I staggered bacnto the Magyk Shoppe exhausted and upset. My mother was sitting at the counter working on her dinosaur of a computer. I moved forward, knocking over the massive silver Celtic cross she keeps on the checkout counter. When the cross crashes to the ground she finally looks up.
"What happened to you?" She says while grabbing her crutches.
"Werewolves." I said flatly. "Would it have been so hard to mention that werewolves are real, and that you're living in a town full of them?" My mother shrugged.
"I had my suspicions,but nothing confirmed. They don't trust me."
"Gee, I wonder why that is." I press my hand to my forehead, where a massive headache is forming. "Would it be so awful if I knew that I wasn't alone."
"I don't understand what you're talking about."
"Oh, you know exactly what I'm talking about. How I can heal creatures and people." My mother is lost for words for a few moments.
"I remember." She stands up to face me. "Tiffany, you do realize that the reason I got involved with the supernatural is because of you."
"If that's your reason why didn't you tell me?" I question.
"As I said before, I hadn't confirmed very much."
"I don't care if it is true or not. If something can help me understand what I am you tell me." My mother purses her lips.
"Tiffany you don't understand"
"No! You're the one who doesn't understand!" I practically scream. "You have no idea what I felt when I discovered I had these, these powers! It was my first job after college, I was so happy, so excited. I was finally a veterinarian! Then I became tired all the time, exhausted, restless. Animals were magically healed overnight, no one knew what was happening. When I finally realized that it was me, that I was the one healing the animals, I was terrified. I quit my job, ran off to play the violin. The one person I told all of this to was you."
After this tirade, my mother looks for the first time since my father died, a little subdued.
"I know Tiffany. I know." She says so quietly I almost miss it. Then I do something that surprised even myself. I hug her and start to cry.
"Mom, I-, I love you."
"I love you too."
We stay like that, holding each other, crying, and for the first time in a long while, I know that I have a mother who loves me.
I wake up on a couch in Magyk Shoppe. I hadn't even realized there was couch in the shop, since it is usually covered in books, and even now a few miscellaneous novels pressing into my back and legs. My mother is sitting at the counter as usual, her crutches propped up on the chair. Her eyes flick over me as I stand up.
"Welcome back to the land of the living, Tiffany."
"Good to be back." I say curtly, while rubbing my cheek, where the corner of one of the books had dug into my flesh.
"Tea?" My mother holds out a cup towards me. I stand up and take it. Rose hip. My favorite. Instantly my suspicions are aroused. In spite of our touching mother-daughter moment last night, I still don't trust my mom. I go behind the counter and grab one of the fold up chairs we keep there, and sit across from my mother.
We sit there for a few minutes, sipping our tea and eyeing each other. Finally my mother sets down her cup and clears her throat.
"All right, Tiffany. Lets get everything in the open. You have mystical healing powers that we have no idea where they came from, werewolves are real and are our next door neighbors, and something weird is going on. I suggest we start with the first problem." She leans over and reaches beneath the counter. Then she brings up a massive stack of books which she sets on the counter with a loud thump!
"People with the ability to heal have existed in every day and age. Most of them were gifted by gods or spirits and a few claimed to have miracle cures, like a plant that would heal any known ailment. What were going to is try to find like you, and work from there. When you get sick of that," My mother ducks underneath the counter again and brings up a slightly smaller stack of books. "You can start researching werewolves."
"You're kidding right?" My mother delivers one of her infamous "looks"
"I don't 'kid'." She says icily.
"Of course." I mutter. What the heck. I'm not going to back to clinic any time soon, so I pull a book off the top of the larger pile and start reading.
By mid-afternoon I know more than I ever wanted to about mystical healing powers. Who knew that so many stories involved magical healings? My head is swimming with the names of shamans, Catholic saints and demigods. There is nothing that seems to be related to me. I decide to switch to werewolves. I look over at my mother. She is reading a paperback with a halfnaked, very muscular guy with simpering woman wearing a very low cut dress draped over him on the cover.
"I see that you are researching bodice rippers now." She looked up and closed the book.
"I have already read all these books. What did you think I have been doing for the past five years?" I think about this.
"I honestly have no idea." I frown. "If you've already gone through these, then why do I have to read them?"
"I have gone through all these books so many times, that I thought that perhaps you and your fresh eyes might find something that I missed." She has a point so I make no more objections. I chose a book that had caught my interest when we started. The title was humorous, The Evolution of the Werewolf: How the Feared and Cursed Monster Became That Guy Who Got Friendzoned By That Girl With No Discernable Facial Expressions. I opened it to the first page.
It began with a quick introduction, full of humor, and explaining the meaning of the "scientific" name for werewolves, lycanthropy. It came from an ancient Greek myth about a king named Lycaon. Lycaon refused to worship the gods and mocked his people for doing so. Zeus went down to visit him in disguise, to see just how badly he could behave. When Zeus revealed that he was a god, Lycaon' s people believed him and gave him the respect due to a God, but Lycaon didn't believe Zeus and decided to "test" Zeus.
Lycaon came up with a plot to murder Zeus, and by killing him prove that he was not a god. He planned to give Zeus a place to sleep, and then sneak into the room and stab his guest to death. But wait, there's more! Lycaon decided to defile his guest, in the worst possible way. By feeding him human flesh. Lycaon killed his own infant son to serve to his guest. When the dish was placed in front of Zeus he knew immediately that it was human flesh. Zeus struck the meat from the table and sent his thunderbolt flying. Down crashed ceilings, walls collapsed, and flames devoured the palace. Lycaon fled the palace, but the vengeance of Zeus followed him.
As her ran, Lycaon began to howl and fell down upon all fours. He had turned into a wolf. Even as a wolf he was as bloodthirsty as he ever was. Lycaon terrorized the countryside of Arcadia, preying on sheep and goats, unable to satisfy his thirst for death.
After the intro the author dove right into the folklore surrounding werewolves. In Slavic folklore, the vampire and the werewolf are closely associated. Some beliefs state that after death werewolves would turn into vampires. Up until that paragraph I had completely forgotten about other mythical creatures. If werewolves were real what else was? Vampires? Fairies? The boogeyman!?
Something else troubled me as well. In the Slavic tradition werewolves were innately evil. It comforted me that in Irish mythology werewolves had a much more neutral stance. They were usually people under a spell and restrained their human intelligence while in wolf form. I didn't want to think of James or Lucky as murderers.
I heard someone banging on the door. I put down my book and looked up. It was James, motioning for me to come outside. My mother nodded. I hesitated, and slipped out of my chair. I opened the door and stepped outside. The chilly night air nipped at me And I shivered.
"We need to talk." James said as soon as I stepped out.
"No kidding." I mutter. We walk down the street before standing in awkward silence. I look up at the moon. It is a sliver of light of the sky, and I remember that the new moon is tomorrow. I think of a story I had read earlier that day.
"There's a legend, a Mayan one I think, about a woman who lives in the moon. She is cooking stew and weaving, and there is a little dog that sits next to her. Whenever she leaves her weaving to store the stew the little dog unravels all of her weaving. And when the woman in the moon finishes her weaving the world will end." I waited while James thought about what I had said.
"That dog better not slack off. I have stuff to do." That selfish, silly comment eased the tension between us, just a bit.
"Even before I had heard that story, I always believed there was a woman in the moon. I used to talk to her and when I was little I thought that she watched over me." I glanced over at James, watching his reaction to my words.
"She must be lonely, living up there all by herself. Shining down on the world, never able to be a part of it. No wonder she disappears every month. It probably gets to be too much for her." James and I exchanged a small smile. I still didn't understand the whole werewolf thing. I didn't even understand myself for that matter. But I had to start somewhere. A loud bang rocked me out of my thoughts. James had already taken off towards the Magyk Shoppe when I realized what that sound was. A gunshot.
Author' s Note
I'm back! I know that I haven't updated since June, but I haven't had a chance to do so until now. I had planned to write this chapter before I went off on my summer travels, but I ran out of time. Then school started, and that had me on my toes. When I had finally gotten all of my business together,the construction people at my house cut the phone lines. My internet is connected to my phone lines.
Well the important thing is that I'm here now. Thank you to all who reviewed, SinisterBree, SummerTime15, and Vamp4eva. SummerTime15, I hope this chapter answered your questions. Does anyone have any idea what is happening down at the Magyk Shoppe? If so please let me know. I want to know what sort of wild and crazy theories you guys come up with. Please review, I love feedback. And thank you for reading this.
Ciao,
Meowcubed3