When I was younger, mum never tells me bedtime stories. I didn’t know any stories except for fairy tales after my uncle from Liverpool. Stephanie’s father got me a book of fairy tales on my seventh birthday. Mum tried to give that book away but didn’t because I started crying so hard that she gave me back my book.

Were legends and history the same thing? The people who knew the answer must be dead by now. History will repeat itself. Will legend? I didn’t know but I was about to find out.

Without wasting any minute, I took my notebook and followed Val downstairs. She led me to the living room with Alice there. She sat next to her mother and crossed her arms. I sat opposite of them and waited for either of them to speak.

“I’m sorry for not telling you earlier but you need to understand this is not easy and you are destined to accept yourself,” Alice started. “As Sam told you before, you are a hunter. I’m sure you dreamt about this.”

I flinched when she reminded me of my nightmare. I shook my head in reply. I didn’t dream about this. I didn’t even remember if I had the dream.

“You are also gifted with dreaming. Now you dream while you are sleeping. It is possible to dream in the day without sleeping. Here,” she said as she handed me a book that looked like a diary. “It was your Gran’s. She wrote down instructions, stories and everything you needed to know as a Hunter.”

“The legend?” I asked for the point, not bothering anything unrelated to it. This question was killing me for weeks. I held the diary tightly.

She positioned herself on the couch and leaned forward. “Your vision, gift for dreaming and hair. They are all related and existed over generations in our family. Sophia, you hunt werewolves.” I didn’t feel shocked, to my own surprise. The internet helped a lot. I crossed my arms over my chest and waited for her to continue.

“The story I’m going to tell you is how all these started. How werewolves existed. A long time ago, there was an explorer called Van Wolfe. His job was to explore places that were available for his country, now called Netherlands to conquer. He enjoyed his work very much. He was born in a small town that we forgotten the name over the years.

“The town was conquered by France. Van Wolfe tried all his power to free his town to join the Netherlands. One day, Van Wolfe disappeared for about one month. People thought he was dead. He actually tried to find other empires or kingdoms willing to help him defeat France. Instead, he found a wolf. The wolf was big for its size. Van Wolfe spent days to communicate with the wolf. He succeeded.” Alice leaned back and looked into my eyes that were on her.

“He managed to do something any human was able to do that time. He and the wolf became one. He entered the body of wolf and he could turn into a human. He was bigger than before and more powerful. He helped his town as he swore and defeated France without an army. His force, power, strength and speed are a thousand times better than human. He won but he was also the bad guy. He ate his own people and nobody could or dare to stop him. Eating human was the only way to fill his empty stomach. Whenever his eyes turned red, it means he was hungry. Van Wolfe would turn into a wolf and eat people up.

“He could turn into a wolf and human as he wished. He also discovered that he could turn other people into a wolf by biting them. He lived for over two hundred and fifty years and still stayed young. By this theory, he was immortal,” Alice stopped to see if I was following the story. This legend was more than I expected.

“Three hundred years later, one of his people wanted revenge on him for killing his children,” Val continued the story for her mother. “His name was Thorene. He and his brother Elrik went to find anything to defeat Van Wolfe and his followers. They found something extraordinary. Thorene found a humongous eagle and Elrik found a sabre-toothed tiger.”

I flinched again when she said sabre-toothed tiger. I knew that all of this was related with my dreams. Val looked like she wanted to know why I flinched but she kept on with the story.

“They entered the body of the animals and people now called them as shape-shifters as they called Van Wolfe. Thorene and Elrik nearly killed humans to desire their stomachs but their wives convinced them not to. They found out that they could survive by eating animals.

“Thorene and Elrik defeated Van Wolfe and his followers. Some of his followers ran away and avoid getting killed. Elrik is able to bite and make more sabre-toothed tigers just like werewolves but Thorene make more of his kind like us, human.”

I was quiet, picturing everything black-and-white in my mind like it was an old movie.

Alice continued the story. “Now I’m going to tell you how we, Hunters existed. Humans then were considered as weak and brainless because of wars. They too wanted power. Werewolves’ population was big and more people are dying. There were not enough eagles and sabre-toothed tigers to protect us. One family was given a gift to hunt werewolves. Only the leader of the family is a Dreamer, just like you, Sophia. They daydream and able to hunt wolves anywhere. Whenever wolves tried to kill any of them, Hunters and sabre-toothed tigers were working as a team to destroy them. Eagles were not so trustful because some of them kill humans too.

“No one dares to challenge us anymore. There are more stories in the diary if you wish to know. You look a little green. Are you okay?”

I blinked and snapped into reality. “I knew it,” I whispered to myself.

            “Aren’t you going to say, ‘You have got to be kidding me!’?” Val asked me.

I buried my face in my hands. “I knew this all the time but it sounded ridiculous. Mum was trying to stop me from coming here just because of that. No wonder! Sam was right; she tried to protect me,” I mumbled. My voice broke at mum’s name. “Why didn’t she tell me?

“She tried to stop you from coming here. She didn’t want to communicate with us until the time you wanted to come to Australia. That was why she didn’t know about Val’s existence and Gran’s death. She could have sent you to boarding school but she didn’t. You insisted. She had no choice. She made me promise not to tell you. I didn’t know why it came at this time but you’re supposed to know earlier so you could be ready. But it was a little too late.

“Val got her hunting skills last year. I thought you will too. I waited for you, everyday. I didn’t want Val to hunt alone. If she never comes home . . .” she trailed off, not knowing how to continue. Hunters will extinct. Werewolves were able to gain control and power. We were human’s final hope to exist for the future.

“But you should have told me earlier!” I protested.

“We waited for the signs, just in case if it didn’t come like me and your mother or else, what was the point of telling you?”

“I have a right to know! No matter what happen. I am part of this family, am I right? It’s not like I was adopted . . .” I glared at her, waiting for her next response. Could it be true? Was I an adopted child all this time?

Val stood up.

“Where are you going?” I asked impatiently.

Alice stood up too and Val nodded at her mother. Alice turned to me. “You’re going to hunt.”

I stared at her then outside through the window. It will be dark soon. “Now?”

“Yes,” Val said impatiently but excited.

She led me to her bedroom and dug in her closet. She handed me a red cloak that looked like the one in my dream. I wore the cloak that fitted perfectly on me. I wondered whose one was this before I came along. It was very hard to ignore whatever reminded me of the dreams.

“What is the cloak for?” I asked Val.

“There are werewolves who will remember you and kill you when they are human.” She gave me a pair of boots and knives in them. She then handed me a gun. I didn’t take it.

“What?” Val waited for me to take the gun.

“No. I can’t do this.”

“Please,” Val begged. I didn’t want to see her on her knees to tell me to take the gun. I sighed and took it even though my hands were trembling. She wore a black cloak just like the other day and a gun.

Alice didn’t follow us. Val took me to a forest nearby.

“Aren’t there any forest rangers or people who will find us?”

She shrugged. “I’ve been doing this for a year and no one caught me. Don’t worry. You have license to carry guns around.”

We were not old enough to carry guns so how did we even have license? I didn’t ask that question though. The forest wasn’t protected by fence. It was open but no one dared to enter the forest except for us.

“Val? Are we the only Hunters?”

It took a long time for her to answer. “I don’t know. As far as I know, we’re the only ones.”

We entered the thicker part of the forest. The forest was getting darker but my vision was clearer. “How did Gran died?”

“She was bitten by a wolf. I think that is why Gran died instead of changing.”

“Explanation, please.”

“I think that is why only men become wolves, not women. That was why Gran didn’t change into a werewolf but instead she died. Mum thinks God made it that way so that is our current theory.”

I thought of another question to ask Val but she asked first, “How is it like?”

“What do you mean?”

“How does it feel like when you are dreaming of this?”

“It felt more like a nightmare. I remembered a sabre-toothed tiger, a gun and the forest. Sam’s voice too. Now it was like a déjà vu.” I scanned the forest for any wolves. “If we are Hunters, are we still human? We can grow up and die?”

“Yes. We can still do everything humans do. Except that we’re faster and stronger than humans somehow.” Val froze and pointed her finger at something that was in front of me. I froze too. I could see it. It was a wolf, huge as a bull. I couldn’t believe my own eyes at what I was staring at. Val took her gun out slowly to not make any noises. The wolf’s ears cocked towards our direction and growled. Val shot. I covered my ears with my hands in fear. The sound of the shot echoed in the forest. She nudged me and pulled me towards the beast.

The wolf was gasping for air and I could see the bullet went through its heart. It’s red eyes locked on mine and it howled in pain. The howl became softer when Val had a hand around it’s muzzle. There was nothing but silence that answered it’s howl. It finally laid still. It was dead.

The wolf was shaking even when it was dead and it was no longer a wolf, it was a young teenage boy. He was dead. I stared at him. The wolf was white when everything else around me was red. Was I colour blind? Or is this what it was supposed to do? Then I remembered that my vision changes.

“You killed the boy,” I whispered.

“It was dangerous and it could kill many other boys. Sophia, snap out of it!” She called the boy ‘it’ instead of ‘him’.

I blinked and squared my shoulders. “I’m okay.” She took out a lighter and burnt the body. I stared at the flames and she continued walking. I knew it wasn’t the way home. “Where are you going?”

“Mum wanted me to teach you how to hunt.”

“At this time of the day?”

“Yes. You were late to get ready for all this. All you have to do is to try to shoot it at its heart. If you hit some other places, it will heal back quickly. And try to avoid getting recognized and hide you hair,” Val instructed.

That reminded me of asking her, “Why does our hair change color?”

“I don’t know. It just did to know that we are Hunters.”

“Philip is lucky to be a boy,” I mumbled to particularly no one but myself.

“Who’s him?” Val asked.

“He’s my brother and your cousin.”

“Oh. But you’re right though, that only girls are Hunters. There was one male Hunter in our family a long time ago. I think you recognize his name. His name is Robin Hood but his hair didn’t change like us.”

Great. More fairy tale stories in our family. But that made me worry that Philip might even be one. “Is there anything related to Little Red Riding Hood?” I asked out of curiosity. We looked like Little Red Riding Hood but we weren’t little. That story was stuck in my head for a very long time. The first time I heard of that story was when I went to Stephanie’s house in Liverpool for a sleepover when I was ten years old. She told me all kinds of fairy tales that I never heard of.

“No, but the author of the book knew that werewolves existed. Actually, the author himself is a wolf.” There was a lot to study about the family tree.

We wandered around until I found one wolf. I aimed at its heart and shot twice. The first bullet injured its leg, a few seconds later the bleeding stopped until the second bullet killed it. I was proud of what I achieved but guilty, at the same time because I just killed someone. Do werewolves counted as people? The wolf turned back into human and Val destroyed the body of the boy with flames.

“Do you want to know what the best thing of being a Hunter is?” Val suddenly said. She ran out of my sight. She was so fast that she was blurry. Now I knew why she was blurry when I found her in the barn on the other day. I followed her moves and broke into a run. We moved as fast as motorbikes could go. I loved the wind in my face. As an experiment, I jumped and landed on a branch. That was spectacular. I could see everything from up here. Val was under the tree I was on.

“Let’s go home,” Val suggested. I hadn’t realized it had gone dark already. I checked my watch; it was eight p.m. I jumped down to her side. “Not bad for your first hunt. It took me a week to be pro in it. I couldn’t even jump that high! You can hunt by yourself now since you graduated from your first day. Maybe I can teach you to throw knives on the next hunt,” Val complimented. I felt excitement in me but I tried to hide that feeling.

Alice was waiting for us in the house. She cooked pasta for dinner. “Your mother called after you left. I told her you were riding Red with Sam. And you have mail.”

She handed me a letter and I saw it was from Victoria. She wrote all about what I missed out in school and she had a new boyfriend which I didn’t really care about. I still thought Jamie was better than Victoria.

Alice offered me some pasta but I refused. I didn’t have the appetite after the hunt. I went upstairs to my room with Gran’s diary and my notebook.

I locked myself in my room door. It was not just nightmares. It was more like a vision and sometimes déjà vu. I opened the diary at a random page. There use to be five to six hunters at a time and now it was only two. I should find out more information on our family. Thank God Philip is a boy or he would be hunting wolves too. I wouldn’t want to risk him. He deserves to live in peace.

What if it was Philip who comes to Australia instead of me? He could be a Hunter like Robin Hood. Val and I were the only Hunters exist. How was it possible? If we were destroyed without anyone to replace us, humanity doesn’t stand a chance to survive.

Gran wrote down Hunter’s secret hideout during the days when wolves nearly conquered the world in World War 1. Apparently, Hitler was a wolf. A Dreamer found it and killed it towards the end of World War 2. By then, the number of Hunters began to decrease. We didn’t know why or how. Hunters had no choice but to work with sabre-toothed tigers. They worked together for almost fifty years. Eagles on the other hand were untrustable as they were more like werewolves.

Gran and the head of the sabre-toothed tigers discussed on living near to each other for safety. They agreed but they made a schedule on when the tigers and Hunters could hunt so they wouldn’t hunt each other instead.

It happened a long time ago, a Hunter accidentally killed a tiger. It made the tigers angry. There was no fight but a huge argument. A Dreamer, called Zoë suggested to hunt separately. Zoë was the last Dreamer before me and she was my great-grandmother. Why didn’t the gift passed on to mum and Alice?

Zoë was a Jew in Germany and she married a British officer there. Gran was one of her three daughters and she had a son. Her son, Gran’s brother, was named William. William was not a Hunter but he never looked for his mother and sisters when he was parted from them since he was a man in the German camp. Man and women went to separate camps during the war. Gran’s father was executed as he was a British officer. William’s sisters, including Gran always disappeared into the woods to hunt and he didn’t know anything about it. Zoë and her two daughters had disease that spread in the German camp not long after the war ended. The signs of the disease appear a few months after they were released from the camp. They suffered for two years and died, leaving Gran alone. When she was freed from the camp, she moved to Australia for a fresh new start. She tried to find William for a few years but she gave up after she realized he might be dead.

At that time, there were two Dreamers at the same time. It never happened before but now I was the only Dreamer left. I saw a small picture of Zoë in Gran’s diary. The other Dreamer must have killed Hitler at the same time . . .

I left a dog ear on the page and switched off the lamp beside my bed. Everything I read was in my dreams. I was in the shoes of Zoë, suffering and fighting the disease. I suddenly felt like I wanted to stop fighting. I wanted to give up so I would see what was after life. Curiosity won in the end. I felt my heart stop pounding and saw light that looked like a pathway in front of me.

Ever since I knew the existence of werewolves and Hunters, my nightmares began to wear off slowly and little by little. I was relief that it will never haunt me for the rest of my life but the time in the forest hunting werewolves was already enough.

I woke up sweating one morning. I didn’t remember what time or day it was. I wondered whether I was screaming all night long just like every night. I sat on the bed and stared out the window, seeing the forest waiting for me to get out and hunt. The black wolf waiting for me to hunt and then he can kill me just as Gran. I changed into three quarter pants and my favorite T-shirt. I quietly came out of my room, looking around to see there were people around.

I went to school as usual but Jamie knew something was not right. She always told me to spit it out but I just shook my head at her. She was dying to know what I was keeping away from her.

“What’s wrong, Sophia? You had changed. Is there something I should know? Maybe you should go for some counseling.” Jamie told Bibiana and Maryanne about what was wrong with me. They tried all they could to make me tell them but I didn’t.

I spent time hunting with Val every evening. We came home empty handed most of the time. On the day I knew Hunters existed, I refused to answer mum’s calls. I was furious with her for not telling me about Hunters. If I had known, I wouldn’t come to Australia. I hated her for that. I hated Alice. I hated everyone for not telling me earlier. I hated myself more than I hate anyone else. I hated myself for existing. It dawns me when I realized that mum was trying her best to make everything go in order so I wouldn’t know. I started to call her. Mum called me daily and I always lie to her. Mum seemed to be fooled with my lies about the legend. Victoria e-mailed me. She must have forgotten the incident of me declining her call on my first day at Australia. I didn’t tell her anything either. I was afraid she would tell mum because I knew she couldn’t keep secrets. Philip kept bragging me about his Nintendo and dad will ask how I was doing.

I began to accept myself as a Hunter. I was usually more comfortable with a gun than bows and arrows. I was getting better at hunting. My vision helps a lot. I could sense wolves and sometimes it was more like seeing the future than a nightmare.

I heard Val and Alice snoring softly but loud enough for me to hear so I knew they were still asleep. I sneaked out of the house and ran to the barn. I felt so calm when I fed Red with hay. Where was Sam? I hadn’t seen him since I knew that I was a Hunter. He will usually be around here. I felt lonely without Sam to talk to. I remembered him yesterday looking sick and exhausted. He must be staying at home because he was sick. I wanted to talk to someone.

I was in the meadow, the place where I will always be. No one knew where I was. Val and Alice thought I was still hunting. I would come by and sit on the piece of grassland. It was bright and if you’re lucky, you can see the rainbow ends here. I love the scenery around me. I was sitting under my favorite apple tree. I would sometimes climb the tree and sat on the branch that supported my weight, looking at the forest from the top.

I had to talk to someone about it. I couldn’t tell Jamie, Bibiana and Maryanne because Alice said it’s too dangerous. I wanted to tell Sam about it. He was my best friend and my confidante. I trusted him with my secrets. He kept the secret about going to Melbourne the whole day from his boss. I ran back to the house.

I took my motorbike and rode to Sam’s house. I saw his Hilux parked outside of his house. It wouldn’t be wrong if I visit him. I left my bike near his truck and knocked twice on the door.

It wasn’t Sam who opened the door. It was Daniel. I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to be with Sam alone.

“Hello, Sophia. You must be looking for Sam,” Daniel said and his guess was as good as I expected.

“Yeah, where is he?”

“Sam is out now. Do you want to come in?”

I smiled at him and said, “Sure, just for awhile though because I have to get back.”

“It won’t take long.” He closed the door behind him. I wondered if Daniel was Sam’s brother. He was nice. Sam didn’t tell me anything about Daniel.

“Coffee or tea?” Daniel asked from the kitchen.

“That’s okay, Daniel. I had my breakfast.” I sat in the living room. He joined me without anything in his hands.

“Aren’t you supposed to be at school?” I asked.

“Aren’t you supposed to now?” Daniel challenged.

“True, but I want to talk to Sam today,” I admitted.

“I think he will be back in the afternoon like he always does. I have a feeling he likes you a lot.”

“What makes you say that?”

Daniel leaned back and exhaled a long breath before answering me. “Hmm . . . let me think this logically. He works for you, he talks to you everyday . . .” I was about to protest about him talking to me everyday but he held up a finger to stop me, “before he was too busy to see you. He’s your best friend and you sleep with him.”

I looked away so he couldn’t see me blush. How did he know that? I noticed a photograph hung. It was Sam in black and white. It must have taken in the 1960s or so. But Sam looked the same like he was now. After a second thought, it must be someone related to him.

“Okay then. I have to go. Can you tell Sam that I dropped by?”

“Sure.”

Daniel closed the door after I left. Suddenly, I heard something moved in the bushes. I automatically scanned around me and I saw a pair of red eyes. I immediately recognize it as a wolf. I ran towards the forest. I kept running and running. It felt like I was in the dream. Something was wrong. There was no sound except for the beast. Usually, I would hear the birds chirping but this time, I only hear my own foot steps and the beast’s foot steps.

I finally stopped running when I saw what it was. It was taller than me and dangerous. It wasn’t a wolf, I could tell. I was right all along. I remembered what I read in Gran’s diary. The tigers will help hunt wolves.

Out of fear, I took out a gun and pointed at its heart. Should I shoot it even though it wasn’t a wolf? I stared at its pitiful eyes as it stared at me. The eyes weren’t red anymore. It was a pair of familiar blue eyes.

Less than five seconds later, I was surrounded by other tigers. The blue-eyed tiger was the biggest among them. They growled but the blue-eyed tiger didn’t do anything. I felt like I traveled back to time when human learnt to make fire.

The tigers came closer to me and the blue-eyed tiger barked a loud command. They looked at their leader and backed away, disappearing in to the forest. The leader was bigger than the other tigers. Its paws were white and the body was orange except for the belly to the snout was white. The two long fangs were visible but it wasn’t meant for a warning. The leader was still there. I lowered my gun to let it go before turning around to run away.

“Sophia.”

I froze, not daring to turn around. The sound, rhythm, tone and everything about the voice were exactly like the one in my dream.

I could hear his footsteps coming slowly closer to me. He took one step at a time until a hand was on my shoulder.

Out of a little courage built in me, I turned to face the person in human, trying to recognize him from head to toe. My body was shaking and legs trembling as I stared into his blue eyes. Finally, I was able to choke a word from me before I fainted.

“Sam.”