After Pasha and Bill returned to the castle, Bill was exhausted, so he went directly up to his room. Pasha returned to his as well and cleaned up a bit. Then he went looking for his grandfather. He found Marek in the study reading an ancient manuscript. He greeted Pasha with a friendly smile and showed his concern for the boys harrowing experience in the accident. He asked Pasha to relate to him what had happened. Pasha told him everything, even about the feeling of power and the weird thing with his teeth. At this, the old man's jaw dropped in surprize and a look of dismay came over it. 'We have to take a little walk, my grandson.' Marek told Pasha gently. 'Lets go out into the forest side of the grounds where it will be more quiet. I have some things to tell you.' Once they were safely out of earshot of anyone, several hundreds of feet into the forest, Marek began to tell Pasha some of the deepest, safely guarded family secrets. 'You know I loved your grandmother with every fibre of my being. Well, we fell in love when I was captured by her gypsy tribe. The moment I laid eyes on her, I knew we would some day be wed. And it happened, just like I imagined it would. We had been married several years. Your father and sisters had already been born. I never suspected a thing. Your grandmother kept it under control very well for me not to find out. But one night, I happened onto her when she thought she was alone. I caught her right in the early stages of 'the change'. You see, your grandmother was not only human, but she had wolf blood in her. When conditions were just right, she would change into a creature that resembled a wolf. She was never a threat to anyone. I know that with that heart of gold she had, she never could hurt anyone. But she was terribly loyal to me and our children. It is just that if she held back on letting the change happen for a long time, it would manifest itself anyway, regardless of anything she tried to do to prevent it. Before she finished changing, she begged me to lock her in the adjoining room and not let her out no matter how she pleaded. I did as she requested and everything was alright for awhile till I got curious. I went to peek in the door and had no sooner opened it a crack when much to my shock, she bounded out the door and ran off into these very woods just as the sun was setting. I didn't know what to do, so I followed her. I wandered through the woods in the dark for hours trying to find her. I came down near our closest village just in time to hear a gun shot and a loud yelp. A grayish blur went flashing past me and disappeared in the direction of the castle. I followed it to the walls and there she lay in a pool of blood. She had already changed back to human form when I got there. I only had time to hear her last words telling me how much she loved me and to watch out for the children to see if they had her curse, before she passed away. I made up the story of the hunting accident to cover her death and buried my grief at her loss in raising your brother and aunts. I never told them about their mother. None of them ever seemed to display any of her curse so I thought it was just a her curse alone and buried it deeply in my mind. Now you tell me that you are developing some of the symptoms. It scares the hell out of me, Pasha! I don't know what to tell you or what we can do to help you! There are some very old books on the subject in my library, but I have always been too worried about the subject to ever look at them. I didn't want to invite disaster by doing so. But I still have them. Perhaps we can find some answers in them. We must go and see! Thank you for taking a peek! Your support is greatly appreciated!