School flew by, and soon enough, I was at my locker at the end of the day, packing up my backpack. My head was pretty full all day, with thoughts about my father, our upcoming talk with Asuka Lazarov tonight, and worrying about how all my friends were doing.
I saw them all today, catching glances with them from across the room, or whispering to them at lunch about our plans. We didn't want anyone to hear what we were saying, but I bet it looked suspicious, us whispering all lunch period. Not that it mattered much anymore. Soon we wouldn't have to plan and plot anymore. We can learn the truth, and go from there.
I walked out of school, and someone called my name as I was about to head out down the sidewalk. Turning around, I saw Sakura waving to me and jogging over. I stopped and waited for her to reach me, then I asked, "What's up?"
"I wanted to talk to you before tonight. Can we walk?"
"Sure," I responded letting her fall in step beside me.
"As you've probably guessed," she started, a tone of mock-happiness lacing her words. "I'm really nervous about tonight."
I nodded.
"I just wanted to tell all of you, that I'm obviously not looking forward to this as much as you all are, but I'm on board with whatever we have to do to get the truth. If that means threatening her with your powers or Shawn's super strength, I can handle it."
I was shocked. "Are you sure?"
"I've shocked you, I'm sure. I want to know the truth just as much as the rest of you do. It sucks that my mom might hate me afterwards, but I need to know."
I stopped walking. "Hold up. You have every right to question your mother about this. She lied to you. If she's mad afterwards, that's her fault, not yours."
Sakura nodded. "I know. I've just... I've never really fought with my mom before. We've always gotten along, even when she was still married to my dad. I never once chose his side over hers during the divorce. It's always been me and her. And then when she started dating my step-dad, she always told me if I was uncomfortable with her dating so soon, or having to call him dad, she and him would understand. And now I feel like I might lose that."
I took her hand. "You won't lose her. Okay, she might be a little mad at first, but she'll get over it. She's your mom. She loves you." Unlike my father, my brain finished. I didn't say it out loud, but Sakura saw it as clearly as if it was written on my face. And in some ways, it was.
Sakura took my other hand. "Your dad will forgive you too if he gets mad about this whole thing too."
I laughed. "He has to notice it for him to be mad about it. He doesn't really know me that well, if we're being perfectly honest here."
"It'll work out. You'll see."
I smiled again. "Thanks."
We backed out of each other's grasps, and parted ways, our houses not very close.
"Maybe a bit too optimistic for my taste," I called over my right shoulder as I walked away.
"And maybe you're a bit too pessimistic for my taste," Sakura called back to me over her shoulder as well.
I laughed and waved, Sakura waving back. I straightened and headed home, the wind picking up and whipping my hair around my face. I walked home slowly today, my backpack thumping against my back with every stride. I enjoyed the smell of oncoming cold, the wind becoming more biting and harsh. The overall weather was nice, but it was slowly getting colder all day, to where my arms were getting cold, exposed to the wind in my tank top.
I got home around four o'clock, coming in through the front door. I went upstairs and up into my room. I dumped my school stuff at the base of my desk, and started on my homework until it was nearly dark. So I did my homework for about an hour and a half, finishing most of it.
Grabbing my bag before I left my room, I came downstairs after changing into a long-sleeved tee, a pale blue color. I was going to grab a quick snack before heading out to meet up with my friends. My father was at the counter, reading the paper, and asked me where I was going. My back was turned to him while I answered, fishing around in the pantry for a snack.
When I turned around, he had stalked over to me, so close I backed up far enough I almost bumped into the pantry door.
"What's wrong with you?" I asked, an edge of hysteria creeping into my voice.
"I've been telling myself I was wrong," he started, stepping back slightly from me. Not enough room for me to get away, but enough that he wasn't up in my face. "I kept thinking I was seeing wrong. I was feeling wrong. The spell should've held past this stage."
I struggled to keep my face passive, as if I didn't know what he was talking about. But I did. I knew he could see that. I wasn't that good at hiding my feelings. Or that good of an actress.
"But I see your glow. I feel the signs. I know what you are now. And I know that you know. That's where you've been sneaking off to lately."
"Dad," I started, my voice as steady as I could make it. "Are you okay? You're talking crazy."
He laughed then. An insane, hysterical laugh that made my breath catch, my heartbeat pulse faster.
"No, what's crazy is that damn spell didn't work. But it did. I was there. I saw it. I saw your glow fade, the feeling disappear. But now... you're back to normal."
"What are you talking about?"
"Don't lie to me, Veronica."
I bristled. I didn't like it when he used my full name. I didn't like my full name very much, and it always meant I was in trouble when he used it.
"I'm not lying," I answered. "You're the one not making sense."
He stepped forward again, making me back up against the wall again. He got up in my face, hands against the wall behind me on both sides, trapping me.
"You've started Shifting, haven't you?"
I was still scared, backed into a corner, so my face- thankfully- didn't give away the truth.
"Shifting?" I asked, my eyes still wide with terror.
"You know what I'm talking about, Vera. Pretending you don't is getting us nowhere." He took a small breath in. "You're a Lechuza, aren't you?"
Confusion passed through my mind. Shouldn't he already know that? Isn't that was he is? Of course I couldn't ask that, but I really wanted to.
"A what?" I said instead. I held my hands out in front of me. "Are you okay? You sound tired." I was trying to distract him, but he really caught me off-guard. I didn't know if I could talk my way out of this one.
"Stop lying!" My father yelled, slamming his hand against the wall.
Finally, he pushed my last nerve. I was tired of this... this feeling. Like I wasn't in control. Like he was. I was tired of feeling scared and not in control of my own life. I growled deep in my throat and pushed past his left arm, wrenching it around his back and shoving past him, running down the front hall and to the front door. He was yelling after me, but I didn't stop; I didn't even slow down.
I ran all the way to the door and wrenched it open, running out into the night. I ran down the sidewalk, my feet pounding on the pavement, all the way to where I was supposed to meet my friends before confronting Asuka Lazarov.
I ran my superspeed run, but slowed slightly when I got to the center of town. We were going to meet a block away from the mayor's office, and I saw them all, huddled by the sidewalk, talking in low voices, and waiting for me.
I ran up to them and was greeted my them all, but I barely heard any of it. My blood was pounding in my ears, and my heart was beating like a rabbit's.
Eventually, Isabella asked, "What's wrong? You look... not okay."
I stopped my tired, labored breaths, and choked out, "My dad knows. He knows I know about being Supernatural, about Shifting, about it all."
"What?"
"Are you okay?"
"How?"
"When did he tell you all this?"
"Are you alright?"
I waved down their wave of questions. "He says he can see my signs, like what the witch was telling Autumn. He said he can see my glow, and feel me. He just confronted me about it now, yelling and screaming at me." I swallowed. "I barely got outta there before he knew everything."
Isabella rubbed my arm, and asked her question from before: "Are you okay?"
I nodded. "I just, I ran all the way here. Also, I figured out I can run really fast now. Like, superhuman fast."
"Not to be insensitive, but we need to do this now before Mrs. Lazarov leaves," Austin pointed out.
I nodded again. "I'm good. Or I will be. Let's just go in."
When we entered the mayor's office again, it felt like the guilty returning to the scene of the crime. To be fair, the last time we were all here, we really did break the law. Breaking an entering and stealing. Yeah, we did that. And had perfect justification to do so. But I let those thoughts slide to the back if my mind as I crossed the doors threshold.
The moonlight shone through the open doors and windows into the dark building, filling it with an eerie light. We crept in, the only other person in the building Sakura's mom. Her back was turned to us as she rifled through some papers at the front desk.
Her dark hair hung down her back, thin and straight just like her daughters, with smooth skin, soft features, and warm eyes. She was about my height, but normally wore heels to make herself taller. Although she wasn't doing that now. She wore black flats paired with fitted work slacks and a soft lavender blouse, half of her hair pinned up out of her face, hanging down her back.
The plan was simple: surprise her and get her to answer all out questions, using our powers as backup, and only if extremely necessary. Sakura insisted on that, and I wanted to honor that.
Someone in our group made a noise. Stepping on a squeaky board or scuffing their shoe, something like that. But Asuka turned around, a look of surprise etched on her aging face.
"Sakura? What are you all doing here?" she asked, looking genuinely confused.
"Sorry, mom," Sakura said, stepping back from the group.
A look crossed Asuka's face, as if she'd figured it out. Finally, she murmured, "You know."
"Yeah, 'we know'," Autumn said with venom dripping off off every word.
She looked down, and I thought she was sad, or felt guilty, even, but then she burst into action and tried to grab something from the other side of the front desk.
Shawn ran forward and wrenched her arms back, the gun from behind the desk flying out of her hand. It skittered across the desktop and skidded to a halt as I flung my hands up and an energy orb started to form. Asuka's eyes widened in Shawn's grasp.
"Yes," I said as I sauntered forward. "We know about our powers, and how to use them."
Shawn pulled her arms tighter behind her back, and she winced in pain.
"Don't try to shapeshift," Isabella spoke up. "Or I'll have to do something neither of us want." She held out her hands and formed another water sphere. "I may have to put you in here until you agree to Shift back."
"But-but how can you-" Asuka stuttered.
"Your files are wrong," she answered, coming closer and growing her water sphere even bigger. "Austin is a Shaman, but I'm something else. And that's not all I can do."
Austin put a hand on her wrist, and she sucked the water from the sphere back into her hands.
"Now tell us everything," I said, letting my ball of energy hover above my left palm, letting her see what I could do to her if she didn't tell us what we wanted to know.
She nodded, and Shawn loosened his grip on her.
"We hired a coven of witches to hide your Supernatural abilities, and mask your sensor, so no one would ever know. Then we paid them-"
"With their lives?" Autumn cut in.
Asuka went pale.
"I've spoken to one of them. She's been haunting me my entire life, in fact. She told us you all hired them, and then killed them right in your house."
Asuka spoke again. "We didn't want them to tell anyone about you all actually being Supernatural. They could've promised us they wouldn't say anything, but we couldn't trust a bunch of strangers to keep our biggest secret. They had to die."
I waved her forward with my fireball in hand, telling her to continue.
"What else do you want to hear?" she asked.
Sakura spoke up for the first time. "What's the coincidence? How did a bunch of Supernatural families end up living in the same small town for generations?"
"It used to be a safe haven for Supernaturals, only back in the 1600's, when Supernaturals were being hunted as witches and burned at the stake during the Inquisition and the mass hysteria during that time. Our families stayed when the town became more open to humans, when the hysteria died down."
"What was the point of the spell?" I asked. "Why did we need to be kept secret?"
Asuka took a deep, shuddering breath. "A greater evil is coming."
"Who? Who is this 'greater evil?'" Isabella asked.
"His name is Āganiniti, and he's a powerful demon lord."
"Demon?" Austin asked incredulously.
Asuka nodded.
"Why would be be coming for us?" Shawn asked.
"He comes to earth- the physical plane- every eight centuries or so to feed."
"'Feed?'" I echoed.
"On young, healthy Supernaturals."
We all tried to stifle our gasps, but mine leaped from my mouth before I could catch it.
Asuka continued. "He does that to keep himself strong, and maintain his demon kingdom. He feeds on as many as he needs, their bodies becoming his zombie slaves, mutated into something... terrible, and then retreats." She shuddered. "The entire earth trembles under his wake. The stories I heard as a child, passed down from all the way back then, as a way to warn future Supernaturals, to try and escape him."
"And when is he coming back?" Autumn asked, her voice small.
"Within a year."
The reaction was instantaneous. We all spun in our own heads for a minute, or I did. The others fell silent too. Within the next year? Would he come straight here?
"That's why we cast the spell," Asuka jumped in. "So the demon wouldn't know you're Supernatural, and wouldn't come for you."
"What?" Austin asked.
"Āganiniti uses the sensor the same way we do, so he knows if you're Supernatural or not."
"And now there's nothing protecting us from him," Sakura murmured.
Then, after a few moments of silence, the earth trembled and shook under our feet. I wobbled forward, nearly throwing the fireball in my hand at Shawn, but stopped myself. The ground shook again, this time harder, and distant crashes and rumbles sounding like thunder echoed to us from outside.
Then Asuka rushed forward to the desk again, trying to get the gun again, elbowing Shawn in the face.
She managed to grab it before I launched my fireball at her, sending her flying backwards and colliding into the wall and singeing her clothes to rags. She fell on the desk, knocked out by the impact. I checked in my pages though. My fireball spell is non-lethal, it just hurts. A lot.
The floor was tilting and shaking under us through this whole struggle, only getting worse and worse. My knees buckled, but I managed not to fall. Shawn and Sakura ushered all of us out the door, colliding into the walls and each other as we tried to move any faster than a snail.
Picture frames fell from the wall and slid along the floor. One came my way, and before I could step out of the way, it hit my feet and made me pitch forward. Shawn caught my arm before I fell, and hauled me upright. I nodded at him and bit back a smile, remembering the last time Shawn caught me after I tripped.
But we eventually made it outside, leaving Asuka unconscious inside. I made it down the front marble steps without breaking a bone, and looked off to the left and the distant trees that way. An impact crater was about twenty miles away, sending smoke billowing out in a mushroom cloud, illuminated by the moon's glow.
The ground shook loudly in our ears, and tilted us all to the side, causing us all to topple into one another like dominoes. I fell into Shawn, and that time I really did fall. Pushing myself off the pale concrete, I brushed off my clothes of loose leaves. We struggled to get up, the earth shaking spontaneously.
"What's happening?" Isabella shrieked, her voice shrill and full of panic.
"He's here," I said grimly. "The demon's come for us."