Chapter Two.
The woods
"Hudson, what could you get?" Mr. Harper asked, rubbing his temple.
"Nothi..ng," Hudson said, his voice breaking. He ran his hands through his dirty brown hair, confused, and at the same time, afraid. He was pretty sure how Mr. Harper would react to that. He hated having to steal to survive, and at the same time afraid Mr Harper would starve him as punishment.
"Nothing! Your mates manage to steal expensive jewelries, and stuffs and you get nothing, not even a single pearl!" Mr Harper yelled at the top of his lungs; the other guys laughing with their fingers pointed at Hudson.
Mr Harper was a thief that had lived alone in the forest through most of his life. He had lost his parents at a very young age, and was brought up by a bounty hunter.
Stealing was now a part of his life, and the only way he survived. He had payed the bounty hunter's help forward, and helped Hudson, Chris, and Daniel.
Hudson ran out into the green forests of Greenville, having mixed feelings.
The smell of the air was one of dry grasses. The soft autumn breeze blew against the thick branches of the trees; mostly oak, making the leaves fall to the ground like rain droplets. The forest was quiet but for the chirping of the trantor pigeons, delightfully perched on the tree branches.
He stopped running and rested on tree with heavy breathing and continuous panting. He shoved his hands into his hair, and ruffled it. He let out a loud cry; his voice echoing through the woods, and punched the tree. He flinched when the tree bent to the other side, dangling back and forth.
Afraid and confused, he moved backwards, and looked at his hands in surprise. Much to his surprise, animalistic claws began to move in and out of his fingers. At that point, he began to become really sweaty; his lips quivering.
His attention got drawn on hearing rustling of dry grasses. He looked around; a strange instinct tickling him, and he felt someone or something spying on him.
"Who are you?" He shouted, his voice echoing through the woods, "don't be a coward and reveal yourself." His eyes dashed left and right, and he subconsciously stood in a defensive posture.
A tranquilizer whizzed through the air towards him, and against his will, his hands moved up, catching the tranquilizer midair. His breathing began to grow rapid, and he felt his heart rise to his throat; his blood curdling.
He didn't notice the tranquilizer slip from his hand, and fall lifelessly to the floor. He screamed in pain; an extreme pain pulsing through his body. He felt like his skin was about to break, and something was going to crawl out of him.
He let out an howl, and out of control, he transformed into a wolf. He immediately started running, with his alter ego now in full control. He began to run faster, hearing loud and fast footsteps behind him, with the wind brushing up hard against his face.
With his eyes now sharp, he spotted a cave from far off, and began to run faster towards it. His sight looked like they've been given a million time brighter resolution. He was seeing the world in d different way.
On getting near the cave, he stopped upon a sudden realization: He couldn't run in, or they would just follow his footprints.
Within micro seconds, he developed a plan in his head, and he leaped into the air, diving into the cave; his feet not touching the floor.
He looked around the cave. It was dark and creepy, but for now it was a better solution.
Thick creamy liquids slowly dropped to the cave's floor from the tips of the stalagmites, and patiently woven cobwebs hung in the corners.
He sighed in relief: seeing no bats. He soon began to hear their footsteps getting louder, and he waited there to listen to them.
"We lost him. I'm surprised at how a first timer can run and transform so fast." One of them sighed.
"Let's go back."
***
The footsteps on the narrow road were consistent and loud. Hudson had decided to follow them to see where they came from. Who were they? Why were they after him? Or perhaps what had he done to offend them?
He ran as fast as he could after their car, driving down a rough road. The road was narrow, and thick bushes seemed to want to cave into the little space from both sides.
He wondered what was happening to him. At first, his strange strength had managed to push a tree, then animalistic claws extracted from his fingers, after which he transformed into a wolf, a wolf!
Was he becoming a monster? Or was it some sort of temporary mutation?
The car drove down a sloppy road, and he sighed on spotting a dead end at the foot of the sloppy road.
One thing though that caught his eyes at the end of the sloppy road was a large, magnificent building. It was magnificent as a castle. The structure; beautiful, and the architecture; great.
He wondered what something as beautiful as this was doing in the middle of nowhere.
***
Lucille - Arkadia Wolf High.
Lucille closed the door of her room, and turned on the light. She threw her purse recklessly on her bed, and walked to her drawer. She let out a loud sigh, and brought out a small transparent tube; the grey content clearly visible.
She held out her part of the Lunarike pendant, and opened the tube; sprinklings some grey powder from the tube on it.
When next the ones with the other pieces of the pendant try to use their powers, they would slump weakly, thereby enabling her to identify her targets.
This was all part of her father's plan. They would gather all four pieces of the Lunarike pendant and then exact revenge on Valentine. She returned the tube to her drawer and giggled evilly.
***
Jace - Cafeteria.
The cafeteria was noisy, hot, and stuffy. Students gathered themselves in groups of three to six at the various tables, while some stood at the food slab, deciding which food to eat.
Jace laughed at a joke one of his friends cracked. The laugh quickly morphed into a smile as he spotted Vanessa and Amber walk into the cafeteria. Vanessa returned the smile, and Jace walked up to them.
"Hi Essa." Jace called Vanessa by the nickname he had given her. It was a short form of her name Vanessa. The both of them had developed a quick bonding over the past two weeks of being admitted into the academy.
Jace watched in curiousity as Vanessa searched through her bag for something. She sighed in relief, and brought out a small frame, it's content facing her Amber; making Jace even more curious.
"So Amber and I did a little something for you." Vanessa smiled, flashing her sets of white teeth. Jace's eyes widened in surprise as Vanessa turned the frame to him, revealing a canvass drawing of Jace.
"She sketched it, I painted." Amber giggled.
***
Everyone went silent as a woman climbed onto the podium at the other end of the room.
"Good day future generations of werewolves to the first combat class of the year," she greeted, putting on a welcoming smile.
"Our lesson today will be the first thing that makes you a werewolf; your transformation," she said, and some of the students cheered.
Lucille stood at an empty corner of the room, watching everything happening. She felt disgusted at the other student's excitement to learn how to transform.
She smiled as an idea popped in her head. She was going to amuse them, and show off. She could already imagine the surprise that would lit up on their faces.
The woman cleared her throat, and continued speaking, "So anyways, as this will be your first transformation, you will probably feel some pain and difficulty, so try to endure and su ...." Cutting her short, Lucille suddenly transformed into a wolf, making everyone around her shift back in fear.
Lucille then transformed back into her human form.
"Miss Lucille right?" The lady asked and continued on getting an affirmative nod from Lucille. "That was a very courageous step being that this is your first time."
Lucille laughed within myself, "they were fools." She thought within herself. "Did they really think this was actually her first transformation?"
Yes, she was supposed to recover her abilities just three days ago, but her dad had medical professionals giving her drugs that temporarily activated her powers.
There's nothing she have to learn here, cause her father hired the best of masters to train her. She was here for one single purpose.
"Someone else wants to try?" The teacher asked, and shortly after Vanessa stepped forward.
Lucille gave Vanessa a scowl she didn't notice. Lucille had been trying to get Jace's attention for the past few weeks, but Vanessa was always there, smiling at Jace's words.
Every one knew for a fact that Jace was into Vanessa, but Vanessa; so innocent and annoying was ignorant of this fact.
She began transforming pretty well, but suddenly, she began to fall. Jace just had to spoil everything and catch her.
Lucille boiled in anger and jealousy as they smiled at each other.
On the bright side, she had found one of her targets; Vanessa Clarisse.
***
Hudson
Hudson watched Daniel and Chris talking to each other. They snickered, facing his direction. They were obviously making fun of him.
He felt anger overwhelm him, and couldn't help as his claws came out, but he forced it back in, in pain. He walked over to where he had placed his backpack, throwing a knife, a rope and other instruments into it, zipping it and carrying it.
He knew just what to do.