Chapter Five: Of Earth and Air

Dante and I went to my grandmother's house in the hopes that we could find out the day Dante's little brother would have his first transformation. We decided to walk there though so we could talk more, and so we could take the sneaky way through the woods and no one would see that we were skipping out on where we were supposed to be.

 When we got there my grandmother was already waiting for us in the living room with cups of coffee.

"I was hoping you two would come." She said as she looked at us with slight disapproval.

"You knew we were coming?" I asked.

"I know a lot of things sweetheart, but you have something much more important to be asking me right now. Don't you, Dante?"

Dante looked up from his cup and nodded. 

"It's my brother. He's having symptoms... of the first transformation." He said. His voice quavered a bit. "And, I'd like to be there for him when he turns, but I don't know when it'll happen. I was hoping maybe you could help me with that."

 My grandmother nodded, a sign that she would help, but both Dante and I knew it would be for a cost. Nothing monetary, but with something we would have to do for her, a chore. 

"Okay, come with me." She said. 

Dante and I followed her to a staircase that was hidden behind a door toward the back of her house, one even I had never seen before.

"Gran, how long has this been here?" I asked.

"Oh, since long before your father was born." She answered nonchalantly. 

 I glanced at Dante and he just shrugged his shoulders. I wasn't sure what was going to happen, and this hidden stairwell made me think my grandmother had some big, crazy secret she didn't want me to know about until now. My father was now forty-two, and this room had been here long before him, so how did he not know about it?

"Gran, how does my dad not know about this place?" I asked her when we reached the bottom of the stairwell.

"He tried to discover what was behind that door ever since he was a little kid. But see dear, certain things are only meant to be seen by certain eyes." She said as she moved a curtain.

Behind the curtain were stacks of books and a small round table. A lot of the books, I noticed, were made of leather and appeared to be handmade.

"Take a seat." My grandmother told Dante and I.

We did and she joined us after a few minutes of hunting around for one particular book. On the cover of that book were the words "Earth and Air: The Rival Siblings". I wondered what this had to do with Dante and his little brother.

For the next hour or so my grandmother explained the significance of Dante's family line and his grandfather's unique characteristics as a lupine and what that meant for he and his brother. And that brought us to the book. 

"Dante, when you transform, do you find that you have a certain... connection with the earth around you?" She asked.

"Yes, actually."

My grandmother nodded. "As I thought. You got the Earth from your great-grandfather."

"Huh?"

She showed us the book. It was a diagram of Dante's family tree, well, the lupine in his family anyway. And it had the dates of when every member had their first transformation. Including his own. 

"So, what does this mean?" I asked.

"You see Renzo's name?"

We did. Just under Dante.

Then, as if by some magic, a date appeared under his name. His brother would be transforming in three days.

"What is this?" I asked.

"And old Elder's tome." My grandmother said. "It holds within its pages the family tree of every lupine that ever existed in Dante's family. Its pages are magic. And since Renzo is turning too, where usually only one member of each generation in his family would turn, it means Dante and Renzo are the Earth and Air Brothers."

Dante went very silent. Something that didn't happen with him unless he had a really bad feeling about something.

"Dante, what's wrong?" I asked, suddenly concerned.

"Nothing, it's just... This old story my grandfather used to tell. It makes sense to me now." He mumbled.

 *     *     *

Dante had been quiet ever since we left my grandmother's house after finding out he and Renzo were the Earth and Air Brothers. And he and I had decided to go for a run. His excuse was that he needed to clear his head. 

We ended up by the river bank where I had found my inner power. And there he told me the story.

"It's a tale as old as my family." He began. "My great-grandfather and his brother were the last two." He went silent again for a couple minutes. Then Draenan started the tale.

His great-grandfather's name had been Dorian. He was a strong, dark-brown wolf with eyes green as moss. And he was well known, but was always paired with his younger brother, whose name had been Baerio. And Baerio was always getting in trouble. So that meant Dorian, being the second-in-command, and the older brother, always had to get him out of it. That drove him crazy. 

And one night, Baerio was trying to play a harmless prank on their pack's biggest rival. But it went terribly wrong. And Baerio got caught. So, Dorian and the rest of their pack came to his rescue of course, but, being the older brother, Dorian felt the need to make an impression on the rival pack. And in doing so, he was mortally wounded.

"So, Dorian risked his life for his brother." I said quietly once he had finished.

"Yes." Draenan said. "And ended up dying because of it."

"That means.. Since you and Renzo are Earth and Air..."

He nodded. "I will die for him."