The wolf within her

IVY

It was still standing where I had  been moments before.  My heartbeat lurched as if it had missed a step.  I waved at the mirror, and it didn't follow my movement. The first thought that came to my mind was that it resembled one of those mirrors in hotels with people watching behind them, but my mirror wasn't even attached to the wall. So unless there was a spirit lurking beneath the cracks of the glass, I was losing my mind.

I was afraid to look away so I could catch it changing, but apparently it couldn't care less whether I saw it or not because in a split second, it changed back to normal.

It was so subtle that it was as if there was never anything wrong with it.  I backed away slowly, scared my reflection might jump at me.  Maybe the universe was glitching, or it could be because I woke up early for the first time in years. I always tried to tell Mum that waking up before six was breaking an ancient law, and now she wasn't here for me to gloat.

"Damn it, where's my charger?" 

I rummaged under the bed and on my nightstand where I usually kept it, but it wasn't there.  Flipping the sheets off my bed, I darted my eyes around for the cord. There was zero chance that Talia would lend me hers- her phone was always dead- and Mum would kill me if mine died on this trip.

"Mum," I slapped my forehead. 

It's probably in their room.

Picking up my luggage from the bed, I ran down the stairs to their room. I opened the door slowly, already annoyed that I had to come in here at all. I didn't like being in their space when they weren't home. It felt like I was invading their privacy, even though they'd told me countless times before that it wasn't like that.

The room always felt wrong to me. Ironically, it wasn't because anything in particular was off about it, but  because it was too perfect. Everything seemed placed with intention. Even the things that were casually set had a reason for being there. The bed was made, the curtains drawn just enough to let a pale glow seep in. The air smelled faintly of cedar, and golden accents adorned the room-not surprising, seeing as my parents were wolves. They took the technicality of the ancient laws too seriously. Silver was deadly to them, so they believed that putting gold everywhere would be their salvation. 

I crossed over to their nightstand, hoping that the charger would be where it usually was when  Mum "borrowed" it from my room.

I really needed to buy that woman a new charger.

I sighed in relief when I found it there, plugged into her power bank. Not that she ever really used it. I wasn't even sure if she knew what it did.

As I made to unplug the charger from its socket, my eyes drifted around the room, landing on a section of the wall where my parents displayed their most prized possessions from their wolf pack. In the corner was a mural depicting the fall of other supernatural beings against the wolves in an old battle. 

At the bottom of the mural was an ancient inscription in a language that I had never really understood, even as a kid. The symbols had never made sense to me. Not letters. Not numbers. Just shapes. Lines that curved too deliberately to be random.

I straightened, squinting at it.

For some reason, today, it didn't look like shapes.

It looked like words.

Basking under the night's shine, the words rearranged themselves in my head without actually moving, almost as if the code were unlocking itself. 

It read:

"Beware. 

Should shadows falter and silence reign, the tides shall turn and-" 

Just as suddenly as it had formed, the shapes blurred.

They went back to being nothing, leaving me staring at the wall, blinking and unsure if I had seen anything at all.

I stood stunned, wondering if I was hallucinating or if this was another side effect of waking up early.

Halfway between awe and confusion, my stomach growled in protest.

"Fantastic," I held my abdomen.

Nothing like terrifying dreams and cryptic prophecies to remind me that I hadn't eaten since dinner.

My phone buzzed with Talia's text and I knew she was rounding the corner to my house.

I snagged the charger from the wall and ran through the door to get to the living room.

I did not notice, as I closed the door, that my reflection in the window glass lingered half a second longer than it should have.

I skidded to a halt as I reached the living room.  Shoving a piece of chocolate in my mouth, I scooped my remaining stuff from the table while I chewed.

Headphones, plastic cups, and perfumes; I picked them up from the dining table and stuffed them into my handbag.  I was about to dash out the door, when that compelling force came again pushing me to look downwards.

It was then that I noticed the golden platter my Mum typically kept on the table; it gleamed under the silver-blue light, its rays giving the plate an unearthly glow.

Instantly, I started seeing the plate more clearly. It's not like I wasn't seeing it before.

I was.

But now I was seeing microscopic fissures in the metal; marks and scratches that I would have needed a magnifying glass to see clearly. I focused on my reflection in the plate and dropped it to the ground instantly. What I saw was enough to have me screaming bloody hell.

I ran up the stairs.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," I shouted. The bathroom door swung open and I approached the sink and doused my face in water. Raising my head slowly, I got a glimpse of my now wet face.

Or more specifically, my eyes.

I didn't think they were mine anymore.

My pupils were slit and they no longer had their usual green hue, but were now entirely a  bronze-like shade. My legs almost gave out. I ran my hands down my face.

"This is just a phase. It'll go away soon." I repeated the mantra over and over.

Maybe I could wear a pair of sunglasses, although Talia would never let me walk next to her if I were wearing sunglasses before dawn.

Even Mum wouldn't let me, and she has made some questionable fashion choices.

A car horn sounded outside. Talia was here.

"Please, please just go away," I begged, my head down in the sink. I peeked at the mirror again and it was gone. My eyes were back to normal.

"What the f-"

 Talia honked three times. She wasn't the most patient person. 

I thanked the gods of wolves everywhere as I rushed downstairs to grab my bags.

 "Talia, I'm coming!" I shouted from the living room. I could see her already getting out the car to tear my head off.

Snatching the keys from where they hung, I ran out the entrance door and slammed it shut. Something fell to the floor beside me, a round glowing orb had smashed. I began to look closely at it.

"Get your ass over here!" Talia shouted. 

"Jeez, I'm coming." I kicked the thing under the bushes and plopped into her car seat.

"Took you long enough," she said, rolling her eyes as she turned on the ignition.   

Talia drove the latest Bentley one could get in the US. She probably got it for free as well, because if she had bought it herself, she would have never driven it out in the dead of night.  She was vain, not foolish.

I peeked at the rearview mirror at the top center.  My eyes were normal. "I'm a lady, you know we need time." I responded. She snorted with derision and drove us off.

It wouldn't be until my return that I would  learn what had fallen beside me.

The charm over my house was broken.