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1062 Words
"But you never came." I practically spat the words.
"I did," she said softly. "My Moon Witches and I went to the Convergence, but we were too late and you were gone. We couldn't find you, not until the other night when I sensed your magic starting to break free. I rushed to you as quickly as I could, and now you're here."
I pushed my plate away with trembling hands. My stomach turned, and I knew if I took another bite, I'd throw it all up. “Do you have any idea what it was like for me growing up? I was the outcast of the pack, the lowest of the low, treated like trash for being half-human. Dad was never a real father to me, and he hardly treated me like a shifter either. And Jackie? She was even worse. All my life I was abused, bullied, and beaten, and not just by other shifters, but by my own parents. I never knew love from anyone except my brother. If you really cared for me, how could you abandon me to that?"
“Ayla, you don't understand,” Celeste said. “It was the only option—”
“You should have found another way!” I stood up quickly and the chair hit the wall behind me in punctuation. Celeste rose to her feet, but I couldn't hear another word from her mouth excusing what she'd done. I stalked away from the table, and she didn't follow me. The thought of staying in this house made me want to scream. I turned toward the front door and flung it open, then rushed outside toward the beach.
I found myself running, trying to escape Celeste's words. My whole life had been a lie. Even my f*****g hair wasn't real. And my dad knew the whole time. He'd known I wasn't half-human, that I was part Moon Witch, and yet he'd lied to me my entire life and treated me like s**t the entire time.
And Celeste? She'd known my dad was a piece of s**t who went back on his word, a coward who refused to actually stand up for what he believed in. She could say what she wanted about protecting me, but no one had protected me from my own family. The only time I'd ever known safety and love was with the Ophiuchus pack—and with Kaden. But he was gone, and I was left with nothing.
CHAPTER THREE
After a while, my angry rush to escape turned to a much slower trudge through the sand. I tried my best to reign in my emotions as my body physically calmed down. Even in the daytime, the sky was dark with stars glittering above. The moon illuminated the ground in front of me, and although it was no longer raining, the air was crisp, cooling the tears on my cheeks.
Soon I spotted a cluster of small buildings up ahead and headed toward them, curious to see more of this strange place. All the buildings were painted white and almost sparkled under the moonlight, with rounded corners and flat roofs. The village started at the water and then continued up a hill, reminding me of photos I had seen of Greek islands. There was a dock too, where a few sailboats bobbed on the calm waves.
As I entered the charming seaside village I was drawn toward the sound of people, and soon found myself at an outdoor market where stalls displayed handmade clothing, shoes, candles, soap, pottery, and artwork. I kept walking, and at the other end of the market, I spotted a vast array of fruit, vegetables, fish, and cheese. As I watched, I noticed shells being exchanged for fruit, and at the next stall over, a woman passed over a bolt of beautiful fabric for a collection of candles. Most of the people I saw were women with that ageless quality, though some looked on the older side, and none looked younger than me. Each wore a similar dress to mine in a pale color, while the few men I saw wore loose shirts and trousers. Once again I was struck with the feeling of being caught in a mishmash of time periods.
Everyone turned to look at me as I passed, and the entire market went quiet. It was as if a pocket of silence followed me around, and I felt the prickle of everyone's gazes at the back of my neck. I guessed that since they lived out of the continuance of time, they didn't get many visitors. At least they all smiled at me or nodded politely when I met their eyes, so I didn't sense any hostility at my presence—only curiosity.
A lanky girl with pale blond hair broke away from the crowd and started toward me with a big smile, and I blinked at the sight of the first kid I'd seen in the village. "Ayla!" she called out. "You're finally here! What happened to your hair?"
My mouth fell open as I tried to make sense of her strange comments. "I'm sorry. Do I know you?"
“I'm Larkin,” she said, her voice bright. As she smiled, I noticed a patch of freckles across her nose and cheeks that only made her even cuter. “I'm your cousin." I stared at her. “My cousin?"
"Yes, my mother was Celeste's sister." She took my arm and led me to the side of the market, under a tree where we could talk quietly without the crowd moving around us.
"Was?" I asked softly, still reeling from the news that I had a cousin. I stared at her, trying to see anything of myself in her features.
Larkin's smile fell. “She was killed by Sun Witches when I was ten, along with my father."
"I'm so sorry. That must have been terrible."
"Thanks. It was a long time ago, but you never really get over that sort of thing." She paused before adding, "Aunt Celeste saved me and brought me to Lunatera. After I finished my magical training, I tried to go back to Earth as much as possible to keep aging, but it's dangerous there with the Sun Witches hunting us. Physically, I'm probably about twelve or thirteen, but I don't know for sure.”
- Writer
