Figment of Dreams
The Woods (1)

I don’t know why the faiths had put me on this project with Sebastian. But that was my life right now. I was still not over that last prank he had pulled and here I was in the woods behind the Academy searching for Dwarf Owls.

My camera was ready to shoot and since Dean had told us that these birds were rather easy to spot, this would be a walk in the park. Afterwards we would need to write a paper on which species we had spotted. This could be determined by the color of their beaks. They apparently looked a lot like a mix between earth’s owls and toucans.

We were about two hours later than expected and had about one hour of sunlight left, since Sebastian had decided to sleep in late. As in all afternoon late. ‘Little bird, how fitting we are searching for Dwarf Owls together don’t you think?’ he cheekily stated as if we were best of friends. His own camera hanging over his rock band shirt. His tattoos rippling over his arms every time he thought he heard something and pressed the button just in case.

I spotted this weird looking insect at the bark of a red tree and came in closer to photograph it. As I was done with it and took a few steps back, Sebastian was gone. I looked around, underneath these giant redwoods, with less and less sunlight, it became eerie rather quickly. ‘Sebastian, where are you?’ I yelled. ‘It’s not funny.’

‘Dean told us to stick together!’ my voice slightly higher than usual. I took a few steps forward but he was nowhere to be seen. That fucking bastard! This was another one of his jokes and I was sick and tired of that boy sometimes.

I heard shuffling behind me and turned around. Behind me was this mixture of a dog and a wolf. Longer shaggy hair, white as snow, with a grey nose and grey paws. His eyes were amber and shone with a weird sort of intelligence. He had a slight mane forming, like you might see with young lions. ‘Hey pretty boy, what are you doing here?’ these woods had no wild animals according to Dean, so he must be somebody’s pet. He reluctantly stepped closer and I crouched down. Acting like I would on earth when I saw a dog. I would let him come to me. Never overstep with dogs. Don’t approach when you don’t know them. He sniffed my hand. Licked it. Put his amber eyes back on me. I scratched his head. ‘That’s a good boy.’

A sound from behind me came up and he growled. He showed a whole lot of fangs and teeth and seemed to grow a few inches. That must have been my imagination. ‘Love, what are you doin- Holy shit! Fuck! Motherfucker!’ Sebastian came from behind me and freaked out completely in near perfect British English. He definitely must have lived on earth for a while. That accent was too spot on.

The dog actually grew a few more inches. This was actually happening… I fell back on my ass and felt Sebastian grab the neck of my white shirt. ‘RUN!’ he yelled. Because he was so freaked out I did as he said and turned on my heel and stalked after him in a sprint. My hair was in ponytail and slapped me in the face from running.

Behind me I heard the sound of skin ripping and bones breaking. I had no idea what was happening and why he was so scared, the dog seemed so nice to me until he showed up. We stopped at a tree with a whole lot of branches. He reached for my hand, eyes big with fear. ‘Climb!’ he shouted. ‘Quick!’ I scrambled upwards, hurting my knees and scraping my legs on the rough bark, Sebastian was right behind me. When I was higher up I glanced down and that white dog I saw earlier had transformed into this werewolf monster thing of my nightmares. It had grey fur, a lion’s mane, it was the size of a rhino now and it’s fangs were the size of knives. It was prowling around the tree, ready for one of us to fall out. Sebastian was panting and puffing, as white as a sheet.

‘Fucking Hell Elmrose!’ he shrieked again. ’That’s a freaking Wolvaby!’ He looked at me like I knew what that was. I stared blankly at him.

‘Well he was cute earlier.’

’He was cute earlier?’ he screamed again. ‘He eats Rainers! He is the top apex predator of this planet!’

That shocked me.

‘You sure about that, he let me scratch his ears…’

He looked at me as if I was a ghost.

‘That is so impossible. Nobody has ever scratched a Wolvaby’s ears! Nobody can tame them! Nobody can keep them as a pet!’ All of what he is saying is sounding strange to me. The dog I saw earlier was an entirely different experience.

‘Okay, calm down alright. I believe you.’ I said to temper his scared mood.

He relaxed and let his head fall back against the tree trunk. ‘Now we’re stuck here…’

I glanced down and the beast was still stalking us. Glancing upwards at our hiding spot.

‘Well, Leo’s still there.’

‘What? Who’s Leo?’ he answered. Eyes still close and pinching his nose.

‘I named him Leo.’

’You gave the Wolvaby a nickname?’

‘Not a nickname, a name.’

‘You are a crazy little bird, totally of your nutter now aren’t ya.’

Leo kept on patrolling underneath our tree. Sebastian saw me glancing and looked down, fear instantly took hold of his eyes and posture again. ‘He’s still there.’

‘Yeah, he is… when will he… you know…go away?’

Sebastian shook his head. ‘Until he has fed!’ he barked at me.

‘Shit Seb, I don’t know these things. Don’t bite my face of.’

‘You’re lucky you encountered a male… the females are way, way worse.’ He shuddered.

The night fell and we were still being stalked by Leo. He was growling at us. His grey mane still very much there. ‘Well, we might as well pass the time since we can’t fall asleep and risk falling out.’ Sebastian put his hands behind his head, seemingly more relaxed now that he knew the animal couldn’t climb the tree. I sighed. ‘What do you have in mind?’