The ninth item was a small pouch filled with stars, ninja stars. There was nothing special about it other than the symbol inscribed in the center of it.

The tenth was a small container covered with flower designs filled with crystal clear water.

The eleventh item was a belt covered with jewels and pockets to hold all of the small items that now belonged to me. The symbol appeared here, too.

An item number twelve, the last and final object was a book with the same symbol on it as the stars. I opened the book to the inside cover. There were some papers there that fell out into my lap, and envelope and a card. On the front of the envelope was a name printed in a beautiful script in violet ink. The name was

Aurora Acadamae Shadowa Annabelle Violette Vydia

Wait, I thought. Isn’t that my name?

I read it again.

Yeah, it was my name; at least part of it was. Aurora was my name and apparently so was Vydia. The rest of it was completely new. I flipped the envelope over and stared at the seal. It was the same symbol that had appeared on the book, the ninja stars, belt, and shield. I broke the seal and opened the envelope. I pulled out the contents. There was a letter, a picture, and a few other papers.

The letter was written in the same script as the name on the front of the envelope. It took up a little more than a more than a page and was written in golden ink on a piece of violet paper. The letter read:

Dear Aurora,

Questions must run in your mind like a stream now, I know. I cannot answer all of them, but I can answer most.

First of all, why were you chosen? You are strong Aurora. Stronger than you think. In mind, body, and soul.

Secondly, your ancestry. Who were the women who led to this? I, as you must have guessed, am your great-grandmother. I am Aduial. I was the daughter of a normal man, a book-binder. He sometimes would copy down a story from the book he was currently restoring. All of them spoke of vampires and werewolves.

As is probably expected, I came to love the creatures of father’s tales. When a vampire came knocking, I knew what he wanted immediately. I asked him, boldly, to wait, collecting a pen, my stationary, and ink, placing them in a messenger bag. Going back to the door, I simply told him that I would come peacefully for fear of hurting my father. He looked slightly taken aback.

And so, I was flown to the Fae. I had remembered that there was a cross in that bag, as there was in every one of them. I could use it to threaten my captor if necessary.

Aurora, of all the things that your family would ever want you to know, one stands out above all. Never forget this, your family will always love you and that will never change. Your friends will be there for you in your times of need.

Times of turmoil await you, great-granddaughter, and betrayal is almost certain. Remember this for guidance, when your path becomes too faint to see:

You are a treasure and like all treasure, you must be polished every now and again. Do not overtax yourself.

Your body is just that: yours. No one else can ever that from you.

Your are loved by your family and friends. Forget that and you are forever lost.

Signed,

      Aduial

As I read the letter, I thought about how little I knew about my family. I’d have to remind myself to ask Emily a little bit more about them. I finished the end of the letter, placed it back in the envelope, and picked up the other papers that had fallen out with the letter. They were photographs.

The first one was a picture of two people, a man and a woman, holding hands and smiling. The back had some writing on it. It read:

Skylark and Sage

June 1985

The next picture had two girls in it. The back read:

Skylark and Alara

November 1968

I slipped the pictures into the envelope with the letter so as not to lose them, and turned the page in the book. There was no title page in the book, just a name. The name was Alara, the girl from the picture. The next few pages in the book had titles like Bow, Arrow, and Armor. Underneath them were descriptions of the items like special properties. When I got to the end of the descriptions, there was a small note that said to fill the rest of the pages with the other items that I find along my journey to come. I closed the book, gathered the objects in a small bag that I found lying around on the floor, and walked back over to the doorway. My friends were waiting there, smiling at me. I carried out the items that lay within the cave out to my friends. They each picked up a few items to help me carry them out to the mouth of the cave.

By the time we got out of the cave, it was almost dark. Emily was leaning against the wall right outside. But there was someone next to her. Who was it? As we neared the spot where they stood, I got a better look at this mystery person. It was definitely a male. He looked about six feet five foot ten with brown hair and deep blue eyes.

“Hey guys!” Emily greeted us. “This is my friend, Moris. He’s not from around here so I thought I might bring him along for a joy ride with Aurora and myself.”

The sun was almost at the horizon, on the verge of disappearing behind the mountains.

“I brought along some sacks for you to but the treasures in so you don’t damage them.” She handed out some small sacks to Victoria, Mackenzie, Damien, and I. We carefully placed each item in an individual bag.

“Why don’t you guys head back home and Moris and I will take Aurora home?”

“”Well, I don’t know,” stuttered Mackenzie.

“Yeah. I agree with Elvira. We should probably stay together in a group,” agreed Victoria.

“They’re right. There’s strength in numbers. It would be safer if we all went back together,” confirmed Keegan.

“Do I have to make myself any clearer? As pack leader, I order you to go home and let Moris and I take Aurora home.”

They all lowered their heads and stared at the ground. Then Keegan walked up to me. He leaned down to place his lips next to my ear, as if to whisper something.

“We’ll stay close to you in case they’re up to something bad,” he told me.

I nodded my head and he pulled back.

“May I talk to Aurora in private for a moment?”

“Yes, you may.”

He pulled me off to the side and led me into a group of trees that stood just a little ways away from the clearing where the others stood and waited.

When he stopped, I looked up at him only to find his face inches away from mine. Then, slowly, he leaned in to close the gap with his lips. The kiss started out slow and careful, like he was afraid he might break me. But as the short period of seconds drew on the kiss grew more urgent, giving away the fact that he was worried. When he pulled away, my breathing came in short little gasps, my heart racing with adrenaline.

“I’ve been meaning to do that for a while now,” he said, breaking an awkward silence. “I’ll make sure to keep the pack close in case you need us. I don’t trust that Moris guy. Something’s not right about him. I can feel it.”

“Yeah, I had the same feeling,” I answered. “Where are you guys going to put the stuff I found in the cave? We can’t just put it anywhere. If someone finds it, they may try to steal them. I, I mean ‘we’, can’t let that happen.”

“I know. We’ll find a place.”

“Thanks,” was all I said before he placed one hand under my chin, tilting my face up toward his and placed his arm around my waist. I locked my arms around his neck and he pulled my lips back up to his. This time, the kiss was slow and sweet, all trace of urgency gone. Our lips moved together as one. He was gentler this time, being careful not to let any feeling be betrayed that he didn’t want me to know. The only thing I sensed was passion and love. A little concern and a hint of worry still seemed to slip through his defenses. When he pulled away, he looked at me staring into my eyes as if maybe, if he stared long and hard enough, everything would melt away and we would end up stranded on some deserted island alone, but together, left in peace for the rest of eternity.

“Stay here,” he whispered. “Open your wings and wait for me. Get ready to run.”

He wove his way back through the trees. I opened my wings carefully. I could hear a small ‘pop’ come from one of the joints from being pulled in for so long.

When Keegan returned, he was holding the bags that contained my new-found items.

“Run,” he whispered.

He held the bags in one hand, and grabbed my wrist in the other, pulling me through the trees towards the edge of the cliff. We jumped and spread our wings, catching ourselves before we started to fall.

We flew up as high as we could, coasting on air drafts as necessary. I glanced behind us to see if we were being followed, which, of course, we were. There was only one figure following us, though, so I felt a lot better.

“Keegan?”

“Yes?”

I glanced behind us one more time to see how we were doing on get-away time. He was gaining. Fast. I could tell now that it was Moris.

“Moris is following us and he’ getting extremely close.”

“I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about, but we might want to hurry it up a little bit, though. I still don’t trust that guy.”

Then, all of a sudden, something grabbed my wings, holding me suspended in midair. It pushed my wings back in against my back, folding them up. Then it placed its arm around my body so I couldn’t move my arms or my wings, and placed its other arm around my neck holding a small knife at my throat.

“Don’t say a word,” it whispered in my ear.

Oh, God, I thought. It’s Moris.

My only response was leaning my head back as far as it would go, trying to get as far away from the blade of the knife as possible. He only slid it closer.

“I’m sorry to hear that, Keegan. I thought you were very kind. You had the right idea, though, taking her back by yourself, or at least trying to,” he said to Keegan.

Keegan turned around abruptly and hovered in the air to stare at Moris. He, too, hovered, just four feet away from him.

“Let her go,” Keegan ordered through his clenched teeth.

“I would, but then she would fall to her doom. I don’t think we want that to happen, now do we?”

Keegan didn’t answer right away, but rather stared Moris right in the eyes. There was so much hatred in his expression. But his eyes were pleading and filled with worry. He was shaking. Then his face turned hard again.

“What do you want, Moris?” he asked, the pleading and worry gone from his eyes.

“I simply want you to fly home, find a place to put her belongings, or what ever, and keep your mouth shut about what happened.” He said it as if it were the simplest of things to do.

“And if I don’t?” he challenged.

Moris didn’t answer with words but actions. He pulled the knife a little harder against my throat, making a cut just long and deep enough for a drop of blood to come out.

“Don’t. Touch. Her. Don’t. You. Dare.”

“Oh, I will if I have to,” Moris replied.

“Keegan, go home. I’ll be okay,” I added.

I hope, I added silently in my head. I didn’t quite believe my words myself, but I hoped that he wouldn’t hear the doubt in my voice. If he did, we would both be toast for sure. I couldn’t let that happen.

There was pleading in my voice now and it was clear in my eyes for sure. I know he saw that because he immediately backed off without another word, turned around, and returned to flying in the direction that we were headed in before I was captured.

When Keegan was only a small speck on the horizon, Moris removed the knife from its position in front of my neck, turned around, and, never letting go of me, flew back to the clearing in front of the cave. Emily awaited us alone in the clearing.

When Moris alighted on the rocky surface outside the cave, Emily walked up to him.

“Thank you, Moris. I had a feeling they might try to pull a stunt like that.”

“Yes, well, it was a good bit of exercise for me.”

“I’m sure you enjoyed that little ride.”

She turned to face me.

“As for you, we better get you back before the others start to worry.”

I shrank back into the shadows, afraid to be anywhere near Emily, let alone Moris.

“Rora, what’s wrong?” she asked, sounding completely innocent.

“Well, let’s reflect on what’s happened to me today, shall we?” I stated with obvious sarcasm from the shadows of the trees.

“Okay,” Emily replied.

“I’ve discovered I’m royalty, found numerous items that belonged to my family, and have been semi-kidnapped by some guy I don’t even know. Oh, yeah. And I also had a knife pressed against my throat so hard it drew blood. You think I’m alright?!”

I had come out of the shadows during my little outburst, and I was mad. Emily turned to face Moris.

“I told you not to harm her, Mory!” she yelled at him.

“Oh, come on. It was just a drop. I didn’t even give her a big cut. It was just big enough to get Keegan to go home. Sure convinced her to tell him to.”

“I don’t care how big it was. She can’t have any injuries no matter how small on her for the ceremony.”

She stormed off into the trees. I heard her hit something. Hard.

Within three seconds of her storming off, Moris had his knife at my throat again, lifting me at least a foot in the air.

“How dare you get mad at her like that,” he scolded me.

He pulled the knife away, slipped it back into his pocket, and set me down on the ground.

“Well, excuse me, but I’ve been best friends with her since second grade. Have you?” I retorted.

He didn’t answer, but stared at the ground, as if the right words could be found there.

When he finally looked back up, his eyes went straight to my face, locked on mine, never looking away.

He walked toward me and grabbed my wrist, pulling me away from the trees to the other side of the clearing. I struggled, trying to free myself, but his grasp only tightened.

“I’m trying to get you out of here before things get worse. I’ve seen Emily get mad before, worse than this, and you don’t want to be around when that happens. You see these scars?” he pointed to three lnog scars that ran down his side. “ She did that to me with her sword. It took them weeks to heal. Now, I don’t think you want to be around if that happens, unless you want to get hurt, which would only make things worse.”

I gulped.

“Leaving it is,” I decided without a pause.

“Though so,” he answered.

It turned out that Moris was taking me to my friends. When we got back, Mackenzie, Victoria, and Keegan were all standing in the middle of town, waiting for me to return, staring up at the sky. When I alighted on the ground in front of them, they all rushed up to me and nearly knocked me to the ground.

"Ok, guys. I'm ok, dispite a few scratches, but other than that I'm fine. No big deal."

"No big deal?" asked Mackenzie.

"Girl, you were gone so long we thought that something bad had happened to you. You hadd us all worried sick!" exclaimed Victoria.

Keegan was silent but walked up to me and gave me one of his big bear hugs, sqeezing me half to death.

"Ok, Keegan. You can put me down now before I suffocate."

Everyone laughed and Keegan set me down gently on the ground.

"Did you find a place to put my stuff?" I asked.

"Yes, we did, and know one will ever think of it."

"Except us, of course," added Mackenzie.

I smiled and gave them all a big hug again before heading back to my room to catch a few hours sleep before dawn.

"Come on, Aurora!" exclaimed Mackenzie, the next morning. She grabbed my wrist and started dragging me towards the dining hall.

"We have a surprise for you," Victoria chimed in.

I surrendered myself to them due to the fact that I had just woken up and didn't have the strength to defy them.

When we reached the dining hall, I strained my ears  to see if I could hear any hint as to what was going on, but due to being human and having extremely weak hearing, I couldn't hear a thing to save my life.

They led my through the front doors, Mackenzie dragging me by the wrist, Victoria walking at my side, and Keegan bringing up the rear. Victoria opened the door to the dining hall, but all I saw was darkness, darkness, and more darkness. I guessed that Keegan, Victoria, and Mackenzie could all see, because while I was tripping over ivisible objects, they were walking quite fine and without trouble.

I am making myself look like a comple dork, I thought to myself.

When we came to a hault, I almost fell because it was so sudden. Then the lights went on and everyone jumped out frim behind chairs and tables and yelled 'Surprise!' as loud as they possibly could. Balloons were everywhere along with streamers and confetty. A big banner hung from the ceiling with the letters HAPPY BIRTHDAY on it.

I banged myself on the head.

"How could I have forgotten?" I wondered out loud.

Today was my birthday. Of all holidays, this was the one I was most likely to forget. On my list of things I hated, this has got to fall somewhere around dying and never seeing my family again.