We were all sitting around the campfire, snacking on the usual camping goods, like smores. Will was cooking some brats and Jo had put herself in charge of the condiments and hotdog buns as well as the extra marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers. Apparently, she couldn’t trust the rest of us to keep things tidy. She wasn't wrong, but she didn't have to call us out like that.

In an effort to make up for what happened an hour ago, Will was presenting random pieces of chocolate to Lynn. It was rather hilarious. Earlier, Will made us all something to eat in the camper, using the small stovetop. But despite the praises from everyone else on the meal, Lynn had taken one look at it and pushed it away.

“I’m not eating that.”

“But – but it’s your favorite?”

“Not today, it isn’t!”

And like a puppy, scolded by its master, he tried to find a way to solve the problem. And he bought some chocolate out of Jo’s stash. Literally. Ridiculously overpriced chocolate, more than the world had ever seen. Jo had skipped off with the hundred dollars, telling him thank you for helping fund her future travel plans.

Minnie flipped the marshmallow on the stick in her hand with a solemn expression. Seeing it reminded me of the map she’d been looking at earlier, when we were at the gas station.

“Hey, uh, Minnie. I have a question.”

“What is it?” Her gaze didn’t move from the fire in front of her, or the marshmallow as she pulled it away from the flames, inspecting it with a frown.

“The map you had earlier…”

Her eyes met mine and my words faltered.

“What of it?”

“Where did you get it?” I asked slowly.

She stared at me silently before eating a marshmallow plain. Her voice was muffled as she responded while chewing.

“Why?”

Everyone else was watching the two of us, wondering what was going on. They probably thought I was crazy for asking about some random map, but they clearly hadn’t noticed the most important thing about it.

“It dated back to 1868.”

As soon as I said it, the others all turned to Minnie with surprise. There was a chorus of surprised voices as she just sat there, unaffected by it all.

“Wait, what?”

“Are you serious?”

“1868?!”

She shrugged and leaned back in her chair. “I grabbed it from at home.”

I stared her down. Did I believe her? Not for one second.

“Are you sure about that?”

She pursed her lips in the silence and stares that followed. A heavy sigh filled the air after a long moment.

“Fine. I stole it from the archives. I left a copy, so it’s fine.” And she was acting as though everything was alright when considering her actions. Which was a bit alarming to say the least.

“You stole it?” Jane voiced what I’d been concerned about all along.

“Well, they weren’t just going to give it to me,” Minnie tossed the words out there, nonchalantly.

“Oh my gosh! Hahaha!”

Jo’s legs curled up to her chest as she let out a full-belly laugh at Minnie’s remark. The rest of us weren’t nearly as amused. Will had horror etched all over his face. His eyes were wider than I’d ever seen and his mouth fell open.

“You – are you serious? I mean…”

“I didn’t expect that from you. Really. I didn’t see that coming,” Lynn said, shaking her head.

“That’s not something you do for fun, right?” Will finished.

She shrugged again.

“Well, I kind of didn’t want to die out here or get lost, so I felt it was necessary,” she pointed out, and the mood between us all fell drastically. “Look, I didn’t want to ask you all to come with me… but I… This isn’t something I can do alone.”

“Okay. We got your back, even if the witch police come to take that map back with them,” Jo casually joked, putting a hand on Minnie’s shoulder, earning a few chuckles and snorts.

She smiled softly for a moment, looking around at all of us. Minnie was the youngest of us. In a way, it kind of felt like she was an estranged little sister at times. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. Everyone nodded agreement with Jo’s words.

Jane was the first to break the silence.

“If I may, since you even grabbed a – well, stole, I guess… You took a map of Lake Tarva. What’s the whole deal with this anyway? You didn’t get to explain everything before we left.”

Actually, she hadn’t explained much of anything at all. She said that there was some kind of doomsday prophecy with a cave by that particular lake. That something was going to happen there.

“Do you know how the shifters came to be?” she asked quietly, the reflection of the flickering flames on her face, casting shadows as she stared down at the ground. “How the first Alphas were made?”

She looked up, only to find all of us silent, confused, and without any sort of answer. It wasn’t something that was taught. It might’ve been in the history books, but it wasn’t general knowledge. I, for one, didn’t know any story behind our existence. As far as I knew, we simply popped into existence.

“Witches created the first shifter wolf packs. The first Alphas.”

“How?”

And so, she began to tell us the story, bit by bit. While I had no idea where it was going, I knew this wouldn’t be an easy thing to hear. As it was, my grandfather, through unnaturally extended lifespan, existed as an original Alpha.

I wasn’t sure this was something I wanted to hear, but there was nowhere to go. It became something I had to hear.

“The original High Witch befriended a lone wolf when she travelled here. Wishing that they could speak the same language, she used her magic to create his human form. They were the first wolf shifter in existence.”

“Which family was it? The first Alpha?”

“Wasn’t Norcell the first?” Will asked. “That’s why they laid claim to leadership over all of us, right?”

Lynn leaned closer to the fire while I sat back in my chair, fiddling with my thumbs until I felt a warmth surround my hand. I looked over at Jane, who gave me a small smile. Threading our fingers, her hand in mine, I took a second to breathe.

It hadn’t always been a touchy subject.

But after everything I’d learned. After everything Myrus and being stuck in a silver room… after learning my ancestor was responsible for the tragedies in Jane’s family history? It was a little bit of a sensitive area.

This wasn’t so bad, though. As I was there for Jane, as a pillar for support, she was there for me, always reaching a hand out to help me up. Her touch calmed me.

Minnie looked at the seat next to mine as well as the next one over. Jane’s and Will’s seats.

“Blackstone was the first.”

That statement alone hit us all like a sack of bricks.

“Your ancestor,” she said quietly, staring at the brother and sister, two of the three in their bloodline that remained alive.

I squeezed Jane’s hand, and she responded the same. I saw her take a deep breath and release it slowly.

“Norcell was greedy,” Minnie continued. “His claim was that his pack was the most successful. Biggest.”

It was interesting to say the least, and something none of us had really expected or thought of.

“How were the packs created?”

“She found groups of wolves, the best wolves, from all across North America, and created all of their forms within days.”

“Crazy.” Jo shook her head slowly, eyes wide as she stuffed her face with a smore. Frankly, I was surprised it managed to fit. There were at least three extra big marshmallows on that creation.

Next to me, still holding my hand, Jane tilted her head, leaning forward a bit.

“Where does this beast come in?”

Minnie smirked.

“You’ve caught on.”

“What does that mean?”

Jane looked at Lynn as she answered her question. “This story has importance to what we’re doing. She’s telling us this because it might help us in regards to speaking with the beast.”

“The fact that we were created by witches doesn’t freak anyone else out?”

“No.”

“Only a little.”

“Did witches create the beast too?” I found myself asking, rather than answering Will’s hesitant question. To be honest, it wasn’t something I’d needed to know at all. Witches. We were made by witches. Fun.

“No.” She shook her head with certainty. We waited in silence as she gathered her thoughts. Gazing into the fire, she took a deep breath in. “After the initial upheaval of your society and packs, the current High Witch made a choice. She created measures to keep you under control, if the need arose.”

“And it did.”

She nodded.

“During the Pack War, she brought the beast over from Asia.”

Brought them over? That meant there were more shifters like them in Asia, right?

“What’s in Asia? What is the beast?”

“I don’t know the nature of the beast. What I do know, is that when she released it over here, it ran rampant. Killing lone wolves and humans. Entire packs too. Nobody was spared its wrath.”

“What did they do with it after it was over?”

“The most powerful witches created a cage, sealing it with the blood descendent of the first wolf shifter ever made.” Minnie’s voice seemed to curl around the fire, reaching each of us. There was no warmth in those words, just the cold hard truth.

A shiver ran down my spine. When she said it was sealed… she was saying they’d died in order for it to be made. I couldn’t get the thought out of my head once it was there. If it had been a different time, if we’d been born earlier… that descendant might’ve been Will, or his father. Or, it might’ve been Jane.

It didn’t seem fair.

“Blackstone.”

The whispered response took the remaining heat from the flames.

Why had it been them? Why couldn’t it have been any other shifter? Had there always been more to this than Norcell’s greed? Had it been about the cave this whole time?