Asrai

Chapter 11: Memory Lane

I only realized that after building a life in Seattle. Home should be a sanctuary, not a source of dread. Being Gran’s granddaughter gave me a sliver of protection, a shield against the worst of it—but it couldn’t silence the whispers or stop the ridicule. I was always the target, the joke, the one they talked about when they thought I couldn’t hear. And now, I was back—and that was the root of my fury..I hadn’t come back by choice. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t have returned at all. But I was summoned—dragged back like a pawn in someone else’s game. Me, a grown adult with dreams of a career, a circle of friends, and an apartment—shared, yes, but still mine. Everything I’d worked for unraveled in an instant, reduced to nothing by a single note. Seven letters. And just like that, my future was rewritten.

This was the life I had run from. My childhood wasn’t laced with silver bells or soft memories—it was jagged, raw. I was the unexpected daughter of a bad omen, a living reminder of something the pack wished to forget. The whispers, the stares, the relentless bullying—they carved themselves into me, year after year.

By the time I turned seventeen, the weight of it all had hollowed me out. I didn’t leave because I was brave. I left because staying felt like a slow death. Like I stayed in a pot already boiling So I ran—not toward something, but away. Away from the pain and anger of not being accepted.

I remembered tossing that enchanted letter into the trash, hoping that if I ignored it, I could stretch out a few more months of normalcy. But fate had other plans. My loud, nosy roommate found it the next morning and—without knowing what she was doing—opened it.

That single act triggered the magic. The moment the seal broke, they knew. And I was no longer hidden.

Flashback

Casey burst into my room, her face twisted in disbelief. “Ria, come on—at least read it,” she said, thrusting the folded letter into my hands. “You haven’t spoken to your family in…” Her voice trailed off, faltering. She knew the truth—knew that in all the years we’d been friends, I’d never once talked about them beyond a passing mention.

“Well… never,” she admitted softly. “But maybe this is your chance. Be the bigger person. Who knows? Maybe they’re coming to your graduation.”

She offered a hopeful smile, but I barely saw it. My eyes were locked on the envelope, where faint traces of magic shimmered across the surface—residue only I could see.

“Casey!” I shouted, bolting from the room and into the living room just in time to see a tiny Willow Wisp slip beneath the front door. My heart sank. It was a messaging wisp—reporting back that the letter had been opened, that the message had been received.

My heart sank so fast ,I nearly collapsed right then and there. The weight of it all pressed against my chest, and I had to fight the tears threatening to spill. This wasn’t just a letter. It was a summons—clear and deliberate. And now, they’d know I’d opened it. The message had been received.

Present

I turned away from the mirror and dried off quickly, slipping into the clothes that had been left out for me. I stepped out of the bathroom without a word, the warmth of the steam still clinging to my skin. My footsteps were soft against the hallway floor, each one echoing faintly in the silence. From my gran’s room came the low murmur of voices—gentle, familiar, and full of feeling. I paused for a moment, letting the sound wash over me, then kept walking. I didn’t have the energy for another emotional unraveling today. Some days, you just need quiet. Some days, you choose distance. At the very end, I reached up instinctively to pull the string that used to release the stairs—but it was gone. No cord, no latch.

Instead, a small electronic panel caught my eye on the ceiling’s edge. I tapped it, and with a quiet mechanical click, the hatch released. The panel eased open, revealing a sleek, folded staircase tucked neatly inside. I grabbed the handle and gave it a gentle tug. The stairs slid down smoothly, each segment locking into place with a soft snap.

There it was—the hidden passage to my room. Nestled at the highest point of the house, a loft crafted just for me when I was thirteen. My own secret space.

I climbed up, as I stepped into my old room, a wave of nostalgia washed over me—I felt like a 13-year-old girl again, tucked away in this quiet refuge for my own protection. The space had been carved out of the attic, cozy and secluded. Two windows faced the front of the house, offering a clear view of the entire Wolfan Terrance, while the other two opened to the back, revealing the shadowy expanse of the forest beyond. A portion of the woods had long been sectioned off for the Full Moon pack runs and the many faebeast that occupied our side of townsquare—warded with charms and enchantments meant to keep the madness at bay. Most of the time, they worked. But every so often, something slipped through. When it did, the lycan guards handled it swiftly, snuffing out threats before they reached the heart of our little territory.

I still remember the worst of them.

Back then, my bedroom was on the ground floor. I was just a kid. For weeks, a vampire—crazed and hollow-eyed—stood outside my window, gnawing his teeth and watching. No one else saw him. Just me. Most nights I'd hide under my blanket, and by morning he'd be gone .

The night he broke in, everything changed. He shattered my window, eyes wild and soulless, and lunged. I barely had time to scream before Austin, my uncle and our head of security, suddenly jumped into my room behind himand tore into him, dragging the crazed being from the room and dragged him into the night. That was the end of him and the last time I saw him. My uncle had said he was doing a perimeter check when he saw him standing out into int night.

I finally told gran, that I’d been seeing him for weeks—always at the same time, usually after cleaning up from dinner or a Pack Party—she was horrified. Furious I hadn’t said anything sooner.

Afterward, I was moved upstairs on the Alpha floor to stay with Gran . It was concluded that for him to get so close and undetected for so long, someone had to be helping him breach the pack boarders.. why they had him attack me... Gran didn't have an answer for... or she wouldn't acknowledge it.