"Adam, I don't know what to do anymore", I said discomfitingly. "My baby has been asleep for two days now and there's no telling what she's going through. Telling her the truth right now seems like the best option but how do I go about that without breaking my baby apart, Adam how?".
"Maya you need to understand she's stronger than you give her credit for. You know she can handle it, she has just locked the truth away for so long, that now it feels foreign to her. Telling her will benefit her, most especially now that the fainting and visions are getting worse".
"I'm scared Adam, I'm really scared", I told him honestly. "I cannot lose my daughter again, I won't survive another loss". "And you won't", he replied confidently. "You just need to give her time after telling her the truth. It'll be okay", he said comfortingly.
He turned to leave my office when we heard a scream that cut through the quiet evening like thunder, I looked at Adam the same time he turned to look at me and in less than three seconds we were dashing towards Asha's room.
She was screaming and destroying things upstairs which was scary to say the least. I ran like my life depended on it right on Adam's heel. My life has never seen such disarray as the past few years that Asha has had to be dealing with demons like this. It has been a blessing to see some days go by uneventfully, but I guess everyday can't be Christmas.
On getting to Asha's room, everything was a mess. Her pillows were ripped, the contents lying everywhere, everywhere I looked it was like a hurricane had visited the room. I tiptoed like Adam into the room, being careful of the spots I place my feet in as there were shards of glass all over the place probably from breaking her vanity mirror and lamp. I was really scared now as this was the worst I've ever seen her do, literally, but all that I saw was nothing compared to the chill that ran up my spine when I saw Asha enter her room from breaking things in the bathroom.
She was shaking with a vengeance, her naturally straight hair, completely frazzled like she had run her hands through it too many times, but her eyes were the scariest part. They were shifting continuously from blue to gold to black, almost as if her eyes didn't know which color to stick with. She kept pacing back and forth, muttering curses to herself. Her feet was drenched in blood and she didn't notice, she had cuts all over her hands, a few on her face from scattered glass shards, I'm guessing.
Adam and I stood still not wanting to spook her, but our eyes were following her every move. She paced and stopped, then continued. It was a frustrating pattern to say the least. After a few minutes of her doing that while we stood watching her, she suddenly stopped, turning slowly till she was facing me directly and in that moment I saw her eyes whiten to silver completely and she fell down and screamed an ear-splitting sound so loud I had to cover my ears but that didn't stop the sound from bleeding my ears.
It was like watching a horror movie for hours without end yet all this was happening in minutes. She turned gradually while on her knees until her back was to me and right before my eyes I saw her shirt burn off her back leaving just little strands at the neck and waist to hold her shirt to her body even as my worst nightmares became a reality and a tattoo I can never forget gradually appeared on her skin like flames burning off flesh until the seal was complete. It was a deadly mark, a circle in the shape of a full moon inscribed with two words in Latin, with flames licking off the edges, and a full grown wolf in the center of it all.
I have always prayed and hoped that this day would never come for my daughter, but my prayers remain unanswered. Tears fell from my eyes in quick succession as the realization dawned on me that my daughter was about to be put through the worst kind of misery that could ever happen to a human being. Adam had seen what I saw and he could not comfort me at this point as he was probably thinking the same thing. I fell to my knees by the door and wept silently, praying that Asha's pain reduce, at least to the point where she can fall asleep so we can help her. It took forever but finally her crying and screaming stopped and she gradually stilled on the ground beside her bed.
Adam looked at me and I nodded letting him know it was okay to approach her now. He walked slowly to her and picked her up gently, being careful to avoid her back. She whimpered quietly but stayed asleep as we walked out of her room. I would get cleaners to clean up her room later but right now she was my priority.
Adam went straight to my room without having to be told. He placed her gently on my bed making sure that she laid on her chest instead of her back. I dashed into the bathroom to grab a towel and a bowl of water with disinfectants to treat her wounds.
Adam helped me out as we took turns cleaning her feet, hands and face. Maia wasn't home yet to tell me more on what to do with her back, so for now we left it alone. After wrapping her hands and feet with the bandage, and putting the Band-Aid on the cuts of her face, we left her alone to rest. Well Adam did, I sat beside her on the bed and continued watching her.
"Come on, you need to eat something", Adam whispered to me. "I know", I replied tiredly. "I just….", "Yes I understand but just eat something and then you can come back and sit with her okay", he said with a small smile.
I didn't want to leave her alone for a second but I knew Adam was right, so I reluctantly stood up, kissed her forehead and went downstairs with Adam to get food for myself and Asha.
Just as we descended the last steps, Maia came in with grocery bags and a beautiful smile. I felt so relieved at seeing her, I didn't know when my legs propelled me to her till I was hugging her tightly.
"What happened to Asha", she asked me immediately. "You need to see that for yourself". I detached myself from her and grabbed the grocery bags while she went with Adam upstairs to go check on Asha herself. I on the other hand went to the kitchen, emptied the grocery bags and started checking for what to make when I heard footsteps coming towards the kitchen. "Hmm think I'll leave the cooking to Maia then", I whispered to myself going to seat myself on one of the island stools even as they both appeared.
When Maia reappeared the smile was gone from her face, and worry replaced it. "When did this happen?", she asked as she sat opposite me on the island while Adam sat beside me on the right. "An hour ago", I replied solemnly.
She placed her hands on the counter rubbing them together as if in thought for a few seconds before she spoke, "Adam explained the pain she went through but I need to ask you a question". "Go right ahead".
"Have you ever seen that seal before?". As much as I'd love to say I hadn't I simply replied, "Yes I have". "Where?", she continued immediately. "On Asha after she was rescued from the people who kidnapped her", it was a day I would never forget.
"Then how did it disappear after that time". "It just disappeared a week after her rescue, I asked the doctors how come and they said the only explanation they could give was that her body absorbed it and flushed it out", I wondered about it for a while but came to no conclusion myself but I was starting to rethink everything now.
"M, you need to listen carefully to what I'm about to tell you. That seal on her back is the 'sicca ana' which means the seal of the ancient gods. That seal is tied to a prophecy that was given long ago. It talks about a she-wolf that will rise in the time when the Lycanthrope specie face extinct and save their entire race. I know you have had your doubt since the beginning but I need you to believe me when I say Asha is no longer human, in fact I don't think she has ever been. The reason I believe she has lived all her life as one is most likely due to the fact that you're human.
The prophecy states that the she-wolf will be the off-spring of he who is uncleansed. Normally werewolves shift for the first time at the age of fourteen and Lycans at ten but she has been tampered with too many times for her body to recognize the right time for her shift and since you don't know what kind of wolf her father was before he manipulated his genes, we don't know how late her shift is. I can only tell you this, for that mark to have come out now then someone forcefully called out her wolf which means by the next full moon she will no longer be human.
You need to prepare yourself and tell her everything you know, because if her last vision was a pointer to the future, then it means her identity will soon be revealed."
"Whose identity will soon be revealed?", I heard a voice ask and we all turned to find Asha standing by the entrance to the kitchen.