Chapter 1:Mina

"Hey Mina you look as if you haven't slept at all", a red, frizzy haired chubby girl with braces exclaimed as she ran towards her tall and slender best friend- Mina in the hallway of St James High School where both of them studied.

It's true, thought Mina. She had woken up in the middle of the night due to a dream. It was a nice dream that ended badly but she couldn't remember the contents. She felt that the dream was important so she spent the whole night trying to remember her dream and this had resulted in dreadful dark circles on her pale face. Even the makeup couldn't cover it. It's happening often, she thought. I'm having such dreams a lot these days.

The bell rang snapping Mina out of her thoughts. Her friend, Stara, looked at her worriedly. "Hey, are you so worried about your exams? You look as if you spent the whole night reading. You are already the topper in our class. Don't over exert yourself. "

"That's not it... ",said Mina. She wanted to tell Stara about her dreams. But then she hesitated, she did not want her only friend to think of her as a nutcase who worries about dreams she can't even remember. So instead she said "We will be late to class if we don't hurry. We have Monster in the first hour!"

Stara mimicked puking on the floor and grabbed Mina's hand. Both of them ran towards their class, reaching just in time. They sat on their seats still huffing due to the run. "The worms have arrived", a mean voice drolled on. It was Ashley. She hated anyone who could do better than her. As Mina and Stara both excelled in studies, she hated them more. She especially hated Mina.

Both Mina and Stara ignored her and took out their books. "You are wise", somebody said next to them. It was their friend Sid. He always hung around the two girls. Mina suspected that Sid liked Stara but he was not brave enough to ask her out. So he remained with them as a best friend and a protector.

"I can not say the same about you", Stara retorted back. Sid held his chest in mock hurt. Mina smiled at their banter and arranged her assignment due today . Mr. Salvinder, commonly called by the students as Monster, had given them a long assignment. He was peculiar, very tall almost 7ft and spoke with a husky voice. He was the strictest teacher. Even other teachers were a bit afraid of this Mr Salvinder aka Monster.

Today Monster was running a bit late. All that running for nothing, thought Mina. She took her pen and started drawing on her notebook. She thought about the things she wanted to do after two weeks. Go to a club with Stara and Sid, drink and get drunk, she thought. It was the day she would officially become an adult. She was eagerly waiting for her 18th birthday. As she was thinking this, she absently scratched her scar on her neck. This was the scar she got in a car accident nine years ago due to which she lost her parents and her memories. She couldn't recollect anything that happened to her in the first nine years of her life. She just knew that after the accident she adopted by her present foster parents who lived in this city. She had no photographs of those nine years. Her foster parents also did not know where she came from. The only connection to the past was this scar which she kept covered using her long hair. When Monster finally came, she had finished drawing a beautiful vase of flowers.

"Um, no offense, Monster looks like you today" , Sid said. Stara glared at Sid and Mina saw that it was true. Monster also looked dreadful as if he had not slept at all. She wondered whether his dreams kept him from sleeping just like hers.

Monster started collecting the assignments from all the students. Everyone, even Ashley had written the assignment in fear of him. Monster came to Sid, Stara and Mina to collected theirs. Monster was about to take the paper form Mina's hand. Suddenly instead of Monster's hand she saw claws; the claws of a wild beast.

She shrank away from him and turned towards Stara. She also had claws. She looked at her own hands and saw claws instead of hands. Pale with horror, she shook her head. The hands turned normal. She hurriedly gave the assignment and saw Monster looking at her strangely. Even Stara and Sid looked at her with worry. They had seen her fright.

After the class Mina rushed towards the washroom and looked at her face in the mirror. Her already pale face looked more pale, highlighting her dark circles. I look like a ghost, she thought. She had been hallucinating in Monsters class. Her hands definitely looked like hands not claws.

"Why did you run out without me!! I was so worried. What happened? You looked as if you saw a ghost!" , Stara said, her face was drawn with worry. Mina smiled at her friend reassuringly and said, "I got a headache suddenly in Monster's class. I think I have to listen to you and sleep well." "Of course you should, you look like a zombie." Both of them laughed, the incident already forgotten.

Later at night, Mina looked at the full moon and decided to sleep properly in order to stop any more hallucinations. The hallucinations had scared Mina very badly as they looked almost real. Shaking away the memory of the claws in her mind, she climbed in her bed and very asleep very quickly.

...

A small beam of the full moon light fell on the sleeping girl and her scar on the back of her neck began glowing. It was not the reflection of the moonlight, but it was the light produced by the scar. The scar shone brightly with a characteristic silvery glow unseen by anyone. It was not even seen by the owner of the scar as she was sleeping; dreaming the same dream she had the nights before- of a nine year old girl and a wolf cub...

.....