ASHES ASHES | teen wolf

four. rising from the ashes

Nova had never gotten a hangover before, but as she woke up, she was sure it couldn't be worse than what she was currently experiencing. Her head was pounding and she groaned as she tried to sit up.

"Don't," Cadmus' voice warned softly. "Try opening your eyes first, acclimate to the world of the living slowly."

The world of the living

"Holy shit," Nova's snapped open as she shot up in bed so quickly that the entire world shifted on its axis. She trembled slightly, but Cadmus was there in an instant, supporting her with hands on her shoulders and back.

He was frowning, but his eyes were unmistakeable fond as he moved his hand to comb through her hair. "You scared the hell out of me yesterday, you know."

Nova swallowed, feeling the beginnings of bile working up her throat. "I died," she whispered.

"Yep."

"I got shoved off a roof."

"Uh-huh."

"I was dead."

"We established that."

Nova's eyes narrowed as she looked at her cousin. "And you aren't even freaked out a little by this?"

Cadmus shrugged. "I wouldn't say that. Mom and I spent hours last night trying to figure out how this was possible. She would totally be here, but she has to meet with a friend to make sure that you're going to be safe now that you manifested. We thought the most dangerous possibility was that you'd turn out like me, and when I said I was hoping it wasn't the case, I didn't mean I wanted this for you. But of course Uncle Ben had to make some questionable life decisions."

"What the hell does this have to do with my dad?" Nova demanded, making her cousin drop his head into his hands.

"When he said he was going to keep you in the dark about it, I didn't think he seriously meant that he meant completely." Raising his eyes to her own, Cadmus sighed. "At least we have a decent groundwork now, considering recent events."

Recent events... like Nova dying and coming back to life.

"First, need to know I won't lie to you, even about the scary parts, okay? I will tell you the absolute truth no matter what. Second, you have to promise you won't freak out or tell anyone about this," Cadmus looked more serious than he ever had, so Nova bit down on her response about how she really wasn't eager to shout to the world she was either crazy or some sort of freak, nodding instead. Nodding back at her, Cadmus smiled weakly and closed his eyes. When he reopened them, Nova had to bite down on a scream at the sight of the transformation from warm brown eyes to bright orange slitted ones, like a lizard's.

"How...?" she couldn't find the words, her fingers reaching out cautiously to run over bumps that had formed around his eyes.

Cadmus blinked with a shy grin, amazing her when she saw that they were back to normal once he opened them, no bumps left on his skin. "You didn't freak out like Mom did, at least. To be fair, when I was born she was looking at a small infant covered in scales. To put it in the simplest terms possible, I'm a dragon."

Nova blinked. "A dragon," she replied slowly, waiting for the punchline that never came. It was totally nuts, but... what else was she supposed to believe, with that little show? "How?"

Her cousin looked a little surprised, but also relieved. "Mom's a siren, but she suppressed her voice before I was even born. She hasn't sung in over twenty years. Grandma was a siren too, which is what we thought you would manifest as when we found out about your music... but as I said, Uncle Ben."