Alec’s

What he says tells me nothing. Absolutely nothing.

It could be a witch. That was the most logical answer. Witches were vindictive creatures. Mess with them, and you'll be paying the price for your stupidity in years to come.

It could be Alec's grandfather messed with one, but something deep down told me that's not the case. Too bad I couldn't go on just feeling alone.

"Have you ever thought that it might not be a witch that cursed you?" I ask, and they all look at me as if I've lost my marbles.

"Then who would?" Jason fires. "It's the only plausible explanation."

"Think about it," I begin. "It would take copious amounts of power to pull off such a curse. Sure, witches and warlocks can curse an individual person and the curse can run for years, but an entire pack? And then for that curse to run for close to a century? Yeah, I don't think a witch cursed you."

Raven picks up from where I left off. "Sadie is right. Witches and warlocks don't have that kind of power, even if they practise dark magic. If you were really cursed by one of my kind, then the curse would have started to weaken by now. We age slowly, but we do age and as we age, our power starts to dwindle a bit. If you were cursed that long ago, then your pack would be getting better, not worse."

There is pin drop silence as they absorb the food for thought we just gave them. There is fear in their eyes at this new insight. I get them. Holding on to the notion that a witch cursed them is better than accepting that someone else, someone more powerful was the villain in their story.

"My father and the elders always assumed that my granddad offended a witch. Warlocks aren't that vindictive, but witches are, and so we all went with that. Now, to know we had been wrong the whole time is a big blow." Alec grumbles in the seat next to me.

"It would explain why we never got a solution," Micah jumps in. "We were looking for answers in the wrong direction with the wrong information. I don't know why we never thought of it along those lines."

Elder Martin turns to me with a smile. "This is really amazing; you've been here less than a few hours, and you're already helping just like the texts hinted. We would have continued to run in circles had you not come and pointed us in a different direction. Now we know what to look for."

I don't return the smile. My head was spinning, trying to find a way to deal with everything. I just wanted a breather, but I know I can't have that until this damn meeting is over.

"What you should be focusing on is who is strong enough to curse you in such a manner? Did your pack somehow offend the goddess or something?" I say instead. They gasp in shock and look at me like I killed a precious little puppy.Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.

"No. We would never do anything to offend the goddess. We have always walked in her way and worshiped her in truth and spirit," another elder says, his eyes portraying his shock that I would even ask that. "Look, I'm just throwing around ideas at this point, okay? All I know is that this curse needs lots of power. Not only to place it but to maintain it. It needed someone really powerful to cast, and if not the deities, then who?"

My hunch was on the deities. They've been known to curse their people as punishment for wrong doing. So yes, it could be the goddess who cursed them or one of the other deities.

Unless... It was someone else. Someone not as powerful as the goddess, but powerful nonetheless.

It couldn't be her, could it?