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She climbs the stairs to her bedroom, glad to be in the familiar safety of her own space, even if it isn't quite as hers as her space at the college. At least here, she has the familiar sense of everything she’s grown up with. Her bed’s already turned down, ready for her to climb into it, but Elara instead finds herself drawn to the window. Her feet scuff on the soft rugs as she walks over, gently pushing back the curtain. The full moon greets her, now hovering high in the night sky, glowing withenough light that it almost shimmers. It was her one witness to what happened at the falls.
No matter how many times she mulls it over, she still can’t figure out exactly what happened. Was Kade following her? That’s the only thing that makes sense, given how many times she’s seen him over the past few weeks. It’s gone past just being a coincidence and is now fully in the realm of creepy and unsettling, no matter how pretty he or his wounded eyes are. And what about the wolf? She knows that logically, Kade couldn't have had anything to do with the wolf attacking her, but the fact that he’d shown up so quickly after she’d been injured is another freaking coincidence.
And those suckers are piling up.
Now that Elara’s sure that Kade was following her, that at least has one question answered. Except it opens up so many more. Yes, he followed her. Yes, he’d taken them all to the hospital, which should count for something. And he’d carried her into the car, and put a blanket around her shoulders. But what had he said when he was on the phone as she was being wheeled away?
It’s begun.
What does that mean? What’s beginning? Does he know what had happened to her? Or had it been nothing to do with her at all, and her shock and anxiety are messing with her mind, when in reality it could have been anything from an assignment for school to a job?
She presses her fingers to her temples only to wince at the pain radiating down her arm. Quickly dropping her hands again, Elara chews on her lip. She hoped things would be clearer after the hospital. Once the pain wasn’t thumping through her system. But the more she thinks, the less everything makes sense.
Suddenly, the room seems to brighten and she spins around, wondering what’s going on. The lamp beside her bed blazes brighter and brighter, as if someone’s turning it up. Before Elara can move, there’s a sharppopas the lightbulb bursts.
She yelps, instinctively stepping away as shards of glass strike the lamp shade, others raining down on her feet. Footsteps pound on the stairs and in less than a minute both of her parents are crowding into the doorway, jostling each other in an attempt to get through.
“Honey, are you okay?” her mom gasps.
Elara nods, trying not to move too much since her bare feet are now surrounded by glass. She can feel it pricking the side of her foot and shifts carefully, taking her father’s hand as he helps her take a few steps out of the shattered glass.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she assures, clearing her throat when she hears how small her voice is. “Not sure what happened.”
Her mom shakes her head while her dad retreats from the room, no doubt to get a broom and dustpan to clean up the glass. He hates any kind of mess, not that she can blame him. He’s already had one scare today with getting a call from the hospital about his daughter; cleaning up some glass probably feels like the least he can do to control the situation.
“It was probably just an electrical short of some kind,” her mom says, rolling her eyes. “You can sleep in the guest room tonight and we’ll get it taken care of tomorrow. We’ll call an electrician.”
Elara bites her lip as she follows her mother out, stepping carefully to avoid the glass.
An electrical surge would be plausible…if the lamp had been on. But it wasn’t, which just adds another question to the pile.
If it wasn’t a fault, what was it?
5
Elara
Elara’s woken the next morning by the sunlight streaming onto her closed eyelids like a personal attack. Flipping onto her side with a groan, she fumbles for her phone, squinting at the screen, and then sits bolt upright with a soft gasp. She’s slept through all of her alarms, of which there are a ton so this precise thing doesn’t happen. Her feet thump on the floor as she flings her legs out from under the covers, scrambling for her clothes. She’s already late for her first class, so late that she might as well not even go, but she can probably make it in time for her next one.
The door thumps against the wall as her mother walks in and Elara jumps back, so startled that she drops one of her shoes.
“You get right back in bed, young lady,” she says firmly, nudging Elara’s shoe out of the way as she walks toward the bed with a tray full of breakfast foods—bacon, sausage, pancakes, and freshly squeezed orange juice. Elara’s stomach rumbles in response and she shuffles back toward the bed, mostly because she’s so conditioned to do what her mother says, but also out of confusion.
“Why didn’t you wake me? I have class this morning.”
Her mom shakes her head. “You’re not going to class today. Or maybe even tomorrow. You’re going to rest and recover.” She swipes at Elara’s hand gently, knocking her other shoe out of her grip. “Back in bed.”
Elara hesitates, but her mother isn’t the type of person who takes no for an answer, and besides, she’s not wrong. The wounds on her hands would make it almost impossible to take notes anyway, but even though two days in bed won’t make the scratches or the stitches go away, it might at least give her a chance to think. About Kade, about the wolf, about everything.
“Fine,” she mumbles, lifting the covers and sliding back under them, allowing her mom to lower the breakfast tray across her knees. For once, she’d actually been looking forward to going to class, but there’s no point arguing about it now. She has good grades, so missing a few days of school won’t kill her, even though there’s that molecular biology lecture that she’ll be sad to miss. A faculty guest member from a prestigious college has been invited to speak, and of course today would be the day that she gets hurt and can’t go to class.
Elara curses gently under her breath as her mother leaves the room, not at her, but at the wolf and everything that’s happened after. What would have been different if the three of them hadn’t gone to the falls last night? They would have woken up this morning and gone to class, then had a study session afterward and probably gone out for pizza. Instead, she has a stalker, and the memories of a golden-eyed wild animal coming at her.
Elara sleeps on and off throughout the day, only finally waking up when Kira and Jordyn slip into her room. Kira’s limping but smiling, announcing that a sprained knee won’t be stopping her anytime soon. They both plop down on the edge of Elara’s bed as she sits up with a wince, a slow process because balancing on her hands is painful.
Once she’s settled, her two friends bring out what they’d been hiding behind their backs.
Elara’s eyes widen at the two bouquets of flowers. One of white roses, the other deep maroon. A card pokes out of each one.
