Escape?

Dante

The Howling continued eating at my courage as everything began to quake. Everything was falling again.

How is this happening again, I thought. As I looked at my mom. She was standing completely still as if she was a sculpture. I needed to yell at her before she looked at me. Her eyes glazed over as she slowly began to lose her complexion. As the howling grew louder the room shook with more intensity. I grabbed my mom's arm and pulled her out of my room and down the stairs towards Anya's room. Her room is a burgundy that never suits anyone's taste. She's huddled in the corner near a bookshelf. I grab her and shout at her. She also doesn't react to my shouting. I grab her and see her eyes are also glazed over like our mother's. But her eyes have bags that seem to sink more with every second that passes.

I grab her arm and grab mom's arm again and try to get down the stairs to the lobby and the cellar. We're halfway down the stairs when I realize the howling's getting closer. So I stop and try to force them back upstairs. But it's like pushing against a tree stump.

How can it be easier to pull them than push them, I thought before I once again am pulling them down the stairs. The howling is right in front of the door before I reach the bottom. I realize that there is some sort of wave being emitted from that direction. We reach the bottom of the stairs and run down towards the kitchen. The door was replaced though so I have to let go of their hands before I can open it. I open the door and snatch their hands. Tugging them after me and running through the gray industrial-size kitchen. The front door to the lobby bust open and I looked back.

Standing there was a gray dire wolf with amber eyes. It looks at me and I immediately begin trying to run with the girls towards the cellar. I look back and its body begins to be covered in a mist as it gives chase. We reach the cellar and I try to open it by tugging on the door with all strength I could muster. I realize the door is locked and let it go. It makes a huge thunk when I let it slam against the frame. The wolf is gaining on us. I begin to feel mana emanating from the beast. I shift my body and begin to look around for the keys. Running around as I tripped on one of the kitchen mats. The wolf was in front of me getting ready to pounce.

"Go Away!" I shout at the wolf. I begin to swing my arm around trying to scare it or at least make it hesitate. But it continues to move towards us. Moving slowly and meticulously. I begin to regret the decisions I made. From bringing them down the stairs to hesitating for even a second. I become made that I was the only one that could grasp the situation. If I was going to die I wanted to at least be able to protect them.

I want to protect my mom, I thought as my eyes began to fill with tears. My vision began to blur and it gradually getting hard to breathe. The wolf stopped in its tracks as its cloak began to dissipate. The smoke moving away and fading out of sight. It took a step back and snarled at me while the cloak began to reshape itself. I stood up and began to look for the keys again. The wolf pacing back in forth. It was almost as if it were stopped by a barrier. I find the keys and sprint to unlock the cellar. When I unlock it I grab my mom and sister. The moment I touch their skin they shoot awake. I look at them and their eyes are no longer glazed over allowing me to realize they are finally aware of the situation. The color begins to come back to their skin as I guide them down the stairs of the cellar.

"Where are we?" Arya asked. She was looking around us and spotted the wolf who was still following us. The moment we all get into the cellar I begin to walk around looking for something I could use to protect us from the wolf. My sister, watching what I was trying to do stares at me and begins to laugh.

"Why don't we just hit it with a spell?" She asked pointing at the fire poker I was holding in my hand.

"Well, I can't use magic!" I shouted at her. The moment I shouted, the wolf jumped back.

"I'll just prepare a fireball spell," She told me. Our mother was still silent in the back. Arya begins to gather mana. But the moment I take a step closer to her. The mana becomes unstable and dissipates in a fiery explosion that knocks both me and her to the ground. Thanks to Arya being able to use fire magic she isn't burned. But she was still launched so hard she's now unconscious. Our mother runs over to us and begins to check to see if we're injured. When she notices that Arya is unconscious she focuses her attention on her.

I get up and walk out of the cellar. I don't know what will happen if I'm near my mom when she uses magic. The wolf is nowhere to be found. All that's left on the floor is a bunch of dirty pawprints that may help me find out where it went.

Its cloak was magic so maybe It's a familiar and familiars are made of magic, I think. I follow the pawprints until they fade. Now I'm in the middle of the woods. Surrounded by trees and above me is a canopy so thick I barely have any light from the countless stars in the sky. The sound of frogs and owls fills my ears while I walk. I begin to smell a horrible stench. It's so palpable that when I hold my nose I can still smell it.

"There's no way it can still smell me," I mumble to myself before I continue walking. I move through the woods as quietly as I can. Hearing the crunch of dead leaves and sticks around me. The wolf was nowhere in sight. Shadows covering everything in sight. Before I saw something. One thing that shined a bright light in the dark. It was amber. The same color as the wolf's eyes. I tightened my grip on the fire poker. Waiting for it to pounce at me. But it doesn't move. It stayed perfectly still. So still it was almost as if it was a statue. I take a step closer keeping myself crouched and low to the ground. I slow down my breathing and try to make as little sound as I can. One step. Two-Step. I'm right in front of the glowing amber. And I swing the poker down at it. I hit it and it breaks revealing a perfect sphere of red amber. It looks so pretty that I grab it and already have a plan for a gift for my mother. I take the shell of the amber and put it all in my pockets almost filling them up. So I take it out and arrange it so the red amber fits inside the shell. Now leaving one of my pockets open for anything else. I hear a sound behind me and lookup. Staring at me with its amber eyes is the wolf. And before I get a chance to react It pounces at me.