Never ownED myself

In the woods

"Tell him, you should probably head North east as indicated by the first clue than for that constellation and that we should hurry. If I am right, the paper will give us a new clue when we geet near the indicated place. " Annie told Leah later that evening. The paper shone under the dim light of the night, dots came out of the paper surrounding  them. As soon as they walked to the indicated direction, the illuminated trail disappeared drawn back into the paper.

Annie hadn't given up on her body, but her wolf was needed. She just hoped to stay awake this time and keep her memories. She had to linger into the world, she couldn't disappear. Could her soul disappearif she stayed too long into her wolf form? She had so many questions and no one to answer them. Her father was her only hope. She had to find him for her sake.

Tom jumped over Leah's back and left. Leah found a renewed happiness running into an uncharted territory with Tom as her companion. She was with him. She felt alive.

The wind whispered through the pine trees like a warning. It was cold and sharp, slicing through the forest's silence. Snow had begun to fall again. Soft and lazy, the flakes drifted from a pale sky, blanketing the earth with quiet inevitability. The hunger finally gnawed at both of them and make them stop. Close to the fire that Tom did, they had kept their bodies pressed together.

The night had been cold, but Leah's fur had save them both.

Annie stirred first. Her breath fogged in the air, a fragile cloud that vanished before it could warm her face. Annie's eyes roamed her body with a fright.  "I can't be naked. Please!" But she wasn't. Beneath her skin, the wolf bristled. Restless, agitated, even in her dreams the wolf had kept control over her form. The beast inside her was stong and it had tasted freedom the day before. "She can't be trusted!"

The last time, the wolf had overwhelmed her, erased her, almost. Leah had a will of her own, far too strong. She wasn't like Philip's wolf. Or perhars, she had failed at what her tutot had tried to teach her. "The wolf needs to be subdued, forced into submission. If you don't, you will lose your humanity."

Yet, Anni hadn't been able to do so. Leah was real, she existed and Annie couldn't do as she was told. Because, in some undeniable way, she was like her. She hadn't been in a cage, but Annie had been deprived of her freewill. Magic, could become a weapon in the wrong hands and her mother hadn't been the exception.

A tear slipped down her cheek. She had loved her family. Yet no matter what she did, her mother was never happy. They were not enough. Her mother's shifts became longer, her presence more fleeting. Eventually, days passed without a visit. The fridge emptied, and with it, Annie's dreams of using her full scholarship faded. Someone had to stay. "With mom disappearing weeks at a time, how was I to study in a different city?"  

"Had it matter? No, nothing mattered! She came just to announce that she had met someone and that I had no place in her new life." Annie looked at the sky. She had no control over the dormant wolf's body, but somehow, she could contol her eyes. "And just like that, I became a college student in a far-off city, mid-semester, unmoored and alone."

Her thoughts drifted again. She floated between worlds, like she was waking from a dream too deep to leave behind. Leah's soul, thankfully, remained too tired to rise. 

Tom stired, her paw moved. She clung to reality like a lifeline. He lay beside her, his breath steady despite the cold. A flicker of warmth stirred in her chest at the sight of him. He had passed the night close to the wolf's chest. He had become her friend and the only steady thing in her life. In sleep, he looked younger, almost peaceful. But Annie knew better.

His life, too, was shaped by shadows. Messy, hidden. She didn't know the full extent of it yet, but his past clung to him like smoke. He never smiled, never joked, never let his guard down. His magic hummed like a low current, always on, always vigilant. Even with his closest friends, he never fully relaxed. The flicker of distrust never left his eyes.