Lyra turned around, seeing the faces of the others as they realized that Levi was Adam’s father. Emma walked up to her. “You should have said something.”
“It doesn’t matter. He left a long time ago, and I’ve been the one to raise Adam the entire time. He’s just his father biologically, and that’s it.”
“He was at the house yesterday,” said Jackson. “I saw him, but I wasn’t paying attention. He said he wanted Adam to come with him.”
“And I said no, because he is my son, and a part of this pack,” Lyra argued.
“Orson could have been attacked because you said no,” Emma added.
“That’s enough. For now, we need to focus on Orson getting better,” said Aaron, taking charge. He reached out and grabbed Orson from one side, Lyra helping to hold him up on the other as they moved him to the car. In a few minutes they had returned to the house and helped him up the stairs to his room.
As Lyra placed Orson down on the bed, a scream pierced the house and Lyra felt her soul leave her body. It was Adam’s scream.
She pushed past Jackson and slammed through the door to see Adam asleep in bed, struggling with the bed covers. “Adam! Adam, I’m here! Wake up, you’re just dreaming, okay, honey?”
Adam quickly sat up, looking around. He stared at her for a moment, trying to catch his breath, before he whispered to her, “It’s here.”
“What is?”
“The monster.”
***
Lyra had enough of the episodes, and after Emma made sure that her son wasn’t losing his mind, they called in the one person who would be able to help put a handle on things. It was crazy to believe the seventy-five-year-old man was awake in the middle of the night, driving through Ridgeshire.
But anyone who knew Bingwen would know that the abnormal was just another day for him. Sorcerers had worked side by side with paranormal entities since the dawn of time, and Bingwen was no different. He had worked with different clans, doing his best to make sure that the balance was kept and that humanity wouldn’t suffer due to the actions of paranormals.
His truck pulled up to the front of the house, stepping out of the car with a grandiose poise. Lyra smiled briefly as she watched from the front porch. He held his cowboy hat on his head as though he was in a western, waiting for a desert wind to blow it off his head.
“Lyra, you look as young as ever,” said Bingwen, tipping his hat at her.
“You seem as young as ever, not walking like you’re seventy,” Lyra replied.
“Yeah, well, I made a pact with the queen, and we’re both going to have a pep in our step as long as the other is alive,” Bingwen replied with a wink. “Now, where is he?”
Lyra led him in to where Adam sat on a chair, talking to Isaac. Lyra stopped Bingwen by holding out a hand as she picked up the conversation the boys were having. “He didn’t tell me all of this, but he seems to like Isaac a lot, I’ll tell you what he’s saying.”
“Right,” Bingwen replied.
“Arms were so long,” Lyra began, listening intently to what was being said across the hall. “They were sharp, with like, really long claws on the end, like wolverine, but not as long. They were so ugly, and so very fast and quiet. They didn’t even like, stop or anything, like they were looking for something.”
“What were they looking for?” Isaac asked.
“Grandpa. They wanted to hurt him. I feel like, I can tell when they’re close,” Adam said, letting out a breath. “Can we go play games? I don’t want to remember this stuff.”
“Sure, buddy, I got you on Valorant.”
Lyra turned to Bingwen. “Let’s go see him.”
Bingwen shook his head. “No, no need. He’s not wrong, your son is doing something I’ve never seen a werewolf do.”
“What’s that?” Lyra asked.
Bingwen moved to a table, turning the seat to face him before crossing his leg and sitting, pulling out a cigar. “Reason I’ve been moving around is ‘cause there’s an outbreak of some seriously small-scale aberrations in Ridgeshire. I had no idea what caused it, but listening to him now, there’s only one thing that could be.”
Lyra turned around to see Orson standing by the door, holding up one of the scars on his hands. “Demons.”
Lyra raised an eyebrow. “Are you serious right now? I thought those were stories or something? You tried to scare me and Emma with them, come on.”