Panic hit me like a bucket of ice. I blinked, jumping up and running over to the full-length mirror Moira had placed against the wall. I’d expected a monster to be staring back at me, but it was just me... just Sunday.
And wasn’t that the scariest fucking thing of all? A monster hidden behind a human facade.
“What is wrong with me?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
Moira came up behind me, pressing her small palm on my shoulder. “Nothing. You’re still you. Just a little, um, scarier.”
As we stood there, the black faded from my eyes. “Moira, I’m scared.”
“I know, sweetie. We’ll figure it out.”
“I don’t want to hurt anyone. I mean... not innocent people. Just the bad guys.”
“You won’t. I swear. I think you might just be coming into your power, you know? Everything hit at once. Your wolf, your mom, the visions. It’s a lot. And bear in mind, you haven’t hurt anyone who didn’t have it coming.”
I thought back to Callie, who had actively been trying to kill me, to the hunter who kidnapped us I’d left eviscerated on the dirty warehouse floor. They’d been trying to hurt me and the people I loved.
“I need to turn myself in to the headmistress.”
“What? Why?” She didn’t even try to hide her shock.
“Because I’m pretty sure I’ve been inadvertently summoning these demons. If she has me under lock and key, she can give everyone back their magic. Kingston can shift and heal. I’ll be safe from myself. You can change your hair.”
I reached out and twirled a long lock in my fingers.
“It’s not you. I’d know.”
“How?”
She shrugged, looking so tiny and so fierce. “I just would. Dark magic has an oily aura it leaves behind. I’d feel it on you when I touched you. Right now, I feel lots of conflicting energy, but not darkness.”
Her calm assurance brought tears to my eyes. I rarely cried, but I seemed to be a human sprinkler today. Moira was right, though. The last few days had been a lot. I don’t think I’d really had a chance to process any of it. I was a damn mess.
“See. This is why you can’t leave me for a bunch of men. Who will talk you off the ledge when things get crazy?” Moira’s gentle gaze told me she was only teasing.
“I told you we already decided you’d have your own room.”
She wrinkled her nose. “On the other end of the house, right? I don’t want an accidental strip show. I’ve already seen Kingston’s elephant trunk waving in the breeze.”
Just because joking with her like this made me feel normal, I couldn’t resist tormenting her a little more. “Wait until you see Alek’s God Rod.”
Moira gagged. She actually gagged, which in turn made my stomach roll as nausea hit me hard and fast.
“Oh, don’t do that, please.”
“What? Vomit?”
In the mirror, I caught sight of my complexion, pale and tinged a little green. “Yeah. You’ll make me puke.”
“Aw, I didn’t know you were a sympathetic puker.”
“Me either,” I said, clutching my stomach.
“Sorry. I’ll stop.”
I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths until my belly stopped trying to revolt. “I need to go talk to the headmistress.”
“Not yet. Don’t throw yourself on the fire until we know what’s really going on. I have an idea.”