Over the next few weeks, Dawn became very busy with admissions. Since it was summer, the colleges and schools were closed for vacations. So the process was quite smooth. Cole was given admission in a school and Dawn managed to get a school bus for him to come to their location. With the help of Arawn, she went to meet the Dean of the college to put her case. The Dean directed her to a dedicated officer who looked after the international students. He worked with her on a one-to-one basis to support her application to University. He was extremely helpful and her admission process took a month. The best part was that because of her golf merits, she got a sixty percent scholars.h.i.+p on the condition that she had to be a part of the University Golf Team. This condition meant that she had to go and play wherever the sports council would send her. As against paying the full fee for the course, forty percent was way better, so she signed the application. However, she prayed that things wouldn"t get out of control. She hoped that she never had to deal with transformation. But things don"t come the way you wish for them to be.
A month later the college started and so did the stress. Cole had joined the school and he quite enjoyed it.
Dawn was asked to come for regular practice rounds of golf. She discovered that she was. .h.i.tting longer than any one had ever done. In fact, if the longest drive in the world was three hundred yards by women, she was. .h.i.tting four hundred yards and that too without effort. She had to tame the power she now possessed and this stressed her out a lot. She couldn"t let anyone discover it. She had to play like humans. She had to stay under the radar.
Dawn had joined a combined business management course and it was very demanding. Her irritability increased when after studies she was called to practice. Instead of taking the driver, she would take small irons to hit the b.a.l.l.s. She started observing the Captain of the team, Ceri and noted her distances. She decided to train herself to be less than her.
She would then come back home and prepare food. A girl who had never entered the kitchen in her life was now making meals. It was something that wasn"t fitting well.
"Dawn, the bread has burnt!"
"Dawn, the soup is horrible. You"ve added too much salt."
"Sister, why don"t we go back home? At least we used to have good food."
Dawn stayed quiet at Cole"s complaints but on the inside, she was seething. One day she snapped, "It"s because of you that I am here. I am putting up with so much pressure and all you do is whine! Why don"t you go and make the food yourself?"
Cole twisted his mouth and left the steak he had in his hand on the plate to go to his room. "It"s not because of me!" he shouted. "It"s because of you that I am holed up here. I don"t want to eat this food." He stomped out.
Dawn"s nostrils flared as she glared at her brother who banged the door of his room. Dawn went inside the kitchen, slammed the drawer and punched the counter with her fist. The tile cracked a bit. Her body tensed and heat flushed through it. She began to sweat profusely. On an impulse, she threw the ap.r.o.n she was wearing and rushed out of the house. It was dark but her mind wasn"t thinking properly. All she wanted was to vent her anger on something. She ran towards the meadows.
The night was dark, it was as though someone had draped it with a pitch-black curtain. The stars shone dully as the breeze susurrated through the field. The darkness of the night engulfed her thoughts. It stretched for miles and miles in front of her and she just kept running. Little did she realize that she had transformed into a werewolf. She didn"t stop anywhere. All she knew at that point of time was that she was extremely angry. But, the night was soothing her. So she continued to run. The soft cool wind of the meadow whipped past her. As she bolted forward with lethal grace, sprinting like a fiery animal, she forgot all about the warning Arawn had given. She didn"t remember anything. She had become feral, dangerous, and beastly.
When Dawn woke up next, she found herself surrounded by sweet vernal gra.s.s, pignuts, yellow rattles, melancholy thistle, and scarlet poppies. Her body ached a lot as if she had raced for a long time. Her throat was parched and she coughed when she got up. Her clothes were torn, her hair matted and skin felt as if it would peel at the slightest touch. She looked around. The morning sun had filled the sky with its beautiful rays.
She coughed again and knelt. Where the heck was she? How did she reach there? She remembered last night and bit her lip. She looked around and noticed a small hut crouched far in distance.
She got up to leave when suddenly something moved in front of her. Her eyes became wide to inspect what it was. It looked as if a very tiny brilliant green snake-like creature had wriggled past her. The sunrays cast her in bright shadow as she stopped.
The tiny creature came in front of her all of a sudden. It was barely the length of her palm. She shrieked and fell on her padded bottom. The small animal, whatever it was got scared and breathed fire out of his mouth as it also jumped back. A flower burnt where its breath felt. The little green thing looked at her with its deep dark blue eyes. Scared as h.e.l.l, Dawn s.h.i.+fted back a little. "What are you?" she said in a hoa.r.s.e voice. She picked a thin stem and nudged it and jumped back further. The lilliputian snake-like animal with legs wriggled a little and then tilted its face to the side to observe her. Dawn"s eyes traveled past it and she noticed an egg that was recently hatched.
Her green emerald eyes stared into its dark blue ones. Slowly, the animal came near her and snuggled into her leg.
Dawn recoiled in shock as she pressed her fist to her mouth, her breath hastened. Snuggling near her ankle was a dragon? She could feel its soft brilliant green scales. Her eyes fixed on the dragon"s conical head. Scared, she blinked her eyes many times wondering if this was a dream?.
The baby dragon climbed on her ankle and sprawled itself on her as if trying to soak in the morning rays. Its belly was facing the sky as it laid on its scaly back. A smile tugged at its lips. She stroked its head with her index finger. Suddenly the baby dragon turned and sank its fangs in it.