Page 97 of The Lone Wolf Café
Being from a small island, I’d never been around more than a dozen or so people at a time. I wasn’t accustomed to crowds. But here, every single resident of Wisteria Grove was crammed into a room not much larger than my cottage, with over a hundred pairs of fury-filled eyes boring straight into my skull.
I swallowed hard, determined not to let them see how nervous I was. But as we walked dutifully into the center of the room, where Mariah, the mayor, sat in an office chair with her legs crossed, I feared their glares would incinerate me on the spot. Iimagined this was similar to how the witches in the 1800s felt when they were about to be burned at the stake by humans.
“Alright, everyone.” Rowena finally broke the silence. The other witches turned their attention to her, but the fire in their eyes never dimmed.
And that was when the shouts and jeers began.
“It’s her! The café owner!”
“She brought the werewolf here!”
“It’s because sheispart werewolf, stupid!”
“How do we know they’re not both on the werewolves’ side?”
“What if–”
“Quiet!”
Mariah’s loud, authoritative voice silenced the rambling crowd. She brushed her box braids away from her face, cleared her throat, and gestured for Rowena to continue.
Rowena took a deep breath and resumed speaking. On the way to town hall, we’d made the joint decision to let her do all the talking. She had grown up in Wisteria Grove. This was her village. Her people. Rowena may have been an outcast, but right now, I was the true outsider. The troublemaker who caused the werewolves to attack in the first place.
So, it was best for me to keep my mouth shut.
Rowena explained to the village that I was, indeed, a werewolf. But that I was also part witch, as confirmed by my ability to pass through the village’s barrier, to bond with an elemental, and most importantly, my display of empath powers.
The mere utterance of the word “empath” sent the crowd into a muttering frenzy. The voices were so loud and numerous they all blended together, but I could pick out a few words and phrases.
Dangerous.
Insanity.
Powerful.
Too powerful.
“Hush!” Mariah shouted again, snapping her long, perfectly manicured pink fingernails. My body relaxed slightly as she did so. I understood why she was chosen as mayor – she exuded authority and grace, and had an unshakeable sense of composure.
And I could tell that the witches of Wisteria Grove respected her. Because they immediately fell silent, all eyes now shifted in her direction.
“We witches understand the importance of pleading our case better than anyone else,” Mariah declared, adjusting her thin glasses. “Now, please allow Rowena and Nettie to speak. Once they are finished, we shall discuss how to handle this matterin a calm and diplomatic fashion. Understood?”
No one said anything, but there was a collective sea of nodding heads.
“Excellent.” Mariah gestured to Rowena. “Continue.”
Rowena resumed her speech, explaining how I ended up in Wisteria Grove, why she had decided to take me in, and, most importantly, how we could stop the full moon frenzy.
“Wait a minute,” an older male voice shouted from the crowd, interrupting Rowena mid-sentence. “So what you’re saying is, if we hand over the red-headed girl to the local pack, they’ll leave us alone?”
A rumble of agreeing voices made my blood turn to ice.
No. No.That is not the conclusion you should be getting from this.
But the man was correct. The town could simply hand me over to the werewolves and this would all be over. I’d be gone, shipped back to Hollenboro, and the witches could continue to live their lives in peace.
Except they really couldn’t. Because they’d still be stuck dealing with the werewolf frenzy every month.
