Ties To The Blood Moon

  ***

  Aunt Bev freaked when she saw me. “Gen! Oh my goodness, look at you.” She had me by the hands, taking a good look at the new and improved me, then pulled me close, wrapping me in a warm hug. “Are you hungry?” She asked afterwards.

  “I really just want to take a shower before I do anything else.” I started up the staircase. “We’ll talk as soon as I’m done,” I called out over my shoulder, not slowing down.

  “I’ll go fix you something to eat.” I heard her say through the closed bathroom door.

  I could have stayed under the hot spray of the shower for hours if I hadn’t been so drained. I felt like I hadn’t slept in a week.

  It felt odd washing my hair. It was as if I was washing someone else’s super long silky hair, because mine had never felt like that in the past. It was also the first time since my transformation that I had seen myself naked. I was a little embarrassed examining my body. I couldn’t believe the tautness of my skin. There wasn’t an ounce of loose skin anywhere. I had bulging muscles on my stomach, arms, and thighs, that felt completely surreal. I had to admit my bellybutton ring looked a lot better on my new stomach then it had on my old one.

  When the hot water started to run out, I reluctantly turned off the shower and stepped out. The steam that covered the mirror slowly faded as I dried off. I dropped the towel and stared in awe at my reflection. A huge smile stretched across my face. I couldn’t believe I was the beautiful girl in the mirror.

  I hurried and dressed when Aunt Bev called me. “Are you all right up there?”

  “Yeah. I’ll be right down.” I bounded down the stairs two at a time, and slid across the cool tile of the kitchen floor in my socked feet. “You rang?” I smiled and sang out, sliding to a stop.

  Aunt Bev smiled, too, but I noticed her trying to hide a worried look underneath. “Well? Sit down and tell me everything.” She set a plate with a big juicy steak and quartered potatoes on the table between us before taking a seat across from me.

  “I’m not sure where to start. I guess you can tell I found the crest.” I smiled briefly, but let it fall away. I had this sudden surge of adrenaline rush through me, and began talking a mile a minute about the flight down there and how we had to land on our own, but somehow I got the feeling that she already knew.

  Aunt Bev looked at me long and hard. “What’s the matter, sweetie?”

  I just looked at her while slowly chewing a piece of my steak. “Tell me… how much of this whole thing did you already know about?”

  She tried to appear innocent, but I saw right through her. “You already knew I was an Adlet wolf, didn’t you?”

  Aunt Bev looked a little defeated, but I knew she wasn’t going to just blurt everything out until she found out what I already knew. “I knew the chances were good.”

  I saw her swallow hard. That’s when I started to get pissed. “That’s crap and you know it. You knew I was the princess, and you knew you were putting me in danger by letting me go down there.” I tossed my fork onto my plate and took some deep breaths, trying to stay calm.

  “All right, I knew. But there are circumstances you don’t understand.” She looked up toward the ceiling, batting her eyes quickly, like she was trying to fight back tears. “Everything I’ve done has been out of my love for Camilla and you. I would die for you, Gen.”

  Maybe she was telling the truth, but how could I know for sure. Either way I really felt bad for being so hard on her.it just wasn’t in my nature to be mean or cruel. “What really happened to my mother?”

  “You know what happened.” She said evenly, avoiding eye contact.

  I felt sure the tone of my voice let her know I was getting tired of her innocent act, but regardless she was still trying to avoid saying anything that I might not already know.

  “Stop lying,” I shouted, and sprang up quickly, knocking my chair over.

  Aunt Bev jerked. “Okay! She called me and said Zane had found out where you were, and she needed to get you away from the house as quickly as possible. I told her to come here, but she was afraid of being followed. So, I caught the next flight to L.A.. That’s why she told you I wanted you to come and spend spring break with me. She had planned to join us, but Zane got to her first. My guess is he killed her and burned down the house to cover it up.”

  I watched a few tears run down her face, but I still didn’t think she was telling me everything. I felt bad so I walked around the table and wrapped her in a hug. After she calmed down, I pushed myself away. “You better sit down. I have something to tell you.”