Chapter 7

Early in the morning, Riley was getting ready after seeing Maria's text. Everything she wore was black and dark. Her light brown hair was tied in a messy ponytail and she looked like death itself. She grabbed her handbag and walked towards the door. Just as she was about to leave her room, she decided to write a note to let everyone know she was going out and wouldn't return until it was very late. She placed the note on her bed and slowly, carefully and quietly tip-toed out of the house. When she got outside, she transformed into her wolf. Her fur began to cover her body and her hands turned into paws. The deep brown fur swayed side to side as the wind gently blew. She grabbed her bag with her teeth and began to run towards the mountain. As she was running, she began to think of the things she would say to Maria. Things like: I'm sorry and I didn't mean to say anything, but he needed to know. She thought of more things too and the more she thought about it, the more she began to get scared of what Maria would do. Soon she reached the mountain and began to climb up it. Many times Riley slipped and thought she would fall to the bottom, but every time she slipped, she held on with her sharp claws. Eventually, she jumped onto the top of the mountain and saw that Freya and Chris was already there. They both wore similar things, but Freya was wearing a grey top instead of black. Riley transformed into her human form and brushed down her clothes to see there were a few holes and cuts in her clothes from climbing up the mountain. "I thought you weren't going to come for a second." Freya said while laughing. "I said I would come so I did." Riley replied. Riley looked around to see if she could spot Maria anywhere, but she was nowhere to be found. "Where's Maria? She should be here."                                                 "Maria's gone to get the car. Come on otherwise she'll have our heads." chuckled Chris. The three of them started to walk back down the mountain, but this time it seemed quicker. They reached the bottom and started to walk through the woods and further away from her home. Riley was taking deep breaths in and out, but it still didn't calm her down and soon Freya noticed. She went up next to Riley and said, "There's no need to be scared. We've done this lots of times and we won't let anything happen to you." Riley felt safer hearing that, but they began to wonder how many times Freya and Chris had helped Maria. After a while of walking and chatting between the three people, they reached a road and Maria standing next to a car. It was a grey Mercedes's that had blue light shining from underneath. It looked amazing, but thought it was strange for Maria to have a car that must have costed a lot of money, but had no money to pay for a house. "How can you afford a car but not a house?" asked Riley. Maria smiled and said, "That's because it's not mine. I stole it. Now get in." Riley shook her head and smiled at the same time. They all got in and Maria started the engine. Riley saw that Maria was wearing her usual leather jacket with jeans that had holes in (like Riley's) that were made from a wolf.  The engine roared with power and they sped off into the sunrise. Riley looked out of her window and wondered what would happen in the coven.

It had been an hour since Riley left her home and Enzo was beginning to wonder where she was. He looked around the house and went into her room. He saw the note on the bed and it said, 'I have gone out with Maria, so I won't be back until late. Don't wait up for me. –Riley.' Enzo believed what she wrote and also knew she wasn't telling the whole story and decided it would be best for him to ask later. Enzo just hoped that Riley would be okay. Riley was also hoping that Enzo would be okay and wouldn't tell their parents about where she had gone. The sun was shining like burning fire and the heat was radiating off of the window until it got too hot that she had to wind the windows down. The air was cold and cool and blew her hair. There were fields everywhere and birds flew over them in the lovely bright coloured sky. Riley closed her eyes and soon she forgot about what they were all about to do. "Alright, Riley you need to listen. I'm going to tell you the plan." Freya said. Then, Riley opened her eyes and everything came rushing back to her and she began to worry once again. "When we get there, I am going to put a cloaking spell on you so no one can see you, but they will be able to see your shadow in any sunlight and will still be able to hear you move. This will only last for three house so you need to be quick and get out of there as soon as possible." Everyone nodded and then Chris said, "I will be protecting Freya and making sure no witches find her doing the spell as once she breaks her connection, the cloaking spell will be broken, making you vulnerable.  I will also be scouting the area to see how many witches there are when we get there."                                                           "I will be going inside with Riley to try and find the object. We don't know what it will look like, but it will be easy to find: you can feel the energy and power around it. If you think someone has seen you or that you have been caught, then kill them." Riley was shocked that Maria wanted Riley to kill someone. Although Riley knew she wouldn't be able to do it, she nodded her head in agreement. So far, Maria hadn't said anything about Enzo knowing who Maria was and was starting to think that Maria didn't mind, but she knew she had to ask. "Are you angry with me now that Enzo knows?" Riley waited and waited for Maria to say something, but for a while she didn't. It was like she was trying to figure out something to say. "No. I'm not angry with you."                                                                            "Why? If I were you I would be." Questioned Riley.                                                                                   "I'm not angry with you because you only told him what he wanted to know. You didn't tell him anything that could ruin the mission and I know he won't tell anyone unless I say he can. I think you also knew that too." Riley did know that and she felt a lot better now that she knew Maria wasn't angry with her. The three of them all laughed and talked about how bad Maria's driving was. For the first time in a while, they were all happy, but everyone knew it wouldn't last for long as soon they reached where they were meant to be. They were now in Oakfield.

They parked on the outskirts of Oakfield and it was a lovely place to live. It was heaven. Everyone was laughing and smiling. Children were playing and having a lovely time while the parents were having a nice chat with one another. Maria looked around and thought what it would be like to have that, a life where everything was simple and calm, to have parents that were still alive and friends to be hanging out with instead of fighting a battle with them. Maria breathed in and followed after the others to a beautiful forest. The trees had light green leaves and had animals running around and eating the freshly grown grass. It was all so peaceful. Then, out of the corner of her eyes, Maria could see the coven house. It wasn't the tallest, but was very wide. It looked like it spread for miles on end. The bricks were a light grey colour and the door was wooden. Freya started to place her bag down on the ground and take out a few things. She grabbed a bottle with white powder and poured it around her in a circle. Freya waved her hand, but nothing happened. She waved her hand over and over again, but nothing happened. Then, Maria waved her hand and created a fire in front of her. "Thanks. I still can't do it. I'm not good with the elements like you." Freya laughed. She placed purple, red and orange leaves into the fire and started to mutter something under her breath that was in a different language. Chris had started to run around the area in vamp speed. It took him a few minutes until he returned. "There are about three witches on the right and two on the left side of the building and from what I can see, there are about fifteen inside. Be careful." Riley and Maria nodded their heads and waited for Freya to tell them it was safe to go inside. Clouds of smoke that were all different colours started to surround them. A purple one surrounded Riley and a red cloud surrounded Maria. The clouds of smoke soon moved from their feet to above their heads, making it look like a bubble. "There. The spell is complete, but I will only be able to hold it for three, maybe less, hours, so you need to be quick." The two of them nodded and walked towards the coven's house. They hid in the shadows and waited for the two witches to turn their backs. When they did, Maria and Riley ran towards the door and into the house. Inside, there was a staircase in front of them and a door at either side of them. "I'll go through this door and you go through the other. Shout if you need help and if you find the object, text me and don't wait for me." Maria explained. Riley nodded and the two went their separate ways. Maria entered a room that had paintings of the leader of the coven and had a long table that shined and glistened like stars in the night sky. The chairs that surrounded the table were made out of leather and the table had a piece of paper placed on it and Maria decided to have a look. It was a letter written to other covens and it said, 'To all the covens in the area. Salice had moved here and is planning on attacking all the original packs. We must protect ourselves and at no cost get involved with the pack problems. The moment we do that, we will be dead. I know that what I am asking you is a lot as sitting on the side lines is a hard thing to do, but I know that the Black River's alpha's daughter is alive and she will stop Salice one way or another. Whether she will be alive by the end of it is something I do not know. If you have any questions or problems then write back to me. Yours faithfully, the Rose Coven. Maria couldn't believe what she was reading and she felt disgusted at the way they were going on about this.  She waved her hand and the papers all flew into the cold air and out the window. Maria then heard someone muttering in the room next to her and Maria decided to see what it was. On the other hand, Riley hadn't found anything about the object, but found out a lot about the coven. They had books about all sort of spell and all about the packs and wolves inside them. Riley entered a room that were filled with bookshelves and had a book in the middle of the floor. She bent down to have a look at what it said, but it didn't have a name. Instead, it had a photo of someone that looked like Maria and her parents. The picture was moving, nut did the same thing over and over again. They all smiled and once a flash happened, the little girl ran out of view while the parents laughed. Riley opened the book and saw that it had the history of everyone in the Black River pack from when it was first created to now. She flicked through the pages until it got to Maria's name. It had a picture of her and then listed everything about her. It had her age, height, status and wolf. It didn't have a picture of her wolf like the other peoples, but Riley assumed that was because no one had ever seen it. She also saw that there were a part that said all of her powers; It listed strength, speed, agility intelligence, magic and elements. Riley didn't know what this meant, but decided to take it with her. She placed it in her bag and left the room and into the next. Over with Maria, she walked into the next room (where she heard the noise). She saw flowers everywhere and wondered what it was with witches and nature. Suddenly, Maria moved to the corner of the room and saw a witch holding a plastic flower. Maria knew it was the object she needed. Instead of killing the witch and taking the object, Maria decided to see how it worked. As the witch was saying something, the red petals of the rose turned white and the stalk went from green to black. A gust of wind blew around the room until the windows slammed open and the sun shined into the room. Maria was cornered in the rooms' corner as the sun shone. It stopped just at the tips of her feet and Maria sighed in relief. She grabbed her phone and texted Riley to get out of here as she had found the object. Maria carried on watching it work and soon the veins on the witched neck popped out and started to turn black. Then, everything had stopped. The wind stopped blowing, the veins returned to normal and the windows shut closed. The witch smiled and a plant that was nearly dead started to come back to life and regain its natural colour. Maria realised that this could heal people and things that were either hurt or close to death.

This would be valuable to her and the witch left the room as she called out another witches name. Maria knew this was her only chance at getting the rose so she leaped towards it and grabbed it. In the process, she saw a picture of Freya who looked about 2 years younger than she did now and the person next to her looked very similar. Maria grabbed the picture and tucked it in her pocket just as she heard footsteps getting closer. Running out of the room and building, Maria could hear shouts and the warning bells ringing behind her. She reached Freya and saw that Riley and Chris were fighting off some witches. Shaking Freya, she broke the spell and got onto her feet. The two of them looked around and saw around 10 witches holding hands and chanting a spell. "We can't fight them all." Shouted Riley and Freya and Chris nodded in agreement. "Everyone get behind me NOW." Shouted Maria and they all did as she said. Maria took a step forward and placed her hands out flat in front of her. "You messed with the wrong girl." Maria exclaimed. Soon, the ground began to shake and Maria closed her eyes. The other witches stopped chanting and looked at Maria in fear. The ground began to crack around Maria and the others and then ... lava erupted out onto the surface and grew taller as Maria raised her hands slightly. The lava started to get so high up that you couldn't even see Maria and her friends anymore. Maria could hear mutters and talks on the other side and soon Maria opened her eyes for people to see that it was burning red with rage and fire. She pushed her hands forward and the lava moved forward too and covered all the witches on the other side. They screamed as they burned alive and Riley covered her ears in horror. She couldn't bear to listen to them scream and she closed her eyes. She couldn't believe what Maria had done and in that moment, she started to wonder if Maria was any different from Salice and if she was any better. Then, everything fell silent and the lava returned to the ground. The cracks closed up and all you could see were the bodies. They were burnt to a crisp! "Why did you do that?" asked Riley in anger. Maria turned around to face the others and said to Riley, "If you thought that the fight against Salice meant no deaths of both innocent and guilty and a happy ending for us all, then your wrong. We need to leave now before more come." Maria walked off like what she had just done was nothing and the three of them followed. Riley looked back at the burnt bodies and a tear fell down her cheek as she began to cry. She didn't know if she could trust Maria anymore. They all got in the car and Maria drove off at full speed. In the shadows of the forest, Rafaello was lurking and saw everything. He grabbed his phone and started to dial someone. He said, "I think I have just found us a new alliance with a coven." There was laughter on the other end of the phone as they discussed what to do.

The car ride back home was quiet and tense. No one wanted to say a word and no one wanted to move a muscle either. They were all in disbelief, apart from Maria who didn't understand why everyone was so shocked at what she had just done. Soon they all returned home and parked the car at where they all first met in the morning. Maria pulled Freya over to the side and away from the others and asked, "Who are these people to you?" Maria pulled out the picture from her pocket and handed it to Freya as she asked the question. "They are my parents. They are the leader of that coven."                                                          "Then why did you make us sneak in there? Why didn't you just ask them for it? They are your parents."                 "They wouldn't give it to me. They think I am a disgrace because I fell in love with a vampire. That's why I left the coven." Maria looked at Freya and gave her a reassuring smile to let her know that she was here for her if needed. The two headed back to the others and parted their separate ways apart from Maria and Riley. "Where are you going to put it?" asked Riley. "I'm going to put it with the other objects. Do you want to come?" Riley nodded and followed after Maria. They walked for a while, until Riley said, "I have something to give you. I think it is a record of everyone in the Black River pack." Maria stopped walking and turned to look at the book Riley was now holding. It was her parents on the front and the picture was still moving. "I found it in their library. The pictures keep moving and lots of people inside have a red cross over their pictures." Maria and Riley started walking again and Maria explained, "The red cross means they are dead. Every pack has a book like this. Thank you for giving me this." Maria placed it in her bag. The two had been walking for a while until they walked past a house that was burnt down to the ground. It wasn't really a house and there was nothing that could be used again. Suddenly, it hit Riley like a truck. "This is where you lived. This was your house before Salice burnt it." Maria nodded and said, "Yes it was. As much as I would like to stay here, we are not too far away so we must be quick if you want to return home without any questions being raised." Riley didn't want to leave the house. She wanted to stay and stare at it for hours on end and imagine what it would have looked like, but she followed Maria as she was right (like usual). Eventually, they reached a trap door with leaves and twigs covering it. Maria brushed them off, unlocked the trap door and started to walk down. "Wait here." Maria said. Maria waved her hands and the room she was now standing in lit up with fire around the walls. In the centre of it, there was a spear with objects surrounding it. Maria placed the rose next to the other objects and jewels and looked at everything she had got so far. She took a deep breath in and said to herself, "Only one more left." She then climbed back up and left the room, locked the trap door and hid it under the twigs and leaves. She looked at Riley and the two of them said their farewells as they parted.

After a while of walking, Riley returned home and saw Enzo waiting on the steps of the porch. "What were you doing with Maria?" asked Enzo. Riley didn't want to lie to him, but she knew she had no to her choice if she wanted to keep him safe. "I showed Maria around the town as she hasn't had a good chance to see it as she only just moved here a few years back." Enzo raised his head a little in disbelief, but she knew if he asked more questions, he would only make her not want to tell him. "Can I ask you something about Maria?"                                                                                            "Of course. What is it?" Enzo asked. "Do you think she is a good person? Someone that can make this world a better place no matter what she does."                  "Yes I do. I think she can help everyone in different ways and no matter the cost." Riley smiled and walked inside and Enzo stared at the sky and said, "I hope you know what you're doing Maria. We are all depending on it." Back in Oakfield, the Rose Coven was talking about who broke into their coven undetected. Suddenly, the doors flew open and six vampires (including Rafaello) swarmed in. The witches were just about to cast a spell until a voice said, "There's no need for violence." It was Salice! The leader of the Rose Coven stepped forward and announced, "My name is Callum. What do you want?" Salice walked out of the shadows and said, "I want you to join me. I want you and your coven to help me win this war."                                 "Why would we help you? All you bring is evil to the world. For all we know, you were the one that broke in here. Salice laughed and then explained, "The person that broke in here was Maria and she was the person who stole the blood rose. I don't know why she wanted it, but I do know that she had help from your daughter. Freya. That's her name, right?" Everyone fell silent. "So will you help me take down Maria Rivers and make the Black River pack extinct for good?" Everyone looked at each other and had a quiet discussion and then Callum said, "Fine. We'll help you." Salice laughed and they all began to discuss the plan.