You are a human. Its words played again and again in my mind, but I quickly got a hold of myself.

Yes. And you are a Legre. I sent a message back. The Lupa bowed its head and its foreleg dig a little into the ground in front of it as if it too was surprised at the turn of events.

Your kind kills us. Finally it got back to me; I could see it in my mind with its glistering red eyes and silvery-grey furs rising up. You are not to be trusted.

How do we prove ourselves to you? I asked earnestly and the Legre howled; I could tell that it was some kind of signal to the main pack. My body tensed as I contemplated whether we should just make a run for it. It’s strange, they are a Class D and the Felixia blanc and Ursidae are Class C, how could I communicate with them so much more clearly than I did than with the Class C?

“Ga…Gwen.” Tom opened his mouth and quickly covered up his mistake. “What is happening?” He added, gently shaking me by the shoulders.

“I, er.” I stuttered, trying to think of something that I could say and decided to just say it. “I am communicating with the Lupas.” I finally spluttered out and the looks I got from them were hysterical. I would have laughed if I wasn’t concentrating on maintaining the strange mind connection with the beast.

“What do you mean?” Jeremy asked, his eyes bulging out of its sockets. I wanted to answer but I was checking the Lupas’ activities and couldn’t muster up a coherent sentence. I heard them arguing in the background and felt someone tapped me on the shoulder.

“Ga..wen.” Tom said, nearly blowing the cover again earning a glare from me. “Would you please explain this?”

“There is no time.” I said, pushing them forward. I still had no respond from the Lupas and I was getting a little worried. We might as well move slowly. “Start walking.”

Despite the bombardment of questions they continued to throw at me, we began moving at a normal walking pace away from the Legres. Sweats started to bead down my forehead as the pack of Lupas abandoned the Leporids and moved towards us. Holy crap, what have I done?

Trying to stay calm I told myself that maybe they were just being friendly. Friendly my butt, who the heck get all its gang together and run towards another to be friendly.

“I will explain this later.” I added as Tom open his mouth to speak again and he abruptly closed his mouth and gave me a pointed look. I sighed and tried to send another message towards the Lupa but it ignored it.

“Since when are you a telepath as well?” Kailey asked, twisting her head back as she fired questions at me. “I thought you could only do mind-sensing as well as telekinesis.”

Everyone was staring at me accusingly, but not in a mean way, maybe with the exception Emily. Tom was looking at me with the strangest face, as if he was finally figuring out something. I sighed again, what was I supposed to say?

“I have always been a telepath.” I admitted earning another round of questions which I ignored. “ I didn’t realized that I could communicate with Legres until the now.”

“You did it before.” Tom suddenly exclaimed silencing everyone and all eyes were on him; but he didn’t seemed to notice as he clasped his hands together like he had just solved a puzzle that had been bothering him for a long time. “That time, when Owen stayed behind, the Lupas went away and I never understood; and the Ursidae and Felixia blanc, you made them fight each other!”

My mouth was agape as I thought back to the incidents Tom mentioned; both times I was fervently hoping and unconsciously projecting my thoughts, maybe that’s why the Lupas backed off so mysteriously.

“Who is Owen?” Emily asked suspiciously as she looked from Tom to me and I realized everyone was looking at us. “I knew you two must have known each other before this.” She added with her hands on her hips, as if she just caught a cheating couple.

Tom and I shared a look with each other and turned back to Emily, unsure of how to handle the situation. Luckily, or rather unluckily the Lupas were getting close enough to be heard now.

“We need to get going.” I said, and Emily threw me a this-is-not-finished look. Amelia threw a concerned look behind us.

“I thought you said you are communicating with them.” She asked, as we broke into a brisk walk. That’s not technically running away.

“Yeah, but now they are ignoring me.” I said, and everyone automatically sped up.

“Wait.” Tom suddenly said and came to a halt. Everyone turned back to look at him. “There is no way we could outrun them, we might as well wait for them to come and let Gwen communicate with them. This way even if we fight we are not as exhausted.”

Despite the fact that his suggestion made sense, we were still a little hesitant. I guessed it’s in our nature to make a run whenever there is a danger, whether it is the best solution or not.

“Come on, they are nearly here.” Tom said, reaching his hand towards me and I took hold of it and stepped forward towards the rustling sounds. Breath in, breath out, I instructed myself, taking deep breaths to calm myself down and distract myself from wanting to run away. You can’t run away forever.

It felt like time was slowing down the moment the first Lupa began to appear amidst the vegetation; its glistering red eyes that seemed so much more intelligent to me than I remembered. I held my breath as the entire pack made their way towards us, the whole fifty-odd of them. I could feel everyone tensed behind me and I knew it was taking all they could to just stay put where they were and not fight or runaway.

The same could be said for the wolves Legres as well. Aside from the few at the front those at the pack were breathing uneasily and some were plowing the ground in front of them and growling lowly. They didn’t want to be here either.

Human. the Lupa at the front began to address me, stopping an unnerving ten meter away from us, which could be closed with just a single stride. This was not the Legre that I communicated with and appeared to be the alpha of the pack, the one that I talked to was to its right and it bowed a little at me in acknowledgement. I was surprised at how humanized they were, and how communicating with them seemed to grow easier and easier.

You said you come in peace. The alpha said, staring me straight in the eyes as I contemplated over our communications. It wasn’t like the normal telepathic conversations that I had with other POEs before, this was strange; it was almost like I was eavesdropping on their channel, their frequency. That was how they communicate. But your kind and us had never known peace. How do we believe you?

The fact that we are here now, face to face instead of chasing each other is the prove. I replied, trying to sound as confident and calm as possible. The Lupa tilted its head at me as if considering my words.

This only means you wish to communicate with us, or to stall time. The Legre continued and I could hear the approving growls from his pack behind him, even some snippets of thoughts from them. None of them were pretty.

We have never started a fight on our journey here, we had only acted in defense. I continued to reason with the alpha, taking the fact that we were still unharmed as a sign that they didn’t want to fight either.

The Legre suddenly edged closer, a confused look on its face as it sniffed the air. I froze in place, not daring to move in fear of provoking it which would end our negotiation. I could feel Tom tensed behind me and I squeezed his hand to let him know that it was okay, I wasn’t getting any hostile thoughts from the alpha.

You have a familiar scent about you.  The Lupa said, looking back at me. Of another human, much like you.

Something else could communicate with the Legres? I thought incredulously and my eyebrow shot through the roof. This was unheard of! She came a long, long time ago and made a pact with our king. The Lupa continued, I could felt the awe from his voice. My ancestor were there and saw the whole thing, it ended the slaughters of both kinds on a greater level.

Frowning I tried to imagine one of my ancestor being a powerful POE and shook my head. Impossible! But then I thought to my grandmother’s strange behavior through my puberty, it might not seemed like much back then, but could it be that she was one as well? But my father obviously didn’t know a single thing, if Lynette is a POE, then my Dad would have at least be a legacy and wouldn’t he know something about that?

Reaching for the necklace i wondered if it would be a good idea to show this to the Lupas. Tucking it back I decided against it; whatever it was that it thought of could help us and if the necklace grandma gave me is not related, it would realised that something was up.

“How is the eh, conversation going?” Tom asked behind me and I turned my head a little to look at them. Taking in their worried expression I gave them what I hoped was a reassuring look. It didn’t seemed to bad right now but there was no saying whether the Legres will change their mind suddenly or not. Their behavioral pattern is completely different to ours.

We believe you. The alpha suddenly declared and I felt like a huge weight had just lifted off my chest. and we have decided to help you.

I blinked. Help us? what did they mean by help us? We will honor the pack we make and do this as a renewal of faith between us. when you get out of here, please refer this back to your elders. The Legre continued and barked a few orders to his pack which quieted them. Despite feeling extremely confused I wasn’t going to pass up this opportunity. Whoever this Lupa had mistaken me for was going to get us out of here, alive.

After that, it was simply a relaying of information on my side. I tried to put it into the simplest terms possible, summing down to the point that we were being chase by some enemies and we needed to get out via the North.

I could only help you as far as the edge of the mountain. The alpha replied, plowing the ground with its forearm. But we might be able to help you find your lost friends.

My eyes lit up at his suggestion and without further thoughts I conjured up the faces of my friends in my mind and shared it with the alpha. It wasn’t until the alpha nodded that I realized what I had done; holy crap, I didn’t even know that was possible.

“We are good.” I said, turning around and saw evident relieve on people’s faces. “And that’s not all.” I added, watching Emily’s face closely so I could see her reaction. “They had agreed to help us look for survivors.”

Emily’s face was one of pure surprise and joy, the latter is something that I never seen on her face before. Tom quickly clasped me into a hug and I relaxed in his arms, tightening my hands around his neck. I closed my eyes momentarily and prayed to whatever gods there is in this world that we would be reunited with our friends.

“Okay guys, don’t get too touchy-feely.” Jeremy coughed; a hint of a laugh in his voice. My eyes fluttered open and a blush made its way to my face out of embarrassment. That was so not what this is!

Tom was equally startled and both of us took a step back, and the two of us avoided looking at each other. “What do we do now?” Amelia asked, wrapping her arms around her chest, seemingly lost and I realized that most of her group was dead, because of the illusionist. There was a sad look on her face and the smile dimmed a little on my face; I felt a pang of sadness towards her situation. That could have easily been me.

“We wait.” I said, turning back to see the retreating pack with a hopeful smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am so, so soooo sorry that i didn't upload after new year :( i was surprised by the amount of revision that i had to do and got sucked into it. Buttt i had been writing whenever I can so i managed to finish up this chapter today which also mark the end of my exam!!! Yay

I am loving this new direction but I also feel like I have been writing too positively about the whole thing....What do you guys think? Let me know! x