Donovan Castle Chronicles: Volume 2

Excerpt

ESKENAZI

In this:

*Night

"Zyah?" I call hesitantly as I slowly approach her.

She opens her big blue eyes and glances at me before she cries pleadingly, "Go away, Zee."

I understand her wanting space and not wanting help because that is her personality, Miss Independent. "I'm not going away until you tell me what's going on." I walk over to her and sit down on the end of her bed, which causes her to scrunch up into a tighter ball and weep louder. The white pillow she is leaning up against is covered in blood, as if her back is or was bleeding. The bed sheets she is sitting on are the same way. The moonlight from the large square window panes shine in on her, me, and the wall in the darkened room, providing illumination. "What happened? Did someone hurt you? Did you call the police?"

She shakes her head, "No, no one hurt me."

"Then what happened? I can try and help you if you tell me what's wrong."

"You can't help, no one can!" The pain in her voice hurts me to know she is suffering.

"Let me try," I say calmly. "I know you want to do things yourself unless need or want it, but it seems you need my help right now, and I'm not going to leave you be until you let me help you." I reach out and put a hand on her knee.

She glances up at me again with sorrowful and fear filled eyes.

"Tell me what's wrong."

She shakes her head, causing her dark hair to fall in her eyes. "You'll think I'm crazy!"

"No I won't. Trust me."

"I do trust you, but you will think I'm crazy!" she exclaims, wiping tears from her cheeks.

"No. I. Won't." I punctuate each word to let her know I am serious.

She points over to the bathroom with a shaky hand and my gaze follows. The door is wide open, but the light is off. I stand up and walk over to the bathroom and flip on the switch. Blood and brown feathers are scattered about everywhere, on the floor, in the tub, and in the sink.

This is not normal for her, well, not normal for anyone, but especially her because she is a perfectionist and would have immediately cleaned up this mess herself regardless of the situation. She must have really been freaked, scared, and in pain. I take in the scene and try to decipher what has happened. Could it be supernatural or has she actually gone mad? Did she kill a bird? Is she some kind of were-bird? I turn around and stare at her with her face against her knees. I flip the switch off, leave the bathroom, and walk over to her. I kneel down on the ground next to her and press my hands gently onto the side of her bed.

She looks down at me as tears stream down her cheeks. "See, I must be crazy."

"You're not crazy," I reassure her even though I am not so sure myself.

"How can you be so sure? Did you not see the bathroom?" She gestures toward the bathroom with one of her hands, "It looks like a bird exploded!"

Ignoring her first question, I continue "Yes, I saw the bathroom. Did you hurt anyone or anything?"

"What? No!" her blue eyes widen, then she looks down at the floor next to me before looking back at me, "Well, besides myself."

Well that eliminates her killing or harming anyone or anything. I look at her worried eyes and ask, "What do you mean besides yourself?" Fear runs through me. Is she suicidal? What happened to her? This is abnormal behavior for Zyah, she is usually confident, happy, witty, sassy, feisty, funny, and sweet, even in the midst of tragedy. Well, except for when her mother died.