Enid preferred to annoy her mother with the conscious actions that she decided to commit on her own. It was her way of controlling the situation, sort of. This even led to a deliberate overkill with vivid clothing, escapes with normie-friends to a variety of festivals, except for those on the other coast of the States. And well, jamming pop music that could be heard all over the house, because everyone in the family has improved hearing and increased irritability for this exact reason.
Uncle Owen almost broke the steering wheel the last time they met, when he laughed at her stories about how she babbled rampant to her parents, all her brothers and the invited family of a possible "future Mate" of the same age as her, also belonging to the San Francisco pack, about her most favorite K-pop group. All the while pretending not to notice the murderous glances of the mother and the reproachful ones of the father. The brothers, to some extent, were amused by what was happening. Most of all - Austin, because it concerned him the least of all. He was the pride of the family, the one who was set as an example, and even the usual curse of older children - not to be the center of attention - he was spared, all thanks to a stupid biological twist.
Enid, of course, almost acted out the story she told Owen, with her usual emotional extra charge, which allowed her to convey what happened in the least tense way. But at some point it seemed like an idea flashed across his mind, and it felt like it was something bad. He wiped the tears of laughter from the corners of his eyes and made his face more serious. Enid was kind of irrationally scared by this, but he just said in a very affirmative tone: "It's all good and fun, of course, but now I suddenly imagined that my own children would mock me like that. It's not a good feeling." Then Enid felt slightly frustrated and admitted that she does it largely because she wants to feel that she is being scolded, punished or mentally hurt for some real reason.
Uncle tried to cheer her up and said that he would come up with something. Since then, there hasn't even been a message from him, which was unusual - he tried to write at least each week. Almost a whole month had passed, and their meeting happened at the very beginning of the summer holidays after it had already been decided that Enid would go to Nevermore, like her brothers. Austin, for example, just graduated from it and was considering Golden Gate University as the next step in education, of course, after his planned gap year to make sure of his choice and gain some experience.
In general, many factors influenced the increase in Enid's sensitivity to her Mother reprimanding her.
Hence, when the morning breakfast during the summer holidays once again grew into a full-fledged quarrel over Enid's inability to turn, she barely managed to restrain herself in front of her mother and father. But as soon as the door to her room closed behind her, the claws unleashed, several plush toys torn apart, and her eyes filled with tears. Enid was not made of stone, unable to feel emotions, no, she just did not want to give her mother the pleasure of feeling that such a harsh message of hers finally reached Enid's deeper feelings and somehow affecting her.
Torn toys will not tell anyone anything, and tears will dry up.
Surprisingly, it was still unpleasant for her to listen to her mother's dissatisfaction with something she could not influence in any way. And to be honest, it was even better for the family itself. Enid felt that she was loved anyway, even though she was not fully accepted - her parents were not some kind of monsters. They just had their own hangups. And Enid could not imagine how her brother Austin would feel if the reason for her leaving the family was the fact that she should not compete with him according to the laws of the pack that go beyond any common sense. The current old Alpha will just strain his special eyes a little and fulfill the law.
Of course, Enid knew now that it wasn't the eyes at all, but the "biological status," as Uncle Owen calls it. The eyes were only an indicator of strength, and this whole "alpha-beta-omega" theory, born only in the fifties of the twentieth century, was, in the opinion of Owen and a bunch of other lycanologists and lycanthropes themselves, simply nonsense.
Enid, however, had not read anything like this before a full-fledged introduction and communication with Owen, believing that she would still be taught everything she needed in the pack, albeit rudimentally, as the not yet turned. But everything was much, much worse.
Yes, such a biological status has existed throughout all the existence of werewolves. No, the difference between the attitude to different biological status is not the result of this very status, but a social invention, like any other conflict. It often turned out that unscrupulous alpha wolves forced the will of one of the other wolves in the pack and then ambushed the current leader or their legacy when they were alone. That's why a long time ago, in different parts of the world, all the packs came to approximately the same truth - it's better to nip such a conflict in the bud. When everything reached the point of absurdity, even for the ordinary people, for example, in the troubled Middle Ages, even paranoid murders could occur. At that time, the genocide against the magical population had not yet subsided, and sometimes werewolves received traumatic life experiences that predetermined their attitude to such competition.
But that's exactly the point, as Owen explained, it wasn't the established rule until consolidation into larger packs started, until the genocide stopped, and it was no longer necessary to live in small groups.
At the same time, pack laws were established in the period from the middle of the seventeenth to the end of the eighteenth centuries, and every tradition-respecting lycanthrope family had to obey them. Do you want to stay in the pack and enjoy all its benefits? Be dear and follow them. It was a great help for any werewolf - members of the same pack helped each other, trained each other, some even had joint bank accounts for certain needs. There were quite reasonable laws like "if you killed someone and it wasn't self-defense, then the lawyer is not guaranteed." And any lies could be weed out by the simplest order from the leader to tell the whole truth.
No other communication, except by sounds and gestures, not at all mystical, ordinary werewolves did not show. Only the strongest, born extremely rarely, could boast such tricks. In general, fully telepathic outcasts could be counted on one hand, and they were all endangered species that could have been unheard of for hundreds of years. It's one thing to impose your will on someone, or convey your thoughts, but the opposite was not available. No mind reading.
So, Enid sincerely believed that these squabbles were the best choice. Although it is not surprising, because another option would be to get the cat out of the bag, and instead of a noticeable springboard for later life, which Nevermore provided, to ruin the best years of her youth in order to get out of complete muck. She had already endured for almost ten years - and all the suffering would have been in vain.
When Enid asked her mentor about his life path, he visibly hesitated and admitted that he never even graduated from high school. He got his GED test results and didn't go to college until he was twenty-six. This was largely due to the fact that after the first turn, he had to first be thrown out into the foster care system, which was definitely not designed for the needs of a growing werewolf. He got out of the tight place only when he met his future wife, and her relatives helped pay for his education. Despite the many opportunities to join some criminal underground, where there has always been a good share of Outcasts, Owen did not want to get involved in it big game and did not recommend Enid to get into something like this.
When Enid asked what he was doing now, he said that he wouldn't expand on the details, because details and working for the FBI are somewhat incompatible. Enid's jaw almost dropped at the time - it wasn't the first time she asked for at least a hint, but Uncle Owen kept his silence.
What had changed this time was unclear to her until the moment when, for the first time in several weeks, she received a message from Owen.
When Enid read it, she seemed to get a vague idea.
"Choose Ravensdale. Surprise."
The message was as brief as ever and served more as a notification for the next meeting.
Enid knew exactly what he was talking about.
Her parents had long and persisntently wanted her to turn, and she had to resist this for a long time, quite stubbornly so as not to expose herself. Last summer, she managed to dissuade them from making her go to a lycanthropy conversion camp. And this month of Owen's radio silence was just full of both hints and direct half-orders half-requests from her mother to agree to go there after all.
Enid inhaled, retracted her claws, squeezed her eyes shut and wiped the tears from her cheeks.
There was a knock on the door of the room.
Enid exhaled and spoke.
"Yes!"
"Enid, Mom and I talked," her father began as he lingered at the threshold, and her mother looked out from behind his shoulder, not quite sincerely smiling. "I think Nevermore will help you with the conversion. After all, there are those who turned just at fifteen..."
"It was Lucille, after all, she went to one of the camps that were suggested!" Esther failed to stop. "You don't want to be such a disappointment, do you, Enid?!"
"Here we go again," Enid muttered to herself, but after a moment she remembered Owen's message, looked up at her mother and brightly smiled. "Okay!"
"What?" Murray moved his moustache in surprise and stroked his beard. "You will agree to..."
"I've read all those pamphlets. I liked Ravensdale! This is Washington State, right?"
"Yes, but... Why are you so sudden..." Father continued with his doubts.
After all, he was the one who knew her best, out of the whole family. He was well aware of her opinion about these camps. And some rumors about many of them were too suspicious for a sane father to wish sending his child there.
"How good!" Her mother smiled and embraced Enid. "You're finally going to be a normal werewolf! I can help you pack things! And we need to see when their admittance ends! Maybe we're already too late!"
She left the room almost skipping. Her father watched her go, but did not follow. He came closer.
"Dad, I'm fine. I don't want to be a bother here. And who knows, maybe it really isn't such a bad idea."
Murray simply nodded, smiled only with his lips and clasped her shoulder in an encouraging gesture.
"It's your decision, kiddo," he said softly and left the room as well.
Enid stopped happily smiling, took a couple of deep breaths and unclenched her fists.