MoanaThe very next morning, I called Sophia as soon as I awoke.“Sophia, it’s Moana,” I said into the phone. “Do you have a minute to talk?”Sophia was quiet for a moment. I could tell that she was hesitant; I had just informed her only a couple of weeks prior that I was working for the very man who frightened the orphans, and she no doubt had a suspicion that I was going to ask for something after how he acted.“Yes,” she finally replied. “It’s good to hear your voice.”I smiled, relieved that she was at least willing to talk to me. “You, too,” I said. “I know this might seem a bit contrived, but I wanted to ask if Mr. Morgan and I could come to the orphanage today. He wants to speak to you and the children after what happened yesterday.”“Really?” Sophia responded, sounding a little surprised. “He doesn’t seem like the type to talk much.”“Really. He wants to apologize.” Sophia was silent again. I grew desperate. “Please,” I said. “I’d really appreciate it if you gave him another c

MoanaA few more days went by, and I had just come inside from a midday walk with Ella and was taking her sun hat off in the foyer when I suddenly felt a newspaper being shoved into my hand. I glanced up to see Amy standing above me with a surprised look on her face, and I took the paper from her to see that the front page had a picture of Edrick crouching in front of Clara from the day we went to the orphanage, when he crouched to explain the situation with his father to her. Selina must have snuck a picture while they were talking.The headline of the article read “CEO OF WERECORP VISITS ORPHANAGE, SPENDS HEARTWARMING AFTERNOON WITH CHILDREN”.“What’s that?” Ella asked, leaning over to look at the paper. She gasped then and ripped the paper out of my hands. “It’s daddy! And look, Moana!” she exclaimed, pointing to the background. “There you are!”In the background of the picture, I could be seen standing and looking down at Edrick and Clara. I felt my face get hot; I was never one f

MoanaAs Ethan mentioned the “Golden Wolf”, I felt Mina react strongly in my head. She didn’t say anything, but I could tell that she was just as intrigued as I was. “I haven’t heard of the Golden Wolf,” I said, shaking my head.Ethan smiled. “If you want to know more about werewolves, then this will interest you,” he said. He turned and started to walk, nodding with his head for me to follow. As I walked with him, he began to speak, gesticulating with his hands.“The story of the Golden Wolf is a story that has been passed down through generations and generations of werewolves,” he began. “If I’m being honest, I’m not entirely sure if it’s real or just an old wives’ tale; some werewolves will say it’s real, and others will say that it’s just a legend. Either way, it’s an important story. You see, there was supposedly once an extremely rare, golden wolf that was spotted only once in the forest by a human. He was hunting for his village, long before humans knew about werewolves, and he

MoanaWhen I opened my door, all I could smell was alcohol.Edrick was standing in the hallway. He was swaying slightly back and forth, his steely eyes unfocused in front of me. Even though it seemed he only just got home, he already had a glass of whiskey in his hand -- he must have filled it as soon as he came in the door.“Why aren’t you in my room?” he grumbled, his breath reeking of whiskey.I took a step back, scrunching up my nose from the smell. “I waited for you for two hours, but you never came,” I replied. “I assumed you wouldn’t be home tonight.”Edrick was silent for several moments before speaking: “Well, I’ll sleep in here, then.” Before I could stop him, he pushed past me and into my room.“How much have you had to drink?” I asked, closing the door quietly.Edrick chuckled sardonically and turned around to face me with a shrug. “What does it matter to you?” he asked. As he stared at me, I wondered to myself if he even knew or if he had lost count of how many times he’d

EdrickBeing around Moana, especially while I was as drunk as I was that night, made it almost impossible to resist her. Why did I feel so attracted to this ordinary human nanny? It was as if there was a spell on me that night, and for the briefest of moments as our tongues explored each other’s mouths and our bodies became pressed up against one another, I swore I was able to pick up the faintest scent… The same scent that I picked up on the night that we played the maze game.Just as quickly as it began, however, it was over. There was a knock on the door, followed by my daughter’s frightened, shaky voice. When Moana opened the door, there were tears streaked down Ella’s little face. Seeing those tears sobered me and made me realize that I was putting my daughter at risk by being so foolish and getting so emotionally involved with the nanny.As I stood in the middle of Moana’s dark room and watched her disappear with Ella, I started to realize that I had to do what was right.I hard