Escape

2 • foUr

Written by: Daisy Quacquarelli
Edited by: Daisy Quacquarelli

Dryla's POV

As the car started up, I glanced at Juxe in the mirror. As usual, he looked calm and collected, the grey suit he always wore, spotless, of course.

I look at him a moment longer, confused, before his cold, blue eyes, sensing something, snapped up and held my gaze in the mirror. To my great relief, smile creases showed in the corner of his eyes and he let out a small chuckle.

"Is there a question on your mind, miss?" he asked, his eyes travelling between mine and the road. "You look lost in thought."

I tilt my head slightly and look out of the window before replying. "I've just been wondering," I said. "You've been our chauffeur for 7 years, yet you've never shown your power to me. Or, if I have seen it, I can't remember."

Frown lines creased between his eyes as he focused on the road. A silence broke between us and just as I gave up hope-

"Once."

I startled. "Pardon?"

"Once," he repeated, hands gripping the steering wheel tightly. "When you were very young, only around four. That's probably why you don't remember.

"You were at your grandad's house, the one in the country, tottering about the garden near the forest. I saw you. But your grandfather was asleep.

"Being the young, curious girl you were, you walked towards the woods. And you saw me before I changed. Then, I ran and only heard a short cry of anguish from you."

I listened to short story told curtly by our chauffeur but it wasn't as though he was never like it. Juxe was never one to elaborate.

"You say 'changed'," I reply, still slightly confused. "What do you mean?"

A sigh escaped Juxe's lips and he did nothing to hide it. Juxe and I don't hide our emotions from each other.

"I am a Half-Lupine," he says. "I have the power to shift into a wolf but a human-"

I interrupt. "Is your real form. Aye, we learnt it in class."

His smile retuned. "Well, at least you pay attention in class if not to your past."

I flashed him a smile back and am rewarded with a glint of his startlingly, white teeth.

"You tell it like a story," I chuckled, and turned to look out of the window, resting my hand on my chin. "I was expecting you to start with 'Once upon a time'."

He laughed and my ears were pleased with the soft sound that escaped his lips. I had loved Juxe for years but he was a Lupine and I knew that now. I would be dangerous and I couldn't deal with danger right now. Not when I'm starting a new school.

"Miss Lique," Juxe's voice came from the front and I turned away from the window to look forwards.

"What is it?"

His sparkling blue eyes glanced at me and then back to the road.

"We're here."

Craning my neck, my mouth gaped at the hill and the monstrosity of a building at the top. The whole structure was dark and alluring in a way. I simply stared, transfixed as we drew closer and closer.