The book with the black cover

His facial expression hasn't told me anything that could somehow explain why he was in such a shock. I couldn't even guess what can be so important in that black book that Aiden was staring at it like he just had seen the ghost. He remained silent for about a few minutes until the speech finally returned to him.

"Who would have thought that mad woman is such a crucial figure. Unexpected plot twist, I must say," his voice was hoarse, and his eyes were still amber and focused on the book as if it was a treasure of a whole werewolf race.

"Aiden, can you please ex…" he interrupted without even letting me finish the word.

"The book you are holding in your hands is your father's lost diary. That is the book that contains answers to all the questions, starting from the death of the mightiest pack with its members to the puzzle of your memory loss. It can also answer why your father did nothing to change it and prevent such a scenario, and where to find his handwritten "Will". I bet he also explained his mistake of marrying that human, who stole you, in his diary as well."

"But…" I looked at the book with the black cover in my hands and couldn't believe what was just said. Why… Why did he leave that book to that mad woman instead of Aiden? How my father could be so sure the diary will ever be in my hands? Had he seen it as well? Can his foresight fight go that far?

The book evoked new questions in my head with its only name. I wonder what will be happening in my head when I'll start reading it. However, I suddenly figured out I'm not willing to read that book right now, so I just put it on the table and took out the most interesting, as for me, content out of the bag. It was a gift wrapped in pink paper. It looked like a small box that could have something small inside, like a pair of keys, some jewelry, or maybe a watch. But all of these seemed too ridiculous to me, so I just carefully took the pink paper out.

{Even if I hate the pink color I should be careful, maybe there's something written on the other side of the paper!}

But, there was nothing written on the back of the pink paper, at least nothing an eye could differentiate as a text or a picture, so I put it aside and opened the box. I suddenly felt tears in my eyes for no reason, and a male hand lay on my shoulder.

"It looks like a birthday gift for a baby girl," Aiden whispered in my ear, then gently hugged my waist. "Does he try to give us some hint?"

I wiped the tears and laughed at Aiden's remark.

"No, I… I don't think so…," I looked at a small pink palm-size teddy bear and a pink bow on its ear. Suddenly, Aiden noticed something lying on the bottom of the box, then took it out and found a letter. He read it aloud in his hoarse voice, making my whole body tremble.

"My dear daughter, this teddy bear is a clear explanation of why you hate the pink color. This gift box and its content is your first birthday gift from me. I thought it could bring some happiness to your adult life. Your beloved father."

Aiden looked at me and both of us laughed loudly, holding that pinky-pink teddy bear and a letter that actually made us laugh. I put the letter and the bear back in the box and put it aside, looking at the remaining content of the bag: the photo album and some documents. My hands almost reached the files in the bag when I felt a sudden, almost unbearable tiredness in my body, so I even sat on a chair. Aiden quickly packed everything back into the old bag and took me in his hands.

"You have time to study it tomorrow or any other day. We're going out early, and it's already too late for you to have a good sleep," were the last words of him I remember before falling out into the dream's world.

Early in the morning, Aiden and I were already leaving the borders of the Moonflower Pack, when the sun just started showing on the skyline, drawing it into the colors of something between pink and orange. The clouds that we could see behind the thick trees' crowns were looking like pink cotton balls someone threw around the whole skyline. I looked back at the mountains that were slightly visible in the forest. We stopped at the old road that looked nowadays like some kind of pathway for animals, then exchanged looks with each other. Aiden nodded at the forest in front of us and hasn't said even a word, letting me say it first.

"It looks so… dead?"

He nodded at my remark and took my hand.

"If anything will happen, stay behind me. I'll protect you no matter what," he said and kissed the top of my hand, slightly smiling.

"If anything will happen, I'll stay shoulder-to-shoulder with you and fight!" I squeezed his hand back and stepped into the dark black forest that seems to be still sleeping even if the sun was rising. The atmosphere was gloomy and dark here, as if we entered another timezone. It looked like the forest was in a deep night sleep, and even the skyline here seemed to be darker than we saw under Aiden's Pack.

{Someone cast some kind of spell to make this forest look really Black?}

"The atmosphere was always so gloomy here. That's why it was called "The Black Forest", and this is the explanation for the name of your father's pack," Aiden said while holding my hand and going with me to the depth of the dark forest.

All the plants and even the ground here seemed to be dead as well. There were no blooming trees or flowers, no wild animals running around or birds singing. The only sound that was heard was the sound of our steps on the dead ground with a lot of dry leaves and broken tree branches. It took me some time to understand that the gloomy forest is looking the same in all directions, and the mission to find my father't hut seemed to be impossible. However, Aiden had another opinion, as he squeezed my hand tighter and led me to some direction that was known only to him.

Perhaps, it was known to me as well, but that part of my mind seemed to be still blocked. I could hardly remember where we were living with my father and how the forest looked like before. I even couldn't remember the hut itself, as if someone carefully wiped up all my memories.

The only hope was for the book with the black cover, I had in the depth of my backpack.

I can't say for how long we were wondering in the forest, as the sky wasn't even visible here. It was so dark around that I could hardly say what time is it, but somewhere deep in my soul I had the feeling the nights are even darker here than the days. I can't say I'm a scaredy-cat, but taking into consideration everything going on around me recently…

Suddenly we saw a small clearing in front of us with some sun rays shining on the top of the roof of a small forest hut. It was a one-floor wooden building with three or four rooms. I squeezed Aiden's hand and looked at him with interest.

"Is it my father's hut?"

"Yep," he nodded, then sniffed the air, and checking that everything is fine, led me to the hut. We stopped at its small terrace and Aiden pulled me closer to the door. I put my hand at the door handle, expecting it to provoke any new memories, but in vain. The head was too clear and silent, as if someone put the wrong memory disk.

I pushed the door, but it remained on its place.

"Locked," I said, but Aiden took something out of his pocket, then sat near the door and started playing with the lock. I saw a small hairpin in his hands and chuckled. "So easy…"

"And fast," he stood up and pulled the door, and it opened this time, revealing the old dusty and stagnant odor coming from the hut. I sneezed, then covered my mouth with the scarf I had on my neck and went inside. Aiden went after me, closer the door and threw us at the complete darkness.

"I saw windows from the outside! We must…," before I could finish, I bumped into something, and it made a creaky sound. Aiden immediately lightened the atmosphere around with the flashlight on his phone. I did the same and saw that I bumped at the old dusty sofa and luckily hasn't fallen at it, throwing all the dust to the air.

"Try not to kill yourself, please," Aiden chuckled and went to the nearest window that was closed with thick black curtains, then opened them and the window itself taking a deep breath of fresh air.

"Haha, how funny," I rolled my eyes and went to the window that was closest to me, took the curtains aside and opened the window again. We did that with all the windows in this room, making the air in the room fresh in a few seconds. Aiden stood in front of me, thanks to the opened curtains we could see each other, and put a hand on my waist.

"I remember it was light in here and water. There should be something around to switch it on. I'll go take a look around," he said, and leaving the kiss on my forehead, went outside the hut, while I remained inside. With the help of the flashlight on my phone, I found the door leading to another dusty room and opened the curtains there as well as the windows, trying to make the air fresh here as well. I knew we will stay here for at least a few days, so we need this place to be as comfortable as possible. Also, if my father and I were really living here, this place should be already comfortable, just slightly abandoned.

"Ouch," I bumped into something again and my elbow hit something like a handle. I tried to push it again, but I couldn't no matter how hard I tried. Then, suddenly, the light in the room made me scared of what I saw on the wall near the door and I screamed, forgetting about everything.

My scream was probably heard on the other side of the forest…

Oops…