Chapter 30: Chapter 30

Clara resisted the urge to look back at the man. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath. Various emotions were playing out in her mind, emotions she couldn't quite understand, emotions that felt foreign to her. She let out a tired sigh.

As the car moved further away, Clara opened her eyes to see the sign post that had "bye bye to mystic falls" written boldly on it. She tensed. Isn't she supposed to feel some relief? Why then does it feel as if she had left behind something very important?.

The drive to the airport was silent, her friends were confused about many things but still decided to wait until she was comfortable to talk about it.

When they reached the airport, Clara and her friends didn't have to wait too long before they boarded the flight. The plane finally landed in the Lakewood airport , Clara and her friends highlighted from the plane and silently rolled their suitcases out from the airport.

They waited to board an airport cab, because they weren't able to inform anyone of their arrival as coming back to Lakewood was a sudden decision. They stopped a taxi and Clara hailed the taxi with her friends and the driver drove towards their home.

Clara highlighted from the taxi, leaving her friends whose house was still a street away from her own. She waved at them and watched the car drive away from her house before turning around, picking up her suitcase and making her way to the house. The front door was locked, so Clara had to go through the back door. She felt the sense of home and security as she stepped inside the house.

Clara dragged her suitcase upstairs and into her room. Her mom wasn't home, she didn't expect her to be home either. Her mother had never been at home by this time of the day. Clara looked around her room, it was exactly the same way she left it such that if it wasn't for the neatly arranged bed and clean floor which meant that her mother had always come in here to clean, Clara would have thought otherwise.

Clara slightly shivered, rubbing her hands together as the chilling weather of Lakewood was already getting to her and suddenly, she missed mystic falls for the warmth and fresh air. She shrugged that feeling off, not wanting to have anything to do with that town and its people.

Clara placed her suitcase on top of the bed and started to unpack, she put her clean clothes back in the closet and the dirty ones in the laundry basket. She walked back to the bed and took down the suitcase, placing it in the right place. She changed into a thicker sweatshirt and went to lay on the bed. Waiting for her mother's return.

While Clara laid on the bed, her mind kept going back and forth, she tried fighting the urge to think about the man that called himself Skyler but her heart couldn't stop beating inside her chest. His silver eyes kept popping up in her mind, his husky voice kept ringing in her ears and Clara became restless. But when she recalled the words of that old woman, Clara's blood immediately turned cold. If she was looking forward to her mom's return, now she isn't anymore. The thought of finding out the truth scared her. What if that was the reason her mom never wanted to mention anything about her dad?, what if she didn't even have a father?. Clara climbed down from the bed and started pacing about her room.

Clara soon realized that pacing would do nothing to help her current situation, so she climbed back into bed with her stomach facing up, she placed her both hands on her tummy, crossed her legs and eyes fixed on the ceiling.

While she was thinking, she remembered the old rusty looking book that Jeremy had given to her. She jumped out of bed and went in search of the book, she feared maybe she had left it in that apartment in mystic falls, she searched the closet and suitcase but found nothing. She sighed and started walking back to the bed when her eyes landed on her handbag that rested on top of a table and she walked towards it, she opened the bag and removed the book from inside the bag.

After drawing the curtains Clara walked back to her bed with the book in her hand and settled on the bed, she placed the old dusty looking book between her thighs.

The front cover was dark red and it had symbols that Clara couldn't recognize. She flipped open the book and the first page carried the title.

"The mythical creatures of the earth" boldly written in gold letters".

Clara read the words in her mind and flipped two more pages, getting to another page with the heading written in Capital letters.

The First Mythical Creature of the Earth.

The Lycanthropy.

Below was the image of a black lonely wolf howling to the full moon. it was beautiful, she ran her fingers through the image. Clara would have been surprised by this but having witnessed Skyler and the others shift from human to a wolf, Clara was no longer surprised rather she was curious and more interested in to know more about their kind.

She flipped to the next page and started reading through it. The moon goddess Selena created some powerful magical wolf that defended and protected the earth against some dark creatures, thousands of years ago. As the years evolved, the moon goddess gifted them the ability to shapeshift into human forms in order to fit into the present world of humans. It also talked about how the creatures began the mating process where the word "mate" is described as a destined soulmate and life partner of a werewolf. Silver being one of the weaknesses of werewolves. There were so many details but after reading about the mate part, Clara suddenly lost interest in knowing more about the kind.

Clara paused for a moment, finding it hard to digest what she had just read about the word "mate", there was no way she was going to have a creature like that as a friend, talk more of a soulmate. Clara flipped to another page, still very annoyed by what she had read on the previous one. This page carried another title.

The Second Mythical Creatures of the Earth

The coven of witches.

There was an image of a woman riding on a broom.

Clara rolled her eyes, she couldn't believe what she was reading, how did her world become like a fairytale. She used to think stuff like this happened only in the movies and was a product of only our imagination. And if she hadn't witnessed some craziness and experienced some herself, she would still be thinking all of these were nothing but scary dreams.

Clara didn't bother to read about the coven of witches, it didn't have anything to do with her for now, at least. So she turned to another page that carried another title.

The Third Mythical Creature of the Earth.

The wailing faeries.( Banshee)

She sucked in a deep breath, before reading through the lines and Just like the others.

There was an image of a blue butterfly in a ring. The butterfly was similar to the one on her neck which was also similar to the one she found at the mansion.

It was simple, but Clara had expected something more, something more mysterious.

Anxiously, she began reading through the pages, eager to know more and find a solution to her problem if there was any.

In summary, It says that the wailing faeries originated from a female spirit that was cast down from a much higher realm, to live among the mortals. During her wandering, she had shared part of her abilities to the mortals that accommodated her and with them, she formed a clan of her own, but her true powers were passed down to her descendants. The power of healing, premonition, wailing cry, and precognition are the abilities that the females of the clan possess, where the males of the clan, apart from superstrength, are just mere carriers of the gene, which is then passed on to their female children. A weapon of pure gold and black salt is stated to be fatal to the clan.

Clara flipped to the next page and found nothing else, she flipped two more pages and read through it.

The fourth mythical creature of the earth.

The seer.

With the image of three eyes in a triangle.

That was all? Clara frowned. Is that all the information that is written about the wailing faeries? She muttered to herself, there was nothing else she could find, nothing that tells how to stop or control one's power or even how to understand it. Clara was hoping to find a way to rid herself from everything that had to do with mystic falls. Now that she knows that the abilities such as the one she possess were passed down from lineage, and her mother possesses none of it, she feared that what the old woman said might turn out to be true, she only hopes that hers was passed down to her by her father.

Clara closed the book and dumped it by the side of her bed and checked the table clock. It was already evening and her mom would be home soon. To calm her already raging heart, Clara decided to take a nap but it seemed her stomach had other plans. She got out of bed and made her way to the kitchen to find something to feed her stomach with. She went directly to the fridge where she knew that her mom would not have bothered to cook any food now that she wasn't at home.

Clara took out a bottle of milk and a packet of cookies then went to sit on the dining table. while eating Clara heard the sound of clicking keys and she tensed. Her mother was home. Clara placed the glass of milk back on the table and stood to her feet. The door was pushed open and her mother came into view, walking into the house and not taking note of the familiar presence.

Clara watched from the dining area as her mom made her way into the house. She took a deep breath and Called.

"Mom"

Flora was startled by the sudden voice but then she knows who the voice belonged to. Turning around to the direction where her voice came from, she saw Clara standing next to the dining table.

"Clara?" She called, Unsure if she was seeing correctly.

Clara stood there and watched her mother approaching her. Clara wanted to run away and hide, but her foot stayed glued to the spot.

Flora could see the figure clearly and she was now very sure that Clara was the one standing, but why? Vacation isn't over yet.

"Clara, what are you doing here?" She asked, half surprised and half confused.

'Mom" Clara called, running to embrace her, Clara buried her head on her mom's shoulder and started to weep, pouring out all her grievances. She had at that moment forgotten about the possibility of flora turning out to not be her biological mother.

Flora held Clara in her arms and let her cry, she didn't know what the problem might be but she just wanted to hold Clara in her arms for the time being. After Clara had cried to her heart's content, she finally let go of her mother and they both walked to the living room where flora ushered Clara to sit and sat herself beside her.

She took Clara's hand in hers and said.

"Tell me what happened, I want to hear it all".

Clara cleaned the few tear drops on her check and gaze directly at her mom's almond brown eyes, dirty blonde hair and slightly tanned complexion. She looked nothing like her mother. Clara's heart again started to pound in her chest. She had always seen her mom with these features but never had she given much thought to it, she made a conclusion that she must have taken after her father's features and that was one of the reasons she was always so curious to know more about her father.

"Go on, tell me" Flora urged her to speak.

Clara opened her mouth to speak but couldn't form the right words. She couldn't bring herself to say the words as the truth would make or mar her life. Clara decided to postpone the questions for another day and spend the evening with Flora without worries. No matter what the outcome may be, flora would always be her mother and she loved her dearly. Clara forced a smile on her face and said.

"Nothing happened, we just decided to make an early return so that we can prepare for college. I told you on the phone that I already sent an application to the university of arts and design in mystic falls. Though I'm still waiting to get accepted, I still want to prepare beforehand.

Clara sounded so convincing that she almost believed her one lie.

Flora bit her inner cheeks while watching Clara as she talked. She had raised Clara by herself and she knows the girl like she knows the back of her hands. Clara right now, wasn't telling the truth, but flora decided to play along and act like everything was okay.

"How was your vacation?. What activity did you enjoy the most?" Flora asked with a sweet smile. The smile was contagious such that Clara genuinely smiled back, she pushed all the worrisome thoughts aside and decided to enjoy and live in the moment.

Clara briefed her Mom about all the fun things she and her friends had done, the foreign food and ways, it was all exciting. Clara told her mother everything except for the part that involves Xander and the rest of the people.

By the time they were done with all the catching up on the different things that happened in each other's absence, the cloud had already turned dark and flora realized she was still in her work dress as she hadn't changed into something comfortable because of Clara's sudden surprise return.

"I should change into something better for the night".

"You also need to rest,you must be tired after sitting on the plans for hours," said flora.

Clara agreed, she was tired and needed rest.

Clara said good night to her mom who was walking up the stairs before walking back to remove the exposed cup of milk and packet of cookies. She poured away the content and rinsed the cup, placing it back on the cupboard and the cookies back to the fridge before walking upstairs to her room.

Clara shut the door behind her and rested her back on it, she let out a tired sigh. She pushed every thought aside and walked to the closet and changed into blue pajamas. She put her raven black hair into a messy bun and climbed into bed. It didn't take long for Clara to fall asleep out of exhaustion.