Awakened (Auralight Codex: Dakota Shepherd Book 1)

by Shei Darksbane

  The scene sped up and I watched idly as the day flowed from morning into afternoon, breakfast, preparations, lunch, then the party started. There were family and friends: my mother, my father, girls from my school, a few girls and boys from church. They handed me gifts, they sang and I blew out candles. Everyone had cake.

  My blood ran cold as I spotted a familiar shadowy figure sitting idly in the crowd. I felt my presence shifting closer to see it, fear pulsing in my veins as I approached the unknown. The shadowy form shifted as if it noticed me looking, then blurred and suddenly zipped away like an Enderman in the rain. And the scene broke apart.

  I was sitting on the old wooden bench-swing, out in the back yard, away from the friends and family I’d left to their fun in the pool. I could distantly hear them, splashing and shouting, laughing. I wasn’t alone. She was lovely in her bright pink and purple bikini. It contrasted her creamy caramel complexion that glistened in the sunlight, still wet from the pool. My stomach was in knots as I leaned closer. She brushed her lips against mine. Kiera was her name. I slid my arm around her as I kissed her back.

  Then I was crying, rubbing at my eyes as the door smacked loudly into the wall as mother followed me into my room. “You are going straight to Hell, Dakota Lynn!” Her voice was shrill with outrage and humiliation.

  My eyes were burning with tears. I wheeled around to face her and yelled right back. “Just leave me alone!”

  “Dakota Lynn Shepherd, don’t you talk back to me right now or so help me!” She stalked over to me and leaned in close. “It’s wrong, Dakota. Homosexuality is a sin. And with a black girl no less!”

  “Mama!” I shouted, disgusted with her for what she had said. “I can’t believe you—”

  “No, Dakota! I can’t believe you! Don’t you make me out to be the bad guy here!”

  I glared up at my mother through the panic in my chest and the shame and the hurt. “I can’t help who I am!”

  “Oh don’t give me that bullcrap! Yes, you can! God made Eve to be Adam’s wife and he made you—”

  “I don’t like boys!” I screamed as I turned and stalked over to my dresser, leaning on it hard as my mother kept shouting at my back. “I didn’t ask for this!”

  “Oh, you didn’t ask for this? What about me? Did I ask for this?” I saw her gesture toward me in the mirror on the wall. “Did your father ask for this, Dakota?”

  I lowered my head as tears welled up in my eyes. My stomach knotted in pain as I started to sob. I was so angry. So hurt. So afraid. “Why can’t you just love me anyway?”

  My mother threw her hands up. “Why can’t you just be normal?”

  I cringed inward, then felt the muscles of my face tightening as I grimaced and started to strain, my fingers pressing hard into the wood of the dresser, as a scream started deep in my gut and rolled up through my chest and out of my mouth in an explosive burst of rage. An impossibly loud sound crashed down, the cracking of splintered wood and scattered belongings flying off my dresser as my mother screamed. Red clouded my vision.

  My mother was screaming.

  She ran from the room, and I could distantly hear her screaming as she ran through the house.

  I panted as the mind-engulfing anger receded and surveyed the shattered remains of my solid oak dresser on the floor. I looked down at my hands.

  The wraith of a wolf’s shadow darted past behind me and I whipped around to stare at it as it passed.

  I screamed out a fearful cry as the sobbing began.

  The ominous shadow-form from before rushed into my room and locked the door behind. The shadow figure came over to me in a hurry. “No, no, hush now. It’ll be all right. We’ll make it right.” The shadow embraced me. I reached for the shadow as I cried.

  I was running, the ground speeding past me on both sides, dry leaves scattering beneath my paws, underbrush scraping past as I darted through the trees. The night was cool, the sky was bright with the moon’s light dancing on the clouds. My vision was a bright path in a dark tunnel. A deer looked up, held frozen for an instant before darting away. I was after it like lightning. I was running at its tail, snapping my teeth at its flank.

  I screamed as I looked down at my blood-soaked hands. I screamed again as I felt my naked chest and found the blood dripping down from my mouth creeping hotly toward my stomach. Tears stung at my eyes as I scrambled away from the deer’s mauled body. The taste of iron was thick in my mouth as I felt my stomach twist.

  I picked my way across the dark back yard, only a dozen houses from home, still tasting the blood in my mouth. I froze mid-step as the flashlight blinded my eyes. Someone screamed. I screamed and ran. My foot caught on a stone and the dark ground rushed up to meet me.

  Blue lights flashed in a circle. I tugged at my wrists, but the metal bit into my flesh if I pulled too hard. I was trapped. The wolf-wraith stared at me from the trees beyond the car. I felt my body surging toward her. I screamed again as the metal tore into my wrists. My wrists were too big for the cuffs. The policeman started as he turned to look at me through the window. He stumbled away, next to the same dark figure from before who stood near him outside. The dark figure put a hand on the officer’s shoulder. The officer’s eyes rolled back, and he fell limply to the ground. The dark figure opened the car door and I stumbled out. I ran. I ran for the wolf-wraith at the trees.

  Mother screamed at me until she was hoarse. I was crying again. “Never again!” Mother shouted. “That girl will never set foot in this house again and you had better hope to God I never find out you’ve gone and seen her or so help me!”

  I burst through the doors of my Nan’s house, still in tears. “Nan!” I searched for her. “Nan!” I was crying so hard. Nan appeared in the doorway and I threw myself into her arms. We sank to the floor as she held me and I sobbed and shook. Nan held me tight and said “Hush now. It’ll be all right.”

  I pushed up from the floor and paced away. “I hate her! She hates me and she—” Nan was beside me, touching my arm gently. I couldn’t hear her words. Her voice was so far away. My body was tearing itself apart. Pain flooded my senses; my eyes swam with red. Nan’s hands were up, but not like she was afraid. She turned her hands toward the door, and I rushed outside, pausing in the back yard to throw back my head, and I howled, roaring in unrepentant rage into the night. I ran across the yard until the trees swallowed me up.

  The wolf-wraith ran alongside me, anemic and weak, her patchy, shadowy fur barely hanging on, but her golden eyes were bright when she looked up at me, begging me, begging me for something. To follow her. I did. I felt my consciousness separating from the werewolf body that ran forward in memory, deeper into the woods. I turned from that path to follow the wolf-wraith to the side, slipping away from the visions that had been holding me captive until then.

  The wolf-wraith trotted ahead of me to the side of the path my werewolf memory-self had run down, and I followed her through the dark woods as she padded gracefully along. She paused and looked back for me every now and then, as if afraid I would stop following her. The dark figure was suddenly in front of me. “Go back.” A garbled, distant voice demanded. I stepped to the side and ran past the figure, my heart fluttering with fear as the dark form jolted unnaturally and vanished into the night.

  “It’s for your own good!” The dark figure was in front of me again. I peered past the shadowy, shifting body to where the wolf-wraith was starting to out-pace me, and I darted past the scary shadow-person again.

  I ran as hard as I could after the wolf-wraith, trying to go faster, trying to catch up, but my legs felt like jelly, suddenly wobbling beneath me as if I was running in a nightmare, my feet falling heavily, and sticking to the mushy ground that suddenly seemed unstable, sucking my feet downward as if to stop me. “Let me go!” I shouted, determined. “I have to do this! She needs me!”

  The figure appeared before me again, the blurry darkness seeming ragged, thinner, almost breaking apart. “Dang it, child, listen!”

  I reac
hed down inside and felt the emptiness that had sucked the joy from my life, the incompleteness that had haunted me for half my years on this Earth, the pain and loneliness I’d never been able to salve. I tried to grip that weary, achy feeling and tear it away. It was pinning me there as the figure loomed ahead and the wolf paused to look back, eyes pleading. I heard her whine, begging me not to stop now. We were so close. She’d waited so long.

  I glanced down at where my body was mired in the soggy ground below. It felt almost like quicksand, like I was sinking steadily downward, gripped by the ground on all sides. How do I get out of this? I have to catch her! I tried to grip the hard, flat path ahead of me. I tried to drag myself out onto solid ground, but nothing worked. The more I struggled, the more the ground seemed to cling to my skin. The shadow stood on the path before me, and started to grow, swelling up to fill the space between the wolf-wraith and me, blocking out the light, blocking out the path ahead. Cutting me off from myself again.

  My head swam in the bleary darkness as the shadow-form circled me all around. “Quit fighting me child! It’s for the best!” That voice, I almost knew it, but the shadows hid the tone just as surely as they hid the face.

  “I can’t!” I yelled back. “I have to do this!”

  The shadow figure whipped itself around me, closing out the forest, closing out the sky, and started closing in around me on all sides. “You’ll ruin everything I’ve done for you! Everything! You’ll destroy the choice I gave you, the choice your blood denied you! Would you really choose to go back to being scared? To being a danger to everyone around you? To being a monster? Have you lost your mind? Would you really unmake the gift I gave you? Is that what you choose?”

  The memories I’d already witnessed swirled around in the shadowy darkness, replaying like a horrific montage of all the worst parts of my young life. I started crying as I watched, helpless in the mire, unable to escape; they were there in the shadows, specters of my bad memories replaying on all sides. I saw the terror in my young self’s eyes, the hurt and the pain and I wanted to look away.

  But then my eyes landed on the memory of my younger self sitting naked and bloody in the back of a police car, and the handcuffs on her wrists reminded me of the bloody red welts on Raelya’s wrists, of Raelya, of my Pack.

  I looked up at the shadowy figure before me and I made up my mind. “I choose the truth.” I shoved down at the ground, and pushed myself up. I stepped out onto the dry path ahead. This was my mind and I was ready to take it back.

  I walked right into the shadows and shoved my way through until the nightmarish wall of misery broke apart around me. The path ahead was clear. I followed the wolf-wraith into the light.

  Nan was standing in front of me. I was naked again. The trees loomed in around us, doing little to protect us from the cold rain falling all around. “It’s gonna be all right. I can fix it.” Nan spoke gently, her arms around me. I was so scared. I held onto her so hard, I was afraid my grip would hurt her arms, but I was too scared to let go.

  “Nan, I’m so scared. What if—”

  “Shh.” Nan leaned back from me and put her hand on my head. “I’ll make it all go away, and you can be free of this curse for good.”

  “What do I have to do?” I was shaking from the cold, the fear, the pain in my heart.

  Nan pulled me down to my knees, leaned back against a tree, pulled me into her lap, and wrapped her arms around me. Just like when I was little, she held me tight, rocked me gently. “Nothin’ child. Don’t have to do nothin’ no more. Just close your eyes. Nan’ll fix it all. Just go to sleep.”

  I leaned into Nan’s arms, sniffling and trying so hard to push the sobs aside. I shuddered against her as I listened to her lullaby.

  I was standing off to the side, the wraith-wolf sitting at my feet, watching Nan as she rocked a younger me to sleep. Nan looked up at me, still holding my teen-aged, sleeping self in her arms as the dancing lights around her faded into gray. “I did it for you, Dakota. To protect you. To give you a normal life.”

  “No…” I breathed, stunned. “No!” I shouted, my eyes stinging with tears. “Nan, why?”

  Nan opened her mouth as if to speak, and the world around me crumbled, the scene before me breaking apart, swallowing me in darkness. I saw one final flash of golden eyes, and then everything was gone.

  32

  Shifting

  When I came back to myself, I had no idea how much time had passed, but I knew I hadn’t recovered right away. The memories I’d been caught up in had buried me in the past, and it had taken Sky’s and River’s careful coaxing to draw me back out of them. I’d seen her before me, holding out her hand, then I was running along behind her, our hands clasped as she led me through the darkness toward a distant light. I’d followed her lead and his quiet, reassuring voice back to the present time, and opened my eyes to see him staring at me with obvious concern. “Dakota?” He touched my shoulder softly. River had moved away from the chair and was now sitting on the bed, thumbing idly at a phone as if nothing odd had just happened.

  I glanced up at Sky as he said my name again. “Yeah… Yeah I’m fine.” I shook my head to clear it. “We did it.” Raelya’s arms were still holding me upright. I hugged her arms to my chest to let her know I appreciated it. She bumped her head very softly against mine and I understood what that meant completely. She loved me. She was glad to help. She would always be there for me. Just as she had been there in my mind. She was pack.

  Sky nodded quietly. “River and I swept through your memories one more time after the block dissolved. Everything looks fine.”

  I nodded steadily as he spoke, slowly thinking back on the journey I’d just taken into my own long-lost past, and as I drew it all back to the surface, I started to feel cold and numb. I held Raelya’s arms even tighter, fighting to keep from adding anymore wetness to my already damp cheeks.

  Sky sat down on the edge of the bed in front of me and crossed his arms. “It seems your grandmother is a rather skilled Mentalist. I’ve seen better work than that once or twice, but only just.”

  Raelya leaned forward to catch my eyes. “Your grandmother? You mean your Nan?”

  I nodded solemnly, trying to keep my features neutral. My heart felt so heavy, burdened as it was with betrayal. “She was trying to protect me. To save me from the life of a werewolf. From being a monster.” Raelya leaned her head against mine firmly. The gesture comforted me distinctly, and I nuzzled back against her by instinct.

  Sky shook his head. “I’ve honestly never seen anything like this before. I didn’t know it was possible for a Mentalist to put an Awakened person back to sleep. She basically un-Awakened you. I would never have believed it if I hadn’t seen it myself. I hope you won’t mind if I take my report to Mr. Ayadeen. I’d like to know if he’s ever heard of any such thing before. If anyone in the organization could confirm or deny the uniqueness of your case, the boss man could. And I’d like to know what he thinks about it before you consider visiting your grandmother again.”

  I nodded. “Of course. I don’t mind at all. I figure it’s pretty important to know how unusual this whole thing actually was, anyway.”

  Sky nodded. “Yes, and if it’s unique to your grandmother, Mr. Ayadeen should know about her talent, regardless. It’s the sort of thing he might want to look into personally.” He glanced over at River who had poked his shoulder to show him something on her phone. He smiled at her briefly before glancing back at me. “Well, Dakota, it looks like we’re finished here. I should get River back to Vincent so he can get her home.”

  “Right. But before you go…”

  Sky tilted his head. “Yes?”

  Hope had started building inside me, and I had one important question left to ask. “Can I shift now?”

  Sky smiled and nodded. “There should be nothing stopping you at this point.” Behind him, River suddenly glanced up and her eyes were wide with excitement. She hopped over near Sky and leaned on his shoulder, peering at me
exaggeratedly. Sky laughed. “I’d like to confirm that you have shifted successfully at least once before you return to the States, but be warned. If you try it right now, River will pet you.”

  I grinned at that and glanced at Raelya. “Go on, Dakota. I can not wait to see your wolf.”

  I took a deep breath as excitement rolled through me. “Neither can I.”

  Sky glanced at River who looked ready to burst with excitement, smiling at her enthusiasm. “If you’d prefer, we can step out and give you some privacy.” River suddenly jerked her head around toward him and pouted. He just patted her hand on his shoulder. The two of them were adorable; They were like a buddy-comedy waiting to happen, with Sky playing the straight man.

  I glanced back at Raelya again and shrugged. “I uh…” I glanced back at River who was leaning toward me and giving me the best puppy-dog eyes and quivering lip imaginable. I laughed. “That’s okay. I think River really wants to stay, and it’s the least I can do to repay her for helping fix me.”

  River grinned excitedly and Sky shook his head at her quietly. “If you’re sure. Please don’t make yourself uncomfortable just to please her. If you give her an inch…”

  River stuck her hand over his mouth and Sky swatted it away. She grinned at him and he glared at her, the perfect pair of siblings.

  “It’s fine. I don’t mind.” I stood and glanced at myself. “So… hmm.” I turned to Raelya. “Never done this before… Any pointers?”

  Raelya nodded. “First you should take off your clothes, unless you want to be tangled up in them and possibly destroy them in the process.”

  I blinked. “Oh…” I hadn’t realized inviting Sky and River to stay would mean stripping in front of strangers. I grinned sheepishly.

  Sky turned around and pulled River with him. She sighed but relented and slapped both hands over her eyes for good measure.