The Wolf

Ch. 31: Introductions

~Nico~

"Come in," Eleanor says, "I'll make some cocoa."

She moves aside so I can walk into the house. I close the door, leaving the cold night behind us. Eleanor disappears into the kitchen while I take a minute to look around. Stairs stand to the right, leading up to the second floor. In front of the stairs is a door that belongs to a guest room we never use. The kitchen is straight ahead and the living room is to the left. Which leaves me standing in a small hallway. Pictures decorate the walls, framed families smiling within them. It's hard to believe that used to be us-- so carefree.

Besides a little bit of dust, nothing much has changed. Everything is still in its original place. Almost everything. There are no more parents to care for us anymore. I wander into the living room that looks like it was in the process of being cleaned. Windex, a vacuum, and a duster lay discarded all around the room.

Eleanor shuffles in, "I've got your cocoa in the kitchen, let's drink it there."

I feel giddy as I follow her into the kitchen. It's still hard processing that she's alive, that she's my sister, and that she's back. The two of us take seats at the table across from each other. Eleanor won't stop smiling at me and looking at my face-- as if it's the first time she's seeing it.

"I'm so glad you came home," She says, "I didn't know if you were going to break Nyx's curse, or if I was going to have to wait forever."

"I see you have so much faith in me." I jest, sipping my cocoa.

"It's not that I don't believe in your capabilities, it's just that it's Nyx." Eleanor stirs her cocoa absentmindedly.

"So, you're my sister, right? Where have you been?" I can see the hurt in her eyes at my question. Even though I know that she is my sister, I have no recollection of her whatsoever.

"This whole mess started when I was off at college. I had no idea what was going on at home. And it was weird because... I didn't care. It never crossed my mind to call mom or send home letters. It was as if I just totally forgot about having a family. Until winter break rolled around and everyone was talking about going home for the break. All my friends asked me if I was going home too, and I realized that I did want to go home, but more importantly, that I couldn't. I don't know why, but it was as if I was scared. Every time I thought about returning, I got this terrible gut feeling saying I shouldn't. That's when I knew that someone put a hex on me." She pauses to take a sip of her drink, I do the same.

So that's why she couldn't come back? Mom really did put a hex on her. I can't believe that mom would do that to her own children. What was her purpose? Why did she do that? And where is she now? Is she dead? The thought of her being dead sends a chill down my spine, even though I'm not supposed to feel cold.

"Once I found out I was hexed, I reached out to some people in my classes that were Druids. I asked them to help break this hex so I could return home and find out what happened. They helped me, and I returned home as quick as I could. But, when I got here, it was already too late. You were gone, the house was empty. After that, I spent all of my winterbreak searching for you. It was as if you had just disappeared. I was devastated. I had no idea what happened, everything was just gone. As much as I hated to, I had to go back to school. But a day hasn't passed that I haven't thought about what happened.

"After I returned to school I started gathering fellow druids. I knew that if mom did that to us, then there must be something terrible about to happen. So, for years I reached out and created a small community of people. We built relationships and also honed our powers so that we might even be the strongest Druid coven in decades"