Crimson Secrets

by Garnet Davenport

  A lady’s voice came back over the intercom. “Yes, Mrs. Callamore.”

  I sat quietly, trying not to jump out of my skin.

  She picked up her teacup and took another sip.

  I couldn’t take it anymore. “Is there a reason you wanted me to come back? I would really like to go home.” She cleared her throat softly. It was as if it never really happened, it was so quiet. “My dear, you don’t have to be afraid. I have already sent for your parents. They should be here shortly. I apologize that I wasn’t able to explain myself more clearly. This is a safe haven for many of our kind.”

  I still hadn’t looked at her. “Our kind?” I asked as I turned to her and watched her take another sip.

  “Yes. Not everyone born of mac tire blood will transition. Only those that are in our territories’ bloodlines can enter this home without permission.” She spoke with superiority and refinement, and then she took another sip. I watched her closely. “Now, where was I? Our bloodlines, of course. The council is made up of select members of bloodlines that have been entrusted to protect the Great Lakes Region. The head of the council for each territory is called the Finich, which is considered a leader. The Callamores are the founding family for this territory. My great-grandfather was the first in four generations to transition. He was also the first to be born, in 1889, on American soil in those four generations, right here on this property.”

  She sipped her tea. “My family later found that these red stones have an abundance of iron in them, and they were spread throughout the property. Our founders decided to create a stone structure near the river with them. When we first arrived here the Callamores brought that specific stone and placed it in the woods. The mac tires had misplaced the location of one of the stones and we have been searching for it since then. You happened upon it while on the property, and Duncan brought it to our attention. We can complete the stone structure our ancestors started to forge together. When these stones were placed into a circular structure beneath the eldest tree by the river a mystical energy was released and the tree turned black.” She sipped her tea again. “The mac tire bloodline has a high iron count. Studies have been done throughout the years to pinpoint the exact strand of DNA in our genes to continue the breed.”

  “So you’re saying that the reason this is happening to me is because there is iron in my blood?” I must have looked confused.

  “Yes, in a way. It is also because you are destined to be mac tire. Your family is of one of the most ancient bloodlines in our territory, the O’Donovans. And you, my dear girl, are destined to become a female mac tire.” She looked straight at me as I looked at her, and then she sipped her tea again, her eyes gave a yellow glint as she leaned forward into the sun from the window.

  “What if I don’t want to be mac tire?” I said bowing my head and not making eye contact.

  “Shay, it isn’t something that you run from. This is your time to face your transition and find who you are destined to be. You should take the time to decide what you really want, but the transition will not stop. If you fight it, you will lose.” A chill swept the room. It was deathly silent for a moment while she let me take the information in.

  “Mrs. Callamore?” said the voice from the intercom.

  “Yes,” she replied.

  The voice spoke again. “Your guests have arrived.”

  Her eyes lit up as she spoke. “Fantastic. Show them in.” She turned to me. “This is what I’ve been waiting for.” I must have looked very confused because she took my hand and spoke quietly to me. “Shay, I’ve asked your parents to come and sit with us to discuss your transition. It is very important that it goes through without any error. You will be desired by many.” She placed her cold hand on my cheek and offered a strange comfort with her eyes. She walked over to her sofa and sat. She was silent, leaving me to my thoughts.

  I looked at her, confused again. What did that mean? This was all so weird, and why didn’t anyone say anything to me about this, ever? I turned to the doorway as my parents walked in, holding each other’s hands.

  “Sweetie, I’m so sorry, I never wanted this to happen to you.”

  My mother looked like she was going to run to me to put her arms around me. I didn’t want her to. I hated them at that moment, but I wanted their comfort. They lied to me, and I couldn’t trust them. “Yeah, well it is. How could you not tell me?” I said crossing my arms. My mother finally gained the courage to come up to me and put her arms around me.

  “We aren’t allowed to tell you anything. The guidelines state that unless you are in transition or have passed the age you can’t know any of it. It’s to protect our kind. I know I wanted to tell you so badly. I just couldn’t. And when we found out that you were in transition, we tried to protect you while you were in your aisling ag siùl. It just happened so quickly.”

  I turned away from them to regain my composure. “What does that mean?”

  She looked into my eyes. “Aisling ag siùl means walking dream. It is a dream-like state where your unconscious mind takes control of your body in various ways. Many times, just like a dream, some mac tires develop abilities to control themselves and can enter into others dreams.”

  I was so overwhelmed, but there was no way after all of this that they would see me cry. “So that all actually happened? I was out in the woods running from a wolf?” I decided I would get mad instead.

  “You were in the woods, but you may have thought you were running from a wolf. It was actually a hunter that you were running from.”

  My arms dropped to my sides. “A hunter? You’ve got to be kidding?” I said with a laughing huff.

  “No, sweetie, this is not a laughing matter.”

  Edness Callamore broke her silence. “There are hunters out every night looking for mac tires in transition, and it is when you are at your weakest. We were lucky that our guards were in the area those nights. The council assigns a mac tire to protect you. Matthew Pearson had been chosen for your protection detail until you passed the age for transition.”

  I chuckled. “Protect me? It didn’t seem like that at all.” I scowled at them.

  “But it’s true. Sweetie, you have to believe us,” my mother said with empathy.

  I didn’t want to accept that. “Do I? Up until now you’ve lied to me, had me kidnapped, and are now telling me that someone is trying to kill me. Really? Do I have to believe you?” I heard a noise and jumped back just a bit.

  Tommy and Matt came walking into the room. I was relieved, but angry. So angry. They did the same thing, but worse. I trusted Tommy with my life, and Matt had become my best friend. Now that was all a lie.

  “Shay, now I know you’re angry, but just hear us out,” Tommy said. I couldn’t take my eyes off them, but I was having a hard time looking at them. “You want me to hear you out? Really?” I yelled at Tommy and Matt.

  A sharp aggressive bark came from behind them. The wolf that I kept seeing in the woods was approaching me. My mom backed away from me just a bit. Everybody was silent. It walked into the middle of the room and started pacing back and forth in front of me.

  “The deciding factor is initially going to be if she can make it through the transition. She must stay here until it has happened,” Edness Callamore said with a stern voice.

  My mom and dad looked at me. She put her arms out as if she wanted to hug me.

  “Wait, I don’t understand,” I said. “I have to make it through the transition. What does that mean?” I turned to look at everyone.

  Edness Callamore grabbed my hand. “Let’s get you settled, and I can tell you more about the process.”

  I turned and walked with Edness Callamore away from my family and the wolf. I realized I wasn’t me anymore. The new me was taking over and was killing who I use to be. I could only think of one thing after all that I had learned today: my impending death.

  ➢5 Remake

  She walked me upstairs and opened one of the biggest rooms I’ve ever seen. There was a full-
length mirror and a quirky little man standing next to it with a measuring tape around his neck. He had a triangular soul patch and thick, moussed hair and was wearing a ruffled pink shirt, white dress pants, and tan loafers with tassels.

  He started to speak as he walked over to Edness Callamore. “Ohs, Madame, I was so pleased when I received yours phone call. Is this our project?” This quirky dressing man stood pointing up and down at me.

  “It is, Maxwell. This is Shay.” She pushed me forward.

  “Ohs, honey, I am going to make yous so beautiful. Yous are going to have all those little woofies barking up yours legs.” He looked down. “Ohs, and what gorgeous legs yous have. Ohs, I’m so happy.” He clapped quietly in celebration. What the hell had I just walked into? Was he a mac tire?

  Edness Callamore turned to leave. I reached for her. “Are you leaving me alone with him?” I looked at Maxwell as he looked at himself in the mirror, adjusting a strand of hair.

  “Yes, my dear. Maxwell will take excellent care of you and when he is done getting you settled you can come join us for dinner.” She looked up at Maxwell and smiled. “You two have fun, and remember I’m watching the time.” She smiled as she left the room.

  I really didn’t want to do this. I felt that my physical looks were all I had left after all the news I had received. “Ohs, yes, Madame.” He said smiling and holding his hands up by his chin. I turned and gave him a hesitant smile.

  Two women came out of the bathroom and walked up behind him. “Ohs, my dear woofie, I am going to turn that romp through the woods to yours next R-O-M-P in the woods, if yous know what I mean.” He turned back and forth at the women and walked over to me, pushing me in front of the full-length mirror and looked down at a little pedestal.

  “Oh.” I stepped forward. He held out his hand to help me up.

  “I don’t really need all this—” I tried to get out some kind of words before I was turned into some kind of overdone princess.

  He turned away and then back to me quickly in an awkward manner. “Ohs, yes yous do. My little soon-to-be woofie. Yous will be the one to want. And I am yours man to make it happen.” He smiled at me.

  “And if I don’t want it to happen?”

  He put his hand up to his chest. “Ohs, yous don’t know what yous want yet. And until yous do, I will be here to tell yous what yous want. Trust me, woofie.” He paused and brushed my hair off my shoulder and picked up my chin to look at myself in the mirror. “Ohs, yous are just starting to blossom, and my job is to make yous look damn good doing it.”

  He made me smile, and just then I needed that, so I guessed this couldn’t be all bad.

  “Ohs, let’s get started. We will need a gown to present yous tonight, one when yous are done transitioning, and, ohs, twenty more for the road. What’s yours favorite color? I think I would like to see yous in crimson red. Damn, yous going to be a woofie knock out.” He held up some swatches to my face.

  “Red is good. I guess.”

  He looked at me and giggled just a bit. “Ohs, okay now, what’s yous thinking about? We can’t have a sad woofie.”

  I looked at him. “This transitioning thing. Why isn’t anyone telling me more about it?”

  He shook his head. “Ohs, it’s the biggest deal yous will ever go through. I guess in the human world it is like getting yours period or well maybe something better, but about the same pain I’ve been told. Let’s get that gorgeous hair up and out of the way.” He brushed my hair back and quickly into an elegant bun. “Ohs, woofie, yous got great bone structure. If I was into girls yous would be it for me.” He smiled and winked at me. We went through different styles of clothes from the 1920s to the 1970s and the entire, he calls them, mishaps of 1980s and 1990s. I’m not sure how it happened but within two hours they pulled a rack full of clothes into the room. I stood there with my jaw dropped, eyes wide, shaking that I was going to make a fool out of myself.

  “Ohs, stop thinking and start doing.” Maxwell grabbed the one outfit that was enclosed. “Ohs, it’s time to do, too. Ooo, I like that.” He turned and started to tell his crew where to set up and in the fastest motion I’ve ever seen the whole room turned into backstage at a beauty pageant. He came and grabbed my hand, holding the enclosed outfit in the other hand up high so it wouldn’t drag. “Ohs, yous got to get in the shower now. Time to go, go, go.” He flung me into the bathroom.

  I looked into the mirror. “What am I doing here?” I didn’t know the person I was looking at anymore.

  “Woofie, yous getting ready, now go, water on, clothes off. Soap, soap, soap. And please, Lord, don’t forget the conditioner. Dry scalp is always going to be an issue.”

  I chuckled, thinking that I was a dog. “Stop eavesdropping,” I yelled through the door, and I smiled again. It was silent for a minute. I turned the water on and undressed, getting into the gigantic shower and everything was there, just for me. I quickly showered and went out into the room in the robe that was left for me.

  “Ohs, perfect. Let’s turn our little woofie into the sexiest wolf you’ve ever seen.” Then he grabbed my hand, and I sat down in a chair and there were two hair dryers on me at once. Then they trimmed, waxed, plucked, and polished anything they could find.

  “Is all this really necessary?” I looked at Maxwell.

  “Ohs, yes, woofie. To be the bomb at the ball, yous got to go bang.” He did a little dance and some funny jazz hands when he said it. And everyone giggled. “Ladies, back to work.” He snapped his fingers twice.

  My hair was done. He showed me to the mirrors. “Ohs, here yous are.” He handed me the overly done crimson colored dress.

  “Are you sure you want me to wear this?” I was even more confused by what they wanted me to wear. It was way too much for me. I didn’t know what I was about to walk into, but it can’t need all of this. The sweetheart neckline that I could tell was going to be a little revealing for me on this beautiful crimson dress that flowed to the floor in a slim A-line style. I knew that much. There was gold embroidery along the high waistline in a Celtic looking fashion that rounded to the back. I just didn’t know what to think. It was just not me at all, but it was also the first time I have ever seen myself in a dress at all in years.

  “Ohs, yes, woofie. It’s time to go bang.” He unzipped and helped me in. “Ohs, close yours eyes.” I felt it zip all the way up, it fit tighter than a glove.

  “Am I going to be able to breathe in this?” I wiggled just a bit to feel if there was some extra space and took a really big deep breath.

  “Ohs, who needs to breathe. When they see yous walk downstairs no one else’s will be breathing.”

  I smiled at him. “Thanks, Maxwell.” He turned me around to get the first glimpse of myself in the mirror. I blinked several times. This wasn’t me, and I didn’t know who it was.

  “Ohs, woofie, it’s yous now. Yous beautiful and there is nothing wrong with that.” He had his hand on my arms.

  “I didn’t say anything. What are you talking about?”

  He turned, getting everything cleaned up. “Ohs, woofie, everyone is special in their own way, and yous will see just how special yous is going to be.” He started to walk away from me.

  I took an extra minute looking at myself in the mirror and then turned to catch him. “Wait, what?”

  He looked at me. “Ohs, yous going to be late.” He had joyful tears in his eyes. “Ohs, let’s get yous out there.” He helped me step into the shoes and then walked me out the door. The simple but elegant dress brushed against my legs as I walked. I felt very uncomfortable as I walked in the heels that made it hard to hold my balance. He pointed at his watch, and I grabbed onto the closest stable thing I could find.

  “Ohs, yous going to do great. Just remember, they are here for yous.” He smiled and kissed my hand. I walked to the edge of the steps and let go. I turned to see Maxwell putting his hand on his chest. “Ohs, they grow up so fast,” he said to himself.

  I turned back around, stood there for a mi
nute, took a deep breath and then took my first step. As I walked down the magnificent staircase I noticed everyone starting to turn around to look at me. Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. At the bottom of the staircase was Tommy. I was so happy to see him, even though I was mad at him. I took the crook of his arm and stepped off the last step.

  “You look so beautiful,” Tommy said, staring at me.

  I looked down at the dress then back at him. I think this was the first time he had seen me dressed up at all. I felt young in elegant adult clothing. “Thank you. This wasn’t really my first choice.”

  He smiled. “You’re still beautiful.”

  He walked me over to Edness Callamore. She was talking to her son Julius. She looked up to see me. “Fantastic. Julius, doesn’t she look delightful?”

  Mr. Callamore looked at me. “Yes, mother.”

  She hit his hand twice. “Be a good boy and get us some champagne.”

  He bowed. “Yes, mother.” Then he walked off.

  That had to be the best part about being an elder. Everyone younger than you had to give their respect and follow orders. She must have loved it.

  “Tonight is going to be entertaining,” she said. “What do you think, Miss Evans?”

  I looked at her. “Mrs. Callamore, I’m still confused about the reason for all of this.”

  She never turned toward me. “My dear, we are here celebrating you, the fact that you are the first female in generations that has started to transition. You are very important to the future of our species, to our future.” She started to walk around the room. “Let’s go meet and greet.”

  I followed, and Tommy stayed behind.

  “There are many important people throughout this region, but none of these people would be important without their bloodlines. The parents. In your case, your mother’s bloodline is great, even with no female mac tires. I know that your mother had turned to a vegetarian based diet.”