SIX | REALITY CHECK

"-guys!" Yuri's voice breaks through the haze. Zane falls back on his butt with an audible *oof* and a stunned expression. *He saw it, too. It wasn't a hallucination*. Yuri's almost at the base of the hill with us and I'm scrambling for an answer to the question I see burning in Zane's eyes. *This can't be happening*. He gives me a dark, shiver inducing look that doesn't feel all that great, before making his expression blank. "Geez, you sure heal fast, Scarlett." Yuri crouches down beside me and looks over my out stretched legs.

The tumble down the edge of the mini cliff left ragged scratches in my sweat pants and shirt. My pale skin is exposed, along with some of the angry scars from my childhood. Other than that, only a few bruises are still visible where the really bad injuries were not too long ago. I swallow hard, feeling sick at the realization that Yuri must think my scars are from the fall. I don't correct him.

"I should go-" I get up before either guy can notice the scars aren't healing. Everything inside me seems to be anatomically fine. No screaming pain, just dull stabs where bruises are trying to heal or internal bleeding is cleaning itself up. I've had worse.

"*No*-" Zane begins to growl at his cousin, eyes narrowing at him, but Yuri gives him a not-so-subtle punch to the gut that makes Zane double over.

"Sure. Don't worry about it, Scarlett, we'll let Coach know you had to go. We can get an excuse from Hale for tomorrow-" Yuri nods to me and points in the general direction of the school before Zane tackles him to the ground.

"Thanks!" I call, not wasting a second, running along the bottom of the ravine until the path evens out. My whirring mind is about ready to explode. Visions aren't natural for Wolven. Shared visions are even less common. And the fact that both of us were conscious during the whole thing only solidifies my fear. I know what this *could* mean but that doesn't make it true. I need to talk to Mom. *Now*.




In record time, I've run back into the school, carefully avoiding the humans on the trail and the coach. It's not hard. Most humans are loud by nature, unaware of the volume of their own footsteps. Hell, I used to train with Trackers. Trackers like Ryker if my vision was anything to go by. A Wolven trained to use a more heightened sense of smell and hearing.

Once I'm inside the school, I make my way in and out of the locker room, grabbing my stuff and slipping back outside. Since the gym is at the back of the school, I have to walk past countless windows and locked doors to get to the parking lot. My resolve to *not* think about anything concerning the vision is crumbling as the seconds turn to minutes. Luckily, I make it to the front of the school where my car's parked before the inevitable shell-shock takes the remaining threads of my focus. Muscle memory takes over as I unlock my door and jump in, shoving my backpack onto the floor of the passenger's side, and driving off towards the house I'm living in.

Visions aren't natural. Then again, I'm not natural, so what's new? But why did I suddenly get one, my first ever vision, with Zane? And why not before? We went through an entire day before the vision came. I run a hand through my hair, disheveling the bright red curtain and making the color dance in the outer field of my sight. My memory replay is on autopilot, going over and over the entire thing. Starting with that unnatural feeling, right before I lost control of my legs and went toppling off the edge of the path.

I don't know what's up with me lately. The headaches, the pain in my head, the way my vision suddenly goes red... I should tell Mom. Should. But I know I won't. I promised myself I'd never worry her like I had five years ago. Never again.

Gritting my teeth, I snap out of my thoughts and find that I've already made it to my new house. I park the car, grab my pack, and the keys, and lurch towards the door. There's a good five minutes of my hands shaking before I can get the key into the lock. By then, I'm about ready to break the door down with my bare fists, I feel so wound up, but finally the key goes in.

With my back against the now closed door, I feel my legs give. I collapse against the front door, eyes fixed on the end of the hall as I mechanically pull out my phone. Moving on autopilot, I dial Mom's number and press the device to my ear. My heart's beating loudly in my ear as the phone rings, a solid minute passes. Then another.

"*What's wrong?*" Her voice is cold and business like, but I can hear the worry in her words. My eyes shut and I force a little smile on my face, though I'm the furthest thing from happy right now.

"Can't I just call to hear your voice?" We both know the answer to that question.

"*No*." Her response is less icy, but not warm. She knows something is wrong. I don't just call out of the blue, especially not before the arranged time. This was a bad idea. I feel a distant pang of worry shiver through me at the thought of maybe being found because I'm not sticking to the precautions we'd set.

"I saw something today." I begin before I've decided to say anything else. "I met some of the Wolven from the Azure Pack, they're nice." I force the words out slowly, like I'm saying it in a casual way, but the syllables keep getting stuck in my throat. Mom doesn't say anything, but I can hear the slight hitch in her breathing.

"*What did you see?*" Her words are cautious, carefully devoid of emotion.

"It...well it looked like one of them had a vision." I evade using the full truth. If she knew I had a vision too - a shared vision - I shudder to think of what she'd do. Maybe whisk me away? Force me to leave before I can even discover what all of it means. *But where would I go?* I've been up and down the whole eastern coast and even some of the central portion of the country. The western border would be suicide. Hunters would be able to pick me out of a crowd in a snap and try to kill me before I knew that they were there. *No. This is it*.

"*A vision?*" Mom's tone relaxes at her surprise and I think she even sighs in relief. "*Okay, well, while it's not normal, there's something in the history books that documented Ancient Powers*." She's referring to the books Grandmother kept in the library back in the Alpha House. *"I guess I should be passing along this knowledge to you, but things have been*..." She lets her words trail off before clearing her throat. "*Anyway, it's okay. Some Wolven families have strong abilities that get passed down. It's how Ryker was so good as a Tracker, so is his brother and his mother*." She explains, her tone going dry at the mention of my cousin. "*That boy could find a rabbit across state lines.*"

"Hm." I murmur softly, thinking about the vision a little more worriedly now. Ry did find me. When? I have no clue. But long enough in the future that apparently Zane and I get closer. "But what if two Wolven shared the vision?"

"*Were they twins?*" Mom seems a little surprised again. "*Your uncle Zariel and I shared visions from time to time. Small ones. But they were warnings of sorts, ways for the Pack to stay safe*." Zariel was Paris' father. The man neither of us ever knew because he was killed before we were born. Mom almost never talks about him.

"No, they weren't even blood relatives." I tell her, again not lying, but also not admitting the whole truth.

"*Now* that's..." Mom begins, then immediately goes quiet. When she starts talking again, I hear her curiosity. "*Not normal. Possible, but not normal. Maybe the two are mates. True mated Wolven can share abilities if their own families linage is strong enough or the bond between the two is strong enough. Hm*," I hear keys jingling on the other end of the line. My heart's gone back to beating like a drum, practically overbearing in my head. *True mates. Not just the* m *word, but more*... Oddly enough, though, my Wolven side is silent. Like it knows this isn't great news.

"True mates?" I ask tentatively, worry churning my nerves and my emotions into a maelstrom in my head and gut.

"*Hm? Oh, yes, like what the humans call soulmates, but for our kind*." Mini alarms go off in my head, icy dread shuddering through me. "*They're not usually so young, true mates normally find each other when they're much older. Of course, if the two have strong linages...yes, I suppose it's possible. Maybe a one in*-" A little smile slips onto my lips. Mom used to be a historian for the Reinier Pack, one of the few in the Pack who had a college degree, in fact. She used to spend hours pouring over the books in the Alpha library and make theories based on whatever she read. The familiarity of it warms me, calms me.

"Mom." I interrupt her, and she clears her throat.

"*Anyway, it's strange, but not completely unheard of*." She gets back to the topic before going off again. "*I really should have taught you this a while back, it's common knowledge in the Pack at your age*." She means the Reinier Pack. "*It's how we decided the roles, but of course you would have needed to complete the full shift in order to be properly inducted.*.." Mom continues and I know she wants to say 'since you were a latent shifter they didn't want to train you', but I'm glad she doesn't bring it up. My scars have started to throb again with the memory of that night.

"I get it. It's not like we've been just relaxing this entire time." I tell her, feeling the anxiety of the situation fading the longer we talk. "I just thought it was weird. Wasn't sure what to think about it."

"*It's not something you should worry about too much, Wisty. Just keep a safe distance from the ones with visions, they may catch on if you get too close to them.*" She warns, her tone relaxing.

"They're nice. The Wolven from the Azure Pack." I admit to her. "I only met the two, but they're nice." I find myself unable to say anything else about the two I met today. "And Mr. Hale was nice too. Ms. Jin's...odd." I add after a second, feeling like I'm talking too much about the Azure cousins.

"*And...did Mr. Hale seem.*.."I hear her struggle to find a word to express herself. Again, my curiosity quirks and I think about the encounter I had with my English teacher.

"He felt familiar...but, Mom, I smelled iron on him. What does that mean?" I wrinkle my nose at the memory of the bitter scent I got off him.

"*I don't know, honey. Maybe he has a strange diet*." Mom's tone gets a little brusque. "*And Jin?*" She all but spits the name. "*She was weird? How so?*"

"I guess, I mean it felt like she could read my mind or something." I laugh nervously, reliving that unpleasantness. "It was...weird." I can't think of a better word for it.

"*It's another rare ability, but not as rare as Mind Sight - the visions. They called it Seeking*." She admits what I dreaded. "*Your great, great Grandfather was rumored to have had the ability. Drove him mad.*" Her words are cool and carefree again, it's a strange change, but I share in her disdain. I definitely don't like the knowledge that my inner thoughts, things I wish to keep private, are so easily exposed.

"Now that you mention it..." I mutter quietly, thinking about my strange Latin teacher, then shake my head. "Anyway, thanks. I know we decided on a time, but it just kind of floored me for a while." I admit to her.

"*It's fine, Wisty. Just, remember not to do it often. They can track us more easily if I don't...put in certain precautions. It's only for emergencies*." She reminds me.

"I know. Sorry." I nod to myself, knowing she's just going to lecture me if I try to explain to her my reasons for thinking this was kind of an emergency.

"*I'll call you tomorrow. We may need to set up a different time, but I'lll have to look into it.*" She sighs, and I know she's already thinking about the logistics of my latest screw up.* Maybe this is how Ry finds me?* I feel a wave of nausea wash over me the more I contemplate the term 'self-fulfilling prophecy'. "*We should be fine.*" Mom adds after a second.

"Sometimes I wonder if you can read my mind." I smirk at the wall. Mom laughs a little.

"*If I could, maybe we couldn't have ended up in this mess.*" She sighs. "*I would have read Petra's mind before she kicked me out*." She pauses. "*Though, maybe not... Well, we can't change the past, honey. I'll call you tomorrow*."

"Talk to you tomorrow." I reply softly and the line goes dead. I press the 'end' button and close my eyes again, reliving the conversation. *True mates. Soul mates. This can't be happening*. When I finally can't think of anything else and the nervousness of this whole situation has overwhelmed me, all I want to do is run. Run far, far away and never look back. For once, me and my more feral side are in complete agreement.