The book in her hand was rough and encased in brown parchment.
"I found some strange drawings in it and remember you've been talking about those lost In the bower. "
"Oh, yeah." She handed the parchment to him.
"This could be one of them. After reading through some pages, I was convinced. You've spoken a lot about this stuff."
Sam looked at the parchment and the first thing he saw was Martha's signature. He smiled and hugged Elle.
"Thanks, Ellen, she wrote this."
"Thought so too. It dropped from that poet boy's bag. Could not give it back until I read it. I once heard of the Lost library when I was younger from my father. He manages some of the oldest manuscripts of our kinds."
"Wow. I'll love to meet him."
"You met him already." Elle smiled.
"How? Where was that?"
"My father is the beta of our pack. Kelly."
"Omg! I never knew that. I'm sorry."
"It's no big deal. You didn't know because that's one of our ways of protecting the family."
"So you are related to Elizabeth?"
"She's my cousin. Very strong woman. She's stronger than the Amazon women of ancient Synchian."
A week later Whitney was impeached by John and Maddie. They took her case seriously and made sure she paid for the damage she had done to their name.
She didn't see that coming. She didn't know they'd turned the people against her. Before they would have let her be and do whatever she wanted to do because they saw it as a way of helping her mental health.
She was diagnosed after the second world war. Then she was staying in Paris. Elvira knew about her illness. She knew about her God complex and she used it to get her working for her. Whitney, only she's working for someone indirectly. She doesn't even know it was Elvira.
"Great Job, Maddie," John said.
"Whitney should get going. It'll be hard for the people to believe in her again. After telling them about her mental state. We both know she's not stable."
"I love the way that reporter presented her story. It was straightforward."
"Yeah, he deserves more."
"I'll wire that to him. Where is she now?"
"She should still be at the hotel.
" invite her home."
"Alright. I will do so. She doesn't know we leaked that information."
"Better. Erase all traces. Withney listens to you more. I have played with her too much."
"You always pampered her back then." Maddie laughed.
"After that, we should focus more on internal development. We need it after this."
"Better. I have been wanting to ask…"
"We will do something about it. Get her here first."
***
Whitney was invited to dinner with them. She wore a bright red dress and a golden anklet. Her hair was done and packed to the back. John smiled and hugged her when she came in and Maddie pecked her.
"You look amazing," he said.
"Thank you, Maddie." She giggled.
"I have this gift for you," John said.
"What's it?"
"It's a flight ticket to travel the world. That way you can impact the world and not just your pack. You are a Luna, you can be so much to many people."
"Oh, John, you understand me better. My pack are mostly old people. And I think I have told them all they need to know."
"That's a great thing you've done, Withney. They will be proud of you."
"I am sure of that."
***
After dinner, Withney went back home with lots of gifts. She was happy and she vowed to retract her words. She did.
***
"I told you she's easy to deal with."
"You said it all.
"Now we look forward to greater things. Once she's away I have some plans. We'll see through them together."
"Alright, John."
***
Whitney went back to her hotel room and immediately started preparing to start her journey. She has forgotten about Lillian, Georgina and Elvira. That is how she's. Only a few people are important to her. Her cousins and the pack she leads.
She packed her bags and everything she came with. Exploring the world will be a great adventure for her.
She giggled and stayed in bed for a while thinking through and trying to identify places she has been to in the world. Though the last time she travelled out of the three islands was in 1978 when she went to Edinburgh.
She took out her phone and called her Beta.
"Hello, how are you doing?"
"Good here. When are you coming back?"
"Not now, I will be travelling. I'm not coming back anytime soon."
"Oh, my!"
"Tell the pack. Make sure you represent me well."
Elvira discovered her pack heads were gone when she tried reaching them the next day. Their numbers were not going through and she called the gatekeeper's office and Sam picked up.
"How can I be of help to you?" I asked over the phone. She didn't answer. She only ended the call pretending it was a glitch from her end.
She knows Sam's voice and that confirmed to her that her pack Is no longer in power. Perhaps that was what the dream tried revealing to her. She hung up and went straight into the bathroom. Her bathtub is there waiting. She needs to think things through.
Now that she knows all she thought of doing at first was giving up but then she changed her mind and said.
"It's better I die trying. I'm going to show them that the Dikkorp's blood in me runs deeper. I'm not backing out."
***
Immediately she got back to work on herself. She has been reading a lot and one of what she wanted to bring out in her is to develop a powerful wolf form that will be stronger and feared by most werewolves. To her it's achievable and she is going to do it and make sure she ended the pack currently reigning at Smallsville.
"I need power as much as I need to learn." She sat down after, awhile working around her room, in her bathtub and remembered her second self talking to her about things back then but now he's not there again.
"I need to bring him back." She said.
She opened the water and it flowed down her body, helping her think better of things to do to make sure she gets things that were hers back.
Her phone was close to her, she flipped it open and ran through her collection of musicals and decided to play silence by Teo Milea. She listened to that for eight minutes and some seconds. She drowns herself in the tub knowing she's used to doing that.
***
It was Maddie Dikkorp who first noticed something strange about her. For days Elvira hasn't been going out. She started smoking and stopped eating much. She stopped reading too but read some paranormal novels.
That day he met her at a club he frequented. She was dancing fiercely that you'll know she was drunk. He reached out to her on the dancing floor and danced with her for a while before they went back to the VIP section to have a chat.
"Maddie, Maddie, mad." She said laughing and nearly falling from the high heels she wore. The room was lit with red, blue, green and other lights zigzagging around and the music not coming.
"Seat her," Maddie put her on the sofa. "You need some water?"
"I don't think so but a cup will do."
He got the water and gave it to her. She drank it in a gulp and sat back up with her face looking at the ceiling.
"What do you want from me, Maddie?"
"Nothing. Why are you here? I have not seen you here before."
"Oh, you come here a lot you little pumpkin." She giggled and lay down on the sofa. "I'm bored. I think sometimes being here is hard. Your existence sometimes crumbles before you."
She closed her eyes and sat up again.
"I don't know why I am here. That pisses me off and on some occasions, I just want to drown and be out of here. You know when universal meaning breaks down before you and you see that it's nothing…"
Maddox sighed and said, "Can I say something, Elvira?"
"Go ahead."
"Alright. To be blunt, I think you are missing your slow progress for unproductiveness. You need to be firm and stop counting your losses. It won't help you grow. I'll tell you, that damn empathy that our evolution built in us is damning. We don't really need werewolves in this world of uncertainty. I don't talk much about things like this but I think you need to own it. Okay, you lost Smallsville back to Catherine and your representation is dead… those aren't the end."
"How did you know that?" She asked, her eyes wide open. If Maddie knew her plans then she's doomed.
"Don't worry, Elvira. Maddie has got you covered. Nothing to panic about."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course, besides it was my boy who told me about Smallsville. Since we've blocked news from there I haven't been hearing much about things there. I sent my boy there to get me some stuff."
"Alright."
"Are you okay or are you in need of more water?"
"Water, please."
He poured her more. Her eyes got clearer. She yawned.
"You need to rest now, I think?"
"Yeah. I can't drive home now."
" My boy will take you. Just make sure you sleep well."
***
When she got home, she locked herself up in the bathroom, sat in her bathtub and plays Adele.
***************
Smallsville: The book of mythology
Elle, Sam and the children sat down close to the new bar to read from the books the poet boy saved. For a while now, Elle and Sam have been real friends. They've been talking about magic, mythology and others in their book club named Smallsville.
"Legend has it that Smallsville started as an ancient farm gatherer's land and everything around it was just forest filled with werewolves roaming about and coming out at night to feed on the humans that are tending to their Farms.
Legend has it that the people of Smallsville went to appease the gods among the packs and made sure that they reached some terms and agreement between them and the werewolves so that they can live in peace and not in pieces.
Legend has it that the people of Smallsville started living together in harmony and that fostered a lot of development and interbreeding between the werewolves packs and the humans.
The legend when not overlooked has a lot to say about who we are, what we stand for and why we are here. That is why we have folktales, poetry, art and music.
Legend has it that wolves, the werewolves and humans are of the same Origin."
Sam closed the book. He looked up at them and smiled. He has started growing beards and started to look more like a sage. Maybe because of the way she started dressing recently or maybe he's just enacting more of what he heard Whitney talked about wholeness he visited her cavern the last time.
The children giggled and beam with love for what he has read. They've been having this reading three times weekly since the day Elle gave him Martha's book.
Alpha sat there too but still, he hasn't started speaking. The poison really got to him. It nearly killed him but because he Is a werewolf and an Alpha it was quickly sucked out of him by Elizabeth.
"A question," A boy with a half low cut hair stood up. He's tall and round with hands that look like he's exercising.
"Go ahead," Sam said. Catherine and Sarah joined them and sat beside Alpha and the poet boy. Damien has gone for a hike in the woods with some members of the pack.
"My mother said there is a purpose to life. I don't understand that and why would the humans beg the werewolves?"
"Elle, you take that," Sam said. Elle stood up, her hair flew down her back. They are deep black. She smiled.
"To be blunt, there is no one purpose to life. If that's what you want to ask?"
The boy nodded. "Yeah."
"But your mum is right if she's talking about individual purpose or reason for doing things. We can have that but at the same, we can't make that the story of the world."
"This is clear but I have more questions."
"Okay, let's answer the second question first."
"Okay."
"The humans begged the wolves back then because of power. The more power you have the more control you have. When you are in control people will beg you."
"So that's it?"
"Yeah, that's It."
They all clapped for Elle and continued the session.
***
After everything that happened, from the wars and fights, they started repopulating Smallsville and everything was going well according to plans.
They've started growing everything back, allowing the Farmers to start planting crops and allowing the werewolves to start working so that they can bring something more to the table.
The pack now reports to Catherine. She has been the leader from day one after Alex's disappearance and lots of people that thought she was Elvira now knew she is not.
"Though she started out acting like her." A blonde said to another while in the grocery store when Catherine was on the Tv telling them the plan for the future.
"Yeah. You know it'll be harder coming from just nowhere to claim Alex's seat."
"She could have told everyone. I mean I saw her and some folks stealing from the grocery. I was hiding then. I thought it was Elvira all this time."
"You should get going. We are meeting tonight."
"Alright."
She walked out with bags in both her hands. Her husband was killed by Georgina when he went to snitch on Alpha. She doesn't even know that was what got him killed. She doesn't even know he was buried in the fortress.
Alpha Is still sick. He wants to get well soon so that he can start helping out. It's a lonelier world when he can't do anything. They have been having lots of kisses. Each one has been stimulating. Naked kisses in bed, bathroom when she's helping him wash, at that time in the night when the moon slides slowly into the stars.
He loved it.
She loved it.
They both want it to continue.
***
Sarah got back a new lab close to the hospital to run forensic research. She ran around recruiting workers. Elizabeth joined her. She's quiet and good at things. Though she's been missing her mother. She's not been picking up her calls. Though she asked her not to call. She told her she'll be fine.
"Mum," she said before coming to Smallsville. "Are you sure I should go?"
She looked at her through the half-lit room. It was night. She was already in bed.
"Sarah, you can go. I can't stop you from having your own fun."
"But you asked me not to go before. And I got angry."
"But now I'm saying you can go. It's fine." She hugged her. "At first, I just don't want to be lonely but then that will be too selfish of me. You have your life…"
"Alright, mum. I'll call every day."
"That you shouldn't do. I'll be fine. Jenn is still around."
She called one day and her mother told her she was serious about her not calling again.
"You should stop. Something will be preventing me from talking to you."
"Bye, mum."
"Take care…"