Chapter 217: The Dark Images
Edrick
I hated to leave Moana behind, but I missed too much at work while she was in the hospital. Now that she was safely at home, I only needed to go to the office for a couple of hours to deal with some meetings.
Unfortunately, those couple of hours quickly turned into a full day of work. By the time I headed home, it was already starting to get dark out. All I could think about was getting home to Moana and my daughter and spending the rest of the evening with them.
However, when I got home things seemed incredibly… off.
The penthouse was dark and quiet when I arrived. It wasn’t that late, which was a bit confusing. But as I started to make my way through the penthouse and found Selina sitting in the kitchen by herself with only a lamp illuminating the room, I quickly realized why everything felt so strange.
Selina was sitting with her back turned to the kitchen door, but I could tell instantly from the way that her shoulders were shaking that she was crying silently. She stopped when she heard me coming, but I knew that she was crying. No matter how quickly she tried to wipe away her tears and smile, it was too obvious.
“Hungry?” she asked, getting up and wiping her hands on her apron. “Sit down. I’ll make you something.”
I slowly walked into the kitchen and sat down, watching as the old housekeeper scurried around and began preparing a meal. It was strange to see her acting so emotionally; she was normally such a stoic and stern person as long as I had known her, and yet since she met Moana that seemed to change. It seemed as though she was beginning to see Moana as something like her own daughter, and it was clear that the warehouse incident and the three day long hospital stay were both getting to her. But I could tell that something else was wrong.
“What’s going on?” I asked suddenly, unable to contain my curiosity.
Selina made a face as she clicked on the burner on the stove and spread butter on some bread to start making a grilled cheese. “What are you talking about?” she said. It was clear that she was hiding something, judging by the look on her face.
“Tell me what it is, Selina,” I said. “Is something wrong?”
The old housekeeper paused, then sighed. She set the bread down in the pan, then put a few slices of cheese on top before wiping her hands on her apron once more. I watched as she nervously withdrew a folded piece of paper from the pocket on her apron with shaking hands.
“Moana had another… episode,” she said, shakily handing me the paper. I took it with a furrowed brow and unfolded it. My eyes widened as I saw the contents of the page. It was a drawing made with dark, heavy strokes that depicted a strange knife with a slightly curved blade and a wolf’s head on the handle. It looked oddly familiar to me for some strange reason, but the pressure of the lines and the way that the drawing seemed so chaotic indicated that it was not drawn while Moana was in a normal mental state. What especially gave that away was the fact that it was drawn over the picture that Moana drew of Ella and I on the ferris wheel. I knew that she would never want to draw over that picture.
“She said she doesn’t remember anything,” Selina continued. “She said that she was just sitting in her bed, and then when she came to she was surrounded by dozens of similar pictures. I found her like that, and I believe her… But I think she needs help, Edrick. Serious help. Help that we might not be able to provide for her here…”
Suddenly, I looked up at the old housekeeper with my eyes narrowed. “What are you trying to say?” I growled.
Selina, seemingly unfazed by my anger, sighed again. “I don’t know. Maybe she should be in an institution for a while where they can keep a close eye on her and take better care of her than we can here.”
“You’re suggesting that I send the mother of my child away to a psychiatric facility?” I said, standing suddenly as I gripped the paper tightly in my hand. “I won’t do that. I won’t send her to one of those places.”
Selina narrowed her eyes at me. “What do you suggest, then?” she murmured. She pressed her lips into a thin line and glared at me for a few long moments before she hastily turned around and flipped the sandwich over in the pan, causing it to sizzle. As she did, I looked back down at the drawing in my hand and studied it even more closely. There was indeed something familiar about it, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. All I knew was that I had seen it somewhere before, meaning that it wasn’t just a violent image that Moana made up in her own head. At the very least, I wouldn’t assume that right away. I had to give her the benefit of the doubt before I jumped to conclusions and sent her away, which would likely only make her symptoms even worse. No… I had to do some research on this knife before I did anything else.
“Where is she now?” I asked.
“She took some of her medicine and she’s sleeping now,” Selina replied. “I called the doctor and he came and checked on her. He says that her vitals are fine, but he left the name and number of a… hypnotherapist who can supposedly help. But I don’t believe in that sort of stuff. I think she needs a more straightforward approach.”
For a few moments, I stared at the back of the old housekeeper’s head, at the perfectly round, gray bun that rested just at the nape of her neck. She tersely shoved a spatula under the grilled cheese that she was cooking and moved the sandwich to a plate before clicking off the stove and turning back to face me. But by the time she did that, I was already gone. I ignored her calls and stormed into my office, where I shut and locked the door.
My mate wasn’t crazy. I had seen this knife before, and I was sure of it. I could sense it; it had to have some sort of significance. Yes, Moana’s trauma in the warehouse was sure to cause her plenty of problems, and I was still going to get her some help, but this felt different. That night in the warehouse, she had marked me. I remembered when I finally healed and I stood up, Ethan picked her up by her throat and was choking her when a bright golden light burst out of her and blasted him backwards, throwing him to the ground. That night, it was very likely that her Golden Wolf abilities were beginning to surface; and maybe this drawing was a depiction of more of her abilities coming to light.
It seemed to me that Moana may have begun having visions, and the depiction of this strange knife with the wolf head handle could be significant to her future.
