Hurray, everyone! Chapter SEVEN! I know I said that I'd try to have it up tomorrow, but that didn't happen, and I apologize for that. You can wack me when you review — I'll take it. -covers head- Just remember that if I'm too badly beaten, I won't be able to do a DOUBLE UPDATE! Yeah, you heard me. That's what I'm shooting for today! But, for now, Annabelle's reaction to the news! I hope you all like it!
Love, Allie
PS: Do you guys like this little Author-note — how it's centered? Feedback!
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So...She Dances
"They're true. I'm a werewolf."
I froze, mid blink. Yes, I was blinking, trying to stay awake. I sat there, my eyes half closed, and stared at him. Slowly, my eyes opened wider and wider until my eyelids were crinkled up midway to my eyebrows. Then I blinked again, and a scared look was breaking out across his face. I sat up. He was too perfect to lie. So was I going senile? That was my theory. I was going insane. Or...or I was dreaming. I looked at my arm, and my conscience screamed, Don't you dare pinch yourself! I decided, since I'm going senile, that my inner voice must be too. So I completely ignored it. I closed my eyes, and I pinched myself. H-A-R-D.
"Ow," I murmured, my eyes still closed. I waited a few minutes, to see if I was in a sleeping position, like on my back, side, or stomach. But no, I was still sitting up.
"Why did you — Anna, you're not dreaming. Do you need me to prove it?"
I nodded. "Yes. Please."
He sighed, raising to his feet. And then, he jumped out my window.
"HOLY MOTHER —," I clapped my hand over my mouth to stem the stream of profanities that would have, no doubt, followed my opening. He had jumped out of the window? Was he psychotic? I all but flew — yes, flew, like with wings? — out of my bed and over to the window. There he stood, next to the ladder (was that my dad's ladder?) that he used to get up to my window, perfectly unharmed. My stomach unknotted itself. He was OK. He wasn't hurt. His ankles weren't shattered. He hadn't fallen and broken his back. His neck remained in tact. Everything was OK.
"What were you thinking?" I hissed, though I doubted he'd hear me.
"Anna, I'm not going to break."
"Break? If any normal person jumped from my second story window, they wouldn't break, they'd shatter."
"Well, you would," he teased lightly.
"I'm serious! You could've been hurt!"
"Just...just watch," he sighed. "Oh. OH! Wait."
He ran into the forest. Wait — wait, was he unbuttoning his pants? While he was gone, I decided now would be a good time to climb down. He was going to prove to me that this wasn't a dream, and I was still in full-on dream mode. So, if I jumped, I wouldn't...shatter. Right? But, even in my dreams, I was still afraid of jumping from heights. So, I chickened out and took the ladder. Step one, step two, step one, step two. It was all I could do not to fall. I just had to think about where I was putting my feet. And I couldn't look down. Nope, that was a death sentence right there.
Finally reaching the bottom, I turned.
And a scream rose up in my throat. My sealed lips, however, choked it back.
A massive, sand colored — what the heck was it? It was too big to be a bear — yeah, it was, like, the size of a horse. A HORSE. Thats what I was thinking, too. It looked like a wolf, though...OMG, I wasn't dreaming. Or I was, and this was proving that I was. Tentatively, I stepped forward. The creature was captivating. It's eyes were wary, and it flinched when I stepped forward, as though it feared I would hit it.
"S-Seth...?" I trailed off. It's head bobbed up and down. Seth. Was. This. Thing. Werewolf, I mentally corrected. Seth was this werewolf.
"S-so, so, you're...they're real? Like in Hollywood and — wait," I paused, looking up at the sky. Crescent. Just what I thought. "I am dreaming. It's a crescent moon, not a full moon. Don't —," but he was already rolling his eyes and shaking his enormous head back and forth.
"Can you...can you go back to...human Seth? I need a question answered that requires some "girl-to-boy" talking." He looked a bit alarmed by this, but ran back into the forest anyway. Why did he keep doing that? Was there blood and guts when he changed that he didn't want me to see? He ran back within the minute, and he was — he was buttoning up his shorts. Had he gone and took a whiz? Did being a werewolf make you pee more?
"Why do you go back into the forest to...to change?"
"Because my clothes don't pop in and out of existence. I had to pull a nudist act right then and there."
"You mean..." Seth — naked — in my backyard woods. I could die.
"Yup." He smirked, but then turned wary again. "Is this all too much to handle? Because, well, there's more."
"M-more...?" My question sounded feeble and weak. He grabbed my hands.
"Do you remember why Taha Aki stopped phasing? The tribe leader in the story..."
"Something about a fourth wife?"
"Third," he corrected. "But...there's a magic in that. It's called imprinting. She was his soul-mate."
"That's pretty neat," I said. He looked a little relieved.
"You're my imprint."
-- -- -- --
So...He's a Werewolf
She looked as though she were going to faint. I switched from holding both of her little hands to a firmer grip around her waist. She just kept staring at me. Oh, God, had I blown it? Lots of thoughts, most circling around rejection, swirled around in the soup-bowl I called "brain". She looked pale — paler than she normally was, at least. And shocked. That was a major factor. She was utterly and completely shocked. I couldn't find the words to help her. She needed to accept this on her own — at least, that's what Sam said he did with Emily, and she came around...eventually. Oh, God, I was getting rejected!
"I'm...you're...soul-mate?" Her voice sounded a little hoarse.
"Yeah..." What else could I say? Yes, honey, I love you and you're supposed to love me back! We're going to get married someday! And you really don't have much say in it because, well, I'm basically made for you! Mmm...fat chance.
"That...does that mean...we're...um...like...an item?"
I couldn't help myself. I burst out laughing. "What — in — the — heck — is — an — item?" I asked in between fits. She scowled, so I shut my face.
"This is so not funny. But, an item is, like, a couple."
"Oh...you mean, dating?"
"Yep."
"Well...I'd like to think that we were."
-- -- -- --
So...She Dances
"Well...I'd like to think that we were," he said, and my heart swelled. He wanted to date me. This was fantastic! Did he love me? I really hoped so. But, then, he had to, didn't he? I was his, what was it? His imprint? The word sounded funny in my mind. Imprint. Soul-mates. Soul-mate had always sounded phony in my mind — along with "love at first sight" and such. But now...now it seemed...awful romantic.
"Then we are," I declared. I'd never felt more confident in my life.
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So... it was short. Buuuuuuuuut, I'm trying to make this a DOUBLE UPDATE DAY! Yes. OK, REVIEW!
Love, Allie
