Half and Half

Chapter 1:

The white room

Lily woke to a bright white light, hitting her eyes like a brick to the head. It caused her mind the whirl as she sat up. She groaned, her head was killing. Where was she? Looking round the room, she wondered how she got there. All she remembered was the pain in her face and the wolf. She shivered at the distant memory.

Instead she looked round the room admiring the decor. It was a big room with two single beds, one which she was sitting in. Beside the two beds where a table for each. On the wall facing the beds where two wardrobes. Large oak doors where the only way in and out, and in the centre of the room on a giant rug was a stone table with two stone stalls. She stood on the ruff marble floor. Wait a minute ruff? She moved her foot back and forth along the ‘ruff’ marble. It was smooth under her feet. Its shouldn’t be right?

She looked down noticing that she wore a pale white silky dress. Only half noticing this, she went over to the wall. The wall paper was of a sort of story. From what she could tell it was on a girl and a wolf. The wolf was fighting the girl, whose books lay circling her. This again reminded her of, well, herself. She turned away from it to see another story on the opposite wall. But, this time of a raccoon, attacking a girl.

Shaking her head she thought, this is a weird place, really weird. Turning away and sitting back on the bed she looked in the draws of the bedside table. In the first draw was a mirror, with Christly shells around the frame. She put that back, the last thing she wanted to do was look at herself in a mirror. In the second draw was a book, it had the title written in big twists and twirls. She put that back too turning away.

Suddenly, one of the heavy oak doors burst wide open and a skipping girl entered, her hair flowing wildly around her. The girl looked up and smiled, making a happy sound from deep in her throat. Skipping over she spoke in the softest hone like voice lily hade ever heard.

“Your awake!” Stopping in front of the bed and clutching the bars of the frame. Lily looked at her properly, and took in her clothes.

Her hair was long and brown, with white highlights. It was tidily tide in two ponytails, but it flowed still to her waist. She wore a stylish blue and green hat as she wasn’t very tall. She wore a long skirt and a long sleeved top that hung loosely of her flesh. She hade big green eyes and rose red lips that seemed to smile all the while.

Lily smiled back at her and nodded in answer.

“I’m Meeks by the way, your room mate. Welcome to Paw Manor. You where badly hurt by that wolf got you. Great fight by the way. I only lasted seconds when I was attacked by that raccoon. We were all hurt by some animal here, that why we’re here.” She said not taking a breath.

This must be some sort of hospital, or something then. Lily thought.

“When do I go back? Or will i you know.. Never?” Feeling she must ask or Meeks would forget.

“Um, I’m afraid... You’re Kinda, staying here forever. You whole life.” Meeks half whispered. “You have no mum or dad right?”

Shaking her head she tried to take in this information.

“ I need a moment. Where’s the bathroom?” Standing up she let Meeks point her way.

She nodded her thanks and turned out the door. To busy looking around, Lily didn’t notice a reddish haired girl heading straight for her. Her shoulder grazed the girl by mistake, causing her to look up.

“I’m really sorry. Really so-....” The voice trailed off as she burst into a scream.

The girl was tall and thin with long hair. She hade the brightest blue eyes possible and a fringe hiding a nasty scar imprinted on her forehead. She wore a pink strap top with jeans, but what made her scream was the... the... TAIL! And ears. A perfect pair of fox ears and tail.

Fox girl looked up screaming back. Lily screamed again at the horror. The fox girl was now in full control of the situation and seemed to think. She opened her mouth and growl, showing off a full set of fox sharp teeth. Lily stared open eyed at her before falling to the floor and blacking out. The last thing she heard was the words,

“why did I scream?”

Chapter 2:

Ears, Tails and Claws

‘Why did you growl at her?’

‘She was screaming, I was just saving her voice.’

‘By scaring her like you just did?’

‘Well... What would you have done Izzie?’

‘Calmed her down!’

‘Humph,’

Was the only reply. It was the fox girl. What did they mean she doesn’t know? Who where they talking about? Lily half opened her eyes and looked towards the voices to see the Meeks staring right into her face. Thank goodness someone normal.

‘Guys stop it! I think I think she waking up.’ Meeks looked up for a second at the two girls and they fell silent right away. She opened her eyes properly and looked towards the voices.

The scene that was in front of her could have made her faint all over again. The fox girl was face to face with another girl. This girl had white hair, whiter than snow and wore a simple snowy top that hung lightly down to her waist. On her cheek that was facing her she had three nasty looking scars. Her eyes where a deep lilac and for a minute Lily thought that the where contacts, but they weren’t, they where as real as what was flat against her head. Small round polar bear ears... No it was impossible, but yet they where there. As clear as the sunlight shining through the giant glass windows.

‘Ignore Beth she’s been here so long, seen so many come in.. She just tires of it.’ Meeks explained.

Lily took a deep breath and nodded not looking away from Izzie, as she sat up and swung her feet out of the bed for the second time.

‘M-Meeks, w-what’s going on?’ She dragged her gaze from Izzie with great difficulty. Her words caught in her thought as her eyes caught Meeks and something she never noticed before. How could she not hav-? WAIT! The hat of cause. How could she have been so stupid? This was a school for people like them, and now she was here too.

‘The same thing I went through months ago. The same thing that we’ve all been through.’

The door opened suddenly and another girl stormed in. She wore a short green dress with frilly straps around her arms. Her hair that waved down to her hips was a beautiful chestnut brown and her eyes where the colour of mustard. Two cat like ear poked from her head a flowing tail drifted behind her. She had an awful scowl on her face, causing lily to look to the ground. She then realised she had no shoes on, in fact no-one had shoes on. The girl with the mustard eyes only spoke when she was in the centre of the room, on the circle in the rug.

‘What in the name of cat whiskers is the commotion about, I’m trying to study!’ She half growled. Her voice shocked lily, as she was expecting her to sound sweet like honey but, instead she had a harsh voice full of sarcasm.

Meeks rolled her eyes before speaking to Lily ’Meet Kailey. We just had a little trouble with introducing Beth and Lily, ok. Wait a second. You never study!’

A smile worked its way across Kailey’s face and she looked to Beth, who rolled her eyes,

‘Come on Kay lets go,’ She said walking out the door her tail flicking from side to side with boredom. Kailey looked at the three girls left in there then walked out after her. Lily hoped she hadn’t made an enemy of them. She so desperately wanted to be nice and make friends.

‘Lily, we’re not the only ones with ears, tails and claws? You have then too.’ Meek said turning away going in her draw taking out the same mirror that Lily had taken out earlier that day. The shells around the frame seemed to glow in the light and the frame reflected the light onto her face. Lily hesitantly took it from her and looked at herself.

But the person in the mirror barely resembled herself. Instead a pale girl with bright green eyes stared back. The same curly red ringlet hung to her hips and her lips where a deep red. Two russet wolf ears poked proudly from her head. They were so pretty-

‘No!’ This couldn’t happen. In a minute she would wake up in the orphanage in her scrubby, itchy bed. She wasn’t like them, she couldn’t be. This was either a dream or nightmare and she wasn’t sure which yet.

‘Calm down, let me explain Lily, please.’ She put her hand forward to put it on her shoulder. Lily shrugged it off, and stared hard at Meeks.

‘Explain.’

‘Ok, from the beginning,’ Lily nodded and she continued. ‘Beth was the first, Ever here, you see her uncle. The headmaster let her go to the woods near his house with some friends and well a fox got in her tent. The other girls where left dead and she was mould to the brink of death. Her uncle came out when he heard the screaming, he killed the fox. He was a scientist and had been working on the change for almost 6 years, so his only choice was to change her. It worked obviously, so he tried it on the others, it worked. See Izzie was next to be changed. Before she came here she lived in the North Pole, her farther studied polar bears and she’d been there a long time. Almost all her life. A polar bear killed her farther and the other scientists, somehow she managed to get away. Look that’s her scar for escaping. Well as soon as it was two then he opened this school and taught the everything he could think of. Cooking, Reading, Writing, Climbing, Science, Maths, Wood shop, Metal work, Ridding, Fighting and there’s lots more too. I love it here and you will too, you just got to trust me.’

Lily closed her eyes and sighed,

‘So are you telling me I’m stuck like this for the rest of my life?’

‘Yes, we all are, but you missed the best part. We’re stronger than human, faster, leaner, we climb better. We practice all the time to stay good.’

‘How many others? I want to meet them?’

‘You can’t it’s a school. Izzie only got out because; we needed her to carry you. She’s the strongest.’

Izzie stepped forward, she hadn’t noticed the polar girl move until then, she’d looked almost frozen.

‘Rosie’s out, she went to get Lily.’

Prologue

The girl looked down at the newly wet page and brushed a lock of curly red hair behind her ear. With the same hand she wiped a tear from her cheek. The girl drew a deep breath as she tried to block the names and jeers that stung her ears, from coming over her shoulder.

She looked up as the teacher walked into the classroom and glared at the girls sitting behind her. The girls cringed back and returned to their places still muttering the names. The girl looked up at the tall teacher and smiled. She didn’t smile back. She tried to concentrate on the History lesson, but all she could think about was getting home, for the summer holiday.

After what seemed like years the bell rang and the teacher dismissed them. She swept all her things in her arms as she ran out the block before anyone could notice. She turned out of school and towards the forest. She sprinted into the forest and stopped to look at the golden leaves.

Somewhere near by a wolf howled. She looked up and thought. It was odd. She’d never heard that there where wolves in this forest ever before. She shook the thought from her head and kept walking admiring the flowers and the trees. But, the wolfs howl still echoed through her head driving her mind to it every time she tried to think of something else.

She sighed, she was safe here. She had always been safe here. In the forest. In her forest! But she kept at a speedy pace and placed her feet cautiously. And at every crack of a stick or a whistle in the trees, she would jump as though electrocuted every time.

She suddenly heard the bush near her rustle. She looked up fear sketched in her eyes. Her breathing became ragged and harsh, as though she’d been running a marathon. She looked around at the bush and the clearing to the left. She felt a huge wait on her back and her legs buckled from under her. A scream escaped her mouth as something sharp sink into her shoulder and a warm liquid ran down her arms. She bit back another scream of pain, she tried to twist to see her attacker, but only got half way. She saw her books scattered around where she had fallen. One of them had pierced her side and the wound way gushing with blood. Sickness fell over her as she grimaced and turned fully.

That was when her nightmares came a reality. It was not her imagination running free. It was the real thing.

She looked into the stone eyes of the wolf. It was russet almost exactly the colour as her hair. She tried to crawl away but the weight of the wolf pushed her body into the soft soil. Her mouth opened in a silent scream, and then all went silent. Final pain exploded in her face and all was black.