The Glow

Dahlia's POV

There I was, sitting in class with my heart still pounding, replaying what had just happened in my head. Had I just escaped my bullies with the help of a system? I looked back and met the furious stares of the people who had thrown the bottle, and their disappointment gave me a relief I hadn't expected. Chuckles ran around the room from every direction, though nobody dared to laugh out loud in Ms. Hale's class, and when she turned from the board the whole room went quiet.

[SYSTEM NOTE: USER INSTINCT RESPONSE – ACTIVATED. LEVEL: 1.]

Oh, sure, System, no big deal. I'd only dodged a glitter bomb in the middle of class like a plus-sized ninja, and that was completely normal, the sort of thing that happens every day, right?

By the time Ms. Hale resumed her lecture, I'd stopped hearing her words. My head was buzzing, though not in the romantic way the books describe; it was more like the sound effects in a horror movie just before the killer appears. A lot was happening in my mind, and each time she mentioned bloodlines, something shifted inside me, something I couldn't explain, and I was fairly sure it wasn't the system.

I got through the rest of the lesson by pretending to take notes, while Chloe's glare burned into the back of my neck, and really I was writing WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME in the margins of my notebook, a dozen different ways. When the bell rang, the other students filed out as if they'd been released from prison, and I followed more slowly and carefully, as though the floor might give way beneath me.

Back in my room, I slammed the door, locked it, and threw my backpack across the bed. Then I stood in front of the mirror and stared at my reflection, hoping to see what I was slowly turning into.

And then I saw it, a faint flicker of black glow in my body. It wasn't my usual under-eye circles, or the shadow of lost joy that had clung to me since Grandma died. It was a soft black shimmer beneath my skin, as if my bones were glowing, and like something was moving under my flesh and I didn't care whether I was afraid. It stayed there like it had been sent.

“What is this …” I whispered.

I leaned closer and rubbed my eyes, thinking they might be failing me again. A lot has happened since I turned seventeen, and maybe my eyesight has gone with it. But the glow was still there.

[SYSTEM ONLINE. MOON-BLESSED CONFIRMED. BLOOD ACTIVATION IN PROGRESS.]

“Oh, come on,” I groaned. “What does that even mean? Blood activation? I'm not a phone.”

I slapped my cheeks, and I was still glowing. The mirror stared back as though it knew too much, so I stared harder.

Was this what the students had seen in class? Was that why they'd thrown the bottle? Maybe the scent of my black glow was bothering them, since wolves are good with scents.

I stepped away and began to pace. My hoodie had become too hot, and my skin was tingling, as if I might burst out of it, so I pulled the hoodie off, and the glow danced across my forearms like moonlight trying to slip out through my pores.

Then I did what any sensible girl would do: I ran to the bathroom, switched off the light, and locked the door as though I were about to perform a ritual. I could hear my own breathing, loud in the small space, and in the darkness the glow grew stronger. Faint black veins shimmered beneath my skin, winding up my arms in patterns like vines, and my body no longer felt like mine. It felt old, as if someone had lived in it before me.

I sank to the floor.

“What are you turning me into?” I asked the empty room.

[SYSTEM RESPONSE: UNLOCKING HERITAGE MEMORIES. STANDBY.]

“Well, I didn't consent to any of this,” I muttered. “So keep your creepy blood stories to yourself.”

Suddenly, my vision swirled, and I was no longer in the bathroom. I saw flashes, memories maybe, or hallucinations: a giant black wolf running through a silver forest, a woman with glowing eyes whispering my name, a burning castle, and moonlight everywhere.

I came back to the bathroom floor gasping, as though I'd drowned in a myth.

“Okay,” I whispered. “Either I'm the chosen one or I need very strong medication.”

Still buzzing, I dragged myself back to bed and lay down like someone who had just escaped a cult meeting. I'd promised myself I would never skip meals again, though right now I wasn't sure I could keep that promise, but there was no way I was going to go out like this.

The system had gone quiet by then, but my skin hadn't; it hummed as if it were waiting for something I couldn't name.

Then someone knocked on my door.

I sat bolt upright with my heart nearly exploding. Who would knock on my door? Nobody ever did, because people avoided me as if I were contagious, and I hoped the knock wasn't coming from inside my head again.

I tiptoed to the door and looked through the peephole, but all I saw was an empty hallway.

Another knock came, and this time it was from the window.

I turned slowly and saw a note stuck to the glass. I opened the window and took it.

“We saw what happened in class. Don't think you're safe now.”

There was no name or signature, but I didn't need one to know who'd written it: the twin, Brigg, and Chloe, the Royal Rejects, of course.

My fingers trembled with power rather than fear. It was the first time since I'd been admitted to Northmont High that I didn't feel helpless, and I had my new system to thank for it.

I shoved the note into my drawer and shut it.

Then I went back to the mirror. The glow was still there, as though it had always been inside me, waiting.

“I dare them,” I muttered.

And the system answered.

[SYSTEM MODE: READY. USER STATUS: AWAKE.]