This Isn't About Reya

Chapter Three

Reya stayed home for three days.

Svetlana could not reach her in the safety of her apartment. Neither could the shadow in the woods.

But on the morning of the fourth day, Reya walked into the kitchen to find her mother doing dishes. Her back was turned, so all that Reya saw were the wispy brown strands hanging limply from the back of her mother's head.

"Reya, I don't know what the problem is, but you're not sick, and you need to go back to school."

Reya looked down at her feet guiltily. "I know," she whispered.

Her mother let out an exasperated sigh. "I know you know. You're going back today. Get ready."

Reya stood, unmoving. At this, her mother turned around. 

Her face was old, older than a thirty-year-old's should've been. Her eyes were deep and glossy, green as ever, but like a candle nearing the end of its wick. Suddenly Reya felt ashamed. She caused her mother so much trouble.

"Reya."

"Yes, mother?" 

Her mother's eyes softened even further. She walked across the room to clasp Reya's face in her hands. "Reya, I love you, but you need to face whatever you're not telling me and go to school. This is about growing stronger."

Reya nodded. "I'll go."

Her mother smiled weakly. "That's my girl." She patted Reya on the cheek and turned back to the dishes.

Reya left the house with her supplies and began the trek.

She walked very briskly through the forest.

******

Svetlana was not at school. Nor were any of Reya's peers.

In fact, the school doors were locked.

The school was not even open. 

Reya wrinkled her nose in confusion. She banged on the windows, hoping a janitor might hear and come to explain. But nobody was inside.

She shook her head quizzically and turned to go back home. 

As she strode between the great pine walls, watching her feet trudge through the deluge of snow, she wondered what reason there could be for a school cancellation.

It was not a weekend. There was not a holiday. The weather was decent, for Aquilo-Nix.

Had something happened?

Her autonomous walking ceased when a voice called out for her name.

"Reya. Where are you going?"

She froze. The voice was high, crisp, and Russian.

She turned her head slowly. "Svetlana."

She stood haughtily in the snow, leaning back against the trunk of one of the pine trees. She was alone. She grinned slyly.

Reya was beginning to panic. She wasn't sure what to do, or what to say, so she called out, "Why isn't the school open?"

Svetlana laughed. "Because someone cut the power cables yesterday morning. It's been closed since then. I suppose you wouldn't know, since you haven't even been there."

Reya shook her head.

Svetlana's grin faded and she took a few steps toward her. Reya took a step back in response.

"I wonder who did it?" Svetlana muttered. "I have absolutely no idea what kind of terrible person could be so bitter that they deprive all us children of our education. Do you?"

Reya shook her head again.

Svetlana growled and stomped one booted foot. "God, you're so thick! I know it was you, you little bitch! Just fess up!"

Reya's eyes widened. "No, I didn't -... I was sick! I-I had to stay home..."

Svetlana angrily strode forward through the snow, her nostrils flaring, her thick blond hair sloshing across her shoulders like waves.

Reya was scared. Sometimes, Svetlana's pures held her back, and she was always in school.

Out here, in the woods, with no witnesses - there was no telling what lengths she would go to.

Reya wondered suddenly if Svetlana would kill her.

Svetlana charged Reya, her hands reaching out like claws, the nails painted crimson. Reya dropped her books and stumbled backwards, tripping through the snow, until she crunched against one of the pine trees.

Svetlana's talons struck out at Reya's breasts, tearing at the coat which covered them. The fabric ripped, exposing her shirt. Svetlana grabbed it by the collar and hoisted Reya into the air, trapped against the tree.

"I hate you," Svetlana whispered, her teeth gritting, her dark eyes narrowed and piercing. "You scum, you're a taint on our society. We should kill all of you hybrids, you animals, you're nothing but - "

An enormous mass rushed past her, like a gust of wind strong enough to shatter windows as it flew. Reya felt Svetlana's nails catch on her shirt, and then felt her shirt tear from her body. Suddenly everything was moving at once, and Reya could not see or hear or understand what was happening, and she could feel nothing except the primordial fear which gripped her very soul.

Reya fell to the ground, her shirt ripped clean open along with her bra. A swath of clothing was simply gone, the stitching torn cleanly out. Her bare chest fell into the snow, sending waves of cold throughout her body. The shock left her paralyzed, her eyes staring across the woods and the snow but not seeing any of it.

Slowly, she regained herself, and the world came into focus, and she was cold. 

She grabbed at the fringes of her coat and pulled them across her chest as she sat up. She breathed raggedly, trying to comprehend what had happened.

One moment, Svetlana was about to kill her. The next, she was simply gone.

Reya twisted around, her neck swivelling as she looked for Svetlana.

"What the fuck-?" she breathed, her dark eyebrows wrinkling together. Her breath came out of her mouth in clouds, hot against the cold air. Everywhere she looked, she saw nothing. No tracks in the snow. No sign of Svetlana at all.

Reya rose unsteadily, her hands pulling her tattered coat tighter around her nakedness. 

She felt the panic rising again, pushing out of her chest, collapsing her lungs, tightening her throat. It bubbled up and poured out of her eyes as tears. She couldn't stop them as they raced down her cheeks, touching her lips, salty and warm.

Something had taken Svetlana.

And Reya had no doubt what it was.