Inner Predator: Unleashed

Epilogue

Sorry it took so long to get this up! Enjoy :] 

Epilogue

"Why are you nervous?" Penny asks with a roll of her eyes. I turn from the mirror to her. She's quite beautiful today. Her long hair is up and braided intricately, a spell she's spent the last month perfecting, and it does look perfect. As a finishing touch, small wildflowers decorate her hair sparsely. They're real and not wilted at all, even in the heat of the summer. Probably a spell. The same one, I imagine that's keeping my own flowers in perfect condition. It's good to have a mage around sometimes.

"I'm not nervous," I tell her.

"Uh, yeah. You are," she says with the snarky attitude that only an eleven year old can have. "You're going to sweat off all your make-up."

"Can't sweat off a Glamour, Penny."

"Fine. But you're pacing so much, my feet hurt."

"Okay," I admit slumping my shoulders. "I'm nervous."

"Yeah, but why?"

That's a good question but what it really boils down to is I'm nervous to let something good happen. It scares me because so many times something good has been ruined. It's probably why I've made excuse after excuse for the last three years to avoid this day. Not that I don't want it to happen. I just... don't want to place too much faith in the hope that nothing bad will happen.

Since the war ended, things have been smooth. Better than smooth, they've been wonderful. Arlo gave us one of his homes, in West Virginia. It's in a really small town and we know pretty much everyone. They all know we're different, I'm sure it'd be hard to miss. Chase isn't exactly careful about keeping his speed to a human pace, and Linc whose powers are showing up far earlier than they should be is following in his footsteps. Let's face it, people notice when a toddler who should be barely walking on his own is running around faster than most adults. And now that he's turned three, he's knocking people over with hugs... and accidently leaving bruises from squeezing too tightly. Just once though... or twice. Just twice.

They don't seem to care though. The humans. They've accepted us into the weave and though no one has ever asked us directly, I'm sure they know we're Supernaturals.

There's still tension though, between humans and Supernaturals. A general hesitancy to trust one another. Every now and again, more often than most of us would like, I'm sure, something breaks out. A group of humans gang up to kill a Supernatural. A group of Supernaturals feel it necessary to retaliate. We're still far off from total peace and harmony, but it's nothing like it was years ago.

It's... good.

I never really thought I'd say that and least of all believe it when I did, but I do. We live a quiet little life that I thought could only be a dream near the mountains of West Virginia. We're unbothered by humans and Supernaturals alike. No politics to deal with. No wars. Penny comes and stays most weekends and breaks with us, but otherwise prefers the boarding school Arlo pays for. It's still Supernaturals only and as far as a bunch of powerful kids learning to use their powers go, that's probably for the best.

Sometimes though, it still seems surreal. Like at any moment the other shoe could drop. Like I'm going to get too comfortable and then something will happen again, like it did in DC.

"I know it's hard," she says to me sounding much older than she really is. Sounding more like a friend or sister than someone half my age. "I still have nightmares, you know? Not as many as before, but sometimes my roommate has to shake me awake because I've been screaming in my sleep."

I nod along. I didn't know this for sure, but I assumed as much. Chase has grown accustomed to waking up to the sound of my own nightmares. I don't remember them most of the time, I just wake up terrified until I realize it's Chase hovering above me.