Cry of the Wolf

Chapter 2: An Eerie Encounter

Chapter 2: an Eerie Encounter


Sarah’s hand flew free of the handle, and she was free from the repulsion that she just experienced. Her hand stung and was beat red, and though she did not notice, had a significant pattern on her hand, but it was already beginning to fade. Her face, arms and legs glistened of perspiration in the shadowy light that only came from a few holes in the boarded up windows.

Her head swarmed, and she felt like she was about to vomit, but she leaned against the wall and closed her eyes, trying to calm herself down. A panic attack was coming on, and she knew that if she didn’t calm herself down in time, she would have a full-blown attack and pass out.

Sarah had many before, but never as painful as the one that was approaching. Her eyes flickered vaguely open to the sound of her name, but the hallway was hazy and beginning to spin so she shut her eyes, tears squeezing out. Nonetheless, as soon as she did, a pair of hideous red eyes glared at her, urging her to do something. It hissed evil words to her, but she didn’t understand what they were saying, because they spoke in another language, it seemed.

She began trembling harshly from her attack, no, wait, she was being shook to make her go back to reality. The eyes, oh they were so horrifying as they began to force her to open her mind, but for an odd reason she was reluctant, and tried to make the eyes go away. Only, they came on much stronger, piercing her brain and actually physically hurt her.

‘Sarah!’ a voice called, but she didn’t know whether or not it was the evil eyes or someone else, but it was making the eyes fall away into the darkness at least.


Sarah sat up straight, the vision of those eyes beginning to fade, hissing a moan of defeat. She looked up and saw three pairs of eyes staring down at her, but none of them was the pure blood ruby red like the ones in her head.

Those red eyes, they had fire in them, fire that would consume the earth and crush everything in its vision. She felt it still within her, a lingering thought, she feared it, the way it was forcing her to do something awful, and damnit, she wanted to see it just once more. They were eyes that were icy, unbreakable, and so scheming and persuasive, but she wanted to know what they wanted with her, and if they maybe belonged to that dark lord who killed Anna’s family.

She finally bleakly looked up to the eyes that hung above her and saw that there was one pair blue, just like her own, another pair that were amazing light green pair of eyes that almost appeared gold. The last were plain brown, but each was folded into a frown and the look of worry in them. Not the red eyes, that was for sure, those eyes had affected her so badly, but she didn’t understand why it had such a hold on her.

She was starting to remember who owned the eyes that hung like orbs above her. Nicky, her sister, twin. Melissa, no wait, Madison. And… Alex.

‘Oh my god, thank god your alright!’ Nicky cried, wrapping her hands around Sarah’s neck and squeezing tightly. Sarah felt wet tears fall onto her skin, and hugged Nicky back, though she didn’t understand her sister’s apprehension.

‘Man, I’m getting too old for these things.’ Alex joked, but no one laughed of course. Sarah groaned, and when she looked at Madison, she noticed that she was staring at the door, her eyes almost hidden by her hair. Her eyes averted to Sarah quickly, as if she knew that Sarah was watching her so curiously and suspiciously. Their eyes met, and they each held each other’s gaze. However, Sarah was unable to read what Madison’s eyes said, because the light green that they were just a moment before turned to a dark green and hid the truth.

Madison kneeled down to Sarah and took her hand, and looked upon it, possibly looking for that red pattern that had just disappeared. She etched out the lines on her palm, traced them from start to finish, a frown creeping upon her eyebrows arousing Sarah’s curiosity.

‘Nicky, Alex, may I be with Sarah alone for a moment?’ Madison suddenly asked, shoving Sarah’s hand back to her and sealing her eyes closed. Her eyelids were quivering, as if she was holding in tears, and her teeth penetrating her lip making dark red blood appear.

‘NO! Sarah has just had an anxiety attack, and it was the worse I’ve ever seen! I’m not leaving her for a moment!’ Nicky cried, turning her head and staring up at Madison furiously.

‘Please, we won’t be long, and nothing will happen I will make sure of it.’

‘I said…’

‘Nicky…’ Alex said gently, placing his hand on Nicky’s shoulder. ‘Let’s just go out onto the porch, we can trust Madison.’ He told her. Nicky hesitated, and glanced at Sarah.

‘Fine.’ She muttered, pulling away from her sister, but still holding her hand and not letting go, making Alex have to practically pull her away. As she passed by Madison, she felt like giving her a spiteful little punch in her shoulder, but she would probably have predicted it already. What a freak, how did we ever start hanging out with her, she thought, her fist clenched tightly, her anger boiling inside of her.

Nicky didn’t notice that Madison winced, but let her hair fall in her face to cover the pain her eyes showed. Nicky stormed away, with Alex trying to quiet her down, already telling jokes to try to cheer her up.

When the silence filled the hallway once more, Madison finally faced Sarah. ‘I know what you saw, and it wasn’t very pleasant, was it Sarah? Don’t worry, I’ve seen it all before, and it’s horrible I know, but there is nothing we can do now.’ She said meekly, her face expressionless as she stared into Sarah’s eyes.

‘You did? Well, then can you tell me what it means, all it did was confuse me more than you can believe.’ Sarah asked shaking her head. Madison held Sarah’s gaze a moment longer, then looked away to the floor. She sighed, and glanced at the door, thinking how to carefully put the words out, and not to let the secret slip.

‘I… can’t fully explain it to you now. Nevertheless, I can tell you this, you were meant to see that, and you were meant to see the man with the wicked red eyes in the room. But you weren’t supposed to find out now. Not for a couple weeks actually.’ Madison admitted. Sarah nodded, but really, she didn’t understand what Madison meant.
‘But, who was that awful man in that room, the one who killed Anna’s family?’

Madison hesitated, and let out a breath that she had been holding in. she knew Sarah would ask something like that.

‘The man is…’ Madison paused, thinking how odd she would sound if she were to tell her without Sarah knowing about everything. ‘He’s… he’s… I can’t tell you without you finding out everything else. Ask something else, and this time I’ll try to answer.’

Sarah titled her head thoughtfully for a moment. ‘All right then, how about those two boys, who were they and what did they have to do with this?’ Sarah questioned.
‘No one special.’ Madison replied quickly, maybe a little too quickly. Sarah’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.

‘Okay then, what were they talking about? It was something about that crystal, wasn’t it?’

Madison moaned. All the questions she was asking, she wasn’t able to answer truthfully. They were probably listening, and not just her side either, the dark lord’s side as well. They were probably following Sarah frequently now, unless they didn’t find out yet of why she was special.

‘Oh, never mind. I can’t tell you any of this. However, you’ll have the answers soon. I promise Sarah.’ Madison told her friend.

But Sarah wanted the answers now, she was a curious person who asked a lot of questions. She didn’t like things hidden from her, but this was much more than a stupid thing like a boy or a friend who stabbed her in the back. This was… a difficult subject to describe, especially since she couldn’t put any of the pieces together yet.

‘All right, you win for now, but I want to find out soon, because I just know this is going to stay in my head until I figure it out.’ Sarah warned. Madison nodded.

‘I give you my word I will make sure you will know of it soon if you really wish to know.’


Back at Sarah’s house, everything seemed normal. Their brother complained that Sarah and Madison were too loud with their Slipknot music, and her mother kept asking where Nicky disappeared to. Their father was at work, and their small Jack Russell Terrier bounced around at their feet, trying to grab their attention, ignoring the music that blasted in the room.

Madison blew a bubble from her piece of gum, but it did little to distract her from playing Sarah’s Gamecube, trying almost desperately to defeat Sarah. It was one of the few things that Madison lost at when she went up against Sarah, and compared to Sarah, she was completely horrible.

‘You can’t win Madison, so just give it up.’ Sarah taunted, yawning and easily attacking Madison’s character in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

‘Absolutely not! First off, it isn’t fair because it’s your game, so you can practise anytime you want! Second, your cheating!’ Madison said in a breath of desperation, pressing the buttons on her controller heatedly. Sarah just laughed as Madison's character flew off the screen, giving her another point and putting her far ahead in the lead.

‘How am I cheating, can you explain that little part to me my dear friend, who I just knocked out… again!’ Madison groaned, her frustration with the game making her teeth clench and grind against one another.

‘Madison!’ Sarah’s mother called, but not loud enough for the girls to hear over the music. Hope groaned to herself, and cleared her throat ready to scream if she had to just so they would hear over that awful music. ‘Madison! Madison! MADISON!’ she bellowed, trying to get her voice over their loud music that hurt her ears and gave her headaches.
Madison’s head spun around.

Sarah greedily attacked her player, getting another point. She cheered, but quickly paused their music so Madison could hear what her mother was saying. ‘Hi mom, what’s up?’

‘See, I told you that you were cheating!’ Madison cried, throwing the controller away.

‘Uh… Madison, there’s a phone call for you.’ Sarah’s mom said, twirling a few strands of pale blonde hair with her forefinger. A hint of uneasiness was in her voice, something that didn’t happen very often. Sarah began to frown and Madison cocked her head to one side, a little surprised that her mom was calling so early.

‘Okay, I’ll just take it from here.’ She said, reaching for the phone nearby. Hope cleared her throat nervously again, her fingers twirling around strands of hair that fell in her face even more quickly.

‘I would rather prefer it if you would take your call upstairs.’

Madison stopped, and tried to read Hope’s eyes, and saw something she didn’t wish she had to. ‘Yes of course Hope, I’ll be right back Sarah.’ Madison assured Sarah.

Sarah was a little surprised Madison didn’t protest because she was usually too lazy to go upstairs and pick up the phone, but now without any argument to her second mother, she began up the stairs. Her mother stared into Madison's eyes as she passed by on the stairs to the main floor, and Sarah didn’t understand what it was, but she suddenly became a little nervous and worried.

Hope looked at Sarah, flashed her daughter a smile, though rather quick and artificial, and followed Madison up the stairs, muttering things under her breath that was inaudible to Sarah. Before Sarah knew what she was doing, she had went to the stairs and listened to the voices that floated down to her.

‘It’s her, and since she hasn’t called here since Sarah was born, I knew it was important.’ Her mother told Madison, her voice bitter and hard.

‘Yes, I assumed it must have been her just by the way your eyes were.’

‘Anyway, she wouldn’t tell me what she wanted so, I guess you better get to it. Oh, if you would Madison, could you tell her the family’s fine and thanks for asking.’ Again, her mother’s voice was harsh, and the steps she took to the living room were heavy.

‘Yeah?’ Madison said, obviously picking up the phone. Sarah of course couldn’t hear what the other person said, but Madison didn’t make any noise while the other person talked.

‘Yes, I understand that. And, you’ve decided who to give it to?’ Madison waited, and nodded to herself. ‘Yes, but who is it… please, I don’t care if I won’t like the idea just tell… WHAT! WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU GIVE IT TO HIM!’ she shouted into the phone.

‘Madison! Lower your voice please!’ Sarah’s mother cried from the living room hurriedly.

Madison calmed down once more, and carefully choose her words. ‘I’m sorry if I’m speaking out of line, but do you think it’s wise to have chosen him? I mean, he’s not one of… well, us… I know you trust him, but… what if he turns? No! And that too! Why can’t I watch over her? We’ve been best friends forever, so she trusts me. She won’t trust him, I know Sarah!’

Sarah’s ears perked as soon as her name was mentioned and with a sudden burst of energy, she turned and ran to the phone next to the couch, and very delicately, she picked it up off the cradle.

‘She will, I know it and you know it, you knew this since you were small.’ the voice was cool, smooth and a friendly women’s voice that relaxed Sarah.

‘But… he doesn’t even go to the school. I mean, sure, he gets his occasional missions, but how does that qualify him to be Sarah’s guardian?’

‘Actually, when you and Sarah start your term, he will be joining you and your classmates.’ The voice said, once again calm compared to Madison's hysterical one. Madison groaned, knowing she wasn’t going to convince her. ‘I do know what I’m doing Madison, or else do you think I have ran this school for over three hundred years?’

Sarah almost laughed, it was in her throat, but she had to hold it in. she began to cough instead because it started to become painful. Three hundred years of running a school? Who was this? that’s when Sarah noticed both the women and Madison had fallen silent.
‘Oh crap!’ she whispered to herself, and hurriedly put the phone back on the cradle as gently as she could. she grabbed her controller, and though the game was running, she was listening to the muffled voices up the stairs. A few moments later, Madison appeared at the top of the stairs. Sarah pretended that she had been playing her game, and smiled at Madison.

‘I got a few good points off of you when you were gone.’ Sarah told her, trying to keep her mouth shut from asking any unnecessary questions. Madison nodded but didn’t say anything, instead, she stared out of the basement window as the Thursday sun was slinking away and making room for the night.

Night was when people were different, where the animal’s roamed forests and small and fearful creatures hid in dread. But some things didn’t fear anything, and those were the things that you had to watch out for, because if ever their shadow even touched you, the morning light would never find you again.

‘Madison? Are you alright, you seem distracted for some reason.’

Sarah saw how Madison's eyes were nearly all white, like round lifeless pearls in her sockets. Sarah imagined that they fell out and nothing was left from them, bit on her lip. Whenever her eyes went like that, she had fallen into one of her trances where she could see into the future, past, or see something that was happening at this very moment. Sarah did sometimes wonder what lay behind those eyes, and what she saw, but she never dared to ask. It was Madison's business, not hers to be prying in and to only help wounds become fresh once again.

‘Madison?’

‘I’m fine, but maybe I should head home now. I don’t want to walk home in the dark, because something roams nearby tonight.’

‘What is it? Do you know?’ Sarah asked, completely forgetting about their game.
‘No, but it lurks for the person who holds the crystal, the one crystal that connects all the other six.’ Madison said. Her voice was dark and slow, and her eyes never left the window, but was gradually narrowing until Sarah could barely see the white pupils. ‘It’s very near, yes, it’s coming so close now I can almost smell the creature.’
Sarah’s eyes turned to the window against her will, and she was reluctant to see what was out there.

‘Do you hear it?’ Madison asked, finally glancing promptly at Sarah. Sarah didn’t understand, and rose so she was able to see better.

‘I don’t hear anything.’

Madison smiled, but it didn’t comfort Sarah. It was a mad smile and frightened Sarah. ‘Exactly! No cars are out, the birds stopped singing, and even the Sanderson's dog has stopped barking. Quite interesting if I say so myself, don’t you think Sarah?’
Sarah thought the same thing herself, but she didn’t want to fall under the same eerie influence that Madison had. This was too much for her, she went to the window and grabbed the curtains. As she was about to shut them to block off Madison’s trance, a huge black shadow flew by. Sarah let out a startled cry, and slipped off the couch’s edge. She landed on the couch itself, but laid there for a while, her mouth open and her breathing almost choking her.

Finally, she pushed herself up and looked up at Madison. Both said nothing for a moment but eyed each other out with fearful wide eyes. ‘I think I’d rather have your mom drive me home, if that’s alright with you.’


As soon as Madison left their car, she gave a quick goodbye and raced up the steps to her house, and slammed the door shut behind her. She was breathing rather hard, she wondering what had passed by Sarah’s window just a few minutes before. She paused in her breathing and thought that it might have just been Sarah’s new guardian, but she remembered how her heart froze as soon as the shadow slipped past. She brought her palm to her face and examined it carefully, noticing how the mark of her kind was beginning to finally fade away. Whenever she would feel scared or at least try to use her magic, (which was impossible at the moment since she was still inexperienced) her mark would reveal itself. She had never seen it so bright as she had tonight, and she was thankful that Sarah had not seen the etched burn marks cross Madison’s palm. She was also quite lucky that her eyes didn’t begin glowing as they did whenever she felt the urge to use magic or just felt completely petrified, because then Sarah would have been completely baffled and would have questioned Madison.

‘Madison, is that you?’ her mother asked, poking her head around the wall and peering at her suspiciously. Her black hair (that was almost identical to Madison’s) fell forward, and behind it were her suspicious and glaring black eyes. Madison tried to hide her hand as fast as possible, but her mother had already seen her examining it, and before Madison could protest, she slipped over and grabbed her hand. ‘What have you been doing tonight with Sarah Madison?’ she quickly asked, tugging Madison closer to herself.

‘No, it wasn’t me mother!’ Madison interjected. ‘Something was around Sarah’s home tonight, and that’s why the mark reacted, I swear I wasn’t trying to do magic in front of her.’

Her mother pulled Madison closer once again and glared into her daughter’s eyes, and saw that Madison did not recoil as she used to. Nevertheless, she also saw that Madison was telling the truth, forcing herself to let Madison go. She was still glaring at her daughter, as if it did indeed have something to do with Madison, but she was wrong and just tried to hide her embarrassment. ‘I’m sorry Madison; I just get so worried that you would show some of your powers to Sarah before she is ready to understand. Her family is not like ours; she grew up not knowing about her heritage like you and your brother.’

Of course, Madison knew that, but her mother acted as if Madison was some stupid child who didn’t understand anything yet. She didn’t appreciate Madison like she did Sarah, and that hurt Madison and her brother the most, because in their mother’s eyes they were never good enough.

‘I know that, I’ve been very secretive about her curious questions over the years, and she was always happy that I understood whenever she accidentally used her powers. She just doesn’t yet realize that she is unlike her brother or sister, and that there is magic within her like she wouldn’t believe.’ Madison stated, her eyes growing wide with excitement. ‘I can’t wait until we begin learning at the school, I’ve seen her magic at work, and she is magnificent mother.’

‘Well of course she is Madison, how ignorant are you? I mean, she is Sarah Turner, of course she will be powerful, we all knew that and maybe when she learns how to control her powers, she can teach you a few things.’ Madison’s mother snapped spitefully, causing Madison to wince as though her mother physically hurt her. Once again, her own mother acted as if Madison was nothing.

She never realized how powerful Madison was with her psychic powers or her martial arts talent that they forced her to take when she was younger. Madison knew how to fight, use magic and of course her specialty, her psychic ability. Of course, Sarah was going to be more powerful then herself, but Madison was proud of Sarah whenever she saw the magic growing within her friend. She just wish that her mother would stop comparing herself to Sarah and just look at Madison and one day say, ‘I’m proud to have a great daughter like you.’

‘Anyway Madison, your brother told me to tell you to go see him in his room when you got home.’ Her mother said, breaking the silence that had filled the hallway. ‘I suppose I should let you go see what he wants then, besides, I have to finish with the dishes. If only I could use just a little bit of my magic, it would make all this human work so much faster…’ she trailed off as she returned to the kitchen, mumbling over things about human work.

Madison hesitated only slightly before climbing her stairs towards her brother’s room. She paused at the door, heard her brother chanting things from beyond the door, and chuckled slightly. She pushed open his door and saw what she had been expecting, her younger brother Raymond sitting with his legs crossed over one another in a deep trance, his usually deep ocean blue eyes a ghostly white. His hands moved freely over his ouji board as he muttered things that the spirits beyond were telling him, she knew that the spirits were talking to him because his voice was normal whenever he asked a question.

‘Sorry to interrupt Raymond, but mother said that you wanted to speak with me.’ Madison said loudly and clearly. Raymond’s hands flew off the ouji board and immediately his eyes returned blue, blazing rapidly angrily that his sister had interrupted his trance.

‘I was speaking with the great vampire Balthazar, the one who was there when the Glikar city had fallen, and I was this close to learning the secrets of that city and the secrets and whereabouts of his seven crystals!’ Raymond spat heatedly.

‘Yeah I know, you’ve been trying to find out about those ruins since you were seven, but no one knows how it had fallen, and I don’t think a ten year old boy will very soon. Besides, you know that the crystals are shattered into many pieces so that no dark magic folk will be able to find them.’ Madison retorted, leaning against her brother’s wall and examing the room. She and her brother were very close since they both felt distant and unwanted from their mother, but they did argue a lot of times as well. She did pity her brother for the fact that he did not have any friends at school, and the fact that his magic exploded more than hers did, and that gave him the reputation for being strange at school. She loved her brother to death, and would do anything for him, but whenever Sarah, Nicky or Alex were around, they both pretended that they were as normal as possible. This means that they had to fight and argue as if they hated each other, when truly the two rarely fought or teased each other. He was lucky that no one but her and her mother ever came into his room, because she could only imagine the way the kids would tease if they ever saw it.

He had black walls just like Madison did and his black satin curtains were closed all day and were opened at night to let the moonlight in. he had a tarantula and a boa constrictor in his room, and posted on his walls were not famous celebrities but famous vampires or wizards, and different marks that each race possessed. There were the half dragon breed mark on the wall where his bed was, vampire mark next to the door with the witch/ wizard mark right next to it. Then there were the dark mark, mermaids, werewolves, demons and angel marks posted variously around his room with their titles underneath.

‘So what did you need to speak to me about?’ she asked, her eyes watching the tarantula with fascination. Raymond brought his hand through his hair and cleared his throat nervously ‘There is somebody outside in the yard who wishes to speak with you, and they merely told me to give you the message whenever you would return.’ Raymond explained. Madison tried to hide her confusion as she went to his window and looked out to their yard below, but it was impossible to see anything in such darkness.

‘Do you know who they were Raymond, like was it our side or his?’

At this, Raymond’s eyes light up with excitement and in a low whisper as if it were a secret he said ‘It was a werewolf Madison, that werewolf Simon is out there waiting for you.’

‘Simon!’ Madison growled. She felt the mark on her palm heating up as she searched the yard almost frantically.

‘You’ll never be able to see him Madison,’ Raymond muttered ‘werewolves are capable of melting into the scenery so that passer-by’s will be unable to see them if travelling in the woods. Chapter four in the book Friends with Werewolves.’ Raymond added proudly.

Madison glanced away from the window and smiled at her brother sweetly, something she never would have done if Sarah were around. It was strange having to pretend that she thought her younger brother was an annoying little freak, and to have Raymond pull at her hair when she knew that deep inside he hated doing it. However, they had to put on a show just so Sarah would never know the close relation between Raymond and herself.

‘Wow Raymond, you’ve really been studying haven’t you?’ Madison said softly, messing up her brother’s hair. He grinned and nodded happily with Madison’s interest.

‘I’m going to be prepared completely if ever they ask questions whenever I go to my first year at Moonlight. And you have to tell me how the initiation goes when you do it, and how your first day was so I can be more prepared for it.’

‘I know, but I really should go see what Simon wants Raymond, but I’ll be back later all right?’ Raymond stared at Madison sadly for a moment, but quickly recovered and bounded for a book on his bed and began reading.

‘I’ll be waiting so you had better come back, remember, I know how to use a touch of magic just the same as you.’ He said without glancing at Madison as his eyes moved across the page as Madison began closing the door behind her.

She floated down the stairs quietly and as she passed the kitchen to slip down into the basement, she heard her mother frolicking around in the kitchen, but had not an idea of what she was doing. She was silent as possible stepping down into the basement so that her mother wouldn't hear her, she just imagined what her mother would think if she knew that she was about to see Simon.

Their yard was oddly formatted, the first floor was connected to the ground so that the front and both side yards were level, but the backyard dropped down so the basement had a door that led outside, as well as the first floor. Their yard went about fifteen metres before a stone wall came up, and the best part was that on the higher ground part, it was low enough to jump over to make a quick escape into the woods behind their home.

There was a special trail made so that Madison’s mother was able to slip away to the Moonlight school without being seen by the dark lord’s minions. Madison would be able to use it once she was in her second year at the school, but until then she would have to use a protected gateway from a park between she and Sarah’s houses. Madison could have taken the front door, but it was rather creaky on the hinges, or she could have taken the side door next to the basement stairs, but her mother would have seen. So instead, she was going to go by the basement door and onto their patio to get outside, and she prayed that her mother wouldn’t look outside the kitchen window.

When she opened the door, she hesitated and stayed within the warmth of her home, and only gradually did she begin to bring her head out to peer into misty darkness. There was only a small square of light that spilled from her kitchen window into the cement wall in the darkness beyond. She paused and heard the distinct sound of her swings in the yard to her right, and guessed that Simon was in the side yard where her brother’s unused swing set was placed. Sometimes Raymond did use it, but he only sat on the swing without moving for hours, but he was happy that he was at least out of the house and away from the accusations and ridicule from his mother.

‘I was wondering when and if you would come out Madison.’ Simon said as soon as Madison had approached the swing set, his deep blue eyes glowing passionately, and set in a smirk at Madison. He surveyed her quickly then scoffed ‘you defiantly have changed since we last met haven’t you Madison?’

‘And you appear to be the same Simon, still dashing as usual but to me, you are still werewolf scum that should not even be speaking with me, because you are tainting my reputation just by being here.’ Madison snapped nastily as she moved closer, her eyes beginning to glow fiercely in the darkness.

‘Then if you do not wish to hear my side of the story then you may leave, I’m not going to force you to sit here with this werewolf scum. Oh and by the way, this werewolf scum has never done anything to make you hate him, and he has only had you and Sarah’s best interests in his head, I am not Ryley all over again. But, since you don’t seem to remember that, then I suppose I should just leave and go back to my savage way of living, hope to see you when the school year begins.’

‘Wait!’ Madison cried when Simon had already started to leave, ‘I’ll listen to what you have to say Simon.’ She added grudgingly. Simon smiled and sat once again on the swing. She didn’t know why, but for some reason she always tried to force the people around her to try to hate her, it was if she dared them to. However, in the depths of her heart, she never meant any of the things she would say and of course would regret them once they were said, but they just couldn’t be undone.

‘Don’t worry, I won’t take much of your time Madison, I just came to say that I know you are upset that I am Sarah’s new guardian. Nevertheless, Hillary thought that with Vladmire getting more and more pieces of the crystals each day, Sarah should have stronger protection and now that I have the crystal piece within me as well, I can only protect her more. Our crystal pieces will interact and help us in case something tragic happens, and that is why Hillary choose me to take your place.’ Madison scoffed and sat on the swing next to Simon, completely avoiding his stare.

‘I have been watching over her since I was six years old, and she trusts no one better than myself, so what would make you any different, just because of your crystal piece that Anna’s departed body left behind for you?’

‘And you were excellent for Sarah all these years, you kept her secret safe and helped make people not remember whenever she exploded, but it is time to consider your own safety. The dark lord’s men know your face all too well now and Hillary is worried that they might come after you or Raymond, and since your father is no longer with us, there is no more safety within your home.’ Simon’s words calmed Madison rapidly, as they always did over the many long years that she knew Simon.

‘But doesn’t Hillary see that my mother is a powerful witch, why can’t she just protect us and not anyone else?’ Madison asked quietly, the memories of her mother before their father’s death flooding back to her.

‘Do not take this offensively, but your mother likes to pretend she is more powerful than what she really is, and she should be proud that both her children are going to be extremely powerful.’ Simon added shortly, giving Madison a quick furtive glance before looking out to the road at the light. Madison growled grudgingly because she knew Simon had just entered her thoughts and memories, and she hated it because her mother adored entering her head all the time.

‘So what now, do we have to go into hiding so the dark lord’s men cannot find me, break into my thoughts and find out information about Sarah?’

‘No, but I am just warning you that they might try to get to you some way, so just be prepared for anything, all right Madison?’ Simon said carefully. He rose and looked around them for a moment, scanning the area for any possible dark followers. ‘Well, I’m sure you have many things to think about, I should be heading back to the school because Hillary and I have many things to talk about.’

‘I’m sure that you do.’ Madison replied shortly. Simon nodded at Madison and walked away into the night, leaving Madison chewing on her lip on the swing. She knew that if they were to catch her, she should erase her memories so that Sarah could be safe, but she wondered if she would be able to do it. Moreover, what about some hostile action from the other side, like possibly taking her brother away just so Madison would tell them the information that they wanted. She would die if ever they would hurt her brother, but they both knew the risks placed on both of them, and they had to understand as well.

Madison finally sighed and began to head back to her house to go see her brother, hoping that maybe Simon would be a better protector than what Madison could ever be.



The precious Saturday golden light rose from the horizon, and crossed the land, sending all the dark things back to the dark shadows until later. Dew dripped off the trees leaves, indicating that fall was approaching, and the birds out on the branches sang happily that it was still warm enough for them. Eventually, the sun seeped into Sarah’s room ever so sneakily, trying to wake up Sarah with its brilliant shine. It did warm Sarah, but she just turned over with a soft groan and covered her face with her black blanket. It was hot underneath the blanket, and Sarah could hardly breathe but she was too tired to wake up.

For the past two nights, she sat at her window ledge and stared out into the night, trying to find something. But so far, nothing had caught her eye as suspicious or dangerous, but she was quite the patient person when she wanted to be, and she wanted to see that creature once more.

‘Sarah!’ Nicky sang. Nicky leaped off the top of her bed, and landed next to Sarah’s with only the smallest amount noise thanks to her petite body. She went to her sister, and began to tickle her stomach. Sarah moaned, and pushed her hand away, but Nicky kept going back, determined to rouse her sister. When Sarah did roll over to Nicky, she slightly gasped, but not enough so Sarah would be worried. ‘My god, how long did you stay at that window last night?’ Sarah’s eyes were red rimmed, and dark purple bags were tracing the bottom of her eyes.

Sarah moaned and rubbed her eyes that were gritty with the need of sleep. ‘I don’t know, I was up until four at the latest.’ She turned to her clock and saw that it was only six-five in the morning. She groaned and tried to get under the blankets once more.

‘No way, you aren’t going back to bed today, you did that until ten yesterday, and you missed the coolest thing yesterday, you know that. Besides, it’s your fault that you had to find that odd animal that you and Madison had seen.’ Nicky said, pulling Sarah’s blanket down to her feet. ‘Come on, you’re getting up.’

Sarah moaned, and began to rise. ‘Alright, I’ll get up, but I totally think it’s preposterous to wake this early.’

Nicky grinned, and went to her dresser to get her clothes. She pulled out a pair of loose fitting jeans, and a dark red shirt that fell over her shoulders, a top that Sarah had tried to steal many times before.

Jake came out of his room, his hair as neat as it would get, and wearing one of his odd shirts that read something scientific and not understandable to her. he paused at the twin’s door, and peered in, glancing at Sarah and then at Nicky. Sarah watched his face turn beat red within only two seconds. ‘What are you doing!?’ he asked angrily, his face crimson all over. Nicky spun around, and screamed.

‘Jake! Get out!’ she pulled her pants to her waist and zipped them up. She didn’t realize that she was still in her bra, and hadn’t put on her shirt yet. Jake obviously thought she was doing it on purpose, because he took a step back. ‘I said get out! Are you deaf?’

‘This was not my fault, but rather yours because you left the door open, so I was merely attracted to your room to see if you two were up! NICKY, TURN AROUND AND PUT YOUR SHIRT ON IMMEDIATELY!’ he yelled, trying to advert his eyes from her chest.

Sarah got off her bed and went between them. ‘Jake, get out this instant!’ she shouted back, pushing but not getting any results. ‘Uh, why won’t you move? God, how much have you been eating lately, you feel like you’ve got bricks in you stomach, either that or you’ve gotten fat lately.’ Sarah added, trying everything to get him out of their room.

‘I’m not fat!’ he screamed, flailing his arms wildly. Jake reached out for Sarah and tried to pull at her hair, but Sarah was too quick and swiftly dodged while giving him a good punch in the stomach. He staggered backwards, moaning and holding his stomach into the hallway. Sarah smiled and slammed the door in his face that was winced in pain.

‘Jesus, I thought he was downstairs already!’ Nicky growled. She was putting a dragon necklace around her neck, and then reached for the matching earrings. They were Sarah’s, but she let her sister use them anytime she wanted.

‘Well, from now on we’re going to shut that door. He’s such a pervert.’ Sarah said as she began to get dressed. As she put on her black chocker, Sarah suddenly got an idea. She slowly turned her sister, her eyes gleaming mischievously.

‘What?’ Nicky asked.

‘Why don’t we go and pay Jake back for what he did?’ Sarah told her.

‘Finally! It’s been a little while since we had some excitement with him.’