chapter : 10

Ava 

 Garcia's gasp is audible over the blaze of the fire , its vivid emerald flames danced and writhed into the sky casting us in an eerie green glow. I was expecting to see black flames and had even prepared myself for it but as soon as my blood met the fire it had turned green. Not blue, not black but green. It would have been easier to believe if the flames were orange, but they are green. What does that even mean? was I even human in the first place? Or am I hallucinating the green flame?

One look at the others tells me I am not. Everyone seems to be as equally surprised as I am. "What does this mean?" I ask, breaking the stunned silence. By the way the others too turn expectantly toward Garcia tells me that, for the first time, I am not the only clueless person here. Garcia herself seems to be in a mixture of both awe and surprise, but I can tell the cause of her surprise is because she knows what the green flames actually mean .

When Garcia still doesn't answer Seth asks her again "Garcia, what does it mean?" Though he asks the question with patience I can sense the restraint in it.

 But I'm thankful that he asked her again, I am so tired I can feel it in my bones, and not just physically but mentally as well. With what I learnt today and what I went through combined all I want to do is just go home, go straight to bed and never wake up unless someone else does and I realize that tonight's events had been just a bad dream. And Maybe it's true and I am dreaming all this up. But the lingering soreness in my shoulder and the memory of the pain in my palm from when I split it open feel real. 

Garcia shakes off her shock and finally speaks " Never in my life did I ever expect" she mutters, more to herself , but then she clears her throat and faces us, her face still etched in awe and glowing green from the fire, and announces " A Vridian".

"What does that mean?" I ask, too tired to find the energy to be concerned about whether this is a bad thing or not. "It means you are half varckolack and  half lykan" says Garcia, cocking her head to the side and taking me in, as though she is seeing me in a new light. 

Her words reel in my mind.  Half varcolack. Half Lykan. "I- Is that even possible ?" Stacy sputters and Garcia fixes her with a solemn look. "Rare, but not impossible. Most always turn out to be still born" She turns back to me again the surprise returning in her face "that fact that you are alive to this date is a miracle in itself" her words make me shudder.

"But-But how?" Asks Seth glancing from me to Garcia. He looks bewildered; they all do and I can tell they are trying not to gawk on me. " Maybe this is a side effect of the varckolack bite" I try to answer Seth but Garcia shakes her head. "No, this is nothing related to a Varckolack bite. A Vridian is born because it has a Lykan  and  a Varckolack for parents'' 

At this my mind is stunned into silence. "But that's ridiculous" says Seth, his voice raising and Stacy echos his sentiments. "If Ava had a Varckolack for a parent then she definitely would have known, and her Lykan parent would not have been able to stand living with a Varckolack, let alone have a baby with it-" Seth continues to argue but I cut him off with a question of my own "So does that mean I'm a Varckolack or a Lykan?" 

At this question everyone's eyes were on Garcia again Waiting for the answer

 "It depends on which parent bites you. If you were bitten by your Lykan parent first then you would turn into a Lykan but if your varckolack parent then you would be a Varckolack"

"But since I got bitten by that Varckolack-" I start but Garcia cuts me off. 

"Only your parents can turn you" 

I sigh in relief. Maybe I would get lucky and it would turn out that neither of my parents bit me but I still can't say for sure. It would remain uncertain.

"So Ava isn't a varckolack" asks Irene. "No" confirms Garcia with the shake of her head. 

Seth opens his mouth to say something and I have a feeling he's going to ask me about my parents so I speak before he does and answer the question that is probably on everyone's mind.

"I'm adopted" I announce "And I don't know who my parent are"

Everyone stares at me in disbelief except for Stacy who had already known this fact. "Ah" says Garcia as though my announcement had cleared something she couldn't understand. And with that she douces the now orange fire with a bottle of water she had beside the stool, declares that she is going to bed and leaves us in the fading darkness of the night.

Seth and Irene are staring at me with almost identical expressions, genuinely surprised that they hadn't known this fact about me before. Stacy just purses her lips and stares at the glowing remains of the fire, deep in thought. "Nothing really changes, does it" says Stacy looking up at me and I simply shrug unsure. " you're still . . . you, except now you know the truth about your parents and that you could turn into a werewolf only if they bite you- which is highly unlikely"

"Except that the Varcks are still going to come after her, thinking she is going to turn into one of them" Says Seth, getting over the shock about my adoption. 

"They'll have to get through us first then" Says Irene with a smirk and a wink in my direction. A part of me feels relieved at the normal gesture letting me know Irene is not mad at me for not telling her I was adopted. I smile at her and Stacy grins. 

"We should go home" says Seth, a small smile on his lips as well "I bet you're dying to be in bed" He says to me with a chuckle as the four of us leave Garcia's back yard and head toward Irene's car.

I groan in response "You have no idea" and they all chuckle at that. Though I have a lot of questions still remaining I am done for the day. I could ask Seth, Stacy or Irene whatever I wanted later but Right now all I want is to go home. 

"Don't worry, I'll take you straight home" says Irene and I smile at her gratefully. "But what about you guys?" I ask Seth and Stacy. "We'll get home faster in our wolf form," says Stacy, sharing a knowing smile with Seth. "Right" Is all I can manage to say, still finding it hard to believe my friends were werewolves. 

My phone rings and I pull it out of my pocket to find Spencer's name on the screen. Surprised that he is calling me at this hour, I excuse myself from my friends and answer the call. 

"Ava, are you all right, did you get home safe?" Spencer's voice sounds concerned through the phone. "Yeah, I got a ride with Irene" I lie. I am not exactly sure how I'm supposed to treat him after I witnessed him kissing Mitchelle so I decide to pretend I never saw it, though I would be keeping my distance from him from now on. 

"Oh good !" he sighs sounding relieved "I couldn't find you after the Bear attack and you weren't picking my calls so I got worried" A bear attack - so that's what he interpreted the varckolack attack as, I wonder what else people would come up with to explain what they saw tonight. 

"Sorry, I didn't mean to worry you" I say sheepishly into the phone and actually feel a bit guilty at the state I put him in. "You got home safe as well, right?" I ask but he doesn't answer immediately.

"I kind of had to stop by the ER" He admits reluctantly.

"What do you mean? What happened ?" I ask when he doesn't explain further and I can feel the dread start to creep in. 

"One of those . . . Bears" Clearly he doesn't actually believe the Varckolacks were bears " They kind of bit me"

My heart stops. "They what !?" I shriek into the phone, earning weird looks from Stacy, Seth and Irene. But I ignore them as Seth Continues "It isn't as bad as it sounds, I just got nip and managed to get away before they could inflict any real damage but I'm fine, you don't have to worry about me".

"But Spencer-" I start, my heart beating erratically, but he cuts me off " No really Ava, I'm fine and I should let you sleep. Good night" And before I can scream into the phone telling him not to hang up he ends the call.

"Ava? Is everything all right?" Asks Seth and he looks worried. Irene And Stacy look concerned as well as I shake my head still trying to digest what I learnt.

I say calmly as possible, trying to dial Spencer again but he doesn't pick up my calls 

" I think Spencer might be bitten by a Varckolack"