Violet Waves

The Tour

Shane and I stepped into the large doors and they immediately opened into a vast and luxurious foyer. It was at least 4 stories in height, with a balcony halfway, that was met with a large curved staircase on either side. Unlike the exterior of the castle, inside was white Carerra marble, sparkling and clean, shining under the rays of the sun peaking through the windows. Our slow steps echoed throughout the hall as we ventured further in.

"Not what you thought, huh?" Shane looked at me with a smug smile. I shook my head, it definitely wasn't.

"I thought it would be more dingy." I looked down, but let out a little chuckle as Shane huffed next to me.

"We are NOT dingy here ma'am. Don't ever let Melinda hear that either." And if as spoken into existence, a small woman appeared by our side.

"Definitely not dingy dear, but I do cast a glamor on some things when I don't have time to clean them." I jumped upon hearing her voice.

"A glamor?" Melinda gave me a sly smile.

“Yes dear, glamour. Wouldn’t get anything done without them.” She shrugged but I was still confused. I looked to Shane for an answer, but he had the same smile Melinda had. His arm reached around my shoulder and gave me a squeeze.

“She’s a witch. A glamor is basically her being lazy and casting a spell to make something look better than it is. They come in handy a LOT.” My eyes scanned the space, looking for anything that might have stood out.

“You won’t find anything here. I’m too good for you to be able to spot the difference.”

“I’m sorry, I just have never met a witch before, so I wasn’t sure what it would be like. Do you do like tricks or anything?” My question seemed innocent enough, but Melinda let out a hefty cackle.

“Tricks?! She said tricks!” She continued laughing as she sauntered away into an area of the castle I had yet to be introduced to.

“Did I say something wrong?” My brows furrowed as I looked up at Shane. He smiled and looked down at me with a shrug.

“I’d say she was amused, but I wouldn’t say anything like that to the rest of the coven, they are a pretty serious bunch. Panties all in a twist constantly. We definitely get along, but we absolutely butt heads sometimes. They have no rule here, but we try to include them as much as possible in decisions we make around town. The pack and the coven have had a lot of success in coexisting, which had about as much of a chance of working as a two headed calf being born and surviving.”

“Or an albino wolf maturing and making it to Luna status?” I said dryly to him. He cleared his throat and nodded.

“I guess you could say that, those chances were pretty slim…” He was hesitant to say it, but we both knew it to be true. “Let me show you around, there’s a lot to see, and we definitely aren’t going to get to all of it by the time dinner rolls around.” I nodded at him and allowed him to lead the way.

Shane brought me through a couple of common areas in the pack castle, like the mess hall, kitchens, the main gym, theater, and a few other leisure rooms. All of them are just as well kept as the foyer, and just as grand as well. All of the appliances were new, all of the rooms clean and well stocked, all on the first floor, and all of the people in them lively and bustling. A few pack members were introduced to me; The Delta in charge of Security, Matt, and his wife Eileen, who was in charge of warrior training, a few Omegas, all who seemed quite happy with their station and none of them overworked. There were a few working witches in the castle as well, all in similar stature to Melinda with exception to one; Teresa, who was a tall and slender woman, and was in charge of the infirmary. We had caught her on a break as we were headed back to the foyer so I could be shown the upstairs areas. She gave me a once over and nodded her head.

“I’ll be sure to make an introduction between you and our High Priestess, she will have many things to tell you.” Her voice was a bit strained, but smooth nonetheless. She walked away as quickly as she spoke and headed back to her area of the castle.

“Um, okay!” I yelled after her. I looked up at Shane and he shrugged.

“The witches are a bit odd, but always straightforward. You will meet them more formally at a later date. Not too worried about that right now.” We continued our way back to the foyer, and finally started to climb the grand staircase.

As we made our way up, the air became more calm, quieter. We arrived at the balcony and I stood, looking directly out of the windows towards the front of the castle. We might not have been very high up, but the vantage point we were at was amazing. You could see the town and just down the road leading out of it. My breathing halted for a moment as I took in the view, but I was brought back to reality by a figure coming into the foyer below. Levi was back, and following him were two witches and a werewolf, airing some grievances that I couldn’t quite catch. I stepped back from the railing and into the hall off the grand staircase, falling into step behind Shane.

“This is the wing where you’ll be staying, the other side has the Beta rooms, as well as the higher ranking Delta rooms. No one is allowed in this wing aside from Melinda, two of her most trusted employees, myself, you, and of course Levi.” He explained as we passed a few open areas with lush seating.

“Where does Levi stay?” I choked out.

“You have a shared bedroom, but also separate apartments, so if you really don’t want to deal with one another, you don’t have to. It used to just be one master bedroom but he had it changed after the first few, um, situations.” My lips pulled into a tight line and I nodded.

“Where’s my private apartment then?”

“Right this way ma’am.” He took a bow and flourished his arm to a staircase at the end of the hallway, then finished with a laugh. He allowed me to go first, and I started to climb a long and winding staircase up towards the top of the castle. Once at the top, there were three doors, and he directed me to the door on the right.

“That is Levi’s room, no entry without permission. The one next to it is the shared bedroom, which has been collecting dust for some time, and the final door on the left, is yours! Go on in and check it out. I’m going to send someone up to grab you right before dinner.” He gave me another gentle smile and headed down the stairs. I stood waiting for a moment, hesitant to open up to the new world I was being thrust in, but was eventually forced to, as I heard someone storming up the stairs in my direction. No doubt Levi. I hurried into the room and locked the door behind me, scared to be discovered, almost like I didn’t belong here, but that was the thing wasn’t it? I didn’t. I never would…