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“You’re not a mistake!” she protested.
“But I’m not like anyone else. The pack showed me there’s another way, that I don’t need to hide or cover up the things I can do. They know what it’s like to be different.” I shot her a hopeful glance. “Maybe it’s not so bad to be different, Mam.”
She pressed her lips together. My parents hadn’t been handling the situation as well as I’d hoped. Dad had taken it better, but Mam was still hoping we’d come back to normality. That had never been possible for me, but she’d never asked for our new way of life. She’d probably been so excited to be a mother only to end up with a supernatural freak of a child.
“I’m sorry I’m like this,” I said. “I know it’s weird and creepy. I know you didn’t sign up for any of this.”
“No.” She swiped a finger under her eye.
I hadn’t realised she was that upset. “Mam, I’m sorry. I—”
“Stop.” She held up her hands then took mine into hers. “There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re the way you’re meant to be. I don’t mean to make you feel bad about that. But I’m your mother, you know? I’m supposed to have the answers. I’m supposed to be the one you need. These people have given you more than I ever could. I feel useless all of the time, like my ignorance made your life harder than it had to be.”
“You’ve given me everything important.” I wrapped my arms around her, wishing she could see inside my brain and understand how much she meant to me. I wasn’t good at putting my true feelings into words. “I’ve had a great life with you and Dad. That’s all that matters. I don’t regret any of that, but Mam, imagine if I could train myself to protect you both forever.”
She pulled away and looked at me with sorrowful eyes. “That’s not your job, Margo. Nobody lives forever. Death is natural. It’s not pleasant for those left behind, but there’s no stopping it.”
I looked away. I had every intention of stopping death for as long as I possibly could. I couldn’t live with the guilt of letting somebody die.
I felt better by Monday and went back to school. Holiday decorations hung from every possible surface, and the air was alive with excitement. School would soon be over, and most of us had already stopped working hard. Even the teachers seemed ready for the term to be over already.
I hadn’t been a student there for long, but I had mostly gotten used to how things worked. Still, it was odd walking around with a completely different perspective than everyone else. Most of the school knew nothing about the murders. The other kids thought Mara had moved back to wherever she’d come from, though few of them had asked any questions in the first place. Outside of the werewolves, she’d had no friends, so nobody cared.
I found it sad how easily Mara was forgotten, how little impact she had made. When I left my old hometown, everybody had forgotten me, too. Even people who stood out in some way eventually disappeared out of people’s minds once out of sight.
As I walked through the hallways, I wondered if the students would turn on Dorian’s people if they knew the whole truth. Would they accept me? I couldn’t imagine it.
At my locker, I noticed Victor heading my way. I avoided that particular werewolf for several reasons: he’d attacked me, he’d bullied Dorian for years, and the pain in his eyes lately had become unbearable to watch. I skipped away and found myself amongst a group of five or six familiar faces. Desperate to jump into the conversation, I called out to the most outgoing of the bunch.
“Emma, how are you feeling?” She’d fallen into an icy canal fairly recently, but Dorian had fished her out in time. She looked perfectly fine apart from a lingering scar on her forehead. I doubted Victor would come near me in her company.
I also knew Emma liked to talk about herself.
“Oh, fine.” She stopped playing with the dolphin-engraved Zippo in her hands long enough to surprise me. “Did you hear what happened to Adam?”
“I saw it,” I blurted without thinking.
Everyone turned to gape at me. Chloe, Emma’s best friend, narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean, you saw it?”
“Oh.” Crap. “I was on a walk with, um, Dorian’s aunt, and, well, we saw everything.”
They crowded around me, asking a million and one questions at once. I glanced over somebody’s shoulder and spotted Victor walking away, his head bowed in a way that made him seem like a shell of his former self. A mixture of relief and guilt set in until I realised I was finally the centre of attention in a town that didn’t like strangers. Maybe it was my time to fit in.
“I should go visit Adam in the hospital,” Chloe said after I gave them a sugar-coated version of events. “Bring him something to cheer him up.”
“Yeah!” Emma’s expression brightened. “We should all do that after school. You coming, Margo?”
Chloe narrowed her eyes. “Emma, are you sure you should be going?”
“Whatever. It’ll be fine.” Emma waved a dismissive hand. “Margo, meet us after school, and we’ll take the bus.” She turned to the others and began making arrangements with them, but Chloe stood apart, a dissatisfied look on her face.
I moved to her side. “What’s up?”
She shook her head, her lips thinning. “Adam got into serious trouble after he dropped her into the canal that time. What’s she going to see him for?”
“The drama,” I said, then immediately regretted my tone.
But Chloe smiled. “I suppose you’re right. She’ll probably hang around the vending machine and flirt with the male nurses.” She hesitated, her eyebrows furrowing into a frown. “You’ll come with me to see Adam, right?”
