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Star

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I had felt that rush of power. I had felt the compulsion toward Uncle Howard stop. I was no longer being pulled along by his words. But I still couldn\'t move. It was like I was trapped in my head.

I was still in that same place with my wolf. It was still very dark and I wasn\'t able to see anything, but I felt the presence of the animal all around me. This was something new, something different. I didn\'t know how to think or feel about it, but I knew that I wasn\'t afraid.

Something about my wolf was very comforting. I wasn\'t afraid of my wolf or the powerful aura I could feel coming off of her. I felt the need to talk to her more, to bring her into the light so that I could see her.

"Do you have a name?" I asked my wolf, uncertain of what to say to her.

"My name is Lyra." Her voice was strong but she still sounded scared and lonely.

"Lyra, can you come out of the shadow, can you come to where I can see you?"

"No." I got the impression she was shaking her head from side to side, adding the gesture to words. "I can\'t come into the light until the talisman is removed."

"How do I remove the talisman? I don\'t know how to take it off."

"The true master of the talisman is the only one who can remove it. Once they remove it or die it should be able to come off."

"How do you know so much about the talisman?" It seemed that Lyra was quite informed about this matter.

"I have lived with and spoken with the magic of the talisman for many years now. I have learned of its secrets and its power."

"So you\'re saying that only Uncle Howard can remove the talisman?" That just about crushed me, I knew there was no way that he would ever take this damned thing off of me.

"If he is the master of this talisman, then yes, he will have to be the one to remove it."

"What would happen if someone other than Uncle Howard tried to remove the talisman?" I didn\'t know if I wanted to hear the answer to that question.

"If it is not the true master of the talisman that tried to remove it, then it will destroy us both." I instantly thought of Kent\'s brother where he was being kept on the sixth floor.

"Destroy us how?" I gulped in fear even as I asked the question. I was terrified of Lyra\'s next words.

"We will both lose our rational minds. We will become nothing more than a wild beast incapable of humanity." That is exactly what I thought she was going to say.

Subconsciously I had walked further into the dark, following her voice as she spoke. I didn\'t know why, but I wanted to find her and comfort her. Even with everything that I had been through it was her that I wanted to help right now.

After a little while I sensed that she was close so I slowed down and stuck out my hand to feel for her. After a few more steps I felt the top of her head. She was much larger than I ever thought she would be. She was standing there, looming before me, with a massive furry head that I still could not see in the dark.

I had seen Nico as a wolf, I had seen my cousins as wolves, but still it didn\'t dawn on me that I had something this big inside of me. This was a massive animal that never could have fit inside of me, yet here she was.

"I will find a way to save you Lyra." I whispered the calming words to her as I stroked her massive head.

Mere seconds after I spoke those words I felt a tug on my mind. Something was pulling me out of this subconscious world of mine. I was too afraid to open my eyes, too afraid to see what was in the light. But I also knew that I needed to be strong, for myself as well as Lyra. I was not going to be weak anymore. I was not going to let anything bad happen to me anymore. I was not going to be anyone\'s slave or prisoner ever again.

I felt the tugging on my mind again, stronger this time. I felt something pulling me toward the light, toward consciousness. I was still scared, but I let it pull me along, vowing to overcome my fear no matter the cost.

I could see the darkness fading. There was light that seemed to be at the end of a long tunnel. It was like I was being pulled along that tunnel, racing toward it slowly at first then faster and faster. As the light raced toward me it felt like I was moving too fast, like I would crash into something hard very soon.

The next thing that I knew I was opening my eyes. I expected to see that room full of black furniture that Uncle Howard had taken me to. I had expected to see Artem and Uncle Howard still fighting, with Artem hopefully winning.

I did not expect to wake up and see my room. I did not expect to feel the soft comforting weight of my familiar blanket or the familiar feel of my mattress and bed sheets. I had not expected to smell the comforting scents of home.

\'What is going on here? Is Uncle Howard making this happen? Did he change the way the room looked?\'

I was so confused for a moment, but then I could smell the other scent that was nearby. I could smell the spices that I didn\'t know the name of but that meant that someone very specific was in this room with me. It was Artem.

He hadn\'t left me. He hadn\'t abandoned me. He had stuck by my side even after the fight was over. It was over though, wasn\'t it? I was really back home, right?

"Artem?" I said his name in a soft voice, confusion still the dominant emotion I was feeling at the moment. But I had turned in time to see him jump and nearly fall out of the chair he had been sleeping in.

He looked exhausted too, like he hadn\'t slept in a week. How long had I been asleep for? But there was also a sense of relief on his face too, something that showed just how happy he was right now.

"Star?" He said my name with so much joy, so much happiness, that I could almost forget all the bad stuff I had done lately. "Oh my Goddess, Star, I am so happy that you\'re awake."

Artem fell to his knees at the side of the bed and looked as though he had just seen a miracle, the relief was more than clear in his eyes.

"How are you feeling Star? Are you OK? Is there anything that hurts at all? Do you need anything? Anything at all?" He seemed a little over eager to help.

While he asked all his questions I sat up in the bed, keeping the sheet pulled up to my chest to hide myself. It seemed that I was still wearing nothing but my bra and panties and I did not like being so exposed. When I sat up though I felt like my head was spinning, I was very dizzy for some reason.

I sat there holding my head in silence for a moment or two, all the while Artem looked at me with worried eyes. I could tell he was waiting for me to say something, anything. The thing is though, I felt like I was too weak to talk for a few minutes, I felt like if I tried to do more than I already had I would fall right over.

After a few moments I felt like I could finally speak, like I had actually mustered up the courage, or at least the strength, to talk.

"I\'m sorry Artem. I\'m so sorry." My voice was still weak and shaky as I tried to make the word come out. "I\'m sorry for everything, and I know you must hate me now." I felt the tears building, the stinging in the back of my eyes. There was a thickness in my throat that refused to go away. I didn\'t want to hear what it was he was going to say to me. I didn\'t want to see the hatred, the disgust, the loathing. There was so much that I feared at that moment, so much that I worried that would happen between us.

I had imagined these things, I had let them play over and over in my head when Artem left me alone in the room at the beach. I had imagined them again when I left the house with Chay. And I was imagining them again now. I was so scared, so worried about losing it all right here and now.