Silence.
The bathroom was completely silent.
Not the peaceful kind.
The kind of silence that appears after something impossible happens.
Steam still drifted through the room.
Water slowly dripped from the bathtub onto the floor.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
The five boys stared at the bathtub.
At Zeven.
A few minutes ago he had been screaming like a dying man.
Now he sat there motionless.
Alive.
Breathing.
Changed.
Dak swallowed.
The sound seemed unusually loud.
"Zeven...?"
No answer.
Zeven's head remained lowered.
Wet black hair covered part of his face.
The water around him rippled slightly.
Matthew took a careful step forward.
"Brother?"
Still nothing.
Matthew looked toward Kael.
Kael looked toward Ozias.
Nobody knew what they were supposed to do.
How exactly do you help someone after watching them boil water with their body?
How do you help someone whose eyes became black as an abyss?
How do you help someone after seeing their body literally change before your eyes?
Nobody had answers.
Then...
Splash.
Zeven moved.
Slowly.
His hand reached toward the edge of the bathtub.
His fingers grabbed the stone.
Crack.
Everyone froze.
A thin fracture appeared beneath his hand.
Silence returned.
Zeven stared at it.
The others stared too.
Nobody said a word.
Because everyone had seen it.
The stone had cracked.
Not shattered.
Not broken completely.
But cracked.
And Zeven hadn't even squeezed hard.
He had simply grabbed it.
"..."
His eyes remained fixed on the fracture.
Dak took an unconscious step backward.
Immediately he regretted it.
Because Zeven noticed.
For a brief moment their eyes met.
Dak felt awful.
Not because he was scared.
Because Zeven was his brother.
Yet fear had appeared anyway.
And he hated himself for it.
Matthew noticed immediately.
"Dak."
"I know."
Dak lowered his gaze.
"I know."
Nobody blamed him.
Truthfully...
All of them felt it.
The fear.
The uncertainty.
The confusion.
Especially Zeven.
Slowly he stood.
Water cascaded down his body.
The movement immediately revealed something they hadn't fully noticed before.
He was bigger.
Much bigger.
Ozias blinked.
Then blinked again.
"No way."
"What?"
Asked Kael.
Ozias pointed.
"Look at him."
They looked.
This time carefully.
Really carefully.
And their expressions changed.
Before tonight Zeven had already been taller than most people.
Now...
He looked enormous.
Broader shoulders.
Longer arms.
A stronger frame.
Everything looked more defined.
As if months of training had happened in a matter of minutes.
Dak's mouth slowly opened.
"Brother..."
"What happened to you?"
For once he wasn't joking.
For once there was no smile.
Only genuine confusion.
Zeven looked down at himself.
Then at his hands.
Then at his arms.
His body felt lighter.
Yet stronger.
Every movement felt effortless.
As if gravity had become weaker.
The feeling unsettled him.
Because it didn't feel natural.
Nothing tonight felt natural.
Matthew stepped closer.
"How do you feel?"
Zeven thought about it.
Really thought.
Then answered honestly.
"I don't know."
The answer surprised even himself.
His whole life he always had something to say.
Always had an answer.
Always knew what he wanted.
Now?
Nothing.
His mind was chaos.
He remembered the bathroom at Raven's.
The black eyes.
The fear.
Then the pain.
Then darkness.
And now...
This.
"I feel..."
He stopped.
Searching for the right words.
"Different."
Nobody laughed.
Nobody made a joke.
Because that was exactly what they all saw.
Different.
The word fit perfectly.
A few minutes later they helped Zeven out of the bathroom.
Nobody wanted to leave him alone.
Not tonight.
Not after everything that happened.
They moved into Matthew's room.
Nobody sat normally.
Everyone looked tense.
Uneasy.
Waiting for something else to happen.
Dak broke first.
As usual.
"Alright."
Everyone looked at him.
"Can somebody explain what the hell happened?"
Silence.
"Anybody?"
More silence.
"Great."
He threw himself backward onto the bed.
"Very reassuring."
Kael rubbed his forehead.
"Maybe it's related to what happened in the bathroom."
"The black eyes?"
Asked Ozias.
"What else?"
Matthew answered.
The room became quiet again.
Nobody liked talking about that.
Because none of them understood it.
And things people don't understand tend to scare them.
Zeven leaned against the wall.
Listening.
Thinking.
Then suddenly he remembered something.
His mother's call.
The gift.
"Mom."
The others looked at him.
"What?"
Asked Dak.
"Before everything happened."
"Mom called me."
"She said she left something in my room."
Ozias raised an eyebrow.
"Now?"
"You're thinking about that now?"
"Yes."
Zeven answered immediately.
"Because it's normal."
The room became silent.
Everyone understood.
He wanted something normal.
Anything normal.
After tonight.
That made sense.
Matthew stood up.
"Then let's go check."
The boys eventually arrived at Zeven's house.
The rain had become stronger.
Thunder echoed in the distance.
The atmosphere felt strangely heavy.
Even getting out of the car felt different.
As if the world itself had changed.
Or maybe only they had.
Nobody knew.
Inside the house everything was quiet.
Peaceful.
Normal.
A strange contrast to the madness of the last few hours.
The five boys climbed the stairs.
Eventually reaching Zeven's room.
The door opened.
Nothing unusual.
Same black room.
Same furniture.
Same bed.
Same window.
Same mirror.
Then Zeven noticed it.
A small black box sitting on the table.
Waiting.
Exactly where his mother said it would be.
The others gathered around.
Curious.
Dak especially.
"Open it."
"Be patient."
"No."
"Open it."
Despite everything...
A small smile appeared on Zeven's face.
For the first time that night.
Something normal.
Something familiar.
His brothers being idiots.
Rain hammered against the windows.
The storm had only grown stronger.
Thunder rolled across the sky.
The five boys stood inside Zeven's room.
Nobody spoke.
Not because they had nothing to say.
Because they had too much.
The events of tonight refused to leave their minds.
The bathroom.
The boiling water.
The black eyes.
The transformation.
The impossible strength.
None of it made sense.
Yet here they were.
Standing in Zeven's room.
As if everything was normal.
As if they hadn't just watched their friend become something else.
Something unknown.
"Open the box."
Zeven looked at him.
"You've been saying that for five minutes."
"And I'll keep saying it."
"Open."
"The."
"Box."
Ozias laughed.
"He's going to explode if you don't."
"Correct."
Dak crossed his arms.
"I need answers."
"We all need answers."
Matthew looked at the small black box resting on the table.
"Your mother left it?"
"Yeah."
Zeven nodded.
The box wasn't large.
Maybe the size of two books stacked together.
Black wood.
Silver edges.
No lock.
No markings.
Nothing special.
Yet something about it felt important.
Slowly Zeven approached.
For some reason his heartbeat increased.
Not because he feared the box.
Because tonight had become strange.
Everything felt connected.
The black eyes.
The pain.
The transformation.
His mother's gift.
Maybe it was stupid.
Maybe it meant nothing.
But he couldn't shake the feeling.
Matthew noticed.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
A lie.
Matthew immediately knew it.
But said nothing.
Instead he watched.
Just like always.
Zeven reached forward.
His fingers touched the lid.
Then he opened it.
Silence.
Nobody spoke.
Inside rested a necklace.
Simple.
Beautiful.
A black chain.
Attached to it was a small silver pendant shaped like a wolf.
Dak blinked.
"A wolf?"
Ozias tilted his head.
"That's actually pretty cool."
Kael nodded.
"Looks expensive."
Matthew remained silent.
Watching Zeven.
Because Zeven wasn't looking at the necklace normally.
He was staring at it.
As if it meant something.
The wolf.
For some reason it felt familiar.
Yet he had never seen it before.
His fingers touched the pendant.
The moment he grabbed it...
A flash.
Darkness.
A battlefield.
Fire.
Lightning.
Screams.
Then...
Gone.
Zeven staggered backward.
The box fell.
The pendant swung from his hand.
Everyone jumped.
"Zeven!"
Matthew moved instantly.
"What happened?!"
Zeven's breathing became heavier.
The vision had lasted less than a second.
Yet it felt real.
Too real.
He could still hear the screams.
Still smell the smoke.
Still feel the heat.
His heart pounded violently.
"I..."
He stopped.
How was he supposed to explain that?
That touching a necklace suddenly showed him a battlefield?
Nobody would believe him.
Then again...
After tonight?
Maybe they would.
Dak noticed his expression.
And immediately lost his smile.
"Brother."
The room became serious again.
"Tell us."
Silence.
Zeven looked at all four of them.
Matthew.
Kael.
Ozias.
Dak.
His brothers.
The people he trusted most in the world.
Slowly he told them everything.
The vision.
The battlefield.
The fire.
The lightning.
The screams.
When he finished, nobody laughed.
Nobody called him crazy.
Because after tonight...
Crazy wasn't impossible anymore.
Thunder exploded outside.
BOOOOM.
The lights flickered.
For a brief second.
Darkness filled the room.
Then the lights returned.
And all five boys froze.
Because standing in the mirror across the room
Was another Zeven.
Black eyes.
Smiling.
Then gone.
The room was normal again.
Nobody spoke.
Nobody moved.
Because this time...
All five of them had seen it.