The Goddess of Beasts.

For the rest of the day, I ignored Daniel and Alexander. Alexander tried talking to me during class, but he kept getting into trouble with the teachers. He threw some notes at me but I ignored them. I still had my earphones were still plugged in, with my music blasting. My teachers didn't mind that I was listening to music, we were not doing anything productive.

Daniel tried to talk to me every time I would switch classes, but I pretended I was busy with a book, or listening to music. Holding the book to my face, I was unable to read the words. As if they were in another language. Every time they tried to talk to me, I could hear them clearly, all though the music would drown everyone else.

Classes have already ended, and I could have not run out of school faster. I needed to get away from them. I just did not know how I was going to react. I have to prepare myself, mentally and physically.

For the past two weeks, Adrastea was the one who gave me rides home, but today I ditched her. I know I will have to give her an explanation, but right now, I have to head home and be alone. Today I will not have to cook for the devils. They will be going out to eat. So, I can stay in my room to do more research on the supernatural, on my laptop. Maybe there is something new, some information that the books might have missed.

After hours of research, I wasn't able to find anything new. It was the same old thing that I have read in the books. The only thing that caught my attention was some news; revealing dead bodies without any skin. The bones were found immaculate, not a single drop of blood or flesh was attached to them. The news came from a town that was only an hour away from mine. Some of the townspeople speculated that it was vampires. They would drain their blood and leave their bodies to rot, but then others say that it has to be something much more. Something more dangerous, something that is cleaning off the meat of the bones perfectly. And vampires cannot do that.

There were several pictures. They believed it to be sightings of creatures terrorizing their town. Caught by people that were able to make it out alive. There was even a video recording from one of the victim’s cellphones, it was an awful-quality video of something large and dark. You can hear the growling of the creature before the phone went completely black. It was strange. But it piqued my interest. Some of the pictures looked the same, others looked like bad photoshop. All you can see was a large skinny creature that was dark, they were all poor quality, so you cannot see the details.

I closed the laptop, pushing it under the pile of papers. I decided to turn on my phone. As soon as the phone was on it started to shake violently. There were several missed calls and a ton of unopened messages.

When I was about to open the first message, the picture of Adrastea strangling Janus popped up. I took the picture when I had sneaked out to hang out with them by the lake. Janus was throwing pebbles at Adrastea, after a while she had enough of his bullshit, so she attacked him. And ended up strangling him. Her tiny hand barely covered Janus’ neck, but of course; he was being dramatic.

“Hello?” Pressing the phone against my ear.

“Dude! What the fuck? Why weren’t you picking up?” Adrastea’s worried voice boomed through the speaker.

“Sorry, my phone died while I was listening to music. I left it charging while I did my chores and fell asleep, right after sorry.” Coming up with an excuse that was half-true.

My phone did die on me on my way home. I was still listening to music, drowning my thoughts. When Isadora called, letting me know that I did not have to cook today because she was going to celebrate her boyfriend's birthday. I didn't have any chores, so I spent my time doing research.

“You had me worried, you didn't talk to me after lunch, and I was a little worried. I thought that you might have gotten mad at me. Adrastea said, blowing out a puff of air that she was holding in.

“Shut it, asshole,” she said to Janus. You can hear her struggling. He is probably trying to take the phone away from her.

“I am sorry, it was a message that my stepmother had sent me that put me in a weird mood. And I just felt like reading. You didn't do anything wrong, don't worry.” Lying once more. I did want to read, but for once my stepmother didn't have anything to do with my foul mood. I wanted to reassure her that everything was okay between us.

“Oh, okay. Will I pick you up tomorrow? Adrastea asked.

“I will text you later to let you know. I might just walk to school.” Pacing around my room.

We bid our goodbyes, promising that I will hang out with her and only her during lunch. She said that we will go out of school to eat her treat, and I was not to complain. What is there not to love? She has been the perfect friend.

Looking back at the messages, some were from Adrastea, and the others from Alexander and Daniel. All of their messages were similar, asking where I was if I was okay. Why was I ignoring them at school? But Daniel and Alexander asked if I had heard anything in the library. They both asked if there was a reason I am not talking to them. There is a reason, why I don't want to talk to them. I wasn't ready to know that they are supernatural. All I texted back was ‘I am fine, and hear what?’

Pretending should be easy, right? As long as I keep my mind busy and stop eavesdropping. Everything should be fine, right?

Trust me it is not my intention to listen to their conversations. It has been twice, and I don't mean to do it. It's just I was so intrigued they weren't normal conversations. Both of the times seem to be fighting over a girl that is Alexander’s soul. Supposably I am Alexander’s soul. How the hell can you be someone’s soul?

That is what I need to research next. My stepmother and her boyfriend should be coming home soon. So, I ran out of time to use the computer.

As I got ready for bed, the memories of what has happened today replayed in my mind. Replaying how I met Alexander on that rainy night. How I helped him and how I cleaned his wounds. Waking up in an empty room. Finding out that he goes to the same school.

Remembering how his wounds healed super fast. When I saw him in gym class, he did not have a bullet wound on his leg. I don't know why I never confronted him. I just knew he was different. I felt it that night.

My mind ran wild throughout the night. I even had to shut my phone off because Daniel kept on calling me.

My bedsheets were a mess, from all the tossing and turning I have been doing all night. I looked at my bedside table, the digital clock marked two a.m. Soon after, I fell into a deep slumber but was awakened by a knock on my door.

“Who the hell is it?” Rolling off the bed I ran downstairs to open the door. If it was loud enough to wake me up, it can wake up my stepmother. Then I will be in serious trouble.

Whoever was knocking woke me up after it took me forever to fall asleep. Angry, that they will wake up my stepmother. She will punish me; by doing completely impossible and stupid. Daniel’s worried face was standing in front of me, his eyes going wild.

“Who is there?” Isadora’s boyfriend Rey yelled into the night.

My heart dropped, and I panicked. I pulled Daniel in slamming the door shut, locking along with it. Praying that he didn't hear the door slamming.

“You didn’t park near, right?” I harshly whispered. Daniel shook his head rapidly.

“What are you doing here? You know very well you can't come here.” I wanted to yell at him but I couldn’t. Instead, I poked him in the chest with every word.

“You weren’t picking up your phone, I was worried.” I knew the reason he was worried, but it is my time to be angry at him.

“Worried? What for? You were ignoring me for the past two weeks, and then all of a sudden you want to talk to me about something about the library.” Fed up with the rollercoaster of emotions. I’m very close to snapping.

“Ay, I am truly sorry; I was just so angry at you. That idiot has been here for three weeks, and you are already locking lips with him. What does he have that I don’t?” He asked, pushing me against the wall behind me. His eyes moved down looking at my lips.

My heart started to pound against my chest. My palms started to sweat. For the first time, I was nervous. Nervous that my best friend wanted to kiss me. Nervous that if he doesn't like how I react to the kiss, he is going to get angry and turn all werewolves in front of me. I am not ready for that. I don't want him to confess his love for me, again. What if when I reject him, he becomes a beast? I am not ready for him to tell me that he is something else. Something inhuman, I needed more time.

He started to lower his head, his eyes never leaving my lips. I wanted to run, but my brain wasn't responding. I know it's going to sound mean, but I don't want to kiss him.

How the hell do I stop this?