Chapter Twenty-One
R owena explained the plan on the way to town hall.
I walked beside her, our fingers interlaced beneath our cloaks, as I listened to her long, detailed explanation of her plan to stop the werewolf frenzy.
I kept my gaze downward, nodding occasionally, taking in all the information.
Wondering if this plan was feasible, or we were just two insane, pleading souls desperate for a miracle.
In theory, Rowena’s plan made sense. But we had no way of testing it beforehand, and we had no idea if it would actually work.
It was a gamble.
It was also unprecedented. At least from my knowledge, no magical being in the entire history of the world had ever managed to pull this off.
But then again, I was part-witch, part-werewolf with one of the rarest witch powers in existence.
I may have been the only one of my kind to have ever existed.
The autumn-leaf-strewn paths that wound through the cottages were silent and barren of witches. Our only company was the wind, the faint rustle of the trees, and the plethora of Halloween decorations in front of each home.
Normally, I loved such decor – the way they infused playful fear and mischievous joy into the world, inviting both humans and magical beings alike to celebrate the spooky side of life.
It was a time of joy, merriment, and for witches, remembrance, wrapped in vibrant shades of orange, purple, and black.
But right now, it felt like wandering through a graveyard.
All of this decor, this preparation… it was futile.
On what was supposed to be one of the happiest nights of the year for witches, they would all be forced to hunker down in their homes, lights off and curtains drawn, praying the feral werewolves invading their village wouldn’t break their doors down.
It was terror. Real terror, not the kind manufactured by plastic pumpkins and hanging paper ghosts.
I clutched Rowena’s hand tighter as we walked past the cottages, averting my gaze from a giant, plastic skeletal dog lounging in someone’s front yard.
It was lying down, jaws open in a wide yawn.
A completely harmless pose. But the sight of those fake white fangs still hit a little too close to reality.
“You alright?” Rowena asked, whispering under her breath as we approached the village square. It was just as silent as the cottages, but I could hear faint rumbles of activity coming from the town hall.
“No. I’m a mess.”
“Yeah,” Rowena sighed. “So am I. Sorry, stupid question.”
I rubbed my thumb over Rowena’s fingers, trying to reassure her. She smiled at me, and I swore I would’ve kissed her again if we weren’t standing in the middle of the town square.
Once we approached the brick building and lugged the heavy doors open, we made the long, silent walk down the hallway to the meeting room. The faint click of our shoes on the polished floors rang like gongs in my ears.
The room fell silent when we entered.
Being from a small island, I’d never been around more than a dozen or so people at a time.
I wasn’t accustomed to crowds. But here, every single resident of Wisteria Grove was crammed into a room not much larger than my cottage, with over a hundred pairs of fury-filled eyes boring straight into my skull.
I swallowed hard, determined not to let them see how nervous I was.
But as we walked dutifully into the center of the room, where Mariah, the mayor, sat in an office chair with her legs crossed, I feared their glares would incinerate me on the spot.
I imagined this was similar to how the witches in the 1800s felt when they were about to be burned at the stake by humans.
“Alright, everyone.” Rowena finally broke the silence. The other witches turned their attention to her, but the fire in their eyes never dimmed.
And that was when the shouts and jeers began.
“It’s her! The café owner!”
“She brought the werewolf here!”
“It’s because she is part werewolf, stupid!”
“How do we know they’re not both on the werewolves’ side?”
“What if–”
“Quiet!”
Mariah’s loud, authoritative voice silenced the rambling crowd. She brushed her box braids away from her face, cleared her throat, and gestured for Rowena to continue.
Rowena took a deep breath and resumed speaking.
On the way to town hall, we’d made the joint decision to let her do all the talking.
She had grown up in Wisteria Grove. This was her village.
Her people. Rowena may have been an outcast, but right now, I was the true outsider.
The troublemaker who caused the werewolves to attack in the first place.
So, it was best for me to keep my mouth shut.
Rowena explained to the village that I was, indeed, a werewolf. But that I was also part witch, as confirmed by my ability to pass through the village’s barrier, to bond with an elemental, and most importantly, my display of empath powers.
The mere utterance of the word “empath” sent the crowd into a muttering frenzy. The voices were so loud and numerous they all blended together, but I could pick out a few words and phrases.
Dangerous.
Insanity.
Powerful.
Too powerful.
“Hush!” Mariah shouted again, snapping her long, perfectly manicured pink fingernails. My body relaxed slightly as she did so. I understood why she was chosen as mayor – she exuded authority and grace, and had an unshakeable sense of composure.
And I could tell that the witches of Wisteria Grove respected her. Because they immediately fell silent, all eyes now shifted in her direction.
“We witches understand the importance of pleading our case better than anyone else,” Mariah declared, adjusting her thin glasses. “Now, please allow Rowena and Nettie to speak. Once they are finished, we shall discuss how to handle this matter in a calm and diplomatic fashion . Understood?”
No one said anything, but there was a collective sea of nodding heads.
“Excellent.” Mariah gestured to Rowena. “Continue.”
Rowena resumed her speech, explaining how I ended up in Wisteria Grove, why she had decided to take me in, and, most importantly, how we could stop the full moon frenzy.
“Wait a minute,” an older male voice shouted from the crowd, interrupting Rowena mid-sentence. “So what you’re saying is, if we hand over the red-headed girl to the local pack, they’ll leave us alone?”
A rumble of agreeing voices made my blood turn to ice.
No. No. That is not the conclusion you should be getting from this.
But the man was correct. The town could simply hand me over to the werewolves and this would all be over. I’d be gone, shipped back to Hollenboro, and the witches could continue to live their lives in peace.
Except they really couldn’t. Because they’d still be stuck dealing with the werewolf frenzy every month.
Unless I stopped it.
Rowena repeated the plan, reminding the crowd they could potentially be rid of their full moon problems forever , and quashing the talk of throwing me to the literal wolves.
But of course, the witches were skeptical. And I couldn’t blame them. This was all a wild guess. We couldn’t guarantee the plan would work.
“Very well,” Mariah nodded to Rowena once she finished speaking.
“Witches of Wisteria Grove, now that you’ve heard Rowena and Nettie’s proposal, we will handle this how we handle all urgent, village-wide matters.
We will leave it to a vote. There will be a show of hands – please vote yes if you would like to proceed with the plan to stop the werewolf frenzy.
Please vote no if you would like to continue with our original plan of returning Nettie to her home pack. ”
I huffed under my breath. She put it so elegantly, as if they were doing me a favor. The reality of me being dragged back to Hollenboro wouldn’t be so pretty.
What followed was the longest five minutes of my life as Mariah announced each option, the witches raised their hands – some more decisively than others – and the votes were tallied.
Adrian voted yes. Mabel voted yes. Willow voted yes.
Juniper voted no.
As did most of the older witches in the village.
In the end, it was close, but the winning side had it by a mere four votes.
The answer was yes.
The village would proceed with our plan to stop the werewolf frenzy.
Mariah declared that preparations would begin right away. There were disappointed rumblings among the witches on the losing side, convinced this was a terrible plan and Wisteria Grove should just get rid of me.
But amidst the grumbles and complaints, there was also hope.
Once the plans were cemented almost thirty minutes later, Mariah announced the meeting adjourned, with directions for those participating to meet at the town hall shortly before sundown. Adrian and Mabel were standing by the door and as Rowena and I departed, they both gave us a subtle nod.
“We wish you the best of luck,” Adrian whispered, just loud enough for me to hear.
I forced a shaky smile. They believed in me. Even if almost half the village didn’t.
But convincing Wisteria Grove to move forward with our plan had been the least of our worries. Because we only had a few hours until sunset, and this was Rowena and I’s last hope. If we couldn’t pull this off, I’d be sent back to Hollenboro.
We would have to say our goodbyes. Potentially forever.
I couldn’t bear the thought of it.
This has to work, I repeated in my head as we left the meeting room. Please .
Maybe if I repeated it enough times, and said enough prayers to both the witch and werewolf deities, it would happen.
The next few hours were awful.
But I treasured them deeply. Because while the impending sunset and the moon-crazed werewolves loomed heavily on our minds, these were the last few hours Rowena and I were guaranteed to have together.
We were both quiet. Pensive. Few words were spoken between us. I sometimes caught Rowena gazing wistfully out the window, her mind far away from the cottage, pondering every possible way our plan could go wrong.