SELENA'S POV
---
The mirror doesn't lie.
But today… I wish it would.
I stare at my reflection. Same brown eyes. Same lips. Same skin.
Except not really.
Because under the surface — I feel it. Something twisting. Changing.
My mark glows in pulses, like it's alive… like it's whispering things I don't understand.
> "I'm not normal anymore."
My voice shakes.
I splash water on my face, trying to breathe, trying to be human again.
But when I look back up…
My pupils are slit.
Black. Sharp. Like a predator's.
I scream — loud, guttural, wrong.
The light in the bathroom shatters above me.
> What is happening to me?
---
ZACK'S POV
---
I heard the scream from outside.
I'm already running, already leaping her porch steps three at a time.
> "Selena!" I bang on the front door. "It's me—open up!"
No answer.
But the second I hear glass break — I kick the door open.
Her mom and dad are yelling behind me. I ignore them. I race to the bathroom.
The door's ajar. She's inside — trembling. Face pale. Eyes wide.
She doesn't speak.
She just whispers:
> "Zack… I think something inside me is waking up. And it's not human."
---
UNKNOWN POV
From a rooftop across the street, cloaked in shadow...
Ravyn watches.
> "She's shifting too fast," he mutters. "Her bloodline is stronger than we thought."
Beside him, the forest witch hums. The fae knight draws a blade.
> "The Queen is awakening," Ravyn says.
"But so are the monsters that want her blood."
---
💬 Endnote:
> She's not safe.
Not from herself.
Not from what's coming.
And Zack?
He may be human…
But the blood has already marked him.🖤