The Golden Lycans (Ella) novel Chapter 34

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Seventeen-Part 1

*Ella***

It takes a few days of being in a miserable mood and endearing even more miserable weather for me to feel a little more normal. After another week I’d even managed to make it through one combat class taught by Austin. I had passed him in the corridors a few times and he hadn’t said anything. It appeared that our date seemed to be behind us. I still often thought of that day and the way my whole body erupted in a delicious tingly heat when we kissed…there was no denying it had

felt very special. But I knew I had to ignore my feelings and move on to prevent myself getting

further hurt in the future when Austin’s destined mate sashayed into the picture. The ache I had

felt in my chest had eased, but now I just felt a little empty inside. Thankfully though, I had two

great friends and it was soon going to be the Winter Formal and my seventeenth birthday.

It was the eighteenth of November and tomorrow I would finally turn seventeen. My parents had

kindly arranged for driving lessons to start for me the following week and I was very excited for

that.

I went to bed as normal and thankfully had no problems falling asleep like I had so often in the last

few weeks.

But once again, I have the same recurring dream. In the dream I once again wake up, laying on lush green grass, staring at dapples of light coming through the leaves of the familiar willow tree. I feel content and at home in this place, now; it all felt so familiar. I sit up, just like I always did now in this

dream. This time I feel more in control of what is happening. I press my hands firmly against the

trunk of the beautiful willow tree. I can feel it. I can physically feel it, seeming to be more than just

a dream as I can feel the age and the power of this great willow tree. I can feel each individual leaf

as they rustle and gently dance in the soft breeze. I become more aware of the energy running

through the ground I was standing on. Everything around me was so alive and connected…and I

was part of it.

It is time to wake up Eliana. Step forward into your light…

The familiar female voice says, with an edge of finality in her tone this time.

I take my hands off the trunk and turn around, now seeing a golden, glowing figure with wings about twenty metres away from me for the first time.

There is work to do. Tonight, with his help, you will break your shackles. The darkness approaches, and the light must be ready.

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Seventeen-Part 1

I can’t make out any discernable features on the figure amongst the intensity of the light they emit, but I feel like I can trust them. As in previous dreams like this, everything felt so familiar, like somewhere I’d been before but had no recollection of. I run toward the figure wordlessly shouting

at her, asking who she was, where I was and what was happening to me.

Do not fear it, Eliana. It is time. The river has trickled, but now it must break the dam, rushing and

coursing down the path intended by Her-…

I wake up for real, quite suddenly, in my bed at school, due to Freya having pounced on top of me/l inhale deeply, trying to grab hold of the remains of my dream in my mind as my senses instead fill

me with is was currently around me.

No!

“Happy Birthdaaaaay!” Freya sings loudly, bouncing up and down with glee on her face.

“Calm down woman!” I laugh, now sitting up in bed and rubbing my eyes. The dream was still some what clear in my head and I wondered what it meant. It was clearly no longer a dream anymore and instead felt like a solid bit of communication. With whom, I had no idea. I felt a feeling of apprehension setting in as I get dressed and ready for the day ahead.

Annabelle had waved her dad’s platinum credit card in the air and we had booked the three of us in for a spa day at a hotel about ten miles away, on the basis that Freya’s father’s Beta Stephen accompanied us the whole day. Freya was more than happy to oblige to her father’s request as she and Annabelle hadn’t left the school grounds for many weeks.

When we arrive at the hotel we are shown where to change and we happily put on some soft dressing gowns and spa shoes before entering a light and airy dining room for a healthy breakfast. We eat various fruits with nuts and grains and each had a delicious smoothie in addition to the

ice-cold cucumber and mint water.

We spend the first hour or so lounging by the swimming pool, occasionally getting out to lay on the loungers in the warmth or enjoying the heated bubbles of the jacuzzi. It was the most relaxed I’d felt in weeks….almost. Something was nagging me about my dream and I felt I was on the

precipice of something important, but what, I didn’t know.

Before lunch we were due to have a full body massage and this is what I was looking forward to the most as I loved having a massage. I was more than happy when it came time to relax myself face down onto the massage table while the masseuse got to work.

She had just worked her way up my back when she pauses for a minute, pressing lightly up and down my back on the inside edge of my shoulder blades.

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Seventeen Part 1

“Those are curious scars you have there, bless you,” she said quietly.

“Scars?” I ask curiously.

“Er…yeah, I mean they’re barely visible, I wouldn’t worry about it. They must’ve been there for a long

while,” she replies, now kneading my shoulder muscles.

I become so relaxed in the warm, lavender-scented massage room, that I drift off to sleep.

Once again I am under the willow tree and I immediately stand up, urgently searching for the

glowing figure that had been here this morning.

“Hello?” I call out across a sun-drenched meadow filled with wildflowers. This time my voice

actually works. Where I am felt more tangible than ever before. A warm breeze travels across the meadow, blowing hundreds of dandelion spores towards me, delicately swirling around.

Break your shackles Eliana, warden of the light!

The familiar voice calls upon the wind. I look around wildly for the source, but as soon as I turn around I wake up in the massage room, acutely aware of a burning sensation against my chest. I

cry out in pain at the sensation.

The masseuse was nowhere to be seen, so I sit up, topless aside from my necklace.

Wait…my necklace.

I realise in a moment that my necklace is the source of the burning sensation that had woken me up. Thankfully the burning pain was now ebbing away quickly. I touch the sun charm and find it to be red hot. The yellow stone in the middle was glowing a little. It had never done that before. I was about to look at it closer when I hear the door opening. I quickly pulled a towel up against my

chest, covering myself.

“Oh you’re awake! You drifted off for the last twenty minutes. I assume you’re definitely feeling

relaxed! Please get dressed as your lunch will shortly be served,” the masseuse says politely,

shutting the door again.

I get dressed and head out the room, seeing Freya and Annabelle waiting on a pair of white sofas.

“Taking a nap during the massage? Genius idea, you’ll be dancing the whole evening,” Annabelle

says.

“Great timing anyway, I’m looking forward to whatever rabbit food they’re serving up for lunch,” Freya laughs, getting up and heading toward the spa’s dining room.

Lunch did not disappoint, and thankfully it isn’t more rabbit food. A delicious pea and mint soup was to start, followed by smoked salmon mousse parcels and capers with crusty wholemeal

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