Tainted Wings

Chapter Three

Hekate's body jerked awake to the sound of her alarm clock. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she realized she was still in her clothes from the night before. Even her make up was still caked onto her face. Her hands reached to rub her eyes, destroying the eyeliner that was there before sighing.

Her mind raced as she tried to piece together the memories of the night before. At first, she attempted to convince herself it was just a nightmare, but the smell of sulfur that fumed from her clothes and hair told her otherwise. Not to mention the lack of memory of how she got home.

It wasn't a dream.

The voice echoed inside of her head, as Hekate's whole body stiffened at the sound. Her hands moved from her eyes to run through her hair as she groaned.

"You've got to be kidding me. I won't get used to another voice in my head," she mumbled.

My apologies.

"Apology not accepted, ghost possessing my body," Hekate grumbled.

Climbing from her bed, she was afraid to look at her reflection in her dresser mirror. Considering she was still in the previous night's clothes and she had just rubbed her eyes, she was certain she looked like a drunken raccoon. Taking a deep breath, she exhaled and looked up. Her face had patches of black soot that went all the way down her body. Her hair was in knots, and her clothes were shredded from behind. There would be no explaining this to her mother.

Behind her reflection, Hekate noticed an unfamiliar shape sitting on her bed. Turning, she saw nothing. But looking back at her reflection, there Moro was, just staring at her. "Why are you in my mirror?"

I'm part of you now. I can be seen when I choose to be seen. But you will always see me through reflection. It's always been a gateway to the other side.

"Cool, that made no sense." She noticed her torn shirt again. "With all your powers, you can't fix my clothes, can you?"

No.

"So useful."

Her mother's voice from downstairs made her muscles stiffen. "Hekate! Are you awake? It's already past ten!"

"I'm up!" she yelled.

Hekate took one last look at her reflection. "Where are the wings?"

They're still apart of you. When you are in need of them, they will appear. For now, they're in a dormant state. I wouldn't suggest calling upon them whenever you want. It isn't a painless process.

Her tongue pushed against her cheek, tempted to try it. But the memory of the first time the wings appeared forced her to ignore the urge. Instead, she stripped her smelly, destroyed clothes and grabbed a pair of jeans and a t-shirt before heading to the shower. It took two shampoo scrubs to get the smell out entirely.

Feeling clean, she threw her wet hair into a messy bun before slipping into her clean clothes. The the end of the stairs, Hekate took a deep breath. The last thing she wanted was to have last night's events plastered all over her face. Or accidentally have her wings burst from her back, even though she wasn't one hundred percent sure how to make them appear. Leaving her room was a risk.

Her mother was sitting at the kitchen counter. She must have moved her sewing machine while Hekate was asleep because there it was on the counter in front of her mother. That thing was not the quietest to move considering how old it was.

"Why are you sewing in here?"

Her mother looked up from her project and through a pair of glasses sitting on the bridge of her nose. "I needed a change of scenery. I have to get these repairs done before Monday, and the back room was beginning to feel like a cage."