“Who is going to tell this woman we can’t find her daughter?” Seth whispered just as she came walking back with a big photo album. She sat down on the couch with Bellamy standing on the side to hover as she flipped through the thick pages of pictures.
“Maggie was such a goofy kid growing up,” she let out. When she looked up at Bellamy she smiled proudly before looking at the pictures again. “She has a kind heart like your father before he passed away.”
“You don’t believe she got it from you?” Bellamy asked.
“Hmmmph,” she huffed with a smirk. “My mama raised a fool and a half out of me. Maggie calmed me down a lot but before the birth of you two? I couldn’t be stopped. Look right here. This is my husband sneaking up behind Maggie to scare her.”
When she pulled the picture out to show us, I smiled. The same curly white hair was all over her face as she grinned, holding up a popsicle while a cat came creeping up behind her like he was ready to pounce.
“She had no idea and since she wasn’t showing any signs of magic, I didn’t want to introduce that world to her,” Ms. Norwood said. “She grew up fairly normal with her little neighborhood friends but as she got older, I became a little more nervous. She was developing as young ladies should and boys were…interested. Hormones do something to our kind…it can trigger hunger, spasms, seizures and attacks if left alone. I…and it’s nobody’s fault but my own. Even my husband didn’t agree, but my mother and I said it was for the best that she remains in the house…so no prom…No dates. No hanging out with friends. No parties. No boyfriends. College needs to be done online, or you stay here at the house with us while attending your classes during the day. She didn’t learn how to drive until later on, well into adult years. I did my best to keep her away from everyone without being overbearing. Every year that nothing happened, the more I became paranoid. It’s not that I didn’t trust her. I just…didn’t know what I was dealing with at the time, and anything could happen to her, and she wouldn’t know how to handle herself.”
Ms. Norwood sighed as she continued.
“The deal was… If a child wasn’t showing signs of feeding or cravings, we would keep her world separate. You have to understand, I am fiercely protective over her because of what I am and what I’m able to do, and what I’ve done. When she hit her late twenties, I felt more relaxed knowing that nothing would ever happen at this age because it’s unheard of. I’ve seen her encounter other mythics and have no idea. She only had thestories my Mama would tell her and even that was pushing it, but she refused to leave Maggie completely…helpless and in the dark. Even if nothing has changed about Maggie.”
“Except it did,” Trevor said as he crossed his arms over his chest. Ms. Norwood looked down at the photos with a small smile.
“I was perfectly fine with my Mags staying here with me for the rest of her life until she died. Once she dies, I said I would go with her and decided to add to my diet after a certain age to slow the aging process so that I could be with her until the end. That was the plan unless she turned into the very thing that…” she looked at her son, “you are…”
“She’s something else entirely,” he admitted.
“Her biological father said…the night she was conceived, I was…different. Distant. My hair…” She reached up to touch her hair, smoothing her palm against the silver strands. “Became snow white. My eyes were white like two full moons sitting in a dark sky and I didn’t speak at first but eventually, he let me feed on him. I unfortunately don’t remember any of this.” Her eyes became solemn with grief as she stared at her hands. “It was…one of the most intimate and most violent nights I’ve ever experienced…”
I could see a peek of her fangs silently coming out as she held her mouth open and stared at her hands. Even Bellamy’s fangs were out with his red eyes darkening. Trevor on the other hand just stared at her with his arms still crossed against his chest with peering eyes.
“Yeaaa naaah… That doesn't even sound believable. You kill him?” Trevor asked. My mouth fell open as Ms. Norwood stared at him. “Did you do it? He mysteriously died with little to nothing being known about him or his family.”
“He’s from Georgia and comes from a small family–––”
“Did you kill him?” Trevor asked again. “That night.”
The black door slid open as Himora Clarke stepped back inside with a notepad in her hand.
“Himora, how did the biological father die? What were you able to find?” Trevor asked without looking at his wife. He continued his gaze on a guilty Ms. Norwood.
“Reports suggest his body was found by a lake out in South Georgia, dismembered, and unrecognizable to his family.” She stated as she walked back to the living room. “His blood was drained, fingers were torn, and teeth were missing.”
“Did Ms. Norwood kill him?” Trevor pressed.
“Yes.”
The house fell silent as Ms. Norwood’s mouth tightened and her eyes became glossy with tainted tears.
“Did Ms. Norwood become Gaia when her hair and eyes turned white? Is she actually Gaia?” Trevor continued on as if he was on the verge of solving the entire thing. The rest of us were hanging on by a thread, waiting to hear what we assumed we knew to be true.
“No,” Himora said instead as my shoulders fell. “No such thing happened. She simply killed him because she lacked control.”
“Wait what?” Trevor let out, confused. “I thought we were gonna come out with her mother being Gaia and the whole moon Goddess…being her daughter and–––”
“No.” Himora said. She stared at Namir before looking down at her notepad. “I had this all wrong. There are many stories about the moon and vampires but most if not, all have been debunked except for one that no one can explain. Where eye witnesses state that Gaia encountered a creature on four legsthat turned into a man shortly after seeing her,” she said as she turned to look at Namir. “When you first encountered Maggie Grey, did you notice anything?”
Namir’s eyes widened as he looked around at everyone before clearing his throat. He looked just as confused as the rest of us and probably wondered why he was being singled out.
“Uh…I guess…I remember her eyes were dark…really dark. Almost black even but then they turned red…I’ve never seen anything like that in my life. Just only heard of stories but then they eventually became dark brown again,” he said.
“I believe the night Maggie was born was no different than any other. She possessed the white genetic marker as does her uncle…and many before her that have since passed. Her lack of desire for blood was simply a trait she took from her father while her brother…” She looked at Bellamy, “took after his mother. Maggie Grey was born as ordinary as can be. No moon…nothing but a little black girl with peculiar white hair that she could not cut, much the same as her elders before her. Had she been able to grow up with her relatives, the white hair would not be uncommon as it is. She is, for the most part, a regular young woman.”
Nobody said a word as Himora flipped through her notepad that looked like a series of different sketches done in ink. This felt like watching the end of one of the top murder mysteries tv shows on cable and we’re just now getting to the end where the detective solves everything.
