Chapter : 11
"Oh my god! Ava, stop, you're making me anxious!" groans Irene. I stop bouncing my leg and give her a sheepish smile. "Sorry, I'm just . . ." I sigh and shake my head, unable to come up with a word to describe how I am feeling. My mind is reeling from what I learnt about werewolves, what I learnt about myself and recently what I learnt about Spencer.
As soon as I told my friends about Spencer, Seth insisted that he go over right then and confirm it for himself. I myself was torn between going to see Spencer and going home to snuggle into bed. But Stacy decided for me, offering to come along with Irene and drop me home. Irene told us she would call Ryan and tell him to go after Seth, so if things went wrong Seth would have back up. The thought of either Seth or Spencer being in danger terrified me but Seth only nodded and took off into the woods to get to his friend.
Now sitting shotgun in Irene's car I can't help but feel jumpy about the whole situation with Spencer. I look out the window trying to distract myself but the woods on either side of the winding road looked dark and ominous and after my encounter with the Varckolacks I can't help but wonder what other terrible creatures lurked in these woods.
"What happened with you and Spencer at prom by the way?" Asks Stacy from the back seat and I turn my attention to her question instead of trying to find a pair of luminous eyes that might pop up between the shadows of the trees.
"What do you mean?" Asks Irene.
I sigh again. I had totally forgotten about the Spencer-Michelle thing.
"When I found Ava after the attack began, she was with Seth, not Spencer" Explains Stacy.
"Wasn't Spencer your date?" asks Irene, giving me a side glance before turning her attention back to the road.
"He was" I say and then explain what I witnessed of Spencer and Mitchelle.
"What?!" Stacy and Irene shriek at the same time and the car momentarily swerves before righting itself. I shrug pursing my lips.
"That bitch" Irene shakes her head and scowls. "That asshole" says Stacy "Its expected of Mitchelle to do that but Spencer, I thought he was a nice dude"
"That's what I thought too" Says Irene still shaking her head in disbelief.
"What can I say, he fooled us all" I say, shaking my head as well.
A moment of silence passes then Irene says "But then how did you end up with Seth?"
"Yeah?!" Stacy adds as she pops her head between our seats and braces her hands on the console.
I try to hide the smile that tugs on my lips as I am reminded of the moment I shared with Seth.
"Ava ! You're blushing!" cackles Stacy and Irene grins like the devil. I bring my hands to my face defensively "I'm not!"
"Spill" Demands Irene and I tell them about how Seth found me and I danced with him and how we were about to kiss before the attack stopped us.
When I finish both of them cry out in despair about the kiss that could have been. "Those damn Varcolacks!" says Stacy and Irene echoes the sentiment.
"What about you?" I ask, turning to Stacy.
"What about me ?"
"What happened with Derek?" I give her a suggestive smile and she looks away blushing hard.
"Nothing much, except that he asked me to behisgirlfriend" She mumbles. "What? I can't understand you" says Irene, smacking Stacy's forehead with her free hand. "Speak up"
Stacy scowls and repeats herself louder "I said ' he asked me to be his girlfriend' " There is a moment of silence and we burst into excited squeals. We congratulate Stacy and I ask "Did he kiss you though?"
"No" she groans "damn varckolack attack happened" I groan along with her.
"All the reason to haste them more" mutters Irene.
A pleasant silence envelopes the car once more, dragging my thoughts back to Spencer and Varckolacks. There is the fact that I am a werewolf myself and I hadn't even known it. And my parents, whom I barely knew anything about, were werewolves too.
When I was younger I used Jenny and Mike, my adoptive parents, about my real parents. My mother died in a car crash a few months after my birth and Mike and Jenny decided to take me in when no known relatives showed up to claim me. They were friends with my mother and they shared the memories they had of her. She seemed like a carefree person, yearning for adventure and not afraid of the risks. Sadly they have no pictures of her but I am often told I look exactly like my mother.
My Father left my Mother before I was even born. Maybe he was the Varckolak. It seems like a plausible explanation for why he left with apparently no reason.
Mike and Jenny claim to know nothing about him. All my questions were met with vague answers. The only thing I knew for certain was that he was married to my mother and he left when she was pregnant. But if my suspicions were right and he was the Varckolack then how could my mother have married him.
Back in Garcia's cabin Irene told me varckolack had no morals and were evil. The person I imagined my mother to be couldn't possibly love let alone marry someone evil. Maybe she didn't marry for love. Either that or Varcolacks aren't as evil as Irene makes them seem.
I hope the latter is true because If Spencer really does become a Varckolack and turns evil, then . . . .
No. Spencer being an evil person sounds impossible. He is one of the sweetest persons I have ever known. He is patient and kind, not full of himself or the type to show off and boast or even prove he's better than everyone around him like most boys in schools usually behave. It's what made me agree to go to prom with him in the first place.
Spencer and I aren't strangers. We often find each other in the library library with my book glued to a book and we sometimes talk about our favorite characters and authors. That's how I got to know him and became friends. And also why I find Spencer being evil impossible, even if he tried.
"Are Varckolacks really evil?" I ask, breaking the silence. My question is left to hang in the air for a few moments before Stacy decides to answer.
"They are; They act like they hate everyone and everything around them, maybe they actually do"
"Remember Rebecca ?" says Irene " The one you were friends with back in freshman year"
"Yeah . . . ?" I say Unsure of where this was going. Rebecca used to be my best friend but she started hanging out with the wrong crowd and it changed her. She started being rude and mean and I started hanging out with her less. We drifted apart till it came to the point that neither of us were talking with the other. We aren't on bad terms but they are not exactly good either.
Irene gives me a pointed look. "You're not telling me Rebecca's a varckolack are you?" I ask bewildered. Irene only gives me a sympathetic look as she drives through the woods.
I try to digest this new piece of information. If Rebecca was attacked one day and she turned into a varckolack, it explained her sudden change in behavior. The fact that someone so close to me had been turned into a varckolack and I hadn't even known about it unnerved me.
"Is she the only Varckolack in our school?" I wonder aloud.
"Everyone in that group Rebecca hangs out with is a Varckolack"
I don't know them personally but I know they are the kind of people you would avoid to stay out of trouble because they are trouble. It makes sense that they are Varckolacks.
"They are the ones who attacked prom" supplies Stacy from behind.
"What!?" I turn to find her face grim.
"I was Arron King who bit you" Stacy's lips curve into a restrained snarl. I have never seen her look this enraged. Out of the three of us Stacy is the most calm and rational one but now she looked like she would rip someone's throat out if they so much as breathed the wrong way.
I make a mental note to never get on Stacy's bad side and turn my gaze back to the road ahead. From what I have heard of Arron king I know he is a bully and a pervert and I already disliked him, but now that hatred just became personal. I have a score to settle.
I silently promise to make him pay for shattering my shoulder and making my friends worry about me. No matter how long it takes me I will make him regret attacking me that night.
I sigh and lean my head back against the seat. In just one night my whole life has turned upside down. Despite what I learnt today, I know there is more to it. Something told me my friends only touched the tip of the iceberg. I have so many questions left unanswered and I am still confused by the whole ordeal.
I feI close my eyes feeling the headache that has been building ever since I woke up in Garcia's house finally catching up to me. Dwelling about how drastically my life has changed does me no good so I chase those thoughts away.
"Why does Garcia live in the woods in the middle of nowhere?" I ask, my eyes still closed.
I can feel the smile in Stacy's voice as she answered "Garcia says she likes the peace and quiet but personally I think she lives there just to avoid socializing with other people" I smile at that. Garcia certainly seems like the kind of person who would go great lengths just to avoid awkward small talk.
I am glad I live on the outskirts of town, close to the woods. Hopefully, in a few more minutes I will be home buried in the safety of my warm bed.
I let another random thought fuel my next question. "Do you guys really turn into wolves under every full moon?"
"We don't need the moon, we change whenever we want to" Irene's voice is laced with amusement.
"The Varckolacks too?"
"They don't need the moon either and can shift at will just like us but they don't have the same control over it as we do.
"They lose control and shift whenever their emotions get the best of them"
I hum in response and open my eyes. I can't think of another light question to ask so instead I answer one of their own I know they are dying to ask.
"I don't know much about my real parents, except that my mother's dead and my father left well before I was born"
The car is silent as we drive out of the woods and onto well lit roads lined with closed stores and gas stations on either side. I continue when neither of my friends speak " I don't think either of them bit me though, I don't have any bite mark looking scars"
" But what if they bit you and you healed?" asks Stacy.
I haven't considered that but Stacy did have a point. Come to think of it, I don't have a single scar on me. I have never had a major accident that gave me a serious injury except for tonight. Even my brutal soccer matches never gave me scraped knees like the other girls, only light bruises that faded the next day.
"I think it's safe to say that your not a varckolack" Says Irene "you would definitely curse a lot more if you were one"
I roll my eyes at her. Irene always teases me because I refuse to curse. I just find cursing immature.
"You would have also shifted when you saw Mitchelle with Spencer" Adds Stacy.
"I don't think I need to be a Varckolack do that" I say " Her very existence make me want to turn into a monster"
"But wait" A thought hits me "Is Michelle a varckolack?"
"No" says Irene "But she sure acts like one"
"Are you sure?" Mitchelle is a mean bully and she definitely fits the standards of evil. There's no way she is just human.
"I'm sure" Irene taps her nose lightly "she doesn't smell like one"
"Smell?"
"We werewolves have heightened senses and and each person or species or thing has a unique scent that we can tell apart"
Understanding dawns on me. Maybe the werewolf blood in me is the reason behind my own heightened senses. "So Mitchelle doesn't smell like a Varckolack?"
"Nope , she's just your regular old bitch" Replies Irene as the car slows to a stop in front of my home. As expected the lights are off and Mike and Jenny are probably fast asleep.
"I'll stop by tomorrow to bring you your things" says Stacy as I open the car door. With everything that happened tonight I forgot that I left my stuff in Stacy's house. The original plan was a sleepover with Irene at Stacy's but all of us are too tired for that now.
I nod to Stacy and step out of the car but before I can close the door Irene hesitantly starts "Ava?" I turn to her, wary of her tone. " The Varckolacks are going to come for you tomorrow because they still expect you are going to turn into one of them"
The thought of seeing those vile creatures again fills me with dread. My terror must have shown of my face because Stacy hurriedly says "But we'll be there, we won't them get let anywhere near you" She looks like she is trying to comfort a frightened little bunny which is ironic because she is a wolf, but it wasn't the one I am afraid of. It is the Varckolacks I feared.
I school my features to look like this bit of news didn't bothered me and give Stacy and Irene a smile "see you guys tomorrow then"
Stacy smiles back but it doesn't reach her eyes and Irene's brow twitches like she wants to frown.
I bid them good night and reached my front door unlocking it with the key hidden under a pebble in our flower pot. The car doesn't leave until I'm safely inside and I lock the door shut.