Tigris Albus

Chapter II

Glaciēs slowly backed away from the mirror, her wide eyes couldn't help but stare and her hands were glued to her face. She rubbed her face but the strange markings would not budge out of place. Clean thick black lines on her face and arms, she didn’t even want to know where else they were. They were etched perfectly as if they had always belonged there. Her legs felt weak and she nearly buckled over when two strong hands gripped her by the waist and helped keep her steady. She turned around to face everyone, they all looked back at her calmly, she couldn't understand how they were being casual about it, how they were looking at her like nothing was wrong. She had become an even bigger freak than before, as if her hair and eyes weren’t enough, she had to have black lines on every inch of her too.

She opened and closed her mouth several times thinking of the right thing to say or ask but nothing would come out; she was completely speechless. She looked at herself in the mirror and her reflection stared back at her as if everything were normal. “It’s the storm, the storm triggered the markings and your full powers. We have to go, there’s no time to explain right now.”

Her face contorted with anger; she was mad at how she looked, mad at the things coming out of the strange guys mouth, mad at her ma and pa for just looking at her like everything was normal and most of all mad that nothing was making sense. Her life had just casually been turned upside down in a matter of minutes and yet she had no say in it at all and had no idea where to begin with it all. It was more than just anger, she felt betrayed by her parents and ashamed of how she looked, she wanted to hide away in her bed and never leave but a tiny voice told her she couldn’t do that, that they were right and she had to get out as soon as possible.

Glaciēs was never one for violence but the anger inside of her was restless, it was like an itch that refused to go away, she swallowed and strode away to her room. She locked the door behind her and unleashed a roar that sounded alien to her, she had never made a sound like that before but she couldn’t stop. The roars kept getting more aggressive and a humming sound bounced off of her body and collected itself into the tight room. She squeezed her eyes shut, her body trembled and in a matter of seconds the glass around her exploded into hundreds of tiny shards. She stood still in the middle of the room; shaking, she opened her eyes and examined the damage around her.

The glass somehow hadn’t affected her but it definitely destroyed everything else inside. Glaciēs collapsed to the floor not able to believe that she had caused that much damage. She wrapped her arms around her body and sat there staring into nothingness; all her mind could think about was what she had just done and what she was capable of doing. She didn’t have time to wonder what had just happened before the door to her room came flying open and in walked the strange guy from before. He took one quick look around, his expression going quickly from confusion to comprehension. He knew it was her who had caused it and in his eyes she could see that it didn’t faze him. He leaned down to pick out a shard of glass that had nuzzled itself into her bun but before his hands could touch her she flinched back. For a moment he thought she was afraid of him but no sooner did he realise that it was herself she was afraid of.

For a minute or two the room was completely silent, not a single breath could be heard. Shakily Glaciēs stood up and smoothed out the bottom of her dress, she cleared her throat and looked at the strange man, fera, she thought. From that day on Glaciēs would call him that rather than by his name, she’d discover the irony of it all later.

A howl broke out in the far distance, “What was that?” Glaciēs whipped her head around, her eyes narrowed, focusing her attention on the small window.

“What are you talking about? I didn’t hear anything” he commented, cautiously walking towards her. “Howling… it came from the east.” Glaciēs pressed her nose against the window, her breath steaming the glass up. She peered outside, but could see nothing due to the fog that had slowly accumulated and the sun that shied away from the mountain of clouds.