"I HATE YOU'LL!", I heard Tyler yell coming in to view between the thick branches of the trees.
"YOU'LL LEFT ME BEHIND!", he yelled again.
"Chill bro", Stan said laughing and poking the fire with a stick.
We had already set up the tents and gotten a fire roaring and we were wrapped up in warm blankets, drinking hot chocolate with toasted marshmallow.
Tyler glared at Stan and sat down next to me. I offered him a marshmallow which he gladly too.
"Hungry?", I asked giving him another one.
"And tired", he nodded.
"Yeah.....we probably shouldn't have left you behind", I said awkwardly.
"It's ok ", he said.
I got Tyler a mug of hot chocolate and an entire packet of marshmallows. Turns out he was really hungry, he ate the entire thing along with two mugs of hot chocolate.
We were getting ready to go to sleep when I heard footsteps. Light ones not one normal humans can hear, which explains how me Stan and his pack turned in the direction of the trees but the others didn't.
"Guys what's up", Emma asked seen us all alert.
"Footsteps", I said.
"Paw steps", Stan corrected me.
Just as he said that a huge wolf came in to view. The girls screamed and Tyler grabbed me and pulled me behind his back.
Stan growled, "What do you want Jeremy?".
The wolf changed in to a guy a few years older than us who had a few deep scars on his face.
"Just to see our original Alpha's daughter", he spoke, "Anything wrong with that, I won't harm her".
I hated the way he emphasised original as if Stan wasn't good enough. I stepped out from behind Tyler and spoke, "I'm his daughter".
He smirked, "Looks alot like him, really".
"Now you've seen her, LEAVE!", Miles commanded.
"But I must of course see if she's suitable enough to be with our pack, if she's not it'll be dangerous for us", Jeremy said ignoring Miles.
"She's our former Alpha's daughter of course she's suitable", Greg argued.
"I know, I know but she's a half, we haven't had any halves in centuries", Jeremy said walking closer to me.
"What do I have to do to prove myself?", I asked bravely.
"I have a little test for you if you can succeed I'll leave you alone, but if you can't......we'll think about that later", he trailed off seeing the frightened look on the faces of my friends.
"I accept it", I said looking straight at him trying to hide the fear I felt.
He smiled, "You pass the first challenge, Bravery, now let's move on", he gestured me to follow him.
He started to walk towards the dark trees so I without objection did the same. Stan and the boys tried to follow us too but Jeremy stopped them, "If you'll come then she won't be able to do the tasks properly, you'll have nothing worry about, I mean no harm but if you'll are suspicious then I suggest you use your vision and see what's going on".
We walked for twenty minutes and then we came across a lake. It was hard to see below the surface because of the darkness. I used my strong vision and all I saw was a bunch of rocks covered in leaves and moss. I'm pretty sure I can do whatever Jeremy wants in this, I don't see any animals in it.
The lake
I turned back at the direction we came from and focused on my vision, I couldn't see our camp so will they be able to see me.
"Wolves are great in water so all you have to do is to swim across this lake twice without a break and stay underwater for five minutes", Jeremy said gesturing at the lake.
"Five minutes! But that's impossible", I protested.
"It's the only way you can-".
I cut him off, "Fine I'll do it".
I took off my shoes and socks and threw them aside. I took I deep breath and dived in. The water was ice cold. I resurfaced almost immediately because of the coldness.
"Start now", Jeremy barked and I once again shoved my body under the cold water.
I was in the school's swim team when I was eleven but we weren't taught to swim in lakes as cold and deep as this one. I started swimming and as he said I couldn't even take one second break. The cold water rushed all over me, blinding me by the darkness I still swam. I need to prove myself. To show Jeremy that I was better than he thought. My arms were getting tired, I considered slowing down for a second but thought better of it and pushed harder.
I felt my hands touch a rock or something and I realized I had reached the end. But that doesn't mean I'm finished. I turned around and kept on swimming.
All I can say is thank goodness Jeremy didn't say I can't come up for air since even though wolves can stay under water for long it doesn't mean they don't need oxygen.
I'm almost at the end, but I feel so tired I don't know if I can take it anymore but I can't give up either. I tried my very best and was about to touch the end when my keg got stuck. I turned around and saw my leg stuck between two rocks. I tried pulling it out but it was no use.
What can I do now, I can't yell for help, I'm underwater. After a few my tries I gave up. I had to accept my fate that I'm gonna drown here and die. Well happy news for Jeremy I guess, he never really liked me anyway.
I stopped trashing around and didn't bother to swim up again. But then there was a huge splash and someone grabbed at my waist and pulled me backwards. A pain shot through my leg. I'm still stuck. Whoever it was let go and swam to the rock. It was Tyler.
He grabbed my leg and pulled. It hurt like hell but at least now I'm free. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me up with him. As we resurfaced I saw Stan and his pack in their wolf formfighting with Jeremy. It seems to be a huge fight and even though Jeremy was out numbered four on one he was quite strong.
When Jeremy noticed me he tore away from the guys and pounced on me tackling me to the ground. He growled.
"You're friends showed up to help you, means you die since you didn't follow my orders", Jeremy said inside of my head.
"STAN HE'S GONNA KILL ME!", I yelled.
But I realized I didn't have to since Stan was already on top of Jeremy. Stan pulled him away from me and using his full strength, tossed Jeremy against a tree.
"Ivy and Tyler get to the camp, your friends are there, as soon as you meet them, with them run. Run to your house and do not open the door to anyone. GO! NOW!", Miles said.
I nodded and grabbed Tyler's hand, "Run", I said.
We ran as fast as we could. Halfway through the forest I heard footsteps and I turned back to see a whole pack of wolves behind us. Jeremy must have called them. We ran faster but they were wolves. We can't outrun wolves.
I turned back and one of them pounced but Tyler appeared behind me and grabbed me causing the wolf to attack Tyler. I was under Tyler and the wolf on top of him was growling. Ready to get us. But it was too slow. Andy tackled into the ground and they fought.
I saw Miles with the wolf pack, all of them in their human forms. Since Miles is the Beta he was controlling them now.
This time Tyler grabbed my hand and ran. At the campsite the girls were there like Miles said, they had all our backpacks packed and we're carrying them waiting nervously, for us I guess.
Kiya started talking but I cut her off, "We gotta run now, don't stop just follow me".
As I said those words I heard the angry growls of the wolves. Tyler and I grabbed our backpacks, "RUN!", I yelled.
We took off running, me and Tyler in the lead and the others following us. The wolves were slowing down I realized. Stan or Miles must be trying to control them. They were following us by scent I'm sure. But Stan once told me dogs and wolves can't follow scent across water. I knew a stream located near by so I ran in that direction.
I waded into the stream and ran through it too even though it was muddy and hard to run through, we tried our very best. Though knowing the wolves can't follow our scent, I didn't stop running.
We finally arrived at my house and I unlocked the door as fast as I could. Once we were inside I locked it and we all went up to my room. All our clothes were wet from running across streams and mine even more since I was underwater most of the time.
And......that's when I realized I left my shoes by the lake.
We took turns changing our clothes and I was the last to go.
I quickly changed in to this
We sat by bedroom window which gives a good view of the street and waited till we saw any sign of the Stan and the boys. We saw none.
Jeremy