Tell Me Your Secrets Chapter 11 by: Drakira The last Lore Keeper of the Weres disappeared without a trace, now thirty years later his legacy returns in the form of a young man named Michael Williams.

Disclaimer:
~Big thanks to Enemyoffun for making this universe to play in, and to all my beta readers for helping me hammer out some of the details in this chapter. Also, a big thanks to Maggie Finson, who helped with a conversation down below, involving a little trickster that we all know.
Author's Note: I hope you all enjoy this chapter, as some more depth is added, along with mystery. A very big thanks to my editor for helping with the edits.
Please comment on this, I enjoy reading your comments and learning from them immensely.

Chapter 11

12 October 2011

I spent a great deal of the previous day going clothes shopping with my mother. She wanted to dote on her daughter and gave the excuse of not having the eighteen years to dote on a daughter. She explained that she enjoyed the mother-daughter time that she and her mom had experienced when she was about my age, and she hoped that I would enjoy it as well. To me though, it just involved a lot of running around looking at clothes, trying them on, and then buying a few of those that were tried on. I couldn’t understand why women enjoyed shopping for clothes, and I didn’t think that I ever really would.

However, today, I went out and about looking for an apothecary that I was told about in town. There were a few things that I would need for the ritual tonight. All I needed were just a couple of green scented candles and a couple of herbs as well. The apothecary would be the place to find things like that.

I managed to find the apothecary about a block down the street from the dojo. I was surprised that there was even a dojo in a town like this. I guess that it just goes to show that you learn something new every day.

I entered the dimly lit apothecary that smelled strongly of garlic and basil. I thought I could make out some other herbs in the background, but I wasn’t sure. There were a couple of aisles, with one completely dedicated to herbs. I looked around for what I would need for the ritual, and managed to find a few things. I needed garlic, lavender, dandelion, cypress, willow, and yew. It was definitely an interesting combination, but then again, I knew almost nothing about herb lore.

I put each of the herbs that I found into the shelves into my basket, and headed down the aisles until I found the green acorn-scented candles. The ritual needed three of them, so I pulled a few off and then headed up to the counter.

“Did you find everything alright, Miss?” the cashier said, as she proceeded to ring up my purchases.

I nodded and pulled my wallet out of my new purse. My mother had bought me a blue leather purse to put my wallet and other belongings in. Putting my wallet in my jean pockets worked just fine for me, but she said that girls generally don’t do that, and that I do need a purse. I didn’t want to argue anymore with her after spending four hours shopping for clothes, so I just let her buy me the purse.

“Hmm, this is an interesting collection of herbs that you have picked out,” the cashier observed as she worked.

“Yeah,” I replied, “they’re for a school project.”

“Uh-huh,” she answered, unconvinced.

“I just need them for a project of mine, okay?” I defensively argued.

“What kind of project?” she asked.

“What business is that of yours?” I nearly growled out.

“To keep young people from trying to do anything rash, or to keep them from poisoning themselves inadvertently,” she replied, holding up the yew berries.

I had a confused look on my face, trying to figure out what she meant. She must’ve noticed and commented. “Yew berries are poisonous. They are only used if someone is gutsy enough to try to gain wisdom from them, as they were used by followers of Hecate.”

“I didn’t know that!” I exclaimed, trying to prove that I wasn’t up to anything malicious. “All I know is that those six components and the candles are needed for my project under the full moon tonight.”

She looked at me with a very skeptical look. “What are you going to do with them?”

“Perform a ritual to unlock something, okay?” I answered, throwing my hands down on the countertop. This woman’s questioning was really starting to irritate me now. I didn’t know why I was more quick to anger that I usually was.

She glanced at my wrist, from which the charm bracelet dangled. A glimmer of recognition crossed her face and she then replied, in a much calmer voice. “That will be eleven dollars and sixty-five cents, Miss Vance.”

I quickly did a double take. “How do you know my name?”

Yes, I formally accepted the use of my mother’s maiden name as my own last name. I thought that it made more sense than Williams, since my mother and I were both Weres, while my stepfather was just a Norm.

“The Coven was briefed on your return, and what your identifier was,” she answered, pointing to the emerald on my charm bracelet.

“Who are you?” I replied, “And how would you know about this?”

“Samantha Holden, part-owner and assistant manager of The Herb Garden, and Karen’s older sister. My mother is a member of the Coven,” she answered, introducing herself.

‘Wow, this Coven really liked to keep tabs on people,’ I thought to myself.

“I see,” I replied.

Samantha handed me the bag that contained my purchases and cautioned me, “Be careful tonight, young Were. Follow the ritual to the letter; it wouldn’t do you any good to meddle in things that should not be meddled in.”

I nodded and thanked her before heading out the store. I turned in the direction of the dojo and home, eager to get something in my stomach before going out later tonight.

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I walked down the street with my purchases in hand, and when I got to the dojo, something barreled into me hard. The two of us fell to the ground, and I quickly checked my stuff. A few things were scattered around, but not much. I quickly went around trying to scoop everything back up.

“Sorry.” The girl, it turned out was the sudden missile that had interrupted my progress, gasped out, then started gathering up stuff herself and handing it to me.

"It's okay," I replied, trying to make sure that I had everything for tonight. I wasn't relishing going back in there and having to explain to Miss Holden that I needed more of something.

"Are you okay?" she asked, then belatedly added, "I'm Cindy Harper."

"Yea," I said, checking everything in the bag and then looking at the young brunette in front of me. "Mikaela Vance," I replied, trying to extend my hand for a handshake.

Accepting my offered hand with one of her own, she gave mine a gentle shake that appeared to be something she had to actually think about doing for a moment. Not the handshake, but the gentle part. "Again, I'm soo sorry for running over you like that. I was late for a class here and wasn't really watching like I should. Even if I do know better."

"It's okay, I understand," I replied.

I looked at the dojo and then to her. I then thought about her trying to keep her handshake gentle. Something wasn't adding up in my mind. "Aren't you a little young for this? And why did you try to hide your grip strength?"

"Oh, not too young," she shrugged. "I've been learning the arts since I could walk, really. My family owns and runs this place. My brother and sister teach here, too.

"As for the grip thing...," she looked a bit embarrassed, “before I–blossomed–I shook hands like a boy, which tends to disturb people now. Or so my Mother and sisters tell me all the time."

"Uh huh," I said, a bit skeptically.

For some reason, one that I couldn't figure out at the moment, something seemed off to me about her. It was like a little voice that was whispering in the back of my head that said, 'Not what appears to be.'

"I never really noticed this place before," I commented, trying to say something to ignore that voice in my head.

"Well, it is odd to have a martial arts dojo in a small town like this around here," she answered with a grin. "Then, there is the fact we have no fancy stuff showing in the windows and such a small sign. Helps keep the wannabes from just walking in most of the time."

"Hmm...," I said, thinking. What was it about this girl that irked me?

She actually seemed to be sniffing the air around us, and was watching me a lot more closely than she was acting like. "Well, again, sorry for running over you like that, Mikaela. I have to get in there and run my class or my sister and brother will never let me hear the end of it."

She slipped out of my grip as if it wasn't even there and gave me a look that was pure teenage outrage. "What?"

"You were sniffing me," I repeated, with a little more force in my voice. "Why?"

"Oh," she let out a sigh, as though she wasn't intimidated at all. "I just have a sensitive nose and all that stuff in your bag is pretty aromatic. Sorry, didn't even realize I was doing that."

For some reason, I thought she was lying. I wasn't sure if I should call her out on it or not though. I mean, I only had just met her. She seemed nice enough, but there was a lot more than meets the eye.

"Are you sure about that? You're not being some kind of trickster, are you?"

"Me a trickster?" she laughed and shook her head. "Most people tell me I'm too up front for my own good! Trickster, that's funny."

“Hmmm…,” I commented, and changed the subject. “So, do they offer classes here?”

“Yep!” she said, sounding excited. “We offer them in a variety of disciplines and skill levels. If you’d follow me, I could give you some information.”

I nodded and reluctantly followed her in and began to hear the sounds of people working out. She led me into what appeared to be a small office where an older girl was sitting.

“Fresh meat, sis?” the older girl asked.

“Yep, figured if I was running late I better have a good excuse for it.”

The older girl laughed and smiled. She gave Cindy a long look then turned back to me. "I'm Cindy's older sister, Carly, by the way. Nice to meet you."

Then she left the office wearing a puzzled look but asking no more questions.

"What was that about?" I asked, taking the seat that Cindy offered me.

"Oh, Carly is trying to teach me manners." Cindy shrugged then gave a little grin. "Seems that making me into a lady is work in progress and still needs a lot of the work that is progressing."

I had looked over at the gym floor while we were walking in and it quickly brought back the memories of my recent ordeal. "How much for lessons?"

"Depends on what level you're at and how often you want to train."

Cindy answered while finding a fee schedule and handing it to me. We teach a few different disciplines here. If you're a beginner, I'd suggest starting with the Tai Chi. It will teach you how to move for the rest of the stuff."

"Definitely a beginner, with how I was tossed around the other day."

"Then Tai Chi would be best to start with." She nodded and circled a few things on the handout. "Those are times, frequency, and availabilities of those classes."

I looked at the schedule, where she circled the entries. A couple of them conflicted with my work schedule at the comic book shop. "Do you have to go to all of them?" I asked.

"Nope," she grinned at my look of confusion and worry. "Those are all the time slots. Each class actually meets twice a week, not every day."

"Well, that's good," I replied. "I don't know how I would explain to Larson missing that much work."

She just laughed and gave an understanding nod. "You did notice that there are different start times and stuff, right? Morning, afternoon, evening. We're pretty flexible with that because people generally need to fit the classes into their schedules."

I nodded, and then glanced at my watch. “Crap! I need to get back home before my mother starts to worry.”

Cindy smiled at me and handed me a business card, “Feel free to call us when you have an idea of when you want to start lessons.”

We shook hands again, and I pocketed the business card with her number on it. I left the dojo, with the feeling that I would definitely be seeing that mischievous young girl again.

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I made it back to my apartment a short time after I finished talking with Cindy. When I opened the door I smelled something that I haven’t smelled in weeks, my mom’s home cooking. She apparently went to the grocery store and picked some things up, while I was out on my own reagent run.

“Mmm…,” I commented, licking my lips in the process. “That smells delish….”

“It ought to,” my mom replied. “It’s your favorite, ground beef soft tacos.”

“Mmmm…,” I mused. “To what do I owe the occasion? You only make the soft ones if it something special.”

“Oh, come on!” she quipped. “You ought to know that better than anyone.”

“My ritual tonight?”

“Bingo! I finally get to see my child in her wolf form tonight, hopefully.”

I forgot about that part. The ritual instructions did say that there was a chance that nothing would happen. But, since I was wearing something that was a badge of office among the Were clans, we both had a pretty good feeling that I would become a wolf tonight.

I filled my mom in about what had happened between me with Cindy, while we worked on finishing up dinner. She was interested and happy to know that I was starting to make some allies, but she warned me to be careful.

During dinner, she talked to me about the Weres that were around the area that we lived, Rancho Calaveras, California. She thought that it would be instructive to know that information, when I returned home.

There were only three or four major Were clans at last count. First, there was us, the Vance Clan of wolves. Second, there were the Blys, they were the mountain lions. Third, there were the Todds, they were a group of bears. The fourth clan, were the Gibbs’ clan, a clan of hawks. This clan was an unknown in our area. The other three clans thought that they had died out or something, since the last that anyone had heard of them was before the wildfires that had burned residential buildings about twenty years ago.

Mom was bringing all of this up, due to my title of being some kind of lorekeeper for the five were clans over here in New York. She had told me that this was the first region that she knew of that had the title and position of lorekeeper for their respective council. She was curious why this group had one, and why was I tied to them, instead of something back home. I asked her what she was going to do, and she told me that she was going to look into it, quietly.

After we had finished up with dinner, cleaned the dishes, and watched a little television, we decided to head out into the forest clearing that was indicated in the book to perform my awakening ritual.

It took us about an hour to get to where the isolated clearing was from where we parked the rental car near the edge of the forest. I could see the lake in the distance, and I thought I could see the lights from the Drakes. The clearing was off of the beaten path by a pretty good distance. Unless you knew where to go, you probably couldn’t find it. You couldn’t even see where the forest trail was once you got into it.

There were a variety of tall trees surrounding the clearing grasses. A streamed ran through the area, providing water to anything that grew or came here. I looked at my notes that I took on the pages that concerned this ritual. According to my notes, I needed to be in the middle of this clearing with everything set up in keeping with the diagram by midnight.

I picked up my bag and headed into the middle of the clearing, my mom right by my side. It felt nice that I had someone with me to help after I had awakened my Were form. Especially if that someone was my mother.

I laid out the cloth that I was using as a place setting, and then set out all the herbs, one by one. Once that was complete, I placed the three candles in a triangle around the herbs, and lit them. There was little breeze blowing, so I didn’t have to worry about catching anything on fire, and the fact that my mother was carrying a bucket full of water just in case.

I looked up into the night sky and saw that the moon was nearly overhead. I wasn’t too sure about this next part. It said that in order for the ritual to work, I needed to bare all to the goddess. I guess that I had to be in the nude when I did this. Sighing, I reluctantly stripped down in the middle of the clearing. I was grateful that we were so far from the beaten path, that anyone whom I didn’t want to see me would be extremely far away, and probably wouldn’t even know I was there unless they were looking.

I put my clothes in the bag that I had brought for them, and sat in what I thought was a meditative position, and began to pray to the moon. I felt silly for being out here in the dead of night, naked, and praying to the moon. I didn’t think anything would happen.

I was about ready to get up and leave when I felt a wrenching sensation throughout my body. My vision clouded over and I felt like passing out. I think I must’ve since I felt some kind of discontinuity between what I saw last and saw now. Before I passed out, the herbs were just sitting in their neat arrangement. After I came to, the herbs were shriveled up, as if something used them somehow.

I heard something that sounded like a voice in my head, “Mikaela, Mikaela!”

The voice sounded like my mother yelling at me. “Mom?” I replied, sounding a bit groggy.

“Oh good, you’re awake.”

I looked around for her and saw only a large silver dog sitting nearby, or at least what looked like a dog.

“Mom?” I thought out again.

“Yes, sweetie. It’s me,” she replied. “Welcome to the pack.”

She walked me over to the stream bed and motioned for me to take a look. When I looked at my reflection in the water, I saw a silver wolf staring back at me. It worked, the ritual had actually worked. I was now a wolf.

“Come on,” my mother said, “let’s go give your new form a test drive.”

She took off in one direction and I quickly followed her into the night. We ran all over the forest, and eventually made it to the lake side. I could clearly see the Drake’s house in the distance. I never would have thought that being a wolf could be so much fun. The view across the lake looked so peaceful. I looked over at my mother, and I could feel the happiness radiate from her. She clearly wanted this very much. I guess I kind of did too, it felt like something in my life clicked into place.

When we turned around to run back to the clearing to go get everything and go home for the night, we nearly ran into another wolf. This dark-furred wolf stood at the edge of the forest and stared at the two of us. It snarled at us and I suddenly felt very scared. My mother got between the two of us and barked loudly at the darker wolf, following by her own growling.

I was frightened out of my wits. I wanted to run the hell out of there as fast as possible. I didn’t see anywhere to run though. My mom and the other wolf were both growling and staring at each other, and neither showed any sign of backing off. What was I going to do?