“They were just stories.” I tried to sound convinced by my own words, and failed.
“Were they?” The Moon Goddess dropped her hands and leaned in to kiss my forehead. I felt the moon blessed mark flair to life. “Stories tend to hold a kernel of truth.” She stepped back and The Three-Faced Goddess came to me.
“Those stories, the lies that hide the truth, are a weapon. A weapon that makes you think that there is nothing, because if there was, the world would collapse.”
“No.” My grandmother shook her head. She understood what they were saying, but I was still lost.
But The Three-Faced Goddess nodded. “We are at the end. If someone doesn’t intervene. Then you,” She cupped my face and kissed my brow, a searing pain wrapped across my forehead and down my temples. “You will all be lost.”
“Lost…as in dead?” I looked up at her and she nodded.
“The Lycans were almost too late, almost, but hiding isn’t an option any longer.” She stepped back and my mind spun. I looked down at the ground, trying to clear my mind, trying to make sense of her words.
The Lycans were almost too late…hiding isn’t an option.
“You can’t mean…” I looked up to find myself alone. I spun, but my grandmother has gone too. I dropped the shovel and sprinted to the fire where all the girls were there. I skidded on the wet ground and they turned, mouths dropping open. “The-lycans-are-still-alive.” My words were rushed, coming out as one. But I stared at my friends, waiting for them to react. But they were all staring at my forehead. “Did you hear me?” I waited for a reaction, a realization like I had, but there was nothing. So I said it again, slower. “The Lycans are still alive.”
That worked. They all snapped to my eyes. “What?” Toya grabbed for my arm.
“I think the Lycans are still alive. Or some of them, anyway.”
“Why?”
“The Goddess…”
“The Moon Goddess?” Wendy furrowed her brow.
I nodded. “And The Three-Faced Goddess came to speak to me. I’ll tell you all about it. But the last thing she said before she disappeared was that the Lycans were almost too late,almost.” I emphasized. “And that hiding was no longer an option.”
“So they are…hiding?” Hanna questioned, and I pointed and nodded.
“Okay, we can circle back around to the Lycans.” Micca waved her hands. “What the fuck is that?”
“What is what?” I looked around, trying to see what she was pointing at. I turned to look behind me, but there was nothing. I turned back and all of their faces, lit by the glow of the flames, were full of disbelief.
Micca came over and pulled out her phone. “Don’t move.” She took a photo and then turned it around. The screen was dark except for the fire to my right and…
I touched my forehead where a new marking was glowing in the dark on my forehead. It lit the top of my face; the glow was so strong you could just make out my eyes in the darkness. A soft blue, white light emanated from the design carved by the goddesses. I traced the design, awe filled my chest, and a soft tingle hit my fingertips. Before there was just a crescent moon, but now, the crescent moon shifted to a full moon in the center, and two crescent moons on the sides. Vines wrapped around the crescent moons, trailing up into my hair and trailing down the sides of my face. I brushed it again and I felt a stronger vibration in my fingertips.
“I don’t know.” The words were a whisper from my lips. I closed my eyes and felt the burn hit my forehead again with each kiss. The Moon Goddess changed her design, and The Three-Faced Goddess added her own.
“You have been blessed by both goddesses.” Hanna’s voice was filled with awe and worry.
“Okay, walk us through what happened.” Wendy steered us back to what I was talking about.
“Toya left me to think over what she said and I turned back to Carl’s last rites. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do, and just filling in the grave seemed too impersonal. Then my grandmother showed up, helping me. She told me to listen to myself, and in doing so, I apparently made a new spell.”
“A new spell…” Wendy looked back to the gravesite. “For what, exactly?”
“I’m not sure. I just wanted to protect his grave. My grandma said I created a shield spell.” I raised my shoulder. I glanced over at the hole, and I knew I had to go back to finish. But my mind spun with another idea when I turned back to the cabin.
“Do you create new spells all the time?” Hanna's words pulled me from my own thoughts and back to the conversation. I turned to her, and I found Hanna already looking at me and her eyes bouncing between my own and my forehead.
“No.” I shook my head. “It’s never happened before.”
“What about other people?” Micca pointed out.
“I don’t know, but she said that wolves weren’t blessed with the power to create spells.”
