Addilyn

Chapter Four

Addi pulled up to Lena’s foster house and watched her friend walk down the drive way. She could see new bruises on Lena’s arms. It could only mean her foster mother was hurting her. Addi felt a rage of anger rise up from the pit of her stomach- a red, hot rage.

Kill. A voice cried out.

Addi was shocked. She looked around but didn’t see anyone. But she realized it had come from inside her when a low growl started to form in her throat. Addi started to panic, her eyes wide. She didn’t know what it was or why it was happening to her. She felt her skin start to get hot again. Sweat began to drip down her face. By the time Lena got to the car Addi was almost delusional

“Addi! What happening?” Lena’s voice called out, full of concern. Addi could barely hear her. She sounded so far away.

“I’m gonna call an ambulance!” Lena told her.

“No. No ambulance. Liz. Take me to Liz.” Addi managed to get out.

She felt Lena’s hands hook under her arms and felt her body being pulled into the passenger seat. She heard the click of the seatbelt, the noise so loud that it rang in her ears, so painfully that she winced.

“Hold on Addi. I’ll get you home.” Lena told her. Addi felt the car pull away, quickly as Lena drove away in a hurry. She heard the car speakers ringing but couldn’t comprehend why. She heard Lena talking.

“Come on Liz! Answer! Please Liz!” Lena’s voice was fully of panic.

“Addi! You guys can’t be done already?” Liz’s voice boomed through the car.

“Liz…” Addi whispered, her voice hoarse and quiet.

"What’s happened?” Liz answered, her voice full of worry.

“Liz!” Lena gasped. “There’s something wrong with Addi. She collapsed and she’s really hot. Like really, really burning hot.” Addi heard Lena say.

Addi slowly reached out to Lena. She wanted to reassure her friend.

"Bring her home! Right away. Can you do that Lena?”

“Ow!” Lena cried out.

“What’s wrong?” Addi heard Liz say.“I think she should go to a hospital Liz. She just touched my hand. She’s so hot that her touched burned me. I actually getting a blister!” Lena exclaimed.

"No hospital. Liz….” Addi whispered.

“No hospital. Bring her home. I’ll take care of her and have a doctor on the way.” Liz sounded so far away to Addi. “He can treat your hand too. Are you okay Lena?”

“Yeah. I’ll be fine.” Lena answered. Addi felt the car turn without slowing down. Lena was being reckless.

“How long until you’re here?” Liz asked.

“Just a few minutes. I’m on ferndale so not far at all.” Lena said.

“Okay, we‘ll be outside to meet you.” Liz responded.

Addi felt like she was drifting away. She opened her eyes and looked at Lena but she seemed so far away. She wanted to comfort her friend but she knew she couldn’t. She couldn’t fathom how but she knew her touch hurt her friend.

We will be joined soon a voice inside Addi said. I’m waking up. Addi looked at Lena but Lena showed no signs of hearing the voice. Addi was feeling like she was losing her mind. Every time she hears the voice it sounded closer, stronger. Addi had no idea what the voice was but she heard it and it sounded like it was coming from inside her.

It scared her.

“We’re almost there Addi. Pulling into the drive way now!” She heard Lena say.

Addi tried to look at Lena again but her vision was blurry and she could only make out the shape of Lena. She couldn’t focus in on Lena’s face at all. It was just one big blur of a shape. She felt the car suddenly stop as her body jerked forward. The only reason she didn’t fall to the floor was because the seatbelt held her in place. She frowned because she didn’t remember Lena putting her seatbelt on.

“I’ll grab her. You talk to Lena.” Addi heard Jacob tell Liz. Addi felt herself being scooped up into Jacobs arms. He carried her into the house. Addi must’ve blacked out because suddenly she was in her room, in her bed and she had no memory of getting there. The last thing she remembered was Jacob picking her up.

“We need to tell her as soon as this fever breaks.” Addi heard Liz say. She heard a chorus of voices agreeing with Liz.

Tell me what? Addi wondered. It was the last thought she had before sleep took her.

________________

Liz sat at Addi’s side and watched her sleep. She had been in and out of consciousness for a few hours. The fever hadn’t broken yet but Addi was beginning to cool down. The fever still burned but was slowly losing its potency. There was nothing they could do for Addi. This was the process and it had to run its course. Anything they could give her, that would be given to a human to break a fever, would be useless and would burn through her body too quickly to be of use. There was no sense in giving her anything.

But at least she wasn’t alone in her worry. Jacob and her parents waited with her. They had decided they would tell Addi together. Tell her what she was, who she was, and who they were to her.

Liz knew Addi would be mad. Who wouldn’t be? To have lived her life with strangers while she had family who knew of her, who watched her and were involved in her life but never told her? Anyone would be mad, even feel betrayed. What they did was almost unforgivable. The only reason it was forgivable was the reason why they did it.

"Do you think she will forgive us?” Jacob asked, reading Liz’s mind.

“She will.” Their father responded. “She will understand.”

Liz looked at her brother and they both shared a look that said they hoped he was right. She turned and looked at her mother. She stared out the window. There was a lot to look at looking out that window. The view was beautiful. The grounds were stunning. It was summer and Flowers were in full bloom across the grounds. Plus Addi had full view of the stables from her room. A few of the horses, including the new foal Addi hadn’t named yet, grazed upon the grass. But despite having so much beauty to gaze upon Liz knew her mother saw none of it. If Liz had to guess she’d bet her mother was lost in the memory of Alora dying the night she gave birth to Addi. Liz thought of going to her mother and offering her comfort when her mother suddenly turned and walked towards Addi’s bed. Liz turned and saw Addi was awake.

“Your fever is broken.” Maria said after feeling Addi’s head.

They watched the girl blink her eyes, brushing off the last webs of sleep. She sat up and gazed around the room, confusion written all over her face as she looked at the members of her family all gathered in her room.

“We have a lot to tell you about once you are fully awake.” Maria began. “But first you must eat. You need your strength for what we have to say.”

Jacob followed his mother’s lead and brought the tray of food that had been prepared for when Addi woke up. When a newborn werewolf was making the change it took an awful lot of energy from them. The process burned nutrients quickly. Certain foods helped with the change and lasted longer in a body’s system during the change. There were petite cakes and small chocolates as sugar burned slower. There were several types of pasta and beef that wasn’t fully cooked, still bloody inside. Not only would the foods burn slower, giving Addi energy to make it through the process but the meat would also curb her appetite once the changed happened. She would have to eat bloody meat for the rest of her days to appease the wolf inside her and prevent her from eating any animals while in wolf form. Liz knew Addi would never forgive herself if she ate an innocent animal- especially the horses she loved.

Addi smiled at them apprehensively and started to eat some of the food.

“Oh that’s good. I’m starving!” She said as she dove right into eating. It wasn’t long before Addi had the whole tray of food devoured. Once she was done she looked at the tray in horror- realizing how much she ate.

"Oh! I’m so sorry! I should have offered you all some!” She told them, her cheeks flushed red from embarrassment. “I can’t believe I ate all of that!”

Leo laughed. He smiled at Addi and told her it was okay. He assured her that they all had already ate and the tray was just for her. He told her she needed every morsel and he was glad that she ate so well. Addi responded by smiling at him. A real and genuine smile.

“So? What is it you all have to tell me?” Addi asked, apprehensively. “Must be really important since you are all here, waiting for me to wake up.”

Liz was about to begin when Addi’s eyes went big and she let out a soft noise.

“Oh no! It’s the fever isn’t it? I was picking Lena up and I noticed the bruises…”

“Bruises?” Leo asked, his eyes narrowing.

“Yeah. I got so mad cause her foster family must be hurting her. And I heard something…. Wait?! Where is Lena? She brought me home after I collapsed. Oh no! She can’t go back there Liz! They hurt her!”

Liz had sent Lena home. Something that would need to be corrected. Addi wouldn’t be able to control her anger once she fully turned. It would cause the death of those who hurt her friend. She would have to text Craig, another social worker, and friend, to pick Lena up.

“I did send Lena home. But I didn’t know this. I’ll text Craig and have him go pick her up. She ages out in two months. So I’ll see what we can do to set her up with her own place.” Liz said. She picked up her phone and sent a quick text off to Craig. She would figure Lena’s situation out once they had this talk with Addi. Hopefully knowing her friend would be okay and that Liz would help her would help soften the blow of what they were about to tell her.

“Thank you Liz” Addi told her, her voice filled with raw emotion and gratitude for her friend. “Now, what do I need to know? It’s about these fevers, right? Oh no! I don’t have cancer, do I? I read an article for health class that frequent fevers care a symptom of cancer. I’m not dying, am I?”

Jacob started to laugh but a dirty look from Maria had him biting his laughter back.

“Sorry Momma.” He told Maria.

“No, love. You don’t have cancer. And you are not dying. Quite the opposite. But please, as we tell you this story keep an open mind and try to understand that we did the best we could given the circumstances.” Maria told her.

Addi looked Maria and nodded. Her face turned serious and solemn. She sat still and she waited for Maria to start.

“I know you are going to have a lot of questions. Please save them for after the story I have to tell you.” Maria gently told Addi

Addi nervously looked at Liz. Liz gave her a small smile and nodded that it was okay. Addi tuned her attention back to Maria, set to listen.

“Jacob and Liz are not my only children.” Maria started. “I once had another daughter, Alora. She was beautiful, strong, smart and truly kind. When she smiled you couldn’t help smiling back at her. She was so naughty when she was little. A little dare devil. Always up to something and always causing trouble.” Maria laughed at the memory. “But I couldn’t help it. I would start to give her trouble and she’d smile at me and say ‘but momma, I’m just trying to have some fun!’ It was hard to resist her and some how I’d always end up laughing and not giving her trouble. She had that affect on people. On everyone. She could charm you and win you over with a smile. As time went on, and she grew up, she began to show leadership qualities that would truly matter. She was strong and smart and combined she became out alpha, not just of out family, but of our pact. The next part of what I’m going to tell you is going to be difficult to believe. So as I tell you, Jacob is going to show you.” Maria looked at Jacob and nodded.

"You see, Addi, humans are not the only intelligent beings that exists. There are many types of being that humans believed to be myth. But, they weren’t myth, just really good at hiding and blending in with humanity. This family, for example. We are creatures of myth. We are werewolves.” Maria stated.

“What?” Addi exclaimed. “Werewolves are not real!”

Maria nodded at Jacob again. He told a few steps back as everyone backed up and cleared the room. As her parents and Addi watched Jacob as he transformed into a wolf, Liz watched Addi. She could hear and feel her brother transform. She knew a large wolf was standing beside her as Addi’s face held an expression of shocked horror.

Then Addi began to scream. They had expected her to do so. But as she screamed her body began to shake. She began to get to hot that steam could be seen coming off her skin. Liz watched as Addi’s transformation began. Her arms and legs began to turn into paws. White fur grew all over her body. Liz stood transfixed as she started at Addi’s wolf, mesmerized by how much it looked like her mothers. Liz was rooted to her spot and lost in the transformation that it took her a few moments to hear her father yelling.

As his words sunk in Liz hit the button on the app on her phone.

In the seconds it took for Addi to transform the windows and doors in her room had 12 inch titanium close down upon them. The walls were made of the same material, meant to lock Addi in during the transformation. Only they were not supposed to be in the room. Newly transformed wolves needed time to connect. The human and wolf had to join as one. It was dangerous to be in the room during the first transformation. Deadly even. But they didn’t have a choice. Addi changed early. Something that has never happened before.

Liz looked up at Addi in her wolf form and was truly in awe. Addi was beautiful. She was solid white like her mother. A rarity for a wolf. She was three times the size of a normal werewolf and five times the size of a dire wolf. Her grey eyes glowed and her intelligence shone through. She towered over them. She was growling and snarling at them. Liz could hear Jacob whimper.

Her wolf refused to come out. She saw her parents stood in their human forms too. Jacob bowed down to Addi. Despite their wolves refusing to come out Liz watched her parents bow down into submission to Addi. Liz did the same.

They were hoping Addi would be an alpha. They had protected her for her entire life. She would have been accepted by them if she hadn’t been, but they were hoping she would be.