Into the Moonlight (Part Two)(Katie) “We have to go. Remember Jace?” I nodded and we crept quietly away from the group. I grabbed Sebastian’s arm.
“Hunter and I are leaving to go find Jace. I want you to come but you better hurry. One of them is bound to know that we’re gone.” He nodded and all three of us crept quietly into the hall. As soon as we got into the hall, we ran for the Institute's front door. Sebastian was the first to get there. He threw open the front door and went outside. Hunter followed, then, I followed.
We ran outside just as someone said, “Hunter, Sebastian, and Tara are GONE!” We took off for the nearest alley. We went into it, and, of course, it smelled like cats. We hid in it until we saw some of the back pass by us. Then, we stayed in there.
“So, what warlock are we going to meet,” I asked Hunter.
“It’s actually a witch. Her name’s Eve.”
“And you’re sure she’ll get us to Stillyir,” Sebastian questioned.
“I’m positive.” Hunter looked out of the alley. “It’s okay. They’re gone.”
We hailed a taxi and climbed inside.
“Where to,” the cab driver asked.
We looked at Hunter. “4437 Jupiter Street,” he said.
“Fifty bucks mate.” I figured out what accent he had. He was Australian just like me.
“Excuse me, mate, but do you come from Australia,” I asked him. He nodded.
“Spent the first twenty years of my life there. How long were you there, little one?”
“Five years. I was only five when my mum and dad took me to Nevada.” I saw Sebastian smirk at how I said ‘Nevada.’
Finally, Hunter came up with a fifty dollar bill. He handed it to the cab driver and the cab took off.
Hunter whispered in my ear, “We have about a forty mile driver ahead of us, so if you want to get some rest, you can.” I nodded. I looked around at the street we were on. Houston. Right next to a club. I felt sleep come upon me like a heavy brick on my shoulders. My eyes started to droop, and then I fell asleep.

I was running through a dark forest. Sebastian and Hunter were with me. They were in their wolf forms. I tried to turn into a wolf, but I couldn’t. I heard trees crash behind me. I heard the lumbering of something huge, but I couldn’t tell what it was. I tripped and fell over a branch. The creature came upon me…
Suddenly I was in a glass room. But I was wrong. It was a glass cage. I tried to punch my way out, but the glass was in destructible. A man came up.
“You’re mine now,” he said, smirking.
“Tara! Tara!” I heard someone scream. Suddenly, I was falling into darkness.
I woke up with a jolt. Someone had my hands in an iron grip. My blond hair was falling in front of my face.
“Tara, wake up,” Sebastian said.
“I am awake. And let go of my hands.” I yanked my hands back.
“Sorry. You tried to hit me when I said your name.”
“Why’d you wake me up,” I asked, rubbing my eyes.
“We’re here,” a new voice said. I turned around and saw Hunter standing in the open cab door. “Hurry up,” he said irritably, “before he makes us pay extra.” I hopped out of the car with Sebastian following me. We were in front of a cabin. It had smoke coming out of its chimney and had a blue front door. The smoke turned into letter with a question mark.
“It either says who’s there, what do you want, or are you the police,” Hunter said. I thwacked his arm and went up to ring the door bell.
I didn’t have to. The door opened automatically. A witch with blond hair was standing in front of me. She looked like a supermodel. She had on a long blue dress, had blue eyes, blond hair, and was really tall.
“Who are you,” she asked in a voice that rang like bells. I noticed that she had black, leathery wings growing out of her back.
“Eve,” Hunter said. She looked past me at Hunter. She looked calmer when she saw him.
“Ahh, Hunter.” She went up to him and kissed him on both cheeks. “What brings you here?”
He rolled his eyes. “We need a temporary Portal.” She widened her eyes. She looked at me and then back to Hunter.
“Come inside,” she said quietly. Hunter looked at me. Sebastian looked at Hunter. I looked at Sebastian. I nodded at Hunter, who nodded to Sebastian. We started to follow after Eve.
Inside it was beautiful. Everything was swathed in silk. Drapes, table cloth, doilies, everything! It was amazing how much silk Eve had.
Eve went over and stood by the table.
“Come sit down,” she said, “Would you like some tea?” Hunter looked abashed. I nodded, just as Sebastian did. We looked at each other; then turned away, embarrassed. Hunter looked at us and then nodded. Eve smiled and then walked off to what had to be the kitchen. I stole quick glances around the room. Yeah, it was cover with silk but I hadn’t noticed the color of the silk. Everything was pink. Pink drapes, pink table cloth, pink carpet. I raised an eyebrow at Hunter. He just shrugged.
Just then, Eve came back with pink tea cups. She was levitating them while she held some papers. She set them down carefully on the table; one in front of each of us. She sat down at the head of the table, the papers still in her hands.
“So you want a temporary Portal,” she said.
“Yes, Lady,” Hunter said. She smirked at Hunter and then set down the papers. I saw that they were really old newspapers. She spread them out.
“This is why I didn’t answer you right away.” I took one of the papers and looked at the headline.
Myths and Legends are Real
Local youth spotted sparks flying up in western New York. She followed the sparks until she came to a few apartment buildings and saw a boy about eighteen shooting the sparks from his finger tips. She ran out of there as fast as she could. More details on page A5.
I took the next paper.
Myths and Legends Strike Again
Another spotting of a mythical creature. A young boy was walking through the park looking for his mom and he saw something moving in a pond. He looked closer and saw it was a person with a fish tail. He ran as fast as he could. It’s seems like the myths and legends are tired of hiding. They aren’t using what they call glamour’s. More information on A7.
I picked up the very last paper.
Werewolves are living among us
A teenage couple was walking through the streets when they saw a teenage boy running. They stopped and watched as the boy got down on his hands and knees and transformed into a black wolf.
“Fange,” I whispered.
The werewolf took off. Unfortunately, the couple wasn’t fast enough to catch up with the werewolf to figure out where his lair was. We do know now that mythical creatures are living among us, so be on the lookout.
I threw down the paper. I couldn’t bear to look at it anymore. How can our kind be so stupid? At least they never got caught. Hunter put down his paper. His face was a mask of astonishment. He was thinking what I was thinking. Eve was looking at me and Hunter. Sebastian only picked up one paper and had set it back down without even reading it. He had anger written all over his face.
“It’s only a temporary Portal though,” Hunter said.
“I said I-” Eve started, but I cut her off.
“THIS IS ABOUT ONE OF US,” I screamed in her face. “WE CAN FIX THIS, EVE! I’m an Angel Wolf. I have powers that might help us.” Eve just gaped at me.
“Y-Y-Y-You’re an Angel Wolf?” I sighed and nodded. “I’ll cut you a deal. If I can have a patch of your fur, I’ll make you a temporary Portal.”
Hunter smiled. “Deal.” He held out his hand. Eve grab it and shook. As soon as she let go, Hunter wiped his hand on his pants. Sebastian grinned into his tea.
“Okay, Tara, get down into your wolf form and she’ll take a patch of your fur.” I gulped and nodded. I got down on my hands and knees and changed into my wolf form.
Eve smiled when she saw my white fur. I could tell that she could tell that I was an Angel Wolf. Pain lanced through my hands. I looked down and saw claws and paws. My teeth fell out and canine ones moved in. I felt my eyes turn blue. It felt like water was splashed in my eyes, wiping out the green color and replacing it with blue. My face changed into the wolf’s. I grew a tail. My legs changed into hind legs with that weird L shape. My arms changed into front legs. My smell became more pronounced.
Finally, I was done. Eve was beaming by the time I was done. I looked up at her and met her eyes. They had a glint in them.
“No one has ever seen one before. There have been stories-” she started.
Written on them, yeah, we know, I said. She gritted her teeth. I grinned a wolfy grin. She lifted her hand and a red light shot out of it, striking a patch of my fur. The light took that piece of fur off. I narrowed my eyes and growled. Hunter shot me a look.
That hurt, I said. Eve shrugged.
“Okay, now for that temporary Portal,” she said. She placed her hands on a wall and started to chant in a different language. Swirling shapes appeared on the wall. Now the enter wall looked like it was swirling.
“Where are you going,” she asked.
“Stillyir.” She smiled.
“I know exactly where that is.” She scrunched her eyes together in concentration. She started to chant again. This time, a picture appeared in the swirling mass. All I could see were bits of trees and bushes.
“You have to jump through when I tell you to,” Eve said, “or else it won’t work.” We nodded. “Okay, one… two… three!” We jumped through the Portal into Stillyir.
Have you ever been on a rollercoaster? You hit that first drop and your stomach meets your Adam’s apple. That was what it was like when we jumped through the Portal into Stillyir. My stomach flew up to my throat. I tried to look around but the wind was too much. My eyes shut against my will.
After about three minutes, I hit packed earth. It hurt really bad.
“LOOK OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT!” I heard someone shout. I tried to move but not fast enough. Hunter fell on me and Sebastian fell on him. We were tangled in arms and legs. I coughed on hair (not my own).
“I told you to watch out,” Hunter said irritably in my ear.
“Well I guess I didn’t move fast enough,” I flung back at him. Finally, we got everything figure out. I stood up and looked around. “We’re in a forest.” I said with a hint of surprise. Hunt and Sebastian stood up. Suddenly, I heard leaves rustle.
“Get down,” I whispered. I pulled them down as I dropped. The leaves rustled closer and closer.
Suddenly, a voice said, “Um, are you okay?” I looked up and saw a girl standing over me. She had brown hair and was really tall. Her green eyes looked down at us. I nodded. She held out her hand. I grabbed it and she helped me stand up. I pulled the boys up.
“Who are you,” I asked.
“My name’s Kaye. What’s yours,” she said.
“My name is Tara and these two are Sebastian and Hunter.” I noticed slightly that her hair was covering her ears.
“What are you doing here?”
“We came to rescue one of my friends. He was taken by someone.” She looked at me as if I were crazy. “It’s true!”
“I believe you. What are you exactly?”
“We’re werewolves,” Sebastian said.
“Are you something,” I asked.
She pushed her hair back. Her ears were slightly pointed and slightly bigger than a normal human's. I also noticed that she had a bow and its quiver strapped to her back.
“I’m an elf. There are very few of us now so I don’t easily trust strangers.” The scar on my leg pulsed.
“Danger,” Hunter whispered in my ear. I nodded.
“We have to get out of here,” I told Kaye. She nodded. She took off running in the direction that she came from. Man, she was fast. We lagged several yards behind. Finally, I got annoyed and dropped into my wolf form and chased after her. I caught up to her. She didn’t even glance at me. It was as if I wasn’t even there. I looked behind me and saw that Hunter and Sebastian had gotten down into their wolf forms and were following me. I could tell which one was Hunter and which one was Sebastian. Hunter was a sandy gold and Sebastian was all black with dots of white. I turned my head forward and tried not to think about Jace. He was almost always on my mind.
Finally, Kaye started to slow down. We were in front of a narrow valley. She finally stopped at the lip of the valley.
“Here we are.” My group transformed back into our human selves. We looked down at the valley. I saw that there were small huts made out of mud and grass. The roofs were made out of leaves with a hole at the very center. I guess that’s where the fire smoke goes out. A bunch of people were walking through the streets. They all had on kind of a greenish brown shirt and had on green pants.
“It’s Hunting Day,” Kaye explained. “It’s the day where all of the best hunters have a competition to see who can bring back the best food and who can get the most food.” I saw a young boy carrying two deer on his back.
“You guys must be strong. I could never lift that,” I said. Kaye giggled.
“C’mon,” she said, “Every time I bring in someone new, everyone loves them. Trust me.” Kaye started to walk down into the encampment.
“She better be telling the truth.” I heard Hunter mutter. “Or else we’re going to have a lot of explaining to do when we don’t come back with one of our group.”

“Okay this is a little creepy,” Hunter said in my ear. As we walked through the camp with Kaye, all of the elves turned to look at us. One boy who had lightly tanned skin was whispering to another boy with dark black hair. They were looking at Kaye and me. I quickly averted my gaze and looked somewhere else.
Finally, we got to a small hut on the outskirts of the tiny village. Kaye opened the door for us and we stepped inside. Inside was nothing like the outside. It looked like the inside of a normal, human house. It was huge! While on the outside, it’s tiny.
“Jeremy, I’m home,” Kaye called and a boy came around the corner. He had blond hair, blue eyes, and was tall. He looked at us with curiosity.
“Kaye, who are your friends,” he asked.
“Jeremy, this is Tara, Sebastian, and Hunter. I met them while I was hunting.” I nodded to him. He smiled and looked at Sebastian.
“Have we met before,” he asked him. Dumbfounded, Sebastian shook his head.
“I don’t think so,” he said.
“Well, you look oddly familiar. Oh, and Kaye, don’t forget the Hunting Dance is tonight.” Kaye nodded. I raised my eyes at Hunter. He shrugged. Jeremy left the room.
“Well, yeah, sorry for not telling you that earlier.” Suddenly, the pocket on my jacket vibrated. My phone! I forgot that I even put it in there. I looked at the text message.
U r so dead. It said. I smiled inwardly. Fange. He figured out what my phone number was. Kaye was staring at it with curiosity.
“What is that,” she asked.
“A phone,” I said. She raised her eyebrows but didn’t question further. She looked at her watch.
“Oh, wow. You guys have to get ready for the Dance. And you have nothing to wear.” She looked at our clothes with disgust.
“Um, we weren’t planning on going to any dances,” Hunter said, but Kaye didn’t hear him.
“Tara, you can borrow some of my clothes and boys, you guys can borrow some of Jeremy’s clothes.” She grabbed my arm and yanked me after her. I looked helplessly back at the boys. Jeremy had come into the room, overhearing the conversation and was dragging the boys to his bedroom.
We enter Kaye’s bedroom. It was painted a pale pink with flowers all over it. I gagged mentally. She shoved me in a chair in front of a mirror. It was a makeup desk. I groaned silently. I hated being girly.
“You need the proper clothes and makeup if you want to make an appearance tonight at the Dance.” She toss me something that was a dark red and navy blue. “Stick that on. The bathroom’s over there.” She pointed to a door. The bathroom was painted a dark purple. I shrugged the dress on me. It was a little short. By “little”, I meant that I could see my legs all the way up to my knees. I never wore dress or skirts, so to see my legs was alarming. I went back out. Kaye looked at me.
“Your hair needs fixing. Desperately.” She shoved me back down in the chair. She yanked at my hair with a comb. I winced. She pretty much threw a bunch of glitter in my face. I coughed and glared at her.
She laughed. “Don’t look at me. Look at yourself.” I looked in the mirror. What had Kaye done to me?! My hair was pulled up into a bun on top of my head. It was held together with sparkling pins.
“Now to get started with the makeup,” Kaye said. She brought out an eyeliner pen.
“Kaye, can I ask you something?”
“Sure, what?”
“Do you have any siblings?” She jerked her hand so hard that it made a black line all the way to my hairline. “It’s okay.” I said holding my hand up to my eye.
“No it’s not,” she said, digging around in the makeup cabinet. She came up with some lotion and a cotton ball. “Here use this.” I took the lotion and the cotton ball and got to work on the black line.
“Why are siblings such a touchy subject,” I asked, working away at my eye.
“Well, I did have siblings.”
“Did?”
“Well, I only had two other people in my family. My two brothers. My parents had left us out in the wilderness when they found out what we are.”
“What happen to your two brothers?”
She gulped. “We were out hunting. Kato, my youngest brother, went off on his own. Aelix, my older brother, was hunting with me. Suddenly, while we were stalking a small rabbit, we heard a scream. ‘Kato!’ Aelix shouted and started to run towards where the scream came from. I swore and started after him. We found Kato. A man was standing over him with a knife in his hand. The knife was red to the hilt. Aelix roared and ran at him. The man conjured up a Portal and moved aside. My brother went through it. The man looked at me. ‘Stay out of this, girl. I won’t kill your brother, but if you get in my way, I’ll kill him.’ Then, he disappeared through the Portal. I ran over to see if Kato was still alive. He looked up at me with dulling eyes.
‘You have to save him,’ Kato said, gripping my hand, ‘Save Aelix as you could not save me.’ With that, he died. I stood frozen for a moment before I started running. I ran to find others like me and found this little valley. Here I met Jeremy.” Kaye shuddered. I was done with the makeup, so I stuck my arm around her. She got up.
“C’mon,” she said hoarsely, “I have to finish putting makeup on you.” I turned back around. She went to work on my face.
When she was done, I was unrecognizable. I looked really close to what a supermodel would look like. I smiled.
“I’m going to kill you after the Dance tonight,” I said sweetly. She laughed.
“Come on; let’s go see if the boys are done.” I nodded, getting up from the chair. We walked out into the hallway and back to the living room. The boys were, in fact, done. Oh my goodness, they were as gussied up as I was. Except, not with makeup on are a dress. Hunter had on a dark black suit with a black tie. He still had his tennis shoes on. I had to choke back on a laugh because the tennis shoes and suit did not mix at all. Sebastian had on a dark, navy blue suit with a striped tie. Yeah, he looked A LOT funnier than Hunter with his tennis shoes.
“Are you ready,” Jeremy asked. Kaye nodded. “Good because the dance is about to start.” She nodded again.
“Follow me,” Kaye said, starting out the door. Jeremy followed her and Sebastian followed him. Hunter looked at me.
“Shall we,” he said holding out his arm. I giggled and took it. Then, we followed the others.

The square that we walked through was decorated with flowers and ribbons. Lanterns were somehow floating magically floating in mid air. Jeremy saw the amazement on my face.
“Elves have magic that flows deep. But, we don’t have unlimited sources.” I nodded, half-listening. I was still gaping at the beauty of the area. Even the elves were beautiful. The girls had on dresses made out of leaves and flower petals while the boys just had a plain suit on. It was kind of funny because all the boys looked overdressed, while the girls looked perfect. Suddenly, I was afraid to go out there. My legs felt like bags of water.
“I can’t go out there,” I said.
“Oh, yes you can,” Kaye argued, “I didn’t work myself to death getting you gussied up—”
“Kaye Telver!” someone called. I turned around and saw a boy and girl walking towards us. The boy had black hair and looked slightly Asian. He had milky brown eyes and was tan. He looked more Indian than Asian. You could tell that he was muscular because the shirt that he was wearing defined his muscles. The girl was stunning. She had dirty blond hair and blue eyes. Her eyes were a little creepy, though. Every time she blinked, they went a darker shade of the color. When they got too dark, they changed colors. She was wearing a rose-petal dress and her hair was pulled up into a bun. She was about my height. Hunter walked up behind me. I nearly jumped because I hadn’t heard him come up.
Kaye smiled. “Rylee, Jacob. I knew I would see you here.” The girl, Rylee, looked passed Kaye at us.
“Who are your friends, Kaye,” Rylee asked.
“Oh, sorry. Rylee, Jacob, this is Tara Werlac, Hunter Kettering, and Sebastian Velon. Tara, Sebastian, Hunter, this is Rylee Foster and Jacob Stouthe” I didn’t really pay attention to her. I was busy looking at Hunter. How did she know our last names? Hunter saw my look and shrugged. Kaye looked at us and cleared her throat.
“Oh, yeah, sorry. I was thinking out something. I’m Tara,” I said, holding out my hand.
Rylee grabbed it. “Pleasure.”
“I’m Hunter,” Hunter said. She gave a nod towards him.
“So you must be Sebastian,” Rylee said. Sebastian nodded.
“So, what brings you to Stillyir?” I quickly glanced at Kaye and Jeremy.
“That’s… classified. We are to tell no one where we’re going,” Hunter said. I almost laughed aloud. He was going all military on them. Rylee and Jacob looked at him.
“Hey, why don’t you guys come out and dance,” Jacob asked. I widened my eyes and shook my head.
“Oh, come on! You’ll love it!” Rylee grabbed my arms and dragged me onto the dance floor. She started to dance, waving her arms in the air and bouncing around. I started to sway my hips and I started to get into the groove. I let the music take me, being light on my feet. It was actually fun.
Suddenly, the announcer came on the intercom. “Okay, everyone! This next one is dedicated to Hunter Kettering and Tara Werlac! Everyone… it’s time for… COUPLES DANCE!” I gritted my teeth. Kaye. She just had to do this, didn’t she? All the elves were getting in couples. I started towards Hunter—who was standing next to the edge—but got cut off by a boy with lightly tanned skin and brown hair. He looked seventeen and was really tall. He grinned at me.
“May I have this dance,” he asked. I shook my head, but he didn’t notice. He grabbed me and started to dance with me. I finally recognized him. He was the guy that was staring at me and Kaye in the square! His friend was standing outside of the dance floor, obviously flirting with other girl elves.
I looked helplessly at Hunter and stared. One of the girl elves was kissing him! She had brown hair and had on a dress made of daisy flowers. He was struggling to get free, looking back at me. I smirked and went back to dancing. The boy pretty much didn’t pay any attention to me. The song finally ended. I broke free of the elf’s hold and ran towards Hunter. The girl was still kissing him. He looked helpless at me. I smiled at him. He glared back. I sighed.
“HEY,” I yelled at the girl. She broke off. She glared at me and ran off. Hunter gasped and looked at me.
“Thanks,” he said. I grinned at him. Suddenly, he started coughing violently.
“Hunter!” I knelt by his side. Sebastian and Kaye ran over. Hunter coughed up some sort of pill. Sebastian picked it up and looked at it. He swore.
“Poison pill,” he said. I looked around for the girl. There she was! She was running away. I growled. I started running after her, but she was too fast. I changed into my wolf form and took off. I could sense all of the elves eyes on me. I ran harder. She saw what was following her and starting running faster. I jumped and tackled her. I transformed back into myself.
“Why did you poison Hunter,” I screamed in her face. She didn’t answer me. She was sobbing. “ANSWER ME!”
“H-h-h-he told me too,” she sobbed. I grabbed the front of her dress and pulled her up.
“WHO TOLD YOU TO?”
“The one who knows that we exist. He told me to poison one of the werewolves and bring it to him. I was forced to!” She kept sobbing. I punched her.
“Shut up! Now tell me his name.”
“I don’t know his name. All I know is his son’s name. Austin.” I could see the red mark where I punched her. I got off of her. I helped her stand up.
“Get out of here,” I said, “and never come back.” She nodded and ran away. I turned around and ran back to the square.
I knelt by Sebastian. Hunter was lying on his back. He didn’t look any better.
“How is he,” I asked. It was a stupid question. He wasn’t good at all.
“He needs air. She put a bunch of pills in there. He’s choking,” was his answer. He looked at me. I sighed. I started giving him CPR. One two three four. I opened his mouth and blew air in. I pumped his chest again. One two three four. I blew another lungful of air in him. I put my ear to his neck. He was starting to get little breaths. I pumped his chest again. One two three four. I blew another lungful of air in him.
Suddenly, he lurched upward. He was coughing again. He coughed up all six pills. He fell back down.
“Hunter? Are you alright,” I asked. He opened his eyes.
“You saved me.” He got up and hugged me. I heard a round of applause for me. Hunter stopped hugging me. Sebastian patted my back. But, I wasn’t paying any attention to any of this. I was think about what the girl had said. Who was this mysterious person that was trying to kill me or Hunter? Who had stolen Kaye’s brother? Are they somehow connected? So many question and little time to figure them out. For all I know, Jace’s time was running out.

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