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Prologue

Thane

I let out a long, shuddering breath as I stare up at the ceiling. My stomach is sour and my throat is tight. I’m so tired but I can’t fall asleep, too worked up from the noises coming from deeper in the house.

Closing my eyes, I try to focus on the sound of the brook near my house. The water moves, flowing over rocks. It’s a soothing sound, one that I’ve come to know as safety. When I’m sitting on the bank, everything else seems to just fade into the background. When my parents are home, they don’t come out here to find me. They leave Tess and me alone, so long as we’re out of their way.

There’s a noise at the end of my bed. I stay still, waiting. My sister crawls into bed with me, huffing as she flops down beside me, both of us staring up at the ceiling.

“Jesus,” she breathes out, letting out a sigh. “How are they not tired yet? Why can’t they just peeter out and go to sleep?”

“Orc stamina,” I say, wrinkling my nose. My sister gives the tiniest snort but it’s half-hearted. Both of us are exhausted. They’ve been at each other’s throats all night. I don’t even know what they’re fighting about anymore.

“Love that we’ll be starting the first day of school barely able to keep our eyes open.”

“Again.”

At fifteen years old, we’re probably a little too old to be sleeping in the same bed but when the sound of something shattering rings through the house, I’m glad to have her beside me. We both flinch, our hands finding each other and holding on.

“Seems like things have gotten worse since Mom got pregnant,” Tess says softly, barely above a whisper.

“Yeah,” I say slowly. “I thought maybe it would curb the jealousy since there’s like proof they’re fucking but apparently not.”

I swear I can feel my sister making a face in disgust and it makes me laugh, the tiniest bit.

It’s been about five years since the Halloween Wave hit. During that time, humans at random were turned into different creatures. Our family was hit, turning my twin sister, my mother, and myself into orcs. My father stayed a human and he’s resented all of us since.

Mom says that she has all these instincts now. I haven’t felt anything like that. Sure, I enjoy sports a lot more than I did before. I get aggressive at times. I eat like a meal isn’t promised tomorrow. All of that could be explained as me being a teenage boy though.

Being changed into a completely different species felt a lot like going through puberty and it sucks that we have to go through that twice. There was a lot to learn, a lot to deal with. Our bodies were different, we had tusks, and there were these new feelings inside of us. We quickly learned that orcs have a sense of tribe that we need to feel fulfilled.

Too bad our parents aren’t around to help with that, too busy dealing with whatever they’re dealing with. I have no idea if it’s their jobs, or traveling, or just staying anywhere but here. They’re not home very often and when they are, they’re always fighting. I don’t even know anymore.

I’m pretty sure their relationship wasn’t the best before the Halloween Wave hit, but now that Mom is an orc, things have progressively gotten worse and worse.

“I wish they weren’t here,” Tess says. “Don’t they have more bullshit business trips coming up?”

I nod my head, giving my sister's hand a squeeze. Our parents are gone more than they’re here. If I’m completely honest, I don’t even know what they do for work. They always wave us off when we ask, saying we’ll understand when we’re older. Whatever that means.

“Yeah. They’re leaving this weekend.”

Tess groans. “Wish they’d leave sooner. They can fight in their hotel room instead of here.”

“Me too.” We stare at the ceiling together. Eventually, the shouting slows down and then comes to a stop. I have no idea if they’ve made up or if they’ve simply tired themselves out and gone to sleep. Either way, I’m happy for the silence.

“Just a few more years,” Tess says, turning onto her side so she can look at me. “We can handle that, Thane. Just a few more years and then we’ll be adults.”

I swallow around the lump in my throat. Tess always makes it sound so easy but I’m not so sure.

“What about our sibling?”

“We can move out and still look out for them.”

“I don’t know, Tess,” I say shakily. “It feels like it’ll never end. Once we’re old enough to get out, they’ll probably just keep having kids to ‘renew their relationship’. You should get out, but maybe I should stick around. I’ll make sure they’re okay while you’re out living your life.”

Tess digs her nails into my wrist so hard it makes me hiss out a pained breath. “Absolutely not,” she hisses out at me. “Don’t you fucking dare give up.”

I startle at the fierceness of my sister’s words. I don’t really like to swear, always worried I’m going to get into trouble, but she’s been picking it up lately. A little rebellion she can get away with so long as she doesn’t say it while at school.