Chapter 4: From Predator to Prey

     My breath came in gasps as I practically flew through the woods with the black wolf at my side. I had no idea where we were going, but I sensed that it was for an important cause. The world around me zipped past in a blur as I focused on the break in the trees. The road that led to my freedom. But how did I know this? Just before I entered the clearing, everything went white and I found myself floating in darkness. One by one, three owls, as tall as dinosaurs, appeared in a semi-circle around me. I wasn’t afraid; I knew that they were of no harm to me. They stared down, with beady eyes full of recognition. Do they know me too?

     “We know who you are,” one said.

     “You are destined for something greater,” said the middle owl.

     “Your life will never be the same,” said the third.

     “What do you mean?” I cried out.

     “Come, Stormsong, your destiny awaits,” said the first.

     “But my name is not Stormsong!” I cried. Freaked out by their cryptic words, I forced my eyes shut, though they didn’t want to be.

     When I opened them again and found myself in the center of a village. Where am I now? It was deserted and all the tents were falling apart. Their tattered canvases flapped in the breeze. What kind of a place is this? When I blinked I found myself in the center of what looked like a dried out crop field. The corn stalks were brown and half rotted. When I turned, I found myself in the middle of a group of people who were nothing but skin and bone.

     “Save us!” they begged and held out their hands. “SAVE US!”

     It was as if they knew I would save them in some way. The sight sent shivers up my spine and I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came from my mouth. The dream then transitioned to the center of a room. Past knowledge told me that I was in a castle. I turned and saw a man who wore a crown. Both their faces were blurry. I assumed that he was the king of this land. He was laughing at another man, who lay very still on the floor. It wasn’t a laugh that somebody would make when somebody fell off a latter and they went to see if they were okay. No. Blood came from the still man’s wounds. This was a laughed of sheer evil.

     “How dare you!” I screamed. My heart thundered in my chest as a rage suddenly consumed me. I couldn’t explain it. I couldn’t explain why I felt so enraged by this blurry sight, but I did. I lunged at the King and everything went white.

     Lyra shot up from her sleep, panting. A bead of sweat made its slow decent down her forehead. A blast of cold air struck her back making her shiver. When she retreated back beneath her blankets, her hand touched the wet mattress. She sighed and collapsed into her pillow. One peek at the clock on the nightstand beside her bed told her that it was three in the morning.

     It had been a week since her suspension from the school and five days since her encounter with the wolf. Thankfully, there hadn’t been any gun fire since then, but Lyra had also stayed out of the forest as well. Her body quivered for the rest of those days as she endured the inner torture of her heart. It was almost impossible for her to do it and it amazed her that she did. But now she would be in an extremely bad mood when she went to school today.

     Dragging herself out of bed, Lyra plodded across the hall and into the bathroom to get a shower. As she scrubbed her hair, she started to relax. All of her racing thoughts were washed away with the shampoo. When she was finished, she wrapped herself up in a robe and went back into her room. After getting her clothes on, she took her comb and stood in front of her mirror. The girl who stared back at her had dark circles under her eyes, dull, black eyes. Holy crap! I look like crap! She shook her head and continued to comb her hair.

     “Lyra! You’re going to be late if you don’t hurry up!” Mom yelled from downstairs.

     Lyra set her comb down, brushed her teeth in the bathroom, grabbed her backpack, and stomped down the stairs. She brushed past her mother with a brief good-bye and headed out the door. She leapt from the porch and jogged down the road. Lyra shuddered when she saw the entrance to her forest trail a few feet ahead. What wrong with me? Why am I still freaked out about the wolf? It was just a wolf. An image of the look on the wolf’s face flooded her mind. It acted as if it knew her. But how can it possibly know me? I’ve never seen it before in my life.

     She shook her head and jogged on by the trail. When she got to school, she headed straight for her locker. As she dug around through her missing homework assignments, someone tapped on her shoulder. She growled and spun around.

     “Can’t you see I’m busy?”

     A boy was wearing a thin white t-shirt which showed off his masculine body, he had one hand in the pocket of his slightly sagging jeans. His skin tone was the same as Lyra’s and his hair was just a black and glossy. His eyes were a soft, chocolate brown. A charming smile was etched into his face. This boy could make any girl weak in the knees. Any girl except Lyra; she seemed to be immune to any man’s charm.

     “I’m sorry, I just wanted to get into my locker,” he said.

     Lyra snorted and pulled her door closer. “There, better?”

     He reached over and twisted the combination into the lock. “Yes, thank you.”

     The school was very low in funds, as were all the schools in the area. So much so, that the lockers were only a few inches wide and a few feet tall. You could fit very little things in it and it was a shock that Lyra was able to get her backpack in it. Lyra quickly grabbed the books that she needed and slammed her locker shut. When she turned, she almost ran into another boy.

     “Geez, where did you come from? Maybe you should go stand off to the side so that your body’s not in the way,” Lyra said and brushed past they boy.

     He turned to her and smiled. “Nice to meet you too.”

     Lyra didn’t look back, she didn’t like him, or the other one for that matter. Even though she had chosen to live her high school life from the sidelines, she had sense enough to know that she had never seen those boys before in her life. She huffed and stood by the door, waiting for it to open.

*********

     Lyra had just gotten settled in her usual spot when the teacher told her that he had changed the seats. To her dismay, she was placed right next to the boy who had her locker by hers. She rolled her eyes and plopped down beside him. The boy gave her another one of his charming smiles and waved.

     “Hi, I’m Jace,” he said.

     Lyra snorted and shifted in her seat, she didn’t like this class so she was going to nap.

     Jace continued, “I just started earlier this week, still a little unsure about the place. Tell me, are we going to be doing re-enactments or something? I’m not very good at those. Are we going to be taking lots of notes? It’s because I don’t write very fast.”

     Lyra sighed. “Look, I don’t like this class so I sleep through it. Why don’t you ask one of the nerds?”

     Jace looked taken aback. “Oh, um….. okay.”

     Finally being left alone, she rested her arms on the desk, got comfy, and went to sleep. Somebody was poking her. She growled and slapped their hand away. The person was persistent, he continued to poke her. She sat up and glared at the only person left in the classroom. Jace.

     “What do you want?”

     “I just wanted to let you know that it was time to go. The bell rang and everything,” Jace said, shouldering his bag.

     Lyra scooted out of her chair and snagged her stuff up in her arms. “Okay, thanks,” she said and brushed past him.

     Down the hallway, Lyra stormed past many students, knocking several of them down in the process. When he got into her class, she plopped her stuff down at her usual seat and headed up to the front to grab a calculator and some paper. This was her trigonometry class. Oh no. She rolled her eyes. Jace had just strolled into the classroom. In this class, Mr. Ace, the teacher, let you sit where ever you wanted. It almost surprised Lyra at how many people swarmed him and begged him to sit with their groups. Jace locked eyes with Lyra and smiled. She snorted and headed right back to her seat. Big mistake. Jace followed her and set his stuff down right beside her.

     She groaned and banged her head off the desk a few times before she set to work doing the warm up problem on the projector screen. The class went silent as Jace settled down beside her. They all knew about Lyra reputation. Apparently, Jace did not. The bell rang and the teacher came in a few minutes later. He was startled that his usually rowdy class was dead silent. He shrugged it off, deciding to enjoy it while he still could and took roll call.

     “Why are you sitting beside me?” Lyra whispered to him.

     Jace chuckled. “I thought that we could sit where ever we wanted to in this class? Anyway, I sat there all week and when I saw you sitting in my spot, I decided to take the next closest seat.”

     Lyra shook her head. “Don’t you know who I am?”

     “Lyra Wood!” Mr. Ace called.

     “Here!”

     Jace leaned a little closer. “I do now.”

     Lyra growled and scooted as far away from as she could. When Mr. Ace was finished, he called the class to attention and started to go over the warm up problem. After an hour of lecture and figuring out six different ways to solve one problem, the bell rang and Lyra strolled out of the classroom. Her next class was her most hated one. Not necessarily the subject, but the teacher.

     When Lyra walked into English, Mrs. Milthrope was waiting for her, ruler in hand. She stared down at Lyra. Lyra glared up at her.

     “Lyra, nice to see you back in school again,” she said in tone that told Lyra that she really wasn’t. “Please, take your seat at the front of the classroom. We’ve moved around you see.”

     Lyra plopped down in the seat Mrs. Milthrope had directed her to. The elderly teacher stood in front of her. Lyra lounged back in her chair and stared straight at the board. When Mrs. Milthrope didn’t move, she looked up at her.

     “What?”

     “Did you write your essay?”

     Lyra snorted. “No.”

     Mrs. Milthrope nodded, as if she was expecting that answer and left her alone. Just as the bell rang, Jace moved up to the front of the classroom to sharpen his pencil. What? Is he seriously in all my classes? What the heck? When his pencil had a satisfying point, Jace turned and spotted Lyra. He waved and reached into his pocket, pulling out a folded piece of paper, he dropped it on her desk as he went by. Lyra turned in her chair and watched him take his assigned seat in the back.

     Lyra stared at the note on her desk. Maybe I should give to Mrs. Milthrope and get him in trouble. She chuckled at the thought. She’ll probably read it in front of the class. Or better yet, have him read it. She clenched her fists as the pulled feeling around her heart tightened. No, I shouldn’t do that to him. I’ll give the newbie a break this time.

THWACK!

     Mrs. Milthrope had startled the class to attention. “Alright everyone, how far are people with their parental bond essays’?”

     The class erupted into a series of answers. One swipe of her rule on the desk got them all to quiet down.

     “Raise your hands, please,” she said.

     Lyra paid no mind to them. Instead, she was pondering on what the note said. Taking a deep breath, she picked it up and unfolded it under the desk. She gasped when she read the words.

            Dear Lyra,

      Strange how you don’t seem to know me, but I do know you. I know more than just your name. Don’t worry; I’m not some creepy stalker kid. I’m just a guy who can see what people need. You need your freedom don’t you Lyra? You are drawn to the forest aren’t you? You can’t   explain why, you just know that you are. It’s funny how we like to get a message across. Anyway, you are one of us Lyra. You may not know who we are, yet, but you will soon enough. You are the only one who can help us now.

                 From,

                 Jace

     Lyra looked over her shoulder at him. Jace winked back at her. All of a sudden, the whole class got up and started heading out. Mrs. Milthrope was instructing the students to go to one of the computer labs. Lyra grabbed her stuff and followed them. She sat at the computer in the lab staring at the note. She hadn’t even bothered to turn her computer on. Lyra couldn’t figure out how he knew about her deepest feeling. That longing that she did have to go into the woods. She had never bothered to tell her parents let alone any of the losers at her school. But how did he know? There was something else about the note that stuck out to her. It kind of reminded her of the dream she had had the night before. He said “we”, but who is we?

Reviews

[Joan*Eckhart]

Wow, the first part of this chapter was so exciting! You wrote her dream really well. It was very descriptive-almost like a scene from a movie. I could see it all happening very clearly. I wonder who this Jace guy is and how he knows Lyra?
Lyra is very short-tempered, isn't she? No wonder she doesn't have any friends-even the teachers are afraid of her! Lol! Sometimes I wonder if I would like to bump into her or not?
Anyway, well done with another great chapter and I look forward to reading more.

[Miranda]

Thank you, got the entire novel finished now I just have to edit it. :P Anyway, thank for your comment. I'll be updatng real soon! Btw, don't forget to let me know about your novel. :)