It was a thirty-minute drive to the closest town with decent shops. We drove into Clinton, and my cousins decided to go to Taco Bell. As we ate our lunch, they talked about life in the woods. We talked about when we were kids. It was the best I had felt since finding out that my parents were dead.

When we were done eating, we headed to Walmart. It was a smaller Walmart than I was used to, but you had to know it would be smaller given that this was a small town. As we walked through Walmart, Ally and Erin took turns showing me shirts and jeans. Then they made their way to the skirts.

“How do you feel about wearing skirts?” Ally asked. I looked at her and sighed because I didn’t know how to answer her. Although I liked skirts, I did not feel that I would be wearing them much living in the middle of the woods, but I also did not want to hurt her feelings.

“Yeah, I like wearing skirts,” I said, doing my best to smile. I knew that they were just trying to spend time with me to get my mind off things, but shopping was not my favorite activity. When it came time for school clothes, mom would usually just go to the store and pick out some outfits for me. I know, it wasn’t what a typical teenager would do.

We spent another hour with the twins having me try on different outfits. Some of them I agreed to for them, others I decided on because I liked them. After they had almost filled up an entire shopping cart with clothes, we headed to the checkout. The cashier looked at us.

“If it isn’t the Helsing twins again. Weren’t you all just in here a couple weeks ago? And who is this?” the cashier asked as she pointed at me. Great, just another example of me being the new girl.

“This is our cousin Michala. She is living with us now,” Ally said as she started placing clothes on the conveyer belt. She looked at me and smiled. I wondered what she was so happy about.

“It is nice to meet you, Michala,” the cashier said as she continued while scanning my clothes. Looking as the bags began to pile up, I sighed. How was I supposed to fit all of that into my room? Then again, I never had a chance to look in the closet last night with everything that went on. I guess that I would have to check it out when I got home. As much as I didn’t want to call it that, my aunts’ manor house was now my home.

After stuffing all of the bags of clothes into the trunk, we all piled back into the car. I sat in the back, listening to my cousins talk as I contemplated my new life. This brought me back to the same question I had been asking myself since yesterday. Why did my mom want me to come to my aunts, and why this school? Aunt Brenda wasn’t telling me anything.

I thought for a moment before looking at Ally and asking, “Ally, do you know why mom wanted me to come here and go to Lakeland Academy?” She abruptly slammed on the breaks and was rewarded by the car behind us, honking their horn.

“Look, Michala, I know you have quite a few questions, but I can’t answer them. Mom and Aunt Rebecca made us promise. You are just going to have to wait,” she said as she continued driving. What was I thinking? I should have known that they weren’t going to tell me anything. The rest of the ride back to the manor, I sat in silence.

When we got back to the manor, Aunt Brenda was standing at the door. She waved to us as we pulled into the garage. As soon as Eris was out, I forced myself out of the car and stormed inside. Without saying a word to any of them, I ran upstairs and slammed the door of my room. All of these secrets were getting to me.

I had been lying in bed for about thirty minutes when there was a knock at the door. I didn’t answer and instead rolled over and facing the wall opposite of it. I heard the door open and footsteps approaching.

“Michala, I know that you are upset. You feel like everyone is treating you like a child. I understand, but you have to understand that there are things that I can not tell you at this moment. It is not that I do not trust you or that I think you are too young. It’s just that until your birthday, I was mead to swear not to tell you,” aunt Brenda said as she placed her hand on my shoulder. I did not turn over. I couldn’t face her. “And besides, if memory serves me right, tomorrow is your birthday. So please wait just a few more hours.”

I turned around to see that there were tears on her cheeks. It looked like she had been crying the entire time. Slowly I reached up and wiped the tears away and looked at her. “I will wait. It is just hard to live with knowing that there are so many things that mom and dad never told me,” I said before crossing my arms. Her facial expressions changed to those of pain.

“They were just trying to protect you. I wish I could say more, but after tomorrow things will become a little clearer. And what’s better is that tomorrow night is the blood moon.” She said with excitement. The blood moon was a rare sight to see by any measure, but how relevant it was to my birthday.

She smiled as she pulled me into a hug. I didn’t pull away. As angry as I was about the secrets, I still loved my aunt. “I love you, aunt Brenda,” I said. This caused her to hug me tighter. I could feel her heart beating against my chest.

After a bit, she released me and smiled before saying, “now, the girls said they took you shopping. Perhaps later you can show me what they got you.” Yay, that’s all I needed, to be showcased like a fashion model. “By the way, dinner will be done in an hour. I hope that you will be joining us.” Aunt Brenda said before getting off the bed and leaving me in the room by myself.

After dinner, I went back to my room to put the newly purchased clothes way. As I opened the closet, I was shocked. What I never knew was that moms’ closet was a walk-in closet. There were shelves for shoes, shelves for undergarments, and more. There was even a jewelry shelf. I guess this is what it looked like growing up in a wealthy family.

After putting my clothes up and closing the door to my closet, I walked over and laid in my bed. I sighed as I looked out the window. The sky was so beautiful here, unlike in Tallahassee, where the light pollution made it hard to tell that there were even stars out. Closing my eyes, I thought about my parents as I started to drift off.