Hybrid (Book 1, The Hand of God Series)

Chapter 1: Cry Wolf

Drake tapped his fingers rhythmically against his wooden desk. He wouldn't have been here if he had known that it would be so dull. He glanced up at the clock. There was only half an hour left.

"Mr. Matthews, are you listening?" his teacher asked slamming her hand against her desk. Drake simply nodded in response.

"Then you wouldn't mind answering this question right?" she asked and he slowly stood up and walked towards the whiteboard.

Drake glanced at the clock again and starting his unreasonably long explanation. He had twenty five minutes left. After purposefully dragging out his explanation as much as he possibly could, he had to return to his seat. He glanced once again at the clock, another six minutes were gone. He sat down, clearing his mind of everything except the lecture until the bell rang, signalling the end of class. Despite being seated near the back of the room, Drake was one of the first ones to exit the room.

"Hey, Drake, wait up!" a loud voice shouted as someone ran up to him.

"Oh, hey Mark, how's it going?" he asked and Mark shrugged his shoulders with a smirk.

"Good, I guess. But anyway, enough about me, are you excited for your birthday next week." he asked enthusiastically. Drake only shrugged in reply. He did not share his friend's enthusiasm for his birthday. He wasn't very interested in parties.

Finally at his house, Drake ran a hand through his hair and sighed. It would just be another week before he could start his bow training. His adopted father, Winston Matthews was a master with most weapons and had taught Drake how to wield them. It took him five years to teach Drake to achieve mastery with tomahawks, axes, swords, spears and halberds. Drake's weapons of choice were dual swords. Drake pulled out his key and unlocked the door.

"Hello?"

No reply. He heaved a light sigh. His mother wasn't home yet. He went upstairs to his bedroom, removed his contact lenses and collapsed onto his bed, falling asleep before his head even hit the pillow.

He stared at the open forest around him blankly. Where was he? Suddenly, he heard the cry of a baby and felt his stomach lurch and his head spin as if he had been airborne, and then he was inside a clearing in a forest. The clearing housed a cottage. The cries resounding throughout the forest was coming from the cottage. He felt drawn to it for some reason. Slightly transfixed, he stepped inside.

He stared at the scene before him. He had no idea who the people were, but they seemed familiar. All of a sudden the world around him distorted and faded and he woke up.

Drake

My eyes opened and I found myself staring at the ceiling. That was a rather strange dream, or at least it should have been. The familiarity makes it far stranger. My ears twitched, it sounds like my mother is home. I glanced at my watch. 6:00 AM. I'd been sleeping for 10 hours, the longest I had ever slept on a school day. Fortunately, my school begins at 8 AM. I had two hours to get ready. My mother opened the door and caught sight of me.

"Drake, why are you still in bed? You should be getting dressed." she said with her eyebrows raised.

"Sorry, I overslept." I replied, forcing an embarrassed smile. I did usually wake up much earlier, so the embarrassment was easy to play on.

"Oh, alright, you should get dressed. Also your father won't be coming home until later." she said as she was leaving.

I sighed and dropped my smile, my choice to take those classes was a mistake. I was certain that if I could feel anything, I would have been bored. I placed my contacts back into my eyes and had my usual light breakfast. I said goodbye to my mother and left for school. I looked down at my watch and I saw that it had been an hour since I last checked. But I still had plenty of time to practice my expressions before getting to school.