Chapter Nine
My grandmother gasped, but the two goddesses looked at each other. “You are right.” The Three-Faced Goddess smiled back at her sister. “She is the one.” The Moon Goddess just nodded.
“I’m the one for what?” My mouth moved too fast for me to even consider who I was questioning.
My grandmother gasped. “We do not question a Goddess, Amy. Nevermind two.” She eyed the two and bowed again. But the two just smirked.
“We do not need blind followers. You can question our judgement, or our cause.” The Moon Goddess smiled as she walked closer to us. “We expect it. Crave it really. Because it means that we have done our jobs.”
“Your jobs?” I looked over my shoulder at my grandmother, but she shrugged.
The three faced Goddess stepped up next to her sister. “Yes. We want our followers, our children, to have free will. To demand it. To walk through their day and fight back tooth and nail because that is what life is about. Making choices. Striving for greatness. Living.”
The Moon Goddess nodded. “When I created Lycans and wolves, I wanted them to choose their own lives. Their own paths. I gave them mates because I saw what would happen if people were left to find their own partners. I have watched over the humans and seen their heartbreak. I have felt their heartbreak myself.” She looked down at her hands.
“But free will doesn’t always mean walking the path of good.
And within the light, the shadows grow.”
“The shadows? The rogues?” I questioned and the Moon Goddess nodded.
“And those that wield their magic for evil. Evil, in all forms, is a choice.” The crone stood in front of me now, pale yet strong. “And sometimes, sometimes, we need a champion.”
My grandmother gasped. “No, you can’t mean Amy.”
I looked at her, but she looked terrified. “What?” I was tired, and slow.
“We do.” The Moon Goddess came to my side and cupped my face. “You are from my flesh, my power, my blood. But you also stem from my sister. Her kernel is in you, and you have nourished it.”
“Three-spirited one. You walk on both paths, and both paths need a champion.”
“Champion? I just want to live.” I stared up into the bright eyes of the Moon Goddess.
“You have seen the future, lived it. You had to have seen the dark times coming?” I nodded. Before I died, there were murmurs. But I didn’t believe them.
“They were just stories.” I tried to sound convinced by my own words, and failed.
“Were they?” The Moon Goddess dropped her hands and leaned in to kiss my forehead. I felt the moon blessed mark flair to life. “Stories tend to hold a kernel of truth.” She stepped back and The Three-Faced Goddess came to me.
“Those stories, the lies that hide the truth, are a weapon. A weapon that makes you think that there is nothing, because if there was, the world would collapse.”
“No.” My grandmother shook her head. She understood what they were saying, but I was still lost.
But The Three-Faced Goddess nodded. “We are at the end. If someone doesn’t intervene. Then you,” She cupped my face and kissed my brow, a searing pain wrapped across my forehead and down my temples. “You will all be lost.”
“Lost…as in dead?” I looked up at her and she nodded.
“The Lycans were almost too late, almost, but hiding isn’t an option any longer.” She stepped back and my mind spun. I looked down at the ground, trying to clear my mind, trying to make sense of her words.
The Lycans were almost too late…hiding isn’t an option.
“You can’t mean…” I looked up to find myself alone.
I spun, but my grandmother has gone too.
I dropped the shovel and sprinted to the fire where all the girls were there.
I skidded on the wet ground and they turned, mouths dropping open.
“The-lycans-are-still-alive.” My words were rushed, coming out as one.
But I stared at my friends, waiting for them to react.
But they were all staring at my forehead.
“Did you hear me?” I waited for a reaction, a realization like I had, but there was nothing.
So I said it again, slower. “The Lycans are still alive.”
That worked. They all snapped to my eyes. “What?” Toya grabbed for my arm.
“I think the Lycans are still alive. Or some of them, anyway.”
“Why?”
“The Goddess…”
“The Moon Goddess?” Wendy furrowed her brow.
I nodded. “And The Three-Faced Goddess came to speak to me. I’ll tell you all about it. But the last thing she said before she disappeared was that the Lycans were almost too late, almost.” I emphasized. “And that hiding was no longer an option.”
“So they are…hiding?” Hanna questioned, and I pointed and nodded.
“Okay, we can circle back around to the Lycans.” Micca waved her hands. “What the fuck is that?”
“What is what?” I looked around, trying to see what she was pointing at. I turned to look behind me, but there was nothing. I turned back and all of their faces, lit by the glow of the flames, were full of disbelief.
Micca came over and pulled out her phone. “Don’t move.” She took a photo and then turned it around. The screen was dark except for the fire to my right and…
I touched my forehead where a new marking was glowing in the dark on my forehead.
It lit the top of my face; the glow was so strong you could just make out my eyes in the darkness.
A soft blue, white light emanated from the design carved by the goddesses.
I traced the design, awe filled my chest, and a soft tingle hit my fingertips.
Before there was just a crescent moon, but now, the crescent moon shifted to a full moon in the center, and two crescent moons on the sides.
Vines wrapped around the crescent moons, trailing up into my hair and trailing down the sides of my face.
I brushed it again and I felt a stronger vibration in my fingertips.
“I don’t know.” The words were a whisper from my lips. I closed my eyes and felt the burn hit my forehead again with each kiss. The Moon Goddess changed her design, and The Three-Faced Goddess added her own.
“You have been blessed by both goddesses.” Hanna’s voice was filled with awe and worry.
“Okay, walk us through what happened.” Wendy steered us back to what I was talking about.
“Toya left me to think over what she said and I turned back to Carl’s last rites.
I didn’t know what I was supposed to do, and just filling in the grave seemed too impersonal.
Then my grandmother showed up, helping me.
She told me to listen to myself, and in doing so, I apparently made a new spell. ”
“A new spell…” Wendy looked back to the gravesite. “For what, exactly?”
“I’m not sure. I just wanted to protect his grave. My grandma said I created a shield spell.” I raised my shoulder. I glanced over at the hole, and I knew I had to go back to finish. But my mind spun with another idea when I turned back to the cabin.
“Do you create new spells all the time?” Hanna's words pulled me from my own thoughts and back to the conversation. I turned to her, and I found Hanna already looking at me and her eyes bouncing between my own and my forehead.
“No.” I shook my head. “It’s never happened before.”
“What about other people?” Micca pointed out.
“I don’t know, but she said that wolves weren’t blessed with the power to create spells.”
“Until you.” Toya finished, and I nodded. “Then two goddesses showed up to bless you. Why?”
“They need something.” Wendy grabbed my hand.
“They need something from you and it’s dangerous.
” I looked away. “What do they need you for, Amy?” I looked away from her.
But she could see it. “They want you to risk something, do something that is dangerous.” I looked down at my nails, not knowing how to answer.
“Amy.” Toya grabbed me by my shoulders. “Tell me she’s wrong.
” I stayed silent and looked into her eyes, begging for her to understand.
“Tell me she is wrong, Amy. Tell me that the goddesses were just blessing you because you are descended from them. Tell us you’re going to be smart and safe, and not jump in feet first into something stupid and dangerous.
” She waited for a minute, but stayed silent.
“Tell us, Amy.” she shook me. “TELL US,” she yelled and I could see something akin to panic enter her eyes.
I reached out and cupped her wrists. Everyone seemed to come closer, staring at me with worry in their eyes. “They didn’t actually say that, not really.”
“What did they say, then?” Hanna raised a brow, and I felt a ghost of a smile lift my lips.
I stepped back, pulling Toya’s hands from my shoulder and turning to the fire. “You know our world has shifted. With these attacks, losing the Lycans, everything has been changing for years. And there is something, someone behind it all.”
“Stop trying to explain.” Micca cut in, her voice a little angry.
“If you explain, it will sound reasonable to us and we’ll just agree with you.
” She waved her hands. “Just give us the facts. Keep the emotion at the door and tell us what they said. Then, when I’ve had more sleep and can form an argument, you can make your explanation. ” I snorted and then nodded.
“They said that they needed a champion. To stop the end of the world…our world. They both need a champion to stop the evil hiding in the darkness.”
“Absolutely not.” Toya shook her head and crossed her arms.
“Toya-”
“No, Amy. I’m with Toya. You politely, graciously turn them down.” Wendy sidled up next to Toya. And then so did Micca and Hanna. I felt burning behind my eyes as I shook my head.
“We don’t agree.” Hanna pulled her shoulders back and had this defiant look on her face.
“You guys.” I started turning to them. But Micca stomped her foot.
“No.” Her brows furrowed, and she glared at me. “You are our friend, our Alpha, and we refuse, dammit. I love the Moon Goddess in all her glory, but she can’t take you from us.”
I sighed. “I love you. All of you. And I will be your friend and Alpha until the end. But when the Goddess, goddesses.” I corrected.
“When the two goddesses you descend from come knocking, you answer.” I watched their faces fall.
“They haven’t asked for anything I wasn’t already planning to give.
We have discussed this many times over.”
“But you have a kid now.” Hanna murmured, and I nodded.
“Just another reason to do what we have to do.” I turned back to the fire and felt them move closer.
“The people behind these attacks need to be stopped. The world, our world, needs to be able to thrive and to do that, we have to stay hidden. These attacks, the moves that certain people are making, will expose us soon or later. The humans will eradicate us if they find us.”
“You can’t know that for certain.” Micca offered.
“Yes, we do.” I shook my head. “We have all seen their movies, their shows. They are showing us exactly how they would act if the world found out about us. One or two close to us might accept us, but they would either abuse us, study and dissect us, or try their very best to kill us off. Humans don’t accept the unknown or things they don’t understand.
” I waved them off. “It doesn’t matter. Humans aren’t really a threat right now.
What matters is that we need to find out who is behind these attacks.
Is it one individual, or more than one person pulling the strings?
And more importantly, we need to know who the next targets are.
My father was one, obviously. I haven’t figured out if your father was a target or more collateral damage. ” I looked at Toya.
“Why do you say that?”
“Rowan sent me the reports about the most recent attacks on all of the packs and it got me thinking. Your pack was on the smaller side, one giant attack could have wiped it off the earth, if it was planned properly.” Toya’s face furrowed and I held up my hand.
“Just let me explain my thinking. Then you can get mad about what I said. Okay?” She smirked and nodded.
“So if the goal was to just kill, it would have been planned better. Like when they wiped out other packs. But the attacks on your pack and others were different. They did small scale attacks, aimed at specific areas. Almost like they were searching for something specific, or…” I trailed off.
Toya pointed at me. “You think they're attacking for supplies?” She understood exactly what I was saying.
I nodded. “They live in caves, so supplies would be limited. I’ll show you the reports, but from what I've been piecing together, they attack the smaller packs for supplies to survive.
“So you are thinking they are targeting big packs?” Wendy gripped her hands.
I nodded. “Since the king died, the largest packs have been disappearing and their survivors have been reabsorbed into other packs. Vince’s pack is one pack that has exploded with wolves for the last twenty years.
It went from being in the bottom of rank and size to one of the biggest. I think the year before I was born it was ranked ninety six. Now it's in the top ten.”
Wendy pulled out her phone and clicked a few times. “Actually, they went from one hundred and thirty-sixth to eighth. In less than twenty years.” She clicked a few more times. “We used to have almost a hundred and fifty packs around North America. Now, it’s dwindled to just under a hundred.”
“Fuck.” Hanna grabbed the phone. She clicked a few more times and turned the phone.
“You know I told you we moved here from Japan. But I didn’t tell you why.
My father’s clan, our pack, was the last pack of Japan.
Our wolves are a mimic of the Honshū wolf, native to the area, but it was hunted down.
We assumed the packs were being inadvertently hunted by the humans.
But what if it wasn’t?” I took Wendy’s phone and looked at the information on the screen.
It was the census information, and it showed a steady decline since the 1900s.
“What do you mean?” Toya grabbed the phone.
“We are all pledged to the Lycan King. All packs used to send wolves to train and integrate into the Royal pack.” Hanna started to pace. “If Amy is right and there is a person, or people, actively trying to get rid of the Lycans, and the king, what would be the first thing they would do?”