Palace of Wolves

Chapter 6 --Knowledge

Chapter 6

A week passed. I had passed through disbelievement and moved on to yearning for facts –what would happen. I spent hours scouring through the leaflets and books Doctor Aitkin, or Meera, gave me and double checking with her. 

“So I was reading Kelvin’s Guide to Lycanthrope Medicine and didn’t get the stuff about healing.”

“I’m not surprised; it’s a needlessly complicated book. It’s not healing as such but when the werewolf becomes human again the body is basically a reset and it’s like the injury never happened.”

“Oh.”

“It works with old injuries too, if you have any old scars you’ll find them gone after the full moon –piercings too. Not to mention your hair will return to its natural colour.”

“How did you know I dyed my hair?”

“I’ve got degrees in human and werewolf medicine; I think I’m knowledgeable enough to know that you don’t have natural blue highlights.”

“Oh.” I said, feeling quite dumb.

“Another aspect of it is that your eyesight will be corrected.”

“Oh, that's a benefit I guess. I’ve had terrible headaches trying to read since I lost my glasses.”

“Good point anyway, there is some important points I need to discuss with you.”

“What is it?”

“Firstly, there are the arrangements for the full moon. We don’t exactly want you um...”

“Terrorising the village?”

“Not how I would have put it but yes. In the United Kingdom it is law that werewolves must be secured in a specified safe centre over the full moon.  They are found in the largest cities in the country.

“Ok, I guess there’ll be one in Aberdeen, it’s about half an hour from me.”

“No you won’t, there’s no centre in Aberdeen.”

“But is like the third biggest city in the country!”

“Yes, it third largest city in Scotland but when you throw the rest of Britain into the equation it’s rather more low down in the scale.”

“But there are no other large cities near me! After that it would have to be Edinburgh and—“

“There’s none in Edinburgh.”

“Why not?”

“It was closed many years ago due to it being barely used.”

“So where is the closest?”

“Glasgow.”

“That’s like the other side of Scotland! You expect me to commute there and back! I’ve got school and a life and so on!”

“I don’t. Being a newly bitten werewolf requires a large amount of medical attention. Attention we can only give in Glasgow.”

“So you expect me to just get my parents to move. My parents have jobs; I’m in one of the best public schools in the country; our house has been in my family for generations, don’t expect them to trade it for a clone in some housing estate!”

“We have already made arrangements. As we speak your father will be notified by his work that he will lose his job if he does not relocate to Glasgow and that if he does so he will receive a considerable pay rise and a house is provided. Tell me Sandra, will he refuse that offer?”

“No, but this is wrong! You can manipulate a man’s career for your own gain.”

“No Sandra, we’ve already done it. And it’s not for our gain, it’s for yours.”

“Where are my parents anyway? It’s been days since the attack and I’ve not seen them.”

“They’ve been told that you are in quarantine in case the dog that bit you was rabid.”

“Dog?”

“We toned the story a bit. We recommended they return home which they have done. Which brings me to an important point. You will be returning home soon. The Egyptian Government, like most, prohibit werewolves of other nationalities to enter their country but we have managed to get you a two week permit on the grounds that you are not ready to travel. However, the two weeks is nearly over, before you return home we need to agree on how much to tell your parents.”

“Okay,” I thought aloud, “It’s gotta be hard for them right now and I know no matter how much they know it is only going to become harder. It would be better for me, I know, If they where they for support. But...but...this is not all about me. I need to think about them first.”

“What’s your conclusion then?”

“I want them to know as little as possible.”

“That’s understandable; we’ve already got a cover story. It goes that you where a victim of a severe attack by a feral dog which traumatised you and that you are required to take frequent medical checkups and meetings for therapy.”

“Okay.” I felt bad lying to my parents. Sure I lied to them all the time; about if I was studying or what I was on my laptop; but this was different. I’d be lying about who I was! Sure I was still Sandra Forrester, a bit of a wallflower, a sewing fanatic, fairly average student; but there was this new layer, the wolf, hopefully very deep inside.

“Anyway, you won’t be bearing this secret alone, I’ll be there, and there will be the others.”

“The other who?”

“The other werewolves, in the Palace of Wolves.”

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Once again sorry about the wait. Schools became serious again and I have been neglecting this again :( I have so many tests and deadlines all at once and I need to focus more on writing a personal statemant if I want to get into uni next year.  

Anyway, if anyone wants more of my writing in the weeks without updates I'd be willing to upload a few chapters of my old story "Myth" which I gave up on. It's set in the same world as "Palace of Wolves" but I got sick of the characters and wanted a fresh, simpler approach to the "Myth world" as I call it in my head (I have several story ideas floating in my head and they all take place in either "Myth World", "True World", or "Death World" which are all slightly diffeent versions of modern day Scotland).

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