CHAPTER 3

Marek was sitting outside the school's therapist office waiting for his turn. Alaric had made it mandatory for Marek and Hope to talk to the school's therapist regularly. He hated talking to the therapist, most of the times it was Ms. Tig trying to get Marek to confront his feelings. Marek didn't like confronting his feelings in any regard.

As soon as this session was over, Marek was going to hunt Landon down and tear out his spine. The boy had made Hope drop down her walls and hurt her in the process. That was something that Marek could not forgive. He pushed her towards him, he thought the boy would have been good for Hope. He should have just trusted his instincts.

The door to the office opened, and Hope walked out. She gave Marek a look and walked away. Marek had to admit that it stung a bit to see Hope upset with him. Their last conversation did not go so well, and on top of that Landon had betrayed her trust.

"Marek, please come in." Ms. Tig called out to Marek.

Marek made his way into the office and sat down in the chair across from Ms. Tig. He began to look out the window and prepared to ignore Ms. Tig's questions. He prepared for the normal questions of asking how he was feeling and is he making any friends. However, Ms. Tig's question caused Marek to react.

"Is everything alright between you and Hope?" She asked hoping to get a reaction out of Marek. She could see that he was uncomfortable with the question and began to probe a little more. "I noticed that look that she gave you as she left. Did you guys have a fight? Hard to believe, you two never fight with one another."

"It's none of your business." Marek replied, and he began to get a little frustrated. Marek avoided all questions about himself and Hope whenever they came up. On occasion, Josie would ask about the two of them and he would reply with questions about Penelope and the conversation quickly ended.

"You know, Marek. That's the first thing you've said to me in all our sessions. I've asked you about your parents, and you didn't react. But when I bring up Hope, you react instantly. I can tell that you care about the girl, but I don't know what happened in the past. How can I help you get thru this, if you don't start to talk to me?"

"I don't need your help. What good will talking about my feelings do? You think talking about my fight with Hope will help me? Or how I just want to rip Landon's spine from his body because of what he did to her. I'm better alone than with people."

"That's where you're wrong Marek. Everyone needs someone. You're a werewolf, it's part of who you are to have a pack. Have you ever heard of a lone wolf?"

"I'm done talking about this." Marek stood from his chair and slammed the door to the office.

Ms. Tig began to write in Marek's file and placed the file in the locked cabinet with the rest of her student's files. The cabinet was protected with a lock and magic in order to protect her student's personal thoughts.

Ms. Tig turned around to see Mira Verati standing in the doorway to her office, "Ms. Tig, are you ready for my session?"

"Of course, Mira. Please sit down." She motioned to the chair for Mira to sit down. Unbeknownst to her that Mira was eyeing the cabinet as she was smiling.

Marek stood outside the doorway to Hope's room and thought about what he was going to say to her. He had no clue on what to say to her. All he could think about right now was revenge on Landon, but these feelings kept creeping their way back into his heart. He has tried to fight them for so long, but every time he thinks he gets rid of them they keep coming back stronger.

Marek knocked on the door, and Hope answered and took one look at the boy "I don't have time for this." She began to close the door, but Marek stopped her.

"We need to talk Hope." Marek pushed himself into her room.

"What do you think you're doing Marek?" Hope said as she crossed her arms "We don't have time for this. Landon needs to be found."

"I know. I just…" Marek began but could not find the words that he wanted to say. So, he settled on the first thing that came to mind. "Are we ok?"

"Are we ok? What does that even mean, Marek?"

"Are you still mad at me, Hope? Our last conversation ended with you leaving and slamming the door behind you. I just want to know…" Marek's eyes went to the book on Hope's nightstand, he noticed that there was a page ripped out. Marek recognized the book, Hope had showed it to him before. "That book, the page that's missing. You're planning on killing Landon?"

"I don't know what you're talking about Marek. But you need to leave now."

"Hope, you've shown me this book before. I remember the spell that was on this page. You're planning on using dark magic to kill Landon." Before the Vow, Marek would have been ecstatic at the thought of Hope using dark magic to kill someone. The Vow changed his perception of Hope, and after everything that went down in New Orleans, he wouldn't let Hope kill someone. It would eat away at her. "I won't let you do this Hope."

"Let me." Hope got in Marek's face "I don't need your permission to do anything Marek. I don't need a protector, I can protect myself."

"I'll stop you, Hope."

"I don't think you will, Marek." Hope began to use her magic on Marek, and he began to writhe in pain.

Marek fell to the ground and looked up at Hope, "Don't do this, Hope."

Hope kicked Marek in the head knocking him out. She made her way to the door and looked back at her friend on the ground. "I'm sorry. This is just something I have to do."

Mira Verati was sitting on a tree branch outside of the school watching people go about their day. She learned at a young age to pay attention to everything that goes around you. Knowledge is power, that was the lesson instilled in her by her parents and the Verati Clan.

The Verati Clan was just one of the three clans that made up the Necos. It was also the weakest of the three clans. There had never been a Verati at the head of the Necos, until her. She would do everything she could to make sure that the Astaros and the Dux Clan stayed beneath her heel.

A jet-black raven with piercing blue eyes flapped its wings and landed next to Mira. She stared at it for a bit and then began to speak to the bird. "Hello, Claire. I see you got my message. You got a new familiar as well."

A soft pitched voice came from the raven, "Mira it's been so long since I've seen you. You've been undercover for what seems like forever. I miss you a lot." While the voice was soft it spoke with an excited tone.

"Calm down, Claire. I need your help. I need you to break a spell and then recast it after I'm done getting all the information that I need."

"That's it? I thought you called me for something difficult. How boring."

"I'll let you play with the prisoner if you do this for me, Claire."

The voice became giddy with excitement, "Really? I love playing with the prisoner. Alright, Mira. Let's go get you that info. I want as much playtime with the prisoner as possible."

Mira sighed, "Just don't kill her. We may need her in the future. Your playthings tend to break, Claire."

"It's not my fault that they're not sturdy, Mira."

Darkness surrounded Marek as he stood in an empty room void of color and sound. He tried to call out, but no sound came. He began to walk. Where he did not know, but he could feel something drawing him forward. He thought about how Hope had just knocked him out, and he didn't know how to feel.

Marek was in constant battle with his emotions. He never learned how to express them or deal with them. They got worse when he turned 13, and the situation worsened when he took the Vow. He often thought to himself, what he could do. Should he have not taken the Vow? If he hadn't the New Orleans situation would have ended up far worse than it was.

Marek stopped in his tracks as he heard wind begin to blow around him. He could hear something in the wind. It was a wolf growling, but it was different than any other growl that he had heard before. It seemed to encompass all the darkness surrounding him, he could feel the guttural growl within his body. The growl shook him, which was not something that happened often. Marek had only been shaken to his core, once before two years ago.

The growl continued, and Marek could feel as if was speaking to him. While the growl shook him, it seemed familiar. It was as if it was something from long ago, and it wanted something.

The growl then began to become clear, a voice spoke out. "Wake up, child."

Marek's eyes fluttered open at the voice's command. He looked around trying to gather himself. He grabbed his head and groaned, "That was not fun." Marek stood up and hoped that he could catch up with Hope. He had to stop her from killing Landon, and he would do anything to protect her. Even from herself.