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Keith stilled like the dead, and whatever expression he held on his face must have chilled them to the bone, because their faces paled.
His voice was low as he threatened, “If I hear you say anything along those lines again … if I even see you talking to her, do you know what I will do?”
The girl with the braid frantically shook her head.
“Then let me remind you that I’m a werewolf hunter,” Keith continued. “Do you remember the recent massacre at school? Those rabid animals the media refused to name? Those were actual werewolves, bitch. And you think I can’t lure one to your house and make you regret everything you just said today?”
Horrified, the girls backed off, their footsteps stumbling and teeth chattering as they escaped his wrath.
Upon their escape, Keith turned around with a smile on his face. The complete shift in his emotion right after that occurrence nearly brought a laugh to my lips.
“Are you okay, Aera?” he asked. I tore my eyes away from him, only so he wouldn’t see the tears that threatened to pour from my eyes.
“People are so weird,” I croaked. “If we move on too fast after losing someone important to us, they get mad. And if we can’t seem to find it in ourselves to get back up and be happy again, they get mad. There’s no in-between. Whatever I do is wrong, isn’t it? Can’t I just do what I want to do and feel whatever I want to feel? I don’t even know how to cope anymore. I don’t even know if I’m allowed to.”
“You are allowed to,” Keith tried. “Don’t mind those bitches. They know nothing about what you’re going through, and besides, you know I don’t swing that way.”
“If Gray had a chance, what do you think his last words would have been?” I asked.
“That he wants the extra steak!” Keith said, exasperated, sounding so sure with his answer. Grunting, he grabbed my wrist and pulled me out of the hallway into somewhere more private. “Now, Aera, would you please chin up? This is not what Gray would’ve wanted. Us eating steak for his sake? That’s what he would’ve wanted.”
I pouted, unable to find the words to fight him. Instead, I resigned and let Keith drag me to the cafeteria. The steak he mentioned, however, only reminded me of Gray.
* * *
I had attendedGray’s funeral in a haze of grief. There was no ritual. No howls of mourning. No blood smeared on his body to honor his death. It made the history book of Old Corvine sound like a lie.
No other families or friends came by either, except Keith and me. Howli was there too, but he went nowhere near the coffin. Since I was too heartbroken and abashed, I didn’t stay long. Maybe Cole did some sort of werewolf death ritual, maybe he didn’t. But I had hoped he wouldn’t.
After one final goodbye, Cole and his mom moved out of town, taking Howli with them. We didn’t keep in touch.
For all I knew, they probably went on a hunt to find my mom and seek revenge, considering Cole knew all about it.
Since my mom’s absence, Aunt Yeong-ja had been trying so hard to be my new mother, but even she couldn’t break down my walls.
As for Ellis—the not-so-great father of the year—he left again after that one brief visit. He said he still had some important matters to attend to. He offered me a place with him, somewhere far away from home, but I straight up said no. So instead, he’d told me, “Whenever you’re ready, come find me.”
When he saidready, I knew he meant something more than just me accepting him as my father or calling himDadinstead of his first name. It was about the curse, how it came to be and what happens to me now that I had no more death visions.
I wanted nothing to do with it.
It wasn’t until months later, at my graduation ceremony, that I heard from Ellis again. I was on my way to meet Keith, his broody cop father, and Aunt Yeong-ja at one of the bleachers—when my phone rang.
It was a call from an unknown phone number.
Before answering, I went ahead and sat near the water fountain.
Turns out, Ellis was on the other line.
He congratulated me for finishing high school, and after an awkward exchange of a few words, he added, “I have something urgent to tell you.”
“Like what, Ellis?” I asked as I played with the hem of my gown.
“Look, I know this is not gonna sound nice. Crazy, yes, because I’ve been using black magic for years to try and find the rest of our family. I used it again today to find your mother, but instead, I saw a glimpse of your friend. Now I don’t know where or how or even when. It could be a memory from your mother’s past or the present or the future,” he attempted to explain. “But something’s not right.”
“Of course, something’s not right. You’re talking to me about she who must not be named,” I grouched.
“I saw him.”
