Alice sat quietly on her bed, her hands holding her head as she leaned over. What her mother had said about what had sparked her father's fear was perfectly understandable. If he had tried to adopt a mundane wolf pup and the mother wolf tracked down her offspring and saw her father as a threat to her pup, an attack was all but certain. She guessed that her dad must have taken the brunt of the mother wolf's anger and needed medical attention, and never understood that the mother wolf was only protecting its pup. Though, not that knowledge really helped her right now. She was grounded and her dad didn't want her dating Hunter anymore.
"Is there anything that could be done to get him to let go of his fear?" Alice asked her mother, looking up to her for a moment.
"The only would be for him to honestly face his fear," her mother sighed with an apologetic smile, "the attack on him as a child left him with the firm fear that wolves are by nature "against" humanity... and your... fandoms... are seen as even worse..."
Her mother glanced over to a wooden bookshelf and Alice followed her mother's glance and saw her personal collection of werewolf media. She had the DVDs for The Howling, American Werewolf in London, Cursed, the recent Red Riding Hood movie, and Freeborn. There were also several books that were either guides and encyclopedias on werewolves and other shapeshifters in mythology or collections of short stories. Normally her movies would be allowed to be with the other movies that her family owned out in their living room, but because of the werewolf factor, her dad insisted she keep them in her room. Alice knew that was her father's fear.
"The only thing that might really help might be to do something gradual... get a dog that resembles a wolf... like a Husky of some kind... especially since many scientists are saying that Domestic Dogs aren't a separate species from Gray Wolves as previously thought but a subspecies of Wolf... and let him get up the courage with something that looks like a Wolf but he knows "isn't" a Wolf... and go from there..."
Alice nodded, that might work, though she also knew buying a dog, or getting one from a shelter wouldn't be very feasible. "What about your allergies, mom?"
"That's been why I haven't gone through with the plan... I'd thought about contacting May Harris and see if she'd be willing to buy a Husky for her sons and then you could take your father over and start the heeling that way..." her mother said slowly.
"Like that'll happen now," Alice actually whimpered and looked down at her feet, "I'm grounded for the weekend and he doesn't want me to even see Hunter again..."
Her mother sighed and slowly rubbed her daughter's back, "Oh... Alice... you know he didn't mean all that. He was just upset that you weren't here to survive his cooking. He'll get over it and will cool down... and you and Hunter will be together. It seems rough right now because you're young... but I've seen you two together as adults and as a happy couple."
"You mean you want to see us together," Alice corrected.
"No, I mean I have SEEN you and Hunter together and happily married in the future," her mother said firmly, "and since he's seemed like such a nice boy... I can't see that as a bad future... so that is why I encouraged you to have dinner with them tonight... learn about their wolven ways..."
Alice's eyes widened and she turned to look to her mother. Her mother sat there calmly and looking quite knowingly. That raised a great deal of surprise. Did her mother know that the Harris's were werewolves? How was that possible, Hunter had told her that he, his brother, and his father only just transformed for the first time tonight and they didn't even know. Part of her wondered if her mother was one of these "Monster Hunters" that George mentioned, but then why would she want her dating Hunter if she was one of them.
"I know, my dear and have known for a long time," her mother spoke as she recognized her daughter's surprise.
"How...?" was all Alice could stammer out.
"Not humans with touches of magic in their bloodlines are werewolves, my dear," her mother said softly... and touched her hand to Alice's.
"Magic is in our family line too?" Alice asked.
"Not enough to be spell casters... but enough to get visions of the future," her mother said slowly, "In our family line... or at least from MY side of the family... we are Oracles."
"Oracles...?" Alice asked.
"Yes, in Greek mythology they were able to see the future and supposedly got that from the Gods... in Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition they're commonly called Prophets and also supposedly got their powers from God," her mother nodded, "I've preferred the classical Greek term. I've thought it sounded cooler."
"You can see the future?" Alice asked with wide eyes.
"It's a bit patchy and I can't see everything... but yes," her mother nodded and then raised one hand.
Alice watched as her mother's eyes gave a soft light blue glow and a sphere of light emerged in the palm of her hand. The orb of light grew larger and larger until it was about the size of a soccer ball. Then inside it images began to appear. The first was an image of a group of guys armed with what looked like assault rifles driving around in pickup trucks firing around the town with a crazy looking man in dark robes in the bed of the truck. That then faded out with a new image coming in after with an image of Alice and the Harris family standing outside of City Hall. She was still human and looked like she was the same age as she was now, but the Harris family were all fully transformed and standing there in the nude furry forms. The Mayor and the city's Police Chief were also there and they were speaking about bravery and then distributing medals to Alice and the Harris family before that faded out. The next image that came into view was of Alice, now looking much older... somewhere in her twenties, but very different. This Alice was covered in fur that matched her hair color, and matched the female werewolves she had seen at the Harris household in terms of having a wolf-like muzzle, a furry tail, claws, musculature, and bust-line in wolf form. Hunter, in wolf form as well, came up behind the image of this future Alice, hugged her and began to lick her cheek fur, making the future Alice's muzzle smile. Then she saw May and Jeanie come into view and give the future Alice friendly smiles. Alice then noticed something in this image of her future self and Hunter's mother and Aunt. All three of them were heavily pregnant in the image as it faded out.
"So... I will be a werewolf in the future... with Hunter?" Alice asked, sounding hopeful.
Her mother nodded, "and will likely enjoy a VERY long life with him... I couldn't quite tell who the werewolf you'd marry was until you brought Hunter home for the first time... but once you brought him here... that image flashed through my mind again."
"What about those guys in the trucks... or before City Hall?" Alice asked.
"I can't say... something will happen... something potentially bad and will expose the Harris family as werewolves... but whatever it is... as time flows right now... they'll overcome and win and the results would be quite good," her mother spoke, "So I can't say what the threat was or why they were here... or even who they were shooting at... but I did have the conclusion that the Harris family would stop them and be thought heroes for it."
"That's pretty good," Alice found herself smiling.
Her mother nodded, "and you'll have your own role to play in it. So don't worry too much about your dad being angry. He'll get over it and he'll apologize. You've known how much he wants to be thought of as a great chief who can invent recipes and wants us to recognize it... but he's never been abusive and never will be... his feelings were just a little bit hurt... but Hunter Harris is your future, Alice, and I encouraged you to go to help ensure the future I saw does come..."
"And dad?" Alice asked.
"As I said, he'll get over being upset," her mother assured her, "whether or not he gets over his fear... that I haven't seen..."