Awakening II.

The room was silent as Kristensen opened her eyes, her surroundings gradually coming into focus. The mist parted, revealing her unchanged self. She was met with Tate's disappointed gaze and Mel's gloating one but couldn't bother with them at that moment.

She was more inclined to find out what that dream was and what she'd awakened, yet the more she tried to recall, the more it became illusive.

Tate's scowl deepened, her impatience evident. "Well, are you going to stand there all day or tell us what happened?"

Kristensen stood up, her movements fluid yet different. The impact of her transformation was so subtle that no one would be able to notice unless they looked for it. She glanced at her hands, half expecting them to change to some hairy clawed things with how she felt light yet heavy at the same time, but nothing happened. They remained unchanged.

"What? You were the one watching the whole thing, and you're expecting me to tell you what happened?" Kristensen remarked after thoroughly making sure she had awakened.

Didn't it mean they only saw the mist and heard nothing? Interesting.

"Looks like nothing happened." Tate dismissed when she found nothing peculiar with her own inspection.

Mel, however, observed Kristensen more keenly, and her gloating expression turned to displeasure the more she observed. Her gaze on Kristensen held a hint of malice, the size of a thread.

The room turned tense as Kristensen shrugged off Tate's impatience, it'd occurred to her that although Tate was in charge of inducing them, her own personal ranking didn't seem anything to boast about, she didn't seem to know or could see anything.

Kristensen merely glanced at her, but her initial impression of Tate had long collapsed. She viewed her as a guard and nothing more.

"Now what?" Kristensen said to Tate after a while of carefully watching them, and Mel's keen observation hadn't escaped her notice. She raised an eyebrow, her demeanor unchanging.

"What's wrong with you?" She asked Mel.

"We should get moving. Didn't that guy say we're behind schedule?" Mel replied, lowering the eyes that were filling apperantly with malice.

Kristensen's eyes stayed on Mel for a while longer before turning to Tate.

"Fine, let's get going. You'll get your final class at the camp. You're their problem anyway."

The group began moving, each consciously eyeing the other. Kristensen walked beside Mel, unable to shake off her reaction since she came from the pool. They weren't particularly on friendly terms, but she didn't think their previous encounters were to the point they'd have malicious thoughts toward one another?

Tate led them through many buildings. The scale of where they were kept was somewhat beyond Kristensen's imagination. She'd thought it a big place but never to the point of a small town. Could the men camp be on the same campus as the women?

She decided to confront Mel. After all, it wasn't like her to wonder about nonsensical things when she could simply ask.

"So what was that back then? You seemed more interested in me than Tate was. What's up?" Kristensen asked, her tone casual but sharp.

Mel glanced at her, a flicker of annoyance in her eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Right? That's what I mean. I don't know what your problem is, but don't let it become mine. I'm not that friendly."

Mel paused a step, then resumed walking. Her eyes turned unfocused, seemingly lost in thought, and sighed. "Yeah, how could you be? You weren't built that way."

Kristensen let out a soft smile, her eyes sharpening. She didn't respond to Mel. What was the need? A snake would crawl out of its hole eventually. She wasn't in a hurry.

Their conversation faded as the group approached a clearing where a large shuttle waited.

Isaac's unusual stern face stood in front of the shuttle, the air surrounding him brewing.

"You..."

"Leah was here. He took the girls along and the corpse. That prick, he almost broke my neck." Isaac replied, interrupting Tate, speaking through his teeth - seething.

"Don't be too hard on him, you know his situation. Alright, let's go. We'll get rewarded no matter what." Tate pat Isaac's shoulder as she replied.

The shuttle doors opened automatically as Tate went in. Kristensen and the others followed behind.

It was then finally, it hit Kristensen that she was no longer in Alba, she was in a strange place with strange people probably going to do strange things.

Life as she knew it had changed, playing it safe was probably going to be the way to invite trouble. Seductress or bossy, she needed to decide which way would let her lead a relatively peaceful life. But one step at a time, that always did the trick.

"Take a seat and buckle up. We'll be there soon." Tate said from her seat, closing her eyes.

The shuttle ride was quiet, each or the other doing their own thing. Kristensen looked out the window. At first, it was blurry as the shuttle moved too quickly, but she concentrated, her eyes focused, and the pictures came in focus.

What followed was trees, everywhere. There wasn't a sight of a mountain or any cities they passed. It was all green. It seemed that where they were kept was really the middle of nowhere.

Seeing there was nothing to see, Kristensen's focus turned back to the shuttle or rather, where the shuttle was headed to. The information she had was nonexistent, and it didn't seem she was going to get any, but that didn't shake her. It was that dream that did it.

"Pub... we'll meet soon."

The words themselves weren't alarming, but the look in that wolf's eyes as it said the words, Kristensen was sure it wasn't a figment of her imagination, it had actually happened, she had met that wolf after her awakening, rigjt when her guard was down. How or why, she couldn't say.

The shuttle cleared the woods and soon came into civilization.

"Ha, finally. I can finally be rid of this cursed group." Tate exclaimed. "Home sweet home."

As the shuttle approached the camp, Kristensen realized camp wasn't literally that. It was fitting to call it a town. Along the way, as they reached - the outskirts weren't bustling and the buildings were modest, it was when they moved deeper, did the bustle start to appear, and an imposing building loomed against the night sky - the overload of the whole area.

The shuttle stopped at the bottom of the imposing structure, Tate led the girls of the shuttle, and Isaac followed closely, his earlier anger still simmering beneath the surface.

The group started to ascend the steps, Tate gave Kristensen and Mel a rundown of what was about to happen.

The camp, as it was named, was a place where recruits were placed before they pledged to a certain alpha house. In that place, they would get their registration as citizens of Crandale, then have their classes confirmed, omega - beta - alpha and training until they're able to fully turn into a wolf, but that was an ideal situation.

How it happened, though, was that most recruits would be chosen before training.

Those who weren't chosen in the end chose to stay behind as citizens of the camp. There, they could live out their lives without belonging to any alpha house.

"Lately though, alphas aren't the ideal class. You don't want to find yourself as one." Tate added at the end.

"Why?" Mel asked as they were ushered through the gates.

"Why? Who knows... It's probably because of the rumor that's circulating around. The emperor, the alpha of alphas, is at a time..."

"Tate! Don't think we're too far from the capital to shoot your mouth off." Isaac shot Tate a look.

Kristensen didn't bother with them. Her eyes were on the man who'd walked out of the building they were headed to. That man... strangely, she felt familiar to him.

When their eyes met, it hit Kristensen hard she staggered back a couple of times before stabilizing. By the time she did and looked at the spot the man had been standing, he was gone.

She was sure he was the wolf in her dream!

"Hey, you can't be so overwhelmed by the magic of the camp, right? What will you do when you reach Cyan or Trouwel? Are you going to faint?" Tate said mockingly to Kristensen's distraught face.

"Who was that?" She asked Tate, her gaze fixed where the man had been. Her eyes kept flickering, and her heart was beating too fast. It seemed she ran to get there.

Tate and Isaac turned towards where she was looking at the same time but saw no one. They looked at each other puzzled.

"The guy who just walked out, who is he?" Kristensen asked again with a hint of urgency.

"You don't actually think we know everyone in this place, do you?"

"Forget it. Where are we going now?"

"Damn it. We're already late. Let's go." Tate said as she picked up her pace.

They arrived at an auditorium, led by an attendant to their section.

The expansive room was filled with people. At the front, Leah stood with a woman whom Tate and Isaac, when they saw, clenched their fists.

"What were you saying about being understanding?" Isaac glared at Tate. "You're too naive."

They hurried forth to meet the woman, bowing, respectively. The group exchanged a couple of words, Isaac looking enraged by the end of the exchange, and Tate held him back.

The woman cast a wry smile at Tate, and Isaac then shook her head at Leah. From their reactions, it was clear she was more powerful and at a higher position than the three of them.

Tate and Isaac returned to the girls, the expression on their faces heavy and foul. Kristensen took it all, her eyes taking even the tiniest reaction from those around her. She found Arson's group and confirmed they weren't going to be tested together.

Funny. All the talk about belonging to the camp, yet it didn't seem the envoys were recruiting for the same groups. Why was that? Kristensen wondered...

"Gather around." The woman's voice echoed through the room. "My name is Winnie, and I'll be inducing you. Alpha, your aura will be red. Beta, your aura is green, and Omega, your aura is blue. All forms of red, green, and blue. No exception."

"Let's start."

Immediately, the ground opened up in front of where they stood, and a rock started to emerge from within till it took the shape of a crescent moon.

"This is a moonstone. You'll get to know the many functions of this thing when you've settled. All you have to do is place your hand on the stone, and it'll do the rest."

Winnie went forth and placed her hand on the stone. For a while, nothing happened, and then slowly, the stone started to light up. The color finally was green. It looked like the moon was lit emerald.

The image was breathtaking.

"Yes, I'm a beta. Simple, right? Now... your guys turn."