Chapter 5 Midnight Revelations

Zara's POV

Zara couldn't sleep.

Every time she closed her eyes, she saw those multiple wolf heads staring back at her from the window.

What was she?

What had she become during that ceremony?

At midnight, she gave up trying to rest and slipped out of her basement room.

The academy was quiet, but not empty.

She could hear movement in the upper floors, probably students sneaking around after curfew.

She'd almost made it to the main staircase when someone stepped out of the shadows.

"You came," Kai said softly.

Zara's heart jumped.

She'd forgotten about his request to meet, but apparently her feet had remembered for her.

"I couldn't sleep anyway," she said.

Kai nodded toward a side door.

"There's a garden behind the east wing. We can talk there without being overheard."

As they walked through the empty corridors, Zara studied Kai's profile in the moonlight streaming through the windows.

He looked tense, like he was carrying a weight too heavy for his shoulders.

"How did you know about Dr. Voss's equipment?" she asked quietly.

"I've seen it before," Kai replied.

"Or something like it."

"Where?"

He was quiet for so long that Zara thought he wouldn't answer.

When he finally spoke, his voice was barely above a whisper.

"In my dreams.The same dreams where I see you."

The garden was small but beautiful, filled with flowers that bloomed only at night.

Kai led her to a stone bench beneath a flowering tree that smelled like jasmine and secrets.

"Zara," he said, sitting down beside her, "I need to tell you something. About who I really am."

She waited, watching the way moonlight caught the silver in his eyes.

"I'm not entirely human," Kai said suddenly.

Zara blinked.

"What do you mean? You're a werewolf, like everyone else here."

"No," Kai shook his head.

"I'm something else. Something that was made, not born."

He rolled up his sleeve, revealing his forearm.

In the moonlight, she could see thin lines running under his skin.

They looked like circuitry.

"I have memories that don't belong to me," Kai continued.

"Of places I've never been. Of destroying things I've never seen. And lately, the memories are getting stronger."

Zara reached out hesitantly and touched one of the lines under his skin.

It was warm, and she could feel a faint electrical pulse.

"What are you?" she breathed.

"I think I'm a weapon," Kai said.

"Created by whoever built that equipment in Dr. Voss's examination room. Sent here for a specific purpose."

"What purpose?"

Kai looked at her, and she saw pain in his silver eyes.

"To find you. To study you. And then..."

He didn't finish, but Zara could guess.

"To destroy me?"

"I don't know," Kai admitted.

"The memories are fragmented. But Zara, whatever you are, whatever you became during that ceremony, it's important. Important enough that someone went to a lot of trouble to place me here at exactly the right time."

Zara felt cold despite the warm night air.

"So this is all fake? Your interest in me, the conversations, everything?"

"No," Kai said quickly, catching her hand.

"That's what's confusing me. My feelings for you are real. More real than anything else in my life. But I can't tell what's programmed and what's actually me."

They sat in silence for a moment, both lost in thought.

Finally, Zara spoke.

"I've been having strange dreams too. About being something powerful. Something that could fight back against people who wanted to hurt me."

"What kind of something?"

"I don't know exactly. But in the dreams, I'm not weak. I'm not broken."

She paused, remembering the feeling of transformation earlier that day.

"I think what happened during the ceremony was just the beginning."

Kai squeezed her hand.

"Whatever happens, whatever we find out about ourselves, I want you to know that this us talking, me caring about you, this is real."

Zara looked into his eyes and saw truth there.

Whatever else he might be, his feelings were genuine.

"So what do we do now?" she asked.

"We find out the truth," Kai said.

"About this place, about Dr. Voss, about what they really want with you."

A sound from the academy made them both freeze.

Footsteps on gravel, getting closer.

"Someone's coming," Zara whispered.