The Interrogation

Author's Narration

Dahlia woke up to silence, the kind that presses against ears. She hadn't expected to wake up in her dorm room, or anywhere else in the school that felt safe, because she knew exactly where what happened earlier would land her: the interrogation room.

The room was round and buried deep in the heart of Northmont High, and hardly anyone knew it was there. Only the few students who'd been called in for questioning had ever seen it, and they'd all been warned not to repeat a word of what was said inside, not even to their parents, unless the school decided to bring their parents in.

A ring of pale light hung over the room without so much as a flicker. Chairs were set in a wide arc in front of Dahlia, five of them taken and one still empty. Whoever was meant to sit there hadn't arrived yet, and it looked like nothing would start until the fellow did. Dahlia knew the faces of the elders in the room, though she'd never seen most of them in person, only in photos.

In the middle sat High Alpha Rowen Blackthorn, and the whole room seemed to lean around him. He was reffered to as the top authority at Northmont, the one person who tied pack law and school law together. Every trial, expulsion, and sentence went through him, and nothing happened at Northmont High without his say-so. The students liked to call him the highest authority, but that wasn't quite true, because he answered to someone who wasn't around: the Grandmaster.

On his right sat Moonwarden Elowen Vale, in an ash-grey robe, staring at Dahlia as if she could hear something Dahlia couldn't. She was in charge of the moon rites and culture laws at the school, which meant the Trial by Howl was hers. It ran on her authority and under her eye, and so did omens, curses, and any wolf marked by the moon.

On his left sat Headmistress Mara Holloway, back straight, hands folded in her lap. She ran the school side of Northmont: classes, discipline, and secrets. If a student was wiped from the records, or kept safe by them, it was because she'd said so. Dahlia had seen her around campus more times than she could count.

A little behind them sat Elder Kael Thornroot, easily the oldest of the group, and you could tell just by looking at his face. He looked after the ancestral records, the bloodline histories, and the forbidden lore, so the past more or less spoke through him, especially the parts nobody believed were still around.

Over by the wall stood Sentinel Commander Darius Vex, armored and still, with sharp eyes that missed nothing. He was in charge of the Sentinels, Northmont's enforcers, and when a problem couldn't be taught, contained, or ignored, he was the one who got called.

That was the whole leadership of Northmont High, and they'd all turned up for Dahlia. Her mouth had gone dry, and she squeezed her hands together so no one would see them shake.

“Can you tell us who you are and how you got admitted into this school?” Moonwarden Elowen Vale asked, the moment Dahlia came to herself.

[DANGEROUS ZONE: FORCES ARE WATCHING. HOST ADVISED TO SPEAK LESS THROUGHOUT THE INTERROGATION.]

Speak less? Seriously? Was the system even paying attention? Why couldn't it just say which questions to answer and which to dodge? How was she supposed to tell them apart? She asked herself all of this in silence, her pulse thudding in her ears, trying not to let any of it show.

“You're awake now, and you can see all of us,” Sentinel Commander Darius Vex said. “So unless the fall damages your ears, answer the question.”

Where was she supposed to start, and what did they want from her? She didn't know anything about herself except her name, that she'd grown up with her grandmother, and that after her grandmother died, her father had taken her in with his wife.

“I'm Dahlia Reed. I started being aware of myself at my grandma's house, so I'd say I grew up with her. When she died, my dad and my stepmom took me in, and my stepmom's the one who got me admitted here.”

That was everything Dahlia knew about herself, all out in one go, but it was obvious the questioning was only getting started. The faces of the council said as much.

“What were you before you were admitted?” Elowen asked.

“I don't know, ma'am. I thought I was human until what happened earlier. Right now I'm as confused as everyone in this room.”

“So you're telling us you don't know anything about yourself beyond that?”

“That's right, ma'am. I don't,” Dahlia said, plainly.

“Then tell us what you know about what happened a few hours ago. Why did you howl as a human, and why was it black instead of silver?”

“I wasn't supposed to howl. I never thought I would, because I believed I was human, and honestly I still partially do. I did what everyone else did, the way we were taught in class, because I didn't want to raise any suspicion. I'd kept quiet about being human since the first day I found out I'd been enrolled in a school for the werewolves, and I was supposed to fail the test, like a few others did, until that happened.”

“Did you notice any signs in your body before the test?” High Alpha Rowen Blackthorn asked, the first words he'd spoken. “A voice in your head, something shifting inside you, dreams, visions, anything that could explain what you went through?” He hadn't said a word until then, but he'd been studying Dahlia the whole time, as if he could see something only him could see in her.

That was when Dahlia remembered the system's warning. This was what it had meant by saying less. If it hadn't warned her, she would've told them everything: the visions, the black glow, the voice in her head, all of it, from the day she turned seventeen. She was grateful to her new companion for stopping her.

“No, High Alpha. Nothing I knew about until the test,” she said, keeping her voice steady. Before she'd answered, she'd checked herself for the black glow, and to her surprise it was gone. Maybe it had sensed the danger the same way the system had.

“Then that's all. You can go back to your room, but remember, you're not to tell anyone what was said here.”

Dahlia bowed and walked out with her eyes down, and she didn't really breathe until the door shut behind her.

“She's not telling us everything,” Elder Kael Thornroot said, finally breaking his silence. “She needs to be watched closely. Someone, or something, is helping her keep secrets, because I could see it in her eyes that she doesn't have the ball.”