Wolf Woes

Chapter 3: In The Cell (pt 1)

Keelin was sitting in Hope's arm chair silently reading on her tablet. She had opted to take the first watch since her beautiful wife had let her sleep until almost noon, something that hasn't happened since before the baby was born.

All was quiet in the room. Both Hope and Freya were asleep, though in separate beds, unlike the night before. Keelin looked up as Hope rolled over in her sleep, before returning her attention on her book.

A little while later, she heard Hope rustling around in her bed, then the telltale signs of breaking bones and tearing clothing. By the time she had stood and tossed her tablet to the side, Hope was standing next to her bed, completely wolfed out.

"Freya," Keelin said loudly, though not too loudly that she startled the wolf. Freya, twitched in her sleep, but did not wake up.

Hope growled at Keelin, loudly, which seemed to alert the other witch that something was wrong.

She woke groggily, staring straight in to the eyes of her niece's glowing yellow ones. "Shit," she said, and she sprang from the bed.

Hope growled again, louder this time, but turned away from Freya to face the door, which magically opened, allowing her to strut right out.

Both her aunts followed her quickly, though Freya did stop briefly to grab a small pouch from her purse. Hope was quick though. She was already at the school's front doors, when Freya caught up with her. She yelled for her to stop, which gave Keelin enough of a distraction to speed her way in front of her, blocking her way out.

Hope was not happy with this and growled viciously at the woman. Freya magicked the pouch through the air to Keelin. "Blow some in her face."

Keelin did as her wife instructed and held her breath as she waited for the powder to do its magic. Hope was mid growl when she suddenly dropped to the floor, out cold. She let a sigh of relief, and then looked to her wife. "So, I don't think you're going to be able to convince Alaric not to lock her up this time."

Freya laughed while releasing a sigh of relief. "Don't worry. He won't even need to convince me. Can you go wake the sleeping dragon, while I get our niece settled in downstairs, please?"

"She's going to be so pissed at us in the morning," Keelin said. She gave Freya a quick kiss on the cheek, then went off towards the adult's only wing of the school.

Freya sighed at her sleeping niece, taking a moment to take in the beauty of this form, then levitated her down into the cellar. She floated Hope onto the cot, making sure to not bump her head on the railing. She exited the cell and cast a barrier spell that not even Hope could break through.

Alaric and Keelin found her watching Hope sleep a little while later.

"What do we know?" he asked, as he too watched the sleeping white wolf.

"One second she was asleep, and the next she was shifting," Keelin said.

"And she can do magic while in that form," Freya added.

Alaric turned to face Freya in shock. "She's never mentioned that."

"She might not even realize it yet," Freya said. "Hope could use magic before she could even understand what magic was. She wasn't even talking yet. This could be that. Her basic witch instincts working alongside her basic wolf instincts. Or..."

"Or her powers are growing," Alaric finished. "I don't even know why I'm surprised by this. I've seen the power she has. I've seen the power you have. I can only imagine how powerful she can still become."

"There is still so much we don't know about her, yet. Still so many unanswered questions when it comes to what she is and what she will become."

"She's going to be eighteen soon. There's still so much she has to learn," Alaric said. "What if she goes out into the world and forgets everything we've taught her. What if..."