Eli's shadow

Chapter 3

Eli goes into shock. "What?"
"Eli, let me start from the beginning. I used to live in Slugterra. When I met your father, you're birth father, no Will, I was just a child. I was chasing a Fandango when I got hopelessly lost. Then your father appeared out of nowhere. Most people would have been afraid, but I found him captivating. He was beautiful." Eli's unamused cough breaks her from her daydreaming and she blushes in embarrassment. "Anyway, he helped me get home, and he disappeared before my parents found me. After a while, I wanted to see him again, so I went to that same spot. He was still there, playing with some slugs. I just sort of walked up to him and introduced myself. I think he tried to do the same but the language barrier was a problem for a while. I don't know when I fell for him, it just happened. So after a lot more secret meetings, and a few one sided duels, I finally confessed. He just stood there for a second before Shadow-walking out of there. I cried myself to sleep that night, thinking he might have hated me. I went back to our spot, hoping he was there, and he was. But he was a bit worse for wear. Beat up and a gash across his eye, you'd think he'd been mugged. I demanded to know what happened, but he just kissed me, and a few years later, you were born."

Eli looks thoughtful. "Ok, but why hide it from me? Why do I have two tails? Why am I red? What does Darkwater have to do with this?"
"I'm getting to that. The tails are the easiest to explain. It's a rare genetic mutation among the Shadow Clan, only seen once every hundred or so years. The Darkwater is a longer story. When you were little, me and your father were doing some work on our home when you wandered off. You walked through an abandoned cave that you found. The reason for the abandonment is that some miners had accidentally drilled up some Darkwater. You," she takes a deep breath "you fell in. Your father managed to save you, but it was too late. By the time he came up with you, you had inhaled, swallowed and nearly drowned in Darkwater. Your father was weakened just bathing in it, so naturally we scrambled to find a Boon Doc. By the time we did, you'd changed. The Boon Doc was useless. On the contrary, rather than heal you, it hurt you. Slugs that went into your pods were changed as well. But that didn't matter to us. You were our son and we loved you more than anything. But soon, members of the Shadow Clan arrived outside our home. They banished your father for loving a human, but having you changed by the Darkwater was apparently a line for them. They told us to kill you. We didn't know what else to do, so we went to Will Shane. He told me about the surface and brought me here. Your father was forced to stay behind. It wasn't safe for him up here. We used a Thugglet to disguise you and a Hypnogriff that you had changed to make you forget about being a hybrid. Will raised you as his own. I never approved of him letting you go back, but with the look in your eyes when he told you his stories. I knew I couldn't stop you. I just wish it didn't have to be like this." She finally breaks down and Eli hugs his sobbing mother while trying to process what he had learned.

He finally decides what to say. "Thank you."
His mom pulls away in surprise. "You're not mad at me?"
Eli shakes his head. "No. You were just protecting me. That's what moms do. Just, no more secrets, ok?"
She wipes away tears and smiles. "That sounds fair. Oh, before you go, I know I gave you The Talk as a human, but things for the Shadow Clan are slightly different."
"I made a terrible mistake coming here."