The Rosethorwn Heir

PROLOGUE
“The young girl walked through room after room. However, she could not find any sign of anyone else. Living or dead. Finally, she opened the last door, it was an old-looking door. The once white paint peeled off in large strips, while the door itself smelled of rotting wood and mothballs. As the door slowly creaked open…” I finished my horror story by shutting my flashlight off abruptly. The loud screams of the two other girls with me filled the small canvas tent. I couldn't help but burst into laughter as I turned my light back on.

“That is so not funny Mysti. You nearly gave me a heart attack.” Tatiana cried as she smacked me.

I shrugged and shoved another handful of chocolate-covered raisins in my mouth. “It’s your turn, Kyra,” I mumbled with my mouth full. Then I snuggled down into my comfy sleeping bag and waited eagerly for her story to start.

My sisters and I were on a camping trip together. It was something we did every summer to kick the summer off. We would spend one week out in the wilderness, away from society. It was also our way to reconnect with each other after a long year apart. Tatiana was the youngest by 3 years. she had just turned 21. A few days before we started our camping. She looked more like my father than my mother. With her curly red hair and green eyes that shone in the sunlight. Tatiana was supermodel skinny and stood at 5'4. She got that from our mother.

Kyra, on the other hand, was the polar opposite. She was born a year and a half after me. An April baby, just like her mom, and just like my mom she had naturally straight jet black hair and blue eyes. She wasn't as skinny as Tatiana, but she wasn't fat either. Kyra was an athlete. The family’s greatest star. Her trophies and medals littered our home.

Even Tatiana had a gift. She was a genius. Straight A's her entire life. All her trophies and award were scattered around the house as well. Mom and dad were so proud of their two youngest daughters. They would talk about them constantly, never a bad thought, only praises.

Then there is me, the oldest daughter. The family’s disappointment and greatest failure. At least that's what my entire family thinks. Sometimes I think that I'm not even related to them. After all, I don't look like either of my parents. I look more like a character from an anime than a real human being. My hair was almost long enough to touch the ground, and a silvery-white colour. It was my natural colour too. My eyes are just abnormal. They are metallic blue with a blood-red colour flowering from the pupils. The doctors say it was a rare condition called heterochromia albinism. Instead of being joyful, my parents frowned upon my differences. Even going as far as to dying my hair and forcing me to wear brown coloured contacts. They say it's to protect me, but I know they are just ashamed of me. Everything I do seems to disappoint them even more.

My siblings all have jobs in sports or science. I have a highly successful job as an artistic designer. My job was to design anything from company logos to their webpage. Unfortunately, my family doesn't think it's a good enough job and look down on me for it.

Anyways, my sisters and I always got along. After I moved out on my own, Krya and Tatiana begged me to keep in touch. So we decided to start going camping for an entire week out of the summer. We would spend the time catching up on the time we spent away. On the final night, we would tell creepy, scary, or supernatural stories.

It was Kyra's turn to tell a story. She looked between Tatiana and me with a wicked grin. "Okay, my dear sisters. This year's Grand Kyra story is rumoured to be a true story." she began. "now as you know these woods are home to a small group of wolf shifters."

I rolled my eyes. Everyone knew that the Wyldpsyd was the territory for shifters. Shifters being the name given to those who changed their human forms into more animalistic ones. There were many different types like foxes, bears, cats, birds, dragons, and of course wolves. Shifters usually keep to themselves, but my next-door neighbour was a shifter. She was the only shifter that I've managed to have a conversation with. Mrs. Dezra was a sweet old lady who enjoyed my company and often brought over gingersnap cookies.

"Don't roll your eyes Mysti. I swear this story is true, and a very tragic one at that." Kyra said with a pout. I sighed and rolled my eyes again with a grin on my face. I then motioned her to continue her story. She stuck her tongue out defiantly and continued,
"Anyways as I was saying. these lands are owned by a single pack of wolf-shifters. However, that wasn't always the case. About 20 years ago there were two packs living here. The Rosethorwns and the Nightshades. They lived together in harmony. No one knows what happened or why, but it is said that the Rosethowrns were all killed in a single night. All except one, a small child had been saved by one of the Nightshades. That child was then put into a human family, one that the wolf pack trusted well, for the child's protection. Until the day when it was safe for them to return to the pack." Kyra fell silent, indicating that her story was completed.

I rolled my eyes and groaned. There was no way that story was true. I've never even heard of the Rosethorwns. They weren't in any of the books containing all the packs, pride, or clans of shifters that ever existed. I was about to voice my opinion when the sounds of twigs snapping beneath heavy feet echoed in our tiny tent. This made my sisters jump and scream. I, on the other hand, sprang to my feet and tore open the tent flap to investigate. With my trusty flashlight, I was prepared to beat who or what was out there.

It was pretty dark out since the embers of a long-forgotten fire had died out several hours ago. However, despite it being dark, I had an extremely good night vision for a normal human. I glanced around to see if I could see anything that could have made the twigs snap. At first, I saw nothing, then to my right, I saw two sets of glowing orbs emerging from the treeline. I stared at the orbs of light with curiosity and wonder, instead of fear.

It felt like hours had gone by before the orbs moved. They inched closer to the campsite, revealing the bodies that went with them. They were the eyes of two magnificent-looking wolves. One was larger, more muscular than the other. It had a coat of charcoal black fur that stuck out in the midnight darkness. The other, smaller wolf had beautiful golden brown fur with hints of black in it. Both of them had the deepest set of purple eyes, that seem to metalize when the moonlight hit them. I gasped at the stunning beauty of the majestic creatures.

The two wolves seemed to look at each other before cautiously moving closer to me. I stood there stunned for a moment before carefully kneeling down to the ground. I moved slowly as I didn't want to scare them away. They got close enough for me to touch them when my sisters called my name. This spooked the wolves and they bolted before my sisters poked their heads out of the tent.
"Well? w-w-what w-w-was it?" Tatiana stuttered with a squeak. She held her flashlight like a sword and scanned the trees.

"It was just a rabbit ya big scaredy-cat," I said with a huff. My sisters looked relieved as they yawned at the same time. Seconds later I yawned and decided it was time to hit the hay. We said our goodnight and went to sleep.