3 Reality

We were in the car for what seemed like forever, when suddenly we came to a complete halt. I thought we had made it to the police station but that wasn't it, I sat up to see what was going on and it was the wolf with the bright white eyes. The one that had attacked my mother, I squeezed Zeus's arm to the point I was drawing blood, Zeus just looked at me " Squirt what's wrong?" "Zeus that's the wolf that attacked mom and tried to attack me." Zeus sat up and immediately started growling, which I do not understand why he was growling. What in the world is going on the first Genius, and now Zeus? But the wolf immediately took off. Officer Jacob just shook his head and started driving again.

Within a few moments, we were at the police station and being ushered into Office Jacob's office. My brother and I sat down in the chairs that were stationed right beside the desk when Officer Jacob came and sat down in his chair. " Now Artemis, could you please explain what happened? I know it is hard, but please explain as much as possible." I kept looking down at my feet like they would protect me from this conversation when I suddenly felt a gentle squeeze on my hand, I looked up, and Zeus was smiling at me. " It's okay squirt just tell them what you remember so we can go to the hotel for the night."

I nodded; I didn't understand why my brother was being so nice to me; he usually ignores me. I took in a deep breath and looked at Officer Jacob. " I got woken up around 4:30 am to screams, I assumed they were coming from outside until I heard the second scream that I realized it was coming from my mom's room." I started crying, but I continued it was essential to figure out why this happened, and Zeus deserved to know as well. " So I jumped over my bed, ran down the hall to my mother's room when I opened the door all I saw was blood everywhere, and my mother's lifeless body in the corner. When I went to scream, I heard growling coming from the closet when this big wolf with bright white eyes came out of the closet, causing me to back up till I reached the door." I realized that after I had mentioned the wolf, Zeus seemed more agitated in a way, and I wasn't sure why. But none the less I continued the story, " So I managed to get out the door, I started running down the hall back to my room, I started placing everything that I could in front of it hoping that it would stop the wolf from getting to me, but it was almost through when you guys got there, but as soon as it heard the sirens it disappeared."

Officer Jacob arched his eyebrow at me surprised to hear what just came out of my mouth, "Artemis, are you telling me that a wolf attacked your mother, went after you then just disappeared when we showed up?" I nodded acknowledging that was what happened, Officer Jacob was typing away on his computer when he turned and looked at Zeus " Zeus can I speak with you a moment, then after that child protective services would like to speak with you." "Artemis can sit in my office until you are done, the wildlife officer would like to ask her some questions about the wolf if that's okay." Zeus stood up from his chair and looked at the officer " I do not have a problem talking to you and child protective services, but my sister will not be talking to anyone else tonight she has been through enough, and I just want to get her somewhere safe."

That seemed too shocked Officer Jacob because we were at a police station, why wouldn't I be safe there. My brother walked outside the office with the officer, where child protective services where, and then they went into another room where I could not see nor hear them. I sat in the office for a while when suddenly I heard Genius asking for me, which is shocking because I haven't heard from him since the incident at the school. But nobody knew what had happened because Oliver didn't tell anyone, an officer brought Genius to the office where I was, and I immediately stood up and backed away from him. Genius thanked the officer then turned to face me, "Princess, are you okay? I heard what happened." I stood there frozen unsure of what to do, "Princess, I am sorry for the other day at school. I shouldn't have acted like that."

I just kept staring at Genius unsure of what to do or say, finally worked up the courage to speak " Genius, what are you doing here?, I didn't call you how did you know where I was." "Why were you growling what's going on?" He just hung his head "Princess, there is a lot you don't know about, you won't know until your birthday, but I never meant to scare you." I was still so confused on what was going on I had forgotten all about my birthday with everything going on I just realized that I turn 16 today. What was he talking about? It's just my birthday there isn't anything special about it. He tried to inch closer to me, but I kept backing up until I backed into the desk behind me. That's when my brother came into the office, he looked at me then looked at Genius. I think he just realized I was up against the desk.

He immediately started going toward Genius, " What are you doing here? nobody called you, why is my sister backing away from Genius what did you do." Genius just looked at him and laughed then walked out, what the hell was that about. Zeus walked over to me, " Are you ok squirt? Did he do something to you?" I shook my head, no afraid to speak. My brother just hugged me " I am so sorry I wasn't there to protect you and mom, but I will not make that mistake again. Let's get you to the hotel." Zeus walked me out of the building, and there was a car already waiting on us, Zeus had called his best friend Daniel to come to pick us up. Daniel was as tall as Zeus but he had blonde hair and Zeus opened the door for me then we both got in, I didn't speak the entire way to the hotel. Zeus just kept watching outside like he was waiting for something or someone. I wasn't sure of what was going on, I just wanted to go to sleep and wake up, and this all be a dream. This couldn't be real, and I couldn't have just lost my mom, especially before my birthday.

Before I knew it we had arrived at the hotel, my brother thanked Daniel then got out of the car and went inside the office to pay for the hotel for the night. Daniel just kept looking back at me like he wanted to say something but was scared. " Artemis, are you ok?" Was I okay I really couldn't feel anything I was numb, " I honestly don't know Daniel, I am so confused on what's going on nobody is telling me anything, they just keep mentioning my birthday." Daniel looked down after that like he knew what was going to happen, " I am sorry that all this is happening, but maybe you should go get some sleep I am sure Zeus will explain things, but Happy birthday Artemis." I got out of the car and walked over to where my brother was standing, waiting for me.

"Come on squirt let's get you to the room so you can sleep." I just nodded following him to our room, and he got us one with a double bed that way we weren't sharing the same bed. I went and sat down on the bed; Zeus sat across from me. "Zeus, what is going on? Why does everyone keep mentioning my birthday?" Zeus just looked at me " Squirt, let's not worry about that right now I want you to get some sleep, then we will talk about everything." I nodded and laid back on the bed my brother came over and sat on the edge of the bed and started running his hands through my hair. " I am so sorry Art, we never meant for any of this to happen, Happy Birthday squirt, get some sleep and we will talk a little bit later today ok."

I didn't even realize I had fallen asleep when I woke up, the sun was shining, and my brother was in the shower. I realized we were in the hotel, so that wasn't a dream, mom is gone. I scrunched my knees to my chest, what was I going to do my mom wasn't here for me to talk to I wanted answers. The shower stopped, Zeus opened the door, and steam just came rolling out, " Hey squirt come to get in the shower and freshen up I am going to take you to breakfast then we have some stuff we have got to get done for mom's funeral." I just nodded and went into the bathroom; I looked at myself in the mirror what is going on why is all this happening? I pushed it out of my mind and jumped into the shower, once I was in the shower I was able to relax some. When I got out of the shower, Zeus must have put some new clothes in here while I was in the rain because on the toilet sat this beautiful red flower top with some cute high heels to go with it. When did my brother get so good at picking out clothes, I laughed to myself.

After I got dressed, I walked out of the bathroom; my brother just turned around and started to smile. "Squirt, you look beautiful, do you like it?" I shook my head, " Yes, but when did you get so good at picking out clothes." He just started laughing, " I'm not; it's the dress that mom and I picked out for you for your birthday." At the mention of my mom I hung my head, I missed her, why did this all have to happen to us. My brother walked over to me and lifted my chin up " Art I know this is hard, but was going to get through this; it's just you and me now." I hugged my brother. I have never seen this side of him before. He pulled me back a little away from him " Come one squirt, let's go get mom's ashes then we can decide if we want to have a funeral or just spread her ashes at her favorite spot ok." I nodded and followed him out to the car that was there.

The drive to the mortuary was silent my brother, nor I spoke the whole time, when we pulled up, I looked at the building; this isn't the one I have seen in town before. My brother noticed that I was looking strangely at the place, " This is one that only our family has, nobody else is allowed to use this one, mom's parents purchased it a long time ago. I looked at him confused, and I didn't even know my grandparents they died when my mom was pregnant with me. Zeus looked at me " Alright, squirt I will be back out you sit here till I come out if anything happens I want you to lay on the horn till you see me ok. Do not open the windows or doors for anyone who got it." I nodded yes, I didn't know what to say he was acting so strangely now. He got out the car and walked inside but not until I locked the car doors, he wouldn't budge till he made sure I locked the doors.

Why is everyone acting so strange to me now, nobody cared this much before, nobody cared what happened to me until now. I looked at the building in front of me it was ancient the outside was made of marble, there were beautiful angel statues on the very top of the building. The more I admired it, the more attractive it became, this is our families but how we never seemed to have that much money. I sat in the car for about 30 mins before my brother came back out holding an urn. I unlocked the door; he opened the door and got in. "Well Squirt what do you think mom would want us to do?" I just looked at him, and the answer came to me so quickly I know exactly what mom would have wanted " Let's take it to her favorite spot and release her there" Zeus just smiled and nodded before starting up the car.

I sat back in the seating, watching the scenery my mom's favorite spot was about a half hour drive from her. She uses to take my brother and me there every summer, and it was only right that she be put to rest there. When we arrived there it was beautiful her favorite oak tree with the pretty pink flowers on it stood tall, the flowers in the grass were beautiful. Zeus put the car into park and turned to me, " Are you ready to say good-bye to mom squirt?" I shook my head up and down, so we got out of the car. We headed over to the tree, as we were walking up to the tree a breeze started blowing like the tree knew why we were there, it was soothing to me. I always loved coming here with mom and laying on the grass watching the clouds.

We finally made it to the tree, we just stood there for a moment taking in everything around us, my brother spoke " Mom, your time was cut short, we will miss you, I will protect Artemis with my last breath, she will know who she is by tonight, I am sorry mom this shouldn't have happened like this. We love you" I started crying as my brother opened the top of the urn, and slowly dumped the ashes into the wind. The wind took my mother with it; it swirled around her favorite tree then back around my brother and me. Like my mom was still with us letting us know it would be ok and everything would work out. My brother came to me, wrapped his arms around me, and squeezed me. " Art I think we need to talk, do you want to sit down here. " I shook my head yes, this is what I have wanted since everything that happened with Genius and Oliver.

My brother let out a long breath before speaking " Artemis before I start explaining everything I want you to know that the only reason mom didn't tell you any of this before is that she was trying to protect you. I was shocked why did mom have to protect me; I never did anything for anyone to want to hurt me. Zeus just stared at me waiting for me to say anything before he started speaking at " Zeus I don't know what is going on?" Zeus just shook his head " Art, this is not your fault mom was going to tell you everything tonight before the full moon but unfortunately that isn't going to happen, but do you remember the stories about the werewolves that mom uses to tell you when you were little." I nodded encouraging him to continue, " Well Art we are those wolves, mom had to run away after our father was killed, Mom was the packs Luna/Alpha, dad was also an alpha. But mom wasn't like the rest of the wolves; she was special, unique." I just stared at him with disbelief, "So you're telling me that mom was a werewolf."

He nodded, I went to speak, and he held his hand up, signaling me to stop so he could finish before I asked questions. " Mom was the strongest out of us all; she has special abilities that make her different from other wolves, one of the powers she had was the power to change into her wolf form even when the moon was not full. All of those were apart of the pack had this power as well because mother performed a ceremony with father that way we were all protected from turning strictly on full moons." " I was 4 when mom was pregnant with you, her and dad were really happy when they found out they were having a little girl, well during the first war between a rival clan and us when mother was still pregnant with you, someone had tried to hurt mom and you and that's when grandma and grandpa died." " They died to protect you and our mom, After the war ended, everything was going good, mom had you and boy were you loud when you were born. You made sure we all knew that you were alive and well, now we are going to jump to when you were four, and I was eight ok."

I nodded, not wanting to interrupt him, " Well, we were playing outside one day when you started to show signs that maybe you had inherited some of mom's many gifts. We were playing by a tree with some of the other children, one of the boys had to bite your leg, I went to beat him up, but before I could get to either of you, you had somehow managed to lift him by his neck, the boy started to catch fire. I raced over to you and was begging you to put him down, but when you turned to look at me Art your eyes were a deep purple, I had not seen that before except when mom was fighting in the war but even then mom's eyes were not that dark." I was shocked what is he trying to tell me is there something wrong with me; I wouldn't be able to find out unless I let him finish the story. I urged him to continue, " Well I started yelling for mom because I didn't know what to do Art you were way too strong for me at that point, well mom and dad came running over when they both stopped dead in their tracks. They both seen your eyes, the moment the seen your eyes they rushed over to you and pulled you away from the boy, they rushed you and me into the house. All they told me at the time was that they were going to contact this witch, they had to bind your powers and your wolf form until you reached 16 that way they had enough time to prepare you for it."

Now I was confused, " What do you mean prepare me for what?" He just looked at me, " I'm sorry, Zeus, please continue.�� He just chuckled before continuing "As I said at the time I didn't know what that meant and I didn't ask them questions. Well about a week after they had your powers bond and your wolf side bond, a group of wolves came to our home looking for the child that had the deep purple eyes. Naturally, mom and dad denied the claim, but the group was not listening to them. Once dad noticed they were not taking no for an answer, he turned towards mother and told her to grab you and me and take the secret entrance out and do not turn back. That was the last time I saw our father, once mom got us out she traveled here because it was such a small town and so far away nobody would have looked for us. But once we got settled in and I hit about 16 when I first shifted, mom sat me down." " She started to explain why they had to bind your powers and your wolf form till you were 16, You were born the queen of all wolves, you are the leader of every pack in this world, you are stronger than any of us. They bound your powers because they feared if other packs heard about this that hey would revolt and hurt you. But mom did say that once you find your mate, he will become Alpha with you."

Finally, Zeus stopped and just stared at me. I was left speechless, what was I suppose to say to that. I finally took a deep breath, " Zeus, am I suppose to believe all this? Why would you guys hide all of this from me." Zeus looked down at his feet, he was sad you could see it, " Squirt, we couldn't tell you till your birthday for your protection, if it got out that you were still alive then all of this would have happened a lot sooner." I laid back in the grass just staring at the sky trying to process everything he just told me; I turned to him " Zeus, so does this mean I am going to turn into a wolf tonight?" Zeus smiled at me " That is exactly what I am telling you Squirt, we are going to Daniel's tonight that way we are surrounded by some of the pack that way we can protect you while you shift." I was somewhat happy, and I just thought something was wrong with me. " But why Daniel's is the part of our pack?

Zeus just started laughing " Art, you have a lot to learn there are at least two people in our pack that I know you know. One of them is Genius, and the other is Daniel." That shocked me that explains why Genius was growling at the school that day. " Zeus is it okay if we just lay here awhile at least until it gets closer to time for us to head to Daniel's?" Zeus nodded yes, so I laid back looking at the clouds trying to process everything that I had just learned about our family. I wasn't sure if he was telling the truth, lying, or just losing his mind, but he was my brother, and he was the only family I had left.