Dmitri's face became pale when he heard that. "Which four wizards?" he asked.

"Professor Ziu and…" Fleur was again hesitant to speak.

​​

"Speak up!" roared Dmitri.

"Cy…" she said getting scared of Dmitri's demeanor. "You've met him before Adrianna…"

Dmitri tightened his hold around Adrianna's waist.

"Who are the other two wizards?" asked Adrianna.

"I don't know…"

"You are not going anywhere Adri!" declared Dmitri. He picked her up and carried her inside. "You may go back Fleur," he said as he bolted the door from inside.

Once they were inside, he said, "I will not let you go anywhere that puts your life at stake."

Adrianna knew that it would be difficult to convince Dmitri so she brought up a suggestion. "Dmitri, I have to find my wand... but would you accompany me in my quest to find it? Do you trust that I will be able to protect you?"

"Adri!" Dmitri was shocked to hear her suggestion.

"I am confident that you can protect me, but this is more of a death quest than a quest for a wand. You have way too many enemies out there who want to kill you or capture you. Even if I come with you, can you guarantee that you will be safe? I will give my life for you, but I want you to promise me one thing; I want you to promise me that you will live." Dmitri spoke in a tone that allowed for no discussion.

Adrianna moved closer to him and stroked his cheek right below his ears. "Trust me. If we live, we will live together, and if we die, we will die together. This is just a wand quest - nothing much. No one in the entire wizard kingdom knows that I am in this realm with you, so who would come after me? They would think I am just any other wizard child who has come for the quest."

Dmitri's anxiety lowered a bit. He leaned his face into her hand and said, "Okay, I will go with you. I will take another fifty werewolves with me."

"That's a large number... we will attract unwanted attention. Let's not take anyone with us Dmitri… The two of us should be more than enough."

"No! I will take ten others with us."

Adrianna sighed and smiled at him.

They were out of the werewolves' territory and headed into the deep jungles within the next half an hour. True to what Fleur had said, the path shone on its own to lead Adrianna to her destination.

Adrianna and Dmitri shape-shifted into werewolves and ran through the shining path. All the other werewolves followed them. The jungle lit up as though it had become heaven on the earth. There were bright white lights sprinkled in the air that would dim and then glow up again. The leaves on the trees looked greener than usual and the ground was covered with soft, cushioned grass. The fresh breeze blowing scented the air with a floral smell. Adrianna found it strange that she wasn't able to hear a single animal's voice the entire time she had been running. Perhaps they were all sleeping.

They must have run for more than an hour, but the path still continued to shine and lead them even further ahead. Dmitri stopped all of them and mentally communicated, "Adrianna, are we going in circles?"

"No Dmitri, I think we have come very far inside the jungle…"

Suddenly, there was a flutter as some birds flew out of their nests. Adrianna shape shifted and looked around. This was the first time they had heard any animal noises since the beginning of their quest.

She looked towards the source of the noise, but to her surprise, she found that there were two neotides hanging upside down on a tree. As soon as she saw them, they let go of the branch they were hanging on and jumped in front of her.

Dmitri, along with the rest of the werewolves, shape shifted. His worst fears had come true. Out of anger, he killed the two of them cruelly by attacking them from the front and ripping apart their limbs. However, his actions were in vain as they soon found themselves surrounded by a large number of neotides who slowly started forming a circle around them. Even more surprising was the fact that a wizard was riding atop a neotide in the forefront of the group. Both Dmitri and Adrianna were confounded as to which wizard it could be. Their eyes grew wide when the neotide with his master came closer. It was Cy. Adrianna gritted her teeth.

Adrianna narrowed her eyes. "How did you know I was here?" asked Adrianna immediately, not wasting any time.

Cy laughed. "I didn't know. But when you see this activity in the forest, you know that a witch or a wizard has come for their wand, so I naturally came to capture whoever it was. I can't thank my stars enough that the lucky witch was you!"

"It seems you have forgotten how you ended up last time Cy. Otherwise, you would have retreated the moment you saw me," shouted Adrianna. Dmitri and other werewolves moved closer to her and formed a circle.