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“She’s hiding something. I can’t be the only one who sees that, right?”
Rumi looked up from her cup, eyeing her friend sitting across the counter from her. She drummed her fingers against the mug, contemplating her answer. She had seen it. It was hard not to have picked up on it. With no demons, no Gwi-Ma, no threats, just their Idol careers, it was easier to pick up on Zoey’s odd behaviours these last three months. “Who's to say she’s hiding something? Maybe she’s struggling to adjust,” she said. “I know it’s been strange without the hunter's lifestyle, at least for me.”
Mira sighed heavily, rubbing her eyes. “It’s not that. You know I’m very good at reading people…”
“I know that,” Rumi agreed thoughtfully, sipping her iced coffee.
“But ever since the Idol Awards, Zoey has been rather shaken up on particular days and very low energy and grumpy on other days.” Mira paused, clasping her hands together. “Take this week for example. She nearly ripped my head off for asking if she was alright.”
Rumi took a deep breath. “She has been a little more restless this week. Locking herself away in her room. Focusing on lyrics and turtles, but isn’t that normal, Zoey?”
“That’s the problem, it's too much like Zoey. She’s never been this restless before. Every month, she’s the same. Always fine up until a certain point in the week,” Mira stated bluntly. “Maybe I’m paranoid, but I’m just concerned about her.”
“I get the concern. Zoey's our sister after all. And the paranoia is understandable because of what I put you two through,” Rumi began, reaching her hands across the counter, grabbing Mira’s. “But if something was wrong, Zoey would tell us.”
“That’s the thing. I don’t think she can tell us,” Mira murmured.
A loud bang echoed from down the corridor. Mira and Rumi shared a look that read ‘Don’t let on we were talking about her’ as they heard the footsteps approaching.
“Hey Zo!” Rumi greeted with a broad smile. “Want some iced coffee?”
“No thanks,” Zoey dryly replied, rubbing her eyes. “Heading out for a walk so I can grab something on the way.”
Mira eyed Zoey with concern. The little maknae looked tired with bags under her eyes, and there was barely any colour to Zoey’s skin, making her look ghostly pale. Zoey’s hands were shaking, and her breathing sounded even more shakier.
“Hey,” Mira softly began, walking up to Zoey. She gently took a hold of her sister, frowning as she felt heat radiating through Zoey’s top. It wasn’t like a blazing inferno, but enough to make Mira press her hand into Zoey’s forehead, feeling the light, feverish heat radiating through the skin. “Are you okay? You don’t look well.”
“I’m—I’m fine—perfectly fine, Mi,” Zoey replied, shakily. “It’s worse this time. If I were to bet…”
“Maybe you should stay here with us,” Mira’s voice cut through Zoey’s thoughts. “Last thing we need is you passing out whilst in the middle of the city.”
“I’m not going to be in the city,” Zoey replied, rubbing her arm nervously. “I’m fine Mi. It’s just warm in here, you know!”
“It’s actually not. The aircon button is jammed again, so we can’t switch it off,” Rumi stated, gesturing towards Mira. “She’s never good with buttons!”
“Still, Mira is right. You don’t look well. Maybe something you ate or something’s bugging you?” Rumi questioned, walking up to support Zoey.
Zoey looked at Mira and Rumi. her sisters, both with comforting looks, but the concern in their eyes told a different story. They knew something was off about her; that much was obvious. She couldn’t help how her body reacted, how it looked because of what was lurking inside her, but how could she tell them? After everything they had been through, she had lied to them, keeping a part of herself buried deep ever since she had heard that voice whispering in her mind.
She wasn’t stupid. She knew there was no cure for what was pumping through her veins, other than the obvious. But with everything that had happened, that wasn’t an option Zoey wanted to consider. All she could do was get away and keep her girls safe.
“There’s a beautiful blood moon tonight, Zo,” Rumi’s voice came carving through the fog drifting in Zoey’s mind. “With the penthouse views, we got a front row seat for the moon and maybe some girl talk or movies?”
“Blood moon?” Zoey questioned, feeling her eyes twitching. Her warm blood would have run cold if it hadn’t risen in flow and temperature at the mention of the blood moon. “Y-Yeah, sounds beautiful. Perfect lighting for a walk.”
“Maybe we could come with? It’s been a while since we last took a late-night walk together,” Mira suggested. “We can also be there if you happen to pass out.”
“Oh, believe me, I will pass out,” Zoey muttered under her breath. “It’s always what happens.”
“What was that?” Rumi asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Did I seriously say that out loud! Stupid, don’t give it away! Just get out, away from them. One night that’s all it is, then everything can go back to normal for another month.” Zoey gulped, a wild, frantic look in her eyes. “I-I said I’ll be fine. I just want some time to myself. I won’t pass out, but I may be gone for a while.”
“Just like the last three times,” Mira mumbled.
Zoey flinched, backing up from Mira. “I’m not a child! If I want to walk all night or stay out, then I can!”
“Hey, hey,” Rumi soothed, raising her hands defensively. “We’re just worried about you. You know how Mira can be.”
“You bet I’m concerned this is the third month in a row that you’ve been like this. I’m worried about you, you’re really starting to give off Rumi vibes,” Mira stated bluntly. She sighed gently, dragging her hands down her face. “Zo. Whatever is wrong, we can deal with it together.”
A small beeping echoed from Zoey’s pocket, beeping rhythmically for a few seconds before stopping. “Thirty minutes. I have to go.” Zoey took a deep breath, trying to steady her rising panic and the ache in her chest. “I-I’m fine. Please just accept that. There’s nothing wrong. I just want to do what I want to do.” She tried to say with confidence, but the shaky, breathless state kept any confident tone away.
She saw the flickers of concern written on her friends' faces. She could smell their anxiety and fear. Zoey could hear the change in their heartbeats as their faces grew more reassuring and comforting, but the fear was still there.
“Zoey,” Rumi gently said, resting a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “It’s okay. We’re together forever. Whether it’s nightmares, illnesses or bullying. We can deal with it together.”
“All we’re asking is that if there’s an issue, just be open with us. We won’t judge, we’ll help you,” Mira added, resting her hand on Zoey's other shoulder. A hopeful, reassuring glimmer in her eyes, praying deeply that the comforting look would coax the problem out into the open.
Zoey, however, glanced toward the window, eyeing the bursts of orange exploding across the city skyline as sundown crept onwards toward the darkness of night. She felt her heartbeat quicken, her breath hitching sharply in her chest. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the skyline even as a sharp ringing erupted in her ears. “Don’t freeze up, you dolt! You need to get out. Get away from them, it’s coming!”
“Hey, you okay?”
Zoey jumped, feeling a hand rubbing her shoulder. The touch of fingers felt like sharp jolts of electricity coursing through the fabric of her top, assailing her skin. She yelped, batting the hand away, staring at Rumi, who raised her hands up defensively.
“It’s okay. I’m just worried about you,” Rumi soothed. “You're getting paler.”
“Maybe you should have a sit-down or a lie-down,” Mira suggested, moving to support Zoey.
“N-No,” Zoey said shakily, backing away. She rubbed her eyes, trying to push the spots that blossomed in her field of view away. “I need everything to stop spinning,” she muttered. “Just need to get out.” She blinked, noticing Mira and Rumi looking at her.
Zoey shook her head; her brain felt like it was being rewired to faulty standards, with wires crossing and synapses firing into overdrive. “I-I have to go—routine and all that—you know how I get if my routine gets broken—catch you later!”
She rubbed her arms nervously, not giving herself a second thought for her friends, hurrying for the penthouse’s main doors, stumbling into the walls in the process. It took a few attempts for Zoey to grab the handle and turn it to open the door. Her movements were sluggish and frantic as she scrambled for the elevator.
“You see!” Mira stated to Rumi. “Something’s clearly wrong with her.”
“I’ll concede to that,” Rumi agreed, rubbing her eyes. “She’s definitely not one hundred per cent. I can’t stand by and let her go out there alone.”
“Agreed. Let’s shift before we lose her!” Mira agreed, already making a beeline for the front door with Rumi hot on her tail.
The door slammed behind them. Zoey, who was shuffling rapidly into the elevator, barely paid any attention to the loud bang that echoed around the floor. The faint ding echoed from the elevator as it prepared for its descent, with its frantic, flustered passenger inside.
“I have an idea,” Mira mumbled to Rumi.
“Let’s hope it’s a good idea,” Rumi prayed, hurrying up to the elevator, eyeing the doors starting to close. “Hold up!” Rumi called, blocking the elevator door with her boot.
The doors shuddered open back up. Zoey stared in bewildered confusion, shifting away from them as Rumi and Mira filed into the elevator.
“W-What are you—you doing?” Zoey questioned, her voice shaking.
“We just fancied some fresh air, you know!” Rumi replied sweetly, pressing one of the buttons.
Mira nodded, eyeing Zoey closely. “It can get pretty stuffy up here.”
“Then why don’t you go to the roof?” Zoey asked, her eyes darting madly around as the elevator door slid shut confining them in the metal cage. “Lots of fresh air up there. You don’t need to follow me!”
“We’re not following you. We’re just going down together,” Mira bluntly stated.
“Right—Right.” Zoey took several deep breaths, finding each one harder to draw in and release, as if her lungs were filling with no release. She sank into a corner, holding her head in her hands. With her eyes closed, she had no idea of Mira shifting subtly around the panel of buttons.
“It’s okay. You’ll be out there jogging soon enough,” Rumi reassured, kneeling down next to her friend.
Zoey gave a nervous laugh, rubbing her arm. She just wanted to get out of there, already preparing for a mad sprint to the alleyways and streets to lose them in the maze of the city before she herself could leave. She only hoped she had enough time to do it all.
Her eyes went wide as the elevator ground to a halt, the metal shuddering. Everything became still. Zoey’s breathing filled the air as she glanced around realising that the elevator had stopped. “No not now—this can’t happen now. I have to get out there!”
“Relax,” Rumi soothed. “I guess the maintenance team forgot to service it last week.” She eyed Mira closely catching onto what Mira had done even before Mira subtly shifted to block the open panel.
“I can’t relax. I need to get out now!” Zoey roared, stamping her foot.
“It will be okay Zo. I’ll just press the emergency button,” Mira said, hiding the fact that she wasn’t actually pressing the button.
Zoey shuddered at the feeling of pins and needles jolting through her skin at Rumi's hands gripping her arms trying to ground and comfort Zoey. The elevator's metal groaned and creaked louder, competing with the beat of her heart hammering in her chest. The hair on the nape of her neck prickled with fear in her mind. She knew what was coming. The reason why she had to get outside of the city before it came. Before it broke free and caused damage she knew she’d never be able to undo.
“Seriously, what the hell is going on with this stupid thing!” Zoey snapped, smashing her fist into the wall, unlike the cute little maknae she was. She banged heavily on the doors, growling under her breath. She struck the doors repeatedly, her frustration twisting into untempered rage. Each strike grew heavier, and the metal began to buckle under them. Blood formed from splits around her knuckles. “Come on, seriously, I have to get out now! Don’t you understand I have to get out. Fate you can go fuck yourself if you think I’m being stuck in here with what’s coming!”
Zoey began growling, spitting out expletives as she dug her fingers into the gap between the doors, straining and grunting as she tried to rip them open. Her ragged, heavy breaths came out in quick, sharp gasps.
“Zoey—honey. You’re going to hurt yourself; just come back. The elevator will be fixed soon,” Rumi softly assured, reaching out for a friend.
“No!” Zoey snapped. “You don’t understand. I can’t be stuck here. Not tonight, not tonight!” She kicked and lashed out at the doors, blood smearing across the polished metal. “I have to get out. I have to. It’s coming. I can’t stop it. I need to get out!” Her voice cracked, desperation overwhelming her as she began to cry. Tears streamed down her face, flicking from her cheeks as she smashed her head into the door. “Please just let me out!”
“Zoey, stop!” Mira bluntly called, raising her voice as she pulled Zoey away from the doors, pinning her against the wall.
“I have to get out, I have to get out!” Zoey pleaded, lashing out at Mira.
“Zoey, it's okay. It’s all going to be okay,” Mira said, grabbing Zoey’s wrists to prevent her friend from hurting herself. A surprised look washed over Mira’s face as Zoey’s strength made it hard for her to keep a tight grip. Concern only grew at the sight of sweat glistening amongst blood on Zoey’s forehead. “You don’t need to hurt yourself. Just talk to us. We’re here for you.”
“No—you're not—you're in danger—both of you are—you have to get this thing moving before it’s too…” Zoey’s voice trailed off into a sharp gasp. She ripped her wrists free from Mira, clutching at her head. Zoey roared in anger as she felt Mira's hand on her shoulder. Without thinking clearly, Zoey drove her leg outwards, slamming her foot hard into Mira’s gut.
Rumi flinched, catching Mira as Mira doubled in pain, coughing a little. The two shared a concerned look that grew all the more fearful as Zoey realised what she had done. Their little maknae cried and pleaded incoherently and turned her back to them.
“Maybe this wasn’t a good idea,” Rumi whispered to Mira. “She’s like a caged animal.” She turned her attention to Zoey’s words, something was clearly driving Zoey in untempered fear. “What’s coming? What are you afraid of?”
“I’m not mad. You’re clearly scared and lashing out. Is it Gwi-Ma? Demons? Bullying? What’s wrong?” Mira questioned, grimacing as she straightened up.
Their questions fell upon deaf ears; the sound of her own breathing and the hammering of her heartbeat drowned out any sounds around her. Zoey squeezed her eyes shut, desperately trying to steady her shaking body and slow her breath. Her fear spiked, and she could feel it moving from the pit it lurked in, rising to the surface. She was aware of its presence, as well as that of Mira and Rumi, and of the fact that they were trapped in such a confined space with her, with what she was about to become.
Zoey shook her head. “I can’t—I can’t—I can’t,” she repeated in a state of delirium. The world around her was feeling more and more alien by the second. Her own skin, even the hands that pressed into the wall, felt like they weren’t hers. Ethereal-like voices echoed, never becoming coherent, only remaining as a jumbled mess in her brain that faintly reminded her there was someone in danger.
“Control—control it—you're a hunter—an idol. You can handle this—surely you can—control it—for the sake of…” her voice trailed off, the fog seemed to be getting heavier, settling over parts of her memory. “Protect—who—whose around me? Whose here? Control—why must I control?”
Her heartbeat drummed away, each beat sending hot blood flushing through her veins. More sweat glistened on her skin, soaking into her clothes. Every breath grew harder to take in and even harder to release, as if her lungs were too full, creating a heavy, aching pressure in her chest.
“No—someone here—someone close—got to control,” Zoey whimpered, clawing at the metal wall. “Trapped—trapped somewhere—cold, unusual surface.” She shook her head, gripped by rising pains and unbearable heat as if someone were holding her over a pit of molten lava. What gripped her more was fear of the darkness threatening to pull her under, like it always did around this time of the month. “Control it—control it—if you can control it, it can’t beat you.”
Zoey knew her breathing was out of control. She knew it was a fight, but she tried to latch onto the light of hope in her mind, trying to break through the fog to find something grounded to latch onto. The fog seemed to be getting stronger, threatening to submerge her before any resistance. She closed her eyes, sobbing. Her hands balled into fists, bloodied knuckles whitening and pressing into the strange, cold surface beneath them
The scent of blood turned her stomach. She kept her eyes closed, desperately searching for something to pull herself through the fog, to hold herself down and prevent it from taking over. Amidst the fog, she felt a faint, familiar shimmer of blue; she recognised it as the threads of the Honmoon, calling to her, with two blue orbs dancing along them. The orbs called to her with ethereal voices, but they felt familiar. The fog yanked and clawed at her mind, blocking any realisation of what, or rather who, these orbs belong to.
She squeezed her eyes harder, feeling them squirm and pulse in their sockets. She clawed at the fog reaching out to these orbs. Wanting them to embrace her, save her, prevent her becoming a monster. Though these orbs stirred thoughts of control, she had to know what they were, and her little voice said, “Only through control could she find what these orbs were.”
But control was a fleeting thought that drowned in the recesses of her mind as a sickening grinding snap emanated from her back. A wheezing cry forced itself out of her throat as her body wrenched awkwardly straight. More grinding cracks drowned out the concerned ghostly voices around her. Zoey’s shoulders jerked and popped, her body growing stiff and frozen, gripped in its twisted anguish by unseen forces.
A repetitive force of four cracks echoed from her sternum, spine, and shoulders. Her body spasmed violently, wrenching free from its frozen state, crashing into the wall before spilling roughly onto the ground. Guttural wheezes and groans slipped through gritted teeth. Zoey craned her head up, her soft brown eyes shimmering into a deep red. Pain and desperation gleamed in her eyes, pleading to the blurs standing before her for help.
Zoey’s back arched, her spine rising into her skin. The sweat-drenched fabric stuck to her skin, displaying the outline of her spine. Her breaths came out short and sharp. Deep-pained cries ripped from her throat, accompanied by the twisting cracks and snaps of her bones shifting inside her body.
Fingernails darkened to obsidian black, growing wider, cutting into the skin. The beds drew small trickles of blood from them as the nails grew thicker and lengthened outwards. Bones cracked loudly within her arms, breaking and reforming. Too much for her skin to contain, stretching and tearing it forcibly. Blood dripped onto the floor, bones peaking through the jagged rips in her skin, quickly as her skin tore.
A blur moved toward Zoey, but a sharp, painful scream from her made them back up. Zoey’s body unnaturally jerked and shuddered. The tears in her bulging arms grew a little bit wider before the skin started to regrow at a steady pace, whilst the muscles swelled larger. Her weight surged forward, pressing her cracking hands harder into the cold metal beneath her. Her curving claws scraped loudly into the metal, grating on Zoey’s ears.
Again, the blurs moved toward her as grinding shoulders rose and broadened, tearing her top around the collar. Her legs bucked and kicked, muscles assailed by hot electric spasms. A searing pain shot through her nerves as a loud snap buckled her ankles inwards.
“Keep—away!” Zoey growled in a deep, drawn-out voice.
The blurs seemed to move closer, ghostly incoherent words whispered, dying out as Zoey screamed at them with a blood-curdling growl.
Claws burst through the fronts of her sneakers, and the leather subtly creaked, breaking like the bones in her feet. Zoey lurched forward involuntarily, roaring at the blurs to get them away from her as her heels rose into the air. Her feet grew, anatomy twisting into a monstrous effigy of canid paws with blood-stained, torn skin glistening.
Blood slithered down her hind paws, mirroring the sweat and tears streaming down Zoey’s face. Toes swelled and became rigid as an unsettling rhythmic tearing of her pants swam amongst the groaning of the lift and torture deforming maknae. Ballooning bloody legs emerged, widening and creating more tears in her pants.
Zoey snapped, shaking her head. Skin sagged a little around her shortening fingers, the bones compacting against the thickening, growing bones within her hand. Her hands grew longer, tipping the muscular limbs. Blood showered from her lower back as a length of flesh and bone, unnatural to a human, erupted from her body like a sword piercing through someone’s chest, bursting out of her pants. Shaking without control, splattering blood across the wall.
Her body rose, shuddering with crunching joints, and locked into all fours, bones continuing to snap under the pressure of the transformation. Her sternum and ribcage violently jerked, snapping like gunshots, pushing into her skin awkwardly, threatening to burst through her stretched skin. Its broadening change pushed outwards, and Zoey’s breathing grew more laboured, each breath deepening beyond human normality. The air escaping in rapid, sharp motions. Her barreling chest and widening back created a cavernous space that temporarily was hollow, echoing and distorting her heartbeat until her organs ballooned.
Zoey cried through gritted teeth, every organ feeling like they were frozen, only to begin violently resizing to suit her monstrous form with muffled squelching pops. Her moans twisted, while deep were anything but human. The guttural, pained cries became animalistic and violent, growling out of her throat that was trapped inside her thickening neck.
Zoey brought her head up, ears ringing from the abrupt changes attacking them. The dainty shape twisting and slithering up through her sweaty hair toward the top of her head. Growing all the more pronounced and angular-like fins protruding from her scalp. She stared at the blurs before her, now seeming quite smaller compared to her. The space she was confined in felt small and claustrophobic.
A spark flickered in her mind, an agreeable yearning to rip and break its way out of her cage to be free.
She hated the words “HUNT” and “KILL” that rose in her mind. A hungry, violent storm grew inside the fog, pulling at her mind. The agonising pain of her body made her feel like welcoming the darkness reaching to claim her. A thick, insidious itch erupted across her skin, signalling the start of millions of black hairs breaking through her skin.
Again, Zoey stared at the blurs before her, eyes pleading despite their burning red colour, which were filled with desperation and pain. She didn’t want to go into the monster’s mind. To let that monster hunt and kill, unable to control that predator's urge to tear into every pound of flesh that got in its way. She whimpered pathetically, a deep wet rattle reverberated from her throat as she opened her mouth.
Pops and crunches softer than the cracking of her splintering jaw radiated from her teeth. Canines grew longer, sharp tips wet stabbed into her lips as Zoey tried to close her mouth to take a breath. Blood dripped from fresh puncture wounds as her mouth was forced open. A pained cry tore its way out of her throat from the shattering crunch of her jaw, seemingly dislocating.
Her lips pulled back, revealing her perfectly straight teeth, reshaping with flakes of her teeth falling out or down her throat as they sharpened into points.
“H-E-L-P—Me—me…” Zoey pleaded in a deep, wounded voice.
Pale skin pulled taut around her skull. The cracks of her skull made it seem like it was shattering under the skin. The blurs moved toward her just as her skull surged forward.
“Run—-run—can’t…”
The words trailed into a wounded snarl that kept repeatedly escaping into the air. The gentle, loving face of the maknae, the idol that was always the cutest, twisted under thickening bones. Blood streaks dripped from her cheeks and around her nose, the skin tearing violently, unable to contain the growing reforming skull that stole away the maknae’s identity.
Bone splintered and rose, forcing its way into a horridious canid form with blood staining the sprouting fur. The nose compacted and flattened into the snout, the leathery skin shimmering with moisture. Saliva and blood dripped from the wider mouth as new teeth grew in the inflamed gums. The human hair shrivelled, receding into the thicker mess of fur.
The final cracks of bone warping under the monstrous transformation echoed in the lift. Everything around it became still. Its laboured heavy breaths and snarls of anguish created a thick unnatural tension to the blurs before it. It bowed its head, nose twitching, tail snatching. The transformation settled down with a few minor pops and cracks.
A scent of warm blood and the stench of fear hung in the air, calling to the hunger inside the black-furred beast’s mind. The fear spiked as the wolf checked, testing, lurching forwards tauntingly.
It growled at the fear response, the increasing beats in the blurred heartbeats confirming that these blurs were alive, hot, fresh, and perfect to feel the empty stomach. It had to replace the energy that had burned into the void from its awakening.
It lunged for the blurs, snarled wickedly. It missed. One of the blurs shoved the other out of the way before disappearing. The beast smashed headfirst into a hard alien surface, shaking the confinement around it violently. It turned, ignoring the scent of its own blood, focusing its rage on the blurs once more.
It attacked again, lunging and slashing its claws. Growls that seemed excited filled the air as its claw met resistance, with the strong scent of blood confirming its hits were meeting their mark. Further confirmation came as cries of anguish rang into its ears.
Its snarls grew more violent and annoyed as it felt strikes connecting across its body. It turned, slashing wildly at the blur before headbutting it back. A sharp growl rose from its throat as it sprang for the blur that disappeared before it, once more unaware of it reappearing behind it and shoving it hard into the wall.
Without a second thought, it lunged with all its power and rage, veins popping, eyes focusing as it barreled toward the two blurs. Its hunger making it more frustrated. Again, the blurs moved, the beast unable to check or stop, smashed headfirst into another solid surface. The cage shook violently, creaking and groaning.
A startled look flickered into the red eyes. Confusion and fear amid realisation as the grinding snaps continued to echo. The beast turned towards the blurs for the first time, seeing the blood-stained clothes and wounds on two human figures, one with messy raspberry hair and the other with purple hair.
“Mira—Rumi—no—no,” Zoey cried out in her mind, the deep tone sending more fear through her mind.
The floor seemed to drop as a wrenching snap echoed around the cage. All their bodies lurched as the elevator snapped into a wild freefall. Mira and Rumi stared at her with fear and pain, both holding each other. Zoey panicked, hyperventilating as she stared at her paws, the blood gleaming on her claws.
“I couldn’t—hurt—them,” she winced, feeling the monster stirring back to the surface.
She growled, stamping her paws violently, body shaking from the freefall and fear. Her heart pounded unlike the human heart she knew. She tried to speak, but only managed a pathetic whimper and whines, staring at her friends. She wanted to apologise, she wanted to plead with them that she wasn’t a monster.
The hairs on her body stood on end, eyeing her torn, bloodied clothes on the floor. Her ears stood up, twitching, danger radiating through her mind.
Without thinking, she lunged at Mira and Rumi, smothering them with her heavy form. Seconds later, the elevator crashed to a halt, dust exploding into the elevator. Metal buckled and snapped under the pressure of the crash, the doors buckling open. Zoey winced, feeling her girls strike her chest, but she remained firm and frozen, shielding them from the sparks exploding from the lights and panels. Small wisps of electricity stung at her body, flashing through the darkness before the emergency red light flooded the chamber.
Only when things seemed to settle did Zoey begin walking, her footsteps thudding, eyes locked with her friends. They no longer seemed afraid or hurt. She could smell the sorrow, the sadness at what she had become; she knew it. She gritted her teeth, snarling deeply as it began to push her back into the darkness. She stumbled and shook her head, lashing out violently until her eyes caught sight of the buckled doors and the faint scent of the air on the other side.
She charged for the doors, barreling through with all her inhuman weight and power, metal slicing into her flesh.
“Zoey, wait!" Mira called out, stumbling to her feet.
“Zoey!” Rumi cried out.
The duo stumbled through the broken doors into the dimly lit garage, finding no sign of the beast that was their friend. A howl echoed in the distance as emergency alarms blared around them. The duo felt their hearts sink into their stomachs. They had wanted to know what Zoey was hiding, why she was so afraid, and now they couldn’t put that genie back into the bottle.