“Long ago, before humans ever lived here, Lilliath and Cardonia were inhabited by tribes of wolf people.”

I hug my stuffed dragon closer as mother begins the familiar story once again. I look over at my twin brother. We look a little bit similar, but also quite different, considering that I’m a girl and he’s a boy. I can tell that he’s growing tired of hearing about our secret history, but I love to hear it. Mummy says she’s been telling it to us since we were born fve years ago, but every time I hear it, I still get a chill that runs down my spine.

With a smile, Mummy gets more comfortably settled on my bed before she continues. “The wolf tribes each hunted in their own lands, but once a month at the full moon, they would all change into full wolves and gather together to share news.

“But then came the humans.” As she starts the next part of the story, I shiver, imagining what it must have been like back then. “The humans thought that the wolf people were some form of werewolf, so they caused wars, intending to kill all the wolves.”

“But the wolves didn’t die!” I exclaim right on cue. I never miss my chance to interject into the story.

Mother smiles, touching my cheek gently. “That’s right, Lizzie. They had one of two options. Some of the wolves decided to leave. They took ships, sailed off into the sunset and were never seen again. But the others decided to take on human forms and stay behind.”

I cough, choking my stuffed dragon. But I quickly look back up at Mummy with enthusiasm.

She looks at both my brother and me with a gentle gaze, her yellow eyes warm. “I am a descendant of that tribe. And so are you,” she says, touching us both on the nose.

I giggle. “But we’re elves too!” I respond, reaching up to feel my pointy ears. I always think it’s so funny how Mummy’s ears aren’t pointy.

Before she can say anything else, my brother leans forward. “Mum, I’m tired of hearing this story! I know all about the wolf people and how cool they were! But I want to know when we’ll get our wolf forms!”

Mummy smiles kindly. “You’ll get them one day, Teddy. When you’re all grown up and mature, maybe then you’ll get them.”

Teddy crosses his arms over his chest. “But I am grown up and mature!”

Mummy laughs. “You’ve got a little ways to go yet.”

There’s a knock on the door to my room and Daddy enters. “Are you telling stories again, Saria?” he asks Mother, smiling as he walks over to sit down next to her.

She smiles at him, looking into his eyes. “When am I not Will?”

Daddy strokes her cheek with a hand and murmurs, “Sometimes I think you tell so many stories because you miss all your adventures.”

With a sly grin, she replies, “So what if I do? They were the best times of my life. I got to fall in love with the most amazing prince there ever was, and he made me his queen.” She leans over and kisses him on the lips, causing Teddy and I to exclaim in disgust.

Daddy looks over at me, placing a hand on my forehead. “Lizzie, you’re as sick as a dog!” he exclaims, then adds with a joking glance at Mummy, “No offence.”

“None taken!” she responds, laughing heartily. She laughs a lot like her father does. Grandpa always seems to laugh. He doesn’t even mind it when I make jokes about his pirate leg, but after we’re done laughing, he always tells me that pirates are very bad and I never want to meet one.

Daddy picks up my brother, saying, “Come on, Teddy. It’s time you went off to bed and let your sister sleep.”

“Hey, I’m a big boy Daddy! Put me down! Big boys don’t get carried around!” Teddy exclaims indignantly.

Daddy starts walking towards the door. “If you’re sure, I will put you down. But just so you know, I had some cookies and milk set aside for you, but they’re not for big boys.”

Teddy’s quiet as Daddy walks out the door, but in the hall I hear him mumble, “Can you carry me to the cookies Daddy?”

Mummy smiles, leaning in to kiss me on the forehead. “Goodnight Lizzie. Get well soon.”

“I will,” I say. Mummy blows out the candle by my bed, but before she leaves my room, I ask, “Mummy, will me and Teddy really have wolf forms like you someday?”

She looks at me seriously. “I don’t know for sure Lizzie. The only reason I got mine was because I was bitten by a werewolf, and the venom reacted with my wolf spirit. You might get your wolf form someday, and you might not. But Lizzie, don’t tell your brother. He lives to be a wolf, and if he knew it wasn’t a certainty, it would break his heart.”

“I won’t tell him,” I promise. “But I don’t think there’s anything to worry about. I don’t feel human inside sometimes.”

Mummy smiles, whispers, “That’s my girl,” and closes the door.

The next morning when I wake up, I feel even sicker than the night before. But I’ve already spent a whole week in bed, and I need to get up and move around. So picking up my stuffed dragon, I hop out of bed and leave my room.

For a moment, I stand in the wide castle hall outside my door. I’m not entirely sure where I want to go and what I want to do, but then I decide to go down to the kitchens and visit the cook. Sometimes when I’m down there, the cook gives me treats, and after not eating anything all night, I’m getting pretty hungry.

I enter the kitchen to fnd it as busy as usual. The maids are cleaning fruits and vegetables, the cooks are making dishes, and my personal favorite, the head chef Susan, is just pulling a piping hot tray of cookies out of the oven.

“I hope some of those are for me!” I say, jumping up to sit on a stool beside her.

Susan puts them down on the counter and looks at me, taking her oven mitts off. “Who else would I be making them for, little Princess Elizabeth?” Pulling out a small plate and pouring me some ice cold milk, she laughs, “You and Prince Theodore eat more cookies than anyone I’ve ever seen!”

Looking at her innocently, I say, “Well that’s because you make the best cookies in the world Susan!”

“Anyone would think you’re buttering me up!” she laughs, looking at me slyly.

“Nope,” I respond, shaking my head. “Butter is messy and you put it on bread.”

For a moment she stares at me, then she bursts out in laughter. “Oh, the things you think of, little Highness!”

Taking a spatula, she slides a warm cookie on to the plate and hands it to me. Setting my dragon on the counter, I take a bite and a large swig of milk. “Thank you, Susan!” I exclaim. “Another masterpiece of a cookie!”

With a chuckle, she responds, “Anything for you Princess Elizabeth.” While I eat my cookie, she glances over at my stuffed friend. “Tell me Highness, I always see you walking around with that little dragon, but you’ve never told me its name!”

Looking over at the little stuffe, I tell her, “Her name’s Solar! Mummy gave her to me for my frst birthday! She’s my best friend.”

Susan strokes Solar’s head, looking at the stitch detail. “Did Queen Saria make her herself?” she asks, studying the eyes, which are clear and life-like.

“I think so,” I mumble through my cookie. “I never really asked.”

Picking up one of the well-feathered wings, she says, “Well, it certainly is a work of art. You take good care of her!”

“I will!” I promise, nodding my head vigorously. “She goes with me everywhere. There’s never a moment she’s not at my side.”

“I hope you never get too old for her,” Susan says. “I remember when I was young I had a teddy bear I always took around with me, but when I got older, my parents threw it out. They said I was too old for that sort of thing. I still miss that teddy bear sometimes.”

“That’s dreadful!” I exclaim. I can’t fathom anyone who would want to throw out a stuffed companion. Finishing my cookie, I hug Solar tightly. “I will never let her go!” I tell her fercely.

“That’s good to hear,” Susan laughs, putting my plate in the washtub. “Now off you go, Highness. The rest of the cookies are for after supper. Besides, with that dreadful cold, you shouldn’t be having too much sugar.”

I sigh and hop down from the stool. “I guess so,” I mumble. “I’ll see ya later Susan!”

When I leave the kitchen, I feel kind of aimless. I’m not sure where to go, so I just wander. But then I hear something in one of the rooms as I’m passing so I stop walking.

Peering in through the door, I see Grandpa Edmund standing around one of his tables with models of Castle Town on them. He’s talking loudly to himself and playing with the fgures.

I know Mum and Dad always tell me not to go near him alone because he’s more than a little bit insane. He was really sick once, and it was supposed to kill him, but somehow he survived. But the side effects messed him up in the head, and now he spends his time alone, playing with his toys.

I’m too bored today, so I push open the door. “Whatcha playing with, Grandpa Edmund? Can I play too?”

Grandpa doesn’t look up. “I don’t have any grandchildren. My son was taken by a dragon and never came back. And for your information, peasant, I am not playing, I am ruling a city.”

Walking closer I look at the model. “You’re ruling a toy version of Castle Town. That’s not exactly a real city.”

Finally Edmund looks up at me. “How’d a little peasant rat like you get in here anyway? I should have the guards behead you! Guards! Behead this little worm!” He reaches down into the city, picks up a model guard and throws it at me. His lame throw lands the guard on the foor in front of me.

I look down at it then back up at him. He stares at me for a moment, then looks back down into the city. Picking up another guard and one of the peasants, he makes the guard take the peasant to the dungeon. “There, problem solved,” he mutters.

“Lizzie!” a voice at the door exclaims. I turn to see Grandma Abigale standing at the door. I look at her, then back at Grandpa Edmund. She looks so much younger than him. In fact, she looks only to be my mother’s age. But it must be because she’s a half elf.

Grandma Abigale walks over to me and takes my hand. “You know better than to come in here alone! Edmund isn’t stable, he could have hurt you!”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

As she leads me out of the room, I laugh, “Yea, he put me in the dungeons!”

Grandma sighs. “Well, next time he might do something worse. So don’t go in there alone anymore. Promise me.”

“I promise Grandma,” I say earnestly.

Wrapping her arm around me as we walk, she says, “Good girl. Now if you don’t want to rest, why don’t you spend some time with your other grandparents and I? We’re playing cards at the tea table.”

“Sure!” I exclaim happily. I love spending time with Grandma Abigale, Grandma Lily and Grandpa Garth. They are always so much fun! And Grandpa Garth tells the silliest jokes!

But as we enter the tearoom, Mum gets up from the table. “There you are Lizzie! You weren’t in your room this morning, so I was worried.” Walking over to us, she crouches down to rest a hand on my forehead. “How are you feeling sweety?”

I shrug. “I’m doing okay I guess. I don’t feel better, but I needed to get up and move around. If I stay in bed any longer, I’ll go crazy!”

Smiling, she kisses my nose with a little laugh. “Would you like to go get some fresh air?” she asks.

I look past her at the table where Grandma Abigale is just sitting down. Turning back to Mum, I say, “Well I was going to have tea, but going outside sounds like fun too.”

“That’s my girl,” she says with a smile, and taking my hand, she leads me from the room.

The sun is shining bright in a vibrant blue sky when we go outside. Small, puffy clouds skid across the huge canvass and paint a welcoming scene. Mum leads me by the hand through the castle courtyard, and we wave at the gardeners tending to the hedges.

I love going into Castle Town. The markets are loud, flled with people buying and selling. Merchants dressed in fancy clothes display their wares and peasants shop through the stalls. Sometimes, Mum gives me a gold coin and lets me buy whatever I want with it.

Today, however, we just browse. We walk slowly through the crowd without rushing and say hello to the people we know. A lot of people are happy whenever they see Mum, and most everyone bows with respect as we walk by.

Looking up at Mum, I ask, “Why do they bow to us and not to each other?”

Smiling, she replies, “Well think, little Lizzie, if everyone bowed at every person they walked by in this market, they’d all be crashing heads and wouldn’t make it anywhere.”

“Oh,” I say, nodding sagely. “I see.”

“Would you like to go to the square today?” Mum asks me as we walk.

Giving a little bounce of excitement I say, “If you tell me the story behind the statue!”

Mum laughs. “You’ve heard that story dozens of times.”

“I still like to hear it!” I exclaim. “I like to hear all the stories. They’re so much fun! They’re like little adventures that I can live in a minute.”

Looking down at me curiously, Mum asks me, “Do you wish to go on adventures Lizzie?”

I think for a moment before shaking my head. “No, I like Castle Town! I don’t know why anyone would want to leave it to go on a scary adventure when they can stay here and listen to stories.”

With a small, relived sigh, she laughs, “That’s one way of looking at it.” Then after thinking for a moment, she continues, “Do you think Teddy wishes he could go on adventures?”

“Oh yes!” I say immediately. “Teddy is always pretending he’s adventuring in a dark forest or fghting with pirates and sea monsters. He hates listening to the stories so much because he doesn’t like to hear about things that he can’t go and do. And he’s already acted out all the stories you told us, so he’d rather make up his own.”

“I see,” Mum responds with a nod. I can’t tell what she’s thinking about, but I don’t have time to ask because we’ve reached the bronze statue in the square.

Letting go of her hand, I run over to lean on the base of the statue and look up at it. The statue is of a brave little dwarf brandishing a sword and wearing a prince’s crown. On the base, it says, ‘In memory of Prince Gulliver, the bravest dwarf in all of Lilliath’.

Mum sits down on the base of the statue and picks me up so I can sit on her lap. “Where shall I start?” she asks. “It is a very long story after all, and I don’t know if you should be outside long enough to listen to all of it.”

“Start at the battle then! The one where Daddy and the others come to rescue you!” I exclaim, bouncing on her lap eagerly.

Her voice taking on the mysterious quality it has when she tells stories, she says, “I had been in Scimitar’s castle for three, long, torturous days, my wounds from my fght with the dragon deep and infected. The pain was so intense that most of the time it was all I could think about. I had told William in a dream not to come, but I don’t know how I ever expected him to listen. Maybe I thought that he didn’t love me enough to disobey me and rescue me. Whatever the case, I was surprised when he and the others charged into the castle.

“The battle was swift and ferce. William and the others fought bravely, but the dragon was too strong. It grabbed Gulliver and tore him up. William held him as he died, then prepared to go back to fght the dragon. But I had a plan. I had watched how Scimitar treated his dragon, and I had guessed that the only way the dragon could be killed was if Scimitar was killed frst. So I signaled to William to toss me my sword, and grabbing it in my tail, I stabbed Scimitar through his heart. Both he and the dragon burst into fames, and the battle was won!”

“But you were dying,” I whisper, captivated as always by the story. “Your wounds were too great.”

“That’s right,” Mum says quietly as she thinks back. “I don’t remember too much after that because I passed out. I just remember listening to my heart slow down and stop, and I couldn’t hear myself breathe anymore. I was very cold, and I seemed to be lost in a fog. But that’s when I met Solar.”

I shiver and hug my stuffed Solar tightly. This is my favorite part of the story.

“She asked me if I thought it was my time to die. And I knew that as a werewolf, there would be no way that I could ever live with William and make him happy. So I told her that I would be willing to die to give William the chance to move on in his life.” Her eyes are distant, and I wonder if she remembers that she’s telling me a story or living in her memories. “But that’s when she told me about our history. She freed me from my curse and let me live.” With a smile, she looks down at me and tousles my hair. “Then we came home and after a while your father fnally got up the courage to propose to me.”

“I love that story,” I sigh.

Picking me up off her lap and setting me on the ground, she says, “Now, why don’t we play some hide and seek? You go hide frst.”

We played hide and seek for the rest of the day, and I’m surprised when Mum stops playing suddenly and looks up at the setting sun. “Tonight’s the full moon,” she murmurs. I had completely forgotten about the full moon. Mum couldn’t be out in the town that night because the townspeople didn’t know about her being a wolf descendant.

“I don’t think we have time to walk. I’ll call Lightshower.” Closing her eyes, she’s still for a moment, and a second later I hear Lightshower’s roar. The beautiful draqois lands delicately in the square, her huge form taking up most of the space. Lightshower is about the size of a real dragon, Mum told me once, but she’s much softer and nicer than most dragons. There is enough space on her back for four or fve people to ride on, and her fur is so warm that I never get cold, even if we’re fying on a cold winter night.

Mum lifts me up onto her back and jumps up behind me. I love Lightshower and I love fying, even though I don’t love adventure and I’m afraid of heights.

Giving the draqois’ shoulder a pat, she says, “Let’s get home quickly.”

With a small nod, Lightshower leaps into the sky, and only moments later we are hovering near the balcony outside my bedroom. Mum helps me down and walks over to tuck me into bed while Lightshower waits by the balcony. “Time to get some sleep now, my sick little princess.”

I can’t help but yawn. “Goodnight Mum,” I murmur, rolling over to snuggle down in my blankets.

“Goodnight Lizzie,” she whispers. I don’t hear Lightshower take off because of her silent fight, but I know they’re gone.

I shiver as feverish chills run down my spine before I slip into a deep, contented sleep.

Gasping awake, my eyes snap open and I pant heavily against the pain in my chest. With a groan, I roll over, tangled in my blankets. I barely notice that the sun has set and the moon is high in the sky. My skin feels like it’s on fre, my bones don’t seem to ft in my body and all my muscles ache.

Rolling over again in a vain attempt to escape my pain, I fall out of bed and slump to the foor with the blankets covering me. My chest heaves as I fght for air, and I claw my hands against the cobbled stone foor as if I can rip myself away from this pain. I try not to scream, but I can’t hold it in any longer, and when my voice escapes my lips, it comes out as a wild howl.

Finally, the pain dies down a bit, and with a whimper, I crawl out from under the blankets. I lay panting on the foor for a moment until my eyes catch my refection in my mirror. Freezing in fear, I stare at a small black wolf puppy that gazes right back at me. I finch away and the puppy in the mirror does the same. The puppy has brilliant red eyes that are wide with fear and when I open my mouth to ask who it is, its jaws open as well.

Cold realization shocks through me, and a bark of surprise rings around my room. This is not what I was expecting at all! I didn’t truly believe I’d ever get my wolf form, and this pup looks nothing like me! My long, wavy hair is normally a brilliant glowing blond, and my eyes used to be gold. This puppy in the mirror is a black ball of fuff with a white patch on its back, and its red eyes are ferce looking. The only thing even slightly familiar is the unusually long fur on its tail. Shivering in fear, I let out a long, scared, howl.

Only a moment later, the door to my room bursts open and Daddy runs in. Mum in her full wolf form runs through the door behind him. Daddy stays at the door with a worried expression, but Mum pads quickly over to me. “It’s alright Lizzie,” she rumbles gently. “It’s alright.” She curls her body around mine and licks my forehead softly.

I can’t stop shivering. “It hurts,” I whimper, closing my eyes.

“I know,” she murmurs. “The frst time always does. You’ll get used to it. I’ll teach you how to change on will and how to control your power. It will be easier then. But right now I’m here, and it’s alright.”

I bury my muzzle into her fur, and for a moment, I lose myself in her warmth. But then my eyes snap open and I ask in worry, “Do you think Teddy changed too?”

Mum shakes her head. “I don’t think so. I probably would have heard him howl like you had if he changed.”

“Do we have to tell him?” I whisper. “He’s the one who wanted to change. He’s the one who wanted adventure, not me! What if he hates me?”

Licking my ears, Mum murmurs, “Lizzie, we have to tell him. And he’s your brother, he won’t hate you, even if he’s upset for a while. But he won’t be upset with you, just at the situation, and I’m sure he’ll change when he’s ready.”

“What if he’s never ready?” I whine quietly. “Why couldn’t he have changed instead of me? I don’t want this without him having it too.”

Mum doesn’t reply right away, she just sighs and wraps her tail around me. “Sometimes life doesn’t make sense Lizzie,” she says eventually. “But you just have to learn to make the best of what you’re dealt, and that means that you can’t hate this. You have to embrace it. It’s a part of you that you have to learn to love. And one day, someone else will learn to love it too.”

Before I can say anything, Teddy runs in past Dad and he stands there and stares at me, his red hair messy from sleep and his golden eyes wide. I scramble to my paws and take a step towards him. “Teddy, I can explain,” I try to say, but my voice comes out as a small yip.

Teddy shakes his head and backs away slowly, whispering, “No, it’s not fair. I was supposed to be frst!” Turning, he runs out of the room with tears streaking his face.

Daddy makes a step to go after him, but I bark, “No! I’ll talk to him.”

He stops and looks back at me uncertainly, and I know he can’t understand what I’m trying to say. But then Mum gets to her paws and stands beside Daddy, brushing her tail against his leg. “Go after him, Lizzie. He won’t understand you, but maybe you can work this out.”

I race out of the room and down the hall in the direction that Teddy took. But I can’t see him and at frst I’m not sure how to fnd him. But then I realize that I can smell things more strongly than I could before, so taking my chances, I press my nose to the ground and inhale. It takes me a few moments of sniffng around the hall, but then I fnd a scent that reminds me of Teddy. Trotting more slowly now, I follow the smell, and eventually it leads me to the castle library.

When I enter the library, I know just where to go. The library is huge, three stories tall, but there’s a place on the third foor where Teddy would act out his adventures while I watched or pretended to be a maiden in distress. When I climb the fights of stairs, I fnd him sitting on his bench, looking at his wooden sword that’s resting in his lap.

At frst, I’m too scared to go forward, so I just watch him. He doesn’t move for a while, but then he picks up the sword angrily and throws it across the room. With a small whimper, I pad forward and sit down in front of him. He doesn’t look at me, just wipes away the angry tears that slide down his cheeks. I nudge his leg with my nose, but he still refuses to look at me.

Hanging my head and hunching my shoulders sadly, I sit there in defeat. But then I get an idea, and I run over to the bookshelf. Rearing up on my hind legs to reach the book that I’m looking for, I drag it down. It’s an adventure story, one of mine and Teddy’s favorites. The book fops to the foor, and I pick it up carefully in my teeth to drop it at his feet. Sitting down, I use my paw to turn to a page where there’s a picture of a brave knight fghting a large and dangerous wolf.

Teddy just stares at the picture, so I go over to where his sword is laying and I bring it back over to him. Putting my forepaws on the bench to drop the sword in his lap, I drop back down and growl at him playfully.

With a small smile, he picks up the sword and slides off of the bench. “Alright,” he sighs. “I’ll let you be the bad guy.”

Raising his wooden sword high in the air, he announces, “I am Prince Theodore, and I will slay you, foul beast!” Then he lunges at me and I run away from him. He chases me through the library, uttering battle calls all the while.

As we make it back to the bench, he pretends to strike me down, and I play dead with my paws sticking straight up in the air and my tongue hanging from my mouth. But as he’s giving his victory speech, a barn owl races by the library window with a shriek. Giving a frightened yelp, I scramble under the bench and crouch there shivering.

Teddy lets his sword drop to his side. “Lizzie, it’s just an owl,” he says with a sigh.

I creep forward and peer at the window nervously.

Walking closer and getting down on his knees, Teddy says, “Honestly, you’re scared of your own shadow.” Shaking his head, he sighs, “Wolf or not, you still need your big brother to look out for you don’t you?”

I come out from under the bench and yip, “We’re twins. You’re only older than me by a few minutes.”

Teddy catches me by surprise when he leans forward and hugs me. “Don’t worry Lizzie. I’ll always look out for you.”