Chapter 10: Rhydian

The pack are back now, so it doesn't take long for me to find their camp so I can talk to my parents. If they really are my parents. Mum can smell me coming, either that or her instincts are telling her something is really wrong. We run into each other in the woods.

"Mum, what's going on?" I don't greet her properly, I can't yet. Not until I get the answers that Carys and I deserve.

"It's Carys isn't it?" She says. She looks worried. "Take me to her, Rhydian."

"No. Tell me who she is, why are they saying she's my sister?" I'm angry, my eyes turn yellow and my veins turn black.

"Calm down, cariad," she pleads.

"Answer me, mum!"

Her bottom lip starts quivering, then she bursts into tears. "She's mine. I had her almost a year after I had you."

My anger fades, now all I am is confused. "That's why I've been having these weird instincts, that something was wrong. It was her who was suffering. What about dad?"

"He's her father," she admits.

"What?" I shake my head. "No, but her parents- they raised her. This doesn't make any sense, mum!"

"Her pare- Geraint and Rhiannon took her from me when she was a few months old," she tears up, "Geraint had somehow found out that I had Ava and gave her away. Then when Carys came along, he took her while we slept. If he couldn't have his daughter, then I couldn't have mine." She breaks down, falling to her knees. I pull her up and hug her tightly. I do nothing but let her be sad. There are so many thoughts racing through my mind.

Why didn't mum say anything before? Carys spent months in the wild with her and dad, and neither of them said a word about it.

"Please, take me to her Rhydian," I nod, and I take her hand and we walk back to the city. She whimpers the whole way there. She tells me about dad barely being able to look at Carys, because he's so heartbroken that his own daughter doesn't know who he is. They didn't tell her because she had just lost both Geraint and Rhiannon, they didn't want to complicate things more. Look where that got us.

I tell her what Whitewood said, about Carys' mental health. I have to explain exactly what Carys' disorders are, in the wild they just have sanity and insanity, no specific terms for anything.

We exit the forest and make our way into town to go to Segolia. Mum's never been there before, I don't think she's ever even been to the city. We walk hand in hand into the building and up to the med wing. Mum comes to a stop outside Carys' door.

"Mum?"

"She's going to hate me," she's still teary-eyed.

"She won't, you protected her. She'll be shocked, but she could never hate you, she couldn't hate anyone. The worst that will happen is that she won't talk to you for a little while. She hasn't spoken to me yet. And anyway, she'll get over that. She doesn't really have a choice." I squeeze her hand. "You'll be okay, mum, I'm right here."

She pulls herself together and takes a deep breath. We walk in to find Ava sitting on the chair I spent the night on, Jana sitting on the edge of Carys' bed, and Carys standing looking out of the window. Jana and Ava look up at us.

"What's she doing here?" Ava bears her teeth at mum.

"What are you doing here?" I reply, giving her a growl.

"My sister's not well. I came to support her," she hisses.

Carys sharply turns around. "I don't want your support. I want my family," she smiles weakly at me, "My pack," she smiles at mum with tears in her eyes. "Wait outside, Ava."

"No, I-"

"She said to wait outside," I don't shout, but I raise my voice slightly. She picks up her posh white jacket and storms out of the room. She's so entitled.

"Jana, maybe you should go too. Mum wants to talk to Carys."

Jana walks over to Carys. "Will you be okay?" She asks her. Carys nods, receiving a kiss on the forehead. She leaves the room too.

Mum takes a seat on the armchair and I perch on the edge of Carys' bed, she joins me.

"I just want an explanation. I'm not mad at you, I can't be. You've done so much for me," she says to mum, taking my hand.

Mum takes another deep breath, "Gerwyn and I- we- we're your parents," she can't look either of us in the eye. Carys takes it surprisingly well, it's like she already knew. Maybe deep down she did. To be honest, I think I did too, I just knew Carys and I were connected somehow.

"Okay, okay, well why- I don't understand," she turns to me with a furrowed brow.

"Mum, shall I explain?" Mum nods, I realise she's started crying. That's not like her. "Your dad, or- Geraint, he didn't know about Ava until long after mum gave her away. When he found out she had been taken by humans, he took you as revenge. But that doesn't mean he didn't love you, both of them. They wanted a daughter, they wanted you." Carys starts welling up.

"I'm so sorry, Cariad," Mum's voice cracks as she tries to stifle her tears. "I wanted to tell you, I so badly wanted you to know who I really am. But you've been through so much and I didn't want to deepen your pain," she comes towards us and takes Carys' hand. "There's something else you need to know," something she hasn't told me yet, "The things that are happening in your head, Rhydian explained it all to me, I think you may have inherited it. My mother had similar... problems. I didn't know her well. My father was killed, not long after I was born, she lost her mind and ran away, leaving me in the care of our former Alpha, Johannes. I'm so sorry," she takes my hand as well.

"I forgive you, or at least I'll try to. You didn't know what Geraint would do; you didn't know I would have the same problems as your mother. I've learnt that holding grudges will get me nowhere," Carys already seems like she's more herself. Carys and mum stand up. They both look into each other's eyes before sharing a long-awaited hug.

I don't know how I didn't see it before, they have the same eyes, the same facial structure, but not the same hair. For some reason, Carys, Ava and I all have blonde hair. Then there's little Bryn with his jet-black mop.

"I think, I think I need some time alone, some space to think about things," Carys says, I stand up.

"Um, Dr Whitewood said not to leave you alone, especially if you're not restrained." She nods solemnly. "Sorry, Carys." I can't stand seeing her like this.

"No, it's okay, I guess I'm a danger to everyone," she plonks herself onto her bed.

"It's you we're worried about. You're a danger to yourself at the moment." Dr Whitewood walks into the room. "How are you feeling?" She asks.

"Surprisingly okay, considering," She looks at mum.

"That's good to hear, I'm assuming this is your mother Rhydian?" I nod my head.

"Our mother," Carys says, and she smiles and me and mum.

"Right, well I'm glad you all got to the bottom of that," Whitewood replies, she seems uncomfortable being involved in our family drama. I think we're all a little uncomfortable.

"What happens now?" Carys asks.

"Well, we've got a psychiatric specialist coming in to chat to you, and hopefully you can go home as soon as possible," she says smiling, but none of us smiles back. It's hard to act happy when Carys is in so much pain.

"I don't really have a home," she says. "I've been living wild until I'm old enough to work and get a place of my own," she suddenly gasps in fear and starts hyperventilating.

"Carys?" I say, getting closer to her, she doesn't say anything. She just grasps her head and buries her face in her pillow, she's breathing so quickly. She must be hearing things again.

"What's happening?" Mum asks. "Cariad?"

"No," Carys says through gritted teeth.

"Okay, I think it's best if you leave, Rhydian, we'll take it from here," Whitewood shoos me out of the room, blocking my view of a distressed Carys.

The door is slammed in my face. "Rhydian, what's happening?" Maddy comes up behind me. I turn around and see Tom and Shannon standing there too.

"I think she's having another… I don't know, episode?" I say. We hear Carys screaming out. My heart skips a beat. That's my sister in there. Ava and Jana stand up from their waiting room chairs.

"What? Let me in," Jana charges towards me. I grab her and try to hold her back.

"No Jana, it's okay. She's with Whitewood and mum, she's safe. It's not that bad. She's just having a moment." Jana looks at me as if to say 'she needs me, not those people who barely know her', if only she realised just how much mum knows her. "Don't worry, she's strong." Jana cries, Maddy puts her arms around her and takes her back to her seat. Reassuring her that everything's okay. I want to tell Jana all about Geraint and Rhiannon taking her from mum when she was born, but it's not my place. Carys will tell her when she's ready.

I go and take my own seat down the other end of the hall. I can feel Ava looking at me, it doesn't take long for her to walk down the hall to me, but she walks past me and starts dialling on her phone. She goes into another room and a few minutes later comes back out.

"I'm sorry. I've made things worse by coming here. I didn't realise how bad she was, it was a mistake and I'm sorry," she says, sitting a few seats away from me. I think hearing Carys in the state she's in has really made Ava see the light.

"It's not me you should be apologizing to, Carys is the one having a mental breakdown. You could have waited until she was older. Maybe if you let her make her own decisions, she might actually be willing to know you."

"I know, I handled it badly. And I'm done making excuses. I've called off the legals at Segolia, that's who I was calling just now."

"Thank you, that means a lot. And it will to her too," I say.

"I'm going back to London. You and Carys can call me or visit whenever you want, or if you don't want to that's fine too. But I really hope you do. Tell her I said I hope she gets better soon," she stands up. "Goodbye, Rhydian."

I stand up too, "Goodbye," I give her a reluctant hug and watch as she walks out of the building. I look back down the hall as Carys' door is opened.

"Jana, she's asking for you," Dr Whitewood says.