Training In The Woods

Training In The Woods
Michelle stopped dead in her tracks, “Is her name Alannah?” Stella turned and looked at Michelle. “Yes, you met her?” Michelle nodded as she carried on walking again. “Wait, then you’re the girl she was talking about the whole time, the Lycan Princess. Now it makes sense.” Stella clapped her hands.

“She will be so happy to hear that the person she is looking up to is actually my best friend.” Michelle looked at Stella, “She looks up to me? Why? All I did was be friendly with her while she was sitting alone. I was just being kind, like I normally am.” Stella just laughed, “Michelle, you did more than that, you showed her that in a world that is bigger than her dreams, it is ok to be different. She doesn’t have any witch powers like I do, or any warlock traits like Sheamus. She has all our dad’s Elvin traits and powers. She is really powerful, too, for her age. So dad has been working with her and training her to control it.” Michelle nodded in understanding. She knew what it felt like to be the odd one out, to be too strong and not know how to handle it. “Hey, you are doing well so far. Besides, I don’t know anyone else who would be able to handle me.” Silver spoke proudly, and Michelle could feel that her Lycan was proud of her.

They reached the clearing when Michelle heard a rustle in the leaves off to her left. She sniffed the air, and Stella stiffened. “Michelle, I sense a wolf.” Michelle looked in the direction from which the sound came and sniffed the air again. She seemed to relax, and Stella just wanted to smack her against her head. How can she relax with an unknown wolf nearby? A large golden brown wolf came walking out of the woods into the clearing. He walked straight to Michelle and nuzzled her shoulder and neck. Michelle started laughing and ruffled the wolf’s fur between his ears. “Hey, Titan, you almost gave us a heart attack. When did you get here?” Stella just stood there. Titan looked over at Stella and tilted his head slightly to one side. Lying down, he just looked at her.

“Stella, it’s ok. This is Titan. He is Mathias’s wolf. He won’t hurt you.” Titan, can you shift back, please?”  The big wolf got up and shifted back to his human form. Mathias stood in front of them and pulled on the shorts that neither Michelle nor Stella had seen him carry in his mouth, up to cover his lower body. Michelle hugged him. “Hi, welcome to the academy. When did you get here? OH, and this Stella, my new and best friend.” “Hi Stella, I am Mathias.” He shook her hand as he looked at him. She had never seen a werewolf shift in front of her own eyes before. Turning to Michelle, he smiled at his best friend’s sister, who had become like a sister to him as well. “I just got here while you guys were busy in the training center. I had to undergo a test with your dad, which I aced, so by the way.” His smile was infectious. “After the session ended, Athos wanted to talk to you, but you had left, and Drake said he couldn’t get through to you via the link. None of us could. Not even Athos. So Drake asked me to track you down. His mind was too foggy to track you.”

Just then, Michelle felt the same splitting pain in her back that she had the morning of her birthday. She collapsed to the ground, and Mathias linked Athos immediately. “I found them. Michelle just collapsed in front of me, and I am bringing them back on Titan’s back. Call her mom, Uncle Mike, and tell them to try to get hold of Uncle Gabe and Uncle Luke. She is burning up and starting to glow bright white.” He looked at Stella, who was kneeling next to Michelle. She looked familiar to him, but he was not sure why. “Stella, I need you to pick her up and put her on my wolf’s back and then get on as well, and hold on tight.” He shifted without waiting to hear or see her answer. Stella helped Michelle onto Titan’s back and got on behind her, and held on so tight that Titan knew he would need to check if she pulled out some hair after she got off. He started running in the direction of the training center, howling loudly. Suddenly, he was flanked by Shadow on his left and his dad’s wolf, Ragnar. They ran with him, making sure nothing was following them.

When they reached the training center, Celine, Dominique, Michael, Gabriel, and Luke had already joined the others. Stella got off Titan’s back and helped to get Michelle off as well. They laid her down on the grass. Stella looked up Drake, “I don’t know what happened, she was still talking to Mathias and me, and then she looked like she was in pain and collapsed.” The worry in her eyes was there for everyone to see. “I can’t even feel what is wrong. This morning, she had such a bad nightmare that she broke into a sweat. I had no choice, I had to break it, I had to use magic to break it.” Celine looked at her, and she sensed that Stella was worried about what she had just said. “Stella, darling child, your mother will be proud of you. Don’t worry, what you did was not breaking any rules; it was to save a life. For that, I am grateful. What you described was not just a normal nightmare. With her being a hybrid, she is still going through some changes, all 4 of them are, but Michelle’s changes are different from those of the boys.”

Gabriel kneeled next to Michelle, and as he touched her forehead, he felt her running a fever. “Celine, she’s burning up, it’s happening way too soon, and really fast.” Dominique looked at them and felt his wolf start to whine in his head. “We need to do something. I can’t see my baby girl like this.” Luke stepped forward, “There is one thing that I can do. Celine, it was not a mere coincidence that you and I met in Heaven. I was meant to meet you, but becoming your friend was a bonus. You see, my main job is to help out should Michelle’s last abilities that she inherited from you, come too quickly and too early.”

He sat down behind her, pulled her onto his lap, and wrapped his wings around her. Darius moved forward, and Luke just looked up at him. “Meeting you made her happy, which set things in motion for everything to speed up regarding her abilities. It is not a bad thing; it just happened a bit sooner than everyone hoped. Now let me do my job and help her, then you can take her in your arms, and back to her room.” Darius stepped back and remained silent, waiting for Luke.