Chapter 2 Whispers in the Blood

I did not sleep well that night.

The moment I closed my eyes, I was haunted by a boy that resembled the one in the vision. His silver eyes seemed like stars that were out of my reach as they haunted me. The way the wind bent around him, the power etched into every movement... and the mark on his chest. Mine was of the same shape. It was a crescent moon that had the same silver fire as the one which lived in my skin.

I was still curled up in bed, wrapped in a blanket that didn't give any warmth. I just saw the small locket Tessa had given me for my birthday when it was lying in the middle of my palm like a mystery I was too scared to uncover. The gold chain was faintly visible in the moonlight, and it even caught the trembling of my fingers. I had not plucked up the courage to open it yet. In one way or another, it felt as if opening it would be a sign of something. Just like it would be a tacit agreement that my life would never return to being normal.

From the floor below, the murmur of Aunt Celeste's voice passed through the thick silence. I heard her conversations on the phone, and the tenseness that filled her voice made me guess that she thought I was asleep.

"She's showing early signs... yes, the mark flared. No, I don't think she's ready..."

I climbed more and more cautiously, each step a snail-like breath in. The light from the kitchen was just enough to show a faint outline, which projected long shadows along the wood floor.

"No, I haven't told her about the Binding. Or the prophecy. I barely got her to believe she's Moonborn at all."

Binding? Prophecy?

My heart just stopped.

A pause came next, along with her heavy, slow exhale.

"She saw him. He reached her in the vision."

With my hand gripping the banister, my fingers bit so hard into the wood. The words seeped in through my skin, just like cold water to the bone. He reached me. That meant he wasn't just a dream, or a hallucination brought on by pain or fear. He was real. Someone out there could touch my thoughts, slip into my visions, and claim me without ever laying a hand on me.

I backed away into my room and closed the door without a sound.

That night, I didn't sleep. I couldn't.

The next morning, Raven Hollow was still covered with the same gray mist as always, but it felt different. Like the world had shifted while I wasn't looking. Like something ancient had stirred beneath the town's sleepy surface.

The streets were quiet. Too quiet. The sky hung low with clouds, and the breeze carried whispers I couldn't quite hear. As I walked to school, animals turned to watch me pass- birds perched on telephone wires, a black dog at the edge of someone's yard. Their gazes followed me with eerie stillness.

The trees seemed to be more vivid, especially with the way they were creaking and bending their branches a bit closer to the sidewalk as I walked by.

Finally, eyes shifted from me. Whispers that referred to me as "Celeste's niece", "looks different", "have you seen the eyes?" followed me to my next class, sounding like some sort of spirits. I enjoyed a few out-of-context words.

Tessa was at my locker as usual, waiting for me. "You look terrible," she said while handing me a thermos, wrinkling her nose at the same time. "Here you go. Coffee. Black. Cause I adore you and I think you didn't sleep at all."

I could only manage a faint smile. "You're my savior."

"No, just a caffeine fairy. There's a vast difference."

I took a moment, looked around, and asked while I was hesitant. "Tessa... May I ask you something strange?"

She doubted. "Stranger than that time with your mom's ugly garden gnome, which we buried because it was causing nightmares, I guess?"

"Much," I replied. "Do you believe in the... shape-shifters?"

Her face gave a quick twitch of surprise. "Like... werewolves?"

I confirmed, my mouth beginning to water. "Yes, yes to no further questions, thank you."

She burst into a laugh, shaking her head slightly. "Well, you're a walking question mark, from now on."

"But I..." I was going to answer, but the words were sealed as if on purpose.

Because it was his distinct odor that filled the room, it hit my senses as fast as a lightning bolt- untamed, earthly, and vibrant. It took over my senses by force, claiming my nose, my lungs, my blood, and then came my hammering heart against the walls of my chest, and finally, I turned to meet the source face-to-face.

And there he was.

Stepping down the aisle like he was never part of it. Dressed in a black hoodie which flamed his body, a pair of jeans, and boots apart from a stone-carved face he was putting on. He was a moving silhouette-deadly, quiet, confident.

However, it was not only his being there. It was he who himself was braided into my energy like thin wax threads set on fire.

I thought the text was delightful because the narrative had a feverishly flowing pace.

Something metal, such as silver. Shining like a torch. Something that started to look familiar.

The eyes that had been looking through me in the vision were the same.

Tessa was talking- was it maybe questions, maybe shouting? I have no clue, I felt like I was too deaf to listen. Quiet were the only sounds of the world except the blood singing in my ears.

The man didn't smile. He didn't say a word. Still, I was able to perceive his sound.

You can feel it too.

His voice wrapped around my head like smoke, and I shivered.

I stepped back into my locker, speaking aloud, "Who are you?"

The corner of his mouth didn't even flicker. More of a smirk. And then he turned and disappeared into the crowd like he never existed at all.

Tessa clamped her hand on my arm. "Aria! What the actual hell just happened? You went white-like ghost white."

I trembled. "I think...I just saw the boy who's been showing up in my dreams."

She looked at me. "You mean the made-up boy with the glowing eyes? That boy?"

"He is not made-up," I breathed. "He's real."

And I could still sense a spark beneath my skin, like lightning simmering just beyond the horizon.

That night, Aunt Celeste sat me down at the kitchen table. She looked tired, older than I'd ever seen her. She folded her hands in front of her, the ancient book resting nearby like it had always belonged in our lives.

"You were born of two bloodlines," she began. "Your father... wasn't human. He was the alpha of the Nightfang Pack. One of the last. Your mother-my sister-was a Seer. Their union was forbidden. But fate doesn't care about laws."

I stared, numb.

"You're the result of that bond. A Moonborn child. And more than that..." She hesitated. "You are the child of prophecy."

My chest tightened. "What prophecy?"

"The Moonborn will converge the broken packs or incinerate them from within," she panted. "You were destined before birth, Aria. Branded."

I banged my head on the table and rose out of the chair. "No. I'm just a girl. I bomb algebra. I have zits. I can't even run a mile in gym class."

She stood with me, placing her hand over mine. "You've already been claimed."

My breath caught. "By who?"

"You saw him," she said. "The boy. His name is Kael. He's the heir of the Shadowmoor Pack."

"And that means what, exactly?"

Celeste turned to the window. Outside, the trees stood motionless. The sky above them was full of waiting silence.

"It means your life is no longer yours, Aria. And the wolves will hunt you. Some to protect you..."

She glanced back at me.

"And others to kill you."