Lunar Enchantment

Unspoken Truths

I sat there as panic set in, I gestured frantically for my friends to help me stash the discovered items back into the trunk. Amber reluctantly returned the diadem to its rightful place, Lauren carefully stored the locket, and Aiden gently nestled the moon-themed dagger.  Amber closed the clasp on the trunk, making sure it was locked. 

"Is every thing put away?"  I asked as grandma's footsteps echoed through the house.

As we tried to make the attic look undisturbed, my heart pounded in my chest. This was more than a typical teenage dilemma, and I was overwhelmed by the gravity of the situation. These newfound relics, along with the mysterious revelations in the documents, had upended my understanding of my family history and my own identity.

The sound of my grandmother's footsteps on the stairs drew nearer, and I could feel the seconds ticking away. She was a shapeshifter too, and she would certainly know if anything in the attic had been tampered with.

Aiden, Lauren, and Amber quickly descended the attic stairs, leaving me alone in the dimly lit space, still holding my peculiar birth certificate. I stuffed it into my backpack, as I couldn't risk leaving any evidence behind.

I tip toed as quickly and silently  as I could to the attic stairs trying my best to not make a sound. 

As I closed the attic door and toward my bedroom where everyone else was, my heart raced, and my mind whirled with questions. What did it mean that i was a direct descendant of a royal line? Why hadn't my grandmother ever mentioned this when I first found everything? And what was the significance of the diadem, the locket, and the dagger?

When I reached my bedroom, my friends were sitting on my bed with their history books out, looking as nervous as I felt. My grandmother, the ever suspicious woman that she was, entered the room. She had a knowing look on her face that made my stomach churn.

"Rory, dear," she said, "you have company."

I swallowed hard and nodded. "Yeah. Just some friends from school."

"Friends, eh?"

"Mm hmm. That's Lauren, Amber, and Aiden," I said introducing everyone even though I knew Grams knew who everyone was.

"Hi. Did Rory offer you all a drink and snacks?"

"Um, I didn't yet. We actually just got here a little bit ago?"

"What? You should have been home hours ago!" she scolded.

"Sorry. We got caught up with, um, something else." I said.

"Something else? Rory there is a dangerous creature out there. You all need to be more careful." She tusked while shaking her head. "Be sure to let all of your parents know that you're here and they can pick you up after dinner. I'm making Tuscan shrimp, if everyone's okay with that?"

Everybody nodded their heads.

"Good. Be downstairs in 15 minutes I'll have snacks and drinks ready for you all."

We all looked at each other as Grams turned and left the room.

"Do you think she knows?" Lauren whispred.

"Yes," I mumbled. "She always knows everything."

"She didn't say anything though?" Amber asked.

"She will. Giver her time."

 "Why didn't she just say something right then and there?" Aiden stood up and looked out the door.

"That's just how she is. She's waiting to see if we give away any clues about what we know, but she already knows."

"Are we in trouble?" Lauren asked quietly.

"Doubt it. She knows that we're going to find out."

"Kids. Come get your snacks. Hungry bellies don't help with studying!" Grams hollered up to us.

"Let's go," I said.

We trudged down the stairs only to be met with hot caramel apple cider, pumpkin cookies, celery and peanut butter and apple slices with caramel dip.  

"Thanks, Grams."

She kissed the top of my head and left the kitchen as we sat at the island where all of the food was layed out.

"Weird."

"What?" 

"She didn't mention anything."

"So?"

"I'm going to regret doing this," I mumbled.

"What?"

"Hey, Grams?"

"Yes, dear?" she called from the other room.

"Um, can I ask you something?"

"Of course." She made her way back in to us and just stood in threshold of the kitchen and the dining room.

I took a deep breath and just spilled it all. "We were in the attic."

"Uh huh," she said.

"They saw the trunk."

"Uh huh."

"We opened the one that had my name on it."

"And how did you do that?"

"Well, it wasn't that hard to pick the lock apparently," I said quietly.

"I see."

"What does it all mean?"

She pulled up another chair and picked up a cookie. "Wait a minute."

"What?" we all asked, looking around.

"Just hold on." She nibbled her cookie ignoring what I'd just told her.

A knock at the door took us away from our thoughts for just a second.

"Rory, would you get that?"

"Um, sure."

I stood and made my way down the hallway to the foyer to open the front door.

Everyone's parents stood on our porch.

"Oh," I mumbled.

"I suppose our children are here?" Sophie asked.

I nodded my head and stepped to the side so everyone could enter the house. "The kitchen."

They made their way down the hallway, obviously familiar with the house, and stood, staring at Amber, Lauren and Aiden. I followed close behind trying not to look at anybody. 

"They know," Grams said, putting a tea kettle on the stove.

"How much?"

"I'm assuming almost everything."

Sophie nodded her head while Amber's mom just shook hers. Laurens mom and dad sighed heavily. 

"This is not how or when we wanted them to find out. I'm assuming we have Rory to thank for that?"

"You sure do."

They all turned and stared daggers at me. 

"Oh, um, sorry?"

"Of course she'd be the first one to figure it out. Your family is entirely too nosey, Maggie."

"We do have a tendency to not drop things. I can't blame her though. I went snooping around when I was her age."

"What do we do now?" Aiden's dad asked.

"Jake, we have to tell them everything," Grams said.

"There's more?" I asked.

"Much more."

The tea kettle whistled as the adults stood around the island with everyone. I sat back in my seat, picking at my cookie. Grams poured everyone a cup of tea as she stood at the head of all of us.

"I'm about to tell you all a story, a story you weren't supposed to hear for a few more years, but it's something you all need to know and it will change your lives forever."