Chapter 11

        I know that Percy told me to stay, but I just couldn't. Why would this old piece of paper have a wolf and me with witch powers? 

        At that moment, I remembered what Mom always told me when I was younger. She always said that I had Native American in me, but maybe what she meant is an old werewolf tribe! I mean she did say that I had North Dakota Native American blood and there is an old North Dakota wolf pack living there (except now they don't have an Alpha). Then my dad told me that my great grandmother was living proof that we had witches in our family bloodline. She was just so mean and cranky. Heck, some members of my own family was burned at the stake for supposedly being a witch. 

        Is this picture trying to tell me that I'm a werewolf and a witch? That wolf standing next to me is most definitely not Percy. Could that be me? I stood up from where I had been sitting. I crumbled the piece of paper and stuck it in the back pocket of my jeans. No one can know that I'm the girl from the picture. I've heard what Peri had said when she met any witch. She killed them and I like my life, thank you very much! I had to get out of there. I couldn't stay any longer. Sally and Jen would see me as a monster, a freak in a world of freaks. And to think that I fit in in my old life. Who woud've thought?

        I ran out of the library and ran smack dab into Costin. 

        "Woah, there Crystal! Where are you going in such a hurry?" He asked as he grasped my shoulders, trying to help steady me. 

        "Nowhere," I said. Great cover.

        "Well you don't need to be in such a hurry to get to nowhere, unless it has something to do with Jen. Does it?"

        I looked up at him and I tried desperately to come up with an excuse. "I-It does. She played a joke on me and now I have to get her back, naturally."

        "Ooh! I love to hear a good Jen prank. What did she do?" He asked as he leaned against the wall. 

        Could this guy really not see that I was in a hurry? Stupid wolf. Sorry, Sally but it's true.

        "She...um, drew a moustache on my face and wrote something so naughty on me that I would rather not repeat. And I thought I was a light sleeper. Guess not." I shrugged.

        "Yep, that sounds like something Jen would do. Sorry to hear it. Glad it came off though." He smiled.

        "Yeah, me too. Now if you'll excuse me," I sidestepped him and started to walk down the hall.

        "Alright you're excused. And take it easy on Jen!" 

        Once I turned the corner, I took off running and racing down the stairs into the plaza. That's how nice it looked. I opened the huge wooden doors and stepped outside. I took a deep breath of fresh air and before I could get any further, Sally and Jen came from around the corner of the garden. 

        I tried to blend into my surroundings, but wearing a bright neon pink sweatshirt didn't help. 

        "Oh hey, Crystal!" Sally called. "You alright?"

        "Yeah, I'm fine."

        Jen and Sally came to a stop in front of me.

        Jen took one look at me and said, "That's about as true as me saying, 'Why, I've never said anything above a PG rating.' So what's wrong?"

        "I-I can't tell you."

        "Why not?" Sally asked. "Crystal, you can tell us."

        "Yeah, and if it's something naughty, like anything about you and your lover boy getting it on, I will not tell anyone, except for Decebel, Jacque, Fane, Costin, and-"

        "Jen, not helping. You can tell me though for sure, Crystal. Maybe not Jen."

        "Oh come on. I was just joking but seriously Crys, tell us!"

        For some reason, I felt like if I didn't do something I would explode. I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself down, but instead I saw the swirling purple cloud but way bigger and sparkling. It must be my magic. Sally's magic is white because her healer magic is light and pure, where as mine isn't. Who would've thought I did have magic, but not the kind that Sally has?

        I looked down at my hands and saw that sparks were slowly flying out, one by one. I gasped and wrapped my hands around myself, hoping to somehow put them out. 

        Unfortunately, Jen saw the sparks too. "Woah! Crystal! What was that? Is that what you've been hiding? That's so cool! Do you have some sort of fire sparkler attached to your wrists?" Jen started to walk closer to me to investigate, but I backed away from her. Now my back was to the woods, and Sally and Jen were in front of the mansion round-about driveway. 

        "Hey, Jen. I don't think you should do that. I think Crystal's trying to-"

        "Come on, Sally. She's fine, right Crystal?"

        I tried to smile and only managed a small one. The little sparks were started to turn into flames because of my stressing about Sally and Jen finding out about my powers. I would tell Sally and Jen anything, but this I couldn't. While going through the witch's section in the library, I saw a newer book recently placed there that talked about what Sally and Peri did to the last witch. They destroyed her so that the witch's line of terror would cease. Even though I knew Sally trusted me, that didn't mean that Peri did. Peri didn't ever really like me, and I guess she could somehow feel that I was different, because she never tried to be nice to me. Not even politely. So if Peri convinced Sally that I would become dark, they would kill me instantly.

         I put my hands behind my back, hoping that Jen would get the message to back off. She didn't. She kept coming closer and I kept backing away until she stopped.

        "Jen, please. I don't-"

        But she didn't listen to me. Too quickly for me to comprehend, she reached around me and grabbed a hold of my hand. It took me so much by surprise that I lost control of my magic and a huge burst of fire shot out of my hand and burned Jen's hand all the way up her arm to her elbow.

        Jen screamed in pain and let go of me. Sally ran over to Jen to see what the danger was, but before she could get there, Decebel, in wolf form, charged at me from around the corner of the mansion. He looked so enraged and was growling so loud that you couldn't hear Sally's pleas for him to stop. 

        I stood in place, knowing that if you backed away from an Alpha, it would just egg him on. I closed my eyes and waited for the massive Alpha to tear me to shreds, but before he reached me, Percy shot out from the woods, also in wolf form. He was growling just as much as Decebel and ran head long into Decebel. Decebel crashed into Sally but was instantly back on his feet. Percy came to a stop in front of me and glared at Decebel with such intensity that Decebel halted in his tracks and submitted to Percy by lowering himself to the ground and baring his neck. 

        I could hear Percy's thought of wanting to rip Decebel apart for threatening me, and I knew I had to stop him from destroying his goduncle (yes, in Percy's family, since his mother and Jen are such close friends, Jen and Decebel are his god aunt and uncle, same as Sally and Costin. It's a weird relationship).

        I reached out to Percy's thoughts. Percy! Stop. He's your uncle!

        He may be, but that gives him no right to threaten you and I want to rip him apart to teach him a lesson.

        Percy, please! The only reason he was charging at me was because I burned Jen. 

        You burned Jen?!

        Yes. My powers went out of control, and unfortunately Jen got burned because of them. Please, I already feel awful and horrible and if you kill your uncle, you would also kill Jen, and I wouldn't be able to live with myself so please, stop!

        He didn't reply. He did though released Decebel from his submission pose. Decebel must've tried to snap at Percy but because of Percy's dominance, he only got to lick his teeth. I looked over at Sally and Jen and saw them baring their necks to Percy on their knees. They couldn't even look at Percy, much less look him in the eye.  Somehow, Costin had appeared next to Sally and was also in submission. He must have heard Sally's thoughts and had come out to protect her.

        When Percy came to stand beside me in his wolf form, I knew without a doubt that I was the werewolf witch that the prophecy had talked about. I was a witch, obviously and I had a drop of werewolf blood because if I didn't, I wouldn't have Percy as a mate because werewolves only mate with other werewolves, gypsy healers and Fae. 

        I couldn't handle any more of what had just happened and Percy knew it. He bent down and allowed me to climb onto his massive back. I grabbed clumps of his black fur as he took off into the woods. Seeing where he was taking me in his mind, I was meeting his parents a little early.