The Monster Within Me

Chapter 17

Maya

After having spent the rest of the day with Nelle and catching up with her about everything and coming to terms with the fact that my best friend was actually my guardian, I slept well. When I awoke this morning, I found that I was still stuck in the same safe room inside the infirmary, but they had unchained me at some point during the night and I could walk around freely and stretch my limbs.

I was still getting used to the way my body now felt. Light as air, but still stronger and sturdier than I've ever felt before. I felt like I could do anything, and I'm eager to try and see just how hard I can push myself. I'm drinking blood every hour to help keep my bloodlust at bay, and it's been working so far. It's 4 pm and I haven't hissed at anybody yet, so I'm counting that as a success. Nelle had gone back to her house to grab her stuff, Fen was letting her stay on pack grounds because she's my guardian (still weird to think about) and could be a valuable asset in finding the monster that I had seen in the forest.

I was pacing around the room, my mind racing with all the possible training that I needed to be doing to strengthen myself and a way to discover what my abilities were when there was a knock at the door. I was over there and opening the door before they were even finished knocking. This speed was intense.

"Woah, hey Maya. I just came by to see how you were doing and to bring you your next dose of the red stuff." Quinn said with a chuckle.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you, I'm still getting used to the speed. Come in." I said stepping to the side to give him space to enter. We made our way over to the small table and chairs beside the window. I took the blood from Quinn and poured it into a glass because I can still make this blood drinking thing civilized. I didn't want to keep tearing into the bag like a lunatic every time I saw blood.

"How's the world outside? Anything new?" I said after taking a deep sip of the blood.

"Nothing changed since yesterday, but there is something that I need to tell you," Quinn said, his carefree demeanor replaced by that of his position, an enforcer. The good news was not coming my way.

"This sounds like it will be wonderful," I said leaning back in my chair and getting as comfortable as I could.

"Well, the night The Changing, when you saw the monster in the forest, we locked down the pack, everyone was instructed to stay inside and to watch their loved ones and to keep them inside by force if necessary. He still got three wolves from different areas of the pack grounds. They all disappeared within minutes of each other and we can't find anything to lead us to them." He said but he opened his mouth like he had more to say before clamping his lips shut. 

"Out with the rest of it, come on," I said rubbing my eyes with my fingers at the thought of the families that had lost their loved ones.

"He's... He's waiting for you Maya. He left a note saying that he was ready for you when you're ready." He said quietly. I could hear his heartbeat increase as he waited for my response.

"Well then, let's go find him. I need to start training anyway and find out what abilities I've gotten since The Changing." I said downing the rest of the cup and standing up. I made my way over to the bed and started looking for my shoes, it wasn't too late to get in a training session tonight.

"Maya hold on a second, you can't train yet. We need to wait until you can control your bloodlu-" He started but stopped immediately after seeing the look on my face. I could feel that my anger was powering me and my eyes must've shifted colors as well.

"If my bloodlust was so insatiable that I couldn't be trusted to train for a couple of hours, then you would be sliding my "hourly doses" through the slot in the door. These wolves need my help and I'm going to give it to them. I didn't go through all that just for some cool new tricks. What I gained through The Changing was to serve a purpose, and I need to make sure that I can use them. There's too much at stake to slow down with everything now. I can take more and I can train longer now. Nelle is around so she can help me with my abilities, there's nothing holding us back now Quinn." I was panting by the time I finished, moved and angered by how helpless I felt that I had spent so much time relaxing while three more wolves were kidnapped and Goddess knows what else by that monster.

"Alright Maya, but you need clearance from Fen first before they'll let you out of here. I'll go get him and we'll see what he says. Finish the blood I brought and be ready when I get back here." He said while making his way to the door.

An hour later and I was in the fieldhouse; they had returned it to its natural state after I had been taken to the infirmary. Quinn was trying to help take me through the motions of a set of sparing moves, but I was too quick for it to have any merit. His frustration was growing because he couldn't find something to help me and he couldn't help because he simply wasn't fast enough.

After our third attempt at our current training, we were both sitting on the ground trying to figure out how we could train in a way that would help me improve my abilities at the speed I'm able to move now when Nelle walked in.

"Why do you both look like someone kicked your puppy?" She asked while coming to sit down with us.

"Maya moves too fast for us to train properly," Quinn said with a huff.

"Hey! That's not my fault. I'm still in the process of figuring things out." I said crossing my arms over my chest.

"Well if that's the only issue, I can fix that for you guys so you can train properly," Nelle said nonchalantly.

"Fix it how?" Quinn asked before I had the chance. I was still getting used to the idea that my best friend was a witch, so getting to see her use her powers was something I was intrigued by.

"I'll just put a temporary incantation on you so that you match her speed. Slowing her down wouldn't do her any good, so that's what makes sense to do. Wouldn't you guys agree?" She asked, looking between Quinn and I to gage our answers.

"You can do something like that so easily?" I asked in awe.

"Yea, it's one of the easier spells to do. Slowing someone down is actually harder to do if I'm being honest with you." She said leaning back on her elbows. "So, shall we begin?"

"Yea, sure. I'm ready," Quinn said standing up. "What do I have to do?"

"Just stand there, give me a second to get my stuff out," Nelle said as she removed her bag from her back and began to rummage through it. 

"What is all this stuff?" I asked crouching near her.

"When we have some time, I'll show you. I might even have something that'll help us figure out what your powers are. I need to have at least one session with you before we go hunting for that monster that's been taking the wolves." Nelle said pulling out a small mortar and pestle with a container with a strange red substance inside that just smelled like earth.

"While I ready this, I need you guys to give me an estimate of how fast you think Maya is running. That way I can get you as close as I can to her top speed." Nelle said while grinding the red substance into a powder. When she finished, she added a bit of water and stood and walked over to Quinn.

"I would say she's between 120-130 MPH. Wolves normally clock out at 60 in human form and the fastest can get up to 90 in wolf form." Quinn said while watching Nelle approach him.

"Awesome, now, I'm gonna need to rub some of this on your legs in a second. It will allow you to get up to 125 MPH for the next couple hours as long as the symbol I draw is on you." Nelle said before closing her eyes and beginning her chant.

It sounded like an old European language that had been lost to the world for centuries, but it was beautiful. The mixture she had created was beginning to glow and it looked like steam was rising up from it. Quinn was looking more nervous than I had seen him in a while, but he was putting a great deal of effort in trying to hide that fact.

Once Nelle finished, she walked up to Quinn and painted a symbol on his calves and thighs. The symbol looked like... an hourglass in a box with vines or something on the outside.

"Alright guys, enjoy your session!" Nelle said while she cleaned her stuff up. "Oh, Maya, I'll do some research on what I can find about getting your gifts to manifest so come by and see me after. I'm gonna go see if Ylva can help me find anything too so I'll be in the library." She said while putting on her backpack and making her way back towards the door. Right before she left, she turned back again.

"Train hard. There can't be more than 3 days before the wolves that were taken will be too far gone to rescue. Ready or not, tomorrow they need to be saved and you two need to be ready." She said and left before either of us could react.

I turned to look at Quinn, but he just shrugged and crouched into a fighting stance, ready to test his new speed and the effectiveness of the spell. For the next two hours, he ran me ragged and kept up with my speed flawlessly. Nelle was more powerful than either of us had originally thought.

"I don't think I'll ever wash this mark off. That was incredible. I've never dreamed of moving that fast." Quinn said laughing while he wiped himself down with a towel. 

"You stink all over so I really hope you do. We have work to do tonight." I said grabbing a drink of water from the water jug on the table near the door.

"Work? What are you talking about? We're training  early tomorrow morning so what work could we be doing tonight?" He said turning to look at me and paused. "No Maya, we are not doing that tonight. After training today and going through more mental and magic training with Nelle you won't be in any shape to go after the wolves tonight. You're not invincible, you still need to sleep like everyone else."

"I won't rest properly with them still out there. We'll work hard today and get them back so that tomorrow, we can sleep our peacefully before everything goes to hell." I said throwing my cup in the trash.

"Maya, listen to yourself. I want these wolves saved just as much as you do, but rushing into this won't help anyone. We need to be smart." He said taking a step towards me.

"We are being smart. We just have to be smart and mindful of the deadline. We can't afford to wait and potentially save none when we know they only have another day left." I said brushing past him and walking to the door. "I'll see you tonight, I've still got work to do," I said before leaving and making my way to the study Nelle had taken over. It was next to the library where Ylva spent most of her days. The two had been working together to see if there was any way to speed up the apparition of y powers so that I had a chance to at least know what it felt to use them before walking into my first battle. If they hadn't found anything I would just have to figure it out on my own.

As I walked into the study, Nelle turned around with a big smile on her face, "Perfect you're here. Are you ready to work?"

I smiled at her and prepared myself for the real work to begin.