Methis Delis POV
On the morning of the next day, I got up early, thinking of my father, thinking of home. I had no intention of staying in the hospital any longer so as quickly as I had woken up, I began packing my stuff. A nurse came into my room.
“I see you are in a haste,” she politely said, though I knew it was more of an inquiry.
“Yes,” I replied her. “I need to get back to the castle.”
“OK. I understand.” She turned to leave.
“Hey,” I called her back. “Your service was amazing. I’m glad I went through the procedure here.”
“We are always happy to help,” she said.
I motioned her over and dipped my hand into my purse and pulled out a sack of gold coins, giving her all of it. She opened it and her eyes bulged open, staring back at me. “It’s a tip,” I said.
The tip most has been massive judging by her reaction. Of course, I knew nothing about the currency here so I did not know just how much I had given her. I pulled her into a hug and before she left, she helped me tidy up the remaining of my belongings that were scattered around.
I looked down at the backpack of clothes and other essentials. All these had not come with me when I was rushed here into the hospital, perhaps it all came during my weeks of sleep. I went into the toilet to freshen up for the journey I had ahead of me.
I called the nurse back in and asked if I could make a call and she gladly helped me out with it.
“Hey, baby,” Jamal’s voice came from the other side.
“Hi, Jamal, please could you come and pick me up from the hospital?”
“I won’t be chanced but Conrad is coming your way.”
“OK. Thank you.”
“Thank you too.” He hung up.
I sat on my bed awaiting the call from Conrad. After all these time, a year had barely scraped by. Somehow it felt like I had been here forever, like I was adapting to the nature of this place. Maybe if I went home, home would be strange and foreign. But I was going regardless. I had to see my father’s face once again. I had to see the look on my stepmother’s face when she found out that I had survived it all while achieving the purpose of the contract.
The original lie that my stepmother had told my father that I had gone camping. But I knew that by now my father must have caught on a little. What sort of camping took nearly a year? What sort of camping would I go for all by myself? Certainly, if I was to venture into the woods I would bring someone along with me, wouldn’t I? He would call my best friend and she would start calling the rest and maybe, just maybe, an investigation would start.
The nurse came back into the room, breaking my concentration and informing me that Conrad was outside. I came outside to meet Conrad and he looked genuinely happy to see me.
“Why the big smile, Conrad?” I asked him as I got into his car.
“Am I not allowed to smile again?” he laughed.
“Enough with the congratulations,” I joked.
“You have no idea. This is huge, Methis. HUGE!” he exclaimed. By accident or on purpose, his legs stepped on the gas and the car dashed forward quickly and it took equally quick thinking before he could get the car back into control.
“You know what else would be huge?” I asked. “Our funeral if you don’t focus on the road.”
“Oh yeah.” He just kept on laughing as if nothing had happened.
Honestly, I do not think knew what I did nor do I claim to know because the simple fact was that I was not a werewolf so to what level of suffering and real details of their trail I knew little to none.
Eventually, we reached the castle and echoes of congratulations gallivanted around the castle, galloping like proud horses. The shadow of a party lay in every corner. There were more maids working at the same time than I had ever seen since my stay in the castle. On a normal day, I was not used to maids, not to speak of now when they almost crowded the castle. They were picking up bottles, empty sachets, balloons, confetti et cetera.
“Was there a party here?” I asked Conrad.
“Yeah. The biggest we have ever had in the history of werewolves. Every wolf from the area turned up. You had to be there to see the attendance and energy.”
“Glad to see I was not invited to my own party,” I made a joke.
“Come on. If you were here, you would have been intoxicated beyond measure.”
“I’m going to my room,” I told him.
“Take care.”
Once I got to my room, I stripped off my clothes and wore new ones. The clothes that I was provided here were different from the ones I was used to back at home. I really was not one to care excessively about my looks so having to wear shining gowns and princess-looking garments was a bit of a turnoff for me but what was I to do? Stay naked? I had only brought one set of clothes and that was the one I intended to wear when I was returning. There was no way I would take all the clothes provided to me by Jamal back home. Rather give them out to the maids than keep them.
Inside my room, food was brought to me again. I ate my fill and settled down on my bed. I had to wait for Jamal to return before I left. He had to give the orders to free me. I was glad that my contract was over and what lay ahead of me was just to get back home to my father. I can’t wait to see the look on his face.
A knock sounded from behind the door and answered in positive. Conrad came into the room, holding a foil in his hand.
“I saved you some cake from the party,” he said.
I could not help to smile. I wondered how in the world wolves who were far from human society had the ability to be this kind.
“Can I sit?” he asked.
“Of course,” I said.
He handed over the cake to me. It was large. I had just eaten so having to eat this again was going to be cumbersome on my stomach. “Come on,” I said to Conrad. “Join me.” I offered him the fork.
“Nooo. I already had mine in the party.”
“Doesn’t matter. By order of the mother of the throne’s heir,” I said.
He shuffled over to the bed and sat, taking the fork and cutting a piece into his mouth before passing the fork back to me and I repeated the process.
And there we sat, side by side with a cake between us, passing one fork.
“How are you feeling?” Conrad asked.
“Good.” I took a bit of the delicious cake: a mixture of chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, and many other things I’m sure I had never tasted before. “What of you?”
“Worried,” he answered.
“About?”
“You. What next for you? I mean, you have been gone nearly a year from your family and friends, what will happen when you go back?”
“I have thought of it before, but never had I dwelt on the thought. Somehow it scares me.”
Conrad shifted a little. “Conflicting emotions?”
“Conflicting emotions,” I repeated.
“Did you enjoy it here?” he asked.
“Of course I did.”
“You know Jamal had grown very fond of you.”
“I think I have grown fond of him too.”
“What was it like back there?” he asked. “Not much different than it is around here, I imagine.”
“Oh no. It is very different. For the most part, no one was randomly turning into wolves.”
Conrad giggled. “I’m sure they weren’t, but how was it for you?”
“Just imagine a normal house, no maid, no guard, two rooms, one parlour, low roof, and one kitchen where you had to prepare your meals yourself.”
“No way.”
“Yep. That was how I lived.”
There was silence for a while. We passed the fork, eating the cake until it was finished.
“I really liked it here, Conrad,” I said. “Thank you.”
“Our pleasure,” he said. It was as if he was holding something back. he wanted to say or ask something. And finally, he did. “If you were given a chance to stay here. Will you?”
“Who wouldn’t?” I replied. “It is a nice place with warm and welcoming people and now that I have children, I can’t think of any other place to be than with them but I have a father that I left behind and a stepmother I wish I could rip into two- “we both shared the humour “- so I think I’ll have to return.”
“Your life is on the other side,” he said.
“My life is on the other side.” I repeated.
He stood up and cleared the foil and fork. “I wish you the best.” He gave a mock salute and laughed.
“You too.” I felt a bit emotional and we gave each other a warm hug.
He then left the room.