Chapter 161: The Hidden Truth

Maddie Pov

I shoved the old parchment paper behind my back before Calix could see the green wax seal. The edge of the letter crinkled loud against my waist. My heart went very fast against my ribs and I tried to keep my face completely still.

"Maddie, what do you have there?" Calix asked and he dropped the empty cooking pots into the grass.

"It is just an old piece of leather from the trunk," I said and I did not look at his gold eyes.

Calix took two steps closer and his forehead had a small line in the middle. He looked down at my hands and then he looked at the iron box. The festival noise was still coming from the center of the camp but it felt very far away from the back of the tent.

"You look like you saw a ghost," Calix said and he reached out his hand to touch my arm.

"I am just tired from the rebuilding," I said and I stepped sideways so his fingers missed my sleeve. "I want to go inside and lie down for a little bit."

"Understood," Calix said and he lowered his hand back to his side.

I did not wait for him to say anything else. I turned around and walked straight into the sleeping tent. The canvas inside was dark and it smelled like the wool blankets we had saved from the house. I sat down on the floor and I pulled the letter out from behind my back. My fingers were shaking so much I almost tore the fold.

I read the two short lines again.

"If I die, tell her the truth about who she really is," the letter said. "Do not let Hawthorne keep her in the dark."

The green wax was cold against my palm. My mother had written these words with her own pen before the great winter. She had a secret plan involving Kai and she did not trust Calix’s father at all. The peace we had built today with the berry wine and the roasted meat felt very thin now. It felt like a piece of dry ice that was ready to break under my feet.

I tucked the paper deep inside my boot leather and I stayed in the dark tent until the sun went down completely.

When the night got thick, Calix came inside and lay down on the blankets next to me. He fell asleep fast because he had been lifting the heavy pine logs all day. His breathing was heavy and slow against my neck. I stayed awake and listened to the wind hit the outside canvas.

I stood up without making a sound. I walked out of the tent and my boots did not wake him.

The bonfire circle was nothing but grey ashes now. Marcus and the other elders were asleep in their own tents and the whole camp was totally quiet. The horses were not kicking the fence posts tonight.

I walked past the water barrel and took the path that led to the north trail. I did not bring a torch because my eyes could see fine in the dark. I climbed the steep ridge until the canvas tents looked like little white dots down by the river.

"I knew you would come, Little Moon," a voice said from the brush.

Kai stepped out from behind a large rock. He was still wearing his long grey coat and he did not have his leather bundle anymore. He looked like he had been standing in the cold wind for hours just waiting for my boots to hit the gravel.

"I found the letter," I said and I stopped five feet away from him.

"The one with the green wax?" Kai asked.

"Yes," I said.

"Then you know your mother wanted me to find you," Kai said and he walked closer until I could smell the cedar wood on his coat. "She knew Hawthorne would try to hide your bloodline. She knew this valley would keep you like a prisoner."

"She wanted you to tell me the truth," I said.

"The truth is bigger than your father’s old promise, Maddie," Kai said and he looked down at my hands. "You think the white light is your only power because that is what you used to close the sinkhole. You think the white fur is all you have."

"It is all I have," I said.

"It is not," Kai said and he shook his head slowly.

He reached out and he took my right wrist in his hand. His grip was not tight like Calix’s grip but his fingers were very cold. He turned my arm over until the white scar he had stitched was facing the sky.

"You possess a second power, Maddie," Kai whispered and his silver hair shined under the stars. "A second, dormant power that your mother sealed away when you were three years old. She used a northern blood stone to lock it inside your veins because she knew Hawthorne would kill you if he saw it."

"What kind of power?" I asked and my tongue felt dry.

"The shadow fur," Kai said. "The power to command the dark wolves of the high peaks without using a stone at all."

I tried to pull my wrist back but he held onto my skin.

"You are lying to me again," I said.

"I am not lying," Kai said and he pointed his long finger at the scar. "The white light is only half of your blood, Little Moon. The other half belongs to the deep caves of the north. Your mother knew you would need both to survive the winter."

"Calix can help me," I said.

"Calix does not know how to open the lock," Kai said and he let let go of my wrist. "Only I know how to unlock it. I have the bone key your mother gave me before she died."

I looked down at the white dots of our camp in the valley and my chest felt very heavy. The gold bond with Calix was pulling at my heart but the cold wind from the peaks was pushing against my face.

"If you stay here, the power will rot inside your bones, Maddie," Kai said. "The winter is coming fast and the other Alphas will smell the white fur from a mile away. You need the shadow to stay alive."

I did not answer him. I just turned around and started walking back down the steep dirt path toward the tents, but his words followed me all the way into the dark.