Chapter 10

Maddy went downstairs the next morning feeling no better than yesterday. The conversation with Shannon had lifted her spirits last night, but the thought of facing her parents again only reset her mood.

"Morning, Maddy." Dan said from the kitchen table as she walked in with a face like thunder. A low growl was her only response. Dan's expression shifted to anger so quickly it was like he'd been expecting it and rehearsed it in his head before she came down. "Well if you're in that kind of mood, go back to bed!" he snapped.

"What do you want me to say, Dad?" Maddy challenged him.

"Well, a 'Good morning' would be nice!" Dan glared at her, his posture shifting as though he were about to get up.

"Alright, enough!" Emma snapped as she stormed in and tried to glare Maddy down. Maddy held her ground stubbornly, an open declaration of rebellion etched onto her face. "We're trying to keep you safe here, Maddy and if we say that you can't let anyone else from outside in here it's not just to spoil your fun!"

"No, that's just the fun bit for you!" Maddy spat. "I could hear you yesterday. All 'Oh, I wouldn't mind if it had been any other time'. That's a lie and you know it! You were always dead set against Sarah and her mum ever since you found out what they were. You say that she would have had to fight you for the territory but that's only because you could never handle the thought of sharing. I begged you not to kick them out and told you exactly what was going on with them, but you ignored it!"

"No you didn't." Dan's tense expression shifted into confusion as he glanced up at Emma.

"You weren't there." Maddy's glare didn't budge. "You were out by the car waiting while she grabbed her coat, and there was five-year-old me trying to explain that Sarah's mum had something wrong with her lungs and the only response I got was to be sent to my room!" Maddy could hear Tom, Shannon and Rhydian in the corridor behind her. Jana was probably in the upstairs bathroom. Rhydian looked like he wanted to go to Maddy, but Shannon stopped him with an arm across his chest and a subtle shake of her head. Unaware of any of this, Dan lifted a shaky hand to point at Maddy while keeping his gaze locked on Emma.

"Em? Is it true? Did she tell you Sarah's mother was ill before we left to confront them?" Emma didn't speak. She couldn't find the words. "Please, Em... Deny it! Say something!" Dan urged her.

"She won't." Maddy kept her gaze locked on Emma. "She won't lie to her own husband." Emma tried to say something but the words failed her. Instead, she shoved past Maddy so hard that Maddy ended up bouncing off the doorframe just as Emma had done the previous day. She shoved her way past Tom, Shannon and Rhydian and made a beeline for the upstairs door. "You can come in now." Maddy called over to them. They made their way sheepishly into the kitchen feeling as though they now had intruded where they weren't welcome.

"I know you didn't mean to eavesdrop." Dan said to them. "You're not in any trouble and I don't hold it against you. But if I ever hear the conversation we've just had being mentioned again, the ones talking about it may well find rat crap in their next bacon sandwich. Am I understood?" There were instant nods from all three of them. Dan got up from the table leaving half of his breakfast untouched. He'd lost his appetite. He shouldered his way through and headed for the stairs, bracing himself for probably the most difficult conversation of his life.

When Dan reached the upstairs bedroom, he could hear crying on the other side. It was incredibly faint because of the soundproofing, but it was definitely there. He only hesitated for a second before heading in. He sat next to Emma and wrapped her in a hug. It was some time until she trusted herself to speak, but he waited patiently.

"Are you mad at me?" Emma asked eventually.

"Incredibly, not yet." Dan replied. "I just want to know why you wouldn't say anything."

"At the time, I didn't see how it would make a difference." Emma explained tearfully. "For me when we were that young, the rules were set in stone. They were Wolfbloods, we were there first, they had to go. I felt like we'd been lied to. We had Sarah over for dinner multiple times, fed her, treated her like gold. I don't know how she was hiding being a Wolfblood, or even if she was hiding it at all. I don't know how we didn't pick up on it. I didn't say anything when Maddy told me because I was so furious that it didn't matter. I felt cheated, I felt lied to and it wasn't until Maddy started to burn out from the continual anger that I actually started to register what she'd said. By that time the red mist had cleared but it was too late to do anything about it. Sarah and her mum were gone. They'd packed up and left in disgrace, as you know. I didn't say anything because I was scared. I was terrified you'd hold it against me and I didn't want Maddy to see me second-guessing myself. I didn't want us fighting in front of her and I didn't want you to hate me for what I did."

"Em, the only thing I'm angry about is that you kept it a secret at all!" Dan hugged her close and rubbed between Emma's shoulder blades where he knew her weak spot was. Maddy had the same weak spot and Rhydian had found it easily. "We try and keep the secret of our existence from humans on a daily basis. Sometimes that doesn't go so well, or Tom and Shannon wouldn't be downstairs now. Sometimes when we fail it's for the better, or Tom and Shannon wouldn't be downstairs now. There are some secrets it's alright to keep like your age, your weight or whether you turn into a wolf and howl at the full moon. But we can't keep those secrets from the people we need to keep them from if we're hiding stuff from each other in the process. Okay?" Emma nodded and sat up a bit straighter. "Good." Dan nodded. "Now, I suggest that I get Maddy up here and we explain this to her properly, so that she can finally get some closure. Its up to her whether she forgives you or not and I have no idea how we're going to face Sarah again, but at least Maddy will finally have some answers."

"Can I ask you a question?" Emma looked up at him, wiping her eyes furiously. "Do you think if I had told you what Maddy had told me before we kicked them out that anything might have been different?" Dan let out a sigh as he thought about it.

"To tell you the truth, Em: I don't know. All I can say is, I hope that it would have."

Downstairs, Robyn stepped out of the bathroom having just turned off the shower. Apart from looking much more refreshed, she looked like she hadn't showered at all. Her hair was bone dry and her suit was as immaculate as always. She sat down on the sofa and let out a sigh.

"God, I'm sick of seeing four walls." She muttered.

"Yeah, I know the feeling." Rhydian replied, rubbing furiously at the back of his neck. "I literally need to run a marathon."

"Where are your parents?" Robyn asked Maddy. "We need to talk about next steps. There have been some developments."

"They're upstairs sorting out some family matters." Maddy shrugged. "I don't suppose these next steps involve us going out anywhere, do they?"

"Actually, we need to debate that." Maurice said as he walked in, blasting the top of his head with a hair dryer. Everyone couldn't help but wonder what the point was since he didn't have any, but decided to drop it. "On one hand, it'll look suspicious if you all just stay inside all day every day. On the other hand, this killer might be more dangerous than we first predicted. We need to decide as a group what would be best and I don't want votes just because you all want to get some fresh air. Fresh air is no use if you're dead."

"You really think they're that dangerous?" Tom asked, but everyone could see he was dreading the answer.

"I think they could be more than just 'dangerous'." Robyn replied. "Still, it's probably best for your cover if we let you out. We'll follow you in plain clothes ready to step in when needed. But we want to talk to your parents first."

"You could be waiting a while." Maddy sighed. "I think I'll be lucky if I'm not in serious trouble now."

"What happened?" Jana asked, concern etched over her face.

"We'll tell you later." Rhydian promised.

"I hope they'll be okay." Maddy sighed. "I feel like I've really gone and done it this time."