“Sorry.I didn’t mean to yell.It’s just …” Different words play across my tongue, trying to fit themselves into the right question.I’m assuming that having grown up in Pine Falls, Mom would know about the wolves.
But wouldn’t she have told me if she did?
And if she doesn’t know, she’ll probably think I’m losing it, down here alone in this cabin.Then, she’ll tell my brothers, and there’d be no stopping them from migrating down here en masse.
Still, my need to solidify the truth overrides the experiment to distance myself from my family.
“When you lived here, did you ever notice anything … strange?”
“You’re being vague, sweetheart.It’s making me worry.”
A frustrated sigh gusts out of me, and I consider a different angle.“A few days ago, the truck broke down outside of town.When I was walking, a mountain lion attacked my friend and me.”
A gasp filters through the phone.“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.The mountain lion didn’t touch me.”I conveniently leave out the part where I decided to wound myself.“It didn’t get a chance to.”
“That’s a relief.How did you get away?”
“A …” I take a deep breath.“A wolf saved me.”
The truth of that statement rings through the small tree-top enclosure.Up until this moment, I didn’t allow myself to fully examine what had happened.The giant mythical-creatures-are-real blockade kept my mind from remembering that my life had been in danger and Warner saved me.
I might be dead if he hadn’t transformed into his other shape.
Warner revealed a secret, terrifying part of himself to rescue me.
“Are you saying one of the werewolves fought off the mountain lion?”
My mom’s question might as well be a defibrillator, shocking me back to the present moment.
Silent seconds sit between us as my lungs struggle to pull in air.
Then, I’m gasping.
“You knew!”If this tree house were any bigger, I’d stand up and pace, but all I can do is pound the floor with an angry fist as disbelief has my words coming out choked.“You knew there were werewolves!”
“Of course I did.”She could be discussing the weather or a mildly interesting work story from the nonchalant tone she uses to flip the whole fucking world on its side.
“Of course?What do you mean,of course?!”
“Sweetheart, there’s no need to worry about them.”
I clutch my head, trying with all my might to keep my brain from exploding.“Werewolves are real.Supernatural creatures are living in Pine Falls.And you didn’t think this was something you shouldsharewith me?”By the last sentence, I’m back to shouting because this is what my family does to me.
With the rest of the world, I can keep a cool, logical head.But put me in a room with another Gunner, and soon, I’ll be hollering until my throat is hoarse.
“I did tell you.”
“No, you sure as hell did not!”
“Of course I did.The werewolf stories were your favorites when you were younger.”
Maybe I am in fact losing my tether to reality.Seems like that trait runs in the family.
“Mother”—I speak slowly to keep from yelling, but now, my voice comes out tighter than a guitar string—“parents tell their childrenfairy tales.Make-believe stories.Why would you think I, now twenty-seven-years old, would accept them as fact?”
She huffs on her side of the line, as if I’m the one being unreasonable.“It’s not my fault you didn’t want to believe that werewolves existed.I never told you they didn’t.If you had asked me?—”
