The Wolf's Daughter

14 - The Whole Truth

'My uncle Joseph is dead.' I said slowly, eyes boring into dad. 'At least that's what I was told.'

'Nope definitely not- ow!' Silver rubbed at his waist as Nick elbowed him hard. He clearly had not picked up on the energy radiating through the group.

'Wren-' Dad reached for me but I recoiled.

'You liar.' My brow furrowed, staring at the people I'd trusted. 'You all knew and you said nothing? Even you Mina?' Her freckled face dropped and she scuffed her boot on the floor.

'We didn't want you to get hurt.' Kim sighed, also advancing but I backed up quickly.

'Well look how that turned out.' I spat, whirling back towards dad. His mouth had dropped into a slight frown.

'Let me explain-'

'No need. Apparently I'm too stupid to understand.' Tears threatening at the corners of my blue eyes, I spun on my heel and stalked off inside. Making my way to my bedroom, I purposefully slammed the door shut so everyone could hear before sliding to the floor. The floodgates opened and I pulled my knees up to my chest. I couldn't stop crying. This must've been why dad was so adamant on me not bringing up the past. He didn't want me to know who my family were. A rap on the door made me tense up.

'Wren let me in.' Dad's voice only fuelled my upset.

'Leave me alone.'

'No. I want to talk to ya about this.'

'I said leave me alone!' I practically screamed the words and felt him pull away from the door. His footsteps vanished along the walkway and I hunkered down again, pressing my forehead into my knees. If he wasn't going to tell me the truth, maybe I needed to go find it myself. Running my sleeve under my nose, I pushed myself upright and grabbed my duvet. Opening the window, I tossed it out and slid down to the ground. Marching towards the fence, I braced myself to jump over it.

'Seems a bit silly to go alone.' I paused at the voice, clenching my fists. Silver slid out of the shadows and approached me.

'You can rat me out if you want, I'm still going.'

'Who said anything about ratting you out?' Silver placed a hand on my shoulder and gave a cheeky grin. Producing a pistol, he handed it to me. 'C'mon, let's go find your uncle.'

***

Hours. It took us hours to reach New Eden. Silver led the way and we took out Highwaymen as necessary. We chatted a lot, the ins and outs of his life and mine. Right now he felt like the only person I could trust. We came to a halt at the end of a cliff and stared across the water. Some kind of green haze rolled off the surface and I narrowed my eyes.

'What the hell is that?' I wrinkled my nose, vision going a little hazy.

'I'm not sure. We're gonna have to swim though.' Silver took his grappling hook from his belt and started to abseil down the cliff face. As he reached the bottom, I grabbed onto the line of blue rope and slid down carefully. 'You're a natural.' He grinned and I gave a lop-sided grin. I wasn't really in the mood for his witty charm.

'Let's keep going.' I sighed, pulling my hair back and plaiting it to hang from the side of my head. Taking a running leap, I dove cleanly into the water and felt my vision falter again. There was definitely something weird going on here. Cutting cleanly against the currents, I emerged on the island with Silver close behind.

'My niece. It's been so long.' A calm voice rushed through my ears.

'Did you hear that?' I turned to address Silver but he seemed distracted, already stumbling across the ground.