The day had finally arrived when Harper had to say goodbye to her mother. A feeling of desolation and anguish hung like dark clouds over her as they drove to the church where the funeral service would be held. It was cloudy outside, which she thought only seemed fitting considering the occasion.
When they arrived, cars were already pulled into the parking spots, and people dressed in black walked solemnly into the church. She wondered if anyone of them had a better last conversation with her mom than she did. She ached at the thought that she hadn’t.
She got out of her dad’s car in her long, black dress, the only one she could find in her closet that still fit her. Her dad was following her from behind. On their way in, she stopped when Mira approached her. She was wearing a black dress, a gold necklace around her neck, and black stilettos.
“I’m sorry again for your loss, Harper.” Mira turned to Mr. Fritz. “I am so sorry about your wife’s passing, Mr. Fritz. I hope, and I pray that, whoever did this, will be caught soon. I mean, from what I’ve heard, it was a brutal―”
“Thank you, Mira,” Harper’s dad cut in, looking uncomfortable as well as confused about who she was.
“You can go ahead, Dad.”
Mr. Fritz glanced at Mira then lovingly kissed the top of Harper’s head. “Okay, sweetie.”
“Don’t be a shitty person, Mira. Not today, at least,” Harper told her between gritted teeth.
“Shitty person? Hey, don’t be rude. Need I remind you that if it weren’t for me, you’d b dead by now.” Mira smiled.
The brief trip down memory lane made Harper’s heart pound faster and louder and caused her to swallow hard. The amount of pain she was in was still fresh in her memory. Her body was about to succumb to the torment had it not been for Mira’s little intervention.
“I already thanked you. You agreed to stay in the treehouse and lay low. So, what are you doing here?” Harper asked, looking around. “And where’s Alex?”
“He left last night. I was actually hoping to find him here. Well, I also came to pay my respect. I’m really sorry about what happened to your mother.”
She narrowed her eyes at Mira. Somehow, she couldn’t feel the sincerity in her voice. “Everyone here knows what happened to my mom. We don’t need you to go around reminding us of the pain,” Harper said the walked past the redhead.
As soon as she walked inside, she swore her heart suddenly stopped beating for a few seconds. At the front of the church sat *the* wooden coffin. It took a lot in her to proceed and sit next to her dad in the front pew where other direct relatives of her mother also sat.
Neither Harper nor her dad spoke a single word to anyone. For Harper, there was nothing anyone could say to make her feel any better. She rested her head on her dad’s shoulder for support. Tears started to fall from her eyes. The rest of the family wasn't much better off and her grandparents hung their heads in sadness.
After everyone was gathered and had settled down, the priest walked up to the podium. “We are all here today to mourn the loss of a wonderful daughter, mother, wife, and friend…”
As the priest went on, Harper’s mind went back to her fond memories with her mom. She smiled to herself at some of the funny ones and then sobbed at the sad ones.
After a few people spoke, including Mr. Fritz, all of their relatives got up and stood around Mrs. Fritz’s coffin. Four middle-aged men grabbed onto the sides of the wooden coffin, lifted it off the platform, and carried it out to the hearse.
The drive to the cemetery was short, and it wasn’t long after they arrived. With her grandmother’s arm around hers, Harper walked on the grass, which was still wet from the early morning shower. They slowly walked to the plot where her mother’s coffin would soon be covered in dirt.
When everyone had gathered around, they slowly lowered the coffin down into the ground, and after some few last words from Mr. Fritz, they began to cover it up with dirt.
People soon followed and said their goodbyes before leaving gradually until Harper and her dad were the only ones left. Together, they watched as the dirt piled onto the coffin. Then Harper walked over to the grave and kneeled on the ground. With tears streaming down her face, she placed both of her hands onto the tombstone.
“Forgive me, Mom.” She sobbed. “I swear to you…I’ll never stop until you get the justice you deserve." With a heavy heart, she wept for a few more minutes before she finally stood up and walked to her dad’s arms. She cried some more.
After her dad had said his goodbye, they returned to his car.
* * *
Once back at her mother’s house, Harper didn't know what to do with her dad, who kept pacing down the kitchen and the living room. She didn't know how to comfort him since she was just as broken as him. So she stayed in her room for the rest of the day where she could cry and no longer pretend she was holding it all together well.
By nightfall, she figured she couldn't be in her mother’s house anymore. There were just so many memories, and she felt like she was suffocating.
She went down from her room and found her dad in the kitchen. Without really any plans in mind, she finally told him where she had been for the last few weeks, whom he was with, and what had happened.
“To get this straight, Harper, you have been hanging out with a werewolf? And that woman today is a magician?”
Harper thought there probably would have been a better way to tell her father about Alex and Mira. But as she gave it much thought, there couldn’t really be any better way or time to tell him about them.
“A mage, dad. And don’t call her a magician in front of her. She’s kind of sensitive about it.”
But Mr. Fritz looked at his daughter like he could only care less what Mira would feel. He shook his head. “All this time, you have a wolf up there in your treehouse, and you’re only telling me now?
“Yes, Dad.”
“And those animal attacks I’ve seen on the news weren’t normal attacks?”
“Sheila. Don’t worry. She’s been―she’s been taken care of.” Harper wanted to be completely honest with her dad and tell him that Alex took care of Sheila, but she quickly thought against it as the act wouldn’t sound too valiant to her dad as she would have wanted it.
“You speak of it as if it isn’t a big deal, Harper. What about that recent attack in Clearwater Crossing? Wasn’t that just an animal attack?”
Harper suddenly stood up straight. “There was an attack in Clearwater Crossing?” She immediately remembered she was supposed to call Kendal. She quickly made a mental note to call her.
“Yeah, there was. It was all over the news last week. Poor family. All brutally murdered. Mercilessly. Did a werewolf do it?” Mr. Fritz asked in slight disbelief.
“I-I don’t know, Dad.” She then thought about Keane and his entire family of shifters. *Could it be them?*
“I bet it was a werewolf.”
“I’m not really―wait. What? You don’t look too shocked at all.”
Mr. Fritz ran water into a pot and set it on the stove, turning around to look at Harper. He sighed then, for a moment, stared at a space on the kitchen floor.
“Dad?”
He sighed once again. “Your mother and I had heard stories. Most of them were pretty terrifying. But we never really believed them. Especially your mother. She had always been the reasonable one between the two of us. She needed proof. And when we had seen it ourselves, when a man transformed into something inhuman, something beastly, she almost lost it. We just find out then that she was pregnant and she wanted to leave Black Hallows. It took a lot in me to change her mind.”
“I can’t believe I’m hearing this.”
“We couldn’t believe it either. But when your mother’s sister almost died after being attacked by one of those beings, we didn’t have any choice but to believe.”
“Aunt Matilda was attacked?”
Mr. Fritz slowly nodded. “Yes.”
“I thought she just disappeared.”
“We tried everything we could to save her. She was in so much pain for weeks. She cried and screamed for help, for us to end her suffering. Until one night, the house went suddenly awfully quiet. Your mother ran up to her room…” Mr. Fritz trailed off and exhaled loudly. Recounting what happened then had somehow brought more harrowing memories back.
“And then what happened, Dad?”
“All your mother saw was an empty bed and a broken window.”
“This is insane. Why did you and mom keep it from me?” Harper asked, finding this new revelation more shocking than waking up to see Mira after passing out from being bitten by one of Keane’s wolf friends.
“Because your mom didn’t want you to live in fear, Harper. She wanted you to have this normal reality―she called it― not the scary one where werewolves exist. And for whatever reason, those monsters didn’t attack humans. There had never been any news until now. I don’t know what changed, but these monsters need to be stopped, Harper.”
“Not all of them are monsters,” Harper softly said, somewhat in defense to Alex.
“I understand that you have developed a feeling for that *boy*?” Mr. Fritz observed.
She smiled. “I’m pretty sure Alex is almost in his thirties.”
“Harper,” Mr. Fritz stared at her as if he'd already heard what she was about to tell him, and now, all he wanted to say was what every father would. “Stay away from him. We can leave now. We can stay over at your grandma’s house while we―”
“Dad, I can’t abandon him.” She wanted to tell him she was all Alex had left. And after everything they’d been through and what Alex was going through right now―all the confusions that were brought about by his sudden transformation―she couldn’t see leaving him as an option at the moment.
*As soon as we find Lucas, then perhaps.* She thought.
“And why the hell not? He’s one of them. Haven’t you seen his demon form?!”
Harper looked around. Their house wasn’t that huge, and the walls were thin. Although she had no idea where Alex was, he could be anywhere, and if he were in the hallway, he would have heard them talking.
“Dad, he’s not a demon. He’s a werewolf―”
“What’s the difference?” Her dad angrily interrupted.
“Massively huge difference.”
Mr. Fritz raised his hands in an attempt to let his daughter know he didn’t really care, and it didn’t really matter to him at all. “He’s not human, Harper. I’m sure he’s more than capable of taking care of himself.”
“He is part human, Dad. Come on. And it’s complicated.” She crossed her arms. “Don’t make this any harder for both of us.”
“I just lost your mother. We just buried her today, Harper. You can’t tell me you’ve quit your job and eloped with a vampire―”
“Werewolf, Dad. He’s a werewolf. Is that really that hard to remember? And we didn’t elope. I already told you.”
“*Tomayto – tohmato.* They’re all the same, Harper. We humans don’t stand a chance against them. You’re practically risking your life by associating with him.”
“He’s not that bad. Why don’t you meet him instead and see for yourself?”
“Are you out of your mind?”
“Please, Dad. I’m begging you. You’re all I have left. Don’t push me away.”
“I am not.”
“That’s exactly what you’re doing right now.”
Mr. Fritz thought about Harper’s request for a moment before letting out a deep, loud breath.
“Please, Dad. Please. Give him a chance.”
Shaking his head, he looked up at his daughter. “I hope I’m not going to regret this.”
“You won’t. I swear. He’s not a monster. He’s not the same as the one you and mom saw that night or what had bitten Aunt Matilda. He’s different. He just recently discovered he’s not entirely human.”
“We’ll see about that.”
* * *
That following morning…
Sitting at the table across Harper and her dad, Alex cleared his throat. “This is a really nice coffee, Mr. Fritz,” he said, smiling before he took a sip of his black coffee as if he had never had coffee in his life.
"You got my daughter involved in all this supernatural absurdity, Mr. Carmichael, don’t think for a second a silly compliment would make it all okay.”
“Dad.”
Mira smiled from across Harper and her dad at the table. “I’m sure Alex only means well, Mr. Fritz.”
Mr. Fritz stared at her. “And you’re a what again?”
“A mage,” Mira replied proudly.
“A magician? Like Merlin?”
“Somewhat like Merlin, only a little more…powerful,” she almost whispered the last word. “And Alex here isn’t just any other werewolf. He’s master Lycan.”
Mr. Fritz scoffed. “Is there really a difference.”
“Quite.”
“As long as he’s not behind those recent human attacks on the news―” he paused then turned to his daughter. “Well, that’s all I really care about.”
Alex cleared his throat. “I assure you, Mr. Fritz, I am not anything like them.”
“Where are your parents, son?”
He chewed on a piece of bread then swallowed it with a gulp of water. “I have no idea, Mr. Fritz.”
“Do they transform into…wolves too?”
“They do.” It was Mira who answered for him again. “They’re very powerful Lycans. And very rich too.” She looked at Harper. “Didn’t you tell your dad you used to work for the―”
“Let’s save it for another time, Mira.” Harper interrupted her.
Mira smiled and looked down at the meal on her plate.
“Thanks for preparing this delicious food this morning, Mr. Fritz,” Alex spoke again. Harper could tell how much he was trying his best to get into her dad’s good side. Although it would have to take more than praising her dad’s coffee and cooking, she was glad for the effort.
"You don’t have to suck up to me, son. I’m sure you already have my daughter’s affection."
Mira looked and gave Mr. Fritz a hard stare.
Harper turned to her dad and mumbled, “Dad, please.”
“What do you mean by what you just said, Mr. Fritz?” Mira asked, narrowing her eyes at Harper.
"I see the way Mr. Carmichael here is staring at my daughter," Mr. Fritz answered, his eyes scowling at Alex from across the table.
"I’m sorry. I’m not staring at her in any way," Alex stated in a simple tone. At least, he thought he tried not to look at Harper in a certain way.
Mira laughed bitterly. "That’s ridiculous." She gave Harper a raised eyebrow. "By the way, we’re leaving tomorrow morning."
“We are?” Harper asked, not really sure if she’d want to leave her father just yet.
"What do you mean? Where are you going?” Mr. Fritz asked wide-eyed before changing his glance over to Harper, who was looking anywhere but him. When his daughter didn’t say anything, he looked at Mira to provide some answers.
“To fix this shit that’s happened to Alex.”
Alex wriggled uncomfortably in his chair. "That’s another way to put it.” He then locked eyes with Harper. “She said she knows someone who could help bring my memory back.”
Mr. Fritz took a sip of his coffee; the expression on his face told Harper he was trying to process what was going on.
Harper, on the other hand, finally gave a response in a mild tone. “You know someone?"
“That’s right,” Mira replied, sounding too casual about the whole thing.
“Why do you need to bring my daughter along with you? She’s only human. What could she possibly do to help? Be your bait? Your little helper? I’m still mourning over the death of her mother!” Mr. Fritz took a second to compose himself when he realized he almost choked on his sob.
“Dad, it’s okay,” Harper said, placing a gentle hand over his shoulder.
“We don’t really have to bring Harper with us,” Mira replied simply. “But I’m sure she would want to go…”
“Get to the fucking point, Mira.” Harper snapped.
"Just trust me, Harper. You’d want to come because I know you’d want to see him again," Mira reassured her.
“Him?”
Mr. Fritz gave an intrigued as well as an angry expression. “Who’s *him*?”
Mira ran the tip of her tongue on her teeth to tease them before saying, “*Lucas*.”
Harper felt her heart hitched. She blinked, and her eyes immediately fell on Alex, who was already looking at her.
“Lucas.” Alex’s jaw clenched.