Chapter 4: New Life

I smell flowers. I smell trees. I smell… food! 

My eyes shot open just as my stomach grumbled angrily. My eyes blinked rapidly trying to figure out what in the world I was looking at. 

It was a ceiling, obviously, but instead of the ceiling in my room, this was made out of wood and vines wrap around it. I looked like I was in a cabin. 

How in the world did I end up in a cabin? 

My mind goes back to last night and everything that happened. 

Ballroom. Mate. Running. Cliff. 

CLIFF! 

I got up from my lying down position so fast that I felt my head throb from the sudden movement. “Ouch,” I whined as I put my hand at the top of my head as if that would do anything. 

Nonetheless, I couldn’t help but be even more confused when I saw myself. As soon as I looked down, I was wearing a white dress up to my knees. A dress I have no recollection of owning. 

“Oh, you’re awake.” 

I almost learned how to fly at that very second when I heard a voice from out of nowhere. I got up on the bed and accidentally hit my head on the wooden ceiling. Did I get taller or is this place just small?

“Uh… who are you?” I asked as I stared at her wide-eyed. 

She didn’t look threatening at all. Frankly, the complete opposite of it with tied up white-silver hair, kind blue eyes, and a soft smile. But that doesn’t mean I should let my guard down. 

“My name is Asteria,” she says with a soft spoken voice and her lashes flutter effortlessly as she blinks. “Don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you,” she says reassuringly. 

“That’s what people say before they hurt someone,” I respond with a raised brow at her and she lets out a chuckle that sounds like harmony. 

“Well, you got me there.” She says. “I guess that means you don’t want the food?” She asks with a tilted head. 

And then I remembered how angry my stomach was and resistance would be futile so I gave in. 

“I want it!” I said out loud. “Pretty… please?” And gave her my best and nicest smile. 

“Very well. Come over here to the table, little one.” She stands up and starts walking to the other side of the room that I now just noticed was even there.

The place isn’t small per se, but it also wasn’t big. It was definitely a far cry from my old place, the Lunar Eclipse Pack mansion. It felt cozy and peaceful and the crackling fireplace had a way of lighting and warming up the place perfectly. 

Though all of my focus is transferred to the food on the table the second I saw it. 

“That smells and looks amazing!” I practically jump into the dining table and seconds later, I’m devouring the most amazing pumpkin soup and grilled cheese. So simple yet it tastes like heaven. 

“My name is Hailey,” I told Asteria while I was on my second grilled cheese as I started to warm up to her. 

I guess I’m a simple person. If they can feed me really good–and not poisoned–food then I don’t see why we can’t get along. 

“Nice to meet you, Hailey. That’s a beautiful name.” She compliments me like she really means it and after living all eighteen years of my life with mostly mean words thrown at me, I don’t know how to respond to that. 

My cheeks blushed instantly and my mouth is half open as a piece of grilled cheese is inches away from being devoured. 

She lets out a soft chuckle before gesturing for me to continue. “Eat, Hailey. Eat as much as you’d like. And then after, we will talk about what happened.”

I focused on filling up my stomach for as much as it could take, but at the back of my mind, I couldn’t help but feel worried about what she meant. 

I kept going back and forth in my mind, reliving the last thing I remember and so far, nothing came up weird in my head. 

All I know is that I was being followed by my crazy twin sister and I guess I managed to escape since I am here, still intact and all my limbs in one piece. 

Once I was done eating aka I could no longer put anything in my mouth and stomach without feeling like I was going to explode, I stood up and started walking to the outside where Asteria said she would be waiting for me. 

While walking over there, I couldn’t help but admire the quaint little cabin she had. The materials she used looked completely natural, like she had gathered them herself and started working on it by hand, too. The craftsmanship was incredible, though, and I wondered if that was her work, creating cabins or something related to construction, and if she’s lived here for a long time. 

“Wait, what the hell?” I took a quick step back to the mirror that I passed in the hallway, wondering if I had just hallucinated what I saw or if it was really true, which I doubt it was. 

But when I saw my reflection in the mirror, I squealed in disbelief. 

“Who are you?!” I shouted to myself like I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. 

Well, technically speaking, I REALLY couldn’t believe what I was looking at. I even tried to do a few movements in front of the mirror to see if it would reflect. At one point I thought I had gone crazy, sticking my tongue out and doing jumping jacks in front of a freaking mirror. 

But after all of that, it was still right in front of my eyes. I still looked like a completely different person. Almost. Sort of. 

I still had the same face shape and body, but my hair and my eyes that were a plain hazel color were different now. 

My hair, besides the hazel, was now mixed with light white-silver streaks, like I had gone to the salon and got highlights, but I doubt anyone could mimic this in a salon because it looked perfectly there as if it was my natural hair. 

My eyes, though still dominantly hazel, now had a gray-colored ring around it, making it look surreal, like I was wearing contacts. I blinked and I blinked, thinking they weren’t real, but I quickly realized that they were very much my eyes. 

I was… immensely confused. 

“Hailey?” I heard Asteria call out for me and I remembered she was waiting for me outside. 

“Oh, I’m so sorry! I got distracted.” I told her admittedly before looking defeated in front of the mirror. 

Now I was beginning to wonder what had really happened because this… this doesn’t seem right. 

I touched my hair and poked my cheeks, thinking that I would snap back to reality and be my old self again, but when Asteria came up from behind me, I realized I was still very much here and was staring at what looked like a different person.

Not that I was complaining because for the first time in my life, I actually felt… pretty.

“What’s wrong, Hailey?” Asteria asked, sounding worried. 

“I… I need to know what happened to me.” I told her before turning away from the mirror to face her and her blue eyes stared into mine.

The soft blues then changed to something more serious, and yet, still calm. 

“Come with me. I need to show you something.” She says before lifting up her hand for me to take and though hesitant at first, I accepted. 

We walked out of the cabin. It was probably around past five in the afternoon as the sun was just beginning to set and the skies were filled with various shades of orange, red, and yellow.

Nature’s smell surrounded us. Outside, the forest was limitless and blooming. Coling vines embraced every tree and a variety of flowers which blossomed brightly made you feel like you were looking at a painting. 

But that wasn’t the only thing I could smell. There was also water. Salty water that I can only guess is from the beach, and it also smelled familiar. 

And then it hit me.

It’s the water at the bottom of the cliff! 

Asteria brought me to the edge of the shore with rocks scattered around the area. Memories of last night flashed in my mind like a thirty second movie the moment I inhaled the smell of the ocean. 

I was standing at the edge of the cliff on the border of our territory. I was scared, terrified, and alone. I was crying so much. Crying because I never had a chance to be loved by my own mate, but even with all that sadness, I still found it in me to thank the Moon Goddess. 

I vividly remembered that there was a bright light before darkness consumed me. 

“You’ve been asleep for three months,” Asteria said, which made me almost snap my neck at the speed I turned to face her. 

“I’m sorry… what?” 

Did she just say three months? That must be a mistake. There was no way. But then again, I woke up looking like a different person so maybe that didn’t seem too impossible after all. 

“I know it must be hard to take in, but three months ago, I found your body along that shore. Right there.” She lifted her hand up and pointed out to a specific spot on the water. 

“See that big rock next to the pool of water? I was doing my morning walk when you had washed up there. I pulled you in and have been taking care of you ever since.” She said with so much truth in her eyes and not a single hint that she was just making all of this up. 

That night, I really had jumped. I jumped and somehow, made my way all the way here. Wherever ‘here’ was and she found me. I could have died if she hadn’t. 

“I don’t need to know why you were out there, but if you do want to let me know then I’m all ears. No judgment or anything that you won’t like. Just a nice cup of hot cocoa by the fireplace and two ladies talking with each other with whatever they have in mind.” 

Goddess, she was seriously the nicest person ever. I was suddenly so thankful that it was her that had found me because if it was somebody else, I don’t think I’d be this less worried. 

“Thank you, Asteria. For the kindness and for everything in general. I guess I owe you my life, huh?” I say with a meek smile. 

“Oh no, sweetie. Of course not. You will never owe me anything. Your life is all yours and I’m sure that whatever happened, it happened for a reason. You’re still here so that means you still have a lot to do and a life to live fully. Don’t you agree?” Her kind blue eyes blinked at me with so much assurance and between the sound of the water gently hitting the rocks and the wind brushing past the trees, there was a sense of peace that was embedded in this moment right now. 

“Yes… I… I agree.” I told her before she gestured me to come nearer and she turned me to face the skies. 

We watched as the sun dipped below the horizon, the fleeting colors of dusk started to slowly fade away. The dark black rocks that were scattered around the shore shimmered beautifully before the dark fell upon them and you could barely see them in the night. 

Asteria’s words echoed in my mind over and over again. 

“You’re still here so that means you still have a lot to do and a life to live fully.” 

All of the people I left back in our Pack. My parents, my siblings, Kylo, and even Kage, my mate who didn’t want me.

Would they have been thinking of me this whole time? If so, what did they think about? Did they miss me? Did they look for me? Did they cry for me when they realized that I was probably not coming back? 

So many questions, but no answers. The only way I could find out though was if I went back, but then I stopped to think about it and thought, what was the rush?

Here I was in a beautiful place with a kind woman who took me in and seemed like she was more than willing to keep me around still. There was more to learn here, more to experience. 

If I had been gone for three months then what was more? Maybe a few weeks or months and then I can come back home. 

For now, I will enjoy being the new Hailey and get closer with my savior, Asteria. 

“Hey…” I called out for her and she turned to me with a soft smile. 

“I, um… I think I’d like that hot cocoa by the fireplace.” I said to her and her smile widened just as her eyes lit up under the moonlight. 

“With or without marshmallows?” She cooed. 

“Definitely with, please.” I said to her and the two of us giggled in the night. 

I think I just might like it here. Who knew jumping at that edge of the cliff would give me a new life I would be much happier with?

If only I had known, maybe I had done it sooner.