Chapter 78: Group Photos
I tried calling my mother after I discovered that the baby picture was missing, but unsurprisingly, she
didn’t answer Cursing to myself, I hung up the phone and decided that it was toote now to worry
about it, the damage had already been done, it waste at night, and I had work in the morning.
The next morning, I awoke with a start to the sound of my rm and rain pattering against the window I
crawled out of bed, showered, dressed, and made my way to Tiffany’s office with a cup of coffee from
the dining hall in my hand. It was so hot that it burned my hand a bit through the cardboard, but I was
too focused on getting out of the rain to care
“Good morning!” Tiffany called from her desk when I entered, her voice chipper as usual I managed a
tired smile and shook my umbre off beforeing in the rest of the way and hanging my jacket on
the hooks at the back of the room.
“Morning,” I said, wincing as I burnt my tongue on a sip of the scalding hot coffee. “What’s on the
agenda today?”
Tiffany squinted her eyes to look out the window before looking back down at the pile of paperwork in
front of her with a frown. “Well, I was going to suggest making our rounds to the sports teams today,”
she said, “but it looks like the weather decided to throw a wrench in that n. So, I guess we’ll just try
to get through this paperwork.”
I nodded and pulled up a chair If I was being honest, I was d to just spend the morning in Tiffany’s
office; I didn’t particrly feel up to walking around all morning and dealing with sweaty football yers
who would, no doubt, be asking questions about my ” rtionship” with Enzo.
Tiffany must have been able to read my mind, because thankfully she didn’t. ask any questions either,
allowing us to work in silence for a while
After a couple of hours of silently scouring through physical exam records, health reports, and
statistics, Tiffany threw her pen down on the desk and leaned back with a sigh. I looked up from my
work to see the attractive middle-aged blonde rubbing her eyes and yawning.
“Didn’t sleep much, either?” I asked.
She shrugged. “I’ve been a bit busier than usual these days,” she said, pushing her rolling chair back
and standing. She walked over to the window and sped her hands, lifting them over her head and
bending to each side in a stretch as she watched the rain. “Lots of studentsing in at all hours
comining about fevers, mood swings, and, if you’d believe it…”
Oh no. I knew what she was going to say before she even said it feral dog bites.”
“Mad wolf ”
RêAdt??St chapters at Novel(D)ra/ma.Org Only
I pped my hand over my mouth as I realized that I just spoke out loud, albeit under my breath.
Tiffany, thankfully, didn’t seem to hear me or at least, she pretended not to. I quickly lowered my hand
as she turned back around.
“You know,” she said in a somewhat dreamy, thoughtful voice, “when I went to school here, there was a
simr string of illnesses. We called it Lupine Syndrome. It was really a rabies outbreak, though. At
least, that was what the head doctors here said at the time”
My eyes widened momentarily as a million things started to race through my mind. Had werewolves
been biting people back then, too? I felt my curiosity get the best of me
“Can you tell me more about what it was like when you went to school here?”
Tiffany paused, humming to herself for a moment as she looked thoughtfully up at the ceiling. “It wasn’t
much different than it is now, really,” she said finally with a shrug. “I was a lot like you, actually. I had a
wonderful group of friends in the hockey club. I wish I stayed in touch with more of them, but… c’est
vie.”
Images of a younger Tiffany floated through my mind as I pictured her with her group of friends.
Something about it made me smile; Tiffany was so youthful and full of life now, that it made me wonder
what she was like when she was my age.
“Oh! Actually, hang on,” Tiffany eximed suddenly I watched with raised eyebrows as she scurried
over to 7 a tall metal cab at the back of the room, opening the doors and standing on her tiptoes to
grab a shoebox off the top shelf. She turned back toward me with a smirk and carried it over to the
table with both hands. It was dusty and the cardboard was crinkled around the corners from age She
opened it with a grin to reveal a pile of proid photographs, handwritten notes, and various other
tchotchkes.
“I haven’t looked in here in ages,” she said with a cough, waving away a cloud of dust that was floating
in front of her face from abruptly opening the box. I smiled and leaned forward on the table, sitting on
my knees in the chair. I felt like a child again, asking my mother to show me an old scrapbook —
except this time, my wishes were actually granted instead of being told that scrapbooks were silly and
that no one should keep “useless old junk like that”.
“Can I?” I said, reaching for the box. Tiffany nodded enthusiastically and slid it closer to me. I reached
in and pulled out a pile of photos, flipping through them as the smile on my face widened. There were
so many pictures of Tiffany and her friends; pictures from Halloween parties where she wore matching
tiger costumes with her friends, pictures of them sitting around a campfire with bottles of beer in their
hands, pictures of her smiling andughing as they gave each other piggyback rides.
One picture caught my eye, however. It was a photo of the entire group together — the hockey club,
judging from the handmade banner they held up with big, cheesy grins on their faces. Tiffany was right
in the center, surrounded on either side by her smiling friends, one of which was oddly familiar…
I felt my heart leap up into my throat as I recognized the white-blonde hair and piercing blue eyes that
belonged to none other than my adoptive mother
My mother had never once mentioned that she came to this school Why?
As I intensely scanned the photograph, my eyes caught something else. A jagged edge that looked like
it had been torn apart, judging from the little white line from the undeyer of the photo paper being
exposed. I held the photo closer to my face and studied it harder, noticing a hand draped over Tiffany’s
shoulder
“Was this torn?” I asked, handing Tiffany the photo. She furrowed her brow and took the photo from
me, her eyes momentarily shing with an emotion that I couldn’t quite read before she abruptly
cleared her throat and put it back in the box, snapping the lid shut
“Oh, look at that!” she said in a weak voice, pointing at the clock. “Your shift is over”
I nced over my shoulder at the clock, then back at Tiffany “I’m supposed to be here for a couple
more hou–”
“Go home, Nina.”
I was taken aback by Tiffany’s sudden out of character behavior and I stammered to respond, but she
had already turned her back and was shoving the box back into its spot on the shelf. I felt tears well up
in my eyes as I stood and gathered my things, heading for the door.
“I-I’m sorry, Tiffany,” I said quietly as my hand rested on the doorknob. “I didn’t mean to–”
“It’s fine,” she said, obviously wiping her eyes before turning back to face me with a soft smile. “I’m just
tired. I’ll see you on Wednesday.”
I nodded silently wishing I could say more, but nothing else woulde out and stepped back out into
the rain.
I had learned so many things these past two days… The Crescents and the Fullmoons, my possible
werewolf heritage, the baby photo, and now I had learned that my mother had gone to #Chiopher
Group Photos this very school during a time that people were possibly being bitten by werewolves.
What was my mother hiding? Furthermore, who was the person that Tiffany ripped out of the
photograph, and why did she get so upset that I mentioned it?
“Hey,” a familiar voice said, breaking me from my thoughts. I looked up from the ground to realize that I
had already made it back to the quad, but was so deep in thought that I hadn’t even noticed, and Enzo
was now standing in front of me
He looked down at me, his hair and his leather jacket wet from the rain, with a strange look in his eyes.
“Can we talk?”