LATE SHIFTER

CHAPTER 9

I felt really broken after hearing my parents talk in their room. I could but sit down on the ground wallowing in deep sorrow of how I was turning a disappointment to my father. 

He seemed to be heading towards my room as he walked out from his room when he saw me sobbing on the ground. He bent down towards me and hugged me, trying to console me as he knew fully that I overheard their discussion.

‘It’s going to be alright, honey. I trust you” he said as he tried comforting me. 

“Go away from me, you don’t trust me, not after I heard what you both discussed in the room” I said as I stubbornly pulled myself away from his comfort. I did not allow him to say one more word to me as I walked out and returned back to my room. 

I could not sleep a blink till it was dawn. “Your father summons you to the sitting room” one of the maidens said as she entered my room after I let her in. I quickly rushed down, still putting on my night gown just to meet a lady sitting next to my father. 

“Have a seat” my dad said as he pointed to the sofa beside him. I sat down slowly, trying to understand the scenario I just walked into. “This lady is Camellia, she is a strong witch” he introduced her. 

What would a witch be doing here, I thought to myself. “What do I need a witch for” I asked my father, trying to get clarity in what was going on. 

“She is here to help you out” he explained. I still found it more confusing as he made that statement. The witch understood I had more questions and decided to help my father out in this situation. 

“Just relax Tessa, your father means well” she urged me to trust her. Without further argument, I decided to stay put and let her do her job. 

She began speaking in an indistinct manner as though she was saying a spell. I felt some weird energy purge in and out of me, and she stopped immediately. I still found it difficult to understand what she had just done right before my eyes. 

She stepped back immediately, with a troubled look on her face. “What’s going on?” I asked her curiously. She persisted as she tried to summon the courage to let the cat out of the bag. 

“Mr. Johnson” she said as she turned towards my father. “I am afraid your daughter is a late shifter, and she won’t be transforming anytime soon”. 

This news sent severe shock through my nerves as I tried to assimilate it properly. My father, on the other hand, sank into the sofa as he was drowned in raging thoughts that stormed his mind. 

“Can’t something be done about this?” Father asked with fury written all over his face. At this moment, I begged the earth to swallow me immediately because I could not stand the shame of watching myself turning from his favourite daughter to a disgrace. 

“No sir, nothing can be done about it” she replied with great courage. She packed her bag and took her leave. My father, on the other hand, looked at me with great discontent and retired back to his room. 

I needed no soothsayer to tell me that father was completely disappointed in me. I failed to be the werewolf he wanted me to be. I seemed like I had shattered all his expectations for me. 

I had nobody to share my pain with, so I went up to my room and began sobbing. A few minutes later, I heard a loud bang on my door. “Tessa, open this door we need to talk” Father said as he persisted and kept knocking on my door. 

Finally, I opened it, letting him into my room. He stood beside the door, looking for words to say to me. “I’ll be giving you one week to shift to your wolf, and I fear that if you don’t do so under one week, I’ll kick you out of my house” my father clearly stated. 

He closed the door behind him as he took the exit out of my room. This was really going to lengths I never felt it would. I became so surprised by the way father treated me. He never showed interest in me again, and my mother, on the other hand, seemed so much on my father’s side. 

Two days to go, and I haven’t shifted, I bet he’s obviously not going to throw me out of the house. Though my father was disciplined and strict most times, I had great faith that he would not chase me out of the pack. 

“Father, I need to ask you a question” I said, dragging the attention of my father towards me as we had our dinner on the dining table. 

“It better be something reasonable” he warned as he gave me his attention. 

‘Are you really going to throw me out” I asked curiously, hoping that he could say something I could hold on to. 

“You better start shifting in the next two days” he said with evident anger edged in his face. He lost his appetite and immediately got up, rushing back to his bedroom. 

“You’ve pissed him off now” Mother said with a calm voice as she hurriedly followed my father to calm his nerve. 

Two days had elapsed, and it was already one week since my father threatened to throw me out of the house. Just as i was about to brush my teeth in the bathroom, I heard a knock at my door. 

“Come in” I said, expecting it to be one of the maidens. Surprisingly, it wasn’t the maidens but my father.