Chapter Three, Part Three.

Dressed in a strapless white dress that tied in the back and fell to the floor, Aubrey led me forward to a long stone table. Adellinde stood across it, holding a blade as long as my forearm lightly atop her fingertips. Its ornately decorated hilt had a large, blood-red stone set near the crossguard, and the blade was glossy, black, and so sharp it just might cut me if I stared at it for too long. It must have been twenty pounds, but she held it as if it were a feather. The silence hung heavy in the air as Adellinde gestured for me to lie on the table.
As soon as I did, a few hooded Council members stepped forward to bind my ankles and wrists with rope, and retreated as soon as the final knots were tied.
“Don’t watch what I’m doing,” Linde muttered under her breath. “Lock your eyes on the ceiling.”
And then she gripped the hilt with both hands, and made the cut. The black blade was so incredibly sharp that the only reason I knew she’d done it was the feeling of warm blood dripping down my neck. Because it didn’t hurt, I felt a sense of security that would soon prove false; I had forgotten Aubrey’s warning: it wasn’t the incision that hurt. It was the vapor.
She pulled a small vial from her sleeve. The swirling liquid in it was a sickly green color. Remembering her advice, I averted my eyes. It began as a weak warmth spreading from the incision in a neat halo around it, then spread, growing in intensity until my body was on fire. Every nerve blazed with fiery heat. Through a haze, I felt Linde pinch the wound closed, sealing the vapor in my blood. I screamed and curled inward, straining at the ropes that held me captive, skin searing from the inside. As the heat peaked, my bones and muscles began to shift, taking on a new form. They buckled and shifted, growing and shrinking. I groaned, stretched to my limits and then some. After what felt like hours, they stopped, and the pain began to fade, though it lingered a little around my joints. Panting, my eyes fluttered open. Somehow my vision was different, but I couldn’t quite tell why. And it was so, so noisy… The rustling of the leaves outside, the whisper of the wind, the chirping of a chorus of crickets, and the croak of a lone bullfrog thundered on my unusually-sensitive eardrums. Rolling onto my side, my tail brushed on the stone.
My… Tail…? That sensation was new… What the hell, a tail?! I twisted to look for it. Oh my god, I had a tail!
I turned my gaze to the Council. Aubrey’s small smile showed warm pride, though he was the only one showing warm anything. The rest, aside from stony-faced Tassilo, wore mixed expressions of shock, confusion, and horror.
“What?” I asked, but it came out as a bark. “Why are you all looking at me like that?”
Aubrey stepped forward and took the vial from Adellinde. He uncorked it and dipped the tip of the tapered glass cork in the vapor, then reached toward me. I shrank back, knowing full well how much it had hurt.
He stroked my now-fuzzy forehead. “This doesn’t hurt,” he whispered. “I promise.”
I relaxed and looked at him. His green eyes sparkled as he smiled warmly. He leaned forward again and traced a circle on my forehead with the cork. It pulsed with glowing heat, then faded away. That was strange.
He cut my bonds. “Rise, Athaliah, heiress to the Cavailier line. You are now a-”
“Aubrey.” A clear, deliberate voice interrupted.
His eyes flashed yellow as he turned to glare at the source: a tall, supermodel-thin woman who looked like Linde if she were about twenty-seven stepped forward, pulling her hood back. “Do you really believe it is a good idea to initiate this… This mutt,” she growled, icing me over with a cold stare, “into the Order?”
His expression turned hard, angry. I hadn’t thought it was possible for him to show so much fury. “Celestria, you would do well to step down. It is not your place to question my judgment, and I will not allow you to interrupt a trial,” he seethed.
“Look at her!” she snapped. I cringed. “Daughter of the Cavailier line or not, she is not a Shadow Child!”
“Get out,” he growled.
“What?!”
“Did you not hear me clearly? Get. Out.”
Face red, she glared at him defiantly for a few seconds, then turned on her heel and stormed out, still maintaining the posture of a model on a catwalk.
I whined. What was she talking about? Wasn’t I a russet wolf like the rest of them?
Aubrey looked down at me, eyes green once more. “Now, where was I?... Oh, right. Athaliah, heiress to the Cavailier line, rise. You are now a blooded member of the Order, and you will take your place as Zeta.” I got up hesitantly. The dress I had been wearing hung on my body, no longer knotted to my frame. He gently removed it. “Come with me.”
I jumped down and followed him.

Chapter Three, Part Two.

I woke up a few hours later. It was midday, and the sun was bright, casting lines of light on the floor through the gap in the drapes. A few hours of rest and I felt so much more alert… I got up and smoothed the covers out. Time to explore. Well, time to explore after I cleaned up a bit. There was an old-fashioned wash basin sitting on a small table, with a mirror hung on the wall above it. I washed my face and swished some water round in my mouth. A toothbrush and some toothpaste would have been better, but I had to make do with what I had. I put my jacket back on and pulled my boots on, then left the room, shutting the door behind me.
Even though the stone was like what I imagined would be in an ancient castle, it wasn’t drafty or dim at all. More light shone through the abstract stained glass than what normally could be expected. I couldn’t explain the lack of a draft, though… It would take a lot of time and work to make sure the building was sealed against the cold breezes outside. It was one weird work of architecture, for sure.
Suddenly a pair of hands grabbed me from behind. One arm wrapped around my waist, pulling my arms tight against my sides, and another snaked across my shoulders, pulling me close to whoever grabbed me.
“Good morning,” crooned a somewhat familiar male voice at my ear, warm breath on my cheek. I didn’t respond. “Aww, what’s the matter? Did I frighten you?”
I answered his question by digging my long nails into his legs behind me. He jumped back, giving me the opportunity to turn and backhand him across the face. The sound of my hand connecting with his cheek echoed in the hallway.
“Morning, Rafael. Did you sleep well?” I smirked, hand stinging behind my back.
He cracked his neck –what a gross habit- and smirked at me. “Only as well as you did, milady. No one can rest properly when a delicate rose as your majesty sleeps fitfully.” His eyes sparkled with mischief as he bowed in a melodramatic gesture.
“Ugh,” I groaned. “Drop the act. It reeks worse than the boys’ locker room at the end of sixth period.”
“Your suspicious wound me,” he moaned, clasping a hand to his heart with a gasp.
“Did you have something to say to me or are you just here to be obnoxious?” I snapped.
“I merely wanted to wish you luck, Lady Athaliah of the Stinging Backhand.”
“Ha, funny. Thanks, I guess.” Annoyed by his false formality, I turned to leave.
“You’re going to need it,” he said in a sing-song voice. “The Trial’s a bitch.”
“I deal with you on a regular basis, don’t I?” He chuckled as I walked away.
“Don’t get lost, or you’ll be late. First impressions are very important.”
I replied with a rude, one-fingered salute.

God only knows why Rafael annoyed me so much. I probably would have found him attractive if I didn’t want to knock his head from his shoulders ever time he spoke to me. Whatever, it’s not like it really mattered one way or another.
I paused to examine a tapestry hung on a nearby wall. It was a story about wolves, but I couldn’t tell much else. Some parts were faded and threadbare. While I stared at it, trying to discern the storyline, someone ran into me. I stumbled, almost falling. A bunch of heavy books fell to the ground.
“Aw crap, I’m so sorry!” A petite girl –obviously a wolf from her shoulder-length brown hair, light skin, and hazel eyes- bent to pick them up. “I was reading and I didn’t see you there.”
I crouched to help her. “It’s fine. I’ll live.” The books were old, with thick, well-worn covers. She stood up, fixing her glasses and looking at me.
“Ah! Athaliah. It’s nice to actually meet you.” She shifted her books to one arm and offered a hand. Her grip was unusually strong for being so tiny.
“How did you know my name?” Everybody seemed to these days.
“I’m on the Council.” She smiled. “The Memory Keeper, Dionisia.”
“Ohh. Aubrey told me about you.”
She nodded. “I thought he might. Well, I’m sorry, but I have to be going. Important Council-like business to attend to,” she said, making a face.
I stepped aside. “Of course.”
“See you tonight.”
As she walked away, I returned to examining the tapestry. Figures that someone was going for the dark-ages look. The thought struck me that I wanted to see Aubrey again. This place wasn’t telling me anything, and I wanted to know what lay ahead. He was the only one who seemed to know what was going on. I came upon the council doors. Maybe they would open for me, too. Replicating Vera’s actions from the day before, I breathed on the door, palms flat on the wood. Rock ground against rock, and I stepped back. A muscular, ghostly figure with a sword materialized in front of me, and before I could react, he had the tip at my throat. I stood motionless.
“Identify yourself,” he commanded, in a voice that sounded like that of a thousand men, all chorusing the same order. Acting on some unknown instinct, I replied, “Athaliah, daughter of Joche and heiress to the Cavailier line.”
His wrist twitched, and a couple of drops of my blood snaked down the blade. The metal took on a red tint as the individual droplets spread out over it. He paused, examining it, then sheathed the blade, bowed, and disappeared into the air. The doors grated open.
That was terrifying.
I stepped into the room, and the doors shut. Tongues of fire flickered to life one by one in the lamps mounted on the walls. What was I doing here? I sat, pondering the question. In the unlit gloom behind the table, a door opened and, to my surprise, Aubrey stepped out.
“Athaliah!” he said, obviously as surprised as I was. “What are you doing in here?”
“I… was actually wondering the same thing.”
“How did you get in ? “
“I breathed on the door and a guy with a big sword cut my neck, and disappeared, and then the door opened so I came in.”
“Oh.”
“Um…Yeah. Are you going to tell me what happened?”
“No.”
“…Fine.”
“You’ll understand more after the Trial.”
I made a face.