Natalia’s P. O. V

The winter break had given us the opportunity to visit three packs.

The first one, a micropack close to Canada that very much still bore the effects of the Lightwood pack’s sabotage, had gone over smoothy. Up until the point that one of the guys took notice of me, then proceeded to follow me around, which drew the attention of others to me. One of the younger guys had even mistaken the feeling of attraction to me for the feeling of finding his mate. It had taken baring my fangs and Hailey shooing them off to get them to leave me alone.

During our visit to the second pack, Kaesha had cast a spell to keep me invisible, so the visit went better than with the first. Timothy had suggested we use that spell going forward with the rest of the visits, but I didn’t want to. I was going to be the Alpha of our pack, and I wanted most of the leaders of the packs we visited to have at least seen me, even if not all of them.

We tried the third visit without using Kaesha’s magic. It didn’t go nearly as chaotic as the first, but I still ended up drawing the attention of three guys, one of which had a mate that didn’t appreciate the fact that his attention was wandering. When she spoke to me face to face though, she’d said she understood why he was so taken, and explained that they were chosen mates for each other, cause both their original mates had died.

By the time the semester was about to start, I was tired of being around people.

Back from our trip, I was unpacking in my room when I passed my vanity mirror and caught sight of my reflection. Then it dawned on me.

‘How am I gonna explain all this at the Syren School?’

‘What do you mean?’

I gestured to my reflection, ‘I told them I’m a Werewolf. I mean, I am, but you can’t be both under normal circumstances. Aubrey will never let me hear the end of this. And Lucy and Jenna already know for a fact that I’m a Werewolf.’

‘You’re right… What are you gonna do?’

I ran a hand through my hair. I knew that Mrs Burton had mentioned it when I visited, but I hadn’t thought about actually dealing with the people I went to school with. The Syren School resumed a few days before Killdrain, so I’d have to face them first.

This was what I got for mixing parts of my life that needed to stay separate.

‘I guess I’ll just have to make up something about my genes getting my traits messed up and hope for the best. Hopefully, not many people will notice.’

People noticed.

I’d visited the main office in the morning to get my Special Abilities class assignment but hadn’t stuck around in order to avoid people seeing me. But I couldn’t skip my afternoon classes.

I could feel all the eyes following me as I walked to my first class. People that weren’t in any of my classes and had probably never heard of me were gawking as I passed. My hands and face warmed under their gaze so I decided to redirect my eyes to the floor.

Explaining my genes was gonna be hard enough without the apparent strangeness of my hair and eyes. When I walked into my first class, all heads slowly turned to me.

Jenna and Lucy were already there. Jenna, who was perched on a table and facing the door, noticed me first and stopped mid-sentence. Lucy followed her gaze and turned to look at me.

I took a breath and walked up to them. When I reached them, we just ended up looking at each other. They stared, confused and silent, while I shifted my weight, turning my words over in my head.

My voice was small when I finally spoke, “Hi.”

“Hi…” Jenna said slowly.

Lucy continued to gape at me.

“Well, if it isn’t the Werewolf.” Aubrey announced.

I sighed to settle my temperature, then turned to face her.

“Looks like someone’s got an identity crisis.” She continued, “Either you were just lying for the attention of being different, or you just dyed your hair and put contacts on so you can fit in here. Either way, I think it’s cute that you’re so insecure.”

“Are you serious Aubrey?” Jenna groaned, sounding bored, “She changed in more ways than just her hair and eyes, she’s obviously a Syren. She probably just got some Werewolf traits first and thought that she was one. It’s not like Syren-Werewolf hybrids are common, so you can’t really tell how the genes mix anyway.”

I thanked whatever power for the fact that Jenna had come to that conclusion.

Aubrey flipped her green hair, “How confused do you have to be to not know what you are?”

“Can you go away now?” I snapped, “I thought I was a Werewolf, but I’m a Syren. We get it, you’ve made your point. Excuse me for thinking my brown hair excluded me from being a Syren.”

She blinked, then scoffed and turned on her heel to return to her seat.

I glared at the other people still staring, and they returned to their previous activities and conversations. With everyone’s gaze finally off me, I faced Lucy and Jenna.

They squealed and captured me in a hug.

“I can’t believe you Uncovered! Oh my gosh!” Lucy grinned, “And your hair is so cool! Syrens should be with Werewolves more if this is the result.”

“I know, right!” Jenna agreed, “Your eyes are like, luminescent. And don’t get me started on the body. You must be fighting men off with a stick.”

I laughed, “Something like that, yeah.”

“Oh,” Lucy perked up, “You have to show us your Special Ability after school.”

“Ugh, yes!”

I laughed, my nerves easing with their excitement.

“Good afternoon class.” The Inter-species Relations teacher said as he walked in. We all took our seats as he placed his bag on the table in front of the class, “Shall we begin?”

The classes couldn’t end quick enough. Mrs Grandale even paused Syren History class to point out my Uncovering in front of everyone.

Special Abilities was the last class of the day, and if I could get through the day without setting anyone or anything on fire, I’d count it as a win.

The classroom was much larger than any other I’d been in, with a high ceiling and massive windows. I took my things to one of the empty ones of the eight tables in the room.

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“I see we’ve got a few new faces.” The teacher smiled warmly as she walked in, “My name is Miss Asa. Would you mind standing up and introducing yourselves? Tell us your names and a little bit about your abilities.”

Out of the six of us present, only two of us stood up.

“Hi, my name is Emily, and my ability lets me hear diseases and illnesses. They sorta whisper to me and they all sound different and have different volumes.”

“What an interesting ability.” Miss Asa appeared completely unfazed, while I was wondering how she could stand to be near hospitals or the elderly. Then she turned to me, “What about you?”

“Um,” I began, “My name is Natalia. My ability lets me produce fire and apparently makes me fireproof. I have another special ability mark that I think depicts ice or snow or something along those lines, but it hasn’t manifested yet.”

Miss Asa clapped her hands together, “Wonderful, you may take your seats. As some of you may know, the school sorts students into their Special Ability classes based on the subject of your ability, as well as the uniqueness and danger level it could pose to others. To save time, let me introduce our old students.”

She went around the class, gesturing to the other four students and talking about their abilities.

The two girls, Poppy and Holly, seated at the two tables in the front of the room were twins, and had the abilities to turn the things they touched to stone and sand respectively, so they wore enchanted gloves to avoid destroying everything around them. The guy at the table behind the space between the twins was named Oliver and his voice produced vibrations that caused headaches and possibly worse effects whenever he said or sang anything, so he mainly communicated through sign language and a small whiteboard and marker he carried with him. To his left was Kimberly, and she had the ability to make people descend into madness the longer they looked into her eyes, so she wore special blindfolds that let her see through them.

The class basically consisted of working through our abilities. Kimberly was given several birds and small animals to practice on, Oliver was humming and whispering in a soundproof closet, Emily was given a few test rats for mild diseases that the school had been able to procure, and the twins were basically disintegrating and petrifying small toys and objects.

I looked at the things on my table. I’d been given several sticks and a basin of water. Setting the sticks on fire was simple enough, but I hadn’t been able to produce anything besides that, so I just used the water to put the flames out.

Miss Asa’s role seemed to be to watch over us and ensure that we didn’t harm ourselves or each other, but most of our abilities weren’t strong enough to do much damage. Some of the objects given to the twins were too big for them to completely affect with one touch, and a few of the animals were able to resist Kimberly’s ability or revert back to a state of normalcy after a while.

The tension leaked out of my body as the last bell chimed. I was interested in getting my flames to be bigger, but I’d been too scared of setting things I wasn’t supposed to on fire.

Jenna and Lucy were waiting for me in front of the building. True to their word, they made me show them my ability, so I lit a little flame above my index finger.

“There are a lot of elemental abilities, but I’ve never seen fire.” Jenna commented after I’d put the flame out.

“Seems like it. How many people are in your class? Cause there are just six of us in mine.”

“We started out with twenty-three, but we ended up splitting the class into groups cause it was a lot for one teacher to handle so many emotion abilities.”

Lucy groaned, looking between Jenna and I, “I can’t wait to Uncover. I wonder what I’ll get.”

“Don’t worry, your birthday’s just in a week. And your parents seem to be plant based, so you’ll probably have something related to that.”

Lucy pulled a face, “Ugh, then I might end up in the same group as Aubrey.”

Jenna laughed, “There are like five plant and earth groups, that a one-out-five chance. I’d say your odds are good.”

I wondered what my mom’s special ability had been. The idea of abilities being hereditary made sense, but I couldn’t imagine my mom wielding something like fire.

Lucy threw her gaze to the sky and clasped her hands together, “Oh, Rebekah! Please don’t let me end up in the same group as Aubrey.”

Hearing the name of my ancestor like that made me cock my head, “Rebekah?”

“That’s the name of the Syren that created our world, Syrenlina.” Lucy explained, “We learned about her is Syren History class.”

“I know, but you used her name the way Werewolves use La Luna, or humans use God.”

“Oh that.” Lucy said then shrugged, “She’s kinda like a hero or deity to us in that sense, I guess. She made the world that kept us safe from Vampires.”

Jenna nodded, “Yeah. Though we don’t really use her name like that too often, and we all know that she was a Syren like us. But doing something that impactful gets you remembered.”

“I wonder how the new princess will be remembered.” Lucy mused.

“I wonder that too.” Jenna sighed, “According to my parents, everyone but Mrs Burton has basically been blackballed from seeing her, and she wants to remain anonymous for like four years. Apparently, she needs time to acclimate to being a Syren. They just get updates about her from Mrs Burton.”

“Really? What have they said?” I asked.

“So far, just that she’s attending our school and she Uncovered over the Christmas break. They haven’t been told what her ability is though.”

“I wonder if we know her.” Lucy looked around the courtyard, at the other students talking in their own friend groups, “There were a few people that Uncovered over the break.” Then she looked at me, “Including you, Natalia.”

I laughed, the lie rolling off my tongue, “I wish I were a long lost princess, but my birthday’s in October, remember? My Uncovering was just delayed. Plus, I doubt a princess would have Werewolf genes.”

“True… I guess we’ll just have to wait till the princess is ready.”

“I just hope she isn’t anything like Aubrey.” Jenna said, “We’ll probably be working together in the future and I cannot deal with the thought of having another Aubrey in Court.”

Lucy and I laughed.

“I guess I’m not the only one that needs a favour from Rebekah.”

Resuming classes at Killdrain was easier in some ways and harder in others.

I didn’t really have to explain my biology to anyone, but the fear of what my allure would do had me shrinking in the back corner of all my classes. I even stayed away from Annya and the others till our classes were over.

“Hey.” I waved as I approached them.

“Hey- girl, look at you!” Ada grinned, “What happened? You’re taller and all sexy looking.”

“Did you get some work done?” Beth asked.

I laughed and shook my head, “I guess I’m just a late bloomer.”

Annya eyes bored into me with an intensity reminiscent of what I’d felt from Danny.

I bristled.

Apprehension filled me, accompanied by heat and the straining of my hairs against my neck.

We stared at each other for too long. Ada and Beth were looking between us and at each other with worry, but for some reason, I dare not take my eyes of her.

“You look… different.” Annya said finally.

“Yeah…”

“Are you two alright? Is there some beef here that we don’t know about?” Ada asked.

Annya perked up, her usual perfect smile taking over her face, “Oh no. I was just so surprised, and a little jealous to be honest. I mean, look at you Ava. You were beautiful before but you’re somehow more stunning now.”

I hoped my smile wasn’t uneasy, “Thank you.”

“Well, Nathaniel and I have a date so I must be going now. See you guys later.” She said then breezed away.

Ada, Beth and I were left blinking after her. They shared a look and shrugged, then we said our own goodbyes.

By the time my day was over, and I was making myself dinner, my mind wandered back to the encounter.

‘There’s something Danny and Annya share, and whatever it is, isn’t good for you.’ Candy stated

I turned he fire down and twirled the wooden spoon in my hands, ‘I know, but why wasn’t I feel this before?’

‘The major difference between your encounters with them before and now is the fact that you’ve Uncovered and shifted.’

She was right, but something didn’t add up, ‘I Uncovered the day we had our sleepover, but Annya didn’t react like that then. Why now?’

‘I don’t know…’

We were silent, mulling it over in our shared mind space. Suddenly, it clicked and I put down the wooden spoon I was holding, ‘Kaesha used her magic on me right after I Uncovered. That’s different from using the concealment kit, so maybe that’s why she didn’t react that way that day.’

Candy made a sound of agreement, ‘That could be it. But we still need to know what it is about them that makes you react so viscerally.’

‘I don’t know, but I hope it doesn’t pit us against each other.’

I guess this was a side effect of Uncovering.