Rowan is running through the woods as fast as he can. He can see himself running at the speed of light, but it's strange because the only reasons he would want to run are if he's engaging in a form of training or exercise or if he's chasing a monster. But he usually looks serious doing all those things. Or so he's always thought.
This time he sees himself running and smiling, so he's not training, and he's definitely not chasing a monster or being chased by one. He doesn't understand what is going on. There are a lot of things wrong with this picture. He's wearing all white for one, and he hates the colour white; it's too bright, and it gains too much attention.
So why is he running and wearing white, he wonders? Has he finally lost his marbles? Has being a hybrid finally made him go mad, or did he accidentally spell himself again?
All he knows is that this sight is very troubling and he doesn't understand what is happening. He doesn't like this; he doesn't like this at all.
He finds himself away from the trees and into the meadow filled with grasses and flowers, and the sun shining directly on his face, making him glow brighter and brighter.
He looks around; he doesn't know who he's looking for, but with the way he's smiling, Rowan doesn't think he's looking for a monster one bit, not at all. So who or what could he be looking for?
And that's when the attack happens. Rowan knew it was going to happen, but it doesn't seem like a normal attack because he's laughing, and Rowan never laughs, so what the hell is this about?
He lies on the ground, and the person who has his arms around him is a handsome boy his age with blond hair, fair skin and silver eyes that glow when the sun hits them.
The moroi vampire he met the other night, the one who helped him pass his test. They're all touchy-feely, like they've been lovers for a long time, and Rowan didn't just meet him,
As if the touching and the laughing weren't enough, they both lean into each other for a kiss. And Rowan quickly shuts it all down by waking up.
He finds himself in his room, not the meadow and definitely not kissing the moroi vampire. Rowan immediately grimaces; he would never kiss a vampire, never! He doesn't know why he had that nightmare, but he doesn't want to have it again.
Rowan groans when he looks at the time because not only did he have that disgusting dream, he missed his daily training and exercise; he never misses it.
"Fuck!" he yells. He can't start training now; it's already too late. He has to get ready for school. He wonders why his uncle didn't wake him up, not like he always relies on his uncle to wake him up to exercise, but his uncle would have gotten him up once he saw his nephew wasn't running down the woods in the earliest hours of the morning.
Rowan throws his duvet off him and then jumps out of the bed for the bathroom. He might as well get ready for school now.
He accidentally trips on a stuffed animal; he looks down to see Mr Ziggy on the ground.
"Hey, what are you doing on the floor?" he asks the zebra like it had the ability to talk. Rowan did once cast a spell on the stuffed animal, which caused nothing but chaos because the animal left the house and a lot of people saw it.
Rowan learned not to cast spells on stuffed animals again.
He quietly puts his stuffed zebra on the bed. Mr Ziggy was his only friend before he met Violet and Kael. He also saw when his parents got killed. So they share the same trauma.
Rowan does a hundred push-ups, and then he goes to get ready for school. He brushes his teeth, showers and puts on his clothes.
Rowan is a fan of rock, pop rock and grunge music. His room is dark; he doesn't put his curtains up, and it's a mess. No matter how many times the maid cleans his room, it goes back to how it was immediately.
Clothes everywhere, shoes sitting on tables, and his underwear hanging from his mirror. There are posters of his favourite bands and artists. Nirvana, Paramore, Linkin Park, Machine Gun Kelly, Tina Turner, Prince and Rihanna.
A room for a typical witch, werewolf hybrid rock-obsessed gay teenage boy.
Rowan loves dark colours so much, mostly the colour black; one would always see him in all black, that famous leather jacket of his.
Today he's wearing a black hoodie, red-and-black plaid shirt, studded accessories, a cross necklace, fingerless gloves and black cargo-style pants.
He picks up his backpack, and he moves toward the door, but he pauses when he sees a picture frame on the ground.
He moves down to pick it up, and he looks at it. It's a photo of his parents when they were his age. They're in the photo looking young, embracing each other and loving life, not knowing what will happen to them in the future.
It's depressing, really; they're gone, forever. Rowan still can't believe that someone can be that heartless, but his parents' murderer was.
Rowan sighs, drops the picture frame carefully on the table and then walks out of the room. As soon as he walks out, he's hit with the aroma of bacon, his favourite.
At first he planned on drinking orange juice and heading for school, but now that he knows his aunt has made bacon, he's definitely eating.
He moves downstairs, and his aunt and uncle are in the kitchen. He enters the kitchen, and his uncle slaps his aunt's butt.
"Eww, Uncle Chris, we're in the kitchen."
"Oh, good morning, buddy."
"Good morning, love."
"Yeah, good morning, pervs" he sits down.
"Hey! Being in love is not perverted." Uncle Chris points at him. "You'll be in love someday."
Rowan squeezes his face, then thanks his aunt when she places a plate full of bacon in front of him.
"You mean you're not going to be in love?"
"No."
"So what are you going to do, hook up with guys for the rest of- hell, are you hooking up with guys right now?"
Rowan doesn't say anything; he just looks at his uncle and winks and then puts a bacon in his mouth.
"Oh my- Megan, are you seeing this? You're sexually active?"
Rowan shrugs.
"Okay, I hope you're using protection."
"Protection from what? I'm a werewolf; we can't catch STD's or any viruses."
"Oh, are you hearing him, Meg?"
"He has a point, dear; we can't catch any of that."
"Okay, okay, I hope you're having sexual intercourse with guys your age and not some creep in their twenties or forties or eighties."
"Eighties?" Aunt Megan says, and that gets a snort from Rowan.
"Yes, honey, I don't want pedos having sex with my nephew."
"Oh, Uncle Chris, I'm really not comfortable talking about my sex life with you. But I can promise you, they are in fact age-appropriate."
"I hope you're telling the truth," he says to his nephew pointedly.
Uncle Chris accidentally knocks a glass of juice from the table, and it almost falls, but Rowan quickly stops it by muttering a spell.
Vitrum, leva.
The glass of juice begins to float with nothing spilling on the ground. His aunt and uncle see this, and they just watch as the glass goes back to where it was before.
"Oh, thanks, kiddo." Uncle Chris. "I keep forgetting you're also a witch."
And Rowan forgets as well. He doesn't usually use magic because his magic is unpredictable; that's the perk of coming from a line of powerful witches from his mother's side, and at the same time he's a werewolf. At least he has his werewolf family. His mom's family completely disowned her after she got married to his dad.
They also want nothing to do with Rowan because they see him as an abomination.
There's silence, and Rowan knows exactly what's going on. His aunt and uncle see him as a werewolf, but when he does magic, they remember he's a hybrid. The most powerful creature on earth right now.
"Uh… okay, I'm going to school now." Rowan breaks the silence, and then he picks up his bag.
"Oh, but you haven't finished your bacon, honey." Aunt Megan says.
"I'm good."
"Alright, honey, have a great day at school!"
"Make sure you learn something!" his uncle says.
"I always do!" he walks out, and he goes straight for his motorcycle. "Hello, Khaleesi." He gets on it, but before he moves, he puts on the radio, something he does every morning to start his day.
Either the radio or he plays the music.
"Good morning, beautiful romantic people of Cupid Hollow. You're listening to Heart 98.7 FM, and while you're waking up this morning, I hope you're waking up happy and excited.
Maybe you're starting school, or starting a new job, or you dreamt of your crush, and now you're going to see them. It's a nice day to talk to your crush, by the way, be it in school or the workplace. Ask them out on a date; the worst they can say is no. Who knows? Today might be the day you meet someone who changes everything. Really, take a risk.
This is Heart 98.7 FM. Your morning starts here. So pour that coffee, fix that hair, kiss somebody you love and go make today beautiful. I'm your host Caleb Rivers, now let's get to the music.
I know summer's over, but let's have that summer song one last time. This is Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift. Enjoy."
Rowan squeezes his face, but he still has a smile on, because as much as he doesn't like Taylor Swift, she still reminds him of his best friend Violet, who is obsessed with her and whom he can't wait to see.