I’ve never really fit in with a crowd. I never had friends. Until eleventh grade. When I met Trixie. Trixie was the new girl from California. An distant for popularity. Except that she was friends with me instead of the “In” crowd. Everyone was surprised that such a beautiful girl would be friends with me. Even I thought that. She lived right next door to me. In the small town of Spring lake, North Dakota everyone heard about the new family from California. Mostly because they owned a lot of expansive stuff. When Trixie sat next to me in the lunch room on her first day. I never noticed the stares from every student in the cafeteria. Trixie and I didn’t have a lot in common though. I guess that’s why we made such great friends. She liked the mall. I liked reading. She liked romance movies. I liked action. I have to admit she really was as beautiful as everyone called her. Tall, long black wavy hair down to her shoulders. Great tanned legs from her Indian heritage. Light gray/blue eyes. She said she wore contacts. But, to me they looked amazingly real.
After meeting Trixie lots of people started to talk to me. I heard Amelia McCoy say that I must be paying Trixie to be friends with me. When I told Trixie. She marched right up to Amelia and yelled that Trixie had plenty of money and she thought it was rude for Amelia to say that. After that Amelia stopped even looking at me.
When Trixie moved to Spring Lake I finally knew what it meant to be happy. To have a best friend and stuff like that. But everything changed when I met Brad her twin brother. As I walked up the stairs to Trixie’s room. I noticed the sound of a guitar strumming in the room next to where hers was. I looked in the pine door an there he sat. I admit I was surprised he looked just like Trixie. Well except that he had paler skin. Not tan like Trixie but looked like her. Warm brown honey eyes, brown hair, long face, and thick lips. Completely different from Trixie. He was focused on playing the guitar he was playing. He didn’t look like he noticed that I was standing in his doorway. I wanted to move an go before he saw me. But, the song he was playing made me want to listen more and more. Until he looked up from the guitar. And I wanted to stare into his eyes forever. “ You must be Emma?” he smiled at me. Gleaming perfect white teeth. My heart skipped a beat. “Um.. Yeah you must be Brad?” I stared at the hard wood floor. “That’s me. Your Trixie’s friend so why are you in my room?” he looked puzzled. “Oh. Well I heard you playing.” I could feel my cheeks warm as I looked into his eyes even more. “ Guess you found Brad’s room Emma” Trixie came up behind me with a piece of jerky in her mouth. “Yeah.. You didn’t tell me he played guitar.” I mumbled to her. “Oh yeah he does.” She looked at Brad. “Emma plays acoustic.” Trixie smiled. “Really?” Brad looked back at me. “Yeah.” he smiled. “Cool.” Trixie looked at me. “So do you want to see my art collection?” I looked at her. Usually I wasn’t into art but for Trixie’s sake I’d pretend I did. “Yeah sure.” She smiled. “Okay. Brad mom called her and dad should be here tomorrow night. She said we should make dinner tomorrow for them when they get back.” It looked like there was another meaning to what she said to him. But I didn’t want to seem nosey so I just started to walk to her room. “ Brad and her exchanged a couple words before Trixie came into her room. She really did have a art collection. Most was Van Gogh. Thankfully I knew of Starry Night from Art class. She walked into her room and smiled. “You like my brother?” I looked opened mouth. “No way would you say that?” I turned a shade of pink that gave me away. “Your totally crushing on my brother.” She smiled again. “Hey but he likes you too. So it goes both ways here.” I looked up in surprise. “How do you know that?” she smiled. “I have my ways.” she winked at me. I laughed unevenly.
I spent the rest of the day in Trixie’s room watching Full House reruns. And eating popcorn. Then it was time for dinner. I walked down the stairs to the kitchen looking at the house. The house had been newly built. I remember I was one of the people watching as the mayor and police chief called a meeting at town hall. Saying that this house was a new beginning in modernizing Spring Lake. It was pretty modern. The outside had square windows and pine finished pillars holding up the huge porch. The living room had a nice wooden fire place filled with ash showing that it had been recently used. With beautiful Indian rugs looking as if they had been passed down from generations. I stood mesmerized as I took in how beautiful the house was. When Brad came up behind me. “Pretty amazing huh?” he looked at me. “Oh.. Yeah. Really amazing.” I mumbled looking at the floor. “Not usually my taste though. I’m more into Victorian designed houses.” he looked at me with his hands on the railing acting as if he was restraining himself. “Like Buckingham Palace?” he laughed. “Yeah sort of.” he looked at me for a second and than looked back at the living room. “Cool, ever been there?” he looked away for second. “Yeah. I lived there.” I could tell my face looked surprised. “We move a lot. Well I do I lived with my mom and dad..” he went back to walking down the stairs. “Wait you lived in Buckingham Palace?” he laughed and turned around. “No. I lived in London.” I felt a little dumb. “Oh.. Cool.” I started to walk down the stairs. “But Trixie never said anything about London?” he laughed. “Because I went with my other mom and dad. Well my aunt and uncle I call them mom and dad because they raised me.” I followed him into the kitchen.
“Look what I made!” Trixie held out a pan of rice and beans. “What is it?” Brad looked at his sister. “Duh.. Nana’s recipe Black Bean Bronco. Mom showed me how to make it last year. But, she never let me make it.. Brad you use to love when you went out to hu-” she broke off her sentence. “ hunt for rocks at Nana’s creek.” I watched as Brad gave her an annoyed look. “Well anyways can you get plates I’m starving..” Brad got up and got plates from the pine cabinets. He handed me one and our hands touched for a minute. And for some reason my hand was burning when he moved his hand. Like the only feeling that would make the burning stop was his hand. He looked at me as I rubbed my palm.. Trying to stop the burning. Eventually the burning stopped but there was still remnants of the sensation of his hand one mine. When I took a bite of the dinner Trixie made everyone stared at me. Even Trixie’s husky Maximum stared at me. When I swallowed they stopped staring. “What is it the way I chew?” Brad almost spit out his juice and started laughing. “No. We didn’t know if you’d like it. Most people don’t..” Trixie looked at Brad and punched his arm. “Your such an a**.” Brad spread his arms out acting as if he hadn’t done anything wrong. “Never mind that. What do you thing Emma. Is it good.” I looked at my plate. “Yeah really good. A little too salty though.” Trixie looked at me dumbfounded. “That’s how it’s supposed to taste . Black Wicca Beans are naturally salty.” I looked at her. I’d never heard of Black Wicca Beans. And my grandmother cooked all sorts of beans. “Never heard of them.” I started to take bites of the strange dish. “Yeah there very rare.”
“Oh.. How’d you get them?” she smiled. “E-Bay.” I laughed. We ate silently until Brad started talking about what classes I took. And Trixie started to do geometry homework. “I never see you at school. Do you go to Mount Bridge Mont Tech?” he laughed. “No. I’m in well your Gym, English, and Biology class.” he stared at the fork and plate in his hand and picked up mine and walked over to the brand new metal sink and turned the water on. “I never saw you.” How could I have missed him? “ Yeah.. You probably didn’t I usually sit in the back. So no one usually sees me.” he wiped his hands on a dish rag and put the plates and forks away.
After sitting in the kitchen and Trixie complaining about how hard her homework was it was time to sleep. “I’m gonna go brush my teeth.” I said as I walked out into the hallway. “Hurry back scary movie starts in ten.” I heard Trixie say as I opened the bathroom door. The bathroom was even amazing. With a Jacuzzi built into the bath tub and a big mirror above the huge glass sink. Better than any bathroom I’d ever been in. I looked into the mirror. Looking at my self. Brown hair, honey brown eyes that shimmered in the light of the mirror. I’d seen this face a million times but it looked discreetly unfamiliar to me now. I couldn’t see what was so special though. Trixie said that I was really pretty when she put eyeliner and mascara. In her case she said it “Made my eyes pop” but to me make up was only for girls who wanted guys to notice them. What guy would I want to notice me. I thought about Brad. What would he want with a girl like me. He probably thought I was jus his sisters friend. There was nothing really special about me. But when he looked at me everything stopped. My heart stopped. And that burning I felt what was it. It felt as if my body had felt mourning for him when he left.. What was this feeling? What could- My thoughts were interrupted by the knock on the bathroom door. I jumped at the sound I wasn’t expecting. “Yeah?” I said catching my breath. “ Um.. I need to use the bathroom.” I opened the door to see Brad leaning over me. “Sorry.” I walked past him and walked toward the stairs. “Trixie’s rooms that way.” he pointed to Trixie’s room. “I know. I’m just going outside for a minute.” I started walking down the stairs. I heard the bathroom door shut as I opened the back door.
The chilly spring air hit me like a brick as I sat down on the steps. It was refreshing almost. I looked up at the sky looking at the remnants of gray clouds in the dark sky. I’d always loved the out doors. Ever sense I was for years old. When my dad brought me on my first hiking trip with him and his son Jon. The nice air. The wind in your face as you make it up the mountain. Finding a birds nest and seeing the mother bird take care of her fledglings. This was why me and my father got along after he split up with my mom. We both- I heard a slow growl come from the woods that surrounded the house. Like a wolf. I looked out into the pitch black forest. The moon shining in the further reaches of the pines and giant oaks that had been around sense the dinosaurs had walked the earth. The high growl made my skin tingle. I felt as if I was being watched. As if a higher predator watched and waited for me to walk closer to the darkness. “Emma? What are you doing?” I heard a husky voice in my ear. I turned around and looked at the only human who had that voice. Brad. My mind twitched at the sound of my name on his lips. “Nothing. Just getting some air. “Why are you still out here? It’s like twelve thirty. I saw you in the window you were just standing there for like an hour. You looked like you were well hypnotized.” I looked at him. It had been only been ten minutes. “And hour? It’s only been ten-” I looked at my cell phone. He was right twelve thirty-four. It had felt like only ten minutes that I had been standing there. Listening to the wolf growl from the darkness that wrapped the back of the house. “Are you okay? You look like you just saw a ghost.” Brad looked worried. A face like his shouldn’t look worried.. I thought. “I’m fine. Just confused.. I swear I just came out here.” Brad looked out at woods just as another growl emerged from the darkness. “It’s just a wolf or a mountain lion there’s a lot of them here.” Brad looked at me again his eyes twinkling in the porch light. Moving into mine. “Yeah probably. Maybe we should go inside.” he put his hand on my back whisking me over to the back door. “I don’t need you to help me you-” As I went to turn around I didn’t expect his face to be right up close. I don’t know who made the move first. But I think it was Brad. He kissed me. It was just like hen we were in the kitchen and our hands touched. The spot on my hand. Stopped burning and felt suddenly cool. Like when you get burned and you put your hand on an ice pack. The burning was on my lips now. It felt great. Amazingly great. When we pulled apart I looked up at him. “Um…what was that for?.” He looked down at me. “I don’t know. Felt like the right thing to do. I guess.” I blushed looking at my shoes. “Oh.. Yeah.” he laughed well I think you should go inside now. You know sense you were hypnotized and stuff..” I started to open the door. “Emma?” I looked at Brad again turning so he could only see my eyes. “Try not to go outside after dark next time. We don’t need you getting hurt..” We? I looked back at the door. “Okay.” I walked up the stairs slowly. Wondering why Brad stayed outside. Like he said it was twelve-thirty. As I walked into Trixie’s room I got a face full of pillow. “You missed like half the movie!” Trixie sat on her bed with a big bowl of popcorn half empty. I sat down on the bed next to her. “Did you hear the wolves?” I asked her. She looked away and looked back again. She went pale. “What is it?” She laughed half heartedly. “Nothing it’s just I didn’t hear any wolves. I think I heard a mountain lion though.” I turned to the TV. It was the part in the movie were the last survivor is running for there lives.
In this case there was a girl with a gun and a tank top on running across a field trying to run from a masked maniac. “So when are your parents coming home?” I took some popcorn from the big bowl she had in her hands. “Tomorrow my cousins are coming with them.” She didn’t look away from the movie. “Cool. Well it’s late I should get to sleep now.” She pointed to the door. “Guest rooms to doors down to the left.” I took my backpack from the foot of her bed. And opened the door. “Night.” I walked out into the darkness of the hallway. I heard a short mumble of goodnight from Trixie’s room as I shut the door. I fumbled for a minute trying to get my bearings. Getting my eyes to adjust to the darkness. As I walked I counted the doors and came to a door two doors to the left. “Hey..” I turned around startled at the husky voice I heard next to me as I looked to the right. Brad was standing in the doorway next to me. “Hi..” I picked up my backpack that I had dropped on the carpeted floor. “Goodnight.. I was going to kiss you but I don’t think that’s a good idea.. I mean by the way you reacted earlier..” I held back my laughter. “Okay.. Goodnight than..” he smiled. The only light showing me was the light of his open door. “Goodnight..” he walked into his room. “I opened mine shortly after he shut his door. I turned the wall light switch and sat down on the bed. As I undressed I felt as if I was being watched. Like back on the porch. When I was done changing I looked out the window but no one was there. I guess I was just being paranoid. I fell asleep as soon as I put my head on the clean pillow that smelt of laundry detergent. I don’t remember dreaming a nightmare. But, I woke up crying.







Chapter Two







The Cousins




I woke up Saturday morning to the smell of pancakes and maple sugar. “ Hello. We haven’t met yet Emma.” The woman who greeted me as I walked into the kitchen looked like Brad. Except more womanly. Brown eyes with specks of gold in them. Straight Brown hair that was down to her shoulders. She had the same full lips like him but the were decorated with light red lipstick. She was wearing a Native American shirt. Decorated with little wolves on every sleeve were small rabbits. “Hi, you must be Trixie and Brad’s mother.” She laughed. “Oh no. I’m there aunt they live with me and my husband. Brad and Trixie’s mother’s sister.” she smiled and gestured me to sit down at the table. “Oh they didn’t tell me.” I looked at the vase of fresh flowers that were in the middle of the table. “They wouldn’t. They were very young when their mother and father died. They don’t like to talk about it.” She set down a plate of pancakes in front of me. “I’m Joanne by the way.” She handed me a fork. “Where’s Brad and them.” she looked out the window. “My husband took them for a run.” I took a bite of the pancakes.


Just as I finished the first pancake Brad, Trixie, and a couple of other people walked trough the back sliding door. Brad and another boy about twenty were sweat pants and a white muscle shirt. Which I had to look away from Brad because of it. Trixie sat next to me and Brad was on my left. “Emma these are my sons, Ash and Marshall.” The one that was Ash looked like Trixie. With black hair down to his neck line and eyes like Joanne. And the one that walked in by Brad’s side was a version of Taylor Lautner in the Twilight movies. Except he had a big scar on his neck and he was a darker skin tone that Taylor. Why were they running? it’s like forty degrees and they have no jackets. I thought. “Hello.” Ash said smiling. He was only about twelve years old. With a small lip ring on his lower lip. And was wearing all black. Almost fully except for white high-tops. “Hi.” Marshall said looking at the floor. “Hi. I’m Rick very nice to meet you. Trixie told us so much about you.” A mean who wore glasses that were tucked under his eyes smiled at me. With blue eyes and black hair that was in a pony tale. “ Seems my wife has already stuffed you.” He sat down at the table next to Joanne who as now sitting, Brad looked at me and smiled. Which made blush and look down at my nearly empty plate. Brad handed me the orange juice that was being passed around the table. “ So Emma your Brad’s gir-” I saw the hint of pain in Ash’s face. It looked like Brad was stepping on Ash’s foot. “Bradley!” Joanne hissed. “Sorry..” Brad looked down at the table and Ash reached down to rub his hurt foot. “So we hear Brad is your boyfriend..” Joanne smiled. “I..” I had no words to say. “Do you have to bring that to the table aunty. I’m eating you know. Hello! She’s my best friend and also my brother’s girlfriend.” Trixie tried to hold back the disgust from her lips. This is too embarrassing.. Brad looked at her. “Okay. Okay.” Brad took a bite of his pancakes. “On another subject Trixie, how was that away game?” Trixie was the star soccer player at East High School. “Good. 0-6 though. We’ll get the Broncos next time.”

Breakfast was quiet the rest of the time. After all there wasn’t much to talk about. After we sat down in the living room Trixie and I looked outside. Brad, Ash, Joanne, and Rick sat down. “So where should I start?” asked Joanne. “The beginning please.” I asked staring at Brad and his family. “Well I was born into a family that well to state was pretty much a as humans call it for wolves a pack.” Rick pulled both his palms out revealing some pretty weird looking tattoos. They were coaxed into his skin like he had been born with them. “You see these are what we call (The Generation) marks. It’s what werewolves use to identify there warriors or there leaders. I am as they call it the alpha male. And my families men have all been Alphas. I am over hundred years old. I don’t age like a normal human. My wife Joanne isn’t anywhere like me you see she was turned into a werewolf I am a pure blood. My ancestors were wolves. And so as we evolved a human child was born to a wolf. And that child had the power to turn into a wolf whenever he wanted. And that child was my grand fathers great, great grandfather. Joanne on the other hand got bitten by a wolf with the power to turn into both. Joanne has limitations to her power. She can only stay a wolf if she thinks like one. I am full so I already think like a wolf. You see Brad and Trixie’s mother and father were both half late cousins of me. So Brad and Trixie are pure werewolf. My son Ash is half like my wife and my other son is full. I really can’t explain anymore then they can my history was never recorded.” Brad looked at me with a smile. “Well. That’s a lot to understand. Do you have any questions Emma?” Joanne looked over at me. “No I understand.” I really didn’t but I couldn’t stand all the eyes that were on me. How could this be true? “I didn’t believe him when he told me Emma. It will take awhile.” Joanne said. Knowingly. “Brad why don’t you bring Emma to the woods and show her what you can become. Then she can believe.” Brad looked at his uncle.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea Uncle.” he stood up. “I may not be able to control myself. I don’t want to scare her.” Trixie got up to and grabbed my hand. “I’ll show her. Is this okay Emma?” she asked me. “Uh.. Okay..” I didn’t have much of a choice. “Trixie!” Brad called from the hallway but Trixie had already lead me out to the opening to the woods.