A Werewolf's Promise (Scarwood Chronicles #1)

Chapter 2: Friends and Foes

Maybe it was a bad idea to not let his mom go with him. Perhaps it was the rather foreboding information he had overheard, the rock hidden in his coat pocket, or the strange noises which only seemed to grow louder the deeper he walked into the woods, but Sugar was majorly creeped out.

"It's fine, I'm not gonna die... I'm not going to die.. I. Am. Not. Going. To. Die." he said to himself in an attempt to calm himself down. By now, he was deep enough in the forest that the trees blocked out almost all of the sun, and he could barely see five feet in front of him. Yep, he definitely should have asked his mom to come with him.

He tried to walk as quickly and quietly as possible, which was hard, as every step broke a cluster of twigs, sending a crack rippling through the trees. Sugar scowled. The one downside of having a private enchanted forest: you won't be able to meet any one who could accompany you.

But as he walked, the forest began to shift. The changeover. He was now walking through the other enchanted forest. More than half of the way there now. And sure enough, he began to hear the voices of others, echoing through the trees towards him. Feeling a little more reassured, he continued on his way, and all was fine, until his ears picked out something. Footsteps. And they were getting closer.

Relax, it's just one of the other students... Sugar thought to himself. Probably.

Then from somewhere to his left, two glowing, cyan eyes appeared, and looked straight at him. He didn't even have enough time to react before whatever it was rushed out of the darkness towards him.

"Hello! Uhhhhh, do you know which way's the right way to go to Scarwood? I think I got myself lost." a tall boy who was currently plucking leaves out of his dreaded locks. He had bright blue eyes, and mottled skin, some patches lighter than others. Sugar relaxed and kicked himself internally. Of course it was a student. He had just gotten worked up over nothing.

"You literally just go straight," Sugar said, pointing out in front of him, "how'd you even get lost in the first place?"

The tall boy seemed a little embarrassed at this question.

"Well, there was this squirrel, right? So I may have gotten a little distracted by the squirrel and followed it for a bit too long, and gotten lost. But since I'm here, I guess it all worked out fine in the end?" he said with a nervous laugh.

"Seriously?" Sugar looked on incredulously. "That's actually kind of sad."

"Hey, don't laugh, I'm highly perceptible to squirrels, you know, my ma used to say it's probably something to do with her, but she's was never sure... oh wait, I'm not supposed to talk about that to other people. Never mind. Pretend I didn't say anything."

Sugar shrugged.

"Fine by me. You said nothing of substance anyways. I'll let you'll follow me to the school, but only that." he muttered quickly, and continued on his path, eager not to converse with this strange guy anymore. But from beside him, the tall boy continued to talk.

"Oh, okay then! The name's Knight by the way, like the chess piece!"

Sugar somehow took on an even more incredulous expression.

"...Your parents really thought that was a good idea?"

The tall boy nodded.

"My mom said it was a noble name! So are you a first year as well?"

"Yep." Sugar said, with enough force to indicate that he didn't really wish to talk for much longer, but Knight didn't seem to get it.

"Nice! What's your name?" he said with the same annoying cheerfulness. Finally, after a long period of awkward silence, Sugar reluctantly made a reply. Not because he wanted to, but because Knight seemed intent on staring at him until he made a reply.