Carly came bounding down the stairs as soon as we got close to the house, and practically tackled Cameron in a hug. He caught her, chuckling as he set her back on her feet. She turned to me and wrapped me in her arms, too.
"I guess dad told you everything, then."
"Yes, and I can't believe they kept that from us, about mom. How are you handling it all?"
"Well, Talia provided me with a pretty good distraction last night, and then again this morning, so I haven't really had much time to think about it." He said, smirking at me. I elbowed him in the ribs as I felt my face heat up.
"Okay, ew. I don't want to hear about my brother and my best friend's bedroom activities, Cam. But I did notice your marks! Oh! And dad said your wolves marked, too?! That's awesome."
"What?!" We all turned to look at Ian. "You left that part out, dude. What the hell? You're double marked??"
Cameron shrugged. "Yea, I forgot to mention it. It really wasn't relevant to the whole 'witch-on-our-land, my-mom-was-kidnapped, and my-soul-was-forcefully-bonded' story."
"You still could have mentioned it. That's huge, Cam. A big deal. Not just something you 'forget to mention'. Tyler is going to shit his pants when he finds out." Ian said. Daniel and Penelope came out of the house and walked up to us.
"Are we ready to go? Is Tyler coming with us?" Penelope asked.
"He's going to meet us at Evelyn's, he stopped at the library. He said he remembered reading something about wolf auras and wanted to see if he could find it." Cameron explained. We headed towards Evelyn's, and you could feel the tension and nervousness rolling off of every one of us. We stayed silent because what was there to say?
Evelyn was waiting for us on the front steps when we arrived. She stood up when we approached and we all walked inside. Penelope and Daniel sat down on the couch, Ian and Carly at the dining table, Cameron sat down on the oversized chair and pulled me onto his lap.
Evelyn shut the door as she came in the house and went into the kitchen. She started crushing up different spices and adding them to a mug, then grabbing her kettle off the stove to add hot water. She brought the mug to Penelope and held it out for her to take.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
"This is a calming tea. We don't know what kind of emotions your memories will bring up, and I don't want you too upset. Drink this, and it will help you stay calm no matter what you end up remembering. Once you've finished it, we will get started.
"Daniel, I want you to stay next to her the entire time. Preferably holding onto her. If you want, we can do this in my bedroom, on the bed, so you can lay with her in your arms. It will help keep her grounded, being able to breathe in your scent. She will be able to tell that you are with her, and the memories are just that: memories." Daniel nodded as she finished.
"I think that sounds fine. What will you have to do to bring her memories back?"
"I say a small spell, which will put her into a sort of waking sleep, kind of like how it feels right as you doze off when you're trying to fall asleep. Then, I'll preform a larger, more complex spell, unlocking the portion of her brain where any blocked memories have been stored. They weren't technically erased, just locked away where she has no access to them consciously. They will flood her brain all at the same time and that can be overwhelming, which is why she needs you with her to keep her calm."
We all sat there quietly, listening to Evelyn explain the process. Ian stood and walked to the door to open it, letting Tyler in. He was carrying 2 books with him.
"Did you sign those out?" Cameron asked. I gave him a pointed look. Really, he's worried about the library books not being accounted for right now?
"Uh, no... You told me to hurry!" He huffed out. Cameron rolled his eyes.
"Well, what did you find?" I asked. I'm curious and I need to know if he found anything. Our 'distraction' may have worked last night and this morning, but now we're in the middle of it, and my anxiety is growing by the minute. The sooner we can start answering questions, the better.
"Okay, so, there's not much, but I did find something. These two books both mention wolf aura's, but it seems like it's super rare, so basically it's just a lot of speculation. This one," he said, opening the smaller of the two books, "says that wolves can develop soft auras after becoming double marked. But it says these auras are almost invisible, even to those with magic that are able to sense them."
"No, this aura was strong. And a double marked aura wouldn't explain the otherworldly power I felt when I looked at Cameron's wolf." Evelyn said.
"Well maybe this will then." Tyler opened the bigger, older book. "I almost didn't bring this one because it seemed like the least possible of the two, but now that you mention extreme power, it might actually fit. It reads, 'Many moons ago, there were several Gods that owed the Moon Goddess a favor. In order to repay these favors, Selene wanted these Gods to bind themselves to several of her wolves. These wolves would receive the power of those Gods along with parts of their personality, but not their magical abilities. She asked this of them, so, in the future, she would be able to provide certain worthy humans a powerful wolf, to protect the werewolf population if need be.'"