RAINA'S POV

It was still dark out, I could still see the stars in the sky shining like diamonds by the dark blue background. The sun hasn't come up yet. This is my chance I thought to myself. I quietly sneak out of my room with my satchel that I swung over my shoulder. Clinging beside me was my best friend, Stella who also happens to be my personal spell consultant. She was the one who I'd turn to if I needed some help with spells. If there was someone that can teach me on how to turn everyday objects into anything that I could possibly think of while shooting flames from my fingers at the same time, she's the girl.

"Are you sure about this ? You know you're not suppose to leave the castle's ground, not along doing magic in the forest," she whispered to me while I slowly led us towards the balcony that was just down the hall from my chamber. Unlike me, she doesn't like to go against the rules. Especially the ones that my father had told me and one of it is to stay inside the castle. How long does he wants to hide me from the world ? He can't just keep me locked up in my room forever. Not when I have my responsibilities for my people. We both know that, but sometimes I think that I'm the only one who's actually taking it seriously.

"He can't keep me inside this place forever, Stella. Plus, I wanted to try out a spell that I'd found while I was reading in the library the other day," I admitted. I turned to look at her and saw her hesitant. She was staring back at me with doubts. "I don't know, Raina. Your father is the king. What he says, goes. I can't just run around helping you break the rules. I could get in trouble," she finally said.

"We'll be back before anyone finds out that we're gone. I promise," I reassured her. Then, I took her hand and we walked out the balcony. I casted a spell on one of the tree branch and it slowly crept towards us. I slowly went over the railings and climbed down the branch. I paused and looked up. "Come on," I called out to her. She looked at me with worry eyes. She turned her head slightly to see if we were being followed then turned back towards me. "I'm gonna regret this," I heard her mumble to herself. She swallowed her fear and went over the railings.

By the time we reached the ground, I took a quick look around to see if the course was cleared. Then swiftly we made our way towards the forest.

******

I took out the spell book from my satchel and placed it on a large boulder. We were sitting next to a wide streaming river. The water was reflecting the stars above our heads. With just one reach on the surface of the water, it felt like I could almost touch them. I turned to the page where the spell was. "Here it is," I said when I finally found it. The light from the almost-full moon helped to lighten up the place so that I was able to read it. Stella stretched her neck to look over my shoulder. "A summon spell ?" I felt her tensed behind me. I noded my head slightly before I stood in the middle of a wide space between the woods and the river. Back at the library the other day, I read about the spell. It's a spell use to call out the animals and the spell also allows you to communicate with them.

I was facing the forest with the spell book in my hands. I repeated the spell in my head before saying it out loud. I grabbed a hand full of dirt and took a deep breath. I chant the spell and blow on the dirt in my hand letting the wind take over. I took a step back and looked around. My eyes wided in expectations to see random animals coming towards me but my hopes got the best of me. There were only silence in the air. Nothing but the sound of the wind blowing. "It didn't work," I sighed in disappointment.

"Of course it did. We just have wait a little longer," Stella was now standing beside me while giving me a pat on my back. I looked at her curiously. "How can you tell ?" I asked her. I was always confused on how she was able to be so sure of my abilities. Does it have anything to do with her always being there for me since day one ? Despite her fear of getting into trouble because she had to keep an eye out for me, she's always confident about what I was capable of. That is one of the things that I like about her. She never doubted my powers. She had her right hand on my shoulder and gave me a smile. "Because I felt it. You are Queen Airana's daughter and the Guardian of Cazriel. You are more powerful than you think. Remember that," she reminded me.

The sound of rustling bushes and broken twigs had startled both of us. We turned our heads towards the sound that was coming from up front. My eyes widen in disbelief. I took a glimpse at what looks like a buck with its large antlers and a doe standing beside it. Then, there were more of them. I caught the sight of rabbits hopping out from the bushes and squirels climbing down from the trees. "Raina, look," I turned to see Stella pointing out to the sky. I watched in amazement as I see birds flying over our heads and landed on the branches. I cupped my mouth with my hands and gasped in excitement.

"I did it. I did it. I can't believe it. And on my first try," I said loud enough for just Stella to hear. I turned myself towards her and gave her a tight squeeze. We both laughed for joy at my successful attempt. "I told you it worked," she whispered in my ear and I can still sense the smile on her face.

We finally broke up from the hug when we heard a growl coming from the other side of the river. Before I could turn to see what it was,  I heard a cry from the animals. I saw fear in their eyes. They started to run back into the woods and the birds flew away in a hurry. "What's going on ? What happened ?" I asked in bewilderment. I looked back towards the other side of the river and saw a figure that seemed to be coming closer. I narrowed my eyes to get a better view of what it was. As it got closer, a gasped had escaped from my lips. It was a large grey wolf.

"Raina..." I felt Stella's hand holding on to my arm. But my eyes was still locked on the wolf. The stare of it's bright red eyes was piercing into mine. A strange tingling feeling was developed inside of me. It didn't feel like fear. It was something else but I couldn't bring myself to figure out what it was.

"Raina ?! Snap out of it. Let's go !" Stella was shaking me back to my senses. I shook my head and turned to look at her. I could tell that she was in a shock. She was trembling in fear. Realizing that I should get her out of here, I quickly grabbed my satchel and stuff my spell book inside it. Before I could make my way back into the woods with Stella still clinging on my upper arm, I was able to glance back at the wolf and looked right into it's eyes.

"Wait. Something's wrong," I stopped on my track which had almost caused her to trip since she was dragging me to get out of there. "What ?" she asked me impatiently. My eyes was looking back at the wolf. It didn't look like it was going to hurt us. Something was wrong with it. I tried to look closer and something caught my eyes. It was limping and I couldn't help but notice that almost half of it's body was covered with bleeding cuts and wounds. It was limping it's way towards the river. If I didn't know any better, I was sure that it was howling in pain. Drawing me to go and help it.

All of a sudden, it collapsed just beside the river and started to transform itself. I watched in disbelief as it changed itself into a boy. He had one hand stretched towards me. "Ughh," a groan left his mouth before he fell into a deep unconsciousness. Without thinking any further, I found myself running towards him. I heard Stella calling out to me but I ignored her. I could only think about that boy in front of me. I only thought of helping him. I need to help him. I have to help him.

OMG !!! What's happening ? Who is that boy ? Why was he covered with cuts and wounds ? How was he able to transform himself into a wolf ? Does he really mean no harm ? Hehehe.... Stick around for the next chapter to find out...

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