Dark Prynce by Teona De Vita (sites to read books for free txt) 📕

Ezra Of The Forest

Prolouge

Warm wind whipped through the slit in the window, gently caressing my face. My hair whipped in and out of my line of sight excitedly. This was going to be the first summer of fun since, well. . . that's not important. My older brother Casey Stone planned a big vacation for the rest of the summer, with the rest of the family. Him and me. Deep green trees whizzed by, their brown trunks blurred in with dusty asphalt covering the ground. Casey broke the silence with his excited chatter about the Whispering Wood Lodging Resort. We had to go from a little town in Cali to the middle of nowhere Oregon.
"I can't wait! We're gonna go swimming, and your gonna get tan-" I scoffed at that. "And we're gonna have the best summer ever! Okay?" That last part sounded a little bit forced.
"Yeah," Was all I could say. There wasn't too much else that needed to be said. He grew silent, and then flicked on the radio.
A good ole country song came on that I guess he knew, and he started singing along. . . badly. I cringed at first until he started to get louder, surprising myself I started to laugh. I guess it surprised him too, because he stopped and let a slow smile creep over his face. He started wiggling around at the wheel and dancing around ridiculously, bobbing his head to the music. I sang along with him.
The sun slowly began to crest the mountains that seemed so close, causing a vibrant spray of gold and purple to ooze across the sky. It was beautiful, and both Casey and I grew silent in appreciation. "Hey, Robynn I-" Was all he managed to say as something suddenly darted to the middle of the road. Casey stomped on the breaks, but was too late. The animal and Casey's car collided. It wasn't a small animal either; it bounced up on the windshield and caused cracks to spider web across the whole surface. Casey and I both smashed our heads into the roof of the car. Then, bounced back down; he blacked out as my vision swirled. The car came to an abrupt halt, and then settled as the sun finally sank below the horizon as everything got eerily quiet.
"Casey?" No reply.
"Casey? Hey? Are you okay?" Nothing.
"CASEY!"

'Weird flashback'

she thought to herself as the blonde hairs on her arms stood up. She rubbed them viciously, trying to rub away the dark thoughts that threatened to cloud her mind. She let the sweet summer air fill her nose and linger, swinging her feet off the edge of the picnic bench, almost lost in thought. Almost.
She peered around at the ruins of the place that started it all. The picnic bench was one of the only un-charred remains left at the site. She shivered. Only months ago she had everything she'd ever need, and now all that was replaced and messed with. It's crazy how little time you actually have with people, how few you can actually trust. As she thought that Ezras' scarred hand touched her shoulder and rested there. "I think we should move along. We have too much to get done to just sit and swing our feet. I'm sorry that's the way it is but, well that's the way it is." He said gently, quickly squeezing then letting go and walking out of the only patch of green grass for miles. She watched his perfectly scruffy white hair glint in the sun, scrutinizing his lean figure closely. He was getting muscle tone fast, his gait was gaining confidence. A tears dripped from here hazel eyes like rain, she hated him. She hated what she did to him. She hated herself, and that she couldn't save Casey. She even hated him, even though he was gone.
He turned around and saw her tears and held out his hand, a sad look in his eyes. She smiled, she loved him. He still let her cry, even though now it was down to noiseless tears, and the occasional dry sob. He wiped the tears from her face, and kissed her forehead. "It's okay." That’s all he said, and it’s all she needed to hear. The tears stopped, she took another deep breath and smiled at him. He smiled back, his lips lingering maddeningly close, but he backed off. He wouldn't kiss her again. Probably ever. Not after the first one. Not after the literal fire that came from it. He said wouldn't do that to her, she wasn’t sure about that. Anything at all, for that matter. Not sure about anything. . .

He cringed then put his hand to his head, groaning in pain. I looked out the window and saw something hunched just out of the light. My heart skipped a beat. Was it a deer?
Did we just hit a deer? It moved a bit, then stopped and moved again. I felt the bile piling up in the back of my throat, we just hit a deer and it was trying to get away. I kicked my door open and threw myself at the ground, I could smell the animal from here. It was in a word, intense.
“Robynn get back in the car. I don’t. . . know what that was and it could be. . . dangerous.” He said between gasps of pain.
I looked at him wondering what I should do, but not too entirely sure.
“We just hit something, and we could have killed it. I’m not leaving til I find out what happened and what that was. “ I slammed the door before he could say anything else to stop me. I crawled slowly toward the silhouette hunched on the ground, wondering fleetingly if I really should get back in the car and pretend it didn't happen. . . but then thought better of it.
With my new resolve, I quickened my pace. The smell was actually way worse up close, it burnt through my nose and I'm sure through my brain a bit too. As I crept into the shadow I realized with a little bit of fear what it was.
A wolf, a rather large one but a wolf nonetheless. And it was hurt, bad. I reached out only to snatch my fingers back as it growled at me. Fear ebbed relentlessly through my arm, it crawled slowly toward my chest; spreading like fire up and down my body.
"I'm sorry." I whispered, choking a bit. Tears? I guess I was that upset. "I'm so, unbelievably sorry." I reached out again, and the growling ceased a bit. I let my fingers run through its surprisingly soft white fur, I held my hand in the light and was less than surprised to find that blood,was completely covering my hand.
My mind raced,'what can I do? What can I DO?'

Nothing really came to mind except to comfort it somehow. I crawled over it and looped my around its shaking body, it was almost as big as me but I still managed to get it in my lap.
It whimpered.
"Shhh... I'm sorry, so so-" A sob cut through my words. I buried my face in its neck, completely unfazed by my fear, and cried my hand supporting its head and chest. When I moved my face from it, it had stopped moving. Which made me cry more and harder.
I gently laid it down and got up,it deserved a proper burial. Or at least I thought so, but as a cold wind tore through the valley something became maddeningly clear.
I was not alone.

"We need to find it Robynn. It's the only thing that will help." Arc said with some exasperation. He kept running his thin fingers through thick unkempt brown hair.