Disclaimer: I own none of the original Nightshade trilogy.

Unless indicated, this story will always be in Aqua's POV.

The pack fans out behind me. We've been sent out for the first caribou hunt of the season, proving how much we learned from the higher-ranking wolves. With my parents as alphas, I'm the next alpha, too.

Neville and Mason watch us from atop a hill, slinking into the shadows of the trees. A flash of white fur announces Mom's arrival; Calla has come to help her packmates assess us. The one thing I don't want to do is make Mom displeased. If I mess up, she'll tell Dad, and then the two of them will make me feel worse.

I shake my head to clear it. Of course I won't mess up – my friends know their way around this territory just as well as our parents. Calla and Shay tested me on my own times before, and that's one reason why they trusted me on this mission. The other was simply because my friends kept telling them how great I was on patrol.

When I blink, I find myself looking up at the stars, not preparing for the kill rush. The sky is eerily shiny; as I shift on the bed I'm on, I realize that it's a glass ceiling. I find the Cat's Eye Aquamarine pendant around my neck and hold it tightly.

The events of the past few days rush back to me: Jasmine, my beta, getting injured by a rogue wolf; Renier (named after the wolf Mom and her friends lost in some war) slinking off to the elder wolves' pack more and more frequently; and my little discovery of two swords hung on what looked like a wall, which was actually the reason for my current situation. I look down at myself, my human hands, and wish I was a wolf again. Somehow I became what had been forbidden, thanks to those swords.

The Elemental Cross, I think Dad called them. He said once on one of our visits to the site that he used it in the war, banishing the Harbinger Bosque Mar and destroying the human halves of Guardians forever.

That is, until I found my way back to the site, was enveloped in an eerie glow, and fainted from a serious migraine.

Out and into consciousness I had drifted, registering the same room every time I opened my eyes. Even now, I can still feel my wolf, pacing somewhere that I can't reach. My head hurts too much to think, so I don't bother trying to remember what Mom and Dad said they did when they were Guardian wolves/humans.

I stay there like that for a while, just staring at the navy horizon. Dawn breaks, turning the sky gray, then tingeing it pink. The sun rises to make it red, yellow, and finally blue, and soon I grow too restless to stay in one place.

Right when I've figured out how to become a wolf again, the door cracks open. I shift quickly, baring my teeth at the newcomer.

"Looks like wolfie's awake," he comments, grinning. "Sabine, come in here. She might take more of a liking to you than to me."

I prick my ears at Sabine's name. Calla and Bryn told me stories of their old friend Sabine, who gave her wolf form to Mom's brother Ansel before Shay closed the portal to the Netherworld. Sabine became human so that An and herself could be happy.

"Ethan, you shouldn't tease her. She's been through a lot recently."

Her scent is what I mostly remember. Dad explained on one of our other patrols that she, Ethan, Connor, and Ariadne (or Adne for short) sometimes came to visit us, watching us from the ridge of hills. That was because I caught their scents and bristled. Now, though, I cock my head to one side, wondering why I'm one of the old Guardians in a building with some of the new.

"You can change back, you know. We're not going to hurt you." Sabine glares pointedly at Ethan, who flashes his palms in surrender. "His crossbow will stay on his back, don't worry."

When I shift back, I instantly miss my pelt and clutch at the necklace. "Damn, I didn't think the earth would allow for any more abominations like this."

"You sound like Connor," Sabine scolds. She turns to me.

"I'm Aquamarine, or Aqua. Calla named me because I was born on the spring solstice. The birthstone for March is aqua, and the day before she found this." I show them my pendant. "Anything else you want to know?"

"Yeah, what were you doing near the Elemental Cross?"

I stiffen at the sight of who I presume to be Connor. A girl follows him in and smacks him on the shoulder, having me guess that she's Adne. "Be nice. Sabine's warning for Ethan is my warning for you." Immediately, I like her. From Dad's old stories, I know he did, too.

"I was getting away from the pack. I needed time to think alone, and then this happened to me." I shift into a wolf and back before fixing Ethan with a glare. "I am not an abomination!"

Another woman comes in with a boy about my age (seventeen) at her side. "She's definitely Calla's daughter. I'm glad to hear she and Shay and the others are well. Ethan, would you please find a xiphos from the weapon room?"

"Yes, Anika." He leaves.

"The Arrow?" I blurt out. She looks at me curiously. "My parents told me about the days of the war and their time with you all," I explain swiftly. "They really miss you, and so do the others."

Ethan comes back with two leaf-shaped blades in hand, momentarily interrupting us. I move from one foot to the other, an overwhelming desire coursing through me as the boy takes the ancient Greek swords. "Aqua, this is Brady, our newest Striker," Anika introduces.

He swings the xiphos' expertly before sliding them into two sheaths hanging from his belt. "Hi." He extends his hand.

Listening to instinct, I shake it. "Hi." I smile, making sure my fangs are visible. I know the normal lifespan for a wolf is at most twenty years, but because of the past, my pack and our neighbors live much longer.

A flicker of fear passes through his dark blue eyes. "Anika, did you want me to test this girl's abilities?" He turns to the Arrow, who nods.

When he faces me once more, I'm already a wolf. "Apparently Keeper magic is not entirely gone," she comments a little sadly.

Fight me! I think, projecting it to everyone in the room.

Sabine's eyes widen. "We could only talk to each other when we're all wolves."

Telepathy can be used on anyone. I growl, crouching low to the ground. If you don't think I'm going to be a good girl, you might as well get the fight over with. I am not some pet.

Anika blinks in surprise. "Of course not. It's just unnatural for any of this to happen now that the Netherworld is closed."

"The Scion's daughter has powers, does she?"

"I can't believe my granddaughter's a wolf!"

At the sound of Tristan and Sarah Doran's voices, I force my ruff to lie flat. Shay told me about them, too, when he explained the Tale of the Scion, as he likes to call it. It becomes too crowded when they enter, which pretty much forces a growl from my throat.

"Guys, we should go into the courtyard. Aqua won't feel as trapped." Sabine stares at me sympathetically.

I pad next to Brady for a while. He glances down at me. "Isn't it weird being a wolf?"

Isn't it weird being a human? I retort, lolling my tongue in a wolf grin.

"Good luck nonetheless."

You, too, I respond.

I breathe in the cool dawn air once we're in the courtyard. A howl rips through the serenity. I prick my ears, hearing answering calls from several other wolves. Mom and Dad are searching for me. I keep my thoughts private. I want to lift my muzzle and howl back, but I flick my gaze from one Guardian to the next, landing on Anika last.

"Adne, Connor, go reassure our old friends that Aqua is safe." She bends down to be eye-level with me. "I'd let you howl, Aqua, but there might be people who want you. Maybe they did this to you."

I whine as I watch the two of them go through the Weaver's door. Brady kneels down beside me. He has enough sense not to pet me, thank Lupus. "We can't risk anything, Aqua. I'm sorry, for your sake." When I shift into human, he drapes his arm over my shoulders, and I take what little comfort I can from it.

"They miss me, and I miss them," I state bluntly. "I should get back to them."

"We moved the Academy here from Italy," Ethan tells me. "We're not moving it again because you disrupted the balance that's lasted for twenty years."

If it wasn't for Brady's tightened grip on me, I would have gone wolf again and bitten Ethan's leg off. Sabine watches me closely, as if recognizing the fury that must've burned in my gaze. I sigh and otherwise stay silent.

A stinging feeling courses through me, drawing me back into unconsciousness.

That's the first chapter. Lupus is the Great Star Wolf, and the new pack's form of one God or several deities. Good, Bad, Ugly? Please review!