Kacie
“You’re half-witch, Kacie. I was privy to the meeting where Viktor shed light on the pack but I didn’t know you actually believed it. That pack had the gift of fire but your wolf also erupts into flames. Your power calls to mine, you should have felt the same thing.”
Her words hit me but for a moment, I’m too stunned to speak. A witch? Me? I shake my head, the idea is ludicrous. What Viktor found out makes more sense than this. This doesn’t make any sense.
“No,” I denied. I knew who I was and a witch wasn’t it. “Your gift doesn’t call to mine. Your power doesn’t call to mine and I feel nothing from you. I don’t feel anything but darkness an-and coldness.”
Clara tilts her head as she listens to me, she watches me and sees more than I’d like for her to see. She watches me, assessing the situation and my reaction. “That’s not nothing, Kacie. If anything, you’ve proven me right. You can feel my gift. No one else can actually feel my gift unless I make them and you… you’ve always been able to, right?”
“I’m not a witch, Clara,” I said.
“It makes more sense now,” she said. “Here I thought you were covering your own ass this whole time but that’s not what was happening. You had no idea.”
“How long have you known?” The question falls from my lips before I even have the chance to think the words. I don’t know what I’m feeling but I’m in disbelief.
“I’ve known since the moment we met,” Clara said.
My jaw drops as I stare at Clara. I’m seeing her in a whole new light and I don’t know if it’s worse or better than how I’ve seen her.
“That was… so long ago, Clara. Why didn’t… why didn’t you say anything? You’ve had all this time to say something!”
“I was under the impression you knew what you were. I was surprised when I saw the vision of Viktor talking about going to the elders. Why would he go that far? I figured you were going to great lengths to keep what you were a secret,” Clara said with a slight shrug.
“That’s not just it… this goes so far back, Clara. All this time, not once did you try and out me, not once did you try and use this knowledge against me for your own personal gain. Witches are known to be selfish and cruel. Why have you kept it secret this long? Why didn’t you try and hurt me with this knowledge?” I asked.
“Yes, I’ve known but this is something we don’t do,” she said.
“We? What?” I started.
“We weren’t always this way,” Clara began, “Once upon a time, we lived among the wolves, and we worked together. We were kicked out of our homes, hunted, and left to fend for ourselves. We couldn’t even stay together because it made it easier for your kind to catch us. The wolves made us this way. So don’t you try and judge us for surviving. Not all of us were blessed by your Moon Goddess.”
She turned her back on me and continued walking in the direction of the packhouse. My feet moved and I followed after her. She wasn’t wrong but it only further confused me. Didn’t that give her more reason to out me? I don’t know how long we walked in silence but she came to a stop when the packhouse came into view.
“… I wasn’t going to cast out a sister,” she responded.
The words got stuck in my throat and my mind went blank. She said it like it was nothing. She said it like it was as obvious as girl code and as simple as the sky being blue. As if this has always been common knowledge, a knowledge that I’d never been privy to.
As if she didn’t have the power to have me kicked out of my pack, cast out, and forced to live the life of a rogue from the very beginning. No… not a rogue, the life she’d been forced to live since she had been a child.
Clara continued walking and I watched her go. I didn’t follow until she was at least ten feet away from me. The sun touched the horizon behind me as I tried to get a handle on my thoughts. I was shocked and I’d need time.
She’d had this power over me this entire time. I’d hated her in the beginning and I knew she hated me too. She has known this since Viktor chose me over her and she didn’t tell anyone.
Clara didn’t use this powerful weapon against me, despite knowing that it could have stripped me bare of everything I know and love. The reason behind this was something this small, this simple? Because we were sisters.
“Sister?” I asked. The words leave my mouth and get swept by the wind. I don’t need to wonder if she heard me, I know she did. She comes to a stop and turns to look at me.
“Yes, Kacie,” she started, “That’s what we call each other, witches, I mean. There aren’t many of us left anymore and the ones that are out there will stay in hiding. Finding another sister doesn’t guarantee you can stay together and it doesn’t mean they’ll be friendly. It’s rare to find sisters who get along and want to stay in contact. As I explained earlier, it’s safer for us to live alone.”
She continued walking and I picked up my pace. I haven’t had family in a long time and when I came to the Eclipse Pack I was so happy to have one again. When I caught up, she continued talking and interrupted my thoughts.
“We’re sisters. So no, I didn’t use the fact that we are the same to get you kicked out from your home,” Clara said.
Sisters.