The Society | Completed

Epilogue

Sabrina gazes over at Conrad, who's desperately trying to salvage the pancakes.

"Mom, I'll do it," she sighs, getting up from her seat at the table.

"Okay, are you sure? Is your sister awake yet?" She asks, running over to where her laptop is making a scary amount of noise.

"Yeah. She's in the bathroom. I heard her singing a few minutes ago," Sabrina shrugs, frowning at the pan.

Despite her best efforts - and the fact it was Sage's favourite food - Conrad had never mastered pancakes. She wasn't a bad cook, although there were some questionable dishes at times, but she had never made a good pancake that was in less than three pieces.

"I hope she's ready for school; I don't have time to chase her around this morning," Conrad sighs, tucking some of her hair behind her ear.

"Mom, it'll be fine. I can drag her with me. Her school is beside mine," Sabrina reminds her, giving up on the pancake. She dumps the contents of the pan into the bin and pours a fresh one, shaking her head.

"I really don't want to make you have to do that. We moved here so we could all have an easier time. It'll be harder if you have to lug your sister around. I don't want to ruin your day," Conrad sighs, stabbing at the keys of her laptop.

"Mommy, relax. You're doing great. I don't mind bringing her today, we had our tours yesterday. It can't be that bad," she shrugs, wrapping her arms around Conrad, who leans against her much taller child.

"I don't want to be an absent parent. I need to give Sage the rules in the car, and I need to remind her that she can't do anything even mildly wolfy. This is a human town, and I have no intentions of being ran out of it," Conrad grumbles.

Sabrina can't help the chuckle that leaves her lips, although she regrets it when Conrad shoots her a look.

"She knows not to be an idiot. I'll remind her, but the school has her down as being epileptic anyway, so if she does have one of her... episodes, it'll be fine," Sabrina reasons calmly, going back to watching Sage's pancake.

"What the heck did you put into the mix? This isn't cooking," Sabrina exclaims suddenly, watching the liquid bubble and then flatten.

"Crap, I think I used the wrong flour," Conrad mutters, hurrying to the cupboard to check.

"Oh, I definitely did. Put that in the bin, and put the pan with it, please," she quickly orders, pulling a face.

"What did you use?" Sabrina asks curiously, doing as she was told.

"The love-potion laced flour. The one the witches gave me at your dad's anniversary celebration," Conrad trails off into a mumble, biting her lips as she tries not to cry.

Sabrina found it comical that even witches were trying to get her mom to date again, but she couldn't say that while the woman was fanning her eyes to prevent her mascara running.

Sage appears in the kitchen then, one of her curls getting stuck around the door handle.

"Shit, mom, help," she yelps, her hand flying to her head.

"Language," Conrad and Sabrina yell at the same time, exchanging a grin.

The ten-year-old looks sheepishly at her mom and sister, a giggle leaving her lips.

Conrad appreciates the distraction and happily untangles Sage's hair from the metal handle, pulling a face as she discovers another knot.

"Isn't my hair nice," Sage comments, preening in the mirror ahead of her.

"No, I don't know how you did this," Conrad mutters, groping at the counter behind her in search of the brush she brought downstairs.

Sabrina watches the scene with a bubble of laughter in her chest, quickly straightening her face when her mother turns around.

"Can you put a pop-tart into the toaster for Sage? We don't have time for real breakfast," Conrad grumbles, still attacking the knot in her younger daughter's hair.

Sage is whining and trying to wiggle away from Conrad's attempts, which irritates her mother no end.

"Sage, your father would not let you leave the house with a knot the size of Jupiter hanging out of the side of your head, and I'm not going to, either," Conrad scowls, finally managing to free half of the hair in the clump.

Sage looks beseechingly at Sabrina, who sticks her tongue out at the younger girl.

"Mom, Sabrina's making faces at me," Sage yells.

"Sabrina, Sage's not letting me brush her hair," Conrad yells, gently mocking her youngest.

Sage grudgingly stills, folding her arms.

"We have two minutes before we need to go," Sabrina warns the two, hopping around the kitchen as she tries to zip up her boots.

"It'll be fine. We've never been late before," Conrad breathes, finally managing to get the brush through Sage's hair.

She was trying to give the pre-teen some independence, so one of her little routines was to let her brush her hair on her own, and then Conrad would braid it for her before she slept.

Yesterday had been so hectic that they all fell asleep as soon as they had gotten home from dinner.

"Mommy, are you going to drop me to school?" Sage asks, forgiving her mother for the attack on her head.

"Yes," Conrad quickly decides, slipping her feet into her heels.

"Are we bringing Sabrina?" Sage asks, and Conrad shakes her head.

"I have my own car, squirt. I'll be bringing you to school when mom is at work, so make sure you know how to get to your classrooms yourself, because I won't be hunting with you like mom will," Sabrina warns her.

"Mom, she said she'd be hunting me," Sage whines, and Conrad looks up from digging in her bag.

"Hmm?" She mumbles, the crease between her eyebrows making her look older.

Sabrina always complains that her mom needs to take care of herself more, because she looks older than her thirty-four years.

"I did not," Sabrina scowls, shooting Sage a glare.

Sage sticks her tongue out, picking up her backpack.

It's plain black, as she requested. Apparently, character or cartoon backpacks were too childish for her going into fifth grade. Sabrina didn't seem to get that memo, as her backpack was bright and floral.

Sage makes a big show of putting her bag on, grunting and complaining loudly.

Sabrina and Conrad don't even look at her, well used to the dramatics of the ten-year-old.

I said I'd upload it altogether, I did, and I know some of you won't be happy about this ending, and I apologise for it, but it is absolutely better than the original ending I had planned.

Whelp, this is the end! I'm going to mark this as completed and submit it to the Wattys, I suppose!

Not to be strange, but thank you all for going on the journey of this book over the last eleven months with me! I adore you all so much, and I will forever appreciate the support you have all shown me!

Special thanks to lolabeanbos marisajags BlueWolfThomas and many, many others for your constant support, commenting and making me actually think out my plot lines! I hugely appreciate each and every one of you that managed to stick this out to the end, even if I did mix up names (Carlos' wolf, still don't know which I had originally settled on) and ages!

Major major love to you all, and if you have any questions or requests, I can answer them here or do a little q&a section!

Bye for now!
- Aoife :) xx