My Sorcerer

Chapter 5

Her dreams were filled with wonderful memories. She was at school with her friends, Aria and Ziana. It was lunchtime, and as she continued to dream, it became more and more real until she thought her dream was her reality.

“Cora? Were you listening to me?” Aria questioned as she waved her hand in front of Cora's face.

Cora quickly brought her attention back to her friends sitting on the other side of the lunch table in front of her. “Sorry, lost in thought. What were you saying?” she questioned, giving her an apologetic smile.

Aria rolled her eyes. This was not the first time Cora had spaced out when her friends were talking to her, and surely it would not be the last. But she loved Cora and quickly forgave her. “I was saying how Chris is wearing an exceptionally nice shirt today. Did you not notice? You were in the first period with him.” Chris was one of the hottest guys in school. He was muscular, had great cheekbones, beautiful green eyes, and a smile that could soften the heart of the coldest teacher.

Cora thought momentarily, trying to remember even coming to school that day, but her memory fogged as she thought about it. “No, I don’t remember seeing him in the first period.”

Both her friends gawked at her. “Maybe she was sitting in the front?” Ziana suggested, trying to jog Cora's memory.

Cora nodded, figuring it was easier to agree than listen to a longer description of the morning, which she clearly didn’t remember. “Anyway, I just wanted to point out that Chris was looking good,” Aria said, looking dreamily over at Chris as he got his lunch and took it to a table where his friends were already seated. Cora shook her head, finding her friend acting foolishly; he was just another guy.

As she was thinking this, a boy she had never seen before entered the cafeteria. He was fairly tall, with broad shoulders, thin but in a muscular way, with dark brown hair and stunningly green eyes. As she looked him over, she felt a certain familiarity with him. How could he be familiar? She had never met him. Caught in her thought, she hadn’t heard what her friends were saying. “Cora, earth to Cora.” Her friends wave their hands in front of her face to refocus her attention back to them.

“Sorry,” she looked sheepishly back at them. “What were you talking about?”

“I was saying that Chris is single, and I was thinking of how to get him to notice me.” Aria batted her eyelashes, happily.

Cora giggled at her friend. “Why not just go up and ask him out? We aren’t in olden times when the guy needs to do all the work,” she suggested.

Aria looked at her blankly as though the very idea was ridiculous. “You can’t be serious,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“I think it’s a good idea,” Ziana agreed with Cora.

“Thanks.”

“You are both ridiculous!” Aria huffed.

Both her friends chuckled. “Then what are you thinking?” Ziana asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m going to make sure that he notices me,” she announces with a grin.

“How?” Cora inquired.

Aria thought for a moment before responding. “I will make sure to bump into him in the hallway and then introduce myself.” She winked at her friends and quickly got up and left the table. Cora and Zaina looked over to see Chris leaving his table shortly after Aria had, heading in the same direction as she had. Zaina and Cora looked at each other with knowing smiles. Aria apparently knew the approximate time when he would be done and where he would go.

The bell soon rang, and Cora went off to class with Zaina. They sat down, and the day zipped by in a blur. She quickly left the classroom, hitting a human wall and started to fall back. She felt strong arms catch hold of her. Startled, she looked up at the person attached to the arms while quickly taking a step back to stabilize herself. “Sorry,” she said frantically.

“Don’t worry about it.” He gave her a handsome smile. She was sure she’d never met him before, yet it didn’t feel that way. He gazed at her with piercing green eyes that she couldn’t ignore.

“Thank you.” She smiled and started to move around him.

“What’s your name?” he suddenly asked.

She stopped and looked up at him before answering. “I’m Cora,” she answered sweetly. “What is your name?”

“My name is Pierceton, but you can call me Pierce.” He smiled. “Nice to meet you,” he added, extending his hand toward her.

“Nice to meet you, too,” she responded and took his hand. As she did, shocks tingled her fingers and zipped up her arms. She quickly pulled away, alarmed. “I need to get going,” she said hurriedly and rushed away down the hall toward the school’s entrance.

She quickly walked home, which was only about a ten-minute walk. Soon she was at her front door, slipping the key into the lock and going inside. As she closed the door behind herself, she was nearly knocked over by Fang. “Hi, girl! I missed you too!” she giggled, trying to get Fang to stop jumping on her and licking her face.

Finally, Fang calmed down and followed Cora upstairs, jumping onto her bed while Cora sat down at her desk to start her homework. She quickly finished. Soon, she felt the urge to go outside. Quickly, she laid down her pencil and headed downstairs to the door. She opened it and walked outside. As she stepped into the light, she saw him. “What are you doing here?” she questioned, stepping back into her house.

“I, uh, you dropped this.” He smiled, holding up her wallet, which must have fallen out of her back pocket when she bumped into him at school.

“Thank you,” she smiled and went to reach for her wallet. As she did, there was a feeling of electricity zapping through the air. Quickly, she grabbed the wallet and stepped back. “Thank you,” she muttered again. “Goodbye.” Something about him made her feel uncomfortable. He waved, not seeming to feel that she was being rude.

She closed the door behind her and went to the kitchen to make a sandwich. As she was prepping her sandwich, the door clicked open, and her mother’s voice echoed throughout the house. “Honey, we’re home.”

Cora set down the knife she had been using to spread the mayonnaise with and raced to the front door to greet her mother and father. She hugged them, feeling as though she hadn’t seen them for a long time. She relished the feeling of their embrace. Then she noticed that they had brought home takeout, and instant guilt flooded in as she remembered her half-made sandwich in the kitchen. She quickly went back to the kitchen, made the sandwich, wrapped it, and placed it in the fridge. Then she met her parents at the dining room table, where they all sat down and started their meal. Mom had brought home fried chicken, French fries, a salad, and Sprite to drink. She quickly dug into the meal, letting the grease drip down onto the plastic plate Mom had set out.

“Happy?” her mother asked, chuckling at her daughter’s aggressive eating.

Between bites, she answered her. “Yes, it is so delicious!” she exclaimed, taking another huge bite of her chicken leg. She felt happier than she had in a long time, but didn’t stop to wonder why, just continued to enjoy the moment.

Soon they finished, she helped her mom clean up, and then they all went into the living room to watch their regular TV program, Werewolves and Magic. She loved the show, but as she sat down, a familiar feeling came over her. The show played, and her eyes were on the screen, but her mind drifted elsewhere. The feeling that she had never actually seen the show washed over her, leaving her confused because she also felt this was a normal evening. The show ended with the werewolf being hunted but saved by a sorcerer.

She said goodnight to her parents and went to get ready for bed. She jumped into the shower and washed quickly. Suddenly, I felt exhausted from the day and wanted nothing more than just to lie down. She got out and put on her pyjamas, going to her bed and jumping under the covers. Within a few moments, Fang was also on the bed and sprawled out. She had taken more than half of the space, but Cora knew from experience that no amount of pushing or telling her to move would work. Instead, she got as comfortable as she could in the small section of the bed that Fang had left. Soon sleep came, and she dreamt of the boy from school, Periceston. He was curious; something caused her to be drawn to him.

Her dreams were soon disturbed when a loud crashing sound echoed throughout the house, followed by a few booming voices that were quickly hushed. She woke up with a start, sitting straight up in bed. She rubbed her eyes, trying to push away her sleep. Slowly, she slipped out of bed, curious as to what had happened downstairs. Soon she was creeping down the stairwell, but halted partway down when she heard her mother and father speaking with an unfamiliar voice. The voice was deep and raspy. She strained her ears, trying to figure out what they were talking about. When she couldn’t make out their words well, she slowly slid down another few steps until their voices became clearer, but she could remain out of sight.

“It’s almost time.” The man with a raspy voice announces.

“We know, and she should be far enough away, that she won’t be found.” Her mother spoke confidently.

The man quickly brought what must have been his hand down on the table with a loud thud. “How can they call you the best? You two are acting like amateurs, " he roared angrily.

“We are the best; otherwise, how could we have kept her hidden all these years? " his father said defensively.

The man sighed, clearly exasperated. “It doesn’t matter if you are or are not the best. What matters is that she is still near other wolf territories.” He reminded them.

Wolf territories… are they talking about Fang? She thought as she looked over at her giant, lovable dog, sitting next to her silently. She is an Irish Wolfhound, but why worry about other wolf territories? It’s not like she would run off to join a pack…

Her thoughts were interrupted when her mother spoke. “We have already covered her scent. They won’t smell her.”

“Yes, but once she has her first shift, they will smell her far more easily, making her easier to track.” The man spoke as though it were common knowledge, and her parents were idiots not to have thought of it first.

She sat a moment, shift? What the heck is a shift, and how would Fang shift? What would she become? Cora was becoming more and more confused.

“We could simply suppress her wolf,” her father interjected.

There was a pause before the mystery man spoke up. “You could, however, do you have enough wolfsbane?” he inquired.

“At least enough to douse her and then make another move to a farther location,” her father informed him.

“Where are you planning to move to?” he pressed further.

There was another long pause before my mother spoke again. “Doulington, that’s where we will go,” she answered matter-of-factly.

The man sighed heavily this time. “We can’t continue to hide her much longer.” He sounded exhausted.

“We could just get rid of her,” her father suggested as though it were an obvious solution.

“If we do that and her body is found out, there will be a war. No, as long as she is alive, we can keep them at bay. They are only listening because you have continued to send proof of life every few months and have made sure they can not track her down.”

“Then we lose her. She perishes naturally due to never being trained to survive in the wilderness.” Her mother put her plan forth.

It was quickly shot down. “ No, then her wolf would emerge, and she would be found by her own kind. We need to think more carefully about this.” The man seemed worried.

“Let’s just start with the first plan, wolfsbane and a move, and then we will figure out what to do next. Can you talk with the elders and explain the circumstances? We need help. We’ve been doing this for almost 16 years,” her mother begged the man. She sounded exhausted, but not from sleepless nights, more like from life itself.

Cora felt tears well up in her eyes. She had thought they were talking about Fang, but now she felt like they were talking about her. She didn’t understand many of the words they were saying, but she definitely understood she was not wanted and that they were not her real parents. She quickly slipped back upstairs and crawled back into bed, waiting until the voices died down and her parents crept up the stairs to their room. She waited an extra thirty minutes for good measure before she got back out of bed. She quickly packed her bag and started to make her way down the stairs, Fang close behind her. “You can’t come, girl, I won’t be able to care for you,” she tried to explain to her, but clearly, Fang didn’t understand.

As she reached the door, there was a sudden pressure on her shoulder. Fang growled, which was uncommon for her to do to someone living within the house. Slowly, Cora turned to see her fake father standing behind her with an agitated expression. “Where do you think you’re going?” he asked, seeming unaware that she had overheard the conversation.

She quickly composed herself and gave him an innocent look. “I had a nightmare and wanted to clear my head,” she said, smiling sweetly at him.

“With your book bag?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I packed some snacks so I can eat while I walk,” she quickly responded. Her heart pounding in her chest, she knew her excuse more than likely wouldn’t work, but she hoped.

Her fake father stared hard at her for a moment before speaking. “You overheard, didn’t you? I knew he was being too loud,” he grumbled.

She caught her breath, unsure of what she should do and what he would do. Time moved slowly as they looked at each other. Finally, he spoke again. “You have two options: you can run now or stay with Fang, but Fang is not going with you.” His gaze hardened. As she looked into his eyes, the man she had known was not there. It had truly been all an act.

Tears stung at the corners of her eyes. She looked down at Fang, who looked up at her with an odd expression of what appeared to be understanding. “I’ll get you back,” she whispered to Fang before turning back to the door.

Just as she turned to leave. She felt something grab at the fabric of her shirt. At first, she thought it had been Fang, but when she looked back, she saw that Fang had clamped down on his wrist, stopping him. She quickly ran to the back to try and get Fang, but the door was slammed shut and locked. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She couldn’t save her. She wanted to bang on the door and demand he let Fang go, but she knew he could change his mind and pull her back in. It was either run or be trapped. They had said they would keep her in the home from now on, but she didn’t want to be a prisoner, not with the people who were supposedly her parents.

Her blood ran cold when she heard her fake mother’s voice. Without another thought, she took off out of the yard, heading toward the woods at the end of the street. Just as she neared them, a figure came into view. It was tall, slim, but muscular. As she neared, she saw Pierceton standing at the edge of the forest. He looked at her, clearly confused.

“Why are you out running so early?” he asked.

“Had a nightmare and needed to get some air,” she quickly lied and went to move around him.

He looked at her backpack quizzically. “Why the bag?”

She shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. “Wanted to eat a snack, later.”

He chuckled at her answer. “This is a dream,” he stated as though it were obvious.

She looked at him in disbelief. “You’re joking, right?”

“No, this is really a dream. I’m the one who put you into this dreamlike state,” he explained with confidence and a smile.

She looked at him, trying to decide if it was some kind of sick joke. “I don’t have time for your nonsense,” she stated and began to head into the forest.

He grabbed her wrist. “Wait, let me prove it.”

“How?” she asked as she pulled her wrist away from him.

“Since it’s a dream, you can control what happens. So, simply think of something you want and it’ll appear,” he told her.

She rolled her eyes, thinking he was truly crazy. However, she decided to give it a try, if for any reason, to just simply shut him up. Then she could continue on her race against time. She closed her eyes and thought of her beautiful, gray-haired Fang. When she opened her eyes, Fang stood before her, wagging her tail happily. “Fang?” she said, shocked at what she was seeing. “Is that really you?” she questioned, reaching forward to touch her. Her hand made contact, and realization hit. It was Fang. She quickly hugged her, tears in her eyes. “I’m so sorry I left you,” she cried.

Suddenly, the sound of someone clearing their throat dramatically drew her attention away from Fang. “What?” she demanded, not impressed with his rude behavior. She glared at him from the ground next to Fang.

“That’s not Fang, well, not the real one anyway,” he tried to tell her.

“Then what is it?” she glared at him.

He sighed. “I’ve already explained. You are in a dream. This is all a dream.” He pressed his temples, frustrated with her.

“If it is a dream, I don’t want to leave. Fang is safe and happy here.” She became stubborn. “And if it is a dream, then something unreal should be able to happen. More than likely, she escaped out the back door of the house,” she reasoned with herself and him. Satisfied with her reasoning, she finally stood up. “Fang, let’s go.” She started to walk toward the forest with Fang at her heels.