Chapter 1
How It Started
I'm not like other girls, the ones who call themselves 'popular' Meh...I'm ordinary, with dirty blond hair and blue-gray eyes. Nothing special. I'm only sixteen, and I've never even had a boyfriend. I don't know the official definition of 'in love', I've never felt it. And, well, this might sound kind of strange, but I can sense peoples' moods. As in, taste them in the air. With my mind. Yeah.
It all started when I got a letter from Lake Erie, saying I won a sweepstakes for two of my other very close friends.
"Mom! You gotta look at this! I won!"
"That's great, honey. What does it say?"
"'Congratulations, contestant, you have won a vacation to Lake Erie with two of your closest friends.'" I read.
"Who are you gonna bring?" my little sister, Payton asked.
"You don't even know what we're talking about, do you Payton?" I questioned my sister.
"No, not really!" She said cheerfully. And she floundered off.
"I'll probably bring Lauren and Casey. I'll go call them." I ran off toward the phone and dialed Casey's number. I heard it ringing. Casey picked up the phone.
"Hello?" she asked.
"Casey! It's Willow. I won this trip to Lake Erie. You wanna come?"
"Sure! When is it?"
"I think it's this week," I replied. "It didn't say on the E-mail."
"Wow, this'll be a great trip! I'll ask my mom." Said Casey, and went to ask her mom.
She came back to the phone a few moments later.
"My mom said sure, you'll have to pick me up. My dad has the car."
"That'll be fine," I said. She hung up. So did I.
I ran up to my room to pack. "What do you think I should bring, Katrina?" I asked my wolf. Even though she couldn't talk, she nosed my button-up T-shirt. I kissed her head and petted her lovingly. I packed the t-shirt. "Hey, maybe you can come with me and the girls, Katrina!!" I ran downstairs to ask.
"Mom? Can I bring Katrina on my trip? She'll be a good watchwolf!" I said, patting Katrina. She wriggled around, panting happily.
"Sure, as long as you take plenty of her food!"
"Alright!" I did a little happy dance, which Katrina joined, and went upstairs to pack.
In the car, we were having some complications.
"When are we going to be there?" Lauren asked, so I pulled over to look at the map.
"I'm having trouble with that part," I replied. "I don't know if this is the right way."
"Look!" we all heard Casey yell. Very loud. "There's the lake!"
We all yelled, Katrina barked and howled. "That's a good singer, Kat!" I turned to the window. She stopped barking, and we pulled up to this weird looking guy in sweatpants and a zip-up hoodie with a baseball cap covering most of his black shaggy hair, some of which had escaped the cap and was hanging in his eyes, which were a hard green. Then he spoke.
"Welcome to Lake Erie, hope you enjoy your stay while on this tour of the Lake." His deep voice was soft, amused, and almost… teasing. Nervousness exuded from Lauren.
Casey raised her hand.
"Yes, um, I'm sorry Ma'am, we haven't exchanged names." His deep voice answered. It was kind of dreamy. He was at least nineteen.
"I'm Casey. I just wanted to know if there were civilized bathrooms." She asked.
"Well, I'm sorry, but yes." He smiled, this time in a warm way. We all laughed. "Some other girls should be coming, but not very soon, I'm afraid." His eyes looked faraway, with a sort of glaze. "Now, if you'll just follow me, I will show you to your room."
We all followed him into a cabin. There was a big, king-sized bed pushed up towards the left wall and a couch towards the back by the doorway to, what I guessed, was the kitchen. A double bed was opposite the king, paralleled against the wall while the king sized was pushed, headboard side up against the wall. The cabin had a musty, yet homely smell. Like someone had been there before.
"You ok, Willow?"
"Yeah, I've been here before, but I've never been here before." I was cut off by Katrina barking her fool head off, at something we couldn't see. "Katrina!! Stop it! What are you do-" again, I was cut off by an unreal freeze in the room. "Geez, is there heat?" I asked, my hair on the back of my neck sticking up on end.
"Oh my g-g-osh! That is-s unr-real cold!" Lauren gasped, her teeth already knocking together. Lauren was shivering. Casey's lips were blue. All of a sudden, the coldness vanished.
I stood transfixed in the doorway of the cabin, staring into space as I was known to do. Behind me, my friends had started a pillow fight. I could hear their squeals of surprise. I went back into the cabin.
"Ok, guys, let's unpack. Katrina, wanna help, girl?" She barked twice. That's a yes. Casey and Lauren had ceased their pillow fight to unpack their suitcases.
The next day, Katrina, the girls and I were on a hike in the woods near Lake Erie. We saw a few squirrels, a bluebird here and there. Once, we even saw a wolf pack of nine strong, healthy wolves. Katrina wanted to go with them, but I held her back.
Suddenly, I felt the unnatural cold again. I stopped, looking up at the colored trees.
"What is it, Willow?" Lauren asked nervously.
"Don't you feel that cold?"
"Yeah, now you mention it, I do." We all looked around, seeing who was playing the trick. I guess I had a fierce look on my face, because Casey and Lauren were looking scared at me.
"I don't think that's a wind… I read about ghosts one time, and wherever they are, there's a really freezing feeling, like you're in Alaska or something."
"That's not good then, that it's July and so freezing." Said Casey, her lips were blue again. We all heard a twig snap, and we snapped our heads in the direction of the noise.
I saw a face poking out from behind a tree. "Guys, look!" I yelled. I pointed at the face. It had sunken eyes, a long, curved nose. Its hair was gnarled, black, and dirty. Its eyes had a black glare, almost menacingly. Casey screamed. Lauren hid behind me.
"Guys… what is that?" Casey said, shaking, coming around to her senses. Katrina finally saw it. Before, she was looking around like a bug was biting her butt. She was barking her fool head off again. Stupid wolf. She knew what to do, though. She turned, ran and turned again, barking at us to follow her. We followed suit of Katrina.
When we got back to the cabin, I closed the latch, breathing heavily. I turned around.
"Well that was terrifying." I said, while everyone sat on their beds, still panting heavily. Katrina whined and tried to nudge my hand for comfort. I scratched behind her ears before I let her out for a while.
We all lay down. I was in a king-sized bed with Casey. Lauren had her own twin sized bed. Casey was asleep first. After a long time lying awake, I finally drifted off to sleep. I dreamed that night about running with wolves, when the wolves changed to a horrible, bat-like winged creature, at least 10 feet long! His face had kind of a muzzle and black, beady eyes. I woke up, sweating. Lauren and Casey were next to my bed. I looked at them.
"What happened?" I said, breathing heavily. Then there was a knock on the door. We all stared at it. None of us moved. They knocked again. "I'll get it" I whispered. "If it's that guy, don't panic!" I swung my legs out of bed, walking towards the door in my pjs. I unlatched it, opened it. There was a girl, about our age. She was holding a furry, crippled figure.
"Katrina!" I gathered her in my arms. Her breathing was harsh. "Where'd you find her?"
"I found her by the river. She had horrible bites and slashes. Kylos, I'll bet. Maybe wers."
"Ky-whats?"
"Kylos. They're bat-like creatures, about 10 feet tall. Oh, Excuse me! My name's Maerad." Just then, I noticed a little boy peeking around from behind her. "Oh, this is Cain." Maerad? Cain? Umm unusual but okay…
"Come in." I said, holding the door more open.