Until Dawn

Chapter 9

Dawn woke up drenched in sweat. She was having a dream where a giant black wolf was chasing her. She was running through the woods and crashed head on with the stone. Then the wolf pounced.

“I don’t know if this is going to work,” she grumbled, sliding out of bed. The wooden floors were nice and toasty, something she loved about this house. When Olga turned the fire on everything would heat up.

The coziness of the house replaced some of her fear from the dream. There weren’t many things that frightened her but knowing shifters existed, having one constantly threatening you, and dreaming about them was enough to make her jittery.

Dawn decided she would take a shower after they came back from the woods. She pulled on her warmest clothes and quickly did her bathroom routine before heading downstairs.

The smell of breakfast hitting her nose was overwhelming. She entered the kitchen with a smile on her face. Nothing was better than coffee and a warm meal. Dawn was caught up in the food that she didn’t even notice who was cooking it until she sat down.

“Coffee is done,” said Yulena. She didn’t turn around, just continued to stir whatever was in the pan. Dawn guessed potatoes since that’s what the kitchen smelled of.

Dawn walked over and poured herself a cup. She added all the amenities while trying to avoid eye contact with Yulena. No telling what the girl would do. Maybe she was even poisoning the food. She wouldn’t put it past her.

She sat back down and thrummed her fingers on the table. Waiting for Roman was starting to become irritating. He was nowhere to be found. Not even Ivan was his usual loud self, trying to eat all the food. What was going on?

“Here you go,” said Yulena. She put a heaping plate of food in front of Dawn. There were scrambled eggs with potatoes and a side of peppers. It looked delicious.

“I didn’t poison it,” answered Yulena. She put her own plate down and started eating. Dawn watched her for a brief second. She finally admitted defeat and dug in. The food really was good.

“Yulena, I really appreciate the gesture but what’s going on? Why did you try to kill me last night and now you’re cooking me breakfast? And where is Roman?”

“Roman is taking a shower. He should be down soon.” She laid her fork down and looked up at Dawn. Her grey eyes were brewing with an emotion she couldn’t quite pin. “I’m showing you that I can be nice. The stress of this whole situation is making me crazy. I want our people to have a good life. That’s it.”

“So why do you need the book?” asked Dawn, shoveling food into her mouth.

“I can’t tell you exactly why, that’s Roman’s place to do that. What I can tell you is that I know the book has the answer. It would just take some searching.”

Dawn chewed her food and looked at the fireplace thoughtfully. If the answer was in the book she wanted a bit longer to be able to read it. If Yulena was telling the truth then she would give it to her in a few days. The town would be saved and she could go home. If Yulena was lying, well then Dawn also knew the solution and could try to counteract whatever Yulena was trying to accomplish.