Back in Shelby, it rained quite a bit. I loved the rain; ever since I was little, I'd been the opposite of other kids. I would stay inside on some sunny days when all the others were outside playing in the sun. I'd wait by my bedroom window and watch the sky, just waiting for the rain to fall.
   
When it did rain, I would go outside and run around, laugh and sing. Most of the time I'd be the only kid on the street that went outside. I'd have the time of my life out there, dancing in the rain.
   
I did the same today. Nearly oblivious to the now dying fire I'd set in the field, I closed my eyes and tilted my head to the sky, soaking in the rain that dropped gently on my face.
   
It began to pour. I reached to the sky and danced around, loving the feeling of the water on my skin.
   
And then I began to feel very sick. It wasn't from the dancing, or the spinning. My stomach turned with nausea, and my eyes crossed so I couldn't see. Feeling quite green, I sank to the wet grass and sat cross-legged with my arms wrapped around my stomach.
   
"Hey, are you okay?" Thalion noticed my sudden mood swing and sat down beside me. "Is she going to be okay?" he asked Zaïa. She nodded her head once.
   
*You did a lot today. Sometimes, if you're using your power a lot, you might feel sick or dizzy, especially if you've never used it before. Your body isn't used to the extra energy, so the natural reaction is to feel tired, or sick.*
   
I barely understood what she'd just said, but I did feel better when she said it would pass.
   
"I feel dizzy." I whined.
   
"Put your head between your knees." Thalion said, his hand passing gently over the length of my back. I shivered involuntarily.
  
The three of us sat in silence while the world slowed in front of my eyes and I felt well enough to put my head back up.
   
The fire had fizzled out, and now it was just raining. Hard.
   
"Hey." Thalion said when he saw me lift myself out of my own lap. "You okay?"
   
I nodded. He looked into my eyes for a moment before pointing out that my lips were turning blue and that we should go inside.
   
It turned out that I'd brought on a full, wind-howling, ground-pelting storm. The sheeting rain came down on the three of us as we trudged back to the palace.
   
When we got inside, Fielua handed us dry towels and hot chocolate, commenting that I was going to 'catch my death of cold'. Apparently, Thalion had an immune system of steel and Zaïa was basically made of water, so they'd both be fine.
   
Stupid, inhuman relatives.
  
Ari came flying into the room, Solanna trailing close behind.
   
"We're going to have a party!" Ari squealed.
   
"What kind of party?" I asked cautiously. I didn’t like big events where too much attention was drawn to me.
   
"Well, not exactly a party," Solanna said in her warm voice. "Let's all just sit in the library around the fire while you three dry off." She eyed Zaïa, Thalion and I standing in the middle of the hallway, dripping wet and shivering.
   
"You just have to turn everything into a party, don't you?" Thalion accused Ari. I had the awful feeling that the storm was making Thalion cranky. A cranky Thalion was never good.
   
"Of course I do." she smiled. "It makes everything more fun!"
   
"Thalion, just go. It'll make her happy." I surrendered. Ari's 'party' sounded better than sitting in my room doing nothing.
   
"If we're lucky, it'll shut her up, too." he grumbled, but I saw the hint of a smile on his face.
   
We all made our way to Solanna's library; mine and Thalion's shoes squishing with every step, and Zaïa's fur dripping, leaving a trail of water all the way from the entrance.
   
It was warm in the library. The fire crackled and it was such a change that all of my muscles relaxed and I felt instantly warmer and drier and much, much happier.
   
We all sat in our chairs except for Zaïa, who curled up on the floor in front of the fireplace.
   
After a few minutes of scattered conversation and warming up, Ari said, "Someone should tell a scary story!"
   
I nodded. Every summer back home, I would go camping with my dad. The best thing about our whole trip would be the last night when all of our family friends would come to visit and we'd sit in a big circle around the campfire, roasting marshmallows and hotdogs and telling ghost stories.
   
"It was a dark and stormy night..." Thalion began in a spooky voice. Then he turned to Ari and yelled, "BANG!", making her scream and punch him in the shoulder hard enough to make him rub it, muttering something about "can't take a joke."
   
I turned to look at Solanna. "Weren't you going to tell me about your necklace sometime tonight?"
   
"I was, wasn't I?" she mused. "I suppose now is as good a time as any.
   
"This necklace has been a symbol of the elfin race for thousands of years. It's been in this particular family for a millenia, at least. So long that it has gained its own name: Forjan ai."
   
"What does that mean?" I asked. "Forjan ai, what is that?"
   
Thalion spoke up. "It means 'The Seer', because the stone predicts the future."
   
"How does it do that?"
   
"No one knows." Solanna said. "Most think it is will of power by the person who wears it, others think the necklace is not indeed an object, but a living thing itself. Some say it's some form of dark magic.
   
"When you see the stone change colour, that isn't all it is doing. With every shade, images flash through my thoughts. Some of these pictures are dark, like a night sky, a shadowed room, or a dark time in history. Some are bright; they tell of good things in the future. Sometimes the brighter parts are predictions of horrible things, but it is really the dark pieces I need to pay attention to. They channel terrible events. Great, terrible events."
   
Solanna's voice had become quiet, as though she were dreaming, or thinking out loud. The room fell silent, everyone taking in what was just said.
   
*Can i tell a story?* Zaïa's voice rang in the back of my head.
   
"Zaïa wants to tell a story." I broke the silence in the room.
   
"How are you going to manage that, genius?" Ari joked. "You can't even-" her voice broke off mid-sentence.
   
Just then, a tiny spark of light flew out of Ari's mouth and sailed over to the fireplace, where it settled between the embers.
   
"I'm going to borrow your voice, smart one." Zaïa's low voice filled the room.
   
"Hey!" I exclaimed. "How'd you do that?"
   
"It's simple for me. I learned to do this long ago from some...relatives. It's a mistwolf thing."
   
"Oh."
   
"Can I tell my story now?" she asked. I wasn't used to hearing her voice outside of my head.
   
"Go ahead." Thalion urged. "I want to hear this."
   
Zaïa nodded her giant head, then began, "Every hundred years or so, a change runs through the air. Most humans or elves don't notice. As a wolf, I hear it coming every time. The air becomes bitter, and hot. The willow trees tend to wilt just a little bit more, and the waiter boils in all of the lakes and ponds."
   
"Wait! Every hundred years? And you've seen this before!?" I said. Zaïa nodded wearily. "How old are you, Zaïa?"
   
She hesitated. "I'm two hundred and eight." she stated matter-of-factly.
   
My jaw dropped.
   
"That's still young!" Zaïa snapped.
   
"How young in our years, Zaïa?" Thalion asked, a teasing smile pulling at his lips.
   
The wolf rolled her eyes. "I don't know, twenty-something."
   
"Twenty...four, maybe?"
   
"Something like that; can i please finish my story?" she pleaded quickly.
   
"Thalion, stop teasing Zaïa. I want to hear the rest of the story." I put an end to his taunting.
   
Zaïa's eyes took on a dark stare. "Upon the evening of the fullest moon that year, strange winds blow through the trees. It is the only night of a perfectly clear sky.
   
"The moon itself changes. The edges will become sharp in the air, cutting through the night like a knife. Then, from the center out, the moon will bleed. It turns red as the crimson blood spilled on the battlefields..."
  
Zaïa's voice turned louder and higher with every word, trapping me in the story, like I was in a trance. Zaïa, however, was not what had my attention; the fire was blazing, the flames turned red and danced before my eyes, taking the shapes of starts, and the bloody moon of which she spoke.
   
"That's enough, Zaïa." I heard Solanna say.
   
"...water in the lakes boiling so hot you could melt the iron in the ground. The wind screaming in the trees, calling the names of those who died in the wake of the battles..."
   
The flames surged and I felt as though they were drawing me toward them, I almost heard them calling my name...
   
"Zaïa. Enough." Solanna said, more sternly this time.
   
"...and from the opened ground rises a terrible, great creature, so vile that the deepest fires of hell come screaming bloody murder at even the sound of his name..." Zaïa's piercing voice grew louder, more shrill as the fire reached out to me, calling me toward it...
   
Gwenhyvère...
   
Someone screamed.
   
"ENOUGH, wolf!" Solanna shouted, ice resonating in her voice.
   
The flames in the fireplace receded, releasing me from my trance in enough time to see that they had moved from the fireplace and into Solanna's eyes, her black stare burning into the mistwolf.
   
It was then that I realized that the someone who screamed was me.
   
Zaïa bowed her head once, then curled back up on the floor next to my seat.
   
"Can you speak, Ari?" Solanna asked.
   
"Yes." Ari squeaked almost inaudibly.
   
"Fine. I think that's quite enough scary stories for tonight." I'd never heard my aunt so angry.
   
Everyone still silent from Zaïa's tale, Ari and I wandered out of the library, only stopping when we heard Solanna call out, "Zaïa, Thalion, please stay behind."
   
I stopped outside the door. "I'm going to wait for Thalion, Ari. You go ahead." I said absently.
   
"Alright, Gwenny. I'll see you tomorrow."
   
I pressed my ear against the door, trying to listen through the thick wood.
   
"That was inappropriate, Zaïa. I trust it won't happen again." I could barely hear Solanna's angry voice.
   
"With all due respect, Solanna, she deserves to know." Zaïa said. That must be why Thalion had to stay behind.
   
"I understand this, but she isn't ready for that. I would prefer if she never heard of it at all."
   
"But-" Zaïa protested.
   
"That's final, Zaïa. Thalion, you may go." Solanna said sternly.
   
There was silence until Thalion angrily threw open the door, almost knocking me over.
   
"What are you doing here?" he demanded when he saw me.
   
"I was waiting for you." I lied.
   
"Go to bed, Gwen. It's late." Thalion said acidly, gently pushing me aside before stalking down the hall.
   
I remained standing there in silence for a few minutes before turning the other way.
   
I was still in a state of shock when I climbed in bed ten minutes later and fell into a restless, disturbed sleep, frightening images from tonight making me toss and turn until morning.