Isaac POV*

We walked through town until we reached Ava's house. "Well, today was fun." She smiled. "We should hang out more." She said to Lukas. He nodded. We said goodbye and kept walking. We reached my house next. I turned around at the door and I smiled up at him.

"Well, there you have it." He smiled. He seemed to have changed back into himself again, I guess the new situation made him doze off for a while. Didn't change anything though, it was still a lot of fun.

I stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to say. "We should go again next time." He suggested. "Yeah, but without Ava-" I said back. I stopped myself as I realized what I said. "I mean-" I tried to take it back.

Lukas laughed as I struggled." That sounds like a great idea." He smiled. I scratched the back of my neck awkwardly as it got silent once more. "Anyway- See you later?" He asked. I nodded. "Of course," I said back.

He waved goodbye and walked off towards the forest. I took in a deep breath as I entered the shop. Closing the door behind me I stood there for a bit. My face heated up again as a blush covered it completely. I pulled my bag up to my face, hiding it from absolutely no one but myself.

In the end, I didn't even get to tell him, the stupid fireworks got in the way. I was so freaking close. If only- "Isaac?" My dad's voice pulled me out of my thoughts. "You're back," he said as she stepped towards me. "Is everything okay?" He asked as he noticed my face. I quickly lowered the bag and walked away. "Everything is fine- I'm going to sleep now," I said quickly as I ran past him up the stairs.

I threw my bag on my desk before throwing myself into my bed. I let out a groan before turning around. Why is this so difficult? I looked over at my bag, opened it, and took the little stuffed wolf out of it. Next time I see him I'm just going to tell him. No more excuses. I blushed at the thought and dropped down again. I'm acting like such a girl.

I held up the wolf, smiling at it before quickly getting changed and climbing back into my bed, soon falling asleep

---

I woke up suddenly, I had another one of those dreams- I let out a sigh. Is this because I didn't get to tell him... I got out of bed and headed downstairs to join my dad at breakfast, it stayed quiet, except for my dad's occasional questions about the festival. After we had finished breakfast I helped him clean up and headed to the front to tend to the shop as usual.

It was one of those quiet days. Which usually happens right after an event like the festival. So I spent the day alone with my thoughts. I walked around the store, making everything look good and writing down what was almost gone. But no customers came in. Not while we were open that is.

But of course, right as I was about to put my things away and close the store, the bell rang. I sighed as I turned around, about to tell them to go away. But as I turned around they were already in front of the counter. Two men stood in front of me, smiling kindly, even though their eyes weren't matching that emotion.

"C-can I help you?" I asked trying not to show my nerves. "Uhm well, maybe." One of them said. He leaned onto the counter. "Do you guys sell herbs... you know like the one put into the potions?" He asked. "Well, we don't normally-" I started. "I'm sure you can make an exception." The other one interrupted. The first guy looked from his friend to me, smiling again. "I- yeah, what do you need?" I gave in, might as well give them what they want.

He reached into his pocket and out a small note, handing it over to me. I took it from him and looked at the names. I didn't recognize any of the names. I didn't even know how to pronounce most of them. "So do you have 'em?" The guys asked. "I uh- I'll go look in the back-" I took a step back. I walked off towards the back, looking for my father.

He was putting things away, like usual, when I found him. "Uhm Dad, can I ask you something?" I asked, earning his attention. "What is it?" I asked as he continued to put stuff away. "Some men are asking for herbs- but I'm not sure what they are-" I explained. He looked over confused before putting the boxes down and walking over to me. I handed him the note, and he read it a few times, looking at it suspiciously. "Okay-" he sighed. He walked away and went through several boxes, trying to find what they were looking for.

Once he had gathered everything he walked back to me. "You stay here, I'll take care of this." He said before walking through the door. I stopped it right before it closed, so I could listen in on them. "Here you go-" my dad said as he handed them the bags. "Thanks." They paid and soon left the shop.

My dad sighed before looking at the note again, he crumpled it up and threw it in the small trashcan nearby. I quickly walked away from the door so he wouldn't catch me. He came back a little later.

"Is everything okay?" I asked. He nodded. "Just a weird list of herbs" he laughed. "I closed the store so you can just relax," he said as he walked past me. "Okay..." I answered unsurely. Now I got curious, it seemed like a normal list, at least to me. But then again, it's not like I know a lot about potions.

I decided to go investigate, I needed to find out what it was. After dinner, I went to bed like normal. I waited for my dad to fall asleep and carefully went back down and into the shop. I had found a lantern on my way down, having some light without waking my dad up.

The shop looked different at night. It is weird how the amount of light can change the feel of a room. I went over to the trashcan and pulled the note out. I put the lantern on the table and folded the note back open.

I still didn't know what any of it was. Luckily there was a way I could find out. I pulled out my dad's recipe book from under the counter and started looking for it.

I went through the book multiple times but could find anything. I let out a frustrated sigh, closing the book, the wind from the pages caused the paper to fly off the counter. I got down to pick it up when I noticed the other recipe book, my mother's. Dad must've put it back... I got back up and decided to look for the list in this book, it couldn't hurt, right?

I didn't have to search for long this time. A few pages in I found most of the herbs on the list, not all of them but they could be used somewhere else. I still didn't recognize the name of the eventual potion. But I could understand what it was used for.

'If mixed correctly, these could be used to paralyze or even kill werewolves'

I looked at the note again triple checking the list that matched the one in the book. And it did. I took a step back. What is this? I must be misunderstanding, why would they need this? How would they even know about it?

I looked up toward the door, who were those guys?