Chapter 5
Six years. It had been six years since her entire family perished in the fire, from which she had barely escaped. At least she thought her entire family at that time and had realized with heartbreak that she was absolutely alone in the world, with no one to look after her, and having no idea what to do next. But there were two things she was aware of even at the tender age of eleven. She knew who had killed her family, and also what they would do to her if they found her alive. And so, she ran; ran till she was out of Beacon Hills, and then started travelling wherever destiny led her to.
Being a beta, now recently turned omega, she knew she'd need another pack to protect herself. Everyone in her pack who were born werewolves got their basic training of pack and survival before nine, which helped her a lot. For example, how to look for food or hunt, how to stay hidden, especially when any hunter was around, how to mask her scent; in short how to survive all the while she travelled alone. It was only after four months that she had found a pack in South America who took her in. It was a large pack, and though she was a kid and a newbie, she received great camaraderie from the others. The alpha was really distressed to learn about the Hales. They were, after all, one of the most well-known packs of America, after Satomi. And therefore, he cared for her like his daughter. For the first time after four months of the fire, life was a little better.
That was not to say, that she never missed her family. At times she would wake up at night screaming, due to the recurring nightmares about the fire. Other times, she would just huddle up at one corner of the room and cry while everyone was asleep. She thought about her mom, dad, uncle Peter, Laura, Derek, her other siblings and cousins. But the most she would think about was Amara.
She was the only one in the entire family who was of her age, and therefore her best friend. They would always be attached to each other's hips, playing, running, climbing trees, and so on. At the age of five, Amara had displayed her first accidental magic, after which their mother had explained to her that she was a witch and that she would be going to Hogwarts to learn magic. Though Cora was a little bummed about it, because she would only get to see her sister for two months of summer in a year, Amara and their mother had made her feel better by saying that she would send her letters every week, and also that they would visit Hogwarts whenever possible.
From then on, she was sent to their family emissary once a month to learn basic aspects of magic and the Wizarding World. Cora didn't know who their emissary was and Amara was also prohibited from telling to anyone. But she always used to tell her about her magic lessons. Apart from that their father used to give them training together, which weren't totally werewolf related. Like, how to throw a knife at an enemy, how to find which plants were edible and which were poisonous, how to focus on their senses other than eyes, how to swim, etc.
Cora used to recall how excited and nervous Amara was, as the days came closer to her receiving her Hogwarts letter. How Cora was a little subdued, that the years flew so fast and within two months' time, Amara would be so far away that they'd not see each other's faces for months, even though she knew that Amara dreamt of going to this place for years. And how all those dreams, those moments of laughter and playfulness was destroyed in one night! Even after six years, she still had that one place in her heart that still pricked, whenever she recalled that ten-year-old baby face with bright green eyes of her sister.
That was until three months ago when she heard a rumour about a new pack being formed in Beacon Hills led by a Hale Alpha. She was shocked to the core about the possibility of a member of her family being alive, and at once she started to investigate who it was. When she got to know that it was her elder brother Derek, she was overjoyed and wanted to meet him as soon as possible. Although the alpha of the current was upset about her leaving, he had given her permission, and so she set out towards her hometown, with a deep bubbling excitement of reuniting with her family.
As her luck would have it, as soon as she set foot into the town she was captured by the Alpha pack and thrown into a vault, where she was held captive along with two other werewolves for three months. She got to know that they were betas of Derek's pack, so there was a sliver of hope that Derek would surely come to rescue them. After all, an alpha never abandons his betas, she had learned that when she was only seven years old.
They had been kept in a vault whose inner walls scattered the moonlight, leading to them not feeling the full moon for three months, and slowly losing their sanity. One of the two betas, named Erica retaliated by attacking Kali and was instantly killed in front of their eyes.
It was an excruciatingly torturous period of waiting, dreading for the upcoming full moon when the alphas had planned to release them, and even the comforting words to each other no longer had any effect on them. On the fateful night, the Alpha Pack's emissary Marin Morell entered the vault and started drawing a circle of mountain ash around it. Needless to say, both Boyd and Cora were confused by that. Weren't they planning to set them out in the open? But no…that part became clear when a loud bang could be heard from the wall facing them, which cracked open a giant hole sending chunks of stone flying everywhere! And there stood…Derek, her brother, whom she thought was dead, whom she was seeing after 6 years…and whom she now wanted to tear apart, as the full moon hit them, slowly shutting down their mental faculties.
That night was quite an eventful one, at least what Derek told her afterwards because she was slashing, punching, kicking and running around with only half aware of what she was doing. He told her that they had to hold them in a boiler room in the Beacon Hills High School, until the morning which is when they both passed out. She was upset, upset that not only Derek but Laura(until 8 months back), uncle Peter(although she was disgusted with him after hearing what he did to Laura) and Amara were alive too, and she had no idea about it for all those years. She was also angry at the Argents, who destroyed their family, and now the Alpha Pack, for almost making her kill her brother after finally finding him. But within all that, there was a part of her that was also happy that now, after all these years, she was finally home.
September 9, 2011
Cora had been introduced to Derek's pack – Boyd(whom she already knew) and Issac Lahey. Apart from that, they also introduced her to another werewolf named Scott McCall. She was albeit a little surprised to learn that he was an omega by choice, but she didn't pay much mind to it. Right now, only two things were going on in her mind; taking revenge on the Alpha Pack for what they did, and finding out more about Amara. Since their reunion, Derek hadn't spoken much about her, excluding the fact that she was alive as well. However, as he said this, his heart skipped a beat – not like he was lying but like he was unsure about this fact. She needed to find out what that was all about. And she also realized that she would need to be prepared for the oncoming war between their pack and the Alphas because she knew they weren't going to let go of this easily.
That's why we can see her now in Derek's loft, having a rigorous self-training. She was doing pull-ups when Derek came behind her, admonishing, "Stop. You're not done healing."
"Yeah? Well, I'm done lying around." She retorted.
"Then sit."
"Are you gonna help me go after them?" she asked while starting push-ups, thinking about the night before when she wanted to take her revenge and Derek just outrightly refused. She was absolutely baffled and annoyed at her brother's rather passive attitude despite being an alpha now. And she was trying to channel all her emotions into training. Which is why she did not see Derek's kick coming making her lose her balance and colliding on the floor.
She leapt back up and starting punching her brother, but instead of countering them he just stopped her blows.
"Come on! Fight back!" she exclaimed in frustration at the lack of response.
"I came back for this?" Cora scoffed, "I can't believe I got my ass thrown in a vault for three months for you. All those rumours I heard. A powerful new alpha, one of the Hales, building a pack. Do you know how long I've waited to hear something like that? Do you have any idea how it felt to find out you were alive? That Amara is alive?"
Derek's head hung low during her entire verbal jab. At last, he looked up at her, with a defeated expression, "I'm sorry to have disappointed you."
He made to leave but Cora grabbed his hand and turned him around to face her. She was not understanding why her brother was acting like this; like he had just given up on everything. But she was not going to let him get away with this.
"What's wrong Derek? Why do you look so resigned? This was not the brother I knew. And what about Amara? Where is she? What are you not telling about her?"
But before Derek could answer to that, the alarm of the loft went off.
"What's that?" Cora asked.
"Trouble" Derek replied.
And trouble it was!
Within a moment's notice, the loft door slid open and a giant bald man with red eyes emerged. Ennis! He gave a murderous growl, which should have sent a shiver in anyone's spine. But you're not a Hale if you're not stubborn. And that time all Cora saw was red as she lunged towards him, despite Derek's protests. Ennis swatted her blow and within seconds she was pinned to the floor in a chokehold. Baring his fangs, Ennis snarled, "Ready for a rematch?"
Derek made to rescue his sister, but that's when Kali entered, and a fight ensued between them. Cora watched from her position, as Derek avoided Kali's repeated swipe of the claws of her feet before he grabbed her leg and threw her across the room. She leapt up and broke a metal pipe, and swinging it, she hit Derek in the face, then his head, sending him down to the floor. She swung the metal pipe again and before Derek tried to get up she impaled him with it.
Derek let out an agonizing roar, and Cora let out a panicking gasp at the sight.
"Nooo!", she shrieked.
"Aa-aah!" Derek groaned in pain, gritting his teeth.
"Everybody done? 'Cause just listening to that was exhausting." With that entered Deucalion into the loft with his cane.
He came towards Derek, and folding up his cane and sat at the base table facing the Hale alpha.
"Sorry about that Derek. I asked Kali to be gentle." He continued.
"This is me being gentle." She retorted, holding the pipe in place and quirking a malicious grin at Derek's agony.
With ragged breaths, Derek croaked out, "Let her go." For some reason, Deucalion motioned Ennis to release Cora. As soon as she was free from Ennis's grasp, she made to go help her brother.
"No" Derek whispered, which made her stop.
"See, we are not unreasonable. Now…let's chat, shall we?" Deucalion chimed.
"What do you want? You want to kill me?"
"You really think I'm that boring? Don't throw me into sociopaths like your uncle. I'm a man with far more vision than simple murder. In fact," he removed his glasses to reveal his bind eyes which glowed bright red, "I'm here to show you just how much vision a blind man can have."
Kali dug the pipe deeper making Derek cough out blood.
"Stop it! You're killing him!" Cora cried.
"Not yet little sister." Kali shook her index finger at her as a sign of 'no', "But I could. Who knows if it's five minutes or five hours before it's too late to take this thing out? But just to be on the safe side Duke, you might want to get to the point." Deucalion smirked at that.
"Now you see the one problem with being in an Alpha Pack. Everybody wants to make the decisions." He continued, "Me? I'm more about discovering new talents. Like you."
"Not interested." Derek croaked.
"But you haven't even heard my pitch."
"You want me to kill my own pack."
"No. I want you to kill one of them. Do that, and I won't have to ask you to kill the others. You'll do it on your own. I did it. Ennis did. Kali did. Tell him what it is like Kali, to kill one of your own."
"Mmm…liberating!" Kali hummed in cruel satisfaction, seeming to relish the memory of killing her own pack.
"Listen to her, Derek. Do you really want to stay beholden to a couple of maladjusted teenagers, bound to become a liability? And believe me, they will become a liability." he paused, and seemed to muse about something, "Except…one."
Derek looked up at him in confusion even in his state, as Deucalion continued, "In fact, I think it's the other way round in her case. Maybe…you were a liability to her, and maybe that's why she left you!" he chuckled darkly, as Cora saw some sort of realization cross in Derek's eyes and his face contorted in pain. Although she couldn't place whether it was physical or emotional.
Who is she? Who is Deucalion talking about? Cora thought.
Meanwhile, the demon wolf produced a newspaper and seemed to read it. Is he serious? Her brother here is impaled, almost about to die, and he found this time as ideal to read a bloody newspaper?
"Have you heard from her recently?" he asked curiously, to which Derek scowled, "Because I must say she is reigning quite a chaos in entire Britain." he dangled the paper in front of the Hale alpha's face, and Cora's eyes widened. Despite six years being passed, she could recognize her sister's face anywhere. Amara Hale! But, why was she in the newspaper? And what was Deucalion talking about her leaving Derek?
"See this article on the front page?" Deucalion pointed to that same picture, "This was released on September 2nd, a day after this incident reported." He cleared his throat to read, "Amaryllis Potter Attacks the Ministry." He laughed in mirth, "Although the motive isn't very clear, I must say it was really well planned, especially the part where they get disguised like Ministry officials." He paused again, "But then when you're labelled by the Ministry as the Most Wanted person in the Wizarding World with a bounty of over 10,000 galleons on your head, I doubt how much worth the risk it was."
Cora must have imagined it, but Deucalion actually looked like he was concerned about her sister. But it was overridden by all the questions that were trying to explode inside her head. For example, why is it written AMARYLLIS POTTER in the article instead of AMARA HALE?
"Why so confused little sister?" Kali asked, half-amused, which make Deucalion turn towards her.
"Why wouldn't she be?" he scoffed, "She must be in the dark about a lot of things her brother might have not revealed yet. Like…Derek, have you told your long lost sister Cora about your other sister's real name, and what is the importance of that name in the Wizarding World? – "
"Don't. Please!" Derek pleaded.
" – Or the fact that she's adopted?"
WHAT! Cora couldn't believe what she just heard. Amara is adopted? And Derek…Derek knows? And-and nobody told her about this the whole time. She glanced at Derek, looking for any sign, to see that it wasn't true. That Deucalion was just saying things to rile them up, and probably succeeding at that time. But the way Derek's head hung low, said otherwise.
"I guess...after we leave, both of you would have quite the sibling talk!" the demon wolf continued, "But I want to say one last thing. I love to recruit those whom I know have great potential. And I see it in you, Derek. Don't let your true potential be subdued by a band of misfits. Instead…prepare yourself to be of real help in real situations…I give you time till the lunar eclipse…make your decision by then…Pack…" he gave a sideways glance to Cora, "…or Family?"
With that, he stood up. With one swift move, Kali removed the pipe from his body, and holding Deucalion's hand she led him out of the loft, followed by Ennis.
Cora ran towards Derek, crying over her brother's condition. A puddle of blood had been formed on the floor by then. Derek was taking slow breaths, focusing on his healing, as Cora placed his head on her lap.
"Derek…" she whimpered.
"I'll be fine." He whispered. And he was; after Cora cleaned all the blood and bandaged him, and he rested for an hour. Though he was still weak, as he still laid on the bed. Cora was sitting beside him, taking his right hand in hers. She was having an inner battle of whether to ask Derek or not.
"Der…" she finally spoke out, voice still shaking, "back then…what did he say? Amara…adopted? …Her real name…Amaryllis Potter? …And her leaving you…?"
Derek looked at her, and Cora saw extreme guilt in his eyes. "I'll tell you", he said, "I'll tell you everything…but we also need to think about…Issac and Boyd!"
"I-I don't get it? Well, did something happen?" a very confused Issac asked Derek. He spared a glance to Cora for any clue but she ignored him. She was engrossed in processing her mind about everything that Derek told her this afternoon. All the things she heard about Amara, her sister, and the thought about the current possible dangers she might be facing was more than enough for her to focus on anything else. And besides, they already had the talk, that Derek would be handing this alone. So, she really had no say in this.
"It's just not gonna happen with both of you here. I've got Cora now. It's too much. I need you out tonight." Derek declared in a flat tone, although Cora knew how it killed him to say that; but she still believed that kicking him out on a stormy night like this was too much. But Derek was adamant.
Issac scoffed in denial, "Where am I supposed to go?"
"Somewhere else."
"Did I do something wrong, Derek?" Issac asked in a low scared voice.
Derek turned towards him, with an irritated face, holding a glass, "You're doing something wrong right now by not leaving."
"Oh, come on."
"Just get out."
"Derek please."
"Get out." Derek raised his voice.
"Come on"
"GO!" Derek shouted and threw the glass towards Issac which missed him just by an inch hitting the beam behind him and getting shattered.
Issac looked at him with a hurt expression, as Derek turned towards the window again. Cora closed her eyes, restraining herself from reaching out to her fellow pack mate, as he picked up his bags and left. Suddenly something nudged her toe, which made her open her eyes. It was Hedwig, Amara's owl. Or should she say Amaryllis Potter's owl? No, she told herself. It doesn't matter whether she is adopted or not, it doesn't matter whether a whole group of wizard terrorists are looking for her or not, she is still her sister, she is still family.
The bird hooted and nipped her toes fondly, making Cora smile a bit and stroke her feathers. Initially, the bird had shown slight hostility, as she didn't know her, but after nearly two weeks she had slowly started to warm up to Cora. After a few moments, Derek also came and joined her, as both the siblings enjoyed each other's and an owl's company in comfortable silence, thinking where fate would lead their family to.
None of them noticed that the certain blond werewolf whom Derek kicked out moments ago, saw something that looked like a parchment and a newspaper kept carelessly on the table and stuffed them in his bag quietly, just before leaving the loft.
"I was wondering if I could ask you for a favour." A heavily soaked Issac uttered out the words, as he stood at the doorway of a certain tanned omega's bedroom. A flash of lightning struck outside, illuminating his crestfallen face.
"Yeah sure," Scott replied. By the looks of the blond werewolf and the bags he was carrying, Scott could already tell what happened. When Melissa came back from her shift, Scott told her about the current predicament.
"You can stay here as long as you want Issac. I'll prepare the guest room for you." The nurse said.
"Tha-thank you!" Isaac replied in a shaky voice. He took a shower and put on some dry clothes given by Scott, and all three of them ate pizza which Melissa had ordered.
Before going to bed Scott felt like checking up on Issac, to ask if he needed anything or not. As he entered the room, he saw that the blond beta was sitting cross-legged on the bed, hunched over and looking at something owlishly. The thing looked like a newspaper or something. He stepped slowly towards him and asked in a casual voice, "What are you reading?"
Issac looked up at him, and he could see there was some kind of shock in his eyes. What did he see in that paper?
"Um…" he hesitated a bit, but then seemed to give up, "I'll tell you…but please don't tell anyone else…especially Derek."
"Ohhkay…" he trailed off, not sure what to answer to that.
"I…actually took these from Derek's loft…without him knowing." The last part he said in a low voice.
"You stole them?" Scott asked incredulously.
"Actually…I would say I picked them up when he wasn't looking. That can't exactly be called stealing, you know?" Scott raised a brow at that.
"Okk, fine! But I am concerned about him, okay? I just badly wanted to know what was bothering him for all these days."
"What do you mean?" Scott took a chair, facing him.
"Er – you might know about this owl thing with Derek, right? Every two to three weeks a white owl comes to him carrying a letter, or a parcel, he reads them and then he sends back a letter in return."
Scott nodded, "Yeah…what about it?" he wouldn't say that he was never curious about it. But there were other problems going on in his life, as well, and so he never had the time to think about it in detail.
"Well, exactly two months ago, Derek got a letter like always, and I don't know what was in it, but after that, he started acting weird. Like he was resigned about everything else, and I guess the only thing keeping him from totally closing up was finding out Erica and Boyd. I thought, that maybe that was the reason, that once we get Boyd and Erica back, Derek would be his old self again. But then…especially after losing Erica…" he trailed off, looking solemn. Scott understood; she was his pack mate after all.
Issac continued, "And I also noticed one thing; after that incident, no more letters came in again; even the owl that used to carry them has now become a permanent resident in his loft. So today, when I got…kicked out, before leaving I saw these two on the table and took them." He held out a parchment first.
"I think this is the letter, I haven't read it completely yet. But it is addressed by someone named 'Amara'."
Scott froze.
"Did you say Amara?" he whispered.
"Yeah…" now it was the turn for Issac to be confused, "Why, do you know her?"
"Um…" Scott hesitated a little, "…she is Derek's sister."
"Derek has another sister?"
Scott nodded.
"Well, that explains his eagerness whenever the letters came in. But then, why did he always used to make this look like a huge secret? He could have easily told us that his sister was sending them, right?"
"Yeah" Scott spoke distractedly.
"And then, there is this newspaper…see it? It will just blow your mind." He handed out the newspaper to Scott which he took and opened up the front page. And Issac was right…he was completely blown away. But not by the things that the blond beta was trying to indicate; instead, it was one picture that took the entirety of the front page. Staring at him was a familiar face that he had seen only once nearly eight months ago. That same pale face with long, messy raven black hair, bright emerald-green eyes behind round glasses, and a lightning-bolt scar just above her right eye. Amara Hale!