AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Margo’s dad looked at her in surprise. “That’s what they called Margo’s birth mother, I think. Or rather, they called her the child of a harbinger, said it was always bad luck. I don’t know. We just put it down to superstition.”
“You don’t seem very surprised by what we’ve told you about werewolves,” Perdita said. “Is that shock, open-mindedness, or something else?”
Margo’s parents exchanged glances. “I think we came to terms that there’s something… supernatural about what happens to Margo,” her father said. “And it’s not the first time we’ve heard about werewolves. One of the women who warned us about Margo used to say something like, ‘May the wolf take her.’ When we asked what that meant, she rattled off stories about being protected by wolf shifters. We laughed it off at the time, but it stuck in my mind.”
“I used to have nightmares,” Mrs. Harding said in a small voice. “About her being ripped apart by giant wolves.”
Her husband took her hand and squeezed it.
“Well, I’m not scared of wolves. Not now.” Margo lifted her chin in a way that made her look stubborn. “They’re the ones in danger, not me. So I’ve stopped taking the medicine, and I’m not going to take it again until we figure out who the killer is.”
“That’s not your responsibility,” Nathan said, holding up his hand.
“I agree,” Mrs. Harding said. “This is too dangerous. I think we should go away for a while, wait until things calm down to—”
“No.” Margo rose to her feet, her eyes wild and fierce. “Like Dad said, no more running away. I need to figure this out. I can’t hide from what I am, and I don’t want to leave! Dorian thinks I can help, and I want to. I need to. I need control of this. I can’t go through life anymore pretending I’m normal. If I can use this, then I should!”
“But that’s the point,” Amelia said. “You have no control over whatever it is you do. For all we know, you carry death with you, bring it to the injured.”
Margo looked as though she had just been punched in the gut.
“Then we find out,” I said. “We watch over her, see what she does without her medication. You help her control herself. I know you do that with some wolves. I know you can help her.”
Amelia hesitated before nodding. “I’ll help her, but neither of you are to get involved with these murders. It’s pack business, and it’ll be handled by adults. We can’t alert the murderer, and we need to be careful that nobody else gets hurt.”
I didn’t answer, but I caught Margo’s eye and saw the same thing I felt. We had to finish things, no matter where the path took us.
Chapter 29
Margo
“Why didn’tyou just talk to us?” Mam asked under her breath as Amelia prepared the room to help connect me with my gift.
“Because I was kind of scared I was a murderer,” I said impatiently. “You could have talked to me, too, you know. About this harbinger crap.”
“We thought it was crap, too, you know,” Dad said, mimicking my tone. “And now we just want to get you home.”
I shook my head and looked away. “I can’t go home. The pack will find me.”
“And they won’t find you here?” he asked impatiently. “We can call the police, and—”
“And what? Tell them there’s a werewolf after me? Come on, Dad. Weird times call for weird measures. I might actually be able to do something good, something important. Do you not understand why I might want to try? Dorian’s been the only person here who doesn’t care what side I’m on. And the truth is, I’m onmyside. So let me figure out what that means.”
“You’re only seventeen,” Mam said in a louder voice, unable to hold in her emotions anymore. “You can’t stay in a strange house without your parents.”
“I’ll be here,” Perdita said from across the room. “I’m a teacher, but Dorian lives with me. He’s my responsibility. Margo has nothing to fear from us. I know the old stories you heard were unsettling, but judging by the way Dorian and Margo have connected, they’re not natural enemies.”
“That’s not what I’m afraid of,” Mam said primly. “It’s this connection that worries me.”
I stared at my hands in my lap, absolutely mortified.
“Nothing untoward will happen to your daughter under my roof,” Perdita said in the same calm voice. “And if you really want to, you can stay here, too, but I think the best thing you can do for Margo is go back to work and tell people she’s staying with relatives across the country. Cover for her, protect her that way.”
“I just got her back.” My mother’s voice cracked. “How can I lose her again? How am I supposed to trust in any of this?”
Perdita’s eyes glistened with pity. “I know what it’s like. The confusion and the what ifs. My family went through the same thing. My father is the pack’s doctor now, but once, he forbid me from being around them. It’s hard to understand all of this. We’re trained to believe that there are impossible things that can’t be true, and being faced with the reality of those things requires us to throw away everything we know.”
“I’m scared,” Mam admitted. “Of leaving her, of taking her with me. I feel as helpless as I did when she was a child disappearing in the middle of the night.”
