The wolves howled day and night. Outside the tower window, there was no respite from the animal calls that floated up from the forest below. Hubbard turned over on his side, silently praying for the dreams to end. It was a powerful feeling knowing he had something that no one could steal from him because when you are born into the Hobb family, everyone wants to take something from you. That was the one thing he would never escape. The visions he saw were just a small piece of the legacy he was to inherit from his family, but at least it was still his, not his father's. Sitting up, he took in his surroundings for the first time since his parents dropped him off here last night. The room had a Spartan-like feel to it. The only thing more depressing than the dark gossamer curtains were the four whitewashed walls and his cowboy bedroll on top of the knotty pine bed in the center of the room. In spite of it all, he allowed himself a little smile, smiling for the first time he could remember in sixteen years at the fact that he was finally free to be a normal kid. If most people understood what it was really like to be the heir to the Hobb and Zogback fortunes, they wouldn't be so eager to give up a normal life to work with his parents. He wouldn't wish his fate on anyone. Hubbard Gyptto Frank Hobb--what a ridiculous name. How was he supposed to have anything resembling a normal life carrying a name like that? His first full day of classes at the boarding school was going to be hell.

Making his way through the little room, down the hallway to the bathroom, he started getting ready for the day ahead. On top of the heavy white pine counter lay several thick white towels layered on top of one another, a strange symbol engraved on top. He ran his fingers over the gold and silver threads, over the words, taking in their meaning. He knew someday he would find himself here, sent off to boarding school to make his fortune or die trying, but there was an inescapable realization in knowing that his future was his to shape. And he wasn't going to waste it. Suddenly, his nerves melted away, giving him the strangest feeling in the pit of his stomach like every hateful, nasty thing he could recall thinking about his family was on the surface, awaiting its chance to break free. After all, what did he really know about his family? They were filthy rich and involved in every major corporation internationally, but other than that, he was left in the dark. Mr. David Hobb, as Hubbard was constantly reminded of the appropriate form of address, never Father or Dad, and God forbid he shared a term of endearment with the man he barely knew. One way or another, he would be a complete disappointment to him no matter what academic achievement had brought him. He did not expect anything else.

--Opal Rose Zevon and Lylack Rose Zevon

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