Carnivals were nice.
Rosalind got herself a giant funnel cake and ate as she followed Tyler and her father to the school, where the Wrestling Club had set up their contest. They had a marked ring in the center with a table to balance their arms.
Around the ring, different athletes were holding jars with tickets, conducting a raffle for some gear and also collecting the two dollar entry fee for the contest. It seemed they were actually going to make a lot of money off of it, because Rosalind noticed a long line of boys waiting to compete, as well as many spectators holding tickets.
"Come on, Rosie, just compete," said Tyler. "No other girl is doing it."
"Look," she said, "I'd do it if I wasn't more interested in this funnel cake. I haven't had one of these in years!"
"Five bucks says you can't beat the winner of this round."
"Oh, for fuck's sake," said Rosalind, handing him the plate of funnel cake and slapping two dollars into the palm of Tyler's classmate. "Fine. I've got the next guy. But mind you, my arm strength cannot compare to the strength of my legs. If you eat part of my funnel cake, I will punch you."
Tyler pretended to get a piece, and Rosalind glared at him in a warning.
She climbed into the ring to challenge the next boy, who seemed to be confident he could beat her. She gave him a cheeky smile, holding out her arm. He took it, and made a big show of kissing the back of it, as if to console her.
Rosalind let out a dry laugh and yanked him closer to her. "Do that again," she sneered, "and I'll knock out three teeth. But I won't tell you which three."
He sat back, and the judge motioned for them to start.
It was a bit of a struggle at the beginning, but Rosalind managed to slam his hand down. "Next," she called, smiling as everyone around her cheered. But her smile fell when Tyler climbed into the ring. "Oh, come on, you dick, you can't skip the line just to humiliate me."
"You need to get back to your funnel cake," he said teasingly. "Come on. Beat me, and I'll buy you another one."
Rosalind did not win. But Tyler still gave her money for a second funnel cake.
"Don't overdo it with the sugar," warned her father.
She shrugged. "I won't overdo it."
"Ro," said Mason sternly. "Come on."
She sighed. "Fine, I'll use the money to buy something else."
Tyler was on a winning streak. Rosalind continued to tear off pieces of the funnel cake while she watched him struggle against each opponent, but ultimately manage to knock all their arms down.
"I bet I can take you," said Mason.
"Bring it on, superboy," said Tyler, taking his hand.
"Come on, Tyler," said Rosalind teasingly as they started to wrestle. "You know you can't beat him."
"Yes, the hell I can," said Tyler, though he was straining. Mason managed to knock his arm onto the table, and Tyler hissed, rubbing his elbow.
"Is that it?" said Mason.
Tyler sighed. "Okay, he's the champ. Who wants to go next?"
"Stefan wants to go," said a dark haired man behind them. Rosalind watched as the man beside him, presumably his brother, walked up and agreed, "Yeah, sure, I'll give it a shot."
She tiptoed over to her father. "Tell you what, if anyone beats you tonight, then I get to have more funnel cake."
"Deal," he said, taking Stefan's hand.
"Get him, Stef!" cheered his brother.
"My brother over there thinks I can beat you," Stefan told Mason.
Mason smirked. "Your brother's wrong."
They started to wrestle, and Mason continued to smirk at Stefan, who was straining to keep their arms in the middle. He seemed to give up, and Mason slammed his hand down, causing Tyler to cheer. Stefan simply smiled good-naturedly and walked off.
"I'll be back," said Rosalind, holding up her finished plate and motioning to where she recalled the trash cans being set up. Both Mason and Tyler held a thumbs-up, and met the next opponent.
She moved outside of the school, tossing the plate into the bin. When she turned around, Stefan's brother was standing right there.
"Excuse me," she said sharply. "You're in my way."
"So, you're Tyler's cousin?" he inquired.
"What's it to you?" she demanded, trying to move away from him. He caught her arm, and she dropped down, swiping her legs out to knock him to the floor, where she pinned her knee into his chest, holding her fist up ready to punch him.
He held his hands out in surrender. "Just wanted to know. No need to get so testy."
"I don't take kindly to entitled rich boys like you try grabbing me like I'm not a person, too," she said darkly. "You keep your hands off of me, or I'll break your hands."
She got off of him, and walked quickly back into the school, looking over her shoulder once and finding that he was watching her all the way down the hall.
"Can we go?" she asked her father when she came back to stand next to him.
"What happened?" he asked with a frown.
"The sugar's getting to me," she said. "I'd just rather be back at the house."
"Okay, sure." He waved off the current opponent. "I'll pass it along."
Tyler followed them, holding out his hands as Mason handed him the keys. "You and Ro, get to the car. I'll be right there."
He made toward the bathroom. Rosalind started to walk ahead, and Tyler had to jog to catch up. "What's wrong?" he asked. "You look nervous."
"Stefan's brother," she said. "Who is that guy?"
"Damon Salvatore? He's an asshole from what I hear. But everyone at school thinks he's hot, or something. Why?"
"He was asking me about my relation to you. He grabbed my arm and it hurt. I don't know why he did that."
"You say the word, I'll go talk to Stefan. He's a lot more reasonable than his brother."
She shook her head. "Something just felt off. It doesn't matter. I'll avoid him from now on."
They entered the parking lot, which was fairly empty considering most people were barely arriving at the carnival. Only one man passed them, and purposely walked between Rosalind and Tyler, bumping into them.
"Watch where you're going," said Tyler angrily.
"You got a problem?" asked the man.
"Yeah," said Tyler flatly. "You walked right into me."
The man stepped closer. "What are you going to do about it?"
"Hey, hey, hey!" Rosalind stepped between them as Tyler made to punch him. But the man simply shoved her in the chest, pushing her aside to get to Tyler.
"Don't you touch her!" Tyler snapped. The man pushed into his chest instead, as if insistent on fighting him. "You hit me again, I swear to god—"
He punched Tyler across the face. "What the hell!" snapped Rosalind grabbing the car keys and swiping them across the man's face. "Back the fuck off or I'll stick it in your thr—"
"ROSALIND!"
She stepped back as her father arrived, coming between them. "What the hell is going on here?" he demanded.
The man decided he wanted to fight Mason instead. He punched him twice in the face, shoving him into the nearest car. Rosalind and Tyler leapt back, watching as Mason somersaulted over the car, leapt over the man, and landed on the ground, his eyes glowing.
"Dad!" said Rosalind fearfully, knowing Tyler had seen it.
"Your eyes!" he cried.
Mason ignored them, and hit the man hard enough to knock him on the floor. "Come on," he said. "Quickly."
Neither Lockwood dared to argue. They followed after him, finding where his truck was parked and climbing in. As they drove past that spot, they saw the man was gone.
"You both better tell me what's going on, right now," said Mason sharply as he drove them home.
"That guy just bumped into us on purpose!" exclaimed Rosalind. "He wanted Tyler to fight him, he was doing it on purpose! He punched him, and I just—"
"You just what?" snapped Mason. "You threatened to stab the keys into the guy's throat! You would have killed him, Ro!"
"I know, but I just got angry and—"
"But nothing, you know how to manage it, and you almost killed a man!"
"But Dad, I didn't—"
"I don't want to hear it. As soon as we drop Tyler off at the house, you and I are going for a walk."
"I'm not in the mood for a lecture, Dad! The guy was doing it on purpose! Someone knows and—"
"Rosalind, zip it."
She huffed loudly and crossed her arms, staring out the window. If Tyler wasn't confused before, he certainly was now.
"What was that move you pulled?" he demanded to his uncle.
"Brazilian martial art," said Mason dryly. "I took some classes a while back."
"Don't lie to me," said Tyler angrily.
"I'm not lying," said Mason in an exasperated tone.
"I saw something!"
"You didn't see anything."
"I saw your eyes, they glowed."
"Reflection of a car headlight maybe, that's all."
Tyler scoffed. "Reflection of a car headlight... You really expect me to believe that?"
"Tyler!" Mason yelled. "You want to know what you saw? You saw me get pissed off that I had to pull your delinquent ass out of a fight!"
Rosalind couldn't hold back. "Dad! Just tell him! It's safer that he knows! Tell him, or I will."
Tyler held out his hands. "Tell me what?"
"Tell you nothing," said Mason sternly. "Rosalind, you tell him nothing."
"No, I'm going to tell him everything. So if you want to help with the conversation, you can meet us at our talking spot at midnight. If not, I will tell him because he needs to know."
Mason looked at her. "And you're better off knowing? There is a reason I didn't want you to know. You act out anyway, Rosalind! You threatened to kill this guy knowing damn well what happens if you do!"
"I just got heated and I said it, but I wouldn't have done it! He needs to know what he's risking each time he gets mad."
"Can someone tell me what the hell is going on?" demanded Tyler.
"Talking spot," said Rosalind as they neared the mansion. "Midnight. Your mom can't hear. She doesn't know and she doesn't need to know."
Mason could have probably locked his daughter in her room to keep her from sneaking out. But it wouldn't have done much, considering she didn't take the same path as Tyler to end up on the roof of the mansion. She climbed out of the window and lifted herself onto the rooftop, walking until she found Tyler by the chimney.
"Is your dad gonna join us?" asked Tyler. "I heard him asking my mom about that moonstone thing."
"I don't know," she said. "Just like I don't know why he won't tell me the real reason he wants it."
"What's the deal with all of this, huh? Why does he keep grilling me about my anger management and my blackouts? Why did he get mad at you for fighting with that guy when he came onto us and would have beaten us up unless we defend ourselves?"
"Because," came Mason's voice as he joined them, "the family curse is more than just anger issues."
He sat between the two of them. "Nice talking spot. I'm surprised you ever climbed up here as kids."
Rosalind gave him a look to get on with the talk. He sighed and asked, "What do you know about werewolves, Tyler?"
Tyler scoffed. "Werewolves? That's just a myth. A whole bunch of stories about getting bitten and turning on the full moon?"
"It isn't just myths and stories," said Rosalind. "It's real. For some reason, there is a gene that controls it. It runs on our dads' side of the family. The Lockwood line is one long lineage of werewolves, triggered or untriggered."
"What does 'triggered' mean?"
"Triggered means they're a full werewolf," said Mason. "Their gene is switched on. They turn every full moon, they have the powers that comes with it. Untriggered is what you and Ro are right now. You got the anger issues, which is common. But no powers. No turning. Your gene is still off. Your curse remains somewhat dormant."
Tyler gulped. "And how do you turn it on?"
"You have to kill somebody," said Mason gravely. "Human blood... you take another person's life away from them, and then the curse is yours forever. So if you or Ro had killed that guy, you would be werewolves." He looked up at the moon. "Tomorrow is a full moon. The closer it is to the full moon, the worse the anger issues are. Ro gets hyper with sugar, it makes her think less straight. Happens to me and to her with alcohol, too. Makes it harder to control our anger. It's more manageable once you trigger your curse. But the whole point is that it wants you to trigger it."
"My dad was like this?" whispered Tyler. "He was a werewolf... like you?"
"Nah," said Mason. "Richard never triggered his curse. I only triggered mine a year ago."
"How did it happen?"
"A friend of mine got into a fight with me. He died."
"You killed him?" asked Tyler softly.
Mason nodded. "He kept coming at me. He got in his head that I was sleeping with his girlfriend."
"Were you?"
"No. No, I wouldn't do that. He was my friend. He was drunk and attacked me. It was self-defense."
"And it triggered the curse."
He nodded. "On every full moon, I lose control. If I don't sedate myself and chain myself down, I'll kill anything in my path. You have to be careful. All it takes is an accident, a car wreck. Any death at your hands and you'll have a lifetime of this. You don't want it Tyler, trust me. I've already had to turn five times since then. Tomorrow, I'll have to turn again. Which brings up something I wanted to say... stay away from the old Lockwood property tomorrow, okay? The one by the swim hole?"
"Why?" asked Tyler.
"That's where I plan to chain myself up tomorrow. It's safer if nobody is nearby."
"Have you always chained yourself up?"
"Yes," said Mason. "But I know wolves who don't. You see, wolves operate in packs. There is always someone to lean on, someone to talk to. And these larger packs, they go to mountain ranges each full moon. The entire pack just runs wild and free under the light of the moon. They have this beautiful connection with nature and those around them. Someone once described it to me as this feeling of... flying. And us wolves, we remain mortal. In our short lives, we get humbled by pain. We learn to understand the value of family. There is a lot of good to it. The powers are great, they really are. Heightened strength, agility, speed. Healing. But at the same time, it isn't worth having to kill someone. If I could take it back, I would. We're not the kind of wolves that would be in a position to enjoy a full moon. So... we shouldn't. Both of you shouldn't ever trigger your curses. Do you understand me?"
"Yeah," said Tyler. Rosalind nodded on the other side of Mason.
"What about the moonstone?" asked Rosalind. "What's the deal with that?"
"It's just something I want," said Mason. "Sentimental value."
"I don't believe you," said Rosalind. "Dad, tell me the truth, please. Why is it going to be able to help me and Tyler?"
"I can't tell you yet. But I promise, when I get it, and when it serves its purpose, I will tell you everything. That, I swear."
Tyler sighed. "Well, I'll look for it later."
"Good," said Mason. "Now, go to sleep. And whatever you do, don't come by the swim hole." He put his arms around them. "I love you both, okay? I don't mean to get mad, I just don't want you to go through that pain. Breaking every single bone in your body once a month... it isn't fun. Not in these parts."
They made their way back inside. Rosalind laid onto her bed for a good while, just thinking. Wondering if there was a chance that Damon Salvatore knew what they were. If there was a chance that the man who attacked them knew what they were. Why else would they be so curious?
"Hey," said Mason, poking his head in that afternoon when he found Rosalind and Tyler playing video games again. "I'm gonna head out. I'll be back in the morning. Ro, an old friend of mine invited me to her house tomorrow for a dinner party. She wants to meet you, so be ready before midday."
"Okay," she replied. "Be safe."
He nodded, and darted out.
"He records his turns," said Rosalind quietly as they kept playing. "He doesn't want me to watch the videos. He journals and documents things. At least, he did it more his first month turning."
"How did he tell you?" asked Tyler. "Doesn't seem like he was willing for me to know, even with how important it is."
"He started being all suspicious and he happened to disappear two full moons in a row. I knew he was some sort of supernatural. And my friend Jules already told me that vampires, wolves, and witches really existed. So I just put the pieces together. My dad's actually dating this vampire girl named Kathy. I haven't met her, though."
"Wow. So you might get a vampire stepmom?"
"Who knows. He might not think this is going to be a long-term thing 'cause he keeps making excuses." She pressed a button, shooting at Tyler in the game. "You lose. Come on, let's find that moonstone."
Tyler seemed mildly suspicious of her intentions. "What are you thinking of doing with it?"
"I don't know," she said with a shrug. "Maybe I can get it, use it as leverage to make him tell me more. I don't like not knowing things."
"You are persistent," he said, getting up. "Come on, I know a couple of places it might be."
He went to his father's office, prying open a floorboard and finding a safe hidden beneath it. He popped it open, and sure enough, there was a stone just as Mason described inside.
"Maybe I should keep it on my bedside," said Rosalind. "See how long it takes him to notice it's there."
"That's cruel," said Tyler. "Do it."
She smirked, plucking it out of his hand. But instead of actually placing it on her nightstand, she tucked it safely in one of the drawers. "Genuine question," she asked, "Do you actually have a lot of friends?"
He feigned offense. "I know damn well you're not asking me that. I talk about my friends all the time, you've never mentioned any to me aside from Jules."
"They're my dad's friends. Jules, Brady, Stevie. The pack. They helped raise me. But I call them friends 'cause they asked me to. As for people my age, I have friends, just not close ones. My coworkers, old classmates... people I see at the same places from time to time."
"I have friends," he assured her. "Matt Donovan is my friend, I think you remember him."
"Vicki's brother, yeah. Continue."
"Ah... the guys on the football team are my friends."
"Your friends or your fans?"
"Definitely my worshippers."
They stayed up late into the night playing games, waiting for Mason to return. At one point, Carol came upstairs, bringing them some cut fruit, which they both appreciated. Rosalind tried to teach her to play Super Smash Bros, but she turned out to be rather terrible at it.
"How have you been, Rosalind?" she asked gently once she came to say goodnight, and found Rosalind was braiding her hair and rolling the braids around her head.
"Good," she said. "Physically healthy. Emotionally healthy. Florida's nice. You and Tyler should come visit us often, whenever you need to get away from all the duties of being Mayor."
She managed a smile. "Perhaps, one day. It's not so easy getting away. Being in charge of a whole town and maintaining traditions is taxing."
"That's why I don't like to be in charge of anything," she said. "Well, except when it means I get to boss people around. That's fun. I'm in charge of the other lifeguards when I work my shifts at the beach. It's only 'cause I'm the best swimmer, but it's still fun."
"What are your plans for the future?" she inquired. "Are you thinking about going to college?"
She shook her head. "I don't know, I kind of don't want to do that. Right now, I work as a lifeguard and I also go back to the high school and help my old coaches run training sessions. Doesn't pay much in comparison to the lifeguard job, but it's still something. I'm saving up little by little so I have the funds to do anything I want once I figure out what it is that I want. I might like to be a coach one day. Coach one of the sports I used to do well in. I gave up on being an Olympic athlete awhile back. But there's a lot of sports related jobs I could do without needing school."
"Perhaps," said Carol. "You like helping people and being involved in sports. Perhaps you'd like to work in... sports medicine? It would be nice to have a doctor in the family. You could be the physical therapist for all athletes and also coach them."
"Maybe," she said with a shrug. "But I have time to decide if I want to do that or not. Nothing calls out to me just yet."
"Tyler needs some inspiration to do... well, anything after high school. He might be inclined to go to college if he sees his cousin there. You could attend Whitmore, it has a wonderful hospital and many athletic facilities."
Rosalind smiled politely. "We'll see, Aunt Carol. I promise I'll figure it out soon. I just don't know yet. This is my gap year to sort of... think it all through. Besides, it's just been me and my dad for a long time. Going to school means spending less time with him."
"Your father will be alright without you, you know. You and Tyler... you're kids. You should get to be kids. Don't worry about us. We will manage. Though, we will miss you both if you ever leave." She moved closer. "Sweetheart, you won't be hurting your father if you leave."
Rosalind's eyes flickered to the floor. "She left him. Others have left him. He's tried dating before but for all the romanticizing people do, they don't actually like it when the man they're dating has a kid. Especially when that kid is like me and will not hesitate to tell my dad when they're being rude to me. I just... I don't want to leave him behind. I don't want him to be lonely. We still need each other."
She put an arm around her, massaging her shoulder. "Whatever you decide, I will support you. And so will your dad."
Rosalind smiled. "Yeah... unless I choose to work as a coach for his least favorite sports teams. Then I might actually get disowned."