Dragon Mate

Return to the Valley

*11 years*

Ailia and her family had moved from the village. She was just about to start her first year at the middle school near her house where her father had gotten his teaching job that she knew he would be at forever. The valley was a wonderful place to live, if only Ailia had appreciated it in her previous life. She was nervous but Ailia knew she had little reason to feel that way. Tonya had reassured her before she left the village that Egan was, in fact, keeping tabs on her family and would have more wolves from the pack at the schools that she would be going to to watch over her and be with her.

Ailia had grown familiar with the customs of the wolves through her time spent with Miranda, Ian, Tonya, and the rest of the family. Miranda had been high ranking in the valley's pack but was one of the few that Egan trusted with a family similar in age to Ailia, so she had been the one asked to move. Now that Ailia was leaving, Miranda would pack her family up and leave as well. But she would wait a year or two before moving so as not to raise too much suspicion with Ailia's mother and father. Miranda had told her some about the other mythical creatures in the Valley that Egan ruled over as well. She couldn't tell Ailia if any of them would be at the middle schools or high schools because they tended to stay out of each other's affairs but Ailia knew that there were fairies, witches, and vampires in the Valley as well and hoped she could meet with them and get to know their customs some before she turned 18 and met with Egan again.

Ailia was still angry at Egan for not fully explaining, or giving Ailia time to process before kissing her and sending her back to this life. When she met him in this life she had made up her mind she'd deck him. It had taken the first three years of Ailia's life to fully come to terms with what was happening to her.

Now, though, she was excited that she had the chance to start again and this was the part of her life she was most excited about getting to. She'd be in a bigger school with more opportunity. She would be a better student, engage more in extra-curricular activities, be more selective about the friends she made, and would be the child she had the potential to be.

But first she had to start school.

It was the night before school started and Ailia and her brother bantered over the video game they had been playing together on their father's old PS3. They were playing a snowboarding racing game and her brother had just smoked her in that race. Ailia was challenging him to a rematch when their mother called downstairs to tell them it was time for bed.

"One more race, mom. Please."

"No. You have school tomorrow and I don't want you to start your first day exhausted. Bed time. Shut it down."

"Fine. You are right. I'll get my rematch tomorrow bubby."

"Bring it on." Anthony laughed and they went upstairs to get ready for bed.

As Ailia lay in bed she couldn't help but run over memories from her last life in middle school. She had been an emotional flirt without healthy boundaries due to the trauma she'd experienced in the village. Those lack of boundaries and the unstable relationships with people had left Ailia alone, flitting from person to person, engaging in as much unsafe behavior as she could with parents that were watchful and ever present.

It hadn't been her parents' fault she had experienced the trauma. In fact, her parents had done as much as they could to protect her. But when your parents work they cannot be there all the time. Things happened. But her parents had done everything they could to ensure Ailia had gotten the best possible intervention and that she had a strong enough relationship with them that she didn't fully rebel and get lost in her bad behavior.

This life was different. The bad things that had spurred the negative behavior hadn't occurred. Ailia could be a "normal" teenager, whatever that meant. She could have those healthy boundaries and feel like she could excel in this life. Plus, she had an advantage over other teens. She knew how important it would be to have a solid education and how important it would be to develop her work ethic now. 35 years of previous experience told her everything she wanted to focus on and needed to do in middle school and high school to have the best possible life.

Ailia's eyes closed and she drifted to sleep thinking about all the extra-curricular activities she was eager to try this time around.