24
Ilona
I waited patiently as the smell of hardy stew filled the small treehouse, admiring the giant rock on my finger. I couldn’t believe that in just a few short weeks, my entire life, my entire body, had completely changed. I didn’t even feel an ounce of regret or fear.
I imagined all that my life had been before, everything that I had come to Cutwood to escape. Toxic relationships, control, and everyone else knowing way too much about me. I came to Cutwood to blend in. To completely disappear. Instead, I had been found and deeply seen.
Closing my eyes, I said a small prayer to Nana. I had no doubt she had been working wonders on the other side, leading me to this place to find myself just as she did. I wondered if she could see me now, if she was proud of what I’d become.
My hair stood on end as I finished my prayer. My gaze shifted to my phone, sitting untouched on the nightstand. My curiosity had suddenly peaked, mixed with a particular need for closure. I reached over with a deep breath and opened my messages and clicked the unread message from my mother.
My darling, Ilona. I don’t know where you are, or if you even want to talk to me, but I had to get this off my chest. You have always been bigger than this whole world.
Since the moment I held you in my arms, I knew you were destined for greater things.
The way I treated you was wrong. I was so scared of your fire, scared it would get you in trouble.
I tried to whip you into shape and in the process, I broke your spirit.
I don’t expect you to ever accept my apology, but I’m sorry.
I will miss you dearly, but I am so happy you got away.
Wherever you are, make it worth it. Make your life big.
I love you,
-Mama.
A tightness I didn’t know I held loosened and my entire body went limp.
A lifetime worth of guilt, shame and anger melted away with a single paragraph.
She had apologized and I forgave her, whether I would ever tell her that was still up for debate.
It felt like a full-circle moment. Now that I had completely changed from the girl she once knew, I was finally accepted.
As my final act of self-love, I opened up Maureen’s contact and finally hit the block button, then deleted her number.
It was nothing against her. Deep down, I knew I would always love her, but her remorse was the last thing I needed to move on from my old life.
I hoped that she felt the same peace, but it wasn’t my responsibility to make sure.
I shoved my phone in one of the nightstand drawers and eyed the full-length mirror standing in the corner of the room.
Cautiously, I planted my hands on the side of the bed and pushed my new, heavier body to my feet.
Balancing upright with the newly added weight on my backside would definitely be a challenge.
The first thing I noticed was how much taller I’d gotten. Not as tall as Larz, but a huge difference from my normal five-foot-two.
My curls were wild after our activities. My skin glowed with a new calm I’d never seen before. I leaned forward, blinking to make sure the blacks of my eyes were real, looking side to side in search of any white. It was all gone.
My fingers brushed my lips, thoughts of Larz’s long, dark, forked tongue and all she could do with it playing through my mind. I let my jaw fall open and a tongue matching my memories toppled out. I wiggled it around in awe.
It only took me a few minutes to get used to lifting and pinching my claws.
After spending all of my childhood years being a serious, competitive dancer, I was used to working extra muscles.
I tried to use them to pick up the plastic water bottle on the nightstand, only to realize just how strong they were.
The flimsy material cracked and flattened under my claw’s pressure. Weapons, not second hands.
The crashing sound of shattering glass rang behind the door. I pulled on my abandoned robe and as soon as I stepped toward the noise, Larz’s voice stopped me in my tracks.
“Ilona, baby, stay there. Don’t come out until I tell you, okay?”
“What’s going on?”
I could feel her. Even though the mind connection was severed, I could still feel Larz on a cellular level. It wasn’t as strong as the connection was, but I could sense something was wrong.
“Nothing, just-”
Another shattering of glass and I was already halfway to the door. I trusted Larz, but whatever was happening, I knew by the fear in my bones that we were in danger.
I swung the bedroom door open to find the windows cracked and sweating, dirty men climbing through them. I immediately recognized the red-faced, blonde-haired man in uniform as Stellan’s father.
His eyes locked with mine, his voice screeching through the air as he struggled to pull his weight inside, “What the hell did you do to her?! Stellan! Stellan, are yo-”
Before he could pull his entire body through the window, Larz’s tail whipped out in front of her, slapping him in the face and knocking him halfway back out the window. At the same time that happened, a familiar bang rang through the air.
Larz stumbled back with her teeth bared. I raced to her side while my gaze darted around the room, where several more men were making their way through the window.
“Larz, are you okay?” I caught her in my arms, red bloomed from her stomach.
“I’m okay, I just need to h- Watch out!” She pushed out of my hold and whipped her tail behind me, knocking out a hunter that was headed right toward us.
Without another word, I snapped into action. The hunters closed in on us from every angle, rifles in hand. I knew Larz needed to heal, so it was up to me to cover her.
“Ilona, stay behind me!”
I ignored her, throwing my tail in a wide arc and taking out three men at once by their ankles. I was surprised at the ease with which I was able to control my new appendage. It felt like it was always there, like it had always been a part of me.
Four more loud bangs echoed around the room. Before I could turn to check on Larz, I felt her weight flop down onto my back. I twisted fast and wrapped my arms around her, breaking her fall the best I could.
Everything was moving in slow motion. Her once onyx eyes faded back to their human form. Her claws and tail slowly retreated back into her body as she shrank back to her normal height. The feeling of her seeped from my bones. She was slipping away.
“Larz!” The sound ripped from my chest as blood flowed from her wounds and onto the floor.
She strained her gaze over to me and right before she collapsed unconscious in my arms, she used the last of her strength to pull me down onto her chest. A loud bang sounded again, the hiss of a bullet flying overhead. She saved me while she was dying.
My mind went blank, my gaze tinted black. I didn’t remember much other than me pushing to my feet one second and every single hunter lying dead and lifeless on the treehouse floor the next.
When the treehouse was still again, I dropped to my knees next to Larz, pressing my ear into her chest. She was breathing, her heart beating, faintly.
Panic overtook my whole body. I couldn’t lose her, not when I had just finally gotten all of her. Not when I had given myself to her fully. Not when I had finally found a place that I belonged in this world. We were supposed to have forever.
I collapsed onto her chest, beating my fists on the solid muscles, screaming at her to wake up.
“Don’t leave me, Larz! Please, please don’t leave me! I need you.”
As the feeling of her in my cells faded, I thought of the only thing I’d be able to do to try to save her and I didn’t even know how to do it. But I would hate myself if I didn’t try.
I jumped up and ran to the kitchen, filling a pitcher of cold water. I straddled her waist, praying to whatever God or Goddess that was listening to not take her away from me.
I dumped the entire pitcher of water over her face and she woke with a lazy jolt. She was awake, but barely. I hoped it would be enough for what I needed.
Holding her eyelids open between my fingers, I stared into her eyes. I didn’t know how to initiate the mind connection, but I just imagined my own eyes flashing gold and connecting to the back of her skull.
As I stared, I felt her weak fingers grasp onto my hips. Her lips were moving, but I couldn’t hear anything. I leaned down, positioning her mouth right next to my ear.
“You…can…do…it. Feel…it…” She rasped, choking out the words. I was listening, but it was hard to hear her over the sound of my heart breaking.
But I did exactly what she said, feeling and remembering what it felt like when Larz had connected to my mind. The flash, the liquid, the flowing, and the locking.
“Please, please please,” I whispered to myself as my hands, covered in everyone’s blood but my own, trembled around her cooling face.
Seconds later, I felt it. The pain, the agony. Every place where Larz had a wound, I felt the stabbing, sticking, throbbing pain in my own body. Larz reached up, caressing my face with icy fingers.
“Feel…it…heal,” she croaked. Her voice was wet and fading.
I closed my blurry, wet eyes, focusing on all of the damaged parts I felt in my body. I gritted my teeth, fighting through the pain and willing it to heal. Slowly and painfully, I felt the fibers of skin knitting back together. The ache dulled, the blood stopped flowing, and Larz opened her eyes.