Dark as the Sunlight(Katie) “Quiet now,” Naomi said, peering over her left shoulder. The Night Guards had not followed them into the forest. They knew what lived in the forest and they were afraid of going into it. Naomi’s small, younger sisters were at her left and her older brother was at her right.

“Are you sure about this, Naomi?” her brother whispered to her. “At the orphanage we were safe and warm. Out here, we’re frozen and cold.”

“Would you rather be frozen, cold, and together or safe, warm and separated? Plus they would have figured out what we are.” Naomi snapped at him. Nathaniel jerked back, startled and sort of amused by her fierceness of staying with her family. The rain pelted the younger girls hard and they whimpered.

“We have to get them out of here,” Nathaniel said. Naomi nodded, agreeing with him. She scooped up Delilah while Nathaniel picked up Rose. They sprinted farther into the forest.

They came to a small clearing, not housed over by any trees or anything. Naomi stayed with the two younger siblings while Nathaniel went off in search for a source of food. It was freezing outside. Naomi cradled her younger sisters. They shivered from the cold. Delilah let out a small whimper.

“It’s alright, little one,” Naomi said, patting her four year-old sister on the head. They sat in silence for a few more minutes, listening for Nathaniel or a predator.

Suddenly, Nathaniel came sprinting out of the forest, his eyes filled with terror. His left cheek was bloody. Naomi jumped up as he slid to a stop in front of them. “What’s wrong, Nathaniel?”

He was gasping for air. “Went… too far… Got caught… by Night… Guards… Followed me through the forest. I just got away from them.”

“We have to move now, or they’ll take us back to the orphanage.” Naomi pulled the younger girls up. Nathaniel looked over at them.

“I saw a cottage not too far from here in the forest,” he said. “I passed it when I was running from the Night Guards.”

“Was it empty?” Naomi asked, suddenly worried.

Nathaniel nodded. “Quite. The roof was caved in and it had holes in between the logs.” Naomi almost shouted with relief.

“Show us, then,” Naomi said. Nathaniel took them to the cottage. It was like he had said. It was empty, the roof was caved in, and the walls had holes in them. Naomi hurried the younger girls inside, while Nathaniel followed slowly. He couldn’t get this feeling out that someone was watching him. He looked around slowly and then followed them inside.

But indeed someone was watching him. Bright golden eyes were staring at the cottage with a hungry look in them. Another pair of eyes showed up next to the golden ones. These eyes were an amber green. The wolves turned to face each other.

“Get the troops ready for an attack,” the golden eyed wolf growled.

“Yes, Shane,” the amber green eyed wolf said, turning, about to do Shane’s bidding.

“And Jake?” Shane growled.

“Yes?”

“Don’t screw it up this time.” Jake’s head went down and he growled deep in his throat.

“I won’t.”

Meanwhile, in the Cottage…

“Just try, Naomi,” Nathaniel said.

“I haven’t learned how yet,” Naomi said.

“C’mon, making Fire is the easiest thing in Wizard Way.”

“Fine, I’ll try.” Naomi closed her eyes and lifted a dreadfully white finger, pointing it at the empty fireplace.
"Warm it will
Yes it be dire
Please make me
A big Fire!"

Naomi eyes flew open as a large bolt of Fire shot from her hand and hit the kindling on the fireplace. It created a big and magical Fire. It also lit up the place a little too. It was a dump. Little bits of wood scattered across the floor and the caved in roof almost hit their heads.
Naomi looked over at Nathaniel. “Want to help me clean this place up?” He nodded. Naomi pointed a finger at the caved in roof and started to chant again.
"Fallen roof
All caved in
Wooden splinters
A kick in the shin
Help us now
Fix this place
It could use some lace!"

All of a sudden, there was a whirling sound and the roof shifted back up into place. There was now carpet on the floor and different types of lacing everywhere. Nathaniel grinned a bit at what his sister had done and then he pointed at the holes. He knew a simple spell for that.
"Holes no more!
Be gone!
Be strong enough
To not be troubled by a bomb!"

The holes were suddenly filled with bullet proof glass. Nathaniel shrugged. It was good enough to last. Suddenly, he heard growling outside. He sprinted over to one of the newly fixed windows. Wolves surrounded the small cottage.

“Naomi!”

“I know! I can see them,” Naomi snapped, looking out a different window.

“What are they?” Naomi checked the different planes on her sight. On the third plane they were just human boys.

“Werewolves,” she growled. One of the wolves lunged at the window she was at. It hit it and tumbled off backwards. She threw it open and the wolves all turned towards her.

“What do you want?” she shouted, outraged. One wolf, one with golden eyes, stood up on its hind legs and transformed into a young human boy, no older than her, sixteen or seventeen.

"We want you to leave," the boy said, growling. "If you don't, we will attack. You have two days to decide. We wouldn't want to hurt your precious little sisters." The boy bared his teeth at Delilah and Rose. They both hid behind Nathaniel. The boy smirked and shouted something in some wolf language. The wolves disappeared back into the forest. The boy looked back at Naomi.

"Two days," he growled again, following his wolves back into the forest. Naomi watched him go and then slammed the window shut.

"I can't believe this," she shouted, stomping around, mad out of her mind. "First we have to run from the Night Guard, now we have to decide if we leave and die in the forest or die from those stupid, stupid werewolves. Nathaniel walked over to his sister, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"We will fight," he whispered in her ear. "Would you rather die alone in the wilderness or die together as a family?" She looked over at him.

"Together, as a family."


Two Days Later

Naomi walked out of the cottage and stood in front of the house. The sun gleamed brightly down on her white face. She was waiting. Waiting for the wolves to come. And come they did. Slowly, one by one, they padded quickly and silently out of the forest. Nathaneil walked out of the house, followed slowly by Delilah and Rose. They had taught the younger ones a little bit about magic over the last two days and they knew the basic defense spells. The wolf with the golden eyes padded up to them, looking nothing at all like a friendly wolf.

"You have not taken our offer," the wolf growled, somewhat amused.

Naomi shook her head. "So be it."

The wolf suddenly lunged at her face, hoping to catch her by surprise. She was ready, though. Quickly, she moved her hands in a complicated movement and the wolf was suddenly on the ground with two cuts on its side. The rest of the wolves were outraged. They all leapt at Naomi and the wizards at the same time, but once again the wizards were ready. Naomi and Nathaniel were taking on four at a time while the younger siblings were taking on two at a time. It was amazing how much a four year old could do damage.

Jake, however, was more cunning than his leader had thought. He had snuck around behind the wizards and was about to pounce when Naomi heard him growl. She spun around, kicked him in the chest, and spun back around, still taking on four wolves at a time.

Immediately, Jake turned back into his human self and lay on the ground, stunned and in pain. Shane was now back up and joined the fight. He lunged at Naomi, teeth nashing. His teeth caught the side of her shoulder and she was flung to the ground. Shane landed on top of her and was biting her hard.

"Naomi!" Nathaniel shouted. Being eighteen, he was the only one out of the kids that knew the Sun Retract spell. The only problem was how dangerous it was. He still had no choice.

"Delilah, Rose, get close to me!" he yelled at them. They got as close as they could to him as he raised his lightly tanned hand to the sky.

"Sun Retract, Protect, and Hide!" he yelled. Suddenly, the sky went dark as all of the light from the sun enveloped Nathaniel and the sisters in a glowing dome of hot flame. The world suddenly got cold.

Naomi knew she was dying as soon as the light from the sun was gone. The wolf that had been attacking her let out a yelp and fled for the forest, put had not gotten very far. All the wolves froze, but since she was a wizard, she didn't freeze, but she was terribly cold.

The dome from around Nathaniel and the sisters flew back up into the sky and lit the sun again. The wolves remained frozen though. Nathaniel had put a Quick Freeze spell on them as soon as he came out of the dome. As fast as he could, he ran to Naomi's side. Her shirt was ripped from Shane's claws and there were criss crosses of wounds on her stomach, deep enough to kill.

He brushed Naomi's hair away from her bloodied face. He had to do a Healing Spell but he didn't have that kind of time. He had to try though.
He started to chant, "Dying is lost, Hurt is not over..."

"Nathaniel," Naomi groaned.

"We need some luck, a four leaf clover..."

"Nathaniel!" Nathaniel stopped chanting and looked down at his sister. Her face was pale, her eyes bloodshot, and then he knew she was dying. He pulled her head awkwardly up into his lap. Her dark brown hair flowed over his legs and down onto the soft, solid ground. Naomi's eyes met his for a brief moment and then they closed forever.

"Oh, Naomi," Nathaniel cried. "How am I going to live without you?" There was no answer.

The ceremony was brief. They could not go back into town, for fear that they would be caught by the Guard. Nathaniel had forged a shovel out of a bamboo stick and a few rocks. He laid Naomi's body down in the hole with care and covered her back up quickly. If he were to say words, he would have cried. Now he was inside the cottage once again, keeping the Fire which Naomi had started going with a few logs. Rose was lying across his lap.

"Nathaniel?" she asked quietly. He looked down at her. "Do you think that we'll find Mom and Dad?"

"I'm sure, kid," he said, looking out the door at the rising sun. "I'm sure."

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