The Letter

Five

‘’Exhumed?” the siblings said simultaneously.

Both were knee-deep in their individual train of thoughts, along the lines of whether they indeed knew what word they'd just heard meant, why someone would do that, and what it meant for them. The confusion was almost tangible, to say the least.

It felt unfair to not ask at least one of the questions, so Steve asked ‘’What does that even mean?’’

Jeff was about to launch into an expository meaning of the word when Emmy stopped him with a roll of her eyes that said they knew what that meant.

‘’Okay. Your mother and I have done you a great wrong. Both of you know why we couldn’t live normal lives. Because of that, we thought the less you know about your people, the better for us all. There is so much you don’t know about The Vom. Frankly, now is not the time to fill you in,’’ he paused to gather his thoughts and continued ‘’you do know that we are the last of the CeVom and have always been a target. Well, it is believed that the fibula of our kind can be used to transform one. I believe you know where I am headed with this’’ he paused for effect.

‘’Someone is trying to change their nature?’’ said Steve.

‘’Who is that, do we know?’’ said the other sibling.

Jeff stopped their racing minds with an answer that would calm no one ‘’I can’t make that guess but we are not safe, most especially Lance. He is not as safe as we assume,’’ he paused, taking a moment to remind himself of how dreaded the ritual was, and looking at the ones he loved, it broke him to be the one to say ‘’once they try, and win, we are not safe. This is not a good time for the CeVom.’’

The CeVom was a select set of werewolves that could control their transformation at will, unlike the conventional ones that feared the full moon. This kind had an advantage that had been sought after for years, to no avail. A good number of their ancestors had lost their lives to the ritual. Prior to this time, Jeff believed it was a myth and impossible. For obvious reasons, it seemed truer now.

Jeff remembered the letter he had in his hand. He gave it to Emily who earlier asked for it. It did appear normal to him.

And true to her word, there were some sandy prints on it. Just to be sure, she fiddled with that spot and indeed felt some fine sand. She pointed this out to them.

Steve said, "Even if we have found a connection, what does it mean?"

"Now we do know that whoever delivered The Letters also came here…" she said.

Jeff, picking up from what she said, continued "which means that this whole thing was planned from the very beginning"

"What does this mean" Steve asked. He seemed to always be the last one to get the point.

Jeff said hurriedly "We need to find Lance. He is in grave danger." He was up now, dusting himself, he said "They might be targeting us all."

After The Letter had been sent and acknowledged, it was common practice for a member of the family to be kidn*pped pending when he or she is redeemed. However, this only happened after there had been a delay which was perceived as stubbornness on the part of the guilty.

As he led them out of the house, Jeff realized that if Lance had truly been taken, something shady was definitely going on. He and Emily had picked up the message at almost the same time. Usually, there is about a week's grace, except in very serious cases.

In their case, he still didn't know the cause of the punishment, but usually, this was due to a slip-up. Ranging from transitioning without safeguarding those around (in the case of those staying outside the clan), to disrespect shown to the elders.

Due to the intensity of the day, he had just pled guilty to whatever the charges may be. The Elders have been known to act harshly against families that lived outside the clan.

He found himself asking "Are we guilty?"

Steve and Emily shared a look, remembering her earlier almost-outburst. She didn't transform. Nobody would pick on that.

"To the best of my knowledge, I don't think we are." Their parents had taught them to give room to oversights and the general harshness of The Elders.

They were out of the house now. All three resembled normal people, in the eyes of the neighbors. This explained their visible shock when they heard a call.

"Mr. Jeff!!!"

Waving across the street was their neighbour, Mr. Williams Henderson. He wasn't a very big man but had a big voice. In his early seventies, he almost always stayed indoors. According to word on the street, he had served in the army and wasn't quite friendly.

Jeff managed a weak nod and hastened on, not willing to break stride. Between both men, they didn't have a lot of friendly words. So he was just as surprised when he heard the next words.

"Can you spare a minute?"

It wasn't odd to have a former neighbor want to check in, but not Mr Williams. The Jacksons shared a knowing look. They simply didn't have the time.

"I'm sorry, Mr Will. We are a bit behind schedule." He seemed a bit bewildered at the response and they weren’t about to fill in on the reason why anyway, so they hurried along. But Mr Will wasn’t backing down.

‘’Please, this won’t take long’’ he exclaimed.

Jeff was a lot of things, but ‘rude’ certainly wasn’t one. With the customer-is-always-right attitude his children had grown accustomed to, one that had helped him so far in sole proprietorship, he turned back, to the dismay of his children.

He was their closest neighbour for more than ten years and the only thing they knew about him was his name and something about him serving in the army. He did have the makings anyway, so that bit was true. Though he led a solitary life, he was most revered.

When they reached him, he didn't bother to stand up. They didn't require him to. It's not like anyone was going to get any hugs.

"Did you move back in?" he asked, not waiting to exchange pleasantries.

Those words took their breath away literally. Of course, he was opposite their old house. If anyone saw anything, it would be him. But how were they expected to go about answering that?

"Uh…why?" Jeff safely asked, seemed like a way to go

Mr Williams, with a smirk on his face, felt the rush from his glory days once again. Most people did know that he served in the army but didn't know something else just as vital. He was an investigator, nothing passed him. Once he saw the man in the weird suit, he knew he had struck gold once again.

Mr Will said, "Maybe you need to see this." He held out some hastily taken photos. He had used his phone and aimed from long range but the images were far from blurry.

"I know him" Jeff mouthed shakily.