Flames and Starlight

Hannah followed the shelter worker, Miss Jacy, down what seemed like a never-ending hallway as she was led to her room. The second Hannah had stepped through the doors of the Raven City Supernatural Shelter it had been a whirlwind of nonstop activity.

When Hannah first stepped into the shelter and introduced herself to Miss Jacy, who’d been sitting at the front desk, she had Hannah sit in the lobby and fill out paperwork that asked numerous questions. The questions asked why she came into the Eternal World, why she didn’t have a home in the Eternal World, what kind of supernatural she was, what powers she had, and a lot of other questions about her life. It’d taken her an hour and a half to get it done.

After she turned in her paperwork, she was taken into a small room where her photo was taken and she was given her ID that listed her name, birthday, and what kind of supernatural she was. She had her blood and fingerprints taken to be put into the system and registered into the Eternal World.

Now Miss Jacy was showing her to her room. The shelter housed hundreds of supernaturals, which was why there were so many rooms and the hallways were so long. Hannah had no idea how she would ever find her way around this place.

Miss Jacy was talking to her over her shoulder as they walked but Hannah had no idea what she was saying. She was too busy trying to keep up with her, almost having to run to keep up with the woman’s brisk pace. Hannah’s feet were absolutely killing her; she desperately needed to sit down somewhere.

Miss Jacy suddenly stopped in front of a room and Hannah barely caught herself from running into her, stumbling as she tried not to fall. She managed to steady herself as Miss Jacy pulled a key out of her pocket.

Miss Jacy turned to her with a friendly smile that Hannah tried to return. She

was out of breath and her feet were killing her. “Here’s your room, honey. You’ll be having a roommate and will be given your own key shortly.”

Hannah frowned as Miss Jacy unlocked the door. Roommate? For some reason that never crossed her mind.

Miss Jacy opened the door to reveal a small, bare room. Two small

beds were pushed up against either wall and a girl was sitting on the bed to the right wall reading a book.

“Hi, Katie,” Miss Jacy said cheerily. Katie didn’t look up from her book at all. “This is Hannah Carson. She came from the human realm and will be your roommate for the time being.”

Katie still didn’t respond.

Miss Jacy wasn’t fazed by Katie’s silence as she turned to Hannah and said, “I’ll be back in about an hour to give you a tour of the place. I have to help others find their rooms. I’ll be back soon.”

“Thank you,” Hannah said as Miss Jacy left the room and gently closed the door behind her.

Hannah set her backpack down on the spare bed and turned to Katie. “Hi, I’m Hannah,” she greeted the other girl but was met with silence. She still didn’t look up from her book.

“Okay then,” Hannah said quietly to herself and sat down on her bed.

She looked around the room. There wasn’t a dresser or drawer or closet so it looked like she was going to have to live out of her backpack for the time being.

She glanced at Katie again and the girl was still reading her book. She wondered why the other girl wasn’t talking and wondered how being roommates with someone who ignored everyone was going to go.

She turned her attention away from Katie and thought of Peter, Ruben, and Laura. She wondered if she was going to see them anytime soon and hoped she would. She was positive that her visions about the three shapeshifters meant something. For some reason, she felt a deep connection to them even though she’d only interacted with them in her dreams and had very few interactions with them in person.

She got her sketchbook out of her backpack and started sketching to pass the time and found herself drawing herself with the three shifters. She wondered how their lives were going to connect.

Laura listened to Ruben as he told her about the strange hooded figure he saw earlier that day. They were sitting in the RCU cafeteria and had the table to themselves. She hung on to his every word, horrified by what he was describing.

“Have you told anyone else about it?” she asked.

“No, you’re the only one I’ve told this about,” said Ruben. She could tell he was shaken up about the whole situation, even though his pride wouldn’t let him admit it. She placed a comforting hand over his. “I don’t know who else I could tell this to.”

“A Guardian? Campus security? The dean?”

“I doubt they’d believe me.”

“Ruben, with everything going on, I’m sure they’d believe you. They would -”

A blood-curdling scream cut her off and she swiveled in her seat and felt blood turn to ice at the sight she saw.

A tall, hooded figure stood in the middle of the cafeteria, their hood pulled over their face entirely, and holding up the severed head of a wolf in their hand.

Campus security rushed toward the figure but the lights suddenly went out and then turned back on just as abruptly. The hooded figure was gone. In their spot was a puddle of blood from the wolf’s head.

Chaos and pandemonium broke out as everyone scrambled to leave, shoving and knocking each other out of the way. Laura and Ruben leaped up and ran out through the sea of chaos.

Once they reached outside, they stepped aside to avoid the huge crowd that was running out of the building. Over the school’s speakers, it was announced that the building was being evacuated.

“Is that what you saw?” Laura shouted over the crowd to Ruben.

“Yeah,” Ruben shouted back. He took her hand and they ran toward the parking lot.