Chapter Three, Part One.

I woke up in a bed that wasn't mine for the second time in under twenty-four hours. This could be slightly problematic.
After stretching like a cat, I sat up and rubbed my eyes. The room I was in was much more plush than the room I had been in earlier. I was stretched out under silky sheets and a black velvet coverlet stitched with silver in a big, four-posted canopy bed that sat against the wall in a spacious, elegantly decorated room that I viewed from behind a sheer black canopy. I slid out of bed and padded to the window, barefoot on the black marble floor. The night's cape was beginning to blow back in the face of the dawn, with a golden glow that purpled the hem. It was beautiful. I admired the view for a while before pulling the thick silver drapes shut in favor of exploring the rest of the room. The room was dimly lit by a few wall-mounted lanterns near the arched doorway. After coming across a large candle lighter sitting on a table near the doorway(A pretty strange thing to find in a room so medieval-looking), I lit a few more lanterns around the room. The room glowed.
Satisfied with the lighting, I proceeded to the armoire that stood against the wall across from the bed. I opened the doors of the closet-like top half and found lots of threads that I thought might wrinkle if I stared at them too hard. High maintenance? Not interested. I flipped through the hangers anyway and came upon a white button-up that was just sturdy enough to not crease at the touch. It seems weird to want to put on some random clothes I came across in a room I had never been in before, but somehow I felt comfortable doing it. The clothes in the armoire smelled familiar, but it was faint and I couldn't place the scent. All I knew was that it made me feel at home. I pulled out the white shirt and shut the doors. Still curious, I opened up the drawers below the doors and found a black waist corset with purple stitching. Further down, I found a pair of stretchy black pants. Whoever owned that wardrobe had really good taste. After closing the drawers, I swapped my clothes from the night before with the ones I had just pulled out of the armoire. Everything fit perfectly. How completely weird.
Not wanting to leave the room to explore the hall -or whatever was out there- quite yet, I walked back over to the curtains and stepped through them to the balcony. It wasn't too cold outside, just pleasant enough for me to leave my black jacket where it was on the bed. I stood at the balcony railing, looking out over the forest. From there, I could see all of the courtyard. It was as eerily still as the forest immediately surrounding it. There was no sound aside from the rustling of the leaves as the wind made its way through. No birdcalls or anything. It was a little creepy, like something wasn't right and the forest was holding its breath, waiting for the final straw.
"Quiet, isn't it?" a voice said softly by my ear.
I turned to see Vera a little too close to my face, bent down over my shoulder. "Yeah... Are you all that stealthy?"
"Most of us are," she laughed. "It comes with time and the turning. Figured out why it's so quiet?"
"I think so. The animals know there are wolves here."
"You've got it."
"Doesn't that make us look like the bad guys? Even though they could possibly be eaten, you can still find birds near the caves of bears and stuff."
She shrugged. "I don't know, hon. No one's ever asked me that, so I've never considered the answer."
"Oh... So, um, Aubrey said my Blood Trial is today."
"Yes. It will be tonight, after the moon rises. You will be kept from direct moonlight until you're on the table, though. The first turn is unpredictable, and we don't want you to cause any damage to yourself or anyone else." I made a face, and she smiled reassuringly in response. "It isn't bad. You're a Shadow Child, after all."
"Well, I think I'll go pass out for a few hours. It's probably better if I'm not drowsy during the Trial." I walked back through the curtains.
"Okay. See you later." She opened the door to leave, but stopped and turned back to me. "By the way, your mom's clothes look fantastic on you. You look a lot like her." And then she was gone.
My... Mom...? I turned to look back at the room. This must have been hers. She was here, maybe when she was my age...And these clothes were also hers. I smiled as I was struck with an inconsequential concern, and carefully took off her white shirt and put it back on the hanger in the armoire. Can't have sleep-wrinkled clothes at my Trial.
Back in my own shirt, I crawled back into the big bed and went to sleep.