The Journey Back

The Journey Back
"Be safe" Amora whispered softly as she pulled me into a hug.

I nodded silently, knowing that we had eyes and ears all around us in the form of the large crowd that had gathered to say goodbye.

The last 24hrs had been incredible, seeing how far the Landow Pack had come in such a short amount of time under the gentle guidance of Braydon and Amora.

The pack was happy, content and they had warmed up to Malachi and I, which made it difficult to leave - even though I knew that we had a job to do.

Malachi, Braydon, Grace and I slid into our car and waved as Malachi pulled away.

Tarquin was coming with us, however he was in wolf form and would meet us ahead on the road to avoid raising any suspicion since we didn't know how many people knew him or his role at Landow.

The stone was safely tucked away in a pouch in my pocket and things were going smoothly, but a gut feeling told me that something was off.

Half an hour into the silent trip, a large white wolf began running alongside the car and Grace and I gave Tarquin a little wave from the window.

It would only be another hour or so that Sawyer, Cora and Dawn would also be running beside us.

"So what did you think of the new and improved Landow pack?" Braydon asked, breaking the silence in the car. I was thankful for the distraction since I could hear all of our brains working overtime.

"It was great! I can't believe how different the atmosphere is already, compared to my last trip there with my Father!" I praised as I turned around to face his beaming face.

"There's still a lot of work and we're going to be drowned in paperwork for years, but I'm glad that someone else can see improvement already." He smiled.

"More Wolves." Grace said suddenly and her face paled. Our heads snapped to the right, but we relaxed immediately when we saw that it was only Sawyer, Cora and Dawn besides us.

"They're our friends." Malachi stated, and Grace physically relaxed. I could tell that she was tense, but she was beginning to make me feel jumpy as well.

The three wolves fell in line, running with Tarquin beside the car as we finished our silent journey back home.

"We're almost there!" Braydon sung, once again breaking the silence and I'd never been more relieved to see the familiar forest in my entire life.

Rhydian, May and Peggy were standing out the front to greet us, their smiling expressions turned into confusion as they saw the extra people with us.

Tarquin, Sawyer, Cora and Dawn shifted back and quickly put their clothes on that they had tied around their legs as the rest of us stepped out of the car.

Cora ran straight over and threw her hands around me and I squeezed the life of her right back.

"I've missed you!" I cried out, grateful to see my best friend again, but the moment was cut short with Rhydian clearing his throat.

"We need to talk, and then we have a ceremony to plan for tonight." Malachi explained subtly and gestured for us to all head inside.

Our small group made our way up to the office and once the door clicked, there was an uncomfortable silence since no one really knew where to start.

"Uh-hem, how about we start with some introductions?" Rhydian suggested, clearing his throat and looking between Grace and Tarquin.

"That sounds like a good idea, this is Rhydian, May, Peggy, Sawyer, Cora and Dawn," I started, pointing to each person in the room so that the newcomers could be acquainted. "Everyone else, this is Tarquin and Grace."

The room rumbled with polite greetings before it fell silent again.

"So...?" Rhydian broke the silence once again, and I pulled the stone from my pocket and sat it on the desk for everyone to see.

"We need to destroy this..." I started before launching into the crazy story with the help of Tarquin, Malachi and Braydon.

The room was silent again after I'd finished, while everyone processed the amount of information we'd just given them as their eyes fell out of their heads in disbelief.

"I have a question." Rhydian put his hand up, looking very overwhelmed.

Malachi nodded his head at him to continue.

"When will you guys stop getting into trouble?" He asked, and we all burst out into laughter. He did have a strong point though.

"Ok, ok, but seriously - what do we need to do now?" May questioned as the laughter died down, and Tarquin stepped forward.

"The ceremony will require the four elements. Earth, which is the sacred ground where will be where the ceremony is completed. Water, which will blessed at the beginning of the ceremony and the stone will need to be soaked in. Fire, which will return the stone back to the Moon Goddess herself and Air, which will come in the form of the howl of a wolf. There are ceremonious clothing for Grace and Aurelia in Grace's luggage." He explained.

"Peggy and Dawn, why don't you go and fetch water from the well in the orchard and take it to the clearing, Rhydian and the men can begin building a fire and I'll grab a quick bite to eat for everyone. We only have just over an hour until the full moon begins appearing." May directed and everyone filed out to go and do their respective jobs, leaving Cora, Grace and I to head up to my room so that we could both mentally and physically prepare ourselves.

"How are you feeling?" I asked Grace as my bedroom door closed behind the three of us.

"Uhh, well, not great considering what happened to my family and I just can't shake this awful feeling that something's going to happen." She stuttered and Cora pulled her into a hug.

"Let's get ready, get through it and stress about it all later over a wine." Cora said, wiping a tear off Grace's cheek as she smiled and nodded.

Grace walked over to her luggage that had been bought up to the room and opened it, pulling out a wooden box that took up half of her suitcase.

"You ready?" She asked me, before opening it.

We all peered into the box, curious about what we'd find and Cora was the first to reach in and pull out the first robe which cascaded softly towards the ground.

We all gasped.

It was a simple but stunning, long white linen dress that had the tiniest little moon symbols delicately embroidered onto it. The second one was the same, and we all gasped again when Grace pulled out the first robe - which was an intricate lace and silk with the same moon symbols weaved in between what looked like a pattern of a forest.

I peered back into the box to make sure that was all we needed and pulled out a little glass paint pot, filled with a white substance.

"I'm not sure what this is for, but how about we get changed and take this with us." I suggested as Grace and I began pulling on the beautiful dresses, and then the robes.

Cora expertly pulled our hair away from our faces, and fastened buns on the top of our heads while allowing the rest of our hair to cascade over our shoulders.

"Oh my god, you both look like you could be the Moon Goddess herself!" She squealed as she gushed over how we looked. Grace and I were beaming from ear to ear, and were both feeling and looking much less tense.

A howl broke the air, signalling that it was time and interrupting our small moment. Without saying anything else and with the heavy pit back in our stomachs, I grabbed the small glass pot and we slipped out of the room and made our way towards the clearing.