Final Rites

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I drove the van as Dahlia instructed me.

This newfound strength and these heightened senses were hard to work with. By the time Dahlia told me to stop at a clearing, the steering wheel of the van was bent and barely working.

I knew Xavier had hitchhiked the ride but I was in no mental state to converse. Even if Dad were alive, I would've hated Xavier for abandoning me and choosing another over me.

I stepped out and for a second just let the sounds and smells of woods envelope me. I always loved nature. It had helped me calm down back home. But I had never felt nature the way it felt now. It was like seeing the world for the first time. Like I had been wearing a dark curtain over my senses and it had finally lifted allowing me to see the true magic of the world.

But I had a loved one to bury.

That thought weighed on me so much that it numbed my senses again. I couldn't celebrate my first transformation or ponder on its possibility because I was too busy mourning my only r