Lena Matthews

"So why did you think it was a good idea to give her her glasses?"

"I don't know."

"We wouldn't be dealing with this if you had just thought it through."

"Well, it's too late now. Is she going to be okay?"

"You know that's not up to me."

"She's waking up."

"You need to go."

"Go? What are you talking about?"

"Get out!"

"You can't make me do anything!"

"Out, Carter!"

The door slammed as my eyelids began to flutter open, taking in the shock of bright fluorescent lights. I was lying on a hospital bed with Jessica standing over me, clipboard in her hand and concern on her face.

"How are you feeling?" She asked gently.

"I'm -" I tried to sit up, but I was handcuffed to the hospital bed. "Where am I?" I asked, struggling against the restraints.

"I'm going to need you to calm down for a moment." said Jessica. She tried to put her hand on my shoulder, but I forced myself away from her, the handcuffs clanking in protest.

"If you let me out, I'll go. I won't tell anyone. This doesn't have to be a problem." I said.

"You're right." said Jessica. She pulled a chair next to my bed and sat down next to me. Her green eyes were calm, without a trace of the violent red I had seen the night before. "This doesn't have to be a problem. We have a protocol in place for incidents like these, and if everything goes correctly, nothing bad will happen to you."

"What does that mean?" I asked, panic starting to rise in my chest. How much did Jessica know about me? About my family?

"Mrs. Pearce will be here at any moment. She is going to explain everything, and walk you through the next steps."

"What's going to happen to me?" I asked.

"That's for Mrs. Pearce to answer, not me," said Jessica. "She runs the other side of things."

She meant the Forbidden side. I stayed silent, and tried to pretend I was clueless. I couldn't tell anyone what I knew, or why my family was here. I may have ruined everything for them already.

"What if this doesn't go right? What then?" I asked Jessica.

"Nothing bad is going to happen to you." Jessica repeated flatly. "Don't even think about it."

"Okay." I said nervously.

Jessica glanced at the door for a second. When she turned back to me, her voice dropped to a whisper. "There are some things that you should know before Mrs. Pearce gets here. Has anyone told you the history of this town?"

"Why are we whispering right now?" I asked.

"Just answer the question," said Jessica.

"I've heard an abridged version from Jane-Anne." I said.

"Okay." said Jessica. "I'm going to assume that Jane-Anne didn't know about the werewolves."

I stared blankly at Jessica. My head was racing in a million different directions. A part of me wanted to dismiss all of last night as a dream, but now Jessica was talking about werewolves. And if she was talking about werewolves, that meant that Jessica and Carter were vampires. Real, actual vampires. I remembered their fangs and distorted eyes, then nothing. I must have fainted last night. And now I was handcuffed in a room with a vampire. As my brain swirled with all of these realizations, my face conveyed absolutely nothing.

Jessica decided to take that as a cue to retell Jane-Anne's story.

"This town was founded by two groups. The settlers and the Atalka natives. Atalka was a special tribe, mostly composed of werewolves. The two groups got along well, but the settlers started performing experiments on their Atalkan neighbors. It all started with good intentions, and the initial goal was to make the full moon transformations less painful. But it didn't take long for entitlement to twist everything, and the experiments spiraled out of control." Jessica was whispering quickly and I could barely keep up.

"So the natives rebelled, and the town became steeped in death. Samuel Pearce was able to create a treaty by dividing Atalka into two parts, and built a border around the human side. That was Pearcetown. In the end, the werewolves were eliminated entirely by the settlers, who refused to respect a treaty that was signed by what they saw as less than human.

"A couple generations went by, and the people of Pearcetown had all but forgotten about the werewolves. It made them oblivious and vulnerable, because stories of the town spread, and the Forbidden decided to take the town back in honor of the Atalka tribe. It was a slow process that happened one resident at a time. The Forbidden who moved here changed the name of the town back to Atalka, and buried its true history from the other residents." said Jessica.

"What's the point of telling me any of this?" I asked at full volume.

"No one has seen a werewolf in a long time. And then one shows up, without a full moon, to attack you. The Forbidden here are going to see that as a bad omen, or a warning against trusting you." said Jessica, her voice still low.

"You want me to lie." I realized.

"I want you to do whatever it takes to seem trustworthy to Mrs. Pearce." Jessica amended.

"You want me to show my trustworthiness by lying?" I asked, the irony very apparent.

"I'm trying to look out for you," said Jessica. "That's all."

"I'm not your daughter." I said. I didn't mean to be rude, but I was having trouble believing that Jessica had unselfish motivations. I would never hold a staring contest with a werewolf, Forbidden or not. There had to be something in it for her.

"I know," said Jessica, giving me a small smile. Something distracted her, and she stood quickly. "She's coming, so I need you to pretend that I didn't say anything."

I nodded, my nerves starting to act up.

"You're going to be fine." Jessica added. She stood up and placed her chair on the other side of the room. Quickly, she grabbed her clipboard and started pretending to write something down, a frown etched on her face. It was truly a convincing performance. The door squeaked open, and the clacking of heels ushered in a petite woman in a suit with a briefcase in her hand. Mrs. Pearce.

Without saying anything, Jessica gave a small bow and handed Mrs. Pearce the papers from her clipboard. Mrs. Pearce scanned them quickly before looking at me. She tutted to herself quietly before walking in my direction. I cringed as the clacking got closer and closer, expecting the worst. Pale, dainty hands grabbed my wrist, making all of my muscles tense. When Mrs. Pearce forced my handcuffed wrist towards her, I tried to pull away.

"Ivy, I'm going to need your cooperation for this to work." Mrs. Pearce's voice wasn't as intimidating as her demeanor, but I still wanted to get as far away from her as possible. Mrs. Pearce pulled a small key from her pocket and unlocked the handcuffs. They clinked against the side of the bed uselessly as I stared at them, dumbfounded.

Mrs. Pearce turned to Jessica and nodded.

Jessica cleared her throat before leaving. She closed the door completely behind her, sealing me in the room with Mrs. Pearce.

"Hi." I said awkwardly.

"Hello, Ivy," said Mrs. Pearce. "It's very nice to meet you. My daughter has mentioned you a couple of times."

"You mean Jane-Anne?" I asked. I was finding it very hard to believe that the composed woman who was speaking to me right now was related to the untamed and unpredictable energy that was Jane-Anne Pearce. They also looked nothing alike.

"Yes, I mean Jane-Anne," said Mrs. Pearce. By her tone, I wasn't the only one who didn't see the resemblance. "Now, let's get started. We're going to begin with a simple questionnaire. Is that okay?" She asked.

"Sure." I answered, not sure if I had a choice.

"Good," said Mrs. Pearce. "Now, first question. How old are you?"

"Sixteen." I answered, failing to see why this was a pressing matter. I was in a town crawling with Forbidden. For all I knew, Mrs. Pearce was one. Who was I kidding? She had to be Forbidden.

"Any birthmarks?" Mrs. Pearce asked. I shook my head. "How about near death experiences?" I shook my head again. I wasn't sure if last night counted.

My mind raced like wild, trying to connect the questions. My age, birthmarks, possible death. She was trying to figure out if I was immortal, had a Forbidden brand, or was killed by one of the Forbidden myself. In other words, she was trying to figure out if I was like her.

Would it help if I was? If I showed her that I was a quarter Forbidden, would that be enough for her to let me go? I looked down at my hands, mulling it over.

"Ivy?"

"Hm?" I asked, looking back up.

"In your own words, can you describe what happened last night?" Mrs. Pearce asked.

"I..." I curled my hands into fists, deciding against anything drastic. Doing something drastic was what got me here in the first place. As much as I hated it, the only way to survive and salvage this mission was to go with the flow.

"I was out at Atalka Trail, and that's when I saw the wolf. It was large, unexpectedly large." I wanted to say unnaturally large, but decided against it. "Um..." I tried to remember Jessica's warnings. "It got closer to me, and I tried to run away. I tripped and hit my head on a root. It was right over me, and then it bowed. When Jessica and Carter got there, it left. I think I passed out after that. I could have sworn that-"

"Ivy, I am about to tell you something, and it's going to seem very far-fetched. I know that you just woke up and are going through a lot, but I need you to try your best to process this information." Mrs. Pearce looked at me directly. "Are you ready?"

"I'm ready." I answered. I silently hoped that my version of events sounded believable. "I really want an explanation for all of this."

"I'm sure you do." said Mrs. Pearce, nodding slowly. "When you think of the supernatural, or magic, what do you first think of?"

I hadn't expected her explanation to be so participatory, but I decided that I had to go along with it. If I didn't, I had no idea what could happen to me. "Um..." I tried to think about the nicer Forbidden that were out there. "Mermaids?" I suggested aloud. So much for nicer.

If Lanier Labs has discovered anything about mermaids, it was that they were anything but friendly. Given one of the nicest aquariums in the world, they still managed to drown Andrew Lanier, the laboratory's namesake. Since then, males haven't been allowed into the facility, much to my dad's disappointment.

"When can I see my family again?" I asked. Thinking about them felt like pushing a needle through my heart. "I want to see them now."

"You'll see them soon. Right now, they know that you're in Atalka General, and will be released sometime tomorrow." said Mrs. Pearce, her voice devoid of any emotion. In a strange way, her collected presence made me want to trust her. Just like Makaya's unforgettable atmosphere made me want to trust her too. Clearly, I trusted the wrong people.

"Anyway, mermaids were a good example. They are a type of supernatural species called the Forbidden." said Mrs. Pearce, returning to the initial topic. "Forbidden is an umbrella term for all of the supernatural with what we call the Forbidden brand." As she spoke, Mrs. Pearce removed her blazer and set it on the chair behind her before untucking her blouse. She pulled it up a bit so I could see the unmistakable F imprinted on her side.

"Are you telling me that you're supernatural?" I asked.

"Yes," said Mrs. Pearce patiently. "Atalka is a very, very special community, one where the Forbidden can live in peace with others undetected."

"So Carter and Jessica are really-"

"Yes." Mrs. Pearce answered, cutting me off. "How are you feeling? I know that this is a lot to take in." For someone who was trying to act concerned, Mrs. Pearce was doing a lot of interrupting.

"I think I'm okay." It wasn't hard to pretend to be shocked. Everything that I thought I knew about the Forbidden was slowly swirling down the drain. The Forbidden had a human form, sure, but I didn't think they could act human. They only had instinct, a general desire to kill or harm, and nothing more. They didn't have reason, and they certainly weren't as composed or as intelligent as Mrs. Pearce.

"I'm glad that you're taking this well," said Mrs. Pearce. "Now, onto what comes next." She pulled out a file from her briefcase and passed it to me. I inspected the papers inside, but all of it was legal jargon I couldn't comprehend.

"I want you to review those papers," said Mrs. Pearce. "You will be signing them before the Forbidden Court at your trial tomorrow morning. You will also have to present your testimony of last night's events. Jessica has volunteered to help you, and you will be staying with her tonight. Until the Forbidden Court closes its session officially, you cannot have any contact with your family. If we catch any attempts at contacting them, we won't move forward."

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"It's complicated," said Mrs. Pearce. "You were out for a walk and were frightened by a wolf. You stumbled back and hit your head on a root. You hit it so hard, and in such a fragile part of your head, that it was too much. These things do happen, but I can promise this, Mr. and Mrs. Scott: we did everything we could."

I couldn't deny the goosebumps that traveled down my spine at those words.

"We've done things like this before," said Mrs. Pearce. "If all goes well, we will put some monitors in place to make sure that you don't tell your family, but..." Mrs. Pearce dug around in her pocket and handed me a business card. "You will also be entitled to six months of free sessions with Dr. Pater. She isn't a real therapist, but she is Forbidden, and you can tell her everything you can't tell your family."

"Thanks." I said flatly. If I didn't mysteriously die at the hands of who-knows-how-many Forbidden, then at least I could get free therapy. I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry.

A/N: Well we got a lot of exposition in this chapter, but there are still a million things floating around. I will try to update soon, but I do have some midterms coming up. Online school has not been it so far, so wish me luck! Thank you for reading!

QOTD: What do you think about the two version's of Atalka's history?