Whisperer – By Fang (Chapter 13)
13
Scorpio Moon
Her panic towards Caleb’s relations had died down in the past month. Not only because he assured her that no harm could be brought to her, but also at the fact that Lillian knew what she wanted. She was not going to give up one of the best relationships she’s had in ages just because a royal family demanded so.
“Those buffoons think they can rule me out just because of blood. I’ll show them that I can belong with their pack.”
Lillian tightened with timid relish when she felt Caleb’s arm drape around her shoulders, in response to Clyde Rudaman’s enraged scrutiny as he watched them walk to their class.
Sitting at their outdoor lunch table, Lillian watched as a squirrel hesitated coming down a tree to investigate for food.
Lillian dug into the small finger package of Planter’s salted peanuts she acquired with her lunch. She rubbed off the salt on each nut, resting three of them in her palm as she rest her hand down to the ground. She was aware the others were watching her.
Trying to willingly tap in to her Whisperer abilities, she hoped her message to the squirrel would not be hindered in any way.
Staring into the small creature’s large, wide eyes, she was able to exchange a welcoming offer with the innocent fur ball.
He skittered down the tree trunk the rest of the way, and without any hesitance, leaped over to Lillian, its small hands reaching for a nut.
It ate one seed after another from her hand, before shoving the last nut in its mouth and scurrying back up the tree.
The table group laughed, but Lillian was proud she gave a squirrel lunch.
“Wow. That was awesome. I never thought I’d be able to see a Whisperer in action,” Lauren complimented.
“Well, I wanna see you get a premonition,” Lillian stated.
“Only once in a blue moon, it seems,” Lauren told her.
“But it doesn’t look quite as involuntary anymore.” Lillian looked at Caleb as he stated his observation.
“I think I might be getting a little better at it. I mean, a couple months ago, I was able to control a pit-bull that was running loose in town; he was a friendly guy, though. Just a scared stray. He came up to me and stood by my side, and I was able to give him silent demands and he listened.”
“Wicked,” Marina praised.
Lillian’s heart was racing; her head spun with indecisiveness as she stared at the caller I.D address on her phone.
Instinctively, before the rings stopped, she answered.
“Hello?”
“Lillian.” Arthur’s voice was soft, but there was a twist of awkward emotion. “I was getting worried about you for a while.”
“What? Did you think I’d jump off a cliff next?”
“Lillian.” He gave an imploring sigh. “I don’t want us to fight, alright, hon? I don’t know if you’re still upset over Terri and the new baby that’s on the way…”
“Uh, what makes you think I wouldn’t be?”
“Lilly, come on. Why don’t you just give sisterhood a try, at least, big sisterhood? Who knows, you may like it, and maybe you’ll loosen up a little.”
“Dad, I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, it’s not going to happen. Can I just explain this as clearly and straight-forward as I can?” Lillian held her breath while her father contemplated.
“Alright.”
She exhaled, sorting through her words. “Okay. Dad, it used to be just the two of us. And remember all the things you used to say, like, ‘You’re all I’ll ever need’?”
“Yeah?”
“Well, you make me feel like I’ve disappointed you or something, because you had Terri come into the family on a whim, not caring how I would feel having her around or if I even wanted a mother.” Lillian failed to suppress the crack in her voice.
“And ever since you two got married, it got worse. I mean, you wait on her hand and foot and do whatever she wants you to! And you’re morality sensor seems to switch off whenever you do it!
“Dad, Terri and Amber moved in on my personal space. Terri always has you, and I can’t do anything with you unless we do something as a whole family. Or, I can’t go and get involved in a community thing like 4-H, unless Amber wants to go, too. I was lucky to get a job at the zoo, however short-lived it was!”
“Lillian, it’s not like she’s torturing you,” Arthur amended.
“How could you know that? You haven’t been in my shoes these past three years, Dad!” By now, tears were streaking down Lillian’s face.
“Well, Lillian, honey, I’m sorry you feel that way, okay? But it’s not going to change anything; it’s not like I’m going to divorce Terri just because you say you have a few problems with her.”
“It’s not just a few problems! You don’t even care about me! You–you always used to put me first! Always! Hell, before, you used to ask me how I felt about having a dog or a cat in the family and if I would like it, but with Terri, you just assumed that I would like her!?”
“No, I didn’t assume you would like her, Lil—”
“Then what instinct did you thrust her into the family with, cuz it sure as hell wasn’t my vote!” Lillian waited for an answer. But all she got was a hesitant breath, and then a sigh of guilt.
“Aha, see? You’re guilty. You did bring Terri into the family without even thinking of how I would feel about it—not assuming that I would like it, but not even thinking of it.”
“Lillian, I needed a woman in my life, I don’t expect you to understand that need.”
“Didn’t you love Mom?”
“Of course I did, but that doesn’t matter anymore, because she’s dead. It’s not like she’ll rise from the grave if I miss her enough.”
“Well, I’m sorry, Dad, but…” Lillian’s heart raced as she prepared to utter her next declaration. “…As long as Terri is there, in your life, then I won’t be.”
“Well, you said you wanted to stay with your grandparents…” Arthur’s voice was hindered with regret. “…And maybe once they’ve passed on, we can get past this and be a family again.”
Lillian shook her head, another tear falling. “No, Dad. I won’t come back.”
“Why not?”
How could she be so sure? What if the werewolf pack never came to accept her?
“Because, I see now that that isn’t my home anymore.”
“Lillian, where are you going to go?”
“I’ll probably be in my twenties by the time Grandma and Grandpa die; I’ll be fine.”
Arthur was still fretful. “W-well, who’s gonna take care of you?”
The answer was indubitable. “Caleb.”
“What, are you two serious now?”
“No. But we’re still good friends, and he cares about me. I know he’ll take care of me. He’s done so ever since I came here.”
“What do you plan on doing? Moving in with a guy who isn’t even your boyfriend?”
Lillian couldn’t believe what she was about to mention. “Well, who knows, Dad; maybe Caleb and I will run off together after he finishes school and settle in a nice house or apartment. It worked for you and Mom; except for the end, but I’m sure I’ll learn from Mom’s mistakes.”
“Wha– What are you talking about?”
Lillian forgot how to breathe for a moment. “I know what happened to Mom. All of it.”
“Everything?” Arthur was breathless.
“Everything. Even the confusing autopsy reports.”
“H-how?”
“The Internet isn’t just for games, MySpace, and porn, Dad.” There was nothing on the other line for a few moments; Lillian began to think that he hung up. But then Arthur gave a quivering sigh.
“Lillian, you don’t know how dangerous it is there… You have to come home!”
“No. Sorry. I’m not going back to your house, Dad. I’m on my own from now on. No longer am I part of your family, so I won’t come back, even on holidays. I’m sure Terri and Amber won’t mind that much.”
“Dammit, Lillian, you can’t be with those people!” Lillian was stunned to hear a waver in her father’s voice.
“Even so, it won’t change the fact that I know Caleb will stay with me, no matter what. He can protect me from anything; he’s proven so already.”
When Lillian heard a choke on the other line, she briefly panicked, thinking maybe she sparked a heart attack.
“This Caleb… He’s one of them, isn’t he?”
“Yes. And he’s my best friend, and I’m not going to leave him behind, no matter how much you disapprove.”
“Do you think they’ll just welcome you with open arms?!” Arthur hissed.
“Well, I’m half werewolf, aren’t I? There has to be some arrangement we can work out. If not, it’s like I said, Caleb and I will just have to pull a Selene-and-Arthur and run off together.”
Arthur sighed heavily. “Lillian, please, I lost your mother; I don’t want to lose you, too.”
Lillian let the ice come to her voice. “You lost me a long time ago. Goodbye, Arthur.” She hung up, falling onto her bed. Closing her eyes, she warded off any images of Arthur to prevent from going soft. This was her decision, and she was never more sure of it.
“I told him.”
“What?”
“I told him. About you guys.” Lillian carefully watched the expressions on Caleb’s face, prepared for anything akin to rage or worry.
Instead, he only sighed, brows up. “How?”
“Well, he called me to sort of settle and come to amends about the last time we saw each other; he asked me why I felt the way I did about everything and… That led to what I’d do when I would have nobody left, I told him I had you, and that we may pull the same move he and my mom made, and, ultimately, that led to him sort of putting the pieces together.”
Instead of anxious or disapproving, Caleb was rather impressed. “Wow.”
But there was an awkward hesitance regarding a statement made in her last sentence.
“I do have you, right?” Lillian asked feebly. Caleb blinked. “What?”
She glanced down at the dirt ground beneath her. “I’ll always have you there to count on, to be there for me.” Her voice was soft with hesitance.
“Of course,” Caleb responded tenderly. “Lillian, after coming back to you through the odds of us practically being a forbidden friendship should have you assured that I’m not going to drop you like a newspaper.”
His steps halted, and Lillian, as if connected to him by a lifeline, stopped as well.
“I know how much it would hurt you,” Caleb continued, his voice hypnotically melancholy. “Lillian, I’m sure you’re father’s a good man, but…even good men don’t last forever. Time ravishes certain pieces of their characters that made them good men. But I’ll never change, because I don’t want to hurt you, too.”
“Then that settles it,” Lillian murmured. She met his eyes now. “When he told me he didn’t want to lose me like he did Mom, I told him that he had already lost me, because I lost him first. The only other life I could possibly live in is your world.”
Caleb smiled, but he shook his head. “Lillian, you don’t even know my pack yet. And they don’t know you; you can’t even tell they’ll accept you.”
“I’ll prove that I can belong with them,” Lillian argued fervently. “They just need to get to know me, that’s all they have to do. And I’m already half werewolf, so it can’t be too hard.”
“It shouldn’t be,” Caleb clarified. “But, look, even if they did accept you, you do know the responsibility that comes with it, right?” His brown eyes became a burning, melting mocha, entrancing her.
“The best thing for you to do is to never see your human family again, if you became one of us as far as being a member of our family. Though I’m sure, after learning from your mother’s mistakes, that you’re unlikely prone to make the same ones, but…”
“I know.”
Caleb laughed dryly. “You’re going to give up everything you’ve ever known just because of this secret society of people your mother turned her back on?”
“Caleb, all I have ever known has been a lie. I can’t live a lie. Not just because of what my father’s been hiding from me, but the whole lie of living with Terri and Amber, and fooling myself that if I held on long enough, that I could learn to live with it. But I’m done, I can’t take it anymore.”
Lillian was tearing against her will, and she wiped away the tears in fury. Dammit, she used to be strong! She never cried.
But maybe that was the problem.
Caleb gently stopped her hand’s violent brushing and erased the salty drops with his own finger, the brief contact of their skins causing Lillian to miss a beat of her heart.
“Caleb?”
His attentive eyes gave a silent response.
“If you’re going to stay with me, no matter what, then…we need to bear all with each other, right?”
“What do you mean?”
Lillian could feel her eyes seeking, deeper, into his, the way she did with her fellow animals, finding far more depth that she could ever imagine… So much depth…
“I want to see you in your werewolf form again.” Her words came out in a breath. “We need to learn how to be around each other in every way, especially when you’re in that form.”
“Not yet.”
Lillian was about to protest, when just the stun of feeling Caleb’s finger still her lips made her stifle her voice.
“Your birthday’s next month, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll show you on your birthday, where we can be in a more appropriate place and time. And besides, you know what I think would be cool?”
“Huh?”
“If you worked on your Whisperer abilities, and became advanced enough to where you could exchange speech with animals… That way, you’ll be able to talk to me.”
“Really? You think it’ll work?”
He shrugged. “I’d say so. Makes no sense why you wouldn’t be able to.”
“Okay. So, if I work hard enough and master my abilities, then you’ll show me how you are in your wolf form?”
Caleb held out his hand. “I’m a man of my word.”
Lillian sealed the promise with a handshake. “You think you’ll be able to help me out though, a little?”
“I don’t think my uncle will object against me asking a few questions about a Whisperer’s abilities. In fact, I don’t even think he knows you’re a Whisperer. That may change things.”
“In a good or bad way?”
“Hopefully, a good way.”
“Holy crud, it seems like forever,” Lillian marveled, laying first sight on Amber in months. Occupation really makes time race by the minute.
Amber saw her sister, and Lillian wanted to turn away, but she was too late to move when Amber approached her from across the mildly congested hall.
“About time you had the guts to show your disloyal mug around me,” she sneered.
“What are you talking about?” Lillian’s voice had a disgraceful lull.
“Oh, I’m talking about how you discharged yourself from our family, just because you have to share your dad with Mom and me. Jesus, could you be more selfish, Lillian?”
“Give me a break, Amber. It’s not like this affected you in any negative way.”
“Still! I was stunned you played such a low card! I may hate you, but I would never sink as low you as you did.”
Lillian didn’t seem to notice their little argument was attracting the scattered attention of those in the hall with them.
“I mean, do you know how upset Dad was when you said those things to him? My mom was literally bawling on the phone when she told me.”
Lillian was about to counterattack her claim, but for once, she saw Amber was telling the dead truth.
“Did she say anything about my dad leaving her?”
“No. But seeing him that upset tore her apart, you know. Although, I’ll admit, my mom didn’t exactly treat you like a princess, she knew how close you and Arthur were since the beginning. She’s quite pissed at you because of what you did to him.”
Don’t give in, Lillian coached herself. “I don’t care what your mother thinks of me. I made my decision, and I realize that I don’t belong there anymore. I’m gonna start my own life, far from you and Terri. As for Dad…”
“How can you still call him ‘Dad’? You gave up your right to call him that when you abandoned him! When you hung up that phone, you wrote yourself off as his daughter!”
“He abandoned me!!” Lillian screamed inside.
“Face it, Lillian! My mom and I may be spoiled bitches, but you’re a backstabbing traitor, and even I know that’s far lower. So if you wanted to prove you’re a better person than we are, you failed like a serial murderer on a polygraph test!”
“SHUT UP!” Lillian’s conscience blacked out, and before she knew it, she was grabbing something, and throwing it across the hall. She heard it hit a steel, hollow base, and using an alternate sense, she followed the object of her attack, and threw her fist to it, but instead of a warm, bone structure, her knuckles collided into the cold steel.
As if she were a TV that was switched on, Lillian’s conscious vision returned, and her eyes widened at the first thing she saw.
Her fist was planted in the door of a black locker, the dent unspeakable. She pulled her hand away, feeling sharp objects come out of her flesh. Her knuckles were cut up and punctured, and she could see the damage she made to the locker. The dent was at least a centimeter or two deep, the smooth conformation shattered, where Lillian could see the spearing cuts of metal that made the punctures in her skin.
“My whole hand should be shattered…!” And yet, the only pain she felt was the sting from the cuts. Actually, her hand was rather numb.
“For all I know, it could be broken.” She was able to move her fingers and rotate around the axel of her wrist. It definitely was not broken.
Her eyes fell upon Amber’s, who was still laying back on all fours on the floor, gaping up at her in horror, along with the many faces of the students that witnessed it all.
“Shit! Lillian!”
The ghostly voice almost knocked Lillian off her feet.
“Dammit, Lillian, where are you?!”
“Caleb?”
“Where are you? What the hell’s happening?”
“I-I…” Before Lillian could answer him, she was being pulled along by a man, and she was not sure to be surprised or not when she saw it was Clyde Rudaman.
“No need to call security, I’ll take care of this,” he informed the students as they passed by. Other than this, he was wordless as they walked further down the hall to his classroom, where he gently beckoned Lillian to accommodate herself.
Still in a trance over what she did, she sat down in the chair she had before, while Clyde rummaged through some drawers before facing her.
“Let me see your hand,” he requested softly, feeling obligated enough to take her hand himself.
“I’m sorry,” Lillian whispered.
“It’s alright. It’s quite easy to lose control of your other half when emotionally cornered.”
“What, my werewolf side? But it’s not supposed to be that dominant, is it?”
“You’re training your abilities as a Whisperer, aren’t you?” His eyes were calm, not what Lillian would expect from him after what she just did.
“That is triggering a spiritual response in your being; you’re attempting to become more one with your wolf spirit. That also explains the strength.”
“I should be in extreme pain… But, I don’t…”
“Like I said, you’re becoming more intellectually connected and aware of your natural aptitude as a half Moon Child.”
“Moon Child?”
Clyde smirked. “A little nickname for us lycanthropes, Children of the Moon.” He continued cleaning and dressing her hand. The silence gave her more persuasion to playback the moment in her head.
“Before you took me here, I heard Caleb talking to me in my head… But I don’t know if I was hallucinating…”
“No, you heard him. You heard his thoughts.”
“Is he in his animal form?”
“No; he’s in skin, but you must have advanced quite well in your training to have heard him.”
“I don’t get it; how could he know I would hear him?”
“As werewolves, we have that inner animal that allows us to receive and emit thoughts in a state of panic or distress. It’s not quite like mind reading, like how we communicate in our fur, but the instinct is strong enough for us to give out a sort of involuntary yet automatic thought of panic.
“Caleb was able to feel your anger and your distress, while not in fur or as a Whisperer himself.”
Lillian couldn’t understand the amused smile on Rudaman’s face as he delicately wrapped a bandage around her hand.
“What?”
“Well, usually, werewolves don’t have such a bond unless they’re very emotionally connected with the other wolf. It’s mostly seen in parents and cubs; though as the cubs age into adults, the call is less audible in that form; from then on, you can call it simple paternal instinct.”
“What other ways can werewolves send panic signals to each other?”
“They’re really close—companions.”
Lillian blushed at the suggestion. “Companions, as in…?”
Clyde’s eyes briefly flashed a look at her. “Just companions. Any who share a strong, non-relative bond… They would formally be called mates, but…”
Lillian gulped. “Okay.” She clamped her mouth shut as he finished.
“That should do it.”
“Will I heal fast, then, if I’m becoming more interactive with my werewolf side?”
Rudaman scrutinized her bandaged hand. “I wouldn’t think so, but just keep an eye on it. Although you can take the gauzes off in two days, keep the wrap on for a few more, to help ease some of the pain in your joints. Trust me, you may not feel it now, but you will definitely feel pain in the morning.”
“Thanks. How do you know so much about wounds and healing…?”
“I teach a medical class too, dear.”
“Oh. Well, thanks. But…am I going to get a detention for what I did?”
“You can say I did, but I can let you slide.”
Lillian felt her eyes bulge. “Really?” The last time they spoke, they were protesting left and right; now he was being gracious, tending to her wounds and letting her slide from detention?
“Lillian?” Caleb came storming through the door. Lillian couldn’t help but feel a sense of relish at the worry in his voice.
“What happened?” He looked at Clyde.
“Amber was provoking me; I just lost it,” Lillian answered him.
“Yeah, I could feel that, but what the hell was that loud noise?”
“You heard me punch that locker? Where were you?”
“Entering this building. And that was you?” He looked back at Rudaman again. “She punched a locker?”
“Quite nicely, too. Put a good dent in it.” Lillian was stunned Rudaman could be so light-hearted about it now.
“How’s your hand?”
“Jeez, Caleb, calm down,” Lillian eased with a weak, unsuccessful giggle. “I’m in one piece and no one else was hurt, so, I think we can all afford to relax. Or am I wrong?”
“Everything will be fine; it’s not like you displayed any other sense of inhuman behavior,” Clyde assessed.
“Well…then I should probably get to my next class…”
“Absolutely not!” Caleb objected, pressing her down by her shoulder.
“Caleb, I’m perfectly fine! I didn’t break my hand, so I can still do schoolwork. Or are you afraid I’ll lose my temper again?”
“No; after that little scare, he’s a tad bit protective of you at the moment. It’s perfectly natural.” There was a teasing mock in Clyde’s voice as he scrutinized his young nephew.
“Either way, Lillian, I do think it is best you take the rest of the day off. If you’re emotionally unstable, the last thing you need is to go to class where you’re surrounded by a hoard of rowdy teenagers. I’ll get a nurse to write a note for you.”
Lillian couldn’t argue. It was not every day she could play hooky for a slight reason as this.
“Why is your uncle being so nice to me all of a sudden?” Lillian asked as her and Caleb walked over to the living quarters building.
“Well, I’ve been going to him for advice and information on Whisperers, remember?”
“So knowing I’m a Whisperer kind of changed his view about me?”
“Yeah, I guess. I don’t know how the rest of the word has spread, but…” He sighed. Lillian could feel he was shaken up.
“Caleb, what are you tweaking out for?”
He closed his eyes and shook his head. “I’m sorry, I’m just real…shaken after what happened. I mean, I’ve never experienced a feeling like that before. I was just doing my usual routine and then…I could hear and feel you in trouble, and then the next thing I hear is this loud bang. I don’t know, on instinct, I talked to you, without really realizing what I was doing.”
Lillian clutched her jaw from mentioning the ‘companion’s bond’ that Rudaman spoke of.
Arriving at her dorm, Lillian hesitated going in, as Caleb stiffly, awkwardly, stood around her.
“Do you mind if I come in for a while?” he asked.
“Sure.” Walking in, Lillian tried to find a reason to speak. “Do you want something to drink?” she asked, laying eyes on the small portable refrigerator by the door.
“Water, please.”
She fetched a twelve ounce bottle of water, and passed it on to Caleb. She watched attentively as he took a large swallow. He did look rather pallid than usual.
“Sit down and breathe,” Lillian encouraged. Caleb smirked. “I’m not gonna faint or go into shock.”
“You look like it,” Lillian objected, sitting down next to him on her bed. “Look, even though I think you went a tad overboard with it, I do appreciate your concern for me today.”
Caleb smiled. “Sorry if I overdid it a little.”
“It’s alright.”
“Really? It won’t annoy you if I follow you wherever you go?”
Lillian stared at him. “You’re going to follow me around, just because of this?”
Caleb grinned. “If I did, would you mind?”
“Okay, you’re joking.”
He laughed. “Hm. Do you want me to be your body guard, keep people like Amber away from you?”
Lillian actually thought of his offer. It actually does sound comforting, having Caleb watch over her in that way.
“I’ll get back to you on that.”
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