A profound fogginess surrounded me, and for a moment, my hearing was muffled to the sounds around me, as if I were underwater.
My eyes were still closed, and I jiggled my finger against my ear in a futile attempt to clear my hearing.
My hand felt sluggish and heavy, like they do after an intense workout in defensive class, a dull ache reverberating through my limbs.
After a few moments, I was able to hear again, but the result was an assault of the overly loud voices of Cree and…
Gran?
“What do you mean you don’t know what happened?” Gran’s voice was sharp, laced with impatience.
“Like I said, Tilly, she was assisting Echo here with locating an artifact he could use to siphon, and the next thing I know, he’s barging into my office with her passed out.” Cree’s voice, usually so calm, was strained, filled with barely concealed frustration.
“I called you immediately, and here you are, so now maybe we could get to the bottom of this.” You could tell he was trying to be patient with her, but he was clearly at the end of his rope, his voice teetering on the edge of exasperation.
“You assured me you could keep my granddaughters safe!
Not even a full week, and one of them has a tattoo running the length of her arm!” With that, I bolted up on what appeared to be a plush sofa in Cree’s office, the vivid memory of my terrifying time in the feretory flooding back to me all at once, a sudden, jarring recall.
I immediately looked at the palm of my hand, but there was nothing there, no lingering mark of the orb.
Turning it over, I noticed the intricate, dark patterns running up the length of my arm, twisting and spiraling like black vines, a permanent, undeniable presence.
I guess my movements alerted them that I was awake because my worried grandparents were before me in the blink of an eye, their faces etched with concern.
“Oh, my sweet girl.
What happened?
What did that boy do to you?” Gran’s voice was soft, trembling with emotion.
My eyes traveled the direction of her extended finger and saw Echo, standing a few feet away, his eyes wide like a deer caught in headlights, frozen in place.
“He didn’t do anything, Gran.
It was this…
thing, from the feretory.” Grandad, sensing my distress, rested his hand on my shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze, a silent comfort.
Cree stepped forward, concern clearly written on his face, replacing his earlier frustration.
“What thing?
What did it look like?” My eyes went to Echo, silently asking him to explain, to bear witness to what had happened.
He stepped up, his voice still a little shaky, and told them what happened, at least everything that he knew, recounting the events with careful precision.
“That’s impossible,” Cree declared once Echo was finished, his voice firm with disbelief.
“Oculus has been around for centuries, and it’s never been activated.
Besides, only another wolf can use it.” My grandparents shared worried glances with one another before Grandad, surprisingly, asked the question that hung heavy in the air.
“What exactly is this Oculus?” Usually, Grandad allowed Gran to take the lead on matters like this, deferring to her position, but it appeared she was just as shaken by this as I was, too overwhelmed to even do her thing as Concillium head.
Cree basically told them the same story that Echo had told me, the tale of Lucien and Morgana, and with every word he said, I could see my grandparents deflate just a little more, the weight of the impossible truth settling upon them.
Leave it to Echo not to be able to read the room, because he chose that moment to drop some more unsettling information on the table.
“Right before she passed out, there was something weird with her eyes.”
“Weird how?” Cree inquired, his eyes searching my own, a flicker of something unreadable in their depths.
“Well, they kinda glowed the way ours do when our wolf is at the forefront.
You know, golden.” He finished, his voice tinged with awe.
Cree closed the distance between us and lowered himself to my level, peering intently into my eyes, trying to see whatever it was that Echo had seen.
“I can’t explain what happened, hell, I can’t even guarantee that everything will be fine, but I’ll send her down to the infirmary, run a few tests, and get to the bottom of it.” At that, the formidable head of the Concillium, my Gran, finally emerged, her voice regaining its usual authority.
She turned to Echo, her gaze piercing, and said, “Young man, thank you for bringing Genesis to safety.
If you’ll excuse us, I’d like to have a word with Headmaster Cree.” Echo looked from Gran, to Cree, to me, and back to Cree, a silent question in his eyes.
“Apparently, I wasn’t clear enough.
Leave.” She put a bit more authority in her tone, her voice hardening, and even though he didn’t know her position, he scrambled to the door and exited the room, the soft click symbolizing his departure, leaving us alone with the mounting tension.
“Why must you always torture someone every time you come here?” Cree groaned out, a sigh of exasperation escaping him.
Gran ignored his comment completely and stepped to my side, the one that Grandad wasn’t occupying, and took a deep breath, preparing herself.
“Jacob, there’s something we must discuss, something that, given the circumstances, cannot be put off any longer.” Hearing the sudden seriousness in her tone, seeing the grim, determined look on both of their faces, he walked behind his desk and took a seat, gesturing to the available chairs before him, inviting us to sit.
No one said anything for a long time, the silence stretching taut between us.
I could feel the tension building in the air, a thick, suffocating weight, and it was getting a little difficult to breathe.
I knew this day would come, the day when we would have to tell the school about my issues, about my true nature.
I just thought I’d have a couple more months to prepare, to mentally brace myself for the inevitable.
I was trying not to think too hard on it, especially since the person who sat not even six feet away could be part of the reason I am what I am, a terrifying realization.
Finally, Gran found her voice again, and she started with the dreaded truth.
“I’m not sure how to go about saying what needs to be said.
I’m not even sure how you’re going to take this, but this stays within these four walls.” She waited for his agreement, her gaze unwavering, and when he gave a sharp nod, she continued.
“For the past six years, I had been searching for my granddaughter after finding out that I even had a granddaughter to begin with.
Not long after finding her, she told me something that, while difficult to understand or explain, doesn’t change the fact that it’s true.”
“I have to admit, I was still skeptical, but after what’s happened here today, there is no denying it.” Gran hooked her fingers through mine, her grip tight, and Grandad did the same on my other side, a circle of support.
“It seems, when my daughter left home all those years ago, it was because she had fallen in love with a werewolf.” My eyes hadn’t left Cree’s face, so I didn’t miss the faint tick in his jaw or the slight twitch of his eye when Gran mentioned Mom running away with a werewolf.
“I’m not sure who this wolf is or where he even is, but it seems that he and Talyn procreated and had Genesis.” Cree’s eyes darted to mine and connected to my very identical ones, a silent, shocked recognition passing between us.
It was clear he was in shock; he didn’t move, didn’t say a word.
No doubt my grandparents thought it was because what they’d told him was impossible, an unbelievable revelation, but I was holding a piece of the puzzle they didn’t know about, a secret that was about to be revealed.
After what felt like an eternity, Grandad finally said, his voice gentle.
“I know it’s a shock, but you have to say something.” When he just continued to stare at me like I’d grown two more heads, his mind reeling, I decided to speak up.
“I don’t think that’s what’s wrong, Grandad.
I think the shock comes from finding out he has a daughter.” Finally, a blink.
A single, slow blink from Cree.
“What?!” Both my grandparents yelled at the same time, their voices echoing in the office.
“I kinda suspected the day of testing when I used him for my psionic test.
I saw a memory of him, with Mom.
I didn’t know what it meant, but Farrah and I had some guesses.” Gran turned to Cree, almost mechanically, her face a mask of disbelief, waiting for him to confirm or deny my story.
He finally jerked himself out of his stupor, his gaze still dazed, and dragged his eyes away from me to look her way instead.
“Uh, I—Uh yes, Talyn and I, we did run away together.
Yes, we were in love, but…” He cut off, his words trailing, and turned to look at me once more, his eyes filled with a mixture of confusion and dawning realization.
“I never thought—I didn’t know she was pregnant.
I didn’t even know that was possible.” His eyes bored into my own so deeply it began to make me squirm in my seat, uncomfortable under his intense scrutiny.
“Are, are you sure?”
“About what?
My father being a wolf?” I retorted, a defensive edge to my voice.
“Pretty sure, since Mom had an entire plan on getting me through my first shift and then masking me before sending me off to the academy.” Even though I was prepared for that question, it still stung, the memories of her elaborate precautions still fresh.
“I, I don’t know what to say.
What do I say?” he asked Grandad, who just shrugged his shoulders, a gesture of helplessness.
“If I had known, I would have fought harder, and I definitely wouldn’t have gone off to form my own pack.
I’d have come back for you both.
Why wouldn’t she tell me?” His voice was filled with a raw, undeniable pain.
“She didn’t find out until a couple months afterward, and she didn’t contact you because she was afraid of what your father might do,” Gran explained, her voice softening, a hint of empathy.
Anger masked his face, a dark cloud settling over his features, as his eyes illuminated with a fierce, golden glow when he realized the reason he was left in the dark, the true reason for his long-lost connection, was because of his own father, a tyrannical figure.
“While I revel in finally knowing who got my daughter pregnant and ultimately put my granddaughter’s life in jeopardy, we have this Oculus situation to deal with.” I couldn’t tell if Gran was upset by the fact that Cree was the reason she lost her daughter all those years ago or not.
Her face was a mask of indifference, a practiced neutrality, but you could feel something simmering below the surface, a barely contained emotion.
Grandad, the easygoing person he was, simply accepted it for what it was and focused on the immediate problem at hand.
“Well, it would explain why she was able to activate the Oculus, being part of my line and all.” His eyes darted to me once more, a possessive glint in them.
“I guess it’s okay, she’ll be fine.
Her magic will simply be a bit stronger now, but she’ll be okay once I work with her on control.” He sounded surprisingly confident, almost dismissive of the potential danger.
“Stronger?” Gran interjected, her voice sharp with alarm.
“Jacob, I don’t know how okay things will be if that thing makes her stronger.
She already possesses some powerful magic; she needed a conduit of her own in order to even keep it under control.”
“Is there no way we can remove it?” Grandad inquired, rotating my infected hand in his own, his thumb tracing the intricate patterns on my skin.
It was then that I noticed something truly wrong with my mother’s ring that I wore.
What was once a simple golden wyvern with a vibrant ruby stone was now a golden wyvern with a dark, almost black orb with ominous red streaks running through it, completely changed.
When I attempted to remove the ring, it didn’t budge, fused to my finger.
“Guys, I don’t think that’s possible.
It looks like it’s made itself at home,” I said, my voice barely audible, the realization chilling me.
Just then, there was pounding at the door, a frantic, insistent beat, and everyone turned to the intrusion, startled.
“It’s just Farrah,” I said, a wave of relief washing over me, when I sensed her magic’s familiar signature on the other side of the door.
Cree’s eyes went wide, and he blurted out, a desperate plea, “Shit!
I forgot there were two of you.”