The Chosen Ones

Chapter one

The banshee started screeching at midnight.

Twilight McGowan bolted up in bed, her long legs tangled in the heavy royal purple duvet. Breathing heavily, she looked around the dark room, the piercing sounds causing her ears to ring.

If she had to guess, a banshee's scream was a mix between a howler monkey and Tasmanian devil. Enough to send nightmares diving into her skull.

Twilight pushed a lock of dark hair off her forehead and slid out of bed. Her silk top riding too high, she pulled it down again as she paddled over to the window. Pushing aside the dark blue curtains, she peered out the window, but it was so dark, she couldn't see anything.

"Dammit," Twilight cursed as the screaming continued. She rubbed at her still ringing ears, pulled on a gown and stepped out into the hall. In the dark, she would never be able to tell where the screaming came from, and last week, she spent the entire night with no idea. Until an exhausted looking mother knocked on the front door the next morning.

Twilight walked down the harrow hallway, the wooden floorboards beneath her feet protesting and creaking as she moved. Still, she didn't worry about the sound she made. No doubt, half the neighbourhood was awake thanks to the blasted banshee.

Refastening the tie around her fluffy blue dressing gown, Twilight followed the soft light at the end of the hallway. Entering the kitchen, her mum, Jane McGowan, stood hunched over the small wooden table in the centre of the kitchen. In front of her was a steaming mug of coffee.

"I hope you made extra," Twilight said, making a beeline for the coffee machine. There wasn't much of the dark liquid left, but enough for Twilight to have some. Pouring the last of the coffee into a mug, Twilight reached for the sugar container.

"That's enough," Jane said, slowly raising her head as Twilight was scooping her third spoonful of sugar into the mug.

With a sheepish smile, Twilight stirred her coffee and joined her mum at the dining table. "I hate banshees," she muttered as she sat down. With only her and her mum, and not often that much company, there was never any need for there to be any more than four chairs at the table.

Jane wearily shook her head, her pale blonde hair pulled away from her face. "Don't say that, honey."

Twilight took a sip of her coffee. "I do. This is the third time this week that . . ."

"I know." Jane sighed into her coffee. "But it'd get better. The kid will learn soon enough."

Twilight scoffed and finished her coffee. The kid, from what she figured, had to be about twelve or thirteen. Supernaturals usually start to develop their powers in their early teen years.

"Just try to be patient," Jane continued. "Remember how hard you had it when your magic started to manifest. You were certainly no picnic."

Twilight's head plonked onto the table loudly. Her eyelids were so heavy. She'd definitely have nasty circles under her eyes in the morning. Just perfect for school. "That's different," she mumbled against the wood of the table. "I never kept the whole neighbour awake at night."

"No," Jane said with a smile, moving from the table, taking Twilight's and her own mug to the sink and rinsing them out. "I only had to go to the police station at three in the morning."

Twilight was too tired to lift her head. "That only happened once." And not her fault. She wanted to play with one of the monkeys in the zoo, so she snuck in, with the intention of shifting into a monkey, only to instead transform into a tiger. To say the monkeys were alarmed would be a massive understatement.