Twenty feet of walking has never felt more like an eternity.

Hints of blood drop with each step onto the harsh concrete of the barren streets. My calf burns between each tooth-mark of where the wolf had bitten. I'm terrified that if I were to inspect it, a pound of flesh would be missing.

The darkness around burns red, a burdening reminder of the eyes I've been tormented by for so long. The growls of those wolves as they fought following me on my short journey, an anguish of what I faced moments ago.

My eyes cast down to the cracking pavement, the shadows of trees and houses being lit from the moon above. My mind wanders in Meg's tales, how I am a wolf. That this town was filled with werewolf-beings, that my father was one of them. How my mother is truly not insane, but rather the world is oblivious to the truth. That it can't be a mere coincidence that less than a day after these tales were spoken, I was attacked by such a creature.

Despite any faint yet lingering doubt, a new question brews. Is it possible the world I thought I knew for seventeen years is much more than I could have ever imagined? That perhaps the impossible is magical?

My questions are interrupted as I reach my house, my mind now filling with a plethora of excuses for grandma of where I had gone this time and explaining why I must look like I had been in a fight.

Though, as I open the door, I am not met with questions and lectures, but rather the fading smell of pasta and a living room that holds no life. Hobbling up the stairs, I realize I don't even know how long I've been gone for and grandma must have fallen asleep for the night.

Passing the door to enter my bedroom, I close it behind me and immediately go to take off my pants and take a glance at this bite. Blood oozes past hints of saliva through the bite mark, spilling down my leg and melting into the wooden floor. Well, I still have that pound of flesh, maybe an ounce instead.

Standing straight to go find a cloth to clean and wrap it, I balance my weight against the floor-length mirror in front of me. Leaning forward, I press my palm against the mirror, but instead of hard glass I am met with thin air and my body tilts forward to be met with dirt and twigs against my hand and knees.

"What the hell?" My eyes gaze upwards and focus only to find the forest surrounding me. How? Whispers creep down my ears, not the same whispers I've grown familiar with, but these ones are... chanting? They're saying my name over and over again as if it was a lullaby. A horror one at that.

Then there's only one.

The rest of the pack fades into the darkened trees, but one steps forward, inching closer until its eyes are directly parallel to mine. It's not the same wolf that attacked me earlier. Ruby eyes burn instead of sapphire blue. A fire tamed within the wolf's pupils, but it doesn't contain the bestial viciousness that flares behind them. It's impossible to tear my gaze away, despite the unsettling trembles that shudder within me. Its eyes are a more fierce weapon than any canine fang or claw, where a single glance leaves you lost in a reddened void of pure wrath.

White fur appears luminescent against such scorching eyes. A pure beauty that contrasts against eyes so hostile. Over the last few days, I've seen more wolves and have been attacked more times than what any sane person would consider normal. Ever since the wolves have emerged from the simple whispers in my mind, I've been attacked and hunted down by a number of them. Yet somehow, despite the fact that this wolf makes no movements of such, their presence holds much more power and ferity than any of the others.

Then the wolf speaks. A female voice rising above the now-silenced whispers. A voice so faint I'm unable to distinguish any unique qualities to define to whom it's belonging. Yet, despite its hushed words, it resonates through my mind until it conceals even my own thoughts.

You may have escaped, but I am not finished yet. The white wolf's eyes sparked as her words whispered against the echoes of the first. Her lowered voice surging within my brain. A throb of bitter cold grasping along the veins inside my body. Her presence urges a straining instinct within me to fight, but her words causing my mind to shrink within itself. Not until you have paid for the mistakes of you and your kind. There will be a time when protection is feeble and we will be ready. And you will fall, Serelia.

The wolf takes a step back, her eyes still interlocked with my own. She backs away, her white fur camouflaging with the darkness. The red of her eyes only burns brighter. The further she moves away, the arising impulses that rushes through me with a flood of adrenaline begin to calm. With the lack of her presence, my body begins to release from its strenuous distress. A swell of oxygen reaches my lungs. I hadn't noticed that I was holding my breath until there is relief as the air streams down my throat in a second gasp.

Rising up from the forest floor, the surrounding wolves replace her presence, creeping back into the light and encircling me.

Still I'm unsure if this is reality or a dream turned nightmare. Is it possible that the mirror led me to some other world, or is this haze merely another fantasy?

They inch forward, teeth bared and thick growls displacing the whispers. My head twists around my neck and the forest spins across my vision. The stars in the sky above now swirl between the trees and wolves, parading through my line of sight.

Their breath beats against my skin in a burning heat, yet their esurient teeth never touch and the forest around fades dark until there's nothing. Absolutely nothing.

I don't ever remember hitting the floor.

-

"Serelia!" Grandma's voice pierces the veil of emptiness inside of me. My eyes can only open enough to see her faces hovering above my own...

"Unresponsive..." a flutter of passing lights overhead, a crowd of blue masks surrounding. "Seventeen year old female found in a coma-like state according to grandmother, atrial fibrillation..." My conscious drifts off once more.

Another blaze of light attempts to fight the darkness, my body numb to the world except for the steady sound of beeping besides in a vacant hospital room. The light again loses...

And in the chasm of nothingness, a voice. "Alpha," his words echo in the void, words that cause a savage reaction of blood racing in my veins and sending goosebumps bursting along my skin. "Alpha, you need to hurry..."

Then I awaken.

A gasp of air freezes in my lungs, my body drowning in a sea of shadows. Being sucked down by the unseen waves of this abyss, falling down into nothing. Before ever reaching the bottom of what could lie at such a hole, my body forces upwards and lifts a hundred miles an hour up the unfilled vortex.

Everything stops.

"Hello?"

Am I dead?

"Where am I?" Though, despite how loud I scream, it's only me and the darkness. That is, until I hear him.

"Your own mind," he urges from in front of me, standing as if he's been there the entire time. It only takes one look into his eyes for recognition to take over. The boy, the one in my dreams... Caesar. "Your life is in danger. More so than it ever has been," he steps closer and his distant frame now towers over me. "It is time, Alpha. Come home."

His words don't register within my mind, ignoring his tone and instead asking, "What happened to me?"

"It's time for the dreams to stop and for you to awaken. Find us. Meet me at the edge of the woods, I'll find you when you do. And heed this, do not be followed." He pauses, his gaze branding his warnings into mine. "It is your time, Alpha."

Alpha...

The ground, or air, that was holding me steady vanishes from beneath me and I'm once more suffocating on the darkness. It's choking the life from my lungs and my brain goes weary, my eyes quivering until I can't hold my breath any longer.

It isn't until the pressure elevates from my body that I am able to draw in a heavy breath, the air warming the ice that filled my throat and body.

An unfamiliar woman stands over me, silenced words being spoken from her mouth to someone on my other side... Grandma, who jumps at the jolt of my body and sudden gasp for breath, panic and relief overwhelming her body in a swift moment.

The unfamiliar voice muffles in vibrations through my eyes until transforming into words blending with the tearful cries of grandma. "Miss. Lone, can you hear me?"

"Where am I?" The question croaks out of me, pushing my body and trying to gain focus on the room around me.

'The hospital, dear. Are you okay? What happened?" Grandma's answer rushes past her lips with the questions following as quickly.

"Wha- what happened to me?"

"Miss. Lone, my name is Dr. Wilson," she hesitates, deciding how to deliver what she needs to say next. "You have been in a coma for the past three days."

"What?" The single word whispers out in a struggling breath. Three days? "How? Can you tell me what happened?"

"We were hoping you could tell us what you know, your grandmother says she found you on your bedroom floor," Dr. Wilson describes, her voice completely neutral with each word as she speaks. "What do you remember?"

"I don't-" I stutter out, though everything that happened before the darkness is as clear as if it was still happening now. The wolf that attacked me, being saved by another one, falling into the mirror. Then being in that void, Caesar, everything he told me. Go to the woods.

"Serelia," Grandma speaks out now, "were you attacked? Is there anything you can tell us to help you?" But again, my voice can barely stumble out a letter, let alone a full answer.

"Miss. Lone, you have a substantial amount of scarring along your body. Can you tell us how you got those? Do you believe they have anything to do with what happened to you?"

The bite.

Throwing the thin blanket that stretched over my body, the paper-white hospital gown reveals my leg. Turning my calf over, expecting to see the blood still burning down my skin, I pause when I see it's gone. Or at least, almost gone. Rather than the gushing bite marks that sank deep into my leg, a faint scar rests upon the same place, almost fully healed.

"Miss. Lone?" The doctor questions, confused at my unexpected movement. "Would it be best to speak in private? I am here to help you anyway I can." She continues, her mind possibly going to the idea of abuse or that I need to be examined for a padded cell.

"Um-" I try to come up with what to say. There's no way I can lie to a doctor, to be tested and inspected. I'd fail in a heartbeat and only find out that I'm certifiably insane. "No, I promise... Um, I need to go. I'll be okay, can I please leave?"

"Miss. Lone..."

I realize that if I rush out of here in a fury, they'll definitely want to keep me longer. So instead of lying, I put on an act. "I'm okay, truly. I just want to be in my own bed, I'm sure you can imagine it's been a lot for one day, or three I guess." The words ease past my lips now as I stand from the bed, my bare feet making contact with the chilled tile of the hospital. Playing on a gentle smile, I nod my head towards grandma, seeing if she will be able to help me out here.

From the doctor's suspicious eyes, I glance between her and grandma, a hint of hope flickering inside as I continue to charm and smile as innocently as possible for them to get out of this situation.

"Is she cleared to go home?" Grandma asks, a burst of relief flowing inside of me. "Can we go home, at least for now, and she comes back if needed? I think it's best, given her mot-..." She falters. "Given her past, it's be best for her if she can compose herself in her own space rather than here."

"Of course," Dr. Wilson nods, though her eyes still hint a bit of challenge behind them, questioning if this is a ploy for something else. Well, I guess it is. "I'll bring over her discharge papers and you'll be free to leave." She brings her stare back to me, "And Miss. Lone, if there's ever anything you may need, if you ever need help, please don't hesitate to reach out."

"Okay." Though, as I answer her, I know there is no help she or any hospital can offer for whatever that's happening to me. "Is it okay if I wait outside while she fills out the forms?"

Dr. Wilson hesitates for a moment, but nods in response. "I'll have them bring you a chair," she goes to call for someone, but I stop her.

"It's okay, I think it'll be good to put my legs to some use," and don't waste another second in changing into some clothes grandma had brought and walking out of this place.

"I guess it's true what they say," a familiar voice stops me as I pass one of the hospital corridors. The familiarity stinging worse than the wolf bite from last night.

Maeve.

"You really are your mother's daughter. I mean, of all places for me to find you. Well, isn't it perfect?" A wicked and mocking grin spreads across her face as she approaches, blocking my path to any sort of freedom. Her blue eyes filled with detest the closer she comes, though her stature lies smaller than my own, one look and she knows how much she can overpower someone, overpower me.

Maeve Sanchez is truly the perfect definition of beauty on the outside and beast within. Except, many fail to put down the mirrored veil she possesses and realize her true appearances. In all fairness, so did I for a long time.

"Though I can't say a hospital will help you much. Perhaps a zoo?" Her grin spreads wider and her tone stinging strong. "You know, awoo." A vicious laugh mixes with her howls, continuing to

"Why are you here, Maeve?" My teeth are gritted to where I think they'll shatter if there's even a hint of more pressure. It takes all the power I hold within me to stop myself from fighting back, from standing up to the girl who made the accident seem like hell's child's play compared to the misery she put me through.

"I volunteer here, living a life that is actually worthwhile. I know it's not a concept you would understand, right Lia?"

"You need to back off, I don't have time for this," I move to shove past her. As soon as my shoulder makes contact with hers, her hand reaches around mine and yanks me back in front of her.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Spit flies out as she snarls. "I'm not done with you yet," her fingers dig into my arm, her nails almost sinking through my skin.

"I said back off," the burst of anger explodes from me as I yank my arm from hers.

"Look at you, all bark but still your tail remains between your legs. You are nothing, Serelia, understand that."

My eyes squint at her, the red fury in her eyes that seem almost unnatural. Like no one human eyes should look. No. The thought brings me back to the present. Paranoia is different from truth. This coma or whatever happened is screwing with your head. There's no way, of all people... Just no.

"It's easy for people to bleed, Serelia. Though, you would already know that," her finger brushes over the longer scar on my arm from the accident. A couple of nurses pass by the two of us and her grip relaxes on my arm, a plastered smile replacing her warped grin. Her voice chirps higher from her previous lowered tone, playing off our conversation as if we were friends. "I'll see you later," her grip releases from around my arm and she prances past me normally.

We're running out of time, Serelia. You need to find me. Caesar's voice rings in my ears, his warnings becoming more alarmed.

My body eases along the rest of the corridor before making it outside, then my body becomes limp. A puppet to an invisible master. My legs pull me forward, trekking through the streets and following a nonexistent map until after what feels like only a few minutes before coming to a halt. I'm here.

Come.

***

Until then

-Xxx