Chapter 2 (The Party)

Aria's POV 

By the time I arrived home the house was filled with the smell of burnt toast and something sweet. Grace, my foster mother was in the kitchen attempting to prepare my favorite, cinnamon pancakes, even though the mix had clearly expired. She had her apron dusted with the flour, and batter on her cheek.

She turned when I stepped in. “There’s the birthday girl. How was school?”

I was a bit hesitant, and said the safest thing to her. “Fine.”

She looked me in the face a second, then shook her head as though she did not believe me, but did not feel inclined to insist. "We saved you something," said she, giving me a plate with half a pancake on it, folded like a taco.

My foster dad, Tom, lifted a mug in my direction from the couch. “Eighteen today. You’re officially old enough to pay rent now.”

I smiled politely and sat down to eat. I didn’t have the heart to tell them the day had been like all the others... sharp, cold, unkind. 

They tried, in their own way. They did not have much, but they gave me as much as they could give. I couldnt ask for more.

I tried to sleep early that night. The moon was already up and looking through the torn curtain over my window. I leaned over on my side and pulled my blanket over my head.

Immediately my eyes feel into deep sleep, the dream came back again.

I was running barefoot through the forest, tree whizzing by, air bursting out in ragged, hard gasps. I could hear the growl from behind me. Inhuman, guttural, low. Behind me, a black monstorous wolf crept, his teeth shone, his eyes flamed like fire.

I could feel my legs on fire and I wanted to shout out but couldn’t. The forest was endless and I could feel fear in my chest like smoke.

And suddenly a white, dazzling light from above, cut through the trees like a knife. The wolf stood still. Snarled. Then it disappeared like smoke in wind.

I dropped on my knees, gasping.

And then I woke up.

My sheets were tangled around me. My skin was clammy. I stared at the ceiling, my heart pounding, throat dry.

Same dream. Again.

It had started the week I turned sixteen. I never told anyone. Not even Tammy. 

The next day at school the halls were more full of excitement than usual. It was Friday. Party day.

I held my head down, praying that I could reach the first period without being noticed. Unfortunately it didn't work.

Savannah cornered me at my locker, and smiled like a cat that had got a mouse in its paws.

"Happy birthday, again," she smiled. “It's still your birthday week. Still thinking about the party?"

"I don’t...I don’t think I will...” I mumbled.

"Oh, that's too bad," she said taking something from her designer handbag. A tiny little square box, wrapped in silver paper. “Because I have your birthday gift right here. And Kian... well, he told me to make sure you came.”

I blinked at her. “Kian?”

She grinned. “Yup. Asked about you specifically. Said it would be... interesting to see you there.”

For a second, the world stilled. My chest fluttered...that dangerous little thing called hope spreading like wildfire in my ribs.

“I’ll... think about it.”

“Oh, come on. You’re eighteen now. Live a little.” She winked, tossed her hair, and disappeared into the crowd.

I found Tammy at lunch and told her everything.

She gave me that look... the one that said she loved me, but also thought I had the common sense of a soap bar.

“Aria. It’s Savannah. She could gift-wrap a landmine and smile while it explodes. Don’t trust her.”

“I know,” I whispered. “But... what if it’s not a trick? What if he really did ask?”

Tammy’s face softened. “You really like him.”

“I know I shouldn’t. But yes.”

She sighed, long and deep. “Fine. But I’m coming with you.”

My heart lifted just a little. “Thank you.”

That night, I pulled out the only decent dress I had, a navy blue one Grace had found at a thrift store last year. It was snug, but it fit. I stared at myself in the mirror. Not pretty. Not glowing. But... maybe not invisible either.

We walked to the party together. The music thudded from blocks away. The moment we stepped inside, the air changed. Loud. Crowded. Glittering.

Tammy followed close, looking around.

I tried to breathe, to smile, to be like others.

But when Savannah saw me she was all teeth and warm.

“Aria! You came! she said, in a loud voice. "You look... nice.”

She looked me up and down and although the words were polite, I could sense the smirk in them.

Tammy nudged my arm. “Let’s go. We don’t belong here.”

But Savannah looped her arm through mine before I could move. “No, no, you have to say hi to Kian. He’s been waiting to see you.”

I blinked. “Kian?”

“Mhm.” She grinned wider. “He asked me to invite you, remember? He’s right over there.”

Tammy’s voice was sharp beside me. “Aria, don’t.”

But I wanted to believe. Just this once. That maybe it wasn’t a joke. That maybe he had asked. That maybe tonight could be different.

So I stepped forward. My legs felt like they weren’t mine.

He was over the drink table, talking to Amira,his mate, or so people in town say. Amira the most beautiful girl in town, most people say she has the blood of the moon goddess. But as he saw me his face turned towards me.

As soon as our eyes met I forgot to breathe.

I walked up, slowly, smoothing a stray hair into my ear.

“Hi,” I said, my voice too soft. “Kian… thank you for asking Savannah to invite me.”

He looked at me like I’d just spat on his shoes.

“Excuse me? Invite who?” he said, loud enough for people nearby to hear.

“I… I thought…”

“You thought what?” He stepped closer. His voice was ice. “That I asked for you? That I wanted you here?”

The room started to quiet. More people were turning. Phones came out.

“What business do I have with someone like you?” Kian sneered. You are not even worth looking at. Have you looked at yourself in the mirror?"

The crowd laughed.

I stood there stiff, my heart racing against my chest.

He looked away from me, meaning that he was already finished with me.

Then Samantha’s voice cut in behind me. “Oh my god, are you crying?” Her camera was pointed at my face. “She actually thought he liked her.”

“Pathetic,” someone else said. “Did you see what she wore?”

“Oh look she even wore a little necklace,” Savannah added with a mock pout. “How cute.”

Before I could stop her, Savannah reached out and ripped the necklace from my neck.

The chain snapped. Something inside me cracked with it.

The crowd burst into cruel laughter as the snapped chain clattered to the floor.

My fingers clawed at the space around my neck...empty. Cold.

I had never taken it off. Never in my life.

A burning, pain wracked sensation shot up my spine, like a wildfire, spreading through my bones. My knees gave in. I was gasping for air.

Tammy yelled something, but her voice was far away, muffled, as if I was underwater.

The laughter.

The lights.

The music.

It all spun together, and then dropped into silence.

The air grew heavy.

People started to back away, phones still raised. Something in the room had shifted.

“What the hell…” someone whispered.

That’s when the lights above flickered.

The glass punch bowl exploded on the table behind me.

My skin felt like it was tearing open from the inside.

I dropped to my hands and knees.

And screamed.

Lightning flashed through the skylight above us. The music cut off completely.

My vision blurred, and I felt something move beneath my skin. My bones cracked...my jaw unhinged, my fingers tore into claws.

The room was screaming now, not laughing. Running.

“She's shifting!”

“No—no way, she’s not one of us!”

“She’s not...she’s not even wolf-blooded!”

Tammy's face was filled fear and suprise.

Then a burst of red light lit up the ceiling. The moon outside twisted, changing, warping. Not silver, but crimson.

Thunder crashed.

The windows shattered.

My eyes snapped open, but they weren’t my eyes anymore.

People froze in place.

“She’s...her eyes...oh god, look at her eyes!”

“Silver and Gold—what is that?!”

“She’s not normal, she’s not supposed to be...she’s...”

They screamed again as I rose to my feet or what was left of me.

Fur white and black as day and night covered my arms. My teeth were longer than any beta’s. My breath steamed in the cold that had suddenly swallowed the room.

The ground trembled under me.

Kian had stepped back, his face pale.

His lips parted in shock.

The boy who humiliated could not find a single word.

I stared at my hands at the monster I had turned into and a sob came out of my throat.

I ran.

Past the broken doors. Into the woods.

My legs moved like lightning. Branches clawed at me. The air was ice in my lungs.

I didn’t stop. I couldn’t.

The sound of my own breathing was foreign. The howl rising from my chest wasn’t mine.

What am I?

I ran until there were no more voices. No more lights. Just trees.

And darkness.