Distinctly Different

Chapter 8 ~ The Inquiry

Chapter 8

Arabella sucked in a breath as she stabbed herself again with the needle. Her mind was elsewhere today. She sighed as she took in the articles of clothing that she had to mend for Eleanor. Sewing was never one of her strong suits, yet she had done it many times. You would think that after doing it repeatedly that she would have gotten better, but that wasn’t the case for Arabella. Her sewing was passable. It didn’t look horrible but a seamstress she wasn’t. She dreaded having to mend Eleanor’s things. She’d rather do anything else.

Her eyes sought out the clear blue sky outside and she itched to be outside. She frowned as the desire registered in her mind. She couldn’t go out to the forest. The hunters might be there and she had no wish to be killed. Even if they weren’t near the forest it was much too early in the day to venture to the forest. Arabella only went out a few hours before the gates to the citadel were closed. If she went much earlier someone might see her and report her movements.

She turned her gaze to her sewing and started humming a simple melody. It eased her and she barely noticed what she was doing. The lullaby stayed in her thoughts and she curiously wondered where she had heard it.

She regarded her work in surprise, the sewing was better than normal. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at the hem. She ran her fingers over the neat sewing then smiled and set the dress aside. Only a few more to go, she thought. She was in a pleasant mood now all thanks to the pretty children’s song. She reached for another dress as her thoughts stayed on the topic of children’s songs. A distant memory tugged at her and she suddenly recalled her mother singing her a lullaby when Arabella had been ill. She stopped what she was doing as she remembered that moment.

Arabella hadn’t always known she was a werewolf. She had never thought herself to be different from the other children running about. At least that was what she thought, before she turned five. At the young age of five Arabella’s werewolf genes kicked in and dominated over her human ones.

The process of the first shift was painful; it took certain strength to make it through. The average five year old didn’t possess that strength. Werewolves went through the first shift around the age of seven, ten at the latest. By the age of seven all children were told of what they were. Since Arabella was five her mother hadn’t seen the need to tell her.

The day of her first shift Arabella had woken up feeling sore. Her head pounded slightly and her eyes unfocused once in a while but she didn’t worry about it. She put the thoughts of her discomfort out of her mind and went outside to meet up with a few friends. Most of the morning was spent running around, climbing trees and laughing with friends.

Arabella participated fully, pausing only when the level of discomfort rose to a point she could no longer ignore it. By then it was afternoon and some of her friends had gone home. In fact, only Alexander and another girl still remained. Arabella leaned against a tree and held her side. Her breaths came out as short pants. A wave of pain came over her and she cried out. She sank to her knees and curled up, willing the pain to go away. Alexander ran over and ordered the other girl to get Arabella’s mother.

In the end that wasn’t necessary, her mother had heard her cry. She rushed over her to her daughter and scooped her into her arms. She had told Alexander some assurance that Arabella was fine and then rushed to her house. Her mother had shut the door and covered all the windows in a panic. Hopefully none of the neighbours would think anything weird was going on.

She bundled up Arabella in a thick blanket and held her close as she shivered. Arabella’s fingers clutched her mother’s clothing in panic as her slight body started convulsing. At that point her mother had carried her over to the fire and concocted a liquid with various herbs in a pot over the fire. She blew on the greenish liquid to cool it and then gave it to Arabella to drink.