Episode One: Cousins from the North: Part Two

"Are you sure there isn't anything else I can get you?" Emma asked by the stairs, going back to bed herself. Their four guests were laid out on their couch and on the floor, wrapped in blankets. They had already drunk their cups of tea.

"That will be all." Helen said meekly as she cozied up to her husband, Peter. Emma gave them all a gentle nod before making her way back to her own husband. Tonight had been a little crazier than usual; Maddy's nightmares were expected but not their cousins. Emma walked past Maddy's room to see the light inching it's way out from under the door. She quietly opened it up and looked disapprovingly at her daughter. Maddy was sitting in her bed with a notepad resting on her knees, pen in hand.

"Cub…" she sighed and shut the door behind her, "You need to get some rest. You've got your first day back at school tomorrow and I don't want you to be groggy."

"I just need to write down the dream Mum." She said scrawling down the last detail onto the pad. Emma held out her hand as Maddy snuggled under her covers. Emma took the book and rested it on Maddy's desk and gave her daughter a loving smile before turning the light off and leaving.

Maddy couldn't help but wonder. Even with her notepad, she wouldn't likely forget tonight's events. Her dreams were becoming more vivid, like she could reach out and touch the scenery around her. She could have sworn once she got burnt by fire and woke up the next morning with a small bruise there. But her parents had always wrote her dreams off, proposing the likelihood of her just hitting her arm on her bedside table in the night and it crossing over into her dream. Like the feeling you get when you're falling in a dream that jumps you to wake, there's no real danger you brain just makes you think so. By now Maddy had just tried to brush the creepiness away, because what she was seeing wasn't possible. Or at least it couldn't have been until tonight.

Her northern cousins hadn't elaborated much past the fact that a wild pack took their territory and daughter. They said they almost died but didn't explain how. Although Maddy already had an idea about it all. She knew they looked familiar and not just from family events. She was certain she dreamt about them a month ago. She didn't catch names but their faces were the same. She grabbed her phone and used it as a flashlight to grab her notepad again, careful not to squeak on the floor or getting back into bed. Her Mum had an amazing sense of hearing, even when she wasn't actively using her wolfblood powers. Maddy flicked back through the book until she found the page she was looking for.

The dream that night had started with a bang, Maddy had been thrown right into the mix of things. She had been watching as five of them raced around their own home barricading windows and doors. She had described a younger looking guy, most likely Calem, screaming at a younger girl, Jane. Something about how what she had done would get them all killed. Then there was red as fire began to tear at the windows, the pack outside was setting their house on fire when they were still inside, trapped. They got out and that was when Jane must have crossed over and went into the arms of a male. The alpha came to the forefront as the flames licked higher and that was when Darius threw a bottle of rum at them causing an explosion and allowing the four to make their escape, with nothing but the clothes on their back.

Maddy turned her phone off and put the notepad under her pillow as she rested in thought. She couldn't be sure, but if she could get the details off one of their cousins and it was remotely like this it meant more bad than good. If her nightmare earlier on tonight was any indication, maybe the same pack was going after Rhydian. She didn't like that thought one bit, so she closed her eyes and tried to think of other things than the boy who left her.

Tomorrow when she started school up she would be a senior and that was something she could look forward to. It seemed odd to think that two years had past since Shannon and Tom had found out about her wolfblood secret, she had never regretted it though. Maybe the circumstances that followed, especially the incident with the hidden camera in the owl, but otherwise her two best friends had stuck by her. Yes, tomorrow would be good. Shannon had been overseas in Australia for her holidays so they'd only been able to chat via skype and Maddy missed her dearly. Tom had been around and they'd done a lot of milkshake trips to Bernie's and he'd done some house watching for her when there was a full moon. They'd even taken a day trip into the city too, which was fun, this time without Maddy being crazed by Eolas. All in all they'd be a reasonably uneventful set of holidays. She couldn't believe herself in thinking this, but she missed school. Together with Shannon and Tom things could only get better. Senior year was looking bright.

On that thought she drifted to sleep, the fiery dreams of Rhydian and his chaser gone for now.

xxxx

"So, how were your holidays?" Maddy heard Jimi asking Liam Hunter by the lunch tables, Jimi rambled on about some trip to Ireland. It didn't really interest Maddy all too much. She was much more focused on finding her friends.

"Have a nice day sweetie." Her father called, she turned around to shut the car door wave him goodbye.

"I'll try." She shrugged as he chuckled slightly and drove off. Then Maddy was left to brave the school by herself. As a senior there was wasn't much difference uniform wise, they had a jersey that they could only wear on Fridays and a sparkly badge that broke upon more than ten uses. Maddy's still had nine more uses to go and if it lasted any longer than that she owed Tom ten quid.

"Oi Maddy!" she heard a excited voice call from across the yard, she looked around to see Shannon running at her, arms stretched out. Before Maddy could react Shannon basically tackled her in a huge hug. It knocked the wind out of her and they bother fell to the ground laughing.

"Shan!" she hugged her friend back, "How was Australia?"

"Oh, it was fantastic. We went to the zoo and I got to pat a koala and there were theme parks and the people are just so wonderful and –," Shannon blurted out.

"Woah there. Take a breath!" Maddy laughed getting to her feet.

"I missed you so much!" she said before hugging Maddy tightly again.

"I see Shannon's happy to be home!" Tom said from behind. Shannon recreated the scene she had with Maddy, only with Tom and there were smiles all round.

"I got you guys something each." She remembered holding up one finger as she dug through her bag. First she pulled out a plush wolf toy and handed it to Maddy. Then she went through her bag again and pulled out another plush toy, one neither Tom nor Maddy recognised. It was like a fuzzy creature with a beak, but not a duck.

"You got me a wolf." Maddy stared her gift funny and them Tom's.

"And me a mutant duck." Tom laughed.

"Actually Maddy yours is a dingo. It's like a wolf, they're all part of the canine family, but they're native to Australia. And Tom, yours is a platypus. Isn't it gorgeous," she bopped it's nose.

"It's great." He smiled and inspected the present a bit closer.

"I'm glad you think so!" Shannon beamed, "You'd better put them away though, before Jeffries confiscates them. You know how he gets on the first day back."

Maddy and Tom nodded and hid their plush toys. As they did, the first bell sounded, causing them to all look up.

"We'd better hurry, we've got Miss Graham for homeroom." Shannon declared, slinging her arms as best as she could around Tom and Maddy. Tom had grown substantially taller in their break, or maybe he'd always been tall and she never noticed. She was glad she was back. They moved relatively quickly, it was crucial to get to homeroom on time at the start of each year to cement what sit you'd sit in. As seniors this was more important than ever.

"So what have I missed?" Shannon asked as they entered homeroom. Maddy looked around to make sure no one was looking.

"My cousins came knocking on my door in the middle of last night." She craned her neck.

"What? Why?" Tom asked as they sat down, Maddy and Shannon together and Tom in front.

"They didn't say much, but something chased them from their home." Maddy stated.

"Like what?" Shannon was intrigued.

"A pack of wolfbloods." Maddy said with as much surprise as Shannon and Tom's faces held, "But that's not the weirdest part…"

"What could be any weirder than that?!" Tom exclaimed.

"I think I dreamt about them. I'm not entirely sure, I just feel like I know what happened, like I saw it all before in a dream."

"Did your dream match up with their story?" Shannon questioned.

"They haven't really told us, it was all very brief last night. They knocked gave a shortened panicky version of the events and then we all went back to sleep. I think Mum and Dad were going to pry it out of them today." Maddy shrugged, but clearly she was worried about it.

"Well for now don't stress too much over it." Tom comforted her, "I'm sure whatever you dreamt about was just another bad dream."

"Probably, but I can't help but wonder…" Maddy trailed off and looked out the window, "The dreams just make me nervous."

"You mean the one's about Rhydian do." Tom said lowly, biting the inside of his lip with distain. Maddy glanced at him momentarily, before looking out the window again. She didn't want to let him have the satisfaction of being right; Tom was always two steps ahead when it came to Rhydian and herself. But she was over him now, it had been two very long years and he'd never bothered to send so much as a postcard to say 'Hey, I'm still alive out here! Families great, missing you x'. She had tried to stop wondering where he was or if he was ever coming back, but that was pretty hard when her dreams always lead back to him.

She'd had to reinvent herself once he left. She grew her hair out, got her ears pierced and even spent some time redecorating the den with her parents. But the biggest change of all was allowing herself to left someone in. For a couple of months after her left she couldn't help but isolate herself from Shannon and Tom but slowly she warmed back up to them and things went slightly back to normal. That was when her relationship with Tom changed too. In the middle of last year, all the way up until break they had been a 'couple'. Shannon had been on and off with Harry Averwood so couple dating was a constant. It was hard to explain how she even got herself to a point where she could admire Tom in that way, but she did. It was a mutual split before the holidays began. Tom could tell that Maddy's heart wasn't there and she eventually came to terms with the fact they were better as friends. All in all, there were no hard feelings, but Tom still stayed as over-protective as ever. He never forgave Rhydian like she had.

So the holidays they had to take time to re-adjusting as friends; best friends. But it was no secret that if Rhydian ever showed his face back in Stoneybridge that Tom would have a few nasty words to say to him.

"Hey Mads…" Shannon pulled Maddy out of her thoughts, "If you're worried about things I could stay over the night. I know it's only the first day back but my Mum'll let me. Plus we can try and work out what's going on with your cousins too."

"Thanks Shan." Maddy smiled and tilted her head on her friends shoulder. Jimi, Liam and San filed in as well as the three K's, taking their seats. Their homeroom was just like year 10, minus Rhydian of course. It seemed almost fitting, that where everything had begun it would end. The best years of her life would coincide together. The final bell rang and in marched Miss Graham, her crows feet on her eyes ever so prominent. She slammed her books down and drawled out a longwinded greeting from some play before marking the role. Yep, senior year was going to be great and nothing was going to change Maddy's mind.

Author's Note:

Wow's it's been ages since I could work on this fanfiction, recently I've been very busy but I won't both you with what. I just need to tell you some very important information with this story.

It's going to work like the television show, there's going to be 'episodes' all split into parts (this is chapter for instance is part 2 of episode 1). I'm not sure how many but probably between 7-13. It depends how I want to work out my timeline. There is a plan written up about what has to happen and so it depends how many episodes it will make up, I am aimed for 13 liket he show but we'll see how I go.

Check out my youtube account for wolfblood videos and subscribe for the upcoming trailer video for this fic. I'm 'imsarcasticyes'. Just search it up and leave a message telling me where you've come from!

YOUR REVIEWS ARE ENCOURAGEMENT FOR ME TO WRITE. THE LESS REVIEWS THE LESS MOTIVATED I AM TO UPDATE. THE MORE, THE FASTER I WILL BE WILLING TO UPDATE.