FIVE MATES ?

CHAPTER 2: GOODBYE HOME

Niyah’s POV

“Niyah ! Hurry up !! The truck is ready to go”, my dad mindlinked me.

“Dad, I am coming…. 2 mins more please”, I shouted down the hall giving my pet a last hug with tears in my eyes.

I will surely miss everyone- mom, dad, Kelly- my cat, all the pack members who had been with me since I opened my eyes to this world, my favourite spot near The Diamond Lake, the Diamond Woods and above all, Diamond Ville.

I still couldn’t get it how my father and his beta could do this to us.

Our punishments to our previous pranks had always been limited to getting grounded, thrown in danger zones to survive on our own, getting the taste of our medicine with our pranks pulled off on us or simply, sending us to counselling sessions.

But sending us to Asheville was like stabbing my heart with a silver dagger.

If you are not aware then silver is a bane for both, vampires and werewolves so you can understand from where the pain of separation from home is coming from.

However on the brighter side, I still have my best friends. Atleast the Moon Goddess was kind enough to not separate them from me.

With this thought, I wiped off my tears quickly from my cheeks and hurried to the truck, knowing my father’s annoying obsession with punctuality and hopped to the backseat instead to the front with my dad, to show my displeasure on sending us away from him and my lovely home.

I kissed my mother goodbye and soon we all were racing to Asheville with fear and excitement in our hearts for the unknown things that would catch up to us. Afterall, the future was a mystery and the Moon Goddess seemed to have a lot in store for us.

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Alex, our pack’s Beta gave us a sheet of instructions each and every point ahead was crazier than the previous one. Here’s how it read out-

ASHEVILLE RULES

1. No phones allowed in the school premises

2. No ragging/indulgence in violent activities

3. No pack wars

4. No shifting allowed

And the worst of all-

5. Mindlinks shall be blocked in school premises

“THIS IS JUST NOT FAIR ! THIS IS ABSOLUTELY PREPOSTEROUS !!”, the twins chimed together only to get wicked chuckles from my dad and Alex.

“Dad, we will forget our powers at this rate”, I wailed.

My dad chuckled and said, “You have no idea about the courses yet, they will surely not let you forget anything”.

“And no whoring away, boys. Remember that. They get to know about it from 5 miles apart and you don’t want to get caught and sent to the Red Room”, Alex spoke sternly while trying to stifle his laughter.

I was tickled by the thought of Michael, Lee and Jacob going celibate from their player ways and they were quick enough to give us girls a death glare to shut up our giggles.

“What is the Red Room ?”, Jacob asked cautiously.

“You’ll get to know soon kid”, Dad winked.

Soon, we reached our destination and as we stepped out of the truck, I pinched myself to find out if I was dreaming or not.

Everyone seemed to be awestruck at the site ahead of us.

In front of us was sprawled out the most magnificent red stone building with an enormously tall clock tower in the middle and 5 floors in each block. The building gave the illusion of melting away like a red velvet ice-cream on a hot summer day.

The buildings were designed with great taste and the lush green, well maintained lawns spread throughout the entirety of the school building with beautiful fountains at regular intervals.

If the stadium sized playground was not sufficient to shock us, then the mighty plaza by its side with the ultra-modern gym, swimming pool, shopping centre and library left us kids gaping with our mouths left open.

Dad and Alex took out their phones quickly and clicked our pictures before we could realize what was happening.

Fuck ! They took the nastiest picture of the Shadow Gang with drool in our mouths.

“What are you doing, Dad !!!”, Keisha shrieked. “What will everyone say about your Princess if they see me like this”, Keisha wailed pointing towards her open mouth.

Dad and Alex smugly smiled and hit the send button much to our annoyance, indicating that all the pack members shall see the most embarrassing picture of us, unlike the badass clicks that we posted.

It was totally unfair that the younger pranksters were getting pranked mercilessly by the elder ones and we could do nothing about it.

“Greetings Alpha Stone ! Welcome to Asheville. My name is Stella Baker and I am the Headmistress of the school. I will handle from here with your permission, if I may, Sir ?”, a lady in her 50s cooed in her sweetest of voice as she grinned at my dad.

“Thank you, Ms. Baker. I know the kids will be in safe hands now”, Dad winked at her amused.

It seemed as if this was not the first meeting between them.

Dad hurriedly explained when he saw our raised eyebrows, “Stella, the Luna, Alex and his wife, and I were classmates in this boarding school.” 

That explained everything now. This is how the nastiest pranksters of the generation sobered up. No wonder they knew everything about this place firsthand.  

“We should get going now. Pleasure to meet you, Stella ! Take care of yourselves, kids. If you are in trouble, don’t hesitate to tell Stella. Love you all !”, Dad kissed me and left us to face our fate in Asheville.