Chapter 18:

~ A couple months later~

Training has been going well. I have mastered all the animals of predators in the world and my body seems to be loving it. I have formed a great relationship with Sly and Brian. I am not so afraid to call him Dad anymore. I am so in touch with my animal side that it could not be better. Even my witches' powers have been coming to me without any effort. Blau says that I am just like my mom in every aspect of the word. Everything really seems to be going well, but in this world, I know that it will not last forever. I mostly say that because today… today is the first day of my high school career. I am no longer just a 14-year-old kid. I am 14 on my way to 15 and I seem to have a family. Everyone seems to be getting along… minus Marcus and Mei, who are threatened by me. But we all seem to well off together. But now is the hardest part about being the chosen one and that is to know each side of the story. It is no longer the Lichts and the Goeds, it is everyone. And I am the mediator of the story, but at least I will have Sly by my side.

"Eve! It is time to eat!" Dad hollered from the bottom of the steps.

Going downstairs into the kitchen, you would have sworn that this was just a normal family of just dudes. At the table, there were mountains of eggs and bacon, like any other day, but the dads were a lot crazier. Donny had heaps of food for John and Evan to eat before they started on the feast like the rest of us. George had the hippest coolest clothing out for Kenny to change into, and my dad was even crazier. Usually, if it is just Sly, Dad gives Sly the best pep talks in the history of pep talks. Unfortunately, with me here, it was different; we had a great pep talk: a talk that no girl or boy wants to hear from their dad about the birds and the bees...well, in this case the beasts and humans. Sly and I chuckled at the conversation at hand. I just looked around in amaze at how these big bad men who were so scary three months ago can start acting like this.

"Time for school," Marcus ordered.

Heading off to school after those interesting talks and the feasts of food, it was time for school to begin. Usually, the boys all walk to school, but since I was with them and the number of non-humans who knew what I was, we went on four-wheelers. We managed to get three people on one four-wheeler. One had John, Kenny, and Sly, which left Evan and me on the other one.

As we made our way to school, we fell behind the other group. Evan pulled the four-wheeler to a stop and turned around and told me, "I am sorry. I do not mean to be known as the stalker boy, but I do not know who else to be. You are the first girl I have met and talked to outside of school."

"It is okay. Just do not try so hard. We are friends...right?" I asked.

"Yeah, we are, and we are like a family," he said with a smile.

"See, so talk to me like I am your sister, or brother if it is easier to talk to boys," I suggested for him.

"Yeah, I think I can talk to you like a sister. And I need to get used to talking to girls, so, you know, I can continue the line," he said with a shrug.

"Eww! Gross. How about this: you can use me to get used to talking to girls, but you cannot ever talk about repopulating your line, okay?" I said with a chuckle.

"Deal."

"Okay, now let us get to school. We don't need the other three wondering what we are doing," I said, pointing towards school.

"Good point. Let us go." Evan said as he put the four-wheeler back in drive. Then we raced off to school.

Arriving at school, I could tell that the rest of the guys were wondering what took us so long. "Sorry, we are late. Evan and I had a little talk. Everything is okay now," I said, calming things down.

"Okay, but on the way home... can we have a little talk?" Kenny asked.

"Sure, Kenny that would be okay," I said.

"Okay, if all of you girls are done, can we go into school, please?" Sly exclaimed with a little bit of attitude.

"Why does he want to go to school so badly?" I asked, secretly hoping there was a girl.

"Oh, he just really likes to learn. His favorite subject is math. He hasn't been able to do math since last year, and he is going crazy," John explained.

"Wow! Who would have guessed that a beast likes math that much?" I said sarcastically.

"Okay: first, math is awesome. And second, I told you I want to be a scientist, and that involves science and math. So, boom. Now come on," Sly ran inside but waited for us to follow.

"Okay, okay. But we must go to the office first. I need to check in with the office to make sure they got my paperwork," I said with a smile.

"Fine, but let's hurry." Sly complained.

We entered the high school, and right off the bat I could see that the mascot was a werewolf. I could not help but laugh at that. I wonder why it is a werewolf.

We entered the office and talked to Miss Parman, who looked so perky and happy. She explained, "Hi, you must be the new student, Belle Eve Strickland, right? You are living with your Uncle Marcus and the rest of them?"

"Yes; how did you know that?" I asked.

"Oh, we know everything about you. Everyone knows the great Marcus and the amazing things he does for us all. I just absolutely love Marcus," she said with a weird smile.

"Oh, well, thanks Miss Parman." I said, a little nervous to talk to her.

"Yes, and if you need anything don't be afraid to ask. But I am sure everything will be great with these boys as your guides. And remember… Go WEREWOLVES!!!" she yelled with excitement.

"Bye, Miss Parman," all the boys replied while dragging me out the door.

After the door was closed, I spoke up again, "Well, she is an interesting lady."

"Yeah, but she is completely harmless. She even lets flies go away unharmed," Evan said.

"Okay, note to self. Now, where do we go?" I asked.

"Well, you have all the same classes as John, so you will be with him most of the days…" Sly started to say before being interrupted.

"Well, look what the wolf dragged in. Four lonely guys that only hang out with guys and one extremely hot girl. What are you doing with those weirdos? Why don't you come hang out with us? We can give you a good time," said a boy with blonde hair and a football jacket on.

I was guessing he was the school jock and bully. He tried to put his arm around me before I snatched it up and started twisting, "First, Don't Touch Me. Second, do not Insult My Friends. And third, Don't Come Near Us Again." Then I let go of his hand, and he scampered off to lick his wounds.

The boys started to chuckle and not even seemed fazed by my actions, while the rest of the school was in awe. "Dang, Eve. We never taught you that," Kenny said sounding impressed. "I wish I would have thought of that."

"My mom always told me to say what was on my mind and she also put me in a self-defense school in seventh grade to prevent me from getting bullied. I also watch a lot of movies and have learned to be the biggest person in the room at school," I said proudly.

After that whole ordeal was over, we finally made it to our homeroom, which is what Sly was trying to say before he was rudely interrupted. I could see that all the desks were in groups of five. So, we all sat down at the desks in the far back left side. Once everyone was starting to come in, I saw Feuera and maybe her friends or some other Lichts witches. There were three of them sitting at the back right side, they took up the whole five seats with all their stuff.

Then there was Liam and his pack; they sat on the far front right side. They all took seats that they could watch our every move. They, too, had only three people but they took up all five seats with their personalities. I alone would not go anywhere near Jeremy or Liam, either.

Then there was Baer and his witch friends that sat on the front left side to watch Feuera like a hawk. There we are the Goeds, the Lichts, the Slechts, and the Dunkels, all under one school roof. I could feel the tension in the air. It was so thick I could cut it with my fingernail.

After we all got settled in watching the other groups for their movements, other students started coming in. I saw the bully enter the class, and he made eye contact with me. His name turns out to be Ruk Johnson and is the head quarterback whose throwing hand got sprained by me. After the teacher ran through roll call, it was time for school to begin. John and I headed the opposite direction from the rest and went to our first class.

I really do not remember a lot about the first day of school because we were just introducing ourselves to our teachers because we are freshmen and have known each other since kindergarten...well, minus me. But John was there for me to learn or at least know the kids' names. We all had to give one fact to the teachers, and mine was, "I was from Baldsville, Kansas, and now I live here." So, I ended the day while flying on autopilot.

After the final bell rang, we all raced back home. I was with Kenny. He kept trying to tell me things, but I could not hear him. I ended up telling him, "Sorry, Kenny. I cannot focus right now. Can we talk about this later?"

"Sure. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," he said loudly.

Arriving at home, I could see no signs of adults anywhere. So, the idea would have to wait until suppertime. Sly and I continued to train and talk. I shared my ideas with him, and he said, "That is a great idea, Eve. But I do not know if they will be okay with that. And don't we know everything about the Lichts."

"No, because do you know why they do what they do? And what for?" I asked.

"Well, no," he said after a little thought.

"Exactly. See that is why we need to hang out with them," I said with a little attitude.

"Suppertime!!!" hollered Donny using Quentura.

Racing back inside the house, I saw the same mountain of food. I started diving in with the rest of the guys. And before anyone knew it, the food was all gone. "Well, that didn't take long. But how was school?" Donny asked like an immensely proud dad.

"It was good," I answered. "But why are we the Werewolves?"

"Well…" Brian began, "there is a story about a wolf running around here feasting only on humans. They say there are still sightings of it, but they never caught on film. So, the legend became a symbol to be great but never caught."

"Kind of like or football and other sports. They can be great, but it never happens when it is important," Sly chimed in.

"Or how we are so helpful but are never caught doing the acts to help," John added in.

"But is the legend actually true?" I asked, hoping it was not.

"We are not quite sure," Brian answered.

"But don't worry, we will protect you," Sly added.

"Thanks," I said.

"Anything else happened that was exciting?" Brian asked.

"No," I said, not thinking about the arm that I sprained.

"Anything you want to talk about?" Brian asked, sounding like he knew there was.

"Well actually, yeah. But first, how did you know there was?" I asked.

"You have your mom's hair that changes when she has a question: it changes to an almost purple color. So, what's up?" he asked.

"Well… Sly and I have been talking, and we think...it would be a good idea to...stay with the other groups to learn what they do and why." Once I finally had that out, I felt a lot better, but the faces made me think differently.

All at once, everyone spoke...it was hard to tell who was talking and saying what…, "What? No! You cannot be serious, Sly. This is crazy. No!! How can you think that is a good idea? Not happening in my pack! What if something happens to you? What if you die, and I can't be there to protect you? No, end of discussion..."

"Hey... hey, it is a good idea…" I saw Dad was ready to speak, but I put my hand up to silence that thought. "I know that this is not normal, but this situation is not normal. They will not do anything stupid to hurt me, because we decide the fate of everyone. I will contact Liam and ask him if Sly and I can do this without getting hurt. Then I am sure Mei has no problem with this, and I will ask Baer tomorrow at school. So, we will all be covered, okay?"

"Well, I am the alpha, and I say no," Marcus demanded.

"Well, Uncle Marcus, this has little to do with you being alpha. It must deal with witches and beasts, not just beasts. This is the world we live in," I explained to him.

"We believe in you, Eve," John and Evan said at the same time... back to being twins and talking together at the same time.

"I don't like it, but I am okay with it," Kenny said, sounding like he was giving away part of his manhood.

"If Kenny is okay with this then I am too," George said, supporting his son.

"I don't know about this, Ellen would not like this idea," Dad said, sounding sad and heartbroken.

"Mom would be okay with this. She always told me to face conflicts head on...except when it comes to love. But to never back down and do what is right for the family. And right now, my family is everyone in the whole supernatural world. I do this because I believe in myself and in Sly to make the right choice. So do not worry, Dad. We will be okay. I promise that. Just believe," I said confidently.

"Okay. Then do it. I believe in you, my little girl," Dad said proud of me.

"Good! Now I am going to go get started with the game plan and the attack. Sly, do you want to help?" I asked as I stood up.

"Yep," he said, standing up with me.

"Okay; see you in the morning. Love you all. Night," I said before racing upstairs to my room with Sly to start to make a plan of attack for tomorrow.

"Do we have to do this?" he asked.

"Yes. We have to do what is best for the world," I said as I lay on my bed.

"But this is ridiculous. The world has nothing to do with me." I gave him a glare, "You know what I mean!" he snapped back.

"Understandable but come on. Tomorrow we are going to hang out with the Slechts," I said.

"Do we have to?" he inquired with a cocked eyebrow. "I mean come on, the Slechts are like the worst of this world."

"They are just misunderstood," I said.

"I know them. You don't just have a little faith in your brother."

"I will, but we also have to do what is right for the world."

He rolled his eyes and sighed, "Fine. I will see you in the morning."

"Bye. I love you," I said as the door shut.

From the other side of the door, Sly mumbled, "I love you, too."

I chuckled as I rolled over and fell asleep to the ceiling with concern on my mind.