The Circle Of Rings (#1 in The Circle series)

REWRITE - Chapter 3

Chapter Three

--Olive Locke--

Me, my mom, and the three bodyguards headed out into the forest around 11:30 in the evening. We walked for twenty minutes until we came to the same clearing that my dad and Clyde shifted in. Every family has their own little spot and this was ours.

Once my mom and I sat down against a tree, with me between her legs, my dad's friends fanned out and took up positions in the forest. I could hear them as they all sat down and got comfortable for the night. My mom took out a book and started reading to me. It was probably to distract me and help me calm down, but the book she had chosen was a thriller and it wasn't the best.

However, it did the trick, and I zoned out.

There was nothing to worry about, just listening to the sound of my mom's voice was soothing enough.

I fell asleep super fast.

*-*-*

The ground was wet and cold and my mom was crying. My dad's friends were around her, trying to comfort her. It was almost like she had tossed me aside and given up on me. But the sun was rising and that meant it was morning.

I looked down at my hands, they were human. Four fingers and a thumb each. Not covered in fur.

Did I shift?

"Mom?" I whispered. My mom looked at me and started crying even harder. 

One of my dad's friends came over to me and helped me up off the ground. "I'll bring you home now, Olive."

I glanced back at my mom but she was still crying and I didn't understand what happened. I looked up to the guy who was leading me home, "what happened?" I bet I could get better answers from him than my own mom right now.

He gave me a sad look, "you slept through the night, Olive."

I frowned, "I what?"

He stopped me and looked into my eyes, "you didn't shift."

I soaked this in.

"But I'm thirteen now?"

He sighed, "you need to talk to your father about this. So let's get you home!"

He said it with so much cheer that it made my stomach turn. I followed him back to the house, mostly because I didn't know what else to do. Maybe my dad could explain this to me? There was no way in hell that I couldn't shift. This is a werewolf family and I'm a werewolf. I have the extra senses and everything. I know because they've been getting better while leading up to my birthday. I've also been getting stronger too. 

So how are they supposed to explain all of the superhuman things happening to me if I can't shift?

The whole walk he kept glancing at me as if something was going to happen. He looked very confused. Well, I'm confused too!

My dad was waiting for me in the backyard, he was pacing and nervous and when he saw me, he frowned.

"Your mother is in hysterics."

I frowned, "she's in hysterics? You lied to me! You raised me to be a werewolf and I'm not! Who am I supposed to be? Huh? You must've adopted me and lied, or maybe I was switched at the hospital and you were too stupid to notice!"

My dad walked forward quickly and raised his hand like he wanted to hit me, but his friend stepped between us. "Don't do something you'll regret."

My dad stopped dead in his tracks, then took a deep breath.

"Olive you are ours. I watched you come out of your mother."

I crossed my arms over my chest. I should probably not provoke him but I was more upset than he was. If I wasn't a werewolf then what the heck was I?

"Well then keep in mind that it's your genes that made me like this. I didn't do anything."

The silence that came after that for the next five minutes made me want to squirm. My dad just stared at the ground like something was going to give him answers and his friend just watched him carefully. It took me a few times saying 'my dad was going to hit me' for me to actually believe myself. But it was true. He was so mad at me for not being the right daughter for him, for not being a normal shifting werewolf, that he actually wanted to take it out on me.

I knew werewolves had bad tempers and I've heard of ways that dad and his friends have lost it, but I've never seen it in person.

There's a whole lot of firsts that have happened in the last couple of hours hasn't there?

Without hearing what my dad was going to do or say to me, I went back into the house. Clyde was eating breakfast in the kitchen, totally oblivious to everything around him.

"Good morning baby sis! How does it feel to be an adult now?!"

I narrowed my eyes at him, now was not the time.

"Feels like shit."

At the use of a swear word, the smile on his face fell.

"What?"

I blinked once because now my emotions were catching up with me and I felt the tears coming. Why was I still here? I didn't say anything else and booked it up to my room as fast as I could. It only took two seconds - superhuman speed was definitely there. Then I slammed the door so hard that the drywall around the frame cracked ever so slightly. But I noticed.

I threw myself onto my bed and finally cried. I cried because my birthday was ruined. I cried because I saw a dead man. I cried because I'm not a werewolf.

I'm the freak of the family.