“Aw, I’m so sorry,” I cooed, laughing.
“She’s okay,” Anne said, readjusting her on her hip. “Red, I’d like you to meet Katy.”
“Katy?”
She nodded. “I tried to register her as Red, but apparently Red isn’t a real name.”
I laughed, letting little Katy take my finger. “I like Katy better anyway.”
Anne smiled.
“How is she?” I asked, my smile dropping for a face of concern. “Luther told me that…”
“Yes.” She nodded, her eyes going dark. “It was a terrifying few weeks after she first turned.”
I watched silently as those horrors played out in her eyes.
“But she obviously turned back?” I said.
“Yes, after a while. And I nearly lost her in that time.”
“Lost her?”
“I left a window open…”
“Oh no,” I said, covering my mouth to hide that I almost laughed. It wasn’t funny, but it also kind of was. “Has she turned again?”
“Not yet. But I’m not letting her out of my sight in case, which made it hard to find work.”
“So what are you—”
“Theo.” She smiled, glancing back at the house where they all stood, trying not to stare at us. “He took me in.”
“So you’re back at the mansion now?”
“Yes, but not as a captive. And,” —she motioned down at her modern attire— “things are very different around there now.”
“Different how?”
“No more regency era—TVs in every room, light switches and steam showers.” She grinned. “It’s like a hotel. A grand one—with high-paid staff, and a pool! And even new menus every week for room service.”
“Wow.” It almost made me want to go back. Almost. I smiled at little Katy and this time she smiled back, hiding her face in Anne’s shoulder a second later. “She’s adorable.”
“Yeah.” Anne looked at her like she was the most precious thing in all the world. “She takes after her mother.”
I laughed, glad of that. I couldn’t see much of Luther in her at all, but she did have Theo’s kind eyes.
“Come on inside, you three,” Mom demanded. “I’ve made cake.”
“Oooh, cake,” Anne said to Katy, who looked up, interested.
“Is she old enough for cake?” I said, walking them up the path.
“Of course she is,” Anne said. “You’re never too young for cake.”
I laughed. “Does she even have teeth?”
“You don’t need teeth to eat cake. But yes, she’s eight months now. She has teeth.”
“Well, just don’t eat my cake,” I said to the baby, tickling her belly.
At the front door Theo waited until last to walk inside, letting everyone go ahead of us, then he put his arm over my shoulder and stopped me. “How are you, Red?”
“I’m good.” I nodded.
“Are you?”
I let him look right into my eyes to see the truth, because it felt like he was the only one that truly understood what I’d been through. He was the only one that could truly understand why I wasn’t a mess over it. “It isn’t what you think,” I said. “I know you and Mom are worried about me after I killed Luther, but it’s not that.”
“Then what is it?”
“It’s Alex.” I exhaled, relieved to say that aloud. “He… he still isn’t really okay. I mean, he’s better, and he’s back at school now, but things just aren’t like they used to be.”
“In what way?”
“I feel like some of the magic is dead now.” I checked around to see if anyone else would hear. This wasn’t sensitive material, but it was deeply personal. “Or maybe not dead. It’s just… things… I don’t know. Maybe I feel like Alex is deliberately being too normal now.”
“Are you sure that’s not just a part of growing up?”
“Maybe.” I shrugged. “Or maybe we’re growing apart.”
“So you’re still in the friend zone?”
I chuckled. “Yeah. I think we always will be. I don’t think Alex feels the way about me as I do about him.”
Theo grinned to himself. “Give him time. He’s got a lot to focus on right now, doesn’t he?”
“Yeah, but…”
“But?”
“I love him, Theo,” I said sadly. “Like, it’s grown even more over the last seven months, and I don’t know if I should tell him.”
“You don’t want to ruin the friendship?”
“Yeah.” I stepped out of the way so Theo could shut the door. “We’re great friends, you know. And we have a blast, but I wish I could hug him in a different way, and maybe…” I added with a shy shrug, “Maybe sometimes kiss him when I get the urge.”
Theo laughed. “Have you tried doing just that? It might surprise you to find he doesn’t mind all that much.”
“Or he will, and then he’ll stop being friends with me.”
“Ah.” He sighed, wrapping his arm around me. “I don’t envy you, being a teenager. It’s all very complicated.”
“Yes,” I said, shaking my head to release my tension. “Which is why I think things need to stay as they are for now.”
“Well, Red, one thing I can say about boys is that, if they like you, they will eventually let you know.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” He nodded, laughing once. “If you’re not brave enough to speak up, just give him some time. And if anything like that comes up in conversation, be brave. Let him know without actually saying it that you’re open to being more than friends.”
“Nup.” I shook my head. “There’s no way I could do that. I’m a total chicken.”
“No, you’re a wolf. And a brave one at that.” He sighed again, seeing he wasn’t getting through to me. “Look, you don’t need to actually say it. Sometimes, just not denying it is enough. Trust me. Teenage boys, if they like a girl, will analyze everything—every moment, looking for clues.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I was a teenager once, remember.”
“Yeah, but in a different time period.”
Theo laughed again. “It makes no difference what century he’s from. Instincts are still the same.”
I smiled. He was right. And I knew I could at least do that much—refrain from denying my affections. Hopefully, Alex would catch on. Otherwise, I wasn’t sure I could bear being friends with him for much longer.
“Now, come.” Theo led me toward the kitchen. “I have a lot to tell you.”
I grinned, so eager to hear about that old Ravenswood Mansion now with a more modern man running it. “How are things up at the mansion?”
“Better than ever,” he said. “Like all the sadness and emptiness died with my father.”
That’s good, I thought, but I did feel a twang of regret for having taken his life. He was evil, yes, but now I was a murderer, even if it was for a good cause. One day I would reconcile with that, but for now I was battling with it. Silently.
“And, you’ll be the first to hear this,” Theo said, “so keep it to yourself for now, but we will be officially returning to the Ravenwolf name as of next month.”
“Really?”
He nodded once, his warm smile showing a dimple. “Katy and I will be married after the baby is born, and I wish for both the marriage and the child to enter a new era, in which the legacy they might leave behind is not tarnished by my father’s old ghosts.”
I linked arms with him, leading the way to the kitchen. “I think that’s a great idea. But what about the army?”
“What about them?”
“Your children won’t be immortal and without growth in the army, who’d fear our pack now?”
“The fear remains, Red,” he insisted, nodding another greeting to my mom as we entered the kitchen. “Our army is supposedly immortal and chillingly large—large enough that we no longer need to expand.”
“Nothing has changed on that front, Red,” Katy added, taking
Theo’s hand when he sat beside her. “As far as anyone is concerned, the only thing that’s changed is our leader. And when enquiries have been made as to why the army did not fight for Luther when he was killed, it was said simply that Theo was trusted. Who would have thought he would slay his own father behind closed doors?”
I smiled, nodding. “Clever.”
“Yes.” Theo lifted his hand and placed it back down in one of those manly affectionate pats on Katy’s. “I’ve been at this game for a very long time. Did you ever doubt my ability to run things smoothly?”
“Not for a second,” I said with a wink. “And for what it’s worth, I’m proud of you, Theo. Of both of you.”
“You’re proud of us?” he said with a laugh.
“Yes. A teenager can be proud of an adult,” I stated. “Because you guys have really changed things up. I heard the slaves have finally integrated into modern society—with your financial assistance and guidance—and I haven’t even heard a whisper of remorse for Luther being gone.”
But there was one whisper of remorse—it was there in Theo’s eyes. I had to remind myself to be careful what I said from now on. Luther was, after all, Theo’s father.
“Well, I think we should toast,” Mom said, placing a tray of coffee on the table. We each grabbed a cup and raised it, ready.
“What shall we toast to?” Theo asked.
“To the alpha, and his queen to be.”
“Salute,” I said, clanking my glass playfully with Katy’s.
“And may our son be born with his father’s immortal blood,” Katy added, rubbing her belly.
“Son?” I said. “So you already know what you’re having?”
“Of course.” Katy smiled at Theo. “After all, I did lie with the intention to bear a son.”
We all roared with laughter, and as the afternoon carried on then with that same playful and joyful air I realized that, if for no other reason than to see Katy so happy, I was glad that I killed Luther.
***
I was right that day when I told Theo that the magic had died. Things never were the same at Alex’s house again. Plain went on to invent more crazy ideas, most of them failing, and as we came into senior year Alex got serious about school and college applications. So serious that there was very little time for days in the park by the tree. So serious that his grades were better than mine. So serious that some days he said we couldn’t hang out because he had too much study to do. I didn’t take it to heart at first, but as we neared graduation day and a whole week went by where I didn’t see Alex, it was pretty hard not to feel a bit… forgotten.
At lunch I’d been so lost in conversation with our little group of human friends—the ones I’d met that day at the ice-cream shack before I left to marry Luther—that I didn’t even see Alex walk past. I only knew he did because Amy made a snide remark about him not saying hello.
“Yeah, what is up with him lately?” Denise said, leaning in as if to keep this private. “He hasn’t returned any of my calls—”
“Give him a break,” Ben offered, stealing Amy’s milk. “The guy’s been working his butt off and it’s not like he’s got it easy at home.”
“What do you mean?” I said, a bit snappier than intended.
“Have you met his dad?” he asked rhetorically, because we all had. “He’s mad as a March hare.”
The girls laughed.
“So what?” I said. “That doesn’t affect Alex’s ability to study hard.”
“Are you kidding?” Ben sat forward a bit, bringing his voice down. “The old man keeps him up at night, banging and hammering. I can hear it from my house. And if he’s not keeping him awake, he’s getting him up to see his stupid inventions that no one cares about. My dad says he’s a few sandwiches short of a lunchbox.”
A few sandwiches short, yes, since he was always losing them off his plate, but he wasn’t that mad. Not enough to have mentioned the lunchbox.
“I told him he should move out,” Ben added.
“What? Why?”
“How’s he supposed to get through college with that old man driving him crazy?”
“That old man is his dad,” I spat. “And Alex doesn’t have a problem with his mad father. He loves him.”
“That’s not what he told me.” Ben shrugged. “We’re looking at apartments.”
My heart broke for Plain. How would he cope if Alex moved away? It was one thing to go to college, but to move out permanently just because his father was mad would break Plain’s heart. And if Plain had gotten worse, why didn’t Alex say anything to me?
I glanced around the room until I spotted Alex at a table on his own, books laid out, food pushed off to one side.
“Where are you going?” Denise called as I got up.
“To talk to him.”
Alex jumped out of his skin when I sat down heavily on the seat next to him, shocking him out of his studies. “What’s going on?” I said.
“Huh?” He just looked confused.
“Ben says you’re moving out of home—because Plain’s gone mad. Well,” I corrected, “madder.”
Alex glanced back at the group and then at me, lowering his head.
“Alex, talk to me.” I grabbed his arm and made him look at me. “What’s going on?”
His head sunk a bit more, ducking shamefully into his shoulders. “They told everyone,” he said quietly. “Now the whole school knows my father’s insane, and people make jokes about him.”
“Jokes?”
He nodded. “And I… I joked along with them,” he admitted. “I didn’t really know what else to do, and now I’m in this big mess because Ben thinks I want to move out with him.”
“Why didn’t you tell them to shut up?!” I squeaked. “He’s your dad, Alex.”
“I know, but…”
“But what? Does it really matter to you to fit in that much that you’d—”
“That’s not what it is,” he cut in. “I just… I didn’t know what to say. I got…” He fought with his vocabulary for a way to put this. “I never let anyone into my world before, Red, you know that.”
“Yes, and now I see why.”
He nodded, putting his pen down, which was such an odd thing for him to do lately. He seemed almost fed up with it.
“So is it true? Are you moving out with Ben?”
“No.”
“Then why did he—”
“Like I said, he thinks I am. I mean… I didn’t say yes, but—”
“But you didn’t say no.”
“I didn’t know what to say. It hurt, okay, if you must know.” He folded his arms, shaking his head. “No one’s ever said those things about my dad before, and it… I was thrown off by it.”
“What did he say?” I asked in a softer voice, sliding a bit closer.
“He said he was insane.” Alex’s voice broke. “Not the good kind of insane, but like he should be locked away.”
I cocked my head, pouting.
“He said his inventions were stupid and that no one would ever buy them,” he continued. “I… growing up, I believed in my dad. He was like a god to me, you know—a brilliant mind. I thought the world would fall just as in love with him as you did. But… it was just a shock, that’s all.”
“What was?”
“To see the truth.”
“Truth?” I jerked my head around to look back at Ben and the girls. “What truth? No, whose truth? Because, as far as I can tell, Plain is brilliant, Ale—”
“But it’s all about perspective, right?” he said sarcastically, shaking his head at me before he picked up that darn pen again.
“Yes.” I snatched it. “Because Ben might not see in Plain what we do. But that’s not because it isn’t there. It’s because he’s not ready to see it.”
Alex didn’t speak, but I knew I’d reached him. I saw a sprinkle of thought across his brow, and a very tiny smile appeared. “Do you remember what my dad said about the sun?”
“The sun?” I said,
narrowing my eyes in confusion.
“That it gave him an idea—that what message you heard from something wasn’t a reflection of what it had to teach, but what you had to learn.”
“Yes! I remember now. And?”
He smiled. “And maybe you’re right.”
“I know I am.” I gave him back his pen. “Just because Ben isn’t ready to see the brilliance and magic in Plain doesn’t mean the rest of the world can’t. So don’t listen to him, okay?”
“Okay.”
“And on another note,” I added, choosing my words carefully, “I get why you haven’t been talking to those guys, but why have you avoided me? I called you, left messages—”
“I couldn’t hang out with them, Red—”
“You didn’t have to—”
“I did. If I was to see you, I’d have to see them. You guys do everything together—”
“Then why didn’t you tell me what they said—”
“How could I? You’re happy. You have real friends for the first time in your life. I wasn’t going to take that away from you.”
“Real friends?” I scoffed. “Alex, they said bad things about someone I care for. In fact, they didn’t just make observations either, they made jokes and teased him. I hate that. You know that. If you’d told me then—”
“Then you’d stop being friends with them and it’d be my fault—”
“How?”
“Because gossip is like—”
“It’s not gossip if you told me what they said. It’s… I dunno, informing on them.”
Alex laughed, his easy smile opening his face. “Informing?”
“Yes, because I have a right to know what my friends are saying about my best friend’s family. You come first, Alex. Always.”
“I don’t want it to be that way.”
“Why?”
“Because, if it’s true, if my dad really is the bad kind of mad, why would you want to be friends with me?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Don’t you get it, Red? My uncle went mad. My grandfather went mad. Maybe…” His eyes averted slightly, shoulders curling around to make him smaller.
“You think you’ll go mad too?”
Red: The Untold Story Page 28
