Crimson Moon

I went to Tiberius’s room and knocked on his door. Thump, thump, thump, the door echoed as my fist hit it. There was no response.

“Tiberius!?” I yelled checking to see if he was in his room and just didn't hear my knocking. Still, there was no answer. I resorted to trying to contact him through my head.

“Tiberius!” I yelled trying to get his attention.

Still, there was no answer.

I groaned and began my journey of trying to find him. He could be anywhere within or outside of the castle. Finding him wouldn’t be easy. Plus, I was sure that he could get into more rooms than I could due to his status. He was a member of the royal court plus the prince. That had to have gained him some special privileges. If I would try to enter rooms in which I wasn’t allowed, the guards would just stand in my way and wouldn’t give me access.

I found myself walking without even realizing it. One minute I was looking at the floor and the next I looked up and saw clouds. It was like some magical force brought me outside. I stopped and furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. I just shrugged and began walking into the woods having no idea where I was truly going. I noticed that I was at the waterfall in which I was at a few days prior. The same waterfall where Tiberius first told me he called it off with Adelina. I heard a noise to my left and strained my eyes to see where it was coming from. I caught a hint of black and instinctively knew it was Tiberius.

“Tiberius!” I called out after him trying to get his attention.

“What do you want?” I heard Tiberius say inside my head sounding a bit agitated.

“Why did you storm out like that?” I asked him.

“You know why,” Tiberius said to me from somewhere within the woods.

“Why does everyone keep saying that and would you please just get over here!” I stomped my foot into the forest floor, agitated that he was being so childish.

Tiberius arrived next to me and sat down with his tail on his paws. It was thumping up and down loudly which was very distracting and annoying.

“Would you quit doing that!” I yelled at him again.

He rolled his eyes and huffed. “Anything else you want me to do?” He questioned in annoyance.

“Actually yes. I want you to come back to the castle and quit throwing a fit.” I said while crossing my arms and glaring at him.

He raised his eyebrows. “Is that all?” He prompted.

“Hmm,” I said thinking about it for a minute. “I think so?” I reluctantly settled on saying.

“Alright then,” he said turning back the way to the castle.

“Wait!” I called back to him.

He turned his black head to face me.

“What?”

“I lied I have more to say.”

“Of course you do,” he said and walked towards me once more. “I’m listening,” he added.

I thought about how to word what I was going to say. The last thing that I wanted to do was to make him more frustrated with me.

Tiberius sighed, “just say it, Calla.”

I took a deep breath and asked, “are you mad at me?”

I was a little surprised by what I said. I didn’t mean to say that but when he rushed me and I got nervous. Truthfully, I was going to ask why he stormed out but something made me ask this instead.

“Oh Calla, I’m not mad at you.” He said shaking his head like I wasn’t supposed to think that at all.

“Then why did you storm out like that?” I questioned him further.

“You are so naïve Calla,” Tiberius said to me. “I heard what my mother told you about it.” He turned around and slowly began to walk away.

“Wait! Is it true?!” I yelled after him.

He quickly flashed just his face towards me. “Now isn’t the time.” He said calmly and before I knew it, he was out of sight.

I was left in the woods, by the waterfall, all by myself to think about everything that Tiberius just said. There was no way that his mother was right. We have only known each other for a few days. Saying you love someone isn’t a word that you just throw out for fun. It is something that requires a strong feeling. There is no way that we can experience that in that short of a time span. I have never been a believer in love at first sight. I always thought that it was ridiculous. You needed time to develop feelings, they are not just grown overnight. I didn’t feel that way towards Tiberius, did I?

I shook my head and thought, “no way, that’s not possible.” But I couldn’t find myself to be able to deny the feelings I had for him. I knew that there was something strong there. Something that I felt for nobody before, a feeling that I was not used to. “Snap out of it Calla,” I told myself. “Now is not the time, you have to get prepared for battle.” I began to move my feet one by one back to the direction in which I came.

When I got back to my “house,” I heard a noise coming from my room. My muscles instinctively tensed up, preparing for the unknown. I smelled the air and sighed.

“Cassie?!” I called out knowing it was her.

“Calla!” I heard her yell in excitement.

Clack clack clack the footsteps called out as she quickly darted towards me. Before I could prepare myself, I was wrapped in a smothering bear hug. She squeezed me as tightly as her flimsy arms could allow. I was extremely thankful that she wasn’t a werewolf. If she was I was sure that I would have ended up in the infirmary room once again.

“I’m so sorry Calla,” Cassie said in my ear and held me close.

I stiffened as she reminded me of the event that happened just hours ago. The event that I was trying desperately to remove from my mind. I squeezed my eyes shut to keep the tears from flowing gracefully down my face. It turned out to be a huge mistake. In the black abyss, I saw my mother’s broken body lying on the cold grassy ground. Her life slowly slipping away from her. I saw Adolph as he smiled down at her as he sliced her belly right open. I shuddered and opened my eyes. My breathing became labored with panic. I had to use all my strength to refrain from crying.

“Thank you, Cassie, I’m fine,” I said to her, my voice failing me.

It came out hoarse proving just how far from fine I really was. She nodded her head but didn’t fight me on it. I was thankful that she didn’t prod me further. I knew that it wouldn’t end well.

I pulled away from her and went into my own bedroom to prepare for the dreaded battle that was coming up. I changed into some of my leather clothing once more, the same one that I wore only days before, even though it felt like months. I put my long brown hair into a pony-tail to make sure to keep it from getting into my eyes during the fight. I knew there wasn’t much point in getting too dressed up for this fight since we were more than likely transforming into our wolves right away. Just getting dressed helped relieve the pressure and nerves that I was feeling at the time. I looked down at the necklace that was around my slender neck. I picked it up by the heart and kissed it gently. “This is for you mother,” I whispered to it while closing my eyes, letting the darkness distract me. After about ten minutes, which only felt like seconds, I carefully grasped the clasp in the back of the chain. I opened it up and took the necklace off with delicate hands. I set it on the nightstand next to my bed. Even though I wanted to take the necklace into battle with me I knew it was a dumb idea. It would become lost or broken in the process of transformation.

As I was setting the necklace on the nightstand, my hand slipped and I dropped it on the floor. Quickly, I bent down to pick it up hoping that I didn’t break it. By the sounds that it made when it hit the floor, I knew I didn’t drop it that lightly. As I bent over, I noticed something very strange. The locket appeared to have opened. I never saw what was inside of the locket before nor did I know that you could even open it. As I looked at the picture, my breath caught. A gasp escaped my mouth. It was a picture of my father, but that wasn’t the thing that surprised me. Next to him was nothing other than a wolf. It was no ordinary wolf, but a werewolf. There was no way that I could be seeing this right. My mother claimed that my father wasn’t a wolf. I reached my slender arm out and grasped the necklace. Who was this wolf and what was it doing with my father? My heart stopped at a realization that I made. It couldn’t be true. The eyes of the wolf looked exactly like my mother's. I would know that unique hue of blue anywhere.

I began to feel betrayed, thinking that I didn’t know my mother whatsoever. Everything that she said to me was a lie. She said that she didn’t know what werewolves were but here she is in her physical werewolf form. She said that they were foul creatures but yet somehow, she is one herself. By the way that my father was looking down at her, you could tell that he loved her for her. Curiosity was really beginning to kick in. I began to daydream about all the possibilities on how she kept it from me. As I got lost in thought, a voice entered my head.

“Calla it’s time.” Reed’s voice called out.

A heard a low growl enter my head as well but I knew that that didn’t belong to Reed but to Tiberius. He still must be upset about me fighting against Adolf. I sighed and pushed myself off my warm bed, the springs clinging in unison. As I went to shut the lights off. I took one long last look at my room. Who knew if this would be the last time I would see it again. Who knew if I could come out alive after this fight. Just one thing was for certain. I would get revenge for my sister and my mother if it was the last thing that I do.