Daughter of Luka (LGBT+)

Thirty-Three 🌑

The air felt a little lighter as Kate and I began to make our way back to the school, but I already had established within my mind that I was going to be in a boat load of trouble with my History teacher. Oh well, I would be able to make it up to her with some cupcakes and by actually completing my homework on the Victorian era, I was sure.

"You should go to the library and get some work done," Kate told me and though her advice was unsolicited, I knew that she was right.

"After I go and see my History teacher," I assured her.

"Are you going to be okay?" she asked me.

"I don't know," I said sooner than I could stop myself. It was probably as honest as I had been with anyone besides Accalia, in a good few days, now.

"Do you want me to stay with you?" Kate asked me, her eyes hopeful.

Yes.

"Nah, I'll be alright, Kate. I'll text you later, okay?" I asked her.

She seemed reluctant to leave me at first, but she soon managed a nod of her head and walked away down the empty hallway.

Everyone else was in class, aside from me.

Before I could even begin to walk to history class, a voice spoke from behind me, jolting me awake.

"Miss Amarilla, what a surprise," spoke Mr. Z. His voice sounded charming enough, but his face was set into a perfectly serious expression, as always.

I turned to him, with an apologetic expression plastered on my face.

"Hi, sir!" I said, with as charming a smile as I could manage. "I was just about to go to class and-"

"No, I don't think so," he said. "You're coming with me, to my office. I need to speak with you."

I took a step back, "Can't it wait until tomorrow?" I asked him innocently.

His expression hardened.

"No. It certainly cannot," he replied stubbornly.

I supposed that I should have expected as much, but this truly did suck.

With the sense that I wasn't going to be able to argue my way out of this one, I decided to follow Mr. Z down the hall and into his office.

It was dark, lit only by a small lantern on his desk, and he had a map of the world and a poster of the phases of the moon on the wall behind him.

"You've been hiding things from many people, Ophelia, but you cannot hide things from me," he said.

I shrugged my shoulders in response to that statement. He couldn't prove anything. His obstinance was starting to cause me a migraine, though.

He then drummed his knuckles against the desk in front of him, in an attempt to possess my attention.

"So, what is it, exactly, that is going on with you?" he asked me.

"You're simply being suspicious, sir. There's nothing going on with me. I've been...sick," I said.

Well, that was one way of putting things, except for the fact that it wasn't true. Not in the slightest.

Mr. Z's expression only grew more angry at my response to his demand.

The atmosphere of the office was tense and it made me feel a little sick- I couldn't lie about that part.

"So...you're saying that I'm a liar?" he asked me.

"Your compulsion to bring me into your office comes without good reason. I have done nothing wrong. I haven't been failing your class, have I? Why am I getting treated differently to the others?" I asked him.

Mr. Z leant back slightly in his chair then and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"You and I both know that you are different from the others, Ophelia," he said.

His voice seemed a little more gentle, but I felt as though he was on the verge of shouting at me and was simply trying to act calm in a desperate attempt to win a confession out of me. I wouldn't budge.

"You'll stay here until I get answers," he said simply.

"Then I suppose we're both going to be stuck here until midnight," I replied with total nonchalance.

Mr. Z looked irritated and his eyebrows lifted a little in his surprise at my strong-will, but he didn't say a word.

He stared at the wall behind me.

I couldn't do this.

"Fine. I'm a werewolf. Are you really going to believe me, if I tell you that?" I asked him.

His eyes flickered with some astonishment, but when he spoke again he seemed a lot calmer.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I am," he said.

It was my turn to look surprised.

"Because you are not the only one," he told me.

"Sir, do you mean to tell me that you are a-" I cut off.

This was insane.

I mean, everything that happened up until this point was seemingly impossible, but this really took the cake.

"Wolf? Yes. I have been for ten years now," Mr. Z told me, "I'm Accalia's uncle."

"But-"

"Any more questions, Miss Amarilla?" he asked me. The flames of anger flickered in his eyes. It was almost as if it was a warning.

I shook my head in response.

"Then you may leave my office, now," he said.

He didn't need to tell me twice.

He paused me on the way out of the room to let me know that the secrets were safe, but I couldn't help but feel a little unsettled.

Maybe that was one of the reasons why he didn't like me...maybe it was over-protectiveness over his niece.

Maybe he thought I was some rebel that was going to lure her off the path of goodness.

Perhaps he was paranoid because he now knew that I was just like him, and he didn't want his secret getting out.

I had told Kate, of course, but I wasn't about to tell anyone else.

I needed to be careful.

Now that Mr. Z's eyes were on me more than ever before, I needed to be as careful as possible.