Carpathian 17 - Dark Celebration

She was afraid to move, afraid to examine the small little creature.
    "Josef!" She hurried over, dropping to her knees in the snow to reach for the screech owl.
    Just as she went to lift it, the huge eyes popped open, the bill yawning wide and wings flapping. Skyler couldn't stop the startled scream that escaped.
    "Gotcha!" Josef sat up laughing.
    Skyler leapt to her feet, her heart pounding. She wanted to smash something over his head and she never had violent tendencies—well, almost never. Josef just brought out the worst in her. He loved pranks and she seemed a great target. "You're not funny."
    The smile faded from his face. "What's wrong with you lately, Skyler? Screech owls often fly into things and knock themselves silly. People think they're dead, but they're just out. I read about it and thought it would make you smile. Honestly, you're no fun." He jumped up and backed away from her. "We're not grown up yet. There's nothing wrong with laughing about stuff."
    He walked off without a backward glance. She told herself she was glad to see him go—
    that he was being ridiculous, but inside the loneliness grew stronger. She didn't laugh like other kids—she didn't know how. Online, when she talked to Josef, she could be different, be someone else. No one could see her or touch her and she could just relax and have fun.
    But here… everyone was too close. She could feel every emotion, and it ripped at her skin and clawed at her heart until she felt so raw she thought she might just cease to exist.
    Sometimes, even the earth seemed to scream in pain at her.
    In the distance, a lone wolf howled mournfully. The single drawn out note struck at her.

    The wolf was as lonely as she was. She reached up to wrap her fingers around the pendant lying between her breasts. Suddenly, it felt warm instead of icy cold, almost pulsing in her hand. She knew better. She was going to get in such trouble if Gabriel and Francesca discovered she'd taken off again, but she had to go. She couldn't stop herself.
    Skyler drew her white, fur-lined parka around her and took off at a light jog in the direction from which she'd heard the wolf. Was it Dimitri? Her heart jumped at the thought.
    His eyes had been so blue—so intense—and so filled with pain. She knew pain intimately
    —she knew people. They hid terrible inclinations, terrible secrets beneath falsely smiling faces. Was she any better than the rest of them, leaving the man to suffer because she was afraid?
    She shivered in spite of her jacket. Gabriel would be furious with her and she didn't like it when he was really angry. Mostly he just gave her a look, but if he was angry, he insisted on punishing her. That usually meant she had to spend time with other kids. For others, it would have been easy, but it was always the most dreaded of all retributions. Her feet dragged in the snow and she halted, glancing back in the direction of the house. She couldn't see it anymore, having entered into the tree line. The wolf howled again, a plaintive note this time, as if he too searched for answers.
    Skyler squared her shoulders and set out once again, picking her away through the snow drifts as she tried to follow a shallow trail that wound along the streambed. The tip of her nose grew cold along with her ears. She pulled the hood closer around her, trying to keep the cold out. It was impossible. She stumbled and nearly fell. The abrupt action rattled her enough that she shook her head hard, trying to clear out the soft pitiful cries of the wolf that just wouldn't let go of her.
    For so long she'd thought her answer was to live in the Carpathian world, but she'd realized she couldn't relate any better there than in the human world. She brushed at the tears that should have been in her eyes, only there were none there. She felt them burning deep inside, locked away like her memories. Only Francesca and Gabriel seemed to be able to accept her with all of her differences—all of her shortcomings. She was never going to overcome her past—or her psychic abilities. She might have more control than she used to, thanks to her adopted parents, but it wasn't enough to allow her to be like other people.
    She tripped on a branch buried in the snow, and glanced around astonished to realize she had been walking the entire time and had no idea where she was. She turned in a circle frowning. Which way was home? She could call out to Gabriel, but he'd be furious with her.
    It would be so much