Thea is sitting on my bed, watching me closely. She was the one who was banging on the door like a mad person. Immediately I opened up for her, she stormed into my room and plopped down on my bed, watching me but not saying anything.
I waited for her to speak but after moments pass and she still hadn't said anything, I continued going about my business. She finally speaks just when I get my sponge from the rack and am about to enter the shower.
"So you're not even going to acknowledge my presence?"
I pause. "I literally waited for you to say something"
"Great, so now you know how it feels waiting for someone only for the person to not deliver"
I sigh. I should've known that that's what this is about.
"Really though, it wasn't cool, El"
"I know, I know. But I apologized; something important came up"
"What important thing?"
My lip quivered. "I'm sorry but I can't talk about it"
Thea looks at me pointedly with furrowed brows. "Okay then, don't talk about it" she finally says. "But you have to make it up to him"
"I know and I will"
"And today's just the perfect opportunity" she grins and I laugh awkwardly.
"I'm kinda busy today"
My best friend frowns. "What do you mean you're busy today? You literally have an engagement slated for today"
I do?
Thea must have caught my lost expression because she shakes her head in disbelief and says, "No, El, do not tell me you forgot"
"Of course I didn't" I chuckle nervously. "I definitely remember that…um…"
Thea sighs, disappointed. "My pa just opened his third restaurant and we're having a brunch to celebrate, friends and family invited; I only told you guys about it like two weeks ago, no biggie" she shrugs
Oh. The Figgins brunch. I honestly hadn't forgotten it, but it definitely went to the back of my mind thanks to the recent happenings.
"I'm sorry it skipped my mind, Tee, I've been overwhelmed lately. What time is it starting?"
"1.30. What's the other thing you said you have to do?"
"Oh, I'm just meeting with my mum to… catch up. It shouldn't take that much time, and straight afterwards, I'll be there at your house for brunch"
Thea looks at me skeptically. "You will be there?"
"I will be there. Promise"
"And this won't be one of those situations where you promise to come but won't end up showing up?"
I groan. "Please, let me live that out"
"No"she smiles. "But I've forgiven you. Now you just have to not mess this one up and Jesse will be less disappointed and everyone's happy" she claps.
We stare at each other for a few seconds before I say, "So, can I go have my shower now?"
I don't wait for an answer before walking away.
***
Odds and Evens off Brawick is a coffee shop that has been opened since the 1950s. It's a campus staple, actually, and there's even a shuttle that drops off here, but I decided to trek the distance when I was done with my second lab report so that I won't be too early.
I get to the coffee shop a few minutes after noon. The interior is rustic yet cosy, with regular tables congregating towards the center of the room and private booths at the corners. The counter is lined with displays of several pastries and the person manning the cash register is a bored looking teenager. The place isn't empty but it isn't exactly jam packed either. I'm about to text my mum to ask whether she's here but then I sight her at one of the private booths, above which has the picture of a werewolf with the WANTED sign. I wonder what that's all about.
I go over to where my mum is and settle in opposite her.
"I'm surprised you're early" I say
"Honey, I'm just on time" she winks. "I just don't want you to be cross at me"
"Yeah, you should've thought of that before you lied to me all my life. Speaking of which-"
Mum holds up a hand to stop me. "I will answer all your questions, honey, but come on, this is the first time I'm seeing you since you left last September. How about we catch up a bit before we move on to the grave topics?"
"I don't want to catch up with you, I just want answers" I reply a bit too harshly and I feel guilty when I see my mum's face fall, so I continue more placatively, "I have other things to do after this so I just want to be as fast as possible. You're in the city now, so we can always catch up some other time"
I'm not sure I mean it but it seems to do the trick; my mum brightens up a bit.
"Okay, at least let's get some grub first"
"I'm going for an eating function so I don't really want to fill up my stomach"
"Grab a coffee"
This time around, she isn't suggesting, she's commanding. I may be an adult and angry at her but I can't go against an order.
"Okay then"
Mum beckons a waiter over and we place our orders. The waiter, who only looks slightly older than me, hesitates for a split second and I notice that he's staring at my mum.
"Move along and try not to wank off in our coffee, thank you" I say in a sickeningly sweet voice and the guy flares up and scurries off.
"He was staring at your boobs" I say to my mum.
'"Honey, you should've let him. Allow the young to have their fun"
"You have a boyfriend, mum"
"Yeah, and the sky is blue; that has nothing to do with the matter at hand"
"Daryl's not going to like that"
"I'm my own person, who gives two fucks about what Daryl likes?"
I frown. Honestly, I should be used to this by now but I'm still not. My mum doesn't do commitments and she doesn't understand the concept of co-existence. Simply put, mum is the most selfish person I know and she doesn't understand that her actions can hurt other people. That's what built a wedge between her and my dad.
My parents were never married- my mum has never been married nor will she ever be, as far as I'm concerned. They had lived together though and two years into the relationship, mum decided that's he wanted a child. Dad agreed, perhaps thinking that by having a child together, they would almost certainly end up getting married. Mum had other plans. When I was born, mum saw me as 'her' child, not 'their' child- he was more or less a live-in baby daddy. That's why I took my mum's surname rather than my dad's, Kristensen.
My mum claiming sole ownership of me wasn't what ended their relationship though, that would come twelve years later when my mum would decide that she was tired of her growing domestic life. She kept late nights in clubs and spent the mornings hungover. Sometimes, she didn't come back home. Any time dad would try to call her back to order, remind her of the responsibilities she had towards him and her child, she'd simply reply with how they weren't married so he wasn't allowed to tie her down like that. As far as she was concerned, she was performing her girlfriend and motherly duties just right: dad never lacked sex and I never lacked food. Dad often accused her of cheating but she always denied and honestly, I believed her. Sure, she was selfish and inconsiderate, but she wasn't a bad person and she would never intentionally hurt anyone by doing something she knew was wrong. My mum never cheated, not physically at least. But she didn't see anything wrong with emotional cheating; thus, could not see how or why it should hurt my dad.
Finally, a few days after my thirteenth birthday, my mum walked into the dining room where Asher and I were having breakfast before school and dropped a piece of paper flippantly on the table.
"The bastard left in the middle of the night" she said to nobody in particular before turning to me. "Honey, your dad and I have broken up. The coward left a letter and ran off into the night"
I swallowed my toast uneasily. "So he packed out of our house?"
Mum placed her hand on top of mine. "Honey, he packed out of our lives. It's over" she retracted her hand and stretched. "There. Off like a band-aid. It's been a long time coming, honestly. If we were married, we'd have had to sit you down and had the divorce talks and even separating then would take weeks, if not months, of emotional turmoil. But no marriage means no divorce" she twirled around and sang, "it's just off like a band-aid"
I didn't bother to tell my mum that I'd have preferred to have a divorce talk, anything to prepare myself for a dad's sudden disappearance from my life. That I didn't want it off like a band-aid. Asher must have read all that in my expression because he placed a comforting hand on mine and gave it a little squeeze.
After that, my mum had a series of boyfriends, most live-in. Some lasted weeks, a few, months, none more than six months. It didn't help that she is very beautiful, with her golden curls and bright blue eyes and eternal youth and that she's always cheery and naturally charming, and that she is a good listener and can read people like a hawk.
I was more than happy to move away for college- I love my mum, but it's easier to love her from afar. And even though she can be dodgy with men, she almost always aces her motherly responsibilities, making sure I never lacked anything, whether material things or simply good memories.
A different waiter serves us our coffee. I take a sip of mine and I immediately understand why students love this place so much- the coffee is really strong.
Mum takes a sip of hers and nods. "You can start the Q and A now"
"Don't call it that" I say but begin anyway. "So it's true? I'm really a werewolf?"
"Yes" she replies calmly.
Hearing the affirmation straight from her mouth makes it even more overwhelming.
"Are you a werewolf? Is dad?"
"Actually, forget my first answer. You're not a werewolf, neither am I nor your dad"
"You're not making any sense, mum"
Mum sighs and sips her drink. "We're not werewolves, Eloise, but we have werewolf ancestry"
I roll my eyes. "Oh wow, big difference"
"It is, actually, hear me out. You know the characteristics of a werewolf; do we have any of them?"
"No, but-"
"And you can't have any of them, at least not without unlocking it first"
"What does that even mean? Why is it that those of us with werewolf ancestry don't look like or act like werewolves?"
"Well, to answer your first question, unlocking the werewolf ability is exactly what it sounds like: tapping into your inner wolf. There's this ritual you do to unlock it, but I don't really know much about it. Some people did it back then to 'hold on to that part of their identity'- whatever that means- but your dad and I agreed that it was a very stupid thing to do. I mean, sure, you could still appear as human but a lot of things would change: you'd get werewolf cravings and you had dietary restrictions, even in human form, and every full moon, you'd change into a full wolf. The rewards don't match the struggles"
I nod. It checks out with what Asher told me.
"And the second question?"
Mum looks away from me and swivels the coffee in her mug. "Well, that's a bit more difficult to answer. But in summary, you can thank your grandfather. He found a way to turn us into a hybrid of sorts- werewolf genotype but human phenotype. He knows how he did it"
"You don't?"
"I don't" she replies a bit too quickly and gulps down her coffee. "Next question"
I'm a bit thrown off but I change the line of questioning.
"So, my source- the person that made me aware of my, um, ancestry- told me that basically everyone that lives in Aberfield has werewolf ancestry"
She shrugs. "Your source isn't wrong. It's something everyone knows but nobody-"
"- ever acknowledges" I finish for her then smile ruefully. "Well, I guess I'm the only one that didn't know"
Mum frowns and reaches out to hold my hand but I pull it away and cross my arms. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because it's not important to who you are, Eloise, at least not in the way you think it is"
"How can you even say that? Of course it's important, it's my identity. I've been living with a fake one all my life, you know"
"Honey, that's simply not true. Being of werewolf ancestry isn't your identity, sure it's a part, but it's not all. Right now, you're a human, El, and it shouldn't matter what your ancestry is- same way it shouldn't matter whether someone is black or asian or white"
"But it does matter, mum, because our kind is in danger here"
"No, werewolves are in danger here, but technically, werewolves no longer exist, just us hybrids"
I want to believe my mum but something is stopping me: Asher's machine. Once the government gets a hold of it then 'us hybrids' will be in danger too. I consider telling my mum about it but decide against it.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you that part of your identity" mum says when I don't say anything for a while. "I was just trying to keep you safe and happy"
I think back to when I thought I was completely human and how I felt seeing the machine read out 'werewolf'. I nod. I understand what my mum means. "Ignorance is bliss"
"Exactly" she offers me a small smile which I give back to her.
"Does this mean you've forgiven me?" She asks hopefully.
"No, it's gonna take a while. You did lie to me all my life." Her face falls so I continue quickly, "But your answers were mostly satisfactory so I'm not angry any more"
She smiles again. "Thank you sweetie. And if I may, cam I offer some advice?"
She doesn't wait for me to answer before she continues. "Don't let your ancestry hold you back or make you hate yourself or feel like you don't belong. Because you do. You have to see yourself as normal for you to act normal- and honey, you are as normal as any other almost nineteen year old, no matter their ancestry. But there are two things you should never do: don't tell people of your ancestry because the truth is that there are still lycanphobes out there, and two, please don't unlock your werewolf ability, there's really no need to"
"I won't do either of that" I say. Not like I was ever planning on.
Mum smiles and sips her coffee. "Can I ask you my own question?"
"I'll answer it if I can" I sip my coffee.
"Who's your source? The dickhead that burst your bubble"
I nearly choke at my mum's choice of words. When my coughing fit is over, I say, "I'm not sure I should say"
"Oh, come on, I spilled everything to you" she pouts
"Yeah, because you were meant to"
"Just tell me, Eloise"
I sigh and gulped down my drink. "Asher. Remember him?"
"How can I forget? You were so much in love with him that I considered just marrying you off to him so that you could get off of my back" she pauses. "I'm joking about the last part though"
I roll my eyes and pretend to barf. "I wasn't in love with Asher. Ew"
"Well then, he was in love with you"
"Most certainly not"
Mum gives me a knowing look. "Say what you want to say, kid, but I know the electricity I felt whenever you both were in the same room"
"Yeah, because we were always competing, not because we loved each other. Again, ew"
Mum raises her hand in mock surrender. "Whatever you say"
"Which is the truth" I check the time on my phone. 1.05. "I'm going to get going, mum, thank you for finally being honest with me. I don't hate you"
I get up and she leans in to hug me. "Thank you, sweetheart. I love you"
I leave the coffee shop, my chest feeling immensely lighter.
Now to go make things right with my boyfriend.