Seventeen years later...

"A great journey begins when you take the first step towards your destination, and I'm sure we're on the right path," Emma murmured to her brother, who looked at her with tired eyes.

Maybe she was taking this change too seriously, and she had become more introspective than usual, but their lives had been a whirlwind of chaos over the past year.

At twenty-five, both siblings found themselves adrift. They had lived in the seclusion of their cabin on the outskirts of the forest, far from society's influence and closely watched by their late mother. It was her final wish for them to stay within those boundaries, never venturing beyond the woods and always staying united. At least in that sense, they hadn't let her down; they were still together.

"Fortune favors the bold, right?" Ethan repeated the mantra Emma had been drilling into him for the past month. "Maybe Mom was being a little overdramatic. I mean, look how far we've come, and aside from that look of approval I got from that gorgeous woman with huge boobs at the ferry terminal, no one's given us a hard time. Gosh, can't wait to warm my hands on a pair of those!

Emma playfully punched her brother in the stomach, leaving him momentarily breathless, a mischievous smile on her lips.

"We've sold what little we had, left our home, disobeyed our mother's last wish, spent a good part of the money we earned to get here, and all you can think about is grabbing... those things?" Emma complained.

She couldn't shake off the recurring thought that had been gnawing at her ever since they began plotting their new life. Ever since that fateful sign of fate landed on their doorstep in the form of a crumpled paper ad that fluttered down to their cabin entrance, her mind had been flooded with vivid visions of a rugged, flannel-clad lumberjack with a glorious beard, flexing his muscles as he chopped wood for their fireplace and enveloping her in his sturdy embrace when the Alaskan cold seeped into their very bones.

But damn, she wasn't about to spill the beans, especially not to her brother.

"Come on, Emma, don't be a buzzkill and try to tell me you're not into it. Mom was nice to us and all, but let's face it, she was a little crazy. Always going on about some old folk tale about a curse on our family and how we're descended from a long line of witches. Werewolves? Witches?" he scoffed, rolling his eyes. "It hurts to think that she had us fooled all this time just to keep us under her thumb and prevent us from living our own lives. The only thing remotely supernatural about us is that you're twenty-five and still a virgin. At least I made the most of this last year of freedom and got cozy with some ladies.

Emma couldn't deny it. The idea of freedom had been planted in their minds when they both turned eighteen and began to question their lives of total seclusion. Their mother always preached that the forest had everything they needed to survive and that they didn't need anything else. She'd go on about how safe they were there, but she never bothered to explain what exactly they were protected from.

As their mother's Alzheimer's got worse, the stories about their supposed ancestors took a turn for the bizarre and downright unbelievable. Who in their right mind was going to believe that their great-great-grandmother fell for a freaking werewolf? Emma could understand falling madly in love with a guy to the point of losing all reason, but these supernatural creatures? Come on, they were pure fantasy.

According to their mother's tales, their great-great-grandmother was an powerful witch who had an intense relationship with the alpha of a werewolf pack. They were deeply in love and planned to marry, but everything changed when he discovered his destined mate. He heartlessly abandoned their great-great-grandmother, leaving her shattered. To make matters worse, he even attempted to kill her and the child she carried in her womb, hoping to erase any trace of their existence. However, his evil plans were thwarted, as she managed to curse him and escape his clutches.

The most disturbing aspect of this story, which their mother shared with them before she died as if it were something real, was that their great-great-grandmother had cast a spell on the family bloodline to suppress any magical abilities and especially the werewolf gene inherited by her son.

Emma tried to get her mother to explain more about this family legend, even though she didn't believe in it. She thought it was the delusions of a sick person, but her mother thought it was important for them to know the whole story, and both siblings listened carefully. However, their mother died before she could tell them everything. Now, they would never know how the supposed witch would break that curse.

"Think about it. If that story is true, one of us might be a werewolf. And Ethan, you aren't really that hairy, except for some hair on your chest.”

Emma joked, trying to ease the tension of their long journey.

Ethan raised an eyebrow and shifted in his seat, uncomfortable.

"Haha, well, if I ever start howlin' at the moon, you better not hesitate to shoot me with a silver bullet. I'd rather rock the witch vibes, and you can be the furball," he replied, trying to play along.

An hour had passed since they stepped off the ferry in Prince Rupert, but that wasn't where they were going to start a new life. Their destination, a small town mentioned in the mysterious brochure that had lured them there, remained out of reach. To get there, they still had to make their way to the bus station. Upon arrival, the two of them approached the counter to purchase their tickets, only to be met with confusion by the staff. The Silvershade Summit, the place they were looking for, was unknown to all of them.

Feeling deflated and adrift, they found themselves standing among their scattered belongings, unsure of their next step. Their eyes met, reflecting the uncertainty that now flooded their minds.

"We've fallen for a scam," Emma muttered, trying to hold back tears. "What are we going to do? No one has heard of this place, and they laughed at us."

"No way, I can't buy into that. It's just a matter of their accent being different, and you didn't catch it properly," Ethan reassured her, although his tense posture and rapid foot-tapping betrayed his own nerves. "What they actually said was: 'Dumb tourists who believe all the myths, move along! Then they burst out laughing, but not at us; they were mocking their own cluelessness for working in this dump without even knowing their way around."

Emma desperately wanted to trust her brother. After a long journey, she was exhausted, dirty, and hungry due to their tight budget. To make matters worse, their food supplies had run out halfway through the journey. All she wanted to do was reach Silvershade Summit, find a place to rest, and then start looking for a job.

"Why didn't you tell me to stop?" Emma shouted when fear, nerves, and the cold that seeped into her bones began to take a toll on her body. "We're going to freeze to death!"

Ethan looked at her with a stunned expression, as if she had suddenly turned into a mythical creature with three heads.

"Me telling you to stop? No way, I wouldn't dare challenge you with that fiery temper of yours. I value my life, you know. Plus, I did mention that it be a little cold in here, and you seemed to be okay with that."

"A little cold! Seriously?" she exclaimed, feeling her teeth chattering uncontrollably. "Fifteen degrees below zero is not just 'a little cold.' It's freezing out here! My brain feels like it's turning to ice, and I swear my toes are about to go gangrene."

"A little cold, a lot of cold... just simple words after all, anyone can get confused. And besides, whose idea was it?" Ethan looked at her with a triumphant expression, but the last thing Emma needed in those moments was to lose a dialectical battle with her brother. "Because let me remind you that it was you who took that brochure as a sign from destiny. You believed that the best thing was to sell everything and move to start over. "

"I might have come up with the idea, but you could have said no and chosen not to join me in this frozen wasteland, Ethan. It's both our faults for always giving in to your whims!" she exclaimed, her anger evident as she pursed her lips.

"I'm pretty sure I didn't choose this. I distinctly remember telling you I wanted to live by the beach, not in an icebox. And your exact words were, and I quote: 'I've always dreamt of going to Alaska. Just imagine - a quaint little town, snow, a cozy cabin, and rugged lumberjacks. Ethan, I want a lumberjack. Imagine looking out the window and seeing one of those macho guys chopping wood for us.' So I assumed there were no other options because you didn't mention any," Ethan pointed out.

Emma grimaced and rubbed her neck. Ethan was correct. Talking and thinking were different things, but she had no intention of losing an argument that day.

"Okay, you got me. I might have been the one who pushed the idea a little too hard," Emma confessed. Ethan grinned, poised to yell "I told you so!" Yet Emma raised her finger, urging him to halt. "But listen up, as twins, it's your job to know what I'm thinking! Don't just blame me because I had doubts about starting fresh in Alaska. You need to think about my opinions too. It'll make you a better brother."

Ethan's smile faded away, and he looked defeated, shaking his head. He was clever and knew when to end a conflict. She would never back down.

"Against that reasoning, I can't argue. You're right, I apologize for not being a mind reader and considering your thoughts. It won't happen again."

Emma patted him on the back in an attempt to comfort him and forced a smile. "Now, there's little we can do. Maybe it's best if we look for someplace..."

Her words were cut off when an older woman approached them, and both stared at her with curiosity. She reminded Emma a bit of her mother, with familiar features and, to top it off, the same silver color in her hair.

"Excuse me, my dear young ones. I do apologize for the interruption, but I couldn't help but overhear your desire to visit Silvershade Summit. If you would be so kind as to allow me, I would be delighted to offer you a ride. I happen to be heading in that very direction and can drop you off nearby."

"Really?!" Emma exclaimed, hugging the woman as if she had known her all her life.

"Of course, dear," she said, and Emma thought she heard her lower her voice and mutter, "I have waited a long time for your arrival."

Emma shook her head; surely the cold and fatigue were making her imagine things. The woman started to walk away, and she hurried to pick up her belongings from the ground, but her brother held her arm.

"I don't like it; going with her doesn't seem like such a great idea to me. Don't you think it's kinda weird? I mean, it gave me this creepy feeling, like all the hairs on my body were standing on end."

"Hey, maybe you're turning into a werewolf," Emma joked, trying to make light of the situation. Deep down, though, there was a nagging feeling inside her, a sense of unease. But her eagerness to reach their destination made her push aside her intuition. "Come on, it's just an old lady, and there are two of us. What harm could she possibly do? Trust me, I'm the older sister here. Let's not get stranded; let's go."

"Oh! Come on, just give me a break!" Ethan complained, but he grabbed his belongings, and both followed the old woman without knowing that they were about to do what their mother had tried so hard to avoid.