caught my interest was the chapter on “Turning.” This chapter I studied a little more closely. It didn’t go into a lot of detail about how to turn someone into a vampire. It more or less told the details about turning them in general. I laid the book aside and picked up the Shape Shifter text and began looking through it. I learned that true, full blooded shifters could change at will, but they normally only changed into one form. The form they were able to change into depended on the genetics of their parents. Normally whatever the parents’ shifter form is determines what the child would change into.
As I was scanning the rest of the book there was a knock at the door. I got up to answer it. It turned out to be Matt.
“Hey Matt, you finally decide to get up?” I asked with a laugh.
“Man these long nights are killing me,” he said with a grin.
“Grab a soda from the fridge and come have a seat. I have just been looking through the text books Grandpa left us. Turns out the classes might actually be pretty interesting.
“Man I am starving. You want to go down to the dinning hall?” Matt asked.
“Nah, I ate some cereal a little while ago. Why don’t you order something up from the kitchen?” I asked.
“No way! You can do that?” Matt asked.
“Yeah man, Ava and I had dinner up here last night after you and your dad left,” I said before I thought about what I was saying.
“Awww, Luke’s got a girlfriend,” Matt said in his most teasing of voices.
“No, Luke does not have a girl friend,” I replied with a smile. I could feel the heat rise in my face and knew I was blushing.
“Don’t be embarrassed about having a little date with Ava because she is fine, man, with a capital F.”.
“Shut up, Matt, she is not the reason I asked you to come to my room this morning,” I said wanting to change the subject. There was no way I was going to talk to Matt about us almost kissing. I would never hear the end of it.
“Speaking of hot girls, have you been down stairs this morning?” Matt asked as he wagged his eyebrows up and down.
“No, haven’t left my room since I got up,” I said.
“Dude, there is a blonde down there that is absolutely to die for.”
“So I take it everyone is already starting to arrive for the full moon run tonight. That’s part of the reason I wanted to talk to you. I’m really nervous about tonight. You know I’m part shifter myself. Grandpa seems to think that I will change tonight.
“Man, I am so sorry, I forgot to tell you Happy Birthday!”
“Thanks,” I replied, “So, I don’t really know what to expect. I mean you told me all about your change, but I’m worried about changing myself because of my “other” condition,” I said.
“I really don’t think there is anything to worry about, Luke. I mean the change itself is amazing. And there will be lots of other shifters here to take care of you if something should go wrong, right?”
“You’re probably right. Maybe I’m just getting worked up over nothing. I just can’t stop thinking about this dream, or vision, or whatever it is that I keep having. The vision always happens at night, and I’m always surrounded by wolves. What if the vision comes true tonight while everybody is here?” I asked nervously.
“I know you’re really worried about this, Luke, but wouldn’t it be better for everyone to be here to help? Or would you rather it happen when you’re completely alone?”
“I guess you’re right about that. I would much rather be surrounded by people that could help me. I hate to admit it, but it scares me a little,” I confessed.
“I can’t say that I blame you there, Luke. I would be terrified to know something was out there waiting on the chance to pounce on me. Just know that I am here for you all the way, man,”
“Thanks. That means a lot, Matt.” Just then someone knocked at the door and Matt bolted for it. I heard Matt open it and let out a sigh.
“Luke, it’s just your girlfriend,” Matt yelled.
“Shut up, man, I told you I don’t have a girlfriend. I turned red with embarrassment as Ava walked in the door.
“Why is he looking at me like he wants to eat me?” Ava asked as she sort of slipped farther away from Matt with a worried look on her face.
“He thought you were his breakfast,” I laughed.
“Oh,” she said. I asked Ava if she would like something to drink and got a couple sodas from the fridge. She said she already had breakfast. Matt’s breakfast came and he was in the process of shoveling it down like he was in a race. Matt sat at the bar eating while Ava and I sat around the fireplace.
“So what do you guys have planned for the day?” Ava asked.
“Nothing in particular that I know of, unless Grandpa has something planned for us,” I said.
“Mom has the day off today, so I really don’t think you will do any training today,” Ava explained.
“So what is there to do around here?” I asked.
“Well, we could go for a swim if y’all are up to it,” she said.
“That sounds like fun,” I said.
“Yeah that sounds great!” Matt yelled from the bar, his mouth overflowing with food.
“I guess it’s settled then, let’s do it,” Ava said excitedly.
“Wait, I haven’t seen a pool anywhere,” I said.
“Luke, there are so many things you haven’t seen. Just because you haven’t seen it, definitely does not mean it’s not here,” she said with a little giggle and a smile.
“Ok, as soon as Matt gets done inhaling his food we will get ready. Why don’t you put on your swim suit and meet us back here when you’re done?” I suggested.
“Sounds great. It’s ten o’clock now. We have to meet in the great room at three, so that gives us enough time to swim and grab a late lunch before we have to be there,” Ava said.
“Who are we meeting in the great room?” I asked.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you. Your Grandpa said to find you and let you know we all needed to meet him at three to go over the schedule for tomorrow. I guess he is going to let us know what our class schedule will be like so we will not be late in the morning.
“Oh, I see,” I said. At that Ava left the room to get ready. I told Matt to hurry up. Not that he wasn’t already shoveling the food in as fast as he could. I left Matt to finish his food and grabbed my swimming trunks and a t-shirt from one of my drawers. I headed to the bathroom to change. I heard Matt yell that he was going to change and would be back in a second. I heard the door open and close as he left. I went into the closet and put on a pair of flip flops. As I finished and got back out into the bedroom there was a knock at the door. I yelled for them to come in. It was Ava.
Ava had on a white bathrobe and flip flops and carried a little beach bag at her side. I was probably just imagining it, but I was thinking that Ava got prettier every time I saw her. The white robe really made her curly red hair stand out. I couldn’t help but stare at her. She noticed I was staring and before I knew it she had thrown her bag down and was walking my way. She walked right up to me, and as I bent down to kiss her, someone knocked on the door.
“Who is it?” I yelled very agitated. This was the second time someone interrupted us. Would we ever get to actually kiss? I thought to myself.
“It’s Matt, duh,” he called through the door.
“We’re coming,” I said as we walked toward the door together. I opened the door and Ava walked out. I started out after her and just as the door closed I remembered,
“I don’t have a towel, hang on a second,” I said.
“Don’t worry, Luke, they have towels at the pool,” Ava said.
“Ok, cool,” I replied. Ava led the way, and we both followed her. She headed down the stairs and into the great room. In the great room she went straight across and through the double doors at the opposite end of the room. When we were through the doors I realized we were in a huge room with a glass wall down t
he entire length of it. The glass wall overlooked a beautiful flower garden. In the center of this room was a swimming pool like none I had ever seen. It was huge. It had diving boards at different levels on one end. It also had an awesome water slide that I could not wait to try out.
Ava showed us the linen closet and the changing rooms and we were ready to swim. Matt took off and jumped into the pool splashing water everywhere. Ava headed to the diving boards, and I headed to the slide. As I reached the top of the slide I looked over to watch Ava. She was on the tallest diving board. She bounced a couple times and jumped. She turned several flips on the way down and hit the water in a perfect dive. She barely disturbed the water as she cut through it like a hot knife through butter. I stared wide eyed in shock about what I had just witnessed. I slid down the slide and swam over to where she was by the ladder closest to the glass wall.
“Wow, that was absolutely amazing, Ava,” I said.
“You think so?” She asked a little shyly, “I have been practicing for years here at the mansion. I love to dive, but I have never thought I was really any good at it,” she said.
“You are definitely good at it. I have never seen anyone dive like that,” I said.
Just then I happened to look out into the garden, and there stood Adriana. She was talking on her cell phone with a look of pure terror on her face. She didn’t talk very much, but I could see fear written all over her face.
“Something is definitely weird about that woman. I can’t put my finger on it, but something seems off about her. I
The Silent Soldiers Page 13
