Called by the Goddess

Chapter 4: Cast out

~Kate~

I quietly went upstairs, feeling like her life somehow had changed, more than she could comprehend at this moment. I fought back my tears. “Those stupid brats”, I thought, “they ruined my life, I hate them!”

At the moment she let out that thought, a quiet, gentle voice within her, that she had started hearing a couple of months ago, whispered “You don’t really mean that. You are too loving to hate”.

“Ok, fine, but I really wish I could kick their buts!”

I went into the room that I shared with mum and dad to get some fresh clothes, shampoo and a towel. She looked around. A big twin bed where her parents slept and her single bed. All made up to be cosy places to sit during the day.

The dinner table, with the three chairs around it in the corner, the small wardrobe that could hold all of their clothes. It wasn’t much, but to her it was home.

To her slight disappointment, her dad wasn’t there yet. She could use one of his bear hugs!

“Well, that hug would have to wait”, she told herself as she quickly went out in the hall and went into the bathroom they had to share with the rest of the omegas that lived in their hallway. Luckily, everybody was either at work, at school, or in their room sleeping until it was time to start the nightshift, so she had the place to herself.

I took a quick shower, dried myself off, put on my favorite pair of jeans, with one of mum’s old shirts that were handed down to me. She didn’t mind, that way they were soft and comfy. I put my hair in a quick messy bun and looked into the mirror. The girl that looked back at me had silver specks in her eyes that hadn’t been there before. Weird, eyes didn’t change after shifting for the first time as far as she knew. Must be a trick of the light.

Before I opened the door, I quickly scanned the hallway if I was still alone. I wouldn’t want my neighbour to just at this time come out for a quick bathroom break, she knew he was working the night shift, so he hopefully was still sound asleep. She did not hear or feel anything, her senses had always been special that way, mum said it was a Tudor wolf thing and she shouldn’t show it off, but it was useful in moments like these.

I quickly took a sprint to the room she shared with her parents and knew before she opened the door that her dad was home.

“Why am I so antsy?” she thought to herself… but she shrugged it off. It has been an emotional and trying day so far, and it was only half past 12, time for lunch, she thought as she felt her tummy rumble.

“Hey dad!” I started, her lips suddenly trembling. “Hey cupcake”, her dad said, while smothering her in the bear hug she had been looking forward to!

“Let it all out baby girl, your mum is on her way up”, her dad said, just holding her. I didn’t even realize that I had started to cry. It was like a dam had burst, I couldn’t stop. All the emotions that had built up that morning, all came flooding out, quite literally in tears.

I noticed that my dad’s shirt got soaking wet from her crying. “Sorry dad, I am making a mess of your shirt”, she said, looking up to him. She sniffed and her nose made some ugly, unlady like snorting noise, at which both she and her dad started laughing.

“Well, that’s better cupcake! If you still can laugh at yourself, there is still hope! How about some cake for lunch?”

Ah, bless her dad. Besides giving the best bear hugs a girl could ask for, he was the top pastry chef of the pack. She saw a huge double chocolate cake, with salted caramel filling, yum, her favorite. As my dad placed huge pieces of cake on three plates, mum entered, carrying a big plate of sandwiches.

Kate smiled to herself. There was one thing they always had plenty of in her family: good food and plenty of it!

Silently, mum walked towards them, giving a hug to me and dad at the same time. They stood there for a couple of seconds in silence, the three of them, hugging each other.

“Ok guys, you are freaking me out” I said, when I couldn't take it anymore, breaking the silence and the hug. “You are acting like I am dying or something”.

Her mum and dad exchanged looks, which did not really make her feel any better.

They all jumped up when there was the sound of a knock on the door. Who could that be? Judging by the look her parents exchanges, they had no idea who that could be either.

Her dad went to the door and opened it cautiously. “I am sorry to interrupt, but I have some important news”, I heard someone say.

That voice… it sounded so familiar, but I could not quite place it until I saw who was there. “Mr. Winger!” I cried out in surprise. Why in the Goddess’s name would my biology teacher be at my door? Especially since I had been expelled.

“Quickly, get in, before you are seen”, said my dad. He didn’t sound quite so surprised as I had been. This day kept getting weirder and weirder…

“Some cake Bob?”, my dad asked, like it was totally normal to offer my biology teacher cake for lunch. Like he wasn’t way above us in status, which meant he shouldn’t have to lower himself to be in our mere, small dump of omega housing. And how did my dad know his first name?

I shrugged it off, as I took a bite of my cake. Yum… I felt the chocolate melt on my tongue… I closed my eyes and tried to just enjoy the cake and shut all the weirdness out for a moment. Sadly, it didn’t really work.

“Ok, is one of you adults going to explain to me what the hell is going on?” I exasperatedly asked, when the room kept quiet.

Mr. Winger raised one eyebrow, looking from mum to dad. “You haven’t told her about the prophecy yet?” he asked them. “No, we were just going to”, mum explained.

“I see… well... first things first, I overheard the conversation between principal Charleston and alpha Kendrick. They want to make an example out of Kate. They have no idea yet that she shifted for the first time, and you really don’t want them to find out! And they only have to see her eyes to know”

“Hmmm, so it wasn’t just the light” I thought to myself.

My mum turned pale and grabbed her chest. I looked for more explanation, by alternately looking at my mum, my dad and mr. Winger.

Then mum grabbed my backpack, took out all my books and started packing some clothes and essentials inside. She wrapped some of the sandwiches and put those in her backpack as well. “Can you get her out of here safely?” she asked mr. Winger.

“If we hurry I can. Good thing the forbidden forest repels everybody who has no business being there, so security on that side is lax. I have to be back at the school at 3 p.m. at the latest, but before that time I can get her to my mum’s cabin and have some time to explain things to her”

I was still looking from one to the other, hoping everything would start to make sense at some point. Mr. Winger looked at me and he must have noticed that I was about to freak out.

“Sorry Kate, I am sorry to talk over your head like this, I know you must be afraid and that you have no clue what is going on. But we have to move fast and get you out of here!”

“You two”, he addressed my mum and dad, “start yelling at her, so loud that all your neighbours can hear!”

I looked even more puzzled and so did my mum and dad..

“If we make it look that you disowned her and forced her out because she was expelled for being disrespectful to Brian and David, yet again, ...”

At that point he winked at me quickly, which made me feel a little bit better. “I knew it, mr. Winger hated those turds as much as I!!”

“then maybe you two will stay above any suspicions and they won’t pursue the issue any further and won’t go looking for her. She would just be one of the omega kids that couldn’t handle the pressure the pack puts on them and goes rogue, good riddens in their eyes”, mr. Winger carried on.

Then he turned to me: “Sorry Kate, I wish there was more time to explain, but we need to get you out as here asap! I’ll explain when you get to safety!”

I saw my dad put the rest of my cake in an extra bag and he handed it quietly to mr. Winger. Take this with you, it’s her favorite! You take a head start, we don’t want you two to be seen together.

Mr. Winger took the bag and nodded his head. “You are right! Kate, sweet girl, I will wait for you near the entrance of the forbidden forest. Hurry, there isn’t much time” And off he went.

I gulped, looking helplessly at my dad. He walked up to me and gave me a quick hug. After that it was my mum’s turn for a last quick hug.

I looked up to them with despair in my eyes, when they started to yell: “What do you mean, you got expelled? Is that why you wanted to meet us here? How often did we tell you, show more respect. Be the omega you were born to be! How dare you put this much shame on us!!”

I couldn’t help it, I knew they didn’t mean it, but I started to cry. “Yeah girl, you cry!” yelled my dad, winking at me to soften the blow. “This is the last straw, we cannot have you drag our names through the mud anymore!! Your mother and I have discussed this and we just cannot be dragged down by you anymore, if you think you are better than us, than prove it! Get out of here. Herewith your mother and I disown you, now begone!”

“Mum?” I pleaded, getting totally caught up in what my dad was saying, it felt all too real… “Sorry Hekate... “ mum chimed in, “you really have gone too far this time, your dad and I discussed what else we could do, but honestly, the only option you have left us is to disown you and reject you. So just go, and stop bringing shame to the Tudor name!” she said, tears streaming down her face.

Well, if that wasn’t a show we pulled off… our nosy, brown-nosing neighbor must have caught every word of that… I didn’t have to pretend to cry my eyes out, as I grabbed my backpack and stormed out of the door. I couldn’t look back, so I ran as fast as I could, yet again to the forbidden forest. This time not by accident, but deliberately!