Call of the Water (COMPLETE)

6. VISITORS

"Ardea, Opal, can you hear that?" I whispered, hoping they could still hear me.

"Yes," Ardea answered. To my dismay, there was no concern in her voice.

"Well, what is that?" I murmured another question, while my heart pounded against my ribcage.

"That is Mathias," Ardea stated. Her deadpan voice only raised more questions.

"And who is he?" Opal's whisper joined in. She remembered to reach for the night lamp, and turn on the light.

"He's one of the students. He's in the third year now. In addition, he's a werewolf," Ardea said. Her voice remained completely calm, but my heart skipped a beat.

"A what!?" Opal and I asked simultaneously, forgetting about whispering. Judging by Opal's reaction, I'd say there were no werewolves in her previous school.

"A werewolf. In case you haven't noticed, it's full Moon. He tends to get a little... loud on nights like this."

Ardea's explanation did not put my heart at ease. Werewolves were not a typical hidden race. Most of them weren't born as werewolves, but turned after being bitten. It was believed that they were unpredictable, and for that matter, dangerous.

"Is it gonna be like this every month?" I asked. For some reason the sound of his howling froze the blood in my veins.

"No, they have a way of controlling him. But tonight, there isn't a single cloud in the sky, the stars are sparkling and the Moon is so bright that even humans can see clearly," Ardea said and opened the blinds to let the moonlight into the room.

Before I got the chance to ask who they were, the steps in the hallway distracted me. Someone was rushing.

Opal was the most curious. She jumped off her bed, walked straight to the door and opened it without hesitation. That girl was either very brave or very foolish, if you asked me.

But, once the door was opened, I joined her, although a little more apprehensively. Professor Ravens and Professor Fortius, our Physical Education teacher, were hurrying down the corridor. Professor Ravens' hair was cascading down her back, dark and glossy as if she had just left the hair salon. My hair was a tangled mess, Opal's as well. But not Professor Raven's. Nor Ardea's, come to think of it.

Our teachers turned at the end of a long hall, so I lost sight of them. Soon, the howling stopped. Whatever they did, it worked.

After a few moments of silence, I turned to Ardea, "Is Professor Ravens an elf?"

"Where did that come from?" she wanted to know.

"Because neither you nor she seem to have the need to possess a hair comb," I explained.

Ardea smiled. "I don't think this is the right time for that discussion," she said before suggesting that we all try to get some more sleep.

Opal's breathing became slower within minutes. I lay awake in my bed much longer than that. The thought of a werewolf in my school wouldn't let me fall asleep. I didn't know a lot about the race, but one of the sorcerers that was a member of my medical team told me to stay as far away as possible from werewolves. Apparently, they did not get along with aquatic races.

When I finally dozed off, the dreams brought images of wolves creeping in on me. All of them had Ardea's eyes, and somewhere behind me, a sorcerer in a long black coat and a scarf loosely thrown around his neck kept repeating the words 'Werewolves don't get along with aquatic races.'

I didn't want to worry Opal and Ardea, so I didn't tell them about my dream. It was probably just an exaggeration anyway. However, I did ask Ardea to point out the werewolf, but he was nowhere in sight.