Chosen for the Realm

The Light Witch

EMILE

Come on Dad pick up the phone! After about the fifth try, still no answer from him. I look over to Karielle and shake my head. "I guess we will just have to wait for his return, in the meantime, we have some work to do." I tell her. We both head back through the corridor and down the stairwell to get to the bottom floor where our library is located. Our codebox sits to the left of the door, almost like walking into a laboratory. I enter the code to gain access, and push the door open. Walking inside, I look back to Karielle, noticing that she stopped walking behind me. Her eyes were big as she slowly glanced around the room. "Wow, Emile. There's so much in here. Where do we start?" she asks me, not containing her excitement at the rows and rows of bookshelves lined up in perfect order, one directly behind the other throughout the room. "Well, we do have a special section. If you think this is cool, wait until we go inside." I say, raising my eyebrows up and down to Karielle's dismay "Do you have to always be so annoying?" She asks, I just chuckle at her. "Anything to brighten up your spirit." I reply. We walk to the very back of the library, and Karielle looks befuddled as we stop at a blank wall with a few pictures hanging to accent the rose gold colored room. "But there's nothing here?" she retorts. I look back at her and smile "Watch this." I press my hand to the wall and hold it there for a moment, and a door starts to mechanically come out of the wall to her surprise. "Seriously? That's so cool! How many secret passages are there in this place?" She asks me. "I only know of a few, but I'm sure there's more considering the things we're learning about my mother." I grab the handle to the steel door and open it, lighting our way through the passage. Karielle gasps as we enter, startled by the lights that suddenly lit up the way. "Right through here, are all of our artifacts we have gathered and what we own that's worth something." I inform her, and her face lights up. "Do you think there's something in here that can help us?" She questions, and I shrug my shoulders "Only one way to find out." I say as I walk to the first shelf that carries a few books that are over a century old. I've never been able to go through them myself, as my mother has always accompanied me while I'm down here. I grab one of the books off the shelf and start to dust it off. "What is that?" Karielle points to the symbol engraved on the front of the dark leather cover. "I'm not sure, it looks ancient though." I answer. I've never been able to touch or read one of these books before. I open the cover to a page that has something written in a language I don't understand. I look to Karielle to see her eyes suddenly glowing a bright purple, staring blankly at the book. I jumped at the unexpected change. She started chanting in another language, before her words turn back to english. "For the King and Queen will have lost their only daughter. The Queen will keep her hope, she will see her again. The blood of the goddess seeps through the veins of the woman lost. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!" She shouts before her eyes slowly fade back to their normal purplish pink color and she passes out on the floor. I run to her side. I start shaking her shoulders, trying to wake her up. "Karielle. Karielle! Wake up, wake up!" I yell to no avail. "Moon Goddess Please, Hasn't she suffered enough!" I scream to the sky. I look back down to see Karielle starting to slowly move her limbs on the floor, before jumping up all in one quick notion, pacing back and fourth. "Hera, no no no no. They have her, they took her! They took HERA!" Karielle shouts in anger, and books start falling off the shelves before rising in the air and slamming in to the wall, the room rattling. I can hardly see with the wind picking up in here, and its all coming from Karielle. I don't know what to do, I just stand still hoping nothing more would happen, when everything suddenly falls back to the floor, dropping from their spot on the wall at once. She drops to her knees, holding her hands over her face before I hear her sobs. She stops, slowly dropping her hands before looking up at me, in that same brightly glowing purple I saw a few moments ago. "They're going to pay." She says through gritted teeth, in a low but scary voice. Another point added to Heras assumptions. Maybe it's just a coincidence. "Karielle, what's going on?" I ask her nervously, and she just chuckles. "They don't know what they have done." She looks down before moving her head back in my direction. Her eyes go back to normal again, and my shoulders drop in relief. I was scared there for a second. "Karielle, what do you mean they have Hera? Who? Where?" I ask her frantically. "I saw it. They took her! The people in all black, we have to find them!" She says before grabbing my hands in hers. I can hear the desperation in her voice and in her eyes. "Karielle, we will find her. I promise. Lets go back upstairs and wait for my dad. You're going to want to hear this." I tell her, before dropping my hand to hold hers and and start to pull her back through the passage. I shut the steel door back, and place my hand on the sensor for it to make it's way back into the wall. It disappeared slowly, like the wall had never been tampered with. I wave her to follow me back through the library and out the door. We head to the pack kitchen, as I'm sure she is starving just as much as I am. I leave Karielle to sit at the head table in the dining area, before going to the kitchen to let our chef know we need a plate.

I come back to the table with both of our plates, filled with prime Rib, barbecue baked beans, mac and cheese and fried potatoes. Karielle has her head laying on the table with her arms underneath. "Kari, you ready to eat? I'm famished." I ask as she lifts her head up and I place her plate in front of her on the table. "You're gonna need the energy." I tell her, before picking up my fork and taking my first bite of heaven.

ALPHA CHRISTIAN

I leave the hospital with only one thing in mind, getting to the woman who has all the knowledge one can need. Laverne, the almighty white witch who has our realms best interests at heart, good or bad. I know she can offer some insight, and maybe help us figure out our next steps before my wife decides to do something she'll regret later on.

I come to a stop in the front of a small shack in the middle of the woods, still the same wooden vine covered structure I remember from all those years ago. The last time I had come here, she helped me with the information I needed to defeat my father so I could take over the pack. Reversing all the damage was exhausting, especially when pack members were terrified of me at first. My father was a ruthless man, he thrived on power. Anyone who stood in his way, he wouldn't hesitate to kill and make an example of them so the rest of the pack would stay in line. No one could live as freely with him around. I was destined to change that, thanks to Laverne.

I stare at the shack for a moment, knowing I'm making the right choice to come here. I walk through the wooden gate that leads to the pathway to her front door. I lift my arm to knock, and the door opens at my surprise before my knuckles could make it that far. "Alpha Christian! I knew you would come!" She says excitedly before grabbing me up in a lung constricting hug. "Miss me?" I ask her, and she giggles. "You silly wolf, of course! You are still like a son to me, no matter the distance or time that goes by. Come on in, We'll sit and have some lavender tea while catching up." She says before moving to the side to allow me passage into her home. I walk in to see she still has plants in every corner and space, just like I remember. "I see you finally were able to make that vine couch you wanted." I say to her, looking at the couch she created with a smirk, and she laughs. "More use of the Earth and less waste." She replies while slapping me on the shoulder. Laverne heads the other way to her kitchen to prepare, and I sit down on the couch shaped greenery. There's no tv in here, only a bookshelf to my left with multiple books lined tightly in a line together. A fireplace adorns the wall in front of me for warmth, with various plants across the mantle above it. There's vines crawling up the wall around it and across the ceiling, a small table in front of me also made out of vines. It feels like we're in the middle of the rainforest, you'd think she lived outside if you never saw the exterior of her abode first. Laverne walks back into the room with two teacups of lavender tea in hand, and the aroma is calming. She takes a seat next to me before handing me a cup. "How have you been, son? What brings you here?" She asks, and I try to think of the best explanation to tell her. "Well, I need your help." I say, and she looks at me knowingly. "I know you do boy. Things have come to fruition, just as I expected. Your wife? I know about her too, some things you do not." I look down at her words. "I know, I've realized I don't know much of anything anymore." I say sadly. "Christian, your wife isn't just a werewolf, she's a hybrid. She's a witch too." She reveals, and that just confirmed the gut feeling I already had. "I figured as much when she disappeared right before my eyes, after my son and I stopped her from attacking an innocent girl." I tell her, and she nods her head. "I saw it, I do watch you from time to time to check in on you. That's how I knew you were coming back to me." I'm suprised at her words, but I should have known. It's hard to get anything past this woman. "Margaret is a dark witch, son. She's after power, and she needs to be stopped." She says to me. Before I could reply, I hear a knock on the door. "Oh yes, I'm sorry, Christian. I forgot to mention I had company coming over." She gets up to answer the door, and following in behind her is the King and Queen, along with the Alpha and his beta that we met at the castle. Walking in last, is a woman I remember to be the King's niece. I haven't seen her since the day of the Queen's birthday party. What brings them here, I wonder. I sit quietly as everyone takes a seat, before Laverne starts speaking. "Now that I have you all here, we have dire things to discuss."