I woke slowly, feeling weirdly good. I felt warm, almost whole in a way that I hadn’t before. Something was different about me than before, that was for sure. Without even opening my eyes, I knew that there were two creatures to my left, not far from me. No, two people.

  Wait, how am I in bed? Last thing I remember I was… Shit.

  I forced myself to stop investigating my new senses and opened my eyes, dragging myself into a sitting position. My mother and Cassie were both sitting in the room, my mother knitting and Cassie reading a book. Both looked up at me when I moved, with relief playing on their features. That relief quickly morphed into worry from my mother and frustration from Cassie. It didn’t take them long before they started asking questions.

  “What happened, honey?”

  “Where did you go?”

  They spoke over each other, before both paused and looked at each other. Cassie nodded to my mother, who spoke first.

  “What happened to you, Julie?” I knew then that I was in trouble. My mother never used my name unless she was worried or upset.

  I gathered my thoughts before answering, wondering how much to tell them. “I was in the forest,” I said simply. “I was attacked by wolves. There are less wolves now.” Technically true, although there was one less wolf, specifically. Still, I didn’t want to explain what I did to a single animal to get that much blood on me.

  They both seemed a little taken aback, and I say Cassie glance to the side where I saw a crimson bundle in the corner of the room. It took me a moment to realise that those were my old clothes from last night.

  My mother took a steadying breath. “Were you hurt?”

  I hesitated. I didn’t like the idea of hiding whatever had happened with me in the woods. Besides, my mother may know something. “Kind of,” I paused as I considered how to phrase what had happened. “But I got better. I think I took something from the wolf that healed me, like its… I don’t know lifeforce or something.”

  Cassie looked confused by my declaration, but my mother didn’t. If anything she looked almost guilty.

  Nevermind, she definitely knows something.

  My mother took another deep breath, before standing. “Alright. I’m going to leave you two girls alone for a conversation you should have had last night, but afterwards we need to talk, Julianne.” Oh dear, if my name meant that my mother was upset, my full name meant she was serious. I was suddenly anxious about the coming conversation.

  My mother left the room, taking her knitting with her and leaving me alone with just Cassie and a tense atmosphere. Neither of us seemed willing to break the silence, just staring at each other. I knew what she was going to ask, and I also knew that I would never be able to lie to her. All I could do was brace myself for the coming conversation, and maybe get something off my chest before I potentially upset her with my decision from yesterday.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, dropping my gaze.

  “For what?” Cassie asked. Her tone was hard, but there was an undercurrent of worry in it.

  I steeled myself. “I… overheard some of your talk with Mum.” I admitted. “I heard that you were leaving, and I just felt so panicked, you know? So I ran. It was stupid, I know. I should have waited to hear you out, I just couldn’t believe you were leaving.” Now that I had begun, it was as if a dam within me had burst. There was no stopping me. “I ran to the woods, and by the time that I had figured out that I was being dumb about the whole thing it was night. Then the whole thing with the wolves happened, and I guess I took out some frustration on the one I killed.” I gestured to the bundle of blood-soaked clothing. “I didn’t mean to worry you, I just… wasn’t thinking straight.” I shrugged.

  As I closed off my rambling, I finally met her eyes. Her expression softened and she opened her mouth to speak, but I interrupted her.

  “I came to a decision out there. I don’t care what I have to do to convince you, or where you end up going. I’m coming with you.” I tried to make my tone as unyielding as possible, but felt crestfallen as Cassie laughed at my declaration.

  I guess it is a little foolish to just announce that…

  “Oh gods Lia, only you-” Cassie cut herself off with another laugh. It took her almost a minute to gather herself. I guess she had a lot of emotion to release too, and no convenient wolves to channel them into.

  “Only me what?” I asked as she slowly regained her composure.

  Cassie looked me straight in the eye and began to chuckle again. “Only you could run off into the woods and almost die just to try and force me into doing something I was already going to do.”

  It took me a moment to process what she had said, at which point I immediately flushed red with embarrassment as the pieces clicked together. “Ah.” I finally said. “And you were telling my mum because -”

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “I was asking her permission to ask you, yeah. Believe it or not, I was really worried about you not wanting to come with me. I guess I shouldn’t have been, hindsight and all that.”

  I stared at her in shock. “Why wouldn’t I want to come with you? Cassie, I didn’t run into the woods because I felt like it! I ran because I was panicked you were leaving me.” Something flashed across Cassie’s face that I couldn’t read, because I was too lost in my memories of last night, when I had tried to imagine a life without Cassie in it. “I don’t ever want you to leave me.” I said quietly. I hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but from the look Cassie gave me I must have.

  Cassie shuffled over to me and gently wrapped me in her arms. It was warm, like it was where I was supposed to be. “I know honey. I don’t want to leave you, either. Why do you think I was so worried about you not wanting to come with me?” Cassie shifted the hug a little to look me in the eye, and there was something almost magnetic about her gaze. I shook myself out of it and returned to the topic at hand.

  Get a grip, Lia. There are bigger issues at hand here.

  “Where are we going, anyway? And also when, that’s probably important. And what are we going to do when we get there?” In a moment my mind was racing with possibilities.

  “Calm down, Lia. One at a time. I don’t actually know where or when yet, but I do know what. I was thinking that we could be adventurers.”

  Cassie suddenly seemed animated, separating from me to gesticulate wildly as she spoke. “I mean, imagine it! The two of us travelling the world, hunting monsters and saving people!” I had to admit, her enthusiasm was contagious. Besides, travelling the world with Cassie did sound like a bit of a dream, and hunting monsters would be interesting work, if a bit more dangerous than hunting bunnies.

  “Isn’t that going to be really dangerous? Not that it doesn’t sound exciting, but still.” I couldn’t help but ask.

  I guess I’ll need to renew my sword fighting lessons with Laon after all.

  “Well, yeah. I still think we would make a good team though, with my magic and your hunting experience.” She seemed to think for a moment, before speaking again. “Besides, if you can repeat what you did to that wolf then at least you’ll be fine. Maybe we’ll end up carrying small woodland creatures around like little snacks.”

  We both laughed, and I couldn’t help but feel like all was right with the world if Cassie was back to teasing me. Her comment did remind me of something though.

  “Oh shit, I was supposed to go hunting this morning!”

  “Hey, don’t worry. Laon came by earlier to ask where you would be looking for them, so I told him you couldn’t sleep and started last night, but you were wiped this morning. After what you said when you came home yesterday, I figured it would be a good guess.”

  I relaxed, glad that she had stayed. “Why did you stay here, anyway?” I asked, curious.

  Cassie looked at me like I was an idiot. “I was worried, dumbass. The only reason I could think of for you to be so upset was that you were listening in on our conversation and everything got twisted up in that pretty little head of yours. And would you look at that, I was right,” Cassie gave me a triumphant grin as she spoke, causing me to shake my head.

  “Saying I was listening in makes it sound way more intentional than it was,” I protested.

  “And when you realised you could hear us, did you move away to respect our privacy?” Cassie asked with a mocking expression.

  “...No,” I admitted. Cassie said nothing, but her grin somehow widened further. It looked like it would bisect her head if it grew any further.

  We spent the next while just chatting, and I for one was very happy. After the scare I had technically given myself yesterday, I needed to just spend some time being casual with Cassie to refresh. Apparently, spending time with Cassie was somehow even the cure to Cassie-related issues, which was the real magic in my opinion. As we spoke, something suddenly occurred to me.

  “Cass, does your mum know about your plan to leave?” I asked.

  “No, why?” Cassie seemed a little confused, which was fair enough considering the abrupt subject change.

  “I think I just figured out the meaning of something she said yesterday. Right before she left, she said ‘Take care of her’ to me, and I had no idea what she meant. I guess she must have meant us leaving, right?”

  Cassie shook her head. “I haven’t told her yet. She’ll probably be pretty weird, and I wanted to wait until I knew you were coming with.” She raised her hands in a placating manner. “Yes, I know the idea of leaving you here is ridiculous. I was contemplating facing life without you, cut me some slack.”

  I quieted down. “I did the same thing, you know,” I said, my voice far too quiet for my liking.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Contemplating facing life without you. That’s what kept me out for so long yesterday. I kept thinking about life when you left me, and I just… couldn’t. I couldn’t picture it, not really. Then I imagined you staying here, and in every scenario you just seemed so unfulfilled. I couldn’t do that to you, so I resolved to come with you instead. It was an easy solution really, it just took a bit to sink in.” I’m not sure why, but that admission felt significant somehow. It certainly felt significant when Cassie began to tear up at it, before wrapping me in another hug.

  “Thank you.” She mumbled into my shoulder. I wasn’t entirely sure what she was thanking me for, but I nodded anyway, before realising she couldn’t see the gesture and muttering “You’re welcome”.

  After a few minutes Cassie pulled away again, wiping her eyes. She seemed really happy, like something I had said was buoying her internally. “Come on, you’ve left your mum waiting long enough,” she said.

  “We’ve left Mum waiting long enough. If we’re going to be adventuring together, you should probably know anything to do with the weird magic I pulled yesterday.”

  Cassie seemed torn between relief and awkwardness at the idea of joining our talk, but I knew that Mum would be fine with it. Cassie was practically family at this point, with how much time we spent together. We both stood and walked towards the door. Cassie still seemed a little reluctant, so I grabbed her hand and pulled her inside with me. Mum seemed a little surprised to see Cassie here, but wasn’t outright asking her to leave.

  “Julie honey, this is a bit of a personal conversation. Partially for me, but especially for you. Are you sure?” She shot a glance at Cassie.

  “Yep. I’m just going to end up telling her everything later, so she may as well be here to ask questions while I deal with whatever you’re about to drop on me.” I shrugged. Honestly, I would rather have Cassie here than not.

  “Okay, then. I suggest you settle in, because this is going to hit you quite hard, I imagine.” Mum took a deep breath, before letting it out again and looking me dead in the eye. “Julianne Weaver, you are not human.”