The Final Battle (Living in a Pack Book Three)

Chapter Four: Italy

Dylas Point Of View:

I glanced down at Iris as she slept peacefully on my lap as our flight took us to Italy. She was so beautiful. I was absoloutely completely in love with her and I had been for a long time. The first day I saw her in the school yard back home I thought she was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. I didn't know it then but I had started falling for her that second and the more I got to know her the more I wished so badly that she would be my mate. I remember that day in the woods. We finally kissed and it finalized it all. I was in love with her and I could be for the rest of my life.

I stroked her cheek and she sighed quietly in her sleep. I smiled and laid my head back in the seat, glancing out the small window at the puffy white clouds that had merged into a cotton candy like ocean below us. I wanted to marry her. After all of this. If they survived the fight I was going to marry Iris. We are young, yes, but I loved her. I was planning on telling her we should get married to but she had fallen asleep before the words could pass my lips. I closed my eyes in an attempt to fall asleep. I didn't know how much we'd be getting over the next few days.

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Iris' Point Of View:

We'd been in Italy for two days and we've found jack shit. We've talked to tons of locals acting like we are exchange students doing research for a school project, but nothing all we ever get is the same garbage facts about phoenixs that come out dusty old books and off Wikipedia. Hell, we'd even talked to these two conspiracy theorists who were tourists like us, they told us they had come searching for phoenixs too, apparently got some tip from someone there might be a group hanging out around here somewhere. Told us all about how werewolves and vampires existed too, and just about every supernatural creature you could think off. They hadn't been able to find any information on phoenixs either though, besides what they already "knew". It was actually quite funny, they acted like they knew so much but didn't even know the supernatural stood directly in front of them the whole time.

We strolled into a small park and plopped down on the grass. I leaned backwards and stared up at the sky. The clouds floated lazily by and I sighed.

"This search feels hopeless. Maybe we should just give up." I muttered quietly.

"I second that!" Theo piped up from somewhere a few feet away.

"No. We've still got time and we are going to make the best of it." Dylas said firmly. I sighed heavily and rolled over planting my face in the grass.

"Fine. This war is just starting to get to me is all." I mumbled around a mouthful of grass. "I guess we should keep looking."

"Sounds like you young ones are having a bit of trouble." A voice with a thick Italian accent spoke making me roll over instantly. An elderly woman, maybe 70 or 80 by the looks of it stood above us. She had thing gray hair and a wide toothless smile. "Maybe I can help you." She offered, hobbling over and sitting herself down on the grass near us.

"Nice to meet you miss." Dylas greeted extending a hand.

"And you young one." The old woman smiled and shook Dylas' hand. "So what seems to be bothering you youngsters?" She asked flashing us that toothless grin.

"Um... well you see, we are exchange students from Canada and we are doing a group project on mythological creatures and whether or not there were any myths about them living near bye, we are supposed to talk to tourists and locals, but so far we've come up with nothing." I explained quickly.

"Hmm, that's an interesting story." The old woman spoke thoughtfully. "Well, I've been around here for a long time, maybe I can help you out. What sort of creature are you looking for?" She asked.

"Pheonix's" Theo spoke up.

"Ahh yes the Phoenix. Now I personally do not believe in them nor have I encountered them at any point in my life, but when I was young a friend of mine became convinced that they were real." The old woman began explaining. "I remember he came running up to me about how he had seen a huge flaming bird. Of course I never believed him but he remained convinced for the entirety of his life." She finished with a nod.

"Do you mind asking where he saw It?" I asked hopefully.

"Why yes, I believe he was visiting Pompeii with his family at the time. Claims he saw it fly past a break in the clouds while on the way up the side of Mount Vesuvius, sounds like a pretty tall tale to me though."

"Thank you so much for your help Ma'am." Cameron nodded his thanks to the old woman. "This will work really well with our project."

"I'm sure it will." The woman smiled, a hint of amusement in her voice, almost as if she knew were went telling the truth about the Phoenix school project lie. I shrugged it off. I must have imagined it. "Well I must get going." She smiled waving.

"Goodbye, and thanks again." I smiled and waved back and she began to hobble off down the walk way.

"Good luck with your project young shifters." I heard her call over her shoulder as we turned to each other. I didn't pay much attention to it though.

"So, Nepales huh?" I asked my friends.

"Looks like it" Amber agreed.

"Well then. Let's get going."

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I know I know it's literally been forever but I have been having trouble with writers block recently and I got caught up in summer and then university started so you know, bad combinations. Sorry ;)

- Polar