PANDORA

by Rebecca Hamilton

  My mom wipes her face and addresses the guys. “We need a family moment guys, Jazzy will come get you when we’re done,” she says.

  Barry and Seth nod and leave. I feel like half of me walked out the door with them.

  Hopefully, that half contains my tear ducts.

  “Sweetie, the reason for this is . . . ,” she blows out a breath and grabs a tissue. “Wow, there’s really no easy way to say this, is there?” I raise my brow at her when she looks at me. “I showed . . . Well, I gave Henry the adoption papers, the letter from his birth mother, and any information on his parents that Dad could find,” she pauses, and scratches her head. “Henry, I know this is hard, but would you share all this with your sister?” I look away from my mother to Henry.

  Henry finally stands up, after what felt like hours. He clears his throat a few times, but his gaze won’t meet my eyes. “Jaz, after Mom leaves, will you take a walk with me?” he asks.

  I nod, but he doesn’t see me because he’s still looking to the floor. I get asked a question to go for a walk, in a little more than an hour. Not a, “Don’t be worried,” or an “Everything’s okay.” Pinching my arm, I squeak out a yes, and he turns to Mom. “We’ll hang out until you leave, Ma.”

  Mom wipes her face. “Thank you,” she sighs. “I don’t know how to help you, Henry. I don’t understand it or what it means,” she frowns. “But I promise you, we will work through this, baby boy,” she places her hand on his cheek and reaches out to me. “I love you both more than words can say.”

  We both hug her, and that’s when Henry locks eyes with me.

  I love my brother, and seeing the fear, confusion, and shock in his eyes makes me want to turn into a warrior, and defeat whatever is troubling him.

  He’s my warrior, too. I’m not stupid enough that I never knew this, but I’ve been so wrapped up in my own stuff and grief, that I forgot. Henry is my warrior. He’s always been there.

  I reach over and squeeze his hand. I want to tell him that we’ll get through this. That I’ll help him with whatever this is.

  He closes his eyes as the corners of his mouth turn up into a slight smile.

  I hope he knows I’m his warrior, too.

  ***

  Seth pours me a cup of coffee, and I turn down sugar and cream, grab my cup and hold it to my face.

  “He said nothing?” Seth asks for the tenth time.

  “Nothing,” I shrug. “Just asked me to take a walk after Mom leaves.”

  “Are you okay with that?”

  I laugh. “I have to be. There’s no other option,” I sigh. “The look on his face, just . . . ,” I groan and inhale some coffee. “I can’t take it Seth. It’s driving me nuts!”

  “We don’t know what the letters say, so it could be anything,” he says and rubs his hand up my arm.

  “But it’s my brother. What bothers him, bothers me,” I counter.

  He gives me a crooked smile. “Come on, let’s go box up some books.”

  I chug the last bit of my coffee and set the cup on the counter, before following him back to the office.

  “This whole, “distract Jazzy with work,” thing you’re trying? Better work,” I mumble, and he laughs.

  Skeeter and I work on the massive bookshelves, half of which I’ve no clue what to do with. Dad’s personal collection of westerns and mythology related books are easy to sift and determine where they go, especially since Henry has laid claim to the mythology books. The others? That’s where I’m stumped. Architecture books, construction works, college books, and even some in other languages. I just look at them and my head screams.

  “Maybe Kiron will know?” Skeeter shrugs. Kiron is an Amaranthine on Leland’s team, and helping move big items.

  “It’s worth a shot,” I say and begin to turn for the door.

  “Hey, Jazzy,” Mom says, and I freeze.

  “Yea?” I respond.

  “I’m gonna head out, okay?” she nods to Leland, who is standing in the doorway.

  “Okay, Mom,” I hug her. “See you Tuesday.”

  “Y’ins take care and behave!” Mom warns to us all after she hugs Henry.

  Skeeter walks over next to me. “How about I go talk to Kiron?” she suggests, as she nods to Henry fidgeting near the door. I smile and nod to her, before walking to Henry.

  “Ready for that walk?” he asks.

  I chew my lip and nod. As I pass through the door to leave the office, I hear Henry yell for Barry to come with us.

  Why does he want Barry to come along? I guess he’s got a reason. I shrug off my hurt and lead the way to the driveway.

  Henry silently takes the lead at the end of the drive, and we begin to walk along the sidewalk.

  After we pass a few houses, I feel like I’m going to burst. “Henry, what’s going on?”

  He clicks his tongue twice. “There was a lot of information in only a few pages,” he says quietly. “My biological father killed my biological mother, shortly after she signed the adoption papers.”

  Barry’s mouth drops with a pop, and I stop walking.

  “He’s in jail then?” I ask, in my shock.

  “Come on. Keep walking,” he holds out his hand for me, and I take it. “No, my father is not in jail,” I open my mouth to shout, but he silences me with a nudge. “Barry, I need to ask you some questions.”

  “Okay . . . ” Barry says slowly, drawing it out.

  “Did those papers say who your dad was?” I ask.

  “I’ll get to that,” he says. I huff in response. “Barry, I’m not real sure if you’ll be able to answer or not, but what happens to the child when a shifter and a human procreate?”

  Barry stumbles a bit, taken aback by the question. “I haven’t personally met a Halfling before. Sometimes they can shift, sometimes they can’t,” he says.

  “Okay. And how would a Halfling know if they’re able to shift?”

  How is that relevant to who his parents are?

  “That’s sorta tough for me to explain.” He scratches his head. “Halflings and Shifters are alike. It depends on the power from which they were created.” Henry and I both look at Barry dumbly. He sighs. “My father is a Royal Alpha, and my mother, his mate, also came from an alpha coupling as well. So, this led me to shift by the time I was eight. The wolf guides the body through the shift,” he shrugs. “It can happen because of an intense rage, usually around puberty.”

  Henry walks us to the end if the street silently. “If you haven’t been able to feel your wolf, by say age eighteen, you’re not getting angry enough or you don’t have a wolf?”

  Oh, my god!

  I want to smack myself. He must come from a shifter family.

  “Even if a Halfling hasn’t felt their wolf yet, they have one,” he says, with a bounce in his step. “The wolves are felt in intense situations. If the Halfling is able to shift, when they feel their wolf for the first time, they shift automatically like a shifter would. If the Halfling can’t shift, the wolf guides them through whatever the issue is. Dad says when it happens, and the Halfling can’t shift, it’s said it feels like an out of body experience. They aren’t in control, their wolf is. Why?”

  “I’ll explain I promise,” he says.

  I take a deep breath and swallow my knee-jerk reaction to yell at him and make him tell me what the flip is going on. I can already guess part of it, but I want more details.

  What made Mom cry? Why couldn’t he talk about it right away?

  We stop walking, and Henry leans against the telephone pole. “What happens to a shifter when a devux changes them?” he asks quietly.

  I take a seat on the curb and wait for Barry to answer. Depending on his response, I might need the seat anyway. I have a devux after me, and shifters are protecting me.

  I look up to Barry, who is scratching the paint off the pole of a speed limit sign. “When a devux bites its human prey, they do it for one of two reasons,” he says, without taking his eyes from the pole. “The most common reason
is that it’s faster to feed on the prey’s soul when the victim is bled out,” he winces and glances at me before continuing. “The other reason is to force another soul in, changing them into a soul-eating demon. Vampires, Elves, and Amaranthine can’t be killed that way, but they can be changed,” he pauses, and I suck in a breath. I stare at him until he continues. “We’re told the stories at young ages. How dangerous our world can be, and how demons endanger it more. The story I remember enough to retell, is about a turned alpha,” he sighs. “When his mate was threatened by the devuxen, who wanted her and their first born, he did all he could to protect his family and pack. Devuxen attacked the pack. There were so many, that the devux took the pack down with little problem. Alpha went nuts at the thought of his mate and son in the hands of demons, so he gave himself over. The pack grieved and continued on, for one month exactly. At the exact same time their alpha left, he showed up again. When he saw his mate in the yard, he called to her. She knew immediately he was different, but she was happy to see him. He got closer, and her delight turned to fright as she saw his eyes. The devuxen had changed him. His human form and wolf form remained intact, though he was feral,” my fingernails bite into the sidewalk. “Only the quick and lucky got away from him. His human form was a serial killing psychopath, with the accuracy of a well-trained assassin, and his wolf form was an uncontrollable, rabid beast. It’s said that he murdered all but four members of his original pack. Of those four members were one of his children, his Beta, and two younger pack members,” he sits down next to me. “I’ve heard other stories about that sort of thing, but that one always stuck with me for some reason,” he leans down and draws designs in the road dust with his finger. “He murdered his wife, two of his kids, and most of his pack. I don’t think I’d ever have it in me to kill an innocent,” he shrugs, and I shiver.

  That could happen to any one of them. They could be turned and never be the same. I really hope there’s little to no truth to that.

  “I can tell you right now, Barry, that story has a lot of truth to it,” Henry says, as if he could hear my thoughts.

  I need to talk to Seth and Athan. The shifters need protection, or we need to make them leave town!

  I take a deep breath as Barry stares at the gravel. “How do you know that?” I need to keep calm mostly, or Seth will likely come running. I breathe deep while Henry leans back and fishes in his pocket. He holds a torn cream envelope in his hands and taps it on his knee before opening it.

  “That’s the letter,” he says, as I delicately unfold the paper inside.

  My Sweet Baby,

  I hope you are well, healthy, happy, and strong. I never wanted any of this to happen. I know I made the right choice by offering you a place to grow up, but it breaks my heart to lose my baby.

  I love you so much and want nothing more for you, than to live. I know you will not be given that chance if I kept you with me. I found a lovely couple with a beautiful little girl to care for you. With them, you will have a wonderful, healthy life.

  It was my dream to watch you grow from a beautiful child, to handsome man. That dream is just what it is, a dream. I’m so very sorry, but I promise you, your brothers and I will watch you from the heavens. My world is far too dangerous now, and I know I will not survive. I don’t know what kind of life you will have with the human family, but I know that it will be better than anything I can offer.

  This might come as a shock to you, but you are not human. You’re a Halfling. I am human, and your father is a shifter.

  When I met your father, he was a handsome, strong, and caring man. We fell in love, and after he told me he was a shifter and I accepted him, we got married. He was Alpha of our pack in Virginia. Everything was fine, we were happy. I have learned since then, that those peaceful years were just the calm before the storm.

  One day, while I was out shopping for baby items for your older brother, I was attacked. I did not know that it was a devux, but I knew enough self-defense to surprise him, and get away. I never went alone anywhere after that and it’s been six years.

  A month before you were born, a messenger was sent to us. The message was for me and your oldest brother, Gary, to be turned in to the devuxen clan. Your father wouldn’t allow this and sent the messenger away. Two months after you were born, the messenger came back and said that Gary and I had to come, or the clan would be forced to murder all of my children in front of me, before taking me away. Your father sent him away again. I thought about just turning myself in and telling the pack to move. But that was our territory, and they didn’t want to leave just because a clan of devuxen decided to make me a target. I figured if I gave myself over and the pack left, they would leave my children and family alone. Your father wasn’t on board with that idea either.

  A week later, while the pack was patrolling, ten devuxen stormed our territory to the main house. Your father went with them in the end, in a last ditch effort to save our children, our pack, and myself the fate of death or life as a devux. I knew then that I would never see him again. One month later, your father came back, but he was no longer your father. They turned him. His wolf was intact still. He was vicious and terrifying, not many of us could get away. You and I got away by sheer luck. I tried to protect your brothers. We had a plan and would meet in a secret spot only the three of us knew of. But your father got to them first. Gary was supposed to go with Beset north. And Alek was supposed to go with Kellan to the west.

  You’re nearly four months old now, and I am leaving you in the care of the Williams’. I will talk to the surrounding packs and let only Alpha’s know of your presence. You must remain hidden from your father. He must believe that you did not survive traveling, or I fear he will come after you and possibly harm your human family. I am sorry, my little love, I wish things could be different for us, all of us. Please know that I love you with all of my heart, and I want you to be happy and healthy.

  All My Love,

  Mom (Monica Blackwell)

  I wipe the tears from my eyes, hand the letter to Barry, and throw my arms around Henry’s neck. “I am so sorry.”

  “There is some good news. Before Dad passed away, he found some things for me, articles and death certificates. Apparently, my biological father was found dismembered not too far from here in the woods. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say a pack or two got a hold of him,” he eyes Barry.

  “Wow,” I blow out a worried breath. “At least he isn’t going to come after you,” I shrug. “You’re safe, just like she said you would be,” I sigh and decide a slight change in subject is needed. “So, you’re like Barry, then? Can you change forms? Do you feel your wolf?”

  “I don’t know if I can change forms, and I don’t know if I’ve felt my wolf or not. It sort of explains why I am the way I am, I guess. But, Jazzy, I’m still me,” he says with half a smile.

  I said those words to him not so long ago. I nod. “I know. You’ll always be the stud.”

  Barry hands the paper back to Henry. “I believe my father might be able to help you out with some more details. You should definitely show this to him.”

  “I planned on talking to him, I just wanted you to know, and I needed those answers,” Henry responds.

  I watch Henry’s expressions and eyes, for signs that he’s not as okay as he tries to portray. He seems to be sort of calm, and I can’t figure out if that’s good or bad.

  Barry taps my knee to get my attention. “Jaz, I’ve gotten to know you fairly well, I think. And I think you’ve got some plan worked out in your head, and knowing you, you’re probably planning to talk with the Amaranthine Elders, aren’t you?” I groan inwardly. Do my thoughts actually form words on my forehead? “We’ll keep Henry in the human world, unless he changes forms. And you’ll be happy to hear that he will live longer than the average human as well, probably not as long as you or even me. But he will be around for a while,” he pauses. “You have nothing to worry about. The little punks after you aren’t part of a clan,” he gri
ns.

  “That you know of,” Henry interrupts.

  “They won’t even have a chance to change us,” Barry continues on, and tosses an arm over my shoulder. “We protect you, not the other way around.”

  My gut says to let him have this, let him know that I do want to protect him and his pack. I’m so grateful for them and what they’re doing. But it’s Barry. For some reason, I just can’t let him know he was right. “Are you kidding? I didn’t even think about trying to protect you. Tell me more about this Henry living longer thing.”

  “Yeah, right,” he snorts and shakes his head. “Shifters are closer to humans, but we live closer to two hundred years,” he shrugs.

  My mind races and my heart gallops just as fast. “I’ll still be without him . . . ” I swallow. “For a few hundred years.”

  Henry nudges me. “It’s better than only having me around for seventy years or so,” he shrugs a shoulder and smiles.

  I don’t want to think about any of it.

  Life without Henry.

  No. I just can’t.

  I jump up and head back to the house without a word. I need to not see Henry right now. The longer I do, the longer I’ll think of what happens when he leaves me for good.

  I get closer to the house and see Seth waiting for me at the end of the drive. I go over to him while trying to remove the panic from my system.

  “What happened?” he asks in concern. I tell him everything. I couldn’t lie to him if I tried. He pulls me into his arms. My skin tingles against him and the smell of his clean, spicy scent seems to relax me.

  I can breathe again.

  He puts his mouth next to my ear, lips brushing my skin. “You need to not over think things. Focus on one thing at a time,” he turns us slightly. “Don’t think of life without him, like he’s already gone. Look,” he ticks his head to the left. “He’s right here and he’s not going anywhere.”

  I watch Henry laugh with Barry, Flynn, and Tony.

  In comparison, he’s really not that much smaller than them. He’s not hulked out like they are, but he could probably keep up with them.