I called my father again that night.
"Alice Galloway," I began without greeting, "is she still working with you? Does she work for you like she worked for Owein?"
I heard my father sigh on the other end of the phone. "Eloise, it's late-"
"Answer the question."
There was a moment of silence.
"No," he finally answered, his voice stiff. "she does not."
I gripped the phone tighter in my hand. Everything in me wanted to believe him. She was a murderer. I'd seen the truth in Isaac's visions.
"Did you know?" I asked through gritted teeth. "What she was doing? Bleeding out werewolves?"
"What?" He remarked in surprise, I couldn't tell if it was genuine. "I have never tried to bleed out a werewolf, Lou."
I thought of Isaac and the vision I'd seen of her crouching down beside the dying werewolf. Alice was a monster, that much I knew. But was my father capable of something like that?
"If you didn't ask her to do that, then why the hell would she do it?" I wondered aloud, my voice still harsh.
I still needed my father to trust me, and I knew he wouldn't if I kept accusing him. I needed his trust to get the Codex back from him. If he was willing to give it to me, then maybe Anna Denvers was wrong about his intentions.
"Perhaps she's trying to protect the people of West Acres."
I laughed humorlessly. "Oh, yeah? How?"
My father, once again, sighed on the other end of the phone and I wished I could push my fist through the line. Everyone had told me that he was the reason the hunters were still here, it was what all of the signs had pointed to. But, he'd denied it and I had no proof to go on.
"You don't understand, Eloise. You don't understand the kind of creatures you're choosing to spend your time with-"
I cut him off. "No, you don't get to do that."
He cleared his throat. "If you don't believe me, just ask the witch."
My breath caught in my throat. This was the second time in the last few days that someone had told me to ask the witch. Apparently, I was missing something and either Tilly or her grandmother had it.
"What witch?"
"Take your pick. All witches distrust werewolves. The Angelos witch ought to be a good place to start. She has more personal hate for them. You might consider asking her why."
I squeezed the phone in my hands. He was talking about Tilly's grandmother. She had, of course, explained in part why she distrusted werewolves, but she hadn't gotten specific like my father apparently wanted her to. Instead of responding, I hung up on Johnathan without a goodbye.
Again it seemed that I needed answers. But at least this time, I knew where to go.
I visited Tilly's house that Sunday before I would go to the warehouse to meet Tucker. The house felt alive again as I walked through the garden to the front door. The life and vibrant smells surrounding their home made my shoulders relax slightly. I was still on edge, curious about the knowledge that Sophia Angelos could give me, but the smell of maple syrup did much to calm my nerves.
Before I was able to even knock on the door, it swung open. The strange, unseeing eyes of Tilly's Yia-Yia greeted me. She was partially blind, yet every time I looked at her I had the feeling that more of me was visible to her than anyone else.
"Ílios, come in child, tea is on the kettle. I take it Bay Laurel is the right tea for you, sacred to the sun god, of course," her voice rattled on as she ushered me inside the small cottage. Her words came at me quickly, and I blinked in surprise to have been greeted in such a way.
"You were expecting me?" I asked, confused. The old woman shrugged and led me to the kitchen.
"My skills in clairvoyance are not as powerful as yours, to be sure. But, I had an inkling."
I sat down at the counter and watched as she poured hot liquid from a steaming kettle into a porcelain teacup full of tea leaves. She handed me the cup, and I was grateful for something to do with my hands as she watched me. I was nervous under her gaze, slightly distracted on why I wanted to visit in the first place. I wished Tilly would pop up but I knew she and Harry had gone out together. I was alone with Sophia.
I cleared my throat. "I came to speak with you about a few things, actually."
She hummed, nodding her head. It seemed that she already knew that. I watched as she sat herself down across from me on a little stool, her gray hair wispy and flying into her eyes. I struggled with how to begin.
"What made you hate werewolves?" I blurted out.
Nice, I thought to myself, way to be tactful. Sophia seemed amused as if she could hear my inner monologue. Or perhaps, she guessed at it.
She settled back comfortably into her stool and watched as I brought the teacup to my lips.
"I was young, like you, but maybe a bit older when I first met the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. Roman. He was a witch, like me, but much more powerful. He was convinced that we could change the world," she smiled at the memory of this man, "most young people are before they realize that the world is unbendable. But he wanted to try anyway."
"How?"
"There is a peace now between the different creatures that did not exist back then. Wolves and witches killed each other. Vampires and Faeries hunted and tormented humans. Roman wanted to change it all. He thought that wolves and witches needed to work together to protect humans. It was that idea that killed him."
Sophia stopped for a moment, and I blinked a little, so engrossed in her story that I forgot where I was. Nobody had ever told me about this history before. I couldn't imagine the dangerous world that she was describing.
"One of the alphas in West Acres, before Delia Joy and before Owein Heigl, fought against Roman and his ideas. But, Roman never stopped. He reached out to other packs and other witches in order to bring them together. This alpha, Orion, ripped him limb from limb in the woods one day, leaving him for the other animals and monsters of the forest. Roman and his ideas of peace between all creatures died with him."
I swallowed thickly at Sophia's tone of voice. It was growing harder and harder for her to continue telling the story, I could tell. She looked up at me with her unseeing eyes and I could see clear evidence of her pain. I could see her as a young woman, beautiful and in love, learning about the death of the person she thought she'd spent the rest of her life with. Only to have him torn from her by the one creature she hated.
"But...there's peace now."
She scoffed a little, not believing my words.
"The alpha who assumed power after Orion was defeated, Tucker Heigl, began a shaky alliance with the witches. Together they contained the Vampires and the Faeries. Agreements were made to protect mortals from supernatural creatures. Other packs and other covens of witches around the world followed suit. But it was too late, he was already dead. Roman never saw any of his life's work come to pass."
"Tucker Heigl?" I murmured, my voice stuck on the two names.
Sophia nodded. "The Joy's grandfather, yes."
My shoulders sank with this new knowledge of the history in West Acres. I wondered if Tucker or any of the Joy's actually knew any of it. I suspected not, Ben or someone would've told me. Sophia's face had hardened and I still was curious where her deeply-rooted hate stemmed from.
"But...Orion was defeated, surely you do not hate all werewolves for the actions of one alpha?"
Sophia's eyes narrowed. "One alpha?" She laughed, but her voice held no humor in it. "Has my Matilda not told you of the restrictions put on witches by the wolves?"
"I-no," I responded, surprised.
The older woman made a disgruntled noise and shook her head angrily.
"I suppose not. She's never thought much of the restrictions. She's never known the freedom of practicing magic without them. The wolves are much stronger than us, you know. We practice natural magic, they require none of our same restraint. Their abilities do not require the same balance."
"Wh-what kind of restrictions?" I asked, almost afraid of the answer. Sophia's eyes narrowed angrily and for a moment I saw the young girl who fought for the rights of her people behind her cloudy eyes.
"Permission for spells, registering magic users, subservience to alphas of the packs," she spat, "to name just a few."
I cringed at the word 'subservience.' Tilly hadn't mentioned the restrictions on witches, I expect because she ignored them. I doubted heavily that she ever asked permission to put a spell on my house or the club. But the subservience to an alpha? The spells around the Denver campsite and on the warehouse were not simply witches and wolves working together, it was a requirement.
"And if you ignore these restrictions?"
Sophia smiled a sick, cruel smile and my stomach dropped. I put the teacup down with a clatter, almost forgetting that I was still holding it. The small amount of tea and leaves left in the cup were cold by now, but I ignored them.
"It depends. They can be beaten, if they're lucky, or they meet the same end as Roman," she murmured sharply, "Owein was keen on punishing rogue witches to the fullest extent of their law. Denvers, as well. Your boy, whatever his name is, I expect will be the same one day."
My jaw clenched angrily. I thought of Tilly and I thought of Tucker. I wondered if he even knew what kind of restrictions there were. He was new to his position and I wondered if he would ever carry out those types of punishments, even if it was expected of him.
Over. My. Dead. Body.
Sophia waved her hand in the air, dismissing the topic of conversation and my slowly rising anger.
"Enough of that, we shall topple the wolves and the man another day," she grabbed my teacup greedily and peered into it with her strange eyes, "let me read your tea leaves."
***
It was on my way to the warehouse when I realized that the same red sedan had been following me since I'd left the Angelos' house. Instead of leading the suspicious car back to where Tucker and his pack had established a secret base, I drove to the high school instead. The entire parking lot was dead on a Sunday, so when I pulled into a parking spot the red sedan was able to pull in right across from me.
I wasn't surprised when Johnathan stepped out of the car.
My arms crossed as I sat on top of the bike, I glared at him. "You're tailing me now?"
He shrugged as if this was normal behavior. "I wasn't sure if you'd answer my calls."
"I probably wouldn't have," I told him honestly.
He took my snarky response in stride to his credit. The response didn't seem to bother him as much as it made him curious.
"I'd hoped that hearing the truth about the wolves you love would make you trust me more. It seems I was mistaken."
I scoffed, thinking of Owein and Alice. "Yes. You were. How am I supposed to believe you're not helping a killer? You've already done it before."
"So have you," he responded calmly.
I wanted to defend Tucker. It was almost a gut response to what he was implying. The truth was, I didn't know what made Alice and Tucker so different. He killed people to protect his family, and I'm sure Alice would say that she was protecting people too.
Johnathan noticed my silence and took the opportunity to walk closer to me. I was stuck where I was. My head ached from the information I'd received today and the lack of sleep from the last few weeks. It seemed that it was finally catching up to me.
"Eloise," his voice seemed far away, "is the apport working?"
"No," I snapped.
He seemed taken aback and took another step toward me, but I didn't want him anywhere near me. His eyes scanned my face, and I'm sure I was white as a sheet. Dark energy was swirling around under my skin, it seemed to have awoken due to my distress. The overwhelming nature of my questions, of my sleeplessness, of my guilt, fueled it.
"E-Eloise I need you to calm down," my father murmured softly, holding his hands up in surrender.
At first, I was confused. Then I realized he must have been able to see it surrounding me. He must have been able to see the shadows that cloaked my shoulders. I wondered if it scared him as it scared me. The look in his eyes didn't seem to be fear- it was reverence.
"It's amazing," his voice was soft, "I can see the power all around you."
I was not pleased with his words. "I don't want it."
"I can help you," he pleaded, "they don't understand you. They can't and they never will. Your tether doesn't even understand."
My eyes shot up to his face at his words. The mention of Tucker made the energy around me sizzle painfully. It was a reminder of how it felt when he touched me, but a sick perverse reminder.
"Don't push me away when I'm the only one who can help you."
My skin crackled, feeling overwhelmed by the power that surged through me. My vision blurred, my head ached, and the blood all rushed to my fingertips. When I spoke, my voice barely sounded like mine.
"How?"
"I have the answers you want."
At the end of the day, whether I trusted him or not- whether he was working with Alice or not- I needed the answers. They were the only things that kept me rooted to the spot.
_______
Any thoughts about the history of West Acres?
Is Tilly in trouble for her unregistered spells?
Does Tucker know about these rules?
What's Lou's dad up to?
WHEN ARE THEY GONNA MAKEOUT AGAIN?
(lmao) that last one isn't really that important haha...unless?
Thanks for reading!!!
Stay safe. Be kind.