Page 5 of The Blairville Legacies

I looked at my wrist. Nothing.

“Bay? I told you not to scratch it. Doctor Gilson didn't prescribe your medication for nothing,” Mum snapped me out of my rigidity, and I bit the tip of my tongue in shock.

Ouch!

“I don't have any more pills. And I suppose I can't very well buy any in the wilderness.” I earned a disapproving look from my mother before she reached into her side compartment and pulled out a blue box.

“Seriously?” Where did she keep getting these new recipes? The restriction on the number of prescriptions a doctor could give a patient in a given time seemed to be something my mother could somehow get around.

And even though these pills prevented things from happening to my body that I was rapidly losing control over, I was paying a different price for them.

“Young lady, take your medication. Otherwise, you can forget about me driving you to university every time. There's an old bike in our garage, too!”

Not only her mischievousI'm-your-mother-and-you're-not-an-adult-yet-grin, but also my bewildered look spoke volumes.

Ihatedbicycles, and there was a good reason for that. I had been in an accident when I was four. I couldn't remember anything except the bike. My mother had then told me about the car and the slippery road. The reason why a six-centimeter-long scar stretched below my breast. From that day on, I had vowed to never sit my bum on one of those devilish things again.

Mum was still holding the pills out to me, looking worried, while at the same time concentrating on driving.

Reluctantly, I reached for the little box.

Bayla Adamswas written in block letters on the label. The plastic box was still new and filled to the brim, as it always was when Mum gave me a new one.

I opened it, took out a pill, and swallowed it. Then I slammed the lit of the container shut again and put it in my jacket pocket. I had to think of something to get rid of these pills. And hopefully, this time, there wouldn’t be any new ones.

I must have fallen asleep because when I opened my eyes, we were no longer on the endless highway but on a two-lane road in the middle of the forest. The sunlight that had woken me made its way through the lush leaf canopy and tickled my skin.

A pleasant tingling sensation ran through me, and I sat up straight. Only now did I see the wide shore stretching a few meters beyond the trees, glimmering as if in an almost too-beautiful fairy tale. Although it was still summer, some of the leaves on the maple trees had turned yellow, making the picture even more beautiful.

I had to blink and when I looked more closely, I recognized a tower on the other side of the water, a few miles away...or was it a church?Wait...

And then I saw that there, in the middle of the changing nature, was a whole city with a harbor, a church, and two modern skyscrapers.

Even further in the distance, in the middle of the needle forest, I spotted a gigantic gothic tower rising out of the woods. Deep forest stretched around it, kissed by the colors of autumn. But it was too far away to recognize everything.

“Is that…?” I began, but I had forgotten the name of the town.

“Yes, my darling, that'sBlairville.”

Mum smiled at me, and now I understood what she meant byidyllic. The sun turned the water's surface into a shining mirror, and the curvy road we drove beside the railway tracks led us further and further into a magnificent forest of tall trees. The forest along the road became denser as we drove around a long bend, and the town disappeared from my view.

About two minutes later, a large, noble - though already very old - wooden sign appeared at the side of the road, on whichWelcome to Blairvillewas written in elegant capital letters. A noble black bird sat on the edge, brushing its feathers. A raven.

Mum's radio began to buzz, and I was beginning to think the signal was gone again, as it was so often on this endless drive, but to my surprise, the tune of a News Station rang out, and shortly afterward, a man began to speak.

“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen! Welcome toBlairville Dailywith theBexleysand the latest local news so you will always know what's going on in our beautiful hometown!” the newscaster began far too enthusiastically as if he had been waiting for us to come to Blairville. It was a wonderthat a small town even had such a thing. “Today with Joe Bexley and...” He stopped so a woman could announce herself, “Harriet Bexley!”

“Oh God, so those two have actually taken over Joe's parents' radio station...”

I looked at Mum in surprise.

She knew these people?

“And yet again, gigantic wild wolves have been spotted in the Copelands' woods.”

I tried to concentrate on the words of the over-motivated Joe as the sky above the forest closed in with thick gray clouds.

Wild wolves?InBlairville? And why did the nameCopelandring a bell? Wasn't that the name of Mum's doctor?