“Will! You cannot be seriously planning on intruding on an Elder training session.” There was a hint of fear in Katherine’s voice, something that he had not expected. “Will, you don’t know what they are doing or how delicate it might be.” William looked at her flatly. Katherine took a deep breath and visually calmed herself. After a moment she continued, “Look, I know that you haven’t been through what I’ve been through. You haven’t been here in the city as long as I have, and I am telling you this is a terrible idea. There are Scouts doing things that may have never been tried before and there are Sages there as well. The combination of the two abilities must be very delicately balanced, otherwise why have the Elders there. People could die if something goes wrong, or worse.” Katherine hugged herself tightly and her gaze drifted toward the ground, “so much worse.”
Charles unfolded his arms and looked over at the cream colored werewolf, “What do you mean worse?”
Katherine shook her head violently as her tail swished behind her. William didn’t know if this was the best time, but she had peeked his interest. “Kat? What are you talking about?”
She looked trapped. There was a fear in her eyes that took a long time to subside. William and Charles watched as she regained control of herself. Her tail still twitched from time to time but she was calm again. She looked at both of them with her golden eyes. “You guys really don’t know, do you?”
“It would help if we had some frame of reference to know if we know or not.” Charles replied kindly.
Katherine smiled up at the seven foot five black werewolf. She glanced over at William, “About the Whyte Plain and those things that we have to fight in it.”
Charles shook his head but William’s mind reached back to the night after he was released from his cell. And he repeated out loud the cryptic words that Ares had told him in that cave. “They used to be werewolves.”
Charles and Katherine both turned their heads to look at him, waiting for further explanation but none came. William’s mind was already moving past that. There had been several questions that had plagued him in the past few weeks about the Whyte plain and what exactly it might be. Why had Aceso carried him for so long after killing one of those shadows the first time he was pulled in there? Why had the six of them popped out of the Whyte Plain in a completely different location from where they had entered? Looking at the two of them he leaned forward also recalling Jacob’s seemingly random description, ‘... it was better than the internet.’ To his pack mates he said, “I know the Whyte Plain had something to do with the ability to travel over distance and to communicate with each other from the other shape shifter cities in the world.” he shook his head, “What I don’t know is why it is the way it is now. What happened there, Kat?”
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Katherine looked between them. William saw something there, apprehension maybe? It was there for only a moment before the look was replaced by a hard determination, something that William hadn’t seen in her eyes for some time.
Katherine’s tail flicked behind her, putting a silent exclamation point on what she was about to say. She locked eyes with William, “The Whyte Plain was made almost five thousand years ago.” Charles’s head jerked back in surprise and shock. William found it a little hard to believe but let her continue. “Guys, the Whyte Plain was created by the sages of hundreds of packs spanning the known world at the time, Asia, Africa, Europe, and here.” Her eyes glazed over as her mind reached back through time. “For the first time the Elders of one city could instantly talk to the Elders of another. But not just that, there was free travel between the cities, like a subway. You could go from the City under the Rivers in India to the City under the Rock in Spain in hours.
“There were thousands of us back then and their human families lived in the cities with them. Children, schools, and hospitals that were state of the art thanks to our healers. Everything anyone could need to live could be found and freely given. People filling the cities had no bias towards us and had no fear of us.” She looked around the underground cavern. She heaved a sigh and looked at William and Charles with a smirk.
“It sounds like it was an amazing tool for our people and for the world.” Charles said.
Katherine looked at him and nodded, “The Whyte Plain was the internet and Grand Central Station combined, at least, it was,” she said that last part very quietly.
William looked over at Katherine. “Those shadows changed everything. Why are they hunting us?” William let some of his frustration show but in a quiet voice asked, “Why are they getting stronger and we’re getting weaker?”
Katherine closed her eyes for a moment. She raised her head and looked at her pack mates there was a sadness there, maybe guilt? “The Whyte Plain was a great gift. Unfortunately, the magic used to create it was also the magic that was used that created those shadows. Because of that, the shadows were sucked into it.”
“Those shadows were created by other shape shifters, as a weapon?” Charles asked.
Katherine shook her head, “No, this happened before the war. Some people say that it helped to start it though.”
“Ares mentioned a war between our people but he didn’t explain further than that.” William reached up and scratched at his ears, “What was that all about?”
“That is another story for another day.” Aceso interrupted. The three of them jumped at the sound of her voice. William had become so engrossed in the conversation he had completely lost track of Aceso’s presence, and had crept up on them as easily as a cat to a bunch of mice. William looked over at Katherine but Aceso spoke again, “Good morning. How did the food and kitchen duty go?”
Charles stood up straight and answered, “It went well. There were no incidents and we accomplished all that was required of us.”
Aceso nodded, “Were you all able to work with the members of the other pack?”
“I didn’t notice any problems or conflicts. William?” Charles asked.
William shook his head as his tail mirrored the movement, “No, Tara and I worked well together throughout the day.” He looked around at his other two pack mates. “All in all, I’d say it was a pretty good day yesterday.” Katherine and Charles nodded.