Michela

Chapter ten.

I woke up to an argument between Cornelius and Martha. Ugh! Not again. This time Martha was accusing Cornelius of stealing the roast meat she kept under her covers as a midnight snack. August was busy combing his hair, he had also changed his clothes.

"I think he likes the ghost girl" Leon sneaked behind me and whispered. I nodded in agreement.

We had breakfast, fed our horses, packed up our bags, and got ready to leave. The only person stopping us was August; he was so sure his ghost friend was going to keep her word. We had put drops of Horoma's water in our eyes to find out if he was telling the truth about the ghost. I could see very clearly for the first time arriving in this world. Glasses hadn't been invented yet so, I had to deal with my eyesight.

Then I saw them; spirits lurking in the trees, flying in the air, and walking about. I can't believe August had to deal with all this.

"I can't believe we're waiting in this dangerous forest for a ghost! Someone pinch me please! This must not be real!" Cornelius ranted, pulling me away from my thoughts.

"Be quiet Cornelius" Festus warned

"oh don't you try to shush me! We're supposed to be running away from ghosts not waiting for them! I..."

"I'm sorry for being so late" a strange voice said. We whipped our heads in the direction of the sound. There stood a blonde girl, with high cheekbones, full lips and the sincerest smile I had ever seen. She was beautiful, no, she was stunning. August walked to her and stood by her side smiling like a child. I smirked at him.

"Guys, this is Eudora. Eudora this is Cornelius, Festus, Martha, Leon, and Michela" he said while pointing to each one of us. We waved, she waved back shyly.

"Close your mouth! You're drooling." Martha rolled her eyes while talking to Cornelius who was staring at Eudora wide-mouthed. He closed his mouth, and darted towards Eudora.

"Hi, I'm Cornelius... uhm... I didn't mean what I said the other time. I... uhm..." he chuckled nervously. Martha rolled her eyes even more.

"it's fine, I understand" she smiled at him in return.

"so, Eudora tell us about you." Leon asked

"uhm... I'm British by birth, I've been in this forest for two years. I would have been eighteen years this year if I was uhm... alive." She gave a sad smile.

"what happened to you" Festus asked.

I watched as the smile slowly slid away from her face, being replaced by a more somber look.

"it was my father"

"Your father killed you?" Martha asked with eyes popping out of their sockets. She nodded

"All my life, father has always been ambitious, if other men were riding horses, my dad would want to fly. He never saw himself as an ordinary man, he always wanted what other men could not have. My mother left him, she couldn't bear his attitude. She took me to live with her, but when her new boyfriend said he couldn't marry her if she had a child living with her, she sent me back to live with him. That was when I discovered that my father was after immortality, he didn't want to die like other humans. He drugged my dinner one night, and the next morning I found myself in the forest, my dad was offering me to the werewolves in return for eternal life. He wanted to become a werewolf too, because according to him, Werewolves don't die." She pulled down the neckline of her turtle necked gown, everyone gasped. There was a very large bite mark, obviously caused by a werewolf.

"They accepted me as a sacrifice, performed the necessary rites and this led me to becoming what I am right now; a vengeful spirit. After becoming a werewolf, my father realized that they didn't have eternal life after all, and the Werewolves of this forest are bound to the forest, they can leave during the day, but they have to sleep in this forest at night. I was more than happy to see the look on his face when they broke the news to him. Apparently, they were cursed, because their leader murdered a fellow werewolf to extend his life. The Werewolves of this forest depend on the life force of humans to lengthen their lives. The life expectancy of every average human is a hundred years, if they kill a ten-year-old person, they'd gain the rest of the ninety years. That's how it works. They leave the forest during the day in their human forms, and lure people into the forest. They prefer killing babies or young children, because they get to gain more years. They're the reason why no one that enters this forest leaves."