at least that's what she said, I got in the back of her, new shiny, bubblegum pink convertible and we were off to our last day of school.

"Cannot wait for summer vacation. This day cannot go any slower." Echo complained.

"Oh, please you just want this day to be over so you can go to Lycan's house."

Accalia’s subtle innuendo didn’t go unnoticed by Echo, her steely grey blue eyes flashed, but instead of her usual lash out, she simply played along.

"Maybe, maybe not." she replied to Accalia's snarky remark.

 We arrived at school to find Luna on the front steps waiting for us.  She was early, we weren’t expecting her back for weeks. We rushed from the parking lot to her side and she smirked before saying,

"Mr. Placksworth wants to talk to us immediately," her words dampened our moods instantly. So much for a joyous reunion.

Placksworth would do that, not only was today our last official day as sophomores, it was our sixteenth birthday. That man sure did know how to ruin a mood.

While the rest of us showed our shared annoyance at the news, Lycan took a completely different way of taking the news He was prone to overreact at the best of times, and to lose his temper quickly, but this, this was different, Lycan had never actually scared me before. All his other temper tantrums had actually aroused me. But today, it felt like he gave off a dangerous vibe to me; and although I was terrified, I was also attracted to this new side of Lycan...hell, I was fighting the urge not to jump his bones right now.

"Oh, what now?" Lycan growled, actually growled, and his teeth were sharper, his canines had lengthened to sharp, dagger like fangs, and his tongue was doing odd things, it was contracting; swelling, and then returning to normal.

 I looked at his eyes and gasped, they were bronze colored; like those of a wolf; and they were slanted and the pupil wider, and blacker. His nose was lengthening to form a wolf snout, his eyes following suit, going to the position one would find a dog’s eye. 

They all looked at me and then at Lycan.  Luna, Echo and Accalia yelped. Lycan was confused; he was about to question us when Echo grabbed him and led him to her locker where she kept a mirror. He looked into it and man-screamed.

"What is going on? Regardless of our mutual dislike of Placksworth guys, I really think we need to see him about this."

He slammed the locker and pulled his hoodie around his head and walked briskly through the swarm of students. We, surprisingly, kept up. When we reached Mr. Placksworth's office Lycan just barged in and sat down in his main office, or that’s what we presumed he did; the secretary just looked up and mouthed a wow and went back to work. 

We quickly followed him in finding Mr. Placksworth against the wall, Lycan pinning him. His arm across Placksworth’s throat, making his air supply somewhat constricted; by that I mean Placksworth was turning an odd shade of purple, what was with his anger lately? I should be afraid, but I felt strangely more attracted to him than ever before. What is wrong with me?

"Lycan put him down this instant!" Echo shrieked.

Her perfectly curled blonde hair bouncing in her fury. I could’ve sworn I saw her eyes flash purple; but maybe it was the reflection of my dress...that had to be it...hadn’t it?

"Or what, you’ll break up with me?" his fangs made the taunt sinister, and Echo gulped,

"No, I just think we should hear him out is all." Echo was back to being her timid self, her fury and annoyance towards her boyfriend forgotten.

"Oh, well yes. I guess that is a good idea." Lycan, by some miracle of clarity, set him down all but reluctantly.

 Lycan looked displeased that Placksworth looked unaffected, but Mr. Placksworth brushed himself off and motioned us to sit, as if nothing out of the ordinary happened.

 He acted like it was the norm for a student, in the midst of a supernatural transformation, to pin him to the wall. Placksworth was a strange man, we sat as he had suggested and he cleared his throat which irritated Lycan because he growled and his teeth started showing again. We were all a bit unsettled by how nonplussed Placksworth was acting.

"Now, I know what you must be thinking, what the heck is going on?"

 His assumption was correct of course, but the innocent structure of it, diminished the situation and made it seem as if Lycan wasn’t going through some type of supernatural change. Not to mention that his anger was soaring to new heights. It annoyed me almost as much as it annoyed Lycan.

"That about sums it up. Except why does Lycan look like the fucking wolf kid?" Accalia shrieked.

"Keep it down; I'll explain everything just not here. We're going to take a little field trip."

"What? What about classes?" Luna whined.

 I understood her reasoning of course. She had missed almost a month of school, and she had to take all the exams she had missed. She couldn’t afford to miss today. Placksworth didn’t seem to give a damn. Something was much more important than Luna’s academics...

"I'm the principal Luna Everett; I can take you wherever I want. Now come on."

We didn't ask any more questions, especially Lycan but that could be because his teeth were too big and his tongue was really long. I doubted Principal’s had the power Placksworth was mentioning but we were in no position to argue. Lycan couldn’t exactly return to classes the way he was behaving and looking. And we weren’t going to let Lycan and Placksworth get into the same vehicle, alone. We really didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. 

The drive was uncomfortable, I had never been in a car with Placksworth before now, and even with my friends in the back, I still felt uneasy. It was a long drive, and I knew we were outside our small suburban town. We were almost out of Manhattan altogether. It looked more like the country than anything I’d ever seen.

 We finally arrived at a secluded old house in the middle of the woods. The sign beside the driveway read, Wolf Hollow. He parked the car and we climbed out. He motioned for the five of us to follow him inside this weird house. What is going on? After stretching out our traveling kinks, we followed, we didn’t have much of a choice, he had the keys and had locked the doors.