It was foolishness that had Jae address the nearest painting of the multi-headed beast. Later on, Davian might tell her to blame it on the blond hair she now sported (thanks to him). It was only meant to be a few seconds though, and Jae thought, honestly though, that maybe a head or two may emerge and that would be enough. She stood, standing a few feet away from Sorin who stared at the massive painting.
Thankfully Sorin was understanding of her skepticism and need for evidence he could do what he said. She'd carried that painting of Eunji with her from Korea. She held it in her possession for over fifty years now. Fifty yeras was a long time to wear the burden of guilty, and the painting was the origin of many of the problems Jae dealt with later. She and Eunji were young and Jae was far more adventurous. Had she been sorted in those days, she likely would've ended up in House Kitsune instead of Hydra. But having your best friend trapped in a painting because of a stupid prank you thought of performing had a way of changing a person. Jae's inexperience and desperation for revenge led to her first taste of human heart. It was all downhill from there and she'd spent a lot of time trying to scrape her way back up. She'd made some progress since coming to St. Margaret's, and more than she had in the past four, almost five, decades.
Now she had to face Eunji, and it had taken some time of thinking and exploring herself to really decide it was time. Jae had to face her past if she wanted to progress into her future. Eunji may not remember, or she could know exactly what happened. Jae wouldn't know for sure until she emerged from the painting. That time very well may be soon, but for now, the hydra painting would do the trick.
As each head emerged, Jae felt herself bristling. Her nerves cried out that it was dangerous and she said, "Sorin, that's—" but her words were cut off when Sorin fell to the floor.
It left Jae alone in the foyer with a hydra. Her eyes stared up and she felt her nails growing outward and fingers turning into claws. Her ears taking the shape of foxes tipped with white fur. Her eyes became more animalistic and she then it was moving. Angrily moving about, and Jae moved to try to get to Sorin but two of the hydra heads stopped her. She had to be fast, but there were too many heads. She was lucky it didn't catch her and that her small bursts of speed allowed her to all too narrowly avoid getting caught. She had to get to Sorin and to keep him from being consumed by the beast. She had to at least distract it, get it away.
Jae slashed at the skin of the hydra. She cut through it, but the beast was already moving outside. Outside onto campus where other students were likely to be surprised by a fully-grown hydra walking amongst them.
She had to warn the others, but she worried about Sorin. The hydra was out now, rushing across campus and through the messy hole it made in its exit she saw a large black scaled thing attack the hydra.
Ashton.
Jae immediately turned back to Sorin and rushed over to him. The human was lying there asleep and she was more kumiho than girl right then. The beating heart in his chest a grand temptation that her own panicked thoughts were having difficulty in avoiding. Someone needed to step in fast and tell her to go, else it would not just be the hydra students need worry about.