CHAPTER 7

Chapter 7

Raven

I stare at Sadie as she sleeps. My mind was jumbled, and my soul was conflicted. I didn’t know what to do with her. She was basically a stranger. If there is one thing my mother instilled in me before she died, it’s that wolves are dangerous and to never trust them.

Sadie was clearly one, even though she was yet to shift. I wanted to follow my mother’s advice, but for some reason, my heart trusted Sadie. My heart had bonded itself in a way that I never thought would

be possible.

“What are you thinking so hard about?” Beth asked as she walked in with a couple of herbs from the

garden outside.

I’ve known her for about two years now. It’s been a wonderful two years living with her. I used to think. that my mother was powerful, but she had nothing on Beth. I might be exaggerating, but I honestly think that Beth’s powers match those of the gods.

It was all a coincidence when I found her. My mother had been killed. I still don’t know who did it or what happened. After burying her, I wandered for months. Lost and in complete sorrow. I stumbled upon Beth’s hut, miles away from home, by accident.

She’d seen the struggle inside me. The pain I was trying so desperately not to drown in. Without knowing me, she had opened her arms and consoled me as I allowed myself to cry and mourn over my mother for the first time since she died. After that, as people would say, the rest was history. I stayed with her, and we became a family of two.

We will probably end up being a family of three, now with Sadie around. I could see it in Beth’s eyes. She already loved the girl and was ready to open her doors for her. Just like she did with me.

“Raven?” she calls again, breaking my chain of thoughts.

I sigh, not really sure what to say. “To be honest, my mind is all over the place.”

“Is this about your dreams?” she asks as she gently washes the herbs before placing them on the table to dry.

“Yes.” I exhale sharply. “I just don’t know how it’s possible.”

My dreams started around a year ago. At first, they were random and happened once in a while. I tried stopping them but I couldn’t. About three or so months ago, they became constant. They happened almost every single day. Sometimes I couldn’t clearly tell what was happening, but one thing, or,

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should I say, one person, remained clear. A girl with long black hair.

Sadie.

Before, the dreams were just normal. Her with friends, laughing, and being silly. That kind of thing. But those from a few months ago were darker. Sometimes I woke up with her chilling screams still ringing in my f**g ears.

I didn’t understand why I kept dreaming of a girl that I didn’t know. That’s until I came across her in the forest. Beaten, helpless, weak, and about to be raped by a bunch of rogues.

To be honest, I still don’t understand how or why I kept dreaming of her. I’m not an oracle, so this shouldn’t have happened. I shouldn’t be able to dream about her or what happened to her before we

met.

“Some things are just beyond our control, Raven. Leave it to the gods. They know what they’re doing,” Beth simply says.

It’s through Beth that I came to know that each species has its own god. Werewolves worship Selene. Witches worship Hecate. Vampires worship Absalom,

“But don’t you find it strange?” I questioned, “I start dreaming of her, then months later, those dreams. turn darker and then boom! I find her beaten, tortured and nearing death?”

“It may be because you’re bonded to her,” she faces me. “It’s the only possible explanation.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes. Things happen for a reason and I believe there is a reason why you’ve been dreaming of Sadie. You were meant to find her. You were meant to help her. I believe that your destinies are intertwined.”

I stare at her, not really sure what to think. What she was telling me was beyond anything I could think of or imagine. How do you even digest something like that? How is it possible that our destinies were somehow connected when I knew nothing of her?

“Do you honestly think that?” I ask still a bit unsure.

“Yes,” she replies softly. “I know that Sadie is meant for something big, and you, my darling Raven, are meant to be by her side.”

I just nod, still unable to really comprehend what she had just revealed. I continue staring at one place. Completely focused and lost in mind.

“Hey,” her soft voice greets, and I am pulled from my confusing thoughts.

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She then proceeds to tell us everything that happened. She doesn’t tell us the name of the man, but she tells us every cruel thing he did to her and how everyone except one person turned on her without so much as a second thought.

By the time she’s done narrating the hell she’s been through these past couple of months, we are all a sobbing mess. It was gut-wrenching how cruel they were to her. No wonder she looked like she was halfway through death’s door when I found her.

“I know what they did was terrible, but either way, this man, whoever he is needs to know he’s going to be a father. What he decides to do with that information is up to him, but at least you tried,” Beth says gently, while holding her hand.

I take her other hand. The need to comfort her was riding me hard.

“Beth is right. He deserves to know,” I add.

“But what if he doesn’t want anything to do with the baby?” her voice is small as she asks.

“Then that’s his problem. We’ll help you raise him or her. You won’t be alone”, I assure her, and Beth nods her head.

“He banished me. Given his treatment and hatred of me, he’ll want to hurt me. What if he hurts me and the baby?”

I did understand where she was coming from, but she had to do this. It’ll kill her slowly, knowing that she never told him. I’ve seen it before with my mother. I never understood the haunted look in her eyes. Not until I read one of her journals after she died.

She wrote that her biggest regret was never telling me who my father was and never telling my father she was pregnant.

Knowing the pain of growing up without a dad, I don’t want the same for her baby. That is, if there is a chance of the father accepting him or her.

I turn to her with a determined look.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll go with you and I won’t let him harm you.” I vow. “He’ll have to go through me before he can get to you”

Chapter 3