Inside the misunderstood culture of furries

Prologue

Five years ago.

Her eyes were glowing. Why were they glowing? She didn't know anymore.

"Chamomile?" Someone said from behind her.

"What is it?" she barked.

"Are you okay?" the other person asked.

"I'm. Fine,"

"You don't seem fine,"

"I SAID I'M FINE!" she roared, then spun around to face the other person. She
momentarily glimpsed the look of horror on his face before she uncontrollably
raked her claws across his face.

I have claws? She thought. She felt a burst of pain like a thousand
firecrackers exploding in her chest, then collapsed.

She stood up half a second later, half crouching, turned again and ran off into
the dark woods. Then she climbed one of the smaller trees compared to the
others. Most of the trees were incredibly tall, and she knew she wouldn’t get a
handhold by looking at them.

Her claws caught in the wood, but she painfully yanked them out, stars
dancing in her vision, although she couldn’t tell if they were fake or the ones in
the sky.
She felt herself snarl, and she dropped down from the tree, changing the
entire time. Something seemed to be growing on her cheeks, and eventually,
she felt herself get larger and some weird feeling tickled the rest of her body.

Her clothes melted into her skin, although she couldn’t tell if it was skin
anymore. As she hit the ground, she heard a loud thump, and she fell forward
when she tried standing up.

She still smelled the blood on the air, and her ears picked up the faint rush of
the boy’s heart.

She ran to him, and he looked at her with a fearful expression. She
approached him, and he backed away.

She tried to speak, to tell him everything was alright, well, excluding the long
and deep cuts that now crossed his face, but she found it impossible. She just
couldn’t form the words. Words didn’t work like usual.

She got closer and he backed away again, clearly terrified, then quickly stood
up before she got closer, and he ran off.

The girl briefly considered following the dark trail he left in the grass as he ran,
the drops of blood gleaming in the near darkness. It vaguely resembeled
some kind of twisted red sea spray.

She turned, and for a brief moment, caught something blueish out of the
corner of her eyes.

She twisted to look at herself and realized she was no longer human. She
seemed to be a young wolf, but incredibly large for a wolf pup. Her snout was
about as high as the boy when he stood up, and she realized she was also
blue.
Not completely blue, but close enough. It was a little grayish and whitish, with
vague golden patches that seemed to blend into her fur and some dark
blueish flecks that could have been purple. She’d read somewhere that
wolves couldn’t see red, and as such couldn’t see purple.

A blue wolf in Bluepoint. She thought after the colors and new form sank in,
Oh the irony.

She let out a howl at the sound of another creature’s roar, which was
something that she didn't tell herself to do, and bolted off into the night, until
she was home.

Now, control. She thought. Don't do anything like that again.

She somehow shifted back into an odd hybrid form, wolfish but human-ish as
well.

Inside, no one can see you. She thought, then entered her home.

She realized this was a bad idea almost immediately when she heard
footsteps upstairs.

Her tail twitched in annoyance when her cousin came down the stairs (the girl
could tell by how her cousin walked), seemingly just talking to herself. The girl
climbed the counter and crammed her small figure into an empty cupboard.
She didn’t want her cousin finding out.

The cupboard was a little cramped with her new bushy fox-like tail, but she
could fit, barely. She closed the cupboard from the inside and pressed her tail
against the door, in case she needed to open it again.
Her cousin was still speaking to herself, although the girl couldn’t tell what her
cousin was saying.

Her cousin made a slight noise and it sounded like her cousin was getting off
the couch. The girl could hear her cousin’s steps approaching. Her cousin
stopped walking, right in front of the counter.

The girl’s cousin opened the cupboard door and smiled slightly as the girl’s tail
slumped with the lack of a solid to hold it up, and her cousin began to shake,
then grinned. For a moment, the girl thought her cousin was going to hurt her,
but then she laughed, she actually laughed, which was strange. The girl had
only ever heard her cousin laugh whenever she was about to do something
crazy.

“Cams, you’re going to need to do better than that,” her cousin laughed. The
girl stared blankly at her cousin, before realizing that her cousin probably had
said her name. The girl wasn’t sure.

“First shift?” her cousin asked as the girl moved her tail back into the
cupboard. The fur scraped the wood, and got a little stuck, so she gave up.

The girl looked at her cousin with a look of fear and scooted further into the
cupboard, dragging a few splinters with her.

“Don’t worry, Cams. Come down,”

The girl felt like she should trust her cousin, but at the same time, she was
pretty sure her cousin was crazy already. The girl understood her cousin was
very, very sick. She’d been to the hospital several times because of
hallucinations. She wasn’t sure what would happen if she listened.
Maybe her cousin was on the edge and wasn’t safe to be around right now.
But, her cousin seemed to know what was going on.

What should she do? Her cousin wasn’t safe to be around some days, as the
girl had seen firsthand many times, the day her cousin came into the house,
the day of the girl’s ninth birthday, and the day the girl took her cousin to meet
someone, the boy she’d attacked. The girl shook her head and felt a rumbling
feeling in her throat.

Her cousin climbed onto the counter and reached for the girl. The girl
scratched her cousin’s hand with her new claws.

Lena. She remembered. The cut on Lena’s hand wasn’t nearly as deep as the
ones on the boy’s face. Hunter. Lena flinched and pulled her hand back.

“Alright. I guess I won’t then. Do you remember me?” Lena asked.

The girl nodded.

“I won’t hurt you. On my word,”

“Cross your heart?” the girl whispered. Her voice felt scratchy and her throat
hurt.

“Cross my heart,” Lena affirmed. Lena reached for the girl and grabbed the
girl in both of her arms, then pulled her out of the cupboard. She clutched the
girl close to her chest and placed the girl lying down on the couch with a
blanket and hood over her hair to hide the ears and tail. The little heat this
granted her relaxed the girl, but she still didn’t feel very good.

“I’m cold,” the girl whispered. She shivered and her shoulders got that prickly
feeling again.
It felt like she was being stabbed there, as though the skin were breaking and
bone were emerging, but nothing was happening. Not really. Underneath her
skin, the girl could feel bones shifting, barely, and she could feel a bone touch
just beneath her shoulder blades, then the pain stopped.

Lena put her hand against the girl’s forehead in the moments that the bones
were changing position, and she instantly pulled it away, as though she
burned her hand, or touched ice.

“I can see why. I’ve forgotten this feeling in those four years since mine,”

“You would’ve been seven?”

“Seven, and alone,”

“What about your parents?”

“Didn’t you ever wonder why I’ve been here for two years?”

The girl shook her head and realization struck her, “Oh,”

“Do you want some water?” Lena asked.

The girl nodded and her cousin left her.

The girl’s head spun as she realized she didn’t remember her own name. Her
mind ran through everything she knew.

She went over all her memories, most of which were fuzzier than normal, but
at some point in the minute Lena was gone, she dozed off, because when
Lena returned with the water, the girl was already out cold.
"Oh Cami. I envy you now," Lena whispered, seemingly to herself as she
pulled the deep blue blanket to Cami's cheek, and even though Cami couldn't
really hear her cousin, those words made their way into her dreams.

Chapter One
Tatiana stared blankly onward at the board. She’d been in class for only an hour,
but it had felt like more, and the teacher, Mr.Simmons, was still busy getting the
rambunctious class to quiet down, but only a few had heeded his words. Tatiana sighed,
it looked like class wasn’t about to happen. Mr.Simmons was a young man with brown
hair and dark eyes, dark skin and a birthmark on his neck that was slightly lighter than
his skin tone.
“Class!” He shouted, “Settle down. I have an announcement,”
A few more shut up, but eighty percent of the class was still shouting unintelligible
nonsense about memes and whatever the hell celebrities had been doing lately,
although Tatiana wasn’t sure.
“CLASS!” Mr.Simmons shouted again, “IF YOU DON’T STOP TALKING IN FIVE
SECONDS, ANYONE STILL TALKING IS GETTING DETENTION!” That shut the class
up.
“We’re going to research different countries in World War One for an essay on
their stances in the war, and remember this, you need to act as though a historian
researching this, not someone actually in the war. That happened to some of my
students last year, and I don’t want it to happen again. This essay will be ten percent of
your grade for this quarter, so try your hardest,”
Tatiana nodded to herself after Mr.Simmons had assigned her Brazil, which she
thankfully knew a lot about already from her mother’s long winded rants, and she
opened her computer, closing her Spotify, which she was listening to the night before.
She opened the document she had for the draft, then typed in the search bar, ‘What did
Brazil do in the First World War.’
The first page of the site she found went in-depth as to why Brazil joined the
Great War, but not much on what Brazil did beyond sending a war declaration to
Germany because it interrupted trade, and attacking the ‘German submarines’ that had
turned out to be dolphins.
She was going through the sites she had found, until she heard the door open and she
turned her face to the door.
 A young girl in a black leather jacket and black leggings walked in, her hand
gripping her bag’s strap. She had long ginger hair that had been tied into a long braid
that draped over her shoulder. There were bangs as well, but they didn’t look
intentional.
The of her brade bottom faded into blue, then into purple, as well as a streak of grayish
blue, sorta like the sky when a few clouds are in it, and this streak started on the top
and it trailed to the bottom of the braid. She had blueish-greenish but also a bit grayish
eyes with one eye lighter than the other.
She seemed to have a muscular build, not strong in the way a football player is
strong, but strong as though she could beat someone up in a fight if she needed to, and
her broad shoulders suggested that she could be a really good athlete if she decided to
try out for a team.
She was also really tall for a probably fourteen or possibly fifteen year old. The
door was maybe seven feet high, and she fell short of it by about half a foot.
She stood at the door for maybe two or three minutes before the rest of the class,
and the teacher noticed her, but Tatiana couldn’t see why, she was kinda noticeable,
but in a better way.
She was really, really incredibly pretty, but she also looked like the quiet type.
Mr.Simmons walked up to the young girl and said, “Hello, I’m Mr.Simmons, your new
History teacher,”
The girl whispered something extremely quiet that even Tatiana, who sat closest,
couldn’t hear.
“Could you repeat that?” Mr.Simmons asked.
“I’m, I’m Cami,” the girl whispered.
“Do you want to introduce yourself to the class?” Mr.Simmons asked. “We’ve
done some icebreakers already, but you can talk too,”
Cami shook her head.
“Do you want to sit down?”
Cami nodded. Tatiana noticed how much her red hair shone against the pale-stoned
walls and in the dim lighting. It was strange to see so many colors in someone’s hair,
not even Tatiana’s closest friends had that much color in their hair, and they dyed it
every month or so.
“Okay, how about you sit next to Tatiana, she’s the girl with the brown hair and
the open macbook and empty chair next to her, you two can work together. It’s
supposed to be a partner project, but she opted to work alone if there wasn’t anyone
else in the class,”
Cami nodded again and sat in the empty chair next to Tatiana and got out a computer. It
was an old, somewhat beat-up Windows with a cracked screen, but it still worked, or so
it seemed. Tatiana’s own computer wasn’t that old, but it used to be her mom’s work
computer and was about three years old.
“So, Cami, is it?”
Cami nodded.
“We’re researching Brazil in World War One, okay?”
Cami nodded again, was that all that Tatiana was going to get out of this girl?
“I’ll send you the document for the draft, what’s your email?”
“Cmalkom, I think,” Cami whispered.
“All right, I’ll send it to you,”
Cami nodded and opened her computer and Tatiana returned to her research. Twenty
minutes later or so, the bell rang, and Tatiana shut her computer, then put it back in her
bag.
“Cami, which class do you have next?” Tatiana asked.
“Honors biology,”
“Do you want me to show you where it is?”
Cami shook her head, “I think I can find it on my own,” She replied coldly.
Tatiana nodded and said, “Well, bye,”
---
Later, at lunch, Tatiana sat with her friends Ashley and Luna, whom everyone called
Moon, who were both so distracted by their separate crushes that they didn’t notice her
sitting next to them.
Ashley had black hair with ash-blond highlights and skin a few shades darker than
Tatiana’s. As a kenomi, the last remaining member of the shifter race, in place of human
ears, she had charcoal gray cat ears that she had pierced when she was about ten.
She had a pale moon-shaped birthmark on her forehead that carried into her cat
form, and her eyes were a cool amber that would glow grayish in the dark or if she
willed them to.
According to Ashley, it was because the packs had died out so long ago that all
shifters had developed a gray glow to their eyes as a symbol of being packless.
Moon was a stark contrast to both Ashley and Tatiana. She had incredibly pale skin,
and platinum blond hair that she would occasionally dye with light purple streaks.
She was also the only girl in the group who wore makeup.
Moon was also a little popular, not much, but enough so that people mostly left Ashley
and Tatiana alone by extension if she was in the same room.
“Ashley! Moon!” Tatiana said.
The two looked at Tatiana and Tatiana continued, “Moon, your crush has a girlfriend,
and Ashley, yours is gay, you two realize that, right?”
“We know, but we still can wish,” Moon said dreamily.
“It’s unlikely that your crush will break up with his girlfriend and go out with you, Moon,
no matter how popular you are, and Ashley, your crush probably isn’t secretly bisexual,”
Ashley frowned, “But, what if he is?”
“Doubtful,”
Tatiana zoned out while she ate and didn’t even notice that Moon was prodding her
shoulder, trying to talk to her.
“What, Moon?”
“I was asking if you’ve met the new girl,”
“We’re all new, Moon. It’s the start of the school year,”
“You know what I mean! The one in our grade that wasn’t at this school last year,”
“And? We might not have noticed her, Moon. She’s not at lunch, so I assume she’s
either not eating, or somewhere else. It would’ve been easy for her to not run into us.
Also, if she is new, why does it matter?”
Moon nodded to that comment, as though she’d remembered the mantra she
lived by, ‘be at your kindest, even when you don’t want to’ and stood up, “I’m going to
class girls, see ya there!”
She left with her tray, leaving Tatiana and Ashley alone.
Tatiana nodded when Ashley gave her some kind of look that said, ‘let's do the same’,
got up, and put away her tray, then raced after Ashley. When Tatiana arrived at her next
class -math- the teacher wasn’t there yet, so she leaned against the wall as she waited.
Out of the corner of Tatiana’s eye, she saw Cami walk to the door Tatiana was
waiting for the teacher to unlock and tried to force it open with a really tight grip, and
after realizing the door was locked, she leaned on the wall on the other side of the door.
Cami pulled a phone from her pocket when a ringtone went off.
She pulled the phone to her ear, said quickly, “Hey mom, don’t call me, I’m not allowed
to use my phone during school hours. Bye, love you!” then probably hung up before
mouthing the word ‘bitch’.
Cami looked to her left, noticed Tatiana and immediately went red in her ears.
“You saw that?” she asked.
Tatiana nodded.
“It didn’t happen. Ok?”
Tatiana nodded again and said, “So you were lying to your mom?”
The school allowed students to use their phones to call relatives when they were on
breaks, but that was about it.
“Yeah. She talks too much and she’s just an absolute bitch to me when she does. I
don’t want to talk to her right now, either, I want to save the extra stress for later,”
“Alright,”
After a few minutes had passed, Cami said, “By the way, I think you like to read, so I’d
recommend ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’. You’d enjoy it if you like reading violence,”
“Um, I’ve already read it so, yeah. Also too violent for me,”
“Oh. Alright. Well, if you want to try again, I’ve got the entire series,”
“Um. Ok. So, you’ve got math too?”
Cami looked at Tatiana for a moment and her eyes went wide. It was like looking out on
the ocean from above when there was a ring of pale sand for a beach, “This isn’t
Photography?”
“Photography’s the last class of the day like all optional electives. Check your schedule,”
Tatiana explained.
Cami opened her schedule and said, “Thank God, I’m still in the right place,”
She looked at Tatiana and smiled. Tatiana noticed that her canine teeth were more like
little fangs than Tatiana’s and looked a lot sharper as well. Like a vampire’s fangs, or a
Kenomi’s.
Cami saw Tatiana’s confused look and covered her mouth immediately and mumbled
through her jacket sleeve, “Genetic. I’m half cat person,”
“Ah no. It’s no problem. Kinda cool, actually,”
Cami laughed loudly and smiled again. After a few minutes of talking, the teacher
arrived and unlocked the door with a tired look. The bell rang maybe five minutes later,
and for the most part, most of the class had arrived at that point, excluding the few that
had either gotten lost or were just slow to come and came in after.

Chapter Two
Tatiana sat in her room, her biology textbook open and her eyes moving
across the same page, over and over. She couldn't get Cami off her mind, and
she felt cold.
She smelled lemon juice and thought, Mom’s probably burnt something.

She smelled a piece of burnt chicken, which tasted horrible in the air, and she
knew for sure what it was then.

"Mamãe!" Tatiana shouted. "Did you burn the chicken again!"

Her mom's voice was muffled, but she shouted back, "Yes, Tatiana," she
paused, "Dinner's going to be a little late,"

Tatiana sighed. She returned to the textbook she was supposed to be

reading, and her eyes trailed over it, page after page, although she didn't
gather any of the information. Her mind was still so busy.

A knock sounded on the door and Tatiana's mother shouted, "Tatiana! Could
you get that?"

Tatiana walked down the steps and opened the front door to see Ashley and
Moon at the front steps.

"What are you doing here?"

"Biology project, remember?" Ashley said.

"Moon, why are you here? You're in honors biology,"

"Ashley dragged me here, but I've got other things to do, ta-ta!"

Moon left, leaving Ashley and Tatiana alone.

Ashley grinned and said, "Race ya up!"

Ashley shifted into her cat form and began climbing up the side wall to
Tatiana's bedroom while Tatiana ran up the stairs.

Tatiana entered her bedroom, unlocked and opened the window, and Ashley
tumbled in.

"Hey! No fair, Tatiana!"

"You climbed up my wall,"

"So I'm not allowed to let myself change into a cat?"

"Ashley, let's just get to work,"

"Fine!"

"What're we doing again?" Tatiana asked.

"How Kenomi shift," Ashley replied.

"Tão, do you know?"

"Nope,"

"Well, we're screwed," Tatiana said.

"Ye- wait, can't we just search it up?" Ashley pointed out.

"Oh. Yeah,” Tatiana felt a little embarrassed. This wasn’t the first time either of
them forgot the way to research, but typically it took less time and words to
remember how.

Tatiana opened her computer and typed up, 'how do Kenomi shift?'
'Kenomi are an ancient species that most likely originated as an evolution for
a certain area to lower deaths of falling and raise tree climbing efficiency. The
way that caused Kenomi to shift is commonly disputed, however, there are
two theories that are most believed in the scientific community, one is a form
of matter rearrangement that would otherwise be impossible. It is theorized
that the now extinct other species of animal-people, (e.g werewolves, foxmen,
lizard persons etc.) may have had a similar process' The site went on and on,
and both Tatiana and Ashley took notes on what they read.

After a while, Tatiana and Ashley got sidetracked and started playing a game
of Minesweepers until Ashley had to get home. Ashley shifted and climbed out
the window and Tatiana closed it behind her. Tatiana took in the silence for a
few minutes and then continued her game of Minesweepers, playing until her
eyes were heavy and she had gotten past forty mines. She took in the blissful
quiet and plugged her computer in on her nightstand. She turned off the light
and crawled into her bed, and it wasn't long before a dream washed over her
in the peaceful wave of darkness.

She was alone and standing at the base of one of the tall trees in the middle
of the forest near her home. There was an open hole, and like all of these tall
trees, it was practically hollow inside. Within lay two wooden chairs. One was
painted blue, the other green, and on the blue one, there was a carved moon,
while on the green one, there was a sun carved into it. Or at least, Tatiana
thought it was a sun. She sat down at the green chair and sometime after,
heard the footsteps of someone else. A hood was over their hair, obscuring
their face, but the body seemed feminine.

Is this a date? Tatiana thought, although her dreamself didn’t think much of it
and the dream continued. The hooded figure sat on the blue chair and took off
their hood, revealing a somewhat familiar -but alien to Tatiana- face. They
also had an odd detail on their heads. Maybe they were a Kenomi?
The other girl smiled, revealing her canines like vampire fangs and said, “Hi
Ana,”

“Hi Cami,” Her dreamself said with a slight but imperceptible hint of
nervousness. Tatiana now realized who it was. “What do you need to talk with
me about?”

“First, don’t be scared Tatiana,” Cami said, “I’m here,”

Tatiana wasn’t sure how the dream girl could tell, but she was getting
increasingly nervous. She and Cami talked for some time, almost completely
about things Tatiana couldn’t make sense of.

Cami’s ears twitched and she spun her head. Someone was coming.

“Tatiana. Hide,” Cami whispered. Tatiana nodded and climbed higher up the
tree with hand and foot holds she found. She hid inside the hollow part of one
of the big branches and curled into a ball. She heard fighting below her and
saw Cami look up, a tear in her eye and blood coming from her mouth. Only it
wasn’t hers. It was from the figure of someone else, with a wolf bite in their leg
and elbow.

Cami yelled for Tatiana to come down and Cami threw up blood, then told
Tatiana to go home. Tatiana nodded and left, although the rational bit of
Tatiana was slightly confused.

What the hell just happened? She thought, before the dream faded, and, by
the time it did, she barely remembered anything from it.
Chapter Three

Tatiana's eyes flew open at the sound of a gunshot. She sat up and rubbed
her eyes, confused at the sudden loud noise. She went to the window to figure
out what happened. Her eyes darted to a dark figure darting through the
street, three other figures behind it.

The quick one dove into the woods, and for a moment, Tatiana noticed
something soft, and grayish with hints of blue, trailing behind it as though
attached. The three figures behind the fast one went into the woods shortly
after, and the biggest of them exited the brush a few moments later. Tatiana
noticed a gun in their hands as well.

Maybe that one was the shooter? Tatiana thought. But Tatiana could tell that
they wouldn’t have stopped pursuing their target if they were the only one with
a gun.

Tatiana stood in shock. Her hands were shaking. She rubbed her eyes again
and still saw the biggest figure walking slowly down the street.

The night was silent, for about ten minutes, when another gunshot rang
through the trees. A loud shriek could be heard in the aftermath, and then a
wolf howled, then more and more joined in, until the whole forest was alive
with the cacophony of wolves. A small figure emerged from the woods shortly
after the ensuing silence that followed the wolves started, carrying something
in its arms, something human. The street lights dimly illuminated this small
person and showed blood stains on their hands, plus a trail of something dark
red following them.

Tatiana gasped, then heard a knock on the door as the figure disappeared
under the porch roof thing. Tatiana stayed in her room, completely silent, and
heard the door open.

Probably mom.

Tatiana could hear the person's sobs from her room.

"What is it?" Tatiana's mother's calm voice asked, "Calm down,"

"My, my friend was shot, and, and, and she's unconscious, and, and, I saw
the gun to her back, and, and, and I couldn't stop the gunner,"

"Why didn't you call the authorities?"

"I, I left my phone at home, please, help Chamae, please"

"Okay, I'll call an ambulance, you try to stop the blood,"

Tatiana opened her door and walked down the stairs.

"Mãe, what's going on?" Tatiana asked when she was at the last step.

"Tatiana, why are you up?"

"I heard the gunshots,"

Tatiana walked into the living room and saw the girl she'd heard, and another,
lying unconscious on the couch. The girl that was crying had purplish pinkish
hair, olive skin, and lighter purple streaks in the front, with a dark stained black
jacket and bloodstained gray leggings. The unconscious one, however,
Tatiana recognized.

Cami?

"W-what?" Tatiana gasped.

The crying girl looked up, "You, you didn't hear my explanation? She was-"

"No, she's in a few of my classes,"

"You know Chamomile?"

"Chamomile? I know her as Cami," Tatiana said.

"I thought she hated nicknames,"

A weak gasp was heard behind the other girl.

Cami coughed and rolled on her side before throwing up, a lot of blood
seemingly mixed in with it.

Like my dream. Tatiana thought

The other girl gasped, "CHAMOMILE!"

"Hi, Olivia, where are we?"

"You were shot, I came here for help,"

Cami sat up and looked at Tatiana.

"Olivia, who's this? I think I know her,"

"Hi, Cami, I'm Tatiana, from school?"

"Oh. Hi, Tatiana,"

"Chamomile, I thought you were going to die," Olivia cried.

"And yet I survived,"

Olivia laughed shakily, "Like always,"

Tatiana was slightly confused at that remark but shrugged it off. Cami had just
gotten shot, after all, there wasn’t really that much time to think.

Olivia hugged Cami, and Tatiana said, "Well, Cami, I'm glad you're okay, but
the bullet's still in there,"

Cami nodded. Her greenish eyes flashed golden for just a moment in the dim
lighting as she stood up.

Odd. That only happens with Kenomi. Tatiana thought.

Tatiana noticed Cami's greenish-blueish eyes were filled with pain as she
walked, and Tatiana could see a slight limp.

"Cami. Do you want help walking?"

Cami nodded and she and Tatiana practiced walking together until they could
hear the faint ambulance sirens. Tatiana went to the couch to make sure there
weren't any bloodstains left on it, and she found something odd. A few strands
of something blue and grayish. It was soft to Tatiana's touch but coarse at the
same time.

Like fur.

That realization sent numerous questions through Tatiana's mind

Why is it blue? Where'd it come from? Which animal?

Tatiana took a small envelope from her mom's desk and shuffled the tufts of
fur into it.

Tomorrow I'll study it in the biology room. Tonight, I sleep and pray this was
all a dream.

------

Tatiana walked into the History classroom the next morning, shaking slightly
from what had happened the night before, and noticed Cami was already
there, staring blankly at the wall.

Tatiana sat down next to her and said, "Hey. I thought that you’d still be in the
hospital,"

Cami jumped slightly, then responded slowly, "Hi, Tatiana,"

"You okay?" Tatiana asked.

"Yeah, just thinking," Cami responded.

"Okay," Tatiana replied.

The two sat in silence, then Cami asked suddenly, "About last night, could you
maybe not tell anyone about it? I don't want pity remarks about it, it gets tiring
after a while,"

"If you don't want me to, I won't," Tatiana replied.

"Thank you," Cami replied, "I had to deal with something similar once, long
ago,"

"Oh, what happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it,"

"Okay, you don't have to," Tatiana replied.

The warning bell rang and Cami jumped in her seat, her eyes flashing for just
a moment in the dimness of the History classroom. Cami's fingers gripped the
desk to the point of her knuckles being white, and for a moment, Tatiana
thought she saw sharp black claws digging into the desk's wood.

"Cami, calm down," Tatiana said, "It's just the bell,"

Cami nodded and closed her eyes. When she opened them, the fear was still
in her greenish eyes, but it was less than before. Cami let go of the desk and
hugged Tatiana tightly, and Tatiana noticed a few tears in Cami's eyes.

"It hurts so much," Cami whispered, "Where the bullet struck, I mean,"

"Calm down, Cami," Tatiana whispered back. "You're okay,"

"The bullet wasn't in there when I got to the hospital, but it didn’t go cleanly
through. They cleaned and bandaged the wound, and wanted to keep me
there for a few more days, but I begged to be able to go home, and they finally
listened when I agreed to not over-exert myself,"

"Cami, don't worry,"

Cami nodded and let go, showing a slightly pained and slightly panicked
smile.

Tatiana smiled back and said, "Now, we've got to get ready for the project,
ready to start?"

Cami nodded, got her computer out of her bag and put it on her desk as
Tatiana did the same. They opened their computers at the same time, and
Tatiana opened the project on Brazil in WWI.

It'll be fine, I'll check the furs later.

Chapter Four

Two hours later

Ashley looked onward in the middle of Biology class at Tatiana. Ashley's ears
twitched as she tried to pick up on what Tatiana was mumbling to herself. She
caught snatches of words here and there, such as fur, why, who, animal, and,
how. After a while, Tatiana moved to the microscope with Mrs. Fichman, the
Biology teacher, and they put something underneath the eyepiece thingy.
Ashley tilted her ears and attempted to listen to their conversation.

"I found this, fur, on my couch after Ashley and I worked on our project for a
couple of hours, and I know this isn't Ashley's because she has dark gray fur,
but this is kinda cloudy blue, and I don't know any other Kenomi, and I know it
wasn't Ashley's parents' fur, so I don't know where it came from,"

"Alright, Tatu," (that was Ms. Fichman's nickname for Tatiana). "I'll check it out
at my husband’s lab, and tell you tomorrow what I think it came from, alright?"

Tatiana nodded and returned to her seat next to Ashley.

"Tatiana, what was that about?"

"Ashley, I found fur and I needed to know where it came from, that's it,"
"I know that, but why? It's just fur, "

"I just wanted to know. It's a weird color too, so it may be from a species of
animal we've never seen before,"

"Or, it could be a Kenomi's fur that drifted in from your parents,"

"Ashley, my mom had a day off from work and spent the entire day until I
came home cleaning and watching Stranger Things,”

"So, anyone other than me visit yesterday?"

Tatiana hesitated for a moment, one of her tells. Then she said, "No one," Her
heartbeat quickened from the slow and steady beat of a hollow drum to a
quick metallic catwalk pace, then returned to normal.

"Tatiana, I can hear your heartbeat, it jumped. Tell me the truth,"

"I can't, they asked me not to tell anyone," Tatiana’s heartbeat stayed level,
and Ashley believed her.

"Tell me, please,"

"They trusted me, I'm not going to tell you,"

"Fine. Let's just get on with the assignment,"

"Alright,"

------

Ashley sat down next to Moon in the cafeteria.

"Oh, hey Ashley! How are you?"

"I'm fine, Moon,"

"Good. I've noticed something lately, Tatiana's been acting a little weird,"

"I’ve seen that too. I asked her about it and she wouldn't tell me anything,"

"Anyways, Ashley, what do you think it's about?"

"A girl, probably, and she’s trying to cover it up," Ashley replied.

"Yeah, that's probably it,"

Tatiana walked up to the two and sat down, oddly silent and somewhat stiffly.

“Tatiana,” Moon said, “Are you okay?”

Tatiana paused for a moment and said, “I’m fine,”

Ashley noticed her voice wavered slightly, so Ashley asked, “Are you sure?”

“Ashley, I said I’m fine,” Tatiana’s normally calm voice sounded more like a
dog’s bark at the last word, but Ashley ignored it.

Tatiana looked away from the group and at the cafeteria entrance when her
gaze lit up. Ashley noticed that she was looking at someone, and realized it
was the new girl, Camile or something like that.

The girl walked up to their table and sat silently at the far end, staring
downward at her feet, her bright greenish eyes seeming to reflect a little
golden light.
She looked up for a moment and turned her head, locking eyes with Tatiana
and said something that Ashley couldn’t pick up, but evidently, Tatiana could.
Tatiana nodded and the girl stood up again and sat back down next to
Tatiana. A heavy silence followed, where the four just stared at each other,
when Moon broke the silence.

“Tatiana, care to explain?”

Tatiana jumped a little, then said, “Oh, right. This is Cami and she and I are
friends, well, friends-ish now,”

Cami nodded and whispered something inaudible to Ashley’s ears, and

Tatiana said, “Oh, and she’d like me to tell you that she’s sorry if she doesn’t
speak directly to you, because she doesn’t enjoy raising her voice unless
necessary, and that she’s had difficulties speaking to multiple people at a time
since she was little,”

Ashley and Moon looked to Cami for confirmation, and Cami nodded.

“Anyhow, girls, Cami and I have a thing to do soon, so we’ll see you later,”

“Tatiana, please don’t tell me you’re going to screw each other,” Ashley said
after Cami was out of earshot.

“Ashley, why do you think that? We met yesterday, and we’re not dating,”
Tatiana replied, her heart rate remained normal, so she was definitely telling
the truth.

Tatiana, who do you think you’re trying to fool? You definitely also have a
crush on her.

Ashley sighed, and Moon said, “I’m gonna go too. See you later, Ashley,”
Moon stood up and walked away with the other two, leaving Ashley alone.

There’s something off about Moon today, and there’s definitely something
wrong with that other girl, but what? She smells like a shifter, but she couldn’t
possibly be one. Same with Moon.

Ashley shrugged it off and picked up her tray to put it away. She still had class
to get to -early, of course. As a somewhat outcast, she wasn’t used to being in
this kind of loud noise, and she also had extremely good hearing, plus, she
didn’t want to be the only person at that table.
Chapter Five

Tatiana looked up at Cami, who’s blueish-greenish eyes seemed bitter with

pain, even down to the small gold flecks in her eyes that could only be noticed
if someone looked extremely closely. Cami seemed on the verge of crying as
well, her eyes tinted the slight red that Tatiana often saw on Ashley when she
got nervous.

“Cami, you alright?” Tatiana asked.

“It hurts a lot again,” Cami replied. It had been maybe three weeks since she
was shot, and it hadn’t completely healed. Maybe because Cami hadn’t been
to the hospital since.

“Don’t think about it, think about something else, like me, or your friends,”

“Who says you aren’t my friend?” Cami asked.

Tatiana smiled and hugged Cami and said, “Well, Cami, we can go home. Do
you think your parents will mind if you come over?”

“My mom doesn’t want me to talk to people alone, it's dangerous apparently,
but my dad wouldn’t mind, he’d be really happy. I’ve barely got anyone in my
life,” Cami said.

“Well, can I walk you home at least?”

“Alright, but we’ll have to stop a little far away from my home so my mom
doesn’t notice you,”

Tatiana smiled as the two walked out the double-doored exit and into the
bright light of their suburban area. The school was the largest building for
miles until you hit the largest town in the county, Laewaes, on the other side of
the Bluepoint Woods. Tatiana would sometimes go into the forest but would
leave when the woods got thicker. Cami didn’t seem to mind the deep woods,
however. She led Tatiana through the forest as though she lived there,
familiar with any and all paths until they came to a neighborhood.

Tatiana recognized it as Moon’s and Cami said, “Tatiana, this is where I have
to go, my home is close, so I’ll be fine, and I’ll see you tomorrow,”

Tatiana nodded and gave Cami a hug, before saying, “Bye, Cami, see you
tomorrow,”

Tatiana turned around and started for home, looking back once when she was
far enough away, only to see a shimmering bright pair of golden eyes staring
back at her.

The eyes closed and a small rustling was heard through the undergrowth,
heading away, slowly at first, then picking up the pace. A shout sounded, and
Tatiana realized that Cami might be in danger. Tatiana ran through the forest,
barely taking heed of her surroundings, only thinking about getting to Cami.

Eventually, she came to where she heard the screams from, and saw some
grayish and cloudy blue wolf with slightly gold flecks in its fur, most commonly
along its underbelly standing over a young girl, one Tatiana didn’t recognize.
The wolf had the girl pinned down with its claws and crouched low enough for
its head to be barely a hand’s reach away from the girl’s face.
The girl did nothing, however, her gaze soft and staring at the wolf’s snout.
The wolf growled, sending a rumble through the forest, and the girl crossed
her arms over her head semi-mechanically, but she smiled. Tatiana ran up to
the wolf and the girl and tried pushing the wolf off of the girl.

The girl’s hair was white, not blond, just pure white, along with her skin, and
her eyes were frosty blue. The only other colors were from a blue shirt and
black pants.

“No, don’t,” The girl said. “You’ll make her angry,”

“Who’s this she?”

“The wolf you’re trying to push off of me. She’s not trying to hurt me. She’s
just upset and scared. Chamomile, can you get off? It’s starting to hurt,” The
other girl started rambling a little before turning her attention to Tatiana,
“Anyhow, Ultima needs you to leave, before she gets too angry,”

The wolf turned its head and growled something at the girl, and the girl
nodded and smiled, “Never mind, she’s fine, but she asks what pack you’re
from because you should be turning now, but you’re not,”

“What in hell are you talking about?” Tatiana cried.

“Oh you know, what we are. Don’t worry, I’m one of you too, just a different
pack,”

“What are you even talking about? Packs? Is that some kind of cult you’re
trying to rope me into?”

The girl nodded and said, “You don’t know what you are, do you? You’re a
shifter, most likely a werewolf, or maybe a kaira,”
Tatiana took a step back and drew in a sharp breath. She had a weird sense
of deja vu for a moment.

“Werewolves still exist?” Tatiana cried, “I thought they died off centuries ago!”

“And other shifters,” The girl said, “I can turn into a deer, and the wolf above
me is able to turn into a type of wolf-like creature that we refer to as
skywolves.” The word ‘skywolves’ was said in a different language that
Tatiana didn’t know, so Tatiana didn’t know the translation but the girl
continued, “She hasn’t developed wings yet, but she’s close. Right
Chamomile?”

The wolf nodded and got off of the girl, then dipped its head at the girl.

The girl stood up, placed her hand on the wolf’s snout, although jabbing the
side of the wolf’s face at first and continued, “She and I decided to lure you
here because you looked directly into her moonlight wolf form’s eyes without
going into spasms, which only something that isn’t human can do, as she’s
the pack’s Ultima,”

The wolf shifted and became a tall young girl, one with blue hair and ginger
and purple highlights, as well as greenish and blueish hints in her golden
eyes, which were full of nervousness. She had some kind of animal’s ears and
tail, cloudy blue and coarse, likely a wolf’s. She stepped back and a bolt of
recognition flashed across her face. The first girl shifted her hands to the wolf-
girl’s shoulder.

“Ta-Tatiana?” The girl whispered.

“Do I know you?” Tatiana asked.

“It’s Cami,” she whispered. The girl shook and shifted again, her ears and tail
shrinking into herself, her hair changing color at the same time. Her eyes
stayed the same color, but the rest of her was recognizable. Then her ears
and tail popped out again.

Chapter Six- Chamomile

Tatiana stared in shock, seemingly frozen. Cami wanted to go to her friend,

but she was scared that her claws would unsheathe and she’d hurt Tatiana
and she didn’t want to hurt Tatiana and if she did accidentally, she’d never
forgive herself.

Cami instinctively covered her eyes. She was pretty sure they were still
glowing.
“So, Tatiana, your, friend? Is the Ultima of the largest pack in Bluepoint, and if
she gets stressed or angry or upset, she’ll become unstable and she might
accidentally about kill half of the humans nearby,”

Tatiana backed away from Winter and fell backward, her eyes glittering in
fear.

“Tatiana, I can explain,” Cami uncovered her eyes

“Don’t, I’m done. So that’s why you were shot? You’re a werewolf?” Tatiana
turned around and started walking away. “I should have listened to my
dream,”

Cami didn’t dwell on it, she was pretty sure that Tatiana didn’t think she could
hear her.

“You were shot?” Winter asked.

“Yes, Winter. That’s what all the extra time with Olivia was for,”

Chamomile ran to Tatiana and grabbed her arm.

“Let me go! I don’t want to hear any of your effed-up excuses. Leave. Me.
Alone,” Tatiana’s voice became more and more fragile as she spoke, and her
lip trembled slightly.

“Tatiana, please. Stay,” Cami whispered.

Tatiana pulled away from Cami’s grasp and walked away, her steps heavy but
swift, while her eyes glittered with grief and small hints of fear. Cami saw
Tatiana look back for a few moments, tears glistening in her eyes, and her
shoulders shaking a little, before turning away for the final time.
Cami felt tears well in her eyes and she collapsed to her knees, her tears
hitting the ground as she did.

Cami cried out loudly and she fell forward, flat against the earth.

“Cami, you knew she’d react like that,” Winter said emotionlessly, “They
always do,”

Cami shifted into her wolf form, not the Ultima one, but the one she had first
shifted into when she had clawed her ex’s face and sent him to the hospital.

She let out a long howl and crouched down, the wetness from the tears in her
human form mixing into her thick blue and white patched coat. She longed to
still be small enough to crawl into that cupboard and hide. She wanted to see
her cousin. Her cousin needed to know about the recent accidental turnee
anyways, even with her cousin’s occasional, somewhat unstable stature. And
the newborns too. Lyorna had to know about the newborns. They were two
little Kenomi kids from the Kenomi, Pam, in Cami’s pack, and one of Lyorna’s
own packmates, Sylvius. Cami stood up and shifted back.

Her shoulders itched a lot more these days, probably because of her wings
finally starting to form underneath her skin, nearly five years after she first
shifted. She gripped Winter’s hand, and she and Winter shifted together.

The smell of deer made her stomach rumble and made her salivate, but she
ignored her primal urge to hunt. She didn’t need to eat anyways. Not yet.

Winter was constantly bleating, stopping, listening, and continuing as they

walked through the forest, then, when they finally arrived at Cami’s house, a
cabin in the middle of nowhere, Cami’s mom hugged Cami, let her inside, then
flew away, carrying Winter, and Cami felt a pang of envy.
She wanted to fly out of this godsforsaken house and live in the place left to
her by her pack. The pack she wanted to stay near at all times.

Her brother, Corey, entered her room to try and figure out what was wrong,
and rather than speak to him, she threw her shoe at him and he took the hint,
then closed her door.

Cami finally broke down and began to cry. Her door slowly creaked open, and
out of the corner of her eye, she saw hot pink hair, and she raised her other
shoe.

“Chamomile? You alright?” Olivia asked. Cami growled and Olivia continued
to press.

“Please talk to me,” Olivia whispered.

Cami growled, “Leave me alone. I don’t want to talk about it,”

Cami looked away and out the window, watching two squirrels fight over
something in one of the oak trees.

Cami saw Olivia’s reflection standing in the doorframe, and she turned around
and threw her other shoe. Olivia shifted into the weird lizardy thing she
became and climbed out the open window. Cami shut the window when Olivia
got off the glass, and she closed her door, then locked it.
Chapter Seven

The next day

Tatiana slept in that day, her mind overflowing with the shock and how she
reacted.

I overreacted. Tatiana thought, I overreacted and now she might not be my

friend anymore.

“Tatiana!” her mom called.

“What?” Tatiana shouted.

“Your friend from a few weeks ago is here,”

“Tell her to go away, I’m extremely tired,”

“She says she’s coming up anyways,”

Tatiana groaned and her door opened.

“Cami, I thought I-”

Only it wasn’t Cami standing in the doorway, it was the other girl from that
night.

“Hello, Tatiana? Is that it?” The girl said with her odd accent that sounded like
a faint growl.

Tatiana nodded and said, “Olivia, right? I’m assuming Cami sent you?”
Olivia shook her head, “No, Tatiana. Chamomile didn’t send me, her friend,
the blind one that you saw, she told me what happened,”

“The girl who claimed she could turn into a deer was blind?”

“Yes,” Olivia paused, “Her name is Winter, and she was with Chamomile last,
but Chamomile refused to explain what happened when I went to her home
and she was crying, Winter filled me in when I got back home. I’m here to ask
if you feel like joining the pack, because you might be a late blooming shifter
whose parents didn’t tell about the packs. Happens all the time,”

“Why should I join you? I’m fine with my normal life,”

“You may not have a choice in the long run, Tatiana, just, think about it, tell
Cami when you’ve made up your mind,”

Tatiana nodded, “I’m assuming you’ll come here often, just in case?”

Olivia nodded.

“Also,” Tatiana said, “Can you tell Cami that I overreacted, but that doesn’t
mean that we’re in the clear? I don’t have her number,”

Olivia nodded again and said, “I’ll see you again, Tatiana,”

Tatiana smiled and Olivia left the room, leaving Tatiana alone yet again to her
thoughts.

I’ll apologize Monday.

Chapter Eight

Moon’s silky platinum blond hair flowed as she went on her regular evening
jog. She eventually passed Tatiana’s house and noticed Tatiana was sitting
alone on her porch.

Moon jogged up to Tatiana and tapped her on the shoulder. Tatiana looked up
from her distant gaze at the trees near her house.

“Hi, Tatiana,” Moon smiled, “You okay?”

Tatiana nodded and made a smile that was seemingly forced, “I’m fine,”

Moon shook her head, “I can tell you’re not, another girl I’m assuming?”

Tatiana shook her head, “Sorta, a friend and I had a fight,”

“Ahh, I’m assuming it’s Cami?”

Tatiana nodded, “I found something out and I kinda overreacted,”

“Well, when she found out you were lesbian, how did she react?”

“She took it surprisingly well,”

“See! So just go to her and apologize, if she doesn’t care about your secrets,
you don’t need to care about hers,”

Tatiana nodded, “Well, Moon, I’ll see you soon?”

Moon nodded, “Sure,”

Moon jogged off into the woods in the shortcut back to her house she recently
decided on using, when Moon tripped on a root and as she felt herself slide,
she blacked out.

She awoke what felt like three or four hours later, in a setting that was most
definitely not the clearing she blacked out in. She crawled along, her mind
going straight away from her and feeling like she wasn’t in her body.

Moon limped over the earthen floor because whenever she tried to put weight
on her ankle, it felt like someone was stabbing her right there, and she
eventually found an area that looked like she could rest in.

Moon looked around, the forest surrounding her was painted in the color of
summer, which was odd in the middle of autumn. The few crimson red and
golden leaves left that dappled the earth around her seemed to fall in reverse,
returning to the trees. Within moments, the trees were covered in golden
leaves, and the leaves returned to green, but then the leaves fell again after
the leaves began turning red and golden.

What in the actual hell?

“Need any help?” A voice asked from behind Moon.

Moon spun around to see a girl with ginger hair and light skin. Her eyes were
veiled in shadows from the light behind her, and a beanie was on her head,
even with the warm-ish temperature, but Moon was sure there was a tree
behind her moments before.

“Ah, I see, you’re confused. It's understandable, you're in an illusion after all,”

“What in hell?”
“Forgive me, allow me to introduce myself,” The girl paused, “My name is
Lyorna, I’m an Illusionist and this is my illusion,”

Moon’s blue eyes widened.

“Ah, you don’t know, forgive me,”

Moon moved back and felt her ankle ache as she tried.

“Oh, your ankle, it’ll heal in a good time. Now, what I came for,”

The other’s shadows disappeared from her face and she took off the beanie.
The girl’s eyes were honey golden with hints of green, and she had a wolf’s
ears and tail, which were startlingly deep blue. As Moon looked at her, dark
red and brown tinted wings the color of mud unfolded from her shoulder
blades.

Shit.
Chapter Nine

Two days later

Cami’s gaze brightened as she saw Tatiana.

Tatiana sat next to her and said, “Cami, we’re not even, but I’m sorry,”

“S'alright,” Cami said, “I guessed you’d react like that. My ex, Hunter, he was
extremely upset when he found out, and we knew each other for ten years.
Like, since I was a month old,”

“Damn,”

“Yeah…”

Cami opened her laptop and went to the report she and Tatiana were working
on, the light illuminating her eyes golden in the dim classroom.

“Cami,” Tatiana whispered, “Your eyes,”

Cami dimmed the light on her laptop, until Tatiana nodded. Cami sighed and
looked at Tatiana, hearing her friend’s heart rate increasing with Cami’s.

“Hear that?” Cami asked, before immediately covering her mouth, “Sorry, slip
of the tongue,”

Suddenly, Cami noticed that even though the others were extremely loud, the
only thing she could hear was Tatiana.

“What do you hear?” Tatiana asked.

Cami tapped the hollow of Tatiana’s throat, “You,”

Tatiana blushed bright red, “I didn’t know you could hear that,”

Cami nodded and Tatiana looked away, her olive skin still tinted extremely
bright red.

They continued with their work yet again until the bell rang, and when they
separated to their different classes, Cami found she could think of nothing but
Tatiana.

It continued on for the rest of the day, her mind attempting to think of other
things, her pack, her cousin’s older sister, whose pack had gone mysteriously
silent, the exiled former Ultima, Helix, who was still alive and somewhere in
the Yggdrasil forest, and yet her thoughts constantly trailed back to Tatiana.

Cami’s heart jumped when she saw her ex in the hallways. Hunter locked
eyes with her and glared at her, and wordlessly, she could tell he conveyed
what he had wanted to say for years, and the three weeks ago when she was
shot.

You should be dead. His scarred face snarled wordlessly, I’ll try again.

Cami looked away from the dark haired boy and looked toward her half open
locker.

She heard the heavy footsteps behind her and growled, “Hunter, I know that’s
you, please, go. Away,”

“Oh, that’s no way to treat your ex now, is it?”

“You’re the one who dumped me. I didn’t know until it happened,”
She turned around and Hunter got way too close for comfort, “Ahh, but, little
bitch,” He whispered, “D’ya really think that matters? Listen up, if you aren’t
out of this town by week’s end, you will either be dead, or everyone will know,
I don’t care which,”

Cami pushed him away, since it was empty threats, but he just got closer and
unsheathed a sharp, small, gray pocket knife, “I’d think carefully if I were you,”

Cami growled and felt her black claws unsheathe. She raised her claws and in
one swift movement, grabbed the knife out of Hunter’s hands and threw it into
a trash can with the blade closed, of course.

Cami didn’t want to cause any accidents.

“Uh oh, it seems your knife’s gone,” she taunted.

Hunter raised his fist and glared, “And you won’t live much-”

“Ahh ahh ahh,” Someone said from behind Hunter, pulling him away. With a
start, Cami realized it was one of the members of her pack.

“Hello, Cami,” Corinthia said in her odd British accent mixed faintly with the
pack accent, “Has Hunter been causing any trouble?” Thea got closer to Cami
and whispered, “Don’t answer, I already know,”

Thea’s parents were Christian, and had always planned to name their son
Alex after the book of Corinthians since that was the book that had given them
their belief, but had decided to name Thea after it instead.

“Thank you, Thea,” Cami replied.

Hunter shot a final glare at Cami and walked away as if nothing had
happened.

“Alright, Cami. He knows about a new shifter here. She was recently figured
out, and your cousin tried to contact her,”

“Which one, Tatiana?”

“No, your friend, Tatiana, she isn’t known. The girl I speak of is called Luna,”
Chapter Ten

Tatiana was in shambles after hearing Moon recount the story of what
happened.

“You think I’m crazy, don’t you, Tati?”

“No, I had a similar experience a few days ago,”

“Ah, so something to do with this shifter cult thing?”

“Sorta, I met a blind girl who claimed she could turn into a deer, she said that I
had a shifter gene or something,”

Tatiana purposely left out the Cami part, but Moon picked up on it, “You’re
leaving something out, aren’t you?”

Tatiana shook her head, “Not at all,”

Moon shook a little, “The worst part was, the girl, she was some kind of
hybrid. She, she had wings and had parts of a wolf, and she said she was a
stormwolf, leader of the Snowdrift Pack, and she was making apparent
illusions everywhere, she told me much more, including something extremely
disturbing, she said your friend, Cami, was a shifter and had accidentally
turned me into one as well. She dug her claws into my neck one night when
she was shot shortly after, her shooter saw me and knew she had turned me.
She said that I was next to be shot, with not quite as many words,”

Cami walked up to the two with another girl that Tatiana recognized, but didn’t
know the name of. The other girl had coconut brown hair with milky white
streaks along it and unsettlingly pale blue eyes with pale green flecks.

“Hi, Tatiana. How are you?” Cami asked.

“I’m fine, but I don’t think Moon is,”

Moon stiffened up a little bit and said, “What the hell are you?”

“I’m human,”

“No, really, I know you’re not,” Moon clarified.

“She knows,” Tatiana affirmed.

“Oh. Thea, can you help to explain?” Cami asked the girl next to her.

“Alright,” Thea said with her odd accent, “So long ago, there was an abundant
group of people with-”

“I don’t need the history,” Moon growled, “I want an explanation of that creepy
girl that told me that weird story about animals and people,”

“Ah, sorry about my cousin,” Cami said, “She’s always had a flair for the
dramatic, and she just wanted you to remember the encounter and to watch
your back. She’s the most talented Illusionist I’ve ever met in my life, but she’s
also slightly insane, or at least was. She’s a stormwolf, which is similar to a
skywolf, but they mature quicker and have darker fur, normally black or
brown,”
“She had blue fur on her ears and that bushy fox-like tail,”

“Ah, that’s because she’s half sky wolf. She got many stormwolf genes, then a
mix between the skywolf and stormwolf fur,”

Tatiana nodded, “So, Cami, I never asked, but is it true about the full moon
thing?”

Cami nodded, “Partially. The full moon is in a week or so, and new shifters
and younger ones are definitely going to shift, including your friend there,”

Moon growled, “Why don’t I remember you turning me?”

“I didn’t mean to, I was out of control and running for my life, my claws were
out, and I bumped into you in the woods. Trying to get up, my claws dug into
your throat, and you were completely out, so you didn’t remember knocking
into me. You don’t remember anything from up to twenty minutes before you
were turned. It healed quickly as well, but the hunters saw the blood and
they’ll be after you now, especially the one that shot me,”

“What?” Moon whimpered.

“You in big danger now,” said Thea, “Is that simple enough to understand?”

Moon nodded and blinked back tears, “But, am I less human? I don’t feel
different,”

“Shifters are no less human than humans. There’s only a differentiation

because people made it so,”

“People are idiots sometimes,” Thea confirmed.

“They tried to kill us off,” Cami growled, “So we came to this region as the first
settlers by boat and across the strait after they chased us to the far reaches of
the other continents, and we had one difference, we had magic and they
didn’t,”

Cami took a breath and said, “We caused the Bering Strait to fall under the
waves,”

“They thought they succeeded, but the shifters persisted in some areas, albeit
more abused and often killed on sight. Kenomi were persecuted most,
because some genetic inability made it so they couldn’t hide the cat ears and
tail like most shifters. There were also some other shifters, but they hid away,
because they knew that human’s views wouldn’t change in a few days,''
Thea growled. “That’s why you know about Kenomi, because they stayed in
the open, but if they find out about us, the vast majority will feel great fear,
knowing that strange creatures they thought extinct are still alive, and a small
amount will aid the hunters, and kill us the way the hunters already do,”

Moon nodded slowly and Tatiana hugged her friend.

“I’m sorry your world’s changing too,” Tatiana whispered.

Moon nodded with a few tears in her eyes. Thea put a hand on Moon’s
shoulder as if to say, ‘I’m sorry as well,’
Chapter Eleven

One week later

Lyorna bolted through the forest with the letter in her jaws. She transitioned
many times through running as a wolf and flying in that same form. Her golden
eyes faded into their normal pale leafy green with gold flecks. She stopped
and shifted back for a moment when she felt like she was roughly halfway and
manifested an illusion around herself to hide herself from others while she
rested and caught her breath.

“Shit, I’m not doing that again for a while,” she murmured to herself.

Lyorna’s gaze flickered to the letter.

Why am I carrying this again? She thought. She had received the letter in a
tired haze from Cami’s only shifter-born sibling, the only other one that was
living at least, a fellow, much more powerful Illusionist and she had barely any
recognition of what they said.
She “opened” the letter and began reading.

‘Dear Chamomile,
 We’ve found the girl you’ve accidentally turned, Luna. She’s incredibly
confused, and I’d recommend you seek her out tonight. The full moon is
tonight after all. I’ll be back. Thank you, sister.

-Xoya

Oh, right. Luna.

Lyorna “closed” the unopened letter. She shifted into her wolf form and picked
up the letter in her jaws. She folded up her wings and created an illusion
around her sky blue fur, making her fur seem black and gray and her eyes a
deep blue. She ran onward with her tail swishing behind her, causing slight
shimmers in the air behind her as the illusion fought to keep up with her tail.
Eventually she got the rhythm of her tail swishing and the illusion stopped
changing the air behind her so much.

She panted and started flying after a while, her dark feathered wings beating
heavily to fly. She flew upside down after a while, as that made it easier for
her to fly for a reason she didn’t understand and drifted into a wind current
that she dipped out of into the hollow that Cami normally went to alone.

Lyorna landed and the illusion dissipated. She shifted back and looked around
the clearing for her cousin.

“Cami? You there?” Lyorna called.

From behind her Lyorna heard a sigh, “For Mekora’s sake, cousin, hide your
animal parts. Humans are coming into the forest more often,”

Lyorna nodded and shivered as the hybrid parts shrank into her again, “Sorry
Cami, but you know the part my pack stays in is pretty much empty of
humans,”
“Not for long, I’m sure, Lyorna,”

Lyorna nodded and “opened” the letter again, “Cami, this is from your older
sibling, they’re fine, but they’ve sent you this,”

Cami read the letter and stepped back, “I know her already, Lyorna. She’s
friends with a friend of mine and she flipped out a week ago because you
came to her and told her about our world,”

Lyorna replied, “Guilty as charged, but I wanted to warn her,”

Cami growled, “What if she had told someone else? Be thankful it was my
friend Tatiana, because otherwise, we’d be in extreme danger,”

“Who’s this Tatiana?”

Chapter Twelve- Chamomile

Tatiana crashed into the clearing Cami was resting in sometime after Lyorna
left, roaring something about Moon going crazy and running off into the
woods.

“Calm down, Tati,” Cami gasped while Tatiana took a breath, “Tonight is the
full moon, she’s just getting ready to shift,”

Tatiana nodded and gasped, “She growled like an animal, Cami, she fricking
growled and bit Ashley,”

“The Kenomi?”

Tatiana nodded, “Ashley’s scared now, but not as much as Moon was when
she found out,”
“Alright, how much does she know?”

“Only that Moon is a shifter,” Tati replied.

“Okay, so she has no idea about the packs and how Moon was turned, right?”

“Yeah, I had to act surprised as well, but I’ll need to explain a lot by
tomorrow,”

Cami nodded, “And you’re sure that Ashley is good at keeping secrets?”

Tatiana nodded again.

“Alright, you and I need to find Moon,” Cami said, “She’s in immediate danger,
and society,”

Tatiana nodded again, “So, do you know any of the hunters?”

“One of our teachers, I recognized the voice, but I don’t know which,”

Tatiana nodded, “Got it,”

“Tati, just know that Moon definitely isn’t any kind of shifter I know of. Most
shifters don’t attack and go crazy before the light of the first full moon. She’ll
be shifting now however, so be on the lookout and be extremely careful,”

Tatiana nodded again and smiled, “I’ll see you soon, and I’ll alert you if I see
Moon, alright?”

Cami nodded and pulled Tati into a hug before releasing her friend and
walking her through the woods on the lookout for Moon.
Chapter Thirteen

Moon ran forward, the taste of blood, Ashley’s blood, in her mouth. She
screamed, although it sounded more like a roar, and even though it was
nearly pitch black in the forest, Moon could perfectly see her surroundings,
albeit a bit grayscale.

Moon crouched on all fours and felt a sharp pain in her shoulder blades, as
though something were growing out of the bone. As though the bones were
changing position and another bone rose to the surface, pressing out of her
skin.

She felt like she was about to cry, but no tears flooded out. She screamed
again and saw hook-sharp claws over her nails. She tried to run onward, but
her feet felt as though implanted in the undergrowth and she fell forward and
began crawling forward, something odd and heavy being carried behind her.

Eventually, her gaze faded to near complete darkness, and she had an odd
desire to jump into a far away river she could somehow hear. She snarled and
felt suddenly hungry, with an extreme desire to eat a fish or an oyster or
something, even though she never really liked seafood.

What in hell is going on? Why is this happening?

She looked up and saw moonlight glinting through the treetops and saw
something else, something incredibly odd drifting down from the sky. Moon
crouched low and she felt pain in her forehead, like something was bursting
through the skin there.

The thing landed next to her with a heavy thump, and was an incredibly light
thing in comparison to the darkness.

The thing looked at her with a look of surprise, or at least, that was what it
looked like. The thing howled and Moon backed up and shrank. The thing’s
wing looking things folded up and it growled something.

“Who are you?” she growled, although it sounded less like that and more like
an animal’s call.

The thing barked something back, and while the words sounded oddly clipped
and sharp, somehow it managed to respond similarly to a human.

“Go home, lilac thing,” it growled, “the woods are dangerous tonight,”

Its voice sounded somewhat female as well, but Moon couldn’t get a read on
it.
“What do you mean?” Moon asked in that animal call again.

“Creatures. Danger everywhere, lilac thing,”

The animal was some kind of wolf and regarded Moon as though nothing
more than the smallest mink, although Moon could taste something else from
the creature, a scent of something similar to fear and anxiety, with a mix of
milk and mint. Probably the wolf’s personal scent.

She backed up a little, and the wolf’s rough yet fluffy tail draped over her back.
She looked down at her hands, or at least where her hands should have been,
but instead there were pale purple paws so light they were almost white. She
backed up more, but the wolf’s tail caught her, and Moon realized that she’d
scented this wolf before, but Moon wasn’t sure how she knew she had, she
didn’t have super senses. The wolf shivered and slowly turned into a girl with
light blue hair and gray wings along with two wolf ears and a tail. The girl
picked up Moon with both hands and shouted something at the trees. Two
other girls, whom Moon felt she should have known, emerged.

One had olive skin, and she was small, while the other was taller and had
brown hair, but she was white. And very much so.

“You found her?” The olive skinned girl asked.

The girl holding Moon nodded and said, “It was nothing, but she’ll go into a
hybrid form and attack again, so be careful,”

The girl holding Moon crouched until Moon’s eyes were level to the girl’s and
the girl smiled.

“Lyorna, do you think that Moon’ll be alright tomorrow?” the olive skinned girl
asked.
“She’ll be fine by tomorrow,” the girl holding Moon, Lyorna, responded. “But
she’ll be scared,”

The olive skinned girl nodded and the brown haired girl spoke, “Anyhow,
Lyorna, do you think that the bite she left Ashley with will still be there?”

“This Ashley, she’s a Kenomi, correct, cousin?”

The brown haired girl nodded, her golden eyes glimmering in the moonlight.

“She’ll heal quick enough,”

Moon squirmed out of the grip of the blue haired girl and growled before
feeling herself shake a lot and enlarge, although she still felt the now fading
pain in her shoulders, the pain in her forehead and the heavy thing behind
her. She could suddenly recognize who was around her, and the colors
changed a bit as well. She noticed Tatiana and Cami, but she still couldn’t
remember the light blue haired girl, although the girl seemed familiar.

Moon scream-roared again and collapsed, her newly grown claws digging into
the earth below her and the heavy thing swinging behind her.

She spat out some of the blood in her mouth and started throwing up as her
body continued to expel the blood from her digestive system.

Moon stood up and screamed again, before charging at Tatiana. Cami got in
the way and began pushing Moon with a tight grip.

“RAH!” Moon screamed, “LET ME GO!”

Cami barked an order in some other language at the blue haired girl and the
blue haired girl got behind Moon. Moon felt her arms pinned behind her back
and roared behind her. She tried to move forward to knock over Cami, but
Cami was stronger than she was, unsurprisingly.

That girl was built like a miniature truck.

Wait, screw this shit yay! I have hands again!

Moon’s thoughts were completely separated from her body’s actions however,
and she continued trying to get to Tatiana.

The girl behind Moon growled into Moon’s ear, “Calm down, Moon-wing,”

Moon roared and turned to the girl holding her arms behind her back. The girl
backed up as Cami grabbed Moon’s shoulders when she finally broke from
the grip of the blue-haired girl.

“Moon!” Tatiana shouted, “Calm down!”

Moon whirled to Tatiana and growled, but quickly spun to the blue haired girl.

The blue haired girl drew a sword from a sheathe.

Wait, you get a sword? Moon thought.

The blue haired girl bolted up to Moon, almost faster than light, and put it to
Moon’s stomach.

Moon roared and fell backwards, her eyes shimmering in the dark.

Pain was the only thing she felt in the moment, and she felt like she was going
to faint. Like she was going to die.
The blue haired girl snarled and raised the sword, before Cami pushed her
arm back. The blue haired girl blanched and put away the sword, muttering
some apology into Cami’s ears.

Cami and Tatiana ran to Moon after realizing that Moon was acting somewhat
normal again and Moon sat up with a sigh and a hand over her stomach. She
was pretty sure she was bleeding now.

“Moon, are you alright?” Tatiana asked.

“I’m fine,” Moon coughed.

Tatiana put a hand to Moon’s forehead and pulled it away.

“Moon, you’re freezing cold!”

Moon shivered a little and felt herself get smaller again.

Tatiana’s eyes widened, and Tatiana began saying random hysterics in a

language that Moon didn’t recognize, although she assumed it was
Portuguese.
Chapter Fourteen

Tatiana smiled and hugged the little otter that Moon had become. The otter
was a pale purple, sort of lilac, but went nearly white at the paws. Moon had
orange wings that she spread as Tatiana hugged her tighter, and little horns
above her brow. One of her eyes was purple, while the other was turquoise.
She made attempts to pull away from Tatiana, but Tatiana wasn’t having any
of it.

The little purple otter yipped something at Tatiana and Cami responded, “Oh,
Tati, she wants you to put her down, like, a lot right now.

Moon nodded and tore out of Tatiana’s grip onto the earthen floor before
shifting back into Moon-Moon. Moon’s blond hair was streaked with pale
purple now, and her eyes were seemingly a bit tinted in purple with one eye,
and turquoise with the other.

“Don’t do that,” Moon gasped, “Ever, again,”

“Sorry! You just were too cute, ya’know?”

Moon backed up and tripped over the long tail from her otter form. She yipped
and pushed herself up.

“How long has that been there?”

“Since you transformed the first time, you’ve got horns and wings too, plus an
otter’s ears, although purple,” Cami told her.
Moon’s eyes widened and she roared into the night, her eyes filled with
complete fear. The blue haired girl jumped and shivered into a different form,
one that Tatiana knew Moon recognized. Moon ran off and into the forest, not
with the roar, but an actual, full on scream.
Chapter Fifteen

Moon tripped on a root and fell forward, her horns scraping the earth and
feeling as though they would snap off painfully. She crawled forward and
stood up, her glowing eyes screeching with sharp pain.

Not her, not her, not her. Moon thought. The girl, Lyorna, was terrifying and
haunted her dreams when Moon was asleep now. She wrapped her soft tail
over part of her body, and the rest of her she covered with her new dragonfly
wings, crying and screaming to herself the entire time she was covered. She
fidgeted a lot until she finally opened her wings to breathe.

Light filtered in and as she felt the brightness burn against her eyes, she felt
tears form. She blinked them back and sat up, feeling the wings, tail, and
horns melt back into herself somehow, her eyes still hurting. Her claws dug
into the earth as she went to stand up and she felt them shrink back into her
fingernails. There was a sound of a branch snapping behind Moon, and she
froze immediately.

What the hell?

She spun around and she saw something in the trees, something with pale
blue eyes that seemed to have no pupils, or at least none that Moon could
see.

The figure toppled forward over the root and Moon saw a girl of around
eighteen with pure white hair and a deer’s antlers, ears, and tail. The girl
stood up, cursing in some language Moon didn’t know, and seemed to not
notice Moon. The girl continued forward with a muted expression until she hit
a tree.
The girl cried out and Moon went toward the girl.

Someone came rushing through the trees after and yelled for the girl.

“Winter? You alright, sweetie?”

“Hi, Xoya, I’m fine, just a little shock,”

“Are you sure, little one?” the other person asked.

“Xoya, honey, I said I’m fine, it’s just what I assume to be a tree,”

“It was a tree, and we need to get back, Winter,” The other person unfolded a
pair of wings and wrapped them around the girl. “You could have a
concussion, honey,”

“Xoya, I said I’m fine,” The girl replied and pulled away before collapsing onto
the earth.

“Winter!” Xoya screamed.

Moon approached and asked, “May I help?”

“Who are you?”

“I’m Moon, I’ve been here for a while,”

“You’re the one I sensed?”

Moon nodded, “I guess?”

“Alright, Moon, just, can you help me get my girlfriend home?” The other
person had an odd accent, one similar to the other girl, Lyorna, that Moon had
seen, but Moon chose not to dwell on it. She helped lift up the small deer girl
and carried the small girl to a small hollow tree. The other person turned and
Moon saw the person clearly for the first time.

The person had a gender neutral face and hairstyle, with the left half of their
face similar to a skull, but Moon was maybe sixty percent sure Xoya was a
male. Xoya’s left eye was dark and empty while the right one was green, a
little like Sans but a green eye with no dark areas instead of one being blue
with dark areas surrounding it. He had dark hair, but he had really fair skin,
making him look like a skeleton from the movie Coco in the light.

Moon jumped back and Xoya chuckled, “I suppose I look a bit scary,”

The skull half disappeared, and Xoya unfolded his dark brown and black bird’s
wings veined with gold.

“But haven’t you heard of the Oceanbreeze-Windshear’s Ultima’s sibling and

Snowdrift’s cousin?”

“I’m brand new to this, Xoya,”

“Ah, well, I’m Xoya, sibling to Cami, cousin to Lyorna, skywolf of the night and
death apparently. At least, that’s what my family, excluding my mom, began
jokingly calling me after I came out,”

“What?”

Xoya ignored her and continued, “What I am is a skywolf, we live like ten
thousand years or something, second in lifespan only to stormwolves, and
elves. Probably. Maybe we have the lifespan of a half-elf or something,”
Moon unfolded the dragonfly wings she felt emerging from her shoulder
blades again and attempted to flutter up.

“You don’t know how to fly? You can’t do it for long in your human form, I
guess you are pretty new to this,”

Moon beat the wings hard and lifted off the ground for about ten seconds
before falling back to the ground.

Xoya wrapped a wing around Moon and hugged her tight.

“Now, Moon, I can hear my sister and cousin looking for you, go to them,”

“Why should I go to them, Lyorna practically tried to give me a-”

“Don’t swear, Winter doesn’t like swearing,”

“Lyorna nearly gave me a heart attack, what makes you think I want to go to
her?”

“Ah, so, go to Cami, not my cousin,”

Moon growled and stalked away from Xoya, wings fluttering behind her, and
straight into the sunlight of the open world, with Ashley nearby.
Chapter Sixteen

Ashley jumped back into a wall.

“Moon?”

“Hi, Ashley,”

Moon had orange dragonfly wings sprouting out of her shoulder blades and a
lilac colored tail. Moon had new purple streaks in her hair as well. Moon
shivered slightly and the animal bits, excluding the purple streaks in her hair,
seemingly melted back into her skin, as though they were made of snow and
someone had poured hot water on them. Moon smiled at Ashley and limped a
little toward her. Ashley flinched and backed away from Moon, who looked
down, and then back at Ashley.

“What’s wrong, Ashley?” Moon asked.

Moon reached for Ashley and Ashley pulled away. Ashley’s feline eyes
glowed a little in the sunrise, and Moon’s did as well, greenish and purplish.

“Moon, no, you could have told me!”

“Sorry Ashley, very recent development,”

“No, Moon, I know that you were born like this, you could have told me, I
wouldn’t’ve minded,”

“No, not born like this, got stabbed by claws,”

“No, the packs don’t exist anymore, any shifter knows that, it can’t have been
another shifter,”

Ashley’s eyes glowed gray as proof.

“How long have you been an expert in shifters?”

“Kenomi pass the knowledge to their children, and you know that the last pack
fell millennia ago,”

“Not exactly,” Moon replied, “There’s a girl I know, she’s a pack leader,”

“No, impossible,” Ashley growled, which was an odd thing for even Ashley to
hear, as it started sounding like a cat’s angry mews.

Three figures emerged from the trees behind Moon. A girl Ashley didn’t
recognize, but the other two figures, Ashley knew, Tatiana and Cami.

“Moon!” Tatiana called, “You alright? You’re not hurt or anything?”

Moon turned and called back, “I’m fine, Tatiana, but does she have to be
here?”

The figure that Ashley didn’t recognize made a motion that seemed to be her
rolling her eyes. The other girl walked to Moon and whispered something in
Moon’s ear.
Moon stepped back and growled, and Ashley saw parts that looked
suspiciously like claws protruding from her fingertips in place of her nails.
“Lyorna!” Cami barked, “Not now. Moon, calm down,”

The other girl backed off and back to the group, but Moon held her glare.

“Moon,” Cami’s tone was stern and teetered dangerously towards rage, and
for a moment, Ashley thought that Cami’s gaze flashed gold, but she had to
have been imagining it, because that was only reported in Ultimas, and there
was no way a fourteen-year-old girl would have been an Ultima, and even less
of a chance that the packs still existed.

Moon nodded oddly however and the claws seemingly disappeared as her
gaze softened.

“Alright,” Moon rolled her eyes and if she had a tail, Ashley had a feeling it
would have been puffed up and twitching.

“Thank you, Moon, now, Ashley, I need to explain what happened, so settle in,
because this’ll take a while.

“Millenia ago, the world had two different kinds of beings, the shifters and the
humans. You probably know this, but the shifters and human’s behavior
mirrored each other. The shifters grouped together in settlements of the same
kind, similar to a wolf pack, and it was named as such, while humans grouped
together into small towns and societies. After some time, humans became
more built into the land, and due to myths of terrifying beast shifters in the
woods, the humans took time to stamp out as many shifters as possible until
they had scared most or all of them away. While some humans opposed this,
these humans were far between, and the humans eventually stopped after
realizing that the ‘beastial’ shifters’ numbers had dwindled enough,” Cami took
a breath. “The shifters eventually opened themselves up to living in
communities with humans, until humans decided to cause a genocide of all
the shifters. The humans followed the shifters to the far reaches of the
continents, and many shifters, mostly Kenomi, followed the humans out of
fear. The shifters were left in societies, but many were killed as humans
continued onward with the genocide, leaving mostly Kenomi that humans felt
could be forced into loyalty. The shifters fled with many people through the
areas that they could, many swimming or flying across, sometimes taking
boats of shifters with. The shifters ended up in this region, calling themselves
the anikoir, which in one of our tongues, the original that no shifter other than
the Phoenix, Mekora, and a few other gods know, means the animal children,”
Chapter Seventeen

Tatiana hugged Cami, who seemed tired after the explanation. Ashley
stumbled backward, her tail puffing up in alarm and her feline pupils dilating.

Moon put a hand on Ashley’s shoulder and whispered something.

Ashley looked up and growled again, her tail puffing up more and definite
claws unsheathing from her fingertips. Her hair began puffing up a lot as well,
a definite sign that Ashley was extremely upset. Ashley shifted into a large
dark gray cat, a version of her normal house cat version, but a lot larger and
meant more for hand to claw slash claw to claw conflict against others.

Moon’s form mimicked Ashley’s and shifted into her small otter form, her
purple fur fluffing up and her wings opening wide as though she was making
herself bigger. Moon growled and crouched lower into a defensive position.

“Moon,” Cami growled, “Not now. Ashley is your friend,”

Moon made a motion like she was rolling her eyes, although Tatiana knew
that she wasn’t, and shifted back into her non-hybrid form. Ashley held the
stance and Lyorna grabbed Ashley.
“Let. Me. Go,” Ashley hissed after she shifted back in a voice that sounded
more like a cat had learned to speak. Ashley lunged at Moon while screaming
to high heaven, while Cami grabbed Ashley and pulled her as far away from
Moon as she could, pinning Ashley’s arms behind her back.

Lyorna forced some plants into Ashley’s open mouth, and Tatiana noted that
Ashley started calming down.

“What was that, Lyorna?” Moon half growled, half asked.

“Just some mint leaves to calm her down. It was either that or get into a huge
fight in the middle of a neighborhood,”

Moon nodded and hugged Ashley, who growled at her but submitted anyway.
Ashley kneeled after Lyorna let her go and shifted into her passive cat state.

Ashley’s cat form was still bigger than a normal cat, but that was the same for
all kenomi. Tatiana picked her up and began carrying the large dark gray
Kenomi back to Ashley’s house.
Chapter Eighteen

Moon followed Cami through the trees until they came upon a ravine in the
middle of the forest.

“The pack is down there, Moon. Come with me, but don’t fly, it’s too narrow,”

Moon nodded and watched as Cami began jumping down the rocks in her
small wolf form. She followed in her otter form, sometimes spreading her
wings slightly to slow her fall. When the two made it to the bottom, which was
a lot further down than Moon thought, there was a large hole in the side,
similar to a cave, but it didn’t seem natural, embedded so evenly in the rocky
side of the ravine. Cami entered the dark area, so Moon followed close
behind.

The pair traveled for what seemed like hours, and when they emerged on the
other side, Moon was amazed. The area was seemingly in the forest, in a
huge clearing.

Many of the tall redwood looking-ish trees that scientists weren’t able to place,
the ones that had the structures and whatnot built along them, but the
structures looked grown in.

The village looking area was like a quincunx. Four large trees were at the
corners, and a boulder in the middle.

There were more trees, of course, but none were as big. The clearing had
people scattered throughout it, many of which had animal parts on their heads
or shoulders, and in most cases, a tail. Moon stood, transfixed, before
realizing she had shifted into the hybrid form.
“Entering automatically changes you back to this form, no matter what form
you’re in, but you can change to the full human form or your animal form if
that’s more comfortable for you,”

Moon nodded and turned into the full human form before feeling the tail and
ears and the wings return again. She twitched her tail in irritation and
continued onward with Cami. They stopped at a small structure at the base of
one of the trees with a garden in front.

“The farmhouse here?” Moon asked.

“No, the Sanctuary,” Cami replied, “Pretty much a hospital. We don’t have
much of what human hospitals do, but we do have cures for most poisons,
illnesses, we can do transfusions, although it's a bit harder, and we can treat
injuries, but we don’t have abundances of some medicinal advances, so we
use them sparingly,”

The Sanctuary was barely large enough for Moon to fit in, and Cami’s taller
figure had to crawl in order to enter.

“It gets larger, Moon, it’s just to protect the patients if an attack occurs,”

They entered the hollow interior of the tree, which had wooden platforms
seemingly carved from the interior wood itself, except the edges were
extremely hardened. Moon noticed that the floor was hard as well, and she
found the floor was from the tree’s stump. There were at least a thousand,
maybe two thousand rings from the tree. This floor was covered with sick
beds, plus a few IV stands nearby.

“How old is this tree?” Moon asked.

“This yggdrasil is three thousand five hundred sixty-seven years old, and it’s
on the younger side. It’ll stop growth in a few centuries, and this is only two
thirds of its max height. I’ve only seen one yggdrasil at its max height, to be
honest,”

“It’s still growing? Even after being hollowed out? And the tree is huge!” This
wasn’t an overstatement. Moon could look straight up and couldn’t see the
technical ceiling of the tree

“Yggdrasils are different from most trees,” Cami replied. “For one thing,
Yggdrasils were meant for living inside, as the trees are already hollow but
thick walled to insulate from the cold, but instead people cut them down and
burn the saplings,” Cami spat out the last few words as though they were
made of the school’s falafel.

“Chamomile!” A girl squealed from behind Cami. The girl in question had
pinkish and purplish hair with a beanie over her head, either a fashion choice
or the girl was legitimately cold. The girl had some kind of thing poking out of
both sides of the beanie that resembled gills, but also similar to a wolf’s ears,
split in two sections, just scaly. The top part was dark blue, while the
underside of the ear looking things was white. The girl also had a dark blue
tail that faded into light blue and curled up like a chameleon’s behind her.

“Hey, Olivia!” Cami responded, “This is Moon, she’s new here, and I need you
to check if she’s unhurt, because she’s a brand new shifter, and the healing
doesn’t work as well yet,”

The girl, Olivia, nodded, “Does she maybe know Tatiana?”

“They’re friends,” Cami replied.

Olivia nodded again, “Alright, now, Moon, how are you?”

“Confused,” Moon responded, “How has no one discovered this?”

“The trees block them,” A man with an ancient burn on the side of his face on
one of the cots responded, “The trees can keep secrets well,”

“Coconut!” Olivia called, “Rest, sweetie, please,”

“Sorry about him,” Cami said, “There was a fire about half a decade ago that
killed his twin brother and along with both of his parents, his three year old
daughter, and his five year old nephew, after one of our Omegas left the pack.
Most people think it was caused by the Omega, but some of us think it was
our former Ultima, Helix, trying to scare the pack into obedience, plus kill the
now very recently deceased Ultima of one of the other Bluepoint Packs, Rain,
as a bonus while Rain was visiting,” Cami pointed to another cot that held a
girl with burns over most of her face and metal melting into her skin.

“That’s Viper. She was another victim of the fire, but she fell into a coma. At
first we took her to the hospital, but eventually, her scales began showing, so
we had to move her here. She rarely wakes up now, but she has a brilliant
mind, and she was able to develop a few technologies and was working on a
few before the fire to mirror what we can see in hospitals. She’s one of the
other Salutaris,”

Moon nodded, “When was the last time she woke up?”

“A few days ago, for maybe five hours,” Olivia replied. “She’s part snake, so in
her animal and hybrid forms, she doesn’t need to eat as much, but more than
a normal snake,” Olivia glanced in the direction of Viper. “When she’s finally
well enough to leave, she’ll return to her duties as the head Salutari, but until
she is, I’m the main Salutari,”
“Moon, Olivia needs to check to make sure you have no abnormalities in your
system, because your animal form is a kind of animal that hasn’t been seen
for five years, and hasn’t been seen in shifters since long before we left
human societies,”

“What the hell?” asked Moon, somewhat bewildered.

“It's probably genetic, long buried or something, and it resurfaced in you when
you were slashed,” Olivia clarified. “Understand?”

Moon nodded and looked at her hands. She felt different, although she knew
not much was.

It just depends on your new view of the world. Moon remembered Tatiana
saying a few times.

“Will I develop super powers or something?”

“No, what is this, a cliche novel for children?” Olivia exclaimed. “That’s not
how shifting works. We are born with or without abilities, and we do not
develop new ones as we get older, although we can strengthen already
existing ones,”

Cami nodded in confirmation, “Yeah. I’m just a walking particle accelerator,

and I was born with the ability to change mass, mess around with atomic
bonds, I could probably make a very deadly laser if I tried, although we didn’t
realize until I was much older, maybe eleven, when my mom showed me how
she can’t fly for as long as she can in her wolf form, because humans are too
heavy, even with my entire family’s genetics to make us light and tall, but her
wolf form was stronger and similar in skeletal structure to a bird as well as a
wolf. The ability just made it easier for her to fly for a few hours, and it goes
back to normal after a while, so now I dedicate an hour to working on this
ability, because it's mostly an ability of Ultimas in other packs, and no one in
my pack can do it, other than a bird shifter named Karasu, but his isn’t as
powerful. He can only do it to himself,”

Moon nodded as though she understood, although she didn’t really.

“Moon, shift, please,” Olivia said.

Moon nodded and shivered as she became the small otter-like thing and felt
like shifting back right away, which she did immediately after.

“Did it hurt to shift?”

“It’s just really weird, although I think it’s because it came from that hybrid
form thing?” Moon said, shifting back to the hybrid form.

“Makes sense, but I’m assuming you felt pain as the skeletal structure began
to change?”

“A little, but I barely noticed it,”

“Cami,” Olivia called, “Do you know how many times she’s shifted?”

“At least five times, twice during the full moon, thrice after, including this time.

Moon nodded and her wings fluttered behind her randomly.

“Moon, can I see your wings? There’s something off about them, have you
flown yet?”

“Mostly I’ve glided, I can’t lift off the ground that high if I try yet,”

“What happened when you first tried?”

“I was in the hybrid form and tried flying. I got in the air about a foot or so off
the ground, then fell back,”

“Alright, that’s good for a new shifter, and unusual, because you’re supposed
to learn how to fly more, first,”

“So what does that mean?”

“Are you by any chance adopted? Because you might be half shifter and
might have even flown before,”

“Well, I am adopted. My parents told me when I was six,”

“Look into that, you seem to be part or full shifter, with some kind of dormant
shifter gene or something,”

Moon nodded and turned to Cami, who was staring at the cot holding the form
of that woman.

“I hope that she wakes up soon and doesn’t go back under again, soon,” Cami
whispered, seemingly to herself. Cami’s ginger hair shifted as Cami began
walking away, beckoning for Moon to follow close.

“Moon, you’ll need to know more about the pack. The last Ultima, before I
became Ultima, was called Helix, and he was, and still is, a horrible person.
He killed our young childrens who hadn’t even shifted, it's thought that he tried
to kill most of the other packs’ diplomats at once. He chose me as his
successor, because he knows my mother, who when he was born, although
not anymore, thankfully, was just about as manipulative and cruel as he is,
possibly more. Do not mention Helix, as everyone’s still on edge about him.
It’s been like two months since he last saw us, and we don’t want flashbacks
to what happened. Now, our beliefs. You don’t need to believe if you don’t
want to, but I still feel it needs to be explained to all new pack members,”

Moon nodded and Cami continued as they walked through camp, the few
people out staring at the newcomer. “The first pack was formed millennia ago,
when humans and shifters didn’t differentiate between each other, because in
that time, it was just as common for shifters to give birth to shifters as
humans, and vice versa,”

“Most humans,” she continued, “Were supportive of shifters, and humans

would even ‘mate’ with shifters on many occasions. Humans would adopt
shifter children if needed, and vice versa. While some shifters stayed in the
wild, with many of their descendants still living on the continents that humans
inhabited first, as many other kinds of shifters, shifters that can turn into one
part of the wildlife in that area. The shifters banded together, taking humans
with them as well, and we mirrored behaviors found in other animals, forming
pack-herds of similar kinds of shifters. Relations between these Pack-Herds
grew stronger and eventually, smaller packs formed of multiple kinds of
shifters had branched out of the larger ones,”

“Eventually the large ones, which were well over five hundred members in
each, for the most part fell apart and became smaller groups that began
joining with the others. One day, it was said that one of the religious leaders of
our packs received messages from the first shifter, our nameless Phoenix.
The religious leaders were taught of the heavens and our gods. Mekora, the
moon goddess, Wiran, the wind god, Kinli, the sun goddess, Hara, the
goddess of the ocean, Lytan, the god of nature, and Yonas, the god of the
stars, to name a few. The Oceanbreeze-Windshear pack believes strongest in
Wiran, Mekora, and Hara, so you may hear their names tossed around a lot
by the others, and respect them, even if you don’t believe, if you would,”
Moon nodded and Cami continued with the rest of her explanation, “The
pack’s founders are chosen by a certain god to lead. The first Ultima of the
Windshear pack’s name was Gale, who was an honorable man according to
stories, from the year 1762. The first of the Oceanbreeze pack was named
Tide, and she founded the pack in 1883, just a few years before the packs
merged together after the Ultima of the Windshear pack died suddenly and left
no successor. Tide was a kind and loyal woman, who took in anyone wishing
to join her pack, according to my mother, who have this odd gift of a near
immortal life due to our lineage of skywolves and stormwolves. Xoya seems to
have gotten the immortality as well,”

Moon nodded, “Cami, how old is your mother?”

“She’s over eight hundred, although she’s never told me exactly how old,
she’s said she’s lost count,”

“Wow, that’s really old,” Moon realized that Cami had said a familiar name and
said, “I think I met your broth-”

“Sibling, they’re non-binary,”

“Sibling,” Moon amended, “He- They were with a girl that was seemingly part
deer,”

“Oh, Winter. The two’ve been dating for a while, but Xoya never sees me
when they come visit, so they send letters, although sometimes their
messenger, normally Lyorna, finds me before the letters make it to camp,”

Moon nodded, “When did you last see them?”

“Outside of formal times and family trips, two years ago, I was thirteen. It had
been three years since my first shift, and we were just talking together at the
foot of my bed. They had recently come out,”

“Wow, long time,”

Moon nodded and twitched her tail as she followed Cami. Her eyes felt bright
and were stinging painfully quickly after that, as though lights were from her
eyes. She looked at her surroundings and depending on which side she was
looking on, one looked normal, while the other looked tinted with pale purple.
She blinked and her surroundings returned to normal as the pain subsided.
Her tail dropped back and she felt it drag along the earth behind her, as
though her body couldn’t sustain its weight anymore and just gave up on lifting
it. She fell forward and felt herself shrink. Her wings shook and Cami seemed
a lot taller now. She felt a bit different, as though covered in her thick
snowboarding jacket. Cami crouched down and whispered in a non-human
language that sounded like how she spoke when she shifted the first time.

“You’re shifted into your animal form. Shift back,”

Moon dipped her head in an attempt to nod and felt Cami’s eyes warm glow
pass over her fur and fade, and as though compelled to do so, her body
followed the order involuntarily and stood up on her back legs as she felt the
animal bits she hadn’t wanted melt into her skin again, although they now felt
they needed to stretch out.

“Moon, go home now, alright? I’ll see you tomorrow, and your parents are
going to be upset if you stay out too long, probably,”

Moon nodded and turned away from Cami as the trees lightened, and she felt
like the area was more familiar. She realized now, this forest already felt more
like home than her actual home.
Chapter Nineteen

Three weeks later

Tatiana watched as a small purple animal climbed up her side wall. In the time
since Moon had first shifted, Moon had gotten a lot better at controlling it,
although she couldn’t fly yet. Moon fell through the open window and glided a
little on the way down. She shifted back and was in the full human form again
instead of the hybrid form like most shifters after they came out of the animal
form, a thing Moon had gotten a lot better at as well in the weeks since the full
moon. Moon’s eyes were slowly beginning to change colors, one being
turquoise and the other purple, although it wasn’t noticed by anyone except
Tatiana yet.

Moon hugged Tatiana and Cami climbed into the room behind Moon (in her
human form, although with the ears and tail), and she landed with a heavy
thump on Tatiana’s floor. Cami shifted back as well and hugged her as soon
as Moon had let go. Tatiana smiled at Cami and could taste some kind of
scent on the air that Tatiana recognized as Ashley’s distinct conditioner.

Ashley climbed into the room in her dark gray cat form, then growled when
she saw Moon and Cami. Her ears pinned to her head as she shifted back,
and she approached slowly.

“Tatiana, they giving you any trouble?”

“No, Ashley, they’re fine. They’ve done nothing wrong. They’re my friends too,
you know,”

“Not friends,” Ashley growled, “They lied to you,”

“Actually Moon didn’t,” Cami inserted, “Moon was turned less than two months
ago and told Tatiana as soon as she found out, but didn’t tell you because you
were pretty much always busy. And I’m not telling someone when I don’t know
how they’ll react,”

Ashley growled, “I don’t trust it. If you non-Kenomi shifters are so strong, just
tell everyone,”

“No, Ashley, we can’t. We’ve got people always on our tail because a few
shifters are absolutely, fu-”

“No language like that in the house, Cami,” Tatiana interrupted.

“Are absolutely insane,” Cami amended, “I’m not putting my pack in danger,”
Cami raised up her hands and turned her back from Ashley, her tail twitching
a little.

“Your pack? Who’s the ‘Ultima’? I doubt that they’re even really a true Ultima if
they let you refer to the pack as yours, as though you own it,”

“I’m the Ultima,” Cami snapped as she turned around to glare at Ashley, “I’ve
led for three years now, since I was twelve, because our former Ultima chose
me as successor and was then kicked out for child murder, arson, attempted
homicide, and Mekora knows what else, and many of these crimes were
against humans and Kenomi not in our pack, sometimes in others, sometimes
to people who don’t even know we exist. And my pack, it owns itself, but I lead
it, that’s all,”

“Who’s bright idea was it, to give a twelve year old the throne?”

“Humans’ve done it before, I was eleven when I was chosen, and Helix
thought he could control me, ha!” Cami laughed and continued, “But when the
time came to it, I managed to expose him, unlike my predecessors. He’s no
longer a member of the pack, although he’s alive, most recent time we’d seen
him was about two months ago, before all this shit started,”

“Cami!” Tatiana scolded. Cami apologized quickly.

Ashley growled and shifted into her large feral cat form. Ashley crouched low,
as though ready to pounce, and her claws were unsheathed from the pads.

Her feline pupils dilated as she looked at Cami, and Tatiana had to intervene
as Ashley leaped at Cami. Tatiana stepped between the two and took
Ashley’s extremely sharp claws.

“Ashley, leave Cami alone. Please, Ashley, please. Don’t attack, it’s me,”

Ashley spat at Tatiana and clung on to Tatiana’s now torn tank top. Tatiana
grabbed Ashley and did the little drop thing that people do with cats the
second Ashley tried clawing at Tatiana’s skin. Ashley hissed once more
before jumping back out the window.

Tatiana heard Ashley yelp “I’m okay!” and heard Ashley’s light steps graze the
ground with a few loud scratching noises as she ran off, presumably toward
her home.

“Tatiana,” Cami said, “There’s something important that you need to know.
Recently one of the boys in our pack, Sebastian, he overheard a kid named
Hunter planning something. Something that endangers the pack, and you.
Hunter knows a lot of the members of our pack in our school. He knows about
us, and he somehow found out about you. We need to hide. Lyorna’s illusions
will cover for us,”
Moon flinched just after Cami mentioned Lyorna’s name. “Lyorna’s got
strength, and Hunter doesn’t know that illusions exist. We’ll be fine and he’ll
be incredibly confused. Probably drop it. Lyorna needs to get to know both
you and Moon however, because the other people Hunter knows about are
the people she knows very well. Moon and I’ll go out the window, and you can
go through the door. Then, follow us,”

Chapter Twenty

Lyorna’s illusion and Moon were nearly indistinguishable from each other,
although it seemed that Lyorna hadn’t noticed Moon’s eyes were slowly
changing color either.
“Lyorna, there’s a mistake,”

“Where?”

“Moon’s eyes aren’t that exact color. Her left one’s turning kinda turquoise and
the right one’s becoming purple,”

“Really? I don’t see it,”

“You don’t? It’s like her eyes have a barely transparent film over them. It
makes a huge difference if they’re there or not,”

“Alright,” Lyorna flicked her finger and the illusion’s eyes had a slight colorful
film on them.

“This better?”

Tatiana nodded, “Yeah. That’s more like her eye colors. Thank you,”

“Now it's your turn. Say every single letter in this language, now,”

“Um, the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog,”

“More words,”

Tatiana said about a thousand random words until Lyorna stopped her.

“Okay, that’s enough,”

Lyorna finished the basic appearance of the illusion and had it repeat the
words in Tatiana’s voice. Lyorna nodded and began working on the harder
details. She had Tatiana smile, frown, glare (that one probably wouldn’t be
used, however, if it followed similarly to her behavior), laugh, grin, and as
though the illusion were simply a computer drive, uploaded each possible
outcome that could happen.

“The illusion syncs with your memories as well, but only if you’re nearby,
similar to a digital watch and a phone,”

Tatiana nodded and Lyorna called Moon over to check the illusion and
Tatiana side by side.

“That’s good, Lyorna,” Moon said before leaving the almost cramped hollow
tree again. Tatiana followed Moon out, as Lyorna was giving off a crazy
person-ish vibe at that point with that weirdly hard but calm gaze that seemed
as though she were listening into Tatiana’s thoughts, but clearly she wasn’t,
because otherwise she’d know how Tatiana was feeling around her, and there
was no clear sign that Lyorna even knew.

Chapter Twenty-One

One week later

Lyorna’s head hurt, a lot. Keeping seven illusions up at the same time was
extremely exhausting, especially since she was twenty miles away and
keeping up just one from that distance was taxing. But, seven, at once?

And along with the loud voices, her mother’s, her father’s, so many others,
that she rarely paid attention to anymore, she could barely do anything. She
wished she could just be free of these voices and of her burdens, but she
wanted to keep her cousin safe.

She had to be awake at most hours, except for the hours when Xoya had said
once or twice that they’d take over for a few hours.

Lyorna could barely focus on anything at all and, luckily, had skipped sixth
and seventh grade and was taking online college classes, for now, so she
could take a break in between classes, but she still ended up skipping a class
to take care of herself.

She didn’t register when someone knocked on the door to her and her
roommates' apartment, and certainly didn’t register their footsteps.

She didn’t notice someone else was in the apartment until she was tapped on
the shoulder. She turned and couldn’t recognize the face she saw watching
her bloodshot eyes, at least until the person spoke. It was her girlfriend,
Elizabeth.

“Lena! How are you?” The blond girl smiled and kissed her lightly on the nose,
using Lyorna’s other name that was given to her at birth, the human one.

“Hi, Lizzie, I’m fine, just tired and I have a severe migraine right now,”
“Oh, sweetie, why didn’t you tell me when I texted? I must’ve texted you like
five hundred times in the last hour before I decided to come here to check on
you,”

“You did?” Lyorna asked, extremely confused. She turned to her phone and
turned it on. Sure enough, Lizzie left eighteen voice mails, called twenty-five
times, and left at least a thousand texts in the past day.

“Everything alright, Lena?”

“Lizzie, it's just stress. I’ve got an exam coming up next week and I’ve been
studying almost non-stop,”

“Oh, sweetie. Don’t worry, but you should probably have some caffeine or
something,”

Lyorna shifted in her spot nervously. Her hands shook and she shook her
head, trying to think of an excuse not to have something caffeinated. Caffeine
often messed with her magic.

“Can’t,” Lyorna said, “Caffeine just makes me more tired. I have… ADHD,”

Lizzie looked as though she doubted it, but she shrugged and said, “Eat
something, at least,”

“Like what?”

“We can order pizza,” Lizzie suggested.

“Better not put french fries on it, Lizzie, like last time,”

“It’s good, Lena!”

“Only in Italy, love,”

Lizzie giggled, pulled Lyorna into a hug and kissed her on the cheek. Lyorna
smiled but pushed Lizzie away, knowing that it may distract her from
continuing the illusions. The Tatiana one was visible in the back of her mind, it
was doing something very actively. The Tatiana one required the most
concentration for whatever reason, as though Tatiana had some kind of
hidden quality that Lyorna had to focus on, or a spell over her, but she
couldn’t figure out what. Maybe there was a spell that prevented illusion
copies to be made of someone without intense concentration?

“Lighten up, Lena!” Lizzie smiled, “I bet you’ll pass your exam, and it's only a
week away! You can study later,”

Lizzie grabbed Lyorna’s hand and pulled her up, “Lena, for me?”

“Alright, Lizzie. What do you wanna do?”

“You need food. We’re going to Burger King,”

“Nooooooooo,”

“Yes,”

“I don’t wanna leave,” Lyorna yawned.

“You’re going outside and you’re going to enjoy it,”

“Lizzie, please, I’ve been outside all day for the past three days,”

“You’re going, honey, now,”

Lizzie scooped Lyorna into her arms in a bridal carry and carried her out the
open door.

“Why must you do this to me?”

“Because you need food,”

“Right, right. But how did you get this strong?”

“Hard work and experience,”

“How dare you throw my own joke at me?”

“I can. It’s not illegal,”

Lizzie put Lyorna on the ground and helped her stand up. Lizzie kissed Lyorna
again and walked her into the forest after they got some burgers at the nearby
Burger King.

“I know you like it here. Come on, the forest is amazing today,”

Lyorna carefully guided Lizzie away from the places where her pack and
others went often, although slowly so as to not draw suspicion.

“Lena! Look, a little lizard!”

It wasn’t a lizard. It was some kind of weirdly small draekon, about half the
size of a normal lizard, which normally were about twice the size of an
ordinary lizard in their passive form, and she prayed it wouldn’t get bigger.

Lyorna wasn’t about to tell Lizzie what it really was. Humans knew about
creatures like jackalopes, dragons, and rocs, but if they discovered more of
what they’d been missing these thousands of years, they may search the
woods and find the shifters. Not. An. Option.

“Lena!” Lizzie yelled, “There’s another!”

There were at least eight more hiding in the grass. Probably many in the
trees.

Lizzie needs to get out. Lyorna grabbed her girlfriend’s hand and pulled her
through the draekon swarm.

“Lena, where’re we going?”

“A place I know. We can hang out there. It’s safe, and there’s a great view at
night,” Lyorna turned around and grabbed Lizzie’s hands.

“Lena, it’s only three,”

“And it’s a two hour hike. The sun'll have set by then. And think, we’ll be
alone,”

Lyorna turned her head to make sure the draekon weren’t following.

Luckily they weren’t, probably because it would endanger their group to follow
on a mountainside, as draekon are incredibly heavy when full sized. Lizzie
stopped to look at pretty much everything, as Lyorna never took her this deep,
and everything she saw fascinated her.

Lizzie saw a giant butterfly-like creature that shifters dubbed The Love-Me.

The white and gray butterfly would draw in people with its scent and lead them
off a cliff, but only the females could do it, and it only worked on those who
could smell Lily of the Valley, however, and luckily, neither Lizzie, nor Lyorna
could.

Lizzie saw the standard flora of the region, a little bit of the plants that Xoya
and Olivia had teamed up to plant a year back, and saw the giant black wolf
that Xoya could turn into, the one without wings.

“Lena! I, I think I just saw a wolf,” Lizzie whimpered

“Don’t worry, the wolves this far out seldom attack without provocation,”

“Have you been watching The Crown again?” Lizzie asked.

“No. And the wolves don’t let people pet them. But they do watch people if
they feel the person is in danger sometimes,”

“Cool,”

“The creatures in this wood are just more guardians than anything. They hunt,
but most animals in here are herbivores, and there’s only a small pack here
that only kills an animal or two every three days,”

“So, why haven’t we seen many animals outside of the lizards, that giant
butterfly, and the wolf?”

“That’s our species’ fault. That, and the lack of aboveground streams,”

The two reached the area that Lyorna had been trying to get to. A large
clearing with a rock outcropping rising above the high trees, but a staircase
embedded inside the rock by shifters from long before.

“Cool, Lena!”
Lyorna smiled, “There’s more. We can go further. There’s a closed in
staircase I discovered on my third time here,”

“Cool! How wide at the top?”

“A lot of space, but I’d recommend to stay away from the edge,”

“Alright, Lena!”

The two climbed to the top and lay down at the top, watching as the colors
changed from the pinkish purple they were, to an inky black, freckled with
stars, and with the absence of that much civilization, a beautiful galaxy in the
sky. The nearly full moon was at their backs, and they faced each other.
Lizzie’s face was bathed in the pale glow of the moon, and while Lyorna could
see as well as she could in daylight, she decided not to. The night glow made
the light much better. She looked down and saw a huge dark blob.

“Xoya,” she whispered under her breath, or at least, so she thought.

“Who?”

“Oh. They hate nature, but for a moment I thought I saw them,”

“Alright. How’d you know them?”

“Cousin,”

“Oh, cool,”

The dark blob went under the rocks. Xoya seemed to sense something.

A loud screech rang through the night and Lizzie jumped. Lizzie fell back, only
slightly. Lyorna grabbed Lizzie’s wrist and pulled her back up.
A bird flew in front of Lyorna’s vision and then flew away. Lyorna clenched
Lizzie’s wrist and they began talking about their college.

After a few hours, they traveled back down, and at the base of the large rock
structure, Lizzie spoke.

“What do you think caused this structure?”

“Hmm. Yes I wonder,” Lyorna said jokingly.

“I’m serious!”

“Lizzie, it’s called nature! Let’s just appreciate the natu-” Lyorna’s phone
buzzed. It was a text from Cami.

‘lyorna where r u?’

Lyorna put her thumb to the keypad thing and replied, ‘Near the rock pile
thingy. GF with me. Call me Lena for now,’

‘K.’

Cami texted again a moment later, ‘wait how long u had a gf?’

‘Five months. didn’t tell u,’ Lyorna texted back.

‘o. k. when can you get back?’

‘Three hours, give or take,’

‘k. come fast as possible. somethings up over here,’

‘Got it.’
Lyorna put her phone back in her pocket.

“Who were you talking to?”

“My other cousin. Not Xoya,”

“Oh. What was it about?”

“She has a few things to take care of and needs a bit of help. Second we get
back, I’m going to help her,”

“Alright. Lena, should we get going? Don’t want to keep your cousin waiting,”

“Yeah. Let’s go,”

Lizzie and Lyorna barely spoke to each other. Lizzie kept wandering around
and looking at the trees, while Lyorna spoke a little to the voices that she kept
hearing that wouldn’t shut up for once.

Lizzie looked at Lyorna like she was crazy when she specifically addressed
one of the voices, the one that sounded like what Lyorna remembered of her
mom. Lyorna’s friend Manicheel flew over their heads and landed next to
them, but he walked in the opposite direction for about a minute and then
turned around, judging by the swish of a scaly tail brushing against the cold
earth.

Lyorna looked behind and Manicheel made a smile-like gesture at Lyorna. He

continued walking although he stayed close to Lyorna and Lizzie while they
walked.

“Why’s that dragon following us?”

“It probably thinks we have food. It would have attacked already if it were
hunting,”

“Should we worry?”

“No need, it’ll leave us alone if it realizes we don’t have food,”

Lyorna turned her head and shot a “don’t follow us” glare at Manicheel when
Lizzie looked away.

Manicheel nodded and growled in Drakon, “Be careful,”

Lyorna smiled, “See, it left. Lizzie, there’s nothing to worry about. You’re safe
with me,”

Lizzie nodded and Lyorna brushed a stray dirty blond curl off of Lizzie’s face.
Lizzie’s gray eyes twinkled with amusement in the darkness as she smiled
and began laughing.

“What’s gotten into you?”

Lizzie smiled and hugged Lyorna.

“No, seriously,”

“Nothing, I swear! Just happy,”

“ ‘Bout what?”

“The dragon. I got to see one for the first time,”

“That was your first?”

“Yeah. It was so much different from what I always expected. It was big, and I
loved the color! I wonder why it didn’t need to eat though. Why didn’t it go
after us?”

“Most dragons eat both fruits and meat. It’s probably been living off of some
fruit that can be found in this forest,”

“Why do you know this?”

“Lecture at one of my classes,” Lyorna lied.

“Oh. So, how’re you doing at those anyways?”

“Um, passing,”

“Oh. Wow, is that good or bad?”

“Well, I’m best in my class,”

“Oh, cool!”

Lyorna and Lizzie stayed silent the rest of the walk home, although Lizzie’s
eyes were constantly gleaming as though she’d been planning to ask Lyorna
something.

“What’re you smiling about?” Lyorna asked as the trees began to thin.

“I’m happy, that’s all”

“Ah. So, what’re you happy about?”

“This trip. It was fun,”

“Yeah, it was. I’ve never gone with anyone before,”

“Why? People would love it up there! Could even become a landmark if you
tried,”

“If I showed too many, they would cut away that section of the woods for
easier travel. I don’t want that,”

“So, you don’t want people to know, to save the forest?”

“Never. If people take my-” Lyorna paused, she was about to say home, but
remembered that Lizzie didn’t know about the rest of her life, “My place. The
place that I love most and want preserved, I’d lose my mind,”

“So, just buy the area!”

“Lizzie, how much is this forest worth?”

“Oh, right,”

“And Lizzie, the government can always take the area away from me if they
decide to,”

“True,”

“Now, Lizzie, I got to go and help out my cousin. See ya! Text or call if you
need me!”

“Bye Lena!”
Chapter Twenty-Two

Tatiana put a hand on Cami’s shoulder as Cami slept in the small cabin that
Cami had taken Tatiana, Moon, Thea, Sebastian, and Samuel to hide while
the hunters searched. Sebastian and Samuel had taken to sleeping in a tent
outside, as Cami’s mother had ordered Cami to have them do that, rather than
sleep with the girls.

“You alright?” Thea asked.

In the past three nights, Tatiana had found out that Thea had insomnia, and
would wake up about two hours after she fell asleep and would have trouble
going back to sleep.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine, just nervous,”

“Just, try to sleep. Cami’s noticed you’ve been having trouble,”

Tatiana nodded and lay down. She closed her eyes and opened them again
after several sleepless hours and the light began shining in her eyes.

As she opened them, she noticed Moon, smiling, while kneeling on the couch,
next to Tatiana’s legs, the way she would when they were kids, and having
sleepovers before Moon’s mom had found that Tatiana was lesbian.

“Tatiana! How are you this morning?” Moon’s expression was betrayed by her
voice, which wavered and broke halfway through.

“Moon, are you okay?”

“Y-yeah! I’m just, just a bit nervous. It’s scary having to be out here. We’ve got
someone at our school after us, and it’s just very new and scary,”

“Calm down Moon. We’ll make it through and won’t be found,”

“Tati, how can you be positive here? We might die,”

“We won’t die, Moon. The illusions are covering for us,”

“What if they find us anyway?”

“They won’t. Moon, trust me,”

Moon nodded and pulled Tatiana into a really tight hug. Tighter than normal.

“Moon. Crushing me,” Tatiana gasped and Moon let go.

“Sorry, Tati,”

“Alright. Girls!” Cami called from behind them. “So, Lyorna says that the
illusions have thrown the mole off our scent. We can go home soon!”

Moon looked at Tatiana and smiled brightly enough to light the room.

“See? We don’t have to worry,” Tatiana smiled.

Cami grabbed Tatiana’s wrist.

“Tatiana? Can I have a word with you?”

Tatiana nodded and Cami pulled her into another room.

“Tatiana. Listen. You, Thea, and I still aren’t safe. Thea knows this already,
but you, you’re in danger still. Don’t tell the others. The illusion will cover.
From what Lyorna tells me, it acts exactly like you, so your friends won’t find
out. So just keep quiet. Don’t say anything,”

Tatiana nodded and hugged Cami.

“Alright, Cami. I guess I’ll pretend to go home, then meet you in the woods?”
“Yep,”

“Love you,”

Chapter Twenty-Three
Moon’s paws ached as she walked back home. Her foot dragged slightly,
slowing her progress through the woods. She paused when she heard a twig
snap behind her and immediately shifted into her small otter form to try to get
away quicker.

The thing’s steps sped up and eventually, a large black wolf cut Moon off in
the middle of a large yggdrasil trunk. It growled and walked in. Moon crouched
low and her claws dug into the soft inner wood of the stump. The black wolf
raised its head, as though it could get bigger, and made a sound similar to
laughing.

“I’m not gonna hurt you,” the wolf reassured through its laughter.

“What do you want?” Moon growled.

“Wait. I know you. You’re the girl I ran into last full moon,”

“Who are you?”

“You shift back. I’ll do the same thing,”

Moon shook her head to the best of her ability and moved her foot backwards.

“Bipedal form at least?”

“What now?”

“C’mon. You don’t know of your bipedal animal form?”

“That’s possible? I thought it was just a story,” Moon shook her head slightly,
“But, then again, I thought most shifters were just fairytales from a long
forgotten age. No longer real,”
“Ah. My sister hasn’t taught you how to use your bipedal form?”

“Oh. You’re Xoya?”

“That I am. How are you, moon-wing?”

“The hell’s a moon-wing?”

“The animal you can become. It’s called a moon-wing. And they’re stronger
than they look,”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re more in control, aren’t you?”

“By that you mean?”

“You can shift at will,”

“Well, yeah. Unless I’m really, really angry,”

“So. Almost full control. How long have you been a shifter?”

“Less than a month, as far as I know,”

“So. A month long and you can control almost everything. Unusual, even for
someone raised a shifter,”

“Can you maybe teach me to shift into this bipedal form?” Moon asked.

“Of course. You’ll know when the first lesson begins,”

“What, are you going to suddenly appear at my house?”

“Pretty much,”

“Creepy,”

Xoya gave Moon an odd look, “That’s like my entire job. I’m supposed to be
the spiritual leader of all the packs in between Ivywood and Laewaes, as well
as the Salutari of the Snowdrift pack, but all it means is I gotta be weird and
scare the shit out of shifters under the age of ten and heal sometimes,”

“Weird job but, okay,”

Moon blinked and Xoya had disappeared.

Moon’s tail flicked and she decided to use the hollow inside of the yggdrasil to
attempt to learn to fly.

She grabbed the inner wood with her claws and began climbing her way up,
just enough so she could glide down if the attempt to fly failed, or if that didn’t
work, not to get too hurt. She spread her wings wide and beat them as hard
as possible, then let go.

She felt herself fall and spread her wings and began flapping to move up.
Moon felt herself rise slightly, before she fell back and onto one of her wings,
although, since it was boneless due to it being a dragonfly’s, it didn’t break,
and it wasn’t damaged by her landing on it suddenly.

She felt dizzy after a few hours of trying and failing to fly several times,
although each time, she rose a little higher when she tried, and she wasn’t
badly hurt, all that had happened was she had slightly torn her bottom right
wing.

I should probably go to Olivia for that. It won’t heal on its own, probably.
Moon began walking to the camp, in the way that she had exited the first time.
The trees began to thicken and yggdrasils began becoming more and more
common as Moon continued padding through the undergrowth.

Her paws ached after a while, but eventually, she came to a gate-like
structure of two yggdrasils, their branches spread to meet each other, and she
couldn’t tell if it was a single tree or two if she looked directly at the areas
where the branches met.

She padded through and felt herself shift back, into the hybrid form again.
Immediately something tackled her and began tearing at her face with claw-
like nails.

She screamed and tried clawing her way out of the situation, then rolled out of
the tackle and continued running, although she could hear the thing’s steps
getting closer as she moved. She decided to face her attacker and moved in
karate movements.

Her attacker was definitely a shifter of unknown gender that seemed to be

driven mad. Its eyes glowed and it snarled, which made way into a loud
shriek. It lunged for Moon, so Moon ducked and kicked it in the shin, causing it
to fall. Something tackled Moon from the side, however, and pushed her into
the bushes.

“What are you doing here?” The second person that had tackled Moon, whom
Moon recognized as Olivia whisper-yelled.

“I got hurt, and I can’t exactly explain to a human what it was, because it's part
of my animal form. Now, who in hell was that, and what was wrong?”

“Ah. And, the person there, that was a shifter, driven mad. The hunters were
coming after us and had shot that person with a kind of drug-tipped arrow.
You can still see it in their back. I don’t know who, however. They made it to
camp and went insane here, according to reports by someone who was near
them as it happened. And you need to get out. The shifter can’t leave camp.
It's a primal instinct for some shifters to stay and defend a certain area. In this
case, from the entrance of camp to the edges of the valley, and only part of
that area. Follow me, there’s a series of tunnels around this area that lead
straight in,”

Moon nodded and Olivia said something else, “Shift. Now. The tunnels are
small enough for a small animal to fit in,”

Moon felt herself become a smaller creature and followed Olivia. Eventually, a
small tunnel became visible, to which she had to tuck in her wings to barely fit
inside, although the torn wing scraped across the ceiling.

The tunnel began getting lower, and she began crouching on her paws,
although Olivia didn’t have to. Olivia was more like some kind of unholy lizard
and mammal mix that was really flexible. Her animal form was about as long
as Moon’s forearm in her human form and about as tall as Moon’s knee, but
bigger than Moon in her animal form.

When it seemed like the tunnel would crush Moon, it opened into the main
camp.

Olivia and Moon shifted back, Moon not by choice, and Olivia pressed her
finger to her mouth, telling Moon to be quiet. Moon simply nodded back.

Olivia began speaking again when they got into her trunk, where Moon could
see that the previously occupied bed of Viper wasn’t occupied anymore.

“Welcome back, Moon,”

“Where’s Viper?”

“She’s awake. Been awake for the past week now, but still needs a bit of time
to recover, so she’s on a higher floor,”

“Oh,”

“Now. What happened?”

“I was trying to figure out how to fly, and after my eighth or ninth try, I tore the
bottom right wing,”

“How did you not break your wings?”

“They don’t have bones, and I was falling slow enough to not get hurt for the
most part from the falls, plus the wings cushioned most of it anyways,”

“Right. Moon, spread your right wings, okay? Normally, your wing wouldn’t
heal for a while, but I can try an alternate solution,”

“And that is?”

“Healing magic. Most common form of magic,”

“Ah,”

“We’ll be here for about half an hour, Moon. The magic is also sorta slow-
working for a virtually untrained shifter,”

“Should I be worried if you aren’t trained?”

“No. Healing’s a simple kind of magic, after all. Can’t mess it up too badly, and
I can always fix mistakes, but I can speed it up with training,”
“Reassuring,” Moon said with sarcasm thicker than Xoya’s wolf form’s fur.

“No worries, Moon. I’ve had practice before. Now, sit down,”

Moon did as she was told. No sense in arguing with the healers. Olivia put her
hand to the torn section of her wing and began to mutter something in a
language Moon didn’t recognize.

While she spoke, her hand slowly began to glow and hum, then eventually
buzz, causing the wing to vibrate slightly. Eventually, about ten minutes after
Olivia’s hand started to glow, Moon noticed that the glow was spreading all
over Moon’s wings, plus Olivia’s body.

Olivia eventually stopped speaking and took her hand off of Moon’s wing. The
glow began to subside after that and Olivia caught her breath. The poor girl
seemed to have said all of that in eight or nine breaths.

“You alright?” Moon asked.

“Are you?”

“I’m assuming yes?”

Olivia smiled and hugged Moon, “It worked at least,”

Moon hugged Olivia back, her tail swishing excitedly.

Olivia looked up as a heavy and metallic thud echoed through the tree trunk,
then immediately let go of Moon and stiffened a little bit.

“Livia?” someone called from above. The person came down from the stairs
carved from the wood and after she caught Moon’s gaze, she smiled. The girl
had ancient burns across her neck and face, and metal melted in her skin,
most noticeably her legs.

Her dark hair was extremely greasy looking, and she wore an open mask of
metal that seemed to be modeled in the form of a venomous snake’s head.
She closed the mask and examined Moon, then opened it again.

“What was that about?” Olivia asked.

“Threat assessment. You can never know,”

“She’s been with C- Ultima for the past few days, Viper. Chamae’d be dead by
now,”

“She could’ve been biding her time, Livia,” Viper responded as though Moon
wasn’t there.

“Hey! No need to be rude!”

“Speak for yourself Moon-Wing,” Viper rolled her eyes. “I saw your mind. You
used to be a huge asshole, now you’re, less of an asshole,”

“Hey!”

“‘T’s the truth, Moon-Wing,”

“Viper. Be, nice,” Olivia growled.

“Whaddya gonna do Livia? Last I checked, I outranked you,”

Olivia shut up, but held a deep glare.

“Should I, find a way out of camp?”

“I’ll take you,” Olivia snapped, although it clearly wasn’t directed at Moon.

Olivia grabbed Moon’s wrist and stormed out of the trunk, so by extension,
Moon stormed out. The two walked through the other entrance, the way that
Moon had come through the first time.

“Moon. Climb, or fly if you can,” Olivia commanded.

Moon nodded and shifted, then beat her wings hard, but in the end resigned
to scaling the cliffside, due to a lack of height.

Her paws ached, but she eventually pulled herself up and after getting her
bearings, she began to push onward and toward home.
Chapter Twenty-Four

The next day

Moon’s wings opened wide as she tried to follow Xoya through the air, but she
drifted downwards instead. Xoya glided down and sat beside Moon, their
coarse dark fur still ruffled by the slight breeze.

“Moon. You have four wings. Beat them in a pattern, not all at once. It will tire
you out, and will not let you fly far,”

Xoya shifted back into their human form and grabbed Moon’s wings, gently,
then guided them in and out, top wings first, then bottom wings after the top
wings went back a bit further than the original position.

Xoya let go after a couple minutes, then motioned for Moon to try it herself.
Moon tried it and began rising into the air on her own, maybe twenty or thirty
feet, before she couldn’t fly any more and drifted down again.

“That was better!” Xoya shouted. “Next time, try to follow the wind currents.
Turn around,”

Moon nodded and turned away from Xoya to catch the light breeze. She rose
into the air and began moving forward slowly. Her wings bent forward
instinctually, and she began gliding quicker than before through the air. She
beat her wings and flew higher, catching a stronger breeze that carried her
quicker.

She heard Xoya approaching quickly behind her, who seemed to be shouting
something, but Moon couldn’t tell what it was. She came to a stop midair and
tried hovering, but the effort of trying to break the strong gust of wind tired her
out enough for her to stop flying completely. She managed to level herself out
after a few seconds of falling, and she glided back to the earth.

Xoya landed next to Moon and said, “Don’t go up too high yet, Moon. The
wind gets too strong. Now, next thing. You need to learn to stay still in the
wind. We’ll start with this light breeze,”

Xoya shifted again and gently grabbed Moon’s wings. They moved the wings
in reverse to the wing pattern for flying and when they let go, Moon copied it.

“Okay. Try it. Go maybe ten or fifteen feet into the air and hover,”

Moon did as Xoya told her to and rose twenty feet into the air with the breeze
and began hovering clumsily. Xoya flew to her side and gave the signal to
return to earth. Moon dove down and shifted back when she landed.

Xoya landed next to her and whispered loudly, “Hide!”

Moon nodded and shifted. She bolted into a bush and prayed to every deity
she knew of that she could pass for some kind of dark purple berry, flower, or
leaves with some older leaves mixed in if someone passed by.

She had barely started on the Egyptian gods when she heard heavy and
irregular footsteps, like the person was limping slightly. A pair of lighter
footsteps rushed with this set.

“Are you sure they landed here?” A feminine voice asked after Moon heard a
third pair of footsteps. Moon could hear two level heartbeats, and one beating
faster than she could keep up with, and for a moment, she felt like someone
was watching her.
“Positive,” A somewhat deeper and more masculine voice responded.

Moon flinched as she saw a pair of hiking boots next to her paws. She
carefully slid her paws back, catching her fur in a low thorn.

She winced as she tried to pull her paw back and the thorn buried into the skin
under her paw. She repressed a screech, but the people continued their
conversation.

“Well, it looks like they’ve gone,”

“Why didn’t you shoot them out of the sky?” a younger and harder to gender
voice asked.

“They were too far, and we don’t know they’re shifters. What if it turned out
they were undiscovered mammals or something and we’d just killed them for
no reason! And if it turned out that they were shifters, if they shifted back, we
could be arrested for murder if someone came along! Well, maybe not you,
since you don’t have a gun, and they wouldn’t think you helped,” the feminine
voice explained. “And, we don’t have licenses for brightly colored birds, like,
say, parrots? We only have licenses for game animals, not exotic birds. We
wouldn’t be able to say we thought they were birds, one of them was purple,
the other one larger than any bird!”

“Alright, alright! I get it. Should we move on?” The younger one asked. “It
seems what we were after left already!” After a few moments of silence, the
three sets of footsteps began moving away.

Odd. Moon thought. When the steps receded, Moon emerged from her hiding
place and got the thorn off of her paw with her teeth.
She and Xoya exchanged glances after Xoya reappeared, seemingly from
midair, and in those few moments, it was almost as if they had heard each
other's thoughts.

They both agreed to leave and meet each other later, just in case the hunters
(at least, that’s what Moon was pretty sure they were), came back. Moon
shifted into her full human form and took off running in the opposite direction
that Xoya was heading, just in case the hunters found her, but not Xoya.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Four days later

Tatiana and Cami were left alone in the cabin for hours. Thea was the only
one brave enough to leave and get supplies, because she was the least
noticeable in public. Cami’s and Tatiana’s hands clenched each other tightly
while they anxiously waited for Thea to return. Cami eventually let go, and
about ten minutes after that, Thea returned with a bag of both microwavable
and non-microwavable foods.

“Hey girls!”

“Hi Thea,” Cami responded. “How’d it go?”

“Well, there was someone eyeing me oddly, and he pulled a knife on me when
I came into the woods, but I shook him off and knocked him out,”
“You think he knows?”

“Well, he screamed at me about how he can tell I’m a shifter, so you know,
pretty sure he knows,”

Cami stared at Thea and Thea nodded.

“Ana,” Cami said, “Tatiana, we need to leave. Thea’ll carry you, she’s stronger
than I am,”

Tatiana nodded, “But why?”

“We might have been compromised. Thea, shift, I’ll do the same,”

Thea nodded and after giving Tatiana the groceries, grew a lot bigger, into a
large brown-scaled dragon, although still growing wings. Thea’s clothes got
too small and tore off as she got much bigger, and Tatiana grabbed them.
Thea made something like a grin at Tatiana and growled something.

“Tati, she says you can get on, but she also says to hold on tight. She can go
really fast,”

Tatiana nodded and climbed onto Thea. She didn’t expect the feeling that
Thea’s scales gave. She’d always expected a dragon’s scales to be slippery,
but Thea’s were smooth and a little sharp at the edges.

Thea’s odd wings didn’t seem fully formed, but it was evident that Thea could
fly with them if she tried hard enough. The second that Tatiana climbed on,
they fell back and caught her legs to prevent her from slipping off. Tatiana
clasped her arms around Thea’s long neck, which was so wide that they could
barely fit around it.
Thea turned her head, which was a slightly different shade of brown than her
main scales. Her eyes seemed to change colors as well, from extremely pale
blue to a shade of deep cerulean.

She looked at Tatiana, then at Cami, with a look that said plainly ‘can I go?’

Cami nodded and Thea kicked off extremely quickly. Not as fast as a car, but
faster than Tatiana would have expected.

The wind stung Tatiana’s eyes as Thea ran across the forest, leaping over
fallen trees and avoiding obstacles like it was nothing.

Cami was beside them, her cloudy blue fur and newly formed feathery wing
buds dancing in the wind. Eventually, after maybe an hour, Cami and Thea
stopped at another cabin, and Tatiana let go and dropped off of Thea’s back.

Tatiana didn’t realize how much her arms ached from holding onto Thea, but
when she jumped down, her arms went numb and she couldn’t move them
much.

“Tatiana, you can rest inside, ‘kay? I’ll take the groceries,” Cami said after she
shifted back. Thea growled something and Cami nodded back at it. “Thea’ll
come in after. When she shifts, normally the clothes get left behind, so give
her the change of clothes she bought for herself in the bag,”

Tatiana nodded and pulled out a wad of clothes, a gray t-shirt,

undergarments, and black jeans, gave them to Thea, then followed Cami to
the door, where she was having trouble unlocking it.

“Let me help, Cami,”

Tatiana clasped her hand over Cami’s and helped her with the right key. Cami
kept her hand gripped by Tatiana’s as she unlocked the door, then when the
pair walked in and closed the door behind them, Cami jumped and pulled
away from Tatiana’s hand.

“Sorry,”

“Cami, it’s alright,”

Cami nodded and Thea walked in, her coconut brown hair shining, and in her
hybrid form, she spread her small wings and stretched her tail.

“Alright girls, we’re staying here for a while, now, until either Lyorna says it's
safe, or that our cover is blown here too,” Cami’s phone buzzed and she
paused to check it.

“Wait. Lyorna’s saying that she thinks it's safe to go back. Never mind.
Tatiana, we’re close to your neighborhood, you can go back when Lyorna gets
the illusion to leave your house and you can wait for about ten minutes after
that,”

Tatiana nodded and Cami continued, “I’ll, I’ll take you home, ‘kay?”

Cami shivered and the hybrid parts of her hybrid form melted away into her
body, although it left behind some fur on her hair. Cami and Tatiana left
together after Thea did.

“So, Cami. There are people who turn into dragons too?”

“Yeah. I was also a bit surprised when I met Thea. But, don’t you remember
the full moon?”
“The roaring?”

“Yeah. That was Thea. She doesn’t have that good of a grip on controlling the
form yet. She’s learning, however,”

“Okay. So, how did you discover you were bi?”

“Well, after I broke up with my ex, there was this girl. I never came out to my
mom, or anyone in the pack outside of my inner circle. I’ve only had two
crushes since then, one girl, one boy,” Cami clenched her fingers together.
“Neither really liked me back, however. They just got with me because I was
going to be Ultima, they wanted a piece of my power. I got over them quickly,”

“Well, you just haven’t met many decent people then, if your crushes only
wanted to be with you for personal gain, beyond you and shit,”

Cami laughed and tried to cover it up. Tatiana hugged her and they continued
talking until they made it to Tatiana’s porch.

“Tatiana, you can go in. Alright? I’ll come with,”

Tatiana nodded and opened the door.

“Flore, you’re back?”

“Hi Mãe. Yeah, I’m back. Found a friend on the way back too,”

“Tatiana! You have no idea how worried I was!”

“What do you mean?”

“You haven’t been back for three days. No message. You wouldn’t pick up
your phone. Where were you?”
Cami stopped Tatiana’s mom from continuing the rant, “Hold on, I gotta take
this,” She went outside with her phone in hand and Tatiana could hear Cami’s
side of the conversation, with whom Tatiana assumed was Lyorna.

“What the hell was that, Lena?” Cami yelled.

Cami paused for a minute, “What do you mean you don’t fricking know what
I’m talking about? Ana went missing!”

Another pause, “Yes, I’m at the house. I’d invite you, but I’m pretty sure Ana
wouldn’t want to see you right now,”

“Yes, Ana’s fine. Her mom’s been worried, however, Lena. Didn’t you try to
make sure she stayed?” Cami rubbed her eyes, “Gah, Lena, next time be
more careful,”

“Tatiana,” Cami called, so Tatiana left the house and went to Cami. “Um, Lena
made a mistake,”

“Who?”

“You know, my cousin,”

“Oh. What’d she do?”

“Lost the clone,”

“I’m sorry, what now?”

“She lost Thea, yours, and mine. Then didn’t notice and continued as normal,”

“And, she didn’t think to check?”

“Nope,”

“Um, anyone able to change memories, at least?”

“Yes, sorta. Friend of Lyorna’s. In her pack, but just doesn’t have enough
control and may permanently damage someone’s mind,”

“Oh…”

“So, no memory magic. For now, just, lie. I’ll follow your lead, you follow
mine,”

Tatiana nodded and pulled Cami back in.

“So, Tatiana? Why were you gone for so long?”

Tatiana was about to speak when Cami interjected, “It was my fault. Some
guy was following us so I went off into the woods to evade him with Tatiana
and got lost. Luckily, I’ve had some experience in the wild with no civilization
in sight, but our phones were dead, so we spent some time trying to figure out
how to get back and I ended up finding a hollow tree, where we rested for
about a day before we found our way out and found a gas station. We
charged our phones and I called an Uber, but Tatiana was sleeping the entire
way home, so she didn’t call for that reason,”

“Tatiana, no going out without a fully charged phone from now on. And for the
next week, you’re not leaving without my permission unless going to Ashley’s,
or to school. Alright?”

Tatiana nodded as she thought she was going to get a worse punishment.
“Alright. Mãe, why such a little one?”
“If a man chases you, you get as far away as possible and try to throw them
off. If you get lost, just figure out how to get back and call me as soon as
possible,”

Tatiana nodded, “My phone died, Mamãe. Cami’s while we were calling you
and her mom,”

“Alright. Tatiana. You’re lucky I don’t punish you, but, Tati, be careful. I don’t
want to lose you,”

Tatiana nodded, “I promise, Mãe. I wasn’t alone though,”

Tatiana’s mother put her hand over Tatiana’s, “Stay, safe. Tatiana, just, don’t
go into the woods that deep, if there’s a next time,”

Tatiana nodded and she and Cami walked up to her room.

“Cami. Thank you,”

“No problem. Now, I’ve got to go, pack duty, so, you just do your thing,”

Tatiana nodded and pulled Cami into a hug, “I love you, you know that, right?”

Cami responded slowly, almost robotically, but eventually responded, “Yeah I

like you too,”

Tatiana nodded and after Cami left, she whispered to herself “I love you,”.
Chapter Twenty-Six

Tatiana called Moon and told her that she’d come back.

“Tatiana! Where were you?”

“Long story. Ask Cami,”

“Wait. Were you two…?”

“No we weren’t screwing each other in the woods, Moon,”

Tatiana paused to take a deep breath, “We were followed by some weirdo and
got lost, then our phones ran out of battery, so we got more lost, even with
Cami knowing her way around the forest, she just panicked there. And of
course, I don’t know my way around the woods that well. So, we traveled for
like two days to find a way out, charged our phones at a gas station, and she
and I fell asleep on the way back by Uber,” Tatiana lied.

“Aha! I have successfully worked the truth out of you!”

“Oh no, what shall I ever do?” Tatiana asked, her sarcasm clearer than the
sky outside.

“Anyhow, how was your adventure in the woods?”

“Long,”

Moon paused and said, “Anyhow, I gotta go. BTW, Ashley missed you!”

You two are talking again? Tatiana thought with wonder.

“Ashley says she also wants to see you as quickly as possible. Keep your
window unlocked,”

Tatiana smiled and replied, “Sure. See you around?”

“See you around!”

Moon hung up and Tatiana lay on her bed, alone with her thoughts. She felt
really dizzy and decided to call Cami. It went straight to voicemail.

Cami’s recorded message said, “Hey! You’ve reached Chamomile Malkom.

(shit why’d I say my full name). Anyhow, I’m probably busy, so just leave a
message, ‘kay?”

Tatiana left the message and said, “Hi, I’ll see you tomorrow, or maybe if you
can? Maybe a movie or something next week?”
She ended the message and opened a dog-eared book called ‘The Rope’ to
page five hundred two. She’d read the book a few times before, but couldn’t
resist it. It was a really good book, and it just weirdly resonated with her. It
was about a lesbian half-elf and werewolf, both of whom were growing up
during colonial times.

Obviously, it was a work of fiction, though. Elves mostly died out before the
shifters truly came to be, and most left standing were ancient, and those ones
died centuries ago.

Eventually, she stopped reading at six hundred ninety-eight, by which time

night had fallen.

She turned off the light and closed her eyes, when something heavy landed
on the roof.

It moved downward slowly, as though calculating its steps so as to not fall off,
then, her window slowly slid open and a human shape with dark wings and
deep blue wolf parts fell into her room in a parkour roll.

They raised their hand in a shushing gesture and snapped their fingers.
Immediately, Tatiana felt she could barely breathe. She tried to scream, but
couldn’t, although she continued to try anyway. The other person raised their
hands and the blinds fell shut, completely darkening the room.

Tatiana’s hands shook and she blanched. She collapsed on the floor and
began panicking. She curled herself into a ball and put her hands over her
eyes. Maybe this was all a dream. Maybe a sleep paralysis vision. She tried to
breathe, but eventually a lack of oxygen caught up with her and she slipped
into darkness.
She opened her eyes and found herself on the floor, someone next to her. For
a moment she didn’t recognize who it was, but eventually she realized it was
Cami, trying to shake her awake.

“Tatiana! Are you alright?”

“Mm. Yes. I think. Someone came into my room and…” she slurred and trailed
off, the effort of speaking was difficult, although she wasn’t drunk. She looked
up at Cami and asked with her eyes, ‘Who was that, sweetie?’

“Ah. Sorry, Tati. That wasn’t Lyorna though, I think you think that. Lyorna was
with me all night, along with my cousin for the first time in a year. Someone
with powerful manipulation of reality, not an Illusionist, by the way, came in,”

“So. I was attacked by someone who can manipulate what I see and feel?”

“Pretty much. So, other than that, how are you?”

“I want to know what the hell happened, that’s how I am!”

“One of the hunters, trying to frame Lyorna, again, might I add”

“Why do you think that? Also, what do you mean, again?”

“So, basically, I think one of the hunters is doing it because they do it to our
Illusionists all the time. And I think again with Lyorna, because at one point,
her sister, Valkeia, did some REALLY bad things, including killing their mother
and almost killing their father. Their father didn’t remember and thought that
Lyorna had killed them, and her sister backed up her father as a “witness' '.
Her sister now is next to lead the pack that both of them grew up in, and
Lyorna leads another one. Her sister has given her pack orders to apprehend
Lyorna on sight, kill her if necessary, so Lyorna came here, two towns away,
from Ivywood, at first to live with my family, then finding her own pack over in
Laewaes. It warranted some pretty funny reactions from my dad when she
left,”

“Ah. Why exactly do you know this?”

“She told me a few days after she found out I was definitely a shifter. She
hadn’t gone to the pack over in Laewaes yet, but she left about a year after
that,”

“Ah. Well, Cami, I’ll need some time to think. Can you leave, maybe? I’m
sorry. I’ll call you when I’m ready to see you again,”

Cami nodded and opened the window and climbed. Tatiana, meanwhile,
looked for evidence of the break-in. Just in case it was Lyorna. She found a
dark reddish brown feather, the color of dried blood on a white surface.

It wasn’t the exact color of Lyorna’s wings, hers were more shaded with black,
and there wasn’t any red completely covering a feather. She picked it up and
it didn’t disappear.

She turned it over, feeling it under her fingers and it turned backwards where
she touched it, although not completely, similar to a plant that she’d heard of
once, when she was maybe seven or eight.

She put it in her pencil case, so she wouldn’t lose it, and she lay back on her
bed to sleep yet again, because even though she had been asleep for about a
day, she still felt tired.
Chapter Twenty-Seven

Lyorna sat alone in the clearing. Lizzie was off visiting family over in the
center of Ivywood, where, of course, was the only place with shifters that
Lyorna couldn’t go to, so Lyorna couldn’t stay at home all the time.

It got dull, and it was oddly quiet. Not even the whispers in the back of her
mind were around. For the first time in months, Lyorna had been able to be
alone with no background noise but the forest and her thoughts.

Her wings unfolded involuntarily, like they almost always did when they were
out. They stretched, and a single dark brown feather drifted off of them. She
picked it up and began playing with it to take her mind off of the unusual
silence.

Her tail stretched and she yawned. She decided to go for a run in her bipedal
form. She was deep enough in the forest for that, after all, and she was pretty
sure it wouldn’t be a repeat of bigfoot.

She changed shape as she began walking, and as she grew a foot or so, she
began running. Her brittle and shaggy blue fur shook in the breeze and she
went much deeper into the woods.

She sat down under a tree to rest after a while and unconsciously shifted
back. Her legs were cold, and the fact that winter was approaching didn’t help
either. She shivered and found she couldn’t shift back to any of her wolf forms
for some reason.
Lyorna cursed herself for her inability to shift and tried summoning an illusion.
Nothing.

She questioned this for a moment. Normally this kind of thing works. She
looked around and right off the bat, she saw nothing amiss.

She unsheathed her claws and scratched a mark into one of the trees to mark
where she was and began walking where she was pretty sure was west. She
eventually managed to shift back to her non-bipedal form and tried to get her
bearings from there.

She sensed an odd presence of another shifter in the air, not strong, simple
and soft. It wasn’t unusual to sense another shifter when in the forests, but
this shifter, Lyorna didn’t recognize, although the shifter seemed, familiar,
somehow.

She growled loudly. No response.

“Who’s there?” she snarled. “Come out,”

She heard a branch snap behind her and turned around but this wasn’t the
source of that strange aura.

The person was small and skinny, plus seemingly feminine, although Lyorna
wasn’t sure. They had what appeared to be brownish-silver hair with hints of
dark blue scattered throughout, although that may have been because
Lyorna’s wolf form was colorblind.

Their eyes, however, Lyorna could tell what color they were. They were light
blue, with hints of gray. She wasn’t sure about the gray bit. It might have been
green. The other person raised their hands.
“I’m not here to hurt you,” They whispered in wolf tongue, with a terrible
accent nonetheless.

“Who. Are. You?” Lyorna approached the other person.

“Winged wolf, ‘m Sandy. ‘M new around these parts,” the person continued in
that horrible accent.

“You, you don’t know of what or who I am?” Lyorna asked, extremely
bewildered.

“Afraid not. What, exactly, are you?” Sandy slipped out of wolf tongue saying
this.

Sandy had a light accent, and unlike the sexless tones of wolf tongue,
Sandy’s voice was leaning heavily toward the feminine side.

“I am of the noblest wolves!” Lyorna bluffed, “I am the creature that haunts the
night sky! A stormwolf, young one,”

“Ah, but that’s the thing. You sound younger than I am,”

“We don’t age. I, truthfully, am over eight centuries old!” Lyorna bluffed, trying
to scare away this person.

“No. You’re, fifteen? Sorry, but, I’ve heard of you. Not what you are, of
course,”

Sandy took out her phone and opened it. “You’re Alpha of Snowdrift pack,
correct?”
“Why do you ask, human? And it’s not Alpha, it’s Ultima!” Lyorna could tell
‘Ultima’ got lost in translation by Sandy’s confused look, so she wrote it on the
earth below, which also left a blank stare at Lyorna.

Lyorna shook it off and growled, “Leave this forest, now,”

“No. I'd rather stay. You’ve got spunk ordering me around, little girl,”

“Mekora protect this human,” Lyorna whispered under her breath, “Human,
you speak wolf tongue. What, are you?”

“As you’ve said, ‘m human. I’m Sandy Demont, forty five, graduated from
Harvard. Law degree. Currently, I work at Demont & Carter, with my friend
from law school, Cameron Carter,”

Sandy told the truth. Lyorna continued on, “Little human. How is it you know of
my tongue?”

“Kenomi dads. They taught me at a young age, just in case,”

“Kenomi? Really. Which pack were they from, if any?”

“They were from this pack called the Phoenix pack, I think,”

Lyorna snarled, “Shit. Are you on a mission from the Ultima, or the next one?”

“Don’t know who or what that is. No one told me. I’m on a mission from
someone named Val. She’s told me to relay a message to you. I didn’t
understand what she said, but she said you will,”

Lyorna growled to herself, “There’s no point in shooting the messenger,” She

cleared her throat and growled, “Alright. What did she want me to know?”
“She said ‘benal ke lan nera ri sahc. Ta cama’ That’s all,”

Meet me at the Sahc Valley. Let’s talk.

“Sahc? Why there?” Sahc was a wolf tongue word and it was one of the
translations for light. Her sister wasn’t one for the light, ironic. Her sister never
wanted anything to do with being kind, she was evil through and through.

“S-hack?” Sandy asked as she tried to pronounce the word.

“Sa-hak,”

“Never mind. But. What does that place mean to you?”

“To her, irony. To me, it's where my girlfriend and I first kis-” Lyorna stopped
halfway through. “No. She can’t,” Lyorna grasped the possible implications
that this had. Her sister may know.

Lyorna spread her wings and began flying. The wind nipped at her face and
she dipped into the wind currents. She beat hard, gaining speed with each
millisecond in the air. She landed in the valley heavily. Her wings ached, even
though it was only a few moments in the air.

She shifted back and growled, “Valkeia! Where are you?”

She heard someone behind her, harsh and cold laughter.

“Hello, sister,” a woman with dusky red hair, similar to Lyorna’s, but almost
faded, walked up to her. Valkeia had shaggy dark brown ears, a matted brown
tail, and wings the color of her hair.

“Valkeia. What are you doing here?”

“Ah. You know, the usual. This is neutral territory, so the perfect place to talk,”

“Ha. I know that you’ve claimed this area recently. After all, ‘Anything in
Ivywood is mine,’ as you’ve said before,”

“And I can let it go just as easily. After all, didn’t you let the pack our cousin’s
Ultima leads onto your land?”

“Our cousin. She’s her Ultima now. Not Helix. For three years,”

“Oh. Right. I forgot about Cami’s little rebellion. A shame,” Valkeia taunted.

“It wasn’t a rebellion, you bitch,”

“Oh. Watch your language, little sis. You don’t want anyone to get hurt? First
one to get hurt won’t be you,”

Don’t. You. Dare. Lyorna thought.

“Anyhow, I’m here to make a deal with you. You follow, I’ll let you go home.
You don’t, and you and someone will die, and it's not going to be you,”

Lyorna growled and unsheathed her claws. Her eyes glowed golden and she
snarled loudly enough to be heard within five miles.

“Take it or lose someone,”

She hesitated and said shortly after, “I’ll, I’ll do it,”

“Perfect!” Her sister smiled maliciously, “But, back away, your girlfriend dies.
Or gets turned. I won’t care which,”

Lyorna growled but nodded, “What do you want me to do?”

“Give me your hand,”

Lyorna raised her right arm and Valkeia seized it, then drew a knife. Valkeia
cut into Lyorna’s skin, drawing blood, and smiled.

“If you don’t do what I say, you belong to my pack, as told by this knife, and
I’m sure that my pack won’t be so welcoming. I want you to kill a mutual
enemy to our packs. Preferably without mercy. Normally, I’d ask someone
more trustworthy. From my pack. But our father banned me from using the
power I’ve gained through training to send a member of our pack against our
enemy. So I chose you. It’s one of the hunters. The one who killed your last
Ultima,” Valkeia handed Lyorna a slip of paper.

“Her address. She’s killed another of my pack, and I want you to kill her for
that,”

Lyorna clutched her bleeding arm and reluctantly headed off to the place that
her sister said to, knowing she or Lizzie’d die if she didn’t. She couldn’t do that
to Lizzie. She began running incredibly awkwardly and after what felt like ten
minutes of talking to herself, although that couldn’t be, as the sun was setting
on the horizon when she made it.

The house was painted what once seemed to be deep turquoise, but the paint
had faded since then, and looked more of a faded green with very light hints
of blue.

A garden was out front, with multiple plants Lyorna recognized, some catnip,
lily of the valley, and oddly, wolfsbane, and among those were multiple plants
Lyorna didn’t recognize.
She knocked on the door after steeling her nerves in order to not throw the
person who answered the door off, but luckily, she didn’t need to worry about
her bleeding arm anymore, as it had stopped.

She hid the wing holes in her shirt with an illusion a moment before she had
knocked, just in case she had to go inside.

After a few moments, a tall woman with dark, wet hair and wearing a white
bathrobe answered the door.

“What is it? I’ve got two days to grade two hundred tests for five different
classes and need to get back to work. If you’re selling cookies, the answer is
no,”

“Um, no, actually. I’m looking for someone. Her name is,” Lyorna paused to
open the paper again, having remembered seeing a name on it, “Mercy
Emily,”

“That’s my roommate. She’s out right now. And why do you, a little girl, know
her?”

“My sister is friends with her and hasn’t heard from Mercy in days. She was
getting worried, but is really really busy, so she sent me to check,” Lyorna lied.

“Why not call?”

“My sister was mugged a few days ago and lost her phone,”

“Alright. Come in. I’ll call her, if this is true, you may stay. If not, we’ll decide
what to do,”
Lyorna nodded and stepped inside, careful not to brush her arm against the
door frame in case it would start bleeding again.

She barely made it ten steps inside the house when she heard a gun’s safety
click off.

“Hands up, wolf,”

Lyorna raised her hands in compliance. Her heart pounded. How could she
know? How? She wasn’t in her hybrid form, but then she remembered the
wingholes in her shirt. Did she hide them with illusions?

“Claws away,”

They’re already sheathed. Lyorna thought.

“I don’t have any claws,” Lyorna stated, her voice wavering as she spoke.

“What do you want from Mercy?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,”

“Don’t play dumb with me. I’ve seen my students lying before, I know many,
many, excuses,”

“I’m serious,” Lyorna snapped.

“Wolf, what is your name, rank, and which pack?”

“I. Don’t. Know. What. You’re. Talking. About,” Lyorna lied with faked
certainty.
“There’s royal blue fur on your back, as well as a dark brown feather in your
hair, not of any non-magical animal. You know something if you don’t know of
the packs,”

“Fine. I saw a… Well, I’m not sure what it was. It was huge and stayed with
me for an hour while I was on a walk. It got close enough for me to touch it
and then showed me its wings! It was beautiful and left soon after,” Lyorna
lied.

“But that still doesn’t explain what you want from Mercy. Turn around,”

Lyorna nodded and did as she was told. She felt scared, and she showed it
enough to throw the woman off.

“What happened to your arm?” The seemingly huntress asked.

“I got cut,” Lyorna quivered.

“Are you depressed?”

Lyorna shook her head. “No. My si-”

“Your sister, the same one that sent you to talk to Mercy?”

Lyorna felt compelled to answer truthfully and nodded.

“Why would she do that? And this looks recent! How much was it bleedi- Oh
my God, I can see a bit of dried blood!”

“She cut me and said that it's just a foretaste of what will happen if I don’t find
Mercy,”

“Why don’t you tell anyone?”

“I don’t have anyone to tell. My sister’s word against mine if I go to the police.
She’ll have cut herself as well by now just as an excuse,” Lyorna half-lied.

“Stay with Mercy and I. Just until we can prove your sister’s abusing you,
alright?”

“My situation isn’t that simple. My sister, she’s done, things. She’s tried to kill
people and blame it on me, but most of the time it doesn’t work. The killing, I
mean,”

“What? Why haven’t the police led an investigation?”

“Our dad, he keeps this shit hushed up. He doesn’t want word to spread that
his perfect daughter is being a murderous asshole. It’s not like he ever cared
anyways. I’m just the screw-up who’ll never amount to much,”

“Alright. Put your hands down,” The presumably huntress placed the gun on
the floor and kicked it away. Lyorna let her hands down.

“What’s your name, dear?”

“Lena Malkom, short for Magda- Lyorna,” Lyorna said, breaking away from the
normal introduction to humans she’d used. “And you?”

“Skylar Jager,” Skylar walked to Lyorna and pulled her into a tight hug.

“Now. Tell us, what kind of shifter are you?” Skylar whispered into Lyorna’s
ear. Although it didn’t feel like whispering, more like an echo.

“Werewolf. Half stormwolf, half skywolf, although officially called a stormwolf

through my mother,” Lyorna whispered back, although she wasn’t trying to
speak at all, “Why did I tell you that?”
“Magic, sweetie! No worries. I’m one of you. I’m able to turn into a bird,
meadowlark, by the way, but I never liked my hybrid form. I’ve always
preferred one or the other. Now, get out of here. Mercy, she’s a hunter. She
doesn’t know I know, but I wormed it from her while she slept. She killed some
Ultima and retired or something. She’s stopped killing, at least,”

“That was my former Ultima,” Lyorna whispered. “I’m here to kill Mercy,”

“Oh. Your sister, did she put you up to it?”

“Yes. She,” Lyorna hesitated, “wants me to kill Mercy or she’ll hurt my love,
and force me out of my pack and into hers, which is a death sentence. I don’t
want to leave my pack alone, and I don’t want the love of my life getting
wrapped up in something she doesn’t even know about, so, I’ve got to,”

“Why would you? You’re only one small person in that huge pack, and I'm
sure your sister wouldn’t kill a human that’s never even heard of the packs.
That’s just mindlessly cruel,”

“I’m my pack’s Ultima. The person I chose to take my place, he’s not ready.
And, my sister’s practically the goddess of evil most days,” Lyorna paused
and said, “I would not be surprised if Mekora came down from the far away
moons and said that my sister actually was in a past life,”

“Ah. I have an idea. What if you stayed here? Pretended to be human. Mercy
and I could take you in, and Mercy won’t find out, you don’t die, your love
doesn’t die, your pack stays safe,”

“The cut, it’s my sister giving me a deadline. It’s her ability. She’ll know if
Mercy isn’t dead, or, or turned by the time this deadline passes,”
“What if you faked attacking me? And then I said that you attacked me
unprovoked and that I retaliated and you ended up in your hybrid form. Your
sister can’t do anything then! Then, you can pretend to shift back and turn her,
maybe? Your sister can’t do anything if you ‘accidentally’ turn her,”

“Well it’ll probably work, but you better not let Mercy kill me,”

“Alright. Get on me in your hybrid form and pretend attack,”

Lyorna snarled and lightly pressed down on Skylar’s throat.

“What’re you doing? Skylar coughed.

“Making it believable. When you start screaming, you’d tip off the neighbors. I
wouldn’t want that,”

“Oh. Right,”

Skylar and Lyorna fake wrestled, occasionally actually injuring each other, just
in case, until they heard footsteps running down the driveway, testing ways to
make it look believable.

Skylar also told Lyorna the cover story, and about how she was a biology
college professor.

“Skylar! I’m back!” Lyorna heard Mercy call from the door. The lock clicked
and Lyorna began her “assault”.

“Mer-cy!” Skylar croaked and shouted at the same time.

Lyorna snarled and opened her wings wide, catching both Skylar and Mercy
off guard. Lyorna slashed her claws against Skylar’s arm, leaving deep
gouges on the wrists.
Skylar reached with her bleeding arms out at Lyorna’s shoulders and faked
fainting from blood loss, all while saying, “Lena, it’s me. Your teacher.
Professor Jager. You know me,”

Lyorna smiled in fake viciousness and clawed at Skylar more, then began
laughing as she was covered in Skylar’s bloodstains.

Lyorna heard Mercy run downstairs and on the way back up, there was some
kind of rattling.

Lyorna continued her attack and was unprepared when Mercy grabbed
Lyorna’s wrists from behind and chained them behind her back.

Lyorna turned her attention to Mercy, praying her golden eyes weren’t
showing.

Even though she had come to kill Mercy, she didn’t want to kill Mercy. Lyorna
bashed Mercy on the nose with a wing and began beating them hard,
although she didn’t let herself take off.

She wanted to pretend that she was a new shifter learning control.

She snarled and snapped at Mercy, trying to bite her, but Mercy circled her
and got closer to Skylar, then grabbed her arms and pulled her to the side.

“You. Who are you?” Mercy asked. She kneeled close to her and grabbed her
chin firmly, lifting it up and forcing her to look Mercy in the eyes. Lyorna
seemed to have perfectly mimicked the wild look a new shifter had, because
Mercy didn’t question what had happened.

Lyorna growled in faked anger and tried getting away, but didn’t. Lyorna knew
that new shifters couldn’t control their strength to get them out of dangerous
situations, only get them into them. She wanted this to be as believable as
possible.

“Tell me, now,”

Lyorna shook her head and began calming down, pretending to come out of a
trance. In that moment, she felt herself lose the insanity of her gaze, and she
completely relaxed her muscles and slumped forward slightly.

“Wha-? Who are you? Where am I? Why are my wrists chained together?
Wait. I have wings? WHY DO I HAVE WINGS? WHAT IS GOING ON?” She
tensed her muscles again in fake fear and sat up as straight as she could.

Lyorna looked around and when her eyes found Skylar again, she faked a
slight gasp.

Never before was Lyorna more grateful for four years of Drama Club. Well,
except every time she had to do something like this.

“WHAT THE HELL! What happened? Did I just kill my biology professor?”
Lyorna “No, actually? Is she alive? I think I can hear her breathing,”

“You. Don’t remember any of that?” Mercy asked. “I think she’s alive, by the
way,”

“No. What, what happened? Tell me, please,”

“You attacked my roommate. Why?”

“I don’t know. Last thing I, last thing I remember was that I, I was walking
home and the sun was going down. Then the moon rose and I, I can’t
remember anything after that,”
“Were you alone?”

“I, I don’t remember,” Lyorna fake stuttered, then let in a sharp breath, “No. I
wasn’t. Wait, no, I think I was,” Lyorna trailed off.

“Have you had any experience that you can’t explain? An animal attack that
didn’t leave you too injured after? A pair of golden eyes in the forest?”

“No. I’d, I’d be at home and be stuck inside until my dad found what had
attacked me. The golden eyes, I would’ve, would’ve told someone and there
would be news of ghosts in the woods or something,”

“So, you don’t remember what turned you,” Mercy whispered.

“What do you mean by turned? Turned a what?” Lyorna asked.

“Into a shifter,” Mercy clarified. “You’re a werewolf, it seems,”

“I’m a what? I’m sorry, I think I misheard you,”

“You didn’t. You’re a werewolf. Maybe one was in your ancestry and never
passed on the gene until now. I don’t know why you bloomed so late,
however, if that’s the case. Most shifters begin shifting at seven. The latest at
ten, according to one of my colleagues. You look like you’re fifteen,”

“I’m sixteen,” Lyorna growled.

“Well. Little shifter, Lena? Is that right?” Lyorna nodded. “I’m going to need to
keep you safe here for a while. Until the moon leaves,” Mercy smiled,
although it seemed to have been faked.

“Unchain my wrists. Please,”

“Right,” Mercy grabbed a key from her pocket and unlocked the chains.

“Is that better?”

Lyorna nodded, “Yes, thank y-”

Lyorna cut her words off mid-sentence, feeling the sudden pull of the full
moon. She wasn’t even trying to shift this time. She was starting to spiral into
the pull and couldn’t stop it. She needed to shift or she’d die. She needed to.

I’m sorry, Mercy. You too, Skylar.

Lyorna snarled and shifted, her eyes changing to gold. Mercy met Lyorna’s
eyes and immediately collapsed, writhing on the floor with her hands over her
ears. She clutched her legs to her chest and shrieked like a banshee.

No, not like a banshee. Lyorna had heard one before.

It was more like a kelpie when its attempted victims didn’t follow it into the
water.

Skylar opened her eyes, stood up, and met Lyorna’s, “Lyorna. Please tell me
that was an accident,” Skylar said in wolf tongue. “I thought you were going to
bite her!”

Lyorna dipped her head in a nod.

Through the seemingly great pain, Mercy growled, “You two, you- you were
working together?” Mercy screamed and began breathing raggedly.

Lyorna made an attempt to shift back, but it didn’t work. In her wolf form, she
tried speaking in English, but it didn’t work like usual, so instead decided to
translate through Skylar.
“Skylar. Can you ask her for me if Mercy wants to be knocked out, just to feel
less pain?”

Skylar nodded and relayed the message.

Mercy had tears in her eyes and nodded, mouthing the word yes. Lyorna
struck her paw, hard, against Mercy’s head, who immediately closed her eyes
and stopped struggling as much.

After that, Lyorna managed to shift back, with great difficulty.

Skylar smiled, “You don’t have to kill Mercy, at least. Now it’s up to Mekora
and Fate,”

“Should we take Mercy to a Salutari or?”

“Yeah probably, which pack is nearest?”

“Mine. This is Laewaes, right?”

“No. Bluepoint,”

“Oh. We should go to the Oceanbreezee-Windshear pack. My pack is allies

with them,”

“Alright. Should I go? I’m not sure I’ll be welcome,”

“You can stay behind,”

“Alright. Come back with Mercy when possible!”

Lyorna scooped up Mercy in her arms, keeping Mercy as upright as possible

without dropping her. Thank Mekora for the strength all shifters get.
Chapter Twenty-Eight

Xoya’s wings beat loudly as they landed. They, being the Salutari of the
Snowdrift Pack, required them to arrive when Lyorna called for their help.

“What is it cuz?” Xoya asked when they arrived.

“I accidentally turned a hunter,”

“I’m sorry. What?”

“So, my sister, she kinda sent me on a mission to kill this one hunter, forced
me to make the bond thing. Then I accidentally turned said hunter trying to
keep both control and not kill an innocent party in this, and all while trying to
figure out how to get around the bond,”

“Oh,” Xoya sighed. “Now, we need to take this hunter back to camp. I don’t
trust Viper to work on the hunter,”

Lyorna nodded and showed Xoya the hunter inside the Windshear-
Oceanbreeze’s Salutari Yggdrasil, who was lying unconscious, although
thrashing a lot at the same time, on one of the roughly carved wooden beds
that Olivia had fashioned while Viper was in a coma.

“How long has she been like this?”

“It's been two or three hours, I think. An hour at the minimum,”

“Was there a point where she stopped moving?”

“Yes. Back when I first knocked her out. She asked me to. For a while she
stopped moving. That’s how I got here without injuring her further, otherwise
she’d be extremely banged up,”

“Alright,” Xoya paused to breathe, “Lyorna, we need to carry the hunter to

Snowdrift. Now. I don’t think she’ll live if she stays here. She’ll survive the shift
when she does shift tonight, most likely, but she’ll be killed by that mad shifter
that’s been running around the area for the past week if that shifter makes
their way into camp,”

Lyorna nodded and Xoya continued, “Lyorna, shift. It’ll be easiest to carry her
on our backs between us,”

Lyorna nodded again and shifted into her wolf form.

“Pick her up,” Xoya suggested.

Lyorna dipped her head and pushed the hunter onto her head with a paw,
then rolled the hunter onto her back.

“Should we share the weight?” Lyorna asked.

Xoya pondered the question for a moment and nodded. “It’ll be easier,”

Xoya shifted into the oddly dark furred wolf they could shift into and spread
their wings. It had been so long since Xoya stretched them! They locked a
wing with Lyorna and the pair took off, syncing their wing beats, stroke for
stroke. The pair flew low to the ground to prevent themselves from being
spotted, as well as to keep the hunter from getting injured if she were to fall off
from moving so much.
Eventually the pair landed in the Snowdrift Pack camp, which was a large
valley at the base of a somewhat steep mountain that, over time, began
spreading inside the mountain.

The Salutari originally was located in a large wooden hut, but a large battle
between a neighboring pack ended in the destruction of the Salutaris Hut.

Since then, the Salutari was located in a wide cave at the foot of the mountain
that was partially made by shifters, with a smaller and nearly hidden entrance,
in case of a similar event happening.

Xoya took the hunter on their back and crawled into the low entrance (at least
for a large wolf) of the Cave.

They took the hunter to a back area, the area that Xoya commonly used for
former humans that were unfortunate enough to encounter Lyorna in her
Ultima form, or turned by her on purpose. No sense in overwhelming these
people in their first few weeks.

Xoya gently rolled the hunter onto a small bed with a simple carving etched on
it in the shape of a dog standing over a small wolf. The hunter twitched after
she touched the surface of the bed, before she fell still. Xoya shifted back and
checked her pulse, which was at an alarmingly fast rate, even with what had
happened to her. Xoya waited for a few minutes, watching the hunter.

First time I’ve seen a recently turned human have a full moon the night of
turning. Maybe this is normal? Xoya thought.

The hunter’s eyes shot open shortly after Xoya had that thought. Her eyes
were glowing bright blue, but they quickly faded to a caramel brown. The
hunter gasped and clutched her hand to her chest as her upper body shot up.
“What happened? Where am I?”

“Hush,” Xoya whispered, “You’re in good hands. Don’t panic,”

“Who, who are you?”

“Not now. Introductions can be later,” Xoya whispered, making their voice
soothing as possible, all while trying to change the chemicals in her mind to
soothe her.

Xoya placed their hand on the hunter’s forehead and, speaking to no one in
particular, they whispered, “No fever. That’s good,”

The hunter’s thoughts and emotions buzzed through Xoya’s mind while they
worked, often flashes of death, the deaths of both shifters and humans, and a
strong sense of guilt.

In the small and many memories where she had taken a shot at shifters and
missed, sometimes, she had felt a sense of relief after the shot missed. Then
Xoya saw themself, themself and Winter, and they knew who this was.

“You shot at me once,” Xoya murmured after a while.

“I- what?”

“Three months ago. My partner and I were walking. She tripped. I kneeled to
help her up. You saw us or something and shot at us. I turned around, saw
you with your gun, grabbed Winter, and we ran. She almost died. She couldn’t
see the bullets and had to rely on sound. One bullet clipped the bone in her
leg, but she thought it was a little more to her right. She didn’t realize it wasn’t
until it hit, and she fell. It broke her leg and she was screaming. There was
blood everywhere. She only survived because I managed to carry her into the
air and to a safer place,”

The hunter looked Xoya in the eye and said nothing, but Xoya could tell what
the hunter was thinking.

I was trying to miss.

“Why would you become a hunter if you didn’t want to kill us?”

“I- I didn’t say anything,”

“Just, answer the question,”

“I shoot to kill only when I know for a fact that the one I’m shooting at
murdered a human on purpose. I don’t do it if it were due to the full moon or
self defense, otherwise, your leader would be dead,”

“What did my cousin do?” Xoya rolled their eyes. They were used to Lyorna
screwing up some days, but this sounded worse than normal.

“Cousi- you know what, I’ll not question it. She quote unquote ‘attacked’ my
roommate in some kind of ruse to kill me or something, I don’t know!”

“Lyorna told me. Her sister wanted to kill you. Lyorna didn’t. Lyorna had to
figure out a way to either not kill you without turning you, or turn you, because
if her sister made her kill you after you’ve been turned, her sister can’t make
her take a bonding oath anymore. If you weren’t turned, you might have
actually died,”

“Is there a chance I’ll die shifting, or can I have a knife or gun? I’d much rather
not be a shifter. I might get killed by those I once called my comrades,”
“Pretty high for you to die shifting for the first time outside of the full moon, but
it's a full moon tonight, and no, you may not have a weapon. The bite or
claws, it’s more manageable. The eyes, it’s too much power for one soul to
take at one point, making it much more deadly. You’ll start getting stronger,
anger easier. There’s more of a chance of you shifting before the first full
moon, raising the risk of death, simply because of this rage, passed from
Lyorna, in part, to you. The rest just gathers. Thank Mekora that you were
only turned tonight,”

“And, good thing I had my period a week ago,” The hunter said.

Xoya rolled their eyes and cracked a smile. They didn’t really understand
periods, they’d never needed to worry about them, but judging by the way
Lyorna, Winter, Cami, and their mother got, it was probably a light joke.

“By the way, what happened to your face?”

“Nothing,” Xoya said. They waved their hands and they made the skull half
disappear. “The skull never really existed. I just use it to scare kids when I’m
working on the half of my job description that says I need to,”

“Oh. Why do you need to scare kids?”

“Because, I’m supposed to be mysterious and incredibly brave and wise and
also have to take mysterious and incredibly brave and wise apprentices until I
die, which will be at least three millenia probably, I don’t know, but I’ll have to
wait for some mystical, mysterious, brave, and wise apprentice-material
shifters to come around first,”

The hunter smiled and lay back. Her brown eyes flickered blue for a moment,
but Xoya must have imagined it, as when Xoya blinked, the hunter’s eyes had
turned brown again. In that split second that her eyes were blue, however,
Xoya heard the hunter’s slight gasp and a small whimper, and it seemed as
though a black bear’s ears were sprouting from her dark hair.

“Are you alright?” Xoya asked.

The hunter opened her mouth to respond but it seemed she couldn’t speak.
Xoya calmed the hunter’s mind and soothed her into sleep while making sure
that the hunter was still breathing the entire time.

The hunter’s chest rose and fell as Xoya’s interfering placed her in a long,
dreamless sleep, the kind in between dreams and waking up, just in case she
would shift soon.

After a while, Xoya released their hold on the hunter’s consciousness and let
her sleep naturally. The haze of other minds in the camp seemed to be getting
stronger as Xoya checked on the hunter, including a strong feeling of pain
from someone else in camp. It seemed to have no beginning and just faded
into the back of Xoya’s mind. Xoya went out to the front area of their little clinic
to check and found no one, so they stayed.

The hunter was their main concern for now, after all, and there was no other
Salutari in their pack to watch the hunter. Not since Snowdrop died, and the
other three went with him.

They didn’t notice when a member of their pack, Sylvius, began screaming in
pain from inside the soundproofed room Xoya worked in.

The pain from his mind wasn’t too severe, not from so far away. They certainly
didn’t notice the clamoring and fighting outside Xoya’s little clinic. Not until
Lyorna ran in with blood running down her stomach, and her hands were
stained with it.
Chapter Twenty-Nine

(actually this chapter takes place at about the same time as chapter
twenty-Twenty-Seven, but just barely before)

Cami was alone for the first time since she’d returned from that small cabin,
and Cami was in deep pain, but she couldn’t go to Olivia.
The camp was kinda shut down at the moment and the only safe entrances
were too small for Cami to get through. Something about a crazed shifter or
something. Cami opened the small wing-buds after taking off her black leather
jacket, if it could be called opening. She had hidden from the others during
their time in the cabin, around when they had started growing.

The buds were gold, like the little parts that connected her mom’s wings to her
mom’s back. There were some stubby little feathers on her back as well,
attached to the bottoms of the buds, although these were lighter than the
buds. She found that the pain in her back and shoulders was more bearable
when she stretched her wing-buds. She woke up screaming when they started
growing in the middle of the night, but somehow, no one had noticed.

It still hurt like hell, and she remembered this feeling from the day of her first
shift. That might have been the pain. The pain of the bones for her wings
shifting positions.

The buds grew more each day now, rather than slowly like the first few days in
the cabin. They were maybe five inches tall against her back now, and maybe
three inches long? Cami wasn’t really sure. Her jacket and shirt were off.
There wasn’t any room for her wings to stretch under those, anyways, and
even with the cold around her, it was preferable to her pain.

She couldn’t hide these until they were fully grown in as well, according to her
mom’s countless speeches to Cami about her heritage as a skywolf.

Cami heard some kind of rustling noise and immediately pulled her shirt over
her head, not even minding the extra pain in her wing-buds as they folded
backwards under her shirt, instead of folding against her back and lying on
either side of her spine comfortably, like normal.
She spun around as she tried to figure out which direction the noise came
from. She heard it again and could tell it was coming from behind her this
time.

She unsheathed her claws as she turned around and screamed, “Who are
you? Come out! NOW!”

“Chamae! It’s me!” Olivia shouted from seemingly far away. Cami heard a
quick set of footsteps and Olivia jumped out of the shadows and grabbed
Cami’s wrist.

“Olivia, what’s going on?”

“Problems in Snowdrift. Some kind of attack,” Olivia shook her head and
frowned. “Xoya, they sent me some kind of message. Said that Lyorna was
stabbed, but Lyorna’s fine. Viper left already, so I came here to talk,”

“How’d you even know where I was?”

“You’re clumsier than most of us, and the animals hear you and run off, so I
followed disturbances in tracks,”

“Wow. Thanks,” Cami said, dryly.

“But Chamae, you might need to get back to camp in case the pack’s in
danger,”

“What about that shifter?”

“The gorge, Chamae,”

“Oh, yeah,” Cami nodded. Olivia nodded back and shifted, then set off toward
the camp. Cami stayed back a while. She did shift when she was sure Olivia
was far enough away.

Cami didn’t really want to reveal her wings to Olivia yet, because if Cami’s
mom found out right now, Cami would probably be pulled from school for
another couple years, and Cami would go back to having no life outside of the
pack.

Cami stretched her little wing-buds, then folded them into her cloudy blue fur
to both warm them, and hide them. If anyone saw her, it wouldn’t be like
thinking she’s a normal wolf, but hiding her wings made her feel a little safer.

Why didn’t I inherit the golden rings? Cami wondered.

Airien’s golden ringed fur was pretty, but it wasn’t like pure gold, more like a
shade of yellow that happened to shine a little bit against her mom’s sky blue
and white patched fur.

Cami got, instead, barely perceptible light yellow tufts on her underfur and
hidden among the cloudy blue fur on her back, and maybe one or two gold
flecks on her face.

She wasn’t sure if even Tatiana could see those, and Tatiana had the best
color vision of all of Cami’s inner circle. Cami transitioned between running
and walking for a while, because even with her stamina, she couldn’t run for
too long with her somewhat fragile bones.

Cami was light and already was really fast before she started shifting, so Cami
still ran quicker than the average wolf, but as she went on, she slowed more
as she ran.
She lay down for a rest at the midway point to the gorge from the edge of the
forest. She rested her snout on an elevated rock and closed her eyes.

She didn’t realize she had drifted off until she woke up, freezing in her hybrid
form, which she might have shifted into while she slept, with her tail wrapped
around most of her bare feet, sometime in the middle of the night, although it
wasn’t when she drifted off.

Thankfully, she was one of the rare -typically half human- shifters that shifted
back into what they were wearing before, otherwise, she would have probably
frozen. Cami yawned, stood up and shifted into her wolf form. She stretched
and walked on, her freezing and barely downed wings buried deep into her
fur.

She froze at every branch snapping and sometimes heard voices, although
Cami pretended she didn’t hear it, she’d get the jump on these people soon.

After a while, she came to a stop at an open trunked Yggdrasil that she knew
shifters did live in at one point -leaving behind many carved structures along
the trunk and a labyrinth of tunnels underneath the tree’s roots- from the days
when the Windshear and Oceanbreeze packs were still separated. Turning
her head, she scanned the clearing, pretending she was making sure no one
followed her.

She smiled to herself and shifted into her full human form. Her wings hurt
again, underneath her shirt, but she heard a heavy set of footsteps behind her
and ignored it.

She spun around and yelled through the tree trunk, “RUN!” leaving a very long
echo that reverberated throughout the trunk. She crouched and shifted into
her hybrid form as someone else ran in.
She recognized both of these people. One was a seventh grade teacher at the
school Cami went to, although she didn’t know him that well, and the other
one, she knew for sure who he was.

She looked at his scarred face and said, “Hello, Hunter. See you’ve got
someone to do your little antics with,”

Hunter looked back and whispered to the teacher something that Cami
probably wasn’t meant to hear, “Should we wait for Mercy?”

“Mercy has been lost to you,” someone growled from inside the tunnels. Cami
looked behind her, and in that instant, she regretted that decision the most.
Hunter ran at her, and she spun around and shot her leg out under him,
making him fall forward. She backed up and ran into the labyrinth without
looking back, hoping he didn’t get too hurt. She didn’t want to hurt him badly
unless absolutely necessary. She took a single turn that entire time and hid
away.

If the teacher went looking for her, he’d get lost, probably thinking that she
would have chosen the most confusing route. She pondered that voice. There
was a really low chance she didn’t know whose it was, but that didn’t help
much. She knew a lot of people across the packs in Bluepoint, Laewaes, and
that town with the stupid name of Woodpine (why would they call it that?).

Not so much in Ivywood, except for Lyorna’s bitch of a sister and Cami’s aging
uncle. She wondered if it was her cousin.

Lyorna’s sister might have tracked down this Mercy and killed her, then found
the other two and taunted them with this fact, but Cami was pretty sure that
her older cousin wouldn’t go to such lengths to find them.

Certainly wouldn’t tell them.

No, it would be better for them to discover that their friend and partner is dead,
with no clue who did it. Cami saw a dark shadow approach and Olivia tackled
her in her little blue reptile-like animal form.

Olivia didn’t shift back, but in the ever-varied tongue most shifters spoke while
they were in their animal form, she said, “Chamae! You’re welcome,” Her
voice sounded like a mix of a high pitched dragon’s roar and a low growling
undertone.

“So it was you?”

“Yep,” Olivia took a breathe, “I heard through a messenger to Viper that a

huntress was turned by Lyorna accidentally, so I assumed that when I heard
the name Mercy, that was the hunter that was turned,”

“Ah. Well, do you know a way out at all? I think the normal way’s blocked,”

“No. I know that one of them came down here, and I think Hunter ran off to go
figure out if what I said was true,”

Cami nodded, “Then let’s go,”

Cami followed Olivia through the tunnels, and both dove into the nearest turn
whenever they heard footsteps, hoping that the hunter wouldn’t go inside.
They exited the tunnels and walked away from the hollow tree, toward the
gorge.

Olivia was careful to smudge their tracks with her tail as they went and when
they made it to the gorge, Cami shifted and followed Olivia down.
She shifted back when she made it down and walked alongside Olivia, careful
not to step on her. Olivia crawled on Cami’s shoulder when they had put
maybe a few hundred yards of distance between them and the tree.

Cami’s shoulder prickled a little bit where the fragile wing-bud touched Olivia’s
cool, heavy scales, but Cami kept quiet until her shoulder felt like it was on
fire.

She grabbed Olivia off her shoulder and whispered, “You’re a bit heavy,”

“Oh, sorry,” Olivia dipped her head in embarrassment. She walked a little in
front of Cami as Cami flexed the wing under the shirt. They made it to the
gorge together, and Cami shifted to climb down.

Her wings were folded deep into her fur, so Olivia didn’t notice them yet, but
the first jump activated an instinct to flap her wings a little.

Olivia looked at the small wings confused, then shrugged in a lizardy way, not
so much shrugging, but dipping her head instead.

Cami and Olivia got to the bottom, Cami shifted into her hybrid form, and she
walked with Olivia until the cave thing opened out into a near-empty clearing,
except for a werewolf and a kaira, a fox shifter, both of whom seemed
extremely on edge with their ears raised high and they jumped at the slightest
sound.

“Where is everyone?” Cami asked.

“We’re scared. The hunters attacked thinking they’d cut us off from the rest of
the world and possibly kill us,” Olivia’s voice quivered. “We hide constantly,”
Cami nodded solemnly and took Olivia to the Salutari tree before going to the
private area that Ultimas traditionally lived in.

A small cottage off to the side of the clearing that she had received once Helix
was gone, hopefully for good.

He was like Napoleon in a sense, trying to get back after losing his country’s
power, and probably was going to try again to come back.

She didn’t live here.

It was only a reminder of Helix until her mom could get rid of any evidence he
ever existed, and her mother wouldn’t let her move in until she knew Helix
was dead anyways, but Cami was always able to come here when she
wanted quiet, normally.

She took off her shirt and stretched out her wing-buds.

I should cut holes in that. Cami thought, briefly.

She folded her wings after a bit and shoved her shirt over her head, then an
insulated black leather jacket that she’d left in the cottage two weeks ago. She
shifted in the silence.

She was a little bored anyways. She lowered herself on the rug and closed
her eyes, not to sleep, but to breathe.

She sat up at a knock at the door, shifted back, and mumbled, “Who is it?”

“May I come in?” a masculine voice asked.

Cami nodded before remembering the person couldn’t see her and said,
“Alright,”
The door opened, and in stepped the worst person in the world.

“You!” Cami snarled.

“Hi, Chamomile, or should I say, Ultima. How’ve you been?”

“Helix, get out. Now. You don’t deserve to ever come back here again,” she
unsheathed her claws and dropped into a fighting position, completely
prepared to attack him.

“I’m here anyways,” He growled. “In any case, I’ve brought you something,”

He smiled, lighting up his tanned face with a cold light, and his dusty blond
hair was starting to gray, even though it had been not too long since Cami had
seen him.

Helix’s amber eyes shone with malice, and his ears, a fox’s, had tilted forward
showing his anger.

Helix turned around and pulled some kind of chain in his hand and he threw
whatever, no, whoever, was attached to it inside, then shut the door.

“Enjoy!” He called from outside.

The one attached to the chain was barely recognizable as both a person, or
as a bipedal animal.

They crawled on all fours at times, or stood and crouched at others, their hair
matted and their mouth crusted at the sides with recent looking blood.

They had a certain hollowness in their bloodshot and tear-filled eyes, and
Cami noticed there was a second chain looped around their neck. They
snarled at Cami and paced, back and forth, yet they didn’t attack.
“Can you hear me? Do you recognize me?” Cami asked. Her eyes flashed for
a moment, although she couldn’t tell. The shifter snarled again, and Cami
could tell all this shifter was trying to say with that.

Yes. The answer to both questions.

“Do you know what happened?”

The shifter snarled again after Cami’s eyes flashed again. Cami didn’t get the
answer this time, although she didn’t mind.

The shifter seemed more docile than before now. Cami grabbed the chain that
looped around the shifter’s neck and gently removed it by disconnecting one
of the links with her teeth, since they were too strong for her hands to pry
apart, but most shifters had incredible bite strength.

She helped the shifter to their feet without them crouching, and the shifter
gave Cami a deep look of gratitude.

“You’re welcome,”

The shifter looked away and a deep growl rumbled in their throat.

Cami nodded to that growl and said, “Do you want to go to Olivia? She might
be able to help,”

The shifter growled excitedly, before grumbling quietly and hoarsely, “Viper?”

“Viper was called away,”

The shifter nodded and growled, “Safer without Viper,”

“I know,” Cami said. A lot of shifters didn’t like Viper.

Viper was rude, and while she was smart, she was better at inventing things
to take care of injuries than actually doing it. Olivia was the sweeter one and
she knew more about what she was doing.

Cami led the shifter to the yggdrasil Olivia worked in, then left Olivia to do her
work after Olivia had strapped the shifter in restraints, just in case.

“It’ll be fine,” Cami said aloud as she walked away, not even realizing it.

Chapter Thirty

Olivia and the crazed shifter were left alone when Chamae left, not counting
other patients.

Olivia broke into some of the standard procedure instructions before saying,
“You’re going to have to stay calm. I’m going to take you out of the restraints
keeping your upper body on the bed. It makes the arrow go in deeper, and I
need you to stay still and let me pull it out, even if it starts hurting. Alright?”

The shifter nodded and said, “Yes,”

Olivia undid the straps and put one hand on the shifter’s back and gripped the
shattered remnant of the arrow shaft in the other. “This will hurt,”

The shifter nodded and gripped the edges of the bed hard. Olivia judged the
area where the arrow was in quickly before pulling it out. The shifter winced a
little, but the rest of the shaft came out, and thankfully, the tip came out as
well. The tip was tipped with silver, a remaint of that old myth that silver was
the only thing that could kill a werewolf. Clearly this wasn’t one of the hunters
that the pack was used to dealing with.

Honestly, did they understand the concept of a weapon?

The blood wasn’t flowing too quickly from the shifter’s back, so Olivia put hand
sanitizer on and bandaged the wound to keep pressure on it. It was too
severe for now to heal quickly with the minimal practice she’d had.

The shifter smiled and said, “Thank you, Olivia,”

“Now, you need to stay here another twenty-four hours, and check back with
me every day until it’s healed so we can change the bandages, alright?”

The shifter nodded and Olivia unstrapped them. They seemed stable.

“Wait, what’s your name? I can’t tell who you are,”

“Connor,” the shifter replied. Olivia nodded. She knew Connor, mostly by
reputation. He was Helix’s only son, one of the only ten remaining kaira in
camp, and was in training to become a beta before Helix was kicked out.
Connor was still working to become one of the two betas, although the male
beta, Simon, wasn’t happy with Helix and was always fearful of Connor having
the same ideas as his father.
Connor fell asleep a few hours later and Olivia was tending to the others in the
tree, her thoughts a jumbled mess. Mostly about whatever caused Connor to
go insane, and if it could spread now that he was there, even if he wasn’t
really sick. Viper came back another few hours after Connor fell asleep, with
several people, some of them lightly injured and carrying those that were
unconscious or with broken and sprained bones, and Viper began bossing
Olivia around again.

Olivia sighed and worked on a woman in her mid-twenties or thirties that was
unconscious, by Viper’s orders.

That one was more peaceful than the others. Not really bleeding and looking
mostly like she wasn’t in pain, although her face told another story. Her eyes
were shut tight and she was moving around a bit. Olivia couldn’t really tell
where the pain was coming from either, unlike usual.

“Viper, what happened to this one?”

“L’orna turned her accidentally, ‘Livia. Former hunter that according to L’orna
is called Mercy. Xoya had her moved here because Xoya had too many, and
Xoya needs to focus on the critical condition ones first,”

Olivia nodded and put her hand on Mercy’s forehead. The woman probably
had a severe migraine, even unconscious, and Olivia felt Mercy’s raised
temperature as well. It felt like the heat from that fire, the fire that Olivia ran
almost headfirst into to find her older brother. She missed Oleander so much,
every day of her life.

Tears formed in her eyes when she remembered this. He sacrificed his life in
that fire to try to save Coconut’s son, and Coconut’s son didn’t even survive a
few moments after. Olivia saw all of it.
“Okay, cold, damp washcloth for the temperature, and heal the migraine.
Olivia closed her eyes and whispered an incantation. Unlike most magic
kinds, healing was more difficult, and a lot of users needed to speak an
incantation to heal. Olivia opened her eyes when she stopped speaking and
took her hand off of the hunter’s forehead.

She ran off for a moment to wet a washcloth in a sink that Viper had installed
herself somehow, and rushed back to lay it across Mercy’s forehead, and
somehow, in that one minute, Mercy’s fever had gotten drastically worse.
Mercy grumbled something unintelligible the second the washcloth touched
her skin and rolled onto her side.

Olivia decided to set up the side rail on the bed Mercy was on to minimize
extra injury and stayed by Mercy’s side. Viper could maybe deal with the
others. Mercy’s eyes flew open without warning, and she immediately
punched Olivia in the nose.

“Ow! What the hell!” Olivia growled as she placed her hand over her nose.

Mercy’s eyes glowed bright and clear blue, and she moved away from Olivia.

“Hey. You’re okay,” Olivia whispered, putting her free hand on Mercy’s back.
Mercy looked up and growled at Olivia as her eyes faded from blue into
brown.

“Who are you?” Mercy asked, “What happened?”

“Do you remember the past few hours?” Olivia asked.

“Um, I went to get groceries for me and my roommate, came home, and the
rest is a blank,”
“Okay, that’s normal. I think Xoya told you this already, but you’re not human
anymore. Well, technically you are, but it takes a while for any new shifter to
accept this,”

Mercy glared at Olivia and punched Olivia again, “Get me a gun or knife.
Now,”

“Nope!” Olivia squeaked. She shifted and grabbed the straps in her mouth,
then tied Mercy down with them in a few quick movements that she was used
to doing at this point. Mercy growled and tried to pull herself out of the straps,
but these straps were able to deflect bullets by design, and Mercy had no
luck. Viper saw the commotion and came over, clearly knowing this hunter’s
train of thought.

“You see, if you die, it's bad. L’orna will lose a member of her pack, and I’ll
have to take the blame,” Viper hissed. Mercy growled back, and Viper showed
Mercy her venomous fangs.

“Are you sure you want to go against a hunter?” Mercy asked. She bared her
teeth and her growls began getting more animal-like.

Olivia stepped in between this weird DnD-style battle of wills. All one had to
do at that point was roll a di.

“Both of you, calm down,” Olivia growled. “Mercy’s going to shift, and Viper,
I’m pretty sure that you have other people to attend to,”

Viper hissed again and turned away. Her tail whipped around like fabric, like
she had a metallic green cape, and her long, dark green, and incredibly
greasy hair trailed behind it, helping to sell the illusion a bit.

“And Mercy, calm down. If you shift now, you’ll be in more pain,”
“If death is what I want, why does it matter?” Mercy growled.

“Because it’ll be painful. Would you rather not suffer?”

“From this point on, my entire life will be more suffering, what’s a little more?”

“Okay, being one of us isn’t that bad. Just the first shift hurts as much as you
think it will, and after it’s nothing more than a weird feeling,”

“I don’t want to be one of you. My colleagues will be after me. Is there a way
to stop it?”

“As far as I know, no, there isn’t,” Olivia replied. “You’re stuck like this, but it’ll
be fine. You don’t have to be in the packs, but the person who turned you
technically can influence you if she wants to, although it won’t work every
time. Lyorna won’t use that ability often either, she believes people need to
act of their own free will, but if someone she can use that ability on is suicidal,
she’s going to use that ability to get them to see a therapist,”

“Who’s this Lyorna?”

“She’s the one who turned you. The Ultima of the Snowdrift pack,”

“Well, you’ll need to tell her to back off. I don’t want to be a shifter,”

“Just pretend you aren’t. Live your life as usual,” Olivia said, “No point in dying
and leaving friends and family behind,”

“How can I pretend? It’ll be right there,”

“No, it won’t. A lot of shifters can easily hide it, because all it really is, is a
separate path that you don’t have to take if you don’t want to. If you want, the
packs can teach you and help you, but you have to reach out,”
Mercy growled and was it Olivia’s imagination, or was she starting to look
bigger? Olivia quickly undid the straps so Mercy wouldn’t suffocate. Mercy
was shifting. Mercy jumped off the bed and landed on her hind legs,
seemingly growing as she jumped. Black and brown fur sprouted from her
face and for the first time, Olivia noticed a four inch long tuft of fur, Mercy’s
tail. Mercy’s snout elongated and she roared as her hands became thick,
strong paws and her eyes glowed blue in the faint light.

She snarled and dropped on all fours as she tried to walk forward and
bounded towards Olivia as a full grown black bear. Mercy took a swipe at
Olivia, which Olivia shifted to avoid. She growled and climbed to a niche in the
hollow tree. Mercy tried to follow, but only succeeded in adding to the ancient
claw marks on the inside of the tree, dating back years before Olivia was even
a thought. Mercy growled and stood on her hind legs, clawing the side of the
tree. In the distance, Olivia could see Viper watching, amused at the sudden
events.

“Don’t stand there, Viper! Do something!” Olivia hissed loudly.

Viper rolled her eyes and shifted into a large metallic green python with bits of
metal inside its scales, then slithered outside of the tree. Olivia growled and
Mercy suddenly froze and fell back. She thrashed and roared for a bit before
she shifted into her hybrid form and out cold. Olivia climbed down and
grabbed her own clothes off the ground, climbed up the side of the tree,
shifted back, put her clothes back on, and climbed back down in her human
form. She picked up Mercy carefully and placed Mercy back on the bed and
strapped her down to prepare for when she would attack again.

Mercy opened her eyes and snarled at Olivia. She tried breaking free but had
no luck and she screamed loudly. She eventually stopped freaking out and
Olivia undid the straps on her upper body.
“See, it was only like twenty minutes,” Olivia remarked.

“Well screw this! It hurt, so, so much,”

“But it won’t from this point onward, and you can go home if you want to now.
Also don’t try to die. Please,”

Mercy nodded and Olivia undid the other straps.

Mercy got up and started walking, but paused and turned around, “You have
a hood or something so I can hide the ears?”

“Um, I’ll ask Ultima,” Olivia replied. “Stay there,”

Olivia ran over to Chamae’s hut and knocked on the door.

Chamae opened the door and asked, “What’s up? How’s the shifter?”

“Connor’s fine and recovering. Lyorna turned someone and she just now
shifted and can’t hide the animal ears. Do you have a spare really long jacket
or something?”

“Um, maybe,” Chamae turned her back from Olivia and dug through the things
sorta scattered across the cottage from the few years that Chamae had been
using this place as an extra storage closet.

Strewn across the floor were old clothes and some crumpled pieces of paper
with drawings and writing on them, plus a few piles of random things. Chamae
went to a separate room in the cottage as Olivia waited, then came back with
an overlarge, seemingly cotton-based, gray jacket with a hood.

“My mom got it a few years ago and found out it was a bit too small for her. It
may fit the new shifter,”
Olivia took the jacket, smiled, and said, “Thank you, Chamae,”

Olivia rushed back to the tree and handed Mercy the jacket. Mercy put it on
immediately and pulled the hood over her head. The jacket was slightly big,
but Mercy had enough room to shove her tuft of fur for a tail into the jacket,
and she smiled as she left.

Chapter Thirty-One

One hour later

Mercy gripped her sleeve as she opened the door to her and her roommate’s
house. As the door slid open, Mercy saw Skylar holding a mop and wiping up
a dark brown spot that may have once been red, which was speckled across
the carpet as well. Skylar looked toward the door as it opened and
immediately dropped the mop and ran toward Mercy as Mercy closed the
door, then she pulled Mercy into a hug and smiled.

Skylar pulled away and said, “Mercy, I wanna see!”

“See what?” Mercy asked, a little nervous.

“Take off that jacket!”

“Skylar, not now,”

Skylar laughed and said, “No, not that. Your ears,”

Mercy’s eyes widened, “How do you know about that?”

“Take the hood off, please!” Skylar reached up and grabbed the hood and
pulled it down. Mercy’s ears were barely noticeable, hidden among her dark
brown hair, but Skylar seemed to notice them anyways.

“Aw, they’re super cute, Mercy! So you’re a bear then?”

Mercy pulled the hood over her head and covered the ears. “Don’t tell anyone.
How the hell do you know about them anyways?”

Skylar shivered, and Mercy could hear Skylar’s shirt rip as big ass spotted
gray and brown wings unfolded from her back and wrapped around both of
them. They were maybe fifteen or sixteen feet long each, three times Skylar’s
height, and somehow she managed to compact them into two feet edge to
edge when they folded, not once like a normal bird, but three times. Skylar
shivered again, and the sound of feathers moving against cotton and they
were gone.

“The hell?”

“I’ve got wings, Mercy. I can turn into a western meadowlark. Now don’t make
me show my wings again, I don’t like to have them out in my human form,”

Mercy nodded, a little shocked, “So I’ve been living with the kind of person
that I’m supposed to hate?”

“Yep,”
Mercy turned to the side and took off the jacket, revealing her black tuft of fur
tail.

“I’m going to-” Mercy started, but a knock on the door interrupted her.

“I’ll get it,” Skylar said, “Get the jacket on,”

Mercy nodded and went into a separate room, forced the jacket over her
head, then pulled the hood over her ears as Skylar opened the door.

“Hey, Hunter,”

“Hi, Skylar. Is Mercy here?”

“Yeah,” Skylar turned and shouted, “Mercy! Hunter’s here to talk to you!”

Mercy ran to the door and smiled at Hunter. “Hey, what’s up?” She asked.

“Can I talk to you, in private?” Hunter asked.

“Alright. Skylar, go for a bit, alright?”

Skylar nodded and left, and when she was out of earshot, Hunter immediately
erupted into words.

“So, James and I, we were tracking a shifter, a young werewolf, the one I
used to date, actually, and it led us to one of those hollow redwoods, and then
there was another, and it spoke perfect English. It said that you were dead or
something, and I came to check, but I got lost and-,”

Mercy nodded, “Well, as you can see, I’m right here, Hunter, and I’m sorry I
wasn’t with you two, I had to run some errands and get a new jacket because
after you tried and failed to kill that complete obsession of yours, my jacket got
stained in blood and I couldn’t wash it out in like a month of trying, thank you
very much,”

“Sorry, Merc,” Hunter said, sheepishly, “Well, I’m glad you’re alive. Now,
James needs a little help. Come back with me!”

“Can’t,” Mercy said, “I agreed to help Skylar clean tonight. Sorry!”

Hunter nodded and said, “When you’re done, find me. Alright?”

Mercy nodded back and went back inside as Hunter walked away. The
second the door was closed, she took the jacket off and yelled, “You can
come back now!”

Skylar ran back in and said, “So, about that helping me clean?”

Mercy nodded, “I’ll help. Starting with that blood there. The hell happened?”

“Oh, you don’t remember. That’s normal,”

“No, what happened?”

“I’ll tell you later,” Skylar said. She turned and grabbed the damp mop to
continue cleaning.

“No, tell me!”

“Not now, Mercy. We gotta focus,”

Mercy rolled her eyes at Skylar and walked off to the cleaning closet.
Chapter Thirty-Two

Two days later

Moon put her books inside and closed her locker when she felt someone’s
breath against her neck. She turned, but there wasn’t anyone there. Moon
began walking and she stiffened a bit when she felt a hand touch her
shoulder. She turned around and saw one of her classmates, Marina. Marina
wasn’t really someone in the inner circle, but more a result of Moon’s small
popularity, and she and Moon were friends-ish, but Marina could be mean,
worse than Moon used to be, and sometimes still was. Marina had dark hair
and she normally had cat-eye eyeliner surrounding her dark eyes. Marina was
also human, although at times, Moon could pick up traces of unfamiliar
werewolf scent. She wasn’t sure of the origin.
Marina smiled and said, “Sorry to startle you. Just, you’ve been acting weird
lately, and I wanted to check on you. Also, who’s that new ginger you’ve been
hanging out with? She’s really weird,”

“Marina, it’s called being nice, and she’s friends with one of my friends. I don’t
have a choice in the matter of being around her,”

“Still,”

“Marina, just leave my choice of who I hang out with alone and learn to be
nice,”

Marina rolled her eyes and turned around, she clearly wasn’t going to ‘waste
her time’ with a lost cause. Moon didn’t realize it, but her nails began digging
into her palms while she watched Marina walk away, and when the pressure
from it got too much, Moon realized that she was starting to bleed, and her
claws were out too.

She went to the bathroom and began washing away the blood and tried to
calm herself down in case her emotions had something to do with her claws.
After a while of washing her hands from the blood, she wrapped a few paper
towels around both of her palms, because it looked like it was starting up
again.

How the hell did I cut myself this badly? Moon thought. Her claws were still
out and even though Moon wasn’t angry or anything, and they wouldn’t go
back in while she willed them too. She started getting frustrated after a while
and she placed both hands on one of the sinks. She growled and began
shaking before punching the sink. It stung like hell, and the pipe in the wall
burst when she did it again and disconnected the sink from the wall. It didn’t
shatter, but it made a loud thump and cracked. She stepped back and
involuntarily shifted. She realized what had happened, and abandoning her
dark purple bag -it was too heavy anyways- she slid into one of the bathroom
stalls and climbed the wall to avoid being noticed.

She heard footsteps and she heard someone say, “Shit. Whose things are
these?” She heard footsteps leading away and Moon let go of the wall for a
moment to rest, then climbed up the wall again a minute later. She heard
more footsteps and two people entered, one of which being the person from
earlier, and judging by the other one’s voice, she was a teacher.

“Do you know whose bag this is?” the teacher asked.

“No, Ms. Emily,” the other voice said.

“Alright, well, you may go, I’ll find out who did it later,” the teacher-sounding
person said.

Moon gripped the wall as the footsteps receded and didn’t let go. She didn’t
want to be found. She didn’t remember why. Her mind wasn’t too hazy, but a
few memories seemed to be missing.

“Okay, no one’s outside. Come down?” the teacher-sounding person said.

Moon held her breath. There was no way the teacher knew she was there.

“I’m not going to hurt you, and I don’t blame you. Come down before you get
hurt,”

Moon stayed silent and still and scented something odd in the air, mixed in
with the normal smells, like wild berries and fruit in the air, mixed with honey,
plus something that Moon had never smelled before. Moon’s claws relaxed
and she climbed down. She crawled carefully out of the stall with her head
dipped low and as the person reached for her, she growled.
“Don’t want to be touched? Alright. Hi. I’m the guidance counselor, Ms. Emily.
I know you don’t recognize me. That’s alright. Who are you?”

Moon didn’t recognize a few words, which concerned her. She grew up
speaking this language, and normally, while she was shifted, she understood
everything said to her. She tried to speak back, in any human language, but
she couldn’t form a single word.

She yipped in the otter thing’s voice, not in English, “Don’t understand,”

The teacher cocked her head and said, “I don’t speak that language,”

Moon tried again, and in English, croaky and interlaced with her yips, “I- don’t
understand,”

“You don’t understand what?”

Moon shook her head and said, not in English, “What are you saying?”

“Can you try to shift?”

Moon dipped her head. She understood that command. She grabbed her
soaked clothes in her mouth and padded to the stall she was in before. She
closed her eyes and let herself grow, then put on her clothes. She was in her
hybrid form now, and it was hard to fit her wet clothes over her wings, but she
willed herself into her normal form and managed to put everything on. The
only difference was her claws were still out.

She exited the stall and said, “Okay, I’m back,”

“Oh. Alright. What’s your name?” the teacher asked.

“Luna. Luna Paige,”

“Luna?”

“Call me Moon,” she said.

“Hi, I’m not sure if you remember my name, so I’m Ms. Emily,”

“Guidance counselor, right?”

“Yes. Moon, I assume you’re in ninth?”

Moon nodded.

“I’ve heard about you,”

Moon stiffened, “Nothing bad, right?”

“No. People seem to like you, actually,”

Moon smiled, “Nice to hear that,”

“Well. I need to ask you, how long have you been…?” Ms. Emily had no need
to finish what she was saying.

“Um, almost two months now,”

“Two months? Do your parents know?”

“No. I’m not telling her. She’s a religious fanatic and believe that Kenomi
should be still be burned alive, and if she finds out that I’m similar, she may
actually try,”

“Oh. Yikes,”
“And you?” Moon asked.

“How can you tell?”

“Heartbeat, and there’s an aura around you screaming it,”

“Since I was born,” The teacher’s heartbeat went a bit faster at those words,
but Moon didn’t press, and the teacher said, “Well, you should go home. I’ll
have the nurse tell your parents you started vomiting. You shouldn’t be here
right now,”

Moon nodded in agreement and the teacher led her out of the bathroom. Ms.
Emily took her to the nurse’s office and told the nurse the lie. The nurse
sighed and called the number Moon gave him for her mom and soon, Moon’s
mom had come to pick her daughter up, as she wasn’t going to work for
another hour, and her mom didn’t say anything to her daughter the entire way
home. Moon was left at home with nothing more than the usual goodbye, and
Moon had free reign of the place until her little sister Kylie came home. After
her mom returned, Moon went upstairs and changed. She lay on her bed for a
little time, before going under the covers, closing her eyes, and falling asleep,
letting dreams wash over her in a heavy wave.

------

When Moon woke up later that night, she jumped as she saw three human
outlines in the dark. One raised their hands and said, “Moon, it’s me, Ashley.
Tatiana and Cami are here too,”

Moon’s eyes adjusted, and she realized that two of the figures had eyes
reflecting the faint star and moonlight. One pair was bright golden, the other
gray. The third figure was maybe a foot and a half shorter than the tallest of all
of them, and about a head shorter than the median.
“Moon. We need to talk. Now,” Cami said.

“Get out of my room. My mom can’t know you’re here. Tatiana, Ashley, you
know how hyper-religious my mom is, and you know how she feels about you.
Go out the window. I’ll follow,”

At this point, Moon started being able to see better and she saw dimmed
colors now. She watched as Cami shifted into a semi-big wolf with golden
feathers poking out of her back and Tatiana climbed on top, seemingly careful
to avoid the buds of feathers. Cami shuddered at the weight, but she was able
to climb down with Tatiana, and Ashley shifted and immediately jumped out.
Moon followed in her human form, snapped her wings open, flew up, and with
a little effort, closed the window and glided down to meet the others.

“We’ve got a small problem,” Cami said. “My cousin’s pack was recently
attacked, and I have a feeling that my pack is next. Moon. The pack needs to
hide out for a while, and should you be found out, they may come after you
and Tatiana as well,”

“We know that they might know about us. We’ve known for a while now,”

“But never this scale. Be careful,”

Moon nodded and said, “So do I go back now?”

“No. Your parents are used to you going places for long periods of time,
right?”

“Yeah. It’s also a weekend, and I tend to go to the forest a lot. My mom knows
that I’ll be fine,”
Cami nodded and said, “Now, Moon, Tatiana, both of you come with me.
You’ll need what I say,”

“What about me?” asked Ashley, “I barely know you. I’m staying with Moon
and Tati,”

Cami nodded, “You can stay,”

Chapter Thirty Three

Tatiana held onto Cami’s fur as they ran through the woods. Her eyes stayed
shut as the wind whipped around her. Cami’s little wing things were on both
sides of her and Cami was using them to keep Tatiana in place to the best of
her ability, although Tatiana had to clutch Cami’s side to prevent herself from
falling off. Ashley perched on Tatiana’s shoulder in her cat form, claws
gripping her clothes and slightly piercing her skin, while Moon flew overhead,
sometimes in front, sometimes behind. Cami kept a steady pace and
eventually, she stopped in a clearing that was surrounded by rocky
outcroppings and the really tall trees that were commonly found in this forest.
Tatiana climbed down, her legs sore, and she wobbled a bit as she walked for
a little time. Cami shifted back, and Moon did as well, then changed back.
Ashley still sat on Tatiana’s shoulder, but she eventually jumped off and
shifted as well. Cami took off her jacket, and she spread a pair of small wings
out, which were about a half foot long. There were holes cut into Cami’s shirt
so this was possible in the first place. They folded against her back and lay
comfortably on both sides of her spine, although they didn’t fold that much yet.

Ashley looked a little startled, “I didn’t know you had wings,”

“They’ve been growing for about a week now,”

“I’ve only met a few shifters with wings, but they’ve said the wings were
always there when they were in hybrid form,”

“It’s different for some. I was born unable to shift, like most shifters, then could
shift into an ordinary wolf, except with blue fur, and now the wings come in,”

“Oh,”

“Now. As I was about to say, Tatiana, Moon, you two are in great danger.
You, Ashley, not so much,”

“What do you mean?” Tatiana asked. She was worried now, and she shook a
little while she asked.
“I mean that they know who you both are, and while they, and frankly I, don’t
know what you are, Tatiana, I know they know both who Moon is, and what
she is,”

“Shit!” Moon barked, and she growled, “Who told them?”

“We don’t know, but we have reason to believe there are shifters on their side.
Whether forced to or not, or if they even know what they are, we also don’t
know,”

Tatiana hugged Moon, “How do they know that I’m probably not human?”

“They have ways, and I know at least one goes to our school, and they’ve
probably noticed how close we are, and they may think you’re a werewolf or
kaira, since I haven’t seemed to scare you away yet,”

“What is a kaira anyways?”

“Fox shifter. There are a few kinds, normal ones, the hybrid children, and
there are some that can turn into foxes like the kitsunes of japanese legend
and harbor spirits, or a minority that can turn into a terrox or some other type
of magical fox,”

“What the hell’s a terrox?” Ashley asked.

“Earth fox. Green fur, covered in plants, looks like the fur is made of grass,
and they’re really hard to find if you aren’t a shifter,”

“Well, that sums it up,” Ashley growled.

Moon put a hand on Ashley’s shoulder and said, “Don’t be rude, Ashley. Isn’t
that what you guys are always telling me to do?”
Ashley nodded and said shortly, “I’m sorry,” Ashley didn’t sound apologetic,
but Tatiana wasn’t going to press her harder, and she could tell Moon wasn’t
going to either.

Cami continued, “Well, Tati, Moon. Both of you will need to come with-” Cami
stopped mid-sentence and shouted, “Get down!” before pulling Tatiana and
Moon down with her. Ashley shifted and hid under a shrub, and Moon did the
same. Cami shifted, picked up Tatiana in her jaw, gently, and placed Tatiana
on her back. Cami ran as Tatiana wrapped her arms around Cami’s neck, and
Tatiana heard a gunshot. A moment later, Cami’s pace began slowing down,
and after a few minutes, she sprinted into a nearby hollow tree. She collapsed
as Tatiana got off, and Tatiana shrieked in alarm when she saw blood on
Cami’s hind leg, and the bullet stuck out of it.

Cami lay to the side and murmured something in a language Tatiana didn’t
understand. Cami roared loudly, and Tatiana put her hands over her ears to
prevent herself from going deaf. Cami’s ears perked up as Tatiana heard a
distant roar in return, and many more. Cami roared again, and three roars
responded. Cami closed her eyes and roared no more, but her level breathing
and twitching ears indicated she was still alive. Tatiana heard a sound like
beating wings, and a dark furred wolf with black and gold-veined wings zipped
into the room, with a deep blue and dark and really dark brown and red
winged wolf in tow.

The dark furred wolf roared and shifted into his human form, screaming
“WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY SISTER?” The shifter raised his wings and
smacked Tatiana in the face, knocking her back and onto the floor. Claws
unsheathed from his hands and he raised his right hand, seemingly prepared
to slash Tatiana’s face with them.

“Xoya!” the blue wolf yelled, shifting back, and Tatiana recognized her as
Lyorna. “It’s fine. She’s Tatiana,”
The man seemed to not hear and took a swipe at Tatiana, who moved back
as he did and she curled into a little ball, protecting her face. She started
sobbing. She didn’t understand what was really going on, she just wanted her
friend to be safe. Xoya clawed at her back and then got ahold of her necklace
and pulled. She had to move her head back or else she’d start to choke. Xoya
let go of the necklace and she gasped for air. She heard a faint gowl behind
her, and she braced herself. She knew this would be the end if she was
attacked.

“XOYA!” Lyorna roared loud enough to make Tatiana go deaf if she was any
closer. “THAT’S ENOUGH! SHE DIDN’T DO ANYTHING WRONG!”

Near Tatiana, she could hear Cami stirring, and a low rumbling noise
resonated from where Cami lay.

Tatiana felt a hand on her shoulder and she uncurled to see Lyorna standing
over her. Lyorna smiled, not a completely warm one, and it was actually a little
unsettling, but Tatiana trusted Lyorna enough to know what she was trying to
convey. Lyorna turned to the man and yelled at him in some other language.
The man shrunk back and grumbled something else in the same language,
then walked to Tatiana and apologized. Tatiana moved to Cami and saw that
blood was starting to drip off of Cami’s leg and onto the wood, and it was
pooling against her belly fur, tinting the normally beautiful colors with dark red.

“Stop fighting!” Tatiana yelled. “Cami needs help, now,”

Lyorna nodded and growled at Xoya something, with a gesture for let’s go
with her head. Both of them shifted, and Xoya dipped his nose and shuffled
Cami’s limp wolf form onto his back. She was surprisingly small compared to
these two, and Lyorna walked next to him.

Lyorna rumbled in English, “Tatiana. Get on my back, keep Cami from falling,”
Tatiana nodded and climbed onto Lyorna, who crouched low to the ground.
She interlocked wings with Xoya and they took off, flying low. Tatiana’s heart
raced. She’d never been up so high, and she was scared she’d fall off. Cami
grumbled next to her, and Xoya growled something in return. Lyorna and
Xoya dipped lower, near a clearing that was as though something large had
shoveled earth out of it, and Lyorna, Xoya, and Cami shifted back, and
Tatiana fell off as Lyorna stood up. Lyorna and Xoya folded their wings, while
Cami lay against the earthen floor, small wings askew. Xoya picked up Cami
in his arms and she groaned and mumbled something. Cami’s eyes were still
closed, and her wings hung awkwardly from Xoya’s arms. One was over his
left arm, and the other under his arms. Xoya folded his wings in front of him to
keep her supported, and Cami turned over a little, her nose touching his
chest.

“Hey, sib,” Cami said, weakly. Her tail moved, and it now drooped out of his
wings, between the feathers. Xoya began walking toward a really tall tree with
a little hut in front, and as Lyorna followed, she beckoned for Tatiana to come
with. They entered the hut and then the tall tree, which was, according to the
rings, at least a few thousand years old.

Xoya lay Cami on one of the only empty wooden beds, one designed to look
like a normal hospital bed, and he called, “OLIVIA! VIPER!”

“Viper’s not here right now,” a tired voice drawled from above. Olivia walked
down some steps and seemed half asleep, at least until she saw Cami lying in
one of the beds.

“Chamae! What happened? Why’s Tatiana here?”

“Cami was shot, Olivia, and Tatiana’s here because she was there,”

“What?”
Tatiana froze and realized something, “Ashley and Moon? WHERE ARE
THEY!”

“I’ll look for them,” Xoya said. He shifted again and flew into the night, quickly
disappearing in the darkness. Olivia hugged Cami and removed the bullet
from Cami’s ankle and placed some kind of sanitation thing on her ankle and
calf, rubbed her hands with a little hand sanitizer, then wrapped the bandage
around her calf. Cami groaned and roared in pain when the bullet was
removed, but she didn’t move. Olivia cried and hugged Cami, clearly hoping
Cami would be alright.

Tatiana placed her hand on Cami’s shoulder, not wanting to leave her friend’s
side, but Lyorna pulled her away and said, “You’re staying the rest of night,
alright?”

Tatiana nodded and let Lyorna show her into a small cottage. She turned the
lights on and said, “It’s Cami’s, but she won’t mind you waiting here for a
while,”

Lyorna turned at those words and left Tatiana alone. Tatiana lay down on a
small bed after clearing it of most of the clutter on it. It didn’t have a sheet on
its mattress, but Tatiana didn’t really care, she was just laying down for a
moment.

She sat up after a few moments and looked around. The cottage was really
cluttered, and it seemed that Cami hadn’t cleaned the place in years. Tatiana
waited for a while, cleaning the place a little herself to pass the time. She
didn’t do it too much, just enough to let Cami see the ground and walk without
getting hurt. She stopped when she heard the door open and turned around to
see Cami limp in. Cami limped up to Tatiana and pulled her into a tight hug.

“You alright now?”

“No,” Cami whispered. She limped to the bed with Tatiana’s help and she sat
down.

“Why won’t Olivia keep you longer?”

“She doesn’t have the resources right now, and her help’s spread thin,
because Viper hasn’t been here for a couple days, so she had Lyorna pick me
up and take me here, and she said she’ll check in the morning,”

“Can I stay with you?” Tatiana asked. Cami nodded and Tatiana scanned the
room for literally anything else, but it seemed that there wasn’t anything like a
couch, so she sat next to Cami. Cami lay down on the bed and spread her
wings, which didn’t stretch that far, but on the small bed, they touched
Tatiana’s back. Cami closed her eyes and rolled onto her side, her face
touching her golden feathers. Tatiana watched for a bit, and after some time,
she started getting tired. She lay down next to Cami, careful about Cami’s
wings, and she closed her eyes.
Chapter Thirty-Four

Two hours later

Cami opened her eyes when she felt some kind of tugging on her shoulder,
turned over, and she saw Tatiana sleeping on the feathers. She couldn’t move
the wing that much, but with it, she pulled Tatiana closer and curved her wing
up so she wouldn’t fall off the bed. Cami tried to wiggle her wing free, but she
couldn’t, because otherwise she’d fall off the bed, and probably take Tatiana
down with her. Cami sighed and waited, staring up at the ceiling until she felt
Tatiana stir and sit up. Tatiana jumped a little and fell back, almost falling off,
but Cami pulled her back up with her wing.

“Hi Cami,” Tatiana yawned.

“Can you get off my wing?” Cami asked. Tatiana looked embarrassed for a
moment, and then she stood up. Cami stood up with her help, and Tatiana
guided her to Olivia’s tree. Olivia was slow to get up. It was still pretty early in
the morning after all, and Olivia had missed like half of her night’s sleep with
Cami getting shot yet again. Cami limped to the bed Olivia had first placed her
on and sat on the hard, sanded, oak wood. It wasn’t very comfortable on
anyone’s back, so Olivia often placed blankets and stiff mattresses on them,
but some didn’t have any. Olivia undid the bandage on Cami’s leg and the
blood started flowing again as it happened. Olivia placed a new, clean one on
after washing her hands, and Cami stood up again, but Olivia immediately sat
her back down on the bed.
“You need to wait for a little, Chamae,” she yawned, “You need rest, and it’s
very clear that walking everywhere isn’t going to help you,”

Cami nodded and Tatiana placed a hand on Cami’s back.

“It’s alright, Cami,” Tatiana said. “The doctor knows best anyways,”

“Salutari,” Olivia corrected. Olivia walked back into her and Viper’s shared
cottage at the base, probably to either sleep or get ready for the day, leaving
Cami with Tatiana. Tatiana stayed standing for a while, until she sat on the
hard wood with Cami and they began talking. Not like short bits and pieces,
but both were just sharing about themselves. They felt like they barely knew
each other, which was pretty close to true.

“So, my mom, she’s an immigrant,” Tatiana explained when Cami asked

about her, “Came here from Brazil when she was in her early teenage years
with my grandmother and her siblings. Met my father, and she decided to stay
rooted here, instead of going back home like she had planned when she first
came. Her siblings and her mom stayed in California while she moved to
Oregon. Then, she got divorced, and now she’s stuck in the states. But in her
words, ‘Meu coração é com o Brasil, meu país de nascimento,’ my heart is
with Brazil, my country of birth,”

Cami continued with a memory of her own. “My mother told me she moved to
France a few centuries back for like, thirty years, and when she came back, it
was because of the French Revolution, and while she wasn’t a noble, she
couldn’t really afford to stay anymore. And she says she flew over there with
her own wings, and came back in the same fashion, but it amazes me how
she can fly for that long, because it takes a lot of energy out of her to fly, but
she said she made it across the ocean in like three or four hours,”
“Woah,” Tatiana said. Cami nodded in agreement and they continued talking
until Olivia returned. Olivia gave her a pair of crutches, and Tatiana helped
Cami stand up again and helped her move to the cottage again. Tatiana
stayed with Cami until her mom called.

Cami called Xoya and told them to fly Tatiana back. Xoya hadn’t found Moon
yet, but they had found Ashley hiding underneath a bush. When Tatiana left,
she felt a little bored, and she immediately sat on her bed and lay down. She
fell asleep almost instantly, although her dreams were chaotic and when she
woke up, she was still tired. She yawned when she woke up, but she didn’t try
standing up. Her leg felt like absolute shit and she felt pain in it whenever she
tried sitting up. She winced a little and stayed in her bed, fidgeting with her
golden feathers.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Moon shifted and flew up. She had been chased for like a day straight, but
she could avoid the people now, her wings were strong enough. She beat her
wings hard and she got on top of a tree and hid for a while. There were a few
birds in the branches, and Moon felt extremely hungry, so she reached for one
with her claws, but she didn’t catch it.

Her tail draped across the branch and she wrapped her tail around the
branches. She heard footsteps under her and stiffened. She stayed stiff in the
tree and she stayed as silent as possible. The people were talking, although
she didn’t remember any of the meanings until they mentioned a name. They
mentioned Cami, and Moon’s understanding of what they were saying came
back.

“-And are you sure? It's in the tree?”

Moon froze and clutched the tree with her claws. Her heart rate increased and
she breathed lightly as they continued speaking.

“I’m sure,” someone else said. “I hear it,”

Moon climbed higher and took off from the highest branch that wasn’t still
covered with leaves. She banked to the right when she heard the loud noise
of a gun being fired and she felt the strong wind tickle the fur on her face as
the bullet passed by. She tucked her wings in and she dove low, then rose up
again, over the treetops. She growled loudly in the hopes someone in a pack
may hear her. She roared when she heard someone howl in exchange. She
followed the noise and she found the gorge. She dove down after making sure
she wasn’t around the hunters. She continued flying and she landed, and she
shifted into her hybrid form. She put her clothes on again after taking them out
of her mouth, and she walked into the clearing. She looked back one more
time before she walked into the clearing.

She shifted into her animal form, and she collapsed in exhaustion, although
she was still aware of what was going on around her. After some time,
someone picked her up and rushed through the clearing, then laid her on
some kind of wood.

She heard running water and she felt something wet on her head. Her tail
twitched, although she couldn’t really move, and she felt a hand on her
stomach. Someone muttered something, although she couldn’t understand
what they were saying until they whispered something in a language she did.

“Moon?”

Moon wanted to respond, but she couldn’t make herself do anything and she
hoped the other person understood. The other person rubbed their hand
across her back, ruffling the fur. It felt okay, although it was a little
uncomfortable with how hard the person did it. Moon felt someone touching
her ankle and her paw twitched, so the person moved their hand immediately.
The person murmured something in the language she didn’t understand and
placed a hand on Moon’s head. Moon was rolled onto her stomach and her
wings were stretched wide by tender fingers. Moon’s tail twitched a little, but
this time, the person paid no heed and continued. Moon rolled over on her
own and opened her eyes. She didn’t recognize the person, but the scent was
familiar enough for her to know who she was probably looking at. She growled
and pulled her wing away from probably-Olivia’s hand.

She glared at Olivia and barked, “Don’t,” Olivia nodded to it and replied in the
language Moon wasn’t understanding, before immediately going to touch her
wings again.

Moon twisted and barked, “I mean it!”

Olivia nodded and said, “I’m checking,”

Moon growled and beat her wings to get into the air and flew into a niche in
the tree somewhat clumsily. She growled and crouched as she saw Olivia
shift and climb up the side of the tree with really sharp claws. Olivia was larger
than Moon in her animal form, in contrast to their heights in human form, and
she gripped Moon in her jaws. Moon squirmed but couldn’t get out of Olivia’s
grip, and she was plopped back on the slab of wood that somehow counted
as a bed. She arched her back at Olivia when she shifted back and she tried
flying again, but she wasn’t strong enough anymore. Olivia left for a moment
and returned about a minute later with some kind of cooked meat.

“Eat it,” Olivia said. “It’s rabbit,”

Moon dipped her head and ate it slowly. It hurt a little whenever she
swallowed, and she was so hungry her stomach hurt now, but she wasn’t
going to pass up this food. The second she finished Olivia left again and came
back with some water this time. Moon drank it quickly in her thirst and she
nuzzled Olivia’s stomach in the best show of affection as she could at the
moment. She flopped over after a little bit, and this time she fell into a deep
sleep that she didn’t wake up to until she had shifted back into human form
sometime in her sleep (whether it was hybrid or not, she couldn’t tell), and she
sat up in her bed.

Her bed at home.

“How the hell did they get me here?” She wondered aloud. She looked at her
hands to check if the claws were back, but her vision was a little blurry and
she couldn’t tell.

Her ears twitched in annoyance, and that gave her a hint that she was still in
hybrid form. She tried to make the ears, tail, wings, and horns go away, but
nothing happened. She growled and curled her hand into a fist. She stood up
and fell forward, making a really loud thump as she hit the ground, but she
eventually stood up again and she stomped to one of her walls.

She punched the wall in her frustration and made a small dent in the place
where her fist landed.

It stung a little, but probably not as much as it would have if she wasn’t a
shifter. She pulled her fist back again and punched the wall as hard as she
could. The dent got larger and there were a few cracks now. Her fist hurt more
now, but she continued.

She did it again and again, until she felt less angry, and at this point, she
punched a small hole in her wall, which wasn’t going to be too unusual for her
mom. She pulled this kind of shit all the time when she got mad, most
specifically when she was angry at herself, as evidenced by the fact that it
was hard to find a spot on the wall that wasn’t dented, cracked, or broken
open.

She stretched her wings and tried again with shifting back, and this time it
worked. She smiled to herself and went downstairs for some food, as she was
still really hungry. She yawned on her way down and realized it was well
before morning, but she was still hungry.

She made herself a sandwich and ate it quickly before going back upstairs
with an orange in case she got hungry again. She got back on her bed and
began doing her homework that she was assigned during the period of time
she was at school.

She had begun algebra II, as she was ahead of most of the grade in most
classes, when she heard a text come in. It was still pretty early, so Moon was
confused, but she picked it up and it was from Tatiana.
‘Okay. Not sure if you’ll see this, but here goes day two. Hi, Moon, I hope
you’re doing well, but Ashley and I’ve been searching almost nonstop.
Can you respond if you see this?’

Moon smiled to herself and typed in, ‘Hey Tati. Yeah I’m here, but can i
sleep please? I’m super tired rn.’ With that, Moon shut off her phone and
got on her bed. After this point, there was a gap in her memory, and she didn’t
realize it until she opened her eyes to an extremely bright light shining in her
eyes. She yawned and realized that she’d fallen asleep.

She turned on her phone and Tatiana had replied excitedly about an hour
ago. ‘MOON! I’m glad you’re back! Do you want to come over?’

Moon replied to Tatiana’s text with a yes and opened her window. She shifted
after making sure no one was looking out their windows at the moment,
grabbed a pair of clean clothes, jumped out the window, closed it, shifted
back, and changed. She walked along the street and hummed a melody to
herself. She wasn’t sure which song it was, but she knew it and liked it. Moon
walked to Tatiana’s house, which was roughly five minutes away on foot, and
when she arrived, she knocked on the door. No need to enter through the
window anyways. Tatiana’s mom answered the door and smiled at Moon.

“Lua! I have not seen you around here in a while! How have you been?”

Moon smiled back and said, “Hey Mrs. Luz. I’ve been great, actually, it’s just
my mom won’t let me come over. I’m sorry that I haven’t come by in a while,”

“It’s alright. You are not to blame for your mother’s actions. Come in, please,”

Moon entered and asked, “May I go to Tatiana’s room?”

“Sure. She’s been waiting for you to come. Ashley’s there too,”
Moon nodded and went up the stairs to Tatiana’s room, where Tatiana was
sitting on the bed, anxiously fiddling with some piece of string that seemed to
have come from the sheets on her bed. Ashley had put a hand on Tatiana’s
back and was whispering something Moon couldn’t hear.

“Guys?”

Ashley looked up and ran to Moon. She pulled Moon into a tight hug and
didn’t let go until Moon tried to pull away. Ashley apologized after and Tatiana
tried to pull Moon into a similar hug, but she wasn’t that strong compared to
Ashley and Moon pulled away easily when she wanted Tatiana to let go and
Tatiana began jumping around uncharacteristically.

“Tatiana, are you alright?” Moon asked with really strong hints of confusion in
her voice.

Tatiana didn’t respond, but she calmed down and hugged Moon again for a
few moments before letting go. She smiled up at Moon and Moon smiled
back, now humming the song that she couldn’t remember. Ashley hummed a
similar tune as Moon did, and when Moon stopped, Ashley continued for
another minute or so.

“Is that a shifter thing?” Tatiana asked Ashley.

“No idea. To be honest, I don’t think we know the extent of what we can do. I
don’t know what that was,”

“I just like the melody,” Moon said. “But I don’t know what happened either,”

“Magic?” Ashley asked.

“No. One of Cami’s friends said we don’t develop magical powers, they’re
already there. I don’t know if humans can be born with them, but I don’t think
it's magic,”

Ashley nodded, “I’ve met a few Kenomi with magic, but never a human,”

Moon nodded, “A few of Cami’s friends have magic. Lyorna too,”

“Oh yeah! I remember her,” Ashley said, “She’s a little weird. It looks like she’s
hearing something all the time, most of it she doesn’t like. You sure she isn’t a
mind reader?”

“Absolutely not,” Moon said, “I don’t bother to get closer because she’s really
scary, so I don’t know,”

Tatiana seemed to flinch as Moon and Ashley talked. Moon wasn’t sure why,
she’d been with them when Ashley met Lyorna officially.

“Yeah, she’s super scary,” Ashley agreed, “Didn’t she try to kill you like
twice?”

Moon nodded and said, “Don’t really like her, but she’s pretty powerful, so I
can see why Cami’s still her friend,”

“Moon,” Tatiana interjected, “They’re cousins. Obviously Cami keeps her

cousin around because they’re family and have known each other for years.
Do you really think she’s that cold? And Lyorna can be nice,”

“You’re right, you’re right,” Moon said. “Just, Lyorna’s a strange ally,”

“And a powerful one to cross,” Ashley said. Moon and Tatiana nodded in
unison, and Ashley continued, “I’ve got to go, actually. See ya later!”
“Bye, Ashley,” Moon said as Ashley opened the window, shifted, and jumped
down. They saw Ashley shift back, and Tatiana smiled, seemingly to herself.

“I’m glad you’re back, Moon,” Tatiana said. “You should get back, your mom
doesn't want you here, does?”

Moon shook her head and hugged Tatiana, “See you tomorrow,” Moon
shifted, making sure that she didn’t shrink out of her clothes this time and flew
out the window. She heard the window slide shut and she flew to the roof of
her house. She wasn’t too high up, and she could fly if she slipped, but she
just wanted time to herself.

She shifted into her hybrid form and sat on the roof until she got hungry again,
and she glided behind her house, into the trees, and shifted into her full
human form. She longed to stretch her wings again, but she couldn’t. She
opened the door and walked inside, then went upstairs to her room. She
shifted back into her hybrid form unconsciously and her wings lay flat against
her back, but sometimes she’d move them and her tail would twitch. She
shifted into her full human form again when she heard footsteps coming up
the stairs. She yawned and got under her covers. She closed her eyes and let
the darkness take her. She was really tired.
Chapter Thirty-Six

She closed her eyes as she felt the wind tug at her small wings. Cami’s chest
rose and fell as she tried to make them bigger so she could fly. She wanted to
try it out for the first time, rather than cling to Lyorna or Xoya while the wind
took them into the air. She tried to make herself lighter at the same time, but
she wasn’t really sure how this worked. At one point she felt her wings grow,
and she opened her eyes to see them. They had grown bigger. Not big
enough to carry her and fly, but big enough to let her glide. She stretched
them wide, and from tip to tip, they were now about twelve feet across, as
compared to their current four across. In the back of her mind, she felt a timer
for how long this change would stay. It wasn’t an actual thing, just her
intuition, but she guessed she could glide for maybe fifteen or twenty minutes,
not one of her longest times. At one point she’d done this kind of thing for an
hour and a half, but she still wanted to feel what it was like to fly.

She grew her wings a little more and after about a minute of them growing,
they were sturdy enough for her to glide on. She closed her eyes and jumped,
then snapped her wings open.

She opened her eyes and immediately wished she had the wind eye
protection lids that full grown skywolves got in their hybrid and wolf forms. The
wind bit at her eyes and she shut them tight, relying on her muscle memory of
this part of the forest to keep her from flying into a tree.

The wind was gentle as she descended, and she dared to open her eyes
again when she didn’t feel it biting.

It wasn’t dark yet, and the sunlight shone through the leaves, casting parts of
the trees in a greenish hue. She still had about twenty yards to go before she
reached the ground, and the internal timer said she had about four minutes to
go before the changes returned to normal. She clung to a yggdrasil for a
moment, her wings needed resting.

Three minutes.

She kept her claws anchored in the tree and spread her wings as she
prepared to jump off. She leapt off the tree and spread them wide as she
could while she slowly drifted down.

Two minutes.

She was now forty yards above ground and she tucked her wings in a little to
quicken her descent.
One minute.

She circuled twenty feet above the ground and tucked her wings in a little
more as she glided down.

Thirty seconds.

She dove down and shifted into her wolf form, careful not to land on any
branches sticking out of the ground. She tucked her wings in after she landed
and to the best of her ability, she tucked them into her fur. Her feathers stuck
out in some places in her blue fur, and she was a little unsettled by the idea of
them showing, even though if someone looked at her, it would be fairly
obvious she wasn’t an ordinary wolf.

Ten seconds.

Her wings began to shrink and she felt like she was getting heavier.

Three.

She felt her wings completely fit in her fur again, and she felt really heavy
now, like there was a tree on her back.

Two.

Her wings continued to shrink and she lay down on her stomach.

One.

Cami collapsed completely and closed her eyes. She was too tired to try to
keep her head up.
She felt darkness encompass her as the chilly near-winter breeze tried to
poke through her thick fur, but she paid it no mind as a dream washed over
her.

------

Cami opened her eyes and it was darker. Not significantly darker, but dark
enough for her to notice that it was close to sunset. She yawned in a wolfish
manner and ran forward, listening to any sounds.

Twice she dove into a thick and tall patch of bushes and quickly dug a hole to
avoid people.

The first time, she kept her eyes open, but the reflection of light off her eyes
drew attention, and she had to dig deeper quickly to hide, but the second and
current time, she’d learned her lesson and kept her eyes closed until the
footsteps and voices faded.

She stretched her wings as she emerged from the bush and she felt her back
crack a little. She brushed the small twigs in her fur out with her leg and her
fur bristled when she heard a twig snap.

She knew it wasn’t a human. She would have noticed their footsteps, but she
was a little scared. She pinned her ears and growled. Her wings flared and
she got as tall as she could for any intimidation if needed.

She snarled as a branch snapped again and spun around to find what was
coming. A large dark shape darted through the trees behind her, and she
roared as she tried to lunge at it.

Something pounced on her from behind and she tried to roll. She twisted and
saw it.
It was like someone had made a really big and fat oval, then put another oval
a couple inches over it for a head, then connected the two ovals with another
fat oval that flattened out on the end, like a chubby and big badger.

It was mostly black, with a little white freckled across its snout, head, and
neck, plus a few gray stripes along its back. It had little beady eyes that were
dark blue and seemed to have dark green for the pupils, and shaggy fur
covered most of its eyes, so it was a miracle that Cami could even see them.

It had sharp teeth that were stained with light yellow, and a few flecks of dark
brown, which might have been red once. She didn’t want to think about that
and attacked when it lunged at her. She smacked its snout with her wings and
she rolled to the side as it reared. She tackled it and bit at its neck, which was
nearly impossible, because its neck was so small compared to her own, and
Cami tucked in her wings. She growled and the two rolled to the side, and
suddenly she was above it and on more even terrain.

Cami bit its muzzle and scratched it on the neck as she roared loudly as it
scratched her belly fur with thick, strong paws. She jumped off and snarled at
the creature, stamping her paw and pinning her ears. She batted at the other
thing with her paws and struck its nose as it lunged at her.

Eventually, both separated, but Cami felt she came out on top because she
was barely bleeding, except mostly around her neck and belly.

She ran quickly to the gorge and jumped down into the stony near-abyss, and
she winced as her pads struck the stones, she’d jumped down to the wrong
rock. She ran after she reached the bottom and as she shifted into her hybrid
form, she went to Olivia’s cottage thing and immediately knocked on the door.
Olivia answered about a minute later with a tired expression on her face and a
cup with milk in it in her hands. She yawned and let Cami inside, then
wordlessly sat Cami on an empty bed.

Normally Olivia would have asked what had happened, so this was out of
character for her, but Cami could tell the girl hadn’t gotten much sleep in the
past couple days.

Olivia’s hands shook as she took off Cami’s shirt and stretched out Cami’s
wings, and Olivia turned away for a moment.

After the scratches, well, they couldn’t be described as scratches- more like
deep and thin cliffs in Cami’s skin- had been cleaned and Olivia had carefully
stitched them together, not with the kind of thread found in hospitals, but with
tendrils of Olivia’s glowing healing magic, thin but strong, Olivia closed Cami’s
wings, and wrapped a bandage around Cami’s stomach.

She pinned the wings to her back, as there was no way to put the bandages
around them as far as either of them could tell. It was uncomfortable, but it
would help Cami. Olivia repeated the process around Cami’s neck, where a
particularly long scratch started, and Cami put her shirt back on.

“It’s going to scar, Chamae,” Olivia yawned. “And, as Viper would say, ‘what
tree did you get into a fight with?’”

“Some kind of really big animal. Don’t know what it was. It was like a super big
and chubby badger,”

“So closer to a bear?”

“No. It was smaller, it was two ovals with legs and a neck connecting the two.
Its fur was really shiny black and flecked with white, like white ink spilled on
dried black ink,”

“I’ll have the Epsilons keep an eye out. You need rest. Sleep,”

Cami shook her head and said, “I just slept for the past nine hours or so. I
can’t sleep now,”

“Sleep,” Olivia commanded. She left for a couple minutes and returned with a
cup of steaming and unusually bitter stormmint tea. Cami refused to think of it
as lyorna tea, that was just weird to think of.

She had Cami drink it, and some time after, Cami got tired, so eventually,
Cami fell asleep again.

Chapter Thirty Seven

Two days later

Cami had officially gone to the doctor after the injuries from the gunshot
wasn’t even starting to heal, and she was a little late to History, but she came
in with her crutches a couple minutes after the bell rang. She sat next to
Tatiana like normal, and Tatiana smiled up at her.
She looks worse than usual. Tatiana thought, and half the time, Cami was
recovering from any given number of injuries whenever she and Tatiana saw
each other.

“Any change?”

Cami whispered, “Not for the better. Third injury,”

“Third? Don’t you mean second?”

“Another thing. My wing’s broken now too,”

Tatiana winced. “Ouch. How?”

“Tried gliding and fell, really hard too,”

“Can’t you tell if you can’t glide?”

“Magic normally works when I want to glide,” Cami whispered in reply. “Didn’t
expect it not to,”

Tatiana nodded and whispered, “So the other injury?”

“Nothing serious. Just a scratch,”

“Ok. Good,” Tatiana replied. The two began their separate work and didn’t talk
to each other again until the bell rang. Tatiana wanted to, but they had to
focus, focus, focus. Otherwise it would be impossible.

“Tatiana, I’ll see you at lunch,” Cami said as the pair exited the history
classroom. Cami and Tatiana split off, and Tatiana went to her next class.
Tatiana sat in her usual spot in the corner of the room. Thea sat next to
Tatiana, as the two had been doing since the cabin.
Thea wasn’t too talkative, but she was more chatty than Cami and sometimes,
Tatiana and Thea would spend a minute talking, mostly about the lesson.

“Hey, Thea,” Tatiana said.

“Hey Tatiana,” Thea replied. “So how was Cami in your history class?”

“Said she broke her wing,”

“She did, actually. Olivia’s been working on it,”

“Why doesn’t Olivia go here, anyways?”

“There’s a small private school in Laewaes her parents send her to instead,”

Tatiana nodded in response and said, “Well, class is about to start,”

Thea nodded back and said, “Alright,”

Thea turned away from Tatiana and gazed at the teacher after the bell rang.
The teacher had begun her normal lecture about proper grammar when
writing and its importance, but Tatiana zoned out to this. She’d heard it five or
six times in the time she’d been back anyways. When she heard the change
in direction of her teacher’s voice, she started listening again.

“Students, now for today’s assignment. You’ll be working by yourselves and

with the writing prompt on the board, you’ll write your essay outlines on any
topic relating to this topic as preparation for the final this trimester. Tatiana
looked to the board and saw it was about the ‘ancient’ shifters social system.

Tatiana and Thea exchanged a glance and smile, and Tatiana decided to
write about the edited mythology that Cami had taught her. She saw that Thea
wrote about society, hierarchy (probably off of what humans knew) and
culture.

Tatiana grabbed her laptop and began typing her outline.

She wrote story after story on a separate document, every so often pausing to
make sure she was using the right version of the myth.

She didn’t want to accidentally loose one of the actual myths in her English
class.

Chapter Thirty Eight

Cami limped out of the building with her crutches, the achilles tendon on the
leg where the bullet hit hurting and making it harder to walk. Tatiana came up
to her and walked alongside Cami, keeping pace.

“Hi, Tatiana,” Cami said.

“Hey, Cami,” Tatiana responded. “So you wanna go home with me?”

“Alright,” Cami responded. “We’re going to mine, right? I can’t really walk that
far in the forest right now,”

“Don’t you have a house or something?”

“My mom and dad are separated and I go back and forth between them. My
mom lives in a cabin like the ones that we stayed in, while my dad has a
house here, but legally, I live with my mom,”

“So, you’ve got to go into the woods now?”

“Yeah,” Cami affirmed. “You gonna come?”

“Okay,” Tatiana agreed. The pair walked to the nearby trees and Tatiana
helped Cami into the forest.

The second they were deep enough into the forest, Cami took off her bag and
shirt to stretch her unbroken wing that was poking out from under her tank top
now that Olivia had figured out how to get the bandages around her wings.

Her broken one was bandaged underneath her top and it felt really stiff
because she hadn’t moved it much in the past day, but Olivia said she could
heal it with proper rest, and help with the muscles in her foot.
She ignored Tatiana’s faint blushing, mostly because she wasn’t looking at
Tatiana, took her crutches in her hands, and with Tatiana’s help, she
somehow managed to make it to the cabin her mother lived in.

Cami opened the door and was immediately bombarded by some big gold,
orange, and blue blur. She twisted and gripped the crutches as her mom
pulled her into a really tight hug.

“Mom, by God, please don’t do that,”

Her mom nodded and said, “Sorry, Cams,” She let go and Cami backed up to
Tatiana.

“Who’s this?” Her mom asked.

“This is Tatiana. She’s a friend,”

Her mom immediately shifted into her full human form and smiled. Tatiana
waved back and Cami wrapped her wing around Tatiana’s shoulder.

“Hi, Ms. Malkom,” Tatiana said.

“Please, Tatiana, call me Ariana,”

Is that the name you’re going with? Cami thought.

“Mom. Tatiana knows. You can use your real name,”

“She won’t be able to pronounce it,”

“Please, Mom,”

“Alright, call me Airien,”

Airien had a faint hint of the colonist accent in her voice and it sounded mixed
with a slight french accent alongside the slight accent that Olivia had, except
Airien’s was a little stronger than Olivia’s.

“Hi, Ay-ri-en,” Tatiana said, pronouncing the name slowly and mimicking the
pronunciation.

“See, Mom?”

Cami leaned on the crutch in her right hand and said, “Can we come in?”

“Oh, right,” Her mom stepped aside and let the two girls enter, then closed the
door and locked it behind them, then went upstairs afterwards. Cami heard
someone coming downstairs after about ten minutes of her and Tatiana
talking and she froze for a moment before listening to the steps and realizing
who it was.

“Mom!” Cami’s older brother called. Corey was born before her, but only by a
year and a half, and he was more like a twin to her at times, even with their
physical differences.

He was a few inches taller and his hair was darker, but they had similar eyes
and he was also a werewolf, although he wasn’t originally. That was the first
of many accidents shortly after Cami had become Ultima.

Corey still hadn’t learned control after three years, but he was getting better
and could change between his hybrid and full human forms at will, although
animal forms were harder for him.

His wolf form’s fur was like his hair color, which was an ordinary thing for a
turned shifter. It was dark brownish-red and it had the same blueish eyes he
did, and the glow was an unnatural shade of light blue, similar to the color
contacts that Winter wore some days, including the day that Tatiana found
out.

He smiled and hugged Cami quickly and let go quickly after. He grew out his
hair in the time he’d been a werewolf and it now fell to his shoulders, and his
coarse hair rubbed against Cami’s skin as he pulled away from her, leaving
some weird feeling on her neck.

He smiled at Tatiana when he noticed her.

“Hey, I’m Corey,” he smiled. Tatiana smiled back and introduced herself as
well.

“Hi, Tatiana, nice to meet you,” he responded. He honestly was incredibly

energetic for someone around his age, but Cami chalked that up to not
meeting new people in a while.

Tatiana smiled back and returned the gesture, then rushed to Cami’s side and
hugged her. Cami wrapped her wing around Tatiana to the best of her ability
and Tatiana hugged Cami back.

Cami released Tatiana and Corey came up to them, accidentally shifted,

stood up to the best of his ability, and pulled both of them into a hug as well.
Tatiana pushed him off when he got his paws on her shoulders and he got on
his fours again.

“Corey, be careful,” Cami said. “She’s not a werewolf,”

Corey dipped his head and ran in circles while panting like a little puppy. His
brownish fur shook as he moved and he stood on his legs to do the same to
Cami.
He was a little too short to reach Cami’s shoulders, so he placed his claws
over her chest instead of her shoulders. He couldn’t keep a grip on her, and
as his claws slipped he fell down.

Corey got more tired as he stayed in his wolf form and he fell asleep on the
couch. Cami pulled a blanket over him for when he’d shift back so he wouldn’t
freeze.

“Hey, Cami?” Tatiana yawned after some time. “I don’t know how to get home,
can you take me back?”

“Can’t,” Cami said. “Mom!”

“Yes, Cami?” Airien called from upstairs.

“Can you take Tatiana to the school so she can get home? She doesn’t know
the way,”

Airien flew down the stairs and nodded to Cami. “I’ll take her,” Airien turned to
Tatiana and shifted.

She kneeled and Tatiana climbed on. Airien left the house by the backdoor
patio and Cami felt the rush of wind on her face as her mom beat her wings
once and took off.

Cami went to her room and closed her eyes on her bed, and without realizing
it, she had fallen asleep. She didn’t have to listen to Airien’s lectures tonight.
Chapter Thirty Nine

Tatiana made it home and had fallen asleep immediately after she changed.
Dreams washed over her, but she didn’t remember most of them. Her mind
blanked for a moment, and something changed in the next dream.

------

Tatiana spun around and she saw nothing but blackness, but she looked
down at her hands and saw them clearly.

She was wearing a dress, which was strange. She didn’t own any.

It was sea green with hints of light blue, which was her favorite color.

“Hello?” she called out. She spun around as she heard some weird echo in
this empty space.

The dress spun around her bare feet as she turned and after realizing she
didn’t feel the necklace she wore everywhere, her hands flew to its ordinary
place. It wasn’t there and she looked around the void for it. She knew it was
important, although she wasn’t sure why. As she moved, she heard a hollow
thud under her feet, as though she were walking on some roof.
She made it all the way around the void in about a minute or two, and she
saw nothing. The room was about fifteen feet by fifteen feet and she still
couldn’t find any light, but she saw her hands as clearly as if a super bright
light was shining on them.

She sat on the ground and crossed her legs while she closed her eyes. It
wasn’t much different, except now she couldn’t even see her own hands.

When she opened them, she wasn’t in an empty void anymore and could see
everything. She saw the collection of intricately twisted green, blue, and
purple wires she’d had and hadn’t taken off since she was really little and put
on the necklace.

As she did, she seemed to shrink a few inches, and the dress seemed to
change, but she was aware it was a dream and thought that it might have
been just her mind.

She heard footsteps and turned around to see Cami and Lyorna.

Lyorna’s eyes weren’t their usual green, or their alternate gold, instead blood
red with hints of orange, and her expression was completely hollow. Her hair
looked more purple in dyed streaks, with hints of red in green. She had what
looked like a tattoo hidden partially by her long sleeves.

Cami looked like she had been crying and hugged Tatiana. Cami wrapped her
wings around her and they seemed bigger by about six feet, as though time
had passed. Tatiana stayed silent but she sobbed and she kissed Cami. She
felt like both of them were taller.

Cami let her go, and the world plunged into the dark void again as Tatiana fell
backwards. She opened her eyes soon after, and she was still in the dream.
Cami was standing over her and shaking her shoulder, then pulled her into a
tight hug.

Tatiana felt Cami’s tears land on her shoulder, and she realized she wasn’t in
a dress anymore, but rather a baggy and tattered pair of jeans, sneakers that
felt a little too small, and an old faded green t-shirt.

Cami, on the other hand, was wearing a light blue and sleeveless dress that
fell to the floor when she stood up and it seemed she would trip on it at times.
Lyorna leaned against the wall behind Cami, her eyes back to their regular
green and she looked tired, as though she were about to fall asleep.

Lyorna’s wings were open and the dark feathers were stained with a brighter
shade of red than usual, and the colors were veined with a darker shade of
red, like how Xoya’s were veined with gold.

The feathers resembled the feather that Tatiana found, which now seemed
like a lifetime ago. Lyorna’s eyes flashed red, and she threw something at
Tatiana, and it hit Tatiana in the middle of her forehead, plunging her into the
darkness again.

------

Tatiana sat up, breathing heavily and shaking in a cold sweat. She
remembered this dream vividly, but she wasn’t sure why she woke up like this.
She rolled to the side and threw up almost immediately over the edge of the
bed.

Shit! She thought. She shivered and stood up on the other side of her bed,
and immediately fell forward. She felt weak in her legs and when she tried
standing up, she couldn’t move. She curled into a little ball on the floor until
she felt like trying to stand again and she shakily stood up. She grabbed the
cleaning supplies from the bathroom after throwing up again in the toilet and
splashing her face with water. She cleaned the floor with a little difficulty,
mostly because she couldn’t see and she was too tired to get up and turn on
the light in her room. Her mom came into her room as she was cleaning and
turned on the light, and Tatiana looked at her as it went on.

“Flore? Tudo bem?” She asked.

“Threw up, Mamãe,” Tatiana replied.

“I heard. Nightmare or something?”

“I don’t know. I had a really weird dream though,”

Cascade bit her lip and in a microsecond seemed to go over a problem in her
head. Tatiana’s mom was like that all the time, especially when worried or
hearing about Tatiana’s weird dreams that sometimes came true.

“Want to tell me?” Cascade asked in Portuguese.

Tatiana recounted the dream (leaving out the bit about Cami and Lyorna’s
wings), and her mother took a sharp breath hearing about Lyorna’s red eyes.

“Do you know something about this?” Tatiana asked.

“No. It’s, it’s nothing,”

Tatiana didn’t believe her mom for a second but didn’t press and continued
talking about the dream.

Cascade listened intently and when Tatiana stopped, she nodded as though
to agree the dream was weird.
“Go to sleep when you’re done. You can stay home, alright?”

Tatiana nodded and continued cleaning the floor. When it was clean, she took
a short shower, turned off the lights, and fell asleep on her bed. When she
woke up, it was very bright outside and the light burned against her eyes. She
shivered and put her blanket over her shoulders, she was feeling oddly cold.

After some time, maybe half an hour later, she checked her phone, where
Moon and Ashley had left a dozen messages apiece asking her where she
was. She smiled, but she didn’t respond. They were at school right now
anyways. She opened her bag and found the dark red feather. She examined
it and noticed it was the exact color Lyorna’s were in the dream. She heard a
strong gust of wind and a noise, and realized her window was being opened
from the outside.

She turned around with the feather in her hand, adrenaline coursing through
her veins like a wildfire, and somehow, the feather changed to a small dagger.
Tatiana’s eyes widened in surprise and she raised it to her eyes. There wasn’t
any doubt, the feather was now a black bladed knife, edged with dark red, and
with a red handle.

“What the hell?” Tatiana wondered aloud. She saw a hooded figure and raised
the knife, then switched it to her left hand. She saw the reflection of their eyes
before anything else.

Most of their face was obscured by a dark mask, other than holes cut for the
eyes. Their eyes reflected pale gold, but not quite.

They spread a pair of large wings the color of dark red mud and the hood fell
off, revealing ginger hair with streaks of pale purple and green.

“Stop,” a muffled voice ordered. “It’s me,”

“Who’re you?” Tatiana asked. Her words were a little slurred, but she was half
asleep and didn’t realize it,”

The person pulled off the mask and revealed themselves as Lyorna.

“Lyorna, what did you do to your hair?”

“My girlfriend wanted to try to dye my hair my favorite colors, and it kinda
happened. I did the same to hers, though. Purple and red for her,”

“It looks okay. How’d hers turn out?”

“It looks really nice. It’s in a spiral to the bottom of her hair and then goes
purple fading to red from about here to here,”

Lyorna indicated parts of her hair, starting at the locke that hung in front of her
shoulder, then indicated the back of her hair. “Similar to what she did to me,”

Lyorna spread her wings behind her and noticed the knife in Tatiana’s hand. It
morphed back into a normal feather about a minute later, when the adrenaline
slowed.

“Phoenix?” Lyorna whispered.

“You know what this came from?”

“It came from either the Phoenix, or one of his children. Where did you get
this?”

“Someone disguised themself as you and came in on behalf of those guys

Cami had us hide from, possibly to kill or capture me. I don’t know why. I
found the feather on the floor,”
“Shit, this is bad. This is very, very bad,” Lyorna pressed her fingers to her
temple and turned around, clearly stressed.

“Why?”

Lyorna turned around and seemed to have regained her composure, then said
somewhat calmly, “Either we’re up against a literal god, or a god’s child,”

Tatiana’s eyes widened and she shook a little.

“Keep the feather, Tatiana. You may need it. And it's yours anyways. I’ve seen
only one of these before. It reacts to your heart rate and adrenaline levels,
turning it into a knife when you need it. I’ll teach you how to use it at will
someday, but for now, just keep it on you,”

Tatiana nodded.

“Now, on to real business, Cami said she wants to meet you after school, so
I’ll take you, and you can wait for her there.

“I’ll tell my mom that I’m going out and you can take me from the door, okay?”

“Alright,” Lyorna responded.

Lyorna climbed out and Tatiana closed the window, went downstairs, grabbed
an apple and turned to see her mom behind her.

“Mae, can I go out?”

“Tudo bem,” Cascade responded, “Come back when it gets dark, Flore,”

Tatiana nodded and went outside, where Lyorna was waiting. She’d put a
sweater on and wasn’t showing even her wings, which Tatiana was pretty
sure had a separate hybrid form. Lyorna took Tatiana into the forest and
immediately shifted.

“Get on,” Lyorna growled in English and Tatiana followed her instructions,
wrapping both arms around Lyorna’s neck. Lyorna kicked off the ground and
flew high enough for them to avoid low hanging trees, but low enough to not
be noticed by anyone bird watching above the trees.

Lyorna landed, let Tatiana get off, and instructed her to enter the hollow tree.
Lyorna took off immediately after and left Tatiana alone in the woods. Tatiana
shrugged and entered the tree.

She felt a rush of deja vu after seeing two chairs. One was blue with a moon
carved onto it, the other green, with something like the sun carved onto it. A
symbol Cami taught her meant either memory, love, or elves. A memory
rushed to her, one of a dream. When she had it, she didn’t remember, but she
saw the chairs in that dream. She sat at the green one and crossed her legs,
waiting. She checked her phone and watched a little YouTube while waiting,
until she heard footsteps and she put her phone away, a little embarrassed.
Cami came in and sat in the blue chair, with a hood obscuring her face.

She took off the hood, and Cami smiled, revealing her canine fangs.

“Hey Ana,” Cami said.

“Hi, Cami,” Tatiana said, with a hint of nervousness. Most days, whenever
Cami wanted to talk to Tatiana alone, it was probably something serious.
“What did you want to talk to me about?”

Cami looked at Tatiana and said, “First, don’t be scared, Tatiana. I’m here.
Now, I need to ask you if you want to join my pack, officially,”
“I’m all for it. You’re nice, Olivia’s nice, and I want to be able to see you more
often than we do normally,”

“Agreed with that. But there’s a lot more. Most of the members of the pack will
object, since technically, you’re human, even if you’re a half shifter and can’t
be turned. So, I’ll need something to get them to respect you. For now, you’ll
follow one of the lower ranks. You’ll be the same rank as Moon currently is, a
Phi. Phi’s are normally those who join later on in life, rather than born in the
pack. Phi’s also normally help the Salutari when needed, but they help out in a
lot of things. You’ll start with mending minor injuries if Olivia or Viper calls on
you, but I have a feeling that the pack will like you, especially with the fact
you’re already friends with me, Thea, and Olivia. Thea’s one of the alpha’s
zetas, or an alpha’s apprentice in human words. The other alpha’s zeta’s
name is Alexander. He’s Thea’s brother and another dragon shifter, although
his dragon form is bright red scaled with green flecks. It gives him the
nickname Sco, after the Pokemon Scovillain, but we only use that in battles.
All of us have call-signs. Mine’s Ultima, you’ll find out yours when you begin
battling with us,”

“Battles?”

“We have little border skirmishes with certain packs without death. Most
prominently the Phoenix pack. We think they have Helix residing with them,
but we aren’t sure yet. We’ve had major battles before, normally with the
hunters, but major battles with other shifters, they’re more deadly. The last
major one was a few months ago, when Helix had gotten reinforcements and
attacked us,”

“That was your victory, right?”

“Actually, neither side won. He left after we began taking prisoners, so it

wasn’t really a victory for us. He got away,”
Tatiana nodded in return and said, “So I assume I’ll be useless in a battle?”

“Probably not. You have some form of magic, I assume, even if we haven’t
found out about it yet. That’ll help. And I sense some kind of weapon. Plus, I
think you are a shifter. Of some kind. There’s something not entirely human
about you that’s super subtle. Like it's been masked. The little hint, I can’t
detect exactly where it stems from, but if you’re not a shifter, then you’re
something else entirely,”

“Alright,” Tatiana responded. “So I’ve also found this weird feather that Lyorna
says is a phoenix feather, but I wanted to ask you, what is it?”

“Show me,”

Tatiana nodded and brought out the feather. The dark red little feather things
had closed up, but within a few moments, they opened again. Cami stared in
awe at the feather.

“You really did find one, how?”

“That night I was attacked there was a feather left in my room,”

“Does it change forms?” Cami asked. “I’ve heard it can change into a variety,
depending on what’s needed at the moment, or what the user wants,”

“I’ve seen it as a knife, but that’s it,”

“Can you control the form?”

“It's only changed once so far. I don’t know,”

“Alright. Have Lyorna teach you how to use it later. She understands illusions,
and this is just a physical one,”
Tatiana nodded and Cami turned her head.

“Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Tatiana responded.

“Tatiana, I want you to get as high into the tree as you can. Now!”

Tatiana nodded and climbed up the tree, using hand and footholds that at
times she almost couldn’t reach. She ducked into the lowest hole, which was
small, but she was smaller and fit inside of the hole. She heard a scuffle
beneath, but she didn’t look down at the fight. She was too scared. She heard
Cami roar, one she didn’t know, and when she looked down, she saw tears in
Cami’s eyes and blood staining her teeth. She stood over a collapsed figure
that looked suspiciously human. The human had bites on their elbow and leg,
and they twitched a little, their eyes scrunched up in pain. From high up,
Tatiana couldn’t discern anything about the person, other than a mop of dark
hair. She climbed down slowly, careful not to step wrong. When she got to the
bottom, she shook a little now, but Cami helped her stand straight and hugged
her.

“Who is that?” Tatiana asked.

“Don’t know. He’ll tell me when he wakes up,”

“Should I go?”

“Yeah, probably. I’ll text you when I want to meet up again,”

Tatiana nodded and said, “Can you take me back?” Cami nodded in
response, and took her crutches in both hands, then helped Tatiana make it
home.
That was weird. Almost exactly like that dream from so long ago. Tatiana
remembered. The dream hit her like ice the second she was alone, and then
she wondered if the dream she had last night was going to come true as well.

Chapter Forty

Three days later

“Tatiana! Focus!” Lyorna shouted. Cami wanted to know what kind of magic
Tatiana had, if any, and Tatiana could do an illusion, barely, if she were able
to use the feather. Lyorna looked at Tatiana’s desperate attempt to make a
synthetic illusion fire, which was pathetic at best. The fire had turned grayish
with hints of green in the center and while at first, the illusions were meant to
be silent, there was some kind of fizzing noise coming from it, and Lyorna
wasn’t sure why Tatiana was trying to add noise. Lyorna had specifically told
her not to. Lyorna put a hand on Tatiana’s shoulder, and Tatiana looked away
from the fire, up at Lyorna.

“I’m sorry, Lyorna. It’s really hard and I don’t know what I’m doing,”

“We’ll just move to sparring. The feather?”

Tatiana nodded and took the feather that she had morphed into a bracelet. It
turned into the kind of sword that Lyorna had, although Tatiana didn’t know
what kind it was. All she knew was it resembled a katana, as far as Lyorna
could tell. The Brightsword was a curved sword with a simple but durable
handle. At first, the swords were made with wood and dyed either black or
white, but when metal became a thing among the shifters, the swords began
becoming metallic, first an alloy coat, and then an actual blade of metal. The
grips were similar, although fitted to work with each person’s hands, and the
blades were decreasing among the shifters. Lyorna was one of the only five in
the entire Laewaes, Bluepoint, and Wood Pine area who had one. She didn’t
know about Ivy Hills, the packs there weren’t on friendly terms with hers.
Lyorna swung as soon as Tatiana lunged and blocked the sword, lept back,
and attacked for herself. She swiped, and Tatiana rolled to the side to avoid it.
Tatiana lunged at Lyorna again and their blades connected. Lyorna quickly
overpowered Tatiana, even without using her extra strength, knocked Tatiana
to the floor, and put her shoe on Tatiana’s chest.

“Aaaaand, you’re dead,” Lyorna tapped Tatiana lightly on the nose with the
sword and let Tatiana up. Tatiana changed the form of her feather into the
eight inch-bladed knife that Lyorna noticed she favored. She and Lyorna
fought again, and Lyorna wasn’t able to block her.
Both she and the knife were quick, and Tatiana was a lot smaller than Lyorna
by about a foot. Tatiana knocked Lyorna back with the butt of the knife and
tapped the hollow of her throat with the cold metal.

“Beat you,” Tatiana smiled. “Wanna change now?”

“Archery,” Lyorna growled. Tatiana let Lyorna up and morphed the feather into
a bow. Lyorna had a quiver of arrows in her bag somewhere, just in case she
needed them, and she took them out. Each arrow had an ‘L’ that turned into a
crescent moon at the edge, her personal sign, so Lyorna could always identify
her arrows if she shot them. Tatiana got a quiver of arrows from her feather
somehow, Lyorna wasn’t sure how, but they just appeared on her shoulder
when she tried to nock Lyorna’s arrow, and she gave the arrow back to
Lyorna. She nocked her own arrow, which was colored black with red
feathers. Lyorna began to notice a pattern in the coloration of these weapons
and whatnot. Tatiana had a little help from Lyorna to nock it correctly, and
Lyorna taught her how to shoot. She helped Tatiana pull back the bowstring
after showing Tatiana the thing with the dominant eyes so Tatiana could aim
correctly, and Tatiana released the arrow into a tree that Lyorna had created a
fake target on. Tatiana missed the target, but she hit the tree, which wasn’t
bad for a beginner. The arrow came out of the tree of its own accord, and it
clattered at Tatiana’s foot. Tatiana picked the arrow up and put it back into her
quiver, then shot a different one with Lyorna’s guidance. It hit the bottom of
the target and Tatiana smiled up at Lyorna. The arrow did the same thing as
the previous, and Tatiana nocked it again. Lyorna helped Tatiana shoot it
again, and this time, it hit higher on the target, closer to the center. Lyorna let
Tatiana try on her own, and Tatiana hit just below the spot where her arrow
last hit. Lyorna smiled at Tatiana and let Tatiana continue what she had been
doing. Tatiana began doing the practice with further targets, and eventually a
moving one. She managed to hit most of them, excluding the moving target,
although that was more Lyorna’s fault. The target was going really quickly and
moving too randomly, so Tatiana couldn’t predict where it would go. Lyorna
started sparring with Tatiana again, and this time taught her the basics of
using the Brightsword.

“So, yours is one and a half handed, meaning you can switch between two
hands and one hand. And do you see the curve here?” Lyorna traced the
edge of the blade with her finger. “The curve is made to cut through the air
quickly. And because of the curve in this particular sword, if you slice upward,
the point catches someone’s chin and if you press further, you can kill. The
blade is probably a little heavy, correct?”

“Yeah. Really heavy. I’m not used to this,”

“So, first, the blade is balanced, but you aren’t holding it right. You’re tilting it
to the side and it needs to be more straight,” Lyorna adjusted Tatiana’s grip on
the blade and showed her how to swing it with one hand and then with both.

“Try practicing out here whenever you can. I’m not always available because
I’m in college, but you can swing on your own. Now try it by yourself,”

Tatiana did a feeble recreation of what Lyorna showed her, but now her grip
was correct and she held it absently the way Lyorna told her to. Lyorna helped
her try again until she got it right on her own, and then Tatiana morphed the
feather into the bracelet again. Lyorna helped Tatiana home and left her, then
went back to the forest. She splayed her wings after about fifteen or twenty
minutes of walking and took off. She flipped onto her back when her stomach
began hurting where she was stabbed not too long ago. She landed and
walked after the pain didn’t go away like it sometimes did. She folded her
wings again and walked forward. Lyorna walked for some time before she
took off again and flew to her camp after about fifteen seconds of flying. She
dove and landed in the middle, folded her wings, and went to Xoya’s cave.
Xoya was in there and looked up the second that Lyorna touched the smooth
stone floor.

“Knife again?” Xoya yawned. They’d been working non-stop since the fight
broke out and hadn’t slept in about a day now. They undid the bandages
around Lyorna’s stomach area, and Lyorna was in her full human form as
Xoya did their work. It would have been harder on Xoya if she wasn’t in her
full human form. Xoya stopped, and at this point, Lyorna zoned out and tried
to focus on thinking. She didn’t want to look at the injury out of fear, and while
thinking, she was able to keep her mind off of looking at it.

When Xoya wrapped the bandages over her stomach again, Lyorna looked
down and asked, “How is it?”

“Better than yesterday. It’s healing well, but it will scar for certain now,”

“It’s fine. It’ll serve as a reminder. Now, how’re Sylvius and Lief?”

“I had them sent to the hospital. They’re alright and will be back within a week,
however,”

“And Kai?” Lyorna’s voice broke as a tear fell down her cheek.

Kai was a raven shifter and one of Lyorna’s best friends. She was one of
Lyorna’s alphas and she tried to stop the fight when Cora and Juniper had
gotten heated and people started taking sides, but she was stabbed in the
lung and shoulder by a pocket knife when she got in the middle of everyone
and she had lost a lot of blood. It wasn’t unusual to have internal fights on the
full moon, almost everyone’s tempers were raised and as such, almost
everyone was prone to sudden violence, but never had a fight of this scale
happened.
“She’s alive. Lief’s in the same hospital as she is and he’s been to visit her a
few times, but as you know,” Xoya trailed off. They didn’t have to continue,
and Lyorna didn’t want them either.

“But, the doctors say that she’ll probably live,”

“That’s good,” Lyorna said. The knife wound Lyorna had was from the same
shifter, although she didn’t remember who did it. Lyorna getting stabbed was
the thing that stopped everything, and Lyorna and Xoya were pretty sure that
if no one had heard her scream, a lot of people would have died.

“And, you can go visit her now. She’s not going to talk to us, though. She’s still
too weak for it, and as you know her breathing’s not doing too well,”

“I’m going,” Lyorna growled.

“Do you want me to take you?”

“Sure. You’re the one who brought her in anyways,”

“Right,” Xoya said. “So you want a few minutes to change shirts?”

Lyorna nodded and went into her private room, stripped off her tattered red
shirt with her wing-holes, and put on a clean purple one without wing-holes.
She went back to Xoya and Xoya had also changed shirts. Their normal black
t-shirt was missing and in its place was a green sweatshirt over a white t-shirt
along with their ordinary jeans. They made their way through the forest, in the
general direction of Xoya’s ordinary place, although it wasn’t uncommon for
the pair to backtrack and avoid cliffs. Lyorna called Lizzie when the pair got to
Xoya’s ordinary home upon noticing a few dozen missed texts and calls.

“Hey, Liz,” she said, “I’m sorry that I didn’t answer, I was-,”
“LENA! Don’t disappear like that,” Lizzie scolded.

“Lizzie, I’m sorry. I was busy and I’m going to the-,”

“I mean it, Lena,”

“As I was saying, I’m going to the hospital. One of my friends is in there,”

“Oh, shit,” Lizzie’s tone quieted, “I’m sorry. What happened?”

“Someone assaulted her while she was taking a walk and stabbed her in the
shoulder, plus punctured one of her lungs,” Lyorna lied, sticking to the story
that Xoya had manufactured when they called an ambulance. “She’s lucky to
be alive, she was in the woods and near me and one of my cousins. We were
on one of the paths in the woods, not too far in, but far enough to not have
been seen from a neighborhood,”

“How long ago was this?”

“About a week. They’ve been keeping her because she lost a lot of blood, is
having too much trouble breathing, speaking, and she can’t move her
shoulder on her own,”

“Will she live?”

“Probably. They have her under a few drugs, which makes her a little crazy
and she’s not speaking to anyone right now, although according to the
doctors, she does communicate non-verbally on a good day,”

“Should I come with?” Lizzie asked. Lyorna asked her to wait for a moment
and relayed the question to Xoya.
“She can come,” Xoya said. They had both hands on the wheel already and
their foot on the gas pedal. Lyorna climbed into the back and stayed on the
phone with Lizzie while pausing to give Xoya directions.

“Lyorna, this is getting close to Ivy Hills, are you sure you should come?” Xoya
asked quietly enough to not get picked up by the phone’s microphone.

“And turn left,” Lyorna continued,

“I’m serious,” Xoya growled.

Lyorna muted the mic and said, “I’m sure. The shifters of Ivy Hills don’t come
this way. Mostly because I’ve been here since before I was banned from Ivy
Hills and I’ve established this specific area in Ivy Hills as Snowdrift territory,”

She unmuted the mic and said, “Sorry, I was talking to someone,”

Lizzie and Lyorna continued talking on the phone until Lyorna said, “Hold up.
I’m close to you. Hanging up now,”

Xoya pulled up at the curb by Lizzie’s parents’ house and Lyorna left the car
to go to the door. She knocked and Lizzie almost immediately answered.

“Ready?” Lyorna asked.

“Of course, Lena,” Lizzie left the house and locked the door with her key. She
and Lyorna walked to Xoya’s car, where Xoya was talking to someone on the
phone.

“Hey, Winnie, Ly-Lena’s here,” Xoya said as Lyorna and Lizzie entered.

“You’re talking to Winter?”

“You want to say hi? I might pick her up on the way,”

“Who’s Winter?” Lizzie asked.

“I forgot you were there,” Xoya said, “Hi, I’m Xoya, Lyor- Magdalena’s cousin.
Winter’s the name of my girlfriend,”

“Really? I’d like to meet her,”

“You can say hi if you want,” Xoya put Winter on speaker and Winter started
speaking.

“Lena! Sweetie, how are you? It's been too long,” Winter’s voice startled
Lizzie, and Lyorna put her hand on Lizzie’s shoulder to try to calm her.

“Hey, Winter. I’ve been great, actually. Um, I’m with my girlfriend right now,
actually,”

“You didn’t tell me you had a girlfriend!” Winter scolded playfully.

“I- I didn’t want people to find out for a few months,”

“Same here,” Lizzie interjected.

“Is that her?” Winter asked. “She sounds pretty!”

“Thank you,” Lizzie smiled.

“Yes, that’s her. Her name’s Lizzie,”

“I want to meet her! Xoya, pick me up. I want to visit Kai anyways,”

“She won’t be able to talk to you,” Xoya and Lyorna said at the same time.
“I don’t care. I don’t need to see to say hi to her,”

Xoya gave in and asked Winter who was with her.

“Um, Cami and Moon are nearby. Cami picked up the phone for me, and
Cami wants to see Kai too, actually,” Winter replied.

“Have her take you to her dad’s place, and I’ll meet you there,”

“Alright,” The call ended and Xoya began driving. Xoya eventually made it to
the curb by their dad’s home and they left the car. Lyorna saw them knock on
the door, and her uncle opened it. Xoya entered the house after a couple
minutes of talking, and the door was closed behind them.

“Who was that man?”

“The one who opened the door or my cousin?” Lyorna asked. “My cousin’s
non-binary, by the way,”

“I was talking about the one who opened the door, but okay,”

“That one is my uncle, but he’s closer to me than my actual dad. My dad left
me when I was small,”

“So is that why I haven’t met your dad, if not homophobia?”

“Yeah,”

“What about your mom?”

Lyorna froze and considered telling Lizzie everything, but she decided against
it. And if Lizzie didn’t think she was scary, she would after hearing it.
“She’s… dead,” Lyorna said hesitantly, “Murdered when I was six,”

“Oh. Do you want to tell me about her?”

“She was pretty and very friendly compared to my dad. She kept the family
from falling apart and without her, my relationship with my immediate family
fell apart. I got lucky my aunt and uncle were willing to take me in,”

“I’m sorry. Do you have any good memories about her?”

“I remember the times she would take me and my sister out into the snow and
would collect the snow in a few cups. She’d put syrup inside, put it into the ice
cube thingies that you see in fridges sometimes and then freeze it after putting
in toothpicks. After, she’d give a few of the mini-popsicles to me, my sister,
and my dad. I remember how much I loved the taste, even though I don’t
remember the exact taste. Each time I try on my own, it doesn’t taste the
same. I think it’s the syrup,”

Lyorna continued talking to Lizzie and when she stopped, Lizzie took a deep
breath.

“I think I would have liked her,”

“I think you would have too,” Lyorna agreed.

Xoya came back after a bit and waited outside the car, leaning against the
passenger window. Eventually, they got off the window and began walking to
their left, as though they saw someone.

Xoya came back a couple minutes later, slowly guiding Winter by the hand,
while Winter’s cane was in Winter’s other hand. Winter’s long bangs fell in
front of her face, and Lyorna was pretty sure that underneath, her dark
glasses were on. Cami followed close behind with three other girls. Lyorna
didn’t remember one of their names, although she wasn’t exactly sure she
ever knew it in the first place.

The other two girls, Tatiana and Luna, were in front of her, Tatiana being
close to Cami, and Luna being closer to the other girl and talking to her. Lizzie
looked out the window and squinted, as though she recognized the girls. She
crawled over Lyorna’s lap and opened the door. She left the car and ran up to
Luna, who exchanged a hug with her, and Lyorna followed behind soon after.

Lyorna walked up to Lizzie and asked what was going on and Luna flinched
slightly.

“Oh, Lu-lu, this is my girlfriend, Lena,”

Luna side-eyed Lyorna when Lizzie turned around to kiss Lyorna briefly and
Luna mouthed the word, “Seriously?”

Lizzie took Lyorna’s hand as she went to meet Cami and the other two girls,
and Cami’s friends seemed to know Lizzie as well, referring to her as Luna’s
cousin until she reminded them of her name.

“My God, Cami. You’re tall,” Lizzie said after Cami introduced herself. Cami
shook Lizzie’s hand, and it was at this moment that Lyorna realized how tall
Cami was getting. Lizzie was weirdly tall for a human girl her age at about six
and a half feet and still growing a little, and Cami stood shoulder to shoulder
with her nearly two years younger, although just a couple inches shorter.

“Well, you’ve seen Ly- Lena,”

“That’s true, but you look really little!”

Cami blushed with seemingly strong embarrassment that came off of her in
waves, and that Lyorna could practically taste. By the Kenomi’s and Luna’s
looks, they could feel it in the air as well. Tatiana hugged her friend awkwardly
to comfort her, and Cami hugged her from above. Lyorna noticed the faintest
outline of her bushy tail moving back and forth as this happened, and she saw
hints of blue hidden among the ginger strands in Cami’s hair. Cami pulled her
hood over her head and pulled down her jacket as Lyorna watched. Lizzie
turned to Winter and Xoya, and Xoya guided Winter’s hand towards Lizzie as
she reached for her.

Winter touched Lizzie’s face and felt for a moment before saying, sometime
after it was clear Lizzie had realized Winter was blind, “You’re tall too. You
wearing heels or something?”

“No,” Lizzie responded.

“Woah. Are you a Kenomi? I can’t tell. Your voice doesn’t have that slight purr,
but I’m not sure,”

“Not that either,”

“Part Kenomi, at least? There’s almost no way you’re this tall without Kenomi
ancestry,”

“I have no idea. No one keeps records that far,”

Xoya broadcasted Winter’s thoughts to Lyorna.

Winter. What do you mean she isn’t human? I don’t sense anything.
Winter’s thoughts were sharp, not like a knife, but like a needle, and they
poked Lyorna’s brain, slowly and painfully for a moment, but gradually, Lyorna
got used to them.

I mean it. Something’s up. She’s Moon’s cousin, right? And Moon isn’t
human.

Moon was turned, Winter. She had a dormant gene to become what she did.

But if Moon had that gene, is it possible Lizzie’s is active?

Impossible. Not unless one of her parents had shifter genes.

Or she could be adopted. And Moon as well. They smell like siblings, but
they say they’re cousins. Familially, they smell different, but its similar.
Like they were born to the same parent. It’s faint, though. Or at least, I
can smell the same mother on them.

There’s individual scents for family members?

Yeah. I know most don’t see it, in a sense, but I can.

Girls. Lizzie’s starting to stare. Xoya interjected. Lyorna looked at Lizzie,

who’d stopped talking to everyone around her.

“Sorry, Liz. Just thinking,” Lyorna explained. “I’ve got a tendency to zone out
when I do,”

“I noticed a long time ago,” Lizzie responded. “But it’s a little silly how random
it is,” Lizzie kissed Lyorna for a little while, and it seemed the others didn’t
know what to do while they did so. Lyorna closed her eyes until she decided
to back away.
“Should we go?” Lyorna asked.

Xoya nodded and said, “So everyone wants to come?”

Everyone nodded, the last one being the Kenomi, very hesitantly. It was clear
she didn’t want to go, but it was also clear she didn’t want to leave her friends
alone.

“So, you four should squeeze in my back row, because I don’t think Lyor-
Lena and Lizzie want a teen next to them while they make out or something,”

Everyone agreed with these words and Cami, Tatiana, Luna, and the Kenomi
girl went into the back. Lyorna and Lizzie went to the front row and sat next to
each other while holding hands, and Xoya helped Winter into the front seat.
Lyorna heard shuffling in the backseat as the girls were doing something, and
she heard a whooshing noise from in the seat and she guessed that Cami’s
wings came out of her jacket. There were holes in all of her clothes for her
wings as far as Lyorna knew, and there was a stretchy jacket that Cami was
wearing to conceal her wings, and it seemed like she took it off. Lyorna turned
around before Lizzie could, saw Cami’s wings over Tatiana’s and Luna’s
faces, and focused on concealing the wings with an illusion until she could tell
Cami had folded them and put the top on again. She dissipated the illusion
and immediately felt drowsy, as happened often whenever she did so. She
leaned to the side and pressed her cheek to the window as she closed her
eyes, and when she woke up, Lizzie was shaking her hard.

“We’re here,” she whispered. Lyorna yawned and stretched, longing to stretch
her wings, but she wasn’t ready to explain to Lizzie yet. Xoya was busy
helping Winter out the car, and Tatiana was doing the same with Cami. After
everyone exited the car, Xoya went to park it somewhere else and came back
a few minutes later with the keys in their hand. The group entered the hospital
and everyone but Xoya and Winter sat down in the waiting area while Xoya
explained who they were visiting.

When Xoya and Winter rejoined the group, they went to where they needed to
go and they saw Kai. She was sitting up in the bed, wheezing and trying to
make a noise when she saw the group, but it only resulted in a croak not too
far from a raven’s voice.

It was quite odd to both the doctors and the pack that Kai was unable to
speak, but if Lyorna had to guess with her non-existent medical opinion, Kai’s
mind was left an intelligent human’s, but with the communications of a bird.
For now. Kai croaked again and motioned for Lyorna to come forward. Lyorna
hugged Kai and began braiding her shiny and unusually clean black hair.

Kai pointed at Tatiana, the Kenomi girl, Luna, and Lizzie, then tilted her head
slightly as she did.

“You want to know who they are?” Lyorna asked. Kai nodded furiously and
Lyorna had everyone introduce themselves.

Luna and the Kenomi girl, which Lyorna now knew to be Ashley, seemed to
notice she wasn’t human, and Lizzie seemed to notice something very off
about Kai, which was the same look Lizzie gave Lyorna when they first met,
and when she saw Luna for the first time in a while. Xoya, Winter, and Cami
took turns hugging Kai after a bit of talking, until Lief had arrived. Everyone
who didn’t hear him coming turned around in surprise.

“Hey, Lief,” Lyorna said. Lyorna had a feeling that Xoya told Lief everything in
his thoughts, and he simply smiled in return.

“What happened to you?” Lizzie asked.

“Car crash,” Lief pointed at the cuts on his face, which may have looked like
they could have been caused by glass, but Lyorna knew they were from
claws.

He smiled at Lizzie and asked, “So who’re you? How do you know Ly- Lena?”

“Lena’s my girlfriend,” Lizzie responded.

He turned to the other three girls, and as Luna and Tatiana responded with
their answers, Ashley responded differently.

“I’m here to protect these two,” Ashley growled defensively.

“Ashley, calma,” Tatiana ordered, “You’re being mean,” Ashley nodded in

return, and she twitched her charcoal gray ears slightly.

Luna hugged Ashley from behind and whispered something that Lyorna didn’t
quite hear, even with her unnaturally good hearing. Ashley smiled down at
Luna when she turned, and when she broke away, she apologized
immediately.

Lief smiled back and didn’t seem to care about anything that Ashley had said.
Kai stayed in the hospital cot thing, but when Lief went up to her, they kissed
briefly and hugged for a little while after. Lyorna sensed what was going to
happen a split second before it happened, and couldn’t do anything. A few
shadow-like feathers suddenly fell from Kai’s hair, and Lizzie saw them, then
questioned them.

Kai croaked a single shocked and slow word in her normally musical voice,
and it was the word, “No,”
Everyone in the room froze almost immediately, and Lizzie opened and closed
her mouth.

“Personal,” Kai rasped. Her voice cut off halfway through, as though she’d
suddenly couldn’t speak again, which Xoya confirmed mentally that it seemed
to be the case. Was it possible that Kai’s vocal cords were stabbed and it’s
healing underneath, even though they couldn’t see it? Kai cried and leaned
against Lief for a moment before sitting up again. Kai’s voice made its way
into Lyorna’s mind, and amidst Lyorna’s thoughts, it was clear and singing,
almost like a song. Kai smiled at Lyorna for a brief moment.

Lyorna? Can you hear me? Kai asked. Lyorna nodded internally, before
realizing Kai couldn’t see those nods and she replied, Yes.

“Do you want to hear about Lizzie?” Lyorna asked. Kai nodded in return and
Lyorna and Lizzie began telling stories of the short time they were dating.
Lizzie sometimes took over, as did Lyorna, but it was mostly Lyorna talking
with Kai in between their minds. The others left the room as Lyorna and Lizzie
spoke to Kai, Lief being the last of them. After Xoya left, Kai and Lyorna’s
minds were no longer connected, so their mental conversation stopped, but
Lyorna continued talking until she was kicked out by one of the nurses at
about four. Lyorna and Lizzie left the room and took an Uber back to Lyorna’s
roommates' apartment, and the second that Lizzie left Lyorna for the night,
Lyorna broke into tears that had been threatening to fall for some time now,
and she locked herself in her room. Lyorna wished to tell Lizzie everything.
What she was, what really happened to her mom, everything, but she was
scared Lizzie would leave her, and Lyorna had a gut feeling she’d never find
anyone like her again, and if Lizzie accepted it, who was to say they wouldn’t
break up in the future, and Lizzie told people? Or what if Lizzie accidentally
told someone? It was a gamble, really. Secrets were like pets. If you let them
out, who knows where they’re going to end up eventually? They could go all
over the place, or stay in a small area. Lyorna sat at the edge of her bed after
putting on a shirt with holes cut in the back, and her wings unfolded behind
her as she shifted into her hybrid form. She heard one of her roommates
return, and judging by the footsteps, it was the new one that had moved in a
week or so ago that Lyorna didn’t know the name of. Lyorna knew they were
from France, a Kenomi, were studying abroad for a semester, and spoke quite
a lot of English, but she knew nothing else about this person. Lyorna quickly
shifted into her full human form and shivered at the weird feeling of her ears,
tail, and wings sliding into her skin, just below the surface. The lights were on
in her room, and through Lyorna’s quieting sobs, she heard a knock on the
door. She unlocked it and opened it to see the new Kenomi girl, as she
expected.

“Are you alright?” the girl asked. The girl had a British accent similar to
Thea’s, but not mixed with the typical pack accent, and her English was
unusually formal.

Lyorna shook her head as a reply, and shakily said, “You can come in,”

“Alright,” At this point, it was clear that the Kenomi girl had realized Lyorna
wasn’t human, but she didn’t ask. The Kenomi girl sat next to Lyorna on
Lyorna’s bed and put a hand on Lyorna’s back as Lyorna cried.

“What happened?” the Kenomi girl asked.

“My, my best friend and her boyfriend got into a really bad accident. Well, I
say accident, but someone almost killed the pair of them, possibly on purpose.
And I’m conflicted with telling my partner something, but I’m scared of what
will happen,”

“Is it because of…?” The Kenomi girl trailed off, but she didn’t need to finish.
Lyorna nodded in agreement and said, “Yeah. That. I haven’t told my partner
yet,”

“He doesn’t know?”

“I don’t think so. But one of my friends suspects they may know,”

“So he may not be…?”

“Possibly, but I can’t tell. Or they could have seen me…”

“I see,”

“Anyways. I don’t know your name, what is it?”

“My name? My parents call me Valkeia,” Lyorna flinched slightly as the

Kenomi girl continued, “But, most people just call me Valentina, or Valen. And
you?”

“Lyorna, but humans call me Lena or Magdalena,”

“Do our roommates know?”

“No. I barely see them and don’t know most of them that well,”

“Well, Lena, I want to see what you look like. There aren’t many others in
France, and most are chathomme as well,”

Lyorna nodded and shut the door. She sensed one of her other roommates
was home for a while now, and she wanted to make sure she was left alone.
She unfolded her wings and showed Valentina her deep blue ears and tail.

“Werewolf?”
“Technically. I’m half stormwolf, half skywolf,” Lyorna slipped into wolf tongue
after starting her sentence and the pair continued speaking in the language for
a while.

“I’ve heard of a skywolf,” Valentina remarked. “It was written down by one of
my ancestors long ago. I don’t know the context or how they met one, but I
know that the skywolf stayed for quite some time and had a few children.
There’s a small group living in my neighborhood now,”

“Is it possible that the skywolf’s name was Airien?”

“I don’t know. My ancestor didn’t write down the skywolf’s name out of fear,”

“Do the skywolves have gold in their fur and wings?”

“Yes,”

“I think I’ve met the skywolf,”

“How? It’s been since the Napoleonic battles,” Valen said, the closest
translation to war that was possible in wolf tongue was battles, and she
continued. “No one is immortal,”

“Some skywolves receive the gift of immortality, it appears. Not all,”

I wonder if that’ll be the same for me? Maybe I won’t have to deal with losing
Lizzie for centuries.

“Ah. Did you?”

“I don’t know yet. I think maybe, however,”

“I’m sorry,” Valentina said.

“It’s fine. I’ll be fine. I’ll have to abdicate eventually though. I don’t want to end
up like my father,”

“Abdicate?”

Lyorna looked directly at Valentina and for a moment, her eyes flashed
golden. Valentina’s flashed a muted red and orange, like an alpha’s or a
beta’s.

“You’re an Ultima?”

Lyorna dipped her head in a nod. “Yes. It’s been a few years now. Four years
since I started,”

“How long did you train before?”

“Three months. My Ultima was murdered shortly after my Ultima chose me,”

“By who?”

“A hunter. The hunter’s in my pack now. Name’s Mercy, and she was forced
to do it. My cousin saw it in Mercy’s mind,”

“The hunter wouldn’t have killed your Ultima if the hunter had a choice?”

“Never. The hunter’s a sweet person, and normally wouldn’t shoot without
proof the shifter kills or tries to on purpose,”

“I’ve never heard of that in a hunter,”

“I didn’t either. Mercy’s an exception,”

“So I see,”
“You’re an alpha?” Lyorna asked.

Valentina nodded. “One of my friend’s eyes suddenly started glowing golden

at night, and we realized what it meant. My friend, Clovei, Catarina, she
founded a pack, one Cata called the Starshine Pack. Cata made me one of
her alphas, and another Kenomi that we both knew named Lorento, Enzo,
became the other alpha. We have a few other people, but not nearly enough
to be considered a good pack yet. Cata’s turned one person so far. An
accident. A person named Dmitri. Dmitri became a gray furred werewolf and
full moons get chaotic with Dmitri around. Enzo’s been teaching him
everything,”

“I’ve turned maybe fifteen. My cousin has turned maybe thirty in our times as
Ultima,”

“Two family members?”

“Four. My sister, Valkeia. She’s next Ultima of a large pack in Ivy Hills, and my
dad’s the current Ultima, as far as I know, and there’s an Ultima in Wood Pine,
I think she’s my cousin on my mom’s side,”

“How do you think?”

“She’s mentioned a Nightshade on her side of the family. One who died about
a decade back. And she’s a stormwolf like me,”

“So maybe. What’s her name?”

“Mendez. She says humans call her Mindy,”

“Interesting. How well do you know her?”

“Not very well. Woodpine’s a bit far away and we only really see each other
whenever the hell all the packs gather,”

“How often is that?”

“Equinoxes and solstices,”

“Only then?”

“The packs are too big, but everyone in the packs agrees that these times are
special and need to be honored, so we choose them. During those times, we
have a peace treaty for a week before and after. If anyone is in violation, then
all the packs band together. It doesn’t matter who. If it happens, we remove
whoever did this from their pack, if it was on purpose, and they aren’t allowed
into the packs in these four towns again. Normally they just leave the state
though,”

“Starshine should have a peaceful time on those days too, if any other packs
form,”

“Definitely. Tell Catarina,”

Valentina nodded and said, “I will. Can I touch the feathers?”

Lyorna nodded in reply. “You may,” Lyorna splayed her wing closest to
Valentina and Valentina began gently touching the brown feathers. It was a
little uncomfortable and Valentina tugged a little on the feathers as she
touched them, but Lyorna zoned out and thought for a while. After a few
minutes, as far as Lyorna was aware, her injury began throbbing slightly and
she pulled her wing away while she clutched her stomach. She curled into a
ball on her bed with her knees tucked to her chest and wings covering herself.
“You alright?” Valentina asked.

Lyorna nodded and said, “There was a fight in my pack and someone stabbed
me. It still hurts from time to time,”

“I’ll leave,”

Lyorna let Valentina leave and she shifted back into her full human form just
after the door closed. She’d be spending the night here, and she’d call Xoya in
the morning. Lyorna knew she wasn’t in any state to fly through the forest
tonight.

Chapter Forty One

Lizzie smiled down at her younger cousin. It had been maybe two or three
years since she’d last seen her, which was weird, considering the fact that her
family lived less than an hour’s drive away. Lizzie had a feeling it had to do
with Lulu’s fanatic mother, however.

Lulu didn’t get her ideas, but when Lizzie came out to her parents, her parents
ceased all contact with Lulu’s mom, and the families hadn’t reached out to
each other since. Lulu was getting so tall too! Still, not close to Lizzie’s height,
and Lena was much taller than both of them, so nowhere near there. And
Lizzie had no idea Lena’s little cousin -well, Lizzie thought little, even though
Lena’s cousin was almost as tall as she was- she didn’t know Lena’s cousin
was friends with her own cousin.

Lizzie was alone for now, which didn’t happen often. She loved people, and
even just being around them, she was fine, even though she often didn’t talk
to most.

Lena was an exception, and Lizzie was glad she tried talking to this
mysterious girl that she’d realized was in the same lecture as she was at one
point. She loved Lena. Lizzie sneezed as she breathed, and the room started
feeling slightly colder.

She wasn’t sure why that was, but sometimes the room would suddenly get
freezing cold or boiling hot, and whenever she took her temperature, she was
fine. She yawned and sat on her bed for a while.

She was getting a little tired now, and through her constant movement, she
finally fell asleep, but almost immediately, she opened her eyes and she
wasn’t in her room anymore. Now she was in the forest, and she’d had this
dream often. She was on all fours, and when she looked down, she didn’t see
her hands, but frosty blue and fuzzy paws and sharp claws.

Sometimes the fur was brushed to the side, and Lizzie would see pale blue
scales in place of skin under her fur, but she wasn’t sure if she actually saw it.
She brushed her long and bushy fox-like tail against the chilly earth as she
tried to figure out where in the dream forest she was. She looked behind her
and realized that she was at the rocky outcropping that Lena had taken her to
once. Lizzie climbed it to see what she could see. Trees stretched in all
directions at the top, and in the distance, Lizzie could barely make out a slight
break in the trees.
To her left, right, and behind her as well. It seemed the four towns in the area
were at the cardinal directions, with Laewaes to the north, and Lizzie’s back
was to the east. She turned west, towards Ivy Hills, and spread a pair of large
wings, either a moth’s or a mantis’, jumped off the rock, opened her wings
completely, and flew as the wind caught her and she rose in the wind
currents. She had taught herself to fly in these weird recurring dreams, and
she quite enjoyed it. Lizzie wasn’t really scared of heights, although she was
afraid of falling. She looked down, knowing she’d just wake up if she fell, and
she glided along the night. She beat her wings occasionally until she was able
to make it to her home, where the window was already open. She squeezed
inside and for a moment, saw a little blue fox with pink and red mantis wings
in the mirror and an unnaturally long tail tipped with purple. The blue fox had
matching deep blue horns and its eyes glowed a faint gray in the dim lighting.
Lizzie wasn’t sure how this was biologically possible, and then, after a
moment, she recognized the fox as herself.

She climbed into her bed, knowing that she would wake up eventually, and as
she sat for a while, she eventually had some gap in her memories, and when
she opened her eyes again, it was bright out and she wasn’t an animal
anymore. She felt a prickling in her shoulders, and along her spine, starting
right along her tailbone, one that wasn’t uncommon after she had the dream.
Her ears itched a little as well as she registered reality, which was highly
unusual. She’d never felt that weird feeling in her ears before. Lizzie yawned
and rubbed the crust out of her eyes when she realized Lena had texted her.

Lizzie grabbed her phone from her nightstand and saw a message that read,
‘I have something to tell you.’

Lizzie pressed the phone to her chest and worried. This was it. Lena might
want to break up with her.

‘Wha?’ Lizzie texted back.

‘Not safe to say in texts. Come to my home, or I’ll come to yours,’

‘Come over,’ Lizzie responded. Less than five minutes later, Lena was at
Lizzie’s window, which was odd. Lizzie slept on the second floor of her
parent’s house, and there was no way Lena could get there that fast. Lizzie
opened the window all the way and Lena tumbled in.

Lena hugged Lizzie quickly before saying, “Are you ready?”

Lizzie nodded with a few tears in her eyes, and Lena said quickly, “Relax.
Relax, I’m not going to break up with you,”

“Good. But what’s so urgent? And how did you get her so fast?”

“I’ll show you,” Lena took off the jacket she was wearing, closed her eyes, and
twitched. It wasn’t so much twitching as it was shivering, as though Lena were
cold, but Lizzie thought of it as twitching. Lizzie heard a whoosh similar to one
she had heard yesterday, and before she knew it, Lena had blue fur on parts
of her body, a tail, and a pair of brown bird’s wings. Lena smiled and revealed
the small fangs that Lizzie often saw in kenomi, then realized why Lena had
them.

“What are you?” Lizzie asked, more amazed than scared or angry. She
honestly just wanted to touch Lena’s ears. She’d seen weirder before, and
everyone had their secrets. It seemed fitting that she’d be a werewolf.

Lena’s ears that had recently replaced her ordinary ones, much like a
kenomi’s, twitched slightly.

“Winter was right, by Mekora, I should ask you the same question,”
“What are you talking about?” Lizzie asked. Lena’s eyes glowed faintly golden
for a moment, before the colors blazed. Lizzie didn’t flinch and reached out to
touch Lena’s face.

“Pretty,” Lizzie remarked.

“How are you-?” Lena began.

“What?” Lizzie asked.

“You shouldn’t be acting like this. What are you?”

“What do you mean?” Lizzie asked.

Lena let out a low rumbling that Lizzie instinctively knew what it meant. Lizzie
shivered a little and closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, Lena
stood transfixed, gazing deep into Lizzie’s eyes.

“What are you looking at?” Lizzie asked. Lena grabbed Lizzie’s wrist and
snarled quietly. Lizzie immediately shivered slightly and something odd
happened. She growled back, her growl not unlike that of a fox’s, and she felt
strange.

“Moon-wing? Another one?”

“What do you mean?”

“Look,”

Lizzie looked behind her and saw a pair of mantis’ wings and a long, oddly
dragon-like fox tail. She narrowed her brow and tilted her head slightly in
confusion, and as it happened, she became aware of movement in her ears.
Somehow they were moving, even though she couldn’t wiggle them.
“Can you fly?”

“In my dreams, yeah. I’ve flown in those many times,”

“In those dreams, are you a fox with wings and horns?”

“Yeah,”

“Those aren’t dreams,” Lena growled. “Open the window, I’ll show you,”

Lizzie complied and slid open her window, which faced the forest. Lena
jumped out, and a moment later, Lizzie heard the sound of wind rushing
beneath a pair of wings, and a couple moments later, Lena had risen and was
hovering, level to Lizzie’s window.

“If you fall, I’ll catch you,”

Lizzie nodded and climbed out the window, and as she did so, she threw open
her wings and rose to be level with Lena. Lizzie hadn’t ever tried hovering, but
instinct guided her, and she shakily stayed in the air next to Lena. Lena shot
off into the forest, quicker than an arrow, and Lizzie followed behind, although
much slower. Lizzie sensed Lena a little ahead of her at all times, and
sometimes could catch a glimpse of her in the trees. After some time, Lena
landed on the rocky outcropping, and Lizzie followed from far away.

“How are you so fast?”

“I’ve been flying for nine years,”

“Nine?”

“Yep. I wish I could have earlier. I needed some easier way to avoid danger in
the year I was alone,”
“Year-?”

“There’s a lot you don’t know,”

“I noticed that,” Lizzie motioned at Lena’s wings, ears, and tail.

Lena sat down at the edge of the rock thing and Lizzie sat next to her. Lena
wrapped a wing around Lizzie and smiled down at her. Lena’s feathers were
unusually itchy, and Lizzie pulled away. Lena nodded and let Lizzie look at the
trees. Lizzie eventually stood up, splayed her wings, and looked down at
Lena, then pulled Lena up.

Lena smiled back and splayed her wings, “Liz, I need to go,” Lena quickly
stood up, brushed herself off, and leaned over to Lizzie, who leaned toward
Lena in exchange, but they hit each other's foreheads accidentally.

“Ow,” Lena winced slightly. “You know you’ve got horns, right?”

Lizzie’s hands flew to her forehead and she felt some cold surface under her
hand, and then noticed that Lena had a slight trickle of blood going down her
forehead.

“I’ll just go now. Text if you need me,” Lena said slowly and a little awkwardly,
then quickly kissed Lizzie on the cheek before spreading her wings, jumping
off the rock, and flying off toward the northwestern area of Laewaes. Lizzie sat
at the edge of the rock for some more time before she felt her phone buzz in
her pocket.

She turned it on and had seen that Lena had texted already. It was a short
message, but it said, ‘Cya later!’
“She’s fast,” Lizzie thought aloud. She jumped off the rock as well a few
moments after putting her phone away and hoping it wouldn’t fall out, then
flew low to the ground as she clumsily flapped through the trees. Eventually,
she landed and she ran for some time, but at one point she fell and slid for a
little in the fallen leaves until she stopped at a small root under her. She sat up
and immediately saw a leaf sticking to her knee and a long graze with a little
blood running beneath the leaf. She knew it was just a scrape, but after a
moment and the adrenaline disappeared, it hurt like hell, and she took off the
leaf.

It wasn’t too bad, but the graze on her leg was deep enough for blood to come
out of, and she waited. She considered calling someone for a moment, but
when she grabbed her phone out of her pocket, the screen looked like a map
of the Holy Roman Empire and she couldn’t see anything on it when she
turned it on.

Lizzie sighed and curled into a little ball as she felt the pain subside. A couple
more minutes later, the scrape had begun to heal over, and the graze was
doing something similar. Both were closing up, and the scrape eventually
disappeared, leaving no trace that it had been, while the graze was beginning
to scar.

She stood up and she felt fine, so she continued walking home. She realized
her wings and everything else were out, so she closed her eyes and she tried
to make them melt away as Lena had done. She felt no difference and turned
her head to see if she had any wings, which she still did. She sighed and
decided to try to find Lena.

She flew back to the rock and searched for any scents instinctively, then
picked up Lena’s. She figured out which direction it went and slowly flew along
the path Lena had taken in flight. She sensed something odd nearby and saw
some large badger-like creature underneath her, but she ignored it and flew
forward.

She sneezed when a bug or something flew into her nostril, and instantly she
saw a sudden burst of fire beneath her. Her eyes widened in shock as she felt
the heat burn against her eyes, but she ignored it. She had more pressing
matters, and she could find out what had happened later.

She continued following Lena’s trail, when, oddly, it dipped down, quickly.
Lizzie followed until she reached the ground, and she ended up in the center
of a clearing surrounded by the tallest trees Lizzie had ever seen and shielded
by their leaves. Near these trees was a mountain with several caves, but it
seemed some of the trees were taller than said mountain, somehow. She
followed the trail to inside one of these trees, when she saw Lena talking to a
few people.

Lizzie overheard bits of their conversation, and when they began leaving, she
ducked to the side and leaned against the tree. The second everyone
excluding Lena had left, Lizzie entered. The tree was hollow inside and Lena
jumped when she heard Lizzie coming.

“How did you get in here?”

“I followed your trail. I need to ask you something,”

“Why didn’t you text me?” Lena asked. Lizzie held up her phone and showed
her the shattered screen.

“Can’t text,”

“So what is it?”

“How do I go back to normal?”

“You mean hide your animal bits?”

“Well, yeah. I don’t know how,”

Lena thought for a moment, then said, “Relax. Let it all go limp until it seems
to go away. Close your eyes if you need to,”

Lizzie nodded and sat on the oddly smooth floor. Her wings drooped and after
maybe five minutes, it was as though some weight had been lifted.

“Do you want to learn to switch back and forth?” Lena asked.

“Yes, actually,”

Lena continued teaching Lizzie how to do this for several hours, until Lizzie
realized it was getting late.

“Wanna learn to actually fly?” Lena asked.

“Sure, Lena,” Lena flinched slightly, as she used to when Lizzie called her
‘Lena’ or ‘Magdalena’, but this time, she seemed to not try and hide it.

“What’s up?”

“So, um, the thing is, most shifters, they receive two names at birth. A human
one, and the shifter one. Some prefer to go completely by their human name,
and most humans can’t pronounce their name anyways, so they go by the
human name. Now, since humans aren’t supposed to even know we still exist,
non-kenomi shifters use only the human name, regardless of the preference.
‘Magdalena’ was my human name, but um, my shifter name isn’t even close
to that. And normally, like, um, away from humanity, I go by the shifter name,
so it’s really weird to hear someone call me ‘Lena’,”

“What’s the shifter name? I want to know,”

“Lyorna,” Lena half spoke, half growled at this.

“Lie-yorn-ya?”

“Close enough,” Lena- Lyorna, shrugged, and she spoke a few words in an
unfamiliar language, then cleared her throat and spoke in English, “It has no
real translation, but it’s something around the lines of ‘beautiful mint the color
of the calm sea and gives the feelings of the sea’. Some shifters call it
stormmint, but it’s not exactly the best translation. It’s actually quite bitter for a
mint, but it's more an acquired taste, like coffee,”

“That was a lot for a translation,”

“Wolf tongue is simple,” Wolf tongue was said in a different language, but
Lizzie guessed it was the name of the language.

“My language is also really hard to learn. Mostly, it's because the language is
used mostly by shifters in their animal form. We tend to speak whatever
language is our native country’s in our human forms, but it's hard to speak the
language in a human form. One day, I’ll teach you to speak it,”

“Well, I need to get home,”

“Are you ready to fly?” Lena- Lyorna asked.

Lizzie nodded as she went outside, and Len- Lyorna grabbed Lizzie’s wing
gently with the tips of her claws, then showed her how to flap her wings
properly. Lizzie mimicked the movement on her own and quickly rose ten feet
in the air when she did it. She’d never risen that quickly before.

Len- Lyorna followed quickly behind and Lizzie continued going up as she
beat her wings. Lena had her hover, which was difficult. Lizzie hadn’t ever
tried before and she kept drifting off to the side as she tried to stay in the air
without moving.

Lyorna seemed to be doing it almost effortlessly, on the other hand. Lyorna

shouted something Lizzie could barely hear, either that, or she wasn’t paying
attention, but when Lena’s eyes glowed golden, Lizzie immediately
understood and the pair began flying. Len- Lyorna began instructing Lizzie to
fly a bit differently, first teaching Lizzie how to fly quickly without hitting the
trees.

“Keep your arms and legs straight to reduce drag, and move your shoulders
with your wings. It puts less strain on your body,”

Lizzie complied and found it did help. Eventually, Ly-Lena, whatever, got
Lizzie home, and the second Lizzie closed her window, Len- Lyorna, shot off
into the forest, much faster than she had been going with Lizzie. Lizzie could
hear the wind whistling as Lyorna flew, even with the window closed. Lizzie
smiled softly and sat on her bed.

She was exhausted, and it was only five PM. She had been given some food
by Lyorna/Lena, but she was really hungry too. She realized that she never
asked Lyorna about the fire sneezing, but she figured she was part dragon by
what Lena had said.

Lizzie practiced sheathing and unsheathing her claws under her fingernails
after closing her door. She had a feeling she’d need to use them often.
She sliced at the air after some time as well. She felt silly, and she knew that
she wouldn’t do much with her claws like this, but it was better self defense
than nothing. Lizzie opened her window and very clumsily, she flew to the
roof.

She kept her wings out as she sat on the roof, in case she fell. She watched
the moon rise as she sat, knowing it would only be about a week before the
full moon. It was instinct to know, possibly because she was a shifter, and
even without the full moon, she felt an odd pull she always did the week
before.

Similar to PMS, it was like pre-shifting symptoms. She wondered if Lena,

Lyorna ever felt this. She went back inside when she started getting cold. It
was coming close to winter, she kept forgetting that for some reason. Her
wings actually had a bit of trouble flapping on her way down. Maybe it had
something to do with temperature?

She’d heard of cockroaches not being able to fly when it was too cold,
thankfully. She shuddered as she thought about what might happen if they
could fly in her area.

She splayed her wings and let them warm up before she sneezed a few
sparks without provocation. It got a little warmer in her room and as she
warmed up, she automatically shifted back into her normal form. Her more
human one. She wondered about the origins of this form. Maybe an
evolutionary mechanism after the shifters were forced into hiding? Lizzie
wondered for a while as she slowly fell asleep, the last coherent thing she
wondered before a gap in her memories formed being, ‘Why do I think I’ve
learned this all before?’
Chapter Forty-two

Tatiana looked up at Cami. She was weirdly nervous and quiet since they had
seen Cami’s friend at the hospital. Tatiana tried to comfort her, but first she
had to get away from Ashley, who was still wary of Cami and unfortunately,
this meant that Ashley’s overprotective mother instincts had kicked in. Cami
smiled softly at Tatiana after Ashley finally left them alone, and she edged
closer, very slowly. Cami hugged Tatiana with one wing and brushed the
dusty earth with another.

The pair was currently seated rather uncomfortably on one of a large tree’s
roots, which Cami had recently told Tatiana was called a yggdrasil. Tatiana
didn’t know how to spell it, and wanted to know, just in case, Tatiana took in
information better when she envisioned it anyways, so she was slightly
shocked when Cami spelled it, not as yagdrazil, but yggdrasil. But she ignored
that now and focused on the present.

Cami’s shimmery golden feathers looked dusty in the moonlight, which they
might have been. Tatiana nuzzled Cami accidentally when Cami turned her
head towards Tatiana’s, and Tatiana was pretty sure that she blushed and, in
the moonlight, she was a solid eighty-seven percent certain that Cami blushed
as well.

Tatiana looked away and began examining the patterns in the bark of the
roots. The bark was torn away by animals in some places, most likely a deer
or something, but under the bark, there was moss, and Tatiana could barely
make out some tiny bugs eating the decaying moss.

When she looked back, Cami quickly turned her head and pretended to be
watching the stars, but Tatiana could practically feel Cami trying to look back
at her. Tatiana touched Cami’s shoulder, and Cami looked back, blushing
slightly.

“Cami, you okay?” Tatiana asked. She knew Cami was fine. She just wanted
to hear Cami’s voice. Cami hadn’t spoken in a few hours now, even when
people talked to her.

“I’m fine,” Cami replied a few moments later, in a voice that sounded a little
like two gears creaking together as someone spoke over them, with a hint of a
small dog whining in the background. Tatiana never thought this sound was
possible before now.

“And you, Tati?” Cami asked.

“I’m alright,” Tatiana replied, “Kai was pretty, and she seemed nice,”

“She’s majestic in her hybrid form. She looks like those stereotypical half
demons, half angels, but without horns or a halo. And she is beautiful in flight.
Her wings glow a deep purple in the sunlight, despite their shadowy color, and
her companion, a little bird-”

“Companion?” Tatiana had gotten used to interrupting Cami in the middle of a

sentence when she didn’t understand something.

“Oh. Right. Many shifters befriend animals anytime after their first shift. Kai
has an unusually small raven named Shiver, which she raised from a chick.
She found him out in the snow, and at the time, he was missing half of his
feathers, and it was odd, because he shouldn’t have existed in november. She
couldn’t find his parents either, so she nursed him back to health in her raven
form. He never left her side, and now helps her defend Lyorna’s pack when
she’s on guard duty, and Shiver is a loyal friend. I think that Leek, her brother,
is taking care of Shiver until she comes back,”

Cami continued, “In any case, Shiver flies with her, and he still looks like he’s
very young, even after two years,”

“How small is he?”

“He’s about 15 inches, which is odd for what kind of raven he is,”

“Weird,”

Cami and Tatiana sat in silence for a while longer, when Cami stood up and
grabbed her phone, then called someone.

“I’m calling Lyorna,” she explained, “Lyorna can take you home,”

“Alright,” Tatiana closed her eyes and yawned, then looked back up at Cami.
Cami’s eyes glowed faintly in the moonlight, and Tatiana wondered why
Lyorna would be up at this hour.

Tatiana was starting to get tired herself, and she was considered a night owl
by many. Tatiana could see Cami was getting a little tired as well, and Cami
yawned a little while she talked to Lyorna. Lyorna was there in about forty
seven seconds after Cami hung up, and if Tatiana had to guess, it took Lyorna
about twenty of those seconds to take off. Lyorna was fast. Blindingly fast,
and Lyorna could probably outrun a cassowary if she wanted to.

“That was fast,” Cami yawned.

“I think stormwolves get mixed with peregrine falcons,” Lyorna explained. She
was more alert than Tatiana had ever seen in the time they’d known each
other.

Lyorna was also a little more energetic than normal, and she spoke unusually
fast, her words sometimes slurring together, and sometimes, Lyorna even
slipped into the language that Cami was trying to teach Tatiana.

Tatiana caught maybe twenty percent of whatever Lyorna said, but eventually,
Lyorna shifted and let Tatiana get on.

“Night, Cami,” Tatiana said. Cami smiled in response, seemingly falling

asleep, and Cami shifted into a blue wolf, then laid her chin across the roots
and closed her eyes. This seemed normal for both Cami and Lyorna, because
Lyorna didn’t even bat an eye.

“Happens,” Lyorna said in wolf tongue. It was clear that Lyorna wasn’t going
to bother with speaking English in her other form tonight.

Lyorna checked to make sure Tatiana was hanging on tightly, and she very
quickly took off, accelerating at speeds that Tatiana didn’t think possible.
Lyorna flew low to the ground, not too low, but low enough for Tatiana to not
get hit by a branch or something.

Lyorna landed for a few moments and ran at around the same speeds she
flew at. Twenty seconds after taking off, Tatiana was at her bedroom window
and Lyorna nudged it open with her snout while hovering. Each beat should
have made a rush of wind slam against the ground, but it was oddly silent.

Like an owl’s wings.

“You sure you’re not something else?” Tatiana asked.

“No,” Lyorna growled in wolf tongue. Lyorna squeezed into Tatiana’s window
and let Tatiana down from inside, then shifted back, gave Tatiana the peace
sign, and jumped out the window. Tatiana heard the wind catch Lyorna’s
wings and exhaled, not realizing she had been holding her breath in the first
place.

Tatiana yawned and lay on her bed, but almost immediately snapped awake.
She didn’t think she slept, but her eyes were wet and she had seemingly
wrapped herself in her blankets while she slept.

It was bright out as well, and a holiday, because her mom would have woken
her up long ago if it wasn’t, but it was probably a saturday. Tatiana checked
her phone to confirm, and it was the seasonal equinox holiday.

She texted Cami, who had sent her a possible sleep text, but it was the mp3
of a song called ‘Court Jester’ by a Megan Shumway that Cami had
mentioned wanting to send her once.

When Tatiana played it, the lyrics weren’t that good, but the instrumental was
calming, and Cami seemed to have sent the instrumental alongside it. Tatiana
smiled softly at her phone and she called Cami.

Cami yawned when she answered the phone, but it wasn’t too bad.

“Hey,” Cami said.

“Hi, Cami,” Tatiana smiled.

Cami shuffled and she said, “So, how did you sleep?”

“What are you, my mom?” Tatiana joked. “I slept well,” she added afterwards.
Cami laughed and Tatiana wondered if she was alright. Cami didn’t sound
normal.

“Sorry, Tati,” Cami laughed when Tatiana inquired. “In the week leading up to
the equinox and whatever, shifters typically have a celebration. It’s why it’s a
holiday. Ancient memories of a culture from when humans and shifters were
still one,”

“Oh. That doesn't explain anything,”

Cami laughed a little and said, “I love you,”

Judging by how she said it, it wasn't as ‘just a friend’, so Tatiana blushed
slightly. Tatiana wondered for a moment if Cami was drunk before realizing,
Cami was only fifteen, and definitely not that kind of rebellious teen who went
to parties and got drunk.

Cami was just a quiet girl who would obviously prefer to read or be with a
small group of friends while everyone else got drunk. Or something.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Just, I was reading that one book you recommended to me,”

“The LGBTQ elf novel?”

“Yeah, The Rope,” Cami confirmed. “In any case, I was up all night, so I’m a
little crazy. I loved it, by the way. Still haven’t finished it. It’s like a few
thousand pages. James and Winnie are so cute together!”
Tatiana stifled a sniffle. Those two didn’t end that well. And this also meant
that Cami was in the first two hundred pages. She still had a few thousand left
of the first book.

“Can I come over?” Cami asked. “My mom won’t let me into camp,”

“You can come,” Tatiana responded.

Cami laughed again and about ten minutes later, she appeared at Tatiana’s
window.

Tatiana let her in and Cami sat on Tatiana’s bed after giving her a hug.

“I’m really tired right now, sorry,” Cami seemed to be repeating herself, as
though she didn’t remember much.

“So about that song you sent me,” Tatiana started.

“What song?” Cami asked. “I haven’t sent you anything since yesterday,”

“You sent me Court Jester like three hours ago,”

“Oh, right, that,” Cami looked around before settling her gaze on a spot next to
Tatiana. Cami banged her knee on the dresser and she jumped slightly when
she hit it. Cami drifted to the side as she walked, not really drifting, but she
didn’t seem to be very good at walking in the present moment.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Tatiana asked.

“Yes,” Cami said. “Just tired,”

With that, Cami sat back on the bed, and she immediately fainted. Tatiana sat
on the floor with her book after a few minutes. She wasn’t going to cross any
barriers while Cami was sleeping and didn’t know. Plus, Cami needed her
sleep and Tatiana didn’t want to disturb her.

Tatiana read about one thousand pages of the book in the three hours Cami
slept, and when Cami woke up, she was reasonably confused.

“What happened?” Cami yawned.

“You fell asleep on my bed,”

“How long was I asleep?”

“About three hours,”

“That long? Did anything happen?”

“No. Well, I tried the song you sent me. It’s kinda growing on me,”

“What song?”

Tatiana sighed, “You sent me the song Court Jester last night,”

“Oh, god no, you aren’t even kidding!”

“Why?”

“Well, did you like it at least?”

“A little bit, yeah. Mostly the instrumental,”

“At least you like it,” Cami said, “I don’t know why I sent that to you. I’m sorry if
it bothered you,”
“It didn’t. It’s an alright song. But now it’s my turn,”

“Why am I suddenly scared?” Cami joked.

Tatiana pulled up a song on her spotify and sent the link to Cami. The song
was called ‘Wonderland’ by some band or something called ‘Sounds Like
Harmony,’, and it was one of Tatiana’s favorite songs. Cami seemed to like it
too, which was understandable. It was an incredibly unpopular bop.

Cami and Tatiana looked at each other, and Cami said, “So about the lyrics of
the song I sent you…”

“Which part?”

“The chorus,”

“The part where the minstrel wants to elope?”

“Yes,”

“What about it?”

“So, I was thinking last night while reading that book you recommended, and I
wanted to ask you- well, you know,”

“So you’re asking me to elope with you? I’m fourteen, you’re fifteen,”

“No! Um, I wanted to ask you, um, do you want to go watch a movie or
something?”

Tatiana blushed, and realized she had been thinking about the same thing at
times. She nodded, unable to think of any words to say, and they both pulled
each other close as Cami kneeled down slightly, and then kissed Tatiana on
the forehead.

Tatiana hugged Cami and rested her chin on Cami’s shoulder while standing
on her toes. Tatiana closed her eyes and Cami laced her fingers through
Tatiana’s while kissing her on the forehead again.

Tatiana stopped Cami before they went much further.

Her mom was probably home, and wouldn’t be happy if she walked in on her
daughter making out with a girl that had been previously shot about one, two
months ago.

They sat on the bed, holding hands and simply talking. Mostly about what they
should do for their possible date. In the end, they agreed on watching a movie
in a few weeks.

They weren’t sure which one yet, but they’d figure it out eventually. Cami
hugged Tatiana with one wing for a minute, but she very quickly folded her
wing when the pair heard footsteps.

Cami’s wings folded against her back, over her tank top, which very clearly
revealed many long scars on her shoulders, chest, and neck. As Cami pulled
her black jacket over her head, which seemed to hurt her a little.

“It’s a little uncomfortable,” Cami whispered when Tatiana inquired. “They

aren’t meant to be penned up, and I can’t hide them until they’ve grown in
completely. Lyorna got lucky. Stormwolves don’t have to wait too long.
Lyorna’s wings grew in completely under a year after she first shifted,”

Tatiana’s mom entered the room at about one, and she was clearly surprised
to see Cami in the room.
“Well, hello. How did you get in here?”

Tatiana looked at her mom and said, “Mãe, I invited her over last night. She
took me home last night and her home’s a little far,”

“But why is she still here?” Tatiana’s mom asked in portuguese.

“She and I have a project together,” Cami said. “So I thought I’d stay,”

“What is it?”

“So you know how we’re on our Russian Revolution unit?”

Tatiana’s mom nodded.

“We’re doing a project on the possible influence of Rasputin on the Tzar. All
hypothetical, obviously. He probably didn’t have that much control over Tzar
Nicholas, the Tzar was just an idiot,” Cami lied.

Tatiana nodded in agreement, even though she had no idea what Cami was
talking about. They hadn’t started talking about Rasputin yet, and she only
knew who he was from the song, which was clearly inaccurate.

“Why aren’t you on the computer?” Tatiana’s mom asked.

Cami stuttered and said, “Well, well, we kinda got distracted,”

Tatiana’s mom nodded and after seeing their interlocked hands asked, “You
two weren’t doing anything, right?”

“Mom, we’re too young,” Tatiana said, shocked that her mom would even
think of this.
“I’m sorry. It’s just, I’ve been-” Tatiana’s mom stopped herself, “I don’t want to
see you hurt so young. The worst scars are emotional, because the pain in a
physical injury can go away in most cases, but if you get hurt by her, I’ll never
forgive myself,”

Tatiana sighed and said, “Mom, she won’t hurt me,”

Cami looked at Tatiana’s mom defensively and said, “Why would I even want
to hurt her?”

Tatiana’s mom stepped back and said, “Stay out of this. She’s my- only
daughter. I’m not letting her get hurt,”

Cami tilted her head slightly, not by much, but Tatiana noticed. The second
that Tatiana’s mom left the room, Cami said, “Your mom, Cascade, right?”
Tatiana nodded. “She’s lying,”

“Which part?”

“You’re not her only daughter,”

Chapter Forty Three

Two hours later

Moon opened her eyes and realized that she was underwater. She was fine,
however. This had happened a few times before, although the first time it was
a shock. It was a little blurry, but she figured that she’d be fine for some time.
Cami had told her that most aquatic/semi-aquatic shifters could hold their
breaths longer than most people, the longest recorded time for a small
mammal being thirty minutes without magical amplification.

Moon timed herself, and it was twenty minutes for her. She looked up, then
down, trying to figure out which direction would let her go to the surface,
righted herself, and swam towards the surface.

She emerged in the middle of a small pond. It was clean, compared to some
on the edges of the forest, and with this, she knew she was deep in the forest.
Moon shook herself of the water before spreading her wings, letting water
droplets fly in all directions.

Her wings were too waterlogged to fly, so she climbed a little bit of the way of
a nearby tree trunk, then spread them.

The wings stuck out and shimmered in the faint, slightly green sunlight that
came through the treetops. Moon waited as they slowly dried, and as soon as
they were dry enough for her to fly, she shot into the sky in her full animal
form.

She went quickly, thanks to Xoya’s teachings, although not nearly as fast as
Lyorna. She was pretty sure she’d seen Lyorna break the sound barrier at
least once. Moon twisted and weaved between the tallest trees in the forest as
she continued her flight, and she soon was at the camp Cami controlled.

She shivered as she automatically shifted, but she was fine. She glided down
into the clearing and shifted into her full human form. One of the shifters
looked at her weirdly, the one she instinctively recognized as an alpha, but not
one of Cami’s pack. This alpha had black hair, a black lizard tail, and
somewhat reptilian eyes. Parts of her body were flecked with black scales,
and Moon noticed ridges on her back. Moon waved, and the alpha girl waved
back as her eyes glowed a cool red. The alpha smiled and walked up to
Moon.

“Hi. I’m Jekl. Do you know where the Ultima here is?”

“No. I haven’t seen her for a day, I think. She might be at her friend’s though. I
think she took one of her friends home last night, and she might have stayed,
but I don’t know,”

“Can you take me?”

“No! Ultima will come back, and you will wait,”

“Could you at the very least call her?”

“I don’t have my phone on me, not right now. I could get someone else to call
her, though,”

“Have someone else call her then. I need to speak with her,”

Moon nodded and ran off. She entered Olivia’s tree, and was surprised to see
Olivia still asleep. Moon waited for a minute, and Olivia woke up. It was like
the girl had the ability to sense when someone had entered the tree.

Olivia yawned and asked, “What?”

“Hey, can you call Cami really quickly?” Moon asked. “Some alpha’s asking
for her,”

Olivia rolled over and yawned again, then said, “Alright. Which alpha?”
“I don’t know. She looks like she’s part lizard, though,”

“Not snake, right?”

“Definitely not snake. Viper’s eyes look different. Hers are less reptilian, and
she’s covered in ridges,”

“What color scales does she have?”

“Black. So dark they look purple in the light,”

“What did she say her name was?”

Moon racked her memory. She knew that the alpha said something about her
name, before she blurted out, “Jekl,”

“Jekl? She’s an alpha of one of the packs in Woodpine. Crestfall Pack, I think.
Did she say what she wants?”

“No,”

“I’ll call Chamae. Jekl probably didn’t want to tell someone of a ‘lesser’ rank
what she wanted if it were official pack business,”

“And I honestly don’t want to know. It’s probably something minor,”

Olivia nodded and as they waited for Cami to pick up, Jekl came into the tree.

“Hey, Olivia,”

Olivia waved back in response as she pressed her phone to her ear. Jekl
waited for a few moments alongside Moon, before running up to Olivia as she
put her phone down.
“Ultima’s coming. She’ll be here in ten, fifteen minutes. Your friend too, Moon,”

“Alright,”

About twenty minutes later, Moon heard a sea of bushes shaking, and ran
outside to see what happened. Cami came tumbling through the bushes,
clutching Tatiana’s hand in her left. Moon watched as Cami dipped her head
at Jekl, who had recently arrived.

“Byent, mentae,” Jekl replied. Moon didn’t understand much of the language
the packs tended to use, but she knew enough to know it meant, ‘Hello,
friend,’.

“How’s your sister?”

“Lia’s not sure about whether to stay in the packs or not. Her boyfriend wants
her to leave, because he’s worried about her safety if a raid like what
happened in Lyorna’s camp last year happens to our pack,”

“I see. Can you bring her to visit soon?”

“Of course! She misses you a lot too,”

Tatiana stood awkwardly next to Cami during this interaction, and Jekl
inquired about who she was.

“This is Tatiana,” Cami replied. “She’s my… friend,”

Tatiana blushed a little, but it might have been nerves. Jekl wasn’t that easy to
look at directly without getting a little scared. Mostly in Jekl’s eyes, however.
The red in Jekl’s eyes just seemed a little off, and when her eyes stopped
glowing, the colors stayed creepy. Now they were a hollow and dull blue, the
only hints of life being in the gold rim around her pupils.

Cami seemed to be able to do this, however, maybe from spending so much

time with Lyorna. Lyorna’s sometimes was almost as unsettling as just Jekl’s
eyes. Cami wrapped a wing around Tatiana, seemingly for no reason.

“She seems, human,”

Tatiana walked over to Moon at this remark, and Cami explained.

“We aren’t sure what she is. We think she’s barely shifter enough to not be
turned by me, but not shifter enough to be able to shift,”

“And the purple one?”

Moon flinched and said, “Distant descent, we think,”

“Ah. Well. Ultima, we need to speak on behalf of my Ultima Mendez. She’s

noticed something strange along our borders, which we believe to be Helix,”
Jekl’s tone suddenly changed. Instead of quick and friendly, it was cold and
each word was monotonous.

Cami narrowed her eyes, “Show me,”

Jekl nodded and shifted into a giant lizard as Cami shifted alongside her. It
took Moon a moment to realize that Jekl was a gila monster now. Jekl
motioned for Moon and Tatiana to come with.

“You may as well. Both of you don’t seem to have proper training, and this will
help,” Jekl said in wolf tongue. Tatiana’s new bracelet suddenly disappeared,
and became a long knife with a fabric dyed red wrapped around the handle,
making it impossible to tell what kind of material it was made from.

The blade was darker than Jekl’s scales, seemingly sucking all the light of the
sky, but rimmed with scarlet, almost the same color of blood. Moon’s eyes
widened, and Tatiana very quickly went into some random nonsense about a
morphing feather. Cami and Jekl didn’t question it, although Jekl was
momentarily surprised. Cami shook her wings and let Tatiana on after Tatiana
had sheathed the blade, then Moon shifted. She flew up to Tatiana’s shoulder
and carefully sat on it as Cami walked.

“Moon. Be careful,” Tatiana whispered after Cami jumped over a tree branch
and Moon had to dig her claws in for support.

“Sorry,” Moon whispered back, not sure if Tatiana understood. After some
time, Cami nudged Tatiana off and she shifted back. Moon flew onto a nearby
branch as Jekl pointed out a few tufts of golden fox fur on a branch, alongside
a trail of dried blood.

“We think it’s Helix. Do you wish to attack?” Jekl growled in the tongue Moon
could understand.

“It may be a trap, Alpha. I don’t believe we should attack him,” Cami
responded in the monotonous voice that Jekl used after they spoke. Cami’s
ear twitched and she spun around, seemingly for no reason. Cami grabbed
Tatiana and pulled her close, then instructed her to unsheath the knife.
Tatiana did as she was told and Cami had her keep it low.

“Jekl, Moon, get help,” Cami instructed. Jekl dipped her head and motioned
with her tail for Moon to run with her. Jekl shifted as they went through the
forest, and Moon did the same. Moon followed Jekl, and the pair went quickly
through the forest.
“Moon. We’re here. Wait a moment,”

Jekl walked inside one of the yggdrasils, and a few moments later, came back
and said, “You can come with me. Crestfall resides here,”

Moon nodded and entered the tree, and was immediately shocked to see the
amount of life inside the hollow tree. A lot of people roamed the inside of the
tree, but Jekl motioned for Moon to follow her to a secluded spot. It had high
platforms and was completely separated from the rest of the tree, but
sometimes, Moon could see one or two people entering or exiting. Jekl
grabbed Moon’s shoulder and guided her inside, where another teenager,
maybe seventeen or eighteen, sat on a bench, talking to a young man with a
scar on his lip.

“Ultima,” Jekl barked. The girl dipped her head in response and told the young
man to wait.

“Who’s this?” The girl asked. Her tone was cold and disinterested, but Moon
could see the confusion coming off the girl in waves.

“This is, Moon, correct?”

Moon nodded and Jekl continued, “She comes from Windshear-Oceanbreeze.

Her Ultima sent her with me to get a few members of our pack for
reinforcements. Her Ultima thinks something is wrong, out by the border. Do
we have permission?”

“I’ll go myself,” The girl responded. “If her Ultima believes something is wrong,
she is most likely correct. I’ll take Lia, Cole, Charlie, and Silvie. You two, go
back there and help her. It wouldn’t be wise for her to take this on alone,”

“She’s not alone, Ultima. She had another girl with her,” Jekl said.
“Who? Lyorna?”

“No. Moon and I will leave now,”

Jekl and Moon ran back, which Moon realized wasn’t too far away. When they
got back, Cami was still in her defensive position of Tatiana, wrapping her
wings around her friend.

Cami turned around, and she snapped, “Helix. Come out,”

Moon heard the rustling and a man with somewhat tanned skin and graying
hair emerged from the trees.

“Now now, Cami. You’ve spoiled the fun!” Helix approached Cami and pulled
apart the feathers of her wings to reveal Tatiana’s face.

“Well, who’s this? She’s pretty. Would be such a shame if she got caught up
in all this,”

Tatiana spat at him and glared. Before this moment, Moon wouldn’t have
thought she was capable of hating anyone, but now, Moon saw that Tatiana
would attack Helix without a second thought if it were possible.

“Leave her alone,” Cami snarled. She lunged at him, abandoning Tatiana, but
he dodged to the side, and before Cami could get back to her, he grabbed
Tatiana by the throat.

“Don’t think about it,” Helix laughed. He had unsheathed his claws now, and
they dug slightly into Tatiana’s neck. Tatiana seemed to freeze completely,
her hand on the handle of her knife. Eventually she tried to move, but no
matter how much she tried to move forward, Helix was too strong, and his
claws slid against her neck, causing a little trickle of blood to come from it.
She clutched the knife until her knuckles stood out, then she raised it slightly,
and Helix grabbed her knife arm before she could bring it between his ribs.

“You too, sweetheart. You stab me, you die,” Helix looked down on Tatiana.

“Turn that pretty little feather of yours back into a bracelet, nothing else.
Alright?”

Tatiana gasped and nodded stiffly as the knife suddenly wrapped around her
wrist as a series of metallic red and black wires, plus a silver clasp. Moon felt
the fear course through her veins like molten glass as Helix slowly
approached her with Tatiana.

Chapter Forty Four

Tatiana’s eyes began welling up with tears as Helix made her approach her
friend with him. Moon stepped backwards, but stopped against a tree. Tatiana
watched as he grabbed her wrist with his strong hands. Moon twisted and try
as she seemed to, she couldn’t escape.
“Another of my apprentice’s friends?” Helix mocked. “Honestly. You two are
just about the weakest shifters I’ve ever seen,”

Moon screamed and kicked as Helix clasped her wrist. Tatiana could barely
breath at this point. His grip seemed to be tightening around her throat each
time Moon touched him.

“Silver!” Cami shouted from behind Tatiana. “Silver, stand down,” Tatiana
could tell it was Moon’s call sign that was being shouted out. It was a pretty
one. Tatiana shook her head internally. Where did that come from?

Moon immediately stopped fighting Helix, and Tatiana felt his grip loosen
enough so she could breathe again. Tatiana shook and cried as he finally let
go of Moon, but Moon was now sprawled on the earth, clutching her wrist with
blood running down her hands and soaking the ground beneath her. Helix
turned on Cami next, who had been watching, horrified. Cami folded her
wings and Tatiana noticed the tears flowing down Cami’s face. Helix
approached her and grabbed one of the wings gently. Cami didn’t move, but
instead looked up at him.

“Helix. Let her go. She’s done nothing,” Cami’s tone was firm and Helix
flinched, relaxing his grip on Tatiana a little more.

“I see you’ve been using what I’ve taught you,” Helix growled. “But I think I
won’t. Second she gets far away enough, you’ll all kill me,”

“I won’t,” Jekl growled. “Let her go,”

Moon said something similar, although laced greatly with pain and Cami did it
last. Helix let Tatiana go a few seconds later, but he tightened his grip as he
considered it. Tatiana fell forward into Cami’s arms as he let her go, and
Tatiana blacked out just as she felt Cami’s skin on her face. Tatiana woke up
a few moments later. Cami had sat on the cold earth, and Helix stared down
at her. Cami hugged Tatiana and kissed her on the forehead as Helix snarled.

“Now. Each of you! Don’t tell anyone you saw me. If you do, I’ll-” Helix started.

“Helix,” A stern and angry voice intoned. “You’re coming with us,”

Helix turned around, and Tatiana thought. The cavalry has arrived. She
laughed as one of the five turned into a horse sized dragon, and Cami looked
down at her, confused.

“Just thinking,” Tatiana whispered.

“Hush,”

“Mendez. I see you’ve brought more of your pack. No matter,”

“I said, you’re coming with us,”

“Never,” Helix snarled, and his cheerful but cold version of himself
disappeared, now replaced by a hostile force. He slashed at Mendez’s face,
and as her head turned to the side, she snarled and shifted into a large black
wolf with silvery wings, then tackled him to the ground, breathing heavily.

Helix twisted, obviously trying to shift, but Mendez slashed at his eyes, and
the amount of blood that poured from his face made Tatiana feel like she’d be
sick. Helix slashed back and cut Mendez’s nose. Cami leaned Tatiana against
a tree and shifted into her own wolf form as Helix finally shifted.

Helix slashed at both of them as Cami lept at him, and actually knocked
Mendez backwards into a tree, even with the size differences. The second
Mendez’s head struck the trunk, she collapsed and twisted strangely as her
eyes closed. Helix’s golden fur shone beneath the blood covering it, and as
Cami took him on, Tatiana noticed one of the other people who had come with
Mendez shift into a giant silvery gray lizard. The lizard girl went underneath
Helix and bit his back leg with sharp fangs. Helix yipped loudly and spun to
face the giant lizard, whose fangs now dripped with red and a forked tongue
flicked between her teeth. Jekl tackled Helix and pinned him down, then
shifted. As Helix struggled to break free, the other three shifted and lunged at
him, and Helix finally gave up. After this, everyone but Mendez and Jekl
shifted back. Mendez, because she was almost certainly unconscious, and
Jekl, because she clearly didn’t want to let Helix go. Tatiana’s vision was
blurry, she realized. She was tired too, and she realized that there was still
blood trickling from her neck. Not much, but she realized she started feeling
dizzy, and she drifted in an empty void for some time before coming to.

Tatiana woke up feeling cold and she felt something itchy against her face.
She felt someone else’s warmth on her, and she seemed to be moving, and
she realized she was being carried. She made a quiet noise, barely
perceptible, but the person carrying her stopped moving.

“Is that a sleep noise, or are you awake?” A familiar voice asked.

Tatiana opened her eyes, although she wasn’t motivated to do so, and she
saw Cami’s face. Cami kissed Tatiana on the forehead, or at least attempted
to. Tatiana mumbled and buried her face in Cami’s stomach as Cami started
walking again, and Tatiana was dimly aware of Cami wrapping her wings
around Tatiana.
Chapter Forty-Five

In Cami’s arms, Tatiana felt oddly light, even with how small she was, but
most of this extra weight was being carried in her wings, so it made sense.
Tatiana was cold, and there was still a steady trickle of blood running down
her neck, but it was slowing. Tatiana’s nose was pressed into Cami’s
stomach, and she could both feel and hear Tatiana’s level breathing.

Moon was close by, clutching her healing wrist. The blood had stopped two or
three hours ago, and it was apparent that it wasn’t broken or sprained,
although Moon still held it in her other hand.

Mendez was out cold as well. She was on Jekl’s back, leaning over her
shoulder. She’d shifted back about half an hour ago.

Tatiana twisted in Cami’s arms and rested her chin on Cami’s shoulder, her
eyes still closed. Cami’s wings had finally begun to tire, and she shifted
Tatiana to her back, then wrapped Tatiana’s arms around her neck and
shoulders.

“I’m cold, ha-ha,” Tatiana mumbled next to Cami’s ear. Cami moved Tatiana’s
legs to the side and spread her wings. She wrapped them over Tatiana’s back
and legs, then walked on with the group. Jekl was speaking somberly with Lia,
who had chosen to stay with them when the others had split off to take Helix
some other place. Lia would sometimes talk to Moon, and at other times,
Cami, but mostly, Jekl would ask her about her decision, her boyfriend, and
much more.

Lia walked up to Cami and smiled. “So, that’s your girlfriend?”

Cami was surprised and lowered her voice, “How do you know about that?”
“I can just tell what you’re feeling. You’re nervous, happy, and you were
whispering to her while she was out. Jekl and Moon could hear it,”

Cami blushed and said, “Tell Jekl to keep it to herself. Please,”

“I will. She knows how to keep things to herself,”

“Thank you, Lia. How’s Issac doing?”

“Worried out of his mind about me! He doesn’t want to see me hurt, and he
won’t be happy when he hears about what happened,”

Tatiana laughed about something random again, and Cami wasn’t sure what
had happened to her. It may have been the poison in Helix’s claws, or that
she was a little traumatized and this craziness was a coping mechanism. She
was just used as a human shield, hostage, and saw one of her closest friends
be attacked, and this was fresh in her mind, even though it had been five or
six hours, and it was almost dark out now. Cami seriously should call
Tatiana’s mom, actually. They were out of school for like two weeks for the
equinox holiday anyway, and Tatiana could stay with Olivia for some time.

“Cami?” Tatiana whispered, with a sudden urgency in her voice.

“Yes?”

“Where’s Helix?”

“We split into two groups. One took Helix, the other is going to my pack’s
camp, because that’s the nearest camp with a completely competent Salutari,”

“Why are you in this group?”

“Because you were out for a few hours and, I couldn’t hear your heartbeat for
like ten seconds, and Helix’s magic gifts were poison in his claws and fangs.
Plus, you passed out after he nearly strangled you, and we can’t go to a
human hospital,”

“Poison?” Tatiana’s voice had lost its seriousness and her word merged with
itself, almost unrecognizable. Cami touched her forehead for fever, because
Helix’s odd symptoms from the poison-like thing included insanity, a near
drunk-like, or hungover state once it reached the brain in a large enough
amount. Fever would almost definitely confirm it.

“Guys, we need to hurry up,” Cami shouted ahead.

“Call Lyorna, if you’re so concerned,” Moon shouted.

“She told me she was on a date with your cousin from four until eleven. The
sun is only barely down, and Lyorna won’t leave her date for no good reason,”

“Try anyways,” Moon suggested.

“Can you take Tatiana?” Cami asked.

“Sure,”

Moon easily plucked Tatiana off of Cami, and the second Cami had free use
of her limbs again, she called Lyorna.

“What’s up?” Lyorna answered.

“First, are you on speaker?”

“Yes, but um, Lizzie knows now,”

“Alright. Well, can she fly?”

“Yes. She’s like Luna, but she’s a different subspecies,”

“Bring her along. We need help, like right now,”

“Liz!” Lyorna called. “We’ve got to go!”

Cami could hear footsteps on Lyorna’s end, and she heard Lizzie’s voice.

“Lyorna, what’s up?”

“So, remember my cousin? Something happened, and she needs a little help.
Want to practice flying?”

Lyorna hung up after she figured out where everyone was, and Cami took
Tatiana again. Tatiana leaned forward, resting her chin on Cami’s shoulder,
and she mumbled something.

“What was that?” Cami asked.

“How long do we have to wait?”

“Maybe five minutes,” Cami responded.

Roughly three minutes later, Lyorna landed, with Lizzie really close behind.
Lizzie’s wings were of some kind of insect that Cami had never seen before,
and the red and pink stuck out in the darkness. Lizzie hugged Moon and they
spoke for some time as Lizzie examined Moon’s wings, and Moon did
likewise.

“What happened to Tatiana and Mendez?” Lyorna asked as she walked up to

Cami.
Tatiana laughed and slurred, “Hey, Lyorna,”

“Helix happened. But, good news, he didn’t get away!”

“Finally!” Lyorna stopped, “But, what did you need help with?”

Tatiana laughed again and realization dawned in Lyorna’s eyes.

“Poison?”

“Yeah. Tatiana’s a little like a toddler now, and Mendez wasn’t poisoned, but
she’s unconscious and we need to get both of them to my camp,”

“Alright. I’ll take you, Mendez, and Tatiana, and Lizzie and Luna combined
could probably take Jekl and Lia,”

“Alright. Should you and Lizzie rest first, or?”

“No. We only traveled thirty miles,”

“In three minutes? That’s Moon’s minimum time. Lizzie probably should rest
her wings, Lyorna,”

“Lizzie!” Lyorna called. “We leave in five minutes! You’re taking Jekl, ok?”

“Which one’s Jekl?”

Jekl and Lia quickly introduced themselves and shifted into two different large
lizards with conflicting scale colors. Jekl was a pure black, while Lia was
silvery gray, almost like the craters on the moon. Neither of them were at their
full size. Lia had five years to go until she reached hers, and Jekl, four years.
Both were about as long as a tall nine-year-old, and they climbed onto Moon
and Lizzie’s shoulders. Moon tested whether she could fly with Lia on her
back, and she was able to, although slower than Cami had ever seen her fly
before. Lizzie did the same as Jekl, and while she was able to go much faster,
she was weighed down, and Cami realized how hard this would be.

After a few minutes, Lyorna picked up Mendez, shifted after getting her on her
back, then kneeled and let Cami on while holding Tatiana.

Cami leaned as far forward as she could, and she said, “Lyorna, this won’t
work. We need something to keep them on,”

“I’ve always got some ropes on me, just in case I need to climb something,”
Lyorna offered. “It’ll be weird, but it’ll work,” Lyorna shifted back, and out of
her zipped up jacket pocket, she pulled out several long ropes, which Cami
didn’t question. Lyorna could be incredibly strange and was prepared for a lot.

They were maybe fifteen feet long each. She tied each end of one to
Mendez’s wrists, then again to her ankles, and Cami lifted Mendez onto
Lyorna, then secured the ropes in place.

“Can you breathe?” Cami asked. Lyorna dipped her head, slightly, in a nod,
then Cami repeated the process with Tatiana. Tatiana tensed her muscles
and tried to resist Cami for a few moments, but then relaxed and let Cami
finish. When she was done, Cami tripped, and she succumbed to the large
amount of pain in her leg and back for the first time in a while. She may have
healed faster than most, but the injuries were long lasting. The back injury still
had a few months before it healed, and the injury in her leg would take a few
more weeks.

She laid still for a while, until Moon helped her up and she went back up to
Lyorna. The second that Cami was sure that both were securely on Lyorna,
she hopped on behind Tatiana, and wrapped her arms around Tatiana
carefully.

After about five minutes of the wind biting at Cami’s eyes and Tatiana’s fearful
whimpers, they landed outside of Cami’s camp. As everyone got off, Cami cut
the ropes that kept Tatiana and Mendez fastened to Lyorna. Lyorna shifted
back the second both were safely off, and Cami picked up Tatiana again.

She rushed inside the actual boundary of her camp and ignored the fact that
she had entered her hybrid form as she rushed to the Salutari tree as fast as
she could. About two minutes later, Olivia had taken Tatiana onto one of the
wooden beds and gave her a simple food-based sedative made with cowslip
and thornapple.

As everyone else arrived, Olivia hushed each of them and was working on
getting the poison out.

“Everyone, out. Tatiana’s a priority right now. Leave Mendez on one of the
other beds, and I’ll get back to you when she’s out of that weird poison Helix
has,”

Cami nodded and turned with everyone else after Jekl left Mendez on a bed
near Tatiana, and she blinked back the tears as she prayed Tatiana would be
alright.

Chapter Forty-Six
Tatiana opened her eyes and the strange dizziness and emptiness she had
felt was gone, replaced by a sense of tranquility. Her right hand flew to her
wrist and throat. She didn’t want to have lost her necklace and feather. She
felt them, as well as something bumpy along the length of her neck. It felt like
scar tissue, and she realized that it was from that fox man’s claws. Olivia
came up to her a few minutes later with some kind of herbal tea, although the
flavors were a few plants Tatiana recognized, but the strongest of all of them
was some kind of bitter plant.

“It’s mostly lyorna. Stormmint,” Olivia clarified. “Alongside chamomile, and a

little cinnamon as an extra thing. There’s a little vanilla in there, in case you
haven’t noticed as well,”

Tatiana drank it quickly and rasped, “What happened while I was out?”

“I got Helix’s poison out of your bloodstream. You’re very lucky that his poison
wasn’t meant to kill, only to weaken. He clearly wanted to keep you
incapacitated while everyone else fought. Any idea why?”

Tatiana shrugged, and it hurt. She winced and Olivia looked at her strangely.

“You alright?”

“Just a sudden pain. I’ll be fine,”

“No. Is it originating in your neck? I think he did something to a nerve. I can’t

do anything about it. Neither can Viper. Most we can do is a painkiller,”

“Alright,” Tatiana rasped. “Can I talk to Cami?”

“Sure,”
Olivia left for a few minutes and returned with Cami, who was also holding a
cup of tea. Cami immediately set it to the side when she saw Tatiana and
hugged her. Cami was completely silent as she pulled Tatiana into the hug,
and Tatiana wondered why.

“Cami, you alright?” Tatiana asked.

“I missed you,” Cami whispered.

“What do you mean? How long was I out?”

“Two days,” Cami said. “We were considering taking you to the hospital if you
didn’t wake up in four, and all of this would take a lot of explaining to your
mom, so we came up with a story and hoped you’d wake up within four days,”

“What did you tell her?” Tatiana sighed.

“My mom wanted to take you, me, and a few of our friends to a place that we
actually do visit some days in the summer, but the problem was there wasn’t
any signal, and we’d be there for three days, then travel back on the fourth.
She let you ‘go’, and we’ve shut off your phone so it can’t be tracked. Just in
case,”

“Why would anyone track it?” Tatiana asked.

“Your mom, she doesn’t trust me that much, and she might track it to make
sure you’re safe,”

“Cami! She’s smarter than that,”

“I called her from my phone about a minute after I shut it off and said that your
phone had died, then she asked to see you, and I showed you, asleep on that
small bed. So we’re fine,”

“Why would you know it died?”

“I went to charge mine, that was my story. I said that the charger seemed to
have stopped working, so your phone died,”

“I see. I don’t see any other gaps. Did my mom say anything… odd?”

“No. She sighed and said you could stay the night, then let me take you on the
trip after I asked,”

Tatiana and Cami sat in silence, and Cami sat on the bed to Tatiana’s right,
then wrapped a wing around her shoulders. Tatiana may have been in a coma
or something for the past two days, but she was still exhausted and leaned on
Cami’s shoulder and yawned.

Cami moved Tatiana closer, and Tatiana closed her eyes and fell asleep. She
opened them a few hours later to find she was laying down on the hard bed
and a blanket was pulled over her shoulders. She felt a few of Cami’s feathers
brush against her skin as she sat up, and as she pulled the blanket, she
realized that Cami had shed some of her feathers, and a lot of fur while she
sat with Tatiana. Most likely it was stress, but Tatiana was a little worried.

Olivia walked up to Tatiana maybe fifteen minutes later with a bowl of some
kind of soup. Tatiana took it when it was handed to her, and she realized how
hungry she was after she finished it.
Olivia gave Tatiana a book afterwards, and Tatiana opened it and read it. It
was a little boring, so it took her slower than normal to read. It was about five
hundred pages. She could typically read that in an hour and half at the most.

A few hours later, Tatiana fell asleep again. Reading made her tired anyways.
Tatiana woke up again and Cami was shaking her shoulder as she did.

“Hey,” Cami said. “How are you?”

Tatiana sat up and yawned.

She was still exhausted, but as Cami touched her cheek, she pushed it aside
and ignored the fact that she was fighting to keep her eyes open. Cami helped
her stand up without hearing the answer, and Tatiana realized that she had
absolutely no idea where she was. She fell the moment Cami let her go.

Cami helped her back up, then said, “Well, you haven’t walked in four days. I’ll
help you until you get home,”

“Four days?”

“Yeah. You kinda kept blacking out, but you seemed to be healing faster, so
we let you. The cuts on your neck are barely noticeable unless you look for
them now. They may never fully heal, but at least no one will have to know,”

Tatiana nodded and winced.

“Still hurts? Olivia can try to heal it in a few weeks, but she has a limit, and
you might not fully heal, but it would speed up the process,”

“Where are we, Cami?”

“The place my mom said ‘she’d’ take us to. Lyorna and Xoya are here too,
and we leave in about five hours. I’d recommend that you take the time to take
care of yourself, and we’ll do the rest, alright?”

Tatiana nodded, and after she figured out how to walk again and ate a little,
she asked Cami where the bathroom was and grabbed a brush and hair tie.
When she looked in the mirror she saw the thin lines of claw marks on her
throat, and.

She realized that her thick hair was also curling again without her
straightening it every few days, and it was all tangled together because she
hadn’t brushed it. She quickly took care of the tangles and took a very short
shower, then while she dried, she changed into her old clothes again and tied
her damp hair into a messy ponytail. The second she walked out of the
bathroom, she was greeted by Lyorna, who was wearing glasses for some
reason.

“Hey Tatiana!” Lyorna said.

“Where are those glasses from?”

“Oh. I’ve been wearing contacts, but I ran out of them, so I’m wearing glasses
until I can get more,”

“Ah,” Tatiana nodded and Lyorna left her alone. Tatiana walked into a large
central room, and saw a flicker of luminescent white fur out of the corner of
her eye after a few minutes, and when she turned to look at it, she thought
she saw a white wolf with beautiful, shining, light blue eyes that looked like
two sapphires buried in the snow, but she blinked and it vanished.

Even so, she could still hear breathing from something else in the room, and
occasionally, Tatiana would hear pawsteps, slowly getting closer. Tatiana’s
heart pounded as the steps grew ever closer, and try as she might, she
couldn’t move.

She morphed the feather into a dagger and held it close, just in case the wolf
jumped on her. Tatiana had only felt this great fear the night she’d found the
feather, but this, this wasn’t cold, it was what she couldn’t see. For a moment,
she saw the glowing wolf again, looking at her from the shadows, but as it
stepped into a shaft of light that came through the window, it disappeared and

Tatiana turned around and backed into a dark corner of the room. She wanted
as little of a blind spot as possible, and it had become clear that the wolf only
appeared in the darkness. She heard a cold voice echo through the room. It
wasn’t necessarily cold, but it wasn’t that warm either, and it wasn’t like any
voice Tatiana had ever heard.

It was a series of clicking, barking, and heavy breathing, all arranged to make
sounds that actually made sense in Tatiana’s mind.

“Don’t try to fight,” the voice laughed. “I’m not going to hurt you. Put your
pretty little feather away,”

“No,” Tatiana narrowed her eyes, and she saw a bright furred wolf with
glowing eyes, but only barely. As she watched, it got closer, and she followed
it as it did.

“You can see me without me letting you? Even then, most still can’t see me,”
The wolf asked. “Interesting. I haven’t met anything like you in a long time.
Could you be half god? Or elf? You aren’t a deity or full elf, I can tell that,”

“Go away,” Tatiana enunciated.

“Fine. But I’ve come to warn you, about the others. Especially the Ram. The
Ram, and the Owl. They’re after you. All of us are interested in you and your
friends. You all possess qualities not seen in generations, and certainly never
been in the same room together, but you especially. We heard how you stood
against a certain deity in the form of another. You should be dead, even if he
was holding back,”

Tatiana was tired of hearing this explanation.

She just wanted to go home, and she shouted “Go away!”

“Fine. I’ll be watching you. If the Ram or Owl come after you, call me?”

“Who are you?”

“The Moon. Of course. You probably know me as Mekora, however,”

Tatiana threw the knife at this wolf claiming to be Mekora, and it disappeared
a moment before the blade pierced its fur. Her knife returned to her as a
feather, and she morphed it back to her bracelet.

Cami ran into the room as Tatiana’s breathing slowed, and Tatiana fell
forward as her adrenaline left her, onto her knees, and she heard Cami’s
footsteps as she hit the floor. She kept her eyes open, she barely had the
strength to close them, and large amounts of cold seeped through her bones.

The second that she felt Cami’s hand on her skin, she felt the heat leave, and
she shivered slightly. Cami turned her over and Tatiana broke into a sweat the
second the light hit her eyes. Cami stroked Tatiana’s cheek with her tail as
she raised Tatiana’s head, which sent a shiver through her spine, and Cami
propped her against the wall.
“What happened?” Cami asked.

Tatiana tried to make a word, any word, but she couldn’t make a sound
beyond a strangled gasp. She wasn’t sure why, but as Cami picked her up,
she saw the wolf, one more time, its glowing blue eyes peeking out at her
from the shadows, before Cami’s wings wrapped over her eyes, and it
became darker, with only a few shafts of light poking through the feathers.

Cami sat Tatiana on the couch and went away for a moment, then went and
gave her some kind of juice that Tatiana didn’t recognize, then opened her
mouth, put it in, and helped her to swallow it. It was cool and sweet, but at the
same time, it was a little sour, like a sour patch kid.

A little of her strength returned, and she whispered, “Mekora,” She collapsed
to her side again, and Cami propped her against the back of the couch, which
kept her up, but she couldn’t keep herself up on her own.

“What do you mean?” Cami asked.

“Tell me about the Ram,” Tatiana whispered.

“Lyrdria? The Ram? Why?”

“Please,”

Cami nodded, “The Ram. Her birth name Lyrdria. She is the greatest enemy
of Mekora. Not only is she the goddess of the sky, but the goddess of sheep,
goats, and the mountain. She, like most deities, has the ability of mind control
and possession, but hers is stronger than all of them. The goddess was also
the most powerful of all, more powerful than the Phoenix and Mekora
combined, but she is not often mentioned on her own, mostly in battles
against Mekora. Why do you want to know?” The wolf appeared near Cami,
and made a motion like it was rolling its eyes.

“Please. Those stories are highly exaggerated, and Ram’s my older sister. Of
course she’s stronger, and of course we fight,” Mekora closed her eyes and
disappeared from Tatiana’s view.

“Mekora said,” Tatiana whispered after Mekora spoke. Cami still looked
confused.

“What do you mean?” Cami asked.

Tatiana saw the blue eyes and glowing white fur of the wolf again and said,
“Look behind you,”

Cami turned her head, laying her gaze on the wolf, and then turned back to
Tatiana and said, “There’s nothing there,”

The wolf barked and turned into a tall woman, seemingly of Asian descent, but
still with that glowing white hair.

The woman’s eyes were changed from the deep blue of the wolf’s to a cold
silvery color hinted with pale blue, and she sat down and crossed her legs.

“I’d hoped that she’d see me, if you could,” The woman whispered. “I guess
not,”

Tatiana watched as the woman shifted back and leaped at Cami, but she just
passed through Cami, as though nothing more than a gust of wind traveling
through a window. The wolf snarled at Tatiana, and Tatiana tucked her knees
close to her chest within the paralyzing fear.
The wolf soared over Tatiana, however, and Tatiana heard it grappling with
something behind her. Tatiana couldn’t turn her head without feeling pain that
shook her to her core, so she twisted her entire body to see the wolf snapping
at a large mass of tawny feathers that was inches above where Tatiana’s
head was a moment ago. The wolf seemed to be floating, and Tatiana
realized how insubstantial both the feathers and the wolf were.

The owl, for that was what Tatiana realized what it was, reached out with its
claws at her face, and got her cheek, leaving a fresh cut that soaked the collar
of Tatiana’s shirt with blood. The wolf thankfully tackled the owl to the side
before it could do much else, but it made the cut longer than before,
increasing the blood leaking out of it.

The owl cut at the wolf’s eyes, and got her left eye, leaving a long cut that
trailed from right above where the eyebrow would be on a human, all the way
down to where the cheek would roughly be.

Underneath the eye, the second claw joined in, and made a dual cut. The wolf
wasn’t fazed in the slightest, and Tatiana knew that if it were a normal wolf, it
would be half blinded by now, and bleeding a lot heavier than it was. A few
seconds after this cut was made, the wolf tore off the owl’s head with its jaws,
dropped the head, and the entire body began to disappear, even the blood.
But not the cuts on the wolf, and Tatiana’s cut didn’t either.

“He’ll be back. You aren’t safe,” The wolf snarled, showing its bloodstained
teeth. Tatiana turned back to Cami, and Cami looked at the blood flooding
from the cut with wide eyes.

“What happened?” Cami asked.

“A long story involving Mekora and an owl,” Tatiana whispered back.

Mekora walked up to Cami and pressed her nose against her hand, and Cami
recoiled as though she felt it, and a little of the blood leaking out of the cut on
her eye landed on Cami’s skin.

She flared her wings and hit Mekora square on the nose with them, and
Mekora backed away. Cami wiped the blood on the feathers of her wing, and
her eyes widened as she registered what had happened. Tatiana wondered
how Cami couldn’t feel Mekora passing through her moments earlier, but she
decided not to dwell. It was probably just selective.

“Relkoi, Mekora,” Cami whispered.

Mekora dipped her head in response, then asked, “You can feel me?”

Tatiana relayed the question to Cami, and Cami nodded.

Mekora stuck close to Tatiana after this brief exchange, and Tatiana
wondered what could have caused this, Mekora acting as a guard dog.

“Why?” Tatiana asked.

“Skywolves and stormwolves are common hosts, and you, whatever you are,
can see us. We’re almost desperate. Not me of course, but the others, we
haven’t had any contact with non-spirits in so long, that possession is our only
way to contact. You are friends with more skywolves and stormwolves than
we thought possible, as they are so rare, but the others, they want to use you
to get them to willingly give themselves up. Other than the skywolves in
France, there are very few skywolves and stormwolves out of those four
towns, and your friends are the strongest, so I’ll watch you, until we can undo
the curses and return to the normal world,”

“What curses?”
“We, us deities, many of us are trapped in this strange world of shadows and
inversion. I’d show you, but possession is almost impossible to rid yourself of.
So I’ll tell you what I see instead,”

Mekora took a breath, although it may have just been an old habit to look
more human.

“I can see who is and isn’t any magical person. You, you’re the first one I’ve
seen in decades with glowing eyes your color. Dark, with blue, green, and
white flecks. It’s been so long, I don’t remember what the last one I met was.
Your friend, her eyes are gold and blue flecked, plus green. Skywolf colors. All
people I see, they look scary, even for me. It would be terrifying for you if you
were stuck here. Everything is dark here, and human’s eyes are white. It’s
scary, I don’t want to be here any longer, I don’t want to be here any longer, I
don’t want to be here, let me out!”

That last shout sounded like her voice was distorting, and she reached
towards Tatiana. Tatiana recoiled and moved away, then morphed the feather
into her knife and stabbed at Mekora. Mekora snarled when the knife made
contact, but she kept her distance afterwards.

“Sorry,” she spat a few minutes later, “That was strange. Never happened
before,”

“When was the last time you were in contact with anyone?”

“Non-deity? Oh, centuries. Last person I came into contact with, she was, or
is, I don’t know if she’s still alive, she was an elf. Not a true elf. None of them
ever came here. Phoenix made sure of that,”

“What’s a true elf?” Tatiana asked.

Cami and Mekora began talking at the same time, with two wildly different
stories, Cami’s showed them as eternal, unable to die, ever, and Mekora
displayed them as kind, and while they were hard to kill, they could still die,
but it required an entire hell full of fire.

They could freeze to death, or be poisoned and die, or suffocate, but it still
required a lot, the freezing, required the vacuum of space, poison, required
too much to exist on the planet. A few seconds after starting to talk, Mekora
stopped and let Cami speak.

“They were beautiful, and said to have aided the gods in the creation of the
world,”

Cami paused, as though letting Mekora speak for a bit, whether to confirm this
even without hearing it, and Mekora said, “They came over with us, but much
of what they did helped create the plants and fish. We did pretty much
everything else. We made whatever you call it, the thing where creatures
change over the years, with their creations, and the rest you probably know,
or at least theorize about,”

Tatiana confirmed when Mekora had stopped talking, and Cami continued,
“Each account wildly varies, and the last heard tale of one was in Europe in
1066. It’s believed that the viking berserker who allegedly held one bridge was
a child of a true elf,”

Mekora shifted back and rolled her eyes, “Not at all. He was a dragon-shifter,
and almost certainly was in some way blessed by those weak viking gods.
Damn, I haven’t seen Freya in years. I should go and check on her,”

Tatiana was about to ask, but decided to not want to know, and Cami said,
“They were called the ‘Servants of the Gods’, but no one is left to confirm or
deny this story,”
Mekora looked puzzled, “I’ve never heard that before. Tell me, how long ago
was the 1500s?”

“Five hundred years,” Tatiana replied after Cami decided to leave.

“Five, five hundred?” Mekora repeated.

“Yes. Five hundred. Things may have changed,”

Mekora nodded and said, “You are correct. I need to leave, now. I’ll return,
eventually. Not here, of course. I’ll find you, however,”

Mekora turned and went through the wall, and for a few moments, Tatiana
could see a white wolf darting through the forest, before it disappeared from
her sight in a pinprick of white.

Cami returned with Lyorna and Lyorna grabbed Tatiana tightly when Cami
explained the situation.

“Let’s hope you get better by the time you get home,” Lyorna said. “Seeing
gods. Getting attacked by them. Honestly, why now?”

Tatiana nodded and let Lyorna carry her out to the car she recognized as
Xoya’s.

“Cami and Xoya’s mom doesn’t have a car anymore, so Xoya agrees to take
us out here with their car, so long as our- their mom recognizes their pronouns
and identity, rather than what they were forced with at birth. Winter comes too,
mostly because Xoya’s her guide, when her guide dog isn’t able to go
somewhere,”

“Alright,”
Cami limped up to Lyorna, not even trying to hide her limp as she normally
did, and Tatiana realized how bad she was hurting whenever she was
walking.

Lyorna set Tatiana in the backseat of Xoya’s car, and Cami’s mom waved at
her from the driver’s seat. Tatiana put her seatbelt on and Cami sat next to
her, then kissed her on the forehead the second her mom looked away.
Cami’s mom began driving the second Xoya had helped Winter into the front
row and everyone else had sat down.

Winter leaned onto Xoya’s shoulder and Xoya kissed her on the forehead, and
Tatiana looked away, towards Cami, but they couldn’t exactly do what Xoya
and Winter were doing, because Cami’s brother was right next to them.
Tatiana didn’t remember his name, but she didn’t need to, because he didn’t
seem interested in talking to her or Cami at the moment. He was reading a
very thick book, and the cover, Tatiana recognized.

“I didn’t know you liked The Rope!” Tatiana said.

Cami’s brother looked up and asked, “You too?” He sighed and laughed, “First
I find out my sister likes it, now one of her friends,”

“I was the one who introduced her to it,” Tatiana remarked.

“How long have you been reading it?” He asked.

“Six years. Since I was eight. Complete accident when I got it, but I liked it and
my mom’s been looking for the second and third book since I finished the
first,”

“They were banned in our towns. Something about the new characters being
too diverse and acting like the insane side of characters from A Song of Ice
and Fire. Can’t get them on Amazon, you have to physically travel outside of
Bluepoint, or Laewaes, or wherever you live to get a copy, because they don’t
sell them online anymore due to too many shipping accidents in which the
books ended up with really young children, which is obviously a bad thing,”

Tatiana nodded.

“I can get you the books if you want,” Cami interjected. “My mom can fly
somewhere and get them really easily,”

Tatiana smiled and thanked Cami, who blushed a little and leaned forward
and her lips touched Tatiana’s forehead a little too hard. Not in a kiss, but
because the car had suddenly lurched to the left as Lyorna shouted
something, and Cami’s brother had fallen onto Cami’s back, and the book
seemed to be digging into her skin now.

“Airien!” Xoya called. “What happened?”

“Johnath- Xoya, is everyone alright? Someone hit us,” Cami’s mom replied.

“Call the authorities?” Lyorna asked.

Tatiana looked around and saw the faint amount of smoke coming from
outside, and a very small dent in the row Xoya and Winter sat in. Winter had
fallen on top of Xoya, and Xoya had taken off both their seatbelts while trying
to help Winter find a handhold to get up.

“Are they alive?” Tatiana whispered.

“I think so,” Lyorna said after opening the window over at shotgun, then
coughed and covered her nose, “They smell like alcohol and weed. I think
they were high or drunk. Most likely both,”
“Okay, we’re calling someone,” Xoya said and pulled out their phone after
helping Winter up.

Lyorna and Airien left the car to go assess the damage, leaving the other five
quiet. Cami pushed her brother off her back, and the heavy book fell on the
ground behind her as she did. She flared her wings for a moment after she
took her jacket off and her brother got out of the way, and she revealed the
black tank top she was wearing, then folded her wings behind her again. She
put the jacket back on and she helped Tatiana stand up.

“If we’re stuck here, we may as well go walking,” she remarked when Tatiana
looked at her strangely.

Tatiana nodded in response, and as the pair stepped outside, hand in hand,
Tatiana was immediately relieved by how she could walk, even though it was
hard because of a very new, slight weakness in her left knee.

For a moment, Tatiana saw a flash of white fur in between the trees, and she
saw a lot of black and gray fur behind it. She knew Mekora was the white fur,
she could see it in the little glow coming from the white fur, but she didn’t
know what the darker furs were from. Cami’s hand tightened over Tatiana’s,
and Tatiana realized that Cami could see parts of the fur too.

Cami let go of Tatiana’s hand and snarled, a deep rumbling noise that Tatiana
rarely heard, and tended to differ depending on the situation. The seconds
that followed had so much movement, that Tatiana could barely keep up with
what was happening.

All she saw was a flurry of blue fur and golden feathers as Cami shifted, and
her clothes melted into her skin. Cami leapt over the wreck of the other car,
then ran into the woods, and Tatiana heard the wounded cry of some kind of
animal she had never heard before. It was horrible, and it sounded more
human than even Cami when she growled.

Tatiana watched as Cami emerged from the forest, scratching and biting
some big oval creature. It had white freckles on its dark fur, and gray stripes
along its back, plus a large part in the fur on its belly, where Tatiana could see
skin, with some kind of thin break in that that looked like a scar. Tatiana saw a
few scars on its muzzle as well, and as Cami fought the creature, they both
began bleeding heavily as they took heavy blows on each other.

The pair shifted at the same time, in sync, and Tatiana realized that the oval
thing might be the same as Mekora. Cami was bleeding as heavily as the oval
creature in its human form was at this point, and Tatiana saw Mekora slowly
approach the pair. The oval creature had turned into a beautiful young
woman, maybe in her early twenties, with silver hair, streaked with black
darker than the feather that Tatiana had seen one of Lyorna’s friend shed. It
was about as dark as the black in her bracelet, sucking out some of the light
from the air around it.

Her skin was similar to Tatiana’s own skin tone, olive, but the woman had a
slight glow to her skin, like someone had covered her in moonlight. The
woman had many scars, and Tatiana realized that Cami had many scars as
she took off her jacket, and the pair circled each other.

Tatiana decided to morph her feather into a bow and arrow and shot it before
either could advance on the other, and both stopped. The woman and Cami
looked at Tatiana, and as they did so, Mekora tackled Cami and snarled in her
face.

“Don’t attack my daughter,” Mekora growled. Cami looked scared, and

Tatiana figured she still couldn’t see Mekora.
“She can’t see you,” Tatiana and the woman said at the same time.

The woman continued, “Only me,”

“She is lucky she didn’t know you were my daughter,” Mekora spat in wolf
tongue, even though Tatiana only caught part of it, “Or I would have killed her
right as she attacked you,”

Tatiana slowly approached Mekora and waved. “Can you let my girlfriend go?
Please?”

Mekora snarled and said, “Make her swear that she won’t attack my
daughter,”

Tatiana nodded and kneeled next to Cami, who had been flailing around as
she tried to push the mass of fur that she couldn’t see off of her.

“Hon. It’s Mekora. She wants you to promise you won’t attack…” Tatiana
looked at the woman.

“I don’t have to tell you anything,” the woman snarled.

Mekora shot the woman a glare, and the woman rolled her eyes, then said,
“Fine. I’m Tanyr,”

“She wants you to promise you won’t attack Tawn-yer,” Tatiana said,
mimicking the pronunciation.

“Fine. FINE!” Cami snarled. “Let me go,”

Mekora got off of Cami, and Tatiana could see the dried blood that stained her
fur, alongside Cami’s blood, of which Cami was almost completely covered.
The blood had mixed with dust, giving it a strange powdery look beneath the
dusty web. The second Mekora got off Cami, she shifted into her human form,
punched Cami in the nose, and walked over to Tanyr, where she proceeded
to scold Tanyr in wolf tongue.

Tatiana only caught a few phrases, but judging by Tanyr’s expression, it

wasn’t good

“And why didn’t you tell me about the fight you started?”

“MOTHER! That’s the entire point! When you start a fight, you don’t typically
tell people,” Tanyr responded; in English, Tatiana noted.

“That’s no excuse. Does your aunt know?”

Tanyr looked away and shook her head.

“She knows. I assume she’s proud. Her, you, and I are going to have a little
talk when we get home,”

“HOME HASN’T EXISTED, FOR DECADES!” Tanyr snarled, and she shifted,
then tackled Mekora.

“If that’s the way you want to play it, let’s go,” Mekora growled, in English as
well. Mekora shifted into a large wolf, which at first Tatiana thought was a
normal one, but then she saw it was humanoid as it stood up and knocked
Tanyr off, and the form looked like the werewolves in some really old movies.

It snarled, and Tanyr backed away, then shifted into her hybrid form. Her ears
were pinned so close to her skull that it looked like they were part of her hair
as she growled and shifted into a similar form.
Cami looked confused, so Tatiana decided to describe what she saw.

“And Tanyr, she’s walking up to Mekora. Mekora’s snarling, and-” Tatiana

winced as she saw Mekora and Tanyr break into a short brawl, then the
moment they broke away, Tatiana saw how battered the young woman was.

“Fine,” Tanyr spat. “You win,”

Mekora shifted back into the normal-ish wolf, and Tanyr walked up to Cami
and apologized.

“I’m sorry for attacking you a while back. I trust you’ve healed?”

Tatiana’s eyes widened when she heard this, and whispered, “Why didn’t you
tell me about this?”

“It’s a normal day in the life of a shifter in the packs, Tati,” Cami whispered
back. “You kinda get used to attacking and being attacked that you stop telling
people,” Cami turned her attention to Tanyr, and said, “You’ve left a deep scar
from my stomach, across my back, to the back of my neck. But otherwise, I’ve
healed. You should be more worried about how you got beat up by your
mom,”

Tanyr rolled her eyes, shifted, and ran off into the forest, Mekora close behind.

Lyorna walked up to them and asked, “Who were you fighting, Cami? Who
was that?”

“Mekora’s daughter,” Tatiana supplied.

“You’re serious?” Lyorna asked. Tatiana nodded and let Cami explain.
“She said her name was Tanyr, and she attacked me a while back, so I went
after her, as is my right,”

“Cami, that sounds evil,” Tatiana whispered.

“It’s a shifter thing. If one is attacked for what seems to be no reason, the next
time the attacker sees the attacked, the attacked has the right to attack in
exchange,” Lyorna replied.

Tatiana raised an eyebrow, “Never heard Ashley mention it,”

“It’s unspoken, and most shifters don’t acknowledge this rule in front of
humans. It’s seen as rude and violent, for obvious reasons,” Cami explained.

Lyorna yawned and said, “Well, Cami, we’ve called the authorities, and an
ambulance to get the guy that hit us. We’re lucky that no one got hurt, but I’d
recommend that you, both of you, wash off the blood,”

“How?” Tatiana asked.

“This is the precise reason why I bring a cooler of water on roadtrips, Cami,”
Lyorna laughed. “You never know,”

Tatiana and Cami exchanged a look as Lyorna turned around. She really was
prepared for everything.

Lyorna left for a few minutes, then came back lugging the biggest cooler
Tatiana had ever seen. It was more like a bathtub with a lid on it, and Lyorna
splashed both of them with a torrent of water.

It got rid of the blood, but now Tatiana was cold and wet, and unlike Cami, she
couldn’t shift and shake the water off herself. Cami did exactly that a moment
later, and when she shifted back, the only evidence that she had been
covered with blood was the dark stains on her now wet, black tank top, and
her skin had completely dried, although her clothes and hair hadn’t.

Cami smiled at Tatiana, displaying her little fang-like canines and she looked
behind her for a second, then kissed her. It was brief, but Tatiana didn’t mind.
The trio walked back to Xoya’s van, and Lyorna handed Tatiana and Cami two
gray towels. Tatiana toyed with her necklace as the pair dried as much as
possible in ten minutes, then when they went into the car, they got the front
row to themselves this time.

Tatiana ended up falling asleep on Cami’s shoulder after the authorities

arrived and sorted things out, then let them go after confirming the minimal
damage of their own car. Tatiana couldn’t help it however.

The soft thrum of a car as it moved along the highway always made her tired,
and they had several hours to go, so she ended up falling asleep faster than
the fight between Cami and Tanyr ended.

Chapter Forty-Seven

Tatiana’s eyes fluttered open as Cami looked down at her with a small smile.
Cami’s heart fluttered as Tatiana’s hand brushed against her own, and she
longed to kiss her in that moment.
Should I tell her, or you? Xoya laughed inside of Cami’s head.

Stay out of my head right now, Xoya. Cami thought. She knows my feelings.
You know why I can’t kiss her.

Just sayin’. But I’ll leave.

Cami looked back at Tatiana, who had fallen asleep in her lap again, and she
smiled again.

Aw. Cute dream. Xoya whispered into Cami’s mind after a little time.

What are you talking about? This is really invasive, you know.

She really loves you, you know. You’re the main subj-. Oh dear lord, that
got dark quick.

What do you mean? What’s going on?

Her dream’s really weirdly vivid. I’ve never seen that in anyone’s mind. I
think she has prophetic abilities. Has she ever expressed knowledge
she shouldn’t have?

No. Well, when she found out, she said, ‘I wish I had listened to my dream,’ I
think, but I barely remember. But that’s about it.

Well. I think she may. Don’t tell her. Not yet.

What’s happening? In the dream I mean?

I can’t tell you. I can’t. It’s too much for me to understand.

Tell me. Cami’s eyes flashed gold for a moment, but it had no effect on Xoya.
Xoya wasn’t in her pack. Xoya shoved Cami out of their mind, and it felt like
she had been punched through a doorway on the nose, then the door was
closed in her face. She winced at the feeling and Tatiana seemed to stir briefly
and cried a little.

What is going on in her dream? Cami wondered. She shifted into her hybrid
form and wrapped her tail around Tatiana to try to calm her with the extra
heat. She briefly felt the ring of scar tissue around Tatiana’s neck with her
hand, but she realized that it hurt Tatiana as she touched it, so she left it
alone.

Tatiana’s heart rate increased, a beat not unlike a migraine, and it was giving
Cami a small headache herself, and she wondered if Corey, or anyone else
heard it too. Tatiana opened her eyes, gasping for breath, and Cami realized
that Tatiana had stopped breathing a few moments before she opened her
eyes.

“You alright?”

“No,” Tatiana gasped.

“What happened?”

“Some dream. I need to stop it. I need to stop it,”

“Stop what?”

“I can’t tell you,”

“Please,”
“I can’t. I need to find some way to prevent it first,”

“Prevent what?”

“Someone in this car, someone in this car dies, and someone else in this car
kills them. I can’t say any more,”

There was a collective gasp at this information, not so much collective, but
Lyorna, Airien, and Cami at the same time. Corey and Winter were asleep,
and Xoya, Xoya must have already known.

Cami looked back at Xoya, who nodded in confirmation, incredibly slowly, and
Tatiana growled, “Don’t tell her what happens,”

Xoya raised their hands and said, “Wasn’t going to. I don’t want anything to
happen. I’ll help you,”

“Xoya, hon, what are they talking about?” Winter asked quietly. She seemed
to have just woken up.

“Nothing. Nothing at all,” Xoya whispered. “We’ve got a small problem, but it’s
fine,”

“Oh. Alright,”

A heavy silence swept through the car after that exchange, no one would
speak, knowing one person in this car was a killer, or going to be a killer, and
another would die.
Chapter Forty-Eight

Mercy and Skylar looked at each other when the doorbell rang. Mercy went
over to the door, assuming it was Hunter, or someone else, and she wasn’t
sure who the person who stood there was when she opened the door. She
knew she had seen the young girl before, but she didn’t look familiar. Then
she remembered, the new recruit. Marina. Marina was decked out in flexible
gym clothes, and Skylar came up to them.

“Who’s this?” Skylar asked.

“Oh, hi, I’m Marina. Your partner? I’m assuming, she’s offered to teach me
parkour,”

“I know what she does outside of her job, Marina,” Skylar said.

Marina raised an eyebrow at Mercy, and Mercy lied, “She found out a few
months after I started, she found the gun they gave me, and I had to explain,”

Marina nodded slowly, “Right. Onto the learning?”

“Right. Skylar, you know what to do if she falls, right?”

Skylar nodded, and Mercy led Marina to the yard, where the equipment was
already set up.

“We’ll start with something basic. Jump off that block there, and do you know
how to do a safety roll?”

Marina shook her head, and Mercy demonstrated on the ground, before
explaining what to do.
“You roll diagonally, from your shoulder blade to the opposite hip. You don’t
want to roll on your spine while you fall, for what I think are obvious reasons,
because you can get hurt badly. Now, watch me closely, and try to do what I
do,”

Mercy twisted, rolled forward, starting with her shoulder, and when she got
back up, Marina mimicked it, and did a pretty good job for a first timer,
although she did roll forward onto her spine.

“I’ll show you again,” Mercy said. Mercy repeated the movement, and Marina
mimicked it again. Marina did better, and Mercy had her repeat until she got it
correct. Marina finally did it right, and Mercy had her do it quicker and quicker,
then had her do it from the top of the block, and put it in her muscle memory
by surprising her from the top of the lowest block. Marina broke into the roll
almost immediately, and she did it correctly, even with the surprise.

“Alright. It’s getting dark, I assume you need to get home?"

Marina looked away and her shoulders shook slightly as she responded with a
short, “No,”

“What do you mean?”

“My parents were turned recently. I haven’t been back since. They say they
still love me, but they attacked me. I can’t trust them anymore,”

“Marina, I know that feeling. My dad was turned a few years after I joined.
They were after me, because I had killed the leader of another pack, but they
return to normal in the end. Please, don’t tell anyone I said this,”

Mercy’s father wasn’t really turned, it was her, but she still was the same, still
human. The young girl needed to understand this.
“What do you mean you killed a pack leader? I thought we weren’t meant to
kill, just turn them back to themselves,”

“That's a lie. You can still go back. Go home. Don’t get caught up in this, or
they might make you kill your entire family and then leave you to be the only
one left to bury them,”

“I can’t. I’m doing this as a favor for a friend,”

“Alright. There’s another way. There’s a very small faction within the group
that disagrees with this murder. We, we’ve tried so many times to stop the
murder of these shifters, so that we can learn instead, and together, we could
even find a way to undo the process of being turned into one of them, but we
always get outvoted. Of course, it’s mostly a dictatorship, the group, but
sometimes we put ideas to vote. It never works,”

“I’ll join,” Marina responded. “I, I don’t want to kill. I’m only fourteen,
goddamnit,”

“That hasn’t stopped people before, but okay. I’ll take you to the meeting
tomorrow. If you still like it, I’ll add you to the group chat,”

Marina nodded and Mercy continued, “Go home. I’m sure your parents are
worried about you,”

Marina turned after she started walking and said, “When’s the next training
session?”

“Three days. I’ll see you tomorrow. Meet me here at noon,”

Marina left, and Mercy went back inside when she was sure that she had left
and wouldn’t see the reflection off her eyes.
Skylar hugged Mercy as she walked in, and said, “Poor girl. She shouldn’t
have to do this,”

“She can help me take them down. Can you call the Ultima who turned me? I
need to ask her something,”

Chapter Forty-Nine

Lyorna’s ear twitched the moment that she heard the roar. She’d stepped out
of the car about an hour ago, but someone was calling her to them. She rolled
her eyes, and instead of going to Lizzie’s and watching a movie with her, like
she’d planned, she called her and explained the reason, then flew into the air
and toward the roar’s source.

The moment she landed, about five seconds later, she was in someone’s
backyard, and there was a huge bear and a woman next to it.

She recognized both of these people, and she growled, “I was going to watch
a movie with my girlfriend. This better be important,”

The bear turned back into a woman, and she said, “I have an idea, one to stop
the hunters from killing every shifter, and one to unify humans and all shifters
again,”

“What is it?”

“There’s a faction, an incredibly small one, maybe four members, five if all
goes well, and this faction is of the hunters. If you can bring a few
representatives of the packs, preferably at least one for every pack, and at
least one for those who live alone. If we can do this, we can plan to undo all of
this mindless murder, at least in these four towns,”

“Alright. We can’t represent Ivy Hills, unless you count my girlfriend, who by
the way, is a loner. Ivy Hills packs merged, and it’s led by my sister, but the
problem is, she killed someone close to me, so I don’t have contact with her.
Also, tomorrow is the equinox, shifters get together in order to discuss the
future, just so you know. I’m available until five tomorrow, then we go until one
and then home,”

“That works. The group meets up once a week, and we happen to have a
meeting tomorrow. Invite us, maybe?”

“Never had humans that weren’t related to shifters come before, but I’ll try,”

“Thank you, mentae,”

“Skylar, I didn’t know you were teaching her wolf tongue,” Lyorna whispered

“She needed to know it. Shifters kept talking to her in public in this language, it
was getting tiring,”

“I see. Well, Skylar, you know where to go this time, right?”

Skylar nodded and said, “I’ll take them. Blindfold them?”

“Just in case. They can never find it again. I’ll see you there,”

“Woah, no one said anything about blindfolds,”

“It’s for safety reasons. Humans and new shifters and cat people not in the
packs have to come blindfolded, just in case. They’re always guided by
someone trustworthy, Skylar is one of the guides. Oh, and tell them to leave
behind their firearms,”

Lyorna turned and took off, probably sending a rush of strong winds their way.
She made it back to Lizzie’s, and after Lizzie’s mom let her in, she sat next to
Lizzie on the couch.

“So, what happened?” Lizzie as she turned on the movie. Lyorna didn’t
recognize the name of the movie, but Lizzie had told her it was a good one.

As the movie rolled, Lizzie kissed Lyorna for a bit, before she rested her head
on Lyorna’s shoulder and Lyorna became aware of all the noise Lizzie made.
Lizzie’s feet were moving as they watched the movie, her breathing was so
quiet, but so quick at the same time.

Lyorna could hear Lizzie’s heartbeat. It was slow and Lizzie slowly drifted to
sleep as Lyorna pretended to be paying attention to the movie. The second
Lyorna was sure Lizzie was asleep, she lay Lizzie in a more comfortable
sleeping position, with her head on a pillow on Lyorna’s lap.

Lyorna smiled down at her and held her hand, gently, to not wake her up.
Lizzie was clearly tired at the moment. The movie continued, but Lyorna didn’t
pay attention until the credits rolled, then she shut off the TV and let Lizzie
sleep on her lap for a while. Lizzie opened her eyes after maybe an hour and
sat up.

She turned to look at Lyorna and asked, “How long was I out?”

“Only about three hours. It’s fine,”

“I missed the entire thing?”

“Yep. It’s fine though, you can watch it again,”

“Did you like it, at least?”

“Yeah. It was alright,”

“Alright? It’s more than alright,”

“My favorite movie remains Gone With the Wind,”

“Alright, never mind. That’s a good movie,”

Lyorna kissed Lizzie, and Lizzie kissed back. Lyorna closed her eyes and took
in Lizzie’s strange, sugary and chocolaty smell, and her salty taste. The pair
broke apart after realizing that they should be alone completely for this.

“Hey, Liz. I’ve got a thing tomorrow. Wanna come?”

“What time?”

“Five pm, until like one or something,”

“Alright. What is it?”

“It’s time for the seasonal meeting between all shifters,” Lyorna whispered,
low enough for only Lizzie to hear.

“I’ll go. Anything I should know?”

“Don’t mingle with the people in the Phoenix pack unless you absolutely have
to, and don’t tell them anything about our relationship if you need to,”

“Who’s the Phoenix Pack?”

“My sister’s. Technically, it’s my dad’s, but he’s getting old, and he’s dying.
He’s been dying since before I was born. I could sense it since my first
seasonal meeting that I could shift,”

“I’m sorry,”

“He’s over ten thousand years old, a near-immortal shifter. It was coming for
decades before me, and he refused to take medicines that would keep him
alive longer. He’s still got a few centuries left, unless someone kills him,”

“I see,”

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Lyorna whispered before kissing LIzzie on the cheek
and leaving the house, into the darkness. She walked into the woods, then
took off and flew to the outskirts of Laewaes, then walked to her apartment
from there.

Chapter Fifty

Ashley’s tail twitched when Tatiana told her what she had seen in her latest
weird-ass dream. Tatiana didn’t say names, possibly to prevent Ashley from
committing murder. This dream was weirdly dark, and Ashley knew that she
would kill anyone who put her friends in danger, no matter who it was.
Tatiana had returned from some ‘trip’ about three hours ago, and after Tatiana
had explained it was a lie, Ashley almost immediately asked about the new
scars, and Tatiana explained that as well.

“Are you all right?” Ashley asked. “I think the poison got to your brain or
something,”

“No. Cami, Cami could feel who I saw, and the scar is there, after all,”

“I’ve heard of the body being able to harm itself if it truly believes something
happened to it,”

“And, Cami, Cami was attacked by them too. Then was attacked by someone
who could also see the spirits. I’m pretty sure I’m fine,”

“Are you sure?” Ashley asked. “What if it's just more hallucinations?”

“What does Tanyr mean?” Tatiana asked.

“Half, but why do you know this?”

“The one who could see the spirits called herself that. And she was Mekora’s
daughter,”

“Tanyr Mekora? Half Moon? Her?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Tanyr Mekora, she’s the daughter of Mekora. She’s been seen about fifteen
times across the last century, allegedly, but no one really talks about her
outside of these sightings. She’s more of an urban legend for Kenomi, but
she’s real?”
“Yes, but what do you mean, urban legend?”

“Sometimes she’ll appear, and she’ll fight you if you see her. We discovered
her name through mythology. Very few stories tell of a creature that fits her
animal form’s description, daughter of Mekora. She was, is the essence of
battle. She’s named only once, and in that story, the Phoenix calls her his
instrument, his bastard daughter, Tanyr Mekora. Story is relatively new.
Maybe two millennia old, but that’s what we call her,”

“I see,” Tatiana’s eyes darted to the left, and she said, “I think I saw Mekora,”

“Really?” Ashley raised an eyebrow. “If you’re right, you’re lucky. She’s hardly
ever seen anymore,”

“I noticed that,” Tatiana remarked. “I’m going home,”

“Alright, bye!” Ashley smiled.

With that, Tatiana left Ashley’s house, and immediately Ashley felt a shiver
down her spine. She turned around, and subconsciously, her eyes began
glowing amber.

She looked around, and she came face to face with a middle aged woman
with glowing white hair. The world was distorted at this point, where there was
light, only shadows and where there was shadows, fire. The woman changed
completely as Ashley watched. Her face grew dark and a cold smile was the
only thing that illuminated it.

“I would have preferred the future-seer, but she’d be noticed, and some kind
of magic protects her. You’ll do, however,”

The woman reached out to touch Ashley, and Ashley shifted and hissed.
The woman shrugged and reached out for her again, then Ashley scratched
her. The woman seemed to shimmer, and she disappeared for a moment.
Ashley felt the shiver again, and she realized the woman was behind her now.
She turned, her heart racing faster than it ever had before. She turned, and
the woman was further away.

“Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you. Join me, and I’ll teach you. You have my mark,
after all,” The woman pointed to Ashley’s forehead. “You have some of my
abilities, they just need some practice. We’ll work together, and we’ll change
this world for the better. Keep your friends safe,”

Ashley shook her head. She knew this, this thing, this spirit, it was trying to
trick her.

She growled and the woman continued, “It will hurt if you don’t comply. I don’t
want to hurt you,”

Ashley snarled and arched her back as the woman approached her.

She bit the woman’s hand, and the woman grabbed Ashley’s throat and
whispered something unintelligible in some ancient form of the shifter
language.

Ashley recognized some of the words, and Ashley heard the woman mention
her own shifter name, ‘Akria,’ which meant Snowfall, and alongside that, the
name Mekora.

Ashley realized what was going on. This woman was Mekora, and she was
trying to take Ashley’s body.

She squirmed, but Mekora kept a firm hand clasped around her throat, and
Ashley gave up. Mekora finished speaking and became more transparent.
We are one, mostly. The voice of Mekora whispered inside Ashley’s mind.
Akria, if you tell anyone anything about what has happened, I’ll tear out your
eyes and leave your body in the woods.

Ashley nodded in compliance and shifted back as the world became normal
again and Mekora’s transparent form disappeared.

She took note of Mekora taking in every single detail, every feeling, smell, and
sound.

“It’s been so long,” Ashley’s voice sighed. Ashley didn’t question it.

Everything was fine.

As it should be.

Nothing had happened.

Nothing at all.

Chapter Fifty-one

Four hours later

Cami was surprised at how calm the clearing that the meetings took place in
was when she stumbled across it, completely empty, by chance about a year
before she became Ultima.

The calm was impenetrable until more than three people arrived, and then it
started getting louder. The moment the Phoenix pack arrived, the
overwhelming numbers would typically lead to minor skirmishes, but there
were always mediators, neutral to inter-pack conflicts, and typically the fights
didn’t happen, or at least escalate.

Lyorna and Valkeia were almost always at each other’s throats, however, so
they had to be as far away from each other as possible.

Cami was alone in the clearing now, as she always was before the meeting
started. She yawned and stretched her wings after she took off her black
jacket, then sat for some time in her regular place in the clearing.

There were a few large stones in the back of the clearing, big enough for all
forty-six Ultimas across the towns to rest on. She waited for some time, and
as it hit four, a few Ultimas arrived, alongside a few escorts and non-shifters.

She recognized the guidance counselor from her school, and a girl she could
sometimes see talking to Moon, alongside two others. The girl's eyes widened
as she noticed Cami on the rock after the blindfold was taken off, and the
guidance counselor shrugged.

Cami knew that the woman had been recently turned, but not about that girl
next to her. Eventually, Lyorna flew in, Lizzie and Moon close behind, and
both Lizzie and Moon had begun flying quicker than before.

Moon had Tatiana on her back, and Ashley was on Lizzie’s back. The second
they landed, Ashley moved next to Tatiana as Tatiana approached Cami.
She hugged Cami and went back to Ashley before anyone else noticed.
Lyorna sat next to Cami and watched the crowd grow, staring directly at Lizzie
the entire time.

As the crowd got larger, Cami lost Tatiana, but she knew they’d find each
other again.

At last, the Phoenix pack arrived together, and as Valkeia sat on the far side
of the stone circle, which was strange, Castor typically sat there, but the
meeting started anyways.

“Alright, who’d like to go first?” One of the mediators called this out, then
Valkeia raised her hand.

The mediator agreed, and Valkeia shouted across the clearing, “Castor has
died. My, my father died a few weeks ago, murdered in, in his sleep,”
Valkeia’s shoulders began shaking, and Cami was pretty sure she was crying.
This was out of character for her. It may have been some sort of ruse.

“I, I need a minute,” Valkeia spread her wings and took off. There went any
chance it was faked. Valkeia didn’t have that much of a talent for the
performing arts, unlike Lyorna, and she preferred to be in the center.

“Should we wait?” one of the Ultimas of a smaller pack called out.

Lyorna looked up and shouted, “I’ll go get her. He’s my dad too, anyways,”

Lyorna beat her wings and launched into the sky, causing a rush of quick air
to slam into the rock face, right next to Cami.

The mediator shouted, “We can wait for five minutes, then we’ve got to
continue,”
A murmur of agreement went through the Ultimas and crowd at those words.
There were more pressing matters than making sure that the new leader of
the Phoenix pack was ready to go back to the meeting.

After the five minutes had elapsed, the mediators announced this, ignoring the
fact that Lyorna and Valkeia hadn’t returned yet.

The meeting resumed, this time with Mendez. It was customary. After the first
announcement, the news went according to pack size.

Mendez had the largest of all the packs, then came the Phoenix pack, which
was somehow still smaller, even with the combination of all the packs in the
town it occupied. Then came Cami’s pack, which used to be the largest,
before Helix came and changed that. Then went Lyorna’s, and then the
endless streams of smaller packs.

“This is directed to all of us, but mostly to the Ultima of the Oceanbreeze-
Windshear pack. Helix is dead!”

“How do you know?” the Ultima of the Icelight pack in Laewaes, a middle-
aged man with black hair, darker than Kai’s feathers, and while from her
position, Cami had trouble seeing his ears, she saw a tiny pinprick of white fur
in the distance.

“He attacked the Ultima of the Oceanbreeze-Windshear pack, a few friends of

hers, and one of my Alphas. One of C- the Ultima of the Oceanbreeze-
Windshear pack’s friends came and asked for my help, and while I was
injured badly by Helix, we managed to catch him. The second we got him
back to our camp, we put him in a room, which unbeknownst to us, although
perhaps to whomever decided to put him in the room, had many draekon
inside. He fought, and we tried to stop the draekon. As we all know, draekon
are easier to kill than their wild dragon counterparts, but there were more than
he could take on alone, and he died,”

A shocked silence went through the crowd, excluding the odd few who had to
ask who Helix was. After the momentary silence, there was a collective sigh of
relief. Many fell victim to his cruelty, and now their friends and loved ones
were finally avenged.

Helix was dead. Helix was finally dead! Finally Cami didn’t have to worry. Now
Airiene would finally let her move out and into her cottage. Maybe she could
visit her dad for the first time in a while.

Mendez relayed more news, including the fact that Lia had decided to leave
the pack, to the great sadness of everyone, although not as an enemy, as a
friend.

After Mendez had finished, Valkeia and Lyorna still hadn’t returned, and as
such, it was Cami’s turn.

“Ultima Mendez, I am happy to hear this news that Helix has died, but we
have more to share. Many new shifters have joined and-”

Cami paused, wondering what she should say next for a few agonizing
moments, but luckily, she was interrupted before she said anything else.
Lyorna and Valkeia had returned.
Chapter Fifty-Two

Continuing from when Lyorna left.

Lyorna tailed Valkeia until she landed, then landed next to her elder sister a
few moments after.

“What are you doing here?” Valkeia snarled, her anger shining through her
grief.

“I wanted to check on you. You’re still my sister,” Lyorna replied.

“No. I’m not. Not anymore,”

“You are. And Castor’s still our father. Nightshade’s still our mother,”

“I lost the right to call them my parents when you were six, Lyorna,” Valkeia
whispered. A bout of sobs came out of her mouth when she opened it next,
and Lyorna put a hand on her back.

Lyorna was willing to forgive her sister for all she had done. She had felt this
period of mourning when she finally had the time to mourn their mother, and
sometimes still talked to her mother, hoping she could hear her, when she
was scared. Maybe she’d finally changed.

Valkeia pushed Lyorna away and growled,“Don’t,”

Valkeia glared at Lyorna and Lyorna backed up. Best to respect her
boundaries. Some things don’t change. Valkeia turned around and walked
away. Lyorna followed her from far away, just in case.

“So, who’d you choose?” Lyorna called.

Valkeia turned around and said, “Don’t follow me,”

“Just asking,”

“Fine. Remember Leiko?”

“You’re kidding me. That guy? Isn’t he more interested in painting than
leading?”

“He’ll probably be gone by the time I die,”

“About that…” Lyorna said, “I’ve noticed, you still age. Mother and father
almost stopped in their twenties. You haven’t. I think we might not be as
immortal as we think,”

Valkeia swore and said, “Why me?”

“You brought it upon yourself,” Lyorna whispered.

“Well, I suppose the only option is to kick him out,”

“No! Don’t! Just teach him, and he’ll be fine, eventually,”

“And if I should die before that happens? My entire pack will fall apart.
Everything Castor and I built will be destroyed,”
“Are you sure this is what father wanted?” Lyorna cried. Valkeia snarled, and
in that moment, Lyorna felt more fear than she’d ever known before. She
knew what came next.

Valkeia shifted and lunged at Lyorna. Lyorna shifted at the same time as she
dodged and the pair snapped at each other’s necks until Lyorna pinned
Valkeia. Both shifted back, and stared deep into each other’s eyes. Valkeia
snarled, and Lyorna let her go. Neither were bleeding. They didn’t draw any
blood.

“We should get back,” Lyorna said. Valkeia rolled her eyes but nodded in
agreement, and both spread their wings and flew back to the clearing, then
landed in their spots on the rock, where they proceeded to shoot each other
death glares.

Cami continued what she was saying, although Lyorna didn’t pay attention.
She already knew what had happened. She was there for a lot of it.

Then Valkeia went. Most of what she said was boring shifter politics, but then
she mentioned something interesting.

“And, as to who killed Ultima Castor, we have two suspects. Both are alive,
we believe. One was Helix. He’d been friends with my father for a long time,
but last time he came, my father upset him somehow, and he left,” Valkeia
paused and said, “I hate Helix. He may have been a leader, but if he’s the one
who killed my father, I won’t rest until he’s dead,”

Mendez shouted, “He’s already dead!” and Valkeia looked genuinely shocked.

“Never mind. The other one, the other one is a huntress who has killed
Ultimas before. Ultima Lyorna’s former Ultima, for example,”
Lyorna knew who her sister was going to accuse. That explained a lot.

“Her name is Mercy Emily. I sent someone to kill her, but it seems they failed,”
Valkeia shot a glare at Lyorna, and she snarled. “I’ll do it myself,”

She shifted and leaped into the air, beat her wings once, and she landed
outside of the stone circle. Lyorna realized she was most likely going to Mercy
and Skylar’s home, but they were thankfully at the meeting.

Chapter Fifty Three

Marina was amazed by the wolf as it passed overhead, but as it landed,

something sunk in. It was bloodthirsty. She clutched Ms. Emily’s hand in fear,
but then let go, realizing it would kill her if she associated with her. Ms. Emily
backed away, further into the crowd, and the other hunters Marina didn’t know
followed suit. Marina decided to stay out of the crowd. She could get hurt in
the chaos.

The wolf was tackled by that girl that Moon had started hanging out with, but
as a giant bluish wolf that Hunter had described to her once. She’d thought he
was crazy when she was told the story, and told him as such, but then she
saw, Moon had claws now.
Maybe he was less crazy than she thought.

Then she saw Moon hurt herself with her claws. Objectively, he was the only
sane one.

She saw that the blue wolf had gold wings, which Hunter had neglected to tell
her, but they were small. He could have missed them. The teenager who’d
followed that first wolf beat her wings and landed in the crowd, then seemed
to be moving people out. A few of the others on the rock followed, and some
of the people on the rock attacked the wolf.

Marina didn’t want to be with these monsters. She was scared. They were a
thousand times stronger than her, clearly, and she didn’t have a weapon. Or
anything. She found a hole she could fit in under the rocks. It seemed to be
safe, and she ducked inside. She buried her face in her legs and cried. It felt
like a repeat of that night that she’d seen her brother’s scars, but Ms. Emily
had been right.

They do return to normal.

She was still scared. There was too much.

She started to breathe heavily and she felt like someone was watching her,
but that may have been the fear. At least, that’s what she thought.

“What are you doing here?” Someone hissed. She recognized that voice.

She looked up and saw that it wasn’t who she thought it was. They looked
similar, but it wasn’t Moon, although she saw Moon a few yards away,
hugging that small lesbian she was friends with.
“What are you doing here?” The Moon-looking girl asked again. Marina said
nothing. She didn’t want to answer. The Moon-looking girl sighed and called
for someone else, who Marina recognized.

“Marina! What are you doing here? We thought we’d lost you,” Skylar glared.
“Get out,”

Marina shook her head. She was still scared, and it didn’t help that she still
saw the wolf fighting so many off like dolls. Then the wolf broke free and
Marina backed further into the rock hole. The wolf swatted so many others
aside like they were bugs, and Marina felt even more terrified than before.
She didn’t think it was possible.

Skylar looked back and said, “Shit. We gotta get you out. Come with me.
You’ll be safe,”

Marina was fine with being safe under the rock, thank you very much, but she
followed Skylar anyways. This was her best option.

Skylar told Marina to stop and to not look at the wolf. Marina wasn’t sure why
she shouldn’t look, but she did as she was told and buried her face in her
hands, closed her eyes and didn’t look up. Not until Skylar suddenly
disappeared from her side, and she looked at the Moon-looking girl. She
pulled Marina to the ground immediately, and Marina felt something touch her
ankle, but she didn’t look. Her heart pounded in her ears and the Moon-
looking girl kept a hand on her back.

Marina held a voice, and she didn’t know the name, but she knew who was
speaking. That wolf.

“Moon-wing. Surrender the human,” the wolf growled. Marina didn’t look up
and began crying. She just wanted to go home, why’d she even agree to this?
“She’s not Mercy,” the Moon-looking girl growled, and Marina heard her stand
up. Marina then felt the wolf’s hot breath on her arm, and she braced herself.

“I don’t care,” it whispered, then, for a brief moment, she thought it would bite
her. It didn’t, however. She felt its hot breath on her back, and she thought it
would tear out her spine, or something, but it never attacked. She felt its
breath right where her left shoulder met her torso, and she felt its heat get
more and more intense. It felt like it was in slo mo, but Marina knew that it was
only her perception changing.

Her life flashed before her eyes, most of it boring, but as she braced herself to
feel its teeth tear into her arm and rip it off, the wolf made a surprised noise,
and she didn’t feel its breath over her anymore. She could hear the sounds of
the wolf’s jaws snapping shut on thin air, and she exhaled, now realizing she’d
been holding her breath.

She looked up for a moment, and she saw the wolf locked in combat with a
little blue fox. It was surprisingly strong, and Marina stood up, and behind her,
she saw Skylar. She was alive. Marina could see her breathing, but she
seemed to have been knocked out. Marina didn’t grab her. She’d only slow
her down. She ran, and then ran into Mercy, who was watching the chaos
from the far side of the clearing.

“You’re here. Good,”

“Everyone! I’m going to help them. It’s only right,” Ms. Emily ran into the
fighting, and in the chaos, Marina heard too many voices at one time. She
heard the hunters she didn’t know the names of screaming, she could hear
the one who looked like Moon beating her wings, clearly trying to fly into the
fighting as well, and as she launched forward, Marina could hear Moon and
her two other friends.
She heard some kind of hissing behind her and a beam of some kind of cold
bright light shot over her head, throwing up a physical wall in the fighting. The
big wolf turned its head for a moment, and a ray of that light was shot into its
eyes.

Marina turned around and saw the kenomi Moon was friends with, standing
there with an outstretched hand that glowed pale blue, like ice, and through
her bangs, Marina saw something white glowing. It was almost like a crescent
moon, but it was strange. Her eyes were glowing blue, but then they changed
to amber, and she collapsed.

“Ashley!” the girl Moon was friends with and Moon screamed at the same
time. The small girl cried out, as though she herself had been the one to fall,
but nothing had happened.

Moon crouched down and put a hand to the cat-girl’s throat, and shouted,
“She’s alive!”

Her friend hugged the kenomi, and a moment later, the kenomi opened her
eyes. Marina turned her attention away from the trio and watched the fight.

Somehow, a giant bear had been mixed into the fray, and she couldn’t see
Ms. Emily anywhere.

“Where’s Mercy?” One of the others shouted. He had short straight, dark hair
and eyes, but his skin was as pale as Moon’s. The wolf that was fighting was
seemingly blinded at that moment, and was trying to shake the blue fox off of
its head, but the fox was able to keep a surprisingly good grip with its claws,
and the bear bashed at the wolf with its front paws.

The blue fox took off and landed on the blue wolf’s back, and the dark furred
wolf and the bear grappled with each other. The bear had at least one
hundred pounds on the wolf, but the wolf was quicker and knocked the bear
into the stones, sending a few dozen daggers of broken pieces of ice at it. The
bear collapsed and the broken ice landed all around it, in its fur, at its feet, and
many more places.

“I’m going to help,” Moon said, and as Marina turned to look at her, the
kenomi, Moon’s little friend, and Moon nodded at each other. Moon’s human
friend suddenly had a dagger, and Moon shifted into her animal form. The
kenomi still seemed weak, but she could walk, and she was moving like she
was walking on ice. For a moment, her hands and the mark glowed, and then
the wolf’s eyes were frozen shut again. The wolf shook its head and the blue
wolves, alongside the blue fox, took advantage of this moment to tackle the
other wolf. The human and Moon approached the wolf, and the kenomi girl
shifted into her cat form, then ran to them.

The wolf was fighting still, but it was pinned down by two wolves, a fox, and
now an otter. It finally stopped and the deeper blue wolf growled something.
The wolf snarled in reply and snapped at the blue wolf’s shoulder, but missed,
and finally, finally gave up.

The blue wolf growled again, and the wolf made a motion like it was rolling its
eyes, but dipped its head, and everyone let the wolf up. The wolf shifted back
into a woman with dusky hair and amber eyes, and the others shifted back
shortly after. The girl who was the deep blue wolf looked back and saw the
bear, still out cold. She motioned for everyone to follow her, and she ran to the
bear.

Skylar stood up at around the same time, looked around, clearly dazed, and
she saw the bear. She ran to it, like it was the most important thing in the
world, while clutching her ribs. She kneeled next to it and buried her face in its
fur, clearly sobbing.
Marina approached slowly. Now she was interested. She wondered who the
bear was, if it was a shifter, and she couldn’t tell if it was breathing, or if that
was just wind rippling its fur. The bear rolled, and it changed into a humanoid
form, with its back to Marina. Its long dark hair and slightly different spinal
structure made it seem feminine, but from a distance, Marina wasn’t sure.
Skylar looked up as the shifter changed into a human, and Marina could
barely see her eyes were filling with relief as she saw the shifter’s new human
form. Marina approached slowly as Skylar hugged the limp human form and
whispered something that Marina couldn’t catch.

The shifter’s face turned for a moment, then it looked at the others for long
enough for someone to identify it. Marina heard a name screamed from
behind her, and someone shoved her aside as they ran to the shifter. The
shifter went completely slack, although Marina could tell it was still breathing.

The hunter tried to touch the shifter, and Skylar looked up and screeched an
unnatural, bird-like screech. For a moment, she shivered, and as Marina got
closer as well, Skylar stood up, holding the shifter in her arms.

Her eyes glowed, and Marina finally recognized the shifter. Skylar spread a
pair of brown wings, with undertones of black and the underside being much
lighter. She beat her wings a few times, and she took off, kicking off a small
cloud of dirt from the near frozen ground.

She disappeared into the forest, and the woman who had disrupted everything
seemed like she would follow, but the girl who was the blue-furred wolf glared
at her, and the woman rolled her eyes.

“Leave both of them, sister,” the redhead snapped. “They need to be alone.
They need to heal,”
The woman then noticed Marina, and Marina ran into the forest. She would
not be caught by these monsters. She didn’t know what would happen to her if
they caught her. She ducked inside a small, hollow tree a long way from the
clearing and, ignoring the bugs, she pulled her knees to her face and started
to cry easily faked tears, just in case these creatures found her and had any
heartstrings to tug at.

Chapter Fifty four

Tatiana wasn’t the first person to notice that Ashley needed to rest, but Ashley
insisted that she was fine, if fine could be considered using magic that no one
had ever known existed within her and passing out.

Tatiana walked into the forest. She needed a short period to process, and she
wouldn’t go far. That was what she thought, at least, until she saw that girl
who sometimes would talk to Moon, although she clearly made Moon
uncomfortable at times.

She went back to the group and told everyone what she saw, and Moon
immediately said, “We need to get her. She’s human. She won’t make it on
her own,”
Ashley nodded, and Cami did as well. It was decided. They’d go.

“Alright. She went this way,” Tatiana motioned for everyone to follow her, and
Cami began to lead once she could get the trail. Moon’s friend went about ten,
fifteen minutes before it went into a small hollow tree, and Tatiana ended up
being the one to coax her out. She was the only human in the vicinity other
than Moon’s friend, and everyone was certain that the reason she ran away
was because she was scared.

Tatiana ducked into the tree and she saw the girl, face buried deep into her
knees, her shoulders shaking and Tatiana could occasionally hear choked
gasps escaping her mouth.

“You alright?” Tatiana whispered. Moon’s friend looked up, her eyes red and
there was a lot of it staining her eyes. Her gaze fell on Tatiana, and she said
that homophobic slur. Tatiana clenched her knuckles, but she didn’t let it get
too close to her.

It's only a word. Tatiana thought. It’s fine. I can freak out later.

Tatiana glared at the girl briefly, but repeated, “Are you alright?”

“Get out,” she snarled. “I don’t want anything to do with you creatures,

“I’m like you,” Tatiana whispered. “I swear. I’m the only other human in about
a five mile radius, so please listen,”

“Liar,” Moon’s friend snarled. She flipped Tatiana off before proceeding to
shove her out of the hollow tree with both hands. Tatiana stumbled back and
tripped on the tree’s root, causing her to fall backwards.
“Someone else try,” Tatiana groaned as Cami pulled her up. Moon
volunteered almost immediately, and she went inside the tree as Tatiana
clutched her ribs. Cami held her tight and pressed her lips against her scalp.
Tatiana looked to her side and saw the insubstantial Mekora that had followed
her to the meeting. Ashley seemed to have been looking at Mekora, or at least
the spot where Mekora was, the entire time. Her gaze was locked into
Mekora’s eyes, and Tatiana was surprised when Mekora moved closer to
Tatiana and Ashley’s eyes continued to gaze into Mekora’s.

Moon left the tree with her friend about a minute after she stepped inside the
tree.

“I’ll take you home,” Moon said. “Bye guys!” Moon and her friend walked off,
leaving Tatiana, Cami, and Ashley alone together, and Mekora, if she could
be counted as well, but Tatiana was the only person who could see her, so
she didn’t count her. Mekora padded up to Tatiana and shifted into her human
form.

“I would have killed that bitch if I were you,” Mekora snarled. “She would have
done the same to you if she had a weapon. All of the shifters at that meeting,
actually,”

“But I don’t want to be a killer,” Tatiana whispered. Not-

Tatiana’s thought was cut short when Cami let go and said, “What did she
suggest?”
Chapter Fifty Five

Moon seemed the same, but at the same time, she was scary. She wasn’t
normal anymore, she was actually more open than she’d been in a while.
She’d changed back into her human form to ease Marina, but not before she’d
offered to fly Marina back home.

“No, I’d prefer to stay on the ground, safely,” Marina had responded when
Moon asked.

Moon had asked her again about half a dozen more times, but Marina always
responded with no, no matter how cold it was getting.

The darker it got, the more Marina depended on her phone light, although
Moon seemed to need no such light. It was like she could see in the dark.

A few minutes after the sun had completely set, Moon said, “Marina. I need to
get home, I’m getting too cold to fly, and I have a cur-”

Marina didn’t let her finish and shouted, “Fine! You can go home. I’ll find my
own way home. I’ve finally got a signal between all these god-forsaken trees
anyways,”

“No! That’s not what I’m say-” Moon threw up her hands, but then paused.
“Marina. We need to go,” Moon hissed. Moon pulled Marina into a hug, and
Marina tried to twist away, but suddenly, there wasn’t ground beneath her
feet.

She screamed and pulled herself closer to Moon’s chest, then passed out.
She woke up freezing and surrounded by deep green, and Moon’s face-up,
limp body was next to her.

Moon’s blond hair was dark and matted at the top with blood,

She screamed, but then Moon’s face changed, and she realized Moon was
alright. She felt a sense of relief, then a sense of anger. Why did she feel
sympathy for this, this monster? This strangely friendly and calm monster.

She tried to sit up to get as far away as possible, but pain shot through her
right wrist and she fell backwards. She twisted to the side and grabbed her
phone. Her phone screen may have been cracked, but it still turned on, and
she had decided. She’d call her brother. He’d be interested.
Chapter Fifty Six

Moon opened her eyes and was aware of something hot and sticky on her
scalp, and her head throbbed like fire was in her skull. She tried to sit up and
found that she already was upright, but she couldn’t blame herself. She didn’t
even know what had caused her to fall out of the sky. She just stopped flying
suddenly, and before she and Marina fell, she spread her wings as far as
possible and tried gliding.

That reminded her. Where was Marina?

Moon roared and screamed for Marina. She didn’t feel like Marina would have
stayed, but who knows. Maybe she was still there. She might have even gone
to get help. She tried to stand up, but after a short pain, her knees buckled
and she fell onto her knees. She sobbed and tried to roar for help, but as she
started to open her mouth, a gloved hand prevented her, and she felt herself
rise.

She squirmed and tried to smack the person with her wings, but the person
pinned her wings to her back and she couldn’t move them. She tried to bite
her assailant, but she couldn’t close her partially opened mouth. She finally
twisted her head slightly, but she couldn’t see the other person very well.
She could hear a slightly angry, slightly whiny, masculine voice right behind
her, shouting, “Quick! Tie it to the tree!”

She winced at the loud noise in her ear, and her sudden noise caused her
attacker to flinch just enough for her to escape and roar right in his face. She
punched him in the nose and he collapsed, blood spurting from his nose. She
knew there was at least one other person on the scar-faced boy’s side, and
she could hear faraway rustling, but she never saw anyone. Moon turned
around, and the moment she did, she heard quick footsteps behind her. She
spun and met a pair of familiar dark eyes with cat-eye eyeliner over them.
Moon pinned her ears and crouched, then lunged. She didn’t expect the
amount of pain that would go through her thigh, however. She stayed standing
and snarled at Marina.

Marina narrowed her eyes and growled, “I should have stopped trusting you
the moment I saw your claws,” She pulled out the knife and Moon fell forward,
but Marina flipped her onto her back.

“Don’t think I’m done with you yet,” she smiled, colder than ice.

“Tell your leader I’m repaying the favor,” Marina slashed at Moon’s face
several times, then stabbed Moon in the eye with a knife, and with a loud
bang, bright light went into her vision. Moon closed her right eye, and she
didn’t know where the light came from, but as Marina pulled the light away,
Moon caught a glimpse of the knife with a light out the tip before her vision
went white. She roared as the light disappeared, and she couldn’t see out of
her left eye anymore. A constant ringing appeared in her ears, and she
couldn’t hear anything. The ringing subsided, and Marina’s grin disappeared,
and she grabbed the scar-faced boy, who had begun to open his eyes, finally.

He saw Moon lying on her back, and said, “Sis, I’m proud of you,”
Marina growled back, “No time! We gotta get out of here,”

She and the scar-faced boy ran off, and Moon tried to stand up to run after the
pair, but her thigh hurt too much to walk effectively, and she didn’t try to fly. It
was too crowded by trees in this part of the forest. She roared again and
again, calling for someone, anyone, to come find her. She sat down and
covered her bleeding thigh with her chest, roaring even more. She started
feeling a little dizzy, and blood got into her mouth. Finally, after what felt like
forever, although it was probably only a few minutes, Lizzie and Lyorna
swooped down.

Lizzie saw her blood and immediately pulled off her black hoodie, then
wrapped it around her thigh.

“Lyorna, we need to get her home. Hide your wings and everything else,”

Lyorna seemed to be nodding, but Moon wasn’t sure. Her good eye was
losing focus. She felt way too dizzy to stay upright, and she keeled forward.
Lizzie screamed something, but she was barely aware anymore. She felt
herself shift out of her hybrid form as she closed her eyes, and when her face
contacted the cold, and thus hard, dirt, she lost all consciousness.

Chapter Fifty-Seven

Moon opened her eyes to a bright light in one, nothing in the other, and her
thigh felt a little numb, but she still ached pretty much everywhere. She could
hear arguing to her left, but she couldn’t make out the words. She turned her
head, and Cami was to her side, clasping her hand, and very far to her left,
Tatiana and Ashley were outside of the room. Ashley was yelling at the nurse
outside, and from the little Moon could see of Tatiana, she was trying to push
Ashley away from the nurse.

“What’s going on?” Moon rasped. Her throat felt sore, probably from all the
roaring she’d done a while ago.

“Your mom told the doctors not to let Ashley and Tatiana in,” Cami whispered.
Cami hugged Moon in comfort and then continued, “She let the doctors let me
in, and for a while before me, that girl you hang out was whispering to you in
your ear, and she seemed really upset,”

Moon looked up at Cami and half laughed, half asked, “How long ago was
this?”

“Only ten minutes. Why?”

“That bitch tried to blind me!” Moon growled. She broke into another fit of
laughter and she thought, I’m so high right now.

Cami’s eyes widened and she called in the doctor. Moon recounted what had
happened, and for a moment after the doctor left, she felt dizzy. The doctor
returned, and they had to run a few tests, which mostly concluded in what
Moon already knew. She had a severely injured leg that required her to use a
brace for a while, she was half blind, but she also had a mild concussion, and
no one knew where her head injury came from. Granted, Moon didn’t either,
but she was glad that she didn’t have to elaborate on her head injury’s origin
after she revealed she didn’t know.

After a little time, Moon was allowed to go home, with orders to take it easy
and the singular kenomi doctor pulled her to the side for a moment, much to
her mother’s fury.
“If you have wings, don’t fly,” He purred quietly. He then walked off and her
mom took her home. Moon’s mom told her to rest in her bed, and then asked
if she wanted to go to school in two days.

She responded with yes, and her mom then said, “I won’t make you go to
church tomorrow. You need rest,”

Moon hid her sigh of relief and said, “Alright.”

Her mom left and Moon yawned, then grabbed her phone, which her mom
had left on her bedside stand. The screen was cracked, but it still turned on,
and that was enough. She opened her messages and called Ashley, who
picked up almost instantly. Ashley squeaked in excitement, which wasn’t a
common noise for her to make, but it did happen at times.

“Hey Ash,” Moon smiled. “I’m free tomorrow!”

“What about church?” Ashley asked.

“Excused. My mom’s letting me rest,”

“Alright. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. In this case I agree with your mom. You need
rest,”

Moon agreed and Ashley hung up. She lay back on her bed and looked up at
her ceiling. She heard the front door open, and she got up and went to her
window. Her mom was outside and currently walking to the car, and Moon
realized that her mom was going somewhere. Moon shifted into her hybrid
form to check the damage in that form, but moments later, her door creaked
open and Moon shifted back instantly. Kylie peeked through the door, and she
looked surprised. The nine-year old tip-toed inside and hugged Moon. Moon
was shocked and almost yelled at her, but decided against it. Kylie was being
weirdly nice. She wouldn’t ruin that.

Moon’s thigh hurt, and she whispered, “Kylie, can you let go?” Kylie nodded
and released Moon.

“Luna? Where were you?” Kylie asked. She was smiling and her big dark eyes
lit up.

Moon waited a few moments, trying to think of an explanation that her sister
wouldn’t be scared of.

“I was… well, you remember Marina, right?”

Kylie nodded and asked, “Why?”

“She… um, hurt me,”

“Where?” Kylie asked, and her voice quavered a little.

Moon tapped her thigh and her face, then hesitated before tapping the eyelid
of her sightless eye.

“I can’t see you if you come from my left anymore,” Moon said. Her sister
began to tear up after a little bit of realization.

“Shh. Shh. Don’t cry,” Moon whispered.

Kylie looked up, her dark eyes red and still leaking liquid, but she seemed to
be calming down.

“Do you want to sit on my bed with me?” Moon asked.

Kylie nodded and Moon walked her over to the bed, and Kylie immediately
collapsed onto the warm spot. Moon sat next to her and put her hand on
Kylie’s back. She knew the worry and the kindness springing from it that her
sister had developed wouldn’t last forever, but it was nice in the moment.

A few hours later, Moon opened her eyes, and she could hear her mom
yelling. She looked to her left, and she could see her mom clutching Kylie’s
shoulder, white-knuckled and fuming. Kylie was crying and trying to get away,
and her mom’s grip moved to her neck, and Moon could see her mother’s
fingers digging into Kylie’s skin. Moon sat up immediately and narrowed her
eyes at her mom.

She stood up quickly, ignoring the pain in her thigh, and she snarled. Her
mom let Kylie go in surprise and Kylie quickly ran to Moon. Moon picked up
her sister and Kylie cried hard.

“Shhh. You’re safe now,” Moon whispered. She set Kylie on her bed and
glared at her mom.

“Don’t hurt my sister,” Moon asserted.

Her mom looked away, and muttered something. Moon could hear it, but she
wanted to make sure she wasn’t mishearing.

“Say that louder,”

“She’s not your sister, because you’re not my daughter,”

Moon glared and she slowly approached her mom.

“What did you say?” Moon snarled, her voice sounding less human now. She
knew anger was dangerous.
“You aren’t my daughter,” Her mother said again. “I was punished by God,
even though at the time, you were a blessing. I should never have taken you
inside. I should have kept you with Lizzie,”

Moon growled. She would not put up with being called a curse by the woman
who fucking raised her. Never again. She bared her teeth and step by step,
she got closer, and Cierra backed away. Her mom backed into the wall, and
Moon’s claws unsheathed with an audible shing similar to a sword leaving its
sheath. She snapped her fangs and raised her claws, but stopped herself.
Kylie was still in the room. She sheathed them again and turned back to Kylie,
who lay curled into a ball and crying on Moon’s bed.

Cierra ran out of the room, and Moon tapped Kylie on her shoulder. Kylie
looked up and she hugged Moon without making a sound.

“Get your things,” Moon whispered. “We won’t be staying for much longer,”

Kylie nodded and ran out of Moon’s room. Moon grabbed her clothes, a
blanket, a pillow, and then went to the bathroom to grab her hygienic supplies.
She put them in her pillowcase with her clothes, then Moon went to Kylie’s
room. Kylie was packing her backpack quickly, and as Moon entered, Kylie
looked up.

“You ready?” Moon whispered. Kylie nodded mutely, and Moon pulled out her
phone.

“Who are you calling?” Kylie whispered.

“A friend.” Moon replied. She dialed up Tatiana and after a few rings, Tatiana
picked up.

“Hey Moon! What’s up?” Tatiana asked.

“Can Kylie and I stay at yours for a little while?”

“No,” Tatiana said, but then she said, “I’m just kidding! Should I come get you
two or…?”

“We can walk,” Moon said. “I’ll see you in a few minutes,”

Moon grabbed Kylie’s hand after putting her phone in her pocket, and they
went down the stairs. Kylie stopped for a moment to grab the guitar she’d
recently started learning to play. She clutched it close to her chest and let go
of Moon’s hand as they left the house. Moon led her to Tatiana’s house, and
as she walked the familiar path, they passed Ashley’s as usual. Ashley’s
youngest brother Leo waved at Kylie, and Kylie waved back.

Moon realized that they were friends, and that meant that since he shifted a
year ago, Kylie wasn’t allowed to see him. The second they arrived at
Tatiana’s house, Moon knocked on the door, and Tatiana answered almost
immediately.

“Hey Moon!” Tatiana said. Kylie buried her face in Moon’s stomach.

Tatiana crouched and whispered, “Do you remember me?”

Kylie nodded and whispered, “I remember you,”

The pair entered and Tatiana closed the door behind them.

“Can I call Ashley?” Tatiana asked. “I think she should come over here too,”

Moon nodded and Kylie asked, “Who’s Ashley?”

“You know Leo, right?” Kylie nodded, and Moon said, “Ashley’s his sister,”
“Oh,” Kylie said.

“Oh, and Cami’s staying over for tonight,”

“Who’s Cami?” Kylie whispered.

“Cami’s a friend of mine,” Tatiana said.

Tatiana led Moon and Kylie upstairs and Kylie collapsed on the floor of the
barren guest room almost immediately. Moon lifted Kylie’s head and placed
the pillow underneath, then set up her own space, before entering Tatiana’s
room. Tatiana and Cami sat on the floor cross-legged, and Tatiana had her
phone in her hand.

“So,” Tatiana said, “What caused you and Kylie to come over?”

“My mom,” Moon admitted, “You know how she is. I thought it would be safer
here for a while,”

“How long is a while?” Tatiana whispered.

“Preferably forever,” Moon said, “But a few weeks is also alright,”

“Won’t your mom hate that?”

“If she’s going to hurt my sister and then call me the curse, then I am not
going to-” The reality of what was happening sunk in, and Moon was breaking
down slowly with each word. There was too much going on. Moon’s shoulders
shook, and she buried her face in her hands. She should have done
something before this happened. She wished her mom were nicer, then this
wouldn’t have happened.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and she shouted, “Don’t touch me!”
She looked up and saw who shouted at. Tatiana raised her hands instantly,
and Moon growled.

Cami kneeled next to Moon and said, “Calm down. You’re having a
breakdown. What do you feel like?”

“I feel like tearing out my mom’s throat and leaving her body to rot in the
woods,” Moon snarled.

“Breathe,” Cami said. “Just breathe,”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Moon growled.

Cami’s eyes glowed slightly, and a numb feeling took over Moon. Her
breathing began to slow, but she roared and covered her ears and shut her
eyes tightly. She snarled and she shifted, then bit Cami’s arm. Cami growled
and pulled her off, but didn’t do much else. She told Tatiana to grab the trash
can, and Tatiana nodded. Tatiana set the can to Moon’s right, and Moon felt
like she was about to vomit. She shifted back into her human form, and she
began to cough up blood.

The nothing she’d eaten today came up with the blood, and she could hear
the window opening behind her.

“Oh, did I come at a bad time?” Ashley whispered.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Cami replied.

“Cami! What happened to your arm?” Ashley asked.

Cami went silent, and Ashley said, “Oh,”

Moon turned her head to the right and gasped, “I was upset,”
Moon turned back to the trash can and continued vomiting for a little bit longer
before the bile came up, and she tasted only the bitter taste that came with it.
Her heart pounded in her ears, and Cami put a hand on her shoulder, but she
twitched it and Cami pulled her hand away.

“It’s just the stress,” Cami whispered. “It’ll be over soon,”

Moon finally stopped about three minutes later, and she said, “Can I go take a
shower, Tatiana?”

Tatiana nodded, and Moon left the room without another word.

Fifty-Eight

Tatiana rested her head on Cami’s thigh and zoned out for some time,
listening to everything being said, but too tired to process it. Everything finally
fell silent, and after a while, Tatiana focused again. It was dark still, and
Tatiana thought that she was still out for a moment, but a little light shone
through her window. Cami had lain backwards and let Tatiana rest on her
chest, and Cami was sound asleep. Tatiana sat up and she looked around. It
was dark, and she could barely see her hand in front of her face. She
wondered if she was only dreaming and she tried to force herself awake.
When that didn’t work, she tried to wake up Cami, but there was no response
from her. At least Cami was breathing.

She lay back down and decided to try and sleep again. Maybe it would help,
but something felt wrong. Was she even awake? She looked down at her
hands, and nothing was off, then she checked her phone for the time.
The home screen opened, showing a picture of her, Ashley, and Moon from
about a year ago, right after their eighth grade graduation. Tatiana wore a
dark green pantsuit with a cream and black blazer, while Ashley and Moon
wore white and black sleeveless dresses respectively. Moon’s shoulder length
hair was dyed purple at the ends, while Ashley’s was dyed with no longer
existent ginger highlight, and Tatiana had braided hers. Tatiana smiled, and
the lock screen changed to a picture of a sagebrush lizard she saw one time.
Her muscles relaxed, and she laughed, then turned off her phone.

She turned her back to Cami and faced the wall, looking at nothing in
particular, but she felt like she was being watched. She rolled over and saw a
young woman with goat-like features. She looked around eighteen, and her
face would occasionally appear in Tatiana’s nightmares. The goat-girl had
gray fur sprouting from her cheeks and above her eyebrows. She had
beautiful curved horns, as though merged with a male goat, and she rolled a
knife to Tatiana’s foot.

Tatiana picked it up, and she knew what happened now. The moment that
knife touched her hand, her surroundings changed, and she was in a wide
open stone chamber, and a voice whispered in her ear to kill the girl, to kill
Cami.

She looked down at Cami. Cami was in her hybrid form, and she was
extremely thin, beat up, and her hair wasn’t braided anymore. Blood poured
from a few fresh cuts, and there was an old bullet hole in her shoulder.
Tatiana could only see said bullet hole because Cami was wearing a faded
tank top of indeterminable color, and the tank top showed her beautiful golden
and white wings. They were huge, and Cami would have been able to fly with
them if they weren’t bound behind her. A manacle around her ankle also
attached her to the stone floors, and the only source of light in the room was
from behind Tatiana.
Tatiana kicked Cami in the stomach when Cami opened her eyes, and Cami
stood up to face her.

Cami unsheathed her claws and went around Tatiana, instead going after
something, or someone behind her, but the thick chain stretched out, and
Cami was blown backwards by some wave of force.

Tatiana mouthed the words, ‘I’m sorry,’ before stabbing Cami in the chest.
Cami looked down and her ears drooped as she fell to the side and her eyes
closed. Tatiana heard voices all around her, and then her vision faded, leaving
her in an empty void. The voices silenced themselves, and the goat girl
approached Tatiana and smiled.

The goat girl laughed, “No way to prevent this. No way to prevent me,”

The goat girl took the knife from Tatiana’s hand and stabbed her where she
had stabbed Cami.

Tatiana screamed and began choking on her own blood, making it hard to
speak. She choked out, “Cami!” before the goat-girl’s face faded, and she
woke up.

She sat up and shook Cami’s shoulder, and tears fell from her eyes.

“Cami, please wake up,” she whispered. She cried a little and clutched her
knees to her chest, rocking back and forth. Within twenty minutes, the sun had
risen, but Cami was still dead to the world.

Tatiana cried and pressed her face to her knees, and then she heard her door
creak open. She looked up, and Moon stood in the doorway. Moon walked in
and hugged Tatiana.
“Are you alright?” she whispered.

“No,” Tatiana whimpered. Moon told Tatiana to lay down, and then she
shifted. Moon walked up to Tatiana and did that thing cats did on her chest.
The eyepatch Moon wore fell off, and she closed her eyes. Tatiana began to
calm down and she closed her eyes. Moon’s warmth comforted her, and her
steady breathing was serene. She eventually left and shifted back, and
Tatiana sat up.

“How’d you know to do that?” Tatiana asked.

“When Kylie had a panic attack, our old dog would do that to calm her down,”

“Oh,”

Moon hugged Tatiana and Tatiana cried into her shoulder.

“What happened?” Moon whispered.

“I had a nightmare,”

“What happened in the nightmare?”

“I killed Cami, and then a goat-girl taunted me and stabbed me,”

“Do you want me to wake her up?” Moon whispered. “It would be better for her
to know,”

“No!” Tatiana blurted. “No,”

Moon reached for Cami and shoved her awake, and Cami rolled over and
yawned.
“What?”

Moon turned her head at Tatiana, and Cami crawled up to her. She gave her
a fierce, tight hug, and Tatiana burst into tears immediately.

“You’re alright,” Cami whispered. She touched a finger to Tatiana’s temple

and moved it down to her nose, and Tatiana cried harder.

“What’s wrong?” Cami asked.

“Re-remember that dream I told you about?” Tatiana choked.

“You had it again?” Cami asked.

Tatiana nodded.

“What happened?”

“Same thing,”

“Tatiana, who died?” Cami asked.

Tatiana stared Cami directly in the eyes and whispered, “I think you know,”

Cami shook her head, and Tatiana tapped Cami’s shoulder.

Cami looked away and said, “Still don’t know,”

“You,” she whispered.

Cami turned her head away again and said, “Oh. Well, I guess we make the
most of the time I’ve got left,”
“It might just be a stress dream too,” Tatiana said. “Or you might not die. I
didn’t actually check, if you were dead, and I have a dream that I think might
be a future dream. I don’t have a good timeline yet, but I’m pretty sure it takes
place after that dream. So you might not die,”

Moon stepped in and said, “What are you talking about?”

“We’re ninety percent sure that she can see the future in her dreams,” Cami
explained.

“You’re kid-” Moon’s phone rang, and Moon picked it up.

“Hello?”

Moon narrowed her eyes and said, “I’m not going back. Especially not with
Kylie,”

“What?”

Moon sighed and said, “I’ll come back for a bit, but then I’m leaving,”

Moon hung up and said, “I gotta go. Take care of Kylie when she wakes up. I’ll
be back in maybe an hour,”

Moon left and Cami and Tatiana looked at each other. Cami kissed her, and
Tatiana smiled at her.

Chapter Fifty Nine

Moon walked back home slowly, drawing out every moment she could, and
when she finally arrived back home, a patrol car was parked in her driveway,
and two deputies stood outside. Both wore the same uniform, and their guns
were visible, but they seemed pretty relaxed.

Moon walked up to the deputies, arms folded, and said, “You wanted to speak
to me?”

“You Luna Paige?” One of them asked.

Moon nodded and said, “I prefer Moon,”

“We have some questions for you,” he said.

“Of course,” Moon responded.

“Can we enter your house for this?”

“I don’t have a house key, so unless my mom unlocked the door, we can’t,”

Moon went up to the door and pulled down on the handle, but the door didn’t
open, and her mom’s car wasn’t in the driveway, so that meant that it was a
no on going inside.

Moon walked back to the deputies and apologized to them for the inability to
enter.

The deputies pulled out a recording device and the one who spoke first asked,
“Why were you in the woods the night of your attack?”

“I have a, a tendency to go on walks through the woods. I normally stick to the

hiking trails, but this time I went a little off the trails. I tripped and hit my head,
and when I woke up, then stood up, someone grabbed me from behind, and I
think I broke their nose trying to get away. Then my attacker, Marina,
approached me and stabbed me. I tried to run away, but I tripped and fell, and
she flipped me over, then used a flashbang or something. I closed my right
eye, so I can still see, but my other eye wasn’t, wasn’t so lucky. Then she cut
my face up, and then she realized what she did and ran away with the other
one,”

“Alright. How did you see her face?”

“No. I heard her voice as she ran. Her friend, she called him her brother, then
ran off,”

“And have you ever met her brother, or pissed her off in any way?”

“Not as far as I’m aware,” she replied.

“What was your last interaction like?”

“She doesn’t like one of my friends’ friends, and I just told her that it was my
business who I talk to, and who my friends hang out with,”

“Does she have any contempt toward that friend?”

“Um, I don’t know,”

“What’s that friend’s name?”

“Chamomile Malkom,”

“Do you know that friend’s schedule?”

“A little bit, yeah,”

“How much?”

“Cami’s first class of the day is history, her class after lunch is math, and she’s
in honors biology with me,”

“I see. We’ll talk to her next,”

“Anything else, or may I leave?”

“Do you know where Marina lives?”

Moon nodded and gave them Marina’s address, and the deputy said, “You
may leave,”

Moon began her walk back to Tatiana’s house, and the moment she knocked
on the door, Tatiana hugged her and led her back inside.

Chapter Sixty

Marina opened her eyes and immediately, a sense of panic washed over her.
She didn’t remember anything from last night, which scared her. This was the
third time in a row. She wasn’t even drinking or anything this time! It started on
the equinox, when after Moon flew off with her, she blacked out, and she
woke up in her bedroom with a cast on her wrist.

She went to her mirror and put both hands on her dresser, then looked up and
for a moment, her dark eyes glowed pale.

She was surprised, but then a voice in her head whispered, ‘Don’t be afraid.
This is completely normal.

This only freaked her out more, and the voice repeated the words several
times until Marina’s breathing leveled out.

There was a knock at the door, and Marina went to answer it when the people
knocked again. Her mom and dad were either not home, or were hungover
somewhere. She opened the door, and two deputies stood outside.

“Hello, officers, what seems to be the problem?” Marina asked.

“Are you Marina Williams?” One of them asked.

“Yeah, why?”

“Do you know your rights?”

Marina stepped back, “No, but what am I accused of?”

“Battery, and mutilation,” he said. Marina tilted her head. She didn’t
understand why she was being accused.

“Turn around,”

Marina complied, and as her hands were cuffed behind her, she heard the
thing about the lawyer and after the deputy stopped speaking, she said, “I’d
like to speak to a lawyer, actually, and I’m invoking my right to remain silent
until they arrive,”

The deputy rolled his eyes and shoved her into the back of the car, and
Marina began sobbing when she realized the one promise she and Hunter
had made to their mom when she was still watching them all the time, ‘never
be in the back of a cop car,’.

“Fake crying isn’t going to help you,” one of the deputies said.

Marina tried to stop, but her emotions were too strong, and she couldn’t. She
buried her face in her knees and continued to sob uncontrollably.

A while later, Marina was pulled out of the car by one of the deputies. She
was shoved into the building, and the receptionist waved at the deputies as
they entered. Marina’s handcuffs were taken off for her mugshot, and she held
up the sign with her name on it, then after they were done, she was brought to
the cell in the back and was frisked for a weapon. They took her cellphone
and cuffed her right wrist to a long pole behind the bench she sat on.

She sat for a while before her lawyer finally arrived. She had begun to nod off
when one of the officers came in, uncuffed her wrist, and told her that her
lawyer had arrived and she was to sit through an interrogation. Marina was led
to one of the rooms with that one way glass thing, and there a woman with
slightly red, slightly brown hair and blue eyes stood. She wore a black pantsuit
and gray leggings, and she looked at Marina and smiled. Marina smiled back
weakly and sat in the chair, then her left wrist was cuffed to a bar on the table.

The deputy left and the lawyer made eye contact with Marina.

“You look young,” the lawyer remarked.

Her lawyer stuck out her hand and said, “‘M Sandy Dumont,”

Marina shook Sandy’s hand and said, “I’m Marina,”

“So I’ve heard. So, what are you accused of?”

Marina shrugged and said, “They say battery and mutilation, but I didn’t do
anything,”

“But they don’t know that. What were you doin’ the night of the twenty-first?”

“I was home with my brother all night. He can back me up,”

“The police are sayin’ you attacked a girl named Luna Paige-”

Marina interrupted Sandy. “She’s my best friend! I’d never hurt her,”

“You have a motive, and they’re accusin’ your brother as an accomplice,

because he shares that same motive,”

“What, motive?”

“Girl named Chamomile Malkom. The police did some diggin’ and found out
that your brother used to date her,”

“Chamomile? I thought she moved. I haven’t seen her since she was like ten,”

“She never did,”

“Hunter broke up with her when I stopped seeing her though. He wouldn’t
have any reason to hate her. If anything, she has the motive,”
“The problem with that is that she’s friends with Luna, and Luna suggested
that she might be your motives. You’ve told Luna that you don’t like
Chamomile, and your brother has a reason to not like her,”

“Wait, that ginger weirdo is Chamomile? She’s changed. If I get out of this I
should go talk to her,”

“You didn’t know?” Sandy asked. “In any case, Luna says she heard your
voice calling your brother to come with you, so there’s still evidence, but no
weapon, no idea where it happened, how Luna’s attacker found her, and it's
entirely possible that you don’t get convicted,”

“So I’ve been falsely accused and if they find nothing, what happens to me?”

“Nothin’. They let you go,”

“And bail?”

“Set for a couple thousand dollars for you, so I’d recommend you call
someone for help,”

“When do I get my call?”

“They’ll let you call someone soon,”

Marina slid her cast across the table and Sandy said, “What happened to your
arm?”

“I don’t, I don’t remember,”

Sandy looked around and said, “You ready?”

Marina’s lip quivered and she nodded.

Sandy shouted that they were ready, and a couple seconds later, a voice
came on and said, “Where were you the night of the twenty first?”

Marina said, “I was at home,”

“Anyone able to vouch for you? Your parents? Any friends? Any siblings?”

“My brother,” Marina said. “Talk to him,”

“Luna said your brother was with you. Does your brother have any way to
prove your story?”

Marina shook her head sadly and said, “No,”

“Do you have anyone else who can confirm your story?”

Marina shook her head again and whispered, “No,”

At this point she had gotten misty eyed and she began to cry again.

“When and how did you break your wrist?”

“I woke up two days ago and it was broken. I don’t remember how or when I
broke it,”

“You don’t remember? What’s your dominant hand?”

“Right,”

A couple moments later, the door opened and a small rock was tossed at her
face. She caught it with her right hand and winced as her wrist began to hurt.

“Your brother. What’s he like?”

“Vindictive, jealous. Kind of a jerk. He’d kill if it gets him what he wants,”

“Has he ever met Luna?”

Marina shook her head and said, “He’s almost never home and stays up in his
room when he is,”

“Do you interact often?”

“Absolutely not,”

“Do you get along?”

Marina barked a laugh and stifled more laughter.

“So that’s a no,”

Marina confirmed and said, “If we ever got along I’d think both of us were
possessed,”

“There’s a girl neither of you like. We have reason to believe she’s the
motive,”

“Play dumb,” Sandy whispered.

“Who?”

“Chamomile Malkom,”

“Chamomile? She was my best friend before she moved! I didn’t know she
came back!”

“You didn’t know? And your brother. Does he have any connection to her?”
“They were friends, and they sorta dated each other for a month before we got
the news she moved. Then he broke up with her and made me delete her
number,”

“Did she upset him somehow?”

“One night they had a really bad fight, I think. They didn’t hurt each other, but
it ended with him getting attacked by a big German Shepherd, and he hates
her because he thinks that if she didn’t exist, he wouldn’t have gotten hurt,”

“That gives him a motive. Help us bring him in and if you are guilty, we’ll give
you a reduced sentence,”

“I’ll call him,” she said.

A deputy entered and handed Marina her phone, and she mustered up as
much fake emotion as possible.

“Hunter?” she whimpered after putting him on speaker. “I’m in a bit of trouble.
I need you to come to the station and bail me out,”

“How much?”

“I don’t, I don’t know,” she whispered. “Can you just come, please?”

“No,” he growled. “I’m not going to waste my life’s savings on saving your
ass,”

“Hunter,” she choked, “Please!”

He hung up and she wanted to throw something. This wasn’t fair. She handed
her phone back and stomped in irritation.
“Call your parents,” the deputy said after handing the phone back.

Marina did as she was told, and when she called her mom, her phone rang
seven times, then went to voicemail. Marina began to cry and she called her
dad, with the same luck. Marina crossed her arms and put her head down as
she cried.

She wasn’t asked any more questions after that point, and she was brought
back to the cell and handcuffed to the bar again. She continued crying and
didn’t open her eyes again until she heard the door to the station open, and a
woman’s voice began shouting at the secretary.

Marina looked up, and a deputy had brought a woman in a wheelchair and
someone else pushing it.

She recognized both of them, but she didn’t remember their names.

The one in a wheelchair smiled at her and said, “Hey Marina. I’m bailing you
out,”

“Who are you?” She sniffled.

The one in the wheelchair rolled her eyes and said, “It’s Ms. Emily,”

“Oh. Why are you bailing me out?”

“Because Skylar and I don’t think you did anything,”

The deputy unlocked the cell and removed the handcuff, and she stood up
slowly. She left and followed Ms. Emily and Skylar out of the building. Skylar
helped Ms. Emily into the passenger seat of a silver Toyota, and Marina
hopped in the back.
“So where do you live?” Skylar asked after hopping into the driver’s seat.

Marina gave Skylar her address and stared out the window. She watched the
surroundings become more familiar, and when she was dropped off at her
house, she opened the door, went upstairs, and entered her room. She
collapsed into her bed and began to sob into her pillow.

She pulled her pillow into her chest and curled into a ball as she cried, wishing
that she had undeniable proof that she didn’t do anything. She eventually got
angry and threw her pillow at the wall and screamed.

Her pillow hit her dresser and she heard something fall and break, and she
snapped out of it.

She ran to her dresser and began to panic when she realized what had fallen.
It was an old snow globe her dad had given her, and now the fluid spilled onto
the floor through a small crack near the base. She tucked her hair behind her
ears and picked it up, careful not to drop the now slippery globe and began to
cry.

The thingy on the inside was a little pale green frog with blue eyes and she
started to cry again when she placed it on her desk. Her head hurt as she
continued crying and she went to the bathroom to wash her hands and face.

The moment the faucet began to run, her chest began to hurt, like it had
started to since the night of the equinox. She coughed up a silvery substance
and a couple furs that she didn’t know where they came from with the
consistency of saliva, but opaque. She coughed out more of the substance,
and a few minutes later, she yawned and blacked out.

She woke up about an hour later in the woods, and she had no idea where
she was.
Don’t worry. A voice in her head whispered. Follow me.

Marina shook her head and the voice repeated the command. She fell to her
knees and screamed with her hands over her ears.

The voice repeated the command and Marina began to sob the word, “No,”

Marina’s throat hurt, and the voice repeated more harshly, Follow me.

Marina sobbed, “I don’t want to. I DON’T WANT TO!”

She screamed and sobbed, and from the corner of her eyes, she saw an
insubstantial gray goat with glowing pale eyes. She looked at it and she
realized that it was the one speaking.

She backed away and it disappeared quickly. She gasped. She didn’t realize
that her chest had even begun to hurt. She stood up, and immediately began
to feel pain in her chest again. She sobbed again and she collapsed and she
yelled for help. Ten minutes later, she heard faint footsteps, and suddenly she
began coughing up the silver fluid again.

She screamed for help before something hit her in the back of her head, and
she passed out.

Chapter Sixty One

Lyorna looked down at the girl she’d knocked out and picked her up. She
recognized her from the news.
Lyorna spread her wings and took off as fast as possible. The girl had lines of
silver fluid leaking out of her mouth and when Lyorna landed, the girl stirred
slightly. The girl shivered and Lyorna hugged her tight. She could still see the
childlike innocence and knew immediately this little girl didn’t do anything.

She ran into a small cave reserved for the Ultima and let the moss curtain fall.
The walls and floors were moss, while a lot else was wood or stone. She
placed the young girl on her bed and put a mint green blanket over her
shoulders so she wouldn’t freeze, then Lyorna sat in the corner.

Lyorna pulled out her phone and decided to call Lizzie.

Lizzie picked up almost immediately and Lyorna could practically feel her joy.
Lyorna and Lizzie talked for a while and when the girl began to stir again,
Lyorna ran to the bed.

“Hey Liz? You wanna come to my camp?” Lyorna asked. Lizzie agreed and
hung up for about five minutes.

She called again and said, “Lyorna, where are you?”

Lyorna left her cave and said, “Turn around,”

Lizzie did that, and when she saw Lyorna, she ran up to her and kissed her on
the forehead. Lyorna took Lizzie inside the cave and Lizzie growled.

“She hurt my cousin,” Lizzie said through gritted teeth.

Lyorna looked at Lizzie and whispered, “I don’t think she did,”

The girl turned to the side and opened her eyes. She sat up and coughed the
silvery liquid onto the floor before coughing up a ball of shaggy gray fur.
“Goddamnit, I’ve got to clean that,” Lyorna said, “If I’d known you’d do that I
would have left you to freeze,”

The girl’s face changed to fear and she whimpered, “Who are you?”

Lyorna looked at the girl and said, “I’d ask you the same, but you’re all over
the news. Even so, your name evades me,”

“Hon, why are you speaking like that?” Lizzie asked.

Lyorna put a finger on Lizzie’s mouth and said, “Now’s not the time, love,”

“Have you been watching ‘The Crown’ again?”

Lyorna said, “Mayhaps,” then turned to the girl.

The girl still looked confused, so Lyorna said, “I’m asking for your name,”

The girl trembled and said, “Marina,”

Marina coughed up the silver substance again and when she sat back up, her
eyes glowed silver and she held a strange smile.

Lyorna felt a shiver down her spine and she grabbed Lizzie’s hand. Lizzie
stiffened for a moment before her hand twitched and she looked away.

Marina looked into Lyorna’s eyes and hissed in a strange voice, “And I’m
Lydria, or Ram, whichever works,”

Marina’s left eye stopped glowing and Marina began arguing with herself.

Lyorna and Lizzie didn’t interfere, but eventually Lyorna just shouted at Marina
to shut up, and both sides did.
“Can you two stop fighting? It’s Sunday night, and Marina should rest, Ram,”

Marina rolled her eyes and Ram hissed, “Fine,”

Lyorna grabbed Marina and allowed her to guide her to her house, and the
moment she dropped her off, she and Lizzie raced each other to the rock pile.

Lyorna won, obviously, and the moment Lizzie arrived, they sat on the edge
and allowed themselves to relax for a moment, completely oblivious to
everything but each other.

Chapter Sixty Two

Tatiana sat up in her bed in a cold sweat. She had that nightmare again, and it
was the third time that night. She panted and began to cry as she touched her
stomach in the spot where the knife had pierced her skin, then coughed and
vomited her own blood over the side of her bed.

Her hands began to shake and her head hurt so much. Her head wasn’t the
only thing, however. Her stomach hurt just as bad as her head, like she’d
actually been stabbed, and when she closed her eyes to try and breathe, the
goat girl began to taunt her in her head.

Tatiana cried and the goat girl laughed in her head, ‘Oh? Are you crying? Are
you? Coward. That’s all you are. That’s all you ever will be,’
Tatiana opened her eyes and gasped, and the goat girl continued to berate
her. She covered her ears, as if that would help her block out a voice in her
head, and she screamed.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and she cried, “Don’t touch me. Please don’t
touch me,”

“Tati? You alright?” Tatiana could hear her mother’s calm voice, and Tatiana
shook her head.

“Mamae. I think I’m going crazy,” Tatiana whimpered.

“What makes you think that?”

“I’m- there’s,” Tatiana scrambled to find the words to explain, and she began
to cry even more.

“What’s wrong?” Tatiana’s mom whispered.

Tatiana simply replied with the word, “Goat,”

“That doesn’t tell me anything,”

“I’ve been having nightmares, and they always feature this goat-girl,” Tatiana
whispered.

“What happens?”

“I’m given a knife by the goat-girl. I take it, and I’m taken to a different place.
She disappears for some time, and at my feet lies one of my friends. It's
different in the beginning each time. Sometimes they’ll attack me, sometimes
they attack someone behind me and get thrown into a wall, but it always ends
the same. I stab them in the chest, and then everything fades, and the goat-
girl appears again. She says something to me, normally an insult, then stabs
me. And I wake up hurting where she stabbed me,”

“Where did she stab you?”

Tatiana touched the spot gingerly, and instantly she felt a burst of pain there
and she cried.

Tatiana’s mother tried to soothe her, but the goat girl continued whispering to
her and continued infecting her mind like a virus.

Eventually, Tatiana just shouted, “Shut up, shut up, shut up!”

Tatiana’s mom took her hand off of Tatiana’s back and Tatiana cried.

Tatiana eventually, finally stopped crying, and she said, “Mae, I’m better now,”

“I’ll clean up again, alright? You go clean up your face,”

Tatiana nodded, went to the closet for a towel, and walked into the bathroom.
She locked the door, and the goat-girl’s voice increased in volume. She
growled and her bracelet changed into her knife. She looked down and she
put it against the skin onto her right forearm.

She felt a rush through her body as she pressed down the blade and began to
hurt and bleed, and the goat girl silenced herself. She smiled and pressed a
little further, and she felt so much better. And just this once couldn’t hurt,
right?

She stepped into the shower and the blood ran down the drain. No one would
ever know, because no one had to. She’d only do self harm once. Never
again.
She dried off and put her pajamas back on before she went back to her room,
and she walked carefully back to her room, careful not to show the cut on her
arm to her mom. She pretended to fall asleep until her mom left, and then she
rolled onto her back. She clutched her right arm to her stomach and looked at
the ceiling until she heard the door open, and Moon jumped onto her bed and
crawled over her and stared into her eyes. Moon’s left eye was no longer blue
but now was more turquoise, and it was cloudy and now missing the pupil for
a reason that Tatiana didn’t know. Moon had an eyepatch, but it was clear it
made her uncomfortable, no matter how much it helped her.

“You alright?” Moon asked. “I heard you crying,”

Tatiana replied, “I had that nightmare again. This time the goat-girl stayed in
my head. But I’m fine now!”

“You sure?” Moon narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “I can smell some blood in
here,”

“That was vomited up,” she said.

“I don’t want to believe you, but I must,”

Moon hugged Tatiana and said, “I’ll let you rest now,”

Moon left and Tatiana decided to actually fall asleep, and after she did so, she
woke up to her phone alarm buzzing underneath her pillow. She stretched and
then began to get ready, starting with a long sleeved black shirt, then a pair of
tan pants. She put on her plain dark blue hoodie and walked down the stairs
to get some cereal or toast or something for breakfast. Moon came down
about a minute later with Kylie, and Kylie’s hair was well brushed, while
Moon’s was a mess like Tatiana’s.
Kylie yawned and Moon said, “You think your mom can drive her to school?”

Tatiana nodded tiredly and said, “She comes down in about five minutes. You
can ask her then just in case I’m wrong,”

Tatianai’s toast popped out of the toaster and she stopped paying attention to
what was going on around her. She bumped into Moon at least twice, maybe
more, but it was Tatiana’s fault, Moon couldn’t see her from one side
anymore.

About ten minutes after finishing her breakfast, Tatiana and Moon left the
house and walked to the stop Tatiana typically got on at. There wasn’t
typically anyone else at this stop, so the driver Harold Jefferson was mildly
surprised, but he let both of them on anyway.

The only other ninth grader on the bus at the moment noticed Moon and
immediately invited her to sit with him, but she just said, “I don’t know you, but
I’d prefer not to,”

He slumped his shoulders but got over it quickly, and immediately tried flirting
with her.

Moon looked at him with a startled expression and said, “No. I’m not
interested,”

He stopped talking about it and said

“What happened to your leg?” a tenth grader asked coldly. He’d noticed the
black brace she now wore.

“I got hurt,” Moon replied. Tatiana sat down and Moon sat next to her quickly.
“Wait. I know you. You were on the news,” the tenth grader said. “I didn’t know
there was a thirteen year old in high school,”

“You’re thirteen?” The other ninth grader asked. “You look way too tall to be
thirteen,”

“I am thirteen,” she confirmed, “And you don’t need to remind me of that,”

“What were you doing on the news?”

“She was injured by an unknown person early Thursday morning. There aren’t
any suspects yet,”

“Well,” Moon said. “I heard the person’s voice, and she and her brother did it.
I’m not saying who I think it is, just in case I’m wrong, even though I’m pretty
sure I’m right,”

The bus fell silent after that, at least until a pair of ninth graders that Tatiana
didn’t know got on the bus. One had a scarred face and the other had a cast
on her right arm.

Moon tensed immediately and the one with the cast on her arm approached,
asked if she could sit, but then noticed Tatiana and Tatiana realized she was
the girl who had run away from them during the equinox. She wondered what
happened to her arm briefly before she sat down on the seat on the other side
of the bus. The scar-faced one sat in the seat behind them, and while Tatiana
had no reason to be afraid, Moon’s unease said everything to Tatiana.

“The cops are following the bus,” Moon whispered.

Tatiana looked over her shoulder and sure enough, Moon was right. There
was a patrol car behind them.
Tatiana stiffened, she had trouble being certain that she could trust the police
these days, and she was a little worried about their reasons for following the
bus.

The girl with the broken wrist saw Tatiana stiffen and looked over her
shoulder, then mouthed the word, ‘shit’.

Moon yawned and then looked over at the girl with the broken wrist and
glared. The girl sank back into her seat and looked miserable, almost like she
was about to cry.

Tatiana looked at Moon and whispered, “Moon, be nice, for the love of God,”

“I don’t believe in God,” Moon retaliated.

“Which god?” Tatiana whispered back.

Moon said sarcastically, “Ha ha, very funny,”

“I’m serious,” Tatiana said. “Which god?”

Moon rolled her eyes and didn’t respond to Tatiana’s question.

Tatiana didn’t pry and her phone buzzed. She pulled it out of her pocket and it
was her mom.

She answered and said, “Alo?”

“Ai Tatiana, se tem tempo depois da escola?” Tatiana almost didn’t get the
meaning of the words, but then they registered and she opened her mouth to
respond.

“Não, Mamãe, desculpe. Tenho clube de teatro hoje,”

“Vem quando se poder, ta?”

“Porque Mamae?”

“Que você não foi da casa sexta,” Tatiana face-palmed herself. She’d
forgotten about their plans to take care of the yard that day.

And she’d completely forgotten on Friday since she was trying to visit Moon in
the hospital the entire day, kept being denied entry by Moon’s mother, then
stayed at Ashley’s house when Moon was taken home. Then on Saturday,
Tatiana’s mom had to go to work since she missed out on it.

Then Sunday was hectic with Moon and Kylie there, so they weren’t able to do
it on that day.

That left today. And Tatiana wasn’t going to disappoint her mae.

The bus was at its final stop ten minutes after she received the call, and then
they were on the familiar path straight to school. The moment they arrived at
the school and got off the bus, the girl with the broken wrist approached Moon
and tried to smile at her, but Moon walked away.

The girl tried to keep pace with Moon and said, “Moon? What’s wrong?”

Moon ignored her and the girl said, “Moon? Moon? Talk to me. I just want to
talk to you,”

Moon growled, “I don’t believe you,”

Tatiana stepped between them quickly to prevent the situation from

escalating. She just had a feeling of deep intuition that they’d be at each
other’s throats within moments if they were left alone.
“How about this,” Tatiana turned to the girl and said, “Wait. I don’t know your
name,”

“Marina,” she supplied.

“Marina, say what you want to say to Moon, and Moon, you listen,”

Moon rolled her eyes but allowed Marina to speak.

“Moon? Why did you say I was the one who attacked you? I didn’t attack you!”

“You stood over me and said that what you did to me was just payback!”
Moon snarled.

She bared her teeth and Tatiana looked up at her and said, “Moon. Calm
down,”

Moon backed away and said, “Tatiana, let’s get to class,”

Tatiana ignored Moon and Moon walked away. Tatiana stayed behind and
began to talk to Marina.

The more they talked, the more idiotic Moon’s thinking that Marina did
anything to her seemed, but Marina was the last person in proximity to Moon.

Marina was insistent that she remembered almost nothing from that night after
she left with Moon, and to Tatiana, it was clear she wasn’t lying. She didn’t
need those super senses or anything for that.

Tatiana veered off into history class and sat in her normal seat next to Cami.
Cami smiled down at her and Tatiana smiled back.

“How’s Moon?” Cami asked.

“She’s alright,”

“That’s good,”

The warning bell rang and many other students began filing into the
classroom one or two at a time. Mr. Simmons had to leave to the copier room
after realizing he didn’t have enough copies of a worksheet they were going to
be using for notes at the start of a new unit, leaving the class in complete
anarchy.

Chapter Sixty Three

A piece of notebook paper landed on Tatiana’s desk when Cami and Tatiana
began to talk to each other, and Tatiana opened it up. Cami couldn’t read it,
but from Tatiana’s flush, she could tell it was bad. Tatiana put her hand over
her mouth and Cami saw a few tears roll down her cheeks.

“Can I see that?” Cami whispered. Tatiana handed over the slip of paper and
Cami was absolutely horrified by what she saw. She wanted to shift and kill
whoever wrote this. It was outright homophobic and racist, and Cami tore the
note in half, then she grabbed her crutches, stood up, and turned around.

“Who threw that?” she shouted. Tatiana began pulling on her wrist and tried to
get her to sit down, but Cami ignored it.

“I said, who threw that?”

No one fessed up, and Cami growled, “Cowards,”

She sat down and whispered, “Does this happen often?”

Tatiana shook her head. “Not when a teacher’s watching,”

Cami hugged Tatiana and a few seconds later another slip of paper was
thrown at them. It hit Cami in the back of the head, and she leaned over and
picked it up. She opened it and she growled, then dropped it like it was
several hot coals.

It was clearly directed at her and Tatiana, calling both of them several words,
including the f-slur. She narrowed her eyes when she could barely hear
someone’s heart rate rise, and she turned around, then zeroed in on the
sound, directly behind Tatiana.

She narrowed her eyes at the one person who sat behind Tatiana, who’s eyes
darted to the side. She sat too stiff, and Cami could see a poorly concealed
pencil and several slips of white notebook paper on her desk.

The other girl looked like she was a member of the lower upper class,
probably had a nice house, probably had a good career prospect, was going
to go to a nice and expensive college like Harvard or another Ivy League
school.

Cami stood up and growled, “Well? Aren’t you proud? Aren’t you fucking
proud?”

The girl said, “What are you talking about? I did nothing,”

The girl’s heartbeat raced, and Cami snarled, “Liar,”

The girl swallowed and said, “What are you accusing me of?”

“You threw the notes,” Cami growled. “Didn’t you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about?”

Cami stood up and limped over to the girl’s desk, then slammed her fist onto
the desk.

“Don’t play dumb with me,” Cami growled.

“I’m not!” the girl shouted. She stood up quickly and narrowed her eyes.

They were interrupted by the door opening and the girl sat down. Cami started
to go back to her desk, but she was stopped by a hand on her shoulder.

She turned around and faced the person who the hand belonged to. It was a
deputy with dark hair and pale skin, alongside a little bit of unshaven stubble.

He looked about in his thirties, and he said, “You Chamomile Malkom?”

Cami nodded and replied, “I prefer Cami,”

“We need to ask you a few questions. Then you can go back to class,”

Cami nodded and the deputy took her into the hallway, then closed the door
behind them.

He took out a phone and began recording a voice memo, then said, “Are you
familiar with a girl named Marina Williams?”

“Does she have a twin brother named Hunter Williams? Is she fourteen?”
“Yes to both of those questions,”

“She and I used to be friends. Then I moved and she stopped talking to me,”

“She said her brother made her delete your number after you and her brother
broke up,”

“That’s why?” Cami growled.

“Alright. When was the last time you saw her brother?”

“About a month ago I think? He’s a little angry at me, even though he broke up
with me, and he held a knife to my throat,”

“Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

“Because he didn’t hurt me,”

“Has Marina ever expressed any hatred toward you?”

“No. She doesn’t really seem to hate me,”

“And why did Hunter break up with you?”

“He’s angry at me because when I found out I had to move, he was irrationally
upset,”

“How so?”

“Fear at first, then he got really, really angry and broke up with me,”

“Other than the knife attack, has he ever tried to hurt you?”
Cami took a breath and shook her head. She hated lying, but she didn’t want
him getting in more trouble than he would end up in if he was convicted,
especially if he was convicted wrongly, and from what she remembered of his
parents, they would not be happy if he was convicted for multiple assaults of
the same girl.

And that would put him in a worse situation than prison.

“Do you think he would have hurt someone to get back at you?”

“Only if I was there to watch,” Cami replied. “But no. Never. He prefers to just
annoy you to death, or if he really hates you, then he’ll just threaten you, but
it’s all just a huge bluff,”

“So he’s harmless?”

“Basically,”

“Thank you,” the deputy said, “You can go back to class,”

Cami opened the door and reentered the room, and the second she closed
the door, the girl who had been throwing the notes said, “What are you, some
kind of criminal?”

Then the girl looked into her eyes and said, “Well, with that temper, can’t say
I’m surprised,”

Cami growled quietly and balled her fists up. Her claws came out, and she
began bleeding from her palms. She winced and opened her palms, then let
her blood trickle down her fingers. She walked over to her bag and kneeled
down, then unzipped it to grab a few tissues and she began to put pressure
on the injury. She sat next to Tatiana, who didn’t seem to be doing well.
Cami avoided touching her, but whispered, “You alright?”

Tatiana was hyperventilating and Cami could hear her sobbing and choking.

Cami whispered, “Tatiana, look at me. Breathe. Just breathe,”

Tatiana looked up, red faced and puffy-eyed.

Cami put her hand on the sleeve of Tatiana’s jacket and said, “Breathe. Just
breathe,”

Tatiana put her head on Cami’s arm and Cami whispered, “I’m right here. Just
breathe,”

Tatiana’s breathing began to slow when Tatiana began to rub the back of her
hand on Cami’s black wool hoodie. Cami let her cry into her jacket and then
the door opened again. Mr. Simmons walked in with a stack of about a
hundred papers, then sat at his desk. Tatiana looked up and he looked
surprised.

“Tatiana, do you want to go to the bathroom and clean your face?” he asked.

Tatiana nodded mutely and she stood up shakily. She walked out of the
classroom slowly, shoulders shaking and Cami could hear her sobs. The
moment the door closed, Mr. Simmons finally started class, about ten minutes
after the bell had rang. He passed out worksheets about the Weimar Republic
from the aftermath of World War one, and once Cami’s left hand’s bleeding
was stable enough for her to use it properly, she pulled a pencil out of the
paper-filled bag she had and began to write what the teacher had already
presented down, while writing notes that were left out and working on the
worksheet before the explanations began to come up.
About fifteen minutes later, Mr. Simmons noticed that Tatiana hadn’t come
back, and he sent Cami to go check on her.

Chapter Sixty Four

Fifteen minutes earlier

Tatiana left the classroom and immediately began to full-on cry. She ran into
the bathroom, went into a random open stall and immediately broke down.

Mekora phased through the wall and began to rub against Tatiana’s legs, but
this just made her feel uncomfortable and she shoved her away.

Mekora spat on the ground and said, “Touchy much?” then phased away to
some other place. Tatiana’s feather changed shapes into a knife, and Tatiana
wanted to just stab herself someplace and get rid of the anxiety, but she knew
that it would only hurt her friends, but still, she rolled up her sleeve after
locking the stall door.

She held out her left wrist and shuffled her knife into her right hand, then
pressed down on the vein. It began to sting and to bleed while her heart
raced, and slowly, the stress began to fade. She breathed in and out steadily,
but then realized she’d broken her promise to herself.

She began to panic again and raised the knife yet again, then pressed down
about half an inch above the already bleeding cut. She held her arm out and
the blood dripped onto the ground as she began to relax again. She sighed
and watched the steady trickling of blood slow.

She rolled her sleeve down and morphed her knife into a bracelet again, then
opened the stall door and went to wash her hands when she realized with a
jolt that the blood had begun trickling to her hand. She rolled up her sleeves
and began to wipe the blood away with the paper towel.

“Tatiana?” someone whispered. It was Cami. Tatiana threw out the paper
towel, washed her hands, and rolled down her sleeves before Cami could see
the cuts.

“You alright?” Cami whispered. Tatiana looked up and nodded, and Cami
tilted her head as she looked around.

“I smell blood,” she whispered.

“You do?” Tatiana raised her eyebrow and said, “I don’t smell anything,”

Cami turned around and looked at Tatiana.

“It’s coming from you?” Cami asked, bewildered.

Tatiana shook her head, “I don’t know what you’re talking about,”

She felt awful. She didn’t want to hide anything from Cami, but she was
worried.

“Tatiana? Are you alright?”

Tatiana nodded stiffly and said, “I’m alright,”

Cami narrowed her eyes suspiciously, then said, “Roll up your sleeves,”
Tatiana focused on making sure her wrists looked bare to Cami, then slowly
rolled them up.

“What’s that blood from?” Cami whispered.

“It’s old,” she whispered.

Cami grabbed Tatiana’s wrist and whispered, “Are you alright?”

“It’s fine,” Tatiana growled, “I’m fine,”

“Tatiana. Where’s it from?”

“I’m just really, really clumsy,”

“What happened?”

“I tripped,”

Cami looked at her and said, “You sure?”

Tatiana nodded.

“Let’s go back to class,” Cami whispered. Tatiana nodded again, and they
walked out of the bathroom.

The moment they got back to class, Cami began helping Tatiana with the
notes since she missed everything. About ten minutes after they got back, the
bell rang and they packed everything up. Cami hugged her and they went
their separate ways.

Someone grabbed Tatiana’s shoulder as she approached her locker and she
turned around.
It was the girl who sat behind her in History, and Tatiana sighed and said,
“Don’t you have better things to do?”

That girl narrowed her eyes and said, “Tell your girlfriend to meet me behind
the school,”

“And what if I don’t?” Tatiana growled.

The other girl grabbed her by the shoulders and snarled, “You don’t want to
know,”

Her voice distorted and she began to let out a low rumble, and Tatiana
whispered, “Oh, you’re a werewolf,”

The other girl’s eyes widened and Tatiana began to laugh.

“How, how do you know?” the other girl growled. Tatiana felt something pierce
her skin, and she winced but continued to laugh.

“Why are you so frustrating?” The girl snarled. Her eyes glowed pale gold and
Tatiana just stared deep into them.

Then Tatiana heard someone fall to the ground behind her.

Tatiana turned around immediately and she saw a boy from her English class
jerking and bleeding on the floor.

She kneeled next to him and the bell rang.

“Get the nurse!” Tatiana shouted at the girl.

The girl ran off, and Tatiana stayed close to the boy. Her heart beat fast, and
she waited by his side for someone, anyone who knew what to do to arrive.
Tatiana wanted to cut herself now, and just feel that rush again, but she was
going to wait.

She loosened his hoodie and got him on his side. She remembered
something like that from a movie or something. His scalp was bleeding and
she began panicking. She didn’t know what to do about his head.

She stayed by his side and the moment the nurse arrived, she was told to go
to the office with the other girl so they could get excused late slips. The
moment they stepped away from the office, the other girl shoved Tatiana’s
back into a locker and she growled.

“Now where were we?”

Her eyes glowed pale gold again and Tatiana just continued staring.

“How are you not having a goddamn seizure yet?” the werewolf snarled,
“You’re human,”

Tatiana laughed and said, “Well, if you’re an Ultima,” the other girl flinched as
Tatiana went on to say, “You’d know who the girl you want to fight is,”

“How do you, a pathetic human, know what an Ultima is?”

Tatiana narrowed her eyes and said, “Leave me alone,”

The shifter growled and said, “I don’t like to play games. Tell me or I tear your
arm off,”

Tatiana gulped as the shifter bared her fangs and narrowed her pale golden
eyes into slits. Tatiana tried to speak, but she was tensed up from fear and
could barely open her mouth.
“Last chance,” the shifter snarled, ten seconds later.

Tatiana’s lip quivered and the other girl shifted into a huge black, white, and
red furred fox, then jumped and bit Tatiana’s left shoulder.

Tatiana tried to scream, but the fox wrapped its tail around her mouth and
whispered, “Don’t try to scream,”

The fox bit into her jacket, trying to get at her belly, while keeping her tail over
her mouth. Tatiana turned her feather into her knife and waited for a moment
before slashing at the fox’s underbelly with the black and red blade. The fox
growled and released her tail for just a moment, then Tatiana coughed up a
ball of white and red fur. The fox whisper-growled and continued to tear at
Tatiana’s jacket.

The fox broke through the jacket with her teeth and then went through to her
shirt. Tatiana let out a muffled scream and the fox tore the shirt up.

The fox tore at her stomach and when it looked up, the fox had blood on its
muzzle, and fabric and cotton stuck in her teeth. Tatiana looked down and
whimpered, then saw the blood and cried.

The fox laughed and tore out something red and bloody. The fox shook her fur
clean of blood, and a few drops landed in Tatiana’s eyes. Tatiana blinked the
blood out of her eyes and began to feel dizzy. She swayed and fell to the side
as her vision went blurry and she began to bleed from her mouth.

At this moment, the goat girl decided to return, and she began to call for
blood.

Stab her. Kill her.

And Tatiana couldn’t lift a finger, do anything.

No. I won’t.

DO IT!

Never.

DO IT! NOW!

In case you haven’t noticed, I can’t-

Tatiana couldn’t think anymore. Could barely breathe.

The fox growled and whispered, “I’ll tell her myself,”

She could tell the fox had shifted back into the girl and she said, “See you in
about thirty minutes,”

She laughed as she strode off, and probably to the bathroom to wash off all
the blood.

Tatiana coughed up blood and her vision began to fade in and out of focus,
like she was dying, which she probably might have been.

She felt the cold floor tile against her cheek as she began to choke on her
blood, and her knife had changed back into her bracelet.

Tatiana felt hot breath over her bleeding shoulder, and she saw white paws
that turned into legs draped in silver fabric.

“I’m getting help,” Tatiana heard Mekora say, although her voice sounded far
away. Mekora ran away in the general direction of the trophy case, then
Tatiana heard the crash of a pane of glass shattering, and the secretary ran
out of the office, noticed Tatiana, and she took a step back.

She shouted something, probably something like, “Can you hear me?”

Tatiana blinked and tried to move, but couldn’t, and the goat girl murmured,
It’s not the same, but kill her instead.

Tatiana looked up and the woman had a phone in her hand, and she was
clearly freaking out. Tatiana could feel why.

Mekora bounded back to Tatiana in her wolf form and said, “They won’t be
here fast enough. I apologize for what I’m about to do,”

Tatiana felt something enter her body, and Tatiana gasped, she could breathe
again!

Mekora disappeared from her vision and Tatiana began to panic more than
normal, but she heard Mekora’s voice in her head saying, For now. You’ll
see me when you can survive.

What do you mean? Tatiana whispered. Her brain felt less fuzzy now.

You can’t make it without me. Mekora whispered.

Tatiana coughed up another ball of white and red fur, then she coughed up
blood onto the woman’s shoes.

“Oh god, I’m so sorry,” Tatiana choked.

“How are you still-” the woman started.

And then Tatiana passed out.

Chapter Sixty Five

Forty five minutes later

Ashley had a dull pain in her stomach that she couldn’t shake, and her eyes
stung a bit.

This had been going on for about an hour, and Ashley had no idea what
caused it, but she had decided that she’d tell Tatiana when she saw her in
biology, but Tatiana had disappeared.

Well, the grade had an unscheduled assembly now, and while Ashley prayed
it wasn’t anything serious, she still wanted to see Moon, if she was at school.

The moment the biology class arrived in the auditorium, Ashley walked over to
where Moon was sitting and nudged her left shoulder.

Moon looked at Ashley and smiled, but then she looked around and asked,
“Where’s Tatiana?”

Ashley’s heart sank, “I thought she wasn’t at school today,”

“She’s not here?” Moon whispered.

“She’s supposed to be?”

Cami’s class entered and Cami sat next to Ashley, leaving a gap, most likely
for Tatiana.

“Cami, have you seen Tatiana?” Ashley asked.

“Yeah. She’s in my History class,”

“Have you seen her outside that class?”

Cami shook her head and whispered, “What’s going on?”

As the rest of the grade entered, the assembly started, and the principal
walked up to the microphone, then grabbed it and began to speak.

“As some of you may know, or have noticed, Ms. Emily is not on stage with
me, and it’s because in the past week, there have been four separate
incidents in which a student or faculty member has been injured,”

The principal paused and said, “Ms. Emily is healing. She’s out of the hospital,
but she’s broken a rib, her ankle, and her knee, so she is unable to come to
school for a few weeks,”

“And then, Luna Paige, or Moon, as most of you call her, has been assaulted,
and while we can’t say much, she’s lost sight in one eye, and she has injured
her leg, but she’s here today,”

The principal paused again and looked down, then up and said, “Then today,
there have been two severe injuries. A student by the name of Jack Springer
has had a seizure, and it lasted for almost six minutes, but a pair of students
worked together to make sure he got to the nurse’s office safely,”
The principal took a breath and said, “So thank the students Ava Stevens and
Maria Tatiana Eva Philips da Luz. Thanks to them, he’ll make a full recovery
by tomorrow,”

The principal said Tatiana’s name in the most American way possible, saying
Maria Tate-eye-anna Eve-a Phillips da Lus, and Moon, Cami, and Ashley all
looked at each other.

“That hurt to listen to,” Ashley whispered.

Someone else shouted, “You pronounced that wrong!” and the principal
ignored them.

“Unfortunately, after she and Ava went to the office to get tardy slips, they
went their separate ways, and Tatiana was attacked by an unknown animal.
We don’t know how it got in, or why it attacked her, but she’s in the hospital,
receiving surgery as we speak,”

Ashley felt like she was about to cry, and a look to her right showed that Moon
already was. A look to her left, and Cami had hunched over and buried her
face in her hands. Ashley’s ears drooped and she curled up her tail into her
lap, then began stroking it.

“If anyone feels emotionally distressed about these events, come to the office.
We’ve still got two guidance counselors, and we can help you feel better. Just,
tell your teachers first,”

A few hot tears trailed down Ashley’s face and Moon put a hand on her
shoulder and whispered, “It’ll be alright. I bet she’ll be better in less then a
week,”

Ashley’s tail twitched and she whispered, “Tell that to her,”

Ashley pointed her tail at Cami and Moon stood up, then sat next to Cami and
whispered, “Hey. Look at me,”

Cami looked up briefly, eyes glowing golden, and Moon said, “Nevermind.
But, Cami. She’ll be alright,”

“How do you know?”

Moon lowered her voice to a whisper and said, “Her dreams still have to
happen,”

“You’re right,” Cami whispered. “But it doesn’t make it feel any better,”

Cami’s claws unsheathed and Moon grabbed her palm.

Cami’s claws pierced her skin and Moon winced, then said, “Calm down.
You’re fine. Tatiana will make it out,”

Chapter Sixty Six

The moment the grade was dismissed, Cami split off from everyone else and
leaned against the wall, then slowly sank to the floor. She began to
hyperventilate, and she felt awful.

The song I Will Love You Forever began to play on repeat in her head and
Cami felt her heartbeat rise.
Cami wanted to scream, she was too scared to speak.

She began to sing quietly Forevermore, but she broke down halfway through
the first chorus, the moment she sang, “Cuz you’re my Penelope, and you’re
my Persephone,”

She choked and began to sob, and she began to trace the lines of scars on
her wrist to calm down.

“You alright?” An unfamiliar voice said.

Against her better judgment, Cami looked up and nodded stiffly before going
back to tracing her scars.

“You sure?” they asked.

Cami nodded again, and the person said, “You mute or something?”

Cami shook her head and moved onto the scars on her palm. She traced
them over and over, and she hadn’t realized the other person had sat down
next to her.

“So, how’ve you been for the past five years?”

Cami looked to her right and she saw the girl from that night that Moon was
attacked, but now her eyes glowed silver.

“What do you mean?” Cami whispered.

“Come on, Chamomile, you don’t remember me?”

“Marina?”
“Yep, that’s me!”

Cami hugged her and she whispered, “I missed you,”

“Same here,”

Marina looked at Cami and said, “I heard Tatiana’s not doing well,”

Cami looked away and whispered, “I don’t want to talk about her,”

“That’s alright,” Marina whispered. “We can just sit,”

Cami sniffed and whispered, “You never told me you were a shifter,”

“Oh. I’m not,”

“But your eyes-”

“No, that’s something completely different,”

Cami began to hum Haunted, and Marina looked at her.

“What’s that song?”

Cami silenced herself and didn’t respond.

“You can talk to me,”

Cami shook her head and whispered, “I don’t want to,”

“Why?”
“Your brother,” she whispered. She knew it wasn’t a good enough
explanation, but maybe Marina would understand.

“He and I don’t talk much anymore,” Marina said. “And our parents don’t make
us,”

“How have they been doing?”

“They aren’t around much,”

“I’m sorry,” Cami whispered.

“It’s alright. It's been three years since it started,”

Cami hugged Marina again, but then felt someone pull her off.

“Get away from her!” she heard Hunter growl.

Cami was shoved to the floor and as she sat up, she looked up at Hunter’s
scarred face. It hurt her to look, to know that she was responsible for his pain.

“Hunter, she was crying!” Marina growled. “You get away from her,”

Hunter spun to face Marina and pushed her into one of the lockers, and Cami
knew she needed to stop the fight before it escalated. Cami stepped between
them and let out a low rumble from her throat.

“Don’t tell me what to do!” the siblings shouted at once.

Cami rolled her eyes and walked off. The bell rang a minute later and Cami
walked off to the cafeteria, then called Lyorna. Lyorna picked up and Cami
just broke down. She tried telling Lyorna what happened, but she could barely
speak.
“Slow down,” Lyorna said in the wolf tongue. “Breathe,”

Cami explained what had happened in rapid-fire wolf tongue, so fast that
when she was done, Lyorna whispered, “I didn’t catch any of that,”

Cami repeated what she’d said, slightly slower, and Lyorna gasped slightly.

“Hold on for a moment. I’m calling Airien, and then I’m coming to pick you up,”

Cami whispered, “Alright,”

About twenty minutes later, Lyorna called Cami and said, “I’m here. Can you
come to the office?”

Cami stood up shakily and walked to the office quickly, then saw the shattered
trophy case and she wondered what the hell happened, and if it had anything
to do with Tatiana. She opened the door and Lyorna pulled her into a tight and
warm hug.

Cami’s breathing slowed and she whispered, “Hey, cuz,”

“I still need confirmation that Ariana Malkom sent you to pick her up,
Magdalena,” the secretary said after Cami and Lyorna hugged for a couple
seconds.

“I called, I called, I called my mom to, to, to tell her I wasn’t feeling that, that
well, and she told me that Lena would, would come to pick me up,”

The secretary nodded and said, “May I speak to her?”

Cami called her mom and when she picked up, said, “Hey, the, the office
needs you to let them know that Lena’s here to, to, to pick me up,”
Cami put the phone on speaker, and her mom immediately said, “Alright. Am I
on speaker?”

Cami stuttered, “Y-yeah,”

“Ok. Hi. Yes. I told Magdalena to pick up Chamomile since I was not available.
I’m at work, and Maglena’s free until one,”

“You may leave,” the secretary said.

Lyorna walked with Cami, into the forest, and said, “Let’s run,”

Cami nodded and they shifted into a pair of huge wolves. Lyorna stretched her
wings and yawned before she shifted into her animal form without wings.
Cami’s head fell slightly below Lyorna’s shoulders, and the pair ran off. Lyorna
was definitely faster than Cami, but she seemed to slow down so Cami could
keep up. They ran until they hit Cami’s camp, where they shifted into their
hybrid forms, and Lyorna hugged her one last time before flying away.

As Lyorna disappeared into the sky, Cami entered her hut and collapsed onto
the bed.

She took off her jacket and her small wings popped out of the large slits that
her mom had cut into all of her shirts. Cami rolled over, using her wings to
push herself, and she looked up at the wooden support beams in the ceiling.

The hut was old looking on the outside, but on the inside, it looked newer. It
was because over time, they had to update the style, especially after the
original burned down. At the time, construction was still a common job for the
males in the pack. They were strong, most weren’t scared of heights, and
there used to be so many bird shifters in the pack, that if you fell, they’d just fly
down and catch you.
But since they made a new hut, they kept the original outside, and changed
the inside to be from concrete. Less likely to give splinters or something.

Cami stared up at the plaster ceiling and thought, I could make a great world
map out of that spot up there. I could even teach Tati how to play Dungeons
and Dragons.

Dungeons and Dragons was her favorite pastime when she went to that
private school Olivia still went to, and it still was pretty high up on the list.

The school wasn’t a human school, all that went there were shifters, and
some didn’t bother to hide the fact if they were inside. Outside, non-kenomi
had to, but otherwise, it was completely ordinary to see animal features on
students. Cami was one of the only people who wasn’t comfortable in her
hybrid form.

That had changed, of course. She was in it right now. But in the first two years
after she had shifted, she insisted on staying out of her hybrid form. Every
time she shifted into her hybrid form, she was reminded of how she’d hurt
Hunter, feel guilty, and she’d punch the nearest wall until her knuckles bled.

And sometimes she would randomly remember it, and still punch the wall until
her knuckles bled.

It got to the point where she couldn’t shift at all when she was thirteen, unless
it was a full moon. Then she had to, and it hurt her so much.

She’d tried to talk to him that year, but Hunter was still scared of her, and that
was the year that he’d joined the hunters. When she tried to talk to him, she
was shot three times. She played dead, and he was almost shot, but he
explained that he was human, and they offered him a position in their group,
which he sadly took.
The moment the group left, Cami stood up and after she called her mom, she
was taken to the hospital, which was the first time she’d gone to the hospital
for a bullet wound, but it wasn’t the last.

Her phone began to buzz and she saw an unknown caller with the same area
code. She picked up, in case it was important, and Moon’s voice came onto
the phone.

“Moon? How did you get my number?”

“Tatiana’s phone. Her mom got it from her bag and we figured out your
number from her notifications,”

“Why did you call me?” Cami asked.

“We were going to the hospital, and Ashley thought to invite you,”

“That’s nice of her,” Cami said. “Where do I go?”

“Tatiana’s house,”

Cami whispered, “I’ll be there in about ten minutes,”

Cami took off her shirt, pressed her wings against her back, put it back on,
then forced her jacket over her shoulders. She shifted and ran as quickly as
she could to Tatiana’s. Cami shifted back when she was in the thinner part of
the woods, and she emerged from the woods a few moments later.

Cami walked over to Tatiana’s house, called Moon, and said, “Hey, I’m here,”

Moon opened the door and hugged Cami, then said, “We’re leaving when the
hospital calls Tatiana’s mom to say she’s out of the operating room,”
Moon led Cami inside and Cami sat on the couch in the spot she had laid
down on when she had been shot.

Moon sat next to her, and Cami looked around for Ashley.

Ashley came in about five minutes later from upstairs, holding a little girl’s
hand.

“Who’s that?” Cami asked.

“My little sister,” Moon whispered.

The little girl hugged Moon and sat on Moon’s lap.

“Hey Kylie, you alright?”

Kylie shook her head and whispered, “Where’s Tatiana?”

“Remember how I got really hurt, and I wasn’t home for two days?” Moon
whispered. “She’s in the place i was at,”

“Who’s that?”

Kylie pointed at Cami, and Cami whispered, “Hi, I’m Cami,”

Kylie looked scared and she pulled on Moon’s shirt.

“Don’t worry, she’s nice,” Moon whispered. “She’s my friend,”

Cami smiled and Kylie whimpered, “No,”

Kylie buried her face in Moon’s shirt and Moon hugged her tight.
Tatiana’s mom walked into the room, and she said with a brittle voice,
“Tatiana’s out of surgery, and she lived! We go now,”

Moon stood up with Kylie in her arms, and the group walked out to a silver
Toyota in the driveway with an old California license plate.

Cami sat on the left, Kylie in the middle with Ashley on her lap in her animal
form, and Moon to Kylie’s side.

Kylie pet Ashley slowly until they arrived at the hospital. Ashley jumped off of
Kylie’s lap and shifted back when Kylie left the car.

Ashley left, and then Cami, and when everyone had left the silver toyota, they
walked into the hospital.

Chapter Sixty Seven

Thirty minutes later

Tatiana gasped for breath and found she had a ventilator over her mouth and
nose, a tube in her throat, and she sat up, then began hyperventilating. Her
stomach hurt so, so much, along with her shoulder and she was in a pale blue
hospital gown. Tatiana clutched her shoulder tight with her right hand and
began to cry.
Someone clutched her hand and whispered, “Oye, estas bien,”

Tatiana narrowed her eyes and thought, Do I look Mexican to you?

She looked at the other person’s face and she didn’t recognize his face. She
wanted to speak, but she couldn’t because of the goddamn tube in her throat.

She looked around and saw an IV stand with a bag of blood on it, and there
was an IV in her right wrist. She gagged on the tube in her mouth, and she
tried to ask why she had to have this on her, but she couldn’t speak, again,
because of the tube in her mouth.

She realized she didn’t see Mekora, but she wanted to talk to her.

Mekora? You there? Tatiana thought. No response, although the goat girl
laughed.

She left you. The goat girl laughed. She left you because she doesn’t care
about you. Just like everyone else.

Oh God, you’re just my anxiety aren’t you?

No! The goat girl laughed. I just tell the truth.

Tatiana internally rolled her eyes, and Mekora’s voice entered her thoughts,
drowsy and angry.

Buzz off. She told the goat girl. I don’t like to be alone, but go away.

The goat girl fell silent, and Mekora said, I need to go. Can you breathe on
your own?

I don’t know, I’m hooked up to a fucking ventilator.

I’ll come back. Mekora promised. Tatiana felt empty after that, and the
person who clutched her hand looked at her strangely as her expression
changed.

“Do you want the people who came to see you to come in?” he asked, slowly,
like she might not understand English.

Why didn’t you lead with that? Tatiana thought. She nodded several times,
and the person let go of her hand, went to the door and began talking to
someone in the hallway or something.

Cami, Ashley, Moon, Kylie, and Tatiana’s mom entered the room, and the
doctor said, “You have ten minutes, then we have to give her an MRI to check
her lungs and figure out why she’s not breathing on her own, make sure no
vital organs are missing, that sort of stuff,”

Tatiana’s mom nodded and Cami pulled Tatiana into the tightest hug that
Tatiana had ever been in.

Tatiana tapped Cami’s back twice and Cami let go, then whispered, “Sorry,”

Cami kissed her on the forehead, and Tatiana wanted to kiss her back, but
she couldn’t.

Then Cami noticed her scars and while she stayed silent, probably thinking
they were from her attack, Tatiana started feeling nervous, and the machine
that monitored her heart rate took note of the rising beat, and everyone
noticed that.

The goat girl’s voice returned to her mind and laughed, Coward. Don’t want to
tell your mutt about your scars.
Tatiana wanted to shout, and she wanted to curl into a little ball and cry
because of this voice. She was being driven mad by this thing in her head.

Tatiana’s hands began to shake, and Moon hugged her next, then whispered,
“What’s wrong?”

Tatiana couldn’t tell her anything because of the tube in her mouth, and she
wanted to say that, but she just hugged Moon back and a few tears rolled
down her face. Moon let Ashley hug Tatiana after a couple moments, and
then Tatiana’s mom hugged her and began to speak with her in rapid fire
Portuguese.

Tatiana didn’t catch it all, but the gist of it was, “Tatiana, I’m so glad you’re
safe,”

Mae, I can’t wait to be able to speak again. Tatiana thought.

Cami, Ashley, and Moon continued to speak with Tatiana, while Kylie stood
awkwardly at Moon’s side. They explained the assembly, Cami said
something about how the kid who she’d helped when he had a seizure was
going to be fine, how the principal pronounced her name so badly that it hurt
to listen to. All that.

But time ran out when Ashley and Cami began explaining the work she had
missed, and they hugged her before the doctor took off her mask and took out
the tube.

He said, “Estamos cambiando tu ventilador para que puedas levantarte de la

cama,” and everyone began to shout that she didn’t speak Spanish.

Tatiana’s mom shouted in very quick portuguese, “Se porra, ela e brasileiro.
Você pensa que ela é mexicana? Ela se parece à mexicana para você?”
Tatiana laughed, then coughed as she did. She could breathe, but not well,
and she longed to speak to her friends and her mom while the hospital
changed her ventilator, but it was too difficult for her to breathe.

Tatiana coughed out a blob of blood onto her hospital gown and she began to
hyperventilate, which made it harder to breathe than it already was for her.
She was worried she was going to die.

She kissed Cami before they put the tube into her body again and put the
mask onto her face, then as she began to breathe easier again, Cami smiled
as Tatiana was helped to her feet by Moon and Ashley, per doctor’s orders.
She felt weak, and she nearly fell forward when they let go, but she managed
to stay standing.

She slowly regained her footing and worked on trying to walk around the room
without getting hurt before the doctor brought her out into the hospital’s
hallway and took her to the MRI scanner room place. She was given a pencil
and a few sheets to fill out, then she realized she had no idea about what any
of it meant, and she wrote that on the back of the paper to let them know. A
nurse went off to grab Tatiana’s mom to fill it out, and after that was done,
Tatiana was instructed to take off anything metal she had. She took out her
earrings and she wondered if her bracelet would be considered metal, but she
didn’t want to risk it and took it off.

Then she heard the goat girl say, Last chance to sacrifice to the blood god.

Tatiana shuddered and thought No.

The goat girl shut up and Tatiana looked around.

She was then given a few sheets of paper and she wrote down, ‘Mae, sabe
que meu necklace tem metal?’
Tatiana’s mom shook her head and said, “Não, querida. Precisa tirar, ne?”

Tatiana nodded and her mom helped her take it off. Tatiana felt weird for a
moment and then the feeling stopped. It was probably just the lack of it on her
collar.

The doctors gave her a pair of shorts as she took off the necklace and she put
those on almost immediately. It felt a little better to not feel like she was
wearing a dress.

The doctors then changed the length of the tube on her ventilator, injected
something into her with another IV, where she felt a little pinch and it hurt for a
moment before fading, and then handed her an ice pack that would go over
the recent place where she had a skin graft to replace the skin she’d lost, and
that was when she learned she had staples in her body.

They put it over her stomach and then asked her if she wanted her mom to
stay in the room. Tatiana nodded and she was sat onto a table, then told to
lay her head back.

She was given headphones and was asked which type of instrumentals she
preferred, jazz or classical, and she was told to hold up one finger for jazz,
two for classical. She held up one finger and they put a pair of headphones
over her ears.

The doctor spoke into a microphone and said, “Can you hear me in the
headphones?”

Tatiana nodded and she was given a button. She was then slid into the MRI
chamber and immediately was unnerved by the tight space, even with the
ceiling a foot above her. Her legs were still exposed, and she felt a little
worried about that as well.
She was told to relax, and she focused on leveling her breathing, which the
jazz helped her do.

The doctor said, “You’ll be in the scanner for the next hour, and squeeze the
button if you need anything,”

Tatiana nodded slightly, and then she looked up at the MRI’s ceiling. It was
dimly lit, and she was told she could close her eyes if she needed to, which
she did.

She suddenly felt cold, and she heard a tapping noise, like someone was
trying to get her attention, but she had been told not to move. The tapping
sound stopped and she was then told to hold her breath for a moment. She
did as she was told and a few seconds later she was told she could breathe
again.

She began to drift off, but she opened her eyes when she felt hot breath on
her face, and she saw a shimmering white wolf standing over her. Tatiana
squeezed the button and she was pulled out of the MRI machine. She sat up
and began hyperventilating as she did so.

“What’s wrong?” Tatiana’s mom asked.

Tatiana was given a notepad and pen, and she wrote down what she’d seen.

“Is your daughter schizophrenic?” the doctor asked.

Tatiana’s mom whispered, “Not as far as I’m aware, but this is the first time
she’s told me anything about this,”

The white wolf exited the MRI machine and spat, “I’m not a hallucination,”
Tatiana began shaking, when the wolf said, “It’s me. Mekora,”

Tatiana’s breathing slowed, and she wrote down, “She’s real,”

Mekora nuzzled Tatiana and said, “Thank you for recognizing me,”

The doctor walked up to Tatiana and said, “Are you sure it’s not just your
imagination?”

“She’s friendly,” Tatiana wrote back.

Mekora shifted and sat at the edge of the table, forcing Tatiana to scoot over
until one leg hung over the edge. She looked younger now. Tatiana tilted her
head and Mekora looked at her, then Tatiana realized she looked a little like
Ashley now, and Mekora rubbed her forehead, then saw a burn that looked
the exact same as Ashley’s birthmark.

Tatiana’s mom tried to hide it, but her eyes darted to Mekora when she
brushed her hair to the side, and Tatiana looked at her mom inquisitively, then
wrote, “You see her?”

“See who?” her mother asked.

Mekora growled, “Want me to bite her? See if she’s telling the truth?”

Can’t you just listen to her heartbeat? Tatiana thought.

“Where’s the fun in that?” Mekora growled.

Tatiana’s mom looked deeply disturbed for a moment, then her expression
changed back to concern for her daughter.
The doctor walked up to Tatiana and said, “We’re going to give you a
medicine to make you tired so you don’t have to deal with the wolf, alright?”

Tatiana wrote, “Don’t talk to me like I’m a toddler,”

Then she wrote, “I’ll deal with the wolf,”

Mekora laughed, “I like your spirit, Ramling,”

What’s a ramling? Tatiana thought.

“Don’t worry about it,” Mekora said.

Tatiana’s mom said quickly, “I think she needs it,”

Tatiana shook her head and Mekora growled. She shifted again and pinned
her ears to her sides, then dropped into a crouch. She crawled up to Tatiana’s
mom, was about to bite her, then stopped.

Tatiana’s mom moved her foot forward and it hit Mekora square in the snout,
and Mekora whimpered, but then Mekora whispered, “Beatriz?”

Mekora got closer and whispered, “Beatriz, is that you?”

Mekora shifted into her hybrid form and she looked into Tatiana’s mom’s eyes.
She gave a sign she saw Mekora, but ignored her, yet Mekora persisted, and
she actually began to cry.

The goat girl began to laugh and said, If she can see her, then she’s savage.

Mekora growled, “Goat, I thought I told you to leave,”

Can’t. I’ve got nowhere to go.

Tatiana put the headphones back on to drown out the noise these two were
going to cause in her head, and the doctor took it as a sign she wanted to
continue. She tried to write down what was going on, but the notepad was
taken away and she was given the ice pack back.

She pressed it against her stomach, Tatiana was told to lie back down and
she was put back into the machine, but she was dimly aware of Mekora trying
to talk to her mother still.

She’s not the same person. Tatiana thought. Her name is Cascade, or
Cascada.

Mekora finally gave up and sat next to Tatiana, crying.

You were just mistaken. Tatiana thought softly. Don’t take it personally.

“She saw me,” Mekora growled. “I know she did. And I know she can hear
me,”

But she’s not who you thought she was.

“She sure as hell looks like she is,”

I’m pretty sure that my mom would tell me she saw gods. Tatiana thought.

“You’d be surprised at how much parents hide from their children,” Mekora
said. “I haven’t told Tanyr that she was an accident, for one thing,”

What the- You’re a god! Can’t you control having kids?

“So you see, gods don’t reproduce normally. When we reproduce with
humans and whatnot, we can’t control it. Normally we automatically have a
child. When we reproduce asexually, we can’t control it. Only when we do with
gods, we can. And she was with my former beloved Phoenix, before he
became a god,”

Mekora whispered, “Now, I need to leave,”

No. Please don’t go, I need you,”

“I’ll come back, but I just need to return to the forest for a bit to clear my head.
I’ll see you soon, ramling,”

Mekora exited the machine through the wall and left Tatiana nothing to do but
look up at the ceiling and listen to jazz, occasionally having to change her
position per the instructions she was given.

When she finally exited the MRI, she immediately put her necklace and
bracelet back on, then the doctor pulled Tatiana’s mom to the side, they spoke
for a bit and Tatiana’s mom came back to her.

“They’re going to have you talk to a psychiatrist, alright, querida?”

Tatiana nodded and she was walked back to her room. She sat back in the
bed and her friends ran up to her and she tried to pull away as they hugged
her tight.

About twenty minutes later, they had to leave. Something about visiting hours
being over, but they let Tatiana’s mom stay an extra ten minutes for some
reason, and by extension, her friends had to stay an extra ten minutes, so she
got to hear their voices for a little while longer.

Then came the problem that Tatiana needed to eat something, but every time
they took her off the ventilator, she needed help to breathe. Eventually they
took the mask off of her nose and told her to breathe through her mouth for a
bit, then put a tube up her nostrils. She gagged when it touched the back of
her throat, but she thankfully didn’t throw up.

About twenty minutes after the doctors had finished putting it in, they took it
out, and put the mask back on.

Ten minutes later, someone had the bright idea to see how well she could
breathe on her own now, and at that moment, Mekora had decided to return.

The doctors took the tube out of her lungs and took off the mask.

Tatiana was breathing, barely, and at times she’d be breathing, and then
she’d randomly stop, then cough up blood, and she wondered if it was a tumor
after the second time she coughed.

The third time she coughed out the blood, they had put her back on the
ventilator.

She motioned for a pad of paper or something, then was given a few sheets
and a pencil.

She wrote, ‘Is it a tumor?’ and the doctors shook their heads.

“MRI scans suggest you have pulmonary hemorrhage,”

‘What does that mean?’ Tatiana wrote.

“You’re bleeding in the lungs,”

‘Why?’
“The scans suggest that a small part of your lungs were torn out by whatever
attacked you. You're also missing your appendix, and there’s a little infection
in your lungs from the missing part,”

‘Is the appendix important?’

“No,”

‘At least it's not important,’ Tatiana wrote.

Mekora nodded and said, “Agreed. Can’t have you dying,”

“Your lungs will be well enough to breathe easily soon. For now we’ll be using
a drug to thin the blood,”

Tatiana nodded in response, and the doctor said, “We’re going to have you
talk to a psychologist now, alright?”

Tatiana nodded again and a kenomi woman with white ears and a light gray
tail came in. Tatiana looked up and she noticed a clipboard in her hands. The
doctor left and Tatiana looked into the eyes of the woman.

“There’ll be a psychology student watching and taking notes for an

assignment, alright? She won’t bother you,”

Tatiana shrugged and the woman let a raven haired girl into the room. Tatiana
recognized her, but she wasn’t sure from where, and the doctor said, “This is
Kai,”

‘You’re out of the hospital?’ Tatiana wrote when realization struck her.

“Well, no,” Kai laughed. “I’m in it right now,”

“You two know each other?”

“She’s dating my best friend’s cousin,” Kai smiled.

Kai hugged Tatiana for a moment, then whispered, “If you hurt her, you’ll have
to answer to me,”

Tatiana shuddered as Kai pulled away and she went to sit in a chair in the
corner.

“Hello, Maria, I’m Doctor Tanja,” the woman said. “So, what can you tell me
about your hallucinations? Is this the first time you’ve seen something like
this?”

Tatiana shook her head and wrote, ‘No. And they’re real. I got cut by one of
them. Also, my name’s Tatiana,’

She pointed to the scar underneath her eye, and the woman took notes.

“And which hallucination caused that?” the kenomi woman asked.

Tatiana drew the owl and then drew Mekora and wrote, ‘The wolf killed the
owl after the owl hurt me,’

“An owl?”

Tatiana nodded.

“What did it look like?”

Tatiana opened her palm and she made a shimmering and discolored version
of the owl in her palm.
“Magic?” the kenomi woman whispered. Tatiana nodded.

Tatiana closed her palm and wrote, ‘That isn’t the color, but I’m not that good
yet,’

“Can you make them talk?” Kai asked.

Tatiana shook her head and wrote, ‘Again, not that good yet,’

Tatiana wrote, ‘I can show you the wolf,’

Tatiana focused hard and she showed a ghostly and shimmering gray
apparition of Mekora. Mekora smiled and Tatiana fought to keep up with her
movement.

Mekora walked up to Kai and she said, “Well, well, well, a raven shifter. The
only bird I can trust,”

Kai looked a little scared and she squawked in fear. She shifted and
screeched at Mekora, then flew up and perched on the bed frame. Mekora
walked up to the kenomi and she narrowed her eyes.

“I’m no vision,” she growled.

They can’t hear you. The goat girl in Tatiana’s head sang. Tatiana flinched
and Mekora turned to Tatiana and snarled in her face.

“Is she hurting you?” the kenomi woman asked.

Tatiana shook her head and wrote, ‘She’s responding to a voice,’

“What voice?”
The goat girl laughed and whispered, They don’t believe you. No one ever
will.

Stop! Tatiana shouted in her mind.

Tatiana’s bracelet turned into a knife, which she wasn’t trying to do. She tried
to change it back, and it flickered, then it turned back into a knife. She threw it
at the floor, but it rose back up to her hand. Tatiana wanted to scream and
she wanted to get rid of it.

She wrote down, ‘Can someone please take this, I can’t,’

Doctor Tanja grabbed the knife and the knife disappeared, then appeared in
Tatiana’s hand.

Mekora, can you do something about it? Tatiana thought.

“I can try,” Mekora growled. She shifted into her hybrid form and Tatiana
opened the hand that held the knife. Mekora grabbed it, and the knife ended
up back in Tatiana’s palm.

Tatianaa tried to turn it back to her bracelet yet again, but this time, it didn’t
even flicker.

The goat girl laughed, Don’t want to cut your wrist again? Don’t want to? You
weakling. You little coward.

Tatiana began to cry, and Mekora sat next to her. The knife finally turned back
into her bracelet, but she continued to cry.

“What’s wrong?”
Tatiana tried to write what was going on, but everytime she started, it clearly
didn’t make sense.

The goat girl’s voice rang through Tatiana’s mind, and eventually, she just
wrote, ‘I’ve been having nightmares, and a goat girl will talk to me, and she
stays when I wake up,’

Tatiana put her hands on her ears and she wanted to just scream, “Stop it!”

Stop. Stop. Stop it! STOP IT! Tatiana’s ears began to ring and she began
coughing. She felt dizzy and she began to hyperventilate. She was barely able
to breathe, and she was dimly aware of the kenomi woman and Kai calling for
a doctor. Tatiana noticed the door opening and her chest began to hurt. She
began to choke and she felt light-headed.

Then she blacked out, and when she opened her eyes, she saw a Cami laying
next to her in the hospital bed. Everything was dark and distorted, and she
saw the goat girl next to her.

The goat girl passed her the knife, and Tatiana tried to give it back, but the
goat girl had disappeared. She hoped it was a different version of the
nightmare, one where Cami doesn’t die. The nightmare changed every time
she had it.

Cami lay still at her feet, and Tatiana watched as she stood up.

“I’ll let you shift,” Tatiana whispered. “Makes it more fun for me,”

Tatiana watched as Cami’s body changed into a beautiful, giant wolf, and
Cami’s wings shimmered a shade of gold.
They would have been magnificent, and Tatiana said, “Master, unbind her
wings,”

Tatiana crouched while the ropes disappeared from Cami’s wings, and Cami
did the same. Tatiana lept at Cami, but Cami strafed to the side, then rolled
and attacked the thing behind Tatiana. Tatiana watched as Cami was blown
back and into the wall.

This time, a voice whispered, “Make. Her. Suffer,”

Tatiana couldn’t fight it, and when she approached Cami, Cami had shifted
back and passed out.

Tatiana woke Cami up and Cami looked up at her, then said, “Please. Don’t.
You know me,”

Tatiana whispered in Cami’s ear, “I’m so sorry,”

Tatiana stabbed Cami in the stomach, then shouted, “Master, I’ve done it,”

“Good,”

Tatiana turned around, and she walked over to a shadowy pair of thrones.
Tatiana kneeled at the base, and she was told to stand, and she did so.

“Take her outside,” the voice that she called ‘Master’ commanded.

“Of course,”

Tatiana turned and noticed that Cami’s eyes had closed. Then the scene
changed, and the goat girl appeared in the newfound darkness.

“Why?” Tatiana whispered.

The goat girl laughed and said, “You really think that I’d tell you?”

The goat girl held up the bloody knife that Tatiana stabbed Cami with, and
Tatiana fell to her knees as she plunged it into her stomach.

Tatiana opened her eyes and she sat up immediately, panting, crying, and
clutching her stomach.

Someone shouted, “She’s awake!” and Tatiana looked up to see the kenomi
woman who had been talking to her.

Tatiana coughed and the kenomi whispered, “Any allergies?”

Tatiana shook her head and the kenomi touched Tatiana’s left shoulder.

Tatiana pulled away and the kenomi whispered, “Does it hurt?”

Tatiana nodded and then she heard claws scratching against the floor, and
she panicked and thought it was that girl in her fox form, coming to finish her
off.

“Don’t worry. He’s a therapy dog,” Doctor Tanja whispered. “His name’s
Buster,”

A golden retriever and poodle mix entered the room and the bed Tatiana was
on was lowered until the goldendoodle could rest his little snoot on her
stomach. Tatiana began to pet him on the head and she smiled a little. He
was just a sweetheart.

Then the goat girl’s voice returned to her head, and she laughed, Have to rely
on a stupid mutt for comfort. Just like you do with your girlfriend.

Neither of them are stupid. Tatiana thought. Leave me alone.

Never. The goat girl laughed.

Mekora! Tatiana thought. You there?

Mekora didn’t respond, and Tatiana felt scared. The dog nudged her hand and
Tatiana looked at him. He continued to nudge her hand with his snoot, and
Tatiana continued petting him. He stopped nudging her as Tatiana’s breathing
leveled out.

Tatiana closed her eyes. She may have been out for part of the day, but she
could barely keep them open anymore.

Chapter Sixty Eight

Cami stayed awake and stared at the ceiling of her room. She missed
Tatiana.

She rolled to her side and faced the wall, then wrapped her wings around her
shoulders and closed her eyes. She yawned and rolled to her other side, then
she shifted and fell with a loud thump. She stood up slowly and she growled,
then nudged the window open with her snout. She stuck her head out of the
window and squished through the window.

She hurt her paws from jumping out of the second floor window, but she didn’t
care. She needed to run. She needed to get away.

She scrambled across the dirt for a moment before she began to actually run.
Cami felt like she was flying for a moment, but then her heart fell.
She remembered she still couldn’t.

Cami lay down and rested her snout on her paws, then closed her eyes. She
could finally sleep now.

She drifted off, but she was awoken by something hitting her in the side, and
she heard a voice yelling at her.

Cami looked up and saw a human man holding a shovel. Cami stood up and
began to slowly back away, whimpering. She was pretty sure this man was a
murderer.

“Get out!” the man shouted. Instinct took over, and Cami tucked her tail
between her legs and made a bowing gesture, looking up at the man.

“Go!” the man shouted, then pushed the shovel forward. Cami stood up slowly
and ran off to her house. She was aware of the man chasing her, and
because of that, she dove under the porch.

The shovel poked her, and Cami whimpered. Cami watched as the man came
at her with the shovel yet again, and she bit down on the metal. Her jaw
began to sting, but she growled and began to pull on the shovel. She bared
her fangs and crouched low, then pulled her head back.

The man wrenched the shovel from her jaw, and Cami spat out a bit of blood.
The shovel cut her tongue.

Cami barked, “Mom!” in wolf tongue, and she continued to growl at the man.
She narrowed her eyes and bared her teeth when she heard footsteps above
her, then she shrank back when she heard shouting.

“This is private property!” Cami heard her mom shout.

“A wolf stole my shovel,” the man lied, “The bitch is under your porch,”

“Ha-ha. I’m not an idiot,” her mom growled. “Wolves don’t steal shovels.
Especially not the ones in the woods here,”

“It stole my shovel!” the man protested.

Cami looked around for the hole that she knew Lyorna had installed for this
exact situation. It led to the basement, and she didn’t want to still be under the
porch when the man checked again. He might grab her.

She found it about ten seconds later, and she dove into it. It was a bit tight
with her wings, but she could still fit, and she only left behind a single white
down feather.

She shifted back into her human form and went back to the front door, then
whispered, “Mom? What’s going on?”

“Nothing. Why are you still up?”

“Couldn’t sleep,”

“Go upstairs, alright?”

Cami nodded and she winced when she heard her mom shout, “You’re lucky I
don’t call the police,”

“I’m sorry, but ma’am, check under your porch,”

About ten seconds later, her mom said, “I don’t see anything,”

“I swear! It was right here!”

“Sir, you’re very clearly delusional. Please get off my property. You may take
the driveway out,”

“I’m not!”

“Last chance,”

The man walked away, and Cami could hear his footsteps crunching on the
gravel of the rarely used driveway. Cami’s mom closed the door, then ran up
to Cami.

“What the hell was that? You stole a man’s shovel?”

Cami growled, “He was lying to justify why he was trying to beat me with it,”

“You still stole it,” Airien scolded.

“When I went under the-” Cami protested, but she was interrupted.

“I don’t want to hear it mekorling. You’re grounded,”

“But I-”

“Go to your room,”

Cami growled and did as she was told.

“And don’t even think about going to visit that lydring she-devil for the next
week,”
Chapter Sixty-Nine

Fifteen hours later

Tatiana opened her eyes to the bright lights of the hospital room, for the first
time not in a cold sweat, so that was quite nice.

She’d woken up three other times that day, all from the nightmare, but this
time was different somehow. Mekora, for one, wasn’t there when she woke up
this time. And Moon, Ashley, and her mom were there to greet her when she
woke up.

Tatiana received the pad of paper and the pencil, then wrote, ‘Where’s Cami?’

Moon breathed in and said, “She told me she was grounded. Something about
going for a run in the middle of the night?”

‘Makes sense’ Tatiana wrote.

Ashley laughed and hugged Tatiana, then whispered, “So how are you?”

‘Could be better /j,’ Tatiana wrote. ‘Glad to see you!’

It was Moon’s turn to hug Tatiana, and while she squeezed, she whispered,
“Lizzie’s parents took Kylie and I in for now,”

Tatiana squeezed Moon’s hand to show she understood, then Moon pulled
away. Tatiana smiled and then her friends were chased out of the room by her
mom.

“Can you give us a moment alone?” her mom asked.

The doctor left the room and Tatiana’s mom sat at the foot of the bed.

“Tatiana, I need to tell you something,” her mom said.

Tatiana tilted her head and wrote, ‘What?’

“Your grandma, she’s dying,”

Tatiana’s gaze fell.

“We’re going to California to visit her when you can travel,”

Tatiana wrote, ‘What happened?’

“She got very sick. Doctors say she has about six months,”

Tatiana started to cry and her mom walked up to her and let Tatiana rest her
head on her shoulder.

“When we go to visit her, my siblings and their children will be there too.
They’ll be visiting from Pennsylvania,”

‘They moved again?’ Tatiana wrote.

“Yeah, everyone else wanted to stay together, and your aunt Bia got a job out
there,”

The door opened, and the doctor poked his head in and said, “Ms. Luz!” he
mispronounced it and continued, “You need to leave, hospital visiting hours
are over,”

Her mom shouted, “Just a moment! Bit of a family emergency,”

“Ma’am, do I need to call security?”

Tatiana’s mom raised her hands and said, “Alright, I’m going!”

Tatiana’s mom kissed her forehead and whispered, “Tchau, querida,”

Tatiana’s mom left the room and the doctor said, “You’re talking to Doctor
Tanja again, alright?”

Tatiana nodded and the kenomi woman entered once more. Kai trailed behind
her and sat in the chair she was in last time.

The kenomi woman whispered, “So, tell me about that knife that appeared in
your hand. Have you ever used it to hurt yourself? Or someone else?”

Tatiana shook her head.

“Please tell the truth,” Doctor Tanja whispered. “I see your scars. They don’t
look natural,”

Tatiana wrote, ‘I didn’t hurt myself. I’m just a klutz,’

Kai walked up to Tatiana and began to trace the scars.

“She’s lying,” Kai said.

Tatiana pulled her arms to her chest and narrowed her eyes.

“Alright. You don’t have to admit it, but why?”

Tatiana wrote, ‘Stress,’

“If that was the reason, then you’d have a lot more scars,”

‘The nightmare,’ Tatiana revised. She crossed out the word stress. ‘That and
a girl was being an a-hole to me,’

“You’ve had the nightmare how many times?”

‘Seven times since I came in,’ Tatiana wrote.

“And before you came in?”

‘I’ve lost count,’

“How long?”

‘Like a week,”

Doctor Tanja turned on a phone and called someone.

“Do I have permission to restrain the patient?”

Tatiana’s eyes widened and she whimpered. She tried to stand up and run
away, but she tripped. Kai stood her back up, then put her very gently on the
bed.
“Don’t worry,” Kai whispered melodically, “It’s for your own safety,”

“Never mind,” Doctor Tanja said. “If you feel like you’re going to hurt yourself,
just tap Kai on the shoulder,”

Tatiana nodded and she crossed her arms.

“So what led you to hurting yourself?”

‘First time, I had the nightmare, and this creature stayed with me and said
awful things to me, and I felt scared, and I just cut myself,’

“What about the other two scars?”

Tatiana wrote, ‘Some kid was being an a-hole and called me a dozen slurs. I
tried to not let it get to me, but I had a panic attack and it wouldn’t stop, so I
cut myself to distract me. Then I felt guilty and did it again,’

“Show me your wrist,”

Tatiana blushed and shook her head, then wrote, ‘I don’t want to,’

“It’s alright to be embarrassed. Let me help you,”

Tatiana shook her head and wrote, ‘I can’t,’

“What do you mean?”

‘I just can’t,’ she scrawled. She didn’t know why, but she felt like something
bad would happen.

Show her. The goat girl coaxed. Show her. Now.

Tatiana shook her head and put her hands over her ears.

“Tatiana? What’s wrong?” Doctor Tanja asked.

Tatiana whimpered and tears began to leak from her closed eyes and trail
down her face.

“Tatiana, lie down,” Doctor Tanja ordered.

Tatiana did as she was told and lay back.

“Focus on one spot,” Doctor Tanja whispered, then she shouted, “Kai! Get
Doctor Martin. Tell him what’s happening,”

Tatiana listened as Kai bolted, and she tried to focus on the hiss of the
ventilator, but all she could do was cry. She closed her eyes and whimpered,
when she felt the tube slowly lift out of her throat. It touched the back of her
throat, and she began to vomit. She opened her eyes and she saw three
people around her. Kai, Doctor Tanja, and the other doctor. Kai had backed
away and was out of line of fire, but she was still a little sticky.

The ventilator tube was taken out of her mouth, and she coughed up a blob of
blood onto the floor, then gasped and pressed her face to her knees.

“Tatiana, what’s wrong?” Doctor Tanja asked again.

Tatiana coughed, “I can’t tell you,”

“You can’t? Or you won’t?” Doctor Tanja whispered.

“I just-” Tatiana’s shout was interrupted by a racking cough.

The goat girl laughed and chided, You stupid girl. You can’t do anything.
Learn how to breathe again, at least.

Tatiana screamed, then coughed and whimpered. She tapped Kai on the
shoulder and Kai looked at her strangely, then realization struck her.

“Doctor Tanja!” Kai said, “Tatiana’s not doing good,”

Doctor Tanja turned to the other doctor and said, “Will, I need you to leave.
And I need permission to restrain Tatiana. She’s a self harmer,”

The other doctor said, “Of course, Tourmaline. And you may use the
restraints,” and he left.

Tatiana whispered, “Don’t,”

“It’s a safety precaution,” the kenomi woman whispered. “We don’t want you
getting even more hurt,”

“I don’t care! I don’t-” Tatiana broke off into a fit of coughing and as they
racked her body, Kai pushed her back gently.

Tatiana rested her head on the pillow and she felt something over her arms
and chest.

Doctor Tanja said, “So what was wrong?”

Tatiana blurted, “The nightmare,”

“The same nightmare that led you to hurt yourself the first time?”

Tatiana nodded, then another fit of coughs racked her chest.

“Do you want something to eat?” Doctor Tanja asked.

“Yes,” Tatiana coughed. Her stomach rumbled in agreement.

“Kai, can you go get Doctor Martin and tell him that?”

Kai nodded and left the room.

“So, do you think you’ll be able to eat without trying to hurt yourself?”

Tatiana nodded, and the straps were taken off of her wrists and shoulders.
She sat up quickly, balled her left hand into a fist, and then coughed into it.

“Tatiana, just relax,” Doctor Tanja whispered.

Tatiana’s hand relaxed and she whispered, “I’m fine,”

“Are you sure?”

Tatiana nodded and Kai reentered with the doctor.

“Isn’t she supposed to be laying down?” the doctor asked.

“She needs to eat, William,” Doctor Tanja replied.

“You can just feed her,”

“She promised she wouldn’t try to hurt herself, and we’ll keep an eye on her,”

Kai nodded and the doctor said, “But the risks-”

“We’ll burn that bridge if we get to it,” Doctor Tanja responded.

“But-”

“Is she allowed to eat on her own?” Doctor Tanja asked with a clearly forced
smile.

“Yes, but-”

“Good. Kai, stay here. I’m going to go get something for Tatiana,” Doctor
Tanja paused and said, “Any dietary preferences?”

Tatiana shook her head and said, “I’d like some water too,”

Doctor Tanja nodded and left the room. The doctor that remained approached
Tatiana and pushed her back. Kai shouted and pulled him off.

“Don’t touch me, DON’T TOUCH ME!” Tatiana screamed. She exploded into a
coughing fit, then she whimpered. She curled into a ball and put her hands
over her ears, then sobbed into her knees.

“Sit up,” the doctor ordered.

Tatiana whimpered, “No,”

“Tatiana, sit up,” the doctor ordered.

Tatiana shook her head and whispered, “Leave me alone,”

She felt a hand on her shoulder and she flopped to the side.

“Kai, help me,” Tatiana whimpered.

Kai scooped Tatiana into her arms and whispered, “Don’t worry, I’ve gotcha,”
Tatiana tilted her head back and whispered, “Can you call Cami?”

Kai shook her head, “You know she’s grounded, right?”

“Ms. Thera, please set down the patient,” Doctor Martin said calmly.

“You leave her alone, and then we’ll talk,” Kai growled.

“This is against protocol,” Doctor Martin scolded.

“How ‘bout I throw salt at you until I can figure out if you’re a demon, spirit, or
snail?”

“Am I going to have to call security?”

Kai groaned and said, “Fine,”

She sat Tatiana on the edge of her bed, then reached into her pocket and
threw a cloud of white dust at the doctor over her shoulder. The cloud hit
Doctor Martin in the face and his knees buckled and he began to choke.

“Oh my god, that worked?” Kai whispered.

The doctor coughed up a puddle of gray fluid and a few tawny feathers, then
looked up, his eyes glowing slate gray, and completely blank.
Chapter Seventy

Kai’s eyes widened and she stepped in front of Tatiana. What had she done?
She meant it as a joke. She didn’t think anything would actually happen, it
would just scare him a little.

“Tatiana, stay behind me,” she whispered. “I’m going to keep you safe,”

“Why?” Tatiana whispered, “There’s no point. He’s not going to hurt me,”

“Well, Cami would murder me if you aren’t safe next time she sees you,”

“That’s true,”

Doctor Martin stood up and screeched unnaturally. Kai screeched back and
shifted into her hybrid form. Kai spread her wings and flew at the doctor,
screaming. The doctor grabbed her arms and flung her into the door. And she
felt something in her leg crack. Kai sobbed as she tried to stand up, and she
fell back to the ground.

Kai couldn’t even fly, she needed to jump in order to get enough wind to fly.

She watched as the doctor approached Tatiana and Kai slowly and painfully
stood up, resting all her weight on one leg. She screeched and shifted into a
large raven, then flew at the doctor and began tearing at the white flesh on his
cheeks with her beak. She heard a creak and she darted to the wall, then
shifted back into her human form and she lay with her back on the floor,
sobbing.

“Kai! Doctor Martin! Tatiana! What happened?” Doctor Tanja shouted.

Kai croaked, “I think its broken,”

“What’s broken?” Doctor Tanja asked.

Kai burst into tears and Tatiana whimpered.

“Doctor Martin, what happened?”

The other doctor turned and whispered, “Maria attacked us,” Somehow his
face wasn’t bleeding.

“No! I didn’t!” Tatiana shouted. “I swear!”

Kai slowly stood up and hopped to where Tatiana lay, then after putting all her
weight on the bed, shouted at Doctor Martin for throwing her into the wall.

“I didn’t do that!” he shouted back. Kai paid close attention to his heartbeat,
and somehow, it didn’t rise? That was weird.

“Doctor Martin, tell the truth. Tatiana didn’t do anything,” Doctor Tanja said.

“What do you mean?” Doctor Martin asked. His eyes had faded back to their
ordinary blue, and he sounded startled.

“Nevermind,” Doctor Tanja said. “We need to get Kai onto a stretcher,”

She left the room running, and Kai watched her leave when she began to
wobble.
Kai put all her weight back on the bed Tatiana lay on, and Tatiana whispered,
“You can get on,”

Kai shook her head and whispered, “I can stand,”

“I insist,” Tatiana whispered.

“I say no,”

Tatiana shrugged and said, “Fine. But you have to sneak Cami in here
somehow,”

A jolt of fear went through Kai’s heart. No one went against Airien and made it
out unscathed. Kai’s foot slipped and her very injured leg touched the ground.
She fell back and cried out. Doctor Martin reached down to roll up her pant
leg, but she glared at him until he backed off.

“Don’t come anywhere near me, ever again,” she spat.

“I want to help you,” he whispered.

“Well I don’t want it!” Kai screeched. “You-”

She was interrupted by a fit of coughs, and Doctor Martin turned to Tatiana
and said, “We need to check your oxygen,”

Tatiana whispered, “What about Kai?”

“She’ll live,” Doctor Martin whispered.

Kai coughed indignantly and said, “I’ll just keep lying on the floor,”
Doctor Martin had Tatiana raise a hand and put one of those thingies on her
finger and kept it there until it beeped.

“Okay, that’s not good,” Doctor Martin said.

“What does it mean?” Tatiana asked.

“The healthy range is ninety five to one hundred, and you got seventy eight.
We’re not doing the tube again. Just an oxygen mask so you can eat, alright?”

Tatiana nodded and a moment later, Doctor Tanja reentered with a pair of
other people. She nodded at Kai and Kai smiled weakly. Kai was scooped into
a bridal carry before she was sat in a black and blue hospital grade
wheelchair and she was slowly wheeled out of the room.
Chapter Seventy One

Seventeen hours later

Moon bounced her foot on the ground impatiently. She and Ashley had to wait
an unknown amount of time to do their scene for Drama 1 because Tatiana
was out of school. In the meantime they were stuck watching other groups
present in the cramped room. Moon sat back and looked to her left at Ashley,
who was staring at the clock on the far wall like that would make it move
faster.

The bell rang after three girls named Jordan, Cali, and Rita had finished
presenting, and Moon pulled up her bag, then slung it over her shoulder.
Ashley followed behind her, and almost immediately after they exited the
room, Moon bumped into Cami.

“Oh, hey,” Cami yawned.

“Cami, you alright?”

“Holding up,” she said. “I just spent all night trying to convince my mom to let
me go to theater club today,”
Cami had been cast in the school’s fall play, a shifter x human play from the
thirties that was ahead of its time.

She played the alpha of a pack known as the Sun Pack, and she was the
male lead’s potential love interest. Tatiana, meanwhile, played her best friend
and her second in command.

Moon said, “Are you sure you should be here right now?”

“Absolutely not,” Cami said. “Anyways, when you go to visit Tatiana today,
can you give her this? It’s the notes for math and history,”

Cami handed Moon and Ashley a small stack of slightly crumpled papers and
then stumbled into the drama room.

Moon shrugged and hugged the papers to her chest, then said, “Let’s go?
Lizzie’s picking me up today,”

Ashley said, “Can’t, I’ve got Art club,”

“Can you swing by later?” Moon asked. “I’m going to visit Tatiana,”

“I can try,” Ashley replied, “No promises,”

“I’ll see you later,” Moon said. Ashley nodded and they hugged before they
went their separate ways.

Moon left the building about a minute later, and she called Lizzie to figure out
which car she was driving.

Lizzie pulled up to the front of the building a few seconds later in a small gray
Toyota, and Moon hopped in.
“Lu-lu!” Lizzie smiled when Moon entered.

Lyorna looked back at Moon and said, “Hello, Luna,”

Moon groaned and Lizzie scolded her for being rude to Lyorna as she started
to drive forward.

“It’s alright,” Lyorna laughed.

“Oh, and Lu-lu, Lyorna’s coming over tonight,”

Lyorna grinned and said, “You didn’t tell me that,”

“I wanted to surprise you,”

Lyorna put her hand to her chest and said, “Aw,”

She paused, then said, “Liz, I love you,”

“I do too,” Lizzie said sweetly. Meanwhile, Moon wanted to jump out the
window so she didn’t have to listen to this.

Lyorna put a hand on the car’s stick thingy when they began going up a hill
and explained, then guided Lizzie’s hand to where the thing goes whenever
they went up one.

“Lyorna, what are you doing here?” Moon asked eventually.

“This is my car,” Lyorna replied. “I’m teaching her how to drive stick shift,”

“Prove it’s your car,” Moon challenged.

“Look to your left, there’s a brown stain on the middle seat. That’s from a
nosebleed that Cami had once after she got into a fight at her last school.
That was the fight that got her expelled,”

Moon looked to her right and sure enough, that stain was there.

“She used to get into fights?” Moon and Lizzie asked at the same time.

“Keyword there, used to,” Lyorna said, “But yeah. After she was nearly
murdered by someone she used to call a friend, she just got angry at
everything and everyone. So she made a lot of impulsive decisions. The
school she went to was all shifter, so fights weren’t that uncommon, we’re just
a little violent that way. But the problem was she broke a kid’s jaw for making
fun of her braid and then breaking her old glasses. She grew out her hair out
of spite,”

Lyorna burst into a fit of laughter, then tried to pass it off as a cough and said,
“But in all seriousness, his parents wanted to press charges if she wasn’t
expelled, even though said kid very deliberately broke her glasses,”

“Cami wears glasses?” Moon asked.

“She uses contacts a lot of the time, but yeah. I do too. It runs in the family,”

“Weird,” Lizzie replied. “So Moon. Do you want to go visit Tatiana, or do you
just want to go back?”

“I want to see Tati,” Moon whispered.

Lizzie nodded and said, “Alright. I'm coming with. Lyorna’s friend broke her
knee and is in the hospital on recovery,”
Moon nodded and looked up after she took off the eyepatch she was wearing
for recovery, where she saw herself in the reflection of the rear view mirror.
The empty purple eye and scar unsettled her, and it didn’t help that part of the
whites of her eye turned red.

She looked down, put the eyepatch back on, and tried to ignore the fact that
she looked like a villain from a fantasy world, but that was difficult.

Moon took off her bag and began to do her homework while listening to
Lyorna and Lizzie talk as background noise. She needed to take her mind off
things. That was all.

Eventually they arrived at the hospital, and Moon put her homework back into
her bag, gripped the crumpled papers Cami handed her, and walked carefully
into the hospital, trying not to bump into anyone on her left. She was
constantly turning her head to her left and then back forward, which was a
habit she’d become accustomed to in the past couple of days. She didn’t want
to bump into people.

Lyorna went to check them in, and Lizzie and Moon sat down in the waiting
room chairs. A little boy with an arm in a cast walked past them, stopped, and
stared at Moon.

“What happened to your eye?” the little boy asked. He looked around five and
had sandy hair and tan skin.

A kenomi woman ran up to him and said, “Zack, don’t be rude,”

“Oh, I don’t mind,” Moon said. She stood up and squatted to be on the same
eye level as the kid. She felt like she’d be talking down to him if she were still
in that chair.
“So you see,” Moon said, “I was out on a walk last week, and I wasn’t looking
where I was going, and a branch hit me in the eye,”

She didn’t want to scare the kid, so she lied.

“Oh. Did it hurt?” the little boy asked.

“Very much,”

The little boy whispered, “Can it still see?”

Moon shook her head and said, “I wish,”

The kenomi woman put her hands over the little boy’s ears and whispered, “I
saw you on the news. That didn’t really happen, did it?”

Moon nodded and whispered, “Not saying names,”

The kenomi woman nodded and took her hands off the little boy’s ears, picked
him up and said, “Time to say goodbye to the nice lady,”

He said cheerfully, “Bye!” as Moon stood up, then the kenomi woman walked
away, tickling the little boy with her tail.

Moon smiled softly and sat back in the chair for about another minute before
Lyorna walked up to them.

Lyorna said, “We can go now,” and she walked off. Lizzie and Moon followed
behind her, and they walked until the nurse guiding Lyorna told them that they
were at the private ward Tatiana was in.

Moon started to enter, but was stopped by the nurse, who said, “We need to
check you for anything dangerous,”
“What? Why?” Moon asked.

“She’s been hurting herself,” The nurse replied.

Moon raised an eyebrow and said, “Are you sure?”

“We’re certain,”

Moon sighed and shrugged off her bag, thinking, There is no way she’s hurt
herself.

The nurse gave her an all clear and Moon grabbed her bag, then walked
inside. Tatiana’s mom was in there already, and she kneeled over the bed
Tatiana lay in. Tatiana had a new bandage on her right arm and the tube
wasn’t in her throat anymore, although there was still a breathing mask over
her mouth and nose. Her eyes were closed and her entire body was relaxed,
even though there were straps on her shoulders and wrists keeping her in
place. Then again, she was asleep.

Moon walked up to where Tatiana was and kneeled next to her mom.

Tatiana’s mom looked stressed and kept staring at the bandage on Tatiana’s
arm, whispering, “Why didn’t she tell me?” over and over.

Moon put a hand on Cascade’s shoulder and whispered, “She didn’t tell
anyone. Don’t take it personally,”

Tatiana’s eyes flew open and she gasped for breath. The steady hiss of the
ventilator as she breathed in and out went ragged, like she had some kind of
nightmare. She shook and tried to sit up, but the straps kept her down.
She looked at Moon, and for a moment, she looked terrified. Moon wondered
why, then remembered what she looked like. Tatiana’s expression softened
after a moment and she smiled weakly as the beeping on the heart rate
monitor slowed.

Moon hugged her the moment she stopped shaking and whispered, “Why
didn’t you tell us?”

Moon grabbed Tatiana’s hand and while Tatiana’s voice was muffled, it was
audible.

“Never mind that,” she whispered.

Tatiana’s mom went ballistic at that, and Moon had to cover her ears so they
didn’t break.

A kenomi woman with white ears and a gray tail said, “Ma’am, will I have to
ask you to leave?”

Tatiana’s mom shook her head and said, “I’m calm,”

She took a few breaths and said, “Can you take off the straps?”

The kenomi woman said, “Only if she agrees to take off her necklace and
bracelet,”

“Why?” Tatiana’s mom asked.

“They’re weapons, Ms. Luz. She hurt herself with that bracelet last night,”

“Tati. Dá me teu pulseira,”

Tatiana shook her head and whispered, “It’s stuck,”

Tatiana’s mom held out her hand and said, “Nao acredito,”

“I swear mae. It’s stuck,”

“Now,” her mom growled.

“I can’t even sit up,” Tatiana protested.

“Moon. Get that thing off her wrist,” Tatiana’s mom ordered.

Moon said, “I don’t think I should,”

Moon had seen that thing turn into a dagger. She didn’t know what would
happen if she tried to take it.

Tatiana’s mom reached for Tatiana’s wrist and tried to undo the clasp, but it
didn’t undo.

“I told you,” Tatiana whispered.

Tatiana’s mom fell silent, then left the room.

“What’s her problem?” Moon whispered.

“She’s really mad,” Tatiana whispered back. She sounded really, really
scared.

“She does that if I do something really bad,” Tatiana continued.

Moon whispered, “Want to talk?” Moon wanted to get her friend’s mind off her
worries.

Tatiana nodded and whispered, “Where’s Ashley?”

“She’s busy,” Moon replied.

Tatiana nodded and whispered, “How’s Cami?”

“She hasn’t been sleeping,” Moon whispered back.

Tatiana whispered, “I want to talk to her,”

“I know,” Moon whispered. “I know,”

Moon felt a hand on her shoulder, looked up and saw Lizzie.

“Lu lu, we’ve gotta go home. My mom says she needs me back,”

“Fine,” Moon groaned.

“Bye Tati,” Moon whispered.

Tatiana shouted jokingly, “No! Don’t leave me! I’ll be bored!”

Moon hugged Tatiana and then left the room with Lizzie. Lyorna stood
outside, pushing a girl in a wheelchair with black hair and a brace
straightening out her right leg. Moon recognized her from that one time, but
she didn’t remember her name.

Moon looked around before she crossed the hallway, gripped Lizzie’s right
hand, and allowed Lizzie to lead her through the halls, trying to avoid hitting
anyone. The girl with the black hair held out her hand and smiled.

“Hi,” the girl said, “My name’s Kai,”

Moon took the girl’s handshake and said, “My name’s Moon,”
Kai grinned and let go of her hand, then said, “Nice to meet you,”

Moon nodded and as an afterthought, replied, “Nice to meet you too,”

Lyorna wheeled Kai out and Moon and Lizzie followed.

Lyorna checked them all out and then took them out to her car. Lyorna helped
Kai into the car. Moon got in on the other side, and Lizzie sat in the passenger
seat. Lyorna kissed Lizzie as she sat down and gripped the stick thing. Lizzie
put her hand over Lyorna’s and smiled softly.

“Oh Lena, your girlfriend’s so flirty,” Kai remarked.

Lizzie looked back and her eyes flashed gray.

“You can call her Lyorna,” Lizzie said.

“Lyorna! How long ago did you turn her?”

Lizzie laughed and said, “I wasn’t turned,”

Moon put her airpods in to distract herself from the external conversation as
she started to do her homework.

About three or four songs in, the car pulled to the side and slowed to a halt.
Moon looked up, expecting to see her aunt and uncle’s house, but all she saw
was one of those wall thingies you see on the side of highways.

Moon took her airpods out, looked over at Lyorna, and saw her sobbing,
forehead resting on the wheel.

“What’s her problem?” Moon whispered. Everyone ignored her.

Lizzie put a hand on Lyorna’s shoulder and whispered, “Love, what’s wrong?”

Lyorna looked up, eyes red and face wet with tears. Moon could smell the
salt.

Lyorna’s lip trembled and she whispered, “I’m a monster,”

Lizzie hugged her girlfriend and whispered, “You aren’t,”

Lyorna whispered back, “You don’t understand. I ruin everything,”

“You haven’t ruined me,” Lizzie whispered, “Or Kai, or-”

Lyorna put a finger on Lizzie’s lips and whispered again, “I’m a monster,”

“Tell me what you mean,” Lizzie whispered. They let go of each other and
Lyorna whimpered.

“Everything’s my fault,” Lyorna whispered. “I’m a murderer. I’m the reason my

mama’s dead,”

Lyorna slammed her fist into the dashboard and screamed. Moon covered her
ears, and Lizzie hugged her and whispered something into her ears.

“You’re okay,” Lizzie whispered. “Why do you think your mom’s death is your
fault?”
Chapter Seventy Two

Lyorna whimpered and her mind went back to that day. It was her sixth
birthday, her momma had given her a little toy wolf with black fabric for fur and
brown wings. She opened the glovebox and grabbed it, then began hugging it
to her chest. The old bloodstains had long since been washed off, and the
fabric was quite faded, but it was still hers.

Lizzie put a hand on Lyorna’s own, and Lyorna whispered, “We were shot at
with arrows and bullets. I avoided all of it, but my momma, she, she was hit in
the back trying to keep me safe. My little kid brain decided to pull it out, and
she bled out,”

“You were just a kid. You couldn’t know,”

Lyorna’s shoulders shaked and she sobbed, “But I still caused her to die. I’m
still the killer,”

“No. Love, you aren’t,” Lizzie whispered. “Look at me,”

Lyorna looked at Lizzie’s face. Lyorna probably looked terrible, her makeup
probably was running, and she leaned forward and buried her face in Lizzie’s
chest. Lizzie kissed her on the scalp and whispered something she didn’t
register, even though it was right into her ears. Lyorna stopped crying and
blubbering after a few minutes, then began to clean her makeup.

Lyorna’s hands shook violently as she put her hands back on the wheel a few
minutes later, and Lizzie put her left hand on her shoulder. Lyorna put her
right hand on the stick, and Lizzie put her hand back on Lyorna’s. Lyorna
smiled softly and kissed Lizzie, then looked straight ahead and put her foot on
the pedal.

They continued on in silence, and Lyorna eventually dropped Kai off, then
drove towards Laewaes. A sense of foreboding had settled over her and hung
heavy in her chest. It got stronger as she drove on, she felt sick, and her
stomach hurt.

She eventually stopped and saw that Lizzie’s parents had left the door wide
open. That wasn’t normal.

“Guys. I’m coming in with you,”

Lizzie nodded and the trio left the car.

Lyorna gripped Lizzie’s hand and kissed her, then whispered, “Something’s
not right,”

Moon growled, “Yeah, we noticed,”

Lizzie said, “Moon. Fly up,”

Moon nodded and asked, “Why?”

“Kylie might be in trouble,” Lizzie replied. “Lyorna, we go in through the front

door,”

Moon leapt into the air in her animal form, and then she nudged the slightly
opened window open with her snout, then slid in. Lizzie and Lyorna continued
to grip each other’s hands and then walked into the house together.

Lyorna felt a sharp pain in her head and then she blacked out.
Lyorna dreamed of her mother.

Her mother’s warm green eye, and her icy cold blue one. She had dark red
hair like Valkeia, pale skin like Lyorna, and she had deep blue fur and bronze
wings veined with gold.

Then the scene changed, and Valkeia grinned down at her, bluish green eyes
flashing between gold and teal.

Lyorna woke up with a gasp and she let out a muffled scream. Her head hurt
so much that she couldn’t lift it, and her neck as well. Her wrists were bound
behind her with cold metal, her eyes were covered with a strip of fabric, and
when she tried to shift, a jolt went through her entire body and her wrists felt
like they were burning. The pain made her shift back.

Her entire body went numb and she went limp, then someone lifted up her
chin.

She felt the tape that kept her mouth shut be removed, and she whispered,
“Who, who are you?”

She began to cough, and she tasted metal in her mouth. She coughed up a lot
of something liquid, and she felt the liquid still trickling from her mouth.

“Well, that’s quite rude, coughing up blood on my shirt like that,” a voice
growled. Lyorna didn’t recognize it.

“Who are you?” Lyorna asked, more stern that time.

“Well, you, young werewolf, you’re hardly in the position for asking, aren’t
you?”
Lyorna barked and snapped at the person with her teeth.

“Feisty!” the person exclaimed.

Lyorna started to growl and the person said, “There’ll be time for that later,”

“WHO ARE YOU?” Lyorna snapped.

She felt something sharp prick her throat, and she heard the person say, “I
should ask you the same question,”

Lyorna growled and the person went further with the sharp thing.

Lyorna began to cough, and she grinned, then said, “More,”

She was bluffing obviously. She wasn’t a masochist.

The person let go of the sharp thing and said, “Would you prefer that I kill that
blond you came in with?”

Lyorna whimpered and said, “Don’t hurt her. Please,”

The person laughed and said, “Do what I say, and maybe I won’t,”

Lyorna nodded, then felt a stinging pain at the back of her neck and winced.

“I’ll bring her in. You need to show me how werewolf alpha’s turn people,”

Lyorna said, “I’ll do it. Can I get five minutes with her first? I want to prepare
her,”

“You may,”
Lyorna was pulled up, then led someplace else.

Lyorna heard a door open, then heard a muffled scream.

“Liz?” Lyorna whispered.

Lyorna heard the tape on Lizzie’s mouth be peeled off, then she whispered,
“Lena? Love, is that you?”

“Lizzie!” Lyorna cried. The blindfold on her eyes was pulled off, and her wrists
were freed with a lot of pinching and pain. She ran to Lizzie the moment that
the person let her go, and she kissed her.

“You get five minutes. Keep your shirts on,”

Lyorna wrapped her arms around Lizzie and Lizzie whispered, “Hon, you’re
hurt,”

Lyorna cut the ropes that bound Lizzie’s hands behind her back, and Lizzie
grabbed Lyorna’s wrists. They bled a little bit, there were little pinpricks in
regular distances, about a centimeter between away from each other, and
they looked like she’d been burned there.

“I’ll be fine,” Lyorna whispered. “I’ll heal,”

“I know, but I’m worried,”

“Don’t be,” Lyorna whispered.

Lyorna kissed her on the forehead, then said, “He wants me to turn you,”

“I can’t be,” Lizzie whispered back.

“I know. That’s why I want to ask you, do you want to join my pack? It’ll have
the same process if you say yes. Otherwise, it won’t be convincing,”

“Of course I want to join your pack, you little fool,” Lizzie smiled.

Lyorna began explaining what happened when she bit someone, starting from
the actual bite. The bite would heal quickly, and the person would either pass
out from the pain, because even though the wound was healed, it still hurt, or
the person would run away, then have a seizure, and when their minds rested,
they’d forget all that happened, and their brains often skimmed over the fact
they were bitten.

The man opened the door about a minute after Lyorna had finished
explaining, and Lyorna and Lizzie lay curled up in each other's arms. Both of
them were fake crying, and Lyorna was glad that they both knew how to do
that. It helped with the act.

“You two, stand up,” the man ordered.

They stood up slowly, gripping each other’s forearms.

Lyorna pulled Lizzie closer and kissed her, then whispered, “I’m going to bite
you now, alright?”

Lizzie nodded her understanding and Lyorna pulled down Lizzie’s sleeve, then
Lizzie raised her shoulder slightly. Lyorna bit down, and Lizzie let out a blood
curdling shriek as Lyorna’s fangs sank into her flesh.

Lizzie sobbed and sank to her knees the moment Lyorna released her, then
she fell forward. Her shoulder was bleeding slightly, but Lyorna knew it would
heal fast.
Lyorna sat down next to her and propped Lizzie’s head up on her knees, then
grasped Lizzie’s hand loosely as she sobbed, “Lizzie, I did it to protect you, I
swear,”

She heard the man talk to someone on the phone, addressing someone he
called Ultima, and Lyorna’s heart dropped. Valkeia was involved.

“Please,” Lyorna begged. “Let her go. She did nothing,”

“Listen kid, I don’t know what’s going to happen. I’ve got no say,”

Lyorna let out a long roar that she disguised as a wail, praying that someone
would hear it and come help her.

Her phone buzzed and she saw a call from Xoya.

The man pointed the knife at Lizzie and growled, “Answer it, if you say
anything out of the ordinary, I gut her,”

Lyorna nodded slowly, then put the phone up to her ear and said, “Hey
Jonathan!”

Jonathan was the code word that Lyorna, Cami, Xoya, and Corey had set up
whenever one of them got in trouble and couldn’t say anything about their
situation.

Xoya and Lyorna held an ordinary conversation, then after Xoya hung up,
Lyorna dropped her phone on the ground as her captor asked.

“If you pick up any more calls, I gut your girlfriend,” the man growled. “Kick
that away from you,”

Lyorna nodded slowly, and kicked it toward the man.

Seventy Three

Xoya got out of bed and shuffling sounds suggested to Winter that they were
putting on their shirt.

“What’s wrong?” Winter asked as she sat up.

“Lyorna’s in trouble,” Xoya replied.

“Let me get my sword,” Winter said. “I’m coming with,”

Winter got out of bed, grabbed the shirt she’d been wearing before she and
Xoya fell asleep, and then grabbed her white cane in her right hand.

“Winter. I’m not putting you in danger,”

“I’ve beaten you at fencing and swordfighting enough times to keep myself
alive. I’m going. That’s final,”

Winter walked out of the room and put on a pair of shorts right before she did.
She went to the garage, where she kept the fencing blades and swords in,
and she grabbed one of the blades. She felt it for a moment, and then realized
it was the foil, which she used specifically for fencing, so she grabbed the one
to its left, which was where she kept her brightsword, and put it into the hilt
thingy.

Winter heard someone breathing down her neck, unsheathed her sword, and
turned around, pointing it into their chest and panting.

“Who are you?” Winter growled.

“Winter, it’s me,” Xoya replied.

Winter sighed and sheathed the blade again, then leaned forward and
whispered, “Sorry, babe,”

Xoya put a hand on Winter’s back and whispered, “It’s okay,”

“No, I almost hurt you,”

“Well, I know you’ll be alright now,”

Winter nodded and whispered, “Let’s go,”

Xoya picked up Winter and pulled her close to their chest, then whispered,
“Let’s fly,”

Winter nodded, pulled on her fencing helmet and Xoya opened the garage,
then flew off as the garage closed behind the two of them. The wind would
have stung Winter’s face normally, but the helmet protected it.

God, it’s dark tonight. Xoya’s voice whispered in Winter’s mind. I can barely
see anything.

Xoya veered to the right and whispered, Almost hit a bat.

Winter always imagined bats as the club they used in baseball, just levitating,
no matter how many times they’d been described to her. It made her laugh.

Xoya’s voice whispered, What’s wrong?

Just thinking. She replied. Not crying.

Xoya’s voice whispered, Oh. Alright.

Xoya dove down and said, We’re landing soon.

Winter nodded, and Xoya landed. Winter dropped to the pavement on both
feet almost immediately, then gripped Xoya’s hand as she stood back up.

“Window’s open,” Xoya whispered. “We’re going up,”

Winter nodded, and Xoya shifted. Winter got on their back, grabbed their
neck, and they flew up and from sliding sounds, Xoya must have been
opening the window. Xoya and Winter dropped into the bedroom, and Winter
shifted into her hybrid form. She wanted to hear what was going on.

She heard sniffling under where she assumed was a bed, and she thought,
Xoya. I think there’s something under the bed.

I’ll check. Xoya whispered back. Winter could hear their bones cracking
slightly, and the whimpering grew louder.

There’s a little girl under here. Xoya thought.

Describe her to me.

She looks about ten, Xoya whispered back. She has dark hair, dark eyes,
and pale skin. She’s wearing a pair of headphones.
Xoya pulled the little girl out, and the little girl whimpered and began to cry.

Winter whispered, “Hey. You’re alright,”

“Who are you?” the little girl whimpered.

“I’m Winter,” Winter replied, then said, “The one holding you is my partner,
Xoya,”

The little girl whispered, “Can you let me go? My sister told me to wait for her,”

Xoya set the little girl on the floor from a slight creak and whispered, “Who is
your sister?”

“Her name is Luna,” the little girl whispered.

Then a shriek echoed through the house, and the little girl began to cry again.

Winter fell to her knees, took her helmet off, and pressed her ears to her
cheeks. Her ears had begun ringing.

“Winnie. We need to get Lyorna like right now,”

“Oh my god, I didn’t notice,” Winter growled back, then she added, “Sorry,”

The little girl walked up to Winter and whispered, “Can I touch your ears?”

Winter took her hands off and whispered, “If you go gently,”

The girl touched her white ears with so much care that Winter probably
wouldn’t have noticed if the little girl’s hands weren’t freezing cold.

“They’re soft,” the little girl whispered.

“I know,” Winter smiled back.

The little girl hugged Winter and whispered, “My momma always said that
monsters like shifters were going to hell, but you’re sweet,”

“Your momma’s just mean,” Winter replied. She wanted to find this little girl’s
mom and strangle her for saying this thing. Little kids aren’t supposed to even
think things like that.

The shriek ripped through the house again, and the girl gripped her ears
tightly.

“Ow!” Winter hissed.

“Sorry,” The little girl whispered. She let go, and she whispered, “I wanna go
home. I’m hungry,”

“How long have you been under the bed?” Winter asked.

“I, I don’t know,” the little girl whispered, “A few hours maybe?”

“Hide under the bed,” Winter whispered. “We’ll find your sister, and we’ll get
you some food once we can help the other people, alright?”

“Okay,”

Winter stood up and grabbed Xoya’s arm, then kissed them once on the
cheek.

“Let’s go,” Winter whispered. They held hands and Xoya guided her out of the
room, then let go as they went down the stairs. Winter gripped the handrail as
they did, and she grabbed Xoya’s hand again after they’d both gotten down.
Winter heard another shriek, and this time, she could actually make out a
voice and words.

“STOP IT! LET ME GO! LIZZIE! LIZZIE WAKE UP!” Lyorna shrieked.

Xoya’s voice whispered, We need to go to Lyorna.

I noticed, Xoya.

Xoya and Winter crept through the house, and Winter could hear Lyorna
sobbing as they got closer.

Lyorna screamed again, this time wailing, “PLEASE! IT HURTS SO MUCH!

STOP IT! LET GO! LET GO NOW!”

Lyorna stopped speaking, but Winter heard her whimpering and sobbing.

Winter and Xoya eventually got to the room where the crying was loudest, and
Xoya’s voice whispered, Unsheathe your sword. We go in three, two, one.

Winter did so slowly, then put on her helmet, and Xoya opened the door.

Winter lunged forward the moment Xoya’s mental voice told her where to go
to fight, and Xoya kept guiding her as she approached the person.

He’s turning around, your sword.

Winter pointed her sword at the person and the moment Xoya told her he was
completely turned around, she narrowed her eyes and said, “You let Lyorna
go or my partner and I murder you,”

She backed him into the wall, then pointed the sword at his throat.
WINTER, HE HAS A KNIFE! Xoya roared.

“Drop your weapon,” Winter growled.

The knife clattered to the floor, and the man growled, “If you even think you
can take me, you’re wrong,”

Winter growled and said, “I’m the one with a sword to your throat.

Lyorna shrieked again, and she roared, “PLEASE! MOMMA! COME BACK!
LET GO OF ME!”

Xoya roared at Lyorna, “GET IT TOGETHER, GODDAMNIT,”

Lyorna didn’t hear them it seemed, and she shrieked, “MOMMA! PLEASE!
LIZZIE DIDN’T DO ANYTHING! I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING!”

Xoya, what’s wrong with her?

I don’t know. I can’t reach her mind. It’s a jumbled mess.

Worse than normal?

She took her schizophrenia medication this morning. Normally these

delusions don’t happen.

Winter heard a gasp next to Lyorna, and she heard another girl whisper,
“Love, what’s wrong?”

“HELP ME! GOD! HELP!”

“Lyorna! Please, babe, tell me what’s wrong,” the other girl sobbed.
Lyorna shrieked incoherently and whimpered, “Help me! Lizzie! Come back,
please don’t leave me,”

“Babe, I’m right here,” the other girl whispered.

Winter growled at the man, “You. What did you do to Lyorna,”

The man laughed and said, “You want her back to normal? Let me go,”

“I don’t trust you,” Winter and Xoya growled at the same time.

The girl roared, “Do it! Please. I want her back,”

“The blond agrees,” The man said.

Winter sighed and said, “Fine. But any sudden movement, and your dead,”

Lyorna suddenly gasped as Winter lowered her sword and she whispered
almost breathlessly, “What the hell is going on?”

“Lyorna!” the girl shouted.

“Xoya, I should have known you were doing something behind my back. The
one in the fencing helmet, that’s Winter, isn’t it?”

“Lyorna. We’re here to help,”

“I can see that with Winter. She’s at least doing something,” Lyorna growled.
“But you. I expected more from you,”
Chapter Seventy Four

Xoya tried to get a grasp on Lyorna’s almost shattered mind. They didn’t know
what had happened to her, but her mind was filled with paranoia, more than
Xoya had ever seen in her mind before, and they knew she wasn’t like this
normally if she forgot to take her medication only once.

“Lyorna. Are you alright?” Xoya whispered.

“I’m fine,” Lyorna growled.

“Did you take your medication in the past few days?”

“Of course I did,” Lyorna snorted. “I’m not an idiot,”

Lyorna stood up, and she brought the blond along with her. Their captor had
put a pair of shifter cuffs on their wrists, joining them together. Lyorna already
had burns on her wrist, and the needles in the cuffs had caused her to bleed.
She bled from her scalp as well, and there was a wildness in her eyes Xoya
had never seen in her gaze before, except when she was much, much
younger after she had been taken in by Airien. Xoya was the first one to
realize she wasn’t alright.

“Lyorna,” the blond girl started, “Lyorna, what’s wrong with you?”
“I’m completely fine,” Lyorna growled back, “Nothing’s wrong,”

Xoya gripped the blond’s mind and whispered, She’s schizophrenic.

Everyone in the room’s thoughts overlapped, and Xoya grappled with the
mind of the man who had been torturing Lyorna.

What did you do to her! Xoya screamed. WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER!

The man put his hands over his ears, and Xoya screamed, I’M TALKING TO
YOU.

The man growled in his mind, I’ll never tell.

Winter. Point that sword at his throat.

Winter nodded and raised her sword.

“You put that sword down, or else I break that girl’s mind beyond repair.

The blond girl shrieked and grabbed Lyorna’s hand, then punched the man in
the jaw.

“Put down that sword,” the blond growled. Winter nodded and the blond
unsheathed her claws, but then Xoya felt extreme pain from both her and
Lyorna, and her claws were sheathed again.

Both of them fell to their knees, and they sobbed.

“What happened?” Lizzie shrieked as Lyorna fell forward, pulling her

backwards.
Do not try that again. Xoya growled. Shifter cuffs. They’re essentially shock
collars for kenomi criminals. That’s why they’re illegal.

Well thank you for that piece of information. The blond replied. Would
have been fucking useful to know earlier.

The blond paused, then thought to Xoya, Sorry.

It's alright. I thought you knew.

The blond’s eyes glowed a steady purple, and Xoya realized that Lyorna
might have proposed to her, even though neither of them turned eighteen for
over a year.

“Oh. I see,” the man said. “Lyorna couldn’t bear to lose you,”

Xoya screamed, shifted, and lunged at the man as the man began to grab the
blond’s mind.

Lyorna shrieked for the blond, addressing her by name, and she reached for
where her sword would normally have been, but it had been taken from her.
Lizzie screamed as Lyorna sat up with a loud sob, pushing both of them into a
more natural position. Lizzie began sobbing, and Xoya could no longer reach
the broken fragments of her mind.

Lizzie screamed for her parents, for a girl named Luna that she sometimes
called Lu-lu, and Xoya realized that Moon was somewhere around here.

Winter, go look for Moon. Xoya ordered after Xoya had pinned the man to the
ground.

Winter nodded and ran off, sword in her right hand.

Xoya snarled in the man’s face and growled over Lizzie’s hysterics and
Lyorna’s sobs, “Let both of them go,”

The man grinned and shifted into a thick scaled dark red dragon. He flipped
over Xoya, and Xoya shifted back as he snarled.

Lizzie shrieked in the background, “MOMMA! MOM! DAD! LYORNA! LUNA!

HELP ME!”

Out of the corner of Xoya’s eye, Lyorna grabbed Lizzie’s hand, then
whispered, “When this is over, I’m enlisting both of us in therapy,”

Xoya tried to reach Lyorna’s mind, because Xoya had a very clear memory of
already enlisting Lyorna in therapy, and it cost them two hundred dollars, only
for Lyorna to never show up.

The dragon shifter shifted back into his human form and growled at Lyorna,
“Well, your sister should be on her way,”

Lyorna silenced herself, and she whimpered.

Lizzie shrieked, “MY GOD! LUNA! RUN! GRAB KYLIE AND RUN!”

Winter’s voice came into Xoya’s mind, and she whispered, Xoya. Babe, I
found Moon. And two other people.

Get them out, and get Moon over here. Xoya thought.

Xoya then heard Winter’s bleat that she used to communicate with the rest of
Cami’s pack. Someone Xoya didn’t recognize answered, and Winter bleated
again, this time to tell the person to come to her and help her.

The man growled, “Shit,”

The man’s claws unsheathed and he said, “Can’t let you three leave,”

He raised his claws, then with a thunk he was out cold and on the ground.

Moon spat at him and lowered the hard covered dictionary she held.

Lizzie gasped, her brow caked with sweat and her hair plastered to her neck.

“Oh my god, that was awful,” she gasped.

Lyorna whispered, “What did you see?”

“I- I don’t want to tell you,” Lizzie whispered, “I can’t describe it. I- I don’t want
to,”

The paranoia coursed through Lyorna’s mind, and Xoya tried to reach her, but
they were forced out of her mind, and Xoya felt like they’d been punched in
the gut.

“Liz, you know I’ll understand,” Lyorna whispered.

Lizzie leaned forward and whispered something in Lyorna’s ear. Lyorna’s

expression changed three times in one second, settling on a grimace.

“Oh, babe, I’m so sorry,” Lyorna whispered.

“Don’t be,” Lizzie whispered. “You can’t control what I saw,”

Lizzie put her free hand on Lyorna’s shoulder, then rested her head on her
hand.

Lyorna yawned and she fell back, pulling Lizzie with her.
“Oh my god, we need to get this off,” Lizzie said after Lyorna closed her eyes,
and Xoya could tell she was asleep.

Lizzie tried to bite it off, then Xoya could feel a burst of pain in her jaw area.
Lyorna still didn’t wake up, but it hurt her as well.

“Lizzie. Do you know nothing about these things?”

Lizzie looked up and shouted, “YES, I’VE LITERALLY NEVER HEARD OF

THESE THINGS BEFORE!”

“Calm down. These things are very illegal. They’re torture devices,”

“WELL NO SHIT!” Lizzie growled.

At that moment, Winter entered the room, then began scolding Lizzie for her
language.

Lizzie flushed and then said quietly and insincerely, “Sorry,”

Lizzie’s wrist began to bleed, and she winced.

Lyorna sat up and whispered, “How long was I out?”

“About a minute,” Xoya replied immediately.

Lyorna looked at Lizzie and said, “Sorry,”

“Lyorna, did you take any of your medication today?”

“Yes, obviously,” Lyorna said. “I’m not risking relapse,”

Xoya listened, and her heart rate didn’t go up.

“Did you take your provigil?”

Lyorna replied, “Pretty sure, yeah,”

“Did you take the antipsychotics?”

Lyorna said, “Yeah,”

“As prescribed?”

“Obviously,”

Lyorna wasn’t lying, but something might have been wrong with one or both
her medications. Or maybe the dragon shifter did something to her mind. She
seemed fine now.

Winter had taken off her fencing helmet and she shook her white hair, her
blue eyes glimmering with anger.

“Xoya, where’s the guy who did the things?”

“So you walk toward me, and he’s right next to me, very not awake,”

“Alright,”

Winter stomped over to Xoya, then crouched and pointed her brightsword at
the guy’s chest, then pinned her white ears.

The guy didn’t wake up, but Winter stayed crouching, waiting for him.

Xoya decided to finally frisk the guy for the keys to the cuffs, then found
Lyorna’s phone in his pockets along with the keys, a pair of wire cutters, a
hammer, and a set of blank keys.
Xoya walked over to Lyorna and Lizzie, then inserted the tiny key into the
lock.

They tried to open the cuffs, but it hurt both of them. Lyorna began to scream
as the bloody needles came out of her skin, and Lizzie shut down and
stopped doing anything when the needles came out of hers. Lyorna now had
two sets of needle pinpricks on her left wrist, and Lizzie had one set of needle
pinpricks about a quarter of an inch away from each other. They wrapped all
the way around their wrists, and the wrists where the needles had been in
their skin were burned in a single line.

Both of them had blisters along the burns, and Xoya was aware that their
wrists hurt, and Lizzie’s wrist looked a little swollen.

“Lyorna, you and Lizzie come with me,” Xoya said. “Moon, stay with Winter,”

Lyorna grabbed Lizzie’s not injured hand, then winced. Xoya took her instead,
and then Lyorna guided them to the bathroom. Xoya ran Lizzie’s wrist under
the cold water first, and she suddenly jumped and gasped.

“Ow, ow ow,” Lizzie winced.

Xoya called Cami, who answered quickly, and Xoya said, “Hey, can you get
Olivia to where I am? Tell her to bring things to treat burns,”

Cami yawned and said, “Alright. But she has school tomorrow,”

“I’m aware, Cami,” Xoya said. “It’s just for a bit,”

Cami yawned, “I’ll call her,”

She hung up, then Xoya sent her the address they were at. Olivia was there
about twenty minutes later, clearly exhausted. She was in her lizard-like form
and carried a bag with sanitation wipes, antibiotic cream, and bandages. She
shifted into her hybrid form, handed Xoya the supplies, then shifted back and
climbed onto Xoya’s shoulder. She fell asleep, and Xoya began to clean
Lizzie’s burn. Lyorna had begun running her own burns under the cold water,
and after Xoya had put the antibiotic cream and bandages on her burn, they
waited for Lyorna’s burns to be well enough for treatment.

Xoya repeated the process with Lyorna, and shortly after, two adults burst into
the room and pulled Lizzie into a hug. Neither of them looked like Lizzie or
Moon, but Lizzie still addressed them as her parents. Lizzie must be adopted.

The woman whispered, “Baby, what did they do to you? We heard you
screaming for us,”

Lizzie sobbed into her mom’s chest, although it looked a little awkward, since
Lizzie was almost a foot taller than her.

Lizzie’s father looked over at Xoya, then pointed at Olivia and said, “What is
that thing on your shoulder?”

Xoya looked at Olivia and said, “Well, fuck,”

Chapter Seventy Five

Lyorna still felt a little tired, and her heart still pounded from the nightmarish
visions she’d seen. Still, she was forgetting. Lizzie wasn’t.

Lizzie sobbed into her parent’s chest, and she eventually fell back to her
knees. Lyorna walked up to her and kneeled next to her, but Lizzie’s mom
kicked her in the ribs.

Lyorna rolled onto her back