The Werewolf's Curse (fan fiction) (second book in Epilogue series)

Chapter 11: The Nature Stone

They trekked through the Redwood forest, they felt like ants compared to the massive trees towering over them. The path they were taking was very worn, they stopped when they saw a directory. "Which one do we take?" Nicholas asked. They looked at the sign for a minute,

"Firefly cove." Ericka said, looking at the trail veering off to the right. the trail had grass and some small plants growing on it,

"The abandoned part of the forest!" Zoey yelped, running down the trail,

"Zoey! Wait! It could be dangerous!" Nicholas yelled, running after her. Dracula and Ericka just walked down the trail silently. Then, the stone began to flash repeatedly. She popped it out of the pendant and stared at it, they stopped walking.

"What's wrong with it?" Drac asked.

"I....I don't know." She stuttered. The forest seemed to dim around her. The stone got brighter, until it flashed. A gust of wind made Drac stumble off his feet, and made his cape flop onto his face. Once he got his cape off his face, his heart fluttered in fear... Ericka was gone. He got to his feet and began to call her name aimlessly....

Ericka found herself in a lush forest. She put the stone back in the pendant and looked around. Birds were chirping, long green grass and bright green leaves were all around her. Flowers grew all around her, violets, lavenders, red roses and poppies. She saw two purple roses, one slightly bigger than the other, growing in the crack of a boulder in the center of the clearing. She went over to the roses, climbed the boulder and looked at the roses. It looked like the smaller flower was leaning towards the bigger flower. The bigger flower wrapped it's leaves around the smaller flower. She heard some words in her head, You are Stronger Together.... She lightly grabbed the base of the larger flower, careful to avoid the thorns, and plucked it. She closed her eyes, held the rose near her nose and took a deep sniff. a small smile spread over her face and she let out a relaxed sigh, "It's just like the one Drac gave me." She whispered, gently caressing the pedals. The rose reacted to her touch and the pedals seemed to spread and become more vibrant, almost like it was glowing.

Then a gruff voice sounded from the forest, "Silvermist is that you?" She froze, some sort of creature stepped out from the forest. It had a tree-like body with claw-like hands. Moss grew around it's feet and hands. It had self-illuminating eyes and a long...mustache? "Silvermist?" It asked again. Using her super speed, she zoomed off the rock and hid behind it, still holding the rose tightly, But the tree had sharp vision. "Who's there?" It asked, walking closer to her. The Water stone flashed more intensely.

"Stop flashing!" She whispered sharply to it. The tree peeked around the boulder,

"Who are you?" He asked, she leaped back. "And how do you have that stone?"

"Silvermist gave it to me." She said uncertainty.

"Why would Silvermist EVER do that?" The tree said.

"Well I helped get it back from two people who tried to steal it."

"the Silvermist i know would never do that." The tree said.

"She did for me." Ericka mumbled. the tree scratched it's head. She saw an emerald green stone tangled in tree branches, like a bracelet around the tree's wrist. "Is that the Nature stone?" She asked.

"It is.." The tree replied. Before she could respond, a high pitched wine cut through the air. She covered her ears, but that had no effect. It got louder and louder. She felt like it was trying to dominate her brain. She started to groan, her eyesight got blurry. Everything seemed to be going...blue? She collapsed to her knees. She cried out in pain. The tree looked confused, and he vanished. The ground became rocky, the gentle forest breeze faded away. Then, the noise stopped. She slowly looked up, she was back at Silvermist's throne room. She stood up and looked around, "Hello?" She asked. Her voice echoed through the empty room.

"ERICKA!" Silvermist yowled. She bounded in front of her.

"What?!" Ericka asked.

"You have to leave the forest NOW!"

"But i'm here." Ericka said.

"No..i'm only in your head and I can't hold it for long." Silvermist said urgently. The purple rose was still gripped in Ericka's hand.

"You NEED to leave NOW." Silvermist said,

"but WHY?" Ericka asked,

"Danger lurks in the darkness," Silvermist droned, "you will fall one by one, united you stand..divided you fall." Everything began to fade after Silvermist said those last words. The noise came back, louder than the first time.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Ericka screeched, everything went black. Drac was still looking around when Ericka appeared out of nowhere.

"Your OK!" he said happily, hugging her tightly.

"Yes....I am." She said. They broke apart and Drac saw the rose in her hand,

"Where'd you get that?" He asked.

"I found it," She said softly, "it...it reminded me of you." They stared at each other for a moment, then the purple rose suddenly started to twitch. One of the thorns pricked Ericka's finger, "Ow!" She yelped, dropping the rose. It continued to twitch, the pedals began to turn black and wither. Until the whole thing was just a black and grey, withered flower. The strange voice played in her head again,

You are stronger together...Then you are apart...when you are separated, your love weakens, you become vulnerable, weak, soft. Stay together and you can overcome your fears, break apart and lose yourself. Never give up hope and you will win. otherwise you will give into the darkness, you will see nothing, you will feel nothing, you will never be anything...