3. The Trio

three

The Trio

*FLORA*

T he daily trip with the school bus is the worst because everyone is on it, and I can’t escape the laughter and the insults. Today though, when Grandma hands me my bag and lunch box and I head out of the door, I’m in for a surprise.

I’m about to make a run for the school bus when I hear a voice behind me.

“Where are you going?”

I turn around, blinking at Elden. “School.”

“We are not taking the bus,” he says.

“We are not?” I ask.

He grabs my hand and pulls me along.

“I’m not allowed to take the bus,” he explains shortly. “A driver takes me. You can come with me.”

“YES!” I exclaim, swinging my bag around in excitement. No school bus, no one laughing at me or pointing their fingers at me.

This day is going to be amazing!

I follow Elden, skipping alongside him. “What happened to your face?” I ask after a while. “The spot between your cheek and neck.”

He looks flustered for a moment, clasping the part. “Probably happened during training,” he says dismissively.

“You train a lot, don’t you?”

“Dad wants me to become strong,” he says.

“Is it true?” I whisper.

“Is what true?”

“That you can already feel your lycan?”

“Yes,” he says. He sounds dismissive once again, as if it wasn’t the coolest thing ever.

“Can you already talk to him?” I ask.

“No,” he says. “Not really. I mean he is there, but the connection is still weak… just sometimes… when I am angry, I feel him.”

“Is this why you try to never be angry?” I ask.

He blinks. “What do you mean?”

“Grandma says you have your emotions under control. Is this what she meant?”

“Probably,” he mutters.

“Isn’t that annoying?” I continue to ask. “Can you ever be you?”

“I don’t want to scare anyone,” he admits.

“And what if-”

“Do you always talk this much?” he asks. “I thought you were meek and shy.”

“I like to know things,” I explain. “It’s interesting! The others just always make fun of me, so I don’t talk to them. Is it bad? Should I talk less?”

Elden looks at me for a moment. “No,” he says. “It’s okay.”

“Good!” I let out a sigh of relief. “I’m sure I wouldn’t be scared,” I tell him, “of your lycan.”

“It’s funny,” he says, “he isn’t that angry when you are around.”

“Is that good or bad?”

“Good.”

I toss my bag into the air and catch it again. “Hurray!” I exclaim.

Elden’s lips tug into a grin. “You are so silly!”

I recognize the person who is driving Elden around. He is always with Beta Samuel and sometimes Gamma Tobias, so it seems like the alpha trusts him. Elden and I both climb into the car, and he drives off with us, while Elden explains to me that we are going to pick up Jace on the way, too. This is the first time for me driving to school in peace and actually having fun. I can see the beings of light curiously fluttering around Elden, some of them settling down on his shoulder.

They like him, and I’m so glad they do. I don’t know why it’s important to me, but it puts my mind at ease.

Elden’s friend Jace lives in another pack. It’s not a far ride, though, and soon we drive through the pack grounds towards his pack house. He is already waiting for us. I keep my head low during school normally, which is why I didn’t pay attention to anything or anyone around me, but now that I look around, I realize that I have watched Elden sometimes… without knowing that I did, like my mind had a will of its own and needed to follow him around.

Jace, the boy with blond hair, is always with him. It’s always just these two and no one else. Both of them are alpha’s sons, who are admired by everyone. How come they never spend time with anyone else?

Jace tosses his bag into the car before jumping into it. He blinks when he sees me. “Who is she?”

“I’m Flora!” I reach out my hand to shake his like Grandma taught me to when I meet someone for the first time. “I’m Elden’s best friend. You must be his other best friend? It’s nice to meet you, too.”

“He hasn’t told me about you,” Jace blinks.

“Well, that’s because I have been his best friend ever since yesterday!” I explain.

When Jace looks at Elden, he nods. “It’s like she said.”

“And your dad doesn’t mind?” Jace wants to know. “You know… well…”

“He approves,” Elden tells him.

His words get me curious. “What do you mean?” I ask when the car drives off again.

“Dad doesn’t want me to hang out with the other kids,” Elden explains. “But he doesn’t mind Jace. His dad is a friend of my dad. But I’m not allowed to hang out with the others. He doesn’t want me to play with someone who is-” he pauses, grimacing. “-beneath me.”

So, Elden’s dad disapproves of everyone but Jace.

Grandma is just happy when I have a friend. She couldn’t care less if it’s a prince, an omega or even a human.

“And me?” I ask. “He probably hates me.”

“No, he approves,” he pauses, “not that his disapproval would have stopped me this time.”

Well, seeing how Elden only has Jace and me, I need to be the best friend he possibly can have to make up for all that he misses.

School today is amazing. For the first time I am able to actually focus on my schoolwork, and then I get to hang out with Jace and Elden. We even have lunch together and spend our breaks with each other. Jace doesn’t seem to mind my presence at all, and actually says he thinks it’s fun that we are one person more now.

To my surprise, no one in school bullies me or makes fun of me. Two or three kids even greet me, and there are certainly a lot of curious glances. The kids who were chasing me yesterday, don’t even dare to look at me, which is kind of weird. I don’t know what changed, I am still the same me.

“We could hang out on the weekend,” Jace suggests when we are on our way back, once again picked up by a driver. This time it’s someone else. I think it’s one of the warriors, but I’m not sure.

“Hm,” Elden says. “I guess we could.”

“Yeah, you and Flora can come and visit me. So, you can spend a day away from your family,” Jace mutters. “It must be so depressing.”

His words strike something in me. What’s depressing? Elden doesn’t reply to Jace now, so it must be true. I can see the beings of light fluttering around me now. It feels like they talk to me, like they want to show me something. I catch one of them between my hands, staring at it.

Look, it says.

I am looking, I reply.

You only look with your human eyes.

My human eyes? I blink at it before raising my gaze again to stare at Elden. For a split second, there is something… like a cloud is wrapped around him. Like something reaches out its hands to grab him. I let go of the light. Make it go away!

I can’t, it says. No one can just chase sorrow and pain away. But I can make it easier.

I notice how the light settles on Elden’s shoulder, the darkness subsiding a little. Then, as fast as I saw it, it’s gone, and I can’t see anything specific anymore.

“Eh,” Jace clears his throat. “What were you just doing Flora?”

I stare at the boys. “I… I am not sure,” I admit. “I just saw something new, something I haven’t seen before.”

“You see a lot of things, don’t you?” Elden asks.

“I don’t know. Grandma says I do, and everyone else finds it weird, but to me it’s normal.”

Jace eyes me curiously. “And what do you see?”

Wow, this is the first time someone has ever shown interest in me. I glance at Elden. I had told him that I saw the dots, the beings of light, but he didn’t tell anyone it seems. Now, however, he looks at me curiously too, apparently wanting to know more. Something about this makes me happy. “It’s like… dots of light… I think they have wings, and sometimes they show me things. Today was the first time I could hear them talk,” I say.

“Are they like fairies?” Elden asks.

“No, they aren’t fairies,” I say. “They are something else. I don’t know how I know, but I do. It’s here.” I press a hand against my chest. “Something here tells me that it’s beings of light and that I should follow them when they want me to.”

“That’s so cool,” Jace says. “I wish I could see something others can’t.”

“You don’t find it weird?” I ask them.

“No,” Elden says. “A lot of lycans and wolves have gifts. Maybe yours is just really special.”

I beam. “That’s what the alpha told my grandma, too.”

“That’s why he doesn’t mind her hanging out with you, Elden,” Jace muses. “She is probably a special lycan.”

“That and the prophecy,” Elden mutters. “I bet that’s it. He mentioned it yesterday.”

“The prophecy?” I ask.

Elden looks at me, surprised. “Did no one tell you? My dad talked to me about it ever since I can remember. I think it’s the only reason he actually talks to me.”

“Does it involve you?” I ask.

“I think it also involves you,” he admits.

“Hm,” I say, furrowing my brows. I try to remember what Grandma said, and now that Elden mentioned it, I think she gave some weird hints here and there. “Grandma likes a certain story,” I tell him. “About a prince and a princess. She is locked in and keeps everything to herself, but then she has to save him.”

Elden doesn’t say anything just looks at me, before it slowly dawns on me. It’s the same story he is talking about. Wow! “And what’s so special about it? It’s like a fairytale.”

“Beats me,” Elden shrugs. “Sounds like any other story.”

“Yeah, but the part with the strong wolf is cool,” Jace points out.

“I like that part too,” Elden admits.

I try to remember Grandma’s story properly, and he is right. At one point, there is a part about the young prince having a strong, dominant wolf, a true ruler or something like that. But I never paid much attention to those parts. “I like the part about the mysterious princess more,” I point out. “And how she saves the prince!” I pause. “Is this really about us?”

Elden shrugs. “Everyone says it is, but I am not sure if I believe it.”

I crunch my nose. “Yes, me neither.” A sudden idea strikes me. “Oh! We can play prince and princess when we visit Jace.”

“And what am I going to be?” Jace wants to know.

“You can play Elden’s wolf.”

“I am not playing Elden’s wolf!” he argues. “I want to be a cool prince, too.”

“You can play Elden’s brother.”

“I don’t have a brother,” Elden argues.

“That’s why it’s a game,” I tell them. “We are just imagining things, dreaming! Grandma says there are no limits to our fantasy.” I look at them curiously. “Do you never play?”

The two boys shrug. “Well, with me you will,” I say.

To my surprise they don’t argue with me, and instead, Jace repeats his invitation once we drop him off. When Elden and I return to Silverlake and halt in front of the packhouse, there is a surprise awaiting us. The luna is standing in front of the main entrance with Gamma Tobias behind her. She is wearing a white, soft cape, and she is so… thin.

Grandma told me once, that she lost a lot of weight and that everyone keeps saying that she used to be such a beautiful woman. Grandma insists that she still is beautiful. I think Grandma is right. Luna Carolina has a kind smile, and her hair is cute. She wears it shoulder length. It’s straight with not the tiniest curl to it, but she wears a bow in it, and it’s the cutest bow I have ever seen.

And she is tall. I hope I will grow up to be tall, too.

Elden and I climb out of the car, and he is clearly stunned. “Don’t you want to say hello to your mom?” I ask him.

“It’s just…” He shakes his head, smiling carefully. Then he gestures for me to follow him. “Mom!” he calls out.

Luna Carolina needs a moment to react, like it takes her great effort to tear her gaze away from the distance and look at us. She puts a hand on Elden’s head. “My boy,” she says.

“That’s Flora,” Elden says, pointing at me. “She is the friend I told you about.”

“It’s been a while, Flora,” Luna Carolina says.

“Do we know each other?” I ask curiously.

“The last time I talked to you, you were very little,” she says.

I smile, completely in awe that she is talking to me.

Luna Carolina takes Elden’s hand. “I want to go for a walk. Maybe my brave prince wants to accompany me?”

“Of course,” Elden says, looking genuinely happy. “I will see you later, Flora.” He hands Gamma Tobias his bag, a proud smile on his lips, that he can join his mother on her walk.