Silverweed

by Dorlana Vann

  Why had his mom kept something so huge from him, something so important? Even though the reason his relationship with her had changed over the past year had a lot to do with Scarlet, he really couldn’t put the blame completely on her. He had made the choice: the choice to mock his mother’s beliefs and call them stupid superstitions. Perhaps his mom had known he’d betray her one day, that he would eventually turn his back on her. If she had told him about Granny, he wasn’t positive he would have kept the secret from Scarlet. And if the secret had gotten out, even if people hadn’t believed and only used the information to ridicule the strange Anderson family, the result would have been mortifying.

  The family secret: Gran was a werewolf. Her as the monster wolf flashed inside his mind, and he felt the fear run up his shoulders. Gran hadn’t recognized him and unquestionably would have killed them all.

  Diesel focused on his surroundings now. Scarlet was crying, banging on the bars, and demanding Aiden shoot the gun. The basement was freezing yet sweat dripped down Aiden’s face. Diesel almost felt sorry for him. Although he didn’t remember much about his cousin from when they were kids, he did remember how easy it had been to control him. It was obvious to him now that Scarlet had tried to manipulate him. Joke was on her, though, her plan completely backfired.

  When he had grabbed Scarlet a few moments ago, he was furious over her deceit and had thought, Fine, you want me dead, I’ll give Aiden no choice. But now, all the rage he felt a few seconds ago had defrosted into drips of weariness, and the results of his fury were beginning to sink in: the night could end horribly.

  “Listen to me, Aiden,” Diesel said calmly, consciously trying to take back the attitude he had used to shake Aiden up. “I don’t know where the key is.”

  “Shoot him,” Scarlet pleaded. “Come on, Aiden. You don’t have a choice.”

  “I can’t,” Aiden said, glancing from Scarlet to Diesel. “I’m sorry. I can find the key.”

  “Give me the gun!” Scarlet demanded.

  “I really need you to shoot me.” Diesel approached the bars but tried not to get in Scarlet’s way. “But if you don’t have the balls, give the gun to Scarlet.”

  “Hold on. Hold on. I remember something. I’ll get you out. I promise.” Aiden ran the length of the basement and up the stairs. They heard the door slam at the top.

  “No! Aiden, wait!” Scarlet pulled and banged on the bars. Even though it was clearly out of her reach, she dropped down to her knees and tried to retrieve the gun Aiden had left on the floor. After a few attempts, she stood back up and screamed, “Aiden! Get your ass back down here! You can’t leave me in here with him. Aiden!” She shook the bars but never looked behind her. Never looked at him; she just kept yelling.

  After a few minutes, Scarlet gave up on screaming and whimpered to herself. Her long hair, which she always kept bouncy and perfect, was a mess of tangles and unruly curls. She was scared of him, and obviously, had stopped giving a shit about him.

  He wished he had seen the fear in her eyes earlier instead of worrying that she was attracted to Aiden. All he had noticed was her getting all friendly under the blankets with his cousin and whispering behind his back, which clearly, he hadn’t imagined. They had bonded but for a completely different reason. Even so, he didn’t know how he had become so distracted from the real problem. Himself. He was the problem.

  If Aiden didn’t find the key, he might have killed his girlfriend with that one impulsive act, exactly like how he’d killed everyone else he loved. The thought of waking up to find he had mutilated Scarlet made his heart sink to the floor.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

  Scarlet turned around, tears streaming down her face. “Sorry you came back here? Sorry your grandmother turned into a big, hairy monster and bit you? Sorry you have such a freaking crazy family, or sorry for what you’re going to do?”

  “I don’t want hurt you. You should have come to me, and we could have figured out what to do together. I wanted to have a conversation.”

  She wiped hastily at her tears, her face solemn and her eyes suddenly fixed on him. “I couldn’t take the chance. I had to look out for myself. I’ve always had to look out for myself. No one else is going to.”

  He really loved her. Scarlet was the only girl who had ever really got him. Even though they had an unusual relationship, he thought they had a real connection. Now he wondered if it had been one-sided. Had she ever loved him? Because if she felt half the way he felt about her, she would have talked to him. He felt a surge of anger reemerge in a flash of heat on his chest and face. Why had she plotted against him with a stranger? If she had told him how scared she felt, he would have figured something out. “I thought we looked out for one another.”

  “That’s not fair. You are not you anymore, so we are not we.” She turned completely away from him, wrapping her arms around herself. He could hear her crying.

  “I don’t feel any different.” He pounded his chest. “I’m still me. I haven’t changed in my head. I might not change! I don’t know—how could you not talk to me. How could you want me dead without facts?”

  She whirled around and screamed, “Why did you have to come back here? We were finally going to be rid of this f**king place.” She inhaled and squeezed her eyes together. “You did this. We could have been halfway across the world, sipping margaritas. But no! We’re locked in this cage, it’s freezing, and it’s dark. And you might not realize it, but you have changed. No telling how long it will be before you turn into a freaking werewolf—a monster with fur and sharp teeth and not know who I am.” She sobbed into her hands.

  He'd never seen Scarlet like this. Broken and helpless. He took a step closer to her and reached out. But he snatched his hand back; he didn’t want to see her recoil in fear. He slowly backed away until he was stopped by the concrete wall. He pressed his fists to his chest, trying to control the tremble and the fear, then closed his eyes. Did he feel anything? Did he feel different? Tense, remorseful, and scared but nothing any clearer than that. He tried to remember Granny’s moods. Did she change at certain times? No, she was the same all the time. He couldn’t remember ever thinking how strange she was acting. Maybe it was because of the silverweed.

  “Even if the bite infected me,” he finally concluded, “maybe the muffins will keep me from changing. I’ve been eating them, a lot of them. Maybe I won’t change. I might not ever change, even if it’s in my blood. Why else would my mom be so adamant about the silverweed? That’s what she wrote in the letter. That’s what it’s for.”

  Slowly, Scarlet turned around. “And maybe just because it worked for Granny doesn’t mean it will work for you.”

  “It might,” he whispered. “I swear, I don’t feel any different. I feel the same way I did yesterday and the day before.”

  She shook her head. “What about in there a while ago. You were aggressive and possessive and almost violent. That’s not you.”

  He tried to think about what she meant. His mind was foggy as to what had happened right before his nap. “I must have drunk too much wine. I know that’s not an excuse, but I can usually hold my alcohol. I don’t know. I guess because of the stress I’ve been feeling paranoid. Alone. Maybe even a little jealous.” He put his hand on the back of his neck. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” He whispered, “I love you, Scarlet.”

  Scarlet’s eyes, which had been harsh, seemed to soften.

  Diesel said, “But okay, you’re right. I don’t want to take the chance that anything will happen to you. If you want, I’ll shoot myself. I’ll use the two darts in my leg or something to make sure it works. Just … don’t hate me.”

  Scarlet heaved heavily in and out as she dropped to the floor on her knees. She shivered and held herself as she rocked back and forth. “Everything is so wrong and so weird.”

  Diesel wanted to try and make her feel better, but there was a distance between them that he feared they would never recover from, no matter what the night brought. How co
uld so much change so fast? He sat down and rested his elbows on his bent knees, allowing his forehead to drop heavily to his hands.

  “I didn’t know what to do,” she said. “You’ve been demanding that I face the truth. I didn’t want to. But then you started acting like an animal. You really did. The food, and your eyes, and your strength. I believe you now, and I’m scared, Diesel. Really scared. I’m scared to death … but I could never hate you.”

  At least she didn’t hate him, for all the good that did. It didn’t change the situation he had created.

  “You’re right, though” she whispered. “I should have talked to you. Maybe you’re right about the silverweed. You did eat a lot.”

  “I did,” he said nodding. He wished he could leave the discussion there, especially when she’d come around a bit. Now, however, since she had acknowledged her actions were wrong, he had to admit something too. “What if you’re right? What if the changes you noticed are real?”

  Scarlet stood up, and Diesel wondered if she would start banging on the bars again. Instead, she took a couple of steps toward him.

  “Aiden will find the key.” She nodded. “He’ll be back any minute. He can let me out, and we’ll leave you in here. To see. To see if you turn.”

  “Hmph. I can’t believe that little turd had the right idea all along.”

  “Even if you don’t change tonight, we won’t know if the silverweed kept you from turning or if you weren’t infected at all.”

  “Okay. Maybe I shouldn’t eat anymore muffins, and I can stay in here for a few days.” It was better than getting shot with the darts. They could bring him a cot and blankets. Camp out. It wouldn’t be that horrible. There was a good possibility that the electricity would be on by the next day. They could bring down a heater.

  She nodded. “Okay. That’s good.” Her eyes were swollen, and her voice was weary. “I’m sorry about what I did and how I handled everything.”

  “It’s okay,” he told her.

  It’s okay, he told himself, realizing trusting her not to turn on him again, was not going to be easy.

  Chapter 17

  He Cut Open the Stomach

  Aiden placed the burning candle he had grabbed from the fireplace mantle on top of the dresser in the guestroom. The smell of sweet perfume wafted causing his already upset stomach to turn.

  He opened the third drawer of the dresser. That’s where he remembered seeing a key. After rummaging through the items for a few seconds, he pulled the key out and held it up against the candlelight. The key was tiny, not a skeleton key like what he had pictured would fit in the padlock downstairs.

  Don’t panic. Don’t panic. Horror over his decisions lumped in his throat because now he thought maybe he should have shot Diesel. Why had he thought Diesel would get into the cage peacefully? Why didn’t he shoot Diesel? Maybe it was for the same reason he couldn’t face Summer and his fears about his future: “I’m a coward,” he whispered his declaration. “Why else am I always running?”

  But he was pretty sure the darts held animal tranquilizers. Diesel was not an animal. He was a person. His cousin. For all he knew, the tranquilizers were strong enough to take down an elephant. They had killed his grandmother who had been a werewolf at the time. Diesel wasn’t a werewolf.

  So no! Shooting Diesel would’ve been the spineless thing to do. Unless Diesel had turned into a werewolf and come at them, he couldn’t have shot him. Maybe he had been a coward earlier, when he’d tried to leave on the snowmobile, but not shooting Diesel didn’t make him weak, it made him not a monster.

  He would have made the decision to leave Scarlet in the cage with Diesel, who was a person, not an animal, to go find the key a thousand times over.

  As he stared at the key, now, however, tears stung his eyes. What was he going to do, now? He dropped his arm and sat down, his back to the dresser. Maybe there was a key in the drawer that had held the darts in his Aunt Rose’s room? No, the darts were all that were in there. Maybe he should find something to break the lock. There had to be something in the shed. He nodded his head. A shovel, a hammer, or something. He could take a flashlight.

  As he stood up, he examined the key. It was small, like it fit a lawn mower or a safety deposit box or—he turned his head to the right—a file cabinet. He stuck the key in the keyhole. It turned without effort. His brain told him to stop wasting time, nevertheless his body didn’t listen; there had to be a reason it was locked. He opened the top drawer.

  There were folders inside. He dropped his hand down inside and between the folders, feeling for anything small and cold on the bottom of the drawer. Nothing. He started pulling out the files and setting them on top of the dresser, so he could see the bottom better. When he had all the files out, he grabbed the candle, holding it over the drawer for a closer look. Completely empty.

  He set the candle back down and then took a breath, eyes downward, with both hands on the dresser. He read one of the file folder titles. Day 256. His heart quickened with a fast decision and opened the folder.

  6:00 pm - At the moment, Mother is reading “Gone with the Wind” and drinking a glass of wine. I’m sitting across from her, outside the cage, and will be going to check on Augustus in a minute. Thank goodness he is napping soundly in his playpen in the front room. It has been hard, keeping my boy happy, and also trying to figure out a cure for Mother’s therianthropy.

  Even though I have made the basement confinement as comfortable as possible with a lounge chair, blankets, and pillows, I hate locking her inside. We both understand that we have no choice. The waiting has been the most difficult part. We have learned for her to wear extra-large gowns so when she transforms her clothes won’t rip, and she can at least keep some of her dignity, but her self-esteem is fading fast … I pray that this time the silverweed is the right herb.

  8:45 pm - I put Augustus to bed and came back down here to check on Mother. When I left her at 7:30 there had been no change, and I had thought perhaps … but as soon as I walked back down, it was as if she had waited on my return to begin to change. The disappointment in her eyes melted my heart. I wept softly as her fur began to sprout and when she cried out in pain.

  Aiden thought he heard a noise. He immediately remembered Scarlet in the cage with Diesel and knew he needed to go outside and find something to break the lock. However, he was drawn back into the notes, hoping he would find a clue as to the location of the key. He knew finding a key would mean a much faster exit for Scarlet. It would take him a while to get dressed, go outside in the blizzard, and find something to break the lock. He skimmed through the next entry.

  10:00 pm - The strangest thing has happened. The silverweed didn’t keep Mother from changing but she didn’t act in the same monstrous way as she had before. After she changed, she sat there and studied her hands and feet and felt her face. She knew she had changed. She looked at me, and even though it didn’t seem as if she could speak, it was her. It was still Mother. It wasn’t the wild animal of before.

  Aiden felt a bit relieved and yet still confused. He closed the folder. No mention of a key. He picked up the folder labeled Day 355.

  6:00 am - Poor Mother is gagging on the silverweed leaves. I need to figure out a way to get them down her that will taste better. I’m going to try to mix them with my batter of …

  He flipped through other folders, reading anxiously, looking for a mention of the key.

  Day 360: As long as I give her the muffins …

  Day 25: The moon seems to control her transformation.

  Day 37: I found Mother passed out and naked in the woods again. I can only pray she did not hurt anyone this time. I fear for Augustus’ safety.

  Day 201: Echinacea has had no effect on her condition.

  Day 456: We decided we no longer need the cage. As long as we give her silverweed muffins every day. Every day without fail…

  As Aiden read, he noticed an imperfection, a bump on the paper. He slung the paper away. A sob escaped from deep wit
hin; there on the back flap of the folder was a key. A key that resembled the one he had in his mind. It was long, thin, and tarnished. The top part was ornamented and round. The tape had yellowed but still held the key to the folder.

  Without hesitation, he pulled the key from its resting spot and ran out of the room. He heard Scarlet as soon as he entered the kitchen and continued to the top of the basement stairs. Her screams weren’t the angry, anguished ones like before; they were bloodcurdling and caused Aiden to fear he had taken way too long. What if the silverweed hadn’t had enough time to take effect on Diesel? His fear propelled his heart to a fierce pump, and he flew down the stairs, two at a time, until he reached the bottom step.

  Chapter 18

  How Dark It Was Inside the Wolf

  Diesel sat against the far wall. Scarlet paced, thumbnail in her mouth, head down, and calmer since they had their talk. As she passed by, she gave him a weak smile, the fear in her eyes lingering. Her being frightened seemed so out of place, so foreign to her personality, even if most of her confidence was for show. He hoped that as long as Aiden returned with a key or something soon, she would be okay and back to her old strong self in no time.

  The problem was, he wasn’t sure if a key even existed. He had no idea how Aiden thought he knew where to find it when he himself had lived in the house since he was born and didn’t have a clue. However, he didn’t plan on sharing his doubts with Scarlet.

  He scratched the back of his neck and then the inside of his hands when they began it itch. This made him think about one of Gran’s sayings for itchy palms, “Rub it on brass, your wish is sure to come to pass.” Too bad there was no brass around, only concrete and metal.

  If only he could make a wish. He would wish to turn back time. He would go back before his mom died. His mom and Scarlet had been pulling him in opposite directions for days. Scarlet had wanted him for this, and his mom had wanted him for that, and when his mom threatened to take his car keys away, everything that had been adding to his mind bomb, exploded.