33. The Music Box

I've prepared all of Charlie's favorite dishes for breakfast. She loves ham and eggs, so I made those and some bacon. I had the kitchen prepare pancakes with several different toppings and lots of whipped cream.

Gisela's mother drops Charlie off at 8:00 a.m. I've had the whole night to mentally prepare myself. Suffice it to say, I am terrified and have no idea what to do or say. I hear Charlie's footsteps running up the staircase towards our apartment before she rips the door open and runs towards me.

To my shock, she bursts into tears the moment she sees me and rushes into my arms.

"Charlie," I blurt out, hugging her. "What's wrong? What happened? Are you okay?"

"She is not dead, is she?"

I feel like a blizzard strikes me. I don't need her to clarify what she means. I instantly get it, and my heart clenches at the fact that this is the thought she has been battling with ever since yesterday. "No, dear, Ella is alright," I say, pushing her back a bit to have her look at me. "Look me in the eye."

I wait for Charlie to raise her gaze and look at me.

"Ella is alive and healthy," I say. "I wouldn't be able to stand in front of you the way I am if she weren't. If our bond broke, I would be broken too. She is on a mission."

"But…" Charlie has finally stopped crying, now only sobbing silently. "Why… why didn't she call? What happened? Something happened, didn't it?"

I hug her again, patting her head. "I will tell you."

"Please don't leave anything out," she urges. "I just want to know."

"I will tell you everything," I reassure her. "Let's have breakfast together. I will start from the beginning as to why she left to visit that other pack yesterday and why she didn't return."

"You promise you won't leave anything out?"

"Yes," I say. Liam and Annie were right. She needs me to be honest. She was so scared that she might have lost another family member—it breaks my heart.

I make sure that Charlie sits down at the dining table and has something to eat and drink. She sips at her hot chocolate, looking at the huge amount of food. "I still think you want to lessen the blow," she mutters.

"I just didn't know how to tell you everything," I admit. "I'm not good with this."

"Is it about me?" she asks.

"Partly," I admit. "You… you remember your nose-bleeding, the change of your eye color, right?"

"Yes, it only happened two days ago," she says. "Because of my wolf, right?"

"Well, no. Luna Annalise remembered something, which is why she and Ella left to visit an allied pack. It's a joint pack and coven with two leaders."

"A coven?" she asks curiously.

"Witches and vampires live in a coven," I tell her. "In this case, it's a vampire coven."

She stares at me. "Vampires… like Edward Cullen?"

"Who is that man?" I ask.

"Forget it," she says. "So, vampires exist too?"

"Yes, they are very real. They live more secluded than other species, though," I tell her. "The joint pack-coven is an exception and works really well."

"Can vampires exist in daylight?" she asks. "Do they kill and suck blood?"

"Yes, they can exist in daylight, though their skin is very sensitive. They don't kill humans; they have volunteers for blood. They are a bit elitist, but actually it's a bit similar to us wolves: There are rotten eggs within them, and there are good guys within them."

She nods tentatively. "Okay."

"You know hybrids exist?" I ask her.

"I think Ella mentioned once that Jazz is a hybrid."

"She is partly a witch," I tell her. "Also, Luna Annalise's best friend is a hybrid. She is the alpha of an allied pack and part werewolf, part witch." I pause. "And you are a hybrid too, Charlie."

Charlie lets her fork drop down into her pancake with whipped cream. "Excuse me?" she asks, shocked.

"You are half werewolf, half vampire," I tell her, trying to sound as neutral as possible, just to make sure she doesn't freak out thinking it's something bad. "While we don't have many hybrids in our society, they exist, and they are not outcasts."

"That means it's nothing bad?" she mutters.

"No, it's nothing bad. In general werewolves and lycans are fated to each other, but in recent times the goddess has begun to mate us to other species too. One of Liam's brothers is mated to a siren hybrid."

"A fucking mermaid!?" she blurts. "That's cool!"

"There are wolves mated to humans too," I tell her. "And your father just happened to be a vampire."

"Oookay," she says.

"Listen, Charlie, I'll be honest, the person following us to England when Ella and I were looking for you, they were not after you," I tell her. "I will tell you more about that later. However, there is a second group, and they are truly spying on you. When Ella visited the allied pack and coven, she got a lot of information, and not all of that is good."

She stares at me. "You think I am still in danger?" she asks quietly.

"We believe Candy, your mom, hid you for a reason, and she wanted to protect you from everyone around her," I say. "We are not sure what it means exactly. Ella took the chance and opportunity to visit an important coven leader. She is still there and trying to get some answers. I hope this is okay with you because it's your past and your story, and we don't want to push your boundaries. Ella is just trying to get answers to be sure you are safe."

"Wow, I'm like the heroine of an anime," she mutters.

I'm not so sure if that's a good thing, but judging by the way she looks, it doesn't seem to be too bad.

"I want to stay with you," she says suddenly. "With you and Ella. You won't send me away, will you? I don't want to go and live with a guy who hurt mom."

"Charlie, there is no way we would send you to the vampires," I tell her with emphasis. "Unless that's what you truly wanted. We will clarify who your father is, if he is the man hunting you, and if he is behind the bad things that happened to you and Candy. Once we know for certain, and if—it's a big if—we find living relatives of you, and you want to have contact with them, we will support you. Besides, we have found out that your werewolf genes are going to be much more dominant anyway."

She looks relieved. "Thank you, Uncle Dante. So, what exactly happened with Ella and who else is after us? I mean the guys that followed you around the globe."

I hand her a plate with ham and eggs before I start telling her the whole story about Imogen. I leave out the more gruesome and disturbing details but tell her most of the things we know from the hitmen group, how we found them, how we made the connection to the vampires. I don't tell her that Ella was technically abducted and that her father might be a crazy killer, but I make sure she knows as much as possible.

At the end she stares at me with an open mouth. "Wow," she blurts out. "That's a crazy story! Once it's done, I want to make a comic out of it."

"That's a comic even I'd want to read," I tell her.

She smiles a bit. She still looks confused and worried, but overall seems to believe me that we won't send her away. She is taking this so well; it's almost shocking how well she takes it.

Everything is still new to her, Sylvan says. Maybe this helps her with accepting more and more new truths. It also helps that we built a bond to her. She trusts us now.

He is right, and I decide to involve her in what's going on now. Annie said she might like to feel useful.

"So, Ella thinks your mom might have left you something," I say.

Charlie looks up at me in surprise. "You mean, something in my possession?"

"I don't know, but maybe we could call Lorenzo and ask him. He knew your mom well. That is if you want to help—"

"I want to help," she blurts out. "Yes!"

"Alright, after breakfast you go through your stuff and check everything you had in your belongings when you came here, and I will give Lorenzo a call."

She nods, eagerly shoveling down her breakfast. "Done," she jumps up.

"Let's clean everything up first," I say.

She groans in annoyance, but thanks to her newfound motivation, she helps me swiftly before dashing towards her room. Meanwhile I take my phone and retreat to my office. Lorenzo fortunately picks up at my first call. He is happy to hear from me and eagerly asks about Charlie's well-being and how we all are coping.

"I'm sorry for cutting our talk short, Lorenzo," I say after we exchange a few words, and I reassure him that Charlie is well and adapting to everything surprisingly fast. "We are still trying to find who Candy was hiding from. Do you know if she left Charlie anything?"

"She had a few items with her. I made sure to leave them in Charlie's possession," he says thoughtfully.

"Can you remember what it was?"

"Aside from some necessities, there were a few memorabilia. She put them in an extra bag and told me to make sure that Charlie would receive them. It was a baby blanket," he says. "A rattle, a teddy bear. I think there should be a picture somewhere too. One of those old wooden puzzles. Oh, and a music box."

"Thank you," I say. "This already helps a lot."

"If I can think of anything else, I will give you a call," he reassures me.

"Thanks."

With that, we hang up and I go look for Charlie. She is in her room. Her stuff she brought along from the orphanage is lying all around her.

"Did you reach him?" she asks me.

I nod. "He told me about a few items that your mom sent with you. Let's try to find them."

Some items were more difficult to find, but Charlie didn't have that many belongings when she came here, which makes it easier to go through everything. We put everything else away and sit on the floor, eyeing the items in front of us.

"This is what Mom left me," she says quietly. "I didn't know. I just knew they were mine."

"You were too young to remember," I say softly. "But I'm sure all of this was sentimental to your mother. Like this"—I take the baby blanket—"I think Ella has the same."

"But what are we looking for?" she asks.

"I have no idea, but let's check every item… maybe there is a hidden message somewhere," I say.

"Or she could have sewn something onto one of these," Charlie muses.

"Good idea," I say. "Let's check everything thoroughly."

We both take our time, checking on each and every item, but nothing strikes our attention.

"Maybe we are missing something," Charlie says.

"This…" I say, the music box. "This looks like the only odd item. Lorenzo mentioned it too, so it for sure came from Candy."

"But there's nothing engraved on it, and it doesn't have a secret drawer," Charlie says.

I frown while I look at it. It's old, probably of sentimental value for Candy already. Going by the carvings and the art style, I would say it might have belonged to her mother or father. I try to turn it on, but it sounds off.

"It has always sounded off," Charlie explains. "I never had the money to repair it."

I look up at her. "It always sounded off?"

She nods.

"Fetch me a screwdriver, please," I say. "Let's take a closer look."

Charlie looks at me surprised and with careful hope in her eyes. She jumps up instantly, running to the storage room to get a screwdriver. I hope my gut feeling is right and I won't disappoint her. Both of us hold our breath while I carefully remove the screws from the bottom of the music box. I take the piece of wood off and—

I frown when I see a small lid, and a place for a fingerprint.

"What does this mean?" Charlie asks.

"I'm not sure," I say. "Try to press your finger against it."

Charlie does what I ask her to, but nothing budges. "Can't you just break it?" she asks. "Or force it open."

"No, it's enchanted," I mutter. "Look." I grab the item, knocking it against the floor. Not even a tiny part breaks. "Wait, I will link our pack witch."

Charlie nods, and I make sure to instantly link Stella, urging her to come to us. Fortunately, she and Portia live close to the packhouse, so it doesn't take her long to arrive. In the meantime, Charlie and I sit around the little box, both of us tense and expectant.

"This has to be it," Charlie mutters.

"I think so too," I say, turning my head when I hear a knock against our door.

Come in, I link Stella. We are in Charlie's room. You can't miss us.

Not even a minute later, Stella's fiery red hair appears at the door frame. "Beta Dante, you found something!?" she asks.

"Yes, we were looking for hints from Candy and from Charlie's inheritance. We found this music box, but I think it's enchanted."

Stella hurries to our side and kneels down next to us. "May I?" she asks.

I nod and Charlie hands her the item. Stella inspects it closely, her gaze curious. "Not a witch spell," she says. "But I have seen something like this before. It's probably…" she pauses. "I can only guess now, Beta. For everything else I'd need to examine it in my laboratory."

"We'll take a guess for now," I say. Stella would need to examine it for days properly, and we don't have the time.

"It looks like a blood spell," she says. "I can only take a wild guess and say that Candance wanted to make sure no one could open the box, no one but her daughter. She might also have wanted to prevent it from being opened too early. We don't know what's inside, but chances are high it could be something a child shouldn't grasp."

"But Charlie was a newborn back then. How could she…" I pause. "No, wait, Candy used her own blood."

"Pretty sure she did," Stella says. "And if she did, she had help."

To my surprise, Charlie snatches the item from Stella before biting down on her own index finger. Little drops of blood drip down. She does it with so much ease that it makes it even more obvious that there are some vampire genes in her. "DNA," she says. "She was my mom. And she knew I would be half vampire. She knew…"

She presses her finger onto the spot. For a moment nothing happens, and I have to suppress a frustrated groan. Maybe Charlie isn't old enough to open it. Maybe we need someone else's blood. Stella's right. Whatever is in there could have probably been too dangerous for a child to face.

"Uncle Dante," Charlie whispers. "It's moving!"

"It worked," Stella says, sounding shocked. She smiles happily. "Yes! I was right!"

"Good job, Stella," I say.

Charlie hands me the box. "Can you open it, please," she mutters. "I'm scared there is nothing inside. Or what's inside is ruined."

"I got you," I say softly and open the lid. "A letter," I mutter, turning it between my hands. "It says ‘Charlotte.' It is for you." I hand it to her, my eyes catching yet another item. A necklace is hidden beneath everything. It's the same necklace Ella has. It has an amulet attached to it like Ella's. When I take it into my hands, I notice that this one, however, is open… the amulet is open.

"We can open it," I say. "The necklace! We can open Ella's too. This has to be what they are looking for."