vii

I stumbled backwards into the progressing crowd with purpose, yet clumsily bumped into several people as I sped farther and farther away from Jadelle and Ruth.

Advancing further and further into the cove.

I felt several different elbows and body parts jab roughly into my sides as I brushed through the swarming masses of busy bodies. The radiant glow of fairy lights along the side of the path being what guided me forward; assuring me I was getting closer to what could potentially be somewhere I can rest or in the least, nearby one.

I passed by many puzzled and agitated faces, feeling a few of their curious eyes lingering on my forehead as I bobbed and weaved through the continuously thickening mob. The faces seemed to blur together the faster I proceeded. The voices that once overwhelmed my ears became more and more inaudible the further I pursued an escape from the mob. This only assured me that they too were aware that I wasn't one of them.

That I was probably one of the few humans in this massive horde of beings I used to believe only existed in my wildest dreams and cliche fairytales.

I'm not sure what I believe anymore.

I was still struggling to grasp that any of it was real at all, and inwardly hoped that this was just another one of the crazy nightmares I'd awake from at any moment and continue with my boring yet normal life back at home. Eventually forgetting about everything as I completed the tasks of the day's events. Instead what I wished was a nightmare is now the reality I helplessly existed in.

Fighting the urge to allow to the crowd to carry me anyway which way it pleased, I broke through any physical barrier preventing me from pushing onward. It was like there was no escape.

After yet another misplaced step I tripped onto the person less than a foot ahead of me; the wind knocked out of my lungs before my body could greet the pavement. When I hit the ground I eagerly wanted to sit and cry for a moment, letting out the emotions that threatened to overflow my already overwhelmed senses. Pulling myself off the ground as fast as possible to avoid being trampled, I released a loud wheeze before slowly taking in a breath of the day's crisp autumn air.

Then I looked to the sky.

I didn't even notice that it was now littered with fluffy clouds that effectively obscured my view of what I knew would be the glistening moon at the end of the night. It was an interrupted ombré; hues of a deep purple slowly fading into a pastel blue that threatened to darken to a dusky navy. Although I had seen views like this before, I couldn't help but become entranced by the slow progression of the thick clouds over the vivid glow of the ongoing festival.

Subsequently after I broke away from my reverie, I heard cacophonous movement eluding from what I believe to be the center of the square. The overbearing crowd that held me captive in it's depth just seconds ago suddenly began to part, thus revealing space for me to continue moving forward.

As soon as I took just a few steps forward that's when I seen it. A flash mob cloaked in all black attracted all attention as they slowly broke into a slow synchronized dance. Each one made themself distinct; their movements graceful and fluid as they stepped into a position that appeared to be a shape. I found myself towards the front of the subtle space divided between the audience the suddenly still group. Quiet gasps and hushed whispers could be heard from the previously noisy crowd. I centered my focus on isolating the voices closer to me and continued to peer at the still bodies just several feet ahead of me.

"—a waning crescent moon."

This prompted me to tilt my head upward and take another look at the darkening sky. The clouds were now slightly parted and revealed the silhouette of the moon; a full circle. I didn't know much about the phases of the lunar cycle, but I did know that the moon didn't appear to be a crescent at all. When I returned my gaze to the cloaked figures ahead of me, I finally realized that they had indeed formed the shape of a crescent moon. The curve of the shape they formed would be where the illumination of less than half of the moon was when it shined in the night sky. I glanced to the sky once more, hoping to see that sliver of light reflecting from the moon to prove that they had predicted correctly.

'There's no light brightening the moon's surface at all,' I thought to myself with confusion. So how was I able to see it at all?

"That's because it's a new moon," a deep voice grounded out and effectively silenced any stray conversations.

I must've said my thought aloud, and knowing this I couldn't refrain the increasing feeling of  embarrassment from tinting my cheeks. In this moment I felt like an outsider disrupting a sacred ritual.

The source of the statement appeared to be one of the members within the gathering ahead of us. In that same instance, the shape began to swiftly contort from a crescent to what anyone could assume is a circle. When the circle fully enclosed the formation of the group noticeably stood just a few feet away from the crowd. Each member now faced the people at the front of the herd.

The eerie stillness they previously engaged in returned once more, but it wouldn't last longer.

"The prophecy has been fulfilled. She is here. The mate of the first lycan has risen. Just like the diminishing light of the moon following the end of the lunar cycle, the king will return. The shadow of darkness casted amongst the community of mystical creatures will lift. Our time is coming. Fear not the peril of the waning crescent moon."

The same voice that spoke just moments before was somewhere nearby me, and he projected quite a promising narrative to the awaiting audience. As soon as he finished speaking an uncontrollable fever of passion washed over the hearts of the crowd. Cheers and enthusiastic screams boomed from all around me as I tried to fully perceive what his words meant to them.

More importantly what his words would mean for me, a human currently wrapped tightly within  the web of a supernatural society.

If their time was coming, I could only assume mine would be too. I didn't even think about imagining what the outcome could be for me. To me it seemed they were confident in their ability to reap the fruits of success, and I could only recognize this as impending doom for humans alike myself. That single thought alone was enough for my emotions to succumb to the feeling of dread.

Once again, I felt out of place.

I didn't belong here.

I don't belong anywhere.

I shut my eyes to avoid confrontation with the anxiety that blossomed in the lowest ends of my stomach. It threatened to devour every fiber of my body and consume every thought swimming in my mind. I had begun to fall in the darkest corners of my mind as I stood; momentarily paralyzed with fear. I couldn't bring myself to open my eyes. Each heavy breath I inhaled escaped from my lungs shakily, and I nearly stumbled onto the concrete beneath me when I opened them in attempt to regained focus. Before I could steady myself an arm reached out from ahead of me and gripped the fabric of the sweater I adorned; reinforcing my balance.

Immediately I lifted my gaze toward the owner of the vice grip on my sweater and locked eyes with an older man, who must've been one of the dancers. He, alike the many men I've crossed paths with as I explored deeper in the cove, had strong features and light eyes. This man unlike the others however, held ages of wisdom behind his green, steely gaze.

He definitely had to be the man that delivered a speech to the crowd.

He stared directly in my eyes with no emotion visible in his expression, thus causing me to nearly shudder with unease the longer I peered at him. His aura radiated authority and I felt the urge to bow my head but shook it off recklessly.

"And you," he omitted in a grave tone as he flickered his gaze from my own to my forehead,

"you bear his streak."

At this he didn't have to tell me twice, or really anything else at all for that matter because I took this as a sign to run as fast as I can away from him. I shook off his grip and darted in another direction with as much courage as I could gather. Away from the mass celebration that ensued while I had been distracted by his presence.

Everything has already become too much.

Hundreds and hundreds of bodies were dancing, hopping, and skipping around the formation of the moon. Each one concealing their own investment in the events bound to unfold as the night came to an end; the prospect of peace igniting a fire that once was reduced to embers.

In the midst of scurrying away I glanced behind me and noticed he still stood where I left him. It was like he was frozen in time the way his arm still reached for what would've been the cloth of my sweater. Upon meeting my curious eyes he allowed his stray arm to drop back to his side as an unexpected smile began to clear the tension from his face. Odd.

When I faced forward once more I could still feel his gaze locked in on my retreating figure, and this motivated me to take a sharp right turn through the already parting crowd. They had been so focused on celebrating that I swept through the dancing bodies with ease and little to no attention.

As I dashed away aimlessly continuing the search for a place to collect my thoughts, I couldn't help but allow them to resurface from the back of my mind. All of today as I had explored Celestial Cove I had oddly gained attention from those around me without doing anything but existing.

Every direction I went someone had noticed the 'streak' that apparently lay upon my forehead. Some were afraid and others appeared surprised, almost intrigued. And even so, aware of the confusion and irritation brewing in the depths of my heart with the knowledge of being out of place, Ruth continued to brush me off and claim it was because I was new to the cove.

Now on my own in the middle of this sacred land  after wrongfully intruding on the ritual of mystical creatures, I finally learned that I had bore a streak on my forehead. When I had taken a shower and tousled with my hair to prepare for the day's events before leaving Ruth's home, I hadn't noticed anything amiss at all. My skin was intact and I felt nothing different aside from the pain of an arrow nearly embedding itself in my shoulder.  I continued throughout the day with eyes burning through my head.

Come to find out this whole time I've been walking around broadcasting an unknown mark for any creature to see whilst it was invisible to me, a human.

I tried to think back to when I would've possibly obtained said 'streak' throughout the entirety of my time in Celestial Cove. I couldn't recall a single time someone touched my forehead.

I mean, besides when I stumbled into the crowd after running away from Jadelle and Ruth and almost got stomped into oblivion.

Even so, I still don't think that was a wide enough time frame for someone to have the opportunity to imprint on my forehead without me noticing anything suspicious at all. So thankfully, that brings me to the simple conclusion that it could only be between two people.

It had to be Noah or Leo.

That was somewhat relieving. Not.

It would be, if I knew what the hell happened after the superhuman, Leo, chose to face Noah, someone who I truly believed was a concerned friend. If he even was my friend anymore. Shit, I don't know after all that.

He literally threatened my visitor at gunpoint and didn't even ask em' a question first.

Give the man a chance, damn.

Then again, how the hell did he keep getting up to my balcony anyways?

Both were inquiries I'd need to return to later.

The real question now was what he meant by 'his' streak.