I woke up to clothes being thrown on my face, the scent of vanilla and mine suppress me. My hands quickly yank the clothes off, Katana stands over me. Hands held on her hips while her lips purse.
"What's going on?" I asked, my eyes squinting under the bright sun. My body aches under me, I fell asleep on the couch. Kai and I were up late last night talking, he told me some stories of his mother and father while I talked about Alexander and my grandfather. It's been a while since I've talked about Alexander, truly talk about him. Mostly, the only thing I've said about him is his condition, but I explained his smile and his laugh. How funny he is and how much I love him.
I remember getting tired, and must have dozed off when he started talking about the Khans. "You need to put these on, like right now." She walks away from me and heads to the kitchen. Opening up the cabinet, she fills up a glass of water and drinks it in one gulp.
"I have clothes Katana, but thanks." I put them on the counter, but she shoves them right back to me.
"You're human, if Arno comes over here and smells you, or anyone, they'll know you're human and everything will crumple and this would have all been for nothing. So, go and put them on."
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Before I put on her clothes, I took a shower. With the heat only coming from the living room, it was ice cold in the bathroom. And it didn't help that a draft was coming in through the bathroom window with the crack. The water was also ice cold; I shivered the whole time.
Walking through the hallway, I hear laughing in the living room, it was Katana's laughter. I see her black hair peeking over the couch, it's tied in a top knot on her head. To her left sits a man, not Kai. He's got red hair with white streaks in it. A puffy coat cuddles his body. Whatever he said had Katana clutching her stomach, practically hunched over.
They both turn around once they hear my footsteps, I stopped at the end of the hall, not sure of what to do.
Katana's black jacket starts to tighten on my body as I move my legs around. My boobs are much bigger than hers so its tight in the boob area, whereas on the arms it's looser since she has more muscle than I do. She takes in my appearance, giving me a head nod that she approves.
"Arno, this is my friend, Lauryn Khan." My eyebrows furrow, confused on why she would change my name, but it registers. Everyone knows who Quinneth Worthingshire is, the dumb girl who woke up The First Power, hiding my identity not only protects me but Katana and Kai. Speaking of Kai, where is he? When Katana woke me up, I didn't see him next to me on the love seat.
"Hi, nice to meet you Arno." Sitting down on the chair adjacent to where their sitting, I warm my hands to the fire. Before I took my shower, she had me light another one.
"Arno will be transporting us into Nygaard in about an hour, we'll stay with him and his family for one night until we. . ." Her voice fades, but I know what she means. Once we figure out how to get into the castle and convince the King and Queen to give us the cure.
"Yes, thank you Arno."
He nods to me, "She won't tell me what you guys are here for, Kati has always been secretive."
"Kati?" My face squishes up.
Katana's cheeks fluster, "It's a- a little name he has for me." Never have I ever heard Katana stutter, or not know what to say next.
To her luck, Kai walks in the cabin. He shakes off the snow from his jacket and boots as he walks over to me. He looks over to Katana and Arno on the couch, "Arno?"
"Kai, hey dude." He holds out his hands to him and Kai shakes it. "It's been too long."
"Yeah, too long."
I sling my bag over my shoulder as we follow Arno to his pickup truck. In the bed of it are crates of apples, oranges, fruits and many others. "What does he do?" I whisper to Kai as we walk behind a conversating Katana and Arno.
He responds by saying, "His family grows fruit and vegetables and sells them."
Once we arrive to this car, Arno starts to explain everything. Since he can't just take us into Nygaard because we'll be found out, he gave us three purple cloaks that will conceal us in the back of his pickup truck. The guards at the gate will check all around and see nothing, once were in we'll go to his house. After that, it's on to see the King and Queen for the cure.
"Are you sure these will really work?" Kai asked Arno. That red hair of his blows in the cold misty wind, his lips purse up.
"If you don't believe me, then try it out yourself."
Kai loops the cloak over his tall, lean frame. In a matter of seconds, he's gone. I gasp, what kind of magic is this? I look to Katana, but she doesn't look shocked by this, maybe she's used one before.
"This is so- so." I'm at lost for words. Arno smiles brightly at me.
I fan my hands out to where Kai once stood. After a couple of swings, I finally hit something. It's hard and broad, and the figure let's out a loud yelp. I jump back, I would have thought he moved around. Trying to test the limits of the cloak.
"Sorry, Kai." I whisper to him. The cloak falls on the bed of the truck and Kai reappears. His black hair is dishelved as a goofy grin graces his face.
"I'll recover."
"Ok, it's time for us to go now. They always open the gates to let in the merchants. Make sure you all keep your cloaks on and don't make any noises, they'll figure us out and have our heads on spikes." He quirks a smirk and gets in his truck. Oh, I hope he's joking about that last part.
"After you." says Kai. He hoists me up on the back of the truck and hands me my cloak. Once it's wrapped around my body, I tuck my legs to my chest, my back rest against one of the crates. Next to me is Kai while Katana sits at the end of the truck. Arno starts the car and drives on the bumpy road to the gate.
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The whole ride was torturing. The cold wind was blowing straight on my face, the ride was bumpy and loud. Arno didn't bother slowing down when the hill came. After 20 minutes of torture, the car stops. I hear voices coming from afar. It's Arno and two other men.
"Hey Arno, was the crop good today?" asks a man with a deep-rooted voice.
"It was, bless the moon goddess with giving us a bountiful crop. If you want, you can grab a couple of fruits, it's on me." What the hell is he thinking? My back digs into the crate of apples. If he moves his hand just an inch he'll feel me, and then we'll all have our heads on spikes. And just imagine, my head won't look good on a spike.
The other voice, which sounds like it belongs to a tall young man says, "If you insist, my Josey loves your apples. Says they are the sweetest she's ever eaten." I can hear him rummaging around in the crate next to Kai. My heart beats erratically, it feels like it's going to pop out of my chest. Everything will be ok; everything will be ok. I repeat these words in my head over and over again until I believe them.
"You need to come by, Moena has been dying to see her. I got her some new threads and she knitted her a scarf." Moena?
"I'll bring her by, maybe next week." Him and his partners voices disappear from the truck and to the front. "Everything checks out, you can go in."
I hear a loud gate open up, and the truck starts to rattle, then drives on. The guards go back to their positions. Once we got farther away from the gate, we really got to see what Nygaard was made of.
"You guys can take off your cloaks, no one will notice you guys it's the week of Selene." says Arno. Reluctantly, I sling the cloak off my body and sit it to the side. Katana and Kai follow behind me, taking off theirs. My mouth widens, taking in the beauty that is Nygaard.
I can't believe that my grandpa and the others called Nygaard the most dangerous place to go to, it looks like the place you would want to go to spend the rest of your days, if you were dying. The truck bumps under the cobblestone roads as people carrying various items such as fruits and vegetables walk by. Bright colors of different shapes and sizes hang off of strings from different houses. It's looks like the town where Belle from "The Beauty and the Beast" lived.
In the distance, on a high tall mountain is an Ivory castle the color of snow. White snow coats the castle making it look like an icy winter castle. From down here, bits of snow fall around everyone, but up there it looks like it's hailing it. Maybe because they're higher up. That must be where the King and Queen live, where we'll be soon.
Little kids run around with colored chalk in their hands as they draw on the concrete near the stores. I crawl over to the side of the car as I look over to see what their doodling. From what I can make out, they're drawing small wolves with odd shapes on their necks.
I look back at Kai, "Why are they drawing shapes on the wolves' necks?" I asked.
He moves over to me, his eyes look over in my direction, "It's a mark of the mate." I give him a confusing look; he furthers on the conversation. "In order to confirm the bond between two mates, they bite each other's neck during. . .you know." His cheeks blush bright red, I just smile and nod letting him know I understand. "The bite represents your love for each other, and the mark can be anything really, the person's name or a star or heart."
"So, when Alexander marks me, he'll bite my neck. Doesn't that seem like it'll hurt?" I ask, scared out of my mind. Alexander never told me of this, why not though? Maybe he thought I would freak out, because I'm kind of am right now. Why can't mates signify their love like regular people do, a ring or necklace. Or damn, I'll even take a tattoo.
He just laughs, "From what I've heard, it's like getting a shot. You feel a pinch of the fangs, but after a few seconds the pain goes away. Some say after the 5 seconds of pain, explosions of pleasure seize through their body, others say it feels better than the actual sex." Now I blush from him saying the word sex.
I focus my attention back on the town. Tons of sale booths line the streets of the town. One booth is selling hats with stars and crescent moons on it, while others are selling elegant dresses and shoes. As the truck drives by, I look to see a long dress hanging on the rack. It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. It's a trumpet gown dress with a sweetheart cut and off the shoulder straps. It's the color of night and has shiny stars that start from the waist and fade out once they get to the bottom. It's like looking into the sky at night, bathing my eyes.
I catch a woman watching me as I gawk over the dress, her light brown eyes stare me down, we hold our gazes on each other until a tall man takes her attention off of me.
Soon we reach the middle of town, the truck slows down and turns into an alley. The engine cuts and Arno hops out the front of the car. "If you guys don't mind, grab those crates behind you and help me carry them in the house. It's the least you all can do since I snuck you in. " Wait, this is a house? All I see is a trash can leaning against the brick wall, and at the end of the alley is a black door with stripes on it.
"Uh, sure." I mumble. Kai grabs the crates of oranges and bananas; Katana takes the pears while I grab the one with kiwi and melons. We walked down the alley, my hands slip, but I regain my grip on the crate. Arno opens the door for us, a bunch of steps lay behind it, you've got to be kidding me. "Women first." I walk in, then Katana and Kai. The stairs creak under our feet, at one point I thought the stairs were going to cave in on us, but to our luck we made it. We walk down a narrow hallway, it's rustic with brick. A door comes up on my right and I open it, before I have a chance to look around, the crate slips from my hands. Melons and Kiwi fall all over the floor.
"Crap." Was all I said as Arno comes up behind me. "I'm so sorry, I'll pick them all up."
He just laughs, "You bet you will. And it's fine, every crate I carry drops at least one time." Katana and Kai sit their crates on the wooden table that sits in the middle of the room. I get on my hands and knees and pick up the rolling fruit, once I'm done I put mines next to theirs. While they both sit, I take in the place. For it to be below the Earth, it's quite cozy. A small kitchen with a Mini island sits to the left, wooden table in the middle and a long couch sits against the wall that's above a wide window. Since were below ground you can only see people's feet as they walk by. The couch is green with light brown accent pillows sitting on it. In front of me lies a hallway with three doors.
"Where's Moena?" asked Katana. I remember Arno mentioned her when we were at the gate.
"She's out at the market getting dinner. When I told her you were coming, she insisted on making your favorite, chipped beef."
Katana eyes light up, "I haven't had chipped beef in years, she doesn't have to do that."
Arno starts to fill up four glasses with a brown liquid, I'm assuming it's tea, "I told her that, but she insisted. You know how Moena is, so poised and thoughtful." He hands us the drinks and directs us over to the table. We sit around for the next 30 minutes just drinking the tea and Kai and I listen to Arno and Katana as they talk. Mostly about wild adventures they had when she would have missions here in Nygaard. She mentions how her, Moena and Arno skinny dipped in the creek a few miles from here. Me and Kai give each other questionable looks, wondering if Katana would really do something like that. We're both at a tie with the answer: no.
The conversation ended once Katana retired to the bedroom, which we will be sharing tonight, to grab some clothes so she could take a shower. Arno goes back out to deliver some of the fruit to his regular customers, reminding us not to draw in any attention. Me and Kai sit on the couch, looking at the people passing by. Since we couldn't see their faces, we decided to make up stories about who they are.
Were on the third person, it's Kai's turn to go. The women walking by has on brown sandals with stars on the side of them. "I bet her name is something weird like Ruby or Angela."
I give him an incredulous look, "Ruby and Angela are normal names. A weird name would be. . .like-".
Kai cuts me off, "-Quinneth."
I smack his arm, "Hey! Quinneth is not a weird name, it's creative."
He rolls his eyes, "Whatever you say."
We sit in silence for a few minutes, our eyes just look out into the street as more and more people walk by. A question pops into my brain, "Hey, Kai."
"Mhm."
"Arno mentioned something about the week of Selene, what did he mean."
"You have a lot of questions lately, did Alexander teach you nothing of our culture?" I just shrug my shoulders as a sheepish smile form on my lips.
"Well, the week of Selene is when the werewolves celebrate her birth. The children draw pictures of her and wolves all over the street, decorations lounge on the streets and in peoples house, while everyone makes their best dishes and hang with family. We give thanks for her making us and watching out for us."
"So, it's like Thanksgiving?"
"Basically, yeah."
The door handle starts to rattle, as it opens a short woman with a protruding belly, raven hair and Scarlett eyes and dark golden skin walks into the house. In her arms is a basket of food and spices. She looks over to us, confused on who we are. Me and Kai return the same look.
"Who are you guys?" She asked.
Kai answers for us, "I'm Kai and this is my friend, Lauryn." I cut my eyes at him, but then remember that I'm going by Lauryn, not Quinneth.
"Oh!" She thumps her head, "I forgot Arno was having you guys over. Hi, my name is-."
"MOENA!" Katana stands at the end of the hall, a towel wraps around her head as she wears a black tank top with black shorts. It's the first time I've seen her bare legs and arms. And the first time I've seen her glow.69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZTxY46LRzj
