Moonstruck

𝓯𝓸𝓾𝓻 | The House of Red Ochre

"No, we do not have alligators in the moat," said Mateo. "Where'd you even get that idea?"

Ellie shrugged and nearly lost her footing upon the slippery wooden slats of the drawbridge. She could swear it was slightly swaying as the four of them crossed it. "I don't know—something about the general look of this place, I guess?"

"You'll get used to it," Mateo replied cheerfully. "Eventually."

Throwing up her hands to shield her eyes from the harsh glare reflecting off the surrounding diamond-silver water, Ellie squinted up at the portcullis. It was a beastly, maw-like gate that made her feel like she was being engulfed by a colossal monster as it screeched open and let them pass through into the castle courtyard.

The central courtyard of the House of Red Ochre straddled a fine line between imposing beauty and stark grimness. It was an impressively sized quadrangle caged in by looming gray stone walls and buildings, every few yards punctured with a gothic, tombstone-shaped archway. The courtyard itself was an expanse of smooth, flat cobblestones interrupted only by sparsely placed stone benches and a colossal monument in the center: a weathered statue of a grim-faced goddess brandishing a jewel-encrusted sword with one hand, the other resting upon the head of a sleek-coated wolf looking up at her with keen adoration. Though the inscription upon the base of the statue read "Aurelia, Patroness of the Pack," it looked nothing like the warm, golden woman Ellie had seen in her visions. In fact, nothing in this courtyard resembled the goddess at all—it was all so somber. So cold.

"How old is this place?" Ellie asked Mateo. Despite the goosebumps creeping up her arms, she could no longer keep up the pretense of being unimpressed by the grandiosity of the House of Red Ochre. Craning her neck, she peered up at the tips of the towers jutting out above the spiky walls of the courtyard and marveled at—if not the castle's beauty—then its dignified grandeur and stateliness.

Blowing a few wayward strands of curly dark hair out of his eyes, Mateo followed Ellie's gaze and peered, too, at the castle towers. "This part—the central wing—is the oldest and original section, built way back in the sixteenth century when Spaniards first colonized this place. The earliest settlements in this area had huge populations of werewolves, who eventually grouped up and formed their own various settlements independently of the humans."

"Why did they have to build such huge fortresses?"

"They had lots of enemies. The humans—both European and Navajo—saw them as evil witches and monsters. The settlements themselves also had frequent fighting amongst one another—hence why we have so many different packs across the United States today. Of course, the humans had the right idea about some werewolves; a few werewolf packs really did and still do use dark magic."

Remembering the lunists she and Seth had encountered earlier that day who had summoned a monster from the shadows, Ellie nodded. She felt a slight shiver creep up her spine despite the warm day, and tore her gaze from the towers to further examine the statue of Aurelia instead. "So if the House's central wing is the original, then that means the other wings are..."

"Newer, yes." Mateo pointed towards the far end of the courtyard, at a particularly large and grand stone archway framing a pathway that led—Ellie guessed—to another courtyard. "That's the east wing, the newest addition. It was first built around the post-Civil War era. Then the two world wars happened and blew the place to pieces both times, and it was finally officially rebuilt during the 50's. Ever since, it's been continuously renovated and expanded every few years. That's also why it's the largest of the three wings.

"The layout's kind of confusing—the east wing branches off into lots of subsections—so everyone gets lost at least once during their first week or so here. But it also contains most of the living areas, so you might want to get someone to show you around the place.