Wolf Sirens: Forbidden: Discover The Legend (13 page)

We went inside. I hadn’t realized how cold I was until
we stepped back into the house.I realized why it was so
warm inside. Giny was there, the only one of the pack
who was like me, human and cold; she had turned on
the gas fire. She looked even more dishevelled than
earlier in the day. Mascara was smudged under her
small brown eyes. Reid continued telling me that my
mother had been filled in on the situation - that Lily
had committed suicide in the high school and that
we were so horrified by the news that I had stayed
here at Sam’s place to band together the group to
console each other and grieve.

“Sorry about the tranquilizers,” Giny said,
sniffling.
I must have looked puzzled. “I didn’t realize how
strong they were.” She shrugged. “When I got out
of the room I went to take mine and Sky stopped
me, otherwise I would have been out the whole
day as well- huh- you look better than me, maybe I
should’ve taken them.” Bianca came from the kitchen area with a glass for Giny. “We needed you, that’s
why.” She seated herself beside Giny on the couch.
“Shh, you can rest now,” she soothed wrapping her
arms around Giny protectively and rubbing her arm.
They had been talking; there were scrunched tissues all over the couch. Giny had taken it badly. She
had held it together long enough to help me and do
what it was they needed her to do, now she was letting it out, falling to pieces. I learnt later that she had
to lie to the police and her parents. Now she was having her moment to grieve, to break down. Bianca held
her and rocked. I wondered who had held Bianca, because she had lost her friend too. I wondered, had she
lost friends before? She seemed experienced or maybe it was just because she was older than us. Though
she glistened with youth, she was an old woman, I
recalled. Everyone she knew from her old life was
dead or old, now.
“Can I get anything?” I offered helplessly, looking
at Reid beside me.
“You’ve done enough,” Bianca replied sternly, as
she comforted Giny sniffling on the brown leather
couch.
“I heard that!” Sky’s voice called. “Shut up,
Bianca!” he growled, appearing from the hallway.
He threw Reid a jacket.
“Get her home now - fill her in on the way, so
she doesn’t give us away,” he ordered in an alpha tone.
That last line was meant for me as a threat, I guessed.
I wondered where Sam was. I knew the jacket wasn’t
for Reid. He wrapped it around me as I was ushered
out of the door. Of the four visible options we took
Sky’s blue pickup. I breathed in the smell.
The story was that Lily was depressed; she’d shot
herself in the head following a fight with Jackson.
They told the police it was a short tumultuous relationship made worse by Lily’s mood swings. Sam
pretended to find her body, as she was the first one
there every day. After I had been dragged out covered in blood and taken away with Giny, Cresida
had inspected her kill. An argument ensued between
Sam and her, in which Cresida felt so threatened she
morphed, and Bianca was the voice of reason. Time
was short and they had to agree on a course of action. Cresida handed it over to Sam to deal with
the body apparently. They took her rifle and laid it
with the body, said it was a probably bought illegally
for its intended use. No one questioned it. Lily was
old money, she could have acquired it easily enough.
They had been interviewed once by the police and
again later in the day. They told the police Sam’s
parents were on holiday. It seemed money could buy
most things. Sky had to call in a favour from some
wolves in another territory that Reid had never met,
to travel in and play mother and father to the dead
Lily. The whole thing had taken its toll, even on the
unshakeable Sam. It was a logistical nightmare, not
to mention that it threatened the entire pack.
They had someone to falsify papers, that sort of
thing. This was all very stressful for them; the change
in their demeanour was a heaviness that had previously not been known by the pack. Sam had been
conferencing with wolf acquaintances of hers and
was absent making arrangements, sorting out the details, including a request from Lily’s ‘father’ for no
inquiry and no autopsy.
If they left it would have to be a long time from
now. Rather than giving them an out from Shade
this incident had locked them in. They voted this as
the best course of action, to ride it out. Their disappearance would have been noteworthy now. We
were all to lie low –in mourning for a while. And get
our stories straight. I had to prepare myself for my
mother, her concern and her sympathy, worst of all
her attention. The incident was newsworthy, which
now more than ever the pack didn’t want. Reid was
set the task of staying close to me for support, to help
coach me on what to say, if someone called. After
convincing my mother not to worry I pretended to
need to lie down in my room. Reid met me and held
me on my bed and I listened to his heavy breathing
and his heartbeat and tried to sleep. It’s strange being
solely responsible for the death of someone. Every
time I saw the colour red, I saw her face for days after that and when I saw both white and red I would
remember her body slumped on the floor in a pool of
her own crimson blood.
Lily’s ‘father’ had wanted to keep it quiet, or so
the public story went. Hopefully he was persuasive
enough to keep it from the headlines. Sam had secured two wolves to play parents at the funeral and
for a few days afterwards, which was a hard task given Cresida’s presence.
Sam’s pack now owed this other pack big time,
for their help. The whole school required counselling; there would be memorials, assemblies and a
funeral. I wasn’t required to attend for appearances
or otherwise. I stayed in my room, but the day of the
funeral I decided to attend. I couldn’t stand being in
the house, pacing the room, wondering how far the
funeral had progressed, whether they had laid her in
the ground yet. I knew she was still angry with me
and she had died so suddenly I worried her ghost
still kept watch at the hall. I took a bunch of camellias picked from the front of the house. I acted like I
was part of the in-crowd, like Reid had said I had to
‘lie for the best,’ and ‘to keep to ourselves’. The wolf
actors were quiet, as parents in mourning, and looked
hardly old enough to fit the bill. Lily’s ‘father’ had
a goatee and pony tail and remarkable light brown
amber eyes which sparkled like the others did. He
wore glasses which made him seem less dishevelled,
perhaps, more mature than he otherwise appeared.
For me it showed the lengths the wolves as a society
would go to protect their existence. It gave an authenticity to the onlookers and a certain falseness to
the proceedings for the rest of us, as a quiet reminder
of the staging. I felt a certain sadness that it cheapened her life somehow. Her ‘mother’ had long auburn
hair, was tall and her eyes were ice blue like Sam’s.
She wore big sunglasses for the service and a hat. Her
hair was dyed, it didn’t look natural. The supposed
resemblance to Lily was only that their eyes glowed
like hers once had. No one questioned anything other
than the fact that they were absent before her death.
Sam flitted about as usual making sure all was well.
She made sure her best friend’s funeral ran smoothly
and I thought it was a pleasant touch that she insisted Lily’s favourite music was played, though I’m
sure the gathering thought it was odd that a teenager
would love Elvis and the Supremes.
I hoped, though I couldn’t be sure, that the rest of
the pack, her real family, had a private funeral. One
without the orchestration, one where their feelings
were real. I didn’t cry at the funeral. Maybe I tried but
my eyes were dry. In the night as I lay my head on the
pillow I remembered sections of the funeral and as I
thought of Sam laying the flowers on her coffin my
eyes swelled and all the pain that was absent or numb
was real again. I had no one to hold me, but neither
did Lily. I wanted the world to swallow me up whole.
After missing two weeks of school in the morning we hit practice - now for Lily’s memory or at
least that’s what Sam told the concerned faculty. But
really it was for herself, to save her own skin; did she
feel guilty like me? We all had to attend group counselling in which we all agreed to continue to practice
for calisthenics dance finals, in Lily’s memory. And
for a time she indeed did haunt the school hall in
which we practiced. As a temporary memorial an
enormous portrait photograph marooned in flowers leant crookedly against the stage. And she smiled
at us with a blank look in her eyes while we danced
without her, over the spot where she had died.
I wondered if Sam was angry with me. I felt her
distance was a sign of the pain of losing her wolf sister. She didn’t tell me it was my fault, but how could
I deny it? Her silence spoke volumes; it was the least
I deserved.
It seemed fate was against Sam’s sisters; the team
was down again in numbers, we needed a fifth to
meet criteria rules. Sam would have to pull someone
else from the sea of students. But what she ultimately
decided surprised me.

“Team meeting at lunch,” Giny whispered in class
leaning across the row of desks blatantly, as Mr
Marshal lectured. One of the perks of a dead best
friend was leniency. He passed us over with his eyes
and kept talking, unlike he would have three weeks
before.

Sam waited until we were all at the lunch table.
Sky sat nearest her, as usual. But his placement today was for an important reason. “I have been in
discussion with Mr Crealy and the board of dancers
CGDA (Calisthenics Group Dance Association) and
together we have come to an agreement.” She looked
pleased. “We are allowed to compete but it must be
with five. They have decided even though it is the
female category that it can be a boy, so I have invited
Sky to be involved. We can then compete in the required section. They have shown leniency because of
the circumstances.” I wondered why this compromise
still pleased her. Even if we won now it would be a
pity victory, surely?

“So, Sky is now part of the team!” she announced.
I wondered if her enthusiasm was for the observing
students in the lunchroom, or genuine. He was the
best choice because he was Sam’s official boyfriend;
it was believable that he would be able to pick up the
steps because he had spent so much time with her
and for all anyone knew had watched practice.

And there was no doubt that he was the athletic
type. Werewolves tended to be agile, fast and strong.
And he would want to please Sam, no doubt.
And then, I thought, maybe I was just a little overly
pleased to have an excuse to be in very close proximity to him. My heart felt a little flutter. I shifted so
that I mightn’t have to struggle to conceal it.

He visited me in my room most nights. If my mother
heard anything she didn’t come in and she didn’t
inquire what was going on; for once I loved her for
it. We would talk for hours at a time; he made me
laugh, to feel the way he was – youthful and light,
entertaining me with whispered stories of his family.
I hadn’t had that sort of upbringing, with lots of
family.

I thought about when I had asked him if he
wanted me to become like him, he said it would be
nice but he probably didn’t want that, unless I needed
to. And anyway Cresida would kill me if I was out of
control, as young werewolves often were. I didn’t care
that he was most likely there with me on orders from
Sam, since the funeral, just in case I cracked and talked. I thought he was there to stop me complicating
the situation further, to keep me from implicating
them in something sinister.

I shuddered at the thought of Cresida out there,
like an action figure armed and waiting.
After one of our nightly talks he kissed me goodbye and left through the open window, down the
trellis like Romeo.Though he could have jumped out
of the window like it was nothing, he wanted to keep
it low key – and anyway Ben Flinds could have been
watching with his rifle nearby - as usual the radio
was on.
I ached for Sky when he left. I could have loved
Reid. He was everything but he wasn’t Sky. He was
handsome and buff and kind, but a feeling of nausea
had infected me every time I thought of Sky with
anyone else, even though he wasn’t mine.
I rolled on my mattress. Reid had told me how
he and Sky were created. From everything Sky had
told him.
“Reid why does Sky wear those tags?” I asked
innocently.
“You’ve noticed that?”
“Yeah? He never takes them off?” I questioned.
“No. They were his in ’Nam,” Reid replied casually, staring straight up at the ceiling.
I didn’t attempt to control my fascination. “He
was in the Vietnam war?” I urged.
“He doesn’t talk much about it.”
I listened silently while Reid told me how Sky
had been a bricklayer in the sixties when he was
recruited for the war, much to his liberal mother’s
horror. He had left school and worked long hours,
though his back was beginning to go. “The stress of
Nam stuffed it good,” according to Reid. Carrying
his injured friends had caused irreversible damage.
He was too tall for bending, manual labour. Reid
looked sorry then. “Sam found him in the hospital.
She was visiting her second husband’s bedside as he
lay dying. Cancer I think.”
She saw him lying in his hospital bed, stunning
even for a human, even a broken one. He’d been in
bed for ages in traction. It must have made her reminiscent, of her sister who had spent days confined to a
chair. There was something about him that drew her
in. “We have strong senses, especially smell. Maybe
she was lonely and decided the pack needed an addition,” he offered as I listened absorbed. I recalled it
had been only the girls then.
Reid went on. “Just like in people, humans, certain pheromones seem to draw us; she picked up on
his scent. One day she came into his room and talked
to him. He thought she was a nurse, in his drugged
stupor. He didn’t have a big family and few prospects.” A perfect candidate.
“One visit she found him on the balcony in a chair,
offered him a light - and bit him. He was sedated
somewhat, she wasn’t sure how it would affect the
venom, but it helped enormously - very dangerous,
we don’t like to take those kinds of risks nowadays;
Sam herself would rip you to pieces,” Reid cautioned
looking at me and I smiled softly at him.
He continued, “Sky was violently ill, from the
venom. Back in those days they didn’t have the tests
they do now, and the doctors didn’t know what was
wrong with him. Eventually in the dead of night he
transformed. He ran out of the hospital and terrified the nurses on night duty who thought they were
seeing things,” he laughed. “Sam heard the commotion from her husband’s room, where I guess she was
listening, and she chased him down. She was crazy
to do it in such a public place but in those days she
didn’t know to be careful, not like now. He woke up in
the hospital bed the next morning, stunned, thinking
he must have dreamt it vividly. Imagine his surprise
when he realized he could move without pain and
sit up! He felt fine. Better than fine! He felt great,
powerful.”
The way he said it made me realize Reid knew
the feeling well.
“After being checked, he walked out of the hospital healthy and strong. Sam was waiting outside with
her long white blonde hair and nice car. She took
his hand and told him what had happened. He went
through all the emotions: confused, disbelief, angry,
sad, acceptance, and then he was thrilled. He loves
it.” Reid smiled.
“Do you?” I asked.
“Yeah, what guy wouldn’t?” He looked serious
then. “Well parts if it anyway.”
“Tell me more - and he liked her?” I enquired
innocently.
“Yeah, so it was perfect. She didn’t need the money anymore from any rich guys, so it didn’t matter
that he was broke.”
“Reid, what happened to her husband in the hospital?” I enquired sympathetically.
“Oh, he died I guess, a little later, he was on his
last legs.” He shrugged.
“He wasn’t a wolf?”
He breathed, “No.”
I sat up on my elbow. “Was Sam sad?”
“She was, I think, more than with the first one. She
still keeps a picture of him. In the hall,” he recalled.
“What happened to the first one?”
“The first husband died from official causes –
suicide, I believe.”
Reid glanced at me and we exchanged looks. I
hoped it was an accident.
Reid didn’t tell me why she didn’t change her
husband instead of Sky.
“Then when did Cresida date Sky?” Things were
so different now - If Sky had instantly loved Sam,
how could he change so easily and be with Cresida
instead?
“He went through a rebellious stage, the forties
are hard.” Reid looked at me. “He broke it off with
Sam. He began to feel he’d never had a choice - about
being with her, so he kind of relived his youth or
something. Like he woke up one morning and went:
‘What am I doing?’ He stayed with another pack
and when he turned up back at Sam’s, yours truly
was there,” he smirked. “We got on, but Jackson was
making trouble, the girls were going to take him out.”
Reid’s jaw tightened.
“What was he doing?”
“Oh, nothing, he just figured it out.”
“Oh, so he wasn’t changed?”
“No. Sam was making sure everyone knew who
was boss. I was really worried they were going to attack him.” I noticed the corner of Reid’s lip pull a
little as he said it.
“So you changed him?” I gasped, I had no idea.
“Yeah, it was touch and go for a while, but he
came up good and I got Sky to join me at school. He
wasn’t keen but he wasn’t doing anything else.”
I had recalled feeling the same myself. He
thought for a moment as if remembering. “Cresida
was the most popular girl in school when he arrived.
He befriended her and before we knew the rumour
mill was turning.” He gave me a knowing look.
I wondered if he did it to piss Sam off. “So they
didn’t date?”
“No, they did for five minutes, before Sam tried
to eat her like dog chow.”
“Sky saved her?” I guessed.
“We did,” he replied.
“You and he are close, huh?” I’d begun to realize
early on they had the strongest bond of the group.
“Yeah, when he tried to break off from her, we
kind of were our own pack for a while – after we
converted Jackson. He still lives at home, like Giny
does,”he explained - and like Reid himself, I thought.
He kissed me goodbye and I lay back in my pillow.
I thought about all the facts swirling in my mind.
A creeping sensation rose and swallowed me when I
was finally alone. I pondered in anticipation the moments that I would be able to see and talk and be
around Sky again.