Unfamiliar (Unfamiliar Series #1)

Chapter 36

I jerk awake to sunlight filtering in through the open shades of the windows as I lie in the middle of my bed, my comforter piled around me. There is a tightness around my throat, along with pain and I reach up to touch the bruises that still ache. I lie still for a long moment, basking in the sunlight before I sit bolt upright.

I'm late for class.

I throw back the sheets only to pause as I look around, I'm not in my dorm room.

I'm home...but...

The events from last night leach their way into the present and I shiver as I resist the urge to crawl back under the covers and hide from the day. But I still get dressed, sensing that I need to get up since I can smell the sweet aroma of chocolate chip muffins. Mom doesn't make them very often because they're really only my favorite and everyone else likes blueberry, so I don't take long to make my way downstairs.

I pause in the doorway to the kitchen as I take in the sight before me. The pile of papers on the counter has been neatly organized, a shocking sight to behold as Connor sits on one of the stools at the bar, a tiny wyvern perched on his shoulder. Mom is leaned against the counter, her eyes trained on the oven as she gnaws on the corner of her lip thoughtfully, her gaze unfocused like she's in the midst of Seeing.

She has yet to see me and in that moment, I realize that she's aged. There are wrinkles on her face that I haven't taken the time to notice before and on the far wall there is a picture of her and my father on their wedding day. The difference between then and now is striking and it shakes me to my core as she suddenly looks up at me.

"Kara?" she steps quietly across the kitchen, lifting an oven mitt clad hand to cup my face as she looks deeply into my eyes, "are you okay honey?"

"I'm fine," I murmur.

Her eyes crinkle at the edges as she draws me into a hug that makes me want to fall apart. Connor gives me a strange look as he glances from me to mom and I shake my head at him. The oven buzzes then, interrupting her as she promptly lets go of me and opens it before she withdraws the trays of muffins and sets them on the counter.

"So why are you home?" Connor asks suddenly, "and why does mom want me to stay home today?"

My mother looks from him to me before she sighs and shakes her head.

"We'll talk about it later, Connor," she promises him, "go sit," she tells me.

She turns away without another word and begins to extricate the muffins out of the trays before she starts to set them on plates. I sit down next to Connor, the tiny, silver-colored wyvern cocking its head as it crawls across his shoulder toward me, its golden eyes glimmering with curiosity.

"What did you name it?" I inquire as Indigo enters the kitchen.

"Spike," Connor says proudly as he reaches up and touches the wyvern on its head.

There's a tiny box set on the counter next to him and he opens it briefly to pull out a cricket, which he offers to the wyvern.

"Did you look up whether or not it was a girl or a boy?" Indigo asks as she walks over and reaches out to pet it.

"Noo...," Connor draws out, "do you know?"

"The silverfish wyvern species have either eight spinal spikes if they're male or five if they're female," she recites as she holds out a hand for the wyvern to climb onto as it reaches out with its tiny clawed feet.