The sunlight assaulted her vision, sending dancing bright spots across her eyes. For a moment there it all seemed like a dream - a strange, terrible dream. She couldn't really have taken her own life, could she? That was ridiculous, why would she do such a thing? The leaves were soft and wet beneath her hands - a bed of autumn leaves. But it was not autumn but spring. Her body felt odd - almost as though she had another pair of limbs. She rose, drawing herself into a crouch and saw with a start that it was not a dream - a long ridge of pink scar tissue crossed her wrist. She shuddered as tears sprung to her eyes. What had she done?
Daniel! She thought of her mate with a start. What have I done to you? She could imagine him now, returning home to find the house empty, but for the blood-stained water of the bath tub. What would he think? That she had been murdered? What would he do?
Her back seemed too heavy, as though there were something else there, something alien, a growth? She glanced over her shoulder to see a large pair of neatly folded white wings now sprouted from her shoulder-blades.
Wings? What had Anubis done to her?
Beside her in the leaf litter three items caught her attention, despite her new appendages - a handheld mirror, a neatly folded cloak and a tattered scrap of paper. It took her a moment to adjust her centre of gravity - the wings were definitely heavy, and pick up the mirror. As she held it up she caught not her own reflection, but the gentle face of Anubis.
"You have been reborn for a purpose, Kataryna Lemusu. Do not fail me." And then the image blurred and changed, but she could still hear the words, but not through her ears - directly in her head. "You are dead to him now, Kataryna. There is no return from the other side of Heaven." As the image gained clarity she threw the mirror against a tree, glass shattering.
For in the mirror she had seen him, Daniel, her beloved, holding her limp, damp and bloody form, brushing his muzzle against her cheek - as though begging her to return to life.