The Luna Journey

by Queen of the flames

Hell, a place in children’s nightmares, the place where flames are said to be ever present. The image of hell has been painted in peoples minds since time began, who made them, no one knows all they know is that it is a nasty place. I beg to differ.

My Novel The Luna Journey

CHAPTER 1

Hell, a place in children's nightmares, the place where flames are said to be ever present. The image of hell has been painted in peoples minds since time began, who made them, no one knows; all they know is that it is a nasty place. I beg to differ.

My name is Luna, and I am 16 years old. For as long as I can remember, I have always called Hell my home. I was raised here and as far as I am concerned The Devil, as he prefers to be called, is my father. He told me that he fathered me from a relationship between himself and another woman. My appearance is tall and slender; my hair is down below my waist and is a deep, midnight black; while my eyes are a shocking violet colour. I have a small mouth that my father always comments on how so much noise can come out of it when it is so small. That is where the similarity between me and other humans ends, because there is something about me that doesn't quite fit in. Human though I am, I also have a long black tail that is most commonly associated with the devil and long curved horns that reach down to my neck; as well as this I have long claws on my hands that retract until I need them.

My home, the place everyone fears, was quite different from the picture people feed their children from such a young age, there are flames, of course but the whole of hell is not covered in them, we use them as a heat source as does everywhere. Hell is actually a lot colder and bleaker than it is made out to be, the walls are made of stone so cold, that if you touch them, you can feel the cold coming from deep inside them. My home, the residence of the devil, is a large manor in the centre of the realm, the manor itself seems cold and desolate on the outside, with high rusted metal gates, stone gargoyles that sit on the balconies, slates missing from the roofs and small panes of glass missing from the many stained glass windows .

Inside however, the picture is different, for my father took great pride in his home and each and every wall had pictures, either of me or of him, decorating them; barely an inch of the old fashioned wallpaper could be seen through the hordes of photo frames. The living room had huge leather sofa's and we had a TV of a sort, although this wasn't a TV that had programmes on it, this TV was a way for my dad to check on the residents of Hell. This incredible television was nestled on a spindly table that my father had found years before hand, in the corner. The wallpaper in here too, was old fashioned and a deep red colour, tinged with gold. This was my favourite room in the house, besides my bedroom and I spend a great deal of time lying on the sofa reading a romance novel.

My bedroom was on the third tier of the manor and from my window I could see far out into the Hellish realm, right out to the seas that barricaded all the people in. Inside my room was a handsome oak bookshelf that contained all of my favourite books; my bed was a soft double bed with violet quilt covers that matched my eyes. I had a wardrobe that contained all my clothes, most of which my father had given me as presents. Other than that, my room contained one other piece of furniture, a glass fronted wooden cabinet that contained a locket that my father told me belonged to my mother, a book of spells that I couldn't open but had kept because I could sense a power radiating from it, and a long knife that I used when training with my father. He was a great believer in fighting; he told me that if I could fight well and fight fairly then I could hold my own against anything.

From a young age I was curious, I was always climbing things and running everywhere as though afraid that I might miss something. I use to run amongst the forests of the realm, and swim in the lakes just to see what was at the bottom. It was this curiosity that led me to ask my father about my mum. That was where it all began to change for me.

CHAPTER 2

The hallway was cold when I went to talk to my father; I was unsure how he would react, for although my father loved me, he never talked about my mother. I found him lying on the sofa, reading glasses perched on the end of his long nose, his wavy black hair fanned out across the arm of the chair. He looked up as I entered and put his book away, studying me through his glasses. Taking a deep breath I walked towards him and sat on the end of the sofa, close enough to him that he could run his hand through my hair in a comforting way. Summoning up the courage I opened my mouth to speak but before I could utter a sound, he shushed me into silence and said instead " I know what it is you are going to ask me, and this is neither the time or the place to talk about it my daughter. Tomorrow we shall talk in depth, meet me in the stables and we shall go for a ride to the bay, only there will I talk on this matter." I felt bewildered that he knew what it was I was going to say before I had even asked, but I was so use to this by now that I took it as he said and excused myself. Once I had returned to my bedroom, I sat on the windowsill staring out across the moonlit lands thinking about what he was going to tell me. I felt as though my stomach was alive, and my heart was pounding with a yearning to learn about my mum.

I awoke in the morning as suddenly as though someone had poured cold water over me. I looked over and saw my dad sat on the end of my bed, he smiled as I looked and stood up saying "good morning sunshine, get dressed and we'll go for the bay like I promised you."

When he had gone, I jumped out of bed and dressed hurriedly, tied my hair up in a ponytail hastily and ran from my room. I found him waiting for me on the doorstep with both our horses made up for the ride. Breathing heavily I grinned and mounted my horse, then the pair of us broke into a gallop round out of the manor and into the lane.

We rode in silence for a while, with nothing but the dull thud of our horses hooves to comfort my stomach, I felt as though my heart would burst from my chest with anticipation. I wanted so much to learn about my mum that I was constantly going off ahead of my father. We rounded a corner and the sea breeze took up my hair in its claws, blowing it around my face, the sun that could shower us now that we had come out of the dark forest beamed down as though glad to see us.

My face lit up at the sight of the sea and not waiting for my father I raced down the slope towards the ocean, glad to once again be back by the sea. We dismounted our horses and strolled across the beach, in silence at first, relishing in the warmth of the sun. Finally when I thought I could bare it no longer, I stopped in my stride and looked at my father, what I saw stirred the worry that I had pushed to the back of my mind; etched into every line of his face was anxiety, and you could almost see the clouds behind his eyes as he thought about what he was going to say. "Father," I ventured, putting a hand on his arm. "What is it?" I asked turning him to face me; he looked up, managed a wan smile and sighing he said "I should have told you about her, a long time ago. She was my one true love and I pushed her away from me. I wanted her but in those days I was every bit the monster that people make out I was." At this point, he paused and looked at the ground. I sat on a fallen tree that was nearby and he came to sit next to me. "I was cold and merciless. She asked me to protect her and her baby, and I took her in; at least for a while." Here he looked up and my face took up a look of shock, my father was crying!

"Father, what's wrong. What happened" I said quietly, not sure I wanted to know what came next. "In my arrogance I told her that she had to leave; that I was sick of the sight of her. The look on her face was devastating. She told me that I was a waste of space and that she was foolish to ever expect me to protect her. She left after that, just as I told her to, but she refused to take our child with her, saying that I will need her." He stopped and a single tear fell off the end of his nose and splashed onto the floor. "So I took you back with me after I watched her leave the realm. I never saw her again; it was as though some unknown force too over my body and drove me to making her leave. I regretted it deeply for years afterwards. I sent people to look for her even, but there was no sign of her." As he said this he buried his hands in his face and it was as if all the emotions he had kept from her over the years had come pouring out, and he cried and cried with me trying to comfort him and even I got emotional at one point. But even through this, something had awoken in my head. Who or what had caused my father to turn on his own lover, and where my mother was now, why had she just seemed to disappear off the end of the realms. I made my mid up there and then as we sat there on the tree, that I would find my mother and bring her back here to live with us once again.

The next morning I woke just as early as the previous morning and dressed carefully in a pair of tight jeans and a light top, violet in colour. Then I got a back pack from my wardrobe and packed a spare pair of clothes and bottles of water for the trip. You see the passage between Hell and the mortal realm is hot, very hot, hence why people associate Hell with flames; so I needed as much water as I could get.

When I had packed the last of my things I approached my glass fronted cabinet where I kept my most valued possessions. I carefully opened the doors and took out the locket that I knew had been my mothers. As I held it there I remembered the night when my dad had given it to me; I had only been four years old, but even at that age I knew how important it was. I could hear my father's voice washing over me as I stared in awe at my mother's locket, entranced by the colours in the gem of the locket's cover.

A rustled behind me made me turn to find my father leaning against the door way, a small smile flicked across his face as I attempted to hide the locket behind my back. "Come now, that's no place for your mothers' locket is it?" he said and strode across the room, took the locket from my hands and put it on me. "it suits you" he said " your mother would be proud to know that you are wearing her necklace, knowing that you remember her even though you were not old enough to remember her." He said cupping my face in his hands. "Father I...I" I began pitifully, but her stopped me as he had before and said "It's alright, I know. Just be careful and don't forget to call me of you need help. I want to see you here again one day, safe and sound." With that he turned to the cabinet and extracted my knives in their scabbards. "Here, you'll need these" he said and smiling I took them from him, gave him a long hug where I took a deep breath in trying to remember his smell; when we broke apart he gave me an encouraging smile and I walked from the room, leaving him standing next to my glass cabinet.

The Sky was a deep red when I entered the lane outside the gates of the Manor. The clouds hid the sun as it set and a breeze swayed the branches of the trees. I had donned a dark zip hoodie that I had done up to my neck to protect me from the wind. The gravel crunched beneath my feet as I set of in the direction of the divide that connected the mortal realm with Hell. The only sound besides my footfalls, were the last songs of the birds that hadn't settled down for the night and I was eager to reach the divide before night fall.

I was halfway through the woods when the wind changed direction bringing a new sound to my ears, it was a kind of whispering that at first I didn't recognise. It sent a shiver down my spine and I turned to look at the woods behind me, my eyes scanning the trees on either side of the trail. I stood there for a few minutes just staring, searching for a sign of movement, but none came, so I shrugged and turned back to my journey. The sun had almost set by now and the shadows were growing around me so I quickened my pace. I had been walking for only a minute when the same whispering sound came again, I spun on my heel and caught a glimpse of something gas like floating above the trees to my left. A gasp of shock escaped my lips and I bolted down the woodland lane, my breath coming more ragged, the more I ran. I risked a glance behind me and it scared me to see how close the thing had come to me. Its one Yellow eye was fixed on me and it ducked and swirled through the trees gaining no me every second. Turning my eyes back on the road I saw to my relief the tall archways that marked the gateway to the mortal realm. I put all my remaining effort into reaching the archways before that thing reached me. I had nearly made it when I heard a whistle like screech, I covered my ears and felt my legs go limp and I knew I was in trouble.

CHAPTER 3

The darkness was closing in, swirling in and out of my line of sight, voices whispered all around me and I felt a howl as though a storm raged in my head. When I regained consciousness the first thing I saw was a face with wide eyes, staring at me with a look of concern on her face. "uuuuuggghhhh" was all I managed as I tried to sit up. With a rush like wind all the sounds became sharper and I was able to make up a familiar face standing over me with concern showing in her eyes. "Can you hear me pet?" she asked me feeling my forehead. I moved my head away and finding my voice I managed to choke out "yes, yes I can...where am I?" "Shhhhh child, don't move," the kind voice said, and I found myself feeling calm, despite my confusion. I felt a sudden cold impact on my forehead that snapped me back to reality; she had put a cold flannel on my head. The cold brought back the memories of the evening before. I shivered and the woman standing above me clucked her tongue impatiently; this caused a spark of anger to flash through me and I got out of bed roughly, ignoring the gasp of the woman and dressed in my clothes. Turning to her I said, "Thank you for your help, but I have to go;" and with that I stomped out of the room and found myself in a side room of the realm dividers. In my anger I didn't notice the cloaked man sitting on one of the benches with his feet up on the table, if I had, I would have seen that he had deep black eyes that followed me as I strode towards the lift that took me to the mortal realm. The stranger smiled as I went up the lift and rose out of his seat. He knew he would see me again soon.

The lift rattled and clanked as it rose, the brass covering the doorway vibrated with the movement of the lift and I squeezed myself into a corner, and I realised I was afraid. I had never been to the mortal realm and had no idea where to start; all I had was a crumpled picture of her and a feeling in my heart that she was alive. Despite the rising panic in my gut my mind was full of random thoughts that did nothing to calm them; all I could think was that I wouldn't blend in and what if my mum was dead? I was vaguely aware that the lift was getting hotter and with one hand I wiped away the beads of sweat that had formed on my head. The walls were peeling now under the heat and it fell onto the floor near my feet; I was beginning to feel the heat now and it brought me out of my own thoughts. My hoodie felt heavy so I took it off, gasping from the growing heat and attempted to take out a bottle of water but my energy had been sapped, leaving me drained and I sank to the floor. Just when the heat reached a level that made sweat drip down my back and across my face it stopped, the heat reduced to a comfortable warmth and the lift trundling to a halt. Gathering up my hoodie I wiped a hand across my brow and as the grates slid open I rushed onto a cool marble floor where a receptionist sat at a wooden desk with a clipboard. She looked up at the sound of the lift opening and surveyed me through wide rimmed spectacles that made her eyes seem larger than normal. I exited the lift in a hurry and approached the desk, my shoes tapping on the marble floors as I came closer. "Uh...hello I'm here to." She gave a sigh and cutting me off said, "yes yes I know who you are youngster, keep going, keep going." Pointing with her left hand to a door made of sturdy oak wood she let her eyes wander back to the clipboard in her other hand. I stared at her for a few seconds aware how brisk she had been with me, but then I let the thought leave my mind and turned my attention to the door beyond which lay the mortal realm. The door itself was solid oak carved with leaves and small elves, it was varnished to perfection and not one single chip could be seen in the pristine wood. When I reached the door, I turned to look at the woman behind and was met by her owlish gaze, when she saw me looking she immediately let her eyes drop to her clipboard and shrugging I pushed the door open. The noise that hit me was incredible, one second I had been in total silence, and the next I was bombarded with sounds I had not heard before all jumbled into one loud mess. The sight that went with this noise was one that awed me so much that I stood in the doorway to the realm with my mouth wide open gazing around me, drinking in the smells and the colourful array of people and buildings. A sharp shove to the back from the woman behind the desk made me realise how stupid I looked standing there with my mouth open so I rearranged my face and turned to glower at her; but she met my glare with one of her own and muttered as she closed the door behind me.

Now that she had gone I focused my attention on my surroundings, the street was paved with large grey blocks and the buildings were made with the same grey coloured material and together they gave the town a dreary feel; the streets themselves however, proved this to be just a front. They were alive with the hustle and bustle of normal life, people weaving in and out of each other going about with their tasks. Each person seemed to be wearing a different colour and the thing I noticed most about the people was that they hadn't got horns or tails like me. Cold dread poured over me as I realised I was going to stick out like a sore thumb and it was with a heavy heart and a large amount of anxiety that I made my way away from the ornate oak door. My footsteps crunched on the pavement as I walked down one street in search of an inn; the sun was low in the sky casting the buildings with a ruby glow that only made their presence seem more sinister. Presently I came to a building with a low plague on the top that read 'The Goodnight Inn, rest in Piece' and as the sun had sunk completely out of sight I decided that I would stay here, at least for one night. Upon entering the building it became clear that it was not a welcoming place as the sign had indeed said, it was dark inside, the only light coming from torches held in brackets at random intervals along the walls. The reception area had only one chair for waiting people, and a desk that was covered in grime with a muscley man glaring at people through one good eye. A bar had been set up along the other wall and people were sat in groups around the bar where an equally scowling man wiped glasses clean while glaring at them in a way, not unlike the man at the reception. The place was packed when I came in and a silence passed round the people as they took me in, the usual clink of glasses ceased as I walked up to the receptionist and said in a clear, level voice "I wish to stay a night here please." The man looked up at me and his scowl turned into a look of surprise as he fixed his eyes on my horns and my tail as it swished nervously around behind me. He turned to his companion behind the bar, winked and said to me "aren' you a pretty one pet? Even with them horns. Sure you can stay here the night, an' for free if your willin' to give a little" as he said this he reached across the desk and grabbed my bum in his hands. Shocked by this I gasped, jumped back and fixed him with a look of deep disgust. Who did he think he was trying to touch me in that way? I'll show him I thought, and looking into his eyes I said "I wouldn't give that to you if you were the last man in Hell." The men behind me found that hilariously funny because they all laughed making me spin around to face them. The man who had grabbed my bum gave a wheezy little chuckle and came out from behind his desk, "Well that is unfortunate," he said staring at me, "because we here think it would be so much fun and you see, when we want something here, we always get it." The gleam in his eye frightened me and I retreated, wanting to get as far from him as I possibly could. I had forgotten about the other men and my retreat put me right into one of their arms, where he grabbed me by the shoulders causing me to scream and struggle. He tightened his grip on me and no matter how hard I struggled he held on; the fear was beginning to subside and in its place came anger, hot and fiery it gave me strength and I fought with renewed energy. The men surrounding us were laughing as they watched me struggling but their laughs became silent as I struggled harder, slowly making my way out of his grip. "Stop laughing and give me a HAND!" the man holding me yelled and immediately two men came over to help, seeing this I jabbed my head backwards driving the points of my horns deep into the mans arms. He yelled and dropped me, and as I landed I sprang up and bolted for the nearest doorway banging the handle against the wall in my hurry. The door lead to a narrow alleyway with an exit at both ends, from behind me came the shouts of the men as they followed me, so breathing heavily I set off towards an exit. My eyes were focused on the exit and as I got closer I began to think I was free, but then a man stepped into the light making me skid to a halt and run back the way I had come. I was halfway back up the alley when the men burst out of the bar into the alley, again making me come skidding to a halt. In one quick rush of thought I realised I was surrounded, my only escape routes were blocked and I began to panic. I decided that I wasn't going to give up without a fight and as they approached I put my fists up ready to defend myself. The guy that I had wounded with my horns led the men that came from the pub and the laughing, smiling face he had had before was gone, to be replaced by an angry grimace as he clutched a rag to his wound. "You're trapped girl" he taunted, "nowhere to go now, how are you going to fight all of us. It's best to give it up now" he said sneering at me, "If you come quietly, I promise it won't hurt." The fact that I was surrounded pressed heavily on me and I began to quake under its pressure, my fists dropped and I slumped against the wall. The man laughed loudly and pressed in on me, grabbing my upper arm to lift me to my feet. I felt hot tears of shame rise and fall down from my eyes to my cheeks and wished that I had someone to protect me as he dragged me towards the bar again.

It was then that my wish was granted, one minute I was being dragged towards the bar by a perverted muscle man, and the next I was dropped and through the tears I could see two shadowed figures striking the men down, and one then took hold of me and the next thing I felt was a light feeling of flying. My rescuers had taken me up onto the roof tops and into a secluded space between a chimney and a wall where they had made a makeshift home, with canvas' as a roof; cast off cushions and blankets as flooring and bedding; and a wooden box against the wall where all their food and belongings were kept. I was placed on one of the blankets carefully and on the comfy bed I felt myself drifting into a welcomed sleep. In those last few moments of consciousness I saw a smile flick across my rescuers face and a pair of bright blue eyes looking at me.

When I awoke I found myself alone, there was no one in the makeshift home with me, so I stood up and felt my whole body objecting, a bruise had formed on my upper arm where that man had grabbed me. When I was fully standing, a wave of dizziness passed over my, causing me to gasp out loud. Someone, or should I say some people heard this, and walked in through the door, it was the person I had seen the night before and he was accompanied by another guy; I was immediately struck by their appearances, they were both about the same height and they both had the same mouth, but one had sparkling blue eyes and spiky blonde hair that flicked across his face, while the other had deep brown eyes and dark hair that always seemed to be messed up. The other thing I noticed was that the blonde guy had round ears that sat on the top of his head, sticking out from his hair, and a long tail that stuck out behind him; where as the dark haired guy had sharp teeth and small claws on his hands, pointed ears and a long bushy tail.

Both were smiling at me in a warm friendly way and the one with dark hair said to me "SO you're awake now are you, slept for ages you did, don't blame you though, those guys would have done much worse if we hadn't seen you." And smiling he came and sat next to me "you've got to be new around here, cos' if you weren't you would know NEVER to go into that bar if you're a girl." He nodded to his companion that hadn't taken his eyes of my face, "isn't that right Jax?" he said nudging him in the arm. The guy called Jax looked over at his friend, smiled and said, "Yea, that's right Max, there are some tough men in there. So tough that they couldn't even beat us" he laughed jokingly. Turning his attention back to me he looked deep into my eyes and asked me softly "are you alright now though, that must have been quite a scare?" I felt myself blushing under the stare of those big blue eyes and as I spoke I cursed my voice, because it sounded like a child "yes, yes it was scary, I thought I was going to be killed. Thank you both so much for helping me. Yes I am new here, I'm…" I hesitated here because I didn't want to tell them things about me, and why I was here because I had just met them. "You don't have to tell us if it's that personal, we understand" Jax said sitting down in front of me, his tail twitching. Something about these two guys made me trust them, maybe it was because they had tails and such like me, or maybe it was because they saved me, that I felt they needed an explanation. I took a deep breath and met their eyes, "Well, it's a long story, and I'll tell you, but you have to promise me that you won't tell anyone." "Its not as if we have anyone to tell it to" Max piped up leaning back against the wall with his hands behind his head, his uninterested pose broken by the way his eyes were glued to my face in rapt attention. Jax shot him a look that said 'don't interrupt her' and then turned his attention back to me. "Well, this might sound a little fantastic, but I was born in Hell, I grew up in Hell, my father is the devil." I paused here to see the looks on their faces, neither had changed their expressions in the slightest, so I continued, "For as long as I can remember Hell has been home and my father has been father. But I always wondered about my mum, who she was, where she went; because my father never mentioned her, it was like she never existed. So I found the courage to ask him about it, and he told me about how she had come to him for help, they had been lovers, she had had a baby, and he sent her away." I took a breath here and studied them once more, Max now seemed to be paying hardly any attention to me, but Jax on the other hand was listening with as much attention as when I had begun. Slightly puzzled, I carried on, "This seems like a typical story, but the part that concerned me was why he sent her away, he said that an unknown force seemed to take him over, which is unlike him, he is the kindest person I have ever known. I felt deep in my heart that my mother was waiting for me, that something was beginning and nit involved me going to find her. So I told my father about this feeling and left to come here." I finally stopped talking and looked at the two of them, Max was staring at the ceiling, a thoughtful look no his face, and Jax was still looking at me, I noticed then how hansom he was, his face was a smooth tanned colour and his eyes, the feature that drew the most attention were bright and twinkling. I felt myself blush and then cursed myself for talking too much. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bore you, I'm Luna by the way" I said not looking at them. "You weren't boring us Luna, not in the least, I'm Jax and this is my best friend Max" he said shoving his friend playfully. "It's an interesting story" he said looking thoughtfully. "I feel like I've heard it somewhere before, I mean, not exactly, but the mysterious force making people different. It seems, familiar" he said the last word as though far away, lost in his thoughts; I decided to break the silence that his thoughts caused. "So...tell me how you ended up living here, and how you both have…." I didn't need to finish that sentence because Max did it for me, "Tails?" he said sitting up, " that's an easy one, Jax here was born that way, he has ears that can pick up sounds from far away, hence how we found you, and the tail helps him balance when he fly's." "Fly's?" I said looking over at Jax, "you fly?" he smiled embarrassedly at the impressed look on my face. "Well, yes I can but it's not that impressive" a slight blush creeping up his cheeks. "I think it's amazing and wish I could fly; what about you Max, what happened to you?" I asked him as he stretched his arms up. "Ha, well, I was unfortunate to encounter a werewolf in my youth, I found it incredibly funny to put my fingers up its nose," he said scratching his face, grinning at me and I couldn't help but laugh. "Really? I bet it didn't take too kindly to that then." "No" he laughed, "that's how I ended up like this."

By now the sun had risen and the rays were shining through the doorway. I looked out onto the town wondering how two guys like this had come to live here of all places. After a few minutes of silence I decided to give a voice to these thoughts, "so um, how did you come to live here of all places?" I asked them looking at each of them in turn. "Well…" Max began, but Jax cut him off "We were kind of thrown together, literally; the jailer in this town caught us and locked us up for being, what was it again Max?" "Disgusting mutants that are scaring the locals" Max finished off looking angry. "Oh, that's not very nice at all, its not as though you can help being the way you are is it? I think that's cruel and indecent." I said honestly disgusted at the attitudes of the town. "Yea, tells us about it," Max said laying down on the blankets and shutting his eyes, " We were put into the same cell, and we just kind of got to know each other, and we became friends" Jax said smiling at the memory. "Yea and after what was it, a day? We decided to break out, I used my strength to break the bars and Jax used his telekinesis to melt the lock on the cell. We ran for it after that; we spent the rest of the day looking for a place to sleep, and for things to make a home with. That's how we found here, the canvas already up but it was deserted." Max said. They fell silent again and I used the break in the flow of speech to collect my thoughts. "Well, thanks for rescuing me, I don't know what I would have done of you hadn't shown up." I said sincerely, " I don't want to be a burden to you anymore, so I'll just take my things and leave, but thank you ever so much;" I said as I tidied up the blankets I had used. Both boys jumped up and Max said, "Don't go yet, you haven't um, eaten!" and at the same time Jax said, "We really enjoyed your company." Then realising what they had done, both looked at each other and Max put his hands in his pockets and Jax staring at the floor said, "Um, what we meant to say was, would we be able to come with you? We uh, don't have a lot here that makes it worth staying." Both Max and Jax Shuffled their feet and looked up at me. It made me smile to see how much they looked like little kids. "Yea, sure I don't see why not" I said shrugging, "how long do you need to pack?" I asked settling myself back on the floor. "Oh, we'll be ready by the evening." Max said smiling.

CHAPTER 4

I had a feeling off great joy as we stepped out of the town; I had no idea where I had to go, or even which direction to go, so we just set off in the direction of the sun, hoping that we would meet someone who would recognise my mother. We were in a small wood; the trees were full of leaves and owls out hunting swooped low over our heads as we trudged onwards. The sun had sunk beneath the horizon leaving us walking in the light of the moon; the stars twinkled down at us and over all, the mood was relaxing. I certainly felt relaxed and so did the boys, Max was running ahead, a lot like an excited puppy does when you take it out for a walk; and Jax was walking beside me chatting casually and laughing with me. "So how long have you been living in that town for?" I asked him shooting a sideways glance at him, "Well I had been there a few months before I found Max, or rather, he found me; and that was at least three years ago." He said calculating. "Wow, that long?" I exclaimed, "well, yea actually, I had to leave my home at a young age, because of my, well because of my tail and ears. They were strict believers in 'The one' their lives were dictated by this 'One;' I didn't like it and tried to break free of it, that's when they threw me out, saying that my ears and tail were 'a corruption from those that seek to overthrow them." He stopped here and looked at me, "they gave me what I wanted, just because they were scared of me. I can't complain though, after all it was either that or have them kill me." The sincerity in his words made my mouth hang open and I said in a whispery voice, "they would have killed you?" He laughed humourlessly "Hell yes, excuse the saying. They kill anything that's different, that threatens change. It's not a nice place to live. Anyhow that's how I came to this place. Started a whole new life, and ended up in trouble straight away as I told you." I let my thoughts stray to what he had told me, and how awful it seemed that people could do that; bringing myself back to the here and now I said to him, "so, what happened to Max then?" "Well, as he said he met the werewolf, and his first change caused him to attempt to kill a young man, over time he learnt to control his changes and control the urges to eat people and things like that, so now he's harmless; but his people weren't going to take the risk and let him stay, just for him to go and hurt some people. So they put him in a sack and threw him in the river. It's lucky that I found him." He said all this quietly, his eyes fixed on Max who was now happily walking ahead with a smile on his face.

"That's awful!" I said looking at Max, I'm glad he's ok now though." "Yea, me too, but enough about that, it's all in the past, we've moved on and I don't want to upset you." I was flattered that he was concerned about upsetting me, and annoyed that he thought these things would upset me. In truth they did, but I didn't want to appear weak, especially after that embarrassing scene behind the bar. I compromised by calling to Max, "Hey Max, you hungry? Why don't we stop for the night, you know get some sleep?" Jax looked sidelong at me, a look of confusion on his face, catching it I said, "Don't you worry, I don't get upset easily. I'm not as weak and innocent as you think."

We found a clearing off the lane and settled down to eat, Jax went to find some suitable fire wood and I started finding out some of the food I bought. The two boys had taken some from the local grocery shop and I had some that I had kept from before. The meal was pleasant, the night all around us the firelight casting a warm orange glow over our faces. Max and Jax took turns in telling jokes and telling stories that I couldn't help but to laugh at. Unknown to all of us, a man in a long travelling cloak was watching us from the height of a branch of a long, broad oak tree. His teeth shone white in the moonlight and two of them were longer than those of a normal human, 'Soon' he thought to himself, 'soon we will see' jumping from the branch, he landed softly on the forest floor making no noise, he turned and left.

The morning broke warm and sunny, not a cloud in the sky, and all three of us travellers were in high spirits as we packed up our things and collected our firewood. "Well, let's go then." Jax said stretching his arms up and yawning loudly. Max shoved him while he was yawning and for the next few minutes I watched them tussle in the long grass of the clearing laughing at their antics. "Come on you monkeys, lets get a move on, it's a nice day." I called to the two of them who were panting on their hands and knees. And so we set off, making our way back to the trail full of smiles and laughs. We made good progress that day, all three of us joking and talking animatedly to each other about things meant that we didn't realise how far we had walked and by the afternoon, around lunch time, we had reached the end of the woods and were looking at a vast and empty plain that had long flowing fields of grass and flowers growing in patches. It took my breath away to see such a sight and I took a deep breath of fresh air catching the different scents from the flowers. I had the sudden urge to run in the grass so I set off at a trot running down the slope and into the long grass laughing loudly. I tumbled and rolled in the grass picking flowers like a little girl, all the while Jax stood their smiling. It was a mischievous smile that puzzled me, and stopping in my fun I looked up at him, giving myself time to catch my breath, Max was a little way off, sniffing the ground, I was unsure why but I was more engrossed in Jax, he caught my eye, wagged his finger in a mocking tone, so I pretended to pout which made him laugh. One minute he was standing there throwing mocking gestures at me, the next he was gone. I gasped and looked around me for a sign of him, there was none; it was as if he had disappeared. Max looked over at my gasp and sighing he said "Jax stop showing off!" I didn't know what he meant by that, but he was looking right at me, 'he can't be talking to me, I'm not Jax,' but then I felt something touch one of my horns which made me spin on my heel. There was nothing there, I was getting a little frustrated now, and huffing I crossed my arms, from above me there came a soft laugh that made me jump out of my skin in fright. There, floating above me upside down was none other than Jax, a grin on his face and his blue eyes creased with suppressed laughter. I was so shocked that I fell over, so I laid there as he floated right way up an expression of shock, mixed with anger and amusement on my face. I was unsure whether to laugh or storm so I decided to flick his ears as a compromise.

When he was right way up Max came over and shoved him saying "that ones getting old mate, better think up something new." Jax recovered from the shove and rubbed his ears where I had flicked them, "Ouch! you guys are beating me up, that's not fair ganging up on me." I laughed at him and started walking across the plain running my fingers through the grass, it was so long that it reached up to my knees and hidden thorns kept catching my trousers and snagging them, ripping holes in the fabric. On one such occasion I actually couldn't get free and after struggling with it for a few minutes Jax came to my rescue, he reached out for my trousers and our hands brushed, causing us both to blush and Jax to become flustered. To hide his blush he concentrated on unhooking my trousers from the thorn and it took him more than a few minutes to get it free. I was bewildered because a new thought had occurred to me when we had touched, seeing his flustered nature made me realise that there was a possibility he liked me. It was strange because I had never had someone like me before, unless you count the crush a boy had on me in year two of school. I didn't want to embarrass him, so I kept up the joking manner with him when he finally managed to free me. "Tsk tsk that took you ages to unhook." I said wagging a finger at him in the same way he had earlier. He ran a hand through his blonde hair and smiled, all the while not looking at me; I thought I would be kind and act as though I hadn't noticed anything. I took out one of my daggers and using the knife I managed to cut through the legs of my jeans leaving me wearing what looked like denim shorts that came halfway down my thighs. "There that's better" I sighed, much cooler and it means we won't have to stop to free me anymore" I said smiling hooking the knife's scabbard to my waist.

Then we all moved on and by the time night fell we had covered a large amount of ground and ahead of us in the distance we could see the lights of a small town. Our new destination. That night I lay awake long after we had settled down to sleep, Max had curled up in the middle and was snoring lightly, whilst me and Jax had taken a place either side of him.

((MORE COMING SOON))