The adventures of
June Wonder


The Season of Love


Chapter 1: How it began

June was panting. Just like a real dog. She’s been running now for three days. Those damn Star-chasers or whatever their name is, are chasing her. They want her to join them. They seem very interested in her powers. June is a Moondweller, a person with extraordinary supernatural powers. And she has loads of wolf DNA and blood in her. Anyway back to the running. She only stops for water and the loo. She usually ran blindly. She didn’t notice there was smoke in the air or the red glow of a fire in the distance. Suddenly there is a huge explosion upfront. The shockwave is so powerful that she is thrown into the air and lands on her back. She jumps up and runs towards the site of the explosion. When she gets there she sees a man, not much older than herself, only about two years, standing over a man with a metal face, gun pointing towards his metal nose. The man was wearing black pants, a long white shirt and a short blue jacket on. He is just about to shoot when another man and a young girl comes running towards him, shouting “Cole, don’t do it!” June can sense something bad is going to happen. She rushes forward and grabs the man around his middle and pushes him away. Just in time, as there where he stood, another explosion occurred. “Hey! What the hell did you do…”he started to shout, but then he saw what was left of where he stood just a moment ago. June smiled at him but just when she wanted to introduce herself, a truck exploded and he was knocked out by a tyre from it.


Chapter 2: Being introduced

Cole Crosses opened his eyes. He was lying in a bed in a sunlit room. He pushed himself up and the first thing he saw was the kind but worried face of the girl who saved his life. He stared at her. She was sitting on the edge of his bed. When she realized he was awake, she closed the book she was reading and smiled at him. She was sitting fairly close to him, her face bathed in golden sunlight. He reached out and took her gently under the chin, pulled her closer and put his lips to hers. It was a long and very tender kiss, those given only if very in love. When they finally pulled away, they just smiled and stared at each other. Then the door flew open and the young girl from before stood there pointing at him. The other man was also there, standing behind her. “See? I told you he rose from the dead!” said the girl. The man laughed. “Mary! He wasn’t dead. He was only in a coma. Hi I’m Sven by the way, and this is Mary. We’re in my house, hidden in the woods.” the man said. “I’ll go get you some food, you’ve been out for two and a half weeks,” the man chuckled “you must be hungry.” Cole looked at the girl sitting next to him. ‘She’s very pretty’ he thought. She had blond hair and blue eyes. ‘Hey, wait a minute!’ He thought as something crossed his mind. ‘She had green eyes that night she rescued me!’ a long moment he thought what the answer could be, then gave up. She was wearing a red-maroonish outfit. It consisted of a mini and top showing her flat stomach, it was a short polo neck and no sleeves, her shoes were the kind that you can run in, are still sexy and can give a mean kick. On her legs were legging sort of stuff which began at her feet and ended a short distance from her mini skirt, showing only a little leg. She also had long fingerless gloves on, which ended just above her elbows. Her whole outfit was made out of soft leather. Comfy, bendable, not to hot but not to cold and perfect for fighting. “What is your name?” he asked her. She smiled and when she did she closed her eyes. “I’m June Wonder, and you?” she said opening her eyes. “I’m, I’m Cole Crosses” he stuttered. June smiled and noticed his eyes “Do you perhaps have cat DNA and blood in you?” she wondered “Yeah, why do you ask?” he said looking suspicious. “Well, firstly, you look it and second I’ve got wolf DNA and blood, that’s why my eyes change colour.” June said, still smiling. “Hey, how do you know what…” he couldn’t finish his sentence, because at that moment Sven came in with his food. “There, fresh eggs, bacon and toast.” He said. June was looking at him strangely. “Whot?” he asked through a mouth of bacon. She looked strait ahead of her a while and then suddenly said: “I’m having an urge to sing you a song”. “Then sing” Sven said from where he was leaning against the wall. June stood up and sang, and she sang mesmerising. She sang a beautiful song about people needing each other and about people being lonely. It said put your head on my shoulder, I’ll be there for you, I know your pain and the things your going through. After she finished singing everyone was awestruck. “That songs name is ‘On My Shoulder’.” She said. Sven’s, Mary’s and Cole’s mouths were hanging open. “Halooo? Anyone hommmeee?” she asked, waving her hand in front of their faces. “Oh, come on guys, I’m not that good!” Sven’s cigarette had fallen out of his mouth. “That was brilliant!!!” Sven said. Mary agreed on this. Cole’s eyes were closed and his head bowed. When he finally spoke, this is what he said: “You sang that just for me right? You know how I feel, you’ve experienced my pain and sorrow, seen it and healed it, haven’t you, well have you?!” the last part he shouted. June didn’t answer. She looked down and ever so softly said “Yes” and ran out.

An interesting fact: June was born on Friday 13 June 1670

Chapter 3: The first encounter

It was freezing in Sven’s little blue car. “It’s freezing in here, can’t you put the radiator on?” Cole complained “Brr, your right, it is cold. Wanna come keep me warm?” June asked in a flirty voice. The car came to a sudden halt. Cole jumped out of the passenger seat and he and Mary switched places. Now Cole and June were alone in the back seat. She and Cole cuddled together. “Ahh, much beta” June said. Cole gave her a kiss on the forehead. “So, I guess were kinda a… couple now?” June asked. Cole closed his eyes. “Yup” he said and kissed her. “Hey you two!” Sven said “We’re still here, you know, go get a room!” “Ok, Ok. We’ll be more decent.” She said half giggling. It was so peaceful in the car, the green foliage speeding past the car. Not a bad man in sight. Suddenly the scene was broken by a man jumping into the road in front of them. He had gun pointed at the car, at Sven. Sven swerved left crashing the side of the car into a tree. “Uh, what happened?” June asked “Its one of Trench’s men!” Sven said trying not to shout. Cole was knocked out when the car crashed. Sven and Mary tried to wake him up while June made sure the man came no nearer. “What is your name and what do you want?” June asked the man. “I am Yeoman. I want the girl. But it seems I’ll be bringing the Kitty Cat too.” He said “Who’s Kitty Cat? Oh, you mean Cole don’t you?” she said thinking fast. “Well you’ll never have him!” June shouted “Ha! I wanna see a measly little girl like you try! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!” “Sven, Mary get out of the way. I’ll wake Cole up. You take care of that… daft guy.” June said pushing them out of the way. She sat on her knees next to him. She closed her eyes and started humming softly. After only a short while he woke. “Ouch, uh, what happened?” “The car crashed, and one of Trench’s men was the cause.” June answered with a frown on her face “How did you d…?” Sven started to say but at that moment June started to run towards Yeoman, and whilst she was running she raised her fist, preparing to punch him. ‘Man! She is brave!!’ the rest of them seemed to think. But before June reached the man, he whipped out a glowing whip. He whipped it around June’s body. The whip stung June and cut into her flesh. She yelled. Throwing her head back, she let out a wail very much like a Banshee’s. Cole was still recovering from the crash, but when he heard June’s wail he jumped up, gun in hand, and shot. The bullet went through one of the main wires that were holding June. “You’ll pay for that one!” June shouted. Blood was dripping from her cheek, and she was looking quite intimidating. “Aw, whots the little girly going to do? Call her mommy?” Yeoman said in a mock baby voice. “Do you even know who I am?” June said, biting on her teeth. “Hm, let me guess, little Bianca think-she-is-tough?” he laughed. “Wrong again, paloosa, I'm June, June Wonder.” she said and got a sort of evil look in her eyes. And an evil grin, so you can imagine how evil she looked. A look of fear came over the man’s face and he fled, almost running into a tree.

Chapter 4: The horrid hotel

June is from Africa, South Africa to be more precise. When she came to Japan, she had loads of money, because the exchange rate favoured the rand. So… she checked herself, Cole, Sven and Mary into a decent hotel. At least, it looked decent. “Should we have two rooms, one for us two and one for Mary and Sven, or one room for us all?” June asked Cole. “Two rooms.” He said, and June told the lady at the front desk. Then she started humming ‘Two hearts’ at the same moment the hotel speakers started playing it. “Hm. Well, that was weird.” Sven said. June has noticed through time that Mary didn’t speak much. “Here is your keys ma’am.” The reception lady said. “Thanks” “Sven, your room’s number is 156. Cole, our room number is 513, let’s go, I need a bath and some sleep. See you guys tomorrow morning.” When June and Cole got to the room, Cole had a shower. “Ah, that was nice. June?” June wasn’t in the room anymore. There was a letter on the table next to the double bed. It said:


Dear Cole
I needed to go do some work real quick. I’ll be back soon. And I’m not far from the room. You can stay here, and if you want something, just think of me and it in my hands.
Love you lots!!!
June♥


Actually June needed to check that her powers were still in a working order. As you all probably think, June looks hot in that outfit of hers. And there were a few rough men in that hotel, who would just grab any gal walking by. Outside they’re room there were about four or five men, kinda drunk. Suddenly one man grabbed her shoulder. “Let go of me, old man.” June said in a hostile voice. “Oh, come on baby, don’t be like that.” He said. “If you don’t, you’ll be sorry.” June said thinking: ‘Maybe I should let Cole have some of the glory.’ “Ahh, Cole, help me.” She shouted in a completely non scared sarcastic voice. She was very capable of defending herself, but, well, Cole was her boyfriend, this will help it seem real. It took Cole a while to come out of his room because he first had to put on clothes, because he only had a boxer and the bell around his neck on- the boxer June gave him. He rushed out. The man didn’t see him, he was to busy trying to kiss June. “Oh come on luv, gimme some suga’'” “Get off me you bastard, Cole, help me!!” then a fist shot out and hit the man's cheek, caught by surprise, the man fell to the ground. Cole grabbed June and hugged her tight. “Are you alright my love?” “Yes, all thanks to you.” They walked back to their room, still hugging. While they walked back, June took her first good look at her hero. He had wild chestnut-brown hair and amber eyes, very catlike. He was strongly built and very, very HOT. Cole saw she was looking and smiled at her. “I’m gonna go have a bubble bath, ‘k?” June said to Cole and went into the bathroom. Cole took off his clothes again, except for the boxer, and lay on the bed, arms crossed behind his head, staring at the ceiling. After a while June came out of the bathroom, looking very sexy in a short light blue nightdress. “Wow, you look very pretty in that.” Cole said, not able to keep his eyes off her. “Well, you don’t look to bad yourself.” She replied, feeling nervous about being complemented like that. “I wonder if Sven and Mary are asleep yet?” she went over to the phone and dialled the hotel front desk. “I’d like to make a call to room 156, yes, thank you.” She waited a while whilst the front desk asked if they’ll accept the call “Hi Sven, are you two asleep yet?” there was a bit of a muffle as Sven answered. “Oh, sorry I woke you up, I just wanted to tell you that there’s a little restaurant on the second floor, and that we’ll meet you there at nine fifteen. Sorry about waking you up again, sleep tight!” and she hang up and sat on the bed. “So what are you thinking about so hard?” she asked Cole. “Oh, nothing much.” He said, smiling “You know I’m from Africa, and that I’m an artic wolf?” June asked all of a sudden. “Yeah?” “Do you know how frustrating my weather sensors are? Well most of the times I feel warm quickly. But I do get cold sometimes. Weird huh?” she joked and lay down on the bed. Cole went closer and put his arms around her, her back to his stomach. She rolled over and looked him in the eyes “I love your eyes” June says. Whilst Cole stared into her eyes he saw how they change colour. “Wow, that’s amazing.” Cole says and kisses her lightly on the forehead. “You’re beautiful, I love you” Cole says “No, I love you more!” And she pressed her mouth against his to stop him from arguing. She kissed him. He kissed her. They kissed each other. It was like a kiss marathon. They were so busy, that they didn’t hear the door open. Someone put a gun against June’s head. “Now, stop this snog-fest. Now, I want you, Cole, to not shoot, but go stand against the wall next to the door. And if you hesitate or rebel, your lady friend here gets it, capish?” “Cole, I’m scared. What does this man want?” she whispered but still the man heard her “What I want is you. Trench sent me to find you and take you to him. He wants you to join him.” The man said. Cole was standing against the wall by now. He would’ve held June in his arms, but the stranger was holding her, gun to the head, other arm around her neck. Cole could see she was uncomfortable. “Let go of her!” Cole shouted. “Shh, the other people might hear you and we don’t want that do we? Otherwise little missy here will get all bloody.” He said with a mean grin on his face. June was standing very still. “Huh, what's this? I hope I haven’t killed her” he said “You’ve better not!” Cole shouted, trying to get near enough to grab his beloved. The man tutted. “Now, now. You know better than to do that” then suddenly ropes came out of nowhere and grabbed Cole, stopping him from moving. “It seems the girl has given up” “No!!!!” Cole yelled. Then, just as Cole thought his little June was going to be taken away from him, as the man was tying her up with ropes. Then suddenly, out of the blue, she swerves and bites the man hard on his arm. The man yelled in pain. And whilst all this happened, June send a telepathic message to Mary, telling her they were in a lot of trouble, and that she and Sven must rush and come help. Quickly! A moment later, Mary and Sven rush in. Sven sees Cole and cuts the ropes holding him. Meantime the man has grabbed June again. He was talking softly to June and hasn’t noticed Cole was free or that there were more people in the room. Tears were spilling over Junes cheeks. Cole just couldn’t take it to see her like that. He exploded. He yelled and ran towards the man and hit him. Hard. He grabbed June, gently, and held her tight. “Oh Cole!” she wailed “he said the meanest and most hurtful stuff to me!” she said holding her head against his warm chest. He squished her. Then he gave her to Sven and stormed forward, kicked the man down and pointed the gun at him “Any last words?” “Trench will always win.” “Ahhhhh!!!!” Cole yelled and shot. June buried her head in Sven's jacket and cried some more. “Oh June.” Cole said kneeling next to her and Sven on the ground “I’m so sorry” he said. “No, no, it’s not your fault.” She said in a meekly voice. “Its almost daytime, lets check out of this idiotic hotel and hit the road.” Sven said. When they got in the car (which has been fixed in the meantime) June went to sleep again. She and Mary were in the back seat, Sven was driving and Cole was in the passenger seat. Sven and Cole started talking. “Even thought she looks so tough and loads of people are scared of her, she’s still only a child, a young girl.” Sven told Cole. “Yeah, but you don’t think I’m too old for her, do you?” Cole asked. Sven just laughed. “Hey, are we going to stop for breakfast soon? I’m starving!” “Hm, your just like a real cat, eat and sleep is all you can think about.” Suddenly Mary spoke “And she’s a Moondweller.” “Huh, what’s that?” Cole asked “No, wait, let her tell you herself, but let me tell you, it’s not very normal.” And with that she returned to silence. June was twitching in her sleep. Outside clouds were forming, all heart shaped.

Chapter 5: So much stress

The four sweepers, that are people who catch wanted people just for the money, were having breakfast at a local café, we can’t tell you the name, because it’s in Japanese and June can’t read or speak or write Japanese. ‘Cole’s been avoiding me all day’ she thought. “Cole, is something wrong?” she asked him. He just grunted and looked away, ignoring her completely. “Cole, talk to me!” June pleaded “Is there something you didn’t tell me, that you would like to get of your chest?” Cole asked her. She didn’t answer for a while, just drank her coffee, she didn’t drink tea. After a while she answered: “Actually yes. I’ve been keeping this one thing a secret, I was afraid you’d freak and not love me any more.” A few tears rolled over her cheek. Cole reached over and took June’s hands in his. “I’ll always love you, no matter what. Even if you’re a banshee or werewolf, I’ll always love you.” He said. June gave a little laugh. Cole was glad to see she cheered up a bit. “I’m not a banshee, neither a werewolf. I’m a Moondweller.” She gave Cole a meek smile. “Yeah, we, uh, kinda know that already. We’d like to know what a Moondweller is.” June looked puzzled for a moment. “Well, I don’t know where you found that out, but anyway, a Moondweller is a person with extraordinary supernatural powers. They have all the powers that exist and if a new one is discovered, it automatically becomes part of the Moondweller's powers. Anything else you wanna know? If not, I’d like to know where and how you found out I was one” June said and took a few deep breaths. Sven and Cole looked at each other. Cole even said “Wow” and then they remembered she wanted to know how they found out she was a Moondweller . “Mary told us” they both said at the same time. June closed her eyes. She didn’t want to think of what’s going to happen next. He’ll probably say he doesn’t want to date a freak, she thought. Cole leant over the table and kissed her. It was very romantic she thought afterwards. It’s the type of kiss someone gives you when they’re sorry for hurting you. Sven and Mary don’t mind them kissing anymore, they got used to it. But an old lady walked past and she DID mind. She hit Cole over the head with her handbag. He fell over in his chair. “Ow, hey, lady what did you do that for?” Cole asked, rubbing his head. “You young people have no dignity. You can’t kiss in public! Go home and do it!” she said. “But ma’am,” June said in a sweet voice “he just asked me to marry him!” she said, smiling. This was a lie of course. She just didn’t have the strength to deal this old lady. “Oh, then it’s ok. Congratulations!!” and she walked of like it was no big deal. As soon as she was out of sight, June’s head hit the table and just lay there. “Uh, I feel so groggy!” (Groggy means gross, bad and just plain horrible) “Maybe you should sleep some more once were in the car again.” Sven suggested “Yeah, I think I will, and drink something. Waiter!” she called “Yes ma’am, can I get you something?” the waiter asked “Yes, I’d like a glass of warm milk please.” “Make that two.” Cole interrupted, being very excited all of sudden. “But mine must be cold and to go.” And the waiter went to go fetch the milk. “Yummy, milk.” Cole said, closing his eyes and licking his lips. After drinking her milk, June felt how she’s nodding of to sleep. Sven helped her out of the shop. Halfway to the car, she collapsed, and Sven called Cole to help carry her. They all thought she would be heavy. “Ok, on three we pick her up. One, two three.” And they lifted her up with great force. Such force, it threw them over. “Waah!” “Ow, I guess she wasn’t as heavy as we thought.” Said Sven. Cole stood up and picked June up lightly. “She’s very light.” Said Cole. He put her on the back seat and put a pillow behind her head. Cole sat next to June on the back seat. ‘Mary will just have to sit next to Sven; I'm not leaving June’s side. She’s like a delicate flower, anything can hurt her. And I’m not going to let that happen’! Cole thought and put his arms around her. After Sven and Mary had paid the bill, they climbed into the car. “We’re going after a man named Blair Shaman. He’s worth fifty thousand Yen.” Mary said “Cole, you can tell June when she wakes up” when Cole looked at the clock he saw it was only 07:15 am. “Is it still that early?!” Cole asked, surprising everyone so much, he almost gave Sven a heart attack, and that caused the car to swerve “Cole, you almost gave me a bloody heart attack!” and he hit Cole over the head with a empty milk bottle. “Could everyone just stop hitting me?!” Cole yelled “Cole, you’ll wake Ju…” June grunted in her sleep. “Sorry!” Cole squeaked. June continued to grunt in her sleep. But the grunts only got worse. Her hands started glowing and Cole could see the form of a wolf glowing through her shirt. It was on the left of her chest, if you looked at her standing in front of her. She was wearing a light green full dress that ended just above her knees. Suddenly she started floating. Cole grabbed her wrist. After a while of holding her she fell back in her seat. She lay still for a moment and then her eyes shot wide open. She grabbed the front of Cole's shirt and looked him straight in the eyes. Cole noticed that her eyes weren’t blue or green, but red. “June, what's happening to you?” It seems Sven and Mary haven’t noticed what was happening. “Beware of the girl named June on the night of the thirteen’s. Stay away from her at that time. And be careful of her on the twelfth and fourteenth.” She said in a voice very unlike hers, and fell back in her seat, fast asleep. “Sven, what's the date today?” Cole asked, his heart pounding against his chest. “The eight, why?” “Just wondering, it concerns June.” Cole lets out a sigh. At least he’s got some time to ask June what happens on the thirteenth. About a half hour later, she woke up. “How do you feel my baby?” Cole asked her. “Actually, great!” “That’s good news” said Mary. “How late is it?” June asked, rubbing her eyes and yawning. “Its eight am” Sven said “I presume I’ve slept about an hour?” June asked “Yup” they all said. June was really bored in the car, so she started thinking, and this is what she thought: ‘That dream I had, I wonder if I dreamt the future? It was horrible, dreaming that I walk into the room with dinner, rabbit, and find Sven and Mary sitting at a table while a girl is kissing my Cole. And in my dream, I knew she was our enemy. And after that I dreamt about hurting him. But it hasn’t to do with the kissing. Anyway, I hurt him physically. Biting and kicking and hitting and I couldn’t control myself. There was something about a moon in the dream. Weird hey? And then it felt as if my defensive system went of and everything went black for a while and then I had a good dream. I dreamt that a bullet went flying towards me and he jumped between me and the bullet. Great hey? Like they say: every cloud has a silver lining’! June always thought like she was writing in a diary. She smiled to herself. “What are you grinning about, huh?” Cole asked and started tickling her. She started giggling and after a while broke into an uncontrollable laughing fit. She laughed so much that after a while she had to stop because her sides were hurting to much. Cole decided to take this opportunity to ask her “Hey, June, what’s happening on the thirteenth?” she looked thoughtful for a moment then answered. “Nothing that I know of so far” she said and smiled at Cole, eyes closed. When they arrived at the next town (which was very late, about 02:00 am) before they went to a pub, June went into a little shop next to the pub, where she bought a necklace. It was very pretty. It was flower shaped, pink, and had a small wolf in the middle. The wolf, chain and back of it was silver. Sounds pretty hey? Anyway, she also bought a cat bracelet for Cole, a necklace with a sun on for Mary and an eye patch with a mean looking eye on it for Sven. When she was done, they walked over to the pub. The pub was a pub where most people were sweepers. “We will be staying in this town for a few days. And by that I mean we’ll be here long.” Sven said and went to the barman to get a drink. Mary went with him. Cole and his ‘baby’ went to look at the wanted posters. “Sven’s going to go grab a table over in the corner.” June said, without looking away from the wall. “But how did you kn…?” Cole started to say “I’m a M.D hun, catch up” she said and stood on tip-toes to ruffle his hair. “I’ll go get us some drink’s, I’ll be back soon, don’t miss me too much!” she said winking. While she was away, a girl burst through the door and rushed right to Cole and whilst doing this, she knocked over a few tables. “Oh, Mister Crosses!!” she said and knocked him to the floor. “I’ve been waiting so long to give this to you” she said. At this moment she was lying on Cole. A very mistaken, wrong and bad sight. Well, you could imagine what it looked like. The girl was franticly trying to kiss him. He was blocking her kisses but then she held his hands away. He turned his face, not wanting a kiss. A small white cat was walking by. The girl had closed her eyes. Cole grabbed the cat and held it in front of his face. The cat ended up getting the kiss. The girl’s lips stayed on the cat. “What the *** hell is going on here?!!” June shouted. She came back in the meantime. The girl opened her eyes. “Eeuh!!” she yelled and jumped up of Cole. And it almost looked as if the cat blushed. June took a deep breath and put the two pineapple cocktails she was holding on a table near her. In the meantime the girl was making a fuss about her mouth, which had cat hair in. Suddenly June stormed towards her and hit the girl through the face with her fist of fury. She sailed through the air and landed flat on her face. She jumped up and she said in an angry voice “And who the hell might you be?” “June, his GIRLFRIEND” and suddenly the building exploded. Everyone was buried in rubble. “June, control your powers! You could’ve killed us all!” Cole yelled, outraged. “That wasn’t me.” She said softly. On a big piece of rubble a man stood, his gun pointing at the girl from earlier. “Well, well, looks like you got yourself into a bit of a sticky situation, ‘ey Azura?” the man said to her. June stood watching them, but not in the way of the gun. She was chanting softly “Shoot her, shoot her, shoot her” she was so busy chanting, she didn’t know that Cole was running towards them. The man pulled the trigger. The bullet shot towards Azura. For June it all seemed too happen in slow-motion. Just when she thought that this boyfriend stealer is done for, Cole jumped in front of the bullet. It hit him in the right shoulder. The shoulder he uses his gun with. It felt as if June’s life was a big window and someone threw a stone through it. Her whole world crumbled. She ran towards Cole and checked if he was Ok and then stood in front of him, arms spread wide. “Get away from here!” June shouted at him. “I doubt your appearance, when next we meet.” And with that he jumped of the rubble and a helicopter took him. “Cole, are you alright?” June asked him looking worried and sad. Cole closed his eyes and bit on his teeth. June could see he was angry. “Why the hell didn’t you stop him from shooting?” June straitened up from where she had been kneeling next to him and glared at him “Well, if that’s your attitude, I’ll be waiting in the car. No, make that ON the car” she said and walked off. Cole looked after her and then inspected his arm “Ouch, that looks painful” Azura said to Cole. “It is. I wonder what June’s problem is. And it seems that I use that word quite a lot around her.” Meanwhile, June was lying on the car roof, sobbing. ‘How could he be so mean? I wanted her gone, she’s just messing our love up’. She thought and started singing softly to herself. She sang ‘Holding out for a Hero’ but after a while she sang so hard, she attracted a group of people. She didn’t even realize she was standing, and there was people listening to her and cheering. After she finished, everyone cheered and hooted and yelled. And then it started to rain hard. Sven, Mary, Cole and Azura came just as the people were leaving. “What was that all about?” Cole asked her. She just turned her back on him, still standing on the car roof. “Ok, be like that, at least I’m not the one who’s going to ride on the car roof while it’s raining.” He said sarcastically and climbed in the car. She knelt down on the roof and let her head hang over the side and told him: “You know of course, that I can easily stop this rain?” said in a sarcastic voice and she propped herself back up on the roof. She didn’t have anything to do, and from inside the car laugher came. So she spent the time gazing at the moon, it’s just something Moondwellers do. She noticed that the moon just over half. ‘I wonder why dumb Cole asked what was happening on the thirteenth.’ She liked to insult someone in her head when she was angry at them. She fingered her necklace. ‘And even after I bought him the cutest bracelet.’ A few tears found there way down June’s cheek. She lifted her hand and pretended she could reach out and touch the moon. Why did I ever rescue him? She made her outstretched hand into a fist and hit the piece of car roof next to her. She forgot how strong se was. The car swerved and returned to the road. Someone inside swore. Then shouted at her.
While she lay there on the roof, the song ‘Bring me to life’ played in her head. A while later they stopped at a gas station. June had fallen asleep, but she was moaning and crying in her sleep. Sven hit the roof next to her head. “Hey, wake up, we’ve stopped.” She rolled over… and off the car. “I’m ok, I’m ok.” She said, jumping up. “And I’m awake.” She looked over to Cole, with a longing look. Pleading him to take her back. At the gas station there was a Motel too “Are we going to stay at the motel?” June asked Sven “Yes” “I would like a room alone please, I’ll pay more if I have too” June said. “Now, why would you want to do that?” he asked “because you and Mary are shearing, I presume Cole and Azura are shearing, which leaves me” she said looking sad. After Sven had rented the room, Everyone went to the loo except June and Cole. They sat in the waiting room. It was very awkward. June spoke first. “Are you still mad at me? If you are, please forgive me. It’s a Moondweller thing. We don’t get many lovers, so if we do get one, we have to do everything to protect them and illuminate any threats to our love” she said, on the verge of tears. He thought deep for a while, then he came over and grabbed her in his arms and gave her a hug and a kiss, lovingly. “Lets share the one room, Azura can have the single room” “Nah. It only has single beds and I need to do some M.D stuff.” June never talked of Moondweller in public, she talks of M.D. “Ok. I’ll share with Sven, Mary can deal with Azura.” He said and came to sit next to her. After the guys returned from the loos, they were pretty surprised to see June and Cole sitting next to each other and chatting like nothing ever happened. Azura wasn’t too happy, she went all huffy. She wouldn’t talk to anyone except room service and Mary. “I thought they were over” she whispered to Mary. “No, looks as if they only were angry with each other for a little while” Mary answered. “Yeah, but what about those things he said about her and complementing me and me kissing him?” she went on and on but if we told you all the things she said, you’ll take forever to read the book. Anyway, June and Sven were talking. But she heard what Azura said. She pounced towards her, but Sven grabbed her, in midair, round her middle, and just in time! “June, I know you despise her and all, but PLEASE control yourself!” he said, struggling to hold her. June took a deep, shaky breath. Sven let her slowly go. “Are you ok?” he asked her. She turned around and looked at him. She smiled and said “Yes” and she walked of to her room. She didn’t feel like walking, she felt like STOMPING. “Urrgg!” she yelled when she was in her room “I hate her!!!” she yelled and took the pillow and threw it through the wall. “Oops” she said, not really caring. She waved her hand at the wall and it fixed itself. She suddenly sat went into a trance. An eerie glow formed around her. Cole knocked and came in. He saw June kneeling on the floor, with an eerie golden glow around her. It seemed she was staring into space. He knelt down next to her and shook her, trying to wake her up. She turned her head towards him, still unblinking. She grabbed the front of his shirt. “Moon… dragon… wood… Trench… get…” she wasn’t making any sense. “Whot the hell? Sven, Mary, get in here, and make it quick!!” he shouted. He was useless against June; she was super strong for freaking sakes! This was the one person and thing he was afraid of. He hoped Trench didn’t ever find out. June stood up and carried him with her. She went through the hall. Sven and Mary were in the hall, on their way to June’s room. “What’s wrong with her?” Sven asked, looking very bewildered. “Let’s talk about that later. For now, COULD YOU JUST HELP ME, FOR FREAK’S SAKE???” he bellowed. So loud, June came out of her trance. She crumbled to the floor. She stood on her hands and knees, shaking and taking rattling breaths. Cole ran and hid in the toilet till he was sure June was herself again. She stood up, covered in cold sweat, shaking uncontrollable. Cole rushed out and hugged her. He took her shoulders, holding her at arms length. “Are you ok?” he asked her. “What happened?” she asked “I feel so drained.” “Well you kinda went into a trance.” Cole explained “…” June couldn’t get a word out “I know, sounds bad” He said. June started waving and pointing frantically. Most to her throat. She ran into her room, grabbed a paper and pen, rushed out and scribbled down:

I can’t speak! My voice is gone and with it, my powers! What do you think it can be? Oh, please help!

Azura came over and looked at the paper. June snatched it away before she could read. “Jeepers, what’s wrong with you?” she asked. June just turned her back on her and scribbled something down on the other side of the paper:

Would you mind if we share a room tonight? I’m very vulnerable when I don’t have powers. I never learnt how to live like a normal person.

When Cole finished reading, he nodded and they got her bags and Cole led her to their room. “I’m going to make tonight a special night just for you.” She smiled and played with the bell around his neck. It started raining softly. She looked out of the window towards the moon. She knew it should be almost full, but she couldn’t see it. Odd, she thought. “I’m gonna go take a shower, do you want to have one after me?” Cole asked. She nodded as a sign as yes. After they both had a nice shower, they lay in bed. Cole held her and they kissed. They had a wonderful night. June was nocturnal, so she could handle the late nights and the kickback of it. But Cole can’t. He was like a dead man the next day. He slept the whole day. June spent the day with Sven and Mary, trying to get her powers back. Her first exercise was to move a spoon. ‘Simple’ she thought. Not so simple. A while after she tried, she was sitting with her head in her hands. She was hopeless. She sneaked out of the hotel and went to the hair salon. She took a sketch of a hairstyle with her. The hairstyle looked as following: a fringe that came to the eyebrows, long bits of hair on the sides, and then the other hair is a piece shorter as the hair piece before. After having her hair cut this way, she walked back to the motel. A lot of men whistled at her and said things like ‘Wana have some fun baby?’ she just ignored them and walked on. But she was smiling on the inside. Now she knows Cole will like it. She waved at Sven when she came in. “Where the hell have you been?” he asked. She flipped her hair “Damn you look nice!” he said touching her hair. Suddenly he grabbed her… just as Cole came in. “What’s going on here? And you two of all people!” Cole was upset but uncertain of it “Cole, calm down and don’t move” Sven said very softly. Cole was angry, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew that when Sven said something, he meant do it. Cole obeyed him. Sven stood stock still, holding June tight in his arms. He reached slowly into his pocket and took a small pistol out. He pointed it at a shape standing in the doorway. It was the same man that tried to shoot Azura and instead shot Cole. He had a remote in his hand. He pointed it at Cole and pressed one of the buttons. A light flashed on the point of the remote and a light flashed on Cole’s shoulder. The doors spun and he was gone. Sven stood still for a moment and then relaxed. He hugged June and then let her go. Cole rushed over. “That… was weird” he said looking at Sven. He was thinking hard. The form of a wolf glowed on June’s chest again. She didn’t notice, but Cole and Sven did. They looked at it, looked at each other and looked at it again. June saw them staring. She stiffened, sniffed and turned her back on them. ‘How rude’ she thought to herself. It was about noon, the eleventh and Cole remembered that he must be wary of her from tomorrow.
The whole bunch of them, Mary, Sven, June and Cole sat in the park. Azura was still huffed, and was staying in her room all day. They all thought it would be good for June to get some fresh air. They sat on the park bench while June and Cole were playing a game of chase. It was Cole’s turn to catch June and it looked as if she was enjoying the game. Her mouth was open like she was laughing. Cole couldn’t catch her, no matter what. Sven chuckled “Her voice and powers may be gone, but the wolf is still in her.” He told Mary “Yes” she said. Just when Cole got close enough to catch her, she zips out of the way. He tried stalking her and pouncing, but she noticed him and got out of the way, letting him crash into the crisp green grass. Cole came and sat on the bench next to Mary, trying to get his breath back. Suddenly someone came up from behind him and pressed a pistol against his head. June was playing hopscotch at the time and didn’t notice until she heard Cole yelling at the person “Let go of me!” she stopped her hop in mid hop. She ran over, but not as fast as usual. The person let go of Cole for a second, hesitating, but picked him up again soon again. Once again the pistol was against his head. Unfortunately, his Austrin was at home. An Austrin is Cole’s gun. It’s the best there is. “Cole!!” June shouted in a hoarse voice. She surprised everyone. Even the woman holding him “I can speak!” ‘Maybe my powers are back as well’ she thought. So she tried something easy to test it. She tried moving the pistol with her eyes. It worked. She had trouble doing it at first, but after a while she got it right. The pistol shot out of the woman’s hand, rather clumsy. Cole took this moment to grab her gun and spin around and hit her through the face with it. She fell over and struggled to get up. She heard the click of a gun being loaded. “Who sent you?” Cole asked “No one sent me; I came out my own free will.” She said “My name is Ushuaia Kobola. And I’ve come to talk to June. I thought you were a threat to her. Sorry” Ushuaia said and went over to June. They whispered for a while. There was a lot of pointing from Ushuaia and nodding from June. After they waved and said goodbye to each other, June sat on the bench, closed her eyes and her breath slowed down. “Lets get back to the motel, I’m tired.” she said in a very disappointed voice. “What did she tell you that upset you this much?” Sven asked. Mary looked at June and sighed. “I’m sorry” she said and looked down. “I don’t wanna talk about it” June answered and started walking towards the motel.
When they got to the motel, every one went to fetch their bags; they were going to leave that night. When Cole and June got to their room, June closed the door. “I’m so glad I have my powers and voice back, I missed telling you how much I love you” she said and gave Cole a hug. Azura knocked and came in. At that moment Cole yelled, clutching his shoulder, and dropped to the floor. It seems Sven and Mary were close by, because they rushed in. Cole had started glowing and shrinking. He was still yelling. Azura knelt down next to him and tried to hold him, but a volt of electricity surged through her body, so she decided not to try again. Take that, June gloated in her head. After a while he stopped shrinking and looked up at everyone and blinked. June couldn’t believe her eyes. She was like totally freaked out. Luckily she was standing near a bed, because at that moment she fainted. Just fainted.

Oops.

Something was shaking a lot. June sat up. And bumped her head against something. “Ow, what, where am I?” she asked, not daring to move again “You’re in the space between the back window and the top of the boot” Sven said “Roll over slowly and you’ll be ok” she rolled over. She blinked a bit before her eyes started working again. Next to her sat Mary and Azura. Cole was in the passenger seat. June looked at him. ‘How could this happen?’ She thought. Then, as she was thinking to herself, it felt if she was having a blackout. Except that she could see everything but just couldn’t control herself. A growling sound emerged from her throat. But it didn’t last long. She collapsed in her seat. Panting. Everyone was staring at her. “Are you sure you’re alright?” Sven asked. “Maybe I need some fresh air; it’s cramped in here anyway.” And with that June climbed out of the window and sat on the roof. It was lovely outside on the roof. She stretched her legs. “Man, my legs are sore, AND I’m unfit!” she told herself. “Maybe I should try, yes, I think will.” She stood up. And ducked again quickly, as a tree branch shot towards her head, at a tremendous speed. She checked for any branches and stood up again. “Well, here goes nothing.” She said and jumped off the car, on Sven’s side. ‘Ahh! I’m not gonna make it’! She thought, her eyes closed tight. After no impact, she opened her eyes slowly. She was speeding along side the car. Sven hadn’t noticed her. She tapped the glass. Sven had a very relaxed expression on his face. He turned his face towards her with the same expression. June flashed him a peace sign. His expression rapidly turned from relaxed to shock, fear, surprise and wonder. June smiled at him and flew up, up into the clouds. She swerved down in front of the car, just to get their attention. “Oh, now she’s just showing off” Sven said “What, how is she doing that?! Wow!” Azura said. Everyone forgot she didn’t know June was a Moondweller. Suddenly that black out feeling came over June again. She made a name for it: Midiron. Anyway Midiron came over her. She sped towards the windshield of Sven’s car. She landed hard on the bonnet. She snarled at them, showing fangs. Sven couldn’t see the road. He stopped the car with screech. June was still snarling. She stared pounding the windshield with her fist. Her eyes were red and her nostrils flaring. Just when the windshield was about to break, she collapsed. She opened her eyes and crawled up to the roof again. She lay panting on the roof. “Man that was weird” she said. Sven was saying the same inside the car. Most agreed and Sven started the car again. Cole was the only not to agree. He was thinking hard. ‘It’s the full moon tomorrow night, she’s acting like a wolf, and getting this vibe stuff over her. There is only one explanation: June Wonder is a werewolf’. He thought and sighed.
June’s breathing tempo had subsided for a while. Maybe I should try being a… an Eagle. She focused her mind on the form of a fish eagle. Soon after her body began to take the form of the fish eagle. She opened her wings wide, lifted her head and called the cry of a fish eagle. She soared into the sky, through the clouds and landed on the car again. She squatted down and tapped Cole’s window with her beak. He looked over at her and almost crapped in his pants with shock. He thought it was June, meantime it is this gigantic eagle. “Lo… lo… look there!” he stammered. Everyone looked. And Sven quickly stopped the car again; Everyone needed to go. Oh yeah, and he wanted to chase the eagle away. But when he looked on the car roof, June wasn’t there. “Hey guys, June’s not here!” he called to them. “Just a minute, kinda busy here!” one of them replied. ‘I am here you idiot!’ a voice said in Sven’s head. “June?” he said, looking around him for her. ‘The eagle, pellets for brains’ she replied “Oh. Hey, you don’t have to be so insulting!” ‘Sorry, but someone crapped in their pants when they saw me, it kinda offended me, don’t ya think?’ she said in a bitter voice and morphed back to human. “I thought you said June was gone, but here she stands!” Cole said, coming out of the bushes. ‘They kissed in the bushes’ Mary told June telepathically. “WHOT!!” June said, and not in her head. She jumped of the car and slapped Cole through the face, then Azura, then Cole again. “How could you?” she said, even more bitter and climbed into the passenger seat. ‘Sorry, my fault she turned on the radio. ‘Apologize’ was playing. June looked at it and the song stopped and ‘Hot’ started playing and she sang with it. She had calmed down but had a sudden urge to rip him apart. And for rabbit. “When are we gonna stop for lunch?” she asked Sven. “Oh yeah, now you’re speaking my language” Cole said. “I don’t know, we’re going to arrive at our destination late tonight, would you mind catching something for us?” Sven said and reached for hand. “Eeuh! You mean we’re gonna eat raw meat? Gross!” Azura said. Sven pulled his hand away. Just in case. It seemed she didn’t mind him holding her hand.
‘I really like this man’ June thought. And his sense of style always accentuates his eye patch. And she noticed he was wearing the eye patch she bought for him. ‘Except, what’s up with his multicolour hair?’ His hair was black with red ends and a few streaks of blue. He looked at her and their eyes locked. She smiled and looked away, blushing. ‘Oh man!’ She though, ‘I’m going all girly!’
She stared out of the window and suddenly she saw a wolf darting by. “Stop the car!” she said. Sven stopped the car so suddenly everyone splattered into the seat in front of them. Cole was sitting in the middle so… he crashed into the window. Splat. “What? What is it?” Sven asked “A wolf” and when she looked again, it was gone “Oh, sorry, trick of the light. Back to the road then” she said, looking quite upset. They arrived late night, or rather early morning at their destination. It was an abandoned hospital with a few battered tents outside. It was a shelter for homeless and orphaned children. When they stopped, June jumped out and ran into the bushes. The other went into one of the tents and rested on the couches. June returned after a while with fresh mutton. So fresh it was still a whole sheep. She wandered in, in the form of a grey wolf. Everyone yelled and jumped onto high things. June demorphed and dropped the sheep from her jaws. “I brought dinner, uh… breakfast” she said sounding more cheerful. “Mutton! Yum!” Sven said, picking up the sheep. “Anyone wanna help me cook it?” Sven asked “I will, I’m from South Africa, and there we braai” June said, hooking her arm into Sven’s. Outside they made fire and cleaned the sheep out. After it was cleaned and the fire was ready, June put a stick through the sheep’s body and put it over the fire. She put barbeque and veggie spices on and it smelled delicious. All the kids stormed out and stood around the fire, taking in the aroma. Cole jumped off the roof of the building and ran towards them, pushing everyone out of the way. “What is that wonderful smell?!” he asked. June and Sven were sitting next to each other on a piece of fallen tree. June was laughing a lot and Sven too. It seems he had made a very funny joke. Cole stopped in his tracks when he saw them with each other. Sven stretched and put his arm around June. She shifted closer so they cuddled together. “Hey, what are you think you’re doing with MY gal?!” Cole yelled and hit Sven through the face with a fist. “Well you aren’t giving her any attention, so I am” Sven said standing up, hand on his cheek where Cole hit him. “Well she’s still my girlfriend.” June picked this time to speak. “Well it doesn’t seem so, with you going off and just kissing any girl walking by” she said, sniffed and went to check on the food. Cole didn’t really bother him over June; he went on with fighting Sven. They were fighting like dog and cat. Litterly. “Stop it!! Just stop it!!” June screamed and hit Cole through the face. She was red in the face. “You don’t give a damn hell about me, so stop pretending you do!” she yelled, hitting him through the face again. “June, stop” she just hit him through the face again. Just when she wanted to hit him again, he grabbed her wrist. “Now, stop that! You know I love you dearly, and I don’t go walking after girls and I definitely DON’T kiss them. So PLEASE calm down” he was panting after his speech. He looked into her eyes. They were flashing from red to green to blue and back again. “Whot the…?” he started say, but June collapsed in his arms and started crying. “I don’t know what’s happening to me” she sobbed “please help me, please!” she said and cried harder. Sven came over towards them. He had several bruises. “I’m really sorry about that.” Cole apologized. “Nah its ok. The foods almost ready June” Sven said. June looked up. She saw the kids staring. She sucked her breath in sharply. “I’m sorry you had to see that” she said opening her arms and smiling friendly. She approached slowly, but they backed away. They were scared of her. She straitened up, her eyes all watery. “Ok then” she said. She went to the fire, sniffed the meat and conjured a bucket of water. She threw it on the fire and it hissed as it died away. She looked at the oldest girl. “Where can we prepare the food?” “Oh, I’ll show you to the kitchen” she said and started walking. June pulled the stick out and carried the sheep, walking after the girl. They walked up the stairs of the hospital. They went through a hall and into the third door on the right. “It may not be a master kitchen, but we are able to prepare nice chicken soup here” she said smiling. “It s good enough for preparing the food” June replied on this, checking for dust on the counter with her finger. She put the sheep on a counter and started searching for a knife. She found one in the basin. She cut the meat into twenty-three portions. There were thirteen orphans and the five of them. ‘But we will certainly have seconds’, she thought and chuckled softly. She was thinking of a lot of things, and so, was deep in thought. So deep, she cut herself. She had the power to heal herself, but only when hurt in combat by someone else. She groaned, clutching her finger. She went over to the tap and ran cold water over her finger. It was getting light outside. Cole came in and looked at the food. He had some ice wrapped on a towel against his cheek. She had found some vegetables in the fridge and dished it up with the meat. “It looks good” he said “Hmm” she replied. Then he saw her finger. He gasped, taking her by the shoulders and swinging her around to face him “What happened?” he asked “I cut myself, don’t worry ‘bout it” she said, shrugging him off. “The food is ready, can you help me carry it?” she said, not looking him in the eye. “Yeah, sure” he said and picked up four plates, balancing one on his nose and three together in his hands. June waved her hands and then held it open in front of her. Nineteen plates rose into the air and hovered above her, in no precise formation. Her eyes were closed. But still she walked as if she could see. “Where will we eat” she asked. “Down the hall, fifth door on the left” June walked and entered the room. She put the food on the table and told Cole to go call the others. When he was out, she span around with a twirl of wind and you couldn’t see her for a while. When the wind settled, she had changed her clothes. From her fighting clothes she usually wore, to a very small top and a pair of short shorts. Her hair was tied in a bun, and she was chewing gum. She dropped to the floor and did fifty sit-ups. Then changed and started doing push-ups. The other people came in and saw her doing one armed push-ups. She saw them watching, stood up, twirled so her normal clothes were on again. She snapped her fingers and a bottle body spray appeared and sprayed her with an enchanting sent. Everyone’s eyes were glued on her. “That scent… that wonderful scent, it is… it is…” Cole couldn’t find the right word for it, but he absolutely loved it. It let him become entranced. “Lets eat” June said laughing, sitting on the floor behind a plate and folded her hands. “Well?” she asked, looking at them. They just stood still. She waved a hand sharply at them and they were thrown to their seats, sharply. That got them back to their normal selves. Cole was seated at the furthest seat from June. It was as if she was avoiding him. She couldn’t face him since earlier. She was ashamed, humiliated and sad. Sorry as well. She stopped every one just in time before they ate, closed her eyes and prayed. After she had prayed, she said “Now you may eat” and with that she bowed her head, looking only at her food. Even though she was almost starving, she hardly touched her food. She just sat there, looking depressed. After they had eaten, the oldest girl, whose name is Maria, showed them to some seats where they could sleep. After everyone was asleep, June was still awake. Sven woke and saw she was staring at the ceiling. He stood up and went over to her and sat on a piece of seat that was open next to her. “Can’t sleep hey?” he asked her. She shook her head lightly. “Yeah I find that problem myself sometimes. So, are you going to tell me what’s bothering you?” he asked her. She looked at him, wide eyed. “Let’s find the reason step by step” he said and she looked at the ceiling again “Like that song” she said and remembered a piece of it that goes:

Take one step at a time
There’s no need to rush
It’s like learning to fly
Or falling in love

Then she produced a cell phone from her pocket, plugged in her earphones and started singing along with ‘Better In time’. Tears were creeping up her eyes, but she quickly forced them back “You’re a big girl now June” she told herself “and you’re a Moondweller” Sven stood up and went back to his sleeping spot.

Chapter 6: Those darn cute ears

June had fallen asleep short after putting on music. But she forgot to but it off. So Cole had a bit of a surprise when he picked up the earphones and put it in his ears. His ears were fried. The music was very, very loud. He shouted and pulled them from his ears. “How can she sleep with such loud music in her ears?!” he shouted. The sweepers had arrived about 3:17. By 4:33 they had finished eating. At five June had fallen asleep. She woke at twelve. The others were up at ten already. She went out, found a river, and bathed. Very in the presence of two nervous fishermen. She washed her day-to-day clothes and dressed. She walked back to the factory, deep in thought. She bumped into someone. She looked up “I’m sorry. I was deep in thought” she apologized. Then she saw it was Sven. She pushed past him and continued on her walk. When she was quite close to the tents, she chose a sandy, warm flat piece of land and sat. In the blazing sun. Maria came over after a moment and asked she wanted some food. June’s eyes kept being closed and she simply said “No”
Anyway, inside the hospital, Sven and Cole were talking over a table. There was a window behind Cole and you could see June from it. “I’m really worried about June. She isn’t eating. Not sleeping well and doesn’t want to talk to anyone” Sven said putting down his newspaper and picking up a cup of coffee. Cole was looking out of the window towards her. The sun was shining on her hair and it had a golden colour. His mouth was open and a thin line of drool was running down his cheek. Sven took his newspaper, rolled it up and hit Cole over the head. “Hey, why’d you do that?” Cole asked, rubbing his head. “If you’re still that in love with her, go talk to her”
Outside, June scratched her head. Just a few inches above her ears. ‘Damn it itches.’ She thought, scratching ferociously. “I wonder why she’s scratching her head like that” Cole said. June had picked her leg up and was using it to scratch her head. She flopped over and rolled in the sand, still scratching. “Urrgg!!” she yelled, running in circles. She ran into the bus, her eyes looking bewildered. There was blood on her hands and dripping down her head and neck. “Help! Can you see what's happening?! Something’s very wrong here!” she said, voice straining. Cole rushed out of the room, June not noticing. A moment later he came back in, wet towel in hand. He came over where she sat and dabbed at her wound with it. “Thank you” she said, head still bowed. Her voice was shaking, but grateful. Cole backed away very suddenly, letting the bloodstained towel to fall to the ground. “What is it?” she asked him, looking up. “Your… your head… you have wolf ears!!” Cole stammered. Sven looked up from his paper again. His eyes became wide. “But… but I’m not trying to morph or anything. How can this be happening?” June moaned, letting her head drop in her hands with frustration. Once again the wolf form on the right of her chest glowed. Maria came in. “Hey, June? Can you do us the favour of helping Mary with lunch?” she asked. Then she saw that June was covered in blood and shaking. “Eh, don’t worry about it, she just called to say it isn’t necessary anymore” she said, making a move to go. “My ears are super strong now, I know she didn’t call. But I’m to… well let’s say I don’t want to” she said, standing up. Cole rushed forward, pulling her arm over his shoulders, supporting her. “June, I don’t think your ready to walk yet, you lost a lot of blood” “I have to go bath, I’m covered in blood and now I stink” she said and started wobbling towards the door. Cole picked her up lightly and walked out of the door towards the river. After they had a bath together, and June was clean again, she inspected her new ears in the lake. “Well, I do look cute with ears” she said, touching them lightly. They were a pleasant grey colour and pink on the inside. “Hmm, I like them too, it brings out the real you” he said, taking her hand. He walked back together, chatting and laughing. Sven had dropped Azura down at her home town before going to the tent hospital place. This made June very happy. She was smiling again. When they got there just as lunch was done. All the children were around the table, waiting. The smell was drifting into the room. This was a different room than before. This one was smaller and it led into a small kitchen. Mary came out of the kitchen, carrying a black half-moon thing on a plate. She put it on the table in front of the kids. “Eeuh! What’s that?!” one of the boys asked, puling a face. “Sam! That’s rude!” Maria said. Cole’s stomach growled. Everyone stared “what? I’m hungry” he said, looking at the black thing, which turned out to be an omelette. “You eat it then” one of the girls said, and all of them started chanting ‘eat it, eat it, eat it’ Cole hesitated. “If you don’t wanna eat that, I could always go catch some rabbit that we can eat raw” she joked, smiling. Nobody wanted that, so Cole picked up the omelette and took a bite out of it. Chewed, and swallowed. “Its not al that bad, just a little burnt, that’s all” he said taking another bite. A white cat strolled into the room. The same cat that saved Cole the kiss from Azura. Everyone stared at it. Mary went over and picked up the cat and gave it a hug. “I will call you… wait is it a boy or girl?” Mary asked, holding it at arms length. “And how do you check?” June and Sven started laughing their heads off. “What?” she asked. June came over. “Hold it on its back, and I’ll look” she said. It was a boy. “Ok, lets call you… what names do cats have?” Mary asked. “You don’t know much about animals, do you? Well, why not call him Spooky?” she said in a fun-serious voice. “Yeah! That would work great!” Sven said. Cole was busy fighting with the kids over the omelette. They turned towards him, staring. June fingered a strand of her hair. Cole stopped and dropped the omelette from his mouth. “You can have it” he said under his breath. He went over to June and put his arm around her waist. It was awkward for June that he was so small. He was smaller than she was! He laid his head on her shoulder. Her hair smelled of Marula. A real African smell of wild, bush and animals. Cole liked it. He tried to kiss her forehead. She giggled and pushed him away.

She suddenly grabbed her human ears out of the blue and dropped to her knees, a pained expression on her face. She rolled around and moaned.. Blood was dripping through the space between her fingers. Her eyes shot open. They were blank and glowed a light golden colour. She stood up, no longer in pain. She let her hands fall to her sides. There where her human ears were, only bloody flesh is left. “Are you alright?” Cole asked. “Yes. Yes I am. Can someone please help me clean off the blood?” she asked., eyes still blank. She didn’t move much, only stared and blinked. Cole and Sven thought it was probably from losing so much blood so suddenly. She touched the space gingerly with her hand. She flinched in not feeling her cute ears, and her eyes turned to normal again. After Maria had cleaned June, she ate some of the omelette. June can stay awake for always, she doesn’t get tired. Only if she chooses to be. It was getting late. About 19:30 and the moon was high in the sky. A full moon.

Chapter 7: The werewolf

There was one boy June had paid much attention to, you could say she observed him. His name was Tim, and he was like a father to all the children. June, Tim and Cole were on a roof near the hospital. If they jumped far enough, they’d be in front of all the tents. Cole and Tim were sitting and talking. June was standing, gazing at the moon. Suddenly a screeching sound of cars stopping came from the tents. June’s back was towards the tents. She turned around just as the two boys stood up. “Damn! It’s the gangsters again! They’re trying to get us out of the orphanage. Will you help me?” Tim said. June crunched her knuckles. “Oh yeah, I’ve been longing for a good, hard fight” she said, ears forward. Maria and the other orphans had come out and was standing in front of the one of the tents, scared. Cole, Tim and June jumped off the roof. They landed in a cloud of dust. June was in front and the two guys behind her. She had her fists balled and an evil grin on her face. “I told you, we’re not leaving!” Tim shouted at them. Suddenly June started screaming a horrible scream, eyes wide and unblinking. Everyone stared. The glow on her chest began again, but kept on getting brighter and they had to look away. She was still screaming, but it went softer and became a long dreadful HOWL. The light died away and there where June stood, a wolf stood. Its teeth were barred but the eyes confused. ‘There is something odd about this wolf, it doesn’t look exactly normal’. Cole thought. The wolf was indeed not normal. It was bigger, stronger, faster, prettier, more graceful, joyful and something you can’t quite point out. And it had that small bit of a human look in it. It was a werewolf. And it was June. The wolf pounced at the head gangster and got hold of his ankle. With her strong jaws, she held on for life, cracking the bones of the man. Cole took this opportunity to take out the other men. This was the first time June saw him fight, and let me tell you, he was GOOD. Dodging in and out of people, he used him agility to jump, spin and kick them. He had moves. He was fast, agile and skilled. His enemy’s worst nightmare. After June bit the man some more and was sure the man wasn’t a threat anymore, she let him go and pounced on the next man near her. She got hold of him in the neck. She couldn’t control herself fully, but at least had a little bit control. It was the wolf who went for the throat. When June saw what was happening she tried pulling back, but the wolf was to strong. She saw how a man was killed by her mouth and she could do nothing to stop herself. It was horrible. She saw all the details. She saw the blood sweeping through the wounds. Tasted it. And she realized she actually liked it. It was weird. Two parts of her liked it and one didn’t. And she remembered something of her past; it even made the wolf stop in its tracks. The man took this chance to master his last strength and throw of the wolf. She jumped up again and saw how a man grabs Cole and holds a short dagger against his neck. June stormed him. She looked so scary, even a liger would have hesitated if it saw her. The man was shocked and let go, trying to make a run for it. The man with the wound in his neck took out a pistol and shot June in the shoulder, laming her left leg. She wobbled around and saw the man had died just after he had shot her. The men grabbed their stuff, stormed into their cars and drove of, tiers screeching. When June saw they were a safe distance away, her bad leg collapsed under her. Cole was panting. He put his Austrin back into its case and knelt next to the panting wolf. Its eyes were open and its mouth too. June tried touching his mind with her. She had some trouble breaking through, but managed it in the end. As soon as she made contact, a shocked expression came over his face. But he called Sven and they carried her inside the bus, where they cleaned and treated her wound. June, with her sharp wolf-eyes, saw that Cole had the roman number thirteen (XIII) on his chest. She has never noticed it before.

After they had cleaned everyone’s wounds, they all took a nap. The battle was exhausting. While June was asleep, the wound healed, and the roman number thirteen formed on her left paw and shoulder. After they had rested and ate, the sweepers set off on their journey again. There was a small town not very far from them, and they put their goal there.
That small green car of Sven’s can’t take a massif wolf like June, so she had to run along the side. Poor June. Anyway, she thought she needed the exercise.
Cole was upset and shocked that June was a werewolf. He thought she would’ve told him something like this. His eyes were the whole time on June. Suddenly he saw she stumbled and stopped. It looked if she was choking. Sven saw it too and stopped the car. Leaning out of the window, he asked her; “Are you ok? June?” the only reply he got is her zooming past. His cigarette sagged and the other two started giggling. As they got into town, Sven stopped at a pet shop. June was very obedient; she didn’t bite any one important. Cole decided he would go in. Sven and Mary had some trouble keeping June in the car. She wanted to run after him! Anyways, Cole went into the pet shop and bought a lead and collar for June. Most places have a leash law. And they need control over her.

Chapter 8: Thievery brings us together

It was a bright sunny day in Japan. June, Sven, Mary and Cole were sitting in the park, eating ice-cream cones. ‘On a warm day like today nothing hits the spot like a nice cold ice-cream’; that’s what Cole thought. Same for Sven and Mary. Not so much for June. The wolf didn’t like ice-cream and had trouble eating it. No hands!
Sven had found a nice cheap hotel for them to stay in. Being lead on a leash, June entered the hotel with a bound; almost crashing into the register and man behind it. “Uh, sir, pets aren’t aloud” the man stammered at Sven, eyeing the large wolf. June jumped up onto the desk and growled at the man. He quickly came to his senses. “Would that be two rooms, one for two and one for one?” he asked, starting to type on his computer. ‘Man, this man is ugly!’ That was June thinking. He had greasy brown hair, flopping down over his simple grey eyes. His body didn’t have a shape; it was just flesh stuffed into skin. Not at all like Cole and Sven, who both had nice hair, eyes and six-packs. And the man stank up the whole lobby. “No thank you, we would like one room with two beds, a couch and a carpet.” Sven answered. Turning to Cole, he said “I will sleep on the couch; you and Mary can have the beds” Cole waved his hand, as if to wave away the thought “No, no. I am used to sleeping on all sort of stuff but beds. Beds are uncomfortable to me” once up in their room, everyone had a shower and went to bed. Even though it was about eight in the morning, they were exhausted. They slept about four hours. Sven and Mary on beds, the linen twisted around them, Cole on the small couch. His one hand over the side and his mouth open, letting out a small streak of spit and the occasional snore. June was lying on the mat in front of him. She was awake, resting her head on her front paws. Her mind was racing. It was the first time that she started thinking since becoming a werewolf. ‘How is it that I became a werewolf? I didn’t get bitten or anything! Maybe it’s the whole Moondweller and that thing from my past that caused it. Or maybe the necklace I’m wearing’. This was only a few of the questions she asked herself. She also stayed awake to keep watch. She knew what happened each time they’re in a hotel or motel. Her ears were backwards but quickly went forward. She sat up and gave a soft growl. She made herself small, blending in perfectly with the dark room. The door opened and a man dressed in black came into their room, holding a small useless gun. ‘A simple burglar’ June thought. ‘Maybe even a light snack!’ June slowly stacked towards the man. He didn’t see her so she started a slow crouching run and when she was near enough, she broke into a full fast run. The man’s eyes grew wide. He spun around and made a run for it. The wolf caught him around the wrist and pulled him down. She attacked and the man died. She bounded out into the hallway and saw two other men holding an old lady hostage against a wall. They were threatening her. She crept up on them. The lady saw her but somehow knew she was only there to help. She signalled the wolf to stop. She was confused, but placed her bum on the beige carpet and sat. The lady swung around and hit the man with her handbag. She may look old, but she’s a spring calf! June saw this was the moment to jump in. She ran forward and hit the man’s legs out under him with her head. The lady looked if nobody was looking and put her polls together, hands open towards the man. A beam of red light shot out of her hands and hit the man full in the chest. It knocked his breath out and stunned him. He passed out. The old lady straitened up and decreased her green dress. “Hello there June, how are you?”

Chapter 9: A woman out of the past and a cup of noodles

Daisy Green. That was the woman’s name. Everyone was sitting at the table, hands folded and brows furrowed. June was thinking hard. Even though she was a wolf, it looked as if she was frowning too. She sat on a chair at the table. The air was full of anxiety. The woman was making a pot of tea for them. She came in, put the pot on the table and put a plate in front of June. She poured some tea in for her and June. “Don’t worry, I still remember how you like your tea” she told June. The lines on June’s head became deeper. The woman laughed. Somewhere deep inside June she remembered that laugh. “Your wondering who I am? Ah, I see, you don’t remember me anymore. Does Daisy Green ring a bell?”
June looked up, eyes bright.
“Do you want me to transform you back to human?”
June wined and nodded her head vigorously.
The woman stood up and put her hand on June’s head. They both glowed a bit and after a while June became June again. She jumped up and embraced the woman. The others just stared. “Uh, hate to brake the moment, but who are you?” Sven asked. June pulled away, tears gleaming in her eyes. “I can’t believe it’s you!” she told Daisy. “Oi! Hallo? We're talking here!” Sven said loudly, but funny. June sat down. “Well, my father was a very powerful wizard. Just after I was born, he killed my mother. He tried to kill me too, but because I had his blood, he couldn’t. That’s how I became a Moondweller. That’s how all Moondwellers become Moondwellers. Family tried to kill them. It’s very complicated. If family tries to kill you, you are cursed. The curse is evened out by giving the person special powers.” She took a deep breath before continuing “anyway, he tried killing me, but instead gave me powers. And because he was such a powerful wizard, his wizarding powers were passed on too me, making me the most powerful and strongest Moondweller on the planet. His spell bounced off me and hit him, killing his body. His soul went to live in the body of a snake” she added softly: “typically him. Anyways, uh… again, I was a newborn baby without parents or shelter. And the world already knew of my arrival. But Miss Green here, a fellow Moondweller, in her early twenties, took me in!” June build up on her volume, ‘till almost shouting. A great, naturally born speaker. She had to stop for a moment because she sneezed. “And with that, I was born and almost killed under a full moon. I don’t know where I got wolf DNA or blood from. People say I was fed or something by wolfs. I don’t know. Daisy raised me as her own child, and taught me the basics of Moondweller. Protected me.” June was handling this quite good, crying over anything and such. “Uhm, just wondering, protected you from what?” Cole asked, wary. “Oh, from bad people of course. All wanted me, and all tried to kidnap me, misuse my powers and so” suddenly everyone realized why June gets upset so easily. She had a bad childhood. But she was growing up, and getting tougher. “Sven” she suddenly “who are the star chasers or whatever?”
“You mean ‘The Servants to the Stars’?”
Cole growled and June looked at him
“Yes, them, who are they?”
“The followers of Trench Futurele”
June sighed but looked calm.
“What, why are you wondering about something like that?” Sven asked. June and Daisy looked at each other. Daisy had a worried look on her face, but you could see she was thinking hard. “Oh just do it” June told her, getting huffy. “Ok, ok, I’ll do it. For your sake. When do we start and where do we practise?” Daisy asked, still thinking hard.

Everyday, June and Daisy practised. Practised the day away. Everyone could see that this was tiring June physically and mentally out. Not so much Daisy; she’s been doing full Moondweller for years. When they take a break, June either slept or ate. She had dark shadows under her eyes and her hair was a mess. After about two and a half weeks, June knew everything. She didn’t perfect it, but at least she knew it. She was counting on her power to make the spells and stuff work good.
June collapsed on the bed after her last session. Cole was asleep on the bed: his ‘Cat Nap’. He takes one every afternoon. June started tiding up the room, singing softly to herself. The words she sang were:

I never had to say goodbye
You must have know I wouldn’t stay
When you were talking ‘bout our life
You killed the beauty of today
Forever. Never. Live is now or never
Forever never comes around

You’ll never see me again,
so now I’m gonna cry for you
you’ll never see me again, no matter what you do
you’ll never see me again,
so now I’m gonna cry for you
you’ll never see me again, no matter what you do

You never heard me break your heart
you didn’t wake up when we died
Since I was lonely from the start
I think the end is mine to ride
Forever. Never. Live is now or never
Forever never comes around.
People love and live

Basically, she sang ‘Cry For You’ by September. When she got ‘you’ll never see me again’ Cole woke up. “I hope you weren’t singing that for me” Cole joked. “Nah, sang that for my dad, wherever he is” she said trailing of
“Well, anyway, that was very nice” he said, stretching. June scratched her hand. Then her shoulder. Then her hand again. She looked at her hand and saw the scar. “You know, I think I’m gana go have a shower” Cole said standing up. This distracted June from her hand. Sven and Mary came in. “Ok, enjoy it!” June said, smiling. Sven and June were chatting away and Mary was reading a book called ‘Every dog needs a spaghetti stick’ by Michea Taylor. June had bought her a bottle of ice tea, coffee for Sven and a milkshake for Mary. Mary had brought up the subject of how Cole had become small, just before Cole went into the shower. He stood and listened. “I suspect they used sort of MDCT or Nano-tegnology” Sven said lighting a cigarette. “You mean I am like Mary now?!” Cole asked. Mary was a machine. She could transform into anything and everything. At that moment Azura burst through the door. “Mister Crosses, I’m back!” she sang, throwing her arms around his neck. “Hey, wait, there’s something wrong, something different. Aw, you’re so little. You are so cute, I could just eat you up!” and she jumped onto him, both of them falling to the ground. She was on top of him. June jumped towards them and onto Azura, trying to get her off Cole. Sven jumped on June to get her off Azura. Mary walked closer to help but tripped and landed on Sven. They all were a rolling mass on the ground. Imagine it. Cole, unnoticed by the other, crept out of the ball of people. He grabbed a whistle that just happened to be on the bedside table and blew it hard. Everyone stopped their squirming and looked at him. “Anyway, like I was asking, I am like Mary now? Awesome!” and with that he went and stood in front of the open window. “Wings!” he said loudly and jumped out of the window. He hung in the air for a while and then tumbled to the ground. From the third floor! “Wait for me Mister Black!” Azura said in her high voice, and jumped out of the window after him. She hovered in the air for a while. Then she fell to the ground. “Ha, serves her right” June said from where she and Sven were sitting on the ground. When Cole returned from the staircase, he went to take the shower he was planning. Everyone was having themselves some noodles. Suddenly the telephone rang. June answered, greeting in Japanese. It was Daisy. Sven picked up the other phone and listened to the conversation.
“hello June, sorry to leave so suddenly, something happened to my daughter. I’m so sorry.”
“Oh that’s ok, but will I ever see you again? I mean you live in Ghana or somewhere!” “June, darling, you’re a Moondweller, you can do anything! Remember, you are a full M.D now, try sycting me”
“I love you Daisy and hope to see you soon again”
“me too darling, goodbye then”
“Yeah, bye” and with that June put the phone down.
After a nice relaxing shower, Cole came out with only a towel on. “Hey, you’re back to normal again” Sven said looking up. “Oh, yeah, guess I am” he said and looked at his body. Under his arm, at his chest, hands in hair and under his arm again. He looked very funny. Mary looked up and told him: “You’re like a cup of noodles” Cole pulled a face “Wha’?” he asked, stretching out the word. “just add water” and with that Sven and June burst out laughing. “Cup o’ noodles?” Cole asked, looking very funny.

Chapter 10: The grey place

June wasn’t wearing the necklace anymore. It was in a special box with Cole’s bracelet and Sven’s eye-patch. Mary wears her necklace that June bought her everyday, she doesn’t take it off. June was experimenting a lot with her powers. She hadn’t told the others that she was also born and tried to be killed on Friday the thirteenth, making her even more powerful. Usually people think Friday the 13th is bad luck, but it’s only because a lot of Moondweller stuff happens on those days, and then normal people think it is bad luck. And with June being threatened from birth made her even more powerful. So, she is like super extra strong. She still had wolf ears, they seemed permanent. June had also gotten a bell and put it around her neck. Now she was like Cole. Except that Cole only wore red cloth and June a colour that matched her clothes. June had put the radio on and put an Athens CD in. It was songs that spell doom to come. But the funny thing is, while it was playing, thunder started rumbling outside. It was like music called the weather. “Hey, Sven? What town are we in now?” she asked stopping from dancing for a breath. “We’re in Tokyo” he said without looking up from his paper. “We’re already in Tokyo?!” she burst out. Cole, Mary and Azura went into town, shopping. It was just Sven and June at the hotel room. Sven was feeling uncomfortable. He had a crush on her, being with her the whole time and so. “Do you need something here in Tokyo?” he asked, looking up from his newspaper, uncertain. She thought for a moment and then answered: “Yes, I need to go to a part of town called Rough-Rogue. Yeah, sounds bad, but I simply have to go there. Power stuff.” “Tell you what, I’ll go with you. It’s a gentleman’s honour. It sounds a bit… rough down there for you” he said smiling. The Rough-Rogue isn’t so rough actually. It was a secret underground wizarding market. June had to go get herself a wand. To extend her powers to the full amount, she needed a wand. She has wizarding in her. June wasn’t in Rough-Rogue before and was pretty lost. Until she bumped into a familiar back. June remembered that soft friendly shaggy coat of a back. The back turned around and reviled the face of Hennaed Muleteer. “Mr. Hennaed!” June said, glowing with happiness. “June, I can’t believe how much you’ve grown! When I last saw you, you were a tinny tot. And you don’t need to call me mister; you are old enough to just call me Hennaed now. So, what are you doing down here?” Hennaed asked. “Well, I ran into Daisy a few days ago, and she taught me full Moondweller. And so…” Sven interrupted at that moment “Hey, June, people will hear you talking about M.D!” he said looking nervously at the many people bustling around them. “No worries my friend, these people are all magical, no mortals, except you of course.” Hennaed laughed “Anyway, like I was saying, and so I came to buy a wand and other magical stuff. A gal needs to protect herself.” She said lovingly. “And whot about this guy? Is he your boyfriend?” Hennaed teased, thumping Sven on the back. Sven had to hold his hat with one hand as the wind got knocked out of him. Hennaed was bigger than anyone Sven or June knew. Like he was family of bear or troll. “Nah, this is Sven, he’s a pal. My bf is out in town with Mary and Azura. Could you help me ‘round the place, I don’t know it exactly?” she asked him, having to crane her neck to look him in the eyes. “Sure, what do ya need?” he asked. “Ag, the basics, a wand, amulets, D.Bs and HDAS. Know where I can find some?” she said smiling like it’s very normal. Sven was looking confused. “June, what’s D.Bs and HDAS?” Sven asked her. She looked at him for a moment and started giggling. Hennaed joined in with a hearty laugh. “D.Bs” June said wiping away a tear “is short for Death-Blows. And HDAS are short for Healing Drinks And Stuff. Its wizard stuff, we don’t expect you to understand” she said Hennaed beckoned at them “Follow me, I want you two out of here quick, it’s not as safe as it used to be” and led them down the hallway. Everything looked so grey. Even the colourful fliers littering the streets looked kind of grey. People, dressed in rags, came out of the shadows, looking at them, eyeing June. They crawled towards her, pleading with their eyes. They surrounded her, grabbing her feet and mourning in a language she did not now. A well dressed man came from where he was leaning against the wall of a shop. “Do you see these poor people? Can you see what you did to them? You broke them and their families. It was YOU who killed all those people when you were born. But now it their turn to be on top. They are going to have their revenge and they’re gonna enjoy it. Now, ATTACK!!!” he shouted. The people straitened up and threw back their shawls too reveal that they all are holding machine guns. One in each arm. A mean grin spread around the man's face. “Who are you? What is your name? And by-the-way, like I could have helped it! Tell that to my parents, man!” she said fiercely. “My name is Gillian Shoe” he said. “Well, my name is June” she said and turned around. She looked over her shoulder and said to him just before she ran: “Remember my name; you’ll be screaming it later”

*

June was standing with her back to the wall. She was panting and there were a few streaks of sweat on her forehead. Her hair had gotten messed up, revealing her wolf ears. “I think we lost them” Hennaed said, looking over at June. His brows furrowed and he looked confused. Just when he was about to ask, she held up her hand and said: “Long story” “Ah” he said and stood up from were he was sitting on the ground. “Let’s get going, you need those things” and led them towards a brown door in the wall. From the outside it looked as if the shop will be small and crowded, but once inside, it was enormous. It stretched out for miles, maybe even kilometres. The first part of the shop was book cases and many, many books. The rest of the store they could not see, it was covered in a sort of mist. Somewhere in it an owl hooted and a monkey screeched. ‘Hmm, a jungle’ June thought. A small man with grizzled hair came out of the mist. When he saw June, he folded his hands and looked her strait in the eyes. “So, it is that time already” he said in a voice no one, not even June, expected from him. Sven and June looked at each other. The man gave a short laugh and took June’s hand and led her into the mist. Sven made to rush after her, but Hennaed put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. “This she needs to do on her own, otherwise it may end disastrous.” He said looking at the shadow of June being pulled forcefully by the strange man. All Sven could do is look helplessly after her, longing not only for her, but for her protection too.

After a long while June returned. She had many bags in her hands and a few on her back. Sven was sitting in a chair and Hennaed was leaning against a wall, hands in pockets. There wasn’t many socialising between them. Someone made a comment about the weather and there was a lot of sighing but that was it. When June came in, looking very funny not using magic, Hennaed’s emotionless face burst with excitement. “Hey, June, I have a great idea! I’m ganna buy you a present. You know, for all the birthdays I missed. Come on, this way!!” he said, eyes wide with excitement. He led them down the passage again but it looked strangely different, a bit more cheerful. “I wonder where we are going” June thought out loud. “Oh, you’ll see soon enough. Just another right here and then seventh door on the left” Hennaed said. So they went right at the corner and walked further on. June tried to spot the seventh shop but the left side of the street had many clothes shops and they displayed some clothes outside on stands in the air. “Ok, we’re almost there so…” Hennaed said and whispered something on Sven’s ear. Sven nodded and went over to June. He looked her in the eyes and then closed her eyes and said: “Heya No Reada” June couldn’t see or read their minds. Hennaed nodded at Sven, walked a bit further and disappeared into a shop.

“Hey June” someone said in the darkness. “Why don’t you go home, Hennaed will take me home” it was Sven. “Uh-huh” June replied. She visualized the apartment and *POP* she was there. Someone gave a startled cry and June opened her eyes. Cole was lying on the bed reading a magazine. Mary poked a head out of the shower at the sound of a POP. Near June’s feet, Azura half sat, half lay, on the floor. She had her hand half way to her mouth. It was made into a soft fist. She looked quite shocked. Cole had looked up when she appeared, but returned to his magazine after a while. Mary was back in the shower again. But Azura stayed in that odd position. June strode away, head held high. ‘I think I might have landed on her’ June gloated. She waved a hand over her shoulder at Azura and flopped down on the bed opposite Cole. Azura had moved a bit. Now her legs were under her, hands on the ground. She had a slight frown on her face, like she was thinking very hard. Which she was. June put her hands on her stomach and laughed at the sight of Azura thinking. It was five and grey outside already. Someone knocked on the door. Azura looked up. June wasn’t planning to open it; she had closed her eyes and crossed her arms under her head. Azura stood up and opened the door. She backed away from the door so quick, she tripped herself. Hennaed came in. He had to half bow when he came through the door. Behind him Sven trotted in, a big smile on his face. In his hand was a huge bird cage. In it, was an owl as white as fresh snow. The only place that was not white, was his face. At the outsides of his eyes, up over them and down his beak was grey. He also had a single silver grey star on his forehead. June stood up and looked at the bird. Ever so slowly she touched the star. Outside lightning flashed. The owl looked at her oddly, opened its mouth and… licked her hand. June pulled her hand back sharply. “Bad choice Hennaed, it’s as daft as an ass” she said and flopped back on the bed. The owl turned its head. “Actually, I’m quite educated. More, in fact, than most of the population” it said. June gazed awestruck at the owl. He could talk! And is probably more magically than anyone would think This made June very excited, if this simple owl could speak human, what other animals could talk?! ‘Oh wow!’ June thought,’ this is the best birthday presents ever!’ And smiled from ear to ear, almost glowing with happiness.

Chapter 11: Bad sushi

June wasn’t feeling too great. They had eaten sushi the previous night and her stomach didn’t agree with her mouth. She spent most of her morning with her head down the loo, much to the disgust of the rest of the group. She was also shaking a bit and had the feeling of something bad had happened. So, when she wasn’t in the loo, she was racking her brains down the many years in her life to find the reason why she was feeling the way she was. Then it struck her after many hours of brain-scrambling hard work, she found the reason why. Today a year back was the day she departed from her well loved friend Jenny. And Jenny’s twin sister, who is nothing like her, Jo. Later the same day that she departed, the law enforcers looked at her, as if she’s the one who murdered someone! How… crude of them. She was still day dreaming when Sven burst in, out of breath and looking as if he’s panicking big time. “June, oh and the rest of you too, pack your stuff, the cops are after us.” He panted. Everyone panicked except June and Cole. “Well, what do they want with us?” June asked calmly “They want YOU!!” Sven shouted. Flashes out of the past flashed in front of June’s eyes as she remembered her past. Somebody sang ‘we only have four minutes to this’ in the background of chaos. “Not again” June kept murmuring to herself as she packed. As they rushed out the police stood waiting for them barricading the way to stress-free freedom. ‘Uh-oh’ all of them thought

Chapter 12: The prince of darkness

After being beaten several times and hung in a filthy cell for several days, everyone except June was shipped to a secret place so they would not know where June was. June’s mouth was bound with a rag and a charm was put around her neck that prevented her powers from working. And it was shafting her neck, cutting deep into the flesh. Blood had long since dried but every now and then it bled fresh again. The door to the dark cellar suddenly swung open and in strode the man June never wanted to meet, the most insane and evil man on earth, the man out of her past, the man in working with E3L., an evil origination. Trench Futurele.

Chapter 13: June’s labour and another crazy girl

“Faster!!” the rough man barked at June, bringing down the whip on her back. She screamed in pain and dropped to her knees as the red mark spread over her stinging back. “That’s quite enough now Morris, remember, she’s still only a girl. Even though some would think she’s an old hag. So when’s your 340th birthday huh June?” Trench said in that spiteful snippy voice. June glared up at him from where she stood on hands and knees. ‘How were we so stupid to stay so long in one location?’ June thought bitterly to herself. She was Trench’s slave. Her job at the moment was to push a heavy wooden wheel that crushed corn into flour for bread. Sometimes Trench was nice to her, sometimes flirty and then other times so mean she wanted to claw his eyes out. Today, it seemed, he wanted to be a whole different mood. “Morris, let her go to the winery, the flour is done. Good job!” he said and strode away, his long black coat swishing in harmony with his grey hair. Don’t get me wrong, he wasn’t old, he coloured his hair for the effect of terror. ‘Does he mean me or him? And, does he like to party? ’cause, he wants wine and bread? Something smells fishy, and not just because I had to chop fish heads…’ June wondered as she was chained and led to the winery ‘Gosh I miss Cole’

*

The wind was howling loudly in the driver’s ears as the motorbike sped on. The black bike with a silver wolf on, the driver’s pride. It’s been going smoothly so far. ‘I hope it stays that way’. Suddenly it hit a big rock in the road and the motorbike went flying to the side. There was a cliff with a fifty foot drop on the side. “Shit!!” Cole swore as his body hit the tar and his bike crashed into the metal railing next to the cliff. One car honked, swerved and stopped in front of him. “Cole? Funny running into you! I haven’t seen you in quite a while, hey?!” Anime Ceburg said. Cole squinted up at the woman with short spiky hair. Purple spiky hair. Her eyes were blue but almost transparent. She was wearing a cameo-green sports T-shirt and baggy cameo pants. Inside her Italian sports motor was a big bazooka. Anime held out her hand and pulled Cole up. After dusting himself, he grabbed Anime and hugged her tight. After he pulled back he looked her in the eyes for a long while then said; “oh Anime! All these years! I thought you were dead! You have no idea how much I missed you! Oh Anime!” he said hugging her again. Anime took care of Cole when he was young and his parents were killed. I shall not tell you what happened to them because Cole is sensitive in that specific area. “So, where are you so hasty to go to?” she asked him as he picked up his bike. A look of pure anger flashed over his face before he answered. “To kill Trench” Anime looked at him a while then said “I understand” as Cole started his engine, Anime did the same. “I’m going with you, don’t ask why, just accept it.” she said. Cole only looked at her “I never said you mustn’t come” he said, got on his bike and rode away into the sunset.

Chapter 14: An evil party

June hit the floor hard as the guards threw her into the huge area where Trench sat. She staggered upwards only to be pushed back to the ground. “You must bow to the mighty
Trench” the guard said. From her knees she looked up only to see Trench’s robe swishing towards her. He knelt down in front of her and took her chin. She followed him upwards and he put his arm around her middle. “Tonight we celebrate!” he said as they walked towards a door on the far side of the ‘hall’ you can say. “Celebrating what?” June asked carefully. “Why, the capture of you of course!” Trench laughed. As they entered trough the door June saw a long hall with tables on the side, a wide dancing area in the middle and a table with food, the wine she made, plates and glasses. There was a stage way in front with curtains drawn and a podium to the side. “Looks great hey? Now be a good girl and let the electricians quickly replace your collar.” He said and as he turned around he whispered to the electricians: “We better work quickly, if she gets loose, we’re screwed” and the workers nodded. As they turned at June they smiled, but as they got nearer the smiles disappeared and they tackled her hard. Two held her arms; two held her legs and two went to work on her collar. They worked a bit then ripped the collar off. As soon as it was off June screamed a sonic blast that sent them flying. But she was too out of practise to keep them down. As they were jumping up she did the same and sprinted to a nearby window that was wide open. As she jumped out and thought she was finally free, a whole lot of hands shot out and grabbed her. “Ag fu...ngis” she mumbled to herself. The people clipped the new collar on and let her go. They looked angrily at her and dismissed her, where Trench was waiting outside the door. “Well, you made quite a commotion in there” he said as he straitened up. “Take the rest of the day off. I’ll see you tonight for the party. And, put on your battle clothes, you know, the skirt with leggings etc.” He said casually as he strode away

*

She was she about to go out to the party when Trench came in, looking very snazzy in a white tux. “Oh, I see you’re on your way out. Come, I’ll take you to your place.” There was a strange glint in his eyes, which made June wonder. Trench led her down a narrow passageway and to a small curtain door. Two guards stood next to it. one grabbed her and the other took something out of his pocket. “Terribly sorry June, but every party needs its entertainment” Trench said smiling. Just when she was beginning to say ‘what?’ the guard pushed the needle into her arm and injected her with liquid that would first make her so dizzy she won’t know what is going on then make her go into a murderous mood. She’ll go crazy and attack anything she sees. So the guard opened the curtain and pushed June in. Turns out the curtains were drawn because there was a huge steel cage behind it. Through the dizziness, June heard Trench’s voice, but couldn’t understand what he was saying: “Ladies and gentlemen, I have successfully captured… June Wonder!!” then there was a lot of oohs and aahs. Trench cleared his voice and continued; “and as you all probably know, every party needs good entertainment, so I bring you the savaged slave that is… June Wonder!!” and suddenly bright lights shone into her eyes. She felt how her dizziness disappeared and she was suddenly very angry at Trench for tricking her so badly. As she looked up she had shadows under her eyes and her hair was oily, long and tangled. She looked at Trench and screamed her eyes red again. The crowd gasped. Then she lunged forward but instead of hitting human flesh, she hit steel bars. She held her hands in a circle, looked through them and a red beam shot out. Not. She screamed another sonic blast. It failed. She turned into a wolf. The crowd’s women screamed in terror. Never had they seen such a huge wolf. June growled and bit the steel. And the night continued.

Chapter 15: The snake

“Hit me again” Cole told the barman as he finished his shot of clean whisky. “Sir, are you sure you want another one?” the barman (Steve) asked. “You’ve already had five”. Cole whipped out his gun and pointed it strait at his face. “I asked you, HIT ME AGAIN!!” he shouted. He was completely pissed (drunk). Anime tapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t you think you’ve had quite enough to drink?” she gave her one of her ‘looks’. “Yeah, guess your right” he said, but an idea was forming in his head without him knowing it. Just as he was standing up, he suddenly started singing ‘You are my sunshine’. Some people cheered, others just looked at him strangely. Suddenly a huge Corn-Snake slithered through the wall. People yelled and jumped onto tables. The red-brown snake with orange markings took no notice of them and kept slithering towards Cole. As she arched up and looked him in the eyes, he heard a smooth and emotionless voice inside his head. ‘Do not panic, I have come to help you. My name is Sleo, and I know where June is’. Cole threw his glass down and grabbed the snake around the throat. “Lead me too her”

Chapter 16: Trench’s evil plan

It was dark. June was snuggled into her blankets, past-out into a heavy unwakeable slumber. Thus, she was quietly carried into another room, a different bed. She usually slept in a light nightdress that ended very short. A feather stroked her cheek. She pressed her eyelids tighter then opened them reluctantly. As her eyes got used to the dark, she saw one thing: Trench and his almost nude body. Somewhere classical music played. “Halo dearest June” he said stroking her chin ‘Dearest June???’ she wondered confused. He was so very close, it scared her. “How did I get here?” she asked him moving back a bit. His arm shot out and grabbed her, pulling her closer. “I sent some guards to fetch you” he was staring in her eyes. His arm was still around her. She dared to move a bit but he only tightened his grip. He started talking about who knows what, when June interrupted him: “Shut up and let me go” she commanded. He slapped her and when her head returned to look at him he kissed her forcefully. “Do that again and I’ll bite your tong off” she hissed at him. His hand was slipping onto her shoulder, pulling down her strap, while his other hand pressed a button. Guards came in, took June and strapped her to a table where she was useless. Trench stood in front of her, smiling evil. “June… you’re ganna make me a daddy” and somewhere far away Cole woke up sweating on a giant snake’s body.

The rest you can think… bad. I hate that chapter!! On to the next!

Chapter 17: Following Dragon

Anime was startled as an owl pecked at her window. As it hooted, it sounded as if he was saying: “open up, I bring ne-ews.” As Anime opened her car’s window the owl flew in and sat on the dashboard. It pruned its feathers a bit then looked at her. It had a silver star on its forehead. “Cole Hartman” the owl hooted “is my owner’s boyfriend. He sent me to tell you that a big snake is leading him to Trench’s hideout. You need to follow me” Anime looked at it. “I believe you, lead the way” she said.
Behind nearby bushes Sven and Mary sat. They weren’t following Anime or anything; they were simply having a picnic. Wait! Maybe that’s what they want me to think! Well anyway, they over heard the owl and when Sven looked over the bushes he saw that it was in fact Dragon (the owl’s name). “Sacrè bloody bleu!!” Sven said speaking French mixed with a bit of English. “We might have found June and Cole” Mary sighed. “Sven, do we have to go look for June?” she said touching his arm. He said nothing just packed the stuff in the car and waited for her to get in. Mary had a crush on him but he liked June but June liked Cole and he liked her back. What a screw up. As Mary got in the car they rode off after Anime, but Mary was sad and almost to tears.

Chapter 18: Be with me forever

June opened her eyes. She was in her own room. ‘Was it all a dream then?’ she wondered. She threw the covers off and looked at her stomach. It looked different. She couldn’t tell why it looked different, it just did. Sighing she stood up and dressed in her day clothes. (Red with mini and polo neck with no sleeves) ‘Today is the day I get away’ she packed her bags and put them on the floor next to the bed. As she straitened up an owl burst through the window “Dragon!” June exclaimed, hugging him softly. “Hi June, I bring a holography message from Cole” he hooted as he dropped the disk on the carpet. A blue light shone and Cole appeared. Kneeling down he opened a little box. In it was a ring. “June,” the holographic Cole said “I want you marry me” almost in tears of happiness June sat on her knees in front of it. “Yes, yes! Tel him yes” she said putting her hand in the image. She closed the disk and put it in her bag with all her sentimental stuff. Saying goodbye to Dragon, she walked out of the room. She walked into the main hall where Trench was standing, talking to someone. “I’m leaving today” she said in a flat tone. “What’s this? Oh no you’re not! You are going to scrub this hall until it I can see myself in it” he said. June went red and hit him in the face. “Its easy for a good girl to go bad” she said. Some nearby guards grabbed her and zapped her with an electrically charged iron bar. As she collapsed to the ground, Trench addressed her: “You can live or die, the choice is yours” he was looking down on her and the atmosphere was quite frightening. “I would rather die than be your slave a second longer.” She was glaring at him. As he was preparing his pistol to shoot, the guards tied June to a pillar and stepped away, leaving the room. It all seemed to happen in slow-motion. The bullet left gun but at the same time the middle of the wall exploded. Cole shot through it on his bike and closely behind him followed the serpent. As the bullet almost hit June, Cole got in-between the bullet and June. The bike sped and swerved. It fell a distance behind Trench; Cole’s body rolling off the bike and landing him on is back. “You bastard!” June screamed at Trench, and broke her chains. She stood up and she ran towards Cole and knelt down over his body. As she straitened up, she was nothing but a big bole of anger. “You just made the wrong move.” she said, trying to stay calm “Welcome to hell!!!” she exploded, the collar dropping to the floor.

*

The car stopped in a cloud of dust. Sven got out and as the dust cleared, he wondered aloud: “I wonder what’s going on in there” they were just outside Trench’s castle and there a few booms and so coming from inside. As they went through the big oak doors, they saw a manifest of current events: Cole, almost dead, on the floor. Next they saw June and Trench in a fight so hard, they only know of each other and no-one else. Guards trying to budge in either a bullet in the head, a blast of energy from June, a stab in the ribs or a bite from a huge snake slithering around in the hall. It was a ruthless battle. Sven and Mary ran over to Cole, avoiding stray blows. As they ripped open his shirt they gasped deeply. The bullet had cut him deeply from the shoulder down to under his ribs, on the other side! Sven and Mary looked at each other, doubting that Cole would live.

Chapter 19: A sad ending

As June hit the floor, she grabbed her shoulder where a bullet hit her. Looking at the wound, the bullet slid out and the skin closed up over the hole in her shoulder. Her pretty face had several cuts and was dripping with blood. An idea came into her head ‘No, I can’t do it, but I’ll have to!’ She argued with herself. Finally she made her decision. She would do anything to get rid of Trench, even if it meant killing herself in the process. She put her hands in a circle form, sweeping all of her energy together. A green vortex was forming between her cupped hands. As she took her hands further and further from each other, the vortex expanded, until it was as big as a Great Dane. She looked up at Trench, who was staring with a slight hint of horrification. June Wonder aimed a huge green vortex at Trench Futurele and sniggered. As the vortex hit Trench he screamed and June collapsed and was shaking and sweating cold blood. As she crawled towards Cole (she even went through Trench’s blood without shivering) tears streamed down her face. As she saw Cole’s wound she gasped and grabbed her mouth, crying through her attempted scream. She lay over Cole’s bloody body and cried some more. She put her shaking hands over the spot where his still heart laid. “Espelios Heylios” she whispered. Her hands glowed for some two seconds then nothing. “Espelios Heylios” she said forcefully, a tear dropping on his body. “Espelios Heylios” she screamed and a nearby object zoomed into her hitting her through the face. Her and Cole’s body glowed bright and kept on glowing. Cole’s eyes shot open and he gasped for breath. June fell to the ground, to weak to stay sitting. Cole pushed himself up, bended over June and looked her in the eyes. She reached out and touched his cheek. He took her hand and held it tight. Tears were streaming down Cole’s face like never before. June opened her mouth and said weakly “Cole, I love you.” She forced a breath in, she was near to death. She knew she was going to die when she made that vortex, but she didn’t. But she made Cole alive, and that was what was killing her. It took all of her remaining power. As she pressed out a tear, she said “Always search for me” and she blew out her last breath.

Chapter 20: The Season of Love

The sun burnt down fiercely onto the earth. The golden autumn leaves scattered between the mourning people, all dressed in black and waiting, waiting for the body to arrive. A car stopped a few yards away. Cole, Sven, Anime, Mary, Hennaed and Daisy climbed out, their faces solemn and speak of a desperate sadness. Hennaed, Sven, Cole and Anime took the coffin out of the back of the vehicle. Daisy and Mary followed in their wake, hugging al the way. As the priest prayed for her over the open coffin, people cried in the form of half screams. Throughout the service earlier that day Cole had stared into space. Not blinking, the only movement was his breathing. He said nothing to no-one and everyone understood. He was in denial, and just couldn’t accept that she was gone. ‘She killed herself to save me! And now I’ll never se her again! Its all my fault!!!’ he kept shouting inside his head. As he looked at her body now he almost shouted. He stole a rose from some unknown woman next to him and put it under her hands, which were over her hart, now silent and no longer beating with that familiar rhythm. The priests closed the lid and slowly the coffin sank into the earth. After the hole was filled with dirt there was no evidence that someone was buried in the abandoned meadow except the plate with June’s death’s details. As people left, only Sven, Mary and Cole stood looking at the plate. Long they stood there in silence. Then Cole spoke: “Her love too me only lasted a season long” he said looking up at the sky, and reached out towards it, his hand wide open. “It was the Season of Love” and a single tear rolled down his cheek.

Impressum

Texte: All text is original and copyrighted to J.Esterhuizen
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 21.01.2012

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