Unicus Academy

          Ember’s running through the woods. All she can hear is the beating of her heart, the whoosh of air when it leaves her lungs, and the pounding of feet from the people chasing after her. It’s becoming easier to see now. The sun is coming over the horizon, filtering through the trees. Running in her night gown is a little difficult because her feet kept stepping on the hem, tripping her once. She fell down hard, hurting her wrist and ripping her gown. Her hand stings but she ignores it. Her pursuers are trying to get her to stop but she refuses to listen.             ‘Ember, you can’t run from us forever you know. We’ll find you eventually. Ember Johnson, come out now or Kaden will be the one who will die!’             As she heard the name Kaden, Ember started to slow down. What can she do? How can she save her? They’re getting closer and closer to her. She’s not even sure they have Kaden. Her heart is pounding so loud she can barely hear. She decided to get out of view of her pursuers. She’s far enough away that if she climbed up a tree, she could watch them without them ever seeing her. She started climbing. Forgetting about her injured wrist she almost lost her grip but recovered at the last minute.  She’s almost out of view. And what she saw scared the living hell out of her!             ‘Ember, if you don’t show yourself now, I’ll be forces to hurt your little friend. Now, I don’t want to but if I have to, I will.’ she doesn’t move or even breathe too deeply. Doing so will give her away. It seems she’s up against a bunch of werewolves, but not just any werewolves. They’re high ranking. Ember’s looking at the wolves to see if she can recognize any of them when they pull a little girl forward. They were pulling her around so hard she was afraid they were going break her arm. Ember screams out, ‘Stop! I’ll show myself, but you have to let her go.’ They were able to locate her in the trees. She had to move, or they would’ve caught her and killed them both.             The mystery guy steps forward, he pulls Kaden with him by her hair. She screams out from the pain. Ember is about to jump down when he agrees. ‘Fine, but if you’re not out in the next two minutes, I’ll kill her then slowly kill you until I get what I want. Now show yourself.’             Ember jumped out of the trees a few yards ahead of them. When they see her, they start moving forward. She moved back just as much. ‘Let her go. I came out like you asked.’             ‘Good.’ They let her go but she wouldn’t leave at first.       ‘Kaden, run. Get out of here. I’ll be fine.’ Ember used her Sensus lynk with Kaden, ‘Go back to the Academy and get help. I’ll try to stave them off until help comes.’ Thankfully she starts to run but what Ember doesn’t tell her is that she won’t be alive when Kaden gets back. They have to kill her to get what they want. As soon as Kaden’s out of view, Ember starts running again. She ran faster than she ever ran before. She dodged and weaved through the trees. Ember tried to get them as far away from Kaden as she could get. She wanted to give her friend a chance to get back to school where she will be safe. If Ember can get far enough away, then maybe she can make it out alive.             All of a sudden, she burst through the last bit of the woods. She’s at the edge of a cliff. Ember felt trapped. She didn’t know what to do. She wanted to survive but couldn’t let him absorb her powers. If Ember died by their hands, then all of mankind will be in danger. But if she died by her own hands then they could never obtain her powers. They will lie dormant for the next hundred years until a witch strong enough to wield her powers is born.             ‘Ember, there’s nowhere left for you to run. You’re at the end of the line. Either give me what I want or die.’             ‘We both know that the only way for me to give you what you want I will have to die. So, what’s the point in all this? You have the dagger. Why not use it already?’ While she and the mystery man were bantering back and forth, Ember was inching closer to the edge. She knew what she had to do. Ember had to jump off the cliff. If she died before they can use the dagger, then they will never get her powers. And what they don’t know is that the next witch will be even stronger than she is. They will never win! As she is thinking this mystery man realizes what she’s trying to do. He rushed forward to stop her but is too late. She jumped off the edge of the cliff, falling with her back towards the ground so she can see the satisfying look on their faces when they realized what just happened. They just lost this round. Now they have to wait for another hundred years before trying again. Ember thought to herself right before she hit the ground that baby Emery will be the savior the world has been waiting for. When she finally did hit the ground, she didn’t feel any pain. ‘Thank Goddess.’ She can die with a smile on her face. Emily's POV           I wake up gasping for air. I can’t believe what I just witnessed. My visions can be strong but this one had to be the strongest one I’ve experienced yet. I look over at my husband, Luke, and see the worry in his eyes. I try to smile at him, but it comes out more like a grimace. He can feel the fear throughout our Aevitas bond.             Luke pulls me into his arms, and I feel some of the fear leave my body as I rest my head on his check. Being a werewolf’s mate has its perks, I can tell you that much.               You see, before I met Luke, I was just an ordinary witch trying to learn how to handle my powers. Witch and warlock powers grow until they hit the end of their puberty phase, 20 years old. They come into their powers once they’re born. There have been legends, stories past down from generation to generation, of some witches and warlocks that have been able to tap into their powers while still in the womb. This is very rare and unheard.               My vision, though, has proven that the legends are true. You see, I’ve never been able to see the past as clearly as I have recently, which is strange because I could only see glimpses of the past and future. Never in as much detail either. Is it because my powers are still growing? It couldn’t be though. I turn 20 in just a couple of days.               I know what you must be thinking. Why is she married at such a young age? In the werewolf community getting married at the age of 18 is very common. That’s when werewolves can finally identify their mates. I met Luke for the first time at my younger cousin’s 18th birthday party. The mating bond isn’t a force to be reckoned with. If my parents weren’t so close to the Silver Moon Pack then they wouldn’t have understood and would have probably tried to stop the Mating Bond Ritual that connect to mates together. That’s the kind of marriage that we had. We’re waiting until I graduate college before we have a real wedding.               I seem to have gotten way off topic, trying to explain the unexplainable. So where was I? Oh, right, my visions.               My visions shouldn’t be getting stronger. In fact, my powers should even be growing anymore seeing how I passed my puberty phase last year. “Luke, when we get up to leave, we need to stop by my parents first.”               “Ok, baby, just rest for now. That last vision felt like a bad one. Was it like all the other ones?”               “Worse, this one came to an end, literally.”               “What do you mean by end?”               “What I mean is that the girl in my vision took her life by jumping off a cliff to keep a group of high-ranking wolves form stealing her powers. I don’t understand a lot of what was happening in my vision and with my powers so I’m hoping that mom and dad can answer a few of my questions. I’ll fill you in on what they say when you’re done with your duties or have some free time. Ok?”               “Good, I want to know right away if there’s something wrong with your powers. Now sleep.”   Later that morning…             “Mom, is dad home too?” I asked as I walked in the kitchen. I walk past my niece, her name is Macey. I love calling her my little Macey bear. She is sitting in her highchair playing with her pacifier as her mother, my sister-in-law, feeds her oatmeal for breakfast. I laugh when Macey throws a handful of oatmeal at her mama. She’s sooo adorable! I give her kisses after I hand Kate, Macey's mom, a wet wash rag.             “Yes, but he’s still in bed. He was up pretty late last night. He couldn’t seem to get to sleep. You know how he gets when one of you kids are upset or restless at night. That psychic link he has with you all. So I let him sleep in this morning,” my mom stated. My mom is 43 years old. She was young when she had me. People say we look exactly the same. What with our shiney red hair, splatter of freckles across our nose, and bright blue eyes. Our eye clean reminds me of the ocean sometimes, especially when our emotions run rampent. The only difference in our appearance is our height. My mom is 5'6 and I'm 5'9.             “You would think that the link would weaken as we got older,” I stated.             “Emily, when you’re a parent that bond you have with your children never goes away,” Mom stated.             “Before I had Macey I didn’t think that I would be able to connect with her as a mother does with her child. But when I felt that first flutter in my tummy it was like a flood gate. I knew then that I would connect with her because I was able to feel the love only a parent could give. It was one of the best days of my life.” I hug Kate, knowing what she had to go through with her mom walking out on her and her father. She pats my arm smiling and goes back to feeding her baby.             I got up to go to the pantry so I can get some peanut butter. When my mom gives me that questioning look, I state, “For some reason I’ve been craving peanut butter, eating it with everything.” When my mom hands me my bowl of oatmeal I spoon in 2 big dollops into my food and stir. I pretty much purr when I take my first bite. This should have been a giveaway right there, but it just didn’t cross my mind.             Mom started questioning me, “Em, have you started this month yet?"             “No, why do you ask?”             “Well, let see, first you called this morning about your powers being off, secondly you never eat peanut butter even as a kid. Which is unnatural I might add.”             Kate points at me and adds, “Don’t forget the fact that she’s been complaining that her breast have been hurting her lately, too.”            My mom said, “Thank you, Kate. That was my last observation. Emily, I think I know why your powers have been acting weird. Baby, I think you’re pregnant.”             “Who’s pregnant?!” Dad came walking into the kitchen still in his pajamas. I look over at him, he looks so tired. I walk over and give him a hug. He hugs me back with a little squeeze. I laugh. “Who’s pregnant,” he asks again after he goes to sit at the diner table. I sit back down as well.             Mom walks over to him and kisses his head. “Kate and I think Emily is but we don’t know for sure,” mom stated.             Dad just stares at me. I can’t tell if he’s happy or not. I’m trying to gauge his reaction when my brothers walk through the door. Dad gets up and walks over to me. He pulls me up and hugs me again, kissing the side of my head. He has tears in his eyes. I can feel them fall on my shoulder. When dad pulls back, he sees that I’m crying also. That helps to stop his crying so he can ask why I’m crying as well. I laugh, “It’s because you’re crying, daddy. The fact that you’re happy enough to cry makes me want to cry, too. But we don’t even know if it’s true or not yet.”             Mark, my oldest brother, walks over to Kate and gives her a heated kiss. Mom chastised him, “There’s a baby in the room. No PDA in front of Macey. She’s too young to see that!”             Everybody laughs, except my mom that is.             Nicky, the second oldest brother, asks. “Why is dad and Em crying?”             Mom blurts, “Em might be pregnant!” She does a little happy dance. Everybody laughs again, including my mom.             “I might be pregnant. We don’t know yet. This is mom and Kate’s reason for why my powers are acting weird.”             “What do you mean your powers are acting weird?” Dad asks.             “That’s sorta why I’m here this early.” I sit back down and took another bite of my oatmeal. It’s so good! “I had a vision last night—.”             “That’s nothing new, Em,” Levi interrupted while walking through the door.             “If you would let me finish...”             Levi looked at me sheepishly, “Sorry, sis.”             “It’s ok. Now where was I? Oh, right, the vision.” I eat the last bit of my oatmeal before continuing. “Last night I had a vision but it’s nothing like any of the other visions that I’ve been having lately. This one was more detailed. Clearer even. It starts out exactly the same way. I’m running through the woods behind the Academy. I can hear the people chasing me so it makes me run faster. In the vision, I can hear, smell, and even see better then I normally can. It was like I had heightened senses or something.”             “How can you have heightened senses in a vision? It doesn’t seem right.” Mom stated.             “I think she might have been half werewolf, half witch if what I learned from the vision is accurate.” I stated, “Anyway, in an effort to lose them I climbed up a tree!"               “You! Climb a tree? For real?” Levi asked.               “I know right?! It was scary. It felt so real like I was actually the one climbing it. After I’m in a spot where I wouldn’t be seen I look down to see if I recognize the people chasing me. Unfortunately, I didn’t recognize them. But what I did recognize is that they were werewolves, strong werewolves I might add. They were able to talk me down from my hiding spot by threatening somebody named Kaden. Ember, the person I was experiencing the vision through, seemed to be friends with her. Best friend if I had to guess. But she bargained her way into having them let her friend go."               “Werewolves? Are you sure they were wolves, baby girl,” Dad asked.               “Yes, daddy, I’m positive because what she did after they let her friend go confirmed it. She was able to mind link this Kaden person and tell her to run back to the Academy for help. She promised her friend that she would be fine and to go. After that she ended up running towards the corner where the cliff drops off. You all remember the cliff, right?” They all nod, “Well, they start arguing about obtaining some sort of ultimate power and if they had to drug her to get her to come willingly then they would. Ember stated that they couldn’t steal her powers without a specific dagger, which they had. She knew this so she did the only thing she could think of to keep everybody safe and that was to throw herself off the cliff. The most interesting part was what she thought right before she died. She said that the next protector won’t be born for another 100 years and that she will be even more powerful than she herself was. That she will be the savior of all mankind, supernatural and non-supernatural. She even said the name of the baby girl. She said her name was Emery.”               “Isn’t that the name of your favorite author,” Kate asked.               I nod my head, “Yep. That is also the name I was going to choose for my baby, boy or girl.” I chuckled. I wonder if that's an omen or something. ***Like with any new author we thrive on comment. So let me know if you see any mistakes or if something doesn't fit right and I'll see what I can do to change it.***