Not Safe

Chapter 4

The lights went out.

For one terrifying second, the entire house disappeared into darkness.

I couldn't see anything.

Couldn't hear anything except my own breathing.

Then;

Crash!

Something slammed into the front door.

I screamed.

The strange woman beside me grabbed my wrist.

"Don't," she whispered.

Another crash shook the house.

I pulled my hand away.

"Who are they?"

She glanced toward the front door.

"We have to go."

I stared at her.

"Go where? You just walked into my house and told me you're my mother."

"I know," she replied quietly.

"You expect me to believe that?"

"No."

Her answer caught me off guard.

She didn't argue. She didn't try to convince me.

She simply looked at me with an exhaustion that seemed far too deep for someone I'd met only moments ago.

"I wouldn't believe it either," she admitted.

Another crash came from the front of the house.

This time, she flinched.

That scared me more than the noise.

I lowered my voice.

"Who is outside?"

Her eyes remained fixed on the door.

"Hunters."

The word barely left her mouth before the front door exploded inward.

Wood splintered across the floor.

Three figures stood in the doorway.

Two men.

One woman.

All dressed in dark clothing.

The woman at the front held a narrow silver blade.

Her eyes immediately found me.

"There," the female hunter said.

The strange woman stepped in front of me.

"Don't come any closer."

The hunter raised her blade.

"You know what happens if you resist."

"I don't care," my mother replied.

My mother.

The word still felt impossible.

Before I could process it, she moved.

So quickly that my brain struggled to follow her.

One moment she was beside me.

The next, she was across the room.

Her hand struck the hunter's wrist.

The silver blade flew across the floor.

One of the male hunters charged.

My mother caught him by the throat and threw him into the wall.

The impact cracked the plaster.

I stared.

No human could move like that.

The third hunter reached beneath her jacket.

A gun.

"Elara, get down!" my mother shouted.

I dropped.

The gunshot thundered through the room.

My mother jerked backward.

Blood spread across her shirt.

"Mom?"

The word escaped before I could stop it.

She looked at me.

Something flickered across her face.

Pain.

Then she forced herself upright.

"Run!" she ordered.

I couldn't move.

The female hunter raised her gun again.

Before she could fire, the lights suddenly flickered back on.

Someone appeared at the top of the stairs.

My father.

His face was bruised, and blood ran from the corner of his mouth.

His eyes locked onto the woman standing in front of me.

"You."

My mother stared at him.

"You knew."

Dad said nothing.

"You knew she was here," she accused.

My father looked away.

A bitter laugh escaped my mother.

"Of course you did."

I looked between them.

The room suddenly felt smaller.

"Someone needs to explain what is happening."

My voice shook.

I pointed at the woman.

"Who is she, Dad?"

My father's jaw tightened.

"Elara..."

"Don't."

I turned toward the woman.

"You said you're my mother."

She nodded.

"Then prove it."

Her expression softened.

"How?"

"Tell me something only my mother would know."

She studied my face for several seconds.

"When you were four, you hated thunderstorms."

I froze.

My mother continued.

"You would crawl into your mother's bed whenever it rained."

I swallowed.

"When you were six, you broke your arm falling from the tree behind the house."

My eyes shifted toward Dad.

He remained silent.

"They told you it happened because you fell off a bicycle," my mother added.

My stomach dropped.

"Nobody told me that."

"I know."

Her voice trembled.

"There was also a little stuffed rabbit."

My breathing slowed.

"Blue."

Tears filled her eyes.

"You called him Moon."

My heart stopped.

Moon.

I hadn't thought about that name in years.

The faded blue rabbit with one torn ear.

The toy I'd slept with every night until it disappeared when I was eight.

I stared at her.

"How do you know about him?"

"I gave him to you," she answered.

Something inside my chest tightened.

"You weren't there."

"I was."

"Then where were you?"

Her face crumpled.

"Before they took you."

The words hung between us.

I turned toward Dad.

"Who took me?"

My mother looked at him.

Dad closed his eyes.

"They did," she answered.

I shook my head.

"No."

"They took you when you were born."

"And you let them?"

Her expression broke.

"I fought."

Her voice became unsteady.

"I fought until there was nothing left."

She touched the bullet wound in her side.

"They locked me away."

My stomach twisted.

"For how long?"

"Eighteen years," she whispered.

Silence filled the room.

I looked at my father.

"Did you know?"

He didn't answer immediately.

That was enough.

"You knew she was alive."

My father's shoulders dropped.

"Yes."

Something inside me cracked.

"You lied to me."

"I was trying to protect you," Dad said.

"From what?"

He looked directly at me.

There was something in his eyes I'd never seen before.

Fear.

"From the truth."

I let out a bitter laugh.

"That's not an answer."

My mother stepped closer.

"Elara..."

I turned toward her.

"What happened to me?"

She hesitated.

That hesitation made my stomach twist.

"They experimented on you," she finally said.

I stared at her.

"They did what?"

"They wanted to know what you were."

"What I was?"

My mother nodded.

"You weren't supposed to survive."

I looked down at my hands.

The room suddenly seemed far away.

"What does that mean?"

"I don't know exactly what you are," my mother admitted.

That frightened me more than anything else.

She continued.

"But I know what you can become."

Dad stepped forward.

"That's enough."

My mother turned toward him.

"She deserves to know."

"Not here," Dad warned.

"Then where?" she demanded.

Their voices blurred around me.

I was staring at my hands.

A strange warmth had begun spreading through my palm.

I frowned.

A faint golden glow appeared beneath my skin.

My breath caught.

The light moved slowly toward my wrist.

"What is happening?" I whispered.

Neither of them answered.

The glow intensified.

Heat crawled up my arm.

I cried out.

The windows rattled.

Every light in the house flickered.

Dad stepped backward.

My mother froze.

Not with surprise.

With fear.

The golden light spread farther beneath my skin.

The floor trembled.

A thin crack appeared across the wall.

"Elara," my mother whispered.

I looked at her.

"Help me."

"Don't fight it."

"I don't even know what it is!"

"I know."

"Then tell me!"

She stared at the light beneath my skin.

"It's waking up."

The floor shook harder.

Outside, the hunters had stopped moving.

Then a howl tore through the night.

Low.

Deep.

Not human.

My mother grabbed my hand.

"We have to leave."

I pulled away.

"Why?"

She looked toward the broken doorway.

"Because now they know."

"Know what?"

Her eyes met mine.

And for the first time since she'd appeared, I saw something almost unbearable in them.

Fear.

"That you're awake."

The golden light flashed.

And somewhere beyond the house

something answered with another howl