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“We don’t want you here, deathbringer. Enough people have died because of you!”
As if she had been struck, Juniper stopped in her tracks. Her stomach churned with anger.
Why did she have to run away from her adopted family? Why did she have to cower and hide when they spoke? Why was she the one who always ran away? Why did she have to step back for them?
That was how they had always bullied her; Elena and her adopted mother. For years they had walked all over her, treating her like she was diseased.
And then, she snapped. Something broke inside her and she burned angrily.
She saw Elena’s mother slink quietly out of the house. That made her even more mad, seeing the woman’s angry, vindictive face. Juniper had never done anything to them to make them hate her as much as they were determined to hate her.
“You have NO fucking right to treat me this way! Neither of you have ever had the right to treat me the way that you have!” She screamed so loud that she startled the birds perched on the trees into flight.
Elena regarded her with murder in her eyes. “You killed my dad! You are the reason—”
“I did not kill your dad!” Juniper yelled, cutting her short. She took a step toward Elena as she spoke, her hands folded into fists by her side. “You both disliked me long before Father even died, and you know it!
“He was the only person who seemed to care about me in this godforsaken pack. He was the only person who treated me like an actual person. So why the hell would I kill him? How could I have ever hurt the only person who loved me?”
Elena stepped backward and her eyes darted down to Juniper’s hands. She held her hands out in front of her, and she looked terrified.
Juniper followed her eyes and saw that her fists were glowing. Her entire body was glowing. She looked back at Elena, happy to show her what it felt like to be the terrified and scared one. To show her how she had been forced to live her entire life.
***
The visions assaulted Juniper, thick and heavy. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw a big, bad, scary wolf.
In every vision, it was wreaking havoc, killing and destroying everything in its path. Its muzzle dripped with blood and its eyes were red with murder.
She had been having the same dream for weeks and she had become afraid of going to bed. She had no idea what to do to make the dream go away, and she was too afraid to talk to anyone about the visions.
Her family already despised her for being a witch. She didn’t think it would earn her favors to tell them that she had been seeing visions about a deadly wolf. Most likely, they were going to hate her even more for it.
All her attempts to hide her powers failed, as they often slipped out of her unconsciously. She had no control over her powers, and no one seemed willing to guide and teach her.
That night, her vision had seemed more real than all the other ones she had witnessed. She jumped out of bed with the strong feeling that something was wrong.
She got out of the house silently and went into the woods. She had seen the wolf appear somewhere familiar and she went there to find answers.
At five, there was very little she could do about such a powerful force, but she had no idea what was controlling her.
She stopped at the bank of the river that ran across the border of the town and looked around. She had no idea what she sought, but she knew there was something out there.
The moon was bright and large in the sky, and reflected clearly on the face of the water. Juniper lost her footing, and slid down the bank toward the river.
Juniper had come out to swim with her father before, but the current had been much milder, and he was always there to assist her.
She felt the water tugging her underneath and she struggled to survive. She tried to scream but ended up swallowing even more water. She flailed helplessly and felt her life seeping away.
She felt a cold fear as she thrashed helplessly in the water. She was going to die. She knew it. And then, a strong hand wrapped around her waist and heaved her out of the cold, treacherous water.
She knew it was Father. He was the only one who would care enough to save her. He set her down on the sloped river bank.
“Are you alright?” he asked softly. “What happened?”
She snapped out of her vision and coughed violently. She wanted to speak but her teeth chattered furiously. Unintentionally, she began to glow, radiating a soft heat from inside.
“Daddy?” Elena called from the side. Juniper turned to see her silhouette at the edge of the bank, watching.
