Master Class: Into the Woods

Rhys and Jen are back in the next piece of the White Wolves serial.  Rhys is taking Jen to his place in order to keep her safe from a rival pack of werewolves while they continue the hunt for her abducted son.  If you've missed any, please follow the link above to find previous pieces to the story.  Be sure to check out other Master Class assignments via their badge below.

                They drove in silence for the next forty or so miles.  Jeremy slept against the passenger door.  Jen stared out the window alternating between hope and panic.  She didn’t know these two men and here she was, driving down the road to who knows where trusting they weren’t going to harm her.  Maybe her mother was right and her hope, her need, to find Cullen kept her from thinking through decisions well.

                “We’re almost to the last turn off.  Do you need anything before we do?  Once we turn, there’s nothing between the turn and the cabin.”

                “I’m fine, thank you.”

                Rhys nodded.

                Feeling a sudden rush of impulsiveness, Jen broke the silence.

                “The herbs.  Are they hard to find?  I mean, can just anyone find them and lace your food with them?”

                Jeremy answered without opening his eyes, “No.  They’re rare.  And they need to be brewed into a potion before they can affect us.  You thinking about trying to drug us?”

                “No,” Jen’s heart leapt into her throat at Jeremy’s words, “You can keep your precious potion.  I just wanted to understand how someone could gain control of people as powerful as you.”

                Jeremy sat up and opened his eyes, “Power has nothing to do with anything here.  We are no different than you.  We live, we love, we lose, we die.  Just like you.”

                “That’s enough, Jeremy.  She’s still learning about our world and filled with the illusions Hollywood has painted about us.”

                “My apologies, ma’am.  I did not intend to offend.  The messed up stories about us bother me.”

                “May I ask why?”

                Jeremy closed his eyes.  Jen looked to Rhys.

                “Was that not okay to ask?”

                “Jeremy’s had a few run-ins with people who thought they knew about our kind from places like the internet and Hollywood.”

                “Oh.”

                They turned off the highway onto a dirt road that wound through trees Jen estimated to be several hundred years old.  She thought she saw glimpses of fur as the headlights flickered into the forest.  Horror movie scenes started to play through her mind, though she never liked those movies.  Now, however, she seemed to be in one.

                Rhys pulled up to a shed at the end of the dirt road.  Jeremy got out and disappeared without a word.  Jen slid over, but stayed in the truck.

                “Now what?  I don’t believe this shed is our final destination.”

                “It isn’t.  We need to walk the last little ways.  I have your things.  Again, I swear, you will be safe here.  In this place, my word is law.”

                 Still feeling like something ought to be jumping out of the woods to kill and eat her, Jen followed Rhys down a path no bigger than a deer trail.

Random Sunday: Nagging, Tomatoes, and Yoga

Have you ever had one of those days where it seems like everything is nagging at you?  Today was one of those days for me.  Not that it was a bad day today.  It just felt like I couldn’t keep up.  From trying to get out the door to church this morning to cramming in last minute stuff before crashing tonight.  Even Mickey Mouse tapping his foot on my watch feels like he’s going “Come on, come on.  Hurry up”.  And when I start feeling pressured from a digital image of a cartoon mouse tapping his foot, I gotta take a lesson from that.  The only question that remains is, what lesson should I take?

Tomatoes.  I love attempting to grow tomatoes.  The problem is we moved the end of June last year.  Add to it I was still finishing the last of my Master’s, I didn’t get a chance to try to grow any last year.  Plus, we don’t really have a yard for a garden or anything now.  So, we are attempting to do container tomatoes on the deck.  My son and I planted the seedlings today.  He had a blast watering them with his new Mickey Mouse (here’s the flippin’ mouse again!) watering can.  The poor kid has no clue how much water is needed to water plants, but he loved it.  I’ll let you know if we succeed in getting tomatoes.

It was a first tonight!  I have been working on my certification for teaching Yoga Calm to children.  In the process of working on it at home, my son has discovered yoga and loves to practice with me.  Yes.  He does have the typical three-year-old attention span so we don’t get very far half the time, but he keeps coming back for more.  Well, today we were showing my mom and my husband the latest pose I’d taught my son.  We got my mom to give it a try.  Then, a little later at home, my husband was even trying the pose!  I’d love to see if they’d be willing to continue since yoga is so good for you.

Studio 30 Plus: Meeting the Storyteller

Yay!  I finished the Studio 30 Plus prompt two weeks in a row!.  This week we had raconteur and/or storyteller as our words.  Please check out other great responses to the prompt through the badge below.  The other writers at Studio 30 Plus have some wonderful pieces they share and would appreciate the love!

                I took the proffered motorcycle helmet and climbed onto the bike.  While there was that part of me that took notice of his strength and warmth, much more of me cued in on the tension he held.  Cables on a suspension bridge had nothing on Caiden at that moment.

                We took off down the driveway faster than I thought safe, but I wasn’t driving and had no way to talk to Caiden.  He turned onto the blacktop.  We cruised for almost an hour before I saw the first landmarks I’d recognized.  Edward had taken me somewhere along the edge of the Superior National Forest.  I knew Virginia, MN only because I’d gone up there with an ex-boyfriend about a year ago.  The epic fight happened on that trip.  We broke up within a week of returning home.  I had not yet forgotten that trip.

                When we reached Hwy 169, we turned off.  That caught me off guard.  I knew I35 was just a little further south and the fastest way home.  So, where were we going?  Asking was out of the question.  Once again, I was at someone else’s mercy when it came to control over where I went.

                We stopped at a gas station in Grand Rapids.  He put gas in while I waited.

                “You need anything inside?”

                “Some apple juice would be nice.  Where are we going?  Home is in a different direction.”

                “I know.  It’s time to take you before the council.”

                I froze.

                He must have seen my panic, “Remember.  Your training was rather skewed.  The council isn’t what you think.”

                “Really?”

                “Yes.  You need to learn the truth about our kind.  Not the half-truths and scare tactic stories you were given before.”

                “Not like I really have a choice here, do I?”

                Caiden jerked back from me as if I’d slapped him.

                “Is that what you think?  Look, Shayna.  I’m not that kind of person.  If you want to go home instead, I will take you.  Please, though, trust me.  I do have your best interest in mind and I want to help you.  Goons like Edward and his kind are not going to leave you alone and I want you to be ready to deal with their ilk when they skulk around again.”

                I stared at him.  A voice screamed in my head for him to take me home and let me get back to my blissful and ignorant life where I could just ride the high of a storm as I shepherded it through the area to minimize the damage it did.  The quiet whisper got my attention instead.  Trust him.

                I nodded, afraid of what I’d say if I tried to speak.  The tension left him and he smiled at me.

                “I’ll be right back.  We’re not far from the council.  It’s between here and, well, Bemidji.  In the Chippewa State Forest.”

                I laughed, “There’s nothing between here and Bemidji but the Chippewa National Forest.”

                He walked away laughing and returned a few minutes later with two bottles of apple juice for me and two bottles of Mountain Dew for him.  We headed off.  The ride was beautiful, with a crystal clear blue sky, and the ditches speckled with dabs of bright color from random wildflowers.

                An hour later we turned off the highway onto a dirt road.  It wound around Lake Winnibigoshish a way before ending at a massive gate.  Caiden punched in a code at the control box tucked against one post where I had missed it entirely.  We passed through the gate and up the dirt driveway to a huge rustic style house.  Or maybe mansion.  A man waited outside as if he knew all along we were coming.

                “Shayna, this is Marcus.  Marcus, this is Shayna,” Caiden said as he got off the now parked bike.

                I shook Marcus’s outstretched hand.

                “Marcus is our Raconteur.”

                “I’m sorry, your what?”

                “Caiden means I am our people’s storyteller.”

                “Like a historian?”

                “Yes,” he smiled, “Very similar.  Only there’s a little more to it for our kind.”

                “What do you mean?”

                Marcus gestured to the door, “Why don’t you both come inside.  We can talk there.  I promise all of your questions will be answered and you will understand why it was so vital Caiden bring you here.”