Crestfall (The Crestfall Saga Book 1)

1 - Welcome To Crestfall

Welcome To Crestfall.

Chapter One

She was running.

Her heart throbbed painfully against her ribcage as she ran barefoot through the dense forest. Tree branches reached out to her, scraped against the skin of her arms, caught on the cloth of her shirt, but she ignored it all and ran as if her life depended on it.

She heard the distinct sound of a twig snapping, and then a gallop that would have gone unnoticed by her if she hadn't been waiting for it. She glanced from side to side and finally caught sight of him running through the trees alongside her.

The wolf.

His black coat shimmered beneath the moonlight that managed to break through the roof of trees above them and his eyes glistened in a playful way. She had never seen a wolf smile, but she imagined it looked a lot like him in that moment. He caught her gaze and she shuddered as they both stumbled out into a clearing, the light of the moon as blinding as sunlight. The sound of the river flowing beside them calmed her as she fought to catch her breath. The wolf moved to take a drink and then stopped suddenly, his body growing tense as he arched his long neck and looked to the sky. His fur bristled as he opened his mouth and howled, a long, lonely, haunting sound that never seemed to end...

A cry of warning.

Something's coming.

"Sailor!"

Sailor Landwell awoke with a start, tangled in sheets that were sticky with her own sweat. It was only a dream, but the realness of it had left her disoriented. She could swear that she still smelled fresh pine and nighttime air.

"Sailor," Her grandfather, Tate, called as he walked in and yanked her blaring alarm clock from the wall. "You need to get up. It's move-in day."

Sailor sat up, squinting against the harsh daylight that filtered in through the blinds. Move-in day. College. Crestfall University.

She took a breath, yawned, and rubbed her eyes. Tate was stacking her already packed boxes and getting ready to haul them out to her Toyota. "What time is it?" She murmured. Her alarm had been set for 7:30, but the daylight streaming in through her window made her think she had severely overslept, something that wasn't like her at all. Her dreams were more than likely to blame for that.

"10:00," Tate replied, making Sailor cringe. "Amelia left about an hour ago."

"And she didn't even bother to wake me up?" Sailor groaned, stumbling out of bed and nearly tripping over a sheet. Amelia, her younger sister, who hadn't even wanted to go to college until Sailor convinced her to give it a chance. "I'm gonna kill her!"

"She didn't wake you, because I wouldn't let her," Tate chided, turning around to face the redhead. The seriousness of his stony gaze was hindered by the constant smile he seemed to wear, especially when it came to his granddaughters. "I heard you up in here until two a.m. doing God knows what, and you needed to sleep in. Your apartment will still be there no matter how late you set out."

Sailor smiled despite herself, and then wrapped her arms around him tightly. "I love you, granddad."

"I love you too, kiddo," He replied, kissing her on the head. "And, don't threaten to kill your sister."

"I'll try." She smiled at him as she grabbed the outfit she had picked out for herself the night before and headed to the bathroom to shower - and to think. She was so excited she thought she would burst, and she practically danced her way into the bathtub. For a while, she had been afraid starting school late would be awkward - she was fairly sure she would be the only 20-year old freshman - but when she remembered she had spent the past two years traveling through Europe, she decided she didn't care. That had certainly been an opportunity she was not going to turn down. Europe had been full of experiences and memories she would never forget, but now it was time for her to focus on what she had been wanting ever since she was ten years old - graduating from Crestfall University with a pre-med degree in her hand.