SERAPHINA'S POV
I make it back to school an hour later, sneaking into the school premises the same way I got out, through a small dog hole in the fence.
I don't stop running until I'm bursting through the door of my dorm room, breathing fast and clutching the book to my chest.
Olivia looks up at me, startled by my sudden appearance. She gets up from her bed, pulling her glasses out of the way to look at me.
"Where have you been all day? School was over like 4 hours ago, Sera," she queries.
I move to the center of the room, settling on the rug we have. The blood stains from before are only partially there.
After hours of scrubbing, we managed to get some of it out, leaving a dull brown stain shaped like a flower on one end.
I settle on it, dropping the book in front of me and looking at it, half-panicking that I actually stole a book from that place.
What if I get caught? No one saw me, right? And I wanted to return it, but the door was closed when I got back.
Yeah, right. Like anyone would believe that story. The door was open one minute, and when I looked away, it miraculously locked itself up with chains.
"Sera?" Olivia calls out.
I look at her for the first time since coming in; my heart is still pounding hard and my breath is still erratic.
"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me," I respond.
She observes the look on my face with confusion for a while before it hits her, and her eyes widen like saucers. Instinctively, she sits right beside me on the floor.
"Did you...?"
"It was an accident," I interrupt.
"I thought you decided you weren't going to use it," she continues.
Ah, yes, I remember telling her how bad I felt, how I decided on not using it at all because that would just make me no different from Kamilla.
"I wasn't going to... I just," I pause, taking a deep breath, recalling how it happened.
It was weird, the way I mistakenly stumbled across the hidden entrance at the perfect time, how I was able to find what I unconsciously needed without being caught.
It's almost as if something was guiding me up until this moment.
"It just happened. Like fate," I say.
She says nothing else. Her eyes watch me silently, as if questioning whether I've actually lost my mind but without saying it in words.
I look at the book, the strange tome I was forced to take home with me in the heat of the moment. All this while, I've felt this subtle pull towards it, feeling the animal skin pulsating in my hands as if it's alive.
"That's a nice-looking book," she says sarcastically.
"I guess. I felt something calling to me when I saw it, too," I say, pulling it open.
A gentle gush of wind pushes my hair away from my face immediately. The words begin shifting as well, one by one, until they're readable just like before.
"What does it say?"
"You don't see it?"
"See what?"
I look at her with puzzlement until it dawns on me that maybe she really can't see it this time. Perhaps the words are readable only to me, unlike the other red book.
This realization makes the whole thing even more ominous than before.
"I guess it's only me who can read this one."
"How convenient," she quips sarcastically again.
I laugh at her joke and the eye roll she adds at the end, before looking down and feeling the pages. A rush of power pulses through my hands, and I take a deep breath.
"I've realized the book is divided into two halves, in a way," I begin explaining to her. "The first part seems like a journal of some sort, and the second part holds things that look like incantations and rituals."
"That's kind of creepy, Sera. You think we should be messing with something like this?"
"It's going to be fine. I just need some answers, Olive; this is as close to that as I'll ever get."
"Fine," she finally gives in with a heavy sigh.
I smile widely, turning back to the book and flipping through the pages. All of it seems like it's a letter written to someone called Grendaline Morriet, while the author narrates to her about the war.
'Our farms have been burnt down by the wolves, and so there's not much to eat. But that hasn't weakened our spirits. We will still fight once dawn comes tomorrow, and I know we will win this someday. I wish you were here, Grenda. I wish I never let those monsters take you, and maybe we'd be weaving our hair like the good old days.'
I pause, feeling tears gather in my eyes for a moment.
Who is Grendaline Morriet?
I can't shake off the feeling that the war is somehow related to her. Olivia remains silently cautious while watching me with worried eyes.
Still, she says nothing when a tear drops from my cheek.
I flip through more pages, growing more curious, until suddenly the pages move all on their own-rushing faster than I had, until they stop at one page.
The letters glisten golden as if telling me to read them.
"Did you see that?" I look up at Olivia, exclaiming with excitement.
What stares back at me is the fear in her eyes. She pulls away, scared by the fact the pages moved on their own.
"Okay, I think we're done for today, Sera."
"What? I only started reading."
"Yeah, well, I have a terrible feeling about this. I don't think you should even have that book anymore. You should return it," she states firmly, getting up from the floor and rubbing her shoulders.
I don't listen, instead reading the heading on the page: 'The Awakening Ritual.'
"Sera!"
"Relax, Olive. What's the worst that could happen?"
"You and I both know a lot worse has already happened in the past few weeks. I mean, you already stabbed Artemis. You threw me across the room without lifting a finger, remember?"
"Exactly, I have no choice but to see this through so I don't have to go through all that, so I don't have to hurt anyone else."
"No, Sera, you do have a choice. We can figure this all out together. We can find something, a trigger to get you back when whatever this is takes over. Just don't do something we might regret later," she says, waving her hand in the air.
I want to say something, but I can't come up with anything to add on. I see her point.
All of this is pretty scary, and I haven't really considered what it would mean to find out where this power is coming from.
It would mean discovering things I'm not ready for, taking a step into the unknown, possibly endangering myself in the process.
Her eyes are wet with tears, watching me intently.
"Please," she begs with puppy dog eyes.
I sigh, finally giving in to her.
"Fine."
"Thank you," she finally smiles, wiping a bit of moisture from her eyes.
I feel a bit relieved yet saddened by the fact. But then, some mysteries are better left as mysteries, I guess.
I get up from the floor, wanting to close the book and hide it somewhere until I can figure out how to return it.
I try to take a step toward my drawers, but my body suddenly seizes, freezing in place. I try to move, but my limbs don't obey me.
'Read the words.'
The voice in my head echoes.
'Don't you want to know who you are... what you are?'
"Sera?" Olivia turns to look at me, noticing my body frozen in an awkward position.
'Don't listen to that filthy wolf; she's trying to keep you away from your destiny, from your power.'
"Stop it."
'You will awaken.'
I try to fight it off, to take control of my body, but the more I struggle, the more my consciousness is pushed to the back of my mind.
Olivia rushes to me, but my hand moves forward, and a blast of energy sends her flying away just like before, stopping her from getting to me.
The book in my hands suddenly floats up, opening to the awakening page again.
'Say it!'
My mouth begins to move on its own, my voice being pulled from my throat.
"By moon and star, by fire and earth,
Awaken now, reveal your worth.
Astria's power, ancient and deep,
In our hearts and souls, it shall weep.
Awaken sisters, with this rhyme,
Embrace the darkness of endless time!"
A surge of energy pools into my body, pumping through my veins like molten lava, burning my insides, and I'm engulfed in a deep purple light that burns my skin like flames.
My body levitates high in the air, and hot liquid spills from my eyes.
"Seraphina!" Olive screams my name, trying to reach me, but it's already too late.
Whatever this is, whatever is happening, has already been completed. I can't fight this anymore.
As soon as the words leave my mouth, what feels like a heated dagger, red-hot from fire, stabs into my back. I feel the pain ripping through my flesh as I scream out in pure agony, but it doesn't stop.
It's only now that I can move my hands and feet, flailing around in the air, desperate to get down until the deep purple light fades, and I plummet onto the hard floor.
Olivia, finally able to move, runs up to me, picking me up from the floor and holding me in her arms.
"Are you okay?"
I can only sob, wincing from the pain in my back.
"It hurts! I think I'm bleeding!" I wail in her arms, squirming around and reaching for the sore spot behind me.
She nods, turning me around to check for herself if I'm injured. A second passes, and she's quiet.
"Olive?"
"Sera?" Her voice comes out deathly low and strained.
"What-what happened? Is it a wound?"
"No... it's some kind of mark on your back."
What?
I manage to get on my feet, pushing through the pain and rushing to the mirror in the room. Then I pull my shirt up, looking at my back, and it's just as she said.
It's a mark, a strange pattern tattooed into my flesh, something that wasn't there before.