Chapter 8 : Zagubiona Dusza

Stuffing your face against the pillow, you hum loudly. For some reason, Yvon doesn't think the response is satisfactory. You're offended by that but choose to let it slide. You wonder what time it is. When the volcano erupted, it was during the afternoon. You were probably out for five hours before getting auctioned and once you arrived in the palace, you blacked out again. All those countless times you collapsed resulted in you losing awareness of time. 

It's probably late afternoon right now. I mean, you can still see that it's daylight outside. 

"I'm serious, Calla."

"I heard you."

A Few Hours Later

Once again, you find yourself in a room full of mirrors surrounding you.

One mirror portrayed you when you were born.

Another, when you turned five. And so on.

It was you but in different

periods of time.

As you try looking through them all, a woman in a cloak suddenly appears in front of you saying. 

"teraz nie czas."

This time, you're well aware that this is all just a dream. You walk up to the woman with a stern look and confront her.

"What do you want?" You say in a firm tone. "Why do you keep appearing in my dreams? Who are you?"

"..zagubiona dusza." She says. 

You give her a hard stare. "I don't know what you're saying." 

"..zagubiona dusza." 

You watch her body start fading with the wind as the mirror follows suit. Deforming into a featherlike sequence and disappearing little by little. And then next thing you know, everything turns dark as her last trail of voice echoes through your ear. 

"teraz nie czas. Calla"

"Calla." Someone whispers. 

Cold fingers find their way to your shoulders, slowly shaking you. 

They're annoying. You just want to sleep. Is that too much to ask?

"Calla, it's time to wake up." 

Letting out a groan, you only do as much as to shift your head to the side and go back to sleep. They'll go away if you ignore them.

"Calla." You hear them release a sigh as the bed shifts under you.

"Calla, if you don't wake up I swear I'll bring a frog over." 

You squint your eyes open to glare at the person threatening you. Yvon gives you an equal look, stating that she's not joking and will really bring a frog if you don't wake up. 

Is this what best friends are all about now? Using weakness to make the other feel intimidated?

Planting your hands on the bed, you reluctantly pull yourself up into a sitting position. "What do you want?" Your voice comes out hoarse since you were just sleeping. Slowly, the events that had happened prior comes sinking in and you embrace your reality with a groan. 

"Tell me it was a dream, please." You rub your eyes as you yawn. Yvon drags her fingers across your forehead to set your hair aside. 

"As much as I'd like to tell you this is all a dream, it isn't." She answers with a sigh, taking a step back so that you can get to your feet. You look around to see that it's already dark outside. I guess even in this realm the moon goes up. 

"What is it?" You eventually ask. She woke you up for a reason, right? "Do you have a scrunchie?" Yvon lets out a chuckle when you point towards your messy hair. 

"I'll get you one on the way out. In the mean time, you have to take a shower and change into some fresh clothes. Dinner will be ready in thirty minutes."

"What's on today's menu?" You ask, sounding interested for the first time since you've got here. 

"Your favorite of course."

Twenty five minutes later, Yvon knocks at the door and steps in when you give her entrance. You've already showered and changed into some new pair of clothes by the time she's coming in. 

"You ready?" 

"Ready as I'll ever be." You murmur under your breath as you step out of the room. Yvon stays close beside you and practically glares at anyone who looks at you. You notice this of course and it amused yet annoys you. Who'd have thought you've befriended someone who holds such great power in a place like this. It's absolutely one in a million. 

You don't consider this a lucky jackpot though. Because if you weren't friends with her in the first place, then you wouldn't have been here in the first place. 

"You can stop that." You lean closer to whisper to her. She's making you feel weird. 

"It's because you smell weird."

Offended, you pull back and instantly dig your nose under your armpit. "What on earth are youtalking about? I just had a shower."

Yvon laughs a little, shaking her head. "No that's not it. You just smell..different. It's not bad. But remind me to bring this up to Aziel later on okay? I may be like this but you know I can be forgetful."

"Bring up that I stink?"

"You don't stink, Calla." Yvon responds. Finally, after walking for five minutes, you both stop in front of a huge door. Yvon plants her hand against the golden door and pushes it open to reveal a huge table settled in between a large room. 

You look around, taking in the decorations. So this has to be the dining room.

Again, the interior doesn't look as though you're stuck in the medieval period. Everything appears to be modern. Much more modern than you expected if you're being honest. 

Dyan's already at the table, as well as Aziel. Like teenagers returning from home after a long day at school, they've got their eyes on their phones. 

"Seat over here." Dyan gestures to the seat beside you and you awkwardly follow. It's at that moment that Dyan looks up from his phone and talks. 

"Did you sleep well?"

Strangely, he isn't talking in a harsh tone. Unlike a while ago. 

"I did." You reply, making yourself comfortable and reaching for a fried chicken leg. The leg here is huge by the way. It's even bigger than your arm.

"Slow down, Calla. The food isn't going anywhere." Yvon says with a chuckle. She brings a plate full of another dish that just screams appetizing. "Here. Try this. You'll love it."

And she isn't wrong. At this point, you've forgotten about the boys staring at you from across the table. This food is tasty.

"Yvon, let her try our specialty." Dyan joins in much to your surprise. With a small grin attempting to show, he waves his finger in the air and a different plate comes floating towards the direction of Yvon. The girl takes it and places a spoonful on your plate. 

"What do you think of this?"

After placing a mouthful in your mouth, you close your eyes and internally sequel at the exploding flavor. "It's tasty."

"Do they not feed you on earth?" 

"Dyan." Yvon snaps at his brother but you don't find the question offensive at all. 

"Not exactly." You swallow. "My brothers encourage me to eat a lot of vegetables at home so I don't have that much experience when it comes to other varieties of food. I've been consuming broccoli and anything green basically all my life. It's not that I don't like them, I just don't enjoy them. That's all." 

Dyan nods his head in understanding. "I understand what you mean. You're a Lycan after all. Your brothers were just trying to protect you."

You scoff absently. "I guess so."

How does feeding you vegetables protect you exactly? Instead of voicing that out, you just shove in another spoonful of this world's yummy delicacy in your mouth.

Yvon nibbles the bottom of her lip before placing another chicken leg on your plate, forcing a smile to show on her face. "Here. Eat more Calla. If you want, I can have the chiefs cook something similar for your midnight snacks."

"Sounds like a plan." You wink at her.