"Late. Go back to sleep."
She sat up instead. I heard the rustle of blankets, the soft thud of her feet hitting the floor.
"You okay?"
I didn't answer. Wasn't sure what the answer was.
She came to stand beside me at the window. Didn't say anything. Just stood there, shoulder to shoulder, looking out at the same empty campus.
"I overheard something," I said finally. My voice sounded strange. Hollow. "Cole was on the phone. He didn't know I was there."
Ivy waited.
"He said I don't know what I am. That something's going to trigger and when it does, it'll happen fast." I swallowed. "He said he wouldn't let it happen to me the way it happened to someone else."
"What does that mean?"
"I don't know." The words scraped against my throat. "He wouldn't tell me. Said it wasn't safe for me to hear yet."
Ivy was quiet for a long moment.
"That's bullshit," she said finally.
Despite everything, I almost laughed. "Yeah."
"No, I mean—" She turned to face me. Her eyes were fierce in the dim light. "You have a right to know what's happening to you. They don't get to keep you in the dark because they think they're protecting you. That's not protection. That's control."
"Maybe they're right to be scared." I couldn't look at her. "Maybe whatever I am is too dangerous. Maybe I'm—"
"Stop." Her hand found my arm. Squeezed. "You are not dangerous. You're Lumi. My roommate. My friend. The one who risked her life to save feral wolves."
"Ivy—"
"Whatever's inside you, whatever they're so afraid of—it doesn't change who you are. It doesn't make you a monster." She squeezed harder. "And anyone who tells you otherwise can go fuck themselves."
The tears were back. But different this time. Warmer.
"I don't know what I am," I whispered.
"Then we find out." Ivy's voice was firm. Certain. "No more waiting for them to decide you're ready. No more accepting their bullshit excuses. We dig. We push. We demand answers."
"And if we don't like what we find?"
"Then we deal with it." She pulled me into a hug. Held on tight. "But we deal with it together. That's what friends are for, right?"
I hugged her back. Let myself lean into her warmth, her certainty, her stubborn refusal to let me fall apart.
"Right," I said.
We stood there for a long time.
Outside, the campus slept. The paths stayed empty. The lamps burned on, small lights against the darkness.
And somewhere in the back of my mind, underneath all the fear and confusion and hurt, one question kept circling. The same question that had haunted me for weeks. The one I still couldn't answer.
What am I?
Chapter seven
