Rising from the Ashes
Chapter 3

Elenora trudges closer to the invisible barrier she senses. To a human it might look like a regular forest but Elenora had felt the shift the second she stepped foot in the northern forest. It is one of the many lost -more so hidden than lost- places in this world. Everything looks almost magical which isn’t so hard to believe. Everything about this place beats with a certain magic, the trees dance and talk to each other in their own language. A language Elenora hadn’t managed to pick up in her years.

Elenora’s red paws dig deep into the snow, a lovely contrast. When she moves to warn Mia they’re getting close to the barrier, she almost scoffs at what she sees. Even in wolf form, her playful nature does not leave her. Her large blonde wolf chases a creature that looks almost like a butterfly though it has the body of some type of monkey. It’s an odd thing to look at. Mia chases the small creature, playfully growling as it taunts her, laughing mockingly and shaking it’s furry butt in her face. Mia’s wolf Isleen snaps her jaw at the creature who guffaws. An odd sound. It’s quick to climb the tree, leaving Mia to jump up in an attempt to get the creature. She barks as she watches him or her or whatever the hell the sex of the creature is. The creature does a flip off of the tree, his wings opening wide. There’s a wild swirl of color and details across the beautiful wings and it distracts Mia enough so the creature can grab a ball of snow and throw it right at Isleen’s large head. The wolf growls before moving to chase the creature once again. Marcella -Elenora’s wolf- growls stopping her in her tracks.

Only then does Mia know Elenora had witnessed the whole act. Isleen, not liking Marcella’s frustration, bows her head and whines for forgiveness. It’s not their playful nature that has both Marcella and Elenora on edge. It’s going back to a pack. It’s her powers. It’s the rogues. It’s life really, everything’s been happening at once and Elenora and her wolf are both tired of it all. It’s good that Mia and her wolf are enjoying themselves, Elenora suspects that soon it will be a lot harder, she suspects there’s something coming and if she’s being honest with herself...she’s not really sure she’s ready. She’s not too sure she can handle whatever’s coming.

Marcella huffs and rolls her eyes as she turns around, a clear gesture that she doesn’t really care so long as Mia hurries the hell up. Elenora had long since told Mia that they are equals, that her actions are her own but Isleen does not see it that way. Isleen sees Elenora as her alpha and the wolf often shows her submissive nature to her. She does this while Elenora is in control, walking in her human form but when she’s in her wolf form it’s only that much more obvious. Marcella stops, a sign they’ve reached the border. She growls when Mia moves forward in an attempt to walk right through it. Mia stomps and looks back at Elenora as if to ask why the hell can’t I move forward, nobodies here! She’s wrong, there are people here. Mia just can’t spot them.

It’s obvious she had taken control and it is no longer Isleen walking but Mia in her wolf’s body. It’s obvious because most rogue wolves would flee from any border of a pack unless they plan to attack. They have spectacular survival instincts. Elenora had taken control over Marcella because her wolf is not always so reasonable. If any of the pack warriors watching the barrier were to challenge her, she’d kill without a second thought. Marcella does not like to be challenged. Elenora shifts, uncaring to the males who can see her. Mia follows her lead. Her fair body is covered in muck and she shivers where she stands, glaring at Elenora who ignores her as she digs through her bag, tossing an outfit her way. Mia is quick to dress “Couldn’t you replace somewhere less cold?” Her friend questions “I hate snow!” But Elenora knows that to be untrue. Her friend loves the snow, she just hates the cold that happens to come with the snow. If Mia had warmer clothes, Elenora is sure she would have been enjoying herself.

“I don’t have many allies.” Elenora tells her friend as if it were obvious.

“I didn’t think you had any. That would mean you’d have to trust someone other than yourself.” Mia grumbles to herself, crossing her arms “So where’s this shelter? Neutral grounds are that way right?” She jerks her hand right towards the pack barrier “How much further do we have until we get there? I’m exhausted, and hungry. How much food do we have left anyways?” Elenora stares at her friend for a second before sighing and shaking her head. She pulls out an outfit of her own and proceeds to get dressed.

“This is precisely why you need to learn how to tell where you are Mia. You’re standing in front of a pack and you don’t even know it!” Elenora growls her frustration before grabbing her knife from her bag and strapping it to her leg for easy access. “To answer your question, we’ve arrived already.” Mia’s silent for a moment, her mind trying to grasp what Elenora is saying before she lets out something between a squeak and a growl of her own.

“You took me to a pack!” Her voice is accusing and Elenora hates it. What the hell is she accusing her of anyways? Hasn’t she learned to trust Elenora’s instincts by now? Hasn’t Elenora proved she would never lead Mia anywhere remotely dangerous. She looks around before huffing, unimpressed and unfocused in her fear “Must have a pretty stupid Alpha if he left his border unprotected.” She grumbles, Elenora assumes it’s her way of reassuring herself. If the Alpha is stupid, Mia can outsmart him. She can get away without much trouble.

“He’s quite intelligent actually.” Elenora corrects.

“Arrogant enough to believe he doesn’t need pack warriors at his border then? He’s overconfident in his abilities”

Mia sounds almost hopeful. Elenora shakes her head at the girl once again, eyes scanning the forest before her. There’s a fair amount of pine trees good for a decent amount of cover. Elenora spots seven of the pack warriors hiding or more of watching their possible prey. She feels their emotions brush against her, sink into her. Some are angry at Mia’s insults to their Alpha while most are amused at her oblivious friend. She can feel their interest in herself. The leader. “Mia, there are eleven pack warriors standing at the border right now.” She tells her friend.

Everything goes silent, even the forest seems to hold its breath to see what happens next. Mia looks around now, more alert than before. Wide eyes scanning for the men and women she can’t replace. Elenora moves in front of her, resting a hand on her shoulder. Her friend was shaking but she calmed down quickly under her touch. Jade eyes meeting Elenora’s. Mia sighs, already knowing what Elenora wants of her. She inhales deeply before exhaling a slow heavy breath, the tension leaving her as she relaxes her shoulders. She focuses on everything around her, allowing her senses to take control. Mia knows Elenora wants her to replace every last man and woman hidden from view. Elenora doesn’t tell her close friend that most Alpha’s in this world wouldn’t be able to spot them. That they’ve been trained better than anybody else. She doesn’t tell Mia that magic keeps them hidden too. She doesn’t tell her friend that there’s twelve men, not eleven. Seven of them were hard to replace but easier than the rest. She had spotted the last five with a surprising amount of difficulty. She had then decided to test her friend, wondering if she’ll only look for eleven, stopping at the amount Elenora had told her. “Three o’clock, in a bush.” Her friend tells her the most obvious of the group. Elenora doesn’t tell her if she’s correct and Mia doesn’t wait for her to. She merely continues her search. “Remember to do as I trained you to do.” Elenora mutters softly. She hears it, the slight shift of one of them moving.

He hardly moved at all, less than one move for the small action of breathing. It was more a shift of air than anything else but Mia caught in immediately and pointed to the spot he’s hiding. Elenora feels their anger and she can’t help but feel proud of her close friend. Though the blonde believes herself to be incapable of much of anything, she’s probably qualified enough to be a pack warrior if not for the fact she’d have to be able to kill in order to protect. It was something Mia had never done as of yet. Surprising for a rogue.

Mia points out every last one of them. Elenora smiles a wide smile when her eyes continue to scan the forest after she points out the eleventh and her face all but brightens when she spots the last. She points him out and continues to look before nodding when she’s pleased “Twelve of them! I spotted what you....” Mia trails off before huffing and crossing her arms, glaring at Elenora “You knew there were twelve of them.” Before Elenora can so much as nod, number twelve jumps down from the tree.

“I want to know who the hell you are and what you want.” The man seethes his face red from the anger he had been sitting in. Elenora suspects he’s mostly worried, if a couple of rogues could replace him, who else can? Elenora was trained by the best, it was brutal training but she knows how to spot things most cannot and she had passed her teachings to Mia. It’s likely that the man would like to know exactly how Mia and Elenora had spotted him and his people but it is a conversation for a later time.

“I want to speak with your Alpha.” Elenora tells the man “As a rogue in search of help, I request an audience with him.” She keeps her voice professional, unwilling to state her identity. An audience is all she can ask for without notice. If she does it as someone who needs help, she’ll be taken with two of their warriors to an Elder who will then see her intentions “I will not part with my friend. I do not trust this pack in any way-

“And yet you seek shelter in it?” The man rolls his eyes, scoffing his disbelief.

“I trust Alpha Scott.” My voice is sharp and unwavering “Per his orders, you are required to take me to him.”

“You’ll have six pack warriors following you along with myself” The man grits out with reluctance, his dark eyes narrow in on me and he crosses his arms across his chest. He’s a big man, towering over both Mia and I. He’s doing a fair job at intimidating Mia but I keep my head held high. I don’t mention that it’s only supposed to be four, two per rogue. He sees me as a genuine threat, I suspect his wolf is part of the reason for that.

There couldn’t be a more awkward situation. The last time Elenora had seen this man, he had been a lot younger, fighting for her. Now... now time has aged him. He’s just staring at Elenora with deep brown eyes that seem to have seen too much of this world. His mouth had been opening and closing for the last several minutes and to be honest she’s getting a bit impatient “Not possible.” He finally utters, Elenora merely raises an eyebrow “It can’t be....” The Alpha gulps “I apologize miss.” He clears his throat and looks away “You just have an incredible resemblance to a young girl I knew once, she was a human and....” The Alpha breathes out before laughing. Apparently he decided that it really was impossible for her to be here in his office.

“If the girl you’re talking about went by the name of Elenora Vancino, there’s a reason for the resemblance as I’m one and the same.” She meets his eyes for less than a second before turning away to eye the Alpha.

“Miss Vancino, no it couldn’t be. She’s dead, house fire.”

“I would prefer you didn’t call me that.” Elenora meets his gaze head on “It implies that I am his daughter, that I have some kind of connection and excuse the pun but I’m afraid such things burned away years ago.” The Alpha blinks at her, gripping the arm of his chair so hard it cracks.

“I’m having a hard time accepting this...Elenora.” He mutters

“Perfectly fine, we’ll discuss it another time then” Elenora waves her hand, hopefully in the very distant future “What I really wish to discuss is staying on your lands with my friend, this winter is proving to be a bit more brutal than the past ones and we’d be most grateful if we could stay for a little while.” Elenora doesn’t yet mention Mia staying for an extended period of time. First she would need to discuss such things with Mia or else the blonde would never forgive her.

The Alpha seems to replace that to be a more preferable topic at the moment and so he lets the more important matters go for the time being “Yes, there are certain things you’re required to do. Have you ever heard of Elder Thomas?” Elenora swallows before nodding, she had and she had warned Mia on the way to Alpha Scott’s

“Both my friend and I are willing to see him.”

“As for housing arrangements, unless you want to stay in the forest I can give you a loan. I’ll set you up with a nice furnished cabin for a month while you look for a job. In your own time you can work at giving back the money it takes to get you set up. Or you can work for me, pay off your dept. Now if you don’t plan on staying that long, there’s different shelters...”

The rest of the conversation goes something like that, the Alpha recommending different opportunities and stating the rules if Elenora and Mia are to stay. He had explained that after our visit with Elder Thomas, if we are to stay we will have two warriors flanking us. It helps ease the minds of the pack is what he had said. Elenora had been more than reluctant to agree but had let it go when he promised it was only for a few weeks.

When she steps out of the office it’s just number 12, a man she had learned to be Cedric and another pack warrior beside him. The other pack warrior smiles before bowing dramatically “Edward Thompson, at your service milady’s!” Mia who had been waiting outside by a child, giggles at the warriors antics. The lean man looks up with twinkling blue eyes and a kind smile. He doesn’t look much like a warrior. He looks young, untouched by this cruel world. The curse speaks of a different tale. It speaks of pain and Elenora can’t help but stare at the young man for a second longer because of it. He’s handsome in his own boyish way, with curly golden locks and nice tan skin. His smile is wide, showing only happiness. He has her curious.

“Nice to meet you Warrior Thompson.” She mutters to the Warrior before looking to who Alpha Scott only mentioned to be Cedric for a proper introduction. He grumbles Delta James in a very gruff way, crossing his arms as he stares her down, no doubt still sour about her and Mia spotting him. “Nice to meet you Delta James. My name is Elenora.” Cedric stares at me for a moment before smiling a mocking smile.

“Nice to meet you Ms. Vancino.” Elenora didn’t think anybody was listening when she told Alpha Scott not to bring up the name Vancino again. It was after talking to him about Elder Thomas and she heard the group walk off. Elenora stares at the man for a moment before turning away and nodding.

“I’m curious Delta James.” Elenora pulls out her knife, testing the blade in an uncaring way “You have me curious.” She waits, glancing up at him. He clenches his jaw, and it’s a stare down. Who will back down first, who will give in.

Elenora doesn’t “About what?” He grits out after a moment, she smiles a threatening smile.

“I’m curious if you’ll ever want to replace out where the error is.” With that, she nods for her close friend to follow her, placing her knife back in it’s holster, strapped to her thigh. She can feel both the anger and hesitance of the Delta. He is well aware what she’s speaking of and he wants to know. He craves to know how the hell Mia and Elenora spotted him out in that forest. He needs to know the mistake but Elenora is unwilling to tell him. No, he’ll need to swallow his pride and ask her. She’ll only tell him if he swears he’ll never call her Vancino again. As far as Elenora is concerned, the Vancino family is dead to her. That whole damn pack is dead to her. There’s nobody left she cares for except one, not there. And that person she does care for will never forgive her, not for leaving. Not for never coming back. Hell, Elenora will never forgive herself for that one.

The house they lead Mia and Elenora to is private. Delta James bangs on the door three times. Elenora doesn’t know what she was expecting Elder Thomas to look like but the man who opened the door was not it. Maybe she was thinking an older man with a long graying beard along with long robes and an infinite amount of wisdom. “How many times do I have to tell you not to bang on that damn door, Cedric? I’m old, not deaf! I can hear a regular knock just fine!” The man is wearing nothing but his underpants, he scratches his stubble which is only partially gray. His hair looks like it might have been blonde once but now it’s more white than anything. His eyes are a blue bordering on white. It’s almost unnerving to look straight into them. His skin pale, as if he never caught sight of the sun before. “Are you coming in or not?” He growls “Letting all the bugs in” He disappears inside the house, leaving the group of us standing idly by -though we can still hear him grumbling about Delta James and the fact some day, he’s going to bust his door in by how hard he’s banging. The guy seems like a cranky dramatic old man and Elenora is loving it.

Elenora follows close behind the man, eyeing the mess before her. Everything looks to be a disaster. Random papers clutter the floor “Don’t step on anything!” Elder Thomas shouts from another room. Elenora walks to the room, careful not to step on paper and or clothes. Every now and then she comes across a folder with bold red letters that read Classified or Important but how important could it possibly be if it’s on the floor. Along the walls are piles of books, stacked neatly all the way down the wall. When she reaches the room Elder Thomas stands in, she sees him pulling on some clothes. Elenora understand the piles of books now, he has three walls of bookshelves and all of them are stuffed full with books. At this point, he should get his own house for them. “Who’s going first?” He looks between Mia and I.

Mia inches back in the shadows before staring at Elenora in a way that can only mean one thing You’re the one who talked me into this! Elenora sighs before stepping forward, avoiding any and all things on the floor as if they’re obstacles. She sits in front of the man who plops down in a very ungraceful matter “Alright lets get this over with.” He grumbles, Elenora almost laughs. It’s not as if he’s the one having someone poke around in his head, in fact he’ll be in hers and she can’t really think of anything worse in that moment.

The moment he presses his cold fingers to her temples, Elenora slumps in his seat while his eyes flash a pure white.

“Come on, hit me!” Adam growls, ducking another attempt from Elenora. Elenora’s eyes grow wide in her fury. Doesn’t he understand that she’s trying? She’s just not good enough! When will he see that?

“I’m trying!” She growls

“No, you’re not. You’re letting your anger control you Elenora. It will get you nowhere in life. Calm down, study how I move and hit me!” Elenora just manages to dodge his jab before throwing one of her own. Again, she misses. And again. And Again. And again. Elenora had never wanted to scream more.

White flashes across her eyes, blinding her before she dives into a memory, this one not her own.

The little boy with white hair squeezes his eyes shut, pressing his hands to his ears as he hunches down to the floor. Memories that are not his own seem to suffocate him in unbearable ways. Bad ones. Those are always the ones that win over right? He sees a little boy watching his father get murdered by rogues. He sees a girl, watching her mother get beat. The little boy screams, tears streaming from his pale blue eyes.

Elenora manages a gasp of breathe before white flashes and she’s pulled from reality before she can really grasp her surroundings.

Elenora screams, she pleads for mercy though she knows Vermont knows no such thing. His eyes show his pleasure as he smiles down at her “You need to know Elenora.” The man breathes “That this is your fault.” He smiles wider as she tugs, trying to get out of the warriors bruising grips “You are not allowed to love anybody.” Vermont stabs a knife into Adam’s shoulder. Adam doesn’t make a sound, he only clenches his jaw “And if you break this rule, you’ll watch them get tortured. Everybody you love dies, remember that Elenora.” Elenora isn’t sure she’ll ever forget.

“Please.” Elenora whispers her plead, tears making her eyes burn.

Elenora tries to see through the brightness, tries to pull away from the chains that seem to keep her wherever she is. Where is she anyways? She can’t remember. Before she can replace out, white flashes across her once clearing vision.

The teen boy stands in the shadows. Watching. Observing the people before him. He had managed to shut out the curse years ago but it seems to be creeping back up on him. Just last week he had been forced into another memory, another mind that was not his own. He hadn’t been able to get anybody to take the curse away, not even a warlock, not for any sum of money he had offered.

He had always been told the same thing and it has become quite the annoyance “Henry! Oh Henricka!” The familiar boy calls in a taunting manner before chuckling to himself, his friends snickering beside him. Henry sinks deeper into the shadows, only to be pulled out a moment later by the boy he had been avoiding in the first place “Don’t touch me!” Henry growls, shoving him away, but the boy shows no signs of relenting. Henry’s worse fear happens as the man pulls Henry forward, presumably to beat him again. Henry’s pulled into another mind, his bully’s mind.

Elenora’s breathing comes heavy. She opens her eyes wide, trying to see through the blinding white. Trying to make out her surroundings. Just as everything starts to clear, another flash of white fills her vision.

Elenora jumps when a knock from the door sounds through her room. She pays it no mind, in hopes they’ll go away. It can’t be Vermont, he does not knock. His visits are always surprises and he moves just as quick, just as silent as a snake. Elenora keeps her eyes trained on the forest beyond the bulletproof glass.

Vermont got it after she threw a chair through the last one in an attempt to escape. She was captured close to the border. After that he had taken down her wall only to replace it with this window. Anyone else might see a spectacular view but Elenora sees the world she’ll never get to live in as a human. She gets to see the endless stretch of forest and it looks so close yet so far out of reach, like she can touch it yet never truly be able to touch it. It’s in her sights, and she’ll always be stuck with that. This world she lives in taunts her. Teases her. Drives her close to insanity.

The door creaks open behind her and she tenses “Elenora, I’m Alpha Scott.” Elenora wants to say she knows, but the words are stuck. Always stuck. She cannot speak. She’s incapable. “Does your father always treat you like that?” He’s speaking of the office, when Vermont lost his cool and his act slipped for a moment. She’ll get beat for that one later.

“No.” Elenora lies, eyes trained on a world she’ll never touch. A freedom she’ll never know. “He’s very kind to me Alpha.” She mutters “He’s just stressed.” She’ll be beat worse than ever if he speaks to Vermont

“Elenora, I can help you. It’s what I do.” She wants to say that she knows, please help me she wants to scream

“I don’t need your help.”

The flashes keep coming. Of a boy who grows to a man and of a supposedly human girl who grows to be a rogue. Elenora’s eyes open wide, her head aching. Her vision clears but her energy is drained. Elder Thomas is quick to pull away from Elenora, as if she has some kind of disease. He falls over the chair and on the floor in his attempts to get away. Elder Thomas gasp for breath, gripping his chest before glaring at Elenora and pointing a pale shaky finger her way “I want you out of my house now!” Elenora wants to do exactly that, she wants to be as far away from who she knows to be Henry Thomas as soon as possible and she never wants to be near him again but her eyes droop closed on her own accord and she passes out in the chair not knowing what the hell just happened.

Elenora had woke to shouts, loud shouts and growling and all the things someone doesn’t want to wake up to when there head is already killing them. It’s not helping with her mood, not in the very least. When Elenora’s eyes open, she’s in the familiar book filled house belonging to the old man she never wants near her again. Elenora grabs her knife as the loud growls and shouts only get closer “-Need to see her!”

“-Her name was mentioned Elder Thomas”

“She’s sleeping! Believe me, surprising her isn’t a good idea. I’ve seen in her head and I don’t believe she’ll welcome the group of you as a wake up call. I like my house, thank you very much.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean? How is us talking to her going to affect your house?”

“She’s powerful!”

“So she throws things around like an average bitch, who gives a shit right now. Rogues are circling the border and we’ve heard her name amongst them!”

With that the door slams open and a jumble of men -Delta James at the front- fall in to see Elenora holding her knife in front of her in defense. “I would advise you explain yourself in a calm matter.”

“Or what?” Delta James rolls his eyes.

Elenora tilts her head, a small threatening smile playing at her lips “I believe Elder Thomas had warned you against pissing me off Delta James, as he’s the only one who had the joy of seeing into my head....I believe it best you take his advice on the matter.”

“Rogues are circling the border miss.” Another warrior steps forward, Elenora doesn’t recognize him so she knows he hasn’t been part of the warrior league for more than two years “Your name has been mentioned amongst them and so it is our duty to question you.” Elenora stares at this warrior for a moment, he shifts uneasily under her gaze but he doesn’t back down. Elenora finally nods, pushing her knife into the sheath on her thigh she steps forward.

“Very well.” With that they leave Elder Thomas’s house.