"I've never mastered this one before and I don't think I ever will, but I have a feeling you'll get it the first few tries. Let's try to get some rain first, nice and simple," Axel states and I nod my head in agreement. That's before I remember something important.
"I thought only royals can fly and control the weather and do all these things. Why can you?" I ask, confused. Axel grins at me.
"Never one to miss a detail, are you?" he replies. I just shake my head and continue to stare at him. He hasn't answered my question. "Well, the Moon Goddess knew that one day you'd ask about your powers and want to be taught about them. Since your real parents didn't have the chance to show you, the Moon Goddess has graced me with the power to show you yours. Therefore, I can do everything a royal can," Axel explains while doing hand movements.
I accept what he says knowing the Moon Goddess has only the best interest in mind. I continue to stare at Axel, waiting for him to tell me what to do next.
"What do I do?" I ask, clueless when he doesn't continue. He shrugs his shoulders.
"Think of what we've done for the rest of your powers. It's like a big thinking game," he hints and it clicks in my brain.
I look up to the sky and think of clouds forming, only over the pack house though. When it doesn't work, I huff in annoyance.
"Try harder," Axel pushes. "Think of yourself as the base of the storm and harness it when you feel it's at its peak."
I try again, but it still doesn't work. I groan in frustration. How come I can get all my other powers in a snap and not this one?
"Why is this so hard?" I scream. Axel places his hands on my shoulders and looks me in the eye.
"I never told you it was going to be easy. Try this: think of the weather as your emotion. Assign an emotion to each type of season: summer, winter, autumn, and spring," Axel coaches. I do as he says and choose which emotion goes with which season.
Summer = happiness
Winter = anger or bitterness
Autumn = sadness
Spring = peacefulness
"Got them?" Axel asks and I nod. "Good, now think of your sadness one. What is it?"
"Autumn," I immediately answer. Axel raises an eyebrow, but doesn't question it. Most people would go for winter as sadness, but autumn was when my fake parents died. I will always dread the season for the rest of my life.
"Okay then. Now think of something that makes you so sad you just want to burst out crying," Axel tells me and my fake parents’ faces instantly pop into my head.
"Now focus that emotion on the weather," he coaches, slightly starting to back away from me.
I harness the sadness I'm feeling, like Axel said before, and imagine I'm shooting a beam upwards into the sky. Storm clouds immediately start to brew and rain comes plummeting down over the pack house. I don't believe it...
The occupants of the pack house glance outside in wonder, but once they see Axel and me, it flicks a switch in their brain and they continue on with what they're doing.
As the memory of my parents start to fade, so do the storm clouds. Once they've finally disappeared, Axel applauds me and I giggle while doing a little curtsy. I'm giggling a lot today.
"That was amazing, Celina! I'm so proud of you!" he boasts while picking me up and spinning me around in the air.
I laugh again and suddenly have an idea. I take the happiness I'm feeling now and beam it up into the sky. The little clouds that are scattered around the sky disappear as the sky becomes bluer and the sun's light hits my face with the perfect amount of warmth.
Axel also looks up to the sky and smirks at me knowingly. I giggle again while nodding my head. Axel chuckles at me and shakes his head at my little show.
"Do you want to try spring and winter?" Axel questions just as a yawn escapes my mouth. He sets me down on my feet and wraps an arm around my waist. "You tired, sweetheart?" he asks and I nod my head sleepily. I think I gave my energy back to the plants, not just their own.
He guides me through the pack house and up the stairs to our personal room. He tucks me into bed as I catch a glance at the clock. It's only two in the afternoon. Why am I so tired?
"Sweet dreams, Celina," Axel mutters as he plants a kiss on my forehead and I fall into the blackness of sleep.
24
CELINA
"Snow? Come on, Snow, you've been sleeping for ages. It's time to get up," a soft voice says as it travels through my sleep-filled mind.
I grumble under my breath and roll over so my face is buried in the pillows.
"I don't wanna get up," I complain. I hear a chuckle before light seeps through my closed eyelids. "What the..." I trail off as I open my eyes and I'm met with the blinding sun.
"Come on, Snow, get up," the voice says again. Comrade comes into my line of view with a smirk on his face and a mischievous glint in his almost black eyes.
"No, let your Luna sleep for a bit longer," I say as I close my eyes again and get comfy.
"Celina, it's ten in the morning," Comrade tells me. I bolt upright upon hearing it, "Ten in the morning!"
"What?" I scream and he chuckles. My hair's probably a mess and I must look a sight from just waking up.
"Yeah, you've slept for like nineteen hours. Why are you so tired?" he asks, concerned, and I just look at him with furrowed eyebrows.
"I honestly don't know. Training wasn't that bad, so it can't be that," I mutter as I slowly get up from the bed. Comrade hands me a skirt and top and I take them from him gratefully.
"Well, you're up now. Callum and myself made you breakfast. So get dressed, get downstairs and eat, woman!" he orders. I roll my eyes at him after doing a fake salute.
I quickly get changed and glance at myself in the mirror. Despite my nineteen hours of sleep, there are still bags under my eyes and my skin looks a bit pale. I sigh and splash water on my face. My stomach suddenly squirms in discomfort, making me feel sick. I place my hand on it as I swallow back the bile that just rose into my throat. That's weird... Ugh, maybe food will help.
I slowly make my way downstairs and take a seat on one of the stools by the kitchen counter.
A plate of pancakes covered in whipped cream, maple syrup, ice cream with a strawberry on top, is placed right in front of me. A fork is also placed next to the pancakes as I stare at them in awe. My stomach squirms again, but this time in a good way. This leads me to think I should just get stuck right into these pancakes.
"Good morning, Celina," Callum chirps happily and leans against the counter with a smirk plastered on his face.
"Morning," I mumble as I continue to stare at the pancakes. They're calling to me, telling me to eat them.
"Enjoy your breakfast," he tells me and pushes my fork closer. I don't waste another second as I take a big chunk of the pancakes and stuff it into my mouth. Both Callum and Comrade chuckle at me while I just ignore them.
The fluffiness of the pancakes mixes amazingly with the syrup, ice cream, and whipped cream. I snatch the strawberry and pluck off the top as I stuff it into my mouth.
About half way through devouring my pancakes, I ask, "Where's Axel?"
He wasn't there when I woke up and he still isn't here now. So, where is he?
"He's training the people who stayed back at the meeting the other day. He wants them working to the fullest and reaching their maximum strength before the... war." Callum spits the word 'war' like it’s a curse. I nod at him as another question pops into my head.
"Why aren't you two training?" I ask and they both smirk. They should be training if they're taking part in the war, too.
"We have to protect our little, defenseless Luna," Comrade taunts and I growl at him, finishing off my pancakes. They both laugh at me.
"Seriously though, why aren't you guys out there training when I know both of you are going to fight in the wretched war?" I implored with genuine curiosity. Comrade squirms uncomfortably as Callum sighs.
"Celina, we are assigned to protect you at all costs." He pauses before going on.
"That means that we're not taking part in the war because if you get hurt, neither of us will be able to live it down. As your protectors and guardians, we aren't going to take the chance of you being injured or even worse, die."
I stare at them in shock. "Callum, you're still the beta. You have the responsibility to fight alongside your alpha. Think of the lives you could save," I exclaim, then turn my eyes to a still squirming Comrade.
"I know you want to fight because you want to prove yourself. I can see it in your eyes. I don't want to be holding either of you back because you think I can't defend myself," I say. My voice is full of confidence and power as they both bow their heads to me.
"It's not in our power, Celina, it's in our instinct. As your guardians, we just want to protect you and keep you safe. That's all," Comrade whispers. I sigh in defeat, not wanting to upset either of them even more and have their guts fill with guilt.
Silence fills the room and all I want to do is hug them both. I don't though because that will probably lower their egos to have their friend and Luna cuddle them.
I clear my throat and they both look at me, begging with their eyes to break the silence.
"So, what are we going to do today?" I ask and they both look at each other before shrugging, obviously having no clue.
I sigh as I get up from the stool, the tense atmosphere slightly lifting, and make my way into the cooking area of the kitchen. I start to take out different sized mixing bowls, ingredients, utensils, and other stuff used to bake cakes.
'How are you feeling today?' my wolf suddenly asks. I halt in my movements for a moment before I continue on with my eyebrows drawn together.
'Fine...' I tell her wearily. 'Why do you ask?'
'Just curious,' is all she says before going back into the corners of my mind. Uh, that's weird. She never asked random questions like that before...
Comrade brings me out of my thoughts by looking over my shoulder and startling me slightly.
"Whatcha doing?" he asks curiously, eyeing all the stuff I've put on the bench.
"I'm cooking, what does it look like I'm doing?" I retort and they both shrug. I roll my eyes, and signal for both of them to come to where I am. "You're going to help me," I tell them. Their eyes widen and their hands go up in a surrender kind of motion as they start to slowly back away.
"We would love to, Snow, but uh... We don't cook," Comrade admits and I huff.
"Obviously," I mutter under my breath. I pull them back to where I'm standing by their shirts and give them each a mixing bowl.
"First step, watch and learn, boys," I tell them as I grab my own mixing bowl and start to mix up flour, eggs, milk, and other ingredients to make a cake.
They copy my actions and pretty soon, I've got them making and baking all sorts of cakes ranging from plain vanilla to Black Forest cake. During the whole time I'm teaching them how to bake, I keep going to the fridge for some sort of snack, which is weird because I only had breakfast a few hours ago...
I bite my lip as Comrade accidentally spills some flour on Callum's shirt. Callum slowly looks up and glares at Comrade playfully, very beta-like.
"You did not just do that," he says, strangely calm. Comrade smirks and nods his head. Oh, definitely very beta-like.
"Oh, I think I did," Comrade admits and that one playful sentence sends them into a flour-fight. Flour goes everywhere, the floor, the counter, the cupboards, everywhere!
I burst out laughing when I see Comrade's usually brown hair turn almost white from the flour and Callum's once dark blue shirt also become white from the flour.
Both boys turn to look at me as I laugh. They look to each other and grin. I immediately stop laughing and start to slowly back away from them as they advance on me. Oh dear...
"Group hug!" Comrade suddenly yells and they both lunge towards me.
I squeak and jump out of the way, running through the kitchen door and leaving the boys in their own cloud of flour. I laugh again as they burst through the door looking like a couple of SWAT agents ready to go on a top secret mission. I bolt around the corner just as they catch sight of me.
"Celina, come back! We only want to give you a hug!" I hear Callum yell. I laugh louder and run faster as I see the backyard in sight.
"Celina!" Callum taunts again and I turn my head to see that they're gaining on me.
I squeal and grip the door handle, yanking it open and slamming it in their faces. Just as I'm about to get off the patio, I'm being tackled by a sudden burst of white bodies.
I scream as my face is about to make contact with the ground, but Comrade goes under me before I can. He yanks me up as he and Callum join together in squishing me into a hug. I wriggle in their grasp as I laugh again.
"Callum! Comrade! Let go of me right now!" I exclaim, trying to be stern, but they both just laugh at me. I start laughing along with them when I realize I can’t get out of the situation.
They eventually release me and I back away from them looking at my once tidy clothes. Let's just say, they're now white. Callum and Comrade take one look at me before bursting out laughing again. I glare at them as I put my hands on my hips. They collapse to the ground, rolling around like a bunch of idiots.
"Well, Snow, you definitely look like snow now," Comrade lamely jokes as he and Callum go into another round of laughter.
A thought strikes me then, we're gonna have to clean this all up. Well, I'm gonna have to clean this all up because I doubt the laughing hyenas over there will help.
I sigh as I make my way back into the pack house unnoticed, my happy mood gone in an instant. I grab the cleaning supplies and start in the kitchen. I clean off the bench, the things we used for cooking and take out the cakes we cooked before Callum and Comrade finally decide to make an appearance.
"Wow, Celina, did you clean all this?" Callum asks, shocked, but Comrade just stares blankly at me with a knowing glint in his eyes.
"Yeah," I mutter, "A lot easier than cleaning a whole pack house."
Nobody is meant to hear the last part, but Callum and Comrade both send me looks. Callum's one of sympathy, which I hate, and Comrade's one of understanding. I blink at the two different emotions. Callum's I understand, but Comrade's? Not so much.
I chuck a rug at each of them and point them out into the hall.
"Clean your white footprints off the floor and wherever you touched," I order and they both raise their eyebrows at me, "Now!"
They both scurry into the hall, grumbling protests along the way.
I continue to clean the floor and cupboards in the kitchen until everything is sparkling clean. I wipe the sweat off my forehead and lean against the counter, mentally patting myself on the back for a job well done.
I close my eyes and rest my head on the counter top. I open them with a sigh and white assaults my vision. I gasp as I push myself off the counter and stare, dumbfounded at the ceiling. How the hell did they get flour on the ceiling?
I sigh heavily and grab a cloth to wipe it up with. Then I just float to the ceiling without any trouble and start wiping the areas with flour. I'm not going to even try to figure out how they got flour on the ceiling.
"Celina, we've finished the-" I hear Comrade's voice until he cuts himself off.
"Celina?" he calls again and I look down from the ceiling to see both Callum and Comrade looking around the kitchen for me.
I laugh silently at them in my head and decide to freak them out a bit. Concentrating, I move the wooden spoon that's still sitting on the counter and watch as it floats towards Callum.
I keep in my laugh as it whacks him on the butt, then quickly shoots up to the ceiling before he can notice.
"Ow!" he yells and whips around to see the culprit. He's met with nothing as the spoon now goes behind Comrade.
"What?" Comrade asks before he's hit also. "Ow!"
This time I can't keep in my laughter and both heads snap towards the ceiling as my laughter fills the room.
"Celina," they growl and I laugh a
gain as I gracefully float back down while grabbing the still floating wooden spoon and place it into the right drawer.
"Yes?" I ask innocently. They growl again while I just chuckle at them.
"Come on, let's go watch a movie," I suggest with a smile. They protest at first, saying they don't want to watch a movie, but I eventually convince them and soon we're all seated on the couch, me squished between the two of them, with a bowl of popcorn each. I let the boys choose, since I swatted them with a floating wooden spoon. To my surprise, they don't choose horror as I thought they would. Instead, they choose a 'shoot 'em up, bang 'em up' type of movie. I think it's called GI Joe. I don't know.
About half way through the movie, my stomach starts to churn again and a loud groaning noise is heard. I place a hand on my stomach and put the popcorn down on the coffee table in front of us. Neither of the boys seems to notice since they're so absorbed with the movie.
I continue to watch the movie until I feel bile rise in my throat, for the second time today, and a wave of nausea hits me hard. I place a hand over my mouth and sprint to the closest bathroom, ignoring the calls of Callum and Comrade.
I continue to run until I see the familiar door of the first floor bathroom. I yank open the door and go straight for the toilet. I get down on my knees and puke my guts out without a second thought.
"Snow?" I hear a soft voice that's full of concern, call from the doorway, but I'm too busy emptying my stomach.
I can feel my hair being pulled back from behind and a soothing hand rub over my back. I instantly know its Comrade because that's just what Comrade does.
"Deep breaths, Snow," he says softly as Callum waits near the door, looking worried.
I don't know how long it is, but I eventually take my head out of the toilet and lean against the cool tiles on the wall.
"Ugh..." I groan as Comrade flushes the toilet.
Callum rushes over and gently pulls me into his arms, bridal style. He picks me up effortlessly and places me down on the couch that I just ran from. He places the back of his hand on my forehead.