They Call Her Psycho

19. The End of the Beginning

-"WHAT IS GOING ON?" Xander stormed into his office to find his family waiting for him. Mateo, Javier, Ermenilda and Nova had travelled back from the club with him when he'd finally picked up Dante's voicemail.

-"That's what I'm here to tell you," Dante replied calmly.

Xander took a seat behind his desk and motioned for his family to do the same on the various chairs and armchairs that filled the room.

Dante took a deep breath and begun his story with true storytelling flair.

-"About a month ago I was looking for one of Grandad's old diaries but I came across a grimoire."

-"What's a grimoire?" slurred his brother.

-"Javier, if you interrupt me this is going to take forever."

-"Darling it's a witch's spell book, they fill it with any spells or potions they use or even create," their mother added gently.

-"Yes, it was full to the brim with hundreds of incantations, all in what I later discovered was Romanian. I could tell it belonged to a very powerful witch."

Javier yawned loudly.

-"At the back of it was a letter from this woman writing about a deadly illness that had left her with only a few days left to live."

Adele let out a soft gasp.

-"She wrote to remind the receiver to keep the grimoire safe because she had many enemies who would come looking for it. She wrote that it would be deadly if it were ever to come into their possession. The letter was almost cryptic and I realised that only the person it was meant for would truly understand it. The woman also spoke of a prophecy that a higher power had foretold, which would supposedly change the course of werewolves forever and the world would only be safe if no one ever found out about it."

- "Are you telling us you've found this prophecy, Dante?" Xander said staring out the window, only half listening to the story.

-"She wrote that someone already had, so she had planned for it to be buried with her. Only the person she trusted the most in the world, who I assumed was the receiver of this letter, would know her resting place."

This letter had been Dante's fascination for months and he'd spent every hour of every day searching for its meaning. Yet when he looked around the room at his family, his sister had fallen asleep, Javier was staring at the bottom of his shoe, and Xander was having a hushed conversation with Mateo and Axel about some paperwork. He rolled his eyes and turned to face his mother. She was the only one who had been hanging on to his every word, and there was a glimmer of fear in her golden eyes.

-"Mom, you remember the Silver Witch don't you."

The room silenced. They all turned their attention to the former Queen. They may not have been as interested about wolf history as Dante, but they all knew the stories about the Silver Witch.

Adele closed her eyes and took a trembling breath.

-"How did you know?

-"Quite easily actually, the letter was addressed to you."

Adele reached out a delicate hand and took the letter from Dante. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath as she traced the words on the yellowed page.

-"I went to see her every day in that last week before she passed, and one day she gave me her grimoire. She told me I couldn't tell a soul that I had it, not even Laszlo."

- "Why didn't she give it to her children?"

- "The Silver Witch had children? Ermenilda said.

-"She said it was too dangerous, they were too young to comprehend its power, and I should only give it to her daughter when it was time."