Arya woke up when she felt someone gently shaking her. "What?" She groaned, and turned the other side.
"Wake up, sleepy head," Amelia said, now shaking her vigorously.
"What do you want?" Arya sat on the old bed of her old room.
"Sinclair is here to pick us up for breakfast."
Arya stared at the brunette standing in front of her. "What time is it?"
"Eight."
"God, why didn't you wake me up?" Arya said as she began putting on her lens.
"I never knew your eyesight was poor," Amelia said.
"Well, I didn't want anyone to worry," Arya said, hoping Amelia doesn't ask more questions.
"But why..." "Amelia, you said Mr Sinclair was already here, so we shouldn't keep him waiting," Arya said, before Amelia could finish her question.
Getting to the sitting room, Arya met Sinclair, whose eyes seemed to study her.
"Good morning, Mr Sinclair," she said.
"Good morning Miss Hunter, I hope you're ready for breakfast," the man said.
"Ready as ever."
After breakfast, Sinclair asked,"what do you want to do today, Miss Hunter?"
"I was hoping to go up on the mountains and explore; who knows we might even get a glimpse of the dire wolves," Arya said enthusiastically.
"Sure thing, I'll get some of the villagers to go with you-" "No! Mr Sinclair, I know you're concerned about our safety, but I cannot risk and villagers life for my project. You know wolves are very territorial, and they attack if they feel threatened," Arya said. "We are professionals who work on the field with so many animals, and we can protect ourselves,"
"Miss Hunter, I insist."
There was something about the way he said this, it made a shiver run down her spine.
"Well, since you insist," Arya said sarcastically, knowing that he was probably keeping an eye on them. Turning to her team, she said, "Listen up, we will explore the mountains and return back with any evidence we can get. Mr Sinclair will send some men with us as guides, so take everything you need, and Miss Bowls will stay here, in case we need something, she will bring it up."
"But I want to go too!" Amelia said.
"Try to understand, if we need anything up there, we won't have to come all the way down and get back up," Arya tried explaining. The fact was, she didn't want to leave the house without supervision, especially when they were going that far.
"But why me?"
That question caught Arya off guard. She was right, though.
"Because you are quick. If I ask any one else to bring anything up on the mountains, they'll take forever," Arya managed to say, while typing something on her phone.
'Amelia, I want you here because I don't trust these people. I want you to make sure no one gets close to our equipment.'
Amelia read the sms from Arya. They had left for the mountains straight after breakfast and she was back in the house. Since she had nothing to do, she picked up her phone and saw the message.
So that was why she left her here, out of everyone else. Amelia was a fighter, she wouldn't go down without a fight. She was very sweet, but if you get on her wrong side, no one would find you corpse.
"So where do you mostly see these wolves?" Darian asked the guide sent by Sinclair.
"I've never personally seen them, but villagers say that they are over that parts," Herman replied, pointing to the east.
The track was very steep, and Arya knew this could be a distraction for them... if only she could tell her team that they live in the village, and one was right here with them.
They were already a quarter way up, and found nothing of interest. Shirley called out to Arya, "I think I found something."
Everyone went to her, including the guide, Herman. Sure enough, there was what looked like fur.
Shirley carefully picked it up with a tong that they used, and put it in a zip lock bag. "Isn't this great?"
"Could be a normal wolfs fur. We'll test it to see what happens," Alex said. Shirley looked at him angrily and Arya intervened, saying, "yes, we need to test it to see it."
The fresh air and smell of wildflowers bought back so much memories. Arya thought of the time when she came up here with her grandpa to collect firewood. She would also collect wildflowers and put it in a vase in their house.
"Arya? I've been calling you for so long." came a voice behind her. She turned around and saw Maryann. Her eyes darted to Herman involuntarily and she could see the confusion in his eyes.
"What?" She snapped, as Maryann flinched. She had strictly told everyone to call each other by their surnames, but here she was... Maryann could never follow instructions.
"Do you want water?" she asked in a small voice.
"No!" She snapped, before going towards the wildflowers.
Her grandfather always picked them and gave her some, and these mountains were where children played in the afternoons. They'd play hide and seek, and tag.
They'd run around and sometimes, the adults would also come and join them.
"You alright?" Came a question behind her.
Turing around, she saw Alex. "Yeah, I'm good. It's the first time I've come here, and it's so beautiful," Arya replied.
"I know right," he chuckled.
The day went by fast, and soon, it was lunch time. They all sat together on some rocks and opened their sandwich and juice. They laughed and ate together.
"I wonder how Amelia is doing..." Darian said.
"I bet she's fine. Must to sleeping," Maryann said.
"Maybe we should give her a call," Shirley suggested.
"No, we cannot do that, it could worry her." Alex said.
Everyone chorused, "ooooooo."
Arya sat on the rock, trying to remember how she had forgotten the existence of this people. At age ten, she should have remembered most of the details if not all, and how could she forget about the existence of werewolves?
These mountains held so much secret, and did she really want her team to find out about werewolves?
Could she really put her friends in danger?
Did she have a choice?
They will come to the mountains everyday, and they will eventually find out the truth, but will Alfa Flowerew let them go? He would rather kill them.
Rebecca's team and equipment disappeared in one week, like it didn't exist at all. Could it have been possible that she found out the truth?
Is she even alive?
"We have to go back!" Herman announced.
"Is everything alright?" Arya asked him. It was still afternoon and the sun was up.