Episode 4 - The end of a cycle

I spent most of my day with my family, playing games, watching movies until it was almost 4 p.m. when I started to feel really dizzy I couldn’t get up without losing the balance of my body which is quite odd.

“Mom? Dad?” I called for them.

“Yes, love?” Dad answered pausing the game and looking at me.

“Why is everything spinning around? I’m feeling kind of dizzy.” I said trying to focus my mind so my senses would go back to normal.

“What do you mean you’re feeling dizzy, love?” The room was spinning so much that I couldn’t even figure out my father’s face.

“Charlotte helps me get your sister to her bathroom, she’s burning up.” What my mom says caught me off guard as I thought she was the one playing with dad. I felt as if I was being carried. What was going on with me? Why haven’t I sensed that I was burning up with fever? Since mom said that I felt like my whole body was on fire. Like real fire. I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore and all I could hear were little pieces of what was being said. I couldn’t make out a sentence. Suddenly I felt like I was drowning in a frozen lake, the cold creeping my skin. It was rather uncomfortable at the beginning but then I started to adjust as I was feeling very hot. Maybe now my body temperature could go back to normal. I have no idea of how much time has passed or if it’s my body quickly adjusting its temperature but I don’t feel that much cold anymore and also the water level seems to be decreasing. I feel two pairs of hands getting me out of the water and as soon as I’m out of the bath I try to open my eyes again. This time I’m able to focus my vision on the people who are with me in the bathroom.

“Pandora? Can you hear me, sweetie?” My mom’s voice called to me. “Are you feeling better?” Slowly my senses started to come back and I regained control over my body.

“I think so. I’m feeling really weak.” I answered her.

“We were worried about you. You’ve been in there for almost 2 hours straight. We thought that we had lost you.” Mom said with sorrow in her voice.

“But… that’s almost impossible…” I was speechless. I was supposed to be dead. How? How was I still alive? Charlotte might have sensed my anxiety growing because the next she said calmed me down almost instantaneously.

“But I still could hear your heartbeats and feel your pulse.” Charlotte said “It was still pretty strong but your skin was too hot.”

“I’m proud of you Char. Your hearing is getting better and better.” I couldn’t stop myself from praising my little sister.

“Honey, what were you talking about when we put you in the bath? You were mumbling something.” My mom asked.

“I don’t know. I didn’t even know I was talking. I was way too focused on trying to understand what was going on with my body.” I explain trying to get up from the bathroom’s floor. My mom and my sister helped me out to go back to my bedroom as I still felt too weak.

“I’ll go get you something to eat so you can recover your strength and your sister will help you get ready, okay?” My mother said, wrapping me in a dry, warm towel.

“Okay” I simply answered her. She gets up and disappears behind my bedroom door.

“So I think you won’t have a second shower, uhn?” Char says teasing me.

“What? No way! That bath filled with cold water was enough for me for today.” I say giggling.

“Well, I have bad news for you then.” She says with a smirk playing on her lips.

“What bad news?” I asked her.

“I’ll have to ask you to at least wash your hair. You see, my big sis just found her mate today and I have the obligation to make her look drop-dead gorgeous.” She says excitedly.

“Are you really talking about me in the second or third person?” I say laughing.

“Yes! So go back to that bathroom and wash your hair! When you come out, I’ll have an amazing surprise for you.” She says to me.

“Okay then. I have no other choice but to obey.” I say laughing and getting back to the bathroom I just left a few minutes ago. I strip from my clothes and look at my body in the mirror. I could say that I had curves in the right places thanks to my mother’s side of the family who have its roots here in North America and Brazil, in South America. My breasts aren't big, but they're not small either. My waist is thin but not like those of the catwalk models. My hip, yes, it's wide and my ass upright. And to top it off I have slightly thicker thighs than usual. Even though I had a beautiful body I couldn’t help but feel insecure about it when the thoughts of being intimate with my mates wandered in the back of my mind. Would they like it? Would I be able to pleasure the three of them? I shake those thoughts from my mind as I hear Char knocking on the door.

“I can’t hear any water running!” She says playfully.

“Sorry, mom!” I say laughing. I jump in the shower but I get shocked when I realize that we forget to empty the tub, which is still full of cold water. I open the drain to empty the tub and in the meantime, I'm going to brush my teeth. As soon as the tub is empty and my teeth clean I jump back in the shower and wash my hair. I wrap myself in the towel once again and head back to my bedroom where I see two little devils sitting on the floor chatting and laughing. I see a tray with food in the bed and almost immediately I hear my stomach growl.

“The princess finished her shower.” Sophie says looking at me. “Go eat and then we can start getting you ready for your knight in shining armor.” She giggles at me.

“It’s way easier for me to save his ass than the other way around.” I tell them.

“Well, you never know.” Char says glancing at Sophie.

“Okay, what it is that you’re not telling me?” I say catching what wasn’t said in the air.

“Maybe your mate felt that you were not okay and came back to see you and has been refusing to leave ever since he wasn’t able to see you.” They say looking at me expecting to see my reaction.

“He did what?” I’m astonished at Sam’s action.

“And he brou--” Char starts saying before being interrupted by Sophie.

“Shhhh” Sophie shuts up our lil’ sis. “It’s a surprise.”

“Ops. Sorry.” Charlotte says giggling.

“Well, now eat, and then we’ll get you ready so we can get ready as well.” Sophie says with a smile. I happily sit on the floor and turn my back to Charlotte who’s going to do my hair. Sophie gives me the tray of food so I can eat before she does my makeup. We start chatting and joking with each other. As Sophie knows I’ll take my time eating she has asked for my help with her homework and I gladly help her and Char once she has put my hair up to wait for the curls to model themselves. They were able to finish everything pretty much alone. I only reminded them of something once or twice. Wow, since when they were so grown up? I couldn’t believe the sight before me. My twin lil’ sisters were so mature already. I’m so proud of them.

“I’m so proud of the two of you.” I say lowly.

“Have you finished eating?” Sophie asks.

“Yes.” I simply answered.

“So go brush your teeth while I take this down to the kitchen so I can start your makeup while Char finishes your hair.” Sophie says sweetly.

“Deal.” I say getting up quickly and rush to the bathroom so they can finish dolling me up and go to get ready themselves. I went back to the bedroom to my previous spot and sat on the floor once again so my sisters could finish what they started. After some time my hair and makeup were finished and all I had to do was change into my outfit. It was a sleeveless dress, with a high collar and that went up to a foot above the knee, velvety fabric of a deep shade of dark green. I changed into the dress that was on the bed and wore my shoes. As soon as I look at myself in the mirror. My hair was perfecting combed in wide waves that fell like a cascade ending below my breasts. My makeup was perfect, Sophie made a smokey eye with shades of brown and black to give a fox look effect. My lips were painted with a shade of orange-red and my skin seemed to be being lit by the moon itself. I was speechless. I couldn’t believe that the image of a gorgeous woman in the mirror was actually me.

“Wow.” I said to myself looking at the mirror.

“We outdid ourselves.” Charlotte said proudly of her work.

“She is looking like a real goddess.” Sophie said amused.

“You guys are the best little sisters a girl could dream of having.” I say with my heart filled with happiness. I run to them and hug them tightly.

“Thank you so much.” I say to them.

“There’s no need to thank us. We’re family.” Sophie says pulling me away. “Now, it’s our turn to get ready. Mom will be here in a few minutes to check on you. She was crazy worried about you.” Sophie explains to me.

“Yeah, sure. Go get yourselves ready. I’ll stay here waiting for mom.” I say smiling at them.

I turn my back to them and look back at the mirror once again, completely speechless on how I looked so different. I felt different. It seemed like my body had changed but I couldn’t exactly say what was the same and what was not. I was so distracted that I didn’t notice my mom entering my room.

“Sweetheart?” My mom calls me.

“Oh, hey mom” I say looking at her.

“Oh my, you look flawless.” She says completely taken aback. “You look so grown up. So mature.”

“Thank you, mom.” I answered her still not believing in the mirror’s reflection but before I could contemplate this transformation any further I had some questions. “Mom, what happened to me earlier?”

“I’m not one hundred percent sure, my love. But if it was for me to take a wild guess I’d say that what happened to you was probably your powers awakening.” My mom explained to me.

“How can we be sure?” I asked her.

“Paying a visit to our pack witch coven.” My mom says. “But don’t worry that little head of yours with that right now. There is a very handsome man waiting for you downstairs with a huge surprise.” She says smiling at me. My mom guides me out of my room all the way to the dining room where my father and my mate are talking. Relief washes over me seeing them get along with each other but I still had to think about my other two mates. As I start wondering about them Sam looks over to me and I can’t seem to look away from those gorgeous eyes. That man had my heart already and I couldn’t stop myself from smiling from ear to ear when I see the love in his eyes.

“Wow.” Sam whispers drawing my father’s attention to me

“Dora, you look amazing! Oh, my Goddess.” My father says. “I still can’t believe it, you're so grown up.”

“Come on, love. Let’s give Dora and her mate a little bit of privacy.” Mom calls dad. They walk out in the direction of the kitchen where an amazing smell is coming from but unfortunately, my mom’s smelling food wasn’t appealing to me anymore. Not after I smelled him.

“You look absolutely breathtaking, love.” Sam says smiling at me.

“Ow, we’re already at the stage of calling each other sweet names?” I asked him teasingly.

“And why not? Soon we’ll be mated to each other.” He says caressing my cheeks sweetly while I start to blush. “You look adorable when you blush, did you know that?” He comments giggling.

“I heard that a handsome man has brought me a gift.” I say trying to change the subject.

“You heard it right, especially the handsome part.” He winked at me with a smirk playing on his lips. “Come on, follow me.” He intertwined his fingers with mine and led me to the backyard. As we’re walking there the world around us starts going in slow-motion, at first I thought it was because that was the beginning of a brand new chapter of my life but then I started to notice that everything was frozen. Everything and everyone. Including me. I look around trying to verify that was just my imagination but even the digital clock on Sam’s wrist was frozen I still scan my house trying hard to find a way out of whatever this was when my gaze stops at the window where there is a blue-ish light coming from the outside and it seems to be moving towards the back door! I feel and hear my heart hammering in my chest. The door opens slowly and the light enters my house. At this very moment, I’m utterly and completely speechless. Why? Because it doesn’t have a form! Its energy in it’s more pure essence. As it comes closer I can see its particles dancing in that blue-ish color.

“Hello, once again, kid.” The voice is coming from everywhere. “You seem afraid of me but there’s no need to be. I’m here to guide you.” The voice gently says.

Guide me? I think

“Yes, child. Guide you.” The voice answered, giggling. “And before you panic, yes, I can hear your thoughts.”

My heart is beating so fast against its rib cage that I feel like it’s trying to get out.

It was you earlier? In the backyard? I think, hoping it would hear my thoughts again.

“No. It was her. Your ancestor.” That marvelous light explains. “You must help her but you must be careful there is a grand danger awaiting for the both of you on this journey.” 

Who is she? I think once again.

“You’ll figure out everything in time, kid. But for now, enjoy the end of a cycle with your family and loved ones.” That blue-ish energy says walking its way back to where it came. “By the way, happy birthday, Pandora.”

Please, don’t leave me with more questions and no answer. I plead in thought.

“Don’t worry, my little flower. Soon enough you’ll have your answers.” It answers me before everything goes back to normal with Sam guiding me towards the backyard. It seems like nothing happened at all. As we get to the backyard I notice how it was beautifully decorated with fairy lights everywhere, including some trees.

“Wow.” I simply say amazed by how everything looks amazing.

“Do you like it?” Sam asks me looking deep into my eyes.

“I love it. Did you make this all for me?” I ask him without being able to hold my smile back.

“I had some help.” He says smiling sweetly at me before looking behind him, towards the trees. “You can come out now.”

“With whom you’re talking to?” I ask curiously.

“With us.”