Not really breaking the rules
Ash’s grandparents were preparing to leave. They had sent their bags ahead with the guards; only Archie, Octavia and Fox remained now for breakfast with Ash, Micah and the rest of the family. It was a happy affair as plans were made for Ash and Micah to visit the palace.
“We will have to throw your ball soon to introduce you all to the rest of the world. It is traditional.” Archie told the couple,
“We will call and discuss the particulars, decorations and colour schemes and such when we have decided upon an appropriate date. And we must send Fabio over to design the dress with you; he is the best dressmaker in the supernatural world.” Octavia added, excitement clear on her face.
Ash nodded slightly warily at the mention of all these plans to be made and the dressmaker. Clearly not feeling the excitement her grandmother was.
Micah was at her side instantly, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
“We shouldn’t leave it too long now that we have found you, the news is bound to leak, and we do not want others looking for you here. As a royal family princess, you present an attractive target for kidnap and ransom. Especially without a full team around you.” Octavia announced as easily as if she was telling Ash what was for tea.
Micah gave a growl; he was not impressed; they were scaring his mate again for no reason. For anyone to kidnap Ash, half of the pack would have to be dead and the other half dying. No one would leave his pack alive with his mate against her will. Zander concurred anyone after his mate would have to go through him first.
***********
Over the next few weeks, Ash fell into something of a routine. Training with Micah and the wolves in the morning, then training with Kit after breakfast. Afternoons were supposed to be dedicated to school work, but Ash only did what she wanted to do, like art or science, where she excelled.
When anyone tried to raise this with her, they were greeted by a dangerous flash of purple in her eyes. Instead, she had been spending time with Mark, Loki and Kit. Looking in the library and the attics for her magic books or else practising the skills her grandmother had taught her about recording events and drawing the wolves she could see popping in and out of the woods.
Sometimes it seemed as though the majority of the pack had forgotten that Ash was only a child still, not yet 16, the way that they allowed her to carry on as she wished, but then she was their Luna, and who would dare tell the Luna that she needed to do her maths classes too?
Micah loathed the fact that she was so you sometimes, and he didn’t want to become a father figure to her. Instead, he left it to her family and his parents; Ash’s family didn’t seem to put much emphasis on traditional education, only the magical and Rowan did his best.
Ash was often found in the company of basically anyone she could convince (literally most of the pack) to help her search through boxes and boxes of archives stored in every spare nook and cranny around the packhouse.
Some of the paperwork they managed to unearth held details of marriages and treaties from hundreds of years past, history long thought lost to the ages by even the oldest members of the pack.
As interesting as it was, it wasn’t what Ash was looking for. Her efforts became more and more desperate with each disappointment.
**********
It took another month after Octavia and Archibald left, but Loki and Mark finally thought they had found something. Comparing the space to the old architectural plans for the cellars, they found a bricked-up room in an old, disused part of the cellars, long forgotten about now.
Ash, Kit and Micah soon joined them.
“What, exactly, am I looking at?” Micah asked the group, feeling Ash’s nerves and excitement rising and seeing his brother shuffling around like a puppy waiting to be released. His arm wrapped tightly around Ash’s shoulders, holding her against his side.
“Don’t you feel it?” Ash asked him softly. Her eyes wide with wonder, with a hint of purple around the edges. She wasn’t entirely sure what that feeling in her stomach was or how to put it into words, but as she looked around the group around her, she knew that something was affecting them too. Loki seemed unable to stay still, grinning like a madman; it appeared like Greyson was much closer to the surface than he should have been.
Mark was deathly pale, as far from the patch of wall they had found. “They have found it”, Ash whispered softly. “It has to be, doesn’t it?” Ash asked, marginally louder to the group at large.
“I don’t know if I would say it had to be Luna, but it’s something for sure and something I don’t fancy getting any nearer to,” Mark replied; Ash cocked her head; it was the first time that mark had actually called her luna she thought, or the first that she could remember. Unsure what to make of that, she turned her attention to Greyson.
“I can smell it….. I can feel the magic on my skin…. I want it,” he replied. Looking exactly like the overexcited, oversized puppy he was, fur sprouting through his skin sporadically.
“What does it feel like?” Ash asked him calmly as she reached out to touch his arm.
“you…. us…. everything”, Greyson replied excitedly, bouncing out of reach of Ash’s hand.
*********
Micah dragged a struggling Loki/Greyson from the area until he could control himself, Mark eagerly leading Ash away.
“Right, someone tell me what the fuck is going on here? Right now!” Micah demanded, not entirely wanting what his own mind was telling him to be true.
Mark and Loki both looked like they would rather eat their own shoes than tell the truth, so Ash took a deep breath “welllll, I mean, I wasn’t really breaking any rules, was I? I was doing my school work until they called…. but I asked them to look for any odd bits on the old building plans, where it looked like rooms might have been bricked up or anything, because you built on the same foundations so some of the cellars are still the originals…. and it looks like my hunch was right.”
“Ash, you know your schoolwork is important”, Micah began, launching into his usual rant; CRASH…. they were all distracted by the thunderous banging of brick clattering to the concrete floor. The bricks broke as they hit each other and the floor.
“It wasn’t me!” Both Ash and Loki exclaimed together.
Mark took another step backwards; Ash didn’t blame him. The wave of magic that hit them all as the wall came down was cold, unforgiving, unfamiliar, and felt maleficent.
Ash looked around for Kit, the only other person capable of bringing the wall down magically, only he was nowhere to be seen.
The boys were bickering among themselves about who go in first when Ash slipped away and made her way through the dust towards the doorway; too busy looking into the room, Ash almost tripped over Kit’s unconscious form.