IT MIGHT BE SOME KIND OF SPELL

6 FEBRUARY, SATURDAY, 7 O'CLOCK

I followed my lucky sense of direction down the stairs and through the linking conservatory, and actually the house wasn't all that large and by the time I stepped into the main wing, I could hear Sabre singing at the top of her lungs about how to spell the word unicorn.

"Bright and beautiful U-N-I-C-O-R-N!!!" I winced as I drew near. But I had to be lucky because she finished. Polite applause followed..

"Alright, now eat your breakfast." Mum instructed her, and I realized I would be spared from further musical assault.

"Good morning, goddess." Ki smiled at my entrance. He was pouring Dad's coffee.

"Morning Ki." I said. I sat into the chair he pulled out for me.

"So, how did you sleep last night?" Mum asked.

"Pretty good." I said.

"How did Bell sleep?" Savy asked.

Bell? I looked up surprised, "Is he still around?"

I heard Mum let out the breath she was holding. Dad looked back at his screen.

"Mum freaked out a little when Ki said Bell hadn't returned to his room last night." Savy whispered loudly, "I bet she thought he went to your room."

I ROLLED MY EYES. Yes. I made a totally human expression.

Mum blinked. Savy cackled. Sabre looked pleased, but only because she managed to get a very large spoonful of cereal into her mouth.

"Luna Bell went for a run after the Candance. He hasn't returned." Ki reported to me dutifully.

"Who's Luna Bell? Is she pretty?" Sabre wanted to know. A piece of colorful cereal escaped her mouth when she spoke.

"Yes. But he's my mate. Mine." I told Sabre. I watched her pick up the blue piece of escaped corn flake and put it back into her mouth to join its flaky friends.

"Is he prettier than you?" Sabre wanted to know.

Suddenly, I wasn't sure what we were talking about anymore. Our appearance, or our level of magic. Ah well, it would probably be me either way, "Me."

"Luna Bell's more of the hot and gorgeous type." Savy grinned.

I growled, but only to amuse her.

"Savy, don't provoke your sister." Mum said.

"She knows I'm just messing with her." Savy said.

"You shouldn't mess with the Alpha. You need to show respect." Sabre informed Savy.

"Is Sam the Alpha?" Savy asked.

"Yes." Sabre answered.

"What about Dad?" Savy asked.

"Yes." Sabre answered.

"Which is it? Is it Sam or Dad?" Savy asked because she was someone who enjoyed messing with those she loved.

Sabre frowned in thought, "Alpha Kingsley is the alpha for Night Leaf Pack. Alpha Sam's the alpha of Moon Bell Pack."

Mum looked pleased, "She's so clever! She remembers everything you tell her."

Hmmm... Does she now?

Mum looked up sharply at us, "If you two teach her anything weird, you won't get away with it."

Hahaha. Mum knew us so well.

Ki put a warm cup of milky tea and a toasted muffin seared with butter, ham, and cheese. I feel like I fall in love with his cooking everyday.

And then he reported, "Stephan has left earlier to visit family at Gate City. He would return to the Red Packlands by nightfall."

"Stephan has family in Gate City?" I asked.

"I believe his grandfather is wheelchair-bound and had retired to Gate City for over a decade now. He also has a younger sister who he had placed in his grandfather's care before he was sold to the fight cages. She is around your age, and is currently attending the Lorent Girls' Academy."

Oh, that's where I would be going next term, right? A girl around my age? I tried briefly to imagine what the little sister of an XL man made of granite would be like. It was neither easy or flattering.

"Stephan would be heading directly to the Red Packlands from Gate City. He sends his apologies for not making his farewell and thanks in person. He did intend to wait till you woke up before his departure, but I took the liberty to tell him not to stand on formality." Ki admitted.

I nodded. Yeah, I didn't like the idea of holding Stephan back from his family just because he had to say goodbye personally before leaving.

Ki continued his report, "Harvey has taken Fluffy out for his morning inspection and some light duties at Morning Light. They should be back after lunch."

I bit into the yummy melted cheese and warm ham which had been pan fried so that there was a crispy layer on it. Oh yum!

"Your friends should be arriving at around lunch time." Ki informed me, "I'll be preparing canapes, wild mushroom soup with toasted black sesame seeds served with handrolls and truffle oil, and stuffed chicken wings with salsa or hot sauce."

I lit up at stuffed chicken wings. Ki's stuffed chicken wings are miraculous. It's a mid wing, battered and fried, BUT there were no bones in them. Instead where the bones should be was a medley of cheese and pesto or spinach or cabbage or... I had no idea what was inside really, except that one bite into it, and it had been my favourite dish since Ki made those little pastas stuffed with meat and I had no idea what else.

Ki liked to make foods that had the vegetable part of it chopped up so I actually had no idea what it was. I suspected that it was various assortment of veggies masked by cheeses, spices, or herbs. He did try making veggies more appealing in the beginning - that was the vegetable terrine phase (where he made jellies with vegetables in them), he also made vegetable roulade which was like slicing the veggies and making them into roses, and I can't remember the names of the other weird stuff.

Mum and Savy liked the vegetable stuff, so they still appeared now and then. But I think by now, Ki had found the most effective way of putting veggies into my tummy is by stuffing them into things I did like to eat, like fried chicken.

I must have looked very pleased with the menu. Savy commented, "Sam's still eating breakfast and already drooling over dinner."

I laughed, "I always drool over Ki's cooking."

"You're missing the point." Savy admonished gently, "Most girls drool over Ki."

"Savy!" Mum gasped.

"It's true." Savy argued, "I heard them say so."

Naturally, Ki pretended he completely didn't hear his drool-worthiness being discussed right in front of him.

Was that the mature thing to do? To pretend to not notice your attractiveness? I mean, Ki and Mate and Harvey all did it. Or maybe they were really oblivious to it. Maybe they were so used to girls giggling and smiling at them that they think that's just how girls were.

I tried to think what my guy friends would do. Jonah would run away and hide. Ben would smirk. Shannon, whom up till recently had always been the master of love and all things of the heart would smile back and FLIRT. So they did know!

Ah ha! I caught them! Sneaky guys, always acting cool and pretending to be "disinterested."

Mental note: If I ever grow up to become the kind of girl guys check out, I think I'll pretend I didn't notice. Yeah, that's probably the coolest reaction.

What? You don't think I'll ever get there? Just give me a few years! I'll wear short skirts - without tights under them, and wear makeup, and show a bit of cleavage because I WILL HAVE CLEAVAGE ONE DAY! I WILL HAVE BOOBS!

"Sam's thinking something weird again." Savy informed the rest of the breakfast table.

"Leave your sister alone, she has a lot on her mind." Mum said, "With all that's happening in the pack mergers and underground army..."

Dad looked up from his screen, "Hmm... yes. That was a good meeting last night, Sam. You did well. Beta Lucas said we could retire anytime now."

"Beta Lucas is always saying that." I said. But I felt happy anyway. Because Dad said it was a good meeting, "But I didn't really do anything. Everyone else were the actual presenters."

"Still, you ended the meeting in two hours. It was a good format, getting the formalities out of the way first, and then giving everyone space and time after to take the details offline after." Dad said.

Oh, that wasn't really planned, I just hadn't wanted to sit through another long meeting. It was lucky it worked out.

"Oh yeah, Dad, do you know about the..." Urm... I wrecked my brains, sounded like I don't know... that's right! "The Idonia Family from the mountains?"

Dad paused, "Not really, why do you ask?"

"How about a black wolf named Jin who mated the Moon Goddess?" I tried again.

Dad furrowed his brow, "I can't say I've heard that story before."

"How can you mate the Moon Goddess?" Savy asked, "Can you mate a goddess?"

I shrugged. I had no idea. Now that I was saying it out loud in the light of day, the entire idea was beginning to sound like one of those Lycan legends from the Mountain, or even just a ludicrous dream.

Two knocks on the sliding door. Beta Lucas and Ben were standing outside our dining room. This new house had a lot of sliding doors. Ki unlocked it for them to enter.

"Good morning Alpha, Luna." Beta Lucas greeted. Ben bowed his greeting next to his dad.

"Yo, princess." He said to me.

"Lucas, does the name 'Idonia' ring any bells for you?" Dad asked.

"Idonia...." Beta Lucas stopped and thought about it, "It sounds familiar."

Dad nodded, "That's what I thought, but I'm sure I would've remembered. Maybe I'm growing old."

"Idonia..." Beta Lucas repeated, "My dad might have said something about it, but it was a long time ago. I could ask my brother if he remembered anything."

"It's no big deal." I quickly said, "I was just asking."

"Where did you hear it from, Sam?" Ben asked.

"It's really no big deal. It was just a dream..." I tried to brush the entire conversation off. I mean, it was silly, I probably just imagined the whole thing in my sleep.

But the moment I said the word "dream", the entire room latched on it. Dad asked, "What did you dream, Sam?"

"It was probably just a dream, a really unrealistic dream." I felt I had to add. I'm not sure I wanted to retell bringing Sir Sparkalot to the Black Mountains to find Fluffy's family. The magical air, the big blue fire that moved with a mind of its own, the continuously falling white petals from the huge trees against the dark sky, speaking a spell to make Heller tell me about the Idonia family, or the story he told me about the black wolf named Jin.

Some things were impossible, even on the Colored Mountains.

Beta Lucas' phone buzzed, "Oh."

He looked surprised. And then he said, "My brother says that's the name of a song your grandmother used to sing to us, Alpha. That guy remembers everything!"

"Like me." Sabre said, "I can remember that Luna Bell is hot and gorgeous and girls drool over Ki and Beta Lucas always wants to retire."

Hahahahaha. Kids say the darnedest thing.

Mum looked like she didn't know how to respond to that.

But Dad didn't notice, he was remembering something from long ago, "My grandmother? She used to tell us stories..."

Beta Lucas nodded, also remembering, "It was very long ago..."

His phone buzzed, and he nodded at his screen, "Lars just sent the words..."

Then Beta Lucas read the words aloud:

"What color is Idonia?

Is it black or is it white?

Maybe somewhere in between.

Somewhere that's just right.

What color is Idonia?

Is it red or is it blue?

Both with equal value

but only the one you hold is true.

What color is Idonia?

Is it orange or is it green?

The trees are orange and the water is green.

Idonia is the color unseen."

"That's it." Beta Lucas looked up from his phone.

"I don't remember a song like that at all." Dad said.

Beta Lucas shook his head, "My memory's not what it used to be either, Alpha."

"I wonder what it means." Dad said, and then he turned to me, "Do you know what it means, Sam?"

I shook my head wordlessly. Just as I thought it was a name that I made up while I was dreaming... Now there was a song, and the only thing harder to make sense of than Lycan stories, were Lycan songs.

There was a quote about Lycan songs... Because there was quote about everything. The wolves in the Colored Mountains liked to wax lyrical over EVERYTHING.

"A song is but a spell cast with music."

Yep, that's the quote. So potentially all Lycan songs had some kind of spell weaved into them.

And no, I don't mean "spell" as in the type of songs that taught preschoolers how to spell unicorn. I mean a spell to manipulate the magic in the air. It's just that being in the plains, the magic is so thin that spells have negligible effects.

When I was a kid, I loved to sing Lycan songs, I imagined each one was a real spell. Sometimes I'll even make up my own. Sometimes I almost convince myself that some magic did really happen. Almost, because even when I was a kid, I knew it was just make believe. A fantasy imagined, much like playing dragons and knights or finding pirate treasure in our backyard.

And then I remembered the song the free wolf pups sang along Lullaby Route. There was definitely a spell manipulating the warlock magic in that song.

But a spell to do what? The pups said it was a calling song. So it was to call the moon goddess and her pet moon?

The more I thought about it, the more confused I was. Because if its true that these songs were spells, what was the Idonia song a spell for?

I wondered if Grandma Luna would know, since it was a song her own mother sang.

"Sam, can you tell us your dream?" Dad asked again.