The hazy sun flickered through a window that bordered a bedroom. Inside that window layed an eleven year old girl, sleeping.

"Wake up, dear!" came a voice. The door pushed open and a lady who looked in her mid-forties shook the girl.

"Yes, mum," said the girl, stifling a yawn. She threw the blankets off herself and stared out at the mountains.

"Julia, Julia," muttered her mother. Julia scrambled out of her bed, her brown hair bobbing around in a loose ponytail, and straightened up to look at her mother.

"I'm going for a run, mum," She said absent mindedly, bending down to put her joggers on.

"No, you aren't going anywhere, Julia," Her mother said firmly, "You are cleaning up the house while your father and I go for lunch at your Aunt Martha's."

"But mum!" She complained, throwing a shoe at her mother. It narrowly missed her mother and hit her cream door.

"For that!" Her mother yelled, "You are definitely not going for a run! Think about your behaviour!"

"Fine!" Julia replied angrily, walking up to her mother, "But why can't I go to Aunt Martha's house? Her TV works better than out here on the border of the never never!"

"We have adults business to attend to," Her mother replied calmly, "and it is a long drive. It's two hours away, not including food stops and bathroom breaks," Julia muttered something unintelligent, before walking over to her bedroom door.

"Have a good time then," She hissed, obviously angry. Her mother stood in her room, torn between anger and shock.

"Kids these days," She muttered darkly, walking out of the room.

Julia put some toast in the toaster before slinking into an ugly brown armchair. Her family's rough TV was on the news channel, stuck to the wall just above their dying fireplace. She soon heard her mother's heels coming down the hallway, click clacking on the wooden floor. As her mother came in she stayed unnoticed, watching the morning unfold. Her mother swooped around like an angry magpie making sure not a hair was out of place before waking up her father who let out a string of swear words.

"Did you have to wake me up now?" He would yawn in between swears.

It seemed to take forever for them to get ready and leave. Julia let out a sigh of relief once they left. Even if she was home alone, she preferred it more than being with her parents. She suddenly remembered her toast and gobbled it down, even if it was cold. To her, it was better than nothing.

Once she was sure they were out of the tiny town they lived in, she snuck her joggers on and went for a run. She soon found herself lost and off the track.

"Where am I?" She asked no one in particular, looking around and walking cautiously. There were tall pine trees towering over her and with every step she had the urge to scream. Underneath her foot it was dry, with pine needles scattered across the dusty earth. Hardly any sunlight filtered through the almost never ending branches and it was very dark. Julia began to get the shivers and wished she'd brought a jacket. She heard a crack and she jumped half a metre into the air.

"What was that?" She said, her eyes widening with fear. She turned around and could not believe her eyes; right behind her was a fully grown grey wolf. It stared into her big blue eyes with its soft grey eyes. It advanced, taking a step forward. The hairs on the back of her neck began to prickle and she knew she had to get out of there fast. She screamed, and ran away, but tripped over. She crawled back away from the wolf. It stared her, as if considering whether she would be edible or not. Her hands trembled and tears pricked her eyes. She tried to wipe away the tears but found it difficult to do with shaking hands. The wolf growled menacingly. She screamed again.

In desperation, she squeezed her eyes shut tight but felt herself being picked up. She was carried a couple of metre before she felt herself land with a thud on the ground. She felt strangely safe, and could not help but take a peek to see where she was and who had saved her. She expected some kind of knight like in the fairy tales, but, to her surprise, when she opened her eyes she found a brown haired freckly faced boy staring down at her, looking concerned.

Not much of a knight, then, she thought to herself.

"Are you Julia?" He asked. She nodded, wondering how he knew her name.

"We've got her!" He called to a man Julia didn't know.

"Who are you?" She asked, whispering. He gave a chuckle.

"I'm Luke, Luke Charte," He said with a smile. She groaned.

"You seem to already know who I am," She said, giving a weak smile. Suddenly, a girl with bushy red hair, pale skin, and a slight limp came rushing over to them.

"I'm Lilly," She introduced herself, "And you must be Julia. Am I correct?" Julia nodded, feeling that this was one person she did not want to cross. Lilly turned to Luke and gave him a smile.

"You don't seem very sarcastic today, do you?" She said, and without waiting for an answer, continued talking, "Excuse me, but he can be sarcastic, which is a little annoying," She explained, addressing Julia. She nodded again, wanting to just go home and make herself some nice fresh orange juice and try to tune in the TV so she could watch her favourite shows. But that did not see very likely with Lilly talking to her, as she seemed to be happy to talk to her, and Julia didn't want to be rude by leaving.

"So, where am I going?" Julia asked. Lilly laughed.

"We're going to Martha's house," Lilly said. "Do you want to know a little about werewolves before we go? Because that's what'll be talked about most likely,"

"Wait, what was that wolf that attacked me?" Julia asked.

"We think it was Arclia, the leader of the Gretians, and the dark side's leader's daughter," Lilly said flatly.

"Gretians? Dark side?" Julia cocked her head confused. Luke rolled his eyes at Lilly's habit of expecting people to know things right away.

"Lilly, she doesn't know what that is," Luke nudged Lilly.

"The Gretians are a club of teenage werewolves from the dark side. The young ones just do stuff like spray paint 'Dark side rules' or 'Dark side forever'. But the older ones injure and sometimes kill us. It's dangerous to come out at night. Arclia heard us, probably, and ran off. She didn't want to be caught. I imagine she was in pain. Without her necklace it would've hurt lots transforming, but she didn't want to be identified," Lilly explained. Now Julia was more confused.

"I'm a werewolf? Are you? Are they? What's the dark side? And what's that necklace about?" Julia asked. Lilly sighed and tut – tutted.

"Yes, we're all werewolves, and we don't change until we're twelve, see. They are werewolves too. The necklace is something you don't get until you're twelve. They protect you when you transform from hurting yourself or getting stuck while transforming. We can also identify each other by our pendants, and that's probably why she took hers off," Lilly began, "and the dark side is a pack that doesn't want to make peace between the two packs. They want our land, to rule us, and for us to be stuck in werewolf form forever and serve as their slaves,"

"That's horrible," Julia remarked in shock. Lilly shrugged.

"That's the way it is," Lilly said. Luke punched her playfully on the shoulder.

"Don't take it personally," He whispered to Julia, half joking, half serious, "Now come on, I'll introduce you to the other kids," He smirked at her before tugging her hand playfully and dragging her off. Lilly looked cross at being left behind, and ran towards the pair. Julia felt her heart accelerate as they darted past trees, invincible. They soon came to a halt as they approached some teenagers.

"Hi," Julia squeaked, her voice sounding too loud for her own ears. A boy her own age stalked over to them.

"You're that Julia girl, aren't ya?" They boy laughed humourlessly. Julia blushed and Luke stepped in front of her.

"Shut up, Misian. Just because you like Jeniver doesn't mean you have to bag every other girl!" Luke barked. Misian crept away, trying desperately to ignore the laughing. An older girl couldn't help herself.

"You've got an admirer, how cute, Jeniver!" She laughed. The girl next to her, slightly younger, but older than Julia, blushed, obviously Jeniver.

"Shut your face, Crissis!" She growled. Crissis rolled her eyes.

"What's that? Jenny – Wenny loves Misi Wisi?" Crissis teased. Jeniver blushed bright red. Julia got angry at Crissis; Jeniver was clearly embarrassed, yet she kept teasing.

"Stop it!" Julia yelled at Crissis. Crissis looked alarmed, and a boy just a bit older than her stepped from behind her to next to her.

"I'm Jakobian, Julia," He said softly, "Crissis is just having a laugh. They're really good friends, they don't take it seriously. Welcome to the Marikan Forest, our normal hang out spot. Would you like some t – bone to gnaw on? It calms down us werewolves," and without waiting for an answer, he handed the t – bone over. She was unsure if it would work, but began to gnaw on it and found it surprisingly calming.

"Thanks," She blushed. Jeniver flashed an encouraging smile.

"Sorry if I offended you in any way," Crissis said, smiling warmly at Julia. Julia felt strangely nervous.

"You didn't, that's alright," She squeaked.

"Come on, you need to learn more!" Lilly urged, desperate to share her knowledge. Crissis laughed.

"Give it a rest, alright Lilly? Not everyone's a bookworm freak like you are, and you need to learn and accept that!" Crissis snapped harshly. Lilly made a sound like a whimper and ran away, her red hair whipping behind her. Julia was sure Lilly was crying and Luke went extremely red as if he felt guilty for what Crissis had said.

"Jeez, Crissis, watch your mouth!" He half snapped, half yelled in an extremely uncharacteristic way of him. Julia wondered why, but before she had time to ask he had run after Lilly. She felt even more nervous now, as she was around pretty much complete strangers, even if she knew their names. Actually, she didn't know all their names. She had no idea of the two boys who stood next to Jeniver, one about her age and one a little older.

"Excuse me, I have to go," She whimpered, before running off. Jakobian nodded, and gave a wave of encouragement. Julia gave a small smile before she wondered off, looking for her friend's footprints in the dirt. As she walked away, she thought of all the things that'd happened today.

She'd got up in the morning, like any other ordinary day, and argued with her mother if she could go to Aunt Martha's house, as she normally did when they went there and wouldn't take her. Then she'd thrown a shoe at her mother, out of anger and frustration, as she wanted to go for a jog and to Aunt Martha's. She'd sat watching the news after she'd gotten in trouble, until her parents had left. Then she'd snuck out, desperate to go for a run and escape her prison called 'home'.

She'd gotten lost and distracted. Then she'd found herself face to face with a wolf. She'd cried out for help, trying to get away. Then her 'knight' had rescued her, who turned out to be Luke, her new friend. He'd reported her, then Lilly had come over and started rambling about werewolves. Then she'd met Crissis and Jakobian and Jeniver, and, who could forget, Misian.

As Julia reflected on her day, she followed the footsteps that lay etched into the ground. Dirt had filled some of them, as Luke had obviously ran. As she stepped into one, she realised something; Luke and her had the same footprints. A small smile appeared on her face, for a reason even herself did not know what for. As she followed them, carefully dodging the spiders that crept along the edge of the track. Soon she came to a dead end.

The wolf was back.