Be Sure to Wear a Disguise

P.O.V. : unknown

I am in the meadow, laying on my back and watching clouds. I am alone. I am quiet. The forest is quiet. It is peaceful. It is simple. I am peaceful, too.

I hear a noise. I look away from the clouds. I look across the meadow. I see a shadow. It is under the trees. It is only a shadow. Shadows can't hurt me.

The shadow moves. I sit up to watch it. This shadow is different. This shadow will hurt me. This shadow has teeth. This shadow has fangs. This shadow is followed by many shadows. All the shadows are here to hurt me.

I realize that this is a dream. I realize there is no escape from this dream,
No escape from it at all. It is a nightmare.



I grab onto wakefulness and pull myself out of sleep. The sun isn't up yet, so the room in Grey. I look around the room. Empty. Just like Lyris. To leave while I'm asleep.

The cover fall to the ground as I roll out of bed. I'm still only in my underclothes from when I fell asleep the day before. I slept straight through the day. I grab the cover and toss them over my bed and then pull on jeans. A tank top follows and I leave my room.

The apartment is quiet. Quietly, I sneak across the hall and open Caan's door. He's curled on his side, sleeping soundly. I breath a sigh of relief and close the door. I just want to make sure I'm not all alone. I just want to make sure he's...still alive, I guess.

I walk through the house, grabbing my phone and keys before heading out the door. The bright blue door makes no noise as I close it behind me. I walk down the stairs and start to walk down the street towards the campus.

I had expected the courtyard to be deserted, after all it is before dawn and we're talking about college kids. However, there are a few people around, music in their ears and they're ready with cameras and sketch pads for the break of dawn.

Silently, I join the ranks, sitting down in the grass by a tree, far away from the others. A snap of a twig makes me look up.

"Good morning." Lyris says softly as he sets himself down beside me.

My mind is flooded with the emotions and denial. Your can't be here! You shouldn't be here! I feel my eyes burn with the frustration of unshed tears. I turn my head, hoping Lyris won't see.

He does, of course and gently pulls me into his lap. I lean against his chest, my body falling completely fatigued. The sun has cousiosly let some of its beams fall over the horizon, but not enough for much light.

"Start talking, Lyris." I somehow manage to sneer as my tears bleed out onto his jacket. "Explain it all before the sun rises past the horizon. Go."

"Katherine. Please forgive him." His words surprise, but he goes on, "Troy loved you. He wanted to protect you. He didn't explain why, but his former pack was after him and you should know that the supernatural likes to keep in the shadows and to itself. By knowing you, by loving you, he put you in danger. He came to me when he knew he couldn't run anymore. I'm here to protect you from the shadows that killed him. He...Troy... told me to be your... to be your guardian angel."

"How do I know you're not lying to me?" I choke on the words, barely forcing them out.

In responds, Lyris reaches into the messenger bag he has and pulls out a leather bound scrapbook. He places it between my fingertips and I slowly open it.

A small sound escapes my throat as i look at the pages. The pictures are simple and the captions are short. There are the places I'd been with Troy, and the captions are something only he and I would know.

The pictures go blurry ; I am crying so very hard.

There are only a few pictures and the last one makes me swell inside. Every emotion wells inside me and nothingness overwhelms me. There is no way to describe my feelings, therefore...I have none.

The last picture, the one that steals away my soul somehow, is of Troy, sitting on the roof of his car. It's black and white and I can see all four of the half wolves in the picture.

Troy isn't looking at the camera, but I can tell two things about him. One: his eyes are gold, and Two: he'd was crying as the shutter snapped the picture. The caption is simple.

The day I left.

I whimper openly this time. My eyes stare at the picture, but my brain has shut down and doesn't see it. I feel numb. I feel nothing.

My eyes close and I feel Lyris gently take the book. I snap open my eyes and grip the book to my chest.

A ray of light floods over the grass and spills on Lyris and I. I turn my head in surprise and stare at the sun. It is above the horizon and everything had been explained.

I press the book to my chest and bury mt face in the fabric of his jacket. I feel his arms wrap around me and I'm grateful for the warm. I feel their warmth.

. . .

"Kathrine... You need to read the last page." Lyris says after a long time of silence.

I look up at him and then back at the book. The back of my hand swipes against my cheeks to rid them of tears and then my fingers open the cover and flip through to the last page.

It's a letter from Troy.

Everyone has those moments where they know that things are different. The light bulb moments that strike you down and lift you up all at the same time.

Reading the letter is that for me. The words are beautiful and so very Troy that any doubt I had is gone. I finish reading the letter twice and close the book. I look up at Lyris, taking in his vivid green eyes.

"What did it say?" Lyris asks, "He wouldn't tell me."

I look back down at the cover and speak, my voice cracking, "He told me to let it go. You know, the whole 'live on with your life and don't die with me' deal."

"And?"
"It helped."
"Good."
"Thank you." I whisper.

"You're welcome, Kathrine."