"It's way too early in the evening to be seeing things," Angel told me as we walked up the Mason's driveway.
The Mason mansion was a huge house built atop a hill in the wealthiest neighbourhood of Silver Hills. In fact, the hill where they lived may even be the Silver Hill that acted as a namesake for our sleepy town. Music thrummed out of every pore of the grand building.
"I wasn't seeing things," I replied. "I was hearing things."
She shrugged her shoulders and pouted. "It was probably nothing. Maybe it was just your subconscious trying to get out of going to this party."
"Well it didn't work," I said as she dragged me to the door.
She knocked on mahogany three times and then stepped back. "I hope Bellamy Mason answers," she whispered to me clandestinely.
"Ew! Angelica Cole! He is like ten years older than us!" I pretended to swat her away.
"But he's rich," she teased. "What never heard of a sugar daddy before."
"You're way too smart to need a sugar daddy," I said.
"The whole point is not using my brain," she replied. "It gives me headaches."
"You give me headaches," I snapped back, irritated by her insistence that she couldn't be both pretty and smart. It had been a battle I'd been fighting since we were two scrawny kids first meeting at the local park.
The door swung open. Angel frowned. It was not Bellamy Mason at the door.
"Hey Gen!" Angel greeted with unwarranted enthusiasm.
Genevieve's green eyes glared at us. "I didn't think this was your scene," she said to me. "Aren't you scared of losing brain cells by being in the company of such heathens?"
I ignored her jabs.
"Ummm can we come in?" Angel asked, her eyes lighting up as she spotted someone she knew in the hallway.
"Whatever."
Genevieve left the door open, her green dress swishing away as she stomped off.
"I'm surprised she's been pried away from Richards arms," I noted as we watched her leave and entered the house.
"He's probably pawing at some sophomore," Angel guessed. "God knows he's tried it with me a few times."
I wasn't shocked at all: Richard was handsome and it everyone's eyes that made him flawless and perfect. I felt a twinge of pity for Genevieve though. If that was the treatment she received as his faithful girlfriend of three years I wondered what he would act like when they inevitably got married.
"Hey Persephone," Angel said, patting my arms.
"Will you kill me if I go and speak to Andrea and Brandon?"
"Why can't I come and speak with Andrea and Brandon?" I asked, offended.
"Because you're not friends with them," she hastily told me before staggering off to join a group of our old schoolmates.
As much as I loved Angel, she had a bad tendency to abandon ship. It wasn't cruelty. It was thoughtlessness. She just wasn't used to going out to public places with me.
I stood awkwardly in a room full of people of talking and drinking and dancing, my arms swinging awkwardly at my side.
"Persephone."
I froze. It couldn't be... not that voice in my head again. I frantically searched around for another source of that sound. The room was full of people, but nobody could of said my name with such clarity. It was also the way that it seemed to come from inside me.
I felt a wave of nausea pass over me. I needed to get away from all these people. I saw an open door leading into the Masons massive garden which twinkled with fairy lights.
I began to stumble towards freedom when someone grabbed my arm. To my surprise it was Genevieve.
"What do you want!" I snapped, though my voice came out in gasps. Why did I suddenly feel so awful?
Genevieve stood back with her arms crossed and looked over me. "God, you look awful."
"Thank you," I said sarcastically , a sweat breaking out on my forehead.
"Persephone."
The voice again. I felt the room sway around me. Genevieve rolled her eyes but both her arms shot out to steady me. Suddenly I felt the room still. It was like the waves had calmed and the sickness had passed.
"Better?" She asked in a mocking tone, head tilted like a cat.
"What do you want?" I practically hissed. "If you're going to throw a drink at me or something just do it."
"As tempting as it sounds I actually came to tell you that Rich wants to speak to you."
"Richard Mason? Speak to me... why?"
Genevieve picked a drink up off the table. "I'm not Google. Go ask him yourself." She took a sip from a strange green liquid and grimaced, before gesturing towards the hallway.
I began to stagger towards him, the heels now the only thing inhibiting my movement. I couldn't get over the strangeness of tonight and it wasn't even 11 o'clock yet.
"Oh and try anything with my boyfriend, I'll gut you!" Genevieve called after me.
"You don't need to worry about that," I muttered to myself. Richard Mason may have blonde hair and a six pack but I found him about as attractive as a sewer rat.
I also had no clue why he would want to speak to me. I can't remember an instance where he'd uttered a single vowel to me in my whole life.
I'm the hallway I saw Richard leaning against the banister of his family's regal staircase.
I walked towards him before my fear could get the better of me.
"You wanted to speak with me," I said.
He nodded, jaw tight and eyes roving over my body. I hoped he wasn't going to try anything. Especially because I was the one whose neck would be on the line with Genevieve.
"Come." He moved towards the open door I had been trying to reach previously. He turned and saw I wasn't moving. "I'm not trying to seduce you or murder you," he assured me.
It didn't make me feel anymore secure but I followed him nevertheless. I saw Angel as we passed through, vigorously chatting with a tall bearded blonde man. It must've been Bellamy for her cheeks to flush such a violent red.
Luckily the gardens were heavily populated as it was a summer night. I was certain that even Richard wouldn't try anything in front of so many curious eyes.
"What do you want I?" I insistently asked as he led me further towards the end of the gardens. His house sloped off into the woods as well. My mothers warning rang in my head, almost as clear as that voice.
I stopped in a place where I was sure people could hear me if I started screaming. Richard had never come across as a creep, only a serial cheater. Still, he had never looked as menacing as he looked tonight. In the pale moon his skin looked as white as sour milk.
"I'm not moving any further," I warned. "So unless your plans of attacking me have been thwarted by this, just say what you need to."
A slight breeze ruffled my hair. He sighed deeply.
"I need to warn you about something Persephone," he said, his voice frighteningly sincere.
"About what?" I asked, my voice feeling thick. Now my heart really was beating. It felt as if it throbbed in my throat whilst butterflies attacked my stomach. The night had already been filled with too many unexpected mysteries. I was beginning to wish I had never left my room.
"The wolves," he said in a low voice. "They didn't want me to tell you but I can't just..." his voice was strangled, "I can't just let you walk around not knowing."
"The wolves didn't want you to tell me?" I asked, shocked by how scared my voice sounded at such a ridiculous statement.
"No. No I'm getting it all mixed up." He cleared his throat. "You must beware the wolves."
An image flashed through my head, of a black wolf gazing at me with eyes like the moon. I swallowed hard to try and get rid of the sour taste in my mouth.
"Why? What... what does that even mean... I..." I stammered, unsure how to react.
Chances were, it was a practical joke fabricated to embarrass me. Yet a small part of me was willing to completely believe every word he was saying. Which was ridiculous. I had never liked the Masons. They had always been obnoxious and arrogant and snobbish towards my family. Why should I trust their youngest son.
The panic in his eyes made a pretty good case for listening to what he said.
"Don't go out at night. They're all out to get you."
He glanced anxiously around us before moving back towards the house.
"If anyone asks," he said, turning around to face me. "I was trying to flirt with you, but you wouldn't give in so I left."
With that he walked away.
I knew I should act rationally and shrug off his strange behaviour. I should either go back and find Angel and beg her to not leave me for the rest of this infernal party, or just call my mom and go home right now.
Something inside my very core tugged at something behind me. It wanted me to go into the woods. The woods were the wolves were.
Shakily, I tried to walk towards the house.
That's when I heard it.
A low guttural howl, sounding almost in pain.
And it wasn't coming from behind me. It was coming from the house.