Chapter 8 Strange Powers
1137 Words
White Wolf tilted its head, looking puzzled, which made me laugh out loud. "Yeah, that's right."
"Oh my god, this is the girls' dorm! We should kick him out! He's a male wolf, right?" Adele joked.
White Wolf rolled its eyes in annoyance, spun around in place, and then settled down at my feet to sleep.
I laughed, but Adele's expression turned serious. "Sweetie, Ivy's a ruthless b***h. You made her look bad, and she's not going to let it slide."
A heaviness settled in my chest, but I didn't regret what I did. The only thing I regretted was getting involved with Leon Silvers and the enormous five-million-dollar debt I owed him. Just thinking about it gave me heart palpitations.
Adele was just as worried about me, so I quickly changed the subject and brought up the strange changes in my body.
Adele's eyes went wide with curiosity. "What do you mean?"
I was about to explain when I suddenly heard a sound from outside the door. Leaning in, I whispered, "For example, your roommate is back, and she's eavesdropping on us right now."
Adele immediately jumped off the bed and flung the door open. Outside, Alina screamed as she fell to the floor.
"What are you doing? Eavesdropping?" Adele demanded, hands on her hips.
"Of course not," Alina mumbled as she clambered back to her feet, ignoring Adele's irritation. Her eyes lit up as she turned to me. "Hey, Claire, crashing here for the night? I mean, you're welcome! By the way, would you mind telling me how you ruined Ivy's engagement party? I'm dying to know! Actually, the whole school is..."
Her enthusiasm caught me off guard, and I frowned. "The whole school knows?"
"Of course, Claire, you're practically the talk of the campus right now. Even Ivy couldn't compete with you."
She took out her phone and opened up the university's social media page. The top headline read: She Embarrassed Ivy Silvers! with a picture of Ivy surrounded by glaring guests.
"You really nailed it, Claire." Alina's eyes gleamed with an unsettling intensity. "Everyone's super curious about you. You're famous now."
I hadn't expected things to blow up so quickly. As I scrolled through the posts, I breathed a sigh of relief.
'Thankfully, there was no mention of Leon or any details beyond my name.'
"Claire, I really want to be friends with you. Can we?" Alina asked eagerly.
"No way!" Adele snapped, shoving her phone back into her hands with a fake smile. "Claire's only friends with me. And weren't you always eager to join Ivy's fan club? Did you change your mind now?"
Alina gave an awkward smile and then quickly ducked into the bathroom.
Adele and I lay back on the bed, reluctant to talk further in case we were overheard. We ended up drifting off in silence.
*****
The moment I stepped out of the dorm, I understood what it meant when they said the whole school was curious.
Everywhere I went, I could feel curious, probing stares following me. People kept coming up to greet me, acting as if I were some kind of hero.
But most of the werewolves just stared.
Their expressions were puzzled, as if they couldn't fathom why an ordinary girl like me would dare to cross Ivy, the only daughter of the Silverclaw Pack's elder.
"This is getting ridiculous," Adele grumbled under her breath. "Why can't people mind their own business instead of obsessing over someone else's drama?" When she saw I wasn't too bothered, she lowered her voice and asked about my strange symptoms. "You said you can hear things from far away and that your injuries heal quickly?"
She looked deep in thought. "How far can you hear?"
"I'm not sure. I have to concentrate, and it doesn't always work."
"Try it now. See how far you can hear."
I closed my eyes and concentrated, and to my surprise, I caught snippets of a conversation between some werewolves not too far away.
"Is that Claire Lytner? She's hot but not a werewolf?"
"Yeah, that's what they say."
"No way. A human walking away unscathed after dealing with Ivy?"
"Wanna test it?" One of the werewolf girls suggested, malice lacing her voice. "Let's see how tough she really is, daring to mess up the werewolf sisterhood."
*****
A wave of discomfort hit me. I glanced at the group of werewolves who were watching us with hostile eyes. Standing up, I said, "Adele, let's get out of here."
"What's wrong?" Adele asked, still unaware of the situation as she got up to follow me.
Just as we were about to walk away, a sharp whistling sounded.
I immediately caught something that had been flying straight toward Adele's face. My mind went blank for a second, but my fingers instinctively tightened, and the object in my hand exploded.
With a deafening bang, the entire courtyard went silent, followed by a chorus of screams and gasps.
I hadn't even processed what had happened, but rage boiled inside me. 'They almost killed Adele!'
A wave of fury washed over me, and all I could think about was breaking their necks.
I glared at the group of werewolves, and they flinched, their expressions turning fearful.
Adele's face was pale. She noticed that the crowd was starting to gather around us and quickly dragged me into a classroom building, hiding us in a supply closet.
"Claire, calm down. We're safe now," Adele said, cautiously watching my expression.
I took a deep breath, my gaze falling on the broken football in my hand, and I froze.
"What is this?"
"Yeah, you not only caught the football those werewolves threw but also crushed it with your bare hands," Adele said, her voice tense. "Do you know how much strength that would take?"
I shook my head in disbelief. "That's impossible. Maybe the ball was just old, and it broke on impact."
Adele's skeptical expression said she didn't believe that for a second.
I furrowed my brow. "Maybe it was just adrenaline, me trying to protect you, you know, a rush of strength in a crisis?"
"Yeah, sure, let's call it a rush of strength." Adele handed me a mop. "Now, try breaking this."
I gave it a try, straining to snap the handle, but nothing happened. I tried again, and still, no luck.
We both shook our heads, baffled by the whole situation. But at least no one dared to come near us for the rest of the day.
After class, we both headed to our part-time jobs. Adele reminded me to be careful, especially since Ivy hadn't shown herself all day, and the werewolf sisterhood's silence was unnerving.
I assured her everything would be fine, but soon enough, I found myself face-to-face with Ivy's arrogant smirk at the restaurant.
- Writer
