Chapter 17:

The next morning, I woke up at my normal time and sat on my bed wondering what I should do with my life with my stuffed dog next to me. I headed downstairs to the kitchen where everyone was sitting at the table about ready to devour the food that was waiting for them. I stood up and explained my idea: "Marcus, Brian, adults, and kids of the home, after we get done training with Goeds and Lichts, and once school starts, I will be going to stay with the Dunkels and the Slechts to understand their side of this story. End of discussion. Sly, will you be coming with me or not?"

"Uhm, I don't know yet. Can I think about it for a while?" Sly said, taken back by the question.

"Yeah. Any other questions or concerns?" I inquired.

"Well, actually…" Marcus started.

"No good. That is the plan; you can hate it or go with it. But that is the plan," I said with a growl from Marcus. As we went to eat, Marcus kept staring at me and most of the kids were staring at me. I rolled my eyes and said, "I know I sprung this on you, but I have to do what is best for the world… not just you guys. I have to be an adult."

"But Eve, you are not even 15 yet," Brian said.

I looked at him and said, "Not everything is designed for kids to make the right decision of their parents when they are older. Some things have to be done when they are young."

George chuckled and said, "Aren't you glad you met Ellen? Now you have a sassy daughter!"

I glared at him and in return he bowed his head and tried to hide his smile. I just rolled my eyes, and we went to eat. Marcus let out a low growl that made the house shake a little. I stared at him, and he glared back at me. My wolf snarled a little to him until she turned her nose up at him and went to eat. This made Marcus even madder, but my wolf was proud of herself.

After we got done eating, it was time for training of the other predators and carnivores. I first learned how to transform into a canine again since I already knew how to be a wolf. Then it was omnivores; that might be because I knew how to be fair to others. Next was the respect with cats and insects with wants and size of others. Next was the responsibility with fish and lizards, followed by caring animals like sea animals and big reptiles, then citizenship animals' owls and amphibians. Finally, it was trustworthy animals, bears and snakes.

But as we trained, I was not giving the training my full undivided attention. I kept thinking about how my life has changed and how things are not done changing. I have so much training to do to be ready… all before my 15th birthday. How come my life is so hard for me to understand and deal with. Every time I was in deep thought, Marcus would either growl at me, the boys would nudge me to come back to reality, or Brian would transmit me a sentence to pay attention. I want to just be normal and forget about this world.

"Break time! We will continue with training after an hour break," ordered Marcus, breaking me from my train of thought.

I went over to my favorite tree to sit down and take a catnap. With my eyes closed, I heard a twig snap, and I opened my eyes to Brian. "What do you want Dad?"

"Eve, you just called me Dad, right? Or am I going crazy?" Brian said with tears in his eyes and a crack in his voice.

"Look. Okay, you are my dad. So, I figured I should call you Dad now. But if you do not want me to then I will go back to calling you Brian," I said with a yawn.

"No. You are right. I am just so proud that you called me Dad," he said so proud of himself.

"Well, if you are going to have a freak out section every time, I call you Dad, then I will go back to Brian," I said more as a joke.

"No," he said in a high-pitched voice. "I will be a grown man and be happy on the inside when you call me that. Okay, well. You enjoy your nap. Bye."

"Is that all you wanted?" I asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"I wanted to give you a shoulder to sleep on, but I am too excited to relax now," he said with a smile. "Sleep well, my daughter."

As he left, I rested my head down on a little tree branch that made a sort of nook for me to sleep on. But before I got too comfortable, another twig snapped, and an unexpected visitor came. "Hey. Is this spot taken?" John asked.

"No, go ahead, sit down," I said as I snuggled up with the branch. As he sat down next to me, I asked, "What do you want? I really want to take a nap."

"I want to know how you are?" he asked with those piercing blue eyes that could make me just fall into a forgotten world. "You were a bit distracted during training."

"I just don't know any more what is good and what is bad. I used to be a naive little girl who only thought about how to ruin Major's Day. But now I need to worry about boys, witches, and beasts. I just want my old normal back," I complained to John with a deep yawn.

"Well, personally, I think normal is overrated," he chuckled at that comment, but I could tell that I did not think it was that funny. "But seriously, though, what is so bad about being with us here?"

"Well, it is just that I am not used to it yet. I am just a hot mess," I said sleepily as my eyes became heavy.

"Well, the mess part you got wrong. You just got thrown into a weird situation. Life does that to people," John said, bringing my head to his shoulder.

"Yeah, but still…" I tried to fight my way back to the branch.

"Yeah, I know. Why don't you sleep on me?" he said, forcing me to stay there. I kept on trying to fight the urge to fall asleep on him, but the comfort of another body near me made me sleep a lot easier. My wolf was happy and settled down with the idea of another wolf near me.