"Beep beep beep" I press my alarm clock off look around me. Is it morning already? It seems like I just fell asleep. 

I get up and get ready for school. Before I leave the house I grab my phone and see the date. September 10, Happy birthday to me.  I usually feel so hyped on my birthday, but now I just feel very normal. 

When I come to school, everyone is already in the classroom. The teacher has already started the explanation. I quickly walk to the only free spot in the back next to Diaro. The teacher explains the first fifteen minutes of the lesson and then we have to work. 

Jade sits 2 rows in front of me next to Kendall. They are busy talking and doing the assignments together. I am really curious about how it will be between them tonight. 

When the lesson is over I have already completed all assignments. I walk to the next lesson with Jade. 

"Did you send Kendall and Mihno your address?" She seems deep in thought, smiling.

"Oh, yeah, I'm going to do it now." She pulls out her phone and starts typing quickly. 

The school day passes quickly. Nobody realized it was my birthday, not even Jade. I actually expected her to know, but It's okay, normally I would have started counting down weeks ago. 

When I get home Grace, Laurel, Agus, and Ian are there too. They really live in our house. Almost every school day one off them is here. 

When I come in they all jump up from the couch. "Happy birthday!" They call at the same time. Grace runs over and gives me a hug. 

"Thank you," I say laughing. Aww, they remembered! Well, they have been here on my birthday for a couple of years so it's not weird.

 Laurel beckoned me to sit down with them. She and Ian smiling brightly at me. I look over at Agus and see that he is looking at me, not with a smile but just a normal expression. Like he is thinking about something.

Grace hands me a present. It's pretty heavy and big. I open it tugging on they gift wrap but she used so much tap that I can't open it without acting like a little kid on Christmas. When the wrap is finally off I have 4 books in my hand. 

''OMG,'' is all I say. 

She gave me all the Twilight books! I'm so happyyy I cant wait to start reading. I almost want to cancel movie night, so I can just lay in my bed with a cup off tea and these books.

"Graceee, thank you so much!'' I lay the books next to me and get up to hug her.

''I knew you would like it,'' she says with a big smile on her face. She always gives the best presents.

 Grace and laurel walk to the kitchen. 

Agus has only been with their group of friends for a year. Ian is jealous of Agus because he and Grace hang out a lot. They are best friends but Ian probably thinks they like each other. Everyone would get his jealousy when you see them. Agus is 6 foot 3, muscular as hell and has that mysterious vibe. Ian is 5 foot 8, skinny and dorky. 

"And Cira, are you going to celebrate your birthday, with your family and friends?" Ian asks kindly. 

"Uhm no, don't think so. I'm going to meet with friends tonight but not really to celebrate my birthday "I say. 

Agus follows our conversation but says nothing. I don't know what's up with him, he's been acting a little weird lately. Not talking as much as he normally did and just listening and observing. 

Grace and Laurel walk out of the kitchen with 5 muffins in their hands. One of them has a lit candle. They walk over to me and give me the muffin with the candle. Hey, I recognize this muffin. 

"Do you remember what kind of muffin it is?" Grace asks like she could read my mind. She waits for my answer with a bright smile. Then it hits me.

 "Are these Mrs. Bakker's muffins?" I look at the muffin again. 

"Yes," she says laughing.

Omg these are my favorite muffins. Basically the only one I eat. Mrs. Baker, (the funny thing is that she really is a baker) used to have a bakery a couple of streets away. Her bakery had to close four years ago.

"How did you get them?"

"Well bumped into her at the mall last week. We told her it was almost your birthday and that you are turning 16. Then she suggested making those muffins for you because she knew you loved them so much." Grace explains and sits down between Agus and Laurel.

"Ah, that's really sweet of her." I think back to my visit to the bakery every Friday after school to eat a muffin. Mrs. Baker never wanted me to pay. For a little while after the store had to close it thought that maybe if I did pay her the store will still be there.

"Come on, make a wish," Laurel points to the candle.

I nod and look at the candle. What shall I wish for? I wish that this Vini think will end well. I close my eyes and blow. Everyone smiles and starts eating their muffins.

While eating Laurel gave me a little package with a necklace in it. The necklace had a silver heart with a C engraved in it. I thank her and admire the neckless. I told her when we were watching a movie and the main character had one, that I really liked it.

"I have something for you too," says Ian. He gives me a small box with a bracelet in it. It is made of black with green and gold rope. I can still remember this one. It is the bracelet a Chinese ols man sold in Amsterdam. It was the last one they had. A quote came with every band, but I can't remember what it was. I know that the meaning really spoke to me, making me think about it for days. When we went back to the shop it bay it it was gone.

"Don'tdepend on anyone, even your shadow leaves you when you're in darkness." Ian quotes.

That was it.

"How did you get it?" I admire the bracelet. I was almost a year ago we went to Amsterdam to shop with Grace and Laurel.

"I went back to that shop and saw it hanging. Apparently it wasn't sold yet when we were there. The shopkeeper sometimes replaces the rack, and then leaves one half behind. apparently only one of this kind has been made." Ian tells. I wanted this bracelet because all those other bands showed the good of the world and this one showed the other side. 

Agus looks slightly irritated and takes a small box out of his pocket.

"Here," he says and presses his lips together. 

''Thanks,'' I say briefly and take it from him.  Everyone looks carefully at the box while I open it. It is such a small box that I keep it close to my face. I unpacked it and open the box. A familiar scent fills my nose, Jason's smell, wolf flower. How did he get wolf flower? I try not to look up because the others can't smell this. I breathe in one more time.

''What up?'' Grace asked when I'm silent for too long.

I shake my head. When I look up I see Agus staring at me with piercing eyes. I look away feeling light he caught me.

The box is filled with small twigs and leaves, just like in a tea bag. I empty the box in my hand and a black stone falls out. It is a gem. I put the rest of the twigs back in the box and wipe the stone clean and look at it. It is dark gray and has black inclusions. It is not a smooth stone, it does give dents. 

"It is a Tibetan black quartz," Agus says and looks very thoughtfully. "It is a powerful protective stone. It's kind of a shield against negative energies and other forms of black magic." It's quiet and everyone looks at him. "It also provides more peace in your life," he explains. 

Black magic? I never thought Agus would believe in that. 

"Thank you," I say and still examine the stone. He smiles briefly and dissatisfied. 

They leave before dinner. I thank them all again. We eat sushi and watch a police series. Someone has been killed and they are going to figure out how to like in every police series. It is actually quite impressing how they can find out everything nowadays. During the meal Celly gives his present, he made a drawing for me. Apparently he thinks my head is bigger than the sun and I have green hair. But my mother sees potential in it. It's cute, I have a box with all his presents.

My mother bought me some sort of new device to draw with. You have to put your paper on it and when you draw you can make the lines thicker and tinner. I'm gonna read the instructions later.

 At 6 o'clock we are finished eating. Wow, I'm really full. 

I take my presents to my room and put them on my desk before letting myself fall on my bed. I can lay down for 5 minutes. Just letting the food digest. 

When I get up I go to my mirror to get ready. I put on dark gray sweatpants with a black off-shoulder crop top with long sleeves. Isn't that a bit too cold for now? No, I just wear a vest.

I take off my bracelets and look at Ian's bracelet. It is really beautiful and I am very happy with it. I grab my jewelry box. Then I take the gem from Agus. I hold the stones between my fingers and look at it. It is against black magic. Strange that Agus gives me this. Right now, now that I deal with wolves and get to know the magical world. Will he know and tries to protect me from it? No how would he know? He probably gave it because he knows I'm so interested in things like this, and I'm only thinking about the black magic piece. It is also against negative energy. I'm really going to wear it, it only gives position effects. There is a small hole at the top of the stone. I look in my jewelry box and see that I also have an older necklace that I will never wear again. I take the beads off that necklace and put the stone around it. I not going to wear it now but I will wear the bracelet from Ian. 

Indira sends a message, saying she can't make it tonight.  She doesn't say why. She would have told us why if she wants us to know.

 Too bad, I always like it when we are complete. 

It is almost half-past six. If I go to Jade now, I might be able to help her prepare things and stuff. I walk down the stairs again and grab my crutches. 

"I'm going to Jade, maybe I can help her with something." I walk into the living room. My mother is at the dining table and is messing around in her bag. Grace is doing the dishes in the kitchen, and Celly is playing on the mat with his cars. 

"I'll drop you off, I have to go in that direction," she says, putting her bag on her shoulder. She is suddenly very serious. 

I walk over to Celly, "Bye Celly, goodbye night already" I give him a kiss on his forehead and then get up again. 

My mother is already in the hall. I also walk to the hall. I say "Bye Grace". 

"Bye Ci, have fun." I put on my shoes and take my black vest off the coat rack. It's pretty cold. I probably should have put on another top. 

In the car it is nice, I hold my crutches between my legs. "It's  at Jade's right?" My mom asks and looks impatiently at her clock. 

"Yes, that's right," I say and look out the window. 

"Do I have to come and pick you up?" 

"No, we are with a group, I think we can all walk with each other." 

"Oh okay, be home at 11 p.m. no minute later. "My mom says strictly. 

"Yes, ma."

It's a little weird everyone is allowed to hang out tonight. Normally we these things at the weekend. The rest of the ride I look out the window. Jade's house isn't far from mine, 5 minutes. My mom will let me get out at the corner of the street, otherwise, she has to take a detour because it's a one-way street here.

"Thanks mom, see you later." I open the door and get out.

"Have fun," she says before I close the door. She drives away again and I walk to Jade's house.  I'm really glad I brought my vest, it's already getting chilly. I ring the bell when I'm at her house. 

She opens it within 3 seconds and looks a little surprised when se sees me but recovers quick."Hey tje-ra" she says laughing. Jade always tries to pronounce it in Italian because it is an Italian name when she is excited. We just pronounce it like Dutch people would, otherwise everyone would say it wrong.

"Hey, Jade," I smile and roll my eyes at her. She steps aside so that I can come in.

"Take off your vest and shoes. There is a basket with slippers and fluffy socks. Yes, you know where everything is and how it works." She says before going back into the living room and closes the door behind her. Okay, she was in a rush. 

I take off my shoes and put them next to the others. Oh apparently I am not the only one who intended to come earlier there are more pars of shoes.

I already did put on thick fluffy socks. We usually do that, making it feel more like a slumber party. I also take off my vest, the temperature in here is nice, warm. 

''Tring!" The bell rings again.

"Cira can you ..." Jade shouts from the living room.

"Yes," I call back. 

I walk to the door and open it. It's Jason standing on the other side of the door, with his hood and looks down so you don't see his face. A cloud of smoke comes out of his mouth. I get goosebumps when I feel the outside air. It suddenly cooled down. Did he walk over here?

I say "Hey," and walk back to the low closet with the mirror above it. He walks in and closes the door.

"Hey," he says back, taking off his hood. He quickly runs his hand through his hair and unzips his vest. He has dark grey sweatpants and a tight black shirt on. I get a smile on my face when I realize that we are almost wearing the same outfit. I turn a bit to look in the mirror, not wanting him to see me checking him out. I see from the corner of my eye that he is looking at me now. He also smiles and then starts talking.

"How are you?" He stands with his hands in his pockets and takes off his shoes.

I look in the mirror and make a low bun in my hair. I pull on some strings off hair a bit loosening it up a bit because I don't like those tight ponytails or buns. He keeps looks at me, just to see what I'm doing. I turn a quarter to him still messing around with my bun. 

His eyes go over my voice when I turn to him. ''I'm good. How are you ... '' 

His smile disappears. Before I can move, he is already in front of me and grabs my arm. 

''What happened?''He looks shocked by it and turns serieus directly. I quickly look at my arm and see four thin lines on my underarm. It looks like scars. It takes a while before I understand why he reacts that way. 

"Who did this?" He speaks softly but his voice gives me chills. He looks angry, his jaw clenched and his eyes suddenly seem darker. I look at my arm again. It's a scar so this didn't happen today but a while back. How do I suddenly get scars? How did I never see these before?

"Cira?" He looks at me impatiently waiting for an answer.

"I ... I don't know" I don't remember getting these. I would remember someone hurting me like this. I look up to meet his eyes, when he sees that I really don't know his eyes soften. He runs his finger over the part of skin the scars are on. 

"Does it hurt?" He asks looking concerned. I shake my head. He smiles briefly and keeps looking at the scar. 

"Uhm you know this looks like a wolf's claw," he says reluctantly. 

I nod.