Children of Night and Snow

24. A Place Called Home

I woke up early the next morning, a familiar scent of damp stones and summer rain followed me briefly from my dreams of home and almost made me sob with longing. It was a strange and unexpected sensation that left me feeling homesick and hollow. I didn't want to think about it. In fact I was determined to get straight to work so I could forget. But when I climbed down the ladder, the fireplace was already lit and breakfast was made. Curious who was up so early, I grabbed a buttered piece of bread from the counter and headed downstairs only to find Nolan punching a boxing bag with strength that could reduce me into a pulp.

"Morning, hot stuff," he gave me a wink. Sweat was dripping down his naked torso and I felt nauseous at the smell of it.

"Did you just call me hot stuff?" I sat down on one of the mats raising an eyebrow at him and began stretching. He laughed seeing my reaction.

"You cute, when you're flustered, that's all," he said, the now familiar mischief in his voice and stormy eyes.

"And you stink," I replied, sticking my tongue out at him. He laughed again. There was something childish about Nolan, which brought out the remnants of the girl I used to be. Him and Lucia were the warm personalities of the house. When around them, I didn't second guess my stay here as much. It was a weird thought considering how terrifying they all seemed to me when I first met them. And they were still that in many ways. I still didn't know what exactly they were doing, that they needed a thief. And after yesterday, I was pretty sure at least one of them was a killer. That thought alone was enough to send shivers down my spine.

But now I also got to know them a bit. After two months of living together, I saw their personalities and weird quirks. I knew that Devan was the workout freak, who would organize everyone's exercise routine for them. Lucia was like a motherly figure in the house, her small gestures such as smiles, hugs or pats on the shoulder making me feel like I was cared for. Her presence turned this house into a home for all of us. Demi was a strategist of the group, she would plan everything from the budget, to hunts, to trips to the city. She was always aware of everything that was happening in the group even if she didn't necessarily always comment on it. Connor was arrogant and distant, but not in a malicious way. He was also fiercely protective. I didn't have the courage to ask, but I got the feeling that of all of them, his past was the roughest one. And Nolan was the jester. He had an admirable ability to ease every situation. I wondered how Aaron and Az fit in this puzzle, the thought of them still making me uneasy.

"Come on, show me what you got," Nolan said when he calmed down, inviting me to a makeshift ring with him. I just stared at him wide eyed. So far, my only experience with fighting was that first day, when Devan made me look like an absolute useless fool. Since then, all I did was work out and practice my shifts. I didn't even get to test my new abilities yet.

"It'll be fun, come on," he kept insisting. So, hesitantly I finished my stretches and joined him. A few minutes won't hurt anyone right? Well, probably me, since I had no idea what I was doing. But not Devan. I'll be back to my routine before he ever wakes up. At least that's what I told myself as I climbed into the ring without a single clue what I was doing.

"What exactly is it you're doing here?" I heard Devan before I saw him and I knew I was in trouble. A quick look at the clock confirmed my worry. I just spent an hour and a half letting Nolan make a complete fool of me and forgot about the time. And I didn't even land a punch.

"I was just explaining to Freya that she needs to move at her inhuman speed if she wants to come anywhere close to me in a fight," Nolan said, smile on his lips. Whatever Devan was feeling, he didn't give it away. Which naturally made me feel like I committed a crime.

"As good of an advice as that is, how far do you think it's gonna get her if she can't even fully control her shift yet?" Devan asked him and I wanted to shrink into the ground because the bite in his voice was cold enough to make me freeze to death.

"Oh chill out. You have her repeat the same thing over and over days to no end. I just wanted to spice it up a bit for her," Nolan shrugged him off. The next thing I knew, Devan crossed the room at a speed of light and was now standing mere inches away from Nolan, staring directly into his eyes. I took a step back, panic taking over me as I tried to figure out how to break a fight that was about to happen, when a chuckle coming from the opposite side of the room did it for me.

I saw his eye before I saw the rest of him. Az. He stood in the darkest shadow of the room, clearly amused by what he was seeing. And his presence broke the tension between the two men in front of me, who now both turned to him. The next thing I knew, the three of them seemed to have some kind of unspoken conversation and I just stood there, as awkward as I could possibly be, wondering if they'd notice if I just ran and hid somewhere until all this, whatever that was, got sorted.

"If you insist on teaching her to fight, do it after we do daily practice," Devan cut the silence earning a victorious smirk from Nolan. I turned to see what Az was doing, but he was long gone.

"Freya, let's go. You have two days worth of training to catch up on," Devan reminded me and I quickly filled him, shooting an apologetic glance at Nolan. It didn't entirely click just yet, that I was now going to be learning how to fight on top of all the other stuff I was trying to get a grasp of.

By the time we finished it was way past lunch. I was starving and exhausted. Devan doubled my training load once again after we went through my routine. I was now getting through everything significantly faster, especially my running had improved. This meant we had to adjust my treadmill settings and I was shocked to see just how close I was to the toughest one. As far as my physical workout went, I was improving at what Devan called a steady rate, gaining muscle and strengthening my body day by day.

My shifts were getting easier and easier too, the pain now tolerable as I shifted back and forth at least five times a day. It was my senses I had the hardest time learning to control. Especially hearing and smell. Devan was teaching me to focus on only one thing at the time, blocking out the rest to prevent being overwhelmed. Whenever I did manage to do that however, I usually targeted the wrong smell or noise, unable to prioritize by importance. No matter what I did, it just seemed like an impossible task to do.

I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror, having a hard time recognizing my own reflection. The two months have changed a lot. I no longer looked like I was on death's doorstep. That said, I no longer looked like the girl from Moonvalley either. There were ugly scars around my wrists and neck as well as my thigh, a tattoo on my right forearm, my body was more muscular and almost as hard as a stone. My once bleak eyes had a similar shine to them as the people I shared home with. I looked slightly taller and much more inhuman now. There was no denying who I was. Even if compared to literally every other wolf in these lands, I was still tiny, fragile weakling, which was a feeling I resented more and more. It was my driving force whenever the workouts got too tough. A reminder to keep going, keep pushing.

Nobody was home when I finally left the bathroom to go grab something to eat. I assumed they left for the second day of All Souls celebration, which meant I had the whole house to myself. With the stress of two new people in my life, this was a welcome opportunity to clear my thoughts and get some rest. I climbed up the ladder to sit under the skylight as I ate and tried to listen to the sounds outside of the house. I could hear children playing a snowball fight just across the street which a group of people was walking down, probably to catch the bonfire tonight. I heard laughter and screams and odd bits of conversations. The life in Duskfall once seemed so scary and foreign to me. I couldn't even imagine surviving here for long, no matter how much I tried to hold onto my dear life down in the tunnels. It was an inhospitable place burning under at least two feet of snow most of the time, freezing cold and full of people who wanted me dead purely for not being born here. It seemed almost impossible to think that now I called this very place my home.