She couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned but sleep eluded her. The big clock chimed 1am with Kara staring at her ceiling. She stood up and walked out of the room. The halls were lit with torches and she grabbed one when she got to the dungeons.
She remembered what Klaus told her.
"Try to imagine the scent, recognise it and hold onto it. Let it guide you. See the scent as a colour." He had explained while scratching his head. "That's what we are told anyway and it works."
Kara closed her eyes and took a deep breathe. She tried to remember the griffin's scent and hold onto it but it was hard. She exhaled in frustration for the 7th time.
"Patience... that is what you must never lack. Be patient when learning, it pays off. Patience, most times, could lead to perfection." Bob had once told her by her window. "Not my greatest virtue but I try."
All her memories were back.
"But it is exhausting." She had whined with her chin in her hand, gazing at the stars with him.
He had ruffled her hair and pulled her into a hug. "I know someone, she has to be patient. Even though it is hard, she must be patient and wait for the right time to go to her own. Even though her heartaches and longs for the people she loves, she must wait. Patience isn't meant to be easy but it pays off at the end."
Kara now understood who the someone was... her mother. Everything had something to do with the stupid prophecy. Her temper was rising but she calmed herself.
"Imagine it." Closing her eyes, she whispered to herself, taking a deep breathe. "Hold onto it." She let the scent stay in her memory. "See it."
When she opened her eyes, she could see it. A mixture of grey and blue, like a thread. She sighed in relief and followed it. Deep down the dungeon halls, she found a door. She froze the handle and broke it.
The griffin raised its head arrogantly to look at her before pretending she didn't just come in.
"Are you kidding me?" She laughed in relief and went to hug it. "You are mad at me aren't you?"
It made a sound as if it was scoffing. She laughed again and laid with her back to its body. She rubbed its neck thoughtfully.
"A lot has been happening." She informed it, wanting to believe it understood her.
After a while, she sighed and stood up, the big room had a window that was directly facing the moon.
"You wouldn't happen to know about the prophecy would ya?" She turned to the griffin and saw it regarding her with its head high.
She held back a chuckle and sat beside it, again.
"Forgive my manners. How have you been? Are they feeding you well? It's Reginald isn't it?" She asked and pretended it answered her when it grunted.
She rubbed its back and her hands moved along its wings.
"You have not been able to fly for a while have you? It must be suffocating." She whispered, her eyes shining with mischief.
She stood up and gestured for the Griffin to follow her. They snuck through the tunnels and into the woods directly in front of the opening. She jumped on its back and gestured for it to take off.
"Come on." She urged and whooped when it took to the sky.
The moon was full but she felt no urge to transform. She felt slightly calm and wanted to stay in the air forever. She screamed at the top of her lungs and hugged the creature. The clouds were like soft mists on her cheeks, making her scrunch her nose in delight.
"This is so nice." She said to her ride and they flew in silence for a while.
An hour later, she successfully snuck it back in with a promise to come again. Just as she was sneaking back to her room, Reginald caught her.
He cleared his throat. "Coming from the dungeons long after curfew, that doesn't spell anything good."
She rolled her eyes. "Come on Regi, you probably did worse at my age."
He sighed and sent her away.
Kara laid on her bed some minutes later, drained enough for sleep to come for her. Some part of her wanted Adrian to talk to her in her mind and have a fun teen romance but some part of her knew she needed to fully understand what she was meant to do... besides die.
Liv met a dressed Kara with a determined face.
"Okay this is the first time I find you dressed, fill me in." She commented with a laugh as they walked to class.
Kara had a mischievous smile on her face. "I want to know about shadows, and to do that, I need to provoke Ezra into showing me his abilities or powers or whatever you call them. We have sparring class first right?"
Liv faltered but Kara ignored her. When they got to class, Kara matched to the boys with Adrian raising his eyebrow.
~what are you planning?~
Ezra glared at her when she stood in front of him. "What do YOU want?"
"Spar with me." She said.
"No." He replied and turned his back on her.
She shrugged and pushed him to the floor. The people close by gasped. Everyone knew to leave Ezra alone. Shadows were beings you should never provoke. Kara knew that but she wanted to know what they could do.
Ezra's eyes were starting to turn fully black that she felt goosebumps. Liv grabbed Kara while Adrian grabbed Ezra.
"Are you crazy?" She hissed, silently wishing the shadow wouldn't get mad.
"Oh come on, I didn't expect him to be that weak. A slight push and he is on the floor, really?" Kara replied Liv with a smirk. Her back was to the angry boy.
First rule, never turn your back on your opponent. She knew that, but she needed to provoke Ezra well enough. And that did the trick.
As she was about to hit the wall, she turned her position and slammed the wall with her arm. She gritted her teeth to stop herself from crying out in pain, her arm and leg had taken most of the impact. Tears blurred her vision as she fell to the floor. Almost immediately, she felt herself being lifted from the floor by her broken arm. Her heart was beating fast as she tried to understand what was going on and focus on anything but her pain. There was a loud ringing in her head and ears..
Kara focused her vision on Ezra and saw him standing with his eyes totally black.
~Look down stupid~
She ignored Adrian's hiss and looked down. What she saw chilled her bones. A shadow shaped like Ezra was holding her own shadow by the arm but there was nothing beside her actual body. Shadows... Kara couldn't imagine how it would be if his shadow had taken a physical form.
From what she had read, shadows fought with their body and their shadows. The most deadly of them could make their shadows take on physical forms, the shadow prince to be precise.
His shadow released her and she fell to the floor with a thud. The hall was silent. What had felt like about 30 minutes had taken just 5 minutes. No one had been able to stop him.