The Shadow Wolf - G. Bailey Page 0,4

Familiar Empire in America fill the space in the middle, but the edges of the city are filled with thousands of smaller brick houses with pretty little streets. The mountainside must have fallen or been blown up on the one side, and in the ruin, they have built houses and structures all the way up. Built into the side of the mountain and made from the stone is a giant statue of two people holding hands and looking up at the sun. A waterfall pours from their joined hands to the bottom of the mountain, no doubt going into a stream through the city. The sky is full of dozens of birds, flying in formations and even across the sea. They must be familiars because of how different all the birds are. I sit back as Alex drives us onto a modern paved road with several other cars on it.

“So, they must be trading fuel and shit from humans. Or how else would this work?” Liam asks us, and I’m sure he isn’t expecting an answer. He is right, the island looks so alive and busy like any other human city…but it’s not full of humans.

“I have no fucking clue,” Alex drawls as I keep taking in the city. It’s stunning, looking a little like the empire, but it’s so much more with actual roads, and the towers in the middle are made of glass, reflecting the sun. They look like offices instead of cramped homes like they are in the empire. I don’t get the impression the people are crowded in here at all.

It’s a good half an hour drive before we get to the middle of the city and start to drive through it. The sidewalks are filled with people in modern clothes, looking like humans except for their familiars at their sides or on their shoulders. I spot monkeys, lions, an elephant with six children on its back, and two leopards. It all becomes too much, and I end up looking away, seeing the same shocked expressions on my guys’ faces. Alex follows my parents through the city, past the beautiful district of brick houses with white-framed windows, and kids playing outside of them. There are so many children, and there is nothing but the sound of peace.

I have to admit this place is stunning. Everything the familiar race could ever need...but why is it hidden away like it never existed?

Eventually we get to a gated area, in which the gates are opened for us, and we follow the road down to a cabin on the beach. The hut is large, almost in the sea, and the waves crash against the bottom of the wooden structure. It has a crazy amount of glass windows that must pour light into the building. A long wooden pier runs to the hut, giving you some privacy from the beach and the people that might walk down it. Alex parks the car behind my parents, and we get out, walking over to them.

“This place is private from the city but still accessible to the forest. You need not worry, our people see you as guests and will not bother you. There will be an announcement tonight on our TVs, you should watch,” dad suggests and takes a step close to me. Immediately Mason gently pushes me behind him, and Alex and Liam step to his side. Dad lifts his hands in the air, the universal signal for peace. Only that won’t work with my guys. Not unless I say it’s okay, and it’s not. I don’t know my dad anymore.

“When you are up to it, I would like to know how you found us. We had always planned to step in when it got bad in the empire. We don’t want our people to suffer, but before this, everything was fine,” dad weakly explains himself.

“Before this?” Alex almost laughs. “Children are stolen in the empire, the poor die like cattle, and everyone was scared way before your eldest daughter forced them to be an army. Nothing has been ‘fine’ for a long time.”

“Alexander George, am I correct?” dad asks.

“Yes,” Alex answers him after a pause.

“And you are Mason Olesen and Liam Mogensen?” he asks, and they both nod once. “Be sure that I knew the suffering of the empire, but to step in is a big risk for my people here. Not everything is as it seems.”

I nudge Mason to the side, stepping in the middle of them. “Your friend, a