Chapter 13

CLEMENTINE

No one says a word for a while. Ivan is clearly waiting for Alex to say something, and I am waiting for my brother to go and tell someone—that’s how much I am afraid of him.

It’s not that I don’t trust Alex…it’s just that Helia, Erika, ~and~ Ivan told me not to tell anyone. Now Helia says I can trust my brother, and I do—just not with this matter.

I wait patiently for him to say something, but when he finally opens his mouth, I shut my eyes, afraid of what he might say.

“A-a phoenix?” he asks in disbelief.

I open my eyes to see that he has teared up. “Yes,” I reply.

“Since when?”

This reaction is not what I expected. I expected him to yell, scream, hit me, even run out of the door to tell the alpha. I thought he’d be afraid of me—something I never wanted to see in my entire life.

“I don’t know…I only found out a few days ago, but I’ve been hearing my phoenix for a while.”

“How could you not tell me?” he whisper-yells, even though anyone standing outside the door, with their werewolf hearing, could easily eavesdrop.

“How could I tell you? I was afraid…”

“Of what?”

“That if anyone finds out, they’ll kill me.”

Alex looks hurt. “I am your brother—I would never kill you,” he says gently, taking my hands in his. “I would never harm you, Clem.”

My body jerks forward, crushing him in a tight hug.

“I am sorry you’ve been afraid and alone in this. I should have been with you,” Alex murmurs, making my heart melt.

~He is just a sweetheart.~

“I-it’s not your fault, Alex. It’s just…Helia didn’t trust anyone.”

He frowns and pulls back to look at me. “Helia?”

“Her phoenix,” Ivan explains as he walks toward us.

Alex chuckles sadly. “I am hurt that you know a lot more about my sister than I do,” he says.

~“Tell Alex and his wolf I say ‘hi,’” ~Helia says. ~“What’s his wolf’s name?”~

~Diego.~

“I promise to tell you about everything—and Helia says ‘hi’ to you and Diego.”

I smile, and Alex grins. “Can I see her? Helia, I mean.”

I cringe, remembering what Malcolm told me. “It’s…complicated.”

“What is it?”

I contemplate whether I should tell Alex about what the wizard said, but I decide he deserves to know the truth.

“I’m still not a true phoenix, Alex. The wizard Malcolm told me that there is one thing that still needs to happen to me before I become a true phoenix.”

His eyes widen when I mention Malcolm, as if he can’t believe I met with him. But he doesn’t seem angry. After all, not everyone hates the wizard, since he is against his own kind.

“You met with Malcolm?”

“I had the same reaction,” Ivan mumbles.

“Yes, I had to. I had so many questions about Helia that I had to go and look for him.”

Alex nods. “So, what about the witch who was in the cells? Why did she want to talk to you?”

I can see Ivan is waiting for my answer as well, and I suddenly wonder why he’s never asked me about her.

“I am afraid I cannot tell you that,” I say.

Alex frowns but lets the subject go. He knows me well enough to know that I am stubborn as hell; I will not utter a word if I don’t want to, no matter what anyone does to me.

“I have to leave,” I eventually say. “Erika needs me back in the infirmary.”

I turn around, but Alex stops me to give the same warning as everyone else. “Don’t tell anyone, Clem.”

Smiling, I say, “I know,” and leave.

I want to be alone with Ivan, but after he left my room so abruptly last night, I don’t want to push my luck. ~What if he doesn’t want to talk or stay with me?~

I honestly can’t risk being rejected.

***

As I walk through the empty hallways after finishing my second shift in the infirmary, I pass by the alpha’s room. A sense of dread passes through me, and I step forward, close to the door.

When I met Carmela in the woods, she taught me a spell to hide my scent. I use it and lean on the door to hear the alpha’s conversation.

“How could you do that to me?” Luna Helen cries, a sob escaping her lips.

~What the hell happened?~

“I’m sorry,” Alpha Jake says, his voice full of remorse.

“You cheated on me, Jake! Sorry will not suffice,” she whisper-yells, and continues crying.

~“Poor thing,”~ Helia says. “I cannot wait to come out and kill him.”

~Don’t say that!~ I protest. ~We are not killers… But I agree. We have to do something about him.~

~“He’s an ass—of course, we have to kill him.”~

~When do you feel it will happen? The “true phoenix” thing?~

~“I can feel it’s pretty soon, Clem.”~

~Do you now know what will happen to me?~

~“Yes, of course, I do.”~

~Tell me, please.~

~“I can’t.”~

~Why?~

~“Because if I do, you’ll immediately do it, and if you do, you will not be a good phoenix at all.”~

~What do you mean by that?~

~“You will not be a good person, Clem. You will be dark. A murderer.”~

Disconcerted, I turn my attention back to the alpha and luna.

“We cannot be together anymore, Jake.”

“What!” he growls, his wolf obviously coming out.

“I cannot be with a cheater!” she yells.

All of the sudden, I hear a gasp. I immediately barge into the room and see Alpha Jake strangling his mate. My eyes widen at the scene.

I quickly walk toward the couple to pull them apart, but the alpha is seemingly oblivious to my efforts. “Leave her!” I scream as I try to push him back, but he doesn’t budge.

“Alpha Jake,” I yell again, “You are going to kill your mate!”

This time, he hears me and lets her go.

Luna Helen falls to the ground, gasping for air.

“If you tell anyone what happened, I will kill you!” the alpha threatens before leaving the room.

Shaken, I kneel before my luna and help her get to the couch. “Are you okay, Helen?” I ask.

She doesn’t answer that, just stutters, “T-thank you.”

I frown. “Why didn’t you fight back?”

Luna Helen is a powerful werewolf from a powerful family. She could have taken him easily, so why didn’t she do anything to help herself?

“Because if I did, I would’ve killed him.”

“Oh…” ~You should have,~ I think, but instead, I say, “It’s good you didn’t. You’re not a murderer.”

“Thank you again, Clementine, for barging in.”

“Anything for you, Luna Helen.” I smile sadly and stand up to leave, but she stops me.

“By the way,” she starts, and I turn around to look at her.

“Yes?”

“I was in the woods this morning and met up with a woman…a witch. She wanted to speak with you.”

Confused, I ask, “Why are you so casual about this?”

Helen stands up to make sure the door is firmly shut. She then mutters something and turns my way, smiling.

“Because I am half-witch, Clem, just like you are.”

Shocked, I ask, “How do you know?”

“I know your mother. She told me.”

“Kalisto…,” I say.

“Yes. Your mother is the one I met in the woods. She wants to speak with you tonight.”

Still reeling, I ask, “How have you been able to hide it all these years?”

Helen chuckles. “You could say I’m a master at hiding.”

“I am sorry about Alpha Jake,” I say. “He is an ass.”

She nods, looking everywhere but at me. “He is,” she agrees, then smiles again and gives me a hug. “I am glad you are here, Clem.”

I return the hug and feel something for the first time.

Tranquility.

***

It’s midnight when I mask my scent again and leave my room to sneak out of the pack house. Everyone is asleep besides Helen, who is going to help me get out.

The luna told me that Kalisto will wait for me on the other side of the woods. That there is a small waterfall there that you cannot see unless you’re looking for it.

When I make it to the center of the pack house, I see Helen sitting on a chair.

“Good, you didn’t take too long,” she whispers, and walks me out.

Unlike when I met with Carmela, two guards are standing outside. I narrow my eyes, wondering what they are guarding and why.

“Where are you two going?” one of them asks.

“You do realize that you are speaking with the luna, right?” Helen confidently asks.

“I am sorry, Luna Helen, but may I ask where are you going? It’s midnight—it’s not safe.”

“Clementine and I need to take a walk around the house,” she says simply.

“I am afraid I have to come with you, Luna. You two cannot leave without guards.”

“You don’t tell me what to do,” Helen counters. “Do you seriously want me to tell Jake that you are not treating me well?”

“But Lu—”

“Zip it!” she whisper-yells. Without waiting for him to respond, she grabs my hand and leads me to the woods.

The night is as alive as ever, with wolves howling in the distance. Helen tells me that the walk to the waterfall will take about thirty minutes—much longer than my usual trips to the river.

As we start the long journey, I suddenly feel nervous. I mean, can you blame me? I’m going to meet my biological mother. The one I never knew existed.

I don’t know how I will react when I see her. I have many questions, like, ~Why did she abandon me?~ and ~Why did she just come now into my life?~ She’ll have to answer those before I decide whether she’s good.

After a while, Helen interrupts my reverie and tells me that we’re almost at our destination. “Are you nervous?” she asks.

“Yes.”

“Good.”

I frown at her reply, but I let it go.

We walk deeper into the woods, twigs hitting our arms as we walk. Weirdly, the birdcalls in this area are more noticeable than on the other side of the woods.

Soon enough, a small waterfall appears in front of us, and we walk toward it. The water is clear and blue, and a gray wolf sits on the edge of the water, playing around.

Helen looks straight at the wolf, and when the wolf notices us, she turns around and transforms back into her human body. A moment later, a beautiful, confident woman with purple hair stands before me.

She smiles and walks toward us. Then, after greeting Helen, she turns my way.

“Hello, I am Kalisto.”