Tracked: A Valkyrie Saga Book 2

Chapter 8 - Rumors

The second Delia left last night I grabbed that box of film canisters and looked up the closest place that actually still developed film. There was a store that was an hour away, but they were already closed for the night. I tossed and turned all night thinking of the answers that box might hold. I have spent the last twenty years asking questions and looking for answers, and I am finally moving forward. I woke up at five a.m. and drove to the small store that still declared that they did one hour photo. I had to wait in the parking lot for two hours for the store to open and then another ninety minutes for the photos to be developed. One hour photo, my ass. Once in the car, I actually ripped the large white envelope that encased each roll of photos. I grabbed the first set and started to flip through them, but it took several moments to understand what I was looking at.

Sam holding out a pillowcase and a jewelry store clerk dumping an entire shelf of sparkly jewelry into the bag.

Sam standing in a group of hard-looking men as they all stare into crates filled to the brim with guns.

A ring of people who are all yelling and looking into the center where two young children, no more than eight or nine, fought with their bare fists.

A selfie of Delia with blood dripping from a clearly broken nose and a deep cut running from her eyebrow into her hairline.

A dirty piece of paper with a child's handwriting on it that said "Samuel has made a deal with a motorcycle gang in Arizona and is selling out my truth-seeking abilities so they can find the rat within their ranks. But they didn't like when I told them their V.P. was the one who was lying. They beat me up and Samuel did nothing to stop them."

Sam standing with blood spatter on his face and a gun in his hand as a young woman lay dead at his feet.

Sam physically forcing an old man out of a car with a look of excitement on his face.

A close up of a deep cut that looked to be on a young woman's rib cage. Her ribs were also deeply bruised.

Another piece of paper with handwriting slightly more mature than the first, "Today I killed a boy. I don't even know his name but he was a Shifter and looked like he was a year or two older than me, so he was maybe thirteen and I killed him with my bare hands. Samuel Compelled me not to stop until either he or I was dead. I was unable to fight the fog to stop. I should have just let him kill me instead."

It went on and on. I spent more than an hour in that parking lot looking through these stacks of gruesome photos until I actually had to get out and throw up because I was so disgusted by what I saw. The man in the photos was my son, but I barely recognized him through all of the hate and anger consuming him. What had happened to my boy? And how could we ever atone for the kind of abuse he put that innocent child through?

--Mathis Olsen

Whispers and looks followed me everywhere I went that morning, but I stuck to my guns and refused to cloak myself. I took Chasity's advice and even pushed my allure out more than normal. Everybody that I came across was quick to denounce Madison's actions and say they knew I wasn't that kind of girl. Connor went out of his way to escort me to History and I knew that this was his way of declaring he was on my side because Madison always hung all over Connor in History. When we walked into the classroom Madison was already there with a small group of people who were all looking at their phones and snickering while darting glances up at me. Sound was emanating from her phone and I figured she had actually taken a video of the condom bomb exploding in my face.

I walked straight up to her and once everyone stopped laughing I said in a clear unemotional voice, "Madison, I think that you owe me an apology."