The Final Battle (Living in a Pack Book Three)

Chapter Five: The Phoenix

We stood at the base of Mount Vesuvius. The mountainous volcano yawned before us, I scratched the back of my head nervously.

"Something tells me this is going to be a lot harder then we thought it would be." I muttered scratching the back of my head.

"Where do we even start?" Theo muttered, only half to himself. I glanced at him and shrugged before glancing at Dylas questioningly.

"We could always hike up the side I guess?" It was more of a question then a statement. I shrugged again, it was worth a try.

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About ten minutes later we were climbing the narrow trail that led the way up the steep summit. The thin volcanic sand crunched loudly beneath my feet with each step. I paused to look out at the view. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

"Wow." Breathed in awe as I gazed down the steeply slooping hill.

"Amazing isn't it?" Dylas asked, sneaking up behind me and wrapping his arms around me. I leaned into his arms and gazed up at him smiling softly.

"It's beautiful."

"Yes you are." Dylas murmured gazing down at me with an idiotic grin. I slapped him lightly on the arm and wiggled out of his grip, giving him a look. "What? You are." He grinned wider staring at me eyes gleaming.

"Ew straight people." Cameron scoffed from where the rest of our group had stopped a few feet up the trail.

"Really though." Dan nodded in agreement, mischief dancing in his eyes. I rolled my eyes but laughed anyway. "I'd tell you you're swinging for the wrong team Iris but alas, men." Dan shrugged and turned away. "What can i say, I love them." He threw over his shoulder as he started back up the trail.

"Do you really think the phoenix's will be here." Sasha muttered from behind me. "I mean think about it. We are treking up the side of a volcano that's covered in tourists in broad daylight. Not to mention Vesuvius hasn't erupted since 1944. That old woman's friend probably saw the phoenix sometime around then, what if they only come out around eruption time and spend any other times hibernating in the volcano or something." I glanced at her and thought for a moment. She had a point, I mean we weren't all that knowledgeable on phoenix's. They were rare, so rare that we didn't even know fact from fiction. I was about to reply when a loud voice shouted from behind us.

"HEEEEY!!" I turned around to see who was calling out and my mouth nearly hit the floor from shock. It was those conspiracy theorists we'd met a couple of days ago. How in the name of god did they manage to end up in Naples too?

"Remember us?" The man said catching up to us. "It's us Brian and Charlotte. We spoke to you a few days ago about werewolves, you guys were doing a school project on phoenix's and asked us if we knew anything remember?"

"Yes of course, how odd that we'd meet again here of all places." I flased a grin. Trying to hide my nervousness. They could cause a problem if they were here for the same reasons as us.

"So what brings you to Naples?" Theo asked casually.

"Well," Charlotte began. "Basically, you guys inspired us to do some research into phoenix's in Italy as well and it led us here to Vesuvius. We found out there have been quite a few sightings of giant birds that burn like the sun here over the years and we figured it was worth a shot. Is that why you guys are here?"