01) Going Back Home

It was another beautiful evening in the late Autumn. All the creatures were returning home to reunite with their beloved ones after a tiring day as the vast fireball sank over the horizon creating a magnificent sight for the citizens of Carmel-by-sea coast of California.

It was rare to have a golden hour, which created this enchanting view with golden-reddish-orange glow to everything and everyone that the setting-sun rays touched, but unfortunately not everyone admired it. The majority of the citizens, who were already beginning their evening rest, hurry into their homes not wanting to be bathed in this golden hours' rays.

But the teenage girl who lived with her grandparents near the beach, did not seem to want to flee in the face of that golden hour.

Sitting on a wooden bench, placed on the edge of a beautiful garden which was adorned by a modern two-story house and almost naked autumn trees and shrubs, she watched the horizon without a care about the world. But her bright almond-shaped eyes, which had an unusual shade of golden-red mixed fiery orange-ish color, indicated that she was very attentive to her surroundings.

The sight reflected in those gorgeous eyes and the expression on her beautiful face, was able to express her boundless desire for Autumn and for the beautiful scenery of the setting sun and for the magical hours.

"The end of another beautiful day.... what do you think about it, Sif?" Inhaling deeply, she asked from her black Belgian shepherd groenendael, who had been laying its head on her lap.

It just replied with a simple happy whimper and a fruitless attempt to lick her face drawing a giggle from her.

"Yeah, yeah... If you get to be in my lap every day is a beautiful day for you... Isn't it, girl...?" Laughing sweetly, she whispered softly to her pet_Sif, with her Italian and Romanian mixed accent making it to get closer and closer to her.

Her sweet giggle and the dog's happy whimpering were overshadowed by the roaring waves of the below shore, and the magical hours passed by, turning day into night.

Eventually the evening reddish orange sky turned into dark blue night sky displaying the evening star in the western sky and the waxing gibbous moon in the eastern sky, but the girl did not move or at least tried to move.

It was like she lost somewhere in time and the cold breeze of the night was trying to pry her attention by playing with her lush and thick long silky hair__which was now had a dark reddish-brown hue under the soft moonlight, but had a fiery glow under the setting-sun rays__when a voice called for her.

"Little missy...!! Where are you...!? The old madam is calling for you..." An elderly woman's voice announced as the girl sighs and reply,

"I'm here, Zella...!"

Seconds later, a tall, middle-aged black woman appeared, tired but with a kind and energetic look in her eyes.

"For the love of the Goddess... Little missy...!!!What are you doing sitting here in the cold? It's been an hour or so since the sun went down... Aren't you cold?" Zella questioned as she wrap her warm scarf around the girl's shoulders.

As it was her usual behavior and the girl was used to it, she just shrugged getting up from her seat and easily picked up her heavy dog.

Long ago, the girl had realized that trying to comfort Zella by saying that she did not feel cold or that she liked to stay like this or that she did not feel the time flow out here, was as futile as go on a wild goose chase. So, bearing Zella's usual behavior, she changed their topic.

"Why was Grandma looking for me?"

"I do not know exactly, little missy... But I overheard the old madam talking with Mrs.Hale over the phone. It was after that call that she started looking for you, little missy..." Zella explained as they walked towards the house.

"My mother?! Why is she talking to grandma all of a sudden?" She muttered more to herself than to Zella, wondering what the matter was.

She had been living with her father's parents for fifteen years, but she never felt the need to be with her parents or twin sister or other relatives in the family. Although they frequently called over the phone and shared their whereabouts, they never met each other more than a few times a year.

It is a well-known fact that the main reason for her to live separately from her close family was the significant differences between her and them, but she never acknowledged it in public.

She always said that she came to Carmel only for better higher education facilities, and that was somewhat true because she had completed her higher education here sooner than she could have done if she had lived with her parents in their hometown of Orick.

She graduated from Stevenson College about two and a half years ago, and during last summer she graduated from California State University with her first degree in first-class Biology. If she had lived with her parents, she would have had to wait until last summer to complete her high school, as her sister did.

However, after the graduation she always lived with uncertainty and irrational fear whenever she received a call from her parents.

This was because at that time her parents had the opportunity to call her back to them, because her higher education was over and she no longer had a reason to stay in Carmel.

But God, how she hated it there...!!!

There was no doubt that they loved her and the citizens of Orick had infinite amount of respect towards her family. But it's just their thoughts that she hated so much.

They doubted her heritage in her family because she only inherited the distant facial features from her family. Other than that she was very different from them in everything else; she was special. At least she was not like her own twin sister!!!

While she get a fiery reddish-brown hair and a pair of outstanding_but sometimes scary golden-red eyes, her twin owned a beautiful chocolate brown hair and a pair of attractive greyish-blue eyes. And when all the other family members of hers and other citizens owned slightly tanned or honeyed skin tones, she was born with a flawless and porcelain-like ivory colored skin.

Above all, she inherited an high intellect and IQ which was way higher than a normal girl at her age and a photographic memory which was considered very unusual.

Although no one criticized her very openly because of the respect they had towards her family, this little girl knew very well that with all of those differences she had become the freak of Orick.

"Finally!! Here you are...!!! When you stay out there cuddling your Sif, you act like the world around you doesn't exist!!!" Her grandmother started scolding as soon as she laid her eyes on her granddaughter, drawing her thoughts back to the present.

Shocked, she looked back and forth between Sif and her grandmother, and began apologizing.

"I'm sorry, nonna... You know I..."

"Neffie Hale!!! How many times have I reminded you of this? It's because of your habit of calling me with that, you call your other grandma the same way and get scoldings by her!!!" She pursed her lips and lowered her head as her grandmother warned her to stop. That's another reason for her to being labeled as a freak...

She uttered whole sentences with a very uncommon ascent before she was even a year old. But every word and phrase that came out of her mouth was belonged to Italian or Romanian vocabulary. Everyone knew that they were born in Italy, but no one knew how her mother tongue could be Italian or Romanian.

Her parents may have known why, but they never bothered giving an explanation. They allowed her to speak as she pleased and later to learn English as her second or third language.

As a result, no one could control the fact that her English pronunciation took a mixed Italian and Romanian accent, or that some of the nouns, adjectives, and even simple command words in her vocabulary came from Italian and Romanian vocabularies.

Over time, everyone who knew about her became accustomed to seeing it as ordinary and sometimes adorable thing for her, but her other grandparents_her mother's parents_never accepted it that easily.

Although they did not do anything publicly because of their affection towards her, they always hated her vocabulary and her accent. Whenever they are not in public, they scolded her for the Italian and Romanian words that accidentally slipped from her mouth out of habit.

"I know... I know...!! But what could I do?! You all know why does that happen and even so... Gah!!! I hate those people and that freaking village!!!" Letting Sif go, Neffie yelled, frustrated and dropped herself on the nearest seat.

Seeing her agitated state her grandmother signed Zella to go away while wrapping her arms around Neffie's shoulders.

"I can understand your situation, my child... But... Azara and Vendel, your other grandparents... Specially Azara... She have a reason for not liking your pronunciation so much..." Neffie let out a deep sigh as her grandma explained softly.

"Yes, I know... When I was little... My mother told me about it once... When grandma Azara scolded me for my pronunciation... Mom told me that when I speak like that... grandma involuntarily recalls the memories of the time she spent with my aunt and her husband and his family in Italy, when she was still alive... But once they broke the ties with each other after aunt and her little baby died, she didn't want to recall that past by hearing me speaking like an Italian... She hated everything about my aunt's husband's family... Even if I had not any blood ties with them my pronunciation alone was enough to piss her off... But what could I do...? It's not like I do this on purpose!! Why am I born like this, grandma...?! Why I had to be so different than them? How is that possible...?" A now crying Neffie whines, pressing her face to grandma's chest.

"You are special, Neffie and you are a good girl... Don't overthink about those things. Now... Let's go and get the table ready. In a little while your 'Nonno' will come home with a great hunger!!!" After a while, Grandma said smiling and wiping away Neffie's tears.

"You started it this time, nonna!!" Neffie complained, but either way she just started smiling with her grandma leaving the crying behind.

• •

The dinner table of the three of them was full of smiles and overflowing love as usual. By the clock ticks by, she got to heard a lot of interesting stories about what he did with his friends throughout the day from her grandpa, and yet she had that unsettling feeling in her gut about the call of her mother's and her grandma had yet to share that news with them.

She knew that her grandma was purposely avoiding that topic because of the previous chat they had not too long ago. But eventually it had to be talked, and she already knew that it won't be about 'rainbows and sunshine'.

Finally, when it was time to reveal the news she had and Grandma started speaking in an awkward voice.

"Neffie... Your mom called this evening..." Grandma started. But Neffie payed much more attention towards her fruit juice jar than towards her grandmother, because that was a news she already knew.

It was a very special and heavenly delicious cranberry juice that her grandmother used to prepare for her only once or twice a month, so Neffie desperately wanted to finish drinking it before she lost her appetite due to the news her grandma had to give her.

But unfortunately before she could finish even two thirds of it, Grandma released her serious news into the thick air.

"She told me to get there within the next couple of days... Your sister started feel her transformation this morning... And by next Saturday you will be 18... After your twin, Effie started to feel the change... Your mother thinks that you'll feel it soon too... So they hope you will be with them by then..."

"Nonn- Ah, Grandma... You already know that it's impossible for me to feel it again!!" Neffie begun to argue, breaking the silence caused by her grandmother's announcement.

"Baby girl... Don't you think that this would be the best time for you to reveal your little secret? Your 18th birthday would be your last chance... Besides, we have been hiding this for whole two years now... Right? And no matter what they have the right to know this too, my child..." Neffie's grandpa kindly explained his views, trying to put some senses into his granddaughter's mind, but she heaved a deep sigh, reluctant to accept defeat.

"Nonno.... I- I'm scared... They- they already treat me as a freak... And now... If they figured out that I- I felt the shift- that I transformed much earlier than I should have... They- I- ..." She tried to say but she pathetically failed to voice a single word beyond that.

"They don't think like that, Neffie... It isn't something that you could control... But if you want, we can delay our trip and tell your mother tomorrow and tell her that you too started to feel the change at night..." Grandma suggested with an encouraging smile, making her granddaughter's eyes light up with hope and interest.

"Really...?!"

"Yes, really...!! The whole transformation usually takes three days, so we can delay the trip to Orick in another three days and leave on the fourth day." As her grandfather agreed with her grandmother's suggestion, she smiled excitedly for a moment, but the next moment she pulled a long face again with another question.

"But my color..." As Neffie mutters miserably, the happy and positive adults' faces changed into a serious one, hinting that the situation could be... a little bit of troublesome.

Because they had no answers for that, they kept their silence leaving Neffie's thoughts to wander into her past- to where it all started.

It all started a few day prior to her sixteenth birthday and that year she didn't went to her parents to celebrate it with her twin and parents.

She had been suffering from a high fever for nearly two days and after she recovered she cried throwing a huge fuss telling that she cannot endure a seven to eight hour trip from Carmel to Orick just because of a stupid birthday celebration. She also begged her grandparents not to tell them about it until she was ready to do so.

When she woke up again from the excruciating pain, which made her think that dying would be easy, she knew that she was not the same Neffie Hale as before.

The new Neffie Hale soon realized that she had indeed inherited the family genetics, which helped her to transform into a-

Lycan....

As her grandmother had told her when she was little, she neither get a sharper sight or hearing after that period of transformation nor become a faster or stronger person. Her transformation process had failed to further develop all the enhanced senses she had inherited at birth.

But she refused to worry about any of that, as well as the premature transformation, because she had inherited the wolf blood and wolf transformation as same as everyone from her family and the little town she hated so much had inherited.

She believed at the time that it would change the attitudes of those who thought she was a freak.

But when she shifted into her wolf for the very first time after the transformation process, it shattered all her hopes into tiny-minny pieces.

With all her differences she should have known that her shift wouldn't be normal a very long time ago!!!

As long as she remember, she was interested in wearing high neck collar dresses and tops, because of that weird_two inches sized_mark she had on the middle of her chest about an inch below the base of her neck.

It looked like a some kind of a symbol of an old language with circles, half-circles and some straight and curve lines which layered and cris-crossed one another and she did not let anyone outside the family see it because she knew it would make her situation worse.

So when she saw what her wolf looks like with that freaking fur color and her stupid birthmark stamped on her chest she swore so badly that if grandma could understand what was coming out of her mouth, she definitely would have washed Neffie's mouth with everything she could find to disinfect it.

And her next distress was caused by her abnormal wolf figure!!!

Her wolf's body was covered with beautiful long blood red colored fur, and her front toes and the whole area below the knees of her back legs, the insides of her ears, along with the lower part of her mussel, and the small area above eyebrows were pure white, while the tip of her tail and her back were thick black. And very unusually her wolf's eyes were deep electric blue!!

For a lycans and werewolves, it was common to have their humans' eye and hair colors as their wolf's eye and fur colors, and no wolf ever had red- blood red color fur coat with a different color eyes than their human figure had.

They would definitely label her shift as weird or creepy or a freak__as normal... Or even as cursed wolf...

Therefore, for the past two years since her first shift, Neffie had not shifted into her wolf form more than twice or three times, and she did so only because her grandmother insisted that it was necessary to do so.

But now...

Now it's time for her to reveal everything she kept secret for this long. There will be no more space for her to hide.

Alas... how desperately she wished to escape all this shit...

• • •

Although it was difficult manage an about 690-kilometers long journey from Carmel to Orick by car, they had to endure it due to Neffie's unreasonable fear of planes.

And because they had made this trip a considerable number of times over the past fifteen years, it was not so difficult for them to manage the trip again.

So, as promised, they left home on Thursday morning, after the three days they give for Neffie to build her story. But they did so only after Neffie gave their housekeeper, Zella a series of instructions on Sif!!!

Although the journey was difficult and she did not have much interest in going home, she did enjoy the journey, because of the beautiful view she could see along the way.

They arrived in San Francisco around 8:30AM and had their breakfast at a small restaurant near the Golden Gate Bridge. Since she was a child, she loved San Francisco city and the Golden Gate Bridge. So... as always, her grandparents had to stay there for more than an hour or so until Neffie finishes her breakfast while absorbing the scenario.

But they never complained or act harshly towards her about the delay she cause or about anything else, just because they loved her more than needed to.

That was a good thing because Neffie had never hurt them or shattered their hopes. From a young age she had been a good, kind and loving girl, but if she needed to she had stubbornness and naughty-ness in her too.

However, they always let her do whatever she wanted with to just because they wanted to make her happy. So, they could laugh with her, enjoying the immense joy and pleasure that emanated from her.

After leaving San Francisco, they stopped at Santa Rosa for fuel, but then drove for about another five or so hours until stopping in the small town of Eureka for lunch.

It was an another beautiful city near Arcata Bay, which was filled with houses that emanated the beauty of ancient architecture in a quite and peaceful environment. So they did not realized that almost spend more than an hour there while they had their lunch in an outdoor restaurant.

It was close to five in the afternoon when they reached Orick because of all they delay they had to endure. Although they were about an hour and a half late than expected, they knew that their family members and townspeople were waiting for them.

From the moment they entered the Prairie Creek Redwoods forest limit, Neffie caught the sight of the huge wolves who ran parallel to the road on both sides, hiding in the shades of forest and staying beyond the reach of the average human eye. But because she didn't want to scare her grandparents she didn't mention anything about it.

Although they knew about the wolves, she did not dare tell them about the wolves_who were generally three times bigger than a normal wild wolf_following the car while they were driving. So she immersed herself in her silence and focused on the outside scene and what she could grasp with her enhanced senses.

Orick was a small but a very livid village surrounded by Prairie Creek Redwoods forest. Most of the houses were built very far away from each other and some were built deep down in the forest. Neffie knew from the moment she first shifted that the wolves' houses were built in the woods to provide freedom and comfort for them.

From that day on, she first shifted Neffie started to appreciate her parents' spacious and vast old bungalow in the middle of the forest. Until then she never appreciated that elegant and modern styled home just because it was stupidly vast. But after becoming a wolf, she realized the value of living in the middle of a forest, in a home with more space and openness than needed.

"Welcome home, Neffie...!!!" A beautiful and elegant woman with a tall a shapely body greeted, engulfing Neffie in a bare hug as soon as she got out of the car.

Neffie smiled wearily at the woman's gleaming deep blue eyes, and pressed her face to the woman's shoulder sniffing her thick brown hair and murmured,

"Nice to see you too, Mom..."

• • •

A / N

Thank you so much for choosing to read this story and I hope you enjoyed it...

Please vote

&

Comment...

With so much love,

Luranshiya