Rough and cold surface scratches her skin. Adalia wakes up in a silver desert. The vast dark sky is full of sparkling stars. Among them, the magnificent emerald and sapphire celestial body that is the planet Arcadia.
She's dreaming, she knows it. She must be dreaming. That can only be it. Yes, this is a dream. She does find the situation rather intriguing, so she decides to have a walk.
There is nothing but silver sand as far as her eyes can see. At this point, she has walked over the horizon a few times. If this is all this dream has to offer, she can't wait to wake up. Even the wonderful scenery of the night sky is getting old.
She finds a hole. A large hole, big enough to fit several trucks, going deep down to the dark endless abyss.
It's not here before.
It's massive. She would've seen it ages ago if it has always been where it is, but only now does it show up. Only when Adalia is about to fall down.
She does fall down. After she throws herself away from the hole. She falls on her rear, heart racing. Crawling back to the hole, she wraps her fingers around the edge and hangs her head just above. She stares into the abyss. A pair of glowing silver eyes stare back.
A pair of sharp, bright, loud, stinging gazes. Hundreds of harpoons shoot from those eyes and every single bit of every single one of them pierces right through Adalia's soul. A hurricane roars out of the abyss, throwing Adalia several paces back.
A giant glistening silver clawed paw looms over the light of Arcadia, out of the abyss, casting a shadow on Adalia. It grabs the edge of the drop, right next to Adalia. The desert hisses as sands fall in. A second paw comes out, also holding the edge.
Trapped between two giant paws. Adalia hears her own breath. Long, heavy, and rough. Her vision locks between the wardrobe-sized wrists.
out comes the visage of a giant wolf. Its fur reflects the light behind it. The massive silhouette has a literal silver lining around it. It looks at Adalia. Adalia looks back. Their eyes just won't separate.
She crawls back. The head of the giant wolf dashes in closer to Adalia.
She wakes on her bed.
On her bed, covered by the warmth of her blanket, in the coldness of her bedroom. She holds her left hand close to her face with Catrina holding it with hers from behind as a big spoon. It's mostly quiet, but the sounds of her tinnitus, the occasional flowing water along the pipes behind the walls, and Catrina breathing on her neck. They are so snuggled up together Adalia can convince herself that she feels Catrina's heartbeat on her back.
Her right hand is clasped under the blanket. That is where the whispers calling her name comes from. Adalia pulls it out and looks at the wood-and-stone ring she's been holding all night. The smooth surface reflects the moonlight coming in from between the cracks of the drapes covering the window above the bed. Her eyes reflect the reflected light from the ring.
Strangely enough, everything seems brighter.
She clasps the ring again before pulling Catrina's hand and kissing it. Catrina's fingers are thick and rough, but also soft. Almost like a shark skin texture. Her palm also has calluses at the base of the fingers, Just like Adalia. Rubbing Catrina's hand on her cheek while being a little spoon is one of Adalia's morning routines.
Few strands of hair are on her face and start giving Adalia an itch. She brushes them off with her finger and over her ear. That's when she notices. Adalia keeps brushing over her ear, thinking there's still some hair going front, but they are growing out from her ears. Adalia takes a few moments to feel it. Scratching, rubbing, and pinching her furry ear.
Concerned, Adalia gets off the bed, turns on the lights, and looks at herself in the mirror. There are furs on her ears. Her pupils and irises have become so large she can't see the whites of her eyes. Around the edges of her eyelids, where the lashes grow, have started to darken. Her canines are also longer.
"Kitty!" Adalia calls.
"Mmhm?"
"I think I'm mutating."
"Hmm," being only half asleep makes her think several times slower. It takes a few seconds for her to register what Adalia actually said. "Wait, for real?"
"Yes," Adalia keeps looking at her face with a finger in her mouth, pulling apart her lips.
"Let me look," Catrina gets off the bed, holds Adalia's cheeks, and turns her head around, observing. She looks at Adalia's eyes, her teeth, and her ears. "Oh shit, yeah. You didn't get bit anywhere right?" Catrina looks at Adalia's arms, back, and legs.
"No, I'm not. I would've noticed."
"Probably what happened to me then. It's uh..." Catrina says, snapping her finger.
"Exposure?"
"Yeah, fucking blood exposure. Guess you're not immune after all huh? Come on, let's get dressed and get you to the med lab," Catrina opens the wardrobe, tosses Adalia her clothes, takes her own clothes, and starts getting dressed. "What time is it by the way?"
Adalia leans in at the clock above the window. "It is... 3 in the morning."
"Oh wow, Kaiden isn't even up yet," Catrina goes out to the couch where her brother is sleeping. She taps on his shoulder, "Hey Kaiden, Kaiden!"
"Hmm, huh, yeah, what, what is it?" It's early, even for him. Usually, Kaiden wakes up about an hour later. Not that being this early has never happened to him, but even when he is this early he would just laze about for another hour or so before taking a shower and cooking breakfast for everyone. Kaiden rubs his face a few times before he stops squinting.
"Addy's mutating, we're going to get her stabilized."
"For real?" Kaiden stands up and looks at Adalia. "Oh shit, yeah. Well, careful then, hope everything goes well," he gives both of them a smile and pats his sister's back.
"Don't worry, I pulled through it just fine. She's stronger than I was back then, there's nothing to worry about," Catrina has a glass of water before going out of their home.
Adalia leans in at Kaiden. "Hey, don't forget about the thing I told you yesterday," she whispers.
"Don't worry, I got you. I'll do it first thing when I get to the wall construction. I'll tell everyone, I'll get everyone involved, it's gonna be great. You just go and have fun with her, ok? I got you covered."
"Ok, cool, nice, once again, I really appreciate you, thanks," she exhales a big breath. "You did so much for us, I promise you we'll return the favor somehow."
"It's ok. It was just me and Catrina for... several years too much... for people our age," Kaiden scratches behind his neck, that is his way to self-soothe. He takes a deep breath and exhales while looking away. "If anything, we appreciate you, so much, to be a part of our lives," he smiles at her. He can feel the tears building up behind his eyeballs.
Adalia is speechless. She just looks at him, head to toe, wondering how to respond. She's happy to make Catrina happy, she's happy to make Kaiden happy, and they make her happy as well to be a part o their family.
"Addy! Come on we gotta go!" Catrina calls from the outside.
"That's your cue. You should hurry up."
"Yeah, I'm coming!" She shouts to Catrina, then looks back at Kaiden. "Ok then, I'll see you later tonight."
"I'll see you guys tonight. Bye!"
"Bye!"