It was dark. I couldn't see a thing. Each step I took echoed throughout the black. Confusion clouded my mind as I tried to recall all the previous events. I jumped, hearing the remnants of gunshots go off.
Flashes of our murder circled me. I don't know how that could've slipped my mind. It all happened so fast I didn't have time to process any of it. I just knew that I had to find my parents. They always knew what to do. They always had a plan. If I find them, then everything will be okay.
I ran around in that darkness for what felt like hours. No one was in sight. I was lost and completely alone.
Was this the afterlife?
"Lis-an." A soft voice whispered.
"Follow my voice child."
"Hello? Where are you? Mom? Dad?" I whipped my head around.
"Lis-an" The woman's voice spoke again.
I ran towards the sound, blindly running through the black.
"This way." The voice sounded closer.
I ran faster, sprinting towards the voice that called out to me. I could feel the cool breeze blow past my face. The scent of freshly dampened timber mixed with burning sage filled my nostrils.
It smelt like home.
Tears brimmed my eyes. I could envision my mom and dad sitting back at the cabin, waiting for me to meet them there.
"I'm coming! Wait for me!" Joy filled my being.
I could sense I was getting closer. The heat from the sun was growing stronger. Its light washed over me, blinding me for a moment.
"Dad?" I gasped, jumping up.
My chest ached. Every cell in my body screamed as I moved. My vision was blurred, and I could barely make out any shapes. An intense sting tingled from behind my neck. I touched the area, feeling the swollen lines that protruded out from my skin.
"You're parents placed that on you."
I jumped back, hearing an unfamiliar woman speak. I winced as pain shot up my sides. I noticed that I was now wearing a loose long-sleeved nightgown, and underneath my gown, my arms, legs, and chest were wrapped in bandages. It twists from my shoulder down to my palms. I rubbed my eye, blinking a few times to regain my sight.
That's when I saw that I was sitting on a bed in a dark room. I looked over to see a woman in a long-sleeved black dress that draped down to her ankles. Her pale skin stood out against the attire and her short black hair that brushed right above her shoulders. Her deep green eyes seemed to glow like emeralds in the dark. She sat on a chair next to the bed I was on. Placing a plate full of burning sage on the floor. Her aura didn't seem alarming, but I couldn't take the chance to let my guard down.
I didn't understand why I was still alive. I heard the guns go off. Those men ordered our execution. So what am I doing here?
"Wh-what? How? Am I-" I gasped, looking at my dirtied hands tremble.
I took my nail and drove it into my arm. I needed to know if this was real or just some form of torture from hell. The pain traveled up my arm, ripping away every shard hope I had left.
"Stop it! Just calm down, okay? No one here is going to hurt you." She held my hands by my side.
My arm hurt as it bled. But my chest ached more.
"S-so I really am a-alive?" Tears streamed down my face.
"Yes." She spoke softly.
"Where am I?" I felt a bit queasy.
"We are in Iceland."
What the hell was I doing in Iceland? We were just in the Netherlands.
I looked around, noticing I was alone.
Why was I alone?
Did this woman have my parents in a separate room, treating their wounds?
If I made it, then they did too, right?
Right?
"Where are my parents?" My eyes watered as the little dark voices in the back of my mind whispered to me, telling me that my nightmare was real.
She looked down, taking a deep breath.
No. I refuse to believe in a stranger. I have to be with them. This woman is lying!
"I need to go to them." I tried to move, but she held me in place.
"I-I'm so sorry." She bit her lips to stop herself from crying, confirming my worst nightmare.
These are lies. They are all lies!
"No. I need to see them now. I need them NOW!" I thrashed against her grip.
"Let me go! Let me go, please." I sobbed, falling back onto the bed as a sense of hopelessness washed over me.
"They're waiting for me. D-dad is taking us to the Freedom Hills. Where we could finally be safe." My voice cracked terribly.
"I'm sorry. I really am. I thought they would make it. We all secretly hoped that they would." She held in her cries as tears rolled down her face.
It was hard to breathe. Each breath I took felt like a thousand needles moving through my chest, cutting away at the ribs. Letting the sense of guilt eat away at the exposed mass of tissue that beat life into my very being.
"I will let you rest for a bit, and then I'll explain everything that has happened." She stood up, heading to the door.
"Why did this happen to us? We were good. I was good."
"For now, rest. You've been out for a few hours, but your body is still recovering. I'll be back in a bit to check on you." She left, closing the door behind her.
I wanted to scream. But I couldn't. Reality had its claws in my throat, paralyzing me in place.
Today we were supposed to have mom's stew for dinner. Then she was going to show me a water spell. It all just happened so fast. In a blink of an eye, I lost everything.
I threw the covers off me. Blueish green marks covered my legs, but I didn't know why. I wasn't this injured before on that wooden stage.
I don't think I was.
I slightly turned, trying to move my wounded legs over the edge of the bed. But pain vibrated through them, keeping me in place. I moved my toes just to make sure that I was still able to be mobile. The smell of sage filled the room. My mom would often sage the house. Dad could never stand the smell of it. So he usually goes outside and gathers materials he thought we might need.
I clenched my teeth, letting them tighten on my tongue as pain sliced through my chest. Even a simple memory became unbearably painful to remember. I hated how tears formed in the corners of my eyes, threatening to fall if I dared to blink. I hated how my eyes refused to swallow them back in.
I hated them for leaving me here.
How can I go on like this? Mom, Dad, how did you expect me to?
Why the hell didn't you just fight them! I knew how strong you guys were. We ran around the world just trying to live a peaceful life, and look what happened?! We lived quietly, never causing any kind of disturbance. Yet, we were greeted with hostility.
This overwhelming feeling filled the pit of my stomach. It bubbled with rage that came out as tears.
I threw myself back onto the bed. Just lying still, staring at the wooden ceiling, tracing out the stars that were etched into the wood right above me. I was tired, but I didn't want to close my eyes.
I was afraid.
Afraid of the images, I would see if I did. So, I stared at the stars wishing for time to be rewritten. In the silence, I could hear the lady in the distance messing around in the kitchen.
Who the hell is she? And why am I here?
I remembered what she said about the burn on my neck. I traced the swollen area, letting the sting radiate down my spine. But if they placed that there to protect me then, why didn't they do it to themselves? What was the use of me being alive on my own?
I would've gladly followed them into the afterlife.
Hours passed. I couldn't bring myself to get up. I wasn't hungry or thirsty. I was just numb. Memories that would often fill me with a sense of warmth now cut away at my exposed heart, adding wounds over the scars.
Knock! Knock!
The door opened.
The lady whose intentions were not yet known came in holding a bowl that steamed profusely.
"Hey, are you hungry?" She sat in the chair that was in front of the bed.
I remained silent.
"It's not as good as your mother's, but at least it's edible." She placed the bowl of stew on the dresser next to me.
"I've known your mother for many years now."
Yet, I have never heard her speak of you. Everything you say is probably lies.
"Do you know how I met your mother?"
I continued to stare at the ceiling, hoping she'd leave me alone.
Please, let me wallow in peace.
"It was when we were five years old her mother brought her over to the coven's annual festival. When a witch gives birth and their child reaches the age of five, they introduce their children at the festival. And they do what we call an introductory to the coven."
I glanced at her from the side, only being slightly intrigued.
"We were members of the coven, Rings of The New Moon." She crossed her legs.
"There, they would have all the children gather underneath the stars in an open field. Our parents made a circle around us, chanting to skies. All the kids held hands around crystals that we gathered earlier in the day. As the chants of our parents continued, the crystals glowed with the power of a million rainbows. Strobes of light shot out from the crystals, creating stars that danced around us. It was something people only dreamed of." She smiled to herself, sitting back in the chair.
"Your mother squeezed my hand so tight I thought my fingers would turn purple. She was born to be a witch. It was just something that came so naturally to her. She was truly talented." She quickly wiped her eyes, looking out the window.
I wanted to say something, but my jaw locked shut, keeping all the questions I had inside.
"I know that right now, things are happening abruptly, and it's hard to understand everything. Just know that I loved your mother as though she were my sister." Tears filled her eyes.
"Then why weren't you there to save her?!" I jumped up, pissed at her sentiment.
"I didn't know where she was, where she ran off to, or anything. When your parents eloped, she left her coven behind, much like how your father did. She stopped communicating with me to keep me safe, but not before she told me of their backup plan just in case anything were to go wrong. So when you appeared in my living room, crashing through the ceiling, I-I knew it was for the worst. The news of her death spread like fire throughout the coven."
Guess that explains my current state.
"They left her to defend for herself. So why do they even care?" I scoffed.
"They may have exiled her, but we never stopped loving her. She would always be our sister at heart. But they couldn't risk the lives of everyone for one person. She went against the natural order of things." She peered down at her palms.
"Well, your love really helped us out in the end." I sneered at her.
She turned away to clean her face.
"Later on, when your older things will make sense. I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason."
"Like what? Like my parents sacrificing themselves for me?! I didn't ask for that! I wanted to follow them into the afterlife." I glared at her.
"Lis-an" Her face twisted with pain.
"Why couldn't they just save themselves too? Why just me? Why do I have to carry this burden on my own?" I clenched my hair, bringing my knees up to my chest.
"Sending a person across the country isn't an easy task. Every time we cast a spell, it uses our core energy to activate it." She touched the top of her abdomen.
"If what was reported is true, and your mother was badly injured in her battle with the Court of Towers, her energy levels would be depleted. So doing a massive teleportation spell would've taken everything from her. Even if she used your father's energy it still wouldn't have been enough to save themselves as well."
"Everything was fine this morning. Then this-" I clutched tightly to my hair.
The chair creaked as she leaned forward.
"I'm not going to say that everything is going to be okay because there is a chance that it won't be. But just know that they used what little energy they had left to save you because they loved you. It's a parent's job to protect their children. And they did that 'till the very end. Don't take their sacrifice lightly." I could hear her take in deep breaths.
I looked up at her as she sat on the bed.
"When my mother died, I found it unbearable. I thought I was going to die from the pain. The world felt like it was crashing onto me, breaking my bones as they landed on me. I wanted the ground to swallow me whole. When I was at my lowest, staring out over the cliff watching the birds fly in the sunset, I just wanted to be one of them." She looked down at her hands, rubbing her palm with her thumb.
"The minute my feet left the ground, regret filled my being. As the ocean water flooded my lungs, I realized something. That if I gave up and let her death be the death of me, then who would keep her legacy going? Who would keep her memories alive?" She placed her arms around me, holding me closely.
"You are what's left of them. Don't let that waste away." She whispered to me.
My arms refused to move. Her left hand softly patted my back, reminding me of how my mom would console me.
"How about we try and get some sleep. You need a good rest." She held my face.
"When you're up for it, I would like to take you somewhere." She crawled over me, lifting the sheet to lay underneath them.
"W-what are you doing?" I watch her snuggle herself against the wall.
"Sleeping. I have a bad back and only one bed. Just think of me as your aunt, that way, it won't be too weird." She laughed.
"Seriously?" I was dumbfounded by her audacity.
"Yup. Now shush, it's sleepy time." She laid down.
I scooted over to give her more space. I bet she's worried I'll do something if she leaves me alone for too long.
"Does the coven know that I'm here?" I spoke lowly.
"No."
"Why are you doing this?"
You could end up dead because of me.
"I promised your mom that if anything were to happen, I'd take care of you. And I never break a promise."
"Why does everyone hate me so much?" My chest tightened.
"It's not you that they hate you." She turned over to face me.
"When people fear something, they tend to act irrationally, and their first response is to kill it. They don't hate you. They fear what you might become. Have your parents told you stories of the other mix-breeds?"
"No, but they did tell me that there are others like me."
"Well, that is true. You are not the first mix-bred werewitch. Others have tried in the past and failed terribly. If the mother were human, she would not be able to handle the speed at which a wolf child grows in the womb. So usually, the mother would perish before the baby would be born, resulting in two deaths. But if the father were human, he wouldn't be able to impregnate the mother because the mixed DNA would not allow it. In some cases, it caused a bad reaction inside the woman's womb." She played with the sheets.
"But on rare occasions, a half-bred wolf is born."
"What happened to them?"
"When the child reached its maturing age, where a wolf has its first transformation, they couldn't handle it. The raw energy of their wolf instincts took control, and their human side couldn't endure the drastic change. Most of them died or changed into vargulfs. Do you know what they are?"
"Yes, they are wolves that have completely given in to their feral instincts. They are often called savages because they lose all self-control and go on a rampage, killing everything that moves."
"You've studied well." She smiled.
"These are the main reasons why they banned the cross-breeding of any species. It caused too much death and chaos."
"Does that mean I'll end up like the others?"
"It is a possibility. But the story is not over yet." She tapped my nose.
"There's more?"
That's just what I need right now, her telling me different ways of how I'm going to die.
"Darling, there is always more. Sometimes a half-breed will successfully make it through its transformation and become an entirely different breed of its own. One with the strength to scare the elders."
"What do you think will happen to me?" I nervously played with my nails.
"I don't know. I believe that's up to you. We all control our own destinies."
"Maybe the ones who did it can help me. Where are they now?"
"After the law passed, they went into hiding. They were strong but not immortal. Groups of alphas hunted them down. They believed that they were doing what was best. Then a vargulf attacked a coven. Killing over fifty of our sisters and brothers. Resulting in the war between the witches and werewolves." She sighed.
"I never read about that in any of the books I had."
"No one wants their failures to be recorded. This was something both sides decided to keep quiet. But, someone wrote down in a journal, recording everything that happened during that time."
"Wait, if this was all kept secret, then how do you know about it?"
"It was my mother who wrote that journal. She didn't believe in the senseless killing of innocent children. What was done was done. She didn't agree with cross-breeding. She knew it would only end badly for all those involved, but you can't stop love. She believed that if we could study the mixed-bred children, we could learn how to help them keep their humanity intact. But when the war broke out, fewer people were willing to work with her. Let alone listen to her." She rolled over, looking up at the etched stars.
"She taught me everything I know. I carry all her knowledge and wisdom with me." She touched the center of her chest.
"How did she pass?"
"As a woman who refused to bow down to hate and convert her beliefs to match the dull reality of others." She sadly smiled to herself.
"No, I meant ho-"
"Do you see those stars up there?" She pointed up.
"Yes." I looked up.
Maybe my prying was aiming at a sore subject, that I could understand.
"My mom and I carved those up there. She told me that if I ever felt alone, stressed, or just tired to watch the stars we made together. Because those will never fade or falter, just like the love we have for each other."
"I like that. The notion of the stars." I played around with the bracelet on my wrist.
"You speak with an old tongue." She rolled back to face the wall.
"My dad would say the same thing." I sat myself up, shifting my aching legs to dangle off the side of the bed.
I carefully picked up the lukewarm stew. I ate a spoon full to test it out. She's right, it's not like my mom's, but it'll do.
Mom, Dad, why didn't you tell me any of this? Why keep this all a secret? All you ever did was smile at me. Maybe that's why mom looked at me with such sadness in her eyes. She knew what my fate was. But she always had something up her sleeve. I know she had a plan to ensure that I'd make it through my transform.
So what was it?
I turned around and saw the lady sleeping. I placed the empty bowl back onto the dresser, laying down to watch the etched stars.
Sleep, I don't think I want to do that. Sometimes dreams can be crueler than reality.
And I've had enough of that for today.