Chapter 11
I woke up from a sleep filled with strange dreams, which wasn’t new, just as it wasn’t new to be in the flower-covered room at Grandma Blanca’s house.
Lately, I’d been dreaming of babies with golden eyes and fiery hair like mine, or with my green eyes, tanned skin, and the long hair of their father.
How could I not dream of this, when ever since I found out about the pregnancy, I’d spent all my time thinking about it, thinking about this life growing inside me?
I needed to take action, to figure out what to do, to decide how I’d care for this child, whether I should tell the father or not. There were so many doubts, and everything only grew worse with my confinement.
I was forbidden from leaving here, not supposed to leave the room for anything, because according to Agnes, Will might come back.
Alice insisted we should go after Parker, tell him the truth, and ask for shelter. She was confident he’d take care of me and the child. I no longer knew what to think; there were so many worries.
I got up from the bed and found it odd that Flora wasn’t around. She’d become my shadow, always there with some tea or humming songs in a language I didn’t know.
I walked to the window and heard nothing but the sun, the birds, and the trees and flowers rustling. I turned to the door and walked slowly, not wanting to draw anyone’s attention. If they’d left me alone, it was because they had something serious to deal with, since in all these days, they’d never left me unsupervised.
I crossed the hallway and heard voices coming from downstairs, heated whispers.
I descended the first step, praying the old wood wouldn’t creak under my feet, giving me away before I could hear anything.
“She needs to know!” I heard Alice say.
“Keep your voice down! Do you want to wake her?” It was Agnes’s voice I recognized first. “It’s already been hard enough keeping her asleep all the time to stop her from leaving the room.”
What? I gasped, startled by her words, but held myself back to avoid revealing my position. Were they drugging me?
“I already said this is dangerous. You can’t keep the girl trapped in sleep forever.” It was easy to recognize Flora’s sweet voice after all these days together. “Why not take her to the Alpha already? He’ll know how to take care of her.”
“You don’t know that for sure. As far as we know, Quanah never wanted to fulfill his role!”
“It doesn’t matter what he wants or not. We all have to fulfill our roles now. The child has been conceived; the Lycans and we witches have been freed from the curse!” Alice nearly shouted.
I swallowed hard and closed my eyes tightly. I was trapped in another crazy dream, but what would I do to wake up?
I took a few more steps, no longer caring if I made noise or not. It was just a dream, so it wouldn’t matter—nothing would happen.
“Even so, Alice, Quanah might reject her and the child…”
“He would never do that!” Flora interrupted, and I finally reached the last step. “You know it would be an offense against our customs. He may not want Bridget as a wife, but he’d never reject his child.”
From where I stood, I could see them talking around the kitchen table. Grandma Blanca stood, circling the table. It seemed like the conversation was more of a confrontation, with Alice and Flora on one side, Agnes and Grandma Blanca on the other.
“Dear, we know you only came because Peta sent you. He wanted to make sure his nephew was okay.” Blanca spoke. “From the start, he’s been more of an Alpha than his brother. If it weren’t for him and Alice, nothing would’ve happened; those two would never have met. What do you think will happen when Quanah Parker finds out it was all a setup?”
Quanah Parker? The same Parker I… It couldn’t be. I needed to wake up, urgently! This was getting crazier by the day and maybe even more real.
“Bri is protected by the people. It’s not just Peta who was tired of waiting for this prophecy to be fulfilled and the curse to be broken.” Alice seemed furious, and I almost believed the whole circus. This was the most convincing dream I’d ever had in my life. “All the Lycans are on her side, just like the witches and warlocks!”
“How do I wake up!” I shouted, and they all looked at me, startled. “I shouldn’t be able to shout this in a dream. Shit, it’s getting weirder and weirder.”
“Bri, dear, how long have you been listening?” Agnes looked worried and approached me.
“I just want to wake up. This whole story about wolves and witches, a curse—I don’t remember reading or watching anything like this before going to sleep.” I pushed past Agnes, ignoring her touch, and headed straight for the kitchen door.
The late afternoon sun filtering through the glass door warmed my skin, feeling real—the scent of flowers, the pollen in the air.
“Alice, you need to sit down, and we’ll talk.”
“No, Mom, enough trying to sugarcoat and delay things! She needs to know!”
I needed to wake up; it was getting stranger by the hour. A pinch should do it, right? I pinched my arm, and nothing happened—I just felt the pain, but I didn’t wake up.
“Friend, what are you doing?”
I slapped my face hard, and it was the same. Was it possible I wouldn’t wake up? Could I be in a coma? All of this could be a dream, all these weeks lying in that bed—I could be in a hospital, intubated, right now.
“Bri, sit here, and let’s talk!” Flora asked with her sweet voice, and looking at her, I could only think of the words I’d just heard.
“I just need to wake up!” I shouted, turning to them and facing their judging, pitying looks. I wasn’t crazy, I couldn’t be. “I just need to wake up!” I grabbed a knife I saw on the table and, in a desperate act, cut my arm.
The pain spread through my body, but I was too shocked to react, to scream or cry from the pain. I just stared as the warm blood trickled down, dripping onto the floor and my clothes.
Alice ran over with a cloth, tying it around my forearm and lifting it to stop the blood from gushing.
“See what you’ve done to her? You’ve driven this girl insane!” Flora rushed around the kitchen, grabbing herbs and putting them into a stone mortar.
“It’s for her own good; we didn’t mean any harm.” Grandma Blanca approached, and I heard a growl rising in the room. The next second, Flora was at my side.
She held the mortar with herbs in one hand and used the other to push Grandma Blanca away. She stood in front of me like a shield, with Alice by my side.
“Don’t you dare touch her again! You messed with her head, keeping her asleep all this time.”
“You don’t give orders here, young lady. You may be a Lycan healer, but you’re in my house, and you’ll obey me.” I watched Blanca stand tall, speaking with an authoritative tone I’d never heard before.
“Enough! Flora’s right. We’ve insisted on telling the truth since the first day, but we kept agreeing to your wishes and let this go too far.” Alice pulled a chair and helped me sit. “Flora will tend to your wound, and
we’re going to tell you the whole truth.”