A pair of slender feet encased in black shoes cautiously climbed up the staircase. Throwing her head side by side, a pair of sky crystal blue eyes scanned the corridor of the second floor which was dead empty. She blew out a long breath of relief on finding no one around and grabbed the chance of turning left and walking to one of the restricted spots of the Red Moon Academy: THE LIBRARY.
Her feet stopped on the arrival of the big room. With one hand over the glass door, her eyes dived through the glass door to see the gigantic shelves trapping a variety of books within them. A small smile played on her lips as she looked deep inside.
The library wasn't like the one in an ordinary school. It was a library meant for an elite class of the Red Moon Academy that was often visited by the werewolves who were in the line of becoming the next Alpha, Luna, and Beta.
The books of the library covered various areas and aspects that crop up in a high-ranked werewolf's life. It had important lessons as to how to deal with the pack, how a strategy should be planned and adopted in case of attack, reconcilement, acquisition, etc.
The books also taught about the special powers that can be obtained from different Gods right from the meaning of power, which God is the holder of that power, how to prove your worth and impress the God, and lastly how to summon power when needed!
Thus, this library is rightly the treasure of powers and secrets to improve and grow the packs!
The eligible werewolves to obtain the positions of high ranks were given time schedules to enter the library. It wasn't open anytime for anyone. Within the span of time assigned to them, they were supposed to gain knowledge that would be testified on various known and unknown situations deliberately created by the elder werewolves.
The one who obtained the maximum points meant they are the strongest and are thus declared the next Alpha, Luna, and Beta!
The she-wolf unlocked her eyes from the library as she turned around to make sure nobody was there to keep their eyes on her. On being assured no one was watching her, the she-wolf bent down.
Her left hand dug inside her pleated beige skirt's pocket to take out a golden key. With her right hand grabbing the golden lock, she shoved the key inside the keyhole. Her lips parted away showing her pearly teeth. She was thrilled to finally dash inside the library.
But before she could unlock and sneak inside, she felt a heavy hand grabbing her shoulder. Her smile got broken into pieces and the excitement and happiness simmering in her eyes got doomed.
"Ariel!"
There came a deep, female voice from behind. It was curt and filled with shrill depicting how angry the female was.
Ariel dropped the lock and straightened herself. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment before turning around to face the lady. Her eyebrows shot up, widening her eyes clouded with worry as she saw the lady in her late 40s.
She was wearing a creamy shirt with brown buttons tucked well in a pair of dark brown trousers. Both her hands were curled into fists which were shaking aggressively as she took frequent breaths. With each sharp breath, her aged face was becoming red and her lips were tight.
She was the head supervisor of the Red Moon Academy. Her name was Rose. Though her name sounded beautiful, she was one of the horrendous werewolves to have around according to the werewolves who were undergoing training at the Red Moon Academy.
The werewolves had never seen her smile but had always seen a stern look sprawling everywhere on her face. She was strict and ruled the werewolves with an iron hand.
She snarled at Ariel, "What are you doing here?! Do you have the right to visit here?!"
At first, Ariel was nervous, but being questioned about the right of being there in the library unnerved her and she said sharply, "Of course! I am one of the werewolves who are eligible to become Luna, Mrs. Powell!"
That was what everyone used to address her. The werewolves didn't like to call her by her name because she wasn't rosy at all.
Mrs. Powell waved her fist and growled, "How dare you back answer me?! Dare you act smart in front of me!"
Her eyes were wide gobbling in the fire.
She flashed her brown leather watch to Ariel and said curtly, "It's 9:30 AM! And tell me, Miss Ariel, where should you be at this time, on Wednesday morning?!"
Ariel was not at all willing to take in her anger. But as Mrs. Powell was holding an authority that could even get her thrown out of the Red Moon Academy, she had no option but to swallow the anger and hold her head low.
As per her schedule, Ariel was supposed to be in the kitchen and do chores. Ariel was not ready to open her mouth. She was in no mood to talk to Mrs. Powell. Her hands were occasionally curling into fists and then letting them loose as she took deep breaths trying to control her anger. Mrs. Powell got offended and grabbed Ariel's chin and pushed her low face up.
Taking a step closer to Ariel and her hand forcibly grabbing her chin, Mrs. Powell said with gritted teeth, "You were supposed to be in the kitchen!"
She shoved her chin and released her face as she blurted out, "I got to know from the cafeteria that you haven't had your breakfast! Today, I was thinking of slipping things lose for you! I thought you were sick and I even thought of transferring your responsibility to one of the lower pack members! I was planning to give you a day off and even sent John to search for you! Guess what Ariel?!"
She lowered her face to meet Ariel's downward-facing eyelids as she said angrily with a different softness accompanying it, "I was planning to send your breakfast to your dorm! Today you were meant to be at your dorm, having some rest!"
Ariel's eyelids shot up to meet Mrs. Powell's face. Her mouth hung open out of shock.
She said to herself in her mind, "What?! Mrs. Powell, THE MRS. POWELL was planning to send me breakfast during forbidden hours?!"
The Red Moon Academy was in no way a lenient training academy. The werewolves had been facing severe competition and in order to make their pack the best and the highest among others, all the packs were working hard.
The Red Moon Pack thought of going the extra mile by bringing in force strict rules and regulations to instill discipline in the werewolves right from their young age. The cafeteria hours were 7:00 to 8:00 AM, and no breakfast would be served after that, no matter what situation ushered in.
Ariel was horrified. "Since when did this bad, strict Mrs. Powell become this soft?"
Mrs. Powell butt in breaking Ariel's thoughts. She said while grinding her teeth, "In case you forgot let me tell you, I am an experienced werewolf. I can hear your mind. So, stop calling me bad!!"
She crossed her arms against her chest and continued, "You know what I shouldn't have pitied you! For the very first time in 30 years of being a supervisor of this academy, I thought of breaking a rule for a student. I shouldn't have done that. When your parents don't care about you then who am I to be gentle at you?!"
A tear rolled down Ariel's eyes. For the very first time, she thought of looking up to Mrs. Powell, but hearing her last set of bitter words hit her heart hard. Mrs. Powell ignored her teary face and grabbed her hand forcibly.
Dragging her down the stairs, she barked, "For violating the rules, Miss Ariel, you will work an extra one hour in the kitchen!"
Ariel was shocked. She tried to free herself, but the grip was too tight.
When her actions didn't free her, she resorted to words. "Ma'am! Why are you doing this to me?! A she-wolf eligible to become Luna is not supposed to work in the kitchen."
Her teary eyes looked up at the stairs that led to the library and she continued, "A Luna should be up right there in the library!"
Their frantic feet stopped in front of the kitchen and Mrs. Powell turned around to face Ariel.
She said with a straight face holding no emotion, "Go inside!"
Ariel shook her head and said, her tone breaking owing to the tears gushing out of her eyes. "I am not going inside. Why the heck am I forbidden in the library?! Why is the kitchen even a part of my schedule when I am in the race of becoming Luna?!"
Hearing an informal tone pushed Mrs. Powell's buttons and she grabbed her shoulder as she barked, "Ask your parents about it! In case you have forgotten, let me remind you, they are the ones who frame schedules for the werewolves!"
She took a step closer to Ariel and said, her eyes piercing Ariel's, "They are the ones to include the kitchen in your schedule, okay!"
Ariel's parents were the former Alpha and Luna of the pack. On the basis of the performance of the werewolves in all the activities, various duties were added and subtracted from the schedule.
Ariel didn't get why her very own parents were doing this to her. Despite her being an A-class student, she had been given this kitchen duty right from eleven.
Before Ariel could cry over how evil her parents were, Mrs. Powell pushed her inside the kitchen.
Turning to one of the she-wolves working in the kitchen doing utensils, Mrs. Powell said, "That's it for you, today! Now Ariel will do the remaining utensils!"
Ariel got snapped out of her mind on hearing that. She looked at Mrs. Powell and then at the dirty utensils beside the sink.
The she-wolf smiled on hearing her being dismissed and quickly undid the apron around her waist.
She was about to toss the soiled, soggy apron in the wash bucket, but Mrs. Powell stopped her and said, "Give that to me!"
She grabbed Ariel's arm and brought her close to the sink counter and forwarded the dirty apron. She said curtly, "Wear this!"
Ariel was thunderstruck. She could hear gasps escaping from the mouths of the other wolves who were involved in their respective kitchen chores.
Ariel's eyes were wide open, flickering in anger. She drew in a sharp breath and said, "Why am I supposed to use this dirty one when there's a fresh pile right there?!"
She pointed at the fresh pile of aprons on the counter to her right. Mrs. Powell had enough of her courage to speak to her like that in front of everyone.
She aggressively waved the apron in her hand and said, "Keep your tone low, Ariel! For all these years, I have never reported you to the Alpha. If I report this inappropriate behavior of yours to the council, you will be kicked out of the Red Moon Pack and also the Luna race!!"
Ariel's jaw tightened out of anger. She badly wanted to fight back at Mrs. Powell for the insult, but couldn't mock her as she had the authority to throw her out. Her lips were trembling out of anger.
Though Ariel managed to keep her mouth close and swallow her anger, her eyes were not ready to stop throwing glares at her.
Mrs. Powell smirked on seeing her helpless and threw the dirty apron at her white tee shirt. Ariel reluctantly caught it and kept it on the counter. She took off her brown overcoat and hung it on one of the hooks before tying the half apron around her waist.
Mrs. Powell dropped a few mocking words before leaving the kitchen, "A Luna should be obedient and the one that doesn't break rules! This behavior of yours won't even give you the position of omega in this pack!"
Ariel was angry at hearing that. What heated her up further were the faint giggles coming from behind. The inferior pack members were laughing and making an ass of her. Ariel released Mrs. Powell from her glare and looked at the dirty utensils.
Seeing her still standing, Ariel took it as a cue to start off her duty. She dipped the scrub in white foam and grabbed a utensil and started scrubbing it! Mrs. Powell blew a sigh of relief and smiled. She turned from Ariel to the other pack members and clapped her hands.
She said strictly, "Come on! Why did you all stop? Get back to your duties!!"
The pack members nodded and got back to their work.
Mrs. Powell said while waving her finger at Ariel, "You are lucky that I am not reporting you for trespassing the library, but that doesn't mean you can do whatever you want! I need these utensils cleaned by the next one hour!"
Ariel turned to Mrs. Powell. For the last time, her eyes glared at her before she left the kitchen.
As she left the kitchen, Ariel could hear the pack members getting back to bitching her. They were making an ass of her. Ariel felt like taking the pressure cooker's lid that she was scrubbing and smashing their faces, but she couldn't.
All she had been doing all these years was enduring the bullying that even the lower pack members like Rogues and Omegas inflicted on her. She wasn't treated with respect despite being the daughter of the former Alpha and Luna. Instead, she was treated worse than an Omega. Ariel turned a deaf ear and kept doing her work.
After absorbing herself for half an hour with her ears hearing various chores sound accompanied by the pack members making fun of her, Ariel heard a distinct sound. She could hear more than a pair of footfalls coming towards the kitchen.
The footfalls stopped at the kitchen entrance and Ariel turned to see who they were. All of a sudden, the pack members spilling gossip had their mouths locked.
Ariel's eyes trailed to the feet at the entrance. There were three pairs of slender feet right at the entrance. One pair cladded in the black leather shoes was at the center and ahead of the remaining two that were on either side of the center one.
Without even trailing her eyes up, Ariel knew who was at the entrance. She could see the pack members bowing from the corner of her eyes and her mind confirmed, "Violet!"