Chapter 23: Chapter Twenty-Two

Una finds a place to sit as she watches Gabi and Steven make their way to the front of the group. Una smiles. Only moments ago, this young girl was full of doubt and insecurities about herself, and now she’s about to put herself out there in front of all these people telling them something that’s going to alter everything they have believed to be true.

Una closes her eyes for a moment and takes a deep breath as she focuses on her breathing. Through meditation, she sends a message:

“She is here, sister, and she is everything you said that she would be. We will be able to fix the damage that was caused all those years ago and bring peace again between our families.”

Una opens her eyes and continues to watch Gabi as she reaches the front of the people.

“Who are you, and what are you doing here, girl,” one of the men guarding the cage Carl is sitting in asks.

“My name is Gabi, and there is something I have to tell you about your ancient scrolls,” she says quietly.

The man steps back in surprise “What do you know of our ancient scrolls? Steven, why have you brought this girl into our community? She is not one of us,” he exclaims.

Gabi nods her head in agreement.

“You’re right. I’m not one of you. But I’m human, and I’ve learned that the Luminars have just been killing any wolf they see rather than going after the evil ones.”

“They’re all evil, girl.”

“No, they’re not. You’ve been taught they’re all evil. But really most wolves are actually good,” she says with confidence.

“I’ve heard enough of this,” he says as he tries to grab Gabi by the arm.

Steven steps in front of Gabi and pulls her behind him, getting into the man’s face.

“You won’t touch her, Mark. Is that clear?” Steven tells the man.

“Yeah, what are you going to do about it?” Mark says to Steven.

“That’s enough,” Una says as she makes her way to them.

Everyone starts to make an opening for Una to pass by them as they bow their heads in both recognition and respect for their elder.

“My apologies, Una,” Mark says and bows to show his respect.

Una turns around for everyone to see her before she announces, “The young girl Gabi is right. I have seen the ancient scrolls and have read the prophecy. Gabi is who will bring the balance back between the Luminars and the werewolves.”

There is a gasp throughout the crowd.

“Una, we don’t understand. What’s going on?” said someone in the crowd.

Una puts her arms out to settle down the crowd. “We have been fooled for many years that all werewolves were evil. It wasn’t until recently that I was able to unearth a few of our ancient scrolls that explains the imbalance that was placed between the Luminars and the werewolves. Gabi will explain. I urge you to listen with an open mind and an open heart.”

Una looks to Gabi and nods her head, allowing for Gabi to be able to speak to the crowd.

“My name is Gabi… Gabi MoonFang,” she tells them.

“She’s a wolf,” someone calls out from the crowd.

“Wait, please listen. My mother was born from a human father and a wolf mother. So, she was half human and half werewolf. She mated with two men one night, one werewolf and one human. She ended up pregnant with twins, fraternal twins. One werewolf and one human born eighteen years ago. I was taken from my mother before she was killed by the wolves. These last eighteen years, I have thought I was born a wolf, but on the night of my eighteenth birthday, I was not able to shift into my wolf form. I have no wolf, but yet I am able to hear and talk to the werewolves when they’re in wolf form. But that’s all. I was put on this journey to learn about my birth and who I truly am. I was brought here to speak with Una, and that is when she told us about the evil wolf with the crescent mark on their forehead.”

She pushes her hair up to show her forehead. It was bare. She walks over to Carl and asks him to do the same. Carl reluctantly pushes the hair back from his forehead to show that it was bare too and did not carry the mark of the evil one.

“The wolves have been told tall tales too. That every human is evil and only wants to kill. But I have seen the good in some of the humans that I have met on this journey. I’m not saying all humans are good. I’m sure there are bad ones, just as much as there’re bad werewolves. Neither side is perfect,” she says with a shrug.

“Today, we have a choice; we can either continue on this destructive path that we are both on and destroy each other until there’s no one left on either side, or we can put our differences aside, and come together to defeat the real evil that tares us apart,” Gabi finishes, standing still, waiting.

Her heart is racing with anticipation not knowing which way the crowd is going to lean towards. In her heart of hearts, she prays to the moon that they will choose the latter. But the decision is theirs to make.

“Can you prove to us that you can actually talk to the wolves?” one of them calls out from the crowd.

Gabi nods and turns to Carl.

“Carl, will you shift into your wolf form please?” she asks him.

“No.”

“Carl, please, I’m trying to save your life,” Gabi says as she looks around her at the impatient faces around them.

“They’re going to kill me anyway. There’s nothing you can say to stop that.”

Steven walks up to the cage to talk with Carl. “You have my word that no one will kill you.”

Carl nods and shifts into his wolf form.

“Carl, can you tell me which men captured you?” Gabi asks him after he has shifted and loud enough for the crowd to hear the question.

“There were about five or six of them. The guy that was talking back to you, those three that are standing in front, and that man in the far back I think was the leader giving out the orders.”

Everyone in the crowd turned and looked at each other with confusion as all they heard was a bunch of barking, howling, and growls coming from the wolf.

Gabi turns to the audience to tell them what Carl said. “Carl says that there were about five or six men that had captured him. He pointed out that Mark, the three men right here in the front and the man in the far back was all a part of his capture.”

The crowd starts whispering amongst themselves.

Mark stands up and answers, “Yeah, that’s exactly who was there when we captured him.”

The crowd gasps again and continues to whisper.

“I think you got their attention, Gabi. Good job,” Steven whispers in her ear from behind her.

Gabi nods. “Now to see if it made a difference.”

In the far back stands the man that was identified as one of the capturers. He listened to the entire story that the young girl told. Gabi. She was human, yet she had lived with the wolves for all these years. He lets out a sigh as he runs his hand through his dark hair.

Una walks up next to him and stands, looking back at the young girl.

“She has a lot of fire and determination,” she tells him.

He nods in agreement. “That she does.”

“Are you going to tell her?” Una asks him.

He shakes his head. “No, not yet, but someday.”

He turns and starts to walk away.

“Where are you going?” she asks him, with her back to him and looking at the crowd.

“To do what I promised I would do. I’m going to kill the evil ones.”