To say that my Dad is shocked is an understatement. He takes a minute to process what I called him, and the rest of the pack must've heard me too because everyone quits their conversations, and all eyes are on us. On me.
"What?" He asks for clarification, but it sounds like he's asking that just so he can hear me say it one more time. My arms become tighter around his torso.
"Thank you, Dad." I repeat, smiling.
"For what?" He dares to ask, as if he doesn't know everything he's done for me ever since I was taken by Alec. Ever since he took me, he's organized thousands of search parties, looked for me everywhere, and even got the entire werewolf world to look for me.
"For everything," I say, not even bothered by the fact that most of the pack is listening. What's so important that I need to hide from them anyway? It's not like they don't know that I couldn't call Orion Dad until now. "For never giving up on finding me, for giving me everything that you have given me, and for making me feel like I belong."
Finally, my Dad wraps his arms around me as well. "You've always belonged here, sweetheart. Even if you think otherwise." We pull apart and he puts his hands on my upper arms as he looks me in the eyes. "Know that I will never give up on you, okay? Even though we have you back, I won't ever give up on trying to give you the life you want and deserve." He and I both smile at the same time.
My Dad and I hug each other one last time before I decide to take the spot next to Lily at the front of the block. She sends a small smile my way and I send her one in return. My attention goes back to my Dad and Ace —who is standing next to him— when he lets out a loud, ear piercing whistle, catching everyone's attention. He waits for most of the pack to be listening to him before beginning to speak.
"Some of you have been experiencing a hard time with form and other things, so Ace and I are going to perform a demonstration for everyone. Even if one of you is all set, I advise you to pay attention. Anyone can benefit from this," My Dad explains. He paused, waiting for anyone to raise their hand or just blurt out a question. I don't think anyone will. He was quite clear with instruction. After a couple seconds of silence, him and Ace look at each other and exchange nods.
I'm excited to watch them fight each other. I haven't seen either of them fight before, and for years before I got here, I heard about how ruthless my Dad is when it comes to fighting. Even though they aren't going to fight with all their strength, it's still exciting to be able to witness their fighting firsthand without being the one getting absolutely annihilated.
Their small duel starts off with them getting in position. Anticipation runs through me when neither of them make the first move, waiting for each other to do so. When moments go by with nothing, Ace decides to make the first move himself, starting the fight.
The fight isn't too exciting since they're going easy on one another, but it primarily ends with Ace being hurdled towards the ground and landing on his back with an obnoxiously loud thud. The pack cheers for the victor, but it quickly died down when Ace got back on his feet and my Dad claps his hands to give further instructions.
"Now, I want everyone to take what learned from observing us and apply it. Partner up!" He orders and we all do as he says. Lily and I look at each other, agreeing to be partners. People around us have already started fighting when Lily and I go over to each other.
"No powers," she says, giving me a look. I obviously would not ever use my powers on someone I care about unless I am sure I'm not going to accidentally hurt them. I have complete control of them, but the new ability that was showing itself in the form of cracks on the way to the coronation could very well come out at any moment, and I never know which way someone is moving and I could hit them in the wrong place and hurt them.
"No powers," I assure her and smirked before adding, "We'll see." We both laugh, and out of nowhere, without giving me much time to prepare, Lily runs to me with her fist in the air, which is directed towards my stomach.
"Woah," I say, dodging her so we switch places. "That's not fair," I tell her, half whining. "I wasn't ready." I am now in the position I observed my Dad and Ace in when they fought.
"In a real fight, no one's going to wait for you to be ready. No one is going to be fair," She says, directing another punch towards me. I dodge it once again and throw a punch or two myself.
"Yeah, but in a real fight, I can use my powers. I always win and I'm usually the one catching people off guard." The next punch I throw barely hits her arm, but it's not enough to hurt her.
Lily is a good fighter. She manages to land a couple of punches and kicks on me, and at one point, she is able to get me on my knees. I get up quickly using my enhanced speed, which is part of the no powers rule since I'm faster than normal werewolves enhanced speed, but it isn't hurting anyone. Besides, Lily is the one preaching about not things not being fair in a normal fight. She doesn't seem to notice either way.
Using my speed doesn't do very much because once I'm up, I catch Evan and Rowan fighting each other. They seem like they're getting along and as much as I should be happy that they are, it hurts in a way. Rowan knows how I feel about Evan at the moment, and he knows what he did to me.
Suddenly, I see a fist flying towards me. It's directed to my shoulder, but when I go to duck, I don't move out of the way in time. Lily's fist comes in contact with my face, knocking me to the ground. My head hits the ground, sending a wave of pain all throughout my body. My vision blurs and I see a silhouette of color move over me. I assume it's Lily because I hear her panicked voice.
"I'm sorry!" She yells as she runs to my side. I feel her kneel down beside me, pick my head up, and set it in her lap. "I'm so sorry," she continues to repeat apologies to me over and over.
My hand goes to my forehead and then to my cheek where she had punched me. The spot is already tender and there's no doubt in my mind that it's going to bruise. "It's fine. I'm fine," I tell her, lifting my head once my vision clears up a little. "I'm okay."
"Here." She stands up and holds her hand out for me to take. I go to take it, but we don't get to make contact when she flies back a couple feet.
"Holy shit." I scramble to my feet despite my still blurred vision and go over to her. She gets up on her own, reassures me she's fine, and gives me a look that I have no idea what it means. Then, I realize it was me who sent her flying back. "That was me?"
"Yeah," she says, dusting herself off. I walk over to her, wary of were my hands are.
"Are you okay?" I ask. I scan her for bruises or any signs that she's hurt.
"I'm fine, Norah. I think you're the one you should be more worried about. Your cheek is bruising already." She reaches up and before she even gets a chance to touch it, I flinch, awaiting the pain that is sure to come. Lily retracts her hand when she sees the sudden movement.
"What the hell was that?" She asks.
"I'm not a hundred percent sure, but it happened when I lifted my hand up to grab yours. Maybe it's a new power." The last time I experienced a new ability was when the cracks formed in the ground. I thought that was what the new ability was, but when it didn't show itself again, I started to question it. Maybe it was a sign of a new ability and what just happened is the new ability. I make a mental note to do some research sometime later.
I look over Lily's shoulder at Rowan and Evan. They were still fighting, which surprised me. By the look of it, they're both holding up really well. Evan is a good fighter, but I never thought he would be match for anyone from this pack. We were never professionally trained like this. We trained ourselves, so I find it highly impressive that Evan is able to hold up against Rowan.
My original plan was to go over to Rowan and ask him if he was experiencing any new abilities, but there's no way I'm going near Evan until some of this burning anger I still have for him dissipates. It's possible that it might be too late for it, but I consider letting him finally talk to me after the countless times I shot him down when he did try. It doesn't mean I'm ready to forgive him. My stubbornness didn't let me let me let him talk before, but now I'm itching to know what he has to say.
"I'm going back inside. I need to get control of this before I hurt anyone else," I tell Lily, motioning to my hands, which is probably not the best idea to be moving my hands around. I don't wait for her to respond and I start walking back to the pack house. I cross my arms across my chest and ball my hands up into fists in order to stop anything from happening.
"You didn't hurt me though," She says, running after me. She catches up and steadies her pace so she's now walking along side me.
"That doesn't mean I can't hurt anyone. I've hurt people I didn't mean to hurt before." When I was little and I had just found out about my powers, I was careless. It wasn't always Evan and me. We had a friend that was our age. Her name was Carlina, Lina for short. She had the longest black hair that shined under the sun, the most beautiful grey eyes, and light bronze skin. She was a beautiful young girl from what I remember her looking like, and I can only imagine how much more beautiful she would look if she were still alive.
I remember Alec warning me to not go out to play with my friends without his supervision until I got more of a control on my powers, but I was the rebellious child that I was and went anyway. I was young, and I shouldn't be blaming myself for it because I didn't know any better, but she died on my hands and on my carelessness, and it will forever stick with me.
"I killed my friend when I was little," I admit to Lily. I don't understand why I do because I never tell anyone about it. Evan and I agreed to cut that part out of our lives and never talk about it. Lily stays quiet and I can tell she's trying to find the words to say, so I continue, "I couldn't control my powers yet and Alec told me not to play with anyone without supervision until I could control them. I didn't listen and I killed her."
"It's not your fault," She whispers.
"Yeah, it is."
"You didn't know what would happen." I didn't know what would happen, but Alec did, and he told me not to play with them unless he was watching us. I didn't listen and it ended with the death of my friend.
"I'm still responsible for her death." We reach the pack house and I open the door, leaving it open for Lily to step inside. I don't wait for her to close it and keep walking, going up the stairs to my room. She catches up to me in no time, and we both go into my room. She closes the door behind her. I go over to my bed and sit down on it. Lily does the same.
"You know, I'm sure if she were here with us right now, she wouldn't blame you for it."
"If she were here with us right now, she wouldn't be dead." I regret the words as soon as they leave my mouth. "I'm sorry. I—"
"It's okay." Lily offers me a small smile. She gets up off the bed and goes over to the vanity. "Why don't I—" I crane my neck in all sorts of directions in order to try and see what she's grabbing, "help you control your new power." She turns around with a couple makeup brushes in hand and brings them back over to the bed. "I assume it's telekinesis since you practically moved my entire body." She tosses the brushes on the bed, and I look at her weirdly, not knowing what to do.
"Go on," She urges. "Do your thing."
"I've only ever worked with ice and fire, Lily. I don't know what I'm supposed to do with this."
"Well if you don't try, you're never going to figure it out," She says. "Just try it." She grabs a brush and places it in front of me. "Try making it float."
I don't know what to do with my hands, and I find it awkward when I lift it and hover it over the brush that's sitting innocently and undisturbed on the bed. Nothing happens for a while and Lily speaks again.
"You're not even trying," She says. "I don't know anything about having powers, but I'm sure it takes some form of concentration. Try again and try harder."
I let out a huff and actually try to concentrate this time. I close my eyes and imagine the nice black color of the handle of the brush and I imagine each individual dark brown bristle glued to metal ring, which keeps all the pieces in place. I imagine the brush slowly coming off of the sheets and into the air, floating majestically. A small gasp from Lily makes me open my eyes and to my surprise, the brush is actually in the air like I imagined.
"You did it!" Lily yells. She's definitely more excited than I am. This is only the first step in the many that it takes to gain full control.
"I did," I smile, I smile as the brush falls back onto the bed.
"Do it again!"
I laugh and this time, I don't close my eyes. I'm going to try to concentrate on the brush without closing my eyes. I hover my hand over the brush again and repeat the same process I did before. In no time the brush is in the air again. I decide to play with it, and I move my hand, the brush following it. I make the brush do a couple laps around the room and then bring it back and ease it back onto the bed.
Lily doesn't say anything, but I can feel her staring at the brush with me. Okay maybe it is a little exciting. This time, I don't use either of my hands. I keep them in my lap and concentrate again.
"What—" It takes Lily a minute to be able to form words. "The hell." Small things around me are now floating. I break my concentration, but everything is still in the air.
"Woah." I look around the room at the many things that float around me.
"You did that."
I smile. "I did that."
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Hi y'all!!!! Happy New Year!!!!
What are y'all's thoughts on this chapter?
How's it been? Tell me something y'all are proud about in yourselves!
Update on From Her Chaos (Go read the prologue if you haven't already :)): I finished the first chapter the other day!!! Chapters are really long now!! 6000 words and about 11 google docs pages!! (I do plan on maybe publishing it for real one day and the docs pages are bigger than normal book pages!)
Anyhow, how absurd were the events of the other day?! It absolutely disgusts me that those people thought it was okay to raid a GOVERNMENT BUILDING. It makes me even more mad that they dare to compare it to the 7% of BLM protests that turned violent. We're fighting for our lives and for our rights! Buildings can be replaced, lives can't!
Anyway, I talked about it on my board, so if anyone would like to look at that, it's on my page.
For those of you who are in school, how's that going? I'd love to hear about it and if y'all would like to rant, please feel free to do so. (this is a safe space) --->
I genuinely hope it's going well!
That's all for now!!
Anyway, I'll see y'all in the next chapter!