Chapter 13

Maddy's defences broke. She felt it happen. In that moment, any awareness of her surroundings left her. Her guard totally dropped. She knew she was still safe. Rhydian was there. But it no longer mattered. Standing in front of her now was the last person she would ever need protection from.

"How?" she struggled to keep her own voice strong. "Mum and Dad said you were dead!"

"Did they?" Maya looked almost hurt. "Did they genuinely say categorically that I was dead?" Maddy cast her mind back and knew the answer was shown on her face as soon as it came to her.

"No. That's a point. They didn't, did they? They said you were taken from them at a young age!"

"But then how do we know it's her?" Rhydian's voice sounded hollow but it was enough to snap her back to reality. She turned to look at him questioningly.

"What do you mean?"

"This thing can take any living form it can imagine." Rhydian shrugged. "Who says it actually is Maya? All we've got is its word. How do we know we're not dealing with the one who took her?" Maddy staggered back as though she'd been slapped. So did Maya, just as her skin gave a sharp ripple and her entire form seemed to collapse. In an instant, she began to shift again. This time, an entirely different person was staring at her through a pair of metal-framed glasses. He was bald and somewhat muscular in a way that didn't fit with his apparent age. Just shy of six feet tall, he towered over Maddy and stood mostly on a level pegging with Rhydian. If this boiled down to a fight, Maddy didn't dare guess the outcome. Plus the fact that whoever this was they were capable of shifting forms at will to compensate for any shortcomings this one might have. But it looked like Rhydian had been right. She'd almost fallen for it too. If he hadn't have been there, anything could have happened. That thought made her feel physically sick.

"Who are you?" she growled furiously, her eyes becoming an inferno of golden flames that burned so furiously that she thought she could see the glow from them reflecting off the locker doors.

"The young man's bright. I'll give him that." The Wolfblood opposite them smirked. "Are you two related at all? No, surely not. He's much smarter."

"You tried to get to her through her family!" Rhydian spat. "What kind of monster does that?" His fury was only met with laughter.

"Why?" Maddy felt herself growing dangerously close to losing it. She knew she needed to reign herself in, but she also couldn't bring herself to do it. All of her fury was bubbling to the surface and she was going to let it out one way or another. "Why did you do it? Why did you take Maya?" The energy hung in the air, crackling inaudibly around them. It made the atmosphere heavy and Maddy knew Rhydian would be watching them both carefully to see what was about to happen. But it surprised both of them when the Wolfblood's grin shifted from smugness to pure malice.

"I didn't take her. I took you!" Maddy couldn't hide her shock. She recoiled as though someone had splashed cold water down her back. It only served to widen the Wolfblood's grin.

"You're lying." Rhydian's eyes had been on full burn since the shapeshifter had revealed their apparent true form and Maddy couldn't see any sign of them dimming now. "We know you lie! You just did it! Why should we believe you now that you've changed your story again?"

"Ask Dan and Emma." The Wolfblood smirked, turning on his heel. "First Maya then Sarah... If they actually get the guts to be straight with you for once in their lives, find me on the Moors. There, this will be settled once and for all." With that, he transformed into his wolf form. The noise of his claws scrabbling on the floor as he raced down the corridor and out of sight was joined by the thundering of feet as the Segolia team finally appeared at their side.

"Get after it!" Sweeney ordered as four Wolfbloods rushed past her to pursue. Rhydian looked livid and was about to join them until Maddy grabbed him by the arm to hold him back.

"No. He wants us to follow him so he can pick us off one by one. It's me he wants. Once he's taken you out, there'll be nothing keeping him from me."

"And who says he'll take me out?" Rhydian growled. "He's ambushed me twice, but-"

"He'll do it again if you chase him now." Maddy assured him as she pulled him into a hug. He returned it and she felt the muscles in his arms and chest relax as his rage subsided. As this was going on, Sweeney was glaring at them both over Rhydian's shoulder. For her, rage subsiding was clearly a long way off yet.

"What the hell were you thinking pulling a kamikaze stunt like that?" she demanded. "If I knew that might happen, I would never have let you be part of this!" Maddy tuned out as she continued to melt into Rhydian, finding reassurance in the warmth of his touch as she berated herself once again for almost falling for the shapeshifter's impersonation of Maya. But she was closer to answers than she had been before. She knew she would have been part of this whether Sweeney had let them or not. No matter what anyone thought of her, she'd made a major step. She knew more now than they'd managed to find out with Segolia's help and now she had a opportunity to end this permanently. The only question was how it would play out. But before that, she decided that Emma and Dan had a lot more explaining to do. With her hand in his, she turned and walked back towards the gym, ignoring Sweeney yelling behind them. She was unable to stop the yellow light from creeping into her eyes.

By the time they made it back to the gym, Sweeney had practically burned herself out. It didn't matter. Maddy hadn't listened to a word, anyway. She stormed through the doors, her eyes burning a brilliant, furious gold as her focus lasered in on her parents and she headed in their direction. Shannon and Tom had clearly noticed and were taking several steps back for safety.

"Okay, she looks mad as hell." Tom noted. Emma only nodded in response.

"Does she have a reason to be?" Shannon asked.

"She does." Dan replied. Maddy saw Tom and Shannon exchange terrified glances.

"What do you think?" she heard Tom ask in a hushed tone. "A few more steps?"

"Yeah, I think that's sensible." Shannon nodded as Maddy reached her parents. They stared each other down for a few seconds, Emma and Dan seeming to hope Maddy's anger would burn itself out. Unfortunately, that didn't look ready to happen.

"You two are going to give me some answers." Despite the almost crazed look of anger in Maddy's eyes, her tone was dangerously neutral.

"Further still?" Tom whispered. Shannon nodded as they stepped back even further.

"About what, cub?" Emma asked. It sounded fake to everyone's ears, but no one was expecting Maddy to lose it as she did.

"Don't call me your cub!" Her voice was a dangerous growl but was threatening to turn into a scream. "At the moment, I'm questioning if I'm even yours! As far as I'm concerned, I'm not even related to you until you tell me everything!" She was shaking by this point. Her veins were so pronounced that from a distance both of her arms must have appeared as black as night. Her teeth had morphed and it painted a picture of rage unlike anything they'd seen from her before. Suddenly, there was a loud bang as one of the gym fire doors flew open. Maddy could just see a flash of movement as Shannon and Tom bolted through it, apparently scared they would get killed just by watching. She didn't let it distract her, though.

"Maddy, you can't just demand answers and not tell us what you want them about specifically." Dan sighed. Maddy could tell from his tone that he'd already guessed, but he wanted to hear her say it.

"Maya didn't die, did she?" Instantly, the air in the room changed. It was as though there had been an elastic band holding everything in place that had finally broken. Now spilling everywhere, it wasn't something Maddy was keen to try to reorganise. The chaos she knew was to follow was good. It was the kind that would give the answers that needed to be given. It didn't need to get out into the world as Emma and Dan feared, after all the secret was still paramount, but this was a secret that had been left unshared for too long. With that in mind, she pressed on. "In fact, according to that specky freak, Maya never even got taken. I did. So it's time to come clean. What haven't you told me?" Dan let out a pained sigh and ran his hands through his hair in frustration. Emma winced, looping an arm around Dan. Clearly this was something monumental.

"Okay." Dan nodded. "Okay. I guess it's time you knew everything. All I ask is not here. Let's go home first. There's too many people around and I want this to be family only. And I mean strictly family. No offense, Rhydian." Rhydian held up a hand dismissively to show he understood.

"It's fine. I'll just head up to Maddy's room and pretend I don't exist."

"Good." If Dan had even registered Rhydian's words, he gave no indication as he focused back on Maddy. "You want to know everything? Then I'll take you back to the beginning. The very beginning."