Chapter 3

She was always looking out the window but not seeing so she was shocked when the road turned to dirt and neighborhoods turned into forest. Aurora knew they were going to be staying in cabins in the outdoors but she didn't expect a forest. There are a lot of camps or cabins in secluded areas of typical neighborhoods but this made her nervous, she knew what hung around in forests... and she knew now why the spirits probably told her aunt she was needed here but she hopes her thoughts are wrong.

Aurora got off the bus and joined the rest of her class. She looked around and it was much worse than she thought. The cabin area was not bare but hidden in between forest trees far apart and she sighed as her stomach curled in fear. Oh gosh, stop this! You don't know what's going to happen, if anything bad was coming, they would have told her aunt to warn her, right? Aurora thought before finding a teacher to find out which cabin and room was hers. The cabins are shared by four to six people and each are to have a teacher. There were forty-eight students in her grade but only thirty-five came. She dreaded going to her cabin and checking out who she was to room with but she had to get her luggage to her room before someone sees a blank space and someone else self-appointed themselves in her place. The cabin was locked so she knew she was the first so she dumped her things on the bed closest to the door and left before anyone else came in. She went past the teachers having their rules implemented for this trip again but she's heard it too many times to listen to it again, plus she has to scope out this place...

Aurora roamed around the cabin space plus the common kitchen and she didn't see or feel any negative energy but she still felt like she needed to place a protective alarm around the place. She just exited the camp area into the outer forest when she felt a very powerful presence, one that was watching her. She didn't know if she should carry on or get back. She weighed her options, if she ignored the presence and carried on searching, it could attack her classmates or it could come after her when she's further away but she has no idea who or what this presence is. Feeling an aura is not easy or automatic so the fact she can feel it means this being is powerful. She needs to know more so this is not the time to be stupidly brave. Aurora turned back when she heard the leaves rustling behind her, her heart picked up in speed and she froze, she called on her power and shielded herself and turned back and saw a tall figure in shadow but she saw wings, a tail, and claws, this creature also appeared to have horns... Her breath became irregular in fear that just stabbed into her. She knew what she was seeing but it was impossible, it's supposed to be impossible! She whimpered when he took a step towards her but she was frozen. He was at the edge of her shield and she called on more of her power and blasted it into her shield for extra measure. He looked away from her and she took a lung full of breath in, she could function better when he wasn't looking at her but not by much. He was checking out her shield and testing it, he gave out small blasts of power but she knew her shield would hold. Her power was the one good and stable thing in her life and the covens are the ones who are losing out by rejecting her. Although against his kind... Maybe she shouldn't be so confident. Now that he was not focused on her, she checked him out. He was built like a man, a very lean man with scales covering every inch of him but she couldn't be too sure because of the dark, his face was angular and he had small and medium-sized horns around his eyes and head, he had dark hair that seemed braided or in a ponytail that seemed long, his elf pointed ears poking out but it was his eyes that stood out because it was the only semi-human thing about them. They were grey but as she watched, they would shadow darker and lighter as he examined her shield and she could see and feel the curiosity and perplexity he was feeling and showing in his eyes. She didn't notice when her fear left but it came right back when he looked at her again

"W-what are you d-doing here?" in her head it sounded confident and like a demand but what came out was a whimpering scared child, she watched as his head tilted as he regarded her "-" Her heart wanted to give out in fright when he opened his mouth because all she saw was his sharp teeth and heard a growl in his voice, so it took a while for what he said to catch up to her and when it did she was shocked he spoke her language! She was shaking with the power to hold this shield and she knew she won't be able to hold it any longer if she kept using up so much power so she slowly seeped back some but it seemed he knew what was wrong and what she was doing because he grinned at her with a knowing look, but his eyes didn't shift or show any emotion "you can take down your shield, I'm not going to hurt you, not unless you are one of the summoners" he hissed the last part and she could feel his anger and rage in her bones and it chilled her, he came here to kill! Oh gosh, what should she do? She needs to call her aunt and inform her... She needs to know more before her aunt can inform the councils though

"Who are you? What do you mean by-" his eyes trapped her in an intense look, it was like he was looking right at her soul and she shivered and pulled her glance away "Kane.."

When he said nothing else, she looked up but he vanished and she could not feel anyone near. She stayed a while longer to be safe before pulling her magic back to her and exhaustion filled her, she went overboard with the shielding but better to be safe.

She was surprised to find that she was away for two hours only, it seemed longer and the fact that her magic is exhausted seemed very strange but she put it to the back of her mind, maybe it was because she overdid it.