The Hotel: Rise of the Werecat

Chapter 7 - Into the Forest

Chapter 7 - Into the Forest

Zara stood staring into Niya's eyes and she realised there was a familiarness to them. It was the same as the bees and the python. Unsettling and orange. It wasn't aggressive, just strange and haunting. Her eyes were unblinking and there was a sense of loss to them.

"Hello Niya, I'm Zara," Zara said cautiously. She felt as if she broke eye contact Niya would spook disappear.

Niya did not respond but instead continue to stare at her. Kat's dreamy voice chimed in, "She wished to meet her room's neighbour."

"What is she?"

"Niya is a shapeshifter."

Shapeshifter. Zara had not met a shapeshifter before only briefly told about them by Korina. A mere warning that Shapeshifters may pretend to be werecreatures but are very different and often completely self-serving and dangerous. There wasn't anything dangerous about Niya, aside from that lack of sleep she had inflicted upon Zara. However, Zara did not trust Niya, she seemed like she would be able to stab someone and not be fazed by it.

"How many animals can she shift into?" Zara asked turning her head to Kat.

Kat blinked at her a few times, "I am unsure but many."

Zara looked back at Niya and she had disappeared. A very powerful shapeshifter with an unsound mind. Like the Hotel needed to be any more dangerous.

~𓃠~

So the mystery of Zara's neighbour had been solved just like that. All her efforts into solving it were kind of pointless as it was clear Niya wasn't going to show herself to just anyone if she didn't want to. At the very least we knew where anything lost had disappeared to.

Zara was very relieved that the buzzing had stopped without her sanity taking a hit. The strange noises weren't as scary anymore and Zara was able to sleep once again.

Niya eventually showed herself to Maxina but was yet to show herself to Olivia which made Olivia even more angry about the whole situation as it was very much out of her control. Olivia, of course, blamed Zara, thinking she had set everything up. Little did she know Zara had little control over the situation either. Niya just seemed to trust her enough to show herself. Sometimes. Never when it was convenient of course. Such a chaotic soul could never truly be convenient, Zara pondered.

With the extra sleep and peace of mind, training was a lot better. Zara noticeably had an extra spring in her step.

"We've spent a lot of time sparing but I think it's time we should go out into the forest," Devil said to Zara as Zara was bend over panting.

Zara suddenly looked up. She hadn't spent much time in the forest since she had come to the Hotel and before that Korina had lived too far away from it to be troubled by it. The Dark Forest, named by the mortals as even they wouldn't touch it, was filled with myths mostly fae. But recently more and more vampires hence the danger for mortals.

"I'd love to."

The Hotel's backyard opened onto the forest. It was a normal suburban garden with a lawn, a large tree and a small bed of flowers. The back fence was high and ivy grew all over it, but its height couldn't challenge the trees. They peaked over that fence with ease, big tall trees that creaked in the wind, dropping their leaves and branches. Zara had entered the forest over a month ago to get the Dwarven city and it felt like a lifetime ago, even if that night kept haunting her.

Devil walked over to the gate and opened it. The overwhelming fresh hit of the forest hit Zara like a smack in the face. It was nothing like the magically created gardens in the forest, this scent was so... real.