I sat cross-legged at the ledge, much too scared to dangle my feet over the edge of the academy building. The cold gust that occasionally blew through was enough thrill for one evening. The ground was so far down that all the buildings and sidewalks below looked blurry, cars just polka-dots in a canvas of abstract art.
The sun was melting into the orange horizon between the city, and buildings glittered with yellow lights. Some had rails spiraling around the structure or connecting them to other buildings where metros passed by.
Cars honked and sirens blared from below, and griffins screeched and bellowed from above.
Out of nowhere James sat close beside me, the warmth from his body microwaving my side.
I smiled and wiggled my fingers. “We caught 35 goblins this week! Big ones, too. That’s like, 20 gold pieces! We’re gonna be living the high life for like, two months off that.”
“Yeah.” James chuckled. “Wait until I tell the others how pathetic we make their catches look.”
I laughed. Then things got quiet again. I could feel James' eyes on me, but when I looked at him, he turned his face back to the horizon.
I leaned back and arched my knees. “I know exactly what my Dad would say. He’d be all, ‘I told you you’d figure this place out in a month. Two months tops. It was built for people like us.’”
James laid beside me.“My Mom would absolutely freak out. She still can hardly believe what happens to me by nightfall. It’s like no matter how old you get, Moms never stop being overprotective y’know?”
No. I wouldn’t know. My smile faded and I avoided looking at him.
“Malison?” I could feel James’s eyes on me. I really didn’t like where this was going.
“My Mom’s long gone. Since she found out…since she found out what I am.” I didn’t want to look at him, so instead I curled up and stared at my black sneaks.
James backed up. “Oh, my bad.”
Before he asked more unbearable questions, I answered them. “I grew up in a human family before all this. Well, I thought I did. As far as I could see there were no elves or vampires in my family. Mom and I would play with my dolls all the time and she would try to share some nasty human dish with me called banana split, and I hated it. I mostly remember her being fat because my little brother Shawn wasn’t born yet. Besides that she was super nice, and she cooked well.
“One day, my hands were hurting so bad. I was in like, second grade. It was like I had splinters under all my nails. I told the teacher over and over something was wrong, and she just told me to stop whining and pay attention. It wasn’t until I slashed through my desk that she believed me.”
James’s face wrinkled. “You scratched up your desk to prove a point?”
I glared at him. He really was a dummy wasn’t he? “No, you-” I huffed. “I didn’t know how to control my claws back then. They were new, and scary.”
“The next thing I knew, the white board was much clearer and my ears were on my head. The class fell to chaos, everyone was screaming and running around until the teacher sent me to the bathroom.
Someone came in to get me and I was sent to the office, where my Mom was waiting.”
Tears filled my eyes, and I clutched myself tighter. “I had barely ever seen my mother cry. Seeing her cry made me cry. We went to the hospital and that’s when they told me. The doctor said I was a shapeshifter, of the werewolf variety and there was nothing she could do about it. Nothing anyone could do about it. Some nights I would become half-beast with animal instincts, and others I would be normal, like some tragic pattern for the rest of my life.”
Though James only knew what I was telling him, I remembered everything from those days. It was like a movie in my head. I remember feeling so weird, wondering if this werewolf thing would go away one day, or at least get easier to control.
The sun was gone, and the sky was dimming down as I continued. “The next few weeks they kept me in the hospital. Mom tried to avoid looking at me. It was like she was afraid to make eye-contact.
Over time I practiced learning to retract and spawn my claws. I could narrow my pupils and sharpen my vision. When I showed my Mom this she shrieked and left the hospital. Didn’t even bother to tell me goodbye.
Soon enough the doctors told me they had seen other patients who became shapeshifters, and that I was just normally abnormal. I was finally free from the hospital and able to go home! I hugged my Dad, but when I went to my Mom she pushed me back.
The whole car ride home my brothers hit me with so many questions about new abilities or what it was like to be part wolf, while Mom and Dad were silent. Only thing Dad had said was that we’d talk later.
That night, I couldn’t sleep. I spent that night crawling circles around my room as if it were a square hamster wheel. When I finally gave up on sleep and went downstairs, I heard Mom whispering about me.
I quickly hid under the dining room table and listened to them speak behind the counter.
Mom was whispering and breathing fast.
“Let’s abandon her. Let’s-let’s drive over to the park and leave her in a box or something. Maybe we can drop her off at the arboretum. Or mayb-maybe-”
“Eira.”
“-I don’t know, should we report her to the government?”
“Eira.”
“Jason, we can’t just leave her here! She’ll kill the boys!”
“Eira!”
Tears made my eyesight blurry. I couldn’t believe my Mom really thought I’d kill Shawn and Tyler. She must have thought the minute I was identified as a werewolf I gained a taste for humans. I sniffled and gasped a bit too loud, and they grew silent.
“Is that- no. Shawn? T-Tyler?” I could hear my Mom sniffling as well.
I heard Dad creak into the kitchen with Mom’s sliding footsteps close behind him.
Dad peaked under the table. “Malison?”
Mom gasped.
I squeezed my eyes shut. The worst part of this memory was yet to come...
TO BE CONTINUED
Hey there! I’m Shila! I’ve loved books since I could read, and decided I would write books I wanted to see written for others! Check my children’s book Imagination on Amazon!
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