Order

I jolt forward awaken by rustling leaves. I prop myself up on the tree I was sleeping against. How did I get into this mess? I grab my backpack from beside the tree and take out an old silver heart-shaped locket. Why did you give this to me, mother? What did you want me to do? Hurt washes over me as I remember the night that the world had shut down. Everything had happened so quickly. My mother gave me the locket and told me to run east in the woods. She acted as if she knew what was happening. Did she?

A howl in the night brings me out of my mind. I jump to my feet and look up at the sky. It’s a full moon. I throw my backpack over my shoulder and run. My mother’s words ring through my head, “You will bring the world into place Brooklyn, you are the next leader.” I shake my head and run faster and harder. She used to stare at the moon for hours, but she wasn’t a shifter, was she?

Monsters had always been a myth until not that long ago when the ruckus and reality started. First, it was vampires in New York, then it was the Sirens in the Mediterranian, shifters also known as werewolves started in the woods. There are more creatures like the dragons in the Rocky Mountains. If what the scientists were saying was true and that they were older than humankind, then why appear now.

I stop running at an abandoned gas station. Since they showed up the stores and buildings are all empty. Many people were taken, some turned, others went into hiding underground, and some people just disappeared. I push open the glass door. Some shelves stood upright with food still on the racks, but others were pushed on the floor, broken. Many of them are broken, much like the world today. I open my backpack and grab what water and food are on the shelves. I zip up my backpack and walk back outside. It’s not safe to stay in one place for too long.

I freeze at the edge of the woods. A brown shifter stares at me with dark eyes, howls at the sky, and runs away. Not all of them are monsters. I think that most of them are just lost and waiting to be found, waiting for order. I head into the woods and watch my back. I look at my compass and hope that I am still going the right way. I need to know what is east in these woods. I continue walking, grateful that the shifters are my only problem at night. Vampires strangely hunt in the day because the shifters take over the night.

The sun is starting to rise over the top of the trees. I stop in a crowded area of trees and slouch down to the base of a tree. The shifters go into hiding in the day unless vampires enter the woods. The shifters get the woods and won’t accept intruders. I’m lucky that I haven’t been caught. A rustle in the leaves behind the tree I’m resting on makes me stand abruptly. I turn around and see brown eyes staring at me. The large wolf comes out from behind the tree and starts walking to me. I turn around and run, grateful that I never took my backpack off my shoulder. I run faster when I hear howling from the shifter I was running from. More howls soon join. I run faster, weaving in between the trees, scared that I will get caught. I trip over a tree root and hit my head on a tree trunk. I try to stand back up, but everything blurs. I see a figure walking towards me and try to step back, but everything smears together and then goes black. I open my eyes but quickly shut them because of the sun. Where am I?

“She’s starting to wake!” I try to open my eyes again to see who is speaking but quickly shut them. The light is too bright. I try to move and hear another voice, “Careful, don’t move too much. Clare go get the chief.” I feel a hand on my shoulder as I try to sit up, “Don’t, you hit your head hard.” I manage to get out a small sentence, “Who are you?” As I speak I don’t recognize my voice, it’s hoarse and dry. I hear a sharp intake from the person next to me, “Do you know what you are?” It’s the same person who has been talking to me. I manage to blink my eyes open and sit up just slightly.

“What I am?” I look at the person who has been talking to me and has a hand on my shoulder. The lady has kind eyes that look like honey drops. Her hair is a dark brown with purple streaks. She looks like she must be in her early twenties. She opens her mouth as if to speak and then shuts it until she finally says, “You’re a shifter or wolf.”

My heart is racing and I take a deep breath in. Time stops. I’m trying to process what she just told me. I can’t be, can I? This is impossible. If I am a shifter then that would mean that one of my parents are shifters. My mother can’t be and I never knew my father. “No.” My voice comes out just a whisper. The woman next to me speaks again, “I’m Maria. This was in your bag.” Maria gently takes my left hand and in it places the heart locket that my mother gave me. I look up at her and then back at the locket. I look around and realize that several people are looking at me. As I see all eyes on me I wish that I was out in the abandoned and crumpled world and away from all of these eyes. Maria finally lets go of my left hand and gives me a sweet and gentle smile.

“Clare!” Maria yells for the girl who was speaking earlier and it makes my head ring. A young girl shuffles through the people that have gathered around me with a man following her. He looks at me and stops. He clears his throat, “Is your mother Sabrina?” He takes a couple of steps closer and looks at Maria, “Of course her mother is Sabrina.” Maria says loudly which makes me wince with pain from my head. He looks at me ignoring Maria, wanting me to answer. “Yes.” I release the breath that I didn’t know I was holding. He lets go a sigh of relief, crouches to his knees, and puts his head in his hands. Everyone who is gathered around scurries away leaving Maria, me, and this person who knows my mother.

After what feels like forever I finally manage to speak, “How did you know my mother?” He lifts his head out of his hands and looks at me. He lets out a sigh and stands. “I’m just going to say this, I am your father, Brooklyn.” He stares at me watching my reaction. I can’t believe this. Finally, I speak, “What?” He turns around and starts pacing in front of me. In one breath he says, “I am the leader of this pack, but sixteen years ago your mother and I were both rulers of this pack. When she told me that she was pregnant with you we were excited, but then the hunters started chasing us.” He stops to take a breath and scrunches his face as if in pain, “She left this pack behind because she didn’t want to put you in danger. I wanted to go but had to stay.” He looks me in the eyes and that’s when I realize that I have his eyes. We both have the same deep blue eyes that have a bright green ring around them.

I’m still trying to process what he just told me and the fact that my mother was a shifter and that I am a pureblood. “I know how difficult this must be for you. That locket that you have, has been passed down through generations.” He pauses and stares at the locket in my hands, “It’s been waiting for you. I’m just going to guess that Sabri- your mother told you to head east until you reach a cave in these woods.” I frown at the locket in my hand and then look at the man who is apparently my father. “Yes, she did.” I answer quickly, not wanting to talk to him. I can’t believe that my mother never told me. I look back at my hands and frown once more. “What did you mean when you said that the locket was waiting for me?” I look back at him trying to show no emotion. I don’t know if I believe him.

He takes two steps back and signals for me to follow him. I get up and we both walk away leaving Maria whom I forgot was there. He leads me into a tan tent where there is a tree stump with a cloth over it. On top of the cloth are several stacks of books. I slide the heart locket into my back pocket. He picks up one of the books and reads, “After the creatures of the earth lose control to their elements and/or triggers, there will be a savior. The locket holds the key to the savior's true power. The savior will be a pureblood shifter who, after using the key, will become more powerful than any other creature who ever walked the earth.” He puts a piece of paper in the book, closes it, and looks at me. I grab the locket out of my pocket, “Use the key how? What will I become?” I run my thumb over the rough surface of the heart.

“I don’t know.” He says as he sits the book back on the tree stump. “You have to figure that out.” He starts walking out of the tent entrance and I follow him. He looks up at the sky and so do I, realizing that it’s almost dark. “You need to leave before the moon comes out. You should go now and keep going east as you were doing.” Maria comes over and hands me my backpack with a kind smile on her face. I grab my backpack and look at the person who is my father, whom I believe more now, and look for an explanation. “Be careful Brooklyn. You have to leave because once we turn, we lose control.” I look at him with a look that hopefully says that I understand. Then I realize something and turn back to face him. “Why don’t I turn?” He looks at me and then at Maria. “I don’t know.” His face scrunches with what I think is concern. He finally walks into the tan tent.

I start walking and glance behind me until I can no longer see the camp. I am still trying to understand everything that I was told. I have no idea what I am walking into. I keep walking east, lost in my thoughts. The moon is high above the trees when I arrive at what appears to be a cave. I put my compass in my back pocket and grab the necklace. When the locket is in my hand it starts glowing a blueish white light. I hope that he is right and that I will be the one to fix the Catastrophe that is the world.