House of Wolves

Darkness presses all around me. I try to look around, but I can’t see anything. No matter how I turn my head my surroundings are pitch black. I feel as if I was floating in space. 

I awake with a jolt. I am in my family’s car. I was just asleep. I already can’t remember my nightmare. My Dad is driving, and my mom is looking at me worriedly. “Are you okay, Jean?” she asks, and I nod at her. I turn to look out the window. I can see for a long way, until the green fields give way to woods. I can even see the purple haze that must be the mountains beyond the forest. Gravel crunches underneath our Camry. We must be getting close. I glance up at the sky and see that it is mostly clear, but in the distance, there is an ominous black cloud that sparks a memory.  

A memory of my nightmares. They started just a few days before we went on vacation. They kept waking me up in a cold sweat, shivering, and with my head pounding. They terrified me. All I could remember was the terror of the nightmare. I could never remember anything else. 

I quickly shut down my brain and stare at nothing. It looks like I am staring out the window, and I hear my mom turn to talk to my dad. We are going to an old family house to escape for a weekend. It is a small cottage on the edge of the woods. I remember playing in the creek close to the house. It only took a moment to get there from the back porch. 

I can see the woods creep nearer to the road. The cottage must only be a few minutes away. “When will we get there?” I whisper. 

My mother turns around. “About five minutes,” she says, “This is the perfect season to go there. The creek is going to be flooded a bit, so you might be able to go swimming! There will be ducklings too! And maybe baby rabbits...” 

I let her drone on, but I am still looking out the window, staring into space. Then movement catches my eye, and I see a flash of white in the dark woods. I sit up a little straighter, and stare into the darkness. It was getting darker. We were starting to go underneath the dark storm cloud. 

“Oh no! We will have to wait until tomorrow to swim.” I see my mother staring at the sky from the passenger seat window. I can see my father looking up. Suddenly mom yells, “Logan!” we swerve, and the rain starts to pour down on top of us. I see a gray shape through the window shield, blurred from the huge drops of rain pouring down on the car. It vanishes into the forest. 

“Oh, we’re here,” my mom says, and she opens the car door. I am confused about what just happened, and it seems like my dad is too. I hear rain pelting metal and I tentatively open my door. The sound gets even louder. I tug my hood onto my head and jump out of the car. The rain hits my body like I am underneath a waterfall. I run to the back of the car and Mom passes me my backpack. She takes a duffle bag out of the trunk and gives it to Dad.  

I sprint the fifty feet to the front porch of the cottage. My Mom and Dad quickly follow me. I can see my dad fumbling with the keys. I stare into the woods looking for some sign of the blurred gray shape. All I see is empty woods. The door unlocks and I follow my parents into the cottage. I run to the second bedroom and dump all my stuff on the bed. I look out the oversized window. It's just as blurred as the windshield was. 

Sighing, I follow the sound of my parents' voices to the kitchen. “What was that about?” I ask, plopping into a chair at the kitchen table. 

“It was just a deer,” My mom says at the same time as my father. I look at them. Then my gaze shifts to something behind them. Out of the window. It was the blurred gray shape, but I could see more shapes appearing from the shadows. I try to see them more clearly, but I blink and the creatures are gone. 

I shift my gaze back to my mom. “Okay... so now what?” 

“Now we play board games until bed.” My dad pulls a box out of a soggy bag that I guess mom brought in. He opens it and takes out a Monopoly board. I grin hesitantly, quickly glancing out the window. 

It is past dark by the time we finish Monopoly. My parents send me to bed, and I obey them. I stare at the ceiling in the dark of my room, hoping not to have the same nightmare. I’d rather dream of the blurred shapes. I didn’t need that unearthly terror. Right now life was scary enough. 

Mom and Dad were obviously hiding something from me about the shapes, there is an intense storm raging behind my window curtains, and there is the darkness too. 

Against my wishes, the darkness engulfs me, it doesn’t let go. All thought of blurred shapes and storms disappears from my mind as I struggle to know where I am and what I am doing. I writhe and try to see myself in the darkness. As far as I know I am just a floating presence in a world of darkness. A dot in an endless world of nothing. 

Suddenly something slams into my forearm. I don’t know what it is. I didn’t even know I had a forearm. It leaves as quickly as it comes, and I twist in an attempt to see what caused it. I can’t see anything! My fear and rage and worry build up inside me. I feel as though I am about to explode. My forehead burns. 

My eyes jerk open and I see my parents above me. “Are you alright Jean?” Dad asks, and I nod. “That is a nasty bruise on your arm.” My dream is already crumbling in my head. But I can remember the sudden awareness of something nudging my forearm... I can hear birds singing behind the window. My parents must have moved the curtains in an attempt to wake me up. 

“Will you get ready to go down to the creek?” My mom asks, smiling, “after the storm last night it will defiantly be deep enough to swim in.” I nod again and my parents leave. I can hear Mom talking to Dad. I don’t move until I hear the screen door that leads to the back porch slam shut. 

After a minute to change and eat, I march out to the creek to go swimming with my parents. My Mom was right. The creek was twice its normal size. My parents were on top of a blanket with some books and a picnic basket. My Mom motions for me to get into the water and I do. 

The water is mostly made up of melted snow from the mountains behind the woods, and in the early spring, like now, the water can get extremely cold. Even though the icy water shocks me for a moment, I continue to wade into the creek. My toes are starting to get numb, but I think I can see a family of ducks across the water, and I want to catch up with them. 

But suddenly, my feet lose contact with the mud on the bottom of the creek. My head goes under, and I feel myself being pushed down stream. I try to scream but I can’t. Instead I swallow a mouthful of water. I hear my parents shout, but then everything goes black. 

The darkness overwhelms my senses. Except this time, I remember what just happened. I am going to drown, I think. My forearm was throbbing so painfully I thought I might die just from that. Or the terror. That could always kill me too. 

Then I suddenly feel myself rising out of the blackness. When I open my eyes, I can see that I am rising out of the water. I feel someone pulling me up using the scruff of my neck, like a mother cat might. I don’t care who is pulling me out of the water, all I care about is not being dead. 

The person sets me down on dry ground and I whirl around to say thank you. Then I stop in shock. I’ve found out what the huge, blurred, gray shape was. 

A huge wolf is sitting down across from me. Its fur wasn’t gray, but a glimmering silver. Its eyes were icy blue, and its face was twice the size of my head. “You’re a wolf!” I yell in surprise! Then I mumble “and a really huge one...” It nods at me like it understands! I am petrified. 

Yes. I am a Storm Wolf. We all are here. The wolf didn’t move its mouth. It was speaking directly into my brain. It was speaking. A wolf was speaking. 

“How-” I start to say, but then I realize something, “wait, we?” I say, but I connected the dots. The white blurs were wolves too. The wolf nods at me. It throws back its enormous head, and howls. I can’t hear the other wolves, but I know they are coming. As they start to emerge from the shadows, I see they all have the same icy eyes and gargantuan size. “Can you speak too?” I ask them. They shake their heads. 

Only the pack leader may speak, the silver one says. 

“I guess that makes you the pack leader. Does silver fur help tell the difference?” I say, and the wolf nods. Shock is coursing through my veins. I am talking to a wolf. 

They call me Alpha. However, there is no time for pleasantries. We must get you back to the House. The wolf says, and now it's my turn to nod. 

“How far away are we from the cottage?” I ask. My parents would be panicking and searching the entire place for me. 

We are somewhat far away for you to walk, but it will only be a moment to get back if you ride one of us. And your parents will not be panicking. They know everything. Except for the nightmares. When Alpha finishes speaking, ending on that vague, knowing phrase. I am confused. I speak to a talking wolf, apparently my parents knew all about it. It kept reading my mind. 

“So...um... Which one of you do I ride?” I ask awkwardly. One of the white ones step forward and bows its head. 

Try riding Crystal. Alpha seems to speak for everyone. I walk over the the white wolf, and she crouches low to the ground to make it easier for me to get on her back. As soon as I mount her, all eleven of the other wolves take off at a sprint up the stream. We are going impossibly fast. 

Alpha speaks in my brain. We are called Storm Wolves. Along time ago, our ancestors were, well, raiding towns, killing people, and otherwise causing mass chaos. 

 I would have said something, but we were going too fast for me to move my mouth. Your mother’s ancestors stopped the threat by magically banishing our power. The word “magic” is echoing in my head, confusing me even more.  

They moved all of us here, and the second generation of wolves were trained to be loyal. They were rewarded with the banished magical abilities.  

There are always twelve adult storm wolves, twelve is an immensely powerful number in air magic, which is why when which is an immensely powerful number in air magic, there is a terrible storm. The storm floods the creek, and the descendant is washed down for us to save and prove our loyalty to the line. That is why we are called Storm Wolves. We cause the storm to come and flood the creek. The wolves are slowing down. We call your cottage, The House of Wolves. 

I am stunned. Maybe I am still dreaming, I think. But I am not. Everything makes sense now. Except for one thing. “What about the nightmares?” I whisper, the wolves have slowed into a trot. 

Every now and again, a marked member of the line comes here. They begin to have nightmares like yours a few days before they come to the House. A wolf can brand them with the moon so that the light stops the dark. 

“Wait... Moon?” I ask, but Crystal is nudging me off her back and onto the porch. She nuzzles my forearm, and I suddenly realize! One of the wolves had come into my room last night and branded me with the moon. That’s why I could suddenly feel my forearm. It wasn’t me that was enraged, it was the darkness! 

 This should help you remember what happened before you fell asleep. next time you have the nightmare, just focus on your arm. If you would like to see one of us well you are here, just tap the moon. If you are away, just think of us while you are touching the moon mark. We will always be with you. The other wolves are already creeping back into the woods. 

I look at my forearm and see a crescent shape the color of Alpha’s coat etched in my arm. “What do the dreams mean though?” I whisper so that my parents would not hear. My Mom was running to the porch from the creek with Dad on her heels. They would probably take me to the doctor or a therapist. 

They mean that you have magic, Jean. Alpha and Crystal disappear into the trees after the other wolves. My parents reach me, and my mom starts checking me over for injuries. 

I have magic? I think. I am still reeling when my mom starts to ramble. 

“Are you all right Jean? I am so sorry I didn’t tell you, but I knew you wouldn’t believe me, so I thought it would be easier for you to find out this way. Did the wolves do a good job? If they didn’t-” 

“I’m fine! I am just tired,” I tried to say over her concerned interrogation. My dad is pacing behind my mom, running his hands through his hair every now and again. He is leaving all the talking to mom. He seems to think that she’s got this covered. After all, he didn’t get carried down a river when he was twelve. 

“Oh! I am so sorry Jean, I just forgot how tired I was when I got swept away in the current. Go rest.”  My mom opens the door for me. I walk through the door and walk to my room. Resting is the last thing I want to do, but my body seems to think otherwise. I face plant on the bed. I hear my parents talking in the hall, but my eyes droop and my hearing cuts out. 

When my eyes close, the darkness charges at me. Panic is welling up inside me. What had Alpha said? Next time you have the nightmare, just focus on your arm. I start to focus on my moon mark. At first it seems like it doesn’t work, and panic swells up inside of me as the darkness completely surrounds me.  

Suddenly, a blast of light appears from my forearm. It is spreads coils of light and fights the darkness. The light is blindingly white. I can’t see anything and close my eyes. I can still see the brightness, but when I open them again, I am so happy I don’t care. I did it! No more nightmares. Some wolf friends, and possibly magic. 

The howls of the entire pack echo through my brain.