THIS IS NOT A SEQUEL TO WAXING MOON. This is the rewrite of Waxing Moon

Again, NOT A SEQUEL

One thing was for certain in life -- everything was always changing, no matter how slow the current of life moved. Cora Gabris was all too aware of this, as even though the morning was quite like any other, something was off.

It had been off for the past few weeks, too. Only today did she witness the change. Or at least, I think I saw it.

Cora lowered her arm and relaxed her grip on the hilt of her silver dagger, peering through the morning fog as she swore she saw something.

Relax, you're just overreacting again.

The  crisp, late summer draft bit at her exposed calves and arms. She sharply glanced to her right at the sound of something moving, only to see   a squirrel climbing on her mother's headstone. Cora rushed at it until   it climbed up the tree with a scurry of its claws on bark; her  parent's  graves were buried right in front of it.

Their old cat, Walnut, was the old guardian of the tombstones.

Now even he was gone.

We'll have to get another, and hope he doesn't venture into lands that he shouldn't.

Cora stared at the gravestones of her parents, sighing and shaking her head. She hated that change as well, as not long ago it had only been one headstone. "Sorry that a squirrel crawled on you, mom." Cora glanced at the other. "Good thing it didn't claw on yours, dad. It cost extra to get it polished."

Her smile only last for a sliver of a moment before she frowned, staring emptily at her father's fresh grave before looking away. It was too soon to make jokes with his memory. Even the grass was thinner where they buried him, with it hopefully matching the rest of the lawn by next summer.

Despite  the many manners in which humans could perish in their  dangerous  world, her parents had managed natural deaths; her mother from   childbirth, and her father from pneumonia. Her mother's small, carved   rock already was weathered, whereas her father's had only been placed there six months ago.

Very few ever fared well outside the magical  protection of witches.  Not even cats. Only small mammals that could  burrow and hide, or large  ones with sharp enough claws and teeth. Or  there was the worst kind –  beasts born from old magic. She supposed one  could also be a lycan, or a  vampire, or any other humanoid creature  born with unique strengths.

Humans, however, were prey in this  world. The only cities to survive  without witches either owed  allegiance to a neighboring lycan pack, or  they lived in the deep south  where it was hot, humid, and full of  jungles or rocky terrain.

But the south was a very foreign to Cora, and they'd probably kill her for who she really   was. She had only ever lived in the northern regions of the continent   named Eloria, where thick forests grew and harsh winters came. Lycan   packs were extremely common out here, and the village she lived in owed   allegiance to a prominent one nearby.

Although, they didn't she lived just outside their border. Cora preferred it that way. For now, at least.

A crisp gust of wind  chilled her un-braided, freshly washed wet hair.  She hugged herself  with one arm as she shivered, surveying the woods  once more...I swore I saw red eyes though...just like in my dream.   Whatever shadow she saw was either gone or deep in the woods   by now. And she knew better than to go after it outside of the  witching border that Hilda put up.

Walking back to her  cabin that her father built over two  decades ago, Cora climbed the few  stairs to their porch, placing the  silver dagger on the railing sill. She had rushed for the dagger before calling for anyone. The dagger wasn't a full-proof method of  attack, but  many supernatural creatures were subject to  its metal.

She  grabbed her mug of hot water that she put on the porch  before rushing  out to investigate whatever she saw. She wished they had  mead, even  though the sun only just kissed the sky. Her father used to  drink a cup  in the morning when plagued with nightmares; he often had horrible dreams that took place in far away lands, where she  had been born, in fact, and from where they ultimately fled from all those years ago.

She  took a sip of the hot water from her mug, the steam smothering  her  face. They ran out of tea the other morning, and her brother Ben,  and  Hilda -- the witch who lived with them -- were going into the village to   get some more today. The hot water at least warmed Cora up.

The  squeaking of the patio screen stole her attention, accompanied by  the  dramatic sigh of her thirteen-year-old brother. Ben rubbed an eye  and  said, "G'morning."

"Morning," Cora said with a soft smile.

Ben  shivered, wearing a wool shirt and thin sleeping pants. He pushed  his  dark brown hair out of his eyes; she'd need to trim it soon.

Cora said, "You'd be warmer if you had socks on."

"No,  it's just that fall is coming sooner than normal. It's never this cold  while the trees are green. The garlic isn't even harvestable yet."

"Well, it also means that we survived another year. So there's that."

He  flicked a walnut into air to catch it. "Yeah, 'cause we got Hilda. If you die due to  the seasons with a witch in your house, she probably wasn't a real witch, or she didn't like you."

Cora chuckled. "Oh, so I suppose me chopping down logs all winter was for fun? I am just here for your entertainment?"

He grinned, his smile still too big for his face and his teeth still finding their place. "You know what I mean," he said.

On  the next flick of the walnut, he missed catching it, as he had  been  staring too long at her. She knew it was at her eyes. As he bent  over  to grab the nut, he said, "Your eyes are always so creepy when  they're  that pink color. I like them hazel, but red is cool too. That  pink  color--well I guess it's not pink, but it just looks funny." He shrugged a shoulder. "Still neat though how they always change color, though."

Cora  took another drink of her hot water, as she didn't like talking  about  her eyes. They were the reason why Cora could rarely leave their  cabin,  and why they couldn't get one of the homes inside the village. If   anyone found out what she really was...

It was one of the primary reasons Hilda had come to live her family all those years ago.

So,  Cora deflected the comment. "What's creepy is how tall you've  gotten. I  don't know how we will manage to feed you. You're only just growing."

He timidly smiled. He was at that age where he was overly critical of how he looked."I think I'm gonna be tall."

"Father was incredibly tall. At this rate, you're probably right on track."

The  rest of Cora and Ben was similar – sharp jawlines that balanced  their  high cheek bones, strong noses, thicker upper lips, and almond  shaped  eyes. It was a decent blend of both their parents, although they  got  their mothers medium complexion and dark, straight hair.

Ben  opened his mouth as if to say something, but then with another  flick of  the walnut, he pursed his lips and kept it to himself.

"What?" Cora prodded, the wind pulling at her hair again as she took another sip of her now lukewarm water.

"I've  just...I've been thinking a lot. I turned thirteen last week,  and I  need to have an apprenticeship picked by the end of the year—" he   caught the walnut again, but didn't flick it up this time as he looked   at her "—what are we doing with you? Like, as you get older?"

Cora  sighed, looking over his face before back out at her parent's   headstones. She knew what she needed to do to free Ben of watching out   for her. One of mom and dad's children has to live a life. "At   some point, I suppose you'll go and do your own thing. Leave me here in   this cabin, and I'll figure it out from there. It's nothing to stress   over."

"What about you?" He spoke with a concern that  reminded her of  how an older sibling would speak to a younger. Every  now and again,  this protective side of him would come out. It made her  love him all the  more.

"I'll just morph into a tree at some point," she teased.

It didn't make him laugh, and they resorted to an uncomfortable silence.

She  didn't know how to tell him that, one day, she planned to leave  and  not come back. Whenever he was situated and started a family, she'd   give herself to the lycans. But Ben hated to even mention that.

"Surely we can do something about it--" He pocketed the walnut "--I can train to fight, and all that, you know. I can help you find a good   lycan, since they're coming for you anyway. I've been practicing how  to  stab things. I can fight off the bad ones for you. We can do it   together."

Cora let out a slow exhale, giving him a look of love  and gratitude.  "You have no idea how much that means to me. But it  won't work like  that. I have been missing for over two decades and the  lycans know I am  still alive. My leaf is still on their god's tree, or  whatever it is.  The minute they know where I am, I will have Steigen  Pack after me.  Whenever I reveal myself, it has to be to someone who  can protect me. As  much as I love you, you can't hold an entire pack  back. For that, I  need another pack. The human hunters will just kill  me. I need a pack  one day, Ben. That's what my future holds."

Ben grew silent, looking out at the trees much like Cora had been this morning.

When  she was born, it was nearly three hundred miles to the east  where  their parents grew up. It was also the year that all the Rubies,  nearly  a hundred of them, were born in clusters all over Eloria. And  they  were born as humans, despite becoming powerful lycans once turned  into  one. The lycan Seers knew of this phenomenon, as sometime in their   history, lycan packs planted a tree like how one plants a rose bush.   This tree was immensely more significant, however, and had been bare for   nearly a hundred years.

Until twenty-three years ago when it   began to bloom bright healthy red leaves, and that's also when Cora was   born. Five of them scattered on the tree would phase in and out between   green and red, based on the phasing of the moon.

One of those five represented Cora. It meant the power in her blood, once turned into a lycan, would be immense. She was an inert body of power, but completely useless as a human. 

And  any that mated her would gain her powers as well. The pack  she had  been born adjacent to wanted her, but they were brutal, and so  her  parents fled with Hilda.

Nearly all Rubies were given to  the  lycan packs if not killed by human hunters, and in turn families  would  join them among the lycans. All four of the Phasing Rubies had  been  found, according to Hilda, except for one.

And she was   currently standing on the porch that her father built, trying to explain   the complexities of this to her thirteen-year-old brother.

"You  know, Ben," Cora began. "When mother and father brought me here,  they  crossed nearly the whole continent to get to the west coast. Do  you  remember why?"

"Because of the packs on the west coast. They are nicer than the one in the east."

She  nodded her head. "Where I was born, and where mother and father  grew  up, the pack that I would have gone too, Steigen Pack, has a  horrendous  Alpha. They hunt and eat people, and he claims any woman he  wants—"  Ben clenched his jaw at those words "—and I would have had to,  in our  words, marry him. Just so he could have my powers. Mother and  father  took me here, though, and you know what they wanted?"

He  looked at her, and she continued. "They just wanted me to live  with  some kind of freedom for myself. I will be twenty-four, come the   changing of the leaves. I'm old enough now to go find that freedom,   whenever that time comes."

"See, but that's what I mean. I can help you find a good   husband. I mean mate. If you two can get together before the other   Alphas find you, then they can't have you, and you can be with you want   to be with. And we can remain a family," he said, his brown eyes   pleading.

"I believe you, brother. The problem is once I am  known, Steigen will  come for me. But you really don't need to worry.  Hilda will help me out  when the time comes."

"I'd never see you again, though," he said with a frown, and she could tell he was trying to control his emotions.

Her heart ached at those words, and at that stare. "If I become mate to an Alpha, I am sure I can have some kind of leeway to go see my brother, whether they like it or not."

When  his gaze didn't relent, she said, "Either way, it's not a  problem for  now. I am not even considering it any time soon. Seriously.  Don't let  it get you down."

He didn't seem pleased, but he also seemed less  depressed about the  idea. "Just promise me," he began. "That you won't  make the decision  without me?"

She had to look away, as she was  never good at lying while looking  him in the eye. That was enough for  him to know she'd never mean that  promise, as Ben gave an impatient  sigh. "Nevermind. I'll see you at  dinner. Which teas do you want? The  milk thistle and what else?"

"Maybe some green tea, if they got  those imports. If not, anything  else works. Oh"—she grabbed the dagger  so he could take it in—"Don't  worry's it's fine, I just saw something.  Probably a trick of the light,  but please put this back. And be  careful, in case somehow it wasn't."

She explained to him what she  saw, and he straightened his back and  squared his shoulders, taking  the blade with caution and care. He left  without much of a goodbye, as has become common with him since their father had died.  Her hot water was mostly room-temperature  by this point, and she placed  it on the wooden railing.

It was times like this that she  flirted with the idea of going to the  hunters, to see if she could  strike a bargain. But she knew the minute  that they knew of her, they'd  have her killed.

As soon as Rubies had been born, hunters did  what they did best –  they hunted the babes, knowing what they could do  for the lycans. And once she revealed herself, Steigen Pack would come for her, which meant she had to be very careful about who she chose.

For now, it seemed she'd have to continue her life of solitude.

Perhaps,  one day, the world would be in her favor. For now, she  focused on Ben  and ensuring his future had the best start she could give  him.

When  the sun shone through with more vibrancy, it signaled that it  was time  to start her day. She turned around and entered their home,  putting  wood in the double-door wood burning stove. She had re-arranged  this  home more times than she could count in order to make it feel new.

She  went to her room at one point to sew some patchwork in her dress.  She  wasn't fond of sewing and preferred to get it out of the way,   especially during late summer mornings when it was colder outside.

"We will be back, Cora!" Hilda shouted through the house.

Cora pricked her finger with a needle from the sudden sound and yelled back, "See you soon!"

After  sucking on her thumb to get the bleeding to stop, she left her  room to  look out the front window to see the middle-aged witch and Ben  walking  towards the village. Sometimes, she liked to watch them. It made  her  feel like Ben would have someone here for him, whenever Cora had to   leave. As if she were seeing what his life would be without her.

It always broke her heart in ways she could never explain, while also warming it to know that he wouldn't be alone.

She looked around the home mostly made of wood and sighed to the deafening silence of loneliness. I wonder what life would be like to be surrounded by so many, like how packs are... She frowned when she noticed that the plaque adjacent to the wood burning stove was empty. That's where they kept their dagger.

Didn't Ben put that there?

She felt vulnerable without it, with Hilda being gone. Cora moved back to window and stared at the woods, half-expecting to see  the shadow again. But there was nothing other than the familiar  trees,  grass, and butterflies floating around in the air around her parent's graves.

Her next thought was that Ben or Hilda took it. But why would either need it?

She  hurried to the front window again, to see that Ben and Hilda were   already out of view, and she grunted with frustration at not being able   to chase after them. Not with her eyes. No one in the village knew who she was, as they only ever saw her near a new moon when her eyes were her natural-born hazel.

If anyone ever saw them with these colors, she'd have no choice but  to go with the first pack  that came for her, as she was hardly able to  fight any of villagers off.

She looked back at the empty plaque. Especially with the silver dagger missing.