Brandi Elledge - The Werewolf Queen

Chapter One

T his was it, what every teenager dreamed of. The last week of school. Everyone always said, One day you will miss this, but I had a feeling those people were delusional or perhaps sentimental jocks. Little Reef High School would soon be an end of a chapter in my life, and that thought alone made me ecstatic. After parking my beat-up Nova in the designated lot for seniors, I marched to my first class of the morningsupernatural historylike a girl on a mission. Five days and done.

The building before me was relatively tiny, as far as schools go. Two levels and eight rooms, not including the cafeteria, gym, or library, was all there was to my school. I guess, historically speaking, the aesthetics were cool. The bricks making up the school were the first ever to be laid in this small town, so to say the building was old was an understatement. Yeah, the building was cool, as was the small town Id known my whole life. I loved living on the Palmetto State coast. Sand, beaches, and the sun were my friend. What totally sucked about my town were the kids who attended the schoola school for supernaturals. Our school catered to witches, warlocks, and similar beings.

Our town had no werewolves, vampires, and definitely no humans. A long time ago, some old geezer put a magic spell over our town repelling humans.

Jolene, my best friendJo for shortmet me as I was going up the stone steps leading to my current Hell. Jo had to come in early this morning to do some research in the library, such a closet nerd. She rocked her usual gothic attire, and I smiled at how I knew the pair of us appeared together. Me with my white-blonde hair hanging to my hips, tan skin, and sporting a bright yellow sundress, and her with her pale skin, jet black hair cropped in a bob that was shorter in the back with the front pieces touching her shoulders, and wearing Lara Croft Tomb Raider attire. She was the yin to my yang.

Dude! Its hot as balls out here, she said, as her heavy boots clonked up the stairs.

Thirty-five more hours and we never have to come here again, unless we decide to toilet paper the grounds at night, I said more for myself than her. A last-minute pep talk before the bell rang. I hated this place.

Sadie, dont let your anger get the best of you on this glorious morning. Stay classy, friend.

Why, hello Confucius. Sometimesno most of timeit sucked to have a friend who was psychic. Jo was a walking fortune cookie. She would give little clues or hints, but she never just outright revealed what was about to go down. I hated surprises almost as much as I hated the boy we were about to pass.

Timothy sat on some benches outside of the school with his loser friends. His auburn hair was perfectly coiffed. His blue eyes glared at Jo. He was one of the richest boys in school, but when he realized that money wouldnt get him everything, like a date with Jo, he turned psycho on the psychic. He had made her life a living hell this last four years.

He said loud enough for everyone to hear, Look! Its Morticia Addams.

My mouth opened, but Jo lightly touched my wrist. This must be what shed predicted. Well, I would show her. I could be classy when I wanted to be.

We started to move past him when he said, I heard her mother slit her wrists as soon as she took one look at Jo.

Class was overrated. Timmy, whats up, bud? Im super impressed that you just said a whole sentence without your voice squeaking. Puberty must have finally happened for you. I bluntly stared at his crotch. Well, maybe not all the way. At least from what I hear in the girls locker room. But dont be ashamed. Its all good. Well, you know, as good as itll probably get.

His cheeks turned crimson as his friends laughed at him. As we walked past him, I could feel him glaring at our backs.

Jo pulled me into the school. Dude, I warned you.

I just shrugged. Moms should be a no-no subject. He pressed a button, and class flew out the window. Sorry.

She sighed. Dont apologize when you dont mean it.

Um? Im sorry that Im not sorry.

She was shaking her head at me as we entered our first class of the day. Lucky for us, Timmy wasnt in this one. It would give him time to lick his wounds and me time to cool down. He shouldnt have brought up her mom and he knew that. Jos mom was a psychic, too, but she had let the voices control her, and in the end, she went crazy.

Mr. Borrow, also known as Mr. Boring, hiked up his pants way past his navel, because why not? His glasses were sliding down, so he pushed them back up his chubby face. All right class, since we only have a week left today, were going to talk about the future. He glanced at Jo, and she gave him a stiff nod. What the hell?

She caught me looking at her. Pay attention.

Mr. Boring pulled down a map of the world. As weve discussed, a thousand years ago there was a battle amongst the supernatural community. This battle was between the Lux and the Degenerates. Weve lightly skimmed over what each group represents, but today I would like to go more in depth. I would like to discuss the different factions and who are the leaders of these factions. Now, were lucky our town hosts mostly witches and variations of witches, like our mind readers and healers, but out there, he said, tapping the map, are all kinds of supernaturals, including vampires and werewolves.

I felt myself nodding off. It was way too early in the morning to listen to his monotone voice talking about some dead people or overgrown dogs. Pain radiated in my shin, causing my eyes to water.

Did you just kick me with those big ass boots? I snarled.

Jo pointed a finger at me. Pay attention.

Jeez. Since when was Jo concerned with my learning? She should have been on me our freshman year, not the last week of our senior one. Girl had issues.

I glared at her as Mr. Boring continued, These two groups, the Lux and the Degenerates, came into play when the supernatural community was divided. Some factions saw that Earth would be destroyed if there werent rules. Some didnt want to play by the rules.

David, a cute, but nerdy kid who had social anxiety issues with everyone but teachers, pushed his glasses back up his nose. Like, dont eat the humans?

Mr. Boring nodded. Yes, David. But also, Earth needed to be able to sustain all living creatures, and that would be hard to do if the land was torched. Some supernatural factions didnt care if they ruined the land and made it barren because they didnt need food to survive. He tapped the map again with a stout finger. There are forty-nine portals all over the world. Can someone tell me how many keys there are that will open and close these portals?