Chapter Seventeen

                                    

                                          
Lily sat at the dining room table in Jack's home, looking at the book in her emergency bag. It was a large heavy scrapbook filled with pictures, something her mother started when she began to have Lily and her sisters. The beginning was filled with some early pictures of her parents, then baby pictures of their three kids, and then pictures of them when they were older. A large part of the book was still empty, but Lily wasn't focused on what memories were missing. 
                          
One of the pictures at the beginning of the photo album was an older picture in black and white. A tall woman was holding a baby with a mane of dark hair, both sharing a wide grin to the camera, but you could see the sparkle in the woman's eyes even through the still image. A wildness that couldn't be hidden. 
                          
Her mother was an adorable baby, but her grandmother was everything Lily wanted to be when she was older; strong, wild, and effortlessly free. She wouldn't be as reckless as her, she'd actually visit her family and friends, but the stories she always heard from her were magical. 
                          
Lily was still staring at the page when she heard the door go. It was the afternoon, Jack had dropped her off before going to visit Claire and Karen to collect more maths notes from them, but Lily declined the invitation. She had questions that needed answers. She needed to talk to her aunt. 
                          
Aunt Ollie stepped through the door of Jack's home with a sigh, her nurse rags sweaty from a long morning shift. She usually enjoyed these kinds of shifts, the ones that let her hang out with Lily in the evening, but today she was exhausted. Some of her younger patients had woken up in a bad mood and it had rubbed off on her. 
                          
"Aunt Ollie?" Lily called, hearing her take off her shoes and put her bag down. Her aunt poked her head into the dining room where they'd all had breakfast hours before. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" 
                          
Ollie flickered her gaze to her adoptive niece, to the scrapbook she was holding, and drew up the remaining energy she had left. "Sure," she answered. "Let me get out of my clothes first." 
                          
Lily smiled and waited as Ollie walked to her spare room. They were both alone in the house, or as alone as they could be. Somehow, Lily always felt like someone was watching her in Jack's home. Whether it was due to Freida's eerie persona or the amount of flowers around her, Lily always felt like she was going to be surprised at any moment.
                          
Lily pushed the feeling to the back of her mind and gently brushed the picture of her grandmother. Andrew's grandfather described her with hair like the rare blood moon and eyes like the brightest of stars in his alpha's log. 
                          
But Lily's grandmother had brown eyes. All of her family had brown eyes. 
                          
Ollie walked back into the kitchen wearing her flannelette Marvel pyjamas with a smile that was a little wider thanks to her bright clothes. "What's on your mind?" Ollie asked as she took a seat opposite Lily, staring fondly at the album in her hands. "Oh, Cordie was so small." She reminisced.  

                          
Lily pursed her lips as she gathered her words. "Did Mum ever talk about Granny Haven much?" 
                          
"Nerida?" Ollie's eyes widened. "No, not really. Whenever she was brought it was 'cause she was in town. Cordie spoke about how wild her mother was, Nerida never said where she was going next." 
                          
Lily hesitated. "Is... Is she still alive?"
                          
Ollie frowned before standing and making herself a cup of Freida's homemade tea. "I haven't heard from her since before Cordie passed." Ollie admitted while the kettle boiled. "Last I heard she was traveling north to the mountains, wanted to try free climbing, I think. You were barely ten but we never heard from her after." 
                          
Lily looked back at the picture. "Does she know about Mum and Dad? Rio and Delta?" 
                          
Ollie poured her tea but kept her back to Lily. Lily saw her shoulders drop at the mention of her sisters' names. "Not that I know of. Nerida never left a way to contact her, always said it was part of the adventure and she wouldn't give any spoilers before she came back."