Chapter 4: Rhydian

I woke up so early this morning. I'm so nervous about seeing Jana and Carys, I'm worried that this thing with Ava is going to cause tension between Carys and me, and then that'll cause tension between Jana and me. I can't lose my best friend.

I don't know why but since I met Carys I've always felt connected to her in a way. Not like the way I'm connected to Maddy, I don't have a crush on her or anything. I love Maddy. But I just feel like I have to protect her at all costs. Which is partly the reason that I treated her so badly before, it freaked me out. I was as bad as Alric, and that's saying something. I have no idea how she's been getting on in the wild. I hope it's been okay for her. I hope mum and dad treated her well, I know mum would but I'm not sure about dad. He can be a little bit awkward at times. As for the rest of the pack, I just don't know. Her father betrayed them by leaving to become tame. Having been in the wild before, I know they don't take stuff like that lightly. I was sent to the Kronock for days just for having a stupid gossip magazine, and it wasn't even mine, I was just hiding it for Jana. I was partly to blame though; I took her to the human world, that was why she wanted to leave the wild. Whenever I think about stuff like this, I realise how much of a bad influence I've been in the past.

"Hey," Maddy creeps in. "You should get back before the Vaughan's notice you're gone," she says, giving me a light kiss on the forehead. I groan as I get out of Carys' bed. I only got about two and half hours of sleep because of everything that happened with Ava last night. "I'm off to go and meet Shan now, we're gonna get everything sorted sooner rather than later because Shannon's making me sit down and do coursework with her later, even though it's a Saturday. Actually, you have coursework due in too, maybe you should come with us?" I know she just wants me to come so I won't be stressing about Carys and Ava all day.

"Nah, I'm more of a leave-it-until-the-last-minute kind of guy."

"That's called procrastination."

We head out of the house together, going our separate ways after sharing a quick kiss. Maddy and Shan are going to get some party poppers after they finish their coursework, to celebrate Carys and Jana's visit. Maddy can be soft sometimes. Though to be fair it was Tom's idea. We're going to hide so we can jump out and surprise them, they'll probably be able to smell us but it's the thought that counts.

As the day progresses, I'm getting more and more nervous for Carys. I know she's already met Ava, but it must have been a big shock. It was for me.

I feel strange, kind of how I feel when I'm worried about mum or dad, or Bryn. Like something bad has happened. I'm sure they're fine, and if anything has happened, Jana and Carys would tell me.

I sneak back into the house. Everybody's still in bed apart from Ollie, who's sat in the living room watching TV. I try to sneak past him, but he's got ears like a Wolfblood. "Where've you been?" He asks, sounding like Mrs Vaughan when I get home past curfew. "At your girlfriends?"

"You'll understand when you're older Ollie," I laugh, "Do me a favour and don't tell Mrs Vaughn?" He nods and turns back to the TV. I go up to my room. I climb into my own bed and finally fall asleep, the quickest I have for a while.

I find myself in a perfect dream. Me, mum, dad and Bryn all live in a big house with a forest for a garden, everyone's happy. Maddy is there too, and Jana, Carys, Tom and Shannon all come over and we just sit and talk about happy, uncomplicated things. Even Ava joins us. It all feels so real in my head. And at first, everything is just right, then it all goes dark. Suddenly, a pack of dark-furred wolves burst through the windows and start ripping everyone to shreds. The biggest of the wolves leaps at me and I wake up just before he digs his teeth into my face. I've had this dream before, a few times. How often do you have to have a bad dream for it to be considered a recurring nightmare? Because I'm pretty sure that's what this is. Due to stress or whatever. I told Maddy about it the first few times, but it started happening more and more, so I just gave up on telling her. She borrowed this dream book from Shan, it said that the wolves could represent all the different emotions I'm feeling. I guess it sort of makes sense, you know, for hippy-dippy fairy tales.

I managed to get a few more hours of sleep before being woken up by Maddy calling me at midday.

"Come on Rhydian, we're going for a run." I'm still exhausted, but I'd rather be exhausted with Maddy. I get dressed and shower and by the time I'm out the front door, Maddy's there waiting for me. She's wearing her green jumper that I love; I sort of wish I had one of my own sometimes.

She runs so much faster than me, but to be fair I had a pretty sleepless night. She notices how tired I am. "Let's take a breather." We stop to lie down for a bit. "You're still so tense," she says.

"Yeah, I just feel like something's happened. Other than my surprise sister. Maybe with mum or dad. I don't know, I think maybe this whole thing is just taking its toll. I'm sure everyone's fine. I feel alright now, but last night and this morning, everything was just weird. You know how you get those instincts when something's happened to me or your parents? That's how I felt. It's starting to pass a little, but I don't know."

She doesn't say anything for a second. "You're right, it's probably just because of Ava. It's normal to be worried about your family when a bomb like this has just dropped," she takes my hand. "Everything will work out, it always does." She smiles, leans over and we kiss for a little bit.

We lie silent for a while, just looking up at the trees swaying above us in the wind. The leaves are full of colour and it's beautiful. I love spring. I love all of the seasons. It's beautiful, the way nature works, taking turns to show off.

It reminds me of when I was in the wild with mum, and Jana and I would lie around in the sunlight admiring the trees and the leaves. I've missed her.