• Mia Evan was only thirteen when her mother died and left her that cursed pendant; only thirteen when she was left the responsibility of what should have been a Hollywood horror story. Her life was changed forever by death, by legend, by destiny.
    The young Asian girl sat impatiently in the hospital waiting room, watching the bustle of people around her. A father was doing all he could to see his son but forced to fill out papers. A nurse was running down the hall, bringing blood with her. The desk attendant answered phone call after phone call until it seemed her ears would fall off. And young Mia Evan sat, kicking her feet and waiting impatiently, only to get a glimpse of her dying mother. In her hands, she held the leather string of an odd necklace, an onyx stone shaped like a dog dangling from it. She stared at it and waited. She waited.
    Waiting was over.
    “You can go see her now, dear,” said the soft voice of a young, red-headed nurse.
    Mia jumped up excitedly and ran to Room 147, flying past every single person in the halls. She flung the door open and froze in the door way, staring at the sick woman in bed. The woman’s black hair hung to her shoulders in a sweaty mess and her once beautiful peacock blue eyes looked upon her daughter with a dull gleam. “There you are baby,” she woman said gently, smiling weakly.
    Mia came forward slowly as if fearing that her movement would disturb some bubble of protection that kept her mother alive. She sat down in the chair and took her mother’s hands. Her mother smiled, feeling the pendant still clenched in the girl’s fist. She took it from her and held it up, watching the onyx stone spin slowly from its string. “This is your destiny,” she whispered to her daughter softly.
    “It’s just a necklace, Mom,” Mia sighed, wondering when her mother would stop babbling about this fairy tale.
    “It’s not,” the woman snapped, staring sharply at her. “With this, you will bring forth the wolf and command him,”
    “The wolf?”
    “Yes, Mia, the wolf,” she said tiredly. “You will find him. You will bring forth the animal within him. And you shall command him.”
    “How do I find him?”
    “That is entirely up to you, my daughter,”
    “But, Mom,”
    “There are no buts!” her mother snapped, her eyes glinting angrily. “This is your destiny.” And she softened. “Do not fear your blood right, Mia,” she told her gently. “I commanded my wolf, and now it is time for you to command yours,”
    Mia looked up at her dying mother. Was it delirious nonsense or could this really be? For the first time, she noticed a book lay neatly in her mother’s lap. It was leather bound. It was her mother’s journal. Without hesitation, the woman forced the small book into Mia’s hands. “All of the answers are in here,”
    And quietly, and peacefully, the woman died, finally at rest.