Lupine

by Hanleigh Bradley

  “Don’t be too angry with her,” Jacqueline calls after me.

  If she wants to go easy on the little witch, she should be the one going to the school. I don’t do ‘going easy’ on the kids. I’m blunt and honest and sometimes I’m a little bit on the strict side. I think it’s because those are the sort of people I liked when I was a kid at the orphanage. The ones who didn’t pretend to like me… The real ones.

  There are always consequences for our actions and I’m not about to shy Castalia away from that reality. I’m going to make sure she’s brave and strong enough to face them and own up to her mistakes, so she’ll be a better person for it.

  At least that’s my hope. In reality, she’ll probably have a snarky go at me and tell me that I’m not her mum. She likes to do that… I can’t really blame her for that though. I used to do that to Mrs Mackney too. I regret it now that she’s gone. She was a far better mum to me than the one that abandoned me.

  I guess some things just can’t be known without hindsight…

  As I drive into town, I’m running through all the things I want to say to Castalia. I always worry when this sort of stuff happens that I’ll get it wrong. That I’ll handle it badly and make it worse.

  After all, I’m really not a mum and I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing.

  I Want Your Magic to Sing

  Castalia is waiting outside the principal’s office when I arrive at the school. She’s sitting on a wooden bench with a sour look on her face.

  “Ah, Ms Cortesse,” the principal’s assistant says as I approach, “go straight in. Mr Mughort is waiting for you.”

  Why hasn’t that man retired yet? He was of retiring age when I was a student here, so he’s well overdue his retirement now.

  “Lupine,” he says gruffly as I make my way into his office. “This is Mrs Philomena Knox.”

  Shaking her hand, I note the way her hands feel icy cold. Even though we’re indoors, she’s wearing sunglasses and almost every inch of her skin is covered. At first glance, I know she’s a Vampire.

  I’m not really sure how to greet her and not because she’s undead. I can’t exactly say, ‘it’s a pleasure to meet you. So sorry Castalia turned your daughter into a pig.’

  My more inquisitive side wants to know how she has a twelve-year-old daughter. It’s none of my business though and unlike when I’m dealing with the wolf shifters across the street, I manage to keep my questions to myself.

  Mr Mughort returns to his seat behind his desk and there’s an awkward silence as we all wait for someone else to speak.

  “I’m at a bit of a loss what to do,” Mr Mughort says eventually, rubbing his brow.

  Philodrama or whatever she’s called tuts.

  “I’m sorry. I still don’t really understand what happened.”

  Another tut. She really isn’t happy, but then again, I’m not sure I’d be if someone turned my daughter into a pig.

  “There was a disagreement,” Mr Mughort explained. “Harsh words were exchanged.”

  “And then your child turned my daughter into a PIG!” I’m surprised by the outburst. Most vampires I know have significantly more control over their emotions. It’s usually us wolfs that run our mouths.

  “You said words were exchanged?” I question.

  Castalia enjoys teasing the other children in the orphanage, but she’s never been cruel. It’s hard to believe she’d do this without provocation.

  “According to Castalia, Dina called her a witch.”

  “And was she wrong?” Mrs Knox retorts. “She’s clearly a witch if she can turn my harmless child into a pig.”

  Mr Mughort visibly bristles and I find myself grateful that he’s a witch himself. He’s never shown a preference to the students of his own species, but I can’t imagine him allowing them to be persecuted for it either.

  “We do not condone…”

  “Condone? My daughter’s a fucking pig!”

  “How would you like me to speak down to you because you’re a vampire?” I growl. “And then perhaps you can stereotype me as a typical hot-headed wolf.”

  She tuts again. God, I’d love to go for her jugular… It’s not like it would kill her. Well, unless I bled her dry… I’m furious and need to calm the hell down.

  “Is your daughter as much of a cold-hearted bitch as you are?” I ask.

  “Lupine, this isn’t helping,” Mr Mughort says, getting to his feet.

  “Castalia shouldn’t have turned your daughter into a pig and for that I am sincerely apologetic,” I say between gritted teeth, “but how dare you stand here and pretend that it is okay for your daughter to call her a witch?”

  “She is a witch!”

  “Yes. She is. She’s a bloody brilliant one. But people like you, people who use other people’s identity as a social slur, as a taunt… there’s a word for people like you.”

  “Really? And what’s that?” she asks, her eyes stone cold.

  “Well, I can think of several… Bigoted for one. A bully for another.”

  “The problem isn’t that Castalia was called a witch, or that Dina was turned into a pig,” Mr Mughort cuts in, “as awful as those things are.”

  “Then what is the bloody problem?” I’m surprised at my own anger. I’m usually pretty calm. In all my years dealing with Mr Mughort, I’ve never lost my temper like this. And that’s saying something after all the drama Amon usually causes.

  “The problem is we can’t turn her back,” Mr Mughort admits uncomfortably, “and Castalia refuses to be of any help.”

  “And?” Like I care…

  “We were hoping you’d…”

  “Not my problem,” I say with a shrug. I should be more mature than this. Dina is a child after all. “You should place a call to Cleanly Den. I hear they’re sort of brilliant at cleaning magical mess ups like this. It’s sort of what they do…”

  “Lupine, please.”

  I should help, but right now with a bigoted vampire staring daggers at me, I really don’t feel like it. Storming out of the office, I tell Castalia to follow me.

  “Don’t I have to go back to class?” she asks sheepishly.

  “Not today,” I tell her as we make our way out of the school. I don’t say anything else until we’re both sitting in my car. “Where do you want to go?”

  “Huh?”

  “Pick somewhere,” I say. “Anywhere.”

  “But am I not in trouble?”

  “Of course, you are,” I say with a sigh, “but you’re going to tell me what happened and I’m going to listen and only when I really understand will I decide whether or not I’m angry or disappointed. So for now, where do you want to go?”

  “Anywhere?” she asks hesitantly.

  “Anywhere,” I offer her a smile.

  “Water… Somewhere with water.”

  “Alright,” I reply, turning the key in the ignition and pulling out into the traffic. “Let’s go to the caves.”

  “Do you want me to tell you about it now?”

  “Not really. Unless you want to.”

  “Do you want to know how to turn her back?”

  “Well… We should tell them that much,” I say softly.

  “I don’t want to.”

  “I know…”

  “But?”

  “Sometimes you have to do stuff you don’t want to.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it’s the right thing to do.”

  “I still don’t want to.”

  “Castalia, who do you think is hurting more right now?” I ask.

  “Her. She’s a pig.”

  “No… Later, she’ll be embarrassed but right now, she’s probably completely oblivious but you, you’re angry and there’s not many things more painful than anger.”

  “That’s not true.”

  “It is… Anger causes a very specific sort of pain. You probably know this better than I do, being as magical as you are, but every emotion holds power, and that power takes root insid
e of you, changing you.”

  “You’re talking crap.”

  “Get out of the car,” I say quietly. “Come on let me show you.”

  “I want you to make Dina a present,” I tell her, pulling her away from the car and pushing her in the direction of the town park.

  “What?”

  “I’m serious. Make her a gift, something small, using your magic.”

  “You’re crazy.”

  “Maybe… Just humor me, please?”

  “Fine,” she grumbles, closing her eyes and lifting her fist into the space between us. I see sparks fly, an angry red, and when she opens her palm, sitting there is a small, rather hairy spider. Instinctively, Castalia screams, dropping the insect.

  When she’s finally calmed down and stopped screaming, I tell her to do it again, but this time I want her to make something for me. All the while hoping that she doesn’t actually secretly loathe me.

  She does as I ask, and everything is different. Instead of angry sparks, her magic is a pure and pulsing magic, tangible and beautiful. It’s a mixture of ocean blue and grass green.

  Hesitantly, she opens her palm and there she finds a lupine flower.

  “Do you see what I mean?” I step towards her, brushing a wind caught strand of hair out of her face. “Your anger only hurts yourself.”

  “She was mean,” she whispers, tears in her eyes.

  “I know and that’s not okay but I don’t care about Dina, I only care about you. And I want you healthy and whole. I want your magic to sing.”

  “I have to help her, don’t I?”

  “Yup. I think you do,” I say, pulling the young girl into a hug, “because it’s the right thing to do.”

  Playing Hooky

  We’re sitting on the patio of ‘Yes Now Bob,’ a diner just on the edge of town, drinking milkshakes when my phone buzzes to say that Camden has managed to find Amon. He wants to know what he should do with him.

  Sighing, I try to think up an answer.

  “What’s wrong?” Castalia looks stricken, like she’s about to be told off.

  That isn’t going to happen. As much as she was wrong to do what she did, I can’t really say I blame her. When I was a kid, I was known to go for the jugular first, ask questions later. I really was a little bit on the hot-headed side.

  “Just Amon up to his usual mischief.”

  Her shoulders visibly deflate, and she continues sipping her milkshake through the straw.

  “Will I get expelled?”

  “For turning Dina into a pig?”

  “Yeah…”

  “I don’t think so, although Dina’s mum might want you to be.”

  I’m not sure what I should text Camden. I don’t really want him back at the orphanage before I get there. Jacqueline has a tendency towards leniency, and that is really not what he needs right now.

  “Am I going to be grounded?”

  “Did you learn something today?” I ask her.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Did this whole experience teach you something?”

  “Like what?”

  “Anything,” I say with a shrug.

  “Maybe how nice you are…” she says almost bitterly.

  “I’m not nice. I just care about you.”

  “Why?”

  She doesn’t want platitudes. She’s wants the truth, and the truth isn’t really simple. I’m not her mum, but I’m the closest thing she has. And that counts for something. Or at least it should.

  “We’re family.”

  “But we’re not…”

  “Do you care about the other kids?” I ask, my fingers stroking the flower that she made for me.

  “Yeah… course.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “It’s the same reason I care about you. We’re family.”

  “What about Amon?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Is he family? Even though he drives you completely potty?”

  “Absolutely,” I say without pause. “All of you… Even when you say mean things and hurt my feelings. Even when he scares the crap out of me and truants school, or when you turn your school bully into a pig… When Evangeline is on the roof and…”

  “You still love us all.”

  “Yeah… I do.”

  We’re quiet for a moment and then I’m telling her that we probably need to go. As much fun as I’ve had today, I have to go and deal with Amon.

  “Is Amon going to get in trouble?” Castalia asks as we get into the car.

  “Hell yes.”

  I don’t tell her that I’ve been trying to think up all sorts of creative punishments for the last twenty minutes or so. Her mood is significantly better than it was when we left her school earlier and I’m really relieved. We’ve had a lovely day, even if we were technically playing hooky.

  ***

  We’re sitting at the traffic lights waiting for the lights to change, only a short distance for the orphanage when Castalia next speaks.

  “I don’t want to go to school tomorrow.”

  “Why?” I ask, turning to look at her.

  “Dina will be there.”

  “Was today a one-time thing?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Does she say that sort of thing often?”

  Castalia doesn’t answer immediately and if her body language is anything to go by, I think I have my answer.

  “What do you think will happen tomorrow?” I question quietly.

  “She’ll be angry,” she whispers.

  “And? What happens when she’s angry?”

  “She says stuff… Not just to me… Anyone really… Whoever she’s angry with.”

  “Is she often angry with you?” My fingers tighten around the steering wheel.

  “Sometimes. I’m an orphan… She’s laughs about that.”

  “How is her mum a vampire?” I ask, trying to distract myself from the anger I feel at hearing that Castalia is not only been bullied for being a witch but for being an orphan too.

  “Her mum hasn’t been a vampire long,” she tells me. “A few months ago, Dina didn’t even know that witches and vampires existed.”

  “Did she bully you before that?”

  “I’m not being bullied,” she says coldly.

  “Okay, was she mean before that?”

  She shakes her head. “We used to be friends.”

  “I imagine it’s all a bit shocking for her,” I admit. “Her entire world just shifted.”

  “So… Whose hasn’t?”

  I can’t argue with her there. If there’s one thing kids like Castalia understand, it’s how it feels to lose everything. She wasn’t abandoned as a baby like me. It was her seventh birthday and her parents just didn’t pick her up from school… As simple as that.

  They’d gone… goodness knows where.

  “You have to go to school tomorrow,” I say. “You need to show her you’re not scared.”

  “And if she’s mean, can I turn her into a hippo this time?”

  “No,” I laugh, “but you can imagine it. I think she’d make a good hippo.”

  ***

  When we pull up outside the orphanage, I tell Castalia to head straight inside. Camden is standing on the lawn out front, looking far too good in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Not that I should be looking.

  I don’t understand why I feel so compelled to move closer to him, even though my every thought tells me it’s the worst sort of idea.

  It’s not just him either. It’s Wren and Kalen and Rehan too. There’s something about them that sings to me, almost the way Castalia’s magic does. There’s a part of me that thinks I already know what it is… but I refuse to even consider that possibility.

  It would take just one single look directly into their eyes… Those compelling, hypnotic eyes, but I’m scared what I might find there.

  “He’s inside having dinner,” Camden says when I come to stand in front of him.


  Refusing to look at him, my eyes land on the fence.

  “You finished it?”

  “Huh?” he asks, completely bewildered.

  “The fence.”

  “Oh, yeah… I had time…”

  “Thanks,” I say. Taking a risk, I glance up at him. He’s so bloody tall and lean and sexy as hell. And I hate him for it.

  “You’re welcome.”

  “I guess I better…”

  “Yeah… If you need anything…”

  “I know. You said. I just have to ask.”

  “You’re not going to though, are you?”

  “No. I don’t think I will.”

  “That’s disappointing,” he replies.

  We’re talking in whispers, the sort of intimate conversation people only have with people they’ve known for a while or who they love… Unless you’re a wolf shifter of course and have superhuman hearing.

  “I’ll see you later, Lupine,” he says, before stepping away from me.

  I don’t know why I do it, but I call him back.

  “Camden?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Where was he?”

  His eyes are disappointed. I don’t understand why. It doesn’t make a lot of sense that these wolfs are so… focused on me. I’m not the only wolf shifter in town. If they want friends, I can recommend at least a dozen.

  “Lady Blue…”

  “What the hell was he doing at the tattoo parlor?”

  “A girl he likes wanted to get a tattoo.”

  “A girl?”

  “She’s a bit older… Valentina, I think that’s what he called her. Blond hair. Nose ring.”

  “What did Dahlia do?”

  “She was pretty cool… Sent them off with some designs and told them to take their time thinking it over, preferably a couple of years.”

  “So, no new body altering tats?” I’m almost hyperventilating.

  “No. You’re safe. At least until he’s legal.”

  “I’ll take him myself when he’s eighteen but not a day before…”

  Camden laughs at that. “Good luck.”

  “Thanks. I…” Pausing, I fidget slightly. “Thank you for today.”

  “You’re welcome, Lupine.”

  Then he’s walking away and instinctively, I want to chase after him, but I really can’t do that.