You haven't seen anything yet

I was given enough time to pack a bag with some of my belongings, but Ryker told me I wouldn't need much. Just the essentials. So I packed a few of my favorite pieces of clothing, a couple of photos of me and my parents, my cell phone, computer and Mr. Snuggles, my stuffed pig that I use as a pillow.

When I exited my bedroom with Mr. Snuggles under my arm, his eyebrows raised in question, and I gave him a halfhearted shrug in response.

"He's coming." I say, without any room for argument.

He chuckles and motions for me to walk ahead of him, so I do so with my shoulders and chin high. No one can question my pig. As I pass him, I feel the hairs on the arm that is closest to him rise, almost as if static electricity is passing between us.

I head outside and he opens the door on a large, black SUV. When I am settled into the passenger seat, I look back at my house and see a woman standing with her palms out. She is standing over the debris that fell where Javier was thrown out my window, and as I continue to watch, I see that the debris is floating off the ground and back towards the wall. I gasp in surprise when I realize that the window is repairing itself.

Ryker has a slight smirk on his face. "It's amazing, isn't it? I have known about magic all my life, but it still never ceases to amaze me." I look over at him and see the sincerity in his eyes. I can feel his words as he continues speaking to me. "But you haven't seen anything yet." He tells me as he turns on the car and we leave my house behind.

As the SUV passes a house two doors down from her home, a curtain moves in the window. A figure with red eyes tracks the movement of the car driving away before looking back to the room behind him. He wipes a knife on the fabric of the curtains. Blood is splattered on the floor, the walls, and there are two feet surrounded by a pool of blood that can be seen around the end of the couch. His lip curled back in disgust as he thought about the pathetic couple that lived here, but are now decorating the room with their life source. Weak, disgusting humans.

He pulls a cellphone from his pocket and calls the only number saved in the contacts. When he hears that the phone has stopped ringing and someone answered the call, he begins speaking right away. He doesn't want to test his majstor's patience.

"She is on her way to the academy," he says.

"Good, who is with her?" the deep voice asks on the other side of the call.

"Ryker Volksyr."

His majstor is quiet, but he can hear a noise as his majstor tightens his grip and nearly crushes the phone.

He swallows in nervousness.

"Have Monika infect them. NOW!"

"Right away, Majstor". The man with red eyes hangs up the call, and hurries into the kitchen. He finds Monika licking blood off her middle finger as she moans in delight. In front of her lies a man's naked and slouched figure bound to a chair with his hands behind his back. Good, she's eaten and is in bloodlust. This will make things easier.

"Time for your part," he says hurriedly. "We need to head them off before they reach the academy."

She looks down at her prey before looking at him and pouts sullenly. "I'm not finished", she says.

"Majstor has spoken", he relays to her. Monika immediately stiffens and without hesitation or a glance back at her dinner, she heads towards the front door and exits the house confidently. He follows her to the car and doesn't look back to the house either. He is sure that she would have made her kill without leaving any evidence, just as he did. And just as they have, together, many times before.

...

- In the car -

Ryker and I pull up to a large gate that glistens in a shimmery, light color. Her mouth opens in awe. "It's pure silver," Ryker tells her.

"Silver? Isn't that lethal...to werewolves?" She asks, with her eyebrows drawn in confusion. The gate has intricate details on it, and as she looks closer she can distinguish wolves playing with each other in the forest. He gives a low chuckle, but she doesn't respond. She waits for him to answer her.

His eyes narrow slightly in her direction. "No, on its own it is a precious resource and an invaluable symbol of the werewolf order. However, if it is imbued with wolfsbane and doused with hellfire, it is a deadly weapon that any wolf should fear."

She tilts her head to the side. "Hellfire?"

"Yes, you will learn more about it and the demons that can wield it during your lessons here at the academy."

The gates are open now, so the car moves forward again. When the trip began, Layla and Ryker were deep in conversation. She was telling him about herself and she learned about his family and a bit about his background.

His dad is an alpha of a local werewolf pack, and him and his brother have been trained to take the mantle since birth. She learned that if you are born a werewolf, you do have more athletic capabilities than humans typically do, but their shifter abilities do not develop until around 18 years of age. The stronger you are, the earlier you will be able to shift.

About 20 minutes into their conversation, a small red sedan cut them off at an intersection. The couple in the other car honked at us and pulled up to my side of the vehicle before flipping me off and speeding away. After that event, the conversation lulled and it has been rather quiet .

Right now, I am still quiet - but that is because I am busy taking in all of the scenery around us.

The car continues forward, and once we pass through the silver gates I gaze out my window to see that the road is lined with a thick, dark green and lively forest. I intensely regard the trees, I look closely at the bark and follow the natural patterns to where the roots are embedded in the soil. My gaze travels up, and follows the length of the trees to the thick canopy above. It is lovely, and my dad would love this place. The more she watches out the window, the more calm she feels.

A sense of security swathes her body and bathes her in warmth.

The road has a lot of turns and twists, and as they turn left around a corner, the road drops off on my side. I look down the drop and I am stunned by what I see.

The road is cut along the side of a steep cliff that overlooks a wild ocean. That view, on its own, is breathtaking. Though, what particularly caught my breath, is what lies beyond.

On the mountainside in front of us, a large building is cut roughly from the stone. Its pleasantly jagged and complex silhouette becomes more defined as we continue to make our way towards it. The outline of the building becomes more prominent, and I can discern that it looks like a castle.

"Welcome to Alpine Crescent Academy," Ryker says. I looks over to him as he continues, "your home for the next two years".

I look back out to the academy that is nestled in the side of a mountain, intermixed with a forest of evergreen and oak trees. My eyesight follows the edge of the mountain to the ocean crashing below. If this is where I am to spend my two year sentence, it will be better than I hoped. In fact, I suspect that after some time, I could call this wondrous place my home.

After my parents death, I have been struggling alone in my house. It feels empty, and holds too many painful memories. I may not have been happy about how I got here, but things are looking up.

Twenty minutes later, we arrived at two massive wood doors that indicate the entrance of the academy entombed in stone. The steps that lead to the doors are lined with a light, almost neon green moss. At the bottom of the steps, a beautiful woman with brunette hair and ruby red lips is poised elegantly with her hands clasped in front of her while looking towards our vehicle.

As Ryker exits the car and opens the door for me, the woman smiles in my direction.