Lycanthropy: Charlotte's story chpt 7

Harriet was waiting for us inside for a change, reading the paper. She looked up as we came in, her face alight with curiosity. I ignored her, embarrassed, and went to my room. As I left, I saw her raise her eyebrows in question at Niko. I didn’t stay to hear his answer.
I opened my door slowly, peeking inside. For some strange reason, I thought he might be in there. He wasn’t. Harriet had put fresh sheets on my bed though. I collapsed onto the clean linen and closed my eyes.
How had things turned out like this? What was I doing here, in the heat, in the middle of nowhere living with a stranger relative, being encouraged to fulfill my “destiny”? How did this happen! I was in a predicament. I was surrounded by conspirators who wanted me to give birth to a child I didn’t want by a man I wasn’t interested in. I was locked in my room each night, now for which I knew was all for my safety because “he might be around”, which was ironic, as “he” had just spent last night passed out on my bed. What was he thinking!
I sighed. Would I ever get out of here? I looked to the window. It was open, the pane pushed up as far as it would go. The breeze floated in, warm and lazy. I had never known summer to last this long anywhere. I gazed into the trees. Where was he now?
I closed my eyes, daydreaming.

The days passed slowly as I anxiously awaited the next Wednesday night team meeting. I was strangely looking forward to it, in a nervous kind of way. Niko had been hanging around all week, trying (and failing) to woo me into liking him. He wouldn’t give up. When I got sick of him, I usually went back to my room and closed the door.
Something that I found interesting was that he hated it when I read the diaries.
“Why are you still reading that?” he asked, looking at the book’s cover with distaste.
I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “Why not?”
“Well, there’s no point, now you know.”
“Know what?” I asked.
He gave an exasperated sigh. “That he’s evil?”
I considered this thoughtfully. Was he evil? Did I agree with that?
“Is that what you would call him?”
He scowled. “I told Harriet this was a bad idea. I knew you’d be all animal rights and whatever.”
“Harriet said you’d all read the diary. Including you.”
“Yes, for educational purposes, Charlotte! Not for enjoyment.” He exclaimed, glaring at me.
“There’s no need to lose your temper, Nik, I’m just reading a book. I have nothing else to do.”
He glanced at me then began studying the table. “We could go somewhere.”
I looked at him cautiously. “As much as I want to get out of here, I don’t think so.”
He sighed. He reached over and took my hand in his gently. I allowed him to do so, watching him carefully. He turned over my palm and ran his finger along my life line.
“You do palmistry too?” I asked softly, smiling.
“Some,” he said, smiling slightly.
I felt my eyebrows arch with surprise and was about to say something else, but he wasn’t finished.
“Charlotte…” he started; he had his troubled expression on. I waited, a little impatient. But I wasn’t going to help him, I stayed completely silent. Nothing he took a long time to say was ever good news for me. Usually it meant a long drawn out conversation about destiny and babies.
That’s when the mob arrived. Taylor and Penny came first, then Jerry, throwing the door open as Penny pulled out the key. Niko’s hold on my hand tightened and I yanked it from his grasp, glaring at him. If he wanted to prove that we now had a relationship, let him try. The only reason I was as nice to him as I was, was because I was lonely.
The meeting began after all the pleasantries were made. Penny was back to her quiet seriousness. She motioned for me to lag behind when they all got up to go into the kitchen.
“Charlotte, I just wanted to say I’m really sorry for the other night. I was just surprised.”
My hand flew up in reaction to her words, to touch the part of my t-shirt that covered my scar. Niko hadn’t said anything about it.
“It’s okay. I don’t let it show much.”
She nodded slowly.
I gave her a fake smile, turned and left for the kitchen myself. She drifted in a minute later, her face slightly red.
The others were seated around the table, having left a diplomatically placed seat empty next to Niko. I gave an exasperated sigh and sat down, suddenly dreading what was to come.
Harriet looked unhappy as she tapped her fingers gently on the table, watching Jerry.
The older man leant forward, staring at me intently.
“There isn’t much to discuss tonight.” He started. “The only reason we thought we needed to meet was to check on progress.”
I narrowed my eyes, glancing at Niko. “Progress?”
Jerry nodded. “Progress. How are we moving along?”
My eyes flashed. “If you mean am I pregnant yet, the answer is no!” I could feel the heat spreading through my body, hot and angry.
Tension rippled through the group. Jerry glanced at Niko, who leant toward them.
“She just needs some more time.” He said patiently, as if they were the only ones that were bugging me to do this and he understood my rejection completely.
I glared at him. “You could give me all the time in the world, and I would still not change my mind!”
Taylor licked his lips, his face troubled. He was gazing at the diary in my hands.
“Charlotte, surely you have read enough by now to see that this must be done! The prophecy must be completed.”
It was true, the Wolf-King was not a gentle creature. He was cruel, callous and many times a murderer. But I had seen his other side, his weaker side. First when he was human, when he had not been changed, and then when he was a wolf, laying helpless and bleeding in the bush.
I pursed my lips stubbornly. I would not be swayed.
“You have to think of the greater good!” Taylor pleaded. His face was kind and concerned as he looked over at me. I felt horrible displeasing him.
I glanced at my grand-mother. How was all of this affecting her? Her face was pale, but her eyes were steady as she gazed at me. I knew what she wanted of me. What they all wanted of me. I closed my eyes, tiredness overwhelming me.
“I’m so sorry, Charlotte.” Harriet said quietly, looking away. I felt bitterness well up inside. Her sentiment did not mean a great deal to me.
Jerry spoke loudly and clearly, his voice slicing the air like a knife. “Marriage to a particular person is not always how we picture our life, choice is often not a part of it. Especially for you. You were chosen to be with Niko, and this baby must be born!”
We all stared at him. My heart was drumming in my chest.
“I’m sorry, but I won’t do it.” I tried to speak just as firmly, just as no-nonsense as he had.
Jerry sighed in exasperation. “You must!”
Everyone else was quiet. I willed someone else to speak.
It was Penny that finally broke the silence.
“We have waited this long,” she began thoughtfully. “Would it matter if the task took just a little longer than planned?”
Her words were full of sense, but the group was having none of it.
“With every day that passes, the Wolf gets stronger!” Jerry erupted, glaring at Penny.
Penny did not respond. No one responded. Everyone was quiet, tension thick in the air. I couldn’t look at any of them.
Taylor’s soft voice broke the silence. “I do not understand how somebody can read that diary and not feel the absolute need to put a stop to the evil that created such a monster.”
I dared not answer this one. I already knew I felt very differently about Malachai than the rest of them.
I felt Taylor looking at me, and I risked glancing up. His face was calm, confusion in his eyes. I felt the need to answer him, I don’t know why.
“What you’re asking… is such a big thing. It’s my life you’re asking for. Two lives. Mine and the baby’s. A sacrifice of mine to have, then raise the baby and I wouldn’t even be allowed to keep him. A sacrifice of the baby’s because he would be born only to fight, not to live. He might not even live.”
“We would train him well.” Niko said quietly.
I looked over at him. “I couldn’t expect that it would keep him alive, though.”
“We have to try.” Jerry said sternly.
Anger flashed inside me. “So you keep telling me. Except it’s me who has to try, not you. Really, none of this involves you at all.”
“You’re quite mistaken.” He remarked coldly. “My family has been here since the beginning. Since our race split into two. I alone have been taught the skills necessary to defeat such a creature.”
I felt myself redden slightly but I was not sorry. “It still requires no sacrifice on your behalf.”
“No sacrifice? I have stayed in Rosehill all my life, waiting and watching for any sign that the Chosen one had come. Like my father before me and his before him and all way down the line to the day the creature was born.”
I looked directly at Penny, feeling sullen and bitter. “What part do you play in all of this?”
She looked surprised. “I’m a student at the University. Professor Taylor spoke of The Other Race once in a lecture and I found it interested me. We spoke of them many times in his office.” She hesitated, looking down. “Then I met Niko, and the passion with which he spoke of them made me want to learn more. I asked the Professor if I could accompany him to Rosehill. He said yes.”
I glanced at Niko, surprised with the tone of Penny’s voice. He would not look at me.
I looked around the table at the firm, hard faces and knew we were in a stale-mate. Neither willing to compromise, neither willing to step down.
I rose slowly. “I’ve said everything I wanted to say tonight.”
Jerry opened his mouth to say something, then thought better of it and stayed quiet.
“Charlotte…” Harriet half rose from her seat, concern in her eyes.
I looked at her, trying to tell her there was nothing she could say to make it better. Like she understood, she sat back down, nodding once.
Niko followed me for the first time after I’d stormed out on a conversation in the kitchen, and I didn’t stop him. He opened my door for me, and closed it behind us.
I heaved a great sigh and threw myself down on the bed, beating it with my fist.
“It’s so frustrating!” I said through gritted teeth, staring at the ceiling.
I felt him sit on the end of the bed. I sighed again.
“Since when was life so hard?” I asked him.
“How do you mean?”
“I mean, three months ago my Mum and her idiot husband shipped me up here as a punishment. I’d just finished high school, life was normal. It feels like I’ve slipped into another dimension.”
“They sent you here for a reason, remember. ‘She who falls from grace’.”
“I’d forgotten that,” I frowned, thinking. “You know, I don’t really understand that.”
“How do you mean?” He asked again.
“Well, ‘falls from grace’. In who’s eyes did I fall from grace? Mum’s?”
Niko raised his eyebrows. “I don’t think any parent would wish to learn their child was in a relationship with a teacher.”
“Sure, but that’s just it. After the initial shock, I don’t think Mum would have really cared.”
“You’re kidding.” He said doubtfully.
I shook my head and sat up. “No. Has Harriet told you how Mum had me?”
“No. Why would she?”
I gave a soft snort and rolled my eyes. “No, she’s probably not very proud of that story. Mum met a guy, and nine months later she had me. They weren’t married, which was a big thing for Harriet and Grand-dad. They kicked her out. Told her she’d betrayed them and the church.”
“No!” he whispered, shocked.
I nodded. “Exactly. So, after that, I just can’t imagine Mum being so judgmental about it.”
“Well, maybe she was disappointed that you’d followed in her footsteps.”
I raised my eyebrows at him, but I was already thinking of something else. The ideas were rushing through me, one after the next. Excitement bubbled up inside me and my heart seemed to swell. I looked up at him, my eyes alight.
He narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “What?”
I grinned at him. “Wait, wait.”
I jumped off the bed and began lifting up tops and jeans from the floor, looking for the thing that would confirm everything.
“What are you doing?” He asked, bewildered.
I just smiled and shook my head in response. I picked up my pajama top and there it was.
I hadn’t taken very good care of it since Lee had dumped me. I hadn’t really needed it anymore. The screen was dirty and smeared.
“A phone?” Niko asked, his face screwed up in confusion.
Trying to contain my excitement, I walked over to him and grabbed his hands. He looked down at my own hands gripping his in shock.
“What are you doing?” he whispered hoarsely, glancing down at my hands.
I bent down so I was on his level. “Niko. Ever since you told Taylor and Harriet about your visions, they’ve convinced you that you were the Powerful one. That, because you had this power, you were going to be the father of this Chosen child. A warrior,” I giggled. “What if I could tell you that you weren’t the Powerful one after all? That you were just a guy with an ability others don’t have?”
“I would ask how you know this.”
I grinned again. “Oh my God, this is unbelievable. I can’t believe it.”
I was frantically dialing the number as Niko was trying to make sense of my excitement.
“I don’t get it. What are you talking about?”
“Wait, wait.” I said again, flapping my hand at him impatiently as I pressed the phone to my ear. I knew I was going to have to talk for awhile before I could ask the things I wanted to.
“Hello?” The voice was tired, but familiar.
“Mum. It’s me.” I said breathlessly.
“Charlotte!” She seemed to relax instantly. She sighed. “I’ve been trying to reach you. Every time I call, you’re not there or you’re sleeping.”
“I know, Mum I’m sorry.”
“Are you ok?” she asked. She sounded as if she were holding her breath.
I smiled, knowing her fear. “Everything’s fine, Mum.”
“How are you and your Grandmother getting along?” she asked quietly.
“Fine. She told me.”
There was a deep sigh on the other end. I could hear her sniffling. “Oh, Charlotte I’m so sorry.”
“It’s alright, Mum. Don’t worry. I know you didn’t want to send me.”
“Oh, darling I didn’t! I didn’t want to send you away. Every day leading up to it was agony. You have to believe me.”
I smiled sadly. “I do, Mum. I remember you crying so much before I left. I believe you.” I paused and then asked, “Does Steve know?”
I heard her shake her head. “No, I never told him.”
“Oh.”
“Have you- have you met him yet?” she asked thinly.
I glanced at Niko, who was looking at me with intense interest. His blue eyes were sparkling in the light as he gazed at me from the bed.
“Yeah, I have. Quite awhile ago.”
She exhaled sharply. “And?”
I grinned. “Don’t stress. I’m not pregnant.”
She gave a weak laugh.
“Mum, I’m calling because I think they’re wrong. I don’t think I’m supposed to give birth to the Chosen one at all.”
There was a long pause.
“Oh, darling.” She sounded heartbroken. “I know it’s no kind of life, what they want you to do, but as I understand it, you’re the only hope this world has of living safely.”
I paused myself, thinking of how to begin.
“Mum, were you angry, about Lee?” I asked softly.
She was quiet for a moment.
“Angry?” she asked slowly.
“Yeah, about what I’d done.” I said, holding my breath, waiting for the answer that would make or break my idea.
“Honey, I couldn’t be angry with you for something like that. I was a little shocked, but not angry. I always swore that if my daughter chose to do what I did, I would be happy for her.”
I felt a sigh of relief escape me. I turned to look at Niko, and now that I had the choice, I could look at him with appreciation, even affection for all he had given up for me and the life he had been told to lead. I grinned now at him in sheer excitement. My mood must have been infectious- he was smiling at me in a crazy, excited, but confused way.
“Charlotte?” Mum’s voice pulled me back.
“I’m here.”
“What’s going on?” her voice was anxious, she could hear the excitement, the urgency in my voice.
“They think I’m this marked person who will give birth to the Chosen one, but I don’t think they’re right.”
“Charlotte…”
“No, listen. I don’t think they’re right- no I know they’re not right. Because it’s not me who was chosen, Mum. It was you.”

There was a sharp intake of breath.
“What are you talking about?” her voice was strained, just a whisper.
I settled my excitement and tried to explain.
“Mum, you always said you met Dad randomly, that you barely knew him.”
“Yes, we didn’t know each other well.”
“So how is it that the daughter of a Christian family meets a stranger and decides to have a baby?”
“It was love at first sight.” Her voice was soft with memory, her voice far away as she recalled him.
I smiled at Niko and shook my head in disbelief. The secret had stayed just that for almost eighteen years, a secret.
“And what did Dad do?” I asked, holding my breath.
“Do?” she responded, her voice dreamy.
I clucked my tongue with impatience. “Yes, what did he do for a living?”
“Oh! He was studying to be a priest.”
I sighed with joy. A priest. The Powerful one. “Of course.”
“Charlotte, what is going on?” her voice was sharp and clear, back to normal.
“Oh, don’t you see?” I cried, unable to control myself any longer. “It wasn’t me they were after all this time, it was you! You were supposed to give birth to the Chosen one. You were to be paired with The Powerful one, who better than a Priest! ‘She who fell from grace’- well, you certainly did that. They sent you away! Their own daughter. It was never me, never me at all.”
Comprehension was dawning on Niko’s face. I had been watching him while I ranted into the phone. His face now was pale and shocked as he stared at me, unable to look away.
My eyes locked on his and I said (more for his benefit than Mum’s), “Niko’s visions were to lead them to you, as the Mother of the Chosen one, but they thought it meant me. I’ve no idea why they overlooked it.”
“All this time… they’ve been waiting all this time, and they’re too late. It’s already happened.”
I took a deep breath. She was right, it had already happened. My destiny had changed again. I was not to be the Mother of the Chosen one after all, because I was the Chosen one.
“Honey, I never would have wanted this for you. If I’d known, I’d have sent you far away where no one could ever find you. Oh God, what will I do?” My Mother’s emotional raving continued for a couple of moments while I gathered my own thoughts.
Something occurred to me. “Do you think Dad knows?”
She quieted at once. “I never told him I was pregnant.”
“Oh.”
She rushed to explain, the regret thick in her voice. “It all came so suddenly… I fell pregnant, and he took his vows, and it all just seemed right. I thought your grand-mother would help me. When I found out she wouldn’t, it was too late. I didn’t want to disrupt his life, it would have been such a discredit to him.”
I nodded briefly. Niko was staring at the floor in shock.
My Mother was crying, I could hear the sniffling and the gurgling through the phone.
“Don’t cry, Mum.” I said, smiling slightly.
She gave a watery giggle. “My baby, the warrior.”
I bit my bottom lip. “I don’t know about that.” I was thinking of all the others I’d have to tell and couldn’t help feeling amused. “God, Jerry’s going to have a fit.”
“That old grump! I’d forgotten about him. He used to yell at me for walking on his lawn.”
I rolled my eyes. “That’d be right.” I glanced at Niko. “Look, Mum I’ve got to go.”
“All right sweet. I’m so glad you rang. Take care. I love you.”
“Yep, you too. Bye.”
I pulled the phone away from my ear as I cancelled the call, watching Niko closely. He hadn’t said anything during the conversation, and was still staring dazedly at the floor.
I bent my head a little, trying to see his face. “Nik?” I asked softly.
He looked up, his eyes sad. “I don’t believe it. Ever since those visions began, I’ve always wondered why they stopped at you- they started with Harriet’s pregnancy. I should have known that meant your Mother’s role was important. Then I watched your Mother fall pregnant with you. You were born then the visions stopped. They should have known what that meant! I should have known.” His voice was full of sadness and he looked beaten.
I fell to the floor by his feet, gazing up at him. I took his face in my hands.
“Niko, don’t you see what this means?” I asked, my eyes intent on his blue ones.
He swallowed. “What?”
I smiled. “It means you don’t have to be with me. It means we don’t have to have this baby.”
The shock had obviously slowed his reactions.
“Oh, Niko! This is brilliant! You can have a normal life- you can be with whoever you want!” I glanced at him sideways, a sly smile creeping to my lips. “Even Penny.”
His eyes widened. “What!”
I grinned and punched him lightly on the leg. “I’ve seen the way she looks at you!”
He gave me a weak smile. “She tried so hard not to like you, but she couldn’t.”
“Why? Because we were “destined to be together”? Ha! I knew it, I knew she liked you!”
He laughed and rubbed his face with his hands. “Far out, this is crazy.”
“It sure is.”
He looked up at me. “So I was never the Powerful one.”
I pressed my lips together, wondering if he was wishing he had been.
“No, Niko. It was always my father,” I said. Then I smirked. “You were just a very special boy.”
He sighed, looking at me in a new light. “So now it’s you.” He whispered.
I nodded. “Yes. Wolf King, here I come.”
I said the words while smiling, but I did not feel happy that they fell from my lips. I wished no harm whatsoever to the Wolf King, a creature that existed alongside me with as much right to survival as I myself did.
“I have no doubt you will do what’s necessary.” He said kindly as if he’d read my mind. Suddenly he smiled. “So I am normal, after all.”
I grinned back at him. “As normal as they come.”
He became serious suddenly, his hand reaching out to cup the side of my face.
“I do care about you, you know.” He said, blushing slightly.
My heart gave an unpleasant jump, but I smiled. “I know. Thanks.”
He levered himself off the bed, pulling me up with him. He exhaled loudly. “Well. Who wants to break the news?”
The group didn’t take it well. To them, this sudden news was disastrous. They had made a fatal error and you could see the horror on their faces as they absorbed what we told them. The truth was so clear, so exact, that they could not deny it. They could not argue or disagree. They had made a mistake. We had dropped a bombshell on them.
Harriet wept, though I’m not sure why. I didn’t know if she was sad or happy for me, or feeling guilty for how she’d treated Mum.
Penny couldn’t keep the smile from her face, the only happy person in the small group. She winked conspiratorially at Niko who glanced at me then looked away. At least the news was good for these two.
Taylor was looking mortified, as it was he who had made meaning of Niko’s visions. It was he who had made the plans to bring me here. He sat, staring at the table now, his eyes wide with comprehension.
It was Jerry who spoke first. He looked over at me, shaking his head slightly. “We don’t have enough time.”
I raised my eyebrows at him, glancing at Niko. “Time?”
He nodded.
“Wait,” I held up my hand. “Let me get this straight. Yesterday, all you had was a girl you thought would give birth to the Chosen one and you were worried about getting started right away, to speed things along. Today, the Chosen one stands before you and you still don’t think you have enough time?”
He shook his head. “You don’t understand. The Chosen one should have been brought up knowing their fate, prejudiced against the wolf. They would have been taught from a very young age to ensure their safety- to ensure their triumph. You- are too old.”
“Too old?” I squeaked. I was only months away from my eighteenth birthday.
He sighed. “You have no fighting skills. You have already formed your own opinions of him, and of us. You are a terrible candidate.”
Taylor looked up. “He’s right.”
I couldn’t believe this. “You want a savior or not?”
“Do you think, when the time came, when you were ready, that you could kill him? Without hesitation, without remorse?” he was peering at me, searching my face.
“I couldn’t tell you that,” I replied quietly, truthfully, taken aback. “But if you do not teach me, we will never know.”
I heard my words and was surprised. Did I really want to be taught? I think what I wanted was to be brought closer to him, and this would get me there. I felt a stab of fear. I was suicidal, of course. He would kill me in an instant.
At last, Jerry gave me a small smile. “When would you like to begin?”

I had thought I was guarded before, being locked in at night. Now that I was even more important, the security had been increased three-fold. Niko had moved in so he could watch the house at night and slept during the day. My window had been nailed closed, much to my disappointment. And Jerry was with me during most of the sunlit hours, teaching me.
At first my lessons were boring and it irritated me that I had to concentrate and stay focused. Jerry wasn’t a patient teacher, and he became frustrated with me when I didn’t pay attention or couldn’t answer his questions.
He started with history, testing me on the events from the diaries. He had me define Malachai’s weaknesses and his strengths. His weakness we both agreed was his twin sister, Samantha.
He made me study Malachai’s reactions to things, how he planned and executed his hunts. His ruthlessness and his fearlessness.
Sometimes I felt strange when Jerry described him this way, remembering his pain and weakness of not so long ago. But time had past since that night, the trees were finally releasing their leaves, and the ceaseless heat was winding down. Autumn was here, and Malachai was nowhere to be seen. He had not reappeared since that night, though Niko kept careful watch. I wondered if he would ever return.
“Of course he will,” Jerry smugly replied. “He cannot stay away. This is the centre of it all.”
“Do you ever wonder where Samantha is?” I asked, thoughtful.
He smacked his lips together. “I’m sure she’s not far. But he’s never found her.”
“You definitely think she’s alive?”
“Oh yes.”
I looked up in surprise. “How can you be so sure?”
“The rumour.. it speaks of a woman to be by the wolf king’s side. I always thought it to be his sister, for what woman could love him so unconditionally?”
My heart was beating a lot faster than usual and I felt the sudden eerie feeling that I was being watched. I searched the bush with my eyes carefully but found nothing.
Jerry was speaking.
“Sorry, what?”
He clicked his tongue with impatience. “I said, we must get back to work. Have you been practicing the kicks I taught you?”
I nodded truthfully. I had in fact been practicing.
“Show me.”
“Show me.”