✧✶Julianna Valentina De La Bellam
¹⁷.² ᵖᵃᵍᵉˢ ⁵,⁴⁷⁵ ʷᵒʳᵈˢ
"FNYA! COLD! COLD! COLD!"
"GRIM, PLEASE, YOU'RE FILTHY– oW!"
"Serves ya right. HEEE!" Grim shook dirty rainwater from his soaked fur and it sprayed directly into Julianna's sputtering face.
She pinched him by the scruff, "Look what you did– look! You bit me!"
"It's coooold."
"Yeah? How do you think I feel?" Two massive bathrooms colored in yellow toilets, black puddles, fresh cobwebs, moldy drains, rusty showerheads, slimy walls, and ominous stains spelled a glaring "you better not" for Julianna—and she lived through months in forests. Plus, the rooms smelled suspiciously of sprite. Clearly, some brave soul entered with raid ant spray and never crawled out of that murder den because a giant spider ate them. So, naturally, her gaze fell to the literal buckets and bowls of rainwater which led them both to one painful ice-bucket challenge of a shower.
She brushed her straightened brown locks aside with a huff after using the robe to dry and swaddle Grim. She'd grown accustomed to the cold young, but not the water. Julianna avoided water like strangers at the door: keep it out of sight and if it gets close start kicking and screaming—her mother's advice. Pops would've said to invite them in, but in the rare case vampires existed she opted for the first bit in the name of self-preservation. Getting turned into a vampire before 21 sounded like a crisis; imagine getting alcohol privileges yoinked away for eternity.
Julianna redressed in her grubby button-up, pants, and heeled boots because guess what gracious headmaster conveniently forgot to lend her a school uniform: Dumbledore—just kidding, Dire Crowley isn't that useless, but he proved himself to be a slithery bum. Snape? She'd call him Snape the Second. Similar to how Professor Snape targeted Harry, she knew he did this to humiliate her. Now she had to prance around in front of the hot-as-balls main cast like a snotty maid.
She felt real god tears congest her nostrils.
Grim burrowed deeper into his robe burrito and adjusted his dead weight in her arms. She heard him sniffling, "N' so early toooo. I wanna sleep." She counted nine seconds before hearing purring snores.
Soft white rays trickled through boarded windows. A heavenly glow cast over the snow of dust and gave their pity for shelter a beautiful halo. Careful heels weighed on creaky plank stairs, approaching glittering green waters.
The first floor flooded.
She followed a limp lump of scales as it drifted past with her eyes. And there floated her new neighbor.
With a subdued sigh, quiet to not wake Grim, Julianna plunged ankle-deep in dirty moss water. These boots were not made for the elements. She groaned. The water swam between her toes. Decades-old furniture floated by as she passed; murk created the illusion of a deep river through the ruined dorm and she glanced up as a stray drop hit her head. The hole in the roof revealed a calm though grey sky giving way to patches of blue.
It was peaceful.
Julianna hopped over the broken front doors and gave a gentle pat to the structure as she left. Mildew dancing on lush blades of grass brought her back to the times when Pops dropped her in their backyard woods and said "Survive". The man was a nutjob but at least it paid off: this temporary home fit like a water-clogged boot.
Her gaze traveled over the horizon. Brilliant sunlight barely peeked through the distant throng of trees, but birds chirped. Animals. Wildlife inhabited the forest she vented in last night. Good to know she got lucky. Imagine running into an ultra bear with magic in the dead of night in a hail storm. She shivered. At least she could trust school to just be boring and not rampant with threats.
YOU ARE READING
Twist of Fates
Fanfiction"I see," The Mirror of Darkness' tone commanded silence and received it in waves. His deep treble bounced uncharacteristically: a subtle smirk within his mask. "An innate ruinous soul b'rn to ign'rant human flesh... such disastrous possibilities..."...
