Riley

13

"Riley. Come on. Wake up. Please." A familiar voice filtered through the haze. I heard my name called a few more times before I managed to blink open my eyes. It took a second for them to adjust before the faces of my friends and family came into view.

"Riley! Oh my god! You're awake!" Sam's voice shouted. I groaned at the massive headache and ringing in my ears.

"Yes. It appears so." I muttered, attempting to sit up even though my head felt as if it weighed more than my entire body. I glanced around to find that I was back in the house on one of the sofas. Sara had apparently been my pillow while the rest of them sat in front of where I was. " Umm, can someone fill me in on what happened?"

They all glanced at each other before Adrian spoke up. "We were hoping you could tell us. Last we saw, you went out to talk to that Leo dude. After an hour had passed and you still weren't back, me and Alex went to go find you. When we did, you were passed out on the ground and the two guys were gone. I carried you back in here and Sam called your mom. And we've just been sitting here all worried waiting for you to wake up and for your mom to get here."

I sat for a second, taking in the new information and remembering my conversation with Leo. I glanced over at Alex and Maya, thinking back on what he had said. It was then that I remembered that he had said I needed to change. My eyes widened slightly in fear.

"I'm fine guys. Promise." I said, slowly standing and backing towards the stairs. "Just... I'll be back in a bit." I then turned and jogged up the stairs and to my room, ignoring their calls for me to come back. Quickly making it to my room, I closed and locked the door behind me and stripped off my clothes as I made my way to my bathroom. I finally made it to my full body mirror and froze. My toned body now showed well defined muscles. Not enough to look masculine but still more than I had before. My shoulder length hair now fell a little past midway down my back. My eyes were a brighter shade of grey, not quite glowing but not their normal color either. And while the physical upgrades to my body was nice, the reason I froze was due to the many tattoos that now adorned my body. Actually, looking closer, it appeared to just be one tattoo that went over my entire body. It started at the back of my neck and followed down my spine. It broke off at the base of my neck to go over both of my arms; forming two bands over my left bicep and wrapping around my right arm to form an intricate design. The tattoo broke off again at the base of my spine to follow along my hipbones before trailing down the outsides of my thighs. I was broken out of my self examination by a knock on my bedroom door. I quickly began dressing while I made my way over to the door.

"Sam, I really don't wanna- hi, Mom." I said, opening the door to find my mother standing on the other side. I barely had time to register the panicked look on her face before I was pulled into a bone crushing hug.

"Riley, are you okay?" She asked, her grip on me never loosening. I opened my mouth to tell her that I was, in fact perfectly fine, only to find the words getting lost in my throat and a strangled sob coming out in their place. One moment I'm fine, the next, I'm sitting on my bed crying like a toddler in my mother's arms. I don't know how long we sat there but I was eventually able to get a hold of myself and stop crying. I could only manage an embarrassed glance in my mom's direction and a quick muttered "Be right back" before heading quickly into my bathroom. Running some water over my face, it took a few minutes before I was able to get the red, puffiness of my eyes to go away before I headed back into my room where my mother sat waiting.

"Sorry about that." I sheepishly muttered.

"You don't need to apologize baby." She gently said as I made my way back over to sit beside her. "Do you want to tell me about it?" I sighed, running my hands through my now longer hair.

"Well, I met him, Leo. He came here and we went outside to talk and he spouted some bullsh- um, crap. And then I think the whole situation became kind of overwhelming and I guess I fainted or something." I told her, refusing to make eye contact. I could feel her eyes studying the side of my face before she let out a small sigh.

"So you know you're not one hundred percent human then." I looked over at her in shock as she continued speaking. " Yes, I am aware that your father is... different and I figured you might be as well. I wasn't sure though because you never did anything out of the ordinary growing up. I grew wary as you got closer to your twelfth birthday and decided to tell you the truth about your father a couple of days after." She stopped and sighed. "As I've said, you didn't take to the information well and my suspicions that you took after your father were confirmed."

I sat in shocked silence. My mother knew. She knew this entire time about Leo and his legacy children and how I'm not "entirely human".

"Why- why didn't... how did you..." I stuttered, trying to voice the many questions swimming around in my head. I took a deep breath before slowly letting it out. "So, what am I?" I finally managed to ask. A small smile formed on my mother's face.

"Stubborn. And hard headed. Pretty good athlete too." She said, glancing over at me.

"Mom."

"Riley."

"Fine. Did he have tattoos?" I asked exasperatedly.

"Your father?" I narrowed my eyes slightly.

"Leo. Did Leo have tattoos?" I asked again.

"Yes," she sighed. "Why?"

I looked over at my mom nervously before slowly taking off the shirt I had been wearing.

"Because of these." I told her, keeping my eyes planted firmly on the wall in front of me.

"These what, Riley?" My mom asked confused. My eyes shot down to glance over my body to find it clear of tattoos, all except for the one that wrapped around my right arm.

"Well, because of this then," I told her, showing it to her. "I- there had been more but... never mind."

"He made you get a tattoo?" She asked, a slight edge to her voice.

"No. Well, yes. I don't know, Mom. I'm honestly not even sure what happened exactly. But I just-" I stopped, running my hand through my hair. "I want to go to sleep." I finally sighed. My mom eyed me for a second before slowly nodding her head and standing.

"Okay, Riley. Get some rest." She told me, kissing my forehead. "You'll be fine, baby. I have to get back to work now but if anything comes up, call me."

"Alright, Mom." I sighed. Of course me having a life altering experience and revelation wouldn't be enough to keep my mother home. I waited until she had closed my door behind her before crawling under the covers of my bed and crying out all of the emotions that were swirling in my chest.