When I woke up, I had two letters on my desk. I read them: Wolf, Happy Birthday! I hope you enjoy today. I’m glad mom made you the potion! I can’t wait to join you at school. Only one more year!! Your brother, Raza I smiled at Raza’s letter. I turned my gaze towards the second one. Acwulf, Happy Birthday! Have you gotten to advanced potion-making class yet? When you do, I think Lenna could send you the recipe for the Wolf Potion. You have Wolf Fruit trees in the woods there, right? Anyway, your mother and I think that would be easier, seeing as how you have time and you could make the potion yourself, and not have to rely on us. We don’t have that much time to make stuff. Have a good day, Dad My spirits soared as the meaning of Dad’s offer sunk in. I could make the Wolf Potion by myself! That would mean… It was almost too good to be true. I sat down to reply to both of them, Dad first. Dad, Yes, I am in advanced potion-making this year. I would love it if Mom sent me the recipe. We do have Wolf Fruit trees here; Brazen, Harlow, and I climbed them a couple days ago. Thanks for the birthday wishes! Acwulf Now for Raza’s, I thought. Raza, Thanks for the birthday wishes! Yes, I can’t wait either for you to come. I can’t wait to introduce you to Naomi, Harlow, and Brazen. They’d love to meet you. Have fun at home! I’ll see you for Christmas! Wolf I enchanted both letters to go home, and they zoomed out the window. I got dressed and walked outside. Naomi was just walking out of her dorm. “Happy birthday, Wolf!” I smiled, “Thanks.” She smiled back. We started walking to the twin’s dorm. Harlow greeted us at the door, “Happy birthday!” Brazen grinned at me from his desk, “And happy Halloween.” I laughed. “True.” The twins headed with us towards the dining hall for breakfast. We sat down at our usual table, and got our breakfast. Today, everyone got their usual except me. I got the Halloween donut pack. I can’t explain all the donuts in that pack, but there were a lot. “So, when do you want to explore?” Brazen asked. “When we’re done,” I replied. “Cool,” Harlow said as she finished her chocolate donuts. Naomi, Brazen and I finished about 2 minutes later, then we went off to the woods. I lead our group to the shadow part of the forest. “How do we want to explore?” I asked. Harlow shrugged. “If this is fine with you, me and Harlow could explore this part,” Brazen said, gesturing to the part that we knew better, “And you and Naomi could explore the shadow part.” I shrugged. “That’s fine with me.” Naomi nodded. So we went our separate ways, the twins back over to the wolf tree grove, while Naomi and I walked through the shadow part. We walked in silence for a few minutes. Funnily, Naomi didn’t have a problem with this part of the woods. Brazen, he didn’t like this part. You could tell it in his eyes. Harlow, though, I couldn’t tell how she felt about this part. “Do you know why you can navigate this part so well?” Naomi asked, breaking the silence. I thought about her question for a minute, then answered it. Or at least, I tried to answer. “Because-” I stopped mid sentence. I wasn’t going to answer that question truthfully. The correct answer, or at least what I thought it was, I wasn’t ready to share. “I don’t know. My dad had some connection with the darkest part of the woods at home, so maybe that’s why.” Not the whole truth, but some of it. Naomi nodded. “Okay.” We continued our walk in silence.
