Chapter 5: Unraveling

Chris taps his index finger on the wooden desk, thinking of various ways to tell Nikki about her real identity. He is also waiting for Valerie to arrive in the office as well. They’ve decided that they would be the ones to unravel the truth to their youngest sibling.

He shifts in his seat and pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration. The consequences of their actions will definitely be Nikki getting mixed emotions about the revelation—denial, surprise, and anger. ‘Or maybe Nikki will handle everything well and just accept everything we tell her.’ he thinks, knowing full well that it is a possible outcome, yet the former outweighs the latter for sure.

“Today is the day,” he utters to himself silently.

His head shoots up as he hears a creak on the door, Valerie’s head peeping through it. “You called for me, Alpha?”

“Yes, Val. And call me Chris when I’m at home. I may be your Alpha but I’m still your brother.”

She smiles and traipses right in, closing the door behind her. “Doesn’t change the fact that your still the Alpha though.” She shrugs, grabbing a coca-cola can from the small fridge in his office. “You want one?”

Chris shakes his head, waiting for Valerie to settle down on the sofa so they can discuss things properly. He takes his seat on the black leather chair across the sofa used for the guests. Their little plan about revealing it to Nicole slowly will be hard, considering she’ll be shifting next Friday.

Valerie sighs, plopping down the seat. “Why don’t we just tell her straight away that she’s one of us?”

Chris looks at her as if she has grown two more heads. “And you think she’ll handle it well if we just straight up tell her that she’s a werewolf the moment she comes home?”

Valerie drinks from the can before replying, “you got a point. She noticed her friends have been away lately. And just like her friends, I’m not really one to keep my mouth shut so I tend to avoid her to not spill anything.”

“Alright. Use your blabbermouth to reveal it then.”

“Are you stupid? We have to set the mood!”

“How do we do that? Buy ice cream and then watch a movie?”

“Can we get cookies and cream?”

“Valerie,” Chris warns her.

“What? It’s a good idea. We can watch a movie while eating ice cream. Talk about the movie afterward and then begin to spills secrets. As I’ve said, we have to set the mood!”

-----

It’s exactly a week before my birthday, yet I still feel like my family and friends are walking on eggshells around me. If I’m not mistaken, is it because they’re planning a surprise birthday party or something? But it still doesn’t explain their unusual behavior towards me. Kathleen and Elina are still the same. Jace, however… something’s extremely wrong with that idiot. He has been skipping school a lot, including Jeremiah. I worry about his grades. It’s not that he gets bad grades, he just doesn’t try and teachers tend to tell him he should try more.

“We’re here, Nikki,” Jeremiah announces as he stops in front of our house.

That’s odd. Valerie’s red hatchback car is here. She usually goes out with her friends on Fridays. Are they finally going to tell me what’s keeping them on edge lately?

“Thanks,” I mutter before opening the car door.

“Nikki!” Jeremiah calls out before I can slam the door shut. “We’ll always be here for you if you need someone to talk to.”

I frown at his words, not knowing what he meant by that statement. He says that but they weren’t even around the entire week. Still… it can’t be helped if they truly are busy with whatever it is they do outside school. We do live separate lives after all.

“Noted, Jer. See you at school.” I smile before closing the door, waving goodbye at the car as they drive away.

Whatever my friends were handling this week, I hope they’d get through it. I don’t really know how to get them to open up with their problems. I’ve been constantly reminding them if they are having trouble with things, they can always talk to me about it. Maybe listening may help lessen the weight on their shoulders.

“Valerie, Chris, I’m home!” I shout at them after stepping inside the house.

I take off my shoes and place them on the shoe rack. The house seems extra quiet today. I hope they left money for food or maybe food for me to eat. I sigh. It’s not like it’s the first time they left me all alone inside this house.

I change into my huge sweater with the words “I hate Mondays” and gray sweatpants.

“Nikki.”

I jump in surprise at Valerie’s sudden appearance at my bedroom door. “You scared me there, Valerie. I thought a kidnapper broke into the house.”

“Trust me. No one would dare kidnap you,” Valerie replies with a laugh.

I furrow my eyebrows while putting my hair in a bun lazily. Deciding to ignore her weird reply, I ask, “Is there anything you need, Val?”

She bites her lower lip awkwardly, before coughing and grinning ear-to-ear. She suggests enthusiastically “How about we have a movie night? Just you, me, and Chris? We haven’t had our usual siblings bonding time in ages.’

Remembering how everyone else has been avoiding, or at least that’s what it looked like to me, I return a smile and accept her invitation. “Sure, why not?”

“Chris! She said yes!” Valerie shouts down the hallway, jumping up and down in glee and excitement. “Let’s go out and grab junk food and soda. We can’t have a movie night without unhealthy snacks and drinks.”

“Uh… Val? Did something happen? You don’t seem like yourself today,” I ask in worry.

Valerie exhales, the smile still on her lips. “I’m just happy we get to spend time together today. It’s been months since we’ve last had a movie night, right?”

I nod and let her drag me outside the house, not bothering to change into other presentable clothes. We’re only going to the nearest convenience store as always. I might as well remain as comfortable as I want. Chris volunteers to stay behind and try to make french fries for us. I’m sure it will go alright and the house will still be standing when we come back,

Valerie parks the scooter in front of the store. The guard opens the door and places our helmets on the side while we buy food.

Why do I feel like someone’s eyes are on me?

I stop in my tracks and look outside through the glass walls, scanning the area. The few people around are minding their own business, so who could be watching me?

“Nikki? Is there anything specific you want?”

“Anything spicy and vanilla ice cream too,” I reply, averting my gaze to Valerie.

----

“Nikki, I don’t know how to say this, and I know it sounds insane, but you’re a werewolf and you’re going to be shifting on your seventeenth birthday,” Chris practices while putting the fries in a bowl, “Wait, no. That’s stupid. I’m sure she’d be annoyed if she finds out that she’s a werewolf and she’ll be shifting on her birthday at the same time. How do I say this properly?”

He puts the cold french fries into the wire basket, before setting it down into the deep fryer.

“Why the hell did mom and dad decide to keep it a secret?” He groans while ruffling his blonde hair in frustration. “If only they let her know her true identity when she was little and made her train with the rest of us, this wouldn’t be a problem.”

He sighs and sits on the counter stool. “I shouldn’t get too agitated. As long as we’re going with the plan, how we handle Nikki’s reaction will come later. It’s hard to predict how she’ll react and process this information. Heck! She might even malfunction and decide to laugh it off without realizing the gravity of the situation.”

“I’d rather pick training with my warriors rather than spilling the beans.”

Valerie parks the scooter with a bag of junk food and Nicole carrying the soda.

“Shit,” Chris swears, slightly panicking. He turns off the deep fryer, noticing that the fries are already in their golden color.

‘Have you told her, son?’ his mother questions him through the pack-link.

‘No, we haven’t yet. We’re preparing for our movie night.’ 

‘Alright. We’ll be back tomorrow night from the business trip.’ she informs him and cuts the link off.

The three of them sit on the couch in front of the TV, a box of pizza, bowls of french fries, and different chips in front of them as well as a bottle of soda and three cups. Chris has already set up the different movies they will watch, most of them are animated movies from Wisney.

The third movie’s credits are shown on the screen. The three managed to finish the pizza, fries, and a bottle of soda.

Chris sits up from the love seat he lied down on while watching the second movie. He checks his phone and sees that it’s already 11 in the evening. He glances at his siblings, both still in their seats, leaning on the armrests. “I think it’s safe to assume that we’ll end movie night here?”

Nikki stands up first while stretching her arms and yawning. “I feel beat. I’ll head up first.”

Valerie automatically grabs her arm, stopping her from going anywhere. “Wait, Nikki. We need to tell you something.”

“Yes, Val. I know we have to clean up first. I wasn’t trying to escape or anything.”

Nikki puts the cups and places them on the empty bowls before carrying them to the kitchen. Valerie follows right behind her, bringing the empty pizza box and soda bottles. Chris is left in the living room, fixing the sofas and turning off the television.

“So…” Valerie begins to talk, “you must be wondering why everyone’s been acting weird around you these days?”

Nikki knits her eyebrows at her. “Yeah. I just assumed they were busy. Is there a particular reason?”

Valerie inhales sharply, biting her bottom lip for the second time tonight. “I- uh… I don’t really know how to say it. Chris, please get in here,” she requests in a whisper.

“I heard you.” Chris joins us right after Valerie’s request.

Nikki raises an eyebrow, confused at how Chris could hear Valerie’s request. Did he hear our conversation despite being far? 

“Just leave the dirty dishes. Chris promised he’ll do them. Let’s go back to the living room and talk where we can all sit and see each other,” Valerie suggests, holding Nikki’s shoulder and giving it a light squeeze. She guides her to the living room and lets her sit on the single chair across the two sofas.

The three siblings sit silently, the youngest switching her eyes from Valerie to Chris and Valerie again. Valerie and Chris are having a conversation altogether in their heads.

“Okay, Nicole. I don’t really know how to start saying this to you. But, uh… you’re different. Wait, no. We’re different,” Valerie manages to start saying.

‘She only calls me Nicole if the situation is serious though.’ Nikki thinks, concerned about the topic at hand.

“I don’t really get what you’re trying to say, Val. But I know that we’re all different and unique,” Nikki interrupts confusion reaching the corners of her mind. ‘What does she mean by different anyway? Are we suddenly not normal?’

Valerie elaborates even further, her eyes staring straight into Nikki’s, “I mean that we’re different, unique, and special. We can do things other humans can’t do, and it already happened to me last year, it will happen to you, too. It also happened to Chris.”

Nikki tilts her head, a confused expression plastered on her face.

Chris sighs audibly, making the other two divert their gazes towards him. He comments, “I can’t do this. I’m sorry. I tried practicing earlier, but let’s just get straight to the point.” His eyes then gaze into Nikki’s. “Nicole, you’re a werewolf. One with Alpha blood in your system.”

Nikki freezes in her seat, shock written all over her face. She remains quiet for a while, processing the words her big brother uttered. She laughs bitterly. “No. You’re lying.”

The other two remain silent, exuding an aura of seriousness.

“Is this some kind of prank?”

Nothing. No replies come out of Valerie and Chris.

“You seriously expect me to believe that I am a werewolf? Me who has been raised as a human my entire life?” Nikki asks the two of them. “You’re kidding me, right? This is some kind of sick joke after movie night?”

“No, Nicole. We’re not lying. This isn’t a joke.”

Nikki’s heart beats faster, its intensity feeling like it’s about to break out of her ribcage.

“We’re telling you the truth, Nikki. You’re a werewolf.”