Rise [COMPLETED] - Book 1 of the Legends Series

Chapter Eighteen

Everything was dark. Was I dead? I thought death was light?

Everything shifted and I was in my house, in my room. My vision was fuzzy, like a light haze was surrounding me. Outside the windows was a white void. The pure white light poured into my room and made everything look washed out. I glanced around and realized the décor looked how it did when I was a child.

I heard a familiar giggling and followed the sound to the spare room. No. To Elliot's room. It was decorated now. Sitting on the bed in the corner was a younger version of myself and Elliot. Our mom sat between us with a book in her hands.

"Not that one," my younger version whined. Her voice echoed through this weird plane. Not excessively, but it sounded like her voice reached my ears at a different paces.

"Read the one with the wolf," Elliot chimed in. He was so happy and full of life.

"No," young me replied sharply, "the wolf is a bad guy in that one Eli."

"How about I tell you the story of the first werewolves?" Our mom questioned. We both cheered in response.

"A long, long time ago humans began to cross the water from Europe to the New World. They came to America and began to greedily take more and more land from the natives. These people took and took but never gave back.

A coven of powerful witches, the Croatoan, sought to scare these invaders away so they would stop their taking. So under the full moon's light, the witches cursed an invader colony known as Roanoke to walk the earth like the dogs they were, turning the entire group into wolves.

Many years passed and a young, but powerful witch named Denali came across the group of cursed wolves. She fell in love with one of the wolves, Damon, and begged her coven to lift the curse so she could be with the one she loved.

Her coven agreed, but only partially. The wolves would have a human form as well as a wolf.  Because of the unconditional affection the witch showed for her true love, all wolves would be driven by a loyalty and desire for their soulmate.

Their life would be devoted to finding this person and cherishing them until their last breath. If they lost or betrayed their soulmate, they would lose their human form and slowly wither away. This was the beginning of the werewolves."

The room blurred for a moment before refocusing. I saw that my younger self was now staring directly at me.

"Is Leo gonna wither away now too?" she asked me.

What? No! I wasn't dead. I couldn't be. I turned and exited the room. As soon as I crossed the doorway, I dodged another younger version of myself running down the hallway. She was older this time.

"Leo!" she squealed as she raced down the stairs. I followed after my younger version and saw her practically tackle a young Leo. "Elliot said you shifted."

He froze and my younger self pulled away. "What's wrong?" she questioned softly.

"Juliet...I think...you're my mate," he breathed. He wrapped her in a hug and spun her around. She squealed with delight. "You're my mate Juliet!"

"So we get to be friends forever?"

Leo nodded, "forever and ever."

They hugged again as Elliot entered. Juliet pulled away and ran to him. "Eli! Leo's my mate and we're going to be friends forever now."

Elliot furrowed his brows, "but you're my sister Jules...and Leo is my friend, not yours."

The younger me pouted, "Why can't we share though?"

Suddenly, a bite wound formed on her neck. It was right where Leonardo had tried to mark me. Blood began to pour out and the children just watched.

"Oh," the young me mumbled, "that's why."

I closed my eyes to avoid seeing the scene and when I opened them the room was empty

"Daddy!" A young Juliet appeared and ran to the front door, hugging my father as he entered. She glanced over and saw his beta and Leonardo enter. She didn't recognize Leonardo though. He looked into her eyes and she tried to hide behind our father.

"Hey princess," my dad spoke as he picked her up and held her on his hip, "can you say hi to Mr. Connors?"

She gave a slight wave and stared curiously at Leo. "Who's that," she whispered. There was a strange silence, like no one wanted to answer.

My dad cleared his throat. "That's Leonardo sweetie," he replied, "he's gonna be your beta."

"When I'm the Alpha, right?"

He nodded, "that's right."

She looked to Leonardo and grinned, "that means you gotta listen to me."

"Yeah," he spoke softly, like he was barely paying attention.

"Well I think we better get going," Mr. Connors said, resting a hand on Leonardo's shoulder.

"But you just got here," she whined. She squirmed out of my dad's arms and ran over to the beta.

"It's okay Juliet," Mr. Connors replied, patting her head, "we'll be back soon."

He said goodbye and as they were leaving Leonardo whispered. "She doesn't remember me?"

"Later son," his father replied as they walked down the pathway. Juliet kept the door cracked open and listened closely.

I heard them stop and Leonardo spoke with authority, "No! Tell me now, what did you do?"

The front door slammed shut, making her jump. She looked up and saw my dad. His palm was planted firmly on the door. "What did I tell you about spying Juliet?" he asked.

"Sorry," she mumbled, looking to the ground.

My father smiled and bent down to her level, "it's okay sweetheart."

My younger self looked at me, "maybe you wouldn't be here...if he had forgiven Eli too."

Where was here? My younger self slowly faded away to dust. My father soon followed. I stood there alone for a moment. Suddenly, the house began to shake around me. Pieces began to crumble away and the blinding white light started to pour in.

This is what I envisioned death looking like. But I wasn't peaceful, I was panicked. 

I didn't want to go. I had to stay for Elliot, for Leonardo,

For me.

I couldn't leave now. I wouldn't. The white light blinded me for an instant, then everything was dark.