Midnight Blossom

It was a crisp evening in mid October. The sky was littered with early evening stars. They shimmered like diamonds embedded in a blanket of amber melting into shades of red. You were walking along an old, worn, cobblestone path in the forest behind your new house. You just moved here from the big city. In no way were you expecting the forest to be this beautifully peaceful . You expected it to be cold, damp, and nasty; full of creepy crawlies and things that wanted to eat you. Instead, you find it calm, tranquil, and extravagant. There were not near as many bugs as you expected to see. The sights, sounds, even the smells, sent you into a sense of serenity.

The evening light gave way to a moonlit night as you wandered further along the path, deeper into the forest. As you wandered, you came to an opening in the trees. When you stepped through the opening, you were met with one of the most beautiful sights. A waterfall. It was flowing off the side of a cliff into a shimmering pool that seemed to glow in the moonlight. Fireflies danced around the pool and made it a sight truely magical to behold. As you neared, you noticed a soft blue glow by the water's edge. You walked up to it, and it turned out to be a beautiful flower. A Moon blossom to be more precise. It had a beautiful violet lace that webbed between cerulean petals. You had read about this flower, they were extremely rare, and thought to possess magical properties. You reached down and ran your fingers across its velvetty petals. You were so entranced by it's beauty that you didn't notice the presence behind you. You turned your head slowly to catch a pair of luminous silver eyes peering at you through the trees. You slowly rose to your feet and turned to face whatever it was, but, as soon as you turned around, it had vanished. At least from your field of vision. "Okay, that was weird." You spoke softly to yourself. You quickly shrugged it off and pulled your phone from your back pocket. You turned and quickly snapped a picture of the flower before saving it and heading back home.

You took what you thought was the same path that you took to get there, but something felt off about it. You stopped and looked around, searching for any sort of land mark that you would remember seeing. You came up empty. "I must have taken the wrong path." You thought, even though you were pretty sure you didn't. You froze when you heard voices, whispering in the distance. You quickly ducked behind a tree. "She knows about the flower, It's location is not safe anymore." A male's voice spoke rather shrudely. "She doesn't know anything about it. After all, all she did was take a picture of it." Another, older males voice replied. "But she touched it, the magic may have rubbed off on her. We can't let that happen." The younger male spoke. "Aye, That may be true, but how do you expect to find out if it did? We can't just walk right up and examine her." The older male replied rather harshly. "You could always send Lucian. He can hide his nature, unlike us." The younger male spoke thoughtfully. "That is very true, but don't you think he's a bit of a... Hmm how to put this... A bit of a jerk." The older male stated. "That's what makes him perfect for it. He will get in there, get it done, and get out." The younger male replied. "Sounds good, we should go and tell him about this." The older male said. You peeked around the tree, only to catch a glimpse of the source of the voices. One was a blond headed boy, about 17 by the looks of him. The other was a brown headed boy, in his mid to late 20's. There was something off about them. They had weird shadows on their heads. The wind picked up and swept through the treetops. It was when the wind swept the trees well enough to allow the moonlight to seep through. You stood there, unsure what to do next as your heart beat violently in your chest. Ears. There were ears ON TOP of their heads. Not human like ears, but, dog or wolf like ears. You were stunned at what you saw before you. Unable to process what was happening. Your head got all fuzzy and your vision started to fade. You tried to step back, but your legs gave out and you hit the ground with a loud CRASH. You heard footsteps approaching. "What should we do with her? It doesn't appear the magic has rubbed off on her." A male voice questioned. "It takes a couple of weeks to show. I'll take her home." Another male voice came through before everything faded into nothing.

"Gah.. What happened last night. I must've passed out in the woods.. But... How did I end up back here?" You wondered as you looked around your bedroom, your head was pounding. "I must've hit my head or something." Then you rememebered what you saw in the woods. Those two strange men. "Yeah, I must have hit my head.. That couldn't have been real." After quickly shaking the thoughts from your head and getting out of bed, you went into the bathroom and stood in front of the sink, turning the water on. Reaching down, you let the warm water run over your fingers. After a few moments, you cupped your hands and filled them with water and splashed it on your face. While sighing softly you reached for the towel hanging on the rack beside the sink and brought it to your face, dabbing it a few times before hanging it back up and looking in the mirror. You stared at yourself for a good minute as the night's events flashed through your mind. It was then that you noticed an unusual violet hue to your eyes that snapped you out of your trance. You gasped softly and leaned in, lifting your eye lid to further look at it. With wide eyes and panic you thought to yourself "What's happening to me!?". A sense of franticness overcame you as you stared at the reflection in the mirror. "Maybe no one will notice." You thought as you threw your normal school uniform on. Today was your first day of school in your new town. "This is not where I thought I'd be spending my senior year." you thought to yourself as you looked around. Everything was so much different than in the big city. Here, uniforms were not required, but no one gave you the memo. Everyone looked at you as though you were an extraterrestrial being from another universe. You hid your face in your pullover and continued on your trek to the office. When you finally arrived, after taking two wrong turns and asking for directions, you pressed your head against the glass, exhausted. "They should have given me a map. This place is alot bigger than I expected." you muttered to yourself. "Having fun already?" A voice asked in a comical tone. Your head shot up and you took a few steps back. "Oh.. I.. Ummm.." you stuttered, trying to find the words. "It's ok, all the new people get lost. That's why I'm here. Name's Gabriel. Gabe for short." He smiled and held out his hand. He spoke with a kind voice, yet there was clearly amusement splattered all over his face. You reached out and shook his hand, avoiding eye contact. "My name is Mirah. Where were you 30 minutes ago?" You asked him as your embarrassment was rising to your face. "I like to let the newbies try to find their own way first. It's always so funny to watch them running around frantically." He laughed. His laugh was so light and whimsical, almost innocent.

You raised your head to look at him, but still avoiding eye contact. He had a soft face, almost angelic. His cheekbones were high, with his amber eyes resting just above them like drops of pure honey. His smile seemed as though it could light up a room. And his hair. "Wow." Was all you could muster. His hair was a silvery white. It drifted down over his shoulders and rested against his chest. His bangs fell over his forehead just the right way, making the light hit his eyes so perfectly, they almost shimmered. Your heart fluttered as your eyes explored his slender, yet masculine frame. He wore a light blue-grey button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up just above his elbows. He left the top two buttons unfastined, as if to show off his well chiseled collar bones. It was a semi- tight fitting shirt, so it accented his torso well, mainly his well defined chest. There was also a gold necklace, glinting just beneath the edge of his shirt. The charm on it was a pair of silver wings. The jeans he wore were that of a normal teenage boy. Rips here and there, bleach spots, sort of tight fitting. Your eyes traveled all the way down to his worn out, buckle up biker boots.

You were in awe. So much so that you didn't realize that you still had ahold of his hand. He waved his hand infront of your face. "Hello. Earth to Mirah. Houston, I think we lost her." He chuckled jokingly. You shook your head and let go of his hand hastily. "Oh, I'm so sorry." you stammered. "It's cool, I'm used to it." He laughed. He opened the door to the office and held it open for you, gesturing for you to go in first. "Shall we? Ladies first." He smiled. You nodded and went in. He followed, closing the door behind him.