— •⚡️ Isabella ⚡️• —

"Mum!?" I exclaim.

I run past Emilia and throw my arms around her. I didn't realise how much I missed not having her to talk to.

She hugs me and takes a step back to assess my current state. My hair is tangled in its own waves and I'm sure there are a couple of twigs and other bits in it.

My eyes have dark circles around them. I mean sleeping out here, worrying about when I'm going to next eat and if those wolves will ever catch me, doesn't exactly give you a full 8 hours of recommended sleep.

But she smiles and shifts her gaze to Emilia who is stood behind me. "I've missed you." She says to me. Never shifting her gaze from Emilia.

"I've missed you too mum." I say. She then steps to the side as if to invite Emilia over.

She's probably stood behind me feeling really awkward right now.

But turns out she wasn't because she too runs up to my mum and hugs her.

"Hey Julia, it's been a while." She says.

I just stand here dumbfounded. How the heck does Emilia know my mum? And she called her Julia? She hates that nickname.

I furrow my brows as more and more questions flood my brain. They must have noticed the rainbow of emotions my face displayed because they stepped away from each other and turned to me.

I finally manage to get my words out. "Emilia... how do you know my mum?" I say.

She lets out a long sigh. "She helped me out when I was kicked out." She says, her voice full of raw pain but also gratitude.

"Oh." Is all I manage to say. I mean what else can I say? I'm sorry? I'm sure that's the last thing she'd wanna hear right now.

I don't press any further, if she wants to open up, she will.

Instead it's my mum who begins talking. "Girls I think we should go into the abandoned building. Don't want those wolves to catch you now do we?" She says knowingly.

Dumbfounded I stutter out "wait... b... but how do you know about that?"

"We have a lot to talk about my darling." She laughs.

Emilia giggles and I let out a groan.

"You mean you have a lot to talk about and I've got to listen?" I retort.

I hate listening.

Well that's not entirely true. But who actually finds joy in listening to people talk for hours. My mum was known to be quite a chatterbox, she could find literally anything and everything to talk about.

"Izzy, I know that look, come on." Emilia says before grabbing my arm and pulling me along with her.

She drags me along behind her and into the abandoned house. My mum following close behind.

Walking in, it was everything I expected, dirty, dusty and dark.

I heard the squeaking of the door close behind us. I was shoved forwards by my mum.

"Let me at least get through the door child."

I take a couple of steps forwards and take in my surroundings.

There's a staircase to the right hand side of the doorway, probably leading to some room filled with rats or something of the sort. There could even be murder victims stored up there. I mean it's not exactly pretty in here. I'm guessing people don't come here often. It would be the perfect place to store dead corpses.

Maybe Emilia really is a bad person and she's going to kill me, and somehow tricked my mum to helping her. I then pushed away the stupid fear, they're not dangerous. They wouldn't hurt me.

"Isabella!"

I feel my soul jump from my skin and falls back into my body. I turn to face them both. Emilia is smirking, two can play that game darling.

I hit her playfully, my eyes burning with embarrassment that I got scared over that.

The room we are stood in now is what I'm guessing to be a lounge? Or living room? Front room? I've seen it in books being called different names but since I've never actually been in a house it was new to me.

There was what seemed to be luxurious sofa towards the front of the room, in front of the bordered window. Only now it didn't look so luxurious, being coated in thick layers of dust and grime. Whoever owned this house probably had a lot of money, I could still still the quality of the furnishings that coated the room behind all the dust.

I didn't realise that Emilia had let go of my hand and made her way over to the door that was at the other end of the room.

This is it. She's leading me to my death. Maybe she's a wolf-vampire hybrid and that's why she was so fast earlier. It all makes sense now. She only helped me so she could suck my veins dry until I was a lifeless sack of skin and bone.

She notices my hesitation to follow her so she yet again grabs my arm and drags me behind her.

The door opens to reveal a bright and clean room. Confusion hits me like a brick. What in the goddesses name is going on?

We walk over to the clean olive sofa and sit down. Not my colour but it isn't mine so I don't get to decide. Scanning the room I notice there isn't a colour theme and all the furniture is mishmashed. I couldn't help but appreciate there was a unique beauty to it.

The room didn't have much in it. Consisting of a couch, a table and a worktop space that I'm guessing was a kitchen. But there was only worktop, a sink and a few cupboards. Where the heck is the oven? Or that heater thingy that spins a plate? Does this person just eat raw foods? I can't imagine that tasting very nice.

I pull myself out of my thoughts only to realise both of them were staring at me. My face burned red with embarrassment. "What?!" I exclaim.

They just laugh and Emilia shakes her head. "You really do overthink too much." She states.

I open my mouth to speak but my mum beats me to it. "Guess how long we were sat staring at you?" She asks, holding back a giggle.

"Uhhh maybe a couple of minutes?" I answer.

"5. You were sat there for 5 minutes doing nothing but thinking. We were coughing and pulling all sorts of faces and you didn't even acknowledge us."

"Wow." I didn't think I was thinking for that long. Maybe a minute. I guess the speed I think at doesn't correlate to the speed the rest of the world moves at.

"Emilia here was debating on setting your hair on fire to see if you'd notice." She giggles and throws an amused look at Emilia.

"I think I'd notice if you set my hair on fire." I state.

They both look at me. Raise one eyebrow and then glance at each other.

"And don't try it!" I shout. "Wait... how would you set my hair on fire without me knowing? I'd see you get up or hear the click of the lighter." I say.

My mum just sighs and changes the conversation. Okay then.

"So if you haven't figured out, there's a reason I'm here." She begins.

I nod my head.

"You're not here to take me back right?" I ask panicked by the thought of going back. I'm comfortable where I am now.

She shakes her head. But I'm more focused on Emilia. I can practically feel the waves of anticipation flowing off her into the surrounding air.

"I know what you are." She says, gesturing to me. And then points at Emilia. "And I know what she is."

I'm not that shocked to be honest. I mean she lived amongst them so it would surprise me much more if she didn't know.

"And I also know those wolves are chasing you. I know they are on your trail right now. And I know that when you are in your wolf body, it emits a powerful aura. I could feel it and so I knew it was you." She says.

"But how did you know it was me?" I ask.

She waves off my question with her hand and begins again. "I know of a way that can mean you can be in your wolf form without it emitting an aura and how you can speak to her without people knowing." She says.

This, this is the interesting part of the conversation. Usually conversations become boring again after the exciting news is shared. But this was an exception. I could tell from her face that even more amazing news would fly out.

"Go on." I say.

"Here." She passes me a necklace, and Emilia the same.

"A necklace? How does this help me conceal my wolf at all?"

"Shh with the questions. Let me explain." She says.

"Inside this necklace is a stone as you can see. It holds a space for your spirit. Basically the spirit will be transferred from your body to the necklace."

Emilia spoke this time. "Does the transfer hurt?" She enquires.

My mother yet again waves her hand. "Shh I said no questions."

Me and Emilia look at each other, passing a questioning glance. Then turn back to my mum.

"Okay. So what else?" I ask.

She clicks her tongue. "Well as I was about to say, you see how they're both clear? They change to a colour when the spirit is inside them. Bella yours will change to purple and Emilia's to pink. You both have different colours." She turns to Emilia "It's not really your colour but it's all I could find." She says.

Emilia just makes a noise something similar to a grunt. And so my mum continues.

"As the spirit is held inside the necklace, you can call to it and bring it out into your body. It acts as a place holder for you spirit, but keeps it still close to you."

I think it over. So Athena who is my spirit half, will be trapped inside a necklace all day unless I want to call her out. Sounds so fun for her.

Try to look on the positives Izzy.

Kinda hard.

She just sighs.

I ignored my mums earlier threats and spoke up. "So mum, basically my spirit will be trapped in there until I let her out?"

She's silent for a moment. "Well that's what would happen yes, she wouldn't be able to take over your body unless you desperately needed it because to overcome the seal from her side would use a lot of her and your power." She eventually says.

"Okay, but what about me?" Emilia asks, passing my mum a glance that I couldn't quite catch.

She shuffled nervously and then speaks. "Your case is different. Bella has a much more powerful wolf so her wolf could overcome the barrier more easily than yours."

She emphasised 'your case is different' and I'm unsure why. What does she know? I mean she's clearly know Emilia longer than me but why did she never mention her to me? I'm her daughter. Was this just one of the many lies told and secrets that were kept from me?

"When the spirit is inside the necklaces they hold the colours I said earlier. Bella when your spirit is held inside the necklace it should show purple and Emilia when your wolf spirit is held inside the necklace it should show pink. When the wolf spirits are released, the necklaces will change to clear."

I just nod my head. Wait... she said wolf spirits. What other spirit would we have? I only have a wolf spirit so why didn't she just say spirits? Why specifically wolf spirits?

I mentally groan at the thousands of questions I want answers to.

"Oh and girls. One last thing, if the necklace is broken or lost the spirit will eventually die. The animal spirit is tied to your human spirit and there is a 24 hour period to get back to you or it will die."

Panic rises within me as instinct. "What happens if my spirit dies?" I ask nervously, terrified of the answer.

She turns to face me and her voice turns deep and grave, "If the spirit dies... you die."

I gasp and almost choke at the thought.

Girl chill, we gonna be fine.

How are you so calm!

I growl in frustration. I turn to the door, but stop myself. What am I doing? Why am I getting so mad?

I turn back around to see a worried glance from my mum.

"Paige misses you." She says gently.

I wince at the name. I miss her too, so much. She's like my little sister to me and I feel like I have to protect her. A deep rooted connection to her that pains me to think about how she's on her own.

"I miss her too." I say.

Emilia shuffles to the corner of the room, not wanting to intrude on the moment. I crawl up to my mum and hug her tightly.

"I think even the Alpha is missing you." She says smiling.

The alpha?

"Uhhh..."

She laughs. "Oh yeah, I forgot you're not used to this whole werewolf shifter thing. The Alpha is Charlie."

"Ohh, I mean it makes sense as to why everyone listened to him." I say.

"Yes, and I think he's getting quite suspicious of my little trips to the woods now." She giggles.

There's an awkward silence as I notice a few nervous glances are passed between both Emilia and my mum.

"I'm going to go outside for a minute." I say.

Leave them be to clear the air on whatever is practically choking Emilia. The air was too tight inside and I couldn't breathe with the tension so the cool outside was refreshing to my lungs.

— • 🔥 Emilia 🔥 • —

Isabella finally left the house and nervous-relief filled the air as I turned to Juliana.

"So about my other spirit? How with this affect it?" I ask nervously.

She just shakes her head a little. "You worry too much, both spirits will be kept in the necklace. Yours is altered slightly to fit both."

"And what about-" I start.

"The colours of the necklace? They have different colours. When both inside it should show pink. When Brixel is released it will show clear, and when Mitzi is released, it will show green."

"Okay good." I say.

Thinking about it will Isabella be able to tell with the colour change that I have a second spirit?

"Umm... when I'm talking to Mitzi will it change green or is it only when I release her into my body?" I ask.

She gives me a sad and judging look. "You haven't told her have you?" She questions.

"No. I mean what if she-"

"She's my daughter, she won't be negative or throw you away. She's not like them." She states.

But how can she be so sure? Sure she's her daughter but still.

"Okay I'll think about it."

She smiles. "Good, don't keep secrets from each-other, you've only got each-other now, well you've got me as well but you know what I mean."

I just nod my head. "I should probably get going, don't wanna keep her majesty waiting." I smirk.

She cuffs me round the ear. "Go on you."

I scurry out of the door and close it behind me. "Bye Julia!" I shout as I leave.

Once outside, I scan the area. I don't notice Izzy in the tree until she calls out.

"Hey Emilia, up here." She hollers.

I always find it somewhat funny when wolves are in trees, sure she's in her human form but still, most of them are comfort out of trees. That's more my specialty; stay hidden away in the shadows.

I climb up with my usual fast speed and sit beside her.

"How did you-"

I interrupt her. "Climb up so fast?" She just nods her head. I smile "I'm different to you Izzy." I say.

At first she looks confused, then happy and then confused again. "What do you mean different?" She asks.

There's a long pause.

Am I really ready to tell her? Reveal my secret to yet another person? Will she really understand like Julia said she would? Am I really ready to risk it? After what happened last time.

I throw caution to the wind and begin explaining...

Word count [2856]

So what did you think to this idea of the spirits being 'trapped' in the necklaces? Think the spirits might make a campaign for freedom soon😂.

What do you think Emilia's secret is? She has two spirits but what does that mean and why is it such a bad thing? Honestly I've tried to leave hints that she has 2 spirits but I didn't wanna fully give it away. Who noticed?

- Bri xox