The brakes hiss and screech as the train comes to a slow stop and its doors open steadily, allowing passengers to get on and off. Leslie yawns softly and covers her emerald eyes away from the sunlight before opening them. She looks around, dazed, trying to remind herself of where she is and why. She watches the few people that got onto the train walk through the aisle of seats, searching for a perfect spot, which is an easy choice to do since it wasn't crowded at all. Her eyes followed the black hair of a stranger and watched as he sat down into a seat on the opposite side, by the window. She found his features and build interesting, and when he turned his head to look around; their eyes locked. Leslie didn't look away and neither did the man. She took note of his eyes which seemed unusually familiar to her, but she just couldn't get her head around it.
Finally, he looked away and Leslie turned back to face Emily, who was tapping away never-endlessly on her laptop. Her glasses reflected the screen of the laptop, so she could see Emily was reading something about Iceland, sometimes switching tabs onto google maps.
"How long have I slept?" Leslie asked, breaking the silence and looking out the window as the train began moving again and it let out a steadily increasing chugging sound.
"Not long, like 3 hours. We still have an hour left, so good timing." Emily replied, looking up. "We'll catch a boat from Ullapool. The journey from there is about.. a day tops. Depending on the type of boat." Leslie nodded and got out her found book. She started reading it when they got onto the train, but of course, she fell asleep. Now, she flipped through a few pages, searching for drawings. There was one of a wolf, which quite well resembled herself in wolf form, but it was a male with darker fur. The writer must've been very close to the werewolf to get these details of eyes and fur and head and body shape, it was fascinating for Leslie to read about her ancestors in such detail. Other drawings included paw marks in mud, dead animals and bite marks on them; probably from a lycanthrope and certain places.
An hour later they reached their train destination and got off, Leslie searched for the familiar eyes of the man, but he was gone. She didn't think much of it and they continued making their way towards the coast. It was a beautiful day, surprisingly; considering how it had rained for several days in a row. Rivers meandered over hills and below roads, flowing down into the dark ocean. They walked for an hour, stopping here and there to drink, eat and rest a bit, then they came across a large house and Emily checked the map before walking up to it.
"This must be it." She said, looking around and Leslie nodded; watching the house as they approached. It was made of bricks and wood, it had a garage which seemed to be unused, and it had a first floor as well as a ground floor. Leslie attempted to knock, but Emily brushed her hand away and the red-haired girl gave her a confused glance. "I'll handle this, we both know you're not very good with strangers." Emily giggled, stepping back; Leslie smiled and nodded at her in agreeance.
The door opened and a cheerful woman greeted them with a firm handshake, inviting them inside.
"Would you like some tea? I also made some potatoes with vegetables for dinner, there's some chicken along with it as well if you'd like some." She smiled gleefully at the two girls, her old, but still beautiful face wrinkled up around her eyes and lips. Leslie and Emily returned her smile while putting down their suitcases.
"Oh! That would be wonderful, we had a long day..." Emily responded in a happy tone and followed the old woman into the kitchen, their voices became muffled. Leslie looked around; there was an old set of stairs and the living room looked very cosy with a few sofas and a fireplace and radio, but no other electronics present. She walked into the living room, scanning through the pictures on the fireplace; there was a combination of a young couple by the shore, on a wedding day and pictures of two small children; a boy and a girl along with a few full family images, including people who were all strangers to Leslie. 'Don't judge a book by its cover' Leslie thought; remembering that these people did illegal stuff. 'I guess you do anything for money...'
YOU ARE READING
Lycanthropy; The Ascend (#Wattys2018)
WerewolfShe's been searching for her kind for a lifetime, without success... But what happens when she realizes she isn't the only one? She proceeds on a quest to bring the lycans back to their formal glory.. but things don't always go as planned. Things do...
