CHAPTER 4: THE QUIET NIGHT AT CLARKE'S LAKE

As soon as Aria opened the door, a pair of arms embraced her. The lavender scent from her hair made Aria feel better.

"Thank God. Aria, we were so worried. Where were you?" Lizzie asked. She still wears the same puff-sleeved dress she was wearing last night.

Aria noticed Lizzie's puffy eyes and pale lips. Behind her is Jerome, who also looked exhausted.

"I was so worried. I should not have forced you. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Lizzie said, crying while holding her hands.

Aria wiped her tears and hugged her. She patted her back gently as they embraced each other once more.

"Hush now. I'm already here. I'm safe. It wasn't your fault," Aria said.

They both sat down on the sofa while Jane went to the kitchen. She came back with biscuits and tea. A smile was plastered in Jane's face while looking at her daughter, despite appearing weary herself.

"We thought the killer attacked you as well. After we heard screams, we were scared at first. I got scared even more when I couldn't find you anywhere," Lizzie said.

"Then, when we ran to the place where we heard the screams, all we saw were Alyssa and Frank's bloody bodies." Jerome grimaced as he recalled the spine-chilling murder of his two schoolmates.

"All we saw was someone running away from the scene," he added.  "Or something."

Harry and Jane looked at him with abstract faces. "What do you mean something?" Jane asked.

"The police said, no human could do that, so they are now suspecting wild animals around the area, maybe a mountain lion from Crescent Hill," Lizzie said.

"Crescent Hill?" Harry asked. His eyebrows furrowed at the mention of the place. Harry exchanged worried glances with Jane, and in that split second, Aria realized Leo was right.

Her parents knew all about her. But, Aria is confused why they did not tell her beforehand. She could have avoided it.

However, Aria has already triggered the curse. So, she couldn't do anything right now but accept her situation and ask for help from her parents.

"Yeah. The police said that before the killings in the woods started, they recorded deaths of people mauled by animals," Lizzie said.

"But why are they blaming animals from, like, kilometers away from our town?" James asked.

"Because Crescent Hills is their home," Harry said.

"But, if we're going to think about it, the police may be right," Lizzie said. "I mean, it doesn't make sense that a human could tear apart two people just by using teeth. It could be a mountain lion or a monster."

Aria flinched when Lizzie said monster, but Lizzie was right. Aria is a monster.

"Maybe the monsters in the childhood stories are true," Lizzie said, chuckling in disbelief with what she just said.

"But I thought you were there. How did you escape?" Lizzie turned to Aria, worried and puzzled.

Aria contemplated answering at first. She almost stuttered. But, she was able to compose herself and explain it the way Leo taught her.

"Well, I hid. Then, when I thought it was already safe to go out, I went out of the cave I was hiding at, but I lost my way back here. Thankfully, I met a man, and he helped me find my way home," Aria said without pausing, almost breathless. Leo said this is the story she has to tell the police or anyone who would ask how she survived. Everybody thought it was a wild animal.

"Whoever that man is, I want to meet him. We should thank him," Jane said. Aria just smiled and stood up.

"I'm sorry, I'm tired right now," she said to Lizzie. "You should go home. You also need to take a rest."

"Yes, I think so too," she said. "I can now feel the exhaustion, but I'm relieved that you're finally home." She held Aria's hands and squeezed it, "Take a rest. We could always catch up with what you did last night."

Aria's heart skipped a beat with the way Lizzie said it. But, she looked straight into her eyes and was sure that her best friend was clueless. Maybe she was only overreacting because of the guilt of what she did last night.

Aria embraced her again. "Take care of her," she told James. James nodded and gave her a light pat on the shoulder. "I will. Thank you for coming back safe," he said.

Then, they went out of the door, and not long after that, they heard James' car engine starting.

Aria immediately called the attention of her parents and sat them down. "Mom, Dad. I have something to tell you," Aria said as she heard the car driving away. She looked down at her fidgeting feet, then looked straight into her parents' eyes.

"Please tell me the truth. How did you find me?"

For a moment, Jane and Harry's faces were confused. But they realized that Aria already knows they're not her biological parents.

"Sweetie," Jane said. She took Aria's hand and looked her in the eyes, trying to see if she was mad or sad about the truth. "How did you find out?"

"I-I triggered my curse," she said, looking down on the floor. She couldn't bear to see the faces of her parents as disappointment paints on their faces. She doesn't want them to see her as the monster that she is.

"You mean," her dad couldn't get out the words he wanted to say. He tried to find words to alleviate what he was about to utter, but Aria finished his sentence.

"I killed someone. I killed people. I was the one behind Frank and Alyssa's death. But mom, dad, I didn't mean it. I swear. I didn't know. I killed them," she said as tears fell from her eyes uncontrollably. She held her mother's hands tightly, convincing her that what she was saying was the truth.

She felt it again. It is like all the fear, guilt, and uncertainty of her future are clawing their way back again, trying to eat her alive.

What she didn't know was that Jane and Harry already believed her. Her mother and father were already on her side even before she asked them.

Jane hugged her, and Harry hushed her gently.

"It's okay, we know. We know," Harry said in the calmest voice he could manage.

"We knew about that," Jane said.

Then Harry left the room and came back with old albums in his hands. "We planned to tell you the truth once you're old enough, but we couldn't bring ourselves to do it," Harry said. "We were afraid how it may affect you."

"But you need to know the truth," Jane said, then she took one of the albums from Harry's hand. "Especially now."

Jane opened the album, and inside is a picture of four friends, happily drinking and eating. One of them is red-haired, just like her.

"That is Olivia Harman. You know her, right?" Jane said, pointing at the red-haired girl in the picture. She looks so happy and carefree.

"You got your hair from her," she said, combing Aria's hair gently.

"And that is Blake Crestwood. He is so soft and sweet when it comes to Olivia, but he is as cold as ice to everyone," Harry paused and snickered. "Despite that, he is a true friend, someone you could rely with," Harry said, smiling as he stared at nothingness as if reminiscing the past.

"As I have always been telling you, Olivia is my best friend. My sister from another parents. Like you, she had anger issues. She would be enraged whenever something goes wrong, but that changed when we were fifteen."

Jane took a deep breath.

"She accidentally killed a man. That was when I found out," Jane said as she flipped the album.

"Despite that, I continued to stay by her side. We're sisters at heart. I refused to stay away from her, no matter how dangerous it was," Jane looked down and sighed. "But she did stay away from me, and I know why she had to."

-Flashback-

"It's like the moon," Olivia said while admiring the piece of dazzling jewelry in her ring finger.

The iridescent stone in the middle of the ring shined whenever the sun shines upon it.

"Yeah, it is. I'm so happy for you," Jane giggled in happiness and excitement for the upcoming wedding of her best friend, Olivia.

"I actually didn't expect you guys to fall in love with each other. I mean, how could you love someone you never met?"

"Well, I did. We did. It's destiny," Olivia said, smiling from ear to ear.

They admired Olivia's ring once more and even tried to compare it with Jane's wedding ring. They are just the same age as each other, but Jane got married a year earlier.

They were interrupted when a woman who was passing by stopped and looked at Olivia's face intently.

Olivia immediately felt uncomfortable but did not say a word. She fidgeted in her seat, trying to look somewhere else, thinking that the woman would leave her alone if she won't look back.

"I'm sorry, do you need something?" Jane asked the woman.

Fear was visible in her face, and her wrinkled hand took Olivia's hand gently and clasped it.

"Darkness is looming around you, girl," she said. "The future of the seed in your womb is uncertain. People will die. I see chaos. Beware!"

Jane and Olivia stared at the woman - both bewildered by the things she just said.

"Stay away from her, or death may chase you as well," the woman said to Jane, who was horrified and speechless.

Then the woman walked away as if nothing happened. Olivia tried to run after her to ask more questions about the information she just revealed, but she was already gone.

She went back to the still-baffled Jane.

"What did she mean by 'seed in the womb'? Jane asked. She surveyed Olivia, and she thought she already knew what that meant, but she wanted Olivia to confirm it in her own words.

Olivia took a deep breath before saying the words her best friend was already expecting.

"I am pregnant," she said.

Olivia heard Jane's heartbeat slowly coming back to normal.

"Why did you not tell me?" Jane asked.

"I was about to, but then that woman came and blurted out things," Olivia explained.

"So, you guys did it? And you did not tell me," Jane exclaimed. She gave Olivia a light slap on her shoulder for not telling her earlier. "Was I supposed to?"

"Yeah, duh!" Jane said, rolling her eyes and looking at Olivia mischievously.

"Stop being silly," Olivia sneered, blushing.

"I'm so happy for you. I can't believe it. You're getting married, and you're having a baby," she said, almost teary-eyed because of joy.

"Wait, are you getting married because you're pregnant?"

"No, the elders already arranged our marriage. We just-"

"So excited to wait for the honeymoon?" Jane said, cutting her off and laughing loudly. "Does Blake know about this?"

"Yes," Olivia said, smiling.

But her smile immediately faded as she remembered what the woman said. Darkness? Looming around her? Uncertain future for her baby? What did she mean?

"I have to go," Olivia said.

Jane looked at her considerately. She knows what Olivia is thinking. "Do you want me to come with you?" she asked.

Olivia shook her head and gathered her things. "I have to tell the Alpha," she said.

"Of course, silly, he's the father. He needs to know," Jane said. Olivia was about to run to her car, but Jane grabbed her arm. "Just one thing, don't overthink that, okay? I know Blake. He's the alpha, and he has the ability to do everyting to protect that little thing, and of course, you," Jane said.

Olivia smiled, they hugged each other, then she quickly went to her car and drove away.

----

"That was the last time I saw her safe and sound," Jane said, as her mind went back to the present moment and jumped to the day Aria was born.

"It was a quiet night. I can still clearly remember the news report about a lunar eclipse," Jane looked upwards, trying to stop her tears from falling as she reminisced the day her only best friend died in her arms.

"We thought it was just a normal night. We had no idea of what was going on at Crescent Hill. Everyone had no idea," Harry said. He sat on the square arm of the sofa, besides Jane, and put his hands around her.

"Until we heard frantic knocks, then when we opened it, a weak and heavily pregnant Olivia emerged. She was wounded and in labor," Harry said. He took off his glasses, looked sideways, and wiped the tears starting to fall from his eyes.

"We tried to bring her to the hospital. But she was too weak and in too much pain to go to the hospital. She gave birth to you right in this living room," Jane chuckled, but sadness reigns in her eyes.

"We asked her what happened. She didn't even want us to call the police. She refused to let anyone know that she was here and that you were here. Then she took her last breath right after she named you," Jane said. She was cupping her face as if catching all the tears falling off her eyes. Harry was patting her gently at the back, trying to comfort her, but even he was already teary.

"She came back to give you to me," Jane said.

"Then why did you not tell me earlier?" Aria finally spoke. "I could have prepared for it. I could have avoided it. You said she was your best friend, a sister at heart, that she was like my another mother, but the truth is - she was. She was my mother, and she was a werewolf."

"We wanted to tell you, honey. But you-" Harry paused and pondered if what he was going to say would make sense for Aria. "We wanted to protect you from the harms of being a werewolf. We thought it was better for you to be-"

"To be left in the dark? To not know who I  am? Or what am I?" Aria said, cutting off her father.

"Sweetie, please," her mother begged. "Please try to understand us. I'm sorry. We're sorry. We thought if we had done that, you would be safe from the harm of being a werewolf. I saw how Olivia struggled when she triggered her curse. I saw how hard it was for her to turn every full moon. I didn't want you to go thru that as well. I tried my best to take you away from that, but it's already in your blood," Jane explained.

Aria stared straight into her mother's eyes. She saw how much she regretted keeping it from her.

One of the things she gained in triggering her curse is the heightened sense of hearing. She could hear the thumping beat of her father's heart.

"I just don't know what to do," she said defeatedly. She fell in her mother's arms and sobbed like a child.

"It's alright, sweetie. We're here. We are always here," Jane said. Then, she felt her father's arms enveloped them. Aria let out every burden in her heart and mind by crying. Then, the next thing she knew was she could already breathe lightly, knowing she would always be safe by their side.

---

Aria woke up with pain crawling on every joint of her body. Her head was throbbing, and she could feel her bed soaked in sweat.

She looked at the clock on her bedside table.

It's midnight.

Then, she heard howling wolves from a distance and stones thrown against her window.

She could barely walk from the pain, but she did her best to stand and look outside the window.

"Leo?" she said weakly, trying to suppress a scream from pain.

"Come down," he said.

"What? I'm not feeling well," she said.

"Yeah, 'cause it's a full moon, this will hurt than last night," a voice said from behind her. She quickly turned around. And it was too late to ask Matt how he got in her room. He suddenly pushed her out of the window. All she saw was his smirking face, then she closed her eyes and prepared herself for the impact.