Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19

A s Charlie drove out of Motham City toward Tween, a steely determination ran through her veins.

She had to find out about Aunt Eloise’s experience with a wolf.

Had Eloise really been ravaged, traumatized, and needed extensive therapy to get over the experience, as her mom liked to imply?

Or was the truth very different?

Mom would never tell her the facts. But Dad would. And suddenly it felt urgent to unearth the truth, because very soon she hoped she would be bringing Max into their home. Proudly standing by her wolf.

And she didn’t want secrets and lies to get in the way of that.

As she drove through Be-Tween, past the café where she used to work, it looked like a toy town full of neatly dressed professional young humans. Folks who played with working in Motham City, then ran back to the safe haven of their cute little satellite town. Bah, she was done with this place. Whatever happened between her and Max, Charlie knew she’d never go back to her neat little apartment and barista job in Be-Tween.

She sped away from its streets and down the long road toward Tween, the oldest of all the valley human towns.

From the flood plain that Motham had been built on, the countryside gradually became lusher, the rolling hills covered in crops and vineyards. Humans had settled in the valley for a reason. For two hundred years they’d kept these fertile areas all for themselves while monsters suffered.

But to Charlie, where the monsters were, that was where the joy was.

When she reached the gates of Tween she checked her pass— Human, Sullivan family —on the now computerized gate. Already her body was tense, more so as she drove through the picture perfect streets with Christmas decorations strung everywhere. The totally manicured nature of the place made her feel antsy.

She didn’t go home to her parents’ ivy clad house near the town square.

Instead, she drove to her dad’s workshop on the outskirts of Tween, where he crafted beautiful cabinetry for wealthy high breed humans. At least this place was vibrant. His tools were scattered around haphazardly, the radio blasting out music. wood shavings covered the floor.

Hank, a minotaur who had a special pass to help her dad in his business, was busy varnishing some cabinet doors, no doubt to be fitted into a smart kitchen in the most elite part of town.

“Is Dad around, Hank?” she asked. The minotaur touched a horn, a sign of deference to a human. “No need to do that,” she told him. “Not for me, remember?” He wouldn’t if he was in Motham, after all. But she knew that in order to keep their work pass, monsters had to show deference in Tween. How she hated the bigotry of it all.

“He's out back unloading some wood from his ute,” Hank said with a more relaxed grin.

She found her dad in the yard, piling sweet-smelling planks of pine up against the fence.

“Hey, Cupcake.” He strode over and gave her a big hug. “What are you doing here, I thought you were working in Motham?”

“I am, but I’ve got some paperwork to collate for the professor, so I thought I’d come visit you guys and do it in Tween.” It was kind of the truth, she figured.

“Enjoying the job?”

“Yes, really enjoying it.”

“Have you been to see your mom? She’s worried about you.”

“Later. I need to brace myself first.”

He laughed. “I get it. Want a cup of tea?”

Charlie assented and they chatted as her dad boiled the kettle. She told him about the archives at Motham Palace, the stunning wood-carving on the cabinet that housed Athelrose’s diary. She left out certain other details of her visit to the palace, of course.

Soon after, Hank left in the ute to deliver some cabinets, though he wouldn’t be allowed to fit them; her dad would have to do that. Monsters were only ever employed outdoors in Tween.

When they were alone, seated at her dad’s work bench, Charlie said, “Dad, I have something to ask you.”

Her dad cocked his head at her. “Okay.”

“I need to know the truth of what happened to Eloise. And the wolf.”

“Ah, finally.” Her dad gave a rueful smile. “I promised your mom I wouldn’t bring the subject up, but that if you asked me, I’d be honest.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

He nodded, staring into his mug of tea. “Eloise was like a sunbeam as a kid, always laughing, singing, dancing.”

“Yes, she looks like that in the photos,” Charlie said. She’d only ever seen a few, but they all showed Eloise with a riot of dark curls, sparkling eyes, and the happiest smile.

“After our parents were killed in the tornado that hit the southern states and we moved to Tween, Eloise became really sad. It was like she’d lost her spirit. Your mom and I started to date soon after we arrived, and I was trying to establish my business here. It was a busy time, and sure, I was trying to look after Eloise, but being young, I probably didn’t help her as much as I should have, which weighs on me even now.” He huffed a big sigh. “Then one day, not long after she turned eighteen, Eloise disappeared. Everyone was out looking for her. We were frantic. I guess we all thought the worst, that maybe she’d harmed herself. I blamed myself for not taking more care of her, of course. But after three days, thankfully, she came home, covered in leaves and twigs. Her clothes were torn, her hair mussed up. Wouldn’t tell a soul where she’d been. She was totally exhausted. But smiling. And happier than I’d seen her since we’d moved to Tween.

“In the weeks that followed, she started to laugh again, and I’d hear her singing. She got back into her dancing, the way she used to. It was such a relief—we had the old Eloise back. She began making plans for her future, to travel the world as a dancer, which had always been her dream.

“I kept asking her what happened during those three days she went missing, but she’d just smile and stay silent. One day, I asked her again. I didn’t expect her to tell me, since she’d been so secretive. But amazingly, she did.”

Charlie leaned forward expectantly, her eyes wide. “Go on.”

“She said, ‘I took part in a Solstice Rut’.

“I remember scratching my head, asking her what a rut was. I had no idea, to be honest. Eloise explained that she’d spent three nights being chased through the woods by wolves. Had wild abandoned sex with multiple wolves, which initially gave me quite a shock, to be honest. But she told me she’d signed up of her own volition, and that it had released all her psychic pain. She was ready to get on with her life.

“And then—” he huffed a sigh. “Stupid me, I went and told your mom.”

Charlie slapped a hand over her mouth. “Oh no, Dad! Bad move.”

“Yeah, can you imagine the ruckus? Eloise packed her bags and left the very next day. Said she was totally stifled in a place like Tween. I felt so guilty for opening my big mouth. The next we heard, she’d taken a job on The Beast of the Seas cruise ship working as a cabaret dancer.

“Unfortunately, Eloise had told her best friend about the rut. The friend told her mom, and it got back to the Council of Towns. And you know how prejudiced against monsters they are, even more so then than they are now. Your mom was terrified she’d lose her job at the library, that I would be penalized as a newcomer to the town, and my business would get shut down. By then she was pregnant with you, and I was only just getting established with my carpentry. To save us, your mom made out that Eloise had been taken from her bed at night and ravaged against her will.” He sighed. “It was the wrong thing to do, and certainly didn’t help human/wolf relations, but at the time, your mom thought it was her only choice.”

Charlie sat silent, digesting all this.

Her dad gave her a whimsical smile. “I think your resemblance to Eloise freaks your mom out. You have the same wicked sense of fun, and you see life as one big adventure. Combine that with your mom’s brains and there’s no stopping you, Cupcake.”

“I think I would love Eloise,” Charlie said wistfully.

Her dad looked equally wistful. “And she’d love you. Maybe one day she’ll come back and visit us. Right now, I think Tween is the last place on earth she’d want to be. Way too restrictive for a gal like Eloise. But tell me, why now? Why this sudden interest in what happened to your aunt?”

“Oh, you know…” Charlie gave a little shrug. “I’ve always wondered, I guess.”

She sipped her tea, then glanced up at him.

Dad frowned. “Yes, but this seems different. It feels like your whole purpose in coming here was to ask me about Eloise.” With a sudden twinkle in his dark eyes, he added, “What are you not telling me, Charlie Jane Sullivan?”

Charlie huffed a sigh. She could hide things from Mom, but never Dad.

She put her mug down on the bench and, with a little smile tugging at her mouth, fessed up. “I’ve fallen in love with a wolf, Dad.”