Chapter 12:

After about three long hours of training, I could hear Donny yelling, "Time to eat!"

Sly and I both started going to the house. As I turned around to invite the Sisters to come along, they went into one of the shacks to eat their food in there and away from the beasts.

"Should I invite them?" I asked Sly.

"I wouldn't. Why do you want to?" he said with a cocked brow.

"I feel like we needed to be connected."

"Well, that is up to you. Do not expect me or anyone else to go along with you. You make up your own mind," he said with a shrug. "But it would be fun to see the drama between Mei and Marcus again."

"Be quiet," I whispered to him with a light slap against the arm. "I am going to invite them. I have some things I want to discuss with everyone."

"Well, I don't see why that needs to involve them but okay. I will meet you back at the house," Sly said, running off to the house.

Entering the shack that was Marcus, the room was filled with old documents and recent documents that looked like they were tracking people. Huddled around the main table, Mei and Blau were discussing things while Feuera looked out the window like she was heartbroken. Clearing my throat, they all looked at me. "I want you to come joins us for lunch," I said.

"I don't think so," Mei said. "You can join us?"

"No!" I said, standing my ground. "I need to have a discussion with everyone and the best way to do it is as a group. So come along." They all stared at each other with questioning looks, but I was firm and was not about to budge on the topic. "Come on," I snapped.

"We will stay for an hour," Mei said as they walked out the door.

On our way to the house, Sly asked, "Did you get them to come?"

"Yes. Make sure everyone is on their best behavior," I said as we continued our way to the house.

Walking up to the back door of the house, the boys were sitting around waiting. "What are you wearing, Eve? What did they do to you?" asked Evan with a chuckle.

"Excuse me, dog," Feuera snapped. "She is being respectful of our traditions. So, hold your tongue."

"Feisty," Kenny said with a smile as he readjusted himself to be closer to Feuera. "So, what if we don't hold our tongues?"

"I will show you how feisty I can really be," Feuera said like venom, as Kenny let out a low growl.

"That is enough," I said, breaking up the fight that was about to ensue. "I am going up to change. Be nice!"

John let out a small chuckle and said, "I never would have taken you for a girl that would wear pink, Eve," then he received a slap from Evan.

"Well, I think she looks great in pink, and that cloak is amazing," commented Kenny and gave me a wink. I shook my head and headed up the stairs to get changed.

"Come on. It is time to eat, and I am famished," Sly said, before I could make it into the house.

On instinct, the boys and I quickly made our way to the kitchen where our usual pile of food was waiting. The Sisters followed behind softly and quietly as they stood there in disgust at us. "What are they doing here?" Marcus exclaimed.

"They are here for a meeting after lunch," I commanded upon the comment without even looking up from my food.

"Who gives you the right to do that?" Marcus barked.

"I gave myself the right, since I get to decide the fate in six months," I sassed back. "So, I feel as if I get to decide things." My wolf let out a low growl.

Marcus glared at me and in return his wolf growled back. As we started off at each other, everyone could sense the tension in the room. Brian cleared his throat and said, "Shall we eat?"

Marcus growled and broke himself from ripping anyone is heads off by saying, "Of course."

The Sisters let out a slight chuckle that made Marcus get even more tense. I just rolled my eyes at him and my food.

After we got done eating, I was finally able to help Donny do the dishes. He was grateful because I could use my magic to clean them and put them away without him lifting a finger. Marcus glared at me for doing this and let out another growl, but I am learning to ignore his threatening warnings. "Time to talk," I said as I gestured to the living room.

We all headed into the living room, as we walked in there was some tension between the Sisters and the beasts. And there was also a weird tension between Sly and Feuera. But in the living room, the Sisters sat on the couch closest to the door. The dads sat on the other couch as far away from them as possible. The boys sat on the floor next to their dads. And Marcus tried to sit in his chair, but I got there first. He let out a loud growl and his eyes turned red.

"Sit down, mutt," Mei snapped. "We are here to listen to her, not you."

Marcus let out a great snort as he walked over to the fireplace behind me and stood in silence.

I cleared my throat and said, "Okay. We need to know the truth about what is going to happen to us on our 15th birthday. What do we have to do?"

"What are talking about, darling? Nothing is going…" Brian tried to continue before I gave him a look.

"First of all, since when do you think you can call me 'darling?' You just found out about me this week. And stop messing around! This is my life and Sly's you are messing with. Tell us the truth. The truth!" I yelled at him.

"Eve, that is enough," Marcus said, letting out a growl from behind me.

"No, this is not fair. I was honest with you all this whole time, and it turns out that my mom is a witch, and no one told me about it until the Sisters came. And you, Brian, never told me the first day you met me that you were my dad. I had to figure that on my own from your conversations with Sly. So please can I get some honesty. I think that is at least what I deserve. I want the truth, right now!" I yelled, as the Sisters chuckled.

Marcus let out another growl and I could feel the air behind me move, but I could take him.

Brian raised his hand and said, "Okay, fine. You want the truth. That is the least we can give you. But are you sure? This will make you look at things differently. In the world, in the family, and even yourself. Eve, we want the best for you."

"Yes, I am sure. Just tell me, please," I almost begged.

"Okay. First, when we said that you decide the fate of both witches and beasts, that is true. Unfortunately, that is not all true; both you and Sly will decide the fate," Marcus explained, going back to the fireplace.

Wait, what? How did I get into this mess?" asked Sly, who looked as confused as I did.

"Since you are both identical twins that have a witch and a beast as your parents then you both must decide your fate," Marcus continued. I looked at Sly, who was looking back at me, and we knew this was a bump in the road. "You both have to decide for yourself what you want the world to be like. Eve, you decide the fate of the whole beast world. Sly, you decide the fate of the whole witch community. Each one of your decisions will change the world that everyone knows of, as it will be gone." As Marcus spoke, I saw a glimpse of golden light going around Sly.

"Sly, you are going to have to decide between the Lichts and the Dunkels," explained Mei.

"Who are the Dunkels and the Lichts?" he asked.

"The Lichts are us and the Dunkels is the other group of witches here in Nevah Flow," Mei said. "Your mother would never go with the Dunkels. They use dark magic to corrupt people just like Stalin and Hitler. They are dark souls."

"Darker than you?" Kenny commented. Sly and I gave him a glare, then went back to our conversation.

"Eve, is that true? That Mom would never go for the dark," asked Sly, who looked like he wanted to know more about Mom.

"Well, to be honest, I am not really sure. Mom did marry a man who did not love her. She only did it for the good of the city. I am not sure…Mom kept a lot of secrets from me apparently," I thought out loud. "Mom really never told me much, I guess."

"So, neither one of us really know much about Mom," Sly said, confused.

"Yeah, I guess that is true. I thought I knew a lot about Mom, but I guess… I did not. She said Dad was not a family man and that he left right after I was born. Which is true? Can you please tell us more about our mom?" I asked for both; Sly and me, knowing that we both needed the truth.

"Your mom was very sweet. She could be a little testy at times, but who would not be when you are a witch dating a beast. She would never have purposefully caused anyone harm. She would also never associate with the Dunkels," Brian said with tears in his eyes.

"Ellen did associate with them once. It was back when she was first in high school," explained Mei. "That was her rebellious stage. She met one of the few boys that knew about witches but kept it quiet. He acted as he loved her. But he was dating one of the Sisters of the Cave. He ended up marrying her and having twins, both with powers. They used Ellen to try to get our spell book because we have different spells from them. But she knew what they wanted right after she fell asleep that night."

"What do you mean by she knew after she slept?" asked Sly.

"What were her powers?" I asked, as both Sly and I leaned in, excited to learn more about Mom.

"There was a tenth color. But as far as which history went there was only one woman that had that power," Mei informed.

"Mom had it, didn't she?" Sly asked.

"But what was it?" I asked before anyone could answer it.

"If you two would stop interrupting me, I would tell you," Mei said with emphasis on interrupting.

"Sorry," Sly and I said at the same time. "Please continue."

"The tenth color was gold for mind and future. It is the only color that has two meanings. Your mother was the best witch in the whole witch sisterhood. With that power, she could move objects with her mind and foretell the future and things that happened in the past. She loved reorganizing rooms in matters of seconds," Mei said. I chuckled as I saw another glimpse of a golden light flying around.

"She also loved to bet on poker games and on horse races. She would make it seem like a lucky guess, but we all knew what was going on. She would end the night at the casino with thousands of dollars' worth of winnings. After all that work, she would give it to charity," Mei continued.

"The only reason no one has ever had it before is that it is very hard to control, and with great power comes great responsibility. But once your mom got it, that was the end of the gold color. So, your mom decided to leave because she knew that people would want to use her for her power. Then she found Brian and they had you two. She told us she was pregnant with twins of the opposite sex and to be ready for the twins on their 14 and half birthdays, for that is the time when their lives will change, but not to do anything to give away that they are twins and are from beasts and witches until that day, bad will happen if you do anything to mess it up. We knew you would be coming, and now it is time for the real fun to begin," Mei finished.

"She also told us that that day to give you each a letter she wrote for you the day she knew she was pregnant. So, here you go," Brian said while giving us each a letter with our names on it. Mine said, Belle Eve Strickland. Sly's said Sly Lee Leitwolf.

"You can read it after we talk about the beast's truth," Marcus said.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot this is a two-sided story. Go ahead and tell me the truth here, Marcus," I said.

"Since we do not need to be here, we will see you and Sly in the morning at eight after you eat. Get a good night's sleep," Mei instructed.

"Okay. Good night ladies. See you in the morning," I said, as they walked out in a graceful manner. Turning to Marcus, I showed how desperate I was by looking like a whipped puppy with huge eyes and begged, "Okay, Marcus, tell me the truth about how I and the beasts are all connected, please."

"Fine, but this is not getting you out of doing tonight's training," he said.

"I am the one who chooses that... but fine," I said, sitting back up properly and proudly. No one can say no to a girl with big hazel eyes.