A hard slap jolted me out of my head and I held my face in absolute shock, taking in a lung full of air I raise my head to see Katrina glowering at me.
"I know you're in shock, but this is no time to stop breathing."
"You have got to be shitting me!"
"I wish I was Tatty." She sighs. "The main reason I came here, is to help you through your change. After so many years of war, the Fae's were able to locate and retrieve most of the changeling's. But when those cursed vampires learned about their existence and what changelings could represent for their kind, they started capturing them. I need to get you back to our realm before-"
"Whoa, hold up!" Raising my hands in the air I shift away from her as much as I could. The movement caused my butt to become close to the edge but at that moment, I could have cared less. "Look, I don't know what your on about, but am not going anywhere. This joke or whatever it is has gone too far."
"I thought you were smarter than this."
"Oh, I am," I growled.
"That's why I'm going back to sleep because this conversation is just part of the crazy-ass dream I'm obviously still having, and when I wake up come morning, " Stretching out on the bed, I say to myself as I try to go back to sleep. "I'm going to laugh about this with the real Katrina."
Pulling me upright with a strength that almost sent me flying off the bed, she asks seriously. "Do you want to tell me that after everything, you're going to deny this like a dream?"
"You can't just expect me to believe you!"
She raised her hand in the air and white, electric energy shoots out of her palm. It's goes flying through the air, connecting with the door behind me with a deafening sound, and I let out a startled scream as splintered wood scattered everywhere.
My hand flies to my mouth, eyes enlarged and fearful, and my breathing in pants as I stare at her in shock.
Slowly turning my head around, trepidation holds my heart captive before accelerating at the sight of the melted, gaping hole on my bedroom door.
Dizziness overcomes my vision but she shakes me out of it by grabbing my shoulders and turning me around to face her.
"We only have this weekend to leave or else you and everyone around you will be in danger. The advantage we have over these vampires is that they can't track changeling's until we use our powers. And then like every otherworldly being, they sense us. Very soon your powers will start manifesting, starting from the weakest to the strongest. Look Tatty," She glares at me seriously, her penetrating stare willing me to listen and believe as her grip on me tightens. "I was lucky to have had my keeper there to help me through this, and now I'm here to help you because I'm your keeper. I know this is hard to believe or understand but come on, it's glaringly obvious we're not normal and neither do we look anything close to normal."
"That's not true-"
"We're the only two in our dark-haired, olive skin, green-eyed family that look like this," She deadpans.
Her painful, but none the less truthful words make me cast my eyes down and tremble. I didn't need the reminder of our weird, but distinct features which is a stark contrast to everyone else in our greek family. My mind couldn't deal with two issues at once, I'm still trying to process all this and not run out of the room screaming in tears.
"If our mothers didn't have those horrid, birthing videos I would never believe the fact that we're not adopted."
"But how can I believe this, I just finally got my life together despite trying to battle my difference for years?"
"Look, like you, I didn't want to believe any of this either," She replies gently, pulling me close to wrap her arms around my shaking form. "But it took one of those vampires sneaking into the house and almost killing my parents to change my mind."
"The hell!" I pull back in fear and she lets out a humourless laugh.
"The hell indeed, thankfully my keeper was able to save them by killing it before the vampire could reach their room. But, that night scared me for life. They're the reason why I don't come home more often, I don't want anyone in the family to be made a target because of my selfish desires."
I looked away, feeling chagrined even though I know she didn't make that statement out to reproach me.
Groaning, she pulls me back into her arms. "Am sorry Tatty, I wasn't saying that to you."
Well, I guess this would explain a lot if I were to believe her… though I'm starting to run out of reasons to convince myself she's insane and probably suffering from schizophrenia.
I frown, my gaze reverting to the gaping hole in my door. How my parents or little brother hadn't heard that blast and came running is beyond me.
"No, it's fine," I reassure her with a shake of my head, pulling away. "I have no idea what to believe right now and to be sincere with you, I don't know what to do with this new piece of information. But, what I do know is that I'm not going to everyone in danger so… a-a-are we going leave now?"
"No, you can relax," She smiles in reassurance. "I told you we have the weekend to say goodbye to everyone. I'll work on convincing your parents to enrol you into my school today and as long as you don't mistakenly use your powers, everything will be fine."
"But what about you, you just used yours. Shouldn't they be able to track us now?"
"No, you can relax. The minute I arrived I put up cloaking spells around the house so they won't be able to tell if I used mine, but your powers are new and fresh. And despite the cloaking spell, they'll be able to sense it from a mile away. It'll be like smelling the scent of fresh blood, they immediately go crazy with the need to have it."
Disturbed by the imagery, I nod slowly in relief. "Rest a bit and forget about everything, for now, I'll take care of things tomorrow."
I tried to protest because I have a lot of questions I want to ask, but a tired yawn slips out instead and I decided to take her advice. Pulling away to lie back, I pray I wouldn't be having any more weird dreams.
I think I've reached my maximum capacity to take in incredibly alarming but mystifying facts for today.