Beyond the Pack’s Law: My stepsister or nobody else

HAYLEY’S POVCcontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

I descended the stairs, my thoughts relishing the events that took place the other night.

Aiden had been quiet all through, when on a normal day he would have come to my room. Was he avoiding me?

As I descended, my footsteps were masked by the raised voice coming from the living room.

“… can’t keep covering for her forever! She needs to face the consequences of her actions.”

Mom’s voice was terse and angry. I paused on the landing, straining to make out the other speaker.

“I understand your frustration, but handling this situation delicately is crucial.”

Dad’s tone was placating but strained. An uncomfortable silence fell between them.

I inched forward until I could make out Mom’s taut form, back towards me as she clutched her phone with white knuckles.

“She’s put us all at risk with her reckless behavior,” Mom continued in a harsh whisper. “Exposing her condition to an outsider? After everything we sacrificed to keep her safe,

My stomach clenched as realization set in. They were talking about Aiden-about my refusal to hide what I was from him any longer.

“We can get through this,” Dad urged. “But not if we go burning more bridges. Haley’s still our daughter, Rachel. Besides, Aiden cannot be excused from this. He’s older, so he should know better.”

“She’s not acting like our daughter!” Mom spat out a mirthless laugh, finally turning to face him with smoldering eyes. “Because the Haley I knew wouldn’t have thrown away her future like this. How could she possibly be dating her own brother?!”

The venom, in her words, lashed out like a physical blow. I squeezed my eyes shut, frozen on the landing, as their argument raged.

“You don’t understand what we’re dealing with,” Mom was saying, her voice edged with something like fear now. “The kinds of forces and the stakes involved if she continues this way. We can’t afford for that to happen.”

“Then help me understand,” Mom’s husband shot back, running a hand through his graying hair in frustration. “For once in your life, Rachel, stop keeping me in the dark about whatever supernatural rabbit hole you’ve led our family into this time! You know quite well that she’s not the only one involved in this. Aiden, too, is involved.”

“Why do you keep supporting her?!”

“I’m not!” He raised his tone, and then I heard him sigh. “I’m not taking sides, but you seem to be so hell bent on Hayley’s case for a reason. Like I said, Aiden is involved with your daughter. You shouldn’t leave one out and focus on the other.”

“You think I wanted this?” Mom’s retort was scathing.

She broke off, sounding almost choked for a long moment before collecting herself with a shuddering breath.

“I did what I had to. What any mother would have done to protect their child from the circles I ran in, from the societies and their archaic rites. I exposed them so they would stop. The media would take the news all over if care wasn’t taken.”

“But how would you do that to them? To us?! It’s a disgrace to our family!! Do you have any idea how people would look at us?! Did you consider that?”

I could scarcely process Mom’s words, my mind reeling at the implications she’d just revealed so nakedly in the heat of her anger.

“I did what I had to do.” She spat, bitter and seething. “Don’t you have an idea of what Jada is up to? If she’s flaunting her powers so brazenly, exposing them to some civilian nobody, then any hope we had of living a relatively normal life is gone. The circles will find her, dear. They’ll find us again. And they are ruthless. Exposing them myself is way better than waiting for that to happen. But it seems even my effort was in vain.”

The hairs prickled on the back of my neck as if by some unseen force. I leaned forward, my heart hammering in my ears, desperate to make sense of the half-truths and cryptic warnings my own mother was letting slip.

But then my stepfather sighed, long and heavy, and finally spoke in the most solemn tone I’d ever heard from him.

“So what happens now, Rachel? We can’t exactly put this genie back in the bottle. Not if Haley’s really that involved with Aiden.”

Mom didn’t respond right away, the weight of the moment stretching out in unbearable silence.

“We have no choice,” she replied at last, every word like lead dropping into my gut. “We need to find a way to separate both of them. Something that can tear them apart.”

“Mom, no!” I found myself bursting into the living room, anguished pleas ripping from my throat before I could stop myself. “Please, you can’t just do this to me and Aiden!”

Both of their heads whipped around, wearing matching expressions of shock and fear at being overheard. For a fraction of a heartbeat, no one spoke.

Then Mom straightened up, her eyes instantly hardening even as her jawline tensed almost imperceptibly.

“Haley,” she intoned, each word precise and laced with quiet menace. “I see you’ve decided to be stubborn this evening. Maybe you want me to handle this the hard way.”

Tears pricked my eyes. “This isn’t fair.” I stated. “Turns out you’ve been lying to me. I don’t even know if you’re my mother anymore!’

“I’ve been protecting you!” Mom fired back without missing a beat, all traces of guilt or second-guessing fading from her face. “Protecting this family from the forces I naively involved us with before you were even born. Now you are about to do the exact same thing!”

She regarded me with a measured look, as if truly seeing me for the first time, before letting out a soft sigh.

“Clearly, those efforts have fallen short in light of your… indiscretions,” she said, her tone laced with such palpable disappointment that it stung worse than any slap. “Your defiance has already drawn outside attention, making our neutrality impossible to maintain any longer.”

I opened my mouth to protest again, but she simply leveled her gaze at me in that way only a mother can, effortlessly reducing me back to a chastened child despite my newly-realized powers.

“I’m sorry, Haley,” Mom said at last, the barest hints of remorse flickering across her stoic features. “But this was always bigger than you or I. There are responsibilities far older and more powerful than either of us. You can’t afford to go against it.”

She turned back to Dad, seemingly having decided the matter in that moment.

“Let’s go.”

“I see you’ve been working with Jada.” I said, the words escaping like a bitter pill. “Now you want to drag dad into the secrets you both have been hiding.”

“It’s none of your business!”

“I can’t believe you. First you exposed us; now you’re saying you did that to protect us, and now you’re working for Jada? Who exactly do you think you’re fooling?” I stepped closer to her. “I know you, mom; I’ve seen the real you. You’re greedy and want to have everything to yourself.”

My mom’s eyes widened.

“How dare you say that to me, Hayley? Now let me tell you this: You have no other choice. You either succumb to my will or you will be forced to.”

My stepdad looked like he wanted to argue further, his mouth opening and closing wordlessly. But one glance at the icy resolution etched on Mom’s face seemed to drain the fight from him.

He simply nodded, his shoulders slumping in weary resignation.

Panic exploded in my chest, reality finally crashing down around me.

All because I’d defied their rules about hiding who I was, even from Aiden.

My thoughts immediately lurched to him, my stomach twisting with a fresh surge of anguished guilt. Not only had my refusal to keep lying put my own future in jeopardy, but what if it ended up endangering him too?

Mom was already sweeping from the room in a whirlwind of muted fury, her husband trailing behind her. He turned to look at me, giving me an unreadable look before turning his back again.

I remained frozen in place, the weight of their judgment and hard-won revelation crashing down all around me as the inescapable truth finally sank in.