I think we know when it’s to leave.

To put feelings aside and

get to say goodbye to the person you love and cherish. The
person who has been by your side from the beginning.

I’ve been walking in circles from the day my loved ones

passed away.
From the day my family was taken away from me.
I can still remember the way that dark spirit took my parents
and shoved them across the wall of our small little home. I
remember the way it dragged them on the floor and my
parents begging for it to stop. To stop hurting them. I could
still recall all the blood smeared everywhere and my parents
dead on the floor and me crying trying to find any sign of
vitality in all that mess.

It has been over one year—and I can still feel their warmth
close skin to skin. Feel their heartbeat when I would lay down
on their chest in the living room. Our regular Saturday nights,
binge-watching our favorite show.
Nothing prepared me for this. No amount of sitting alone.
Reading, walking through the woods at three in the morning.
That night will always be something to remember and carry
for the rest my life.

1
From that day, I always wonder if I’m maybe different. Or
gifted. Until one day, the day I lost my adoptive parents. I
was an emotional bomb, waiting to explode in ten thousand
pieces.

No one ever talks about that day. The day everything

changed. I can still feel all that anger. No, power. Flowing
through my flesh, my bones, in my blood. Even though I
always wondered if something was wrong with me. I
would’ve never guessed this. Magic.
The day my parents were killed, I couldn’t control myself.
Even my soul was scared of me. I remember my fingers
shuddering from the lack of control. The way my body was
getting hot until burning temperature. I was a rollercoaster.
Then, Boom! Lightning strikes all over the room. The power
cutting off all of a sudden. That dark creature scared of what
was coming out of my palms. I couldn’t even get a hold of
myself. That strike luring into the sky where everyone was
watching.
Anger and fear were fighting a battle inside of me. I couldn’t
tell which one was which. Everyone was staring at me like a
complete stranger, something strange and frightening.

2
My trembling hands were fighting the urge to let another
strike lour the sky. This strength was indestructible and
tough. Control wasn’t even in the question.
First thing that came up to my mind was to go hide. Hide and
never come back.
That’s what I’ve been doing for the past year. Travelling,
meeting new people, forming relationships and scaring them
off. Sometimes I wish someone could be like me. Special.
Some people would think this is a gift. A miracle. But to me,
it’s more like a burden.

I hate how it transforms me. Into this weird form. When I

shift, I can hear from distances and distances. Even feel
heartbeats. I can also run really fast. It’s helpful sometimes
but it still doesn’t convince me into liking it.
I have been trying these past few months to discover my past
and my biological family. I have never actually asked my
adoptive ones what happened to me. It has always been a big
conversation that I didn’t want to go through. But now, with
these circumstances, I wish I could know more and find the
answers to my questions.
Chapter 1

3
I lay awake beneath the silken sheets. My head was
throbbing from the day before. Fighting people on the streets
with my dear dagger. It has been the only piece left to me
after my parent’s sudden disappearance. My real parents.
A soft knock, yet urgent sounded at my door. Startled, I
leaped up, and then swayed on my feet for a second, the
room spinning. I clenched the door frame tightly and took
one deep breath, then another. Before I could turn my
attention back to the door, it opened, and this unfamiliar
person rushed in. Agitated, I recognized it. It’s form. It was
like mine. We looked a like.

His face was familiar. He had really strong features. His face
was tired, yet his eyebrows were drawn tight with shock, and
his eyes were swimming with something I couldn’t place.
What was happening? What was he?
Something flickered on his face and it seemed like he himself
had just realized their familiar features. He, then, came inside
closing the door with his tattooed hand. He had this long one
that went up under his sleeve. I couldn’t recognize its
meaning.
“Who are you?” I asked him. “why are you here?”

4
He stammered, running a hand through his hair. As he
walked in, I sensed this feeling. I directly register that he was
as surprised as me.
“I would very much like to get an answer!” I stated coldly.
Without hesitation, he said “you have been summoned.”
Eowyn scowled. She didn’t understand what any of this
meant. What was he doing here? Long moments passed in
amiable silence, though she certainly wanted to ask him even
more questions but, she kept them to herself for later.
He stroted around the house keeping a blank face. No
emotions. Nothing.
“When should we leave?” I asked once again, hoping for a
better answer than last time.
He straightened. “Pack as many things as you can. We won’t
be back for a while.”
“May I ask where we’re going—more like where are you
taking me?”
His cloak opened. On button at a time, he undid them. He
then slowly sat forward on the couch waiting for me. “I’m not
in liberty to tell you unfortunately.”
“Can I at least know whom I am speaking to?” Eowyn asked
while putting her favorite pieces of clothing in this small bag.
“Caidan.”

5
“well—nice to meet you Caidan. I’m Eowyn.”
“I know” he replied slowly with that same grin he had on his
face when we saw each other for the first time.
As soon as I was done, the male took my luggage and carried
it all the way to the entrance with no reprimands.
Outside, she could barely feel the usual wind. That meant
spring was coming. These past few months, our territory
faced a lot of brisk and cold winters. It’s like a blizzard had hit
us all of a sudden. Families have become worried about food
resources. People were dying because, we lived amongst the
poor. Humans couldn’t always afford medical help, so they
just had to protect themselves from sicknesses.
We were halfway up a mountain that had looked like a mere
hill from a distance when Caidan said from ahead, “We camp
here for the night.”
He’d stopped at an outlook over the mountainside, the
nearest peak so close she could have him with stone,
separated only by another river snaking far below. The
ground was pale and dusty, and most of all, it was flat.
Eowyn said nothing as she staggered up to level ground, legs
giving out at last, and sprawled onto the dirt.
It bit into her cheek, but she didn’t care, not as she breathed
and breathed her body trembling. She wouldn’t move until

6
dawn. Not even to use the bathroom. She’d rather wet
herself than have to move another muscle.
Caidan hasn’t said anything to her since they had left. They
walked and walked. No words slipping out. He, then said
“take of the pack before you pass out so I can at least cook
dinner myself.”
His words were cold, distant.
They barely spoke.
The thought had her unclipping the straps from where they
lay across her hips and chest. The pack thudded to the earth,
and she twisted to nudge it toward him with a foot. Her legs
trembled with the movement. But she made herself back up,
until she was leaning against a small boulder.
He grabbed the pack with only a grunt, as if she hadn’t been
sweating and shaking under its weight all day. Then he strode
off into the nearby bush, the knee-high grasses and bushes
rustling.
The wind murmured ured, wending between the peaks.
Shadows slowly crept over the craggy sides of the mountains,
the lingering sun casting their upper limits in gold, the chill
deepening with each inch yielded to the rising dark.
The river roared down the mountainside, a constant rushing
that she’d heard throughout the day as they walked, its many

7
rapids just barely visible from the outlook. Even here, with
the light fading, the river’s color shifted from slate to pine as
it wandered between the peaks along the valley floor.
It was all so still, yet watchful, somehow. As if she were
surrounded by something ancient and half-awake. As if each
peak had its own moods and preferences, like whether the
clouds clung to or avoided them, or trees lined their sides or
left them bare. Their shape were so odd and long that they
looked as if behemoths had once laid down beside the rivers,
pulled a rumpled blanket over themselves, and fallen asleep
forever.
The thought of sleep must have lured her into it, for the next
thing she knew, the world was dark, save for the stars and
the nearly full moon, so bright that a fire hadn’t been
needed. Though she could have used its warmth. Caidan lay a
few feet away, his back to her, the moonlight gilding his back.

He’d left her a plate of food—bread and hard cheese and

some sort of dried meat. She didn’t touch it, though. Ignored
the grumble in her stomach. She wouldn’t let herself be
vulnerable. Resilient was the only word she would have to
keep in mind.

8
Chapter 2
In the bright sunlight of a new day, Eowyn woke up
abruptly. She had no idea where she was or even what
was going on. At that broad moment, she saw him.
Shirtless. She couldn’t get the hang of what he was
doing over there but by that angle she was able to see
him staring and consuming the view.
At that very moment, she quickly realised he turned.
Now staring at her. She couldn’t keep his eyes locked on
him enough; he dropped his gaze to the barely touched
plate.
I suddenly flinched. he was getting closer to me. He
instead whirled around, his eyes still on me knowing i

9
knew he was previously looking at me while I was dead
asleep.

10