11)

We got some of my Great Aunt’s family's luggage loaded up in the white van then me and Charles followed them on their shuttle bus to a rental lot where we had another SUV ready in order to get everyone into a vehicle with all their stuff.

Graunt Lois, as she insisted I call her since Gruncle Drew had told her that Grand Uncle's had their own titles, dragged her husband along behind her and practically shoved him in the passenger seat of the van before loading herself into the front bench seat and patting the spot beside her while looking at me. “You here, grandchildren pile in the back.”

The younger girl, Erica, squirmed in between me and her Grandmother while looking up at me with a wide smile, while the oldest of the boys, Paul, who was about four years older than me pulled the sliding door shut, and then put himself into the rearmost bench while he pulled out his phone.

Dad had told me if I was going into the family business that memorizing names and backgrounds was important, so I had studied the files he had put together from social media.

Charles pulled out of the rental lot while keeping an eye over his shoulder to make sure he didn't lose the other car on the way back to Grandpa’s place.

Graunt Lois twisted sideways in her seat to look at me, now a bit more suspicious than bewildered. "So, what's the story?"

I took a deep breath and then sighed. "I was given a cover story. About my Great Grandmother Endora and my Grandma Brianna having to go into witness protection at the same time Grandma Bree found out she was pregnant. But I don’t see any point in lying.”

Shrugging, I reached out to take one of Graunt Lois’s hands. “Your brother Drew has his leg back He regrew it so it’s a real flesh and blood leg. How that happened is going to be explained tonight, as is a lot of other stuff. So I don’t see any point in lying to you with the cover story. You’re family, and Grandpa Lathe is going to fill all of you in on everything anyways.”

Aunt Lois raised an eyebrow at me, then looked over at the back of Charles's head. "Are you in on this Chuck, because you I'll hit."

Charles shook his head. “I’m sticking with the witness protection story. It’s plausible and I can claim not to know the whole story. Besides, I’m driving, so no hitting. If we get into an accident, we can’t regrow legs.”

Graunt Lois’s husband Samuel twisted around in his seat enough to look back at me. “I actually like the Witness protection part, but please do tell us how Drew got his leg back? Some kind of advanced prosthesis? Cloning?”

I shook my head a little. “Bitten by a Werewolf.”

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

Samuel laughed, while his wife gave me a sharp look and pulled her hand free to try to swat at me. The little girl Erica seemed excited. "Uncle Drew's a Werewolf?" I smiled and looked down at her. "And your cousin Charles is dating a Vampire."

Charles snapped out a “Hey!” From the driver’s seat. “Keep it to one big reveal per day, we don’t want to overwhelm them.”

Lois rolled her eyes "Well I'm glad he's dating someone. Do we get to meet her? There shouldn’t be issues anymore with my Dad gone.”

My Aunt said that a little sad. Her father had not done well in meeting Charles's girlfriend for the first time from what I had been told, just because she was Black. Not openly hostile, just distant and cold.

The man had died before I was two. Considering that I’m not White either, I'm glad I didn't meet him, but then again maybe meeting me as his great grandchild might have allowed him to change for the better.

Charles put his blinker on, “Change of subject, who wants IHOP?” Ignoring anyone’s possible objections he pulled into the restaurant's parking lot and began to hastily exit the vehicle. “My treat.”

Erica began to eagerly exit the vehicle while I looked steadily at Graunt Lois. Giving me a sharp look, she told her husband, without looking away from me, "Sam, take the kids inside, will you? Me and Sara need a moment."

Paul seemed hesitant to leave, but the allure of surgery fried chocolate drizzled carbohydrates quickly lured the older teenage boy away.

As Samuel pulled the sliding door shut, he gave his wife a questioning look before turning to help Charles herd his family toward the restaurant.

Graunt Lois leaned back against the inside of the van with her arms crossed. “Alright Sara, tell me what sort of game my brothers are we playing this weekend?”

I held up my hand closed into a fist, then slowly opened it as I let the magic flow and spin into a small ball of greenish light. "My family has always been magic. Then Grandpa Lathe went and got bit by a Werewolf all on his own, so now part of your family is magic too."

"This weekend your brothers want to make sure everyone in their family gets the chance to know about the supernatural, and if they want to take advantage of it. If you don’t, you can choose to go home and forget about it.”

I held my hand flat and lifted towards her to offer him the chance to examine the light. Her arms had started to unfold, but she jerked back a little at first. “Is it dangerous?”

I shook my head. “It’s just light. I only made it green because I like green…”

After a moment she shook her head. “Put it away Sara. I… I need to talk to my husband about this.”

I turned around and pulled the sliding door open so we could get out and followed her into the restaurant. I offered a hand to her to help her down from the van, but she waved me away with a snorting sound.

Aunt Lois and her husband rode in one of the SUVs the rest of the way back to Grandpa’s house, while I got to meet Erika’s parents, my cousin Macey and her husband Rick. When we pulled into the drive and parked in the circle up front, Gruncle Drew came out the front door with Grandpa Lathe just as Aunt Lois was getting out of the passenger seat of her car.

She looked from her brother’s pale legs revealed by his cargo shorts, then to me, before giving me a nod and walking up to her brother, ducking below his arms as he tried to hug her, and pinched his leg.

Drew jumped back and began swatting at his sister with both hands. “Ow! Lois? I just got that leg back, stop trying to tear it off, brat.”

My gray haired Graunt, a grandmother, began swatting right back at her white haired elder brother. “Shut up, my nails aren't even painted silver, Mr. Big Bad Wolf. You didn't tell me you got your leg back, and where the rest of your gut fat boy!"

I had grown up with the serious dignity of the elders of my mother's family, or the almost sinister grimness of my oldest relative on my father’s side.

Seeing two old men trying to dodge away from their equally elderly sister’s attempts to kick them in the shins...

I had to cover my mouth to try to hold in the laughter. I really wished this sort of… playfulness had always been part of my family, even with the rotten sense of humor of humor that came with it.