by Megan Linski
He was around my age. He was pale and tall, with dark hair and dark eyes. He had a prominent nose and sharp facial features. Not to mention he was really fucking ugly. He wore a long black trench coat and was staring at me with a very intense look. His hooded eyelids didn’t give any perception of warmth. He reminded me of one of those predator dudes they tell you about on crime shows.
He’d been watching me perform my program. Weird.
Something in my gut told me this guy was no good. I was about to skate over there and confront him before he turned his back and vanished. He walked through the double doors that led to the rink and out of sight.
Remembering his gaze made shivers run down my spine. It had been creepy. No— worse than creepy. The guy had acted like he knew who I was. Like he had come here for a reason. Had a competitor sent her fugly-ass boyfriend here to spy on me?
Whatever. He was gone, so I didn’t need to worry about it. I wrapped up my practice session before I went back to the locker room to take my skates off and change. Once I stepped off the ice, a dark cloud settled over me, and the hollowness settled in my gut again.
I really wanted to go to the gym and do some yoga, distract myself further, but my body felt sore and I didn’t want to push it.
I got a phone call in the locker room. I answered it, feeling like I was about to drop a bomb on the world.
“Hey, Emmaline,” Mom said. “Are you out of the doctor’s yet?” Her voice was dripping with sweetness. She’d been nagging me to tell her the news the moment I heard. I didn’t call her right away, because I didn’t want to face the truth.
“I have it, Mom.” It hurt to say to her. More than it had hurt to hear the words myself.
“Oh, honey. I’m so sorry.” Mom sounded genuinely upset. I hoped she didn’t cry about it. I hated when Mom cried.
“It’s okay. I’ll pull through it.” I didn’t want Mom to worry. This was just one more hurdle in my life I had to get over. No biggie. I could conquer this, too. I had everything else.
“Tell you what. How about we go to the Detroit Zoo tomorrow? Would that help?” Mom asked.
I loved the zoo. I’d wanted to study zoology before I’d lost my scholarship. I went there so often that I had a membership. “Sure,” I said.
“I have to get back to work. I just wanted to check up on you,” Mom said. I heard the busy clatter of the diner in the background. “How about I take you out to dinner after my shift? Antolli’s tonight?”
Spaghetti was my favorite. “That sounds good, too. Thanks, Mom.”
I hung up. My hands were shaking. At least it was over with, and she knew. There was no one else in my life to break the news to. I didn’t have a father. Mom had told me I was the result of a one-night stand a long time ago, and she didn’t even know the guy’s name. There were no other relatives or grandparents to tell. It was just me and her.
I didn’t have anywhere else to go, so I went home. I considered going to the bookstore and grabbing a book, but I didn’t have the extra money, and it was too hot out today to frequent the coffee shop I usually hung out at. I was quickly running out of distractions. It felt like the world was forcing me to confront my diagnosis, something I couldn’t handle.
I felt a sense of peace as I traveled up the gravel road. My house was pretty big, made of stone and set in the woods far back from the main road. My mom had money from running the diner, but despite putting her whole heart into the restaurant, the building she had bought was a money pit. She made enough to keep the doors open, pay the bills, and pay for ice skating and horse riding lessons for me growing up, but it certainly didn’t return enough income for a college fund.
I threw my bag on the couch and fell onto it. I channel-surfed for a minute, but nothing caught my attention.
I looked out the big window in the living room, to the trees outside. I couldn’t sit still. It was like I needed to move my body, just for something to do. If I didn’t, I felt like I was going to go insane. I just had to get rid of all this nervous energy. I was tired from practice, but I needed to go for a walk in the woods. To clear my head.
The woods were the one place that would calm me down. Whenever I was angry or upset, I’d go for a walk out here, and it was like all the bad stuff just slipped away. I felt nature’s soothing effect as the smell of pine trees wafted through my nostrils. My feet crunched upon the thin dirt path. My anxiety slowly ebbed, and I began to think more clearly. As I wandered through the forest, I tried giving myself a pep talk. I needed to buck up. I wasn’t dying… not yet, anyway. I was just… dying faster than the normal population.
It might be a painful existence, but still one worth living. My ancestors had dealt with stuff like this for thousands of years. It wasn’t that long ago that most people died young. Modern medicine and technology had saved us. We had it good in the modern era.
If I just kept thinking positively, it wouldn’t be so devastating—
I heard a crack in the woods behind me. I thought it was a deer, and barely glanced over my shoulder. But my eye caught sight of something terrifying… black fur.
My heart started beating rapidly. Could it be coyotes? But coyotes didn’t come out in the daytime to hunt, and whatever I had glimpsed had been huge. Was it a bear? I really hoped not. The last thing I needed was to face off with a bear after an already terrible day.
I quickened my steps. As I walked down the forest path, I heard footsteps behind me. Okay, I was definitely being followed by something. Or hunted.
Then the most unbelievable thing happened. The air cooled, and the sunlight faded as clouds began gathering overhead. I saw small white snowflakes trail to the ground, dancing all around me in a precarious display.
It was the middle of the damn summer. No way would it snow, not even in Michigan.
This was just too freaky. I turned around and faced whatever the hell was following me, but the footsteps stopped. I wasn’t fooled.
“All right. I know you’re there. Come out and show yourself!” I shouted.
I knew my voice would scare off any animal that followed. But what emerged from the trees wasn’t an animal. It was a man… the same one from the ice rink earlier.
I was officially terrified. This dude was a stalker. He was going to kill me. But I knew I couldn’t show any fear… that would only increase my chances I’d end up dead from the situation.
“Get the hell away from me,” I said. I took a step backward, looking for something I could use to defend myself… but there wasn’t anything in sight, not even a branch.
The stranger didn’t obey my command. He took another step toward me, smiling.
“A woman shouldn’t be walking these woods alone. Where are your friends?” the stranger asked. He approached me in a twitching way— like a spider killing a dying insect caught in its web.
I let out a vacant laugh. He was a poor stalker. “You obviously don’t know me very well. I don’t have friends.”
“Oh, really?” his grin widened. “Well then, this will be far too easy. Why don’t you play with me?”
“No thanks. I don’t play well with others,” I said. I went to turn away, but the stranger lunged in front of me.
“Don’t try to run,” he said coolly. “You have something I want.”
That was it. I punched him in the nose. Blood went squirting everywhere, and the stranger let out a strangled noise, clutching his face as he fell to the ground. I took off in a run, darting down the path the way I came. I had powerful leg muscles from skating. I could outrun him.
The stranger did something insane as he rose up to his full height. He growled. He honest-to-God growled. Just like a creature would. It sounded like something an animal would make.
I dared to look behind me. Disbelief rippled through my core as I watched the stranger transform, erupting into a powerful black wolf.
My jaw dropped open. This was no average wolf. It was practically as big as a horse. It could fit half my body in its mouth, for crying out lou
d.
But like hell if I’d stop running. There was no freaking way. I increased my strides and kicked it into high-gear. I heard the heavy footsteps of paws behind me as the creature caught up. I could practically feel his hot breath on my heels. I was going to be dinner.
When the wolf’s teeth grazed my ankles, I knew I had to stop running and fight back. I spun around and ducked out of the way, off the path. The wolf went past me before it spun around on all fours, baring its fangs.
The wolf pounced. Fear went spreading through my body at an alarming rate. It was paralyzing, gluing me to the spot as the wolf came closer and closer. It was only a few seconds, but it felt like hours. My life flashed before my eyes as the wolf aimed his mouth toward my neck, intending to rip out my throat.
Aw, hell no. I ain’t dying today!
That steely resolve of rebellion caused me to do something fucking crazy. I raised my right hand and closed my eyes shut.
There was a warm sensation spreading throughout my hand, and it was as if a flood of power exploded from my fingers. I heard a loud yelp. I opened my eyes and my mouth dropped open as I saw a great blue light exploding from my fingertips. The light had smashed into the wolf like a laser beam and slammed him against a nearby tree. The beam went straight through the tree, leaving a gaping hole that smoked and left burning cinders.
The tree wasn’t the only thing that looked like Swiss cheese. The wolf had a massive hole gutting its chest, leaving a cauterized, gaping wound where muscle and blood should’ve been. I could see clear through it to the other side— like a window in his torso.
I would’ve thrown up if what I’d done hadn’t been so fucking cool.
“Oh my God.” I advanced on the wolf, though I kept my distance. Before my very eyes, I watched as the wolf changed back into a man. The hole remained in his chest, leaving the stranger vacant of a heart, his hooded gaze staring upward at the sky like he was still shocked.
Oh shit. Oh shit. I killed him. Like D.E.A.D. dead.
I forced myself not to panic. I’d slain a freaking werewolf. I didn’t even know they existed until a few moments ago!
The thought came to me that wolves ran in packs. He probably had friends running around, and I bet if they saw me standing here, they’d put two and two together and get pretty pissed I’d murdered their buddy.
I took off. My breaths were sharp and stabbing by the time I got back to my house. I went locked all the doors, shut all the windows and drew the curtains. I kept the lights off and crawled onto the couch, wrapping my arms around my knees and shivering.
I just killed somebody. Holy shit. But was that person really a person, or was it an animal? Was I hallucinating or something? None of this could be real. I remained on the couch and didn’t move, jumping at every sound the house made.
A few hours later, I got curious if the body was still there. Remus Lupin and the American Werewolf gang hadn’t come around to eat me yet, so I figured there had to be no more wolves left in the area. They would’ve been able to track my scent back to the house, right? If there were any nearby, I would’ve been found by now.
I weighed the pros and cons of returning back to bury the body for hours. I worried someone would find it and somehow trace it back to me. It was a paranoid thought, and it wasn’t like I’d left a weapon behind— but still. I’d committed a murder. I needed to hide the evidence, before someone… either the police or the wolf’s friends… discovered the remains and came after me.
Criminals always return to the scene of the crime, I guess. It was dark by this time, but that didn’t deter me. I headed into the woods with ovaries made of steel, along with a shovel, and decided that if there were any more wolves, hopefully my hand would do that freaky shit again and I’d be fine.
While I was walking, I got the notion that I couldn’t see. At the thought, my fingertips started glowing again... like they had when I’d killed the wolf. They served as a flashlight as I continued forward, lighting the path with a shining light.
I held my hand in front of my face with a pounding heartbeat. “Holy crap.”
Was I an alien or something? None of this shit had ever happened to me in my life!
I held my breath as I returned to the clearing where I’d been attacked. I knew this was the one, because the tree I’d hit with my blast still had a hole in it.
But there was no body, only traces of blood left behind— like someone had been dragging a body along in the dirt.
The man had disappeared. Okay, maybe I hadn’t killed him. Which was even worse, because that meant he was out there looking for me.
If the body was gone, either he was still walking around with a hole in his chest, or somebody had moved it. I didn’t care which. Either meant that I was still in trouble. I needed to get the heck out of here.
I headed back to my house. As I did, I felt a strange sensation spread over my palm. It was an uncomfortable itching, like I’d had an allergic reaction or something.
I raised my palm in front of my face to observe it. I watched, transfixed, as a black mark in the resemblance of a paw print took shape on my right hand— the same hand I’d used to kill the wolf.
Chapter Three
Ethan
That cursed day in the forest changed my life forever. The leshane was killed, but his slaying came at a terrible price. I lost my right leg in the process of killing him.
Even worse, I lost my father.
I couldn’t bear that the King of the Arcanea was dead. My dad was gone. I wouldn’t see him again until the Father Stag of the Hunt came to take me onward to the Great Hunting Fields, where my dad and I would finally be reunited.
I’d been lost in grief for weeks. Worse still, my mother was inconsolable. The Queen of the Arcanea had locked herself in her room and refused to come out since she’d been told the news. When they’d said the king had sacrificed himself for me, the wailing began.
She hadn’t been able to look me in the eye since. I knew I’d never be able to fix what I did. I’d put myself in a vulnerable position, and my father had paid the price.
Three months passed in a blur. I wasn’t ready to face what I knew had to be done. I wanted to curl up in a ball somewhere and hide.
But the throne was on the line. Now that my father was dead, my place in the King’s Contest was being questioned. People were wondering if they should deny me my right to compete for the monarchy. Since I was born, I’d always been expected to win the King’s Contest, and take over ruling Malovia in my father’s footsteps.
Now I was a cripple who wasn’t considered worthy. A boy who’d caused the death of one of the greatest kings in Malovia’s history. A son that had killed his own father due to a silly mistake. People were whispering that the kinghood belonged to someone else.
I refused to let my crown fall to anyone who wasn’t me. So I was attending the Gathering of the Arcanea tonight, to make my intent to compete in the King’s Contest, and make sure the royal court knew where I stood.
Around midnight, I started getting ready. It took me fifteen minutes to put on my prosthetic leg. I still wasn’t used to it. Lord Lucien wanted me to work on my timing, as there would probably come a day when I would need to get it on in an emergency, to be ready to fight.
The things regular people took for granted.
When my leg was taken from me, I’d been made a prosthetic from the best medical companies that money could buy. It was high-tech, and expensive. I had to learn to walk again. I had to learn to do everything again.
The prosthetic didn’t transfer when I shifted into my wolven form. My back right leg was missing when I became the wolf— an empty gap showing where a limb once stood.
I’d become known among the Arcanea as the three-legged White Wolf. It was humiliating.
I put on the black pants and black hussar’s jacket, fitted with gold trimmings, before I looped the black velvet cloak around my shoulders. I was still in the required mourning period, so I donned the black clothes without co
mplaint, though I much preferred navy… the wolven Faction colors. I slipped on my boots and looked in the mirror. I very much looked like a prince.
Good. Perhaps it would remind the Circle to know their place.
I left my room in the royal quarters and journeyed through the Palace of the Arcanea. The castle was forged out of white stone. Elaborate portraits of the former Kings of the Arcanea and their queens were placed all over the walls, next to statues of armor decorated with elaborate white wings— the traditional suits of the warring Arcanea. Monster pelts and mounted heads of evil creatures hung beside banners that displayed the golden Arcanea coat-of-arms on every wall— four sections each, showing a wolven, griffin, alicorn and draken in symbolic unity, displayed against a royal purple background.
Guards decked in silver armor saluted as I walked by, and I nodded to them, though secretly I tired of this special treatment. I couldn’t wait to get back to Arcanea University, where law dictated I be treated as a regular student. I would never be truly normal, obviously, but the setting would be far less formal than it was here.
The guards had to shout to open the gates as I wandered past the courtyard and into the dark forest beyond. From here, I could hear the beating of leather drums and pagan wails from afar, signifying the royal council meeting was about to begin.
I shifted into wolven form and ran toward the sound, clothes becoming fur once more. My prosthetic leg vanished. Anything material that Companions wore or carried, like jewelry, wallets, or other things, was changed by their magic and became a part of their spirit, waiting to be used again once the shifter form was done with. My prosthetic would reappear when I became human again. My paws made heavy beats in the ground as they ran in time to the music that was growing closer and closer.
As I ran, I pondered what I was going to say to them. I needed to make my intent clear, but no explanation seemed good enough. I supposed I’d have to wing it.
