Heroes and Wolves [book 1]

Chapter fifty-one

Layla

I fly over the Folklore woods but this is proving quite troublesome with the dwindling light being drawn out from the day and the oncoming dark of the night taking over. The cold wind throbs my fingertips and a cool sensation runs through my veins which makes me shiver. The control I have over my body and wings with where I want to go is also being made more difficult due to the extortionate painful headache I still have. I can't keep going like this.

I manage to pull my body upward and stall myself. My long wings flap constantly to keep me afloat mid-air. I clench my hands to distract my mind from the pain but a sharp sensation slices them. I look at my hands, my vison blurs and sways but I concentrate which steadies my sight for a moment and I realise my fingernails are still claws and I have cut my palm.

I need to get down. 

I don't want to be up in the sky any longer. I want both feet on stable ground now. 

My vision blurs again as I look for a place to land. I'm getting desperate. The Folklore woods below just merges into a dark blob of gloom making any opportunity to find a clearing impossible but its when I see a tall antenna with a red flashing bulb at the top ahead of me that hope fills my mind. That's Miscellania. 

I focus on the red flashing light as my guide and push forward. My wings take the wind and propel me towards the antenna

I soar over the Miscellania building and further distract my pain riddled mind by studying the shape of the building. Miscellania isn't exactly symmetrical. Rooms bulge out from the sides and don't line up with one another. As I descend, the shooty area comes into view and then I locate the wide wooden door- the entrance to Miscellania, the entrance to my rest and recovery from whatever is going on with me.

My wings grow tall to slow my contact to the ground and I land just before the steps. Both of my feet touch the grass but when they do, weakness rises up from them and my legs suddenly give out and lose all support of my whole body so I end up on the floor. 

My legs are extremely wobbly as I plant my feet one by one to get back up. I dig them into the ground and grip whatever solidity there is to try and not fall over again but I feel so unstable. What is going on?

I slowly make my way to the wall at the side of the stairs, my true destination was inside Miscellania but how I am feeling is thwarting anymore further movements I can make. I need to sit down.

Leaning against the wall, the ache in my head is still strikingly rampant and my fingernails are still claws. I'm exhausted. The pain is sucking up all my energy. I scrunch my hands around my head to try and stop it but it doesn't work. Nothing helps. I have no ideas. All my defences have been taken down and its making this otherworldly pain waltz through me so easily. I am nearly in tears it is so bad. Why? Why is this happening?

I am not letting this defeat me.

I cannot sit here and succumb to this. Doing nothing is just going to make it worse. While I have no defence against this pain, I can try different tactics to ease it so I place my head in between my knees and close my eyes to focus on pushing through and overcoming it. I do this until a horrid smell singes my nose. It smells of rotten eggs. 

I open my eyes and find Baymin stood at the console looking at a projected hologram of the night sky. Stars are bright and scattered within view but what is most prominent and seemingly the focus of the hologram is the moon. Its warm milky glow is shadowed by the dark clouds that cover it. The moon is large, full and rounded. If it wasn't for the grey wisps covering it, this would be a wonderful sight. From that thought, I frown and suddenly realise that I am outside and nowhere near any window to be able to see Baymin and the console hologram. 

Did I just see through the walls of Miscellania?

I wince which takes my gaze away from the moon hologram and onto the floor. The putrid smell of eggs is still there and grows stronger, like the source of it is right near me. It's so potent now that I have to cover my nose. It's just awful. 

     "Layla. What are you doing?" Baymin's voice quietly calls. He is stood at the door near the top of the stairs. He makes his way to me. His approach is somewhat cautious and slow. He's holding a black bag which is where the eggy stench is coming from. "Can you smell this?" 

     "Who wouldn't? That's vile" 

     "You need to come inside" he demands suddenly. 

     "What? Why?" I look at him confused. "But could you take that horrid stench away, flipping heck" I recoil from the sight as my nose is being attacked by this disgusting smell. 

     "That is why Layla." He grabs my left shoulder to try and pull me up from the floor but I feel incredibly threatened from that action so I stand up and knock his hand off me. 

He backs off quite far away from me and drops the eggy odour bag. 

     "Leave me alone" I glare at him.

"I can't do that. You need to get inside now. It's already started"

"What has started?" Baymin pulls my arm but I yank it away from him.

"I don't want to do this Layla" his voice is low, held back in warning and anticipation.

     "What has started!" my voice growls but my knees go weak again and I stumble down to the floor. "What. Is. Happening. To. Me" My mouth starts to ache.

     "You got bitten, didn't you?" he quietly mutters like he is holding back the true emotion he feels from those words. "You should have listened to me and stayed in Miscellania. I knew something was up. The bedroom door for starters, the broken tile in Maylock's bathroom and when I treated you as Mavlins cannot inflict the injuries you sustained. There was just too much blood and I don't think they were there anyway as the alert didn't sound but there isn't time for this. So, you need to get inside. It's a full moon and you will change" 

     "A full moon? No. No, no." I deny what he is implying.

Yet, all that I once read in Supernatural Beings regarding the abilities of a werewolf has been shown to me and ticked off. Increased hearing, sight, smell and strength. I was bitten by the monster of Folklore who is a werewolf and I'm truly living the after effects of one. Now it's a full moon and I don't want to face what could come.

     "Get inside. Right now Layla" Baymin forces and I stagger up slowly. 

Every limb of mine feels like it has a ton of weights attached to them but I persevere. 

     "Whatever you think is going to happen. It's not. It's impossible" 

     "Nothing is impossible. Now come inside before you hurt anyone" Baymin puts his arm around me and I take the support since it's so hard to move any other way. I have to put all of my own weight on him as we walk towards the door. 

     "I'm not going to hurt anyone Baymin" We go up the large steps but they suddenly go blurry. "I can't see!" 

     "Breathe Layla, just breathe" Baymin keeps supporting me. 

My eyes get clearer as I breathe in and out and we walk into Miscellania.