Chapter 1
---Maia's POV---
"Alex, honey, I need your help in the garden."
"Coming mom!"
I shook my head with a smile as my I made my way down stairs with my earphones in my ears. My mother seemed so clueless when it came to anything dealing with nature which was why I didn't understand her reason behind gardening. I, on the other hand, felt this strange connection with nature that was too noticeable to ignore. Sometimes I swore I could hear the trees talking to me and more than that I'm positive that I've had dozens of conversations with my dog, Ryder. Though my parents didn't believe me. Half the time they thought I was going mad.
"Yeah mom?" I asked, sticking my through the door way to get a look at her problem.
"This one's dying and I can't figure out why." She said, now sulking.
I made a face at her. "Don't be such a baby, that plant just hates the sun. Try planting it over there below that large oak tree." Her face lit up. She uprooted it then held it out to with while pouting. I sighed then took it. Sometimes I thought that Dad and I spoiled her just a bit too much.
I walked over to the oak tree and after planting it felt a gently breeze blowing. I suddenly thought 'It must have been stronger up there!'. So I grabbed a low hanging branch and began making my way up. Soon no branch was higher than me. I pushed my body out as the breeze began again. This was heavenly. I couldn't understand why most of the girls at my school hated the outside. They were all just stuck up prises, who got mad when I said I would have preferred talking to my dog than to them---but it was the truth!
"Get down from there." I looked down and saw Ryder sitting at the foot of the tree.
"Oh hey Ryder", He was a grey wolf but I liked calling him a dog, it pissed him off. "you know I've been thinking lately and I realized that when I was younger I used to make up poems for you." He continued staring at me, not acknowledging that I had spoken. I sighed. "I'm not coming down until I hear a poem." I said with a stubborn smile.
"Alright, Roses are red, violets are blue, get down."
I began to laugh. "That doesn't even rhyme." I heard him give off a low growl. "Alright alright, I'm coming jeez." He may have been my dog but he was still a wolf and those things were fierce. I always admired them though. The way they hunted in packs, the way in which they set up their structures making everything all organized despite the fact that they were just dumb animals, even their look and walk intrigued me. In fact my room was plastered with pictures of wolves. I guess you could say I was obssessed.
"I really wish you would stop talking to that wolf as if he's human." Mom said as I got off the tree. "You keep giving me the idea that someone else is around." She said with perplexed look as she petted Ryder.
"But he'll be lonely without my voice."
"Don't kid yourself."
I glared down at him and he casually looked away.
Later that night I sat around the table with my parents for dinner while Ryder went out to hunt, Even though he was grown on kibbles and bits as soon as he was big enough to run fast enough so none of us would be able to catch him he started bolting towards the forest. That was when we stopped trying to catch him.
"So princess I hear that cheerleading tryouts are tomorrow." Dad said, smiling over at me.
"Forget it."
"Oh but you know that you're much more flexible and agile than the other girls, come one give it a shot."
"I'd rather swallow nails."
"We know but, Darla Jenkins' daughter will be trying out, you know the woman from my gardening club and she'll never shut up if her daughter gets the spot." Mom began to whine. How was that my problem? I used my agility for good, not evil. "Please sweetheart."
"No."
"Fine, then you're grounded."
"What?! Why?! For how long?!"
"Because you're being unreasonable and until next year when you hopefully decide to join the team then." Mom said stubbornly. I raised an eyebrow at her.
"You're joking right?"
She sighed. "Yes, but I just really wanted you to tryout." Her shoulders slumped as she looked down. My eyes glanced over at Dad's and saw them pleading with me. You had to be kidding me.
I sighed. "Fine."
She looked up with a smile. I rolled my eyes and excused myself from the table. My mother was a manipulative piece of work.
I walked up to my room and stared out through my window. It would soon be another harvest moon. . . I hated the harvest moon, I would get nightmares every year that it showed up and I would get a feeling of nausea and dizziness. At first I thought it was all in my head until I noticed that Ryder lost a noticeable amount of his strength on those nights. I didn't know the reason though and that bugged me. I was basically useless to myself of nights containing the harvest moon.
Something moved between the trees and it caught my attention. I tried focuses my eyes, swearing the whole time under my breath how I wished for wolf eyes. Seconds later the image was a little less clear than day. I-It was a wolf . . . I hadn't seen one come this close to our home before . . .or maybe it was Ryder. On a few nights I would see him hesitate before coming in.
"Hey!" I called. Ryder bolted back towards the trees and soon disappeared. Where was he going? Without thinking I hopped from my window and ran towards the trees as well. Ryder knew better than to stay out too long, he didn't have a pack to protect him. The others would probably tear him apart. "Hey!" I called again. This time the wolf glanced around before it kept running. It wasn't Ryder. How strange . . .
It ran all the way to the creek before it had to stop running. I wanted to know what it was doing so close to the town so I kept walking forward, forcing it to go back until it was at the edge of the creek. It snarled at me, warning me to back off. I should have been afraid but at that moment I felt a new courage, I-I was almost angry . . .but why. . .?
"What are you doing here?" I asked.
It snarled again.
"I'm not moving until you tell me who you are and what your business is." Look at me, acting as if I owned the territory or something. It got fed up and rushed towards me. I cringed waiting for it to hurt me when from the side something jumped out and lunged at it. "Ryder!" Thank God it was him, two on one wouldn't have been very ideal for my situation.
"What are you doing out here?" He shouted as he began ripping through the wolf with his teeth.
"I-I thought I saw you so I came to get you."
I watched as the two lunged and snarled and just kept biting. Ryder seemed to have had the upper hand the whole time. When did he learn to fight . . .? The two ended up on either side of the clearing. Each took steady strides forward until they were face to face. The air was still and nothing stirred as the two stood staring. Each gave a growl here or there. After simply glaring in silence Ryder growled at the wolf again. This time it began stepping back slowly. When it was far enough it bolted off and disappeared in the trees.
"Come on we need to get back." Ryder said as he began walking back to the house. I noticed him limping but I didn't say anything, it would only have annoyed him.
We got back to the house within ten minutes and I tried sneaking in.
"Where are you coming from young lady?" Dad asked. Well honestly, where could I have been coming from? We were surrounded by trees as far as the eye could see!
"I was out making out with a wolf dad." I said sarcastically.
"Oh . . .well that's okay then, just make sure it wasn't any of the boys from across the lake."
Seriously? "Ew dad." Those boys were nothing but trouble. On summer nights they would make so much noise that even I could hear them from all the way across the lake! Damn hooligans! Especially Damen. I had never formerly met them but on summer evenings I would go out by the creek; I could see there houses from there and he would always be doing some, arrogant gesture. His whole mannerism just pissed me off totally. Him and the whole lot of his cousins. They were all seniors at my school who didn't come into contact with us sophomores on a regular basis, thankfully. Personally I had never run into him but some of my friends told me that he was an arrogant son of a bitch. It was quite befitting actually because he acted like a dog--no offense to Ryder ofcourse.
Then there was the fact that he and the head cheerleader were an item which meant that he would most likely be at the tryouts tomorrow. All the more reason not to go. Maybe I could tell mom that I sprained my ankle and couldn't do anything . . .yeah . . .that could work. Then again she would go to the board and ask them to give me a chance once my ankle was okay. I sighed, there was no escaping it.
That night I couldn't sleep. I had a nightmare about a pack of wolves being attacked by another pack. There was so much blood . . .and snarling. Even when I managed to wake up I still kept seeing this white wolf in my mind. She just kept staring at me . . .I brushed it off as a reaction to the wolf attack earlier and tried getting back to sleep. I didn't have much luck though. I was feeling restless. I changed my position ever five seconds. At one point I glanced through the window and could have sworn that the white wolf was looking at me. A shiver ran down my spine. I was seeing things . . .
Looking over on the bed I noticed that Ryder was feeling nervous too. He kept rolling over and over on the bed and soon he began whining. My window swung open and the breeze began pouring in. There was a voice on the wind. It sounded vaguely familiar.
"Crimson Maire." It whispered.
Crimson Maire . . . ?