The Unwanted Wolf

Mark wasn’t too fond of the idea of coming into this strange lady’s house, especially when we told him about our first interaction with her. But with a little batting of my eyelashes, he reluctantly agreed. I told him she said she could heal him, but he didn’t believe it. I couldn’t blame him on that one, though. If there was a cure for wolfsbane, I was sure someone somewhere would have heard about it, and there would at least be a rumor that it existed.

We all entered the house, and Daniel was the first one to rush in. He looked like a little kid, excited to go to an amusement park. His eyes sparkled at all of the potions lying around. He went to touch something, and Ginger was instantly in front of him.

She smacked his finger. “Don’t touch anything without permission.”

Daniel shook his hand. “Ow. Can I have permission to touch things?”

Ginger walked away, not even giving him a second look. “Not if you want to keep those pretty little fingers of yours.”

I chuckled at the interaction. Daniel was normally on the more serious side, so it was cute seeing him act like this. His need for knowledge was a greater part of him than I realized.

I had my arm around Mark, helping him walk into the house. He tried to protest, saying he didn’t need help, but I refused to let go. I was pretty sure a part of him was happy I wouldn’t let go. He had his arm around my shoulder and held me tightly. I helped him over to the couch and slowly sat him down.

“Do you really know a cure for wolfsbane?” Daniel asked, standing right behind Ginger.

Ginger turned and waved him away. “Boy, give me space. There’s a cure for everything in this world. It’s a matter of finding what it is.”

“Do you run chemical tests on poisons to find the cure?” Daniel asked. He hadn’t moved away from Ginger.

Ginger clicked her tongue. “That mind of yours is going to get you in trouble one day. I test them in a sense. My specialty is breaking things down and building them back up.”

“Your specialty? Do all sorcerers have specialties?” Daniel asked.

I had to bite my cheek to hold in a laugh. I wouldn’t have to ask any questions if I let Daniel keep talking. Although, he could get himself in trouble with Ginger if he didn’t listen to her.

Ginger pointed to a seat in the corner of the room. “Boy, go sit over there, and I’ll consider answering your barrage of questions.” She shook her head and looked around the room for a couple of items. She dumped them out on the table.

Daniel sulked over to the chair and sat down like he was told. “So does everyone have a specialty?”

Ginger glared at Daniel before going back to her work. “Yes and no. Everyone can have a specialty, but not all choose to have one, and some never find what they are skilled at, so they work on all of their powers.”

I thought about what she said and wondered what Theron’s specialty was, if he had one. I hadn’t seen him use many of his powers, other than shifting and poisoning people. Maybe he was skilled at poison..

Ginger knelt down in front of Mark. “Give me your hand.”

Mark held out his hand, and Ginger grabbed it. She turned his hand over, so his palm was facing up. She ran her finger down from the pit of his elbow all the way to his palm. She clasped his hand with both of hers and held them tightly. Closing her eyes, she started humming an unfamiliar tune. When she opened her eyes, they were completely white.

“You were given small doses of wolfsbane over a period of time. This was intended to weaken you without completely killing you. It also means it will stay in your system longer than a normal dose.”

Ginger closed her eyes again, and when she opened them, they were back to normal. She let go of Mark’s hand and instantly started moving around the room.

“That is incredible!” Daniel gushed.

“It’s only incredible to a wolf,” Ginger brushed off. “If you knew anything about real magic, you would know that was child’s play.”

“If that’s child’s play, then what’s the real deal?” Rie asked. She was standing in the corner of the room, watching everything unfold. Her eyes kept wandering between Ginger and the rest of us.

Ginger stopped and looked Rie up and down. “Y’all aren’t ready for that yet.”

Ginger keeps moving around the room. She was taking various bottles and pouring things into a wooden cup. She finished it off with a white power that made a puff of purple smoke appear. She walked over to Mark and handed it to him.

“Take this. You’ll start feeling better within an hour, and then your body can take it from there.”

Mark looked down at the cup and frowned. The liquid inside looked completely unappetizing. He looked at me for reassurance. I nodded, and so he slowly lifted the cup to his lips. He took a small sip and instantly started coughing.

Ginger started cackling at the reaction. “It doesn’t get better as you drink it. It might even get worse. Push through it, and you won’t regret it.”

“Are you sure this will help?” Rie asked.

Ginger rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry, girl. I’m not going to harm your alpha.”

“How did you know he was our alpha?” Rie asked.

“Your alpha, not his.” She gestured to Daniel. “It’s easy to know things if you listen to the energy surrounding people.”

“How do you do that?” I asked, standing up. “How do you get in touch with your powers and get stronger?”

Ginger paused what she was doing and looked up to the ceiling. She was focused on something, but I didn’t see anything in particular.

“Clara wanted me to help you, but I don’t know you. I think I know why she wanted this, though. Clara didn’t know you either, but she could tell you were special. You have a special future ahead of you.” The old lady suddenly moved over to me, standing only a few inches from my face.

She grabbed my hand and did the same movement to me as she did to Mark. Her fingers dragged down my forearm, leaving little goosebumps along the way. She clasped my hand, and I felt a warmth surge through my b***d. This time she placed my hand over my heart and pressed down. My heart beat faster at the sudden motion, but then it calmed down.

Ginger closed her eyes, and my eyes grew heavy. I felt my mind drifting to a peaceful scene, white snowing down from the sky until everything was blank. I saw Ginger walking through the scene and ran after her.

“Where are we?” I asked, looking around.

“You don’t know?” she asked, tilting her head to the side. “I’m sure you’ve been here before.”

I took a moment to absorb my surroundings. There wasn’t much around, but she was right. I had been here many times. Usually Moon or Shadow or both were here with me. “Is this my mind?”

“Ah, so you do recognize this place. It’s not your mind exactly. It’s a plane of existence that all sorcerers have access to. Usually you can’t enter another sorcerer’s mind plane without them inviting you. It’s a safe place where you can explore truths,” Ginger explained. She kept walking, but I didn’t understand the point. There was nothing around us but white. There was nothing to walk to or from.

“Then how are you here?” She was walking surprisingly fast, and I almost had to skip to keep up with her.

“You invited me in. You need answers, so we are looking for answers together.” She stopped suddenly and changed directions.

“Where are you going? There’s nothing here.” I squinted my eyes to see if there was something I was missing.

“That’s where you are wrong. There’s plenty here. You just have to find it. That’s why you haven’t been very successful with your powers, girl. Where’s your familiar?” She stopped again, looking around.

I felt a sinking feeling, and pain shot through my chest once again. “I… I haven’t seen her since my soulmate rejected me.”

“But isn’t he sitting on my couch?”

“It appears that due to my dual-blooded nature, I have two mates. Mark is the mate for my wolf side, while Jori was the soul mate to my sorcerer’s side. He rejected me yesterday.” I looked at the ground and focused on my breathing.

“Interesting. Rejecting your soulmate or being rejected by your soulmate can affect your powers.” Ginger twirled her hair in her fingers. She started moving again, changing her direction.

“So I have lost my powers because I was rejected?” I bit my l*p. That was exactly what my fear was.

“No, I didn’t say that. Your familiar is likely just hibernating through the pain. She will emerge again when ready. If you haven’t figured it out already, our powers are tied to our emotions. We can be weakened by dejection and sadness. Anger can fuel your power, but it can easily get out of control. Happiness, love-as cliche as it sounds-are where the true control and power lie. If you can learn to harness those feelings, you will be practically unstoppable.”

Ginger stopped again, and this time she held her hand out in front of me to stop me.

“We’re here,” she said.

“We are?”

“Just look. Relax and don’t focus too hard.”

I looked around us, but I didn’t see anything. I took a deep breath to relax, and I started to see some colors come into view. At first it was a light pink, and then a bright blue, followed by a deep red. More and more colors swirled around until they started creating various shapes.

All at once, everything came into focus, and it was like I was watching a movie without sound. I saw a faceless girl running through the forest during the day. The sun began to set, and it grew dark. The moon rose, and the girl transformed into a wolf. She kept running until she reached a river. She looked into the river, and her eyes were sparkling and bright. Her entire body caught the light, and the wolf was sparkling like the night sky.

It was a stunning and gorgeous view, and I felt enthralled watching the sight. Something deep inside of me stirred, and I knew this meant something big.

“Do you see it now, girl?” Ginger asked, her eyes following the scene.

“I see it, but what does it mean?”

I watched as the scene transfigured into something more. A dark shadow grew around the wolf, and then it started chasing her. She ran through the forest and kept running. When backed into a corner, the wolf grew brighter, eliminating the shadow.

“It means you have a grand future. You’re unique in your nature, and you’re the only one that can stop the great evil.

The scene faded before us, leaving only the white background.

“How can I do that when I can’t even control my powers?” I asked. I didn’t like what I saw. I was just trying to survive so I could live out my happily ever after with Mark.

“We train until you learn how to control your powers.”