“He was a good man. Kind. I… I’m so sorry.” He started shaking violently.
“Manny, what’s wrong with you? Should I call 911?”
He laughed.
Before I could process what was happening, his skin started stretching. His face morphed into something from a horror film. Blood-red eyes narrowed on me and fangs protruded from a snarling, monstrous face.
I screamed.
Survival instincts kicking in, I turned to run. Adrenaline and fear pumped through me as my ballet flats pounded against the wet grass.
“Don’t stop! Run, Rose!”
“Javi?” I turned to see my cousin racing toward us.
My heart skipped. Manny had become something else entirely. A nightmare come to life. Hands turned to claws and his shirt was completely ripped, revealing an enormous furry chest. An icy rush of fear filled me.
“Run!” Javi shouted.
I stumbled as my cousin whipped a giant gun out of thin air. I didn’t hear the shot, but Manny’s body jolted. He turned to face Javi. My eyes landed on the bloody wound in his hairy back.
It was closing on its own—healing by itself.
A ringing filled my ears and my body went numb. I watched in shock as my cousin shot off another round into Manny’s chest, but he remained standing. A deep growl emanated from him.
We were so in trouble now.
“Don’t move. I’m taking you in.” Javi’s voice boomed.
I blinked, unable to process what I was watching. Tossing the gun aside, Javi pulled out a giant sword from thin air. A sword. A freaking sword. Who the hell was my cousin?
Manny’s cat like ears twitched back. “Don’t. I don’t want to hurt anyone.” he hissed.
Javi’s eyes narrowed. “Too late for that, isn’t it?”
My gaze darted between them, my mind trying to grasp something, anything, that would help me make sense of what I was seeing.
“I… I’m sorry.” Manny’s voice shook.
Before Javi could close in, he was off. A dark blur as he ran. My cousin swore and sprinted after him, still holding the sword. I sucked in a breath and ran to catch up.
Javi stood alone in the graveyard, scanning the grounds. He turned at my approach and flicked his sword, making it disappear entirely.
I stopped short. Pretending I hadn’t seen what I’d just seen, I advanced on him.
“What the hell, Javi?! What was that thing?”
He hesitated. A shudder ran down my spine. His calm demeanor was freaking me out.
“Are you going to tell me what the hell that thing was?”
Javi sighed. “It… it was a shifter.”
I frowned. “A what?”
“A shifter. Come on, haven’t you seen werewolves in the movies and stuff?”
“Are you telling me Manny is… a werewolf?”
“No. Not exactly. He wasn’t a wolf. He was… shifting into a jaguar, I think, but there’s no way he should have been that strong or fast. Something was off.”
A nervous chuckle escaped me. “Okay. You can stop playing around now.”
“Look, I know this is hard to believe, but it’s about time your sight came. You can’t deny what you just saw.”
His words shook me.
“Is this some kind of horrible prank?”
He gave me a flat look. “You know what you saw, Rose.”
“No. See, that’s the thing. I don’t. Because werewolves don’t exist, Javi. You’re telling me they’re real… and how am I supposed to believe that? Why have I never seen any before? We would know. People would know if there were real monsters.”
Javi folded his arms across his chest. “The truth is right in front of us, but not everyone is strong enough to see it. Makes our job easier, actually.”
“What do you mean ‘our’ job?”
He held my gaze. “You’re one of us, Rose. You’re a GRIMM. The only reason you didn’t have your sight was because your mom put a spell on you. I guess it’s worn off now.”
My blood ran cold. Shifters. Spells. GRIMM. Crazy. It was too crazy to believe. My head spun.
Javi gave me a sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry. Your father should have been the one to tell you.”
“Oh no. No. No. No. We’re not doing this right now. This is so not the time to tell me this, Javi.”
Question after question raced in my head and beneath them all, a realization struck me cold.
If what Javi said was true, then Papi lied to me. My whole life was a lie.
Tears burned my eyes. “No. I’m not doing this.”
Javi flinched. “I’m sorry, Rose. But it’s the truth.”
My chest tightened. I took a shaky breath. “I don’t care. I don’t want to hear anymore.”
“But, Rose… you have to know the truth.”
Heat spread through me. “No! You don’t get to decide what I need to know. I am done.”
Before he could tell me more, I ran. The beat of my heart pounded in my ears. His words drilled into me, and Papi’s face flashed in my mind over and over. As hard as I tried to block them, the memories came. The strange looks and comments. Questions I buried long before my father’s death. They were all resurfacing, and they all pointed to the truth—Javi was right and my parents lied.
Pain blossomed in my chest. I glared up at the gloomy sky.
“How could you?” A sob caught in my throat.
Raindrops landing on my face were my only answer. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Javi walking toward me and swiped the tears away before he could see them.
He gave me a sad smile but said nothing. We walked to the road in silence and waited for the driver. Numbness spread through my limbs. I had so many questions, but the one person I wanted answers from was gone. Did he ever intend to tell me the truth? I shook my head, trying to shake off the wave of emotions barreling through me.
I couldn’t handle this revelation. Not now. Maybe not ever. How was I supposed to carry on like everything was normal? I scowled at Javi. I knew it wasn’t
