"Rose!" A panicked cry makes everyone turn towards Isabella, who had an arm around Rosaline, her face distraught. The thunder echoed again, over their heads, and their silent march was filled with mumbled complaints.

Rosaline snickered. Thunder did not bother her as much as it did Isabella, who was practically squeezing the life out of her hands. They were coming down from a visit near the Agta Cave, situated in Argao.

Both of them have been here before and they remembered it as the trip they had to actually struggle the most in, especially getting home after.

"I am all up for rain," Isabella quietly mutters beside her. "But thunder is a big no-no."

"Let's not hope for rain, okay?" Rosaline sighs, looking at their classmates marching before them. They still had a long way to go but she knew if it started raining now, they would not be able to climb down the steep mountain. Not unless they wanted to risk all their lives. Isabella was the superstitious one, but Rosaline did believe in one superstition. And that was to never take school trips before your graduation ceremony. She looks up at the heavy dark clouds, moving in so quickly and convincing her again that this was definitely a bad idea.

They reached the small village situated near the cave, the locals and residences watched them with curious looks. Their teacher goes over to one and asks if it was still safe to go down knowing the weather was bad. The rest of their classmates scattered into groups, the thunder sounds were now mingled with harsh whispers, occasional laughter, and even stupid conversations. Like how they probably offended the Agta, who lived in the cave and was now making it difficult for them to come down.

Rosaline rolled her eyes, turning to Isabella who had a worried look on her face. They were sitting on one of the benches when Rosaline takes a smooth stone from her pocket. She had found it inside the cave, and despite Isabella's protests and superstitions, she took the stone with her.

The guide, a local resident, who was with them had said it was alright. It was just a stone. She flipped the stone in her hand as thunder echoed in the sky, making Isabella jump beside her, causing her to drop the stone which rolled and stopped near a tree, whose trunk looked like it was struggling to keep itself attached to the mountain.

"Woops," Isabella stands, running towards the stone. "Sorry, Rose-" her apology is cut short as a loud bang of thunder rang in the sky, shaking the ground with it. A handful of students scream as Rose jumps up, her eyes go wide as the scene moves slowly in front of her; Isabella clutching on to the nearest thing, the tree finally giving up with the added weight, the horrible noise of it cracking.

Rosaline screams, throwing herself towards her best friend who still had the stone gripped tightly in her terrifying form.

"Isa!" she reaches out and manages to grip the sleeves of Isabella's sweater. The ground gives beneath them and for a moment, Rosaline regretted not believing in superstitions enough to not come on this trip. Now both of them were going to die. A scream dies in her throat as she feels Isabella pull her.

They grip each other tight, as their classmates scream and gasp and call their names. But their deaths did not come. At least not how both of them expected it to be. They collided on the ground almost too quickly for a 40-meter drop, after hitting the tree and rolling off it. The impact stole the air out of their lungs as both girls opened their eyes. Isabella's hand hurt from gripping the stone too tight. She turns, finding Rosaline staring at the sky above them like she was still expecting to fall- To die.

Slowly, she turns and faces her, the lightness of her brown eyes barely obvious from how the dark skies wrapped the world above them.

Isabella breathes out, checks to see if she had broken anything just as Rosaline did. When they were both convinced they were indeed still alive, they breathe out a sigh of relief. Heads peer down at the cliff and they hear one of their classmates say "they're alive!"

Isabella spots their guide as one of the peering faces, he does not look surprised, or worried about that matter. She pushes herself up, opening her palm to reveal the stone. Rosaline takes it from her with a huff.

"This stone is not worth your life, Isa!" she scolds, raising her hand up to throw it away but not before Isabella grabs her hand.

"Don't," was all she says. Rosaline turns to her, ready to argue when she feels something wet and cold drop on her cheek. Isabella blinks as she looks up.

"Damn it," she hisses and, as if the rain heard her and enjoyed the sound of misery from her mouth, it started falling harder. Their teacher screams something but they can barely hear and not before long the cliff was clear of curious faces, except for their guide who was gesturing towards something with his hand. Both girls turn towards the direction to find a hole, big enough for both of them to squeeze through.

"Did he just seriously suggest we squeeze through a dark hole that could possibly be crawling with spiders among other things?" Rosaline asks, turning to look at Isabella with a horrified expression. They were both soaked through and the rain did not seem to show signs of stopping anytime soon. They would no sooner die if they stayed out here than risking it inside the cave. Isabella shrugs, they were both not particularly fond of spiders or worms but they did want to graduate.

They found that the cave was actually quite spacious, the narrow opening giving it a false impression. Rosaline takes her phone out of her bag, checking if it got wet before turning on the flash- and making sure not to light the cave around them. Who knows what she might disturb. They huddled together and for a moment, the silence was filled only with the sound of rain outside.

"You think they are trying to save us right now?" Isabella asks, breaking the silence around them. Rosaline hugged her knees against her tighter. She wondered if Isabella felt as claustrophobic as she did right now. She shrugged, illuminating her best friend's face that had pale skin, tinted yellow. Isabella's eyes were almost black in the darkness.

"I highly doubt it in this weather," she finally answered, scooting closer despite the discomfort of the jagged rocks beneath them. She knew for a fact that Isabella was thinking about all the superstitions she knew by heart if the unsettling look on her face was no indication. She hid the stone in her pocket and reached out to grab her hand. They stayed that way listening to the rain and ignoring the fact that they were inside a cave. Isabella lets out a soft chuckle, glancing at Rosaline who smiled softly.

"Why us, huh?"

They both awoke to a sound like a foot slipping on a wet stone. They don't even remember falling asleep and now their backs ached and they felt groggy. The rain was still falling. Rosaline let out a groan, pushing strands of hair away from her face as Isabella sat up beside her before proceeding on all fours like she was going to crawl out of the cave.

"You heard it, didn't you?" She asked, glancing back at Rosaline who had the strangest urge to laugh but bit her lip and nodded.

"Yeah I did," she said, crouching towards her when she felt something grab her waist. She screamed as Isabella's eyes grow wide, reaching out for her. Then Rosaline found herself dragged against the hard stone, her eyes watering from the pain as she was pushed against her back. When she opened her eyes, no words could come out as she stared at the darkness. But she knew someone was there, for hands had pinned her on to the place. She could feel hot air against her face. Then she felt the hands moving across her waist, fear gripped her as she wrestled against the person, she was sure it was a person from the hands to the obvious thighs squeezing her legs together. She felt all the pain now, from the scratches on her face to the ache in her back and head. She felt his hands land on the stone in her pocket, hearing a sigh of relief before light showered on them, followed by Isabella's shriek.

Rosaline only had a moment to recognize the person-man, on top of her as their guide from earlier. She screamed again, one hand able to get free and scratched his face. Isabella shrieked and kept shrieking as her eyes fall on their mountain guide on top of her best friend.

She did what any normal, or insane, a person would do and took a rock, big enough to cause damage, and flung it at Rosaline's attacker. Isabella was never good at eye and hand coordination, and the stone flew almost away from the guide but still hit him enough for his focus to shift momentarily to her. With her eyes wide, she released another high pitched shriek as Rosaline grunted, finally flipping the man off her.

Isabella grabbed hold of another rock, and seeing as her target was on the ground, she hit him squarely on the temples, hard enough to hear a crack. Then she was dragged off, by Rosaline's shaking hands.

The two of them stumbled through the small cave and rolled out of it, hearts beating wildly, their breaths quick and deep. Isabella reaches a hand towards Rosaline, concern on her face. It was still raining, and her dark hair plastered across her head.

"Are you alright?" She asked as Rosaline turned to her but before she could answer, the guide appeared out of the cave, causing the both of them to scream, hugging each other. The guide proceeded to pull out a curved blade, usually used by farmers in their country.

"I really hoped I didn't need to kill you both," he proceeded to say, although the look in his eyes told them otherwise. He was willing to do anything, but why? They both closed their eyes but before anything could happen, a figure darted between them and their attacker, blocking them completely. It was a man; at least from behind it was, although his hair was in an unusual color. Isabella stared before she felt Rosaline tugging at her arm and gesturing for them to move away. She nodded and both of them crawled away, leaving the two men talking in a language neither of them understood. Rosaline crawled under the fallen tree towards the other side of it as Isabella followed. They made it safely and began their climb up.

"It's not that high," Rosaline had whispered when Isabella shook her head. It was either climb or die here in the hands of strange men. They both agreed, falling to their deaths was a much better way to go- so they climbed. Barely stepping up to follow Rosaline, Isabella had glanced back at the two men who were now in a heated battle. She merely blinked before the new guy, the one with the strange hair color, almost silver, had their guide cornered against the cliff. Before silver could kick him off it though, the guide changed. Literally transformed, into something Isabella never thought she would see in her entire life. It had wings, its dark eyes black enough to scare the night.

She felt faint as half of its body dropped on the ground and then it was flying, so silently against the sound of the rain. Then the silver guy turned to her, making her almost lose her grip against the stone. She looked up to find Rosaline halfway to the cliff. She swallowed before continuing her climb before arms grabbed her waist, letting a scream out of her throat. The arm gripped her tight, his other hand the only thing helping him with his climb. They passed Rosaline on the way up, who stared at them dumbfounded as Isabella was thrown over the cliff before a hand reached towards Rosaline who had shock written all over her face before she could accept or decline, she was thrown over the cliff and landed inches away from Isabella who had decided getting up was not a good idea yet until the guy stood before them. Isabella jumped to her feet as Rosaline was ready to fight, not that they knew anything of fighting. Wasn't their instincts just supposed to kick in?

The two girls stared at him, one had a killer look and one had a fearful one. His light silver hair was grey under the rain clouds, but that was not the only thing that gave him away. It was his eyes, grey like the clouds above them now. And he was impossibly handsome. Yes, impossible as in you only read about in books.

"Who are you?" Rosaline asked. The silver-haired man eyed her cautiously, her thick damp hair, her dark eyes before he turned to the scared one. They looked almost alike, but not quite.

"I do not think that is the question you should be asking," his tone was deep, but soft and had a melodic ring to it. Despite looking 20-ish, like them, he sounded older. Much older. This time, Isabella stepped forward, her eyes held something. The answer to the very question she was about to ask.

"What are you?" Her voice came out like a whisper, Rosaline glancing at her momentarily before turning to face the man again. He gave them a faint smile, bowing slightly.

"My name is Erin," he straightened. They noticed he had claws that shined brightly like they were made of gold, and when he smiled, like now, he had fangs. Rosaline stepped back.

"Don't give me no twilight crap," she said, the strength in her voice wavering. The man smiled wider, emphasizing the beauty of his face. His attention shifted back to Isabella.

"I do not know anything of twilight, except that it is a dangerous hour," he says. "Your friend might know what I am for she was very fond of stories about us."

Isabella shook her head. She was still having trouble accepting the fact that she had just seen a shapeshifter. Then she looked at him, looking at the golden claws, his sharp teeth, the magical beauty, the pale skin, and hair.

"Tamawo," she stated and the man bowed again, this time turning to Rosaline, her expression was of disbelief.

"You have got to be shitting me right now," she stated, as Erin raised a brow before shaking his head.

"Now, I believe you have something of importance."