Wolves (English)

Chapter 21

Finn and Dyre move aside to make room in the circle. My knees are shaking with nerves as I sit between them.

A true Shadow ... Erik can't already know that, can he? I haven't even taken the test yet. And what a strange figure it really is. Look at him walking around there in the middle of the big circle, his hands clasped behind his back, his black boots taking painfully slow steps, his face in neutral, as if nothing special is going on. As if there isn't a group of wolves and people around him here, all of whom look up at him with wide eyes in admiration.

I still don't know what to think of him. Anyway, even though he may seem strange, he probably knows a lot about Shadows. At least, if I have to believe Finn, Dyre and my parents.

After about five minutes, he stops wandering aimlessly. He lets his eyes wander around the circle, looking intently at all the Human-Wolves one by one.

Then he finally starts talking again, 'You all know by now that I didn't call you together for nothing. Not only does our clan count one more from today ...' he nods his head towards me, '... there is also other news that urgently needs to be told.'

One of the people, a girl with short black hair, raises her hand.

'Yes, Lesley? Say it.'

'Shouldn't we tell Ester a little more about what's going on here first?' She looks at me with soft, kind eyes. 'I mean, I can imagine she doesn't know about that yet. After all, it's her first real meeting here and it's not exactly going, well, what we would call, normal.'

The other Shadows, including Finn and Dyre, nod in agreement.

I see a hint of a smile on Erik's lips. 'You're absolutely right, Lesley. Where are my manners?' He turns to me. 'What have Finn, Dyre and your parents told you, Ester? Do you know anything about our history? Our genes?'

A little shy, I try to tell him as best I can what I learned yesterday and today. Every now and then there is a small moment of silence, but at those moments Finn and Dyre help me by telling a little bit further, so that I can quickly take over from them again.

I close with the story about the yellow eyes. When I talk about the hypnosis I felt when I came into contact with them, the expression on Erik's face changes slightly. His eyes are a little more concerned than before and a deep frown appears between his eyebrows.

'That's serious. Thank you for telling me this, Ester. It has everything to do with the news I'm about to share with you all.' He takes a few steps toward me, until he's in front of me, turning his head down to look at me. 'It sounds like you're already well informed. Your brother, your parents and Dyre informed you well. But do you have any further questions about history or heredity? Not that other questions are unimportant, certainly not, but those two topics are the first things you need to know when you join the pack.'

As far as I know, I no longer have any questions about that history. That has now become more than clear to me. The Shadows were thought to have been wiped out by that contagious disease, but nothing was further from the truth when that girl was born. That girl ...

Suddenly I remember what I wanted to ask, 'Well, actually, I do have a question about that girl who was suddenly born. Was she the first Shadow to rise from the dead, so to speak? Or were there already others? After all, her parents sent her to you because you knew a lot about it.'

Eric nods slowly. 'I can understand why you're wondering that, Ester. Within the pack of Shadows we see her as our very first member, or the first to be known as a purebred Human-Wolf. But actually, there were already a number of people before her who discovered it on their own, including me. On my twelfth birthday, when I found myself able to transform myself into another creature, with a fur, a long nose, claws and a tail, I found out what I really was. I just didn't know at the time if it had a name. Through other people I came into contact with a number of other young people who had a similar experience. Together with them I dived into the books to investigate it. This is how we found out that we were part of an ancient history that seemed to be lost. But with our arrival a whole new generation of Human-Wolves emerged, although we still don't know why we were the chosen ones. None of our parents had wolf genes in them. But that's the only mysterious thing about it. The father of that girl you told about did have a wolf gene, but he never showed it. She did. Is it clear now or did you have more questions?'