Chapter 2 Eyes of the Nocturnae

Therrin's POV

My first shift was a blur. A rush of energy, raw and untamed. I never knew I could feel so alive.

They always say shifting is part of who we are. If we don't shift at least once a month, we sink into depression. So imagine what life's been like for someone like me-someone who supposedly can't shift.

It was dreadful.

One year, for my birthday, my parents gave me a kitten. I'd like to say he's cute, but apparently he's "off-putting." Black, long-haired, and with four ears. People say he looks unnatural. But he was free-and "unique, just like you," my parents told me.

He was mine. And for a long time, he was the only thing that brought me joy.

I named him Grimm, after Grimalkin, the fairy cat from an old book series I loved. Most people think of him as the Cheshire Cat, or at least one of his kind. I guess I'm a nerd-or a weeb, depending on who's talking. Old folklore is my favorite subject. It gets me in trouble more times than I can count.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm a changeling. Like the fae swapped out my parents' real child and left me behind. That is, if the fairies didn't eat them instead, like some stories say.

I was petting Grimm after school, trying to shake off the events of the day. Another round of bullying. Another bruise. That's become my daily routine. And today? Shelby Monroe was worse than usual.

She's the queen bee of cruelty. Five-foot-seven, strawberry-blonde hair, icy blue eyes-at least, that's how others describe her. I wouldn't know. Not with my blindness. But I can imagine her smug expression every time she grabs a fistful of my hair and yanks my head back while someone else punches me from the front.

Why do they do this to me?

Simple. I'm unwanted. A blind girl in a coven of witches-shifter witches, no less-is considered a weakness. An embarrassment. And if my coven could, they'd get rid of me in a heartbeat.

But today was different.

There was a competition at school. Other schools have basketball or football. We have magic competitions-tests of strength, spellcasting, and shifting. The winners earn a Medal of Honor and get considered for high-ranking positions in the coven once they graduate.

Casters are the magical healers and defenders of the coven. The strongest of them becomes the High Priestess. Shifters are usually male, strong, and serve as High Priest. If the two strongest are mates, they rule together. Others fill roles like doctors, teachers, second- and third-in-commands.

Then there's a role no one talks about. The lowest tier: breeders.

If a coven struggles to grow its numbers, "breeders" are assigned to help legacy lines continue. Most covens have outlawed the practice. Mine hasn't. And since I can't shift, I'm already seen as breeder material. Especially by Shelby.

So today, they wanted me out of the way.

That's how I ended up pinned to the locker room window, wrists tied to a pipe, ankles bound to a bench. Shelby locked the door, posted guards, and walked up behind me.

"Therrin, Therrin, Therrin... what are we going to do with you?" she purred, grabbing a lock of my hair. I think she sniffed it.

"You cause me so many problems," she said, her breath on my neck. "Your long dark hair is the bane of my existence. What I wouldn't give to have it..."

I braced myself, expecting her to chop it off. But she didn't. She moved it aside.

"You smell like lavender and sage. That's not normal," she whispered. "I don't like hurting you, you know. But it's all I can do not to..."

She licked the nape of my neck, all the way up to my ear. I whimpered-confused, disgusted, and trapped. My body didn't know what to do. Neither did I.

"You make me feel things, Therrin. Don't you feel it too?" she whispered, just as her hand slipped under my bra.

I gasped.

I moaned.

And that's when she laughed.

The sound snapped me back to reality. I was shaking.

"I KNEW it," she sneered. "You guys get that on video? The little bitch is gay. Wait until the whole school sees this."

Then I heard it-my humiliation aired live on the school's news channel. Every classroom. Every teacher. Every student. I wanted to disappear.

That's how I ended up pinned to the locker room window, wrists tied to a pipe, ankles bound to a bench. Shelby locked the door, posted guards, and walked up behind me.

"Therrin, Therrin, Therrin... what are we going to do with you?" she purred, grabbing a lock of my hair. I think she sniffed it.

"You cause me so many problems," she said, her breath on my neck. "Your long dark hair is the bane of my existence. What I wouldn't give to have it..."

I braced myself, expecting her to chop it off. But she didn't. She moved it aside.

"You smell like lavender and sage. That's not normal," she whispered. "I don't like hurting you, you know. But it's all I can do not to..."

She licked the nape of my neck, all the way up to my ear. I whimpered-confused, disgusted, and trapped. My body didn't know what to do. Neither did I.

"You make me feel things, Therrin. Don't you feel it too?" she whispered, just as her hand slipped under my bra.

I gasped.

I moaned.

And that's when she laughed.

The sound snapped me back to reality. I was shaking.

"I KNEW it," she sneered. "You guys get that on video? The little bitch is gay. Wait until the whole school sees this."

Then I heard it-my humiliation aired live on the school's news channel. Every classroom. Every teacher. Every student. I wanted to disappear.

And disappear I did. Home.

The school was furious-at Shelby, not because of what she did, but because it made them look bad. They couldn't suspend her. She was their best hope for the competition.

Me? I got suspended.

They didn't need me. They stopped my training years ago.

So I sat at home, rubbing Grimm's paws, lost in thought.

His purrs were grounding. Calming. I ran my fingers through his fur, wondering what it felt like to be a cat.

And just like that-I was one.

My body shifted, bones stretching, senses sharpening. And for the first time since I was six years old... I could see.

Everything was black.

And then color bloomed.

Grimm bolted upright, eyes wide. "Therrin, it's good to see you shift. Can you hear me?"

I leapt off the bed, landing on the floor in a tangle of paws and panic.

"You can talk?!" I yowled.

Grimm was not ugly. He was terrifying. Round orange eyes. Four ears that looked more like horns. And fur as black as the void I used to live in.

"No, I can't talk," he said dryly. "But I can speak to you. Your parents didn't gift me to you for no reason. I was sent by your real mother to protect you. I'm not a house cat. I'm a Bakeneko."

"A... what?" I breathed.

"A Japanese spirit cat. And no, I won't possess your body-that's not my place."

"Real mother?" I snapped. "Thetis is my mother. She birthed me!"

Grimm's shadow seemed to stretch taller, darker. "She birthed you, yes. But your true mother? That's a story I've been sent to tell."

And so he told it.

"You were a twin. Your coven worships Selene, the Moon Goddess. Children born on nights without her light-the New Moon-are considered cursed. That night, your mother went into early labor. She stumbled into the woods, to sacred ground, alone.

"Your twin was born first. Pale hair like your mother. But no pupils. Empty eyes. Soulless. Thetis was horrified. Then you came-jet-black hair, violet eyes. Alive.

"She begged Selene for help. Selene didn't answer. But someone else did.

Nyx.

Goddess of the Black Moon."

FLASHBACK

"Child, why do you weep?" Nyx asked.

"My baby... she's gone," Thetis cried. "Soulless. Empty."

"She is not gone," Nyx said. "Only misplaced."

"You did this!" Thetis screamed. "You're a monster!"

"Careful, child of Selene," Nyx warned, her violet eyes glowing. "I saved them both. But one could not survive alone. The stronger absorbed the weaker. Now they share one body."

She lifted the newborn. "This one has great power. Her sister tried to take it from her. I stopped her. To restore balance, I merged their souls. They will be like werewolves-two spirits in one body, fighting for control."

Thetis paled. "Are there consequences?"

"Many," Nyx whispered. "She will struggle physically. But she will be strong. And she is mine now. I gave her my DNA. She is color blind, like me. But her father remains her father. I did not take everything. One day, I will return-but not in the way you expect."

END FLASHBACK

I couldn't breathe.

Nyx was my mother? That's why Thetis hates me? Why my life has never made sense?

My thoughts spiraled until Grimm spoke again. "Do you understand the gravity of this?"

"I think so," I said. "But... if I share a body with my twin, why haven't I heard her?"

"She's there," Grimm said. "Think back. Haven't there been moments when your thoughts felt... off? Like someone else was pulling the strings?"

Now that he mentioned it-yes. A few times. Thoughts that weren't mine. Reactions that didn't make sense.

Grimm nodded. "You've felt her. And she's dangerous. She's the reason you went blind. You were asleep after casting training. She took control. It wasn't an accident."

I froze.

Grimm's voice deepened. "That's why I'm here. To teach you how to stop her. How to protect yourself from the twin inside."

I stared at him. "My cat is supposed to train me?"

"This is real, Therrin," he said gently. "You are not crazy. And I have never lied to you."

But I didn't care. I couldn't take any more.

So I ran.

And I didn't stop.