The Last Spirit Wolf (Elena Norwood)

-Vera-

I turn around, finding Victor Blackwood standing behind me with a warm smile and kind eyes;

eyes that are identical to mine.

"D...dad?" I say, tentatively.

I don't know what's going on, but if I'm here with *him,* I'm definitely dead.

He chuckles, coming closer to me and hugging me.

It takes me a minute to respond, but I hug him back eventually, taking solace in the warmth of his embrace.

"I couldn't do it," I say, swallowing hard to avoid crying again.

He rubs my hair with his hand.

"It's okay, Vera."

"The witches are back," I tell him.

He says nothing; he just keeps rubbing my hair as my face is pressed against his chest.

"They're going to kill everyone," I sob.

"Shh..." he says.

After a few moments, when I've somewhat calmed down, he puts his hands on my shoulders and pushes me gently away from him.

He looks into my eyes.

"It's uncanny." he muses, "you really do have my eyes. Your mother predicted it, you know?"

"My... my mother?" I ask, suddenly my mind drifting away from what's happening in the world of the living.

"Yes," he chuckles, "she somehow knew you'd have my eyes. And her temper, thankfully."

"Where... where is she?" I ask, my heart starting to beat faster.

"Not here," he says with sad eyes, "but, do you want to see what she looked like?"

I nod enthusiastically, completely immersed in whatever afterlife or daydream this might be.

"Come," he says, taking my hand and guiding me into the pool at the end of the waterfall.

It's late at night, the sun isn't shining and there is a New Moon in the sky. For some reason, however, this makes the waterfall, or rather it's rocks, shine with a green brilliance unmatched by anything I've ever seen. It's as if the light emanated directly from millions of crystals within the water.

"Take a deep breath," he says and I comply.

He proceeds to submerge us both in the waterfall, guiding me as we swim deep into the pool.

I gasp as we swim further down, met with a view I didn't expect.

So, the legends *were true. The Jade Waterfall is indeed not comprised entirely of rocks, but rather many, many formations of green crystals within the rocks; emeralds, just like my necklace.

Victor turns around, noting that I'm just floating, marveling at the sight, and signals for me to continue.

Soon, we are within a tunnel, illuminated by the millions of green crystals.

When we reach the end, we can finally come up for air.

To my surprise however, when we emerge, we are not in the forest, in fact, we are directly in front of another pack house; one I do not recognize.

Victor extends his hand to me, helping me out of the pool of water which quickly disappears before my eyes as we emerge from it.

"That's her," he motions towards two teens playing hide and seek at the entrance of the pack house.

I frown.

"She's... she's a teen..." I tell him, lifting up my eyebrow at him.

He puts up his hands defensively.

"Don't hold it against me, I didn't plan for this to happen this way," he says, and then turns to look at the playing lot with a fond smile, "but this is the day I first saw her."

I turn back to look at the teens. They must be around sixteen years old. There's a tall, blonde girl playing with another, more petite brunette.

"You're it!" The blonde girl says, slightly pushing the other girl and dashing off into the distance.

The brunette is about to follow her friend, but something distracts her.

"I knew she was the love of my life right around..." Victor muses.

As if called by name, the brunette whips her head around to examine the tree line; my heart skis several beats.

"That's her," I say without a shadow of a doubt.

She's smaller than I imagined, and yet she has my same frame. Her eyes are kind and her smile is bright. Her long, wavy hair blows gently in the wind as she turns back to look at the forest, her smile dropping slightly. She squints her eyes, which I now notice to be honey colored.

I turn in the direction she's looking, a few meters to our right.

I gasp.

A hooded figure standing right at the tree line is staring right back at her.

I stare between both of them before finally putting the pieces together.

"I remember the wind carrying me that day. I don't know if it was her scent, her essence, her spirit or just... her smile, but the entire cosmos conspired for us to become aware of each other right this day, right this time," Victor says, not being able to take his eyes away from her.

After a few moments, my mother has not moved an inch and neither has my father; they're just staring at each other and I can almost feel their excitement, their fear, their realization, and their connection.Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

Victor breaks my trance,

"Come," he says, turning away from the scene and walking into the forest.

I follow him until we reach a clearing, another scene suddenly unfolding before my eyes.

"Victor, put me down," she squeals, pure delight in her voice.

I see Victor twirling my mom up in the air in his arms.

Her hair is much shorter now and she seems older.

"She was about your age here. We had finally began dating, unbeknownst to her clan, of course. But we were so, so happy," there's a tint of sadness in his tone and when I turn to look at him, his eyes are glassy. "This is the day we decided to run away together," he continues, not taking his eyes away from the scene.

"What was her name?" I finally ask, wanting to focus on anything other than his sadness.

"Alina Allen," he says.

My head snaps in his direction.

"Did you just say... Allen?"

He chuckles.

"I understand your surprise. She was not actually an Allen, so to speak. She was a descendant of their line, but even from previous generations, her family no longer carried the name. The gene had become too diluted to be considered Allens. I only know because I knew several of her ancestors."

This takes me several moments to process.

"I" I begin, but close my mouth.

"That makes you a descendant of the Allens, too," he tells me and I turn to look at him, "that's why your connection to Sophia is so strong. That's why you two could mind link even without your wolf. You two are related. Distantly, that is, but the Allens have always had strong blood connections."

I frown, letting all of this sink in.

"That's why they had to be the ones to take care of you," he says, "even if they didn't know exactly who you were, they'd naturally feel drawn to caring for you and protecting you."

I turn to him.

"Why couldn't it be you? Why couldn't it be mom?" I ask, suddenly angry at him for all those years I felt abandoned and unwanted. He turns serious.

"Because we knew what was coming, Vera. *I* knew what was coming. When I met your mother, *we* had already crossed paths several hundred years before, and I knew* you were my daughter the instant I laid eyes on you. I didn't know how, I didn't know when, but I also knew *what* you were; even if through a time-leap vision, I could sense your power and I could smell your wolf, and for the first time in my life, I knew real fear."

Time-leap vision? He can't mean... the time I was unconscious back at the pack house? The vision I had with him waiting for a carriage, and the vision I had with him at Jade Waterfall. I knew he had seen me, but how is it possible that he *remembers* me. It was just a vision, after all; I always thought they were like dreams that happened in my head. A vision of a different time.

I gulp.

He continues,

"So, you see, we had to make sure you were protected, we had to make sure that the witches couldn't get to you. That's why I asked my mother and sister to block your magic, hoping it would give you a chance at a real life; a happy life. I even transferred myself into Jade Waterfall to be close to you, to protect you..."

I interrupt him, "You did what?" I ask, bewildered.

"The spell you saw me do at Jade Waterfall transferred my essence to the emeralds within the waterfall. The underwater caves run several hundred miles into every direction, and so do the gemstones. I fussed my spirit, so to speak, with the emeralds, so that I could ward off dark magic from the Allen clan... from you."

My mouth is hanging open, realization dawning on me.

"That's why the forest always felt like home..." I whisper.

He smiles warmly.

"Yes," he says. "I was there for every tumble, every fall, for every time you felt the wind on your face and hair and for every time the forest spoke to you. I was there."

Tears start to fall from my tired eyes.

"I always felt so... alone," I reminisce.

"But never lonely," he says.

I smile at him.

"No, never lonely."

He places his warm hand on my cheek and I lean into the touch; feeling like a heavy burden has been lifted from my heart. His touch *does* feel like home.

Maybe this is what the afterlife is for; for making peace with everything and everyone that once hurt us or made us sad. Making peace with a life cut too short. Making peace with all the what ifs.

I turn to him as his face turns up after a while, his smile falling.

"Well, I guess it's time," he finally says, and suddenly, we are transported back to Jade Waterfall.