Howl

This is a story I've been writing since early February, and I'm not even close to being done with it. I've posted the first two chapters up, but I had those threads deleted so I could make this one.

NOTE: EVERY CHAPTER IS LONG (Approx. 15 pages in MS Word) SO PLEASE BEAR WITH ME.

EDIT: CHAPTER 5 IS UP AFTER SO LONG.

NOTE #2: I am currently working on getting attachments to the thread so you can read Howl with it's original formatting (it's better, trust me). Some problems have occurred, so for now, if you want to read Howl in it's original format, please PM me. Thanks.

Howl​

1. Just a Nibble





Opening my eyes, I realized that it was Monday. Ugh, Monday. Mondays were probably the worst day of the week for me. Probably because the teachers are always in a grouchy mood on Monday and decide to give everyone a ton of homework. No matter the reason, Mondays still sucked. But this one almost seemed good.
In the small town of Ada, Oklahoma I, Jay Matthews, live somewhat peacefully with my loving family: My Mom, Dad, little sister, Kate, and my older brother, Will. Here, the climate is unpredictable yet fun. Winters are cold and summers are hot. We get sun and rain—I couldn’t ask for anything better.
I hopped out of bed and headed to the shower, looking out the window as I went. It was still dark. It usually was, but it still surprised me every time I looked out the window to only see my reflection. After my warm shower I went to go take my vitamin and eat some breakfast.
As I finished my cereal, my mom was coming out of the game room to take me to the church. I quickly brushed my teeth, gathered what goes in my pockets and grabbed my bag on the way out. I hopped in the suburban and awaited my designated driver to hop in as well. As soon as she did, we were off.
The church is just the church I go to on Wednesdays that is right beside my school. Easy access, right? It’s also easier because I live right by the school. I got there in the mornings (6:30 to be exact) is because my best friends Jerry and his older brother Jake hang out there in the mornings, so I decided to join them.
As we drove up to the small, white church I waved my mom bye and grabbed my stuff on my way out the door. The freezing cold January air seemed to wake me up. I hadn’t noticed in the rearview mirror, but it must be around 28 degrees. I hurried to the church door and pulled it open, walking into the warm church. I waved to Jake as I made my way to the lifeless sleeping body of Jerry.
Jerry was tall for a 16-year-old. He hit a growth spurt at a young age and has been a head tall than everyone else ever since. He’s sort of lanky, but he’s got some muscle and a little bit of fat. He’s one of the best basketball players on the team. Jake, was much like Jerry. He was 18 and graduating this year. He was tall, but bulky too. Not fat, but broad. He had muscle, and facial hair. Tons of it. He was like the man of the high school. They both had short brown hair and brown eyes.
I looked around the white plastered walls and at all the plastic white tables in the middle of the room. The carpet was a basic grey, and there was a kitchen area across the room, tiled on the floor and a long island in the middle of it. Behind the island was the sink, skillet, dishwasher, and cabinets. I looked to my left where two pairs of doors were and two doors were. The closest one to me was to the basement, also known as the Youth Room, the next was a pair of doors that were a storage room, the next door was to the Chapel, and the last pair of doors were to the pantry. To my right was the rest of the room, books, tables, and the restrooms at the far end. I walked past a table up to Jerry.
Nudging him with my foot, he grunted and tried to pull me to the ground. I pulled my foot loose and chuckled, sitting down at the table with Jake. He looked up from his homework and waved.
“Mornin’, Jay. I’ve figured out what I’m going to spend my money on this summer.” He said, happily. “I’m going to buy a yellow Ludwig Vistalite.”
“What is it with you and yellow?” I asked, slightly annoyed. He had this weird thing about bright, warm colors like light green and yellow.
“What? I like yellow, so what?” He scoffed.
“I just don’t like warm colors, I guess.” I shrugged.
At that point, Jerry was up and walking around. He sat down a chair down from me and yawned as he stretched.
“Hey Jay, you wunna make a pizza?” He asked through his yawn.
“Nah, I’m not that hungry this morning.” I replied, shrugging. To be honest, I really wasn’t. That evening I had had a bad dream, and this morning I felt nothing but dread. Today didn’t seem like a good day, other than the fact that it was Monday.
“Fine, Jake and I will make one.” He decided and went to heat the oven. As he heated the oven, we got into a discussion about how slow and boring the weekend and what homework we still needed to do. I had a bit of Algebra II that Jerry would help me with and he had a bit of Chemistry. When the pizza was done, Jake and Jerry munched down and I sat by, doing my homework.
The rest of the morning in the church was usual. We finished our homework and messed around, making messes and doing things that if we were caught we’d regret ever doing it. When we got to school, we awaited the arrival of the rest of our friends—including Zack—and just hung out. We talked and joked and had a good time, though the feeling of dread never left me. It just hid within the shadows of the back of my mind, waiting to pounce at my weakest point.
I looked around the large, white-tiled room we call the Student Center. The walls were yellow brick, and the ceiling was made of the regular white tiles. Though, there were bits of the ceiling where it lowers a bit that were painted maroon; one of the school colors.
I felt a something nudge my arm, and I turned to look, only seeing every guy at my table looking at the hottest girl in the Byng High School: Zoey Smith. Her brown hair, brown eyes, hour-glass figure, pale skin and beautiful smile kept every guy drooling. Everyone melted at her scent, and froze when she made eye contact with them. I was used to it, because we hung out almost every morning, listening to our Zunes and comparing music. We listened to about the same stuff, so we enjoyed the time we had. When she sat down in the chair next to me, I instantly pulled out my Zune. She asked for it every morning, and every morning I just handed it to her. While she listened to it, I would comment on the song she was listening to, or gripe about how everyone listens to it. She never cares, though. She still listens to those songs. Today she was blaring Skillet. I looked at the clock as it read 8:00 and grabbed my book bag. After putting my junk in my locker, I sat back down in my chair and just stared at the wall. About 5 minutes passed before I decided to see who was here and who wasn’t. I glanced around the student center at all of the familiar faces until I came across a new one. Instantly, I froze. In the corner of the student center, a brunette sat quietly looking around the student center just like I was. I stared at her until we locked gazes, and she looked at her feet, and I could almost see a little pink in her face. I snickered to myself and turned back to my table, smirking.
When the bell rang at 8:30, I retrieved my Zune from Zoey and went to grab my books for Oklahoma History. I sat at my desk and stared at the wall again. I heard the thump of Zack sitting behind me and I turned around to face his white face.
“Morning, Jay.” He said casually. Zack was older than me, and taller by a couple of inches. He had plainly white skin, and shaggy black hair. He had facial hair that grew into a goatee-looking shape. His slightly hawk beak-shaped nose flared for a second and he coughed. I flinched and rubbed my eyes.
“’Morning. Did you do your homework last night?” I asked.
“Yeah, enough to get a decent grade.” He replied, smirking. Zack was infamous for procrastinating the important things, then doing just enough to pass. He didn’t try hard to overachieve.
The Oklahoma History classroom was a plain room. It was square with two of the walls having chalkboards on them. The front wall had two small windows on both sides and a computerized board in the middle. Desks were lined in the middle of the room, and the counter and teacher’s desk were in the back.
At that point, Mr. Capps called the class to order and stood in the front of the room. I turned around and looked at his large, jelly-rolled body with a bored look. Mr. Capps wasn’t a big man, but he was bigger than a normal-sized man. He was almost bald because he shaved his hair that way. He wasn’t too much taller than me, maybe a few inches or so. He stood at the front of the class with his hands together and then took a deep breath.
“Today, we have a new student. Everyone welcome Emily Belle.” He announced, beckoning the newcomer to the front of the class. I hadn’t noticed the brunette I saw earlier was in the class room. The class watched as she walked to the front of the room and stood there, her eyes on her shoes. She lifted a hand and then headed back to her seat again. I heard Zack snicker behind me and I rolled my eyes.
Class went by slowly. After most of the class was over, I picked up my book, Inkheart, and started reading. I had read it twice now, but I felt like reading it again. After about a page or so, I felt a piece of paper slide under my arm. I sighed and pulled it onto my desk, reading Zack’s sloppy handwriting:
So how long do you think it’ll take Jerry to ask her out? I’d give her a week, tops.
I grunted quietly at the thought and picked up my pencil, scribbling my reply:
You’re so nice, you know that? I don’t think she’s Jerry’s type.
I tossed the paper over my shoulder and went back to reading. I could almost hear the smile in his breathing as he scribbled his reply and threw the note onto my desk. I looked down at it and read his sloppy reply:
Oh, so you’ve got the hots for her? So you hope Jerry doesn’t pick her up, huh? Haha. Good luck.
I gritted my teeth and scribbled my reply quickly:
Shut up, Zack. You assume too much. I never said anything about liking her.
I threw the note over my shoulder and awaited the reply. As soon as I got it I read it:
I’ll see if I can keep Jerry preoccupied for you to have a bit of a chance.
Just as I was about to crumble the note up, it was pulled out of my hands. I instantly looked up to see Mr. Capps reading the note.
“Something you wish to share with the class, Mr. Matthews? Mr. Courtney?” He suggested, annoyed.
“No, sir.” I answered as casually as I could. This wasn’t at all going to end well. At least this could be what I dreaded today. If this was what I was so worried about, then I think I could relax a bit.
“That’s right,” I said, crumbling up the note and tossing it in the trash can. “If I catch you two writing notes again, I’ll read it out loud and give you both detention.”
We nodded and went back to what we were doing. I felt a little more relaxed, but I still felt the dread in the back of my head. That wasn’t what was scaring me so much. The bell rang and I tried to walk out of there as fast as I could. I tossed my stuff into my locker and headed to my next class.
All the way up to lunch seemed slow. Slower than usual. Lunch was a relief, though. After I finished eating I headed down to the student center and just sat there, staring at the wall and listening to my Zune with Zoey. I looked around for Emily, and found her in the corner of the student center like before. This time, though, she was staring at me first. When we locked gazes, she turned away. I smiled and turned away too, for her benefit. Zoey caught my smile.
“What?” She asked curiously, looking around the student center.
“Nothing.” I shrugged.
Fifth hour Algebra II was so great. As I stepped in the doorway, I noticed next to my chair in the back corner of the room was Emily Belle. I froze instantly, hesitating to take another step. I took a deep breath and sat down next to her. I had never noticed how beautiful she was. Her light hazel eyes, slightly tan skin and pink lips froze me in her presence. The hum of students talking within the classroom covered the sound of my heart, beating what seemed like its last beats. I took another deep breath and turned to Emily, smiling.
“I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Jay Matthews.” I said, forcing my smile. She looked at me, a little pink and smiled back.
“I—I’m Emily Belle.” She greeted, hesitantly. I could see her face getting a little more flushed, and I felt the heat rising in my face so I turned around and started pulling out my work. I explained to her what we were learning and what we had been doing over the past two weeks we’ve been in school this semester. She seemed to understand it all clearly, and I was thankful. I didn’t think I could explain much, considering I wasn’t really good at Algebra II.
Algebra II passed quickly. Much quicker than the rest of my classes, and I was surprised. The rest of the school day flew by as well and I was walking out of the warm high school and into the 34 degree air in what seemed like only minutes. I walked into my house and put my bag and hoody on the couch, slumping into the love-seat. I yawned and looked around. The house was empty. My dad was at work, not coming home until 7, my mom was with my sister, Kate, taking her to her dance lessons and my brother was at work. I had the house to myself for the next couple of hours. Sadly, I didn’t feel like being in the house today. I felt like walking through the woods, even if it was just above freezing. I grabbed my thick hoody and put it on, zipping up the front and headed out past my neighbor’s house into the woods. I had never noticed earlier, but it was cloudy today. A thick layer of light gray clouds lay over the trees. They weren’t threatening, just content and cold. I walked through the regular path within the woods and trailed off into the more wooded area. Walking through the woods was always something I liked. It kept calmed me, soothed me. Something about the fresh air, plants and wildlife just made me feel even more like home. I took walks through the woods often and usually spent around 1-3 hours in the woods. I usually only spent an hour if it was cold like today. As I trailed off the path, I found a dried up stream. I followed it until I came to an area that would probably be a small pond if it was filled with water. The forecast for this winter was supposed to be dry but cold. I stood in the middle of the small, small dry pond and looked around. How peaceful it was today. How could I be so tense? As I paced around the middle area of the pond I heard a rustling noise coming from a patch of tall grass and thin trees on the edge of the pond. I turned and looked my eyes wide and my body tense. I could see my breath in the cold, and I tried to keep it slow and calm. As I watched, I saw two full-grown wolves walk out of the tall grass. One had brown and gray fur, and the smaller one had chocolate and sand-colored fur. They both looked at me with dark brown eyes, and growled. I started to slowly back away from them as they stepped forward, growling louder. The wolves showed their teeth as they growled, and I knew this was what I dreaded today. This was what I was afraid of. I was going to be attacked, and I probably wouldn’t survive. My hands felt behind me until they felt a solid dirt wall of a 2-foot cliff that dropped into the pond.
“Easy now…” I muttered to the wolves, my heart pounding and my breath shaking. I didn’t think it was possible to live through this. I took another step back and slipped on a moss-covered rock and watched as the wolves lunged at me. I could feel teeth biting into my arms and legs and claws scratching at me. I swung my arms, trying to fight them off but it did nothing. I was still being attacked, my blood flowing out of my arms and legs in scratches and gashes and I could do nothing about it.
Suddenly, I heard a howl in the distance and the two wolves disappeared in a blur. I heard a whimper and a yelp from the wolves and then it was quiet. I hadn’t noticed my eyes were closed, and I opened them, grimacing in pain. When I opened them, I saw a giant, oversized wolf with copper and coal-colored fur staring at me. I froze and knew that this was the end. There was so much pain in my body, and I knew that I had lost too much blood to live. The giant wolf—that was about twice, maybe three times the size of the other wolves—looked hesitant and worried for a second, and in that second I saw the age within the wolf’s face. It was an elderly wolf, and it looked sad at my condition. The wolf hesitated for a second, looking at my body lying against the gravel and dirt cliff and took a step towards me. It licked me on the face and then licked my left shoulder. I gently whipped my face and waited for the wolf do to whatever it was going to do. After it thoroughly licked my shoulder, it bit me only I in the area it licked. I yelled in pain and gritted my teeth together as what felt like a hundred knives stabbed into my left shoulder. As the wolf unclenched its teeth and stepped back, the pain slightly eased and it felt as though needles were prickling through my blood veins. I lay there, staring at the wolf as it sat down and watched me fall into darkness…

I awoke, staring at the ceiling of my room. My shoulder was sore and my arms and legs hurt with the stinging of cuts. Suddenly, it all hit me of what had happened. Had that wolf tried to save me? How would it save my by biting me? Thoughts of what had happened rushed through my head and I started to get nauseated by all the possibilities. Finally, I sat up and flinched at the pain in my body. I rubbed my eyes and looked around my room. It seemed smaller now, like it shrank. Or I grew. My feet were hanging off the foot of my bed. I ruffled my hair and felt that my forehead was burning. My skin was much hotter than it normally was. What was going on?
“Welcome back to reality.” A familiar voice said from the door. I turned to see my dad leaning against the door frame of my doorway.
“What happened?” I asked hoarsely. He smiled and sat in a chair next to my bed.
“An elderly Native American man found you in the woods and brought you back here. He had found you being mauled by a couple of wolves and shooed them off. After treating your wounds where he was, he brought you back here. You’ve been out for two days.” He explained. I stared at him, frozen. Two days? Two days! I needed to get back to school!
“It’s too late to go to school today. It’ll be over in another hour. You might as well get some more rest.” He suggested. I lay back down and closed my eyes. Within seconds I was out, my thoughts and dreams drifting…
I dreamt of the wolf that had saved me. I was in the woods, and I was talking to the wolf, but I wasn’t moving my mouth. He spoke back, but it didn’t move its mouth either. It was almost like we were speaking through our thoughts. Then, I looked at the ground and saw two white paws instead of my feet. I looked up at the wolf, which was now an elderly Native American man staring at me with his wrinkled brown face. His brown eyes looked me over, and then he walked towards a pair of doors. We were now in a building—the high school—and we were walking through the front doors. I saw Emily Belle, and I walked over towards her to say hello, but she was consumed by darkness before I could get to her. I jumped towards her and it seemed as though I expanded. That’s when I woke up, and my alarm clock went off.
I opened my eyes and sat up, my body no longer sore or in any kind of pain. I walked into the bathroom, a little disoriented, and looked at myself in the mirror. My skin looked a little more tan than it had, like I looked more Native American than I was. I looked at my famous Lapis blue eyes that I was complimented on so often and then looked at my body. I was different. Not only had I grown, but I could see my muscles—and they were big. I had pecks, and a six-pack. My fingers were long and a little thin, and my arms were somewhat bulky. I looked like I had been working out for a couple of years. In fact, I looked 18, rather than 16. I was proud of that. I looked at my left shoulder and could see little teeth marks—tattoo-looking scars where I had been bitten. Then, I looked over the rest of my body for any more scars, but there was nothing. How strange… so many gash and cuts and bites, and I healed perfectly in 3 days? I shook the thoughts out of my head and hopped into the shower, cleaning myself as quickly as possible. When I was ready to leave, my mom was still on the treadmill. I shrugged and told her to stay where she was.
“I’ll walk to the church today, Mom. You just work out.” I said, generously. She smiled and nodded.
“Okay, but it’s going to be cold today.” She warned. I nodded and walked to grab my coat. I shrugged it on and took a step out the door. I felt the cold air and decided I didn’t really need the coat. I put it back on its rack and walked to the church. When I stepped through the doorway, Jake and Jerry just stared at me.
“Wow.” Jake said.
“Holy crap, dude, you grew, like, a foot!” Jerry shouted both their eyes huge. Jerry had a huge grin on his face, and Jake’s face was amazed and almost scared at the same time. I grinned back at Jerry and Jake.
“Yeah, I know. I don’t really know how it happened, but it did.” I admitted sheepishly. The rest of the morning the tree of us talked about how big I was and how buff I was. Jerry was excited and amazed while Jake was completely awestruck. When the clock hit about 7:30 we headed out the door with all our bags around our bodies and headed to the school. When I stepped through the doors, all eyes that were there were on me. I sat down at my usual table and awaited the arrival of the rest of our friends. One by one, they came through the door and stared at me in utter amazement. Half of them weren’t just amazed by me size, but how I wasn’t wearing a coat with it was supposed to be below 25 degrees today. I thought it was around 60 degrees, to be honest.
The morning was very awkward for me. Everyone was staring at me and whispering questions and statements about me. I was just as confused and amazed as them, but I wasn’t gossiping like a little girl, was I? I was just being me, right? Obviously I was getting paranoid and annoyed by the whispering and gossip, so I plugged in my headphones and started blaring music. About 3 songs after I turned on my Zune, one of my headphones came out and Zoey was putting it in her ear, flinching at the volume. She stole my Zune and turned it down, looking at me confused.
“Don’t ask,” I warned, annoyed. “I don’t know what happened either.”
“How do you not know what happened to your own body?” She asked, even though I warned her. I flared my nostrils and took a deep breath, and then coughed. There was a scent, a smell that pierced my nostrils. A sweet smell, but too sweet. Sickeningly sweet. Was it Zoey? I never noticed the smell before. Maybe it was new perfume. But no one else seemed to notice it.
“Is something wrong?” She asked, worried. I blinked and realized that my expression was disgusted and I rearranged to a normal expression.
“It’s nothing. Here, you just keep my Zune until the bell rings, okay?” I said, standing. She looked at me with a surprised and bewildered expression and nodded. I took my bag to my locker, put my stuff where it needed to go and then went to a teacher’s classroom. I yawned and did my homework strangely fast, like I knew it already. When I finished I walked back into the student center and sat in a different place than my normal table. I sat in the far corner with Emily. She just stared at me, almost afraid to speak, until she finally spoke.
“How did you get so… big?” She asked, amazed. I grimaced at the question and sighed, looking at her.
“I have no clue. I woke up like this.” I said flatly. It was the truth, but I was tired of saying it. When the bell rang, I stood and strode casually to Oklahoma History. Emily followed, but she had to jog to keep up. I had never noticed, but I was a whole head and a fourth taller than her. In fact, I was about a head taller than Jerry and Jake. I was tall. Taller than I thought. I sat down in my normal seat and awaited Zack to come and tease me about my monstrous growth. I stared at the wall until I heard the thud of him sitting down and I turned around. Zack was staring at me, utterly amazed. I had braced myself for being made fun of and being teased, but I think he was afraid of me now. I laughed at that thought.
“Something wrong, Zack?” I asked playfully. He shook his head in awe. I laughed again.
After about 2 minutes of Zack staring at me and me messing with him, Mr. Capps started class. The same as usual; talking, lecturing, assigning the work, and sitting at his desk. I finished first, as usual and then continued Inkheart. I felt a note slide under my arm. I grabbed the note and read his messing handwriting:
What in the hell happened to you?! You’re freaking huge, and buff, and tan and… boy, Jerry’s going to have a hard time competing with you!
For the first time, I chuckled at one of Zack’s notes. I casually scribbled my own reply:
I don’t know. I was wondering in the woods Monday, I was attacked by two wolves, and then a larger wolf attacked those two wolves and bit me on the shoulder. When I woke up, I was like this. That’s pretty much it.
I folded the note and tossed it over my shoulder. I couldn’t help but smirk as I heard Zack scribble his reply. He tossed the note over my shoulder and I opened it, reading his reply:
Whatever! You’ve probably been taking steroids, lifting weights and tanning behind our backs!
There was the teasing. Oh well, I could take him now. I scribbled my reply:
Right. Would I take steroids, lift weights and go tanning? Why would I do any of that? It’s time consuming and stupid. Oh, and watch out—Mr. Capps is going to walk around in a second.
I quickly tossed the note to Zack and he read my reply, and then hid the note under his book as Mr. Capps walked past us. I smirked. Today was going to be interesting.
Lunch came quick and easy, and after I had eaten I was sitting in the student center, blaring music to drown out the gossiping. I grumbled and Emily looked at me.
“What was that?” She asked, confused.
“I said that people need to learn to keep their mouths shut. Especially the chick sitting on the bench behind you,” I grumbled, gritting my teeth. “I’ve been listening to her run her mouth about me all lunchtime.”
Emily blinked at me, a little scared this time, like there was something wrong with me.
“The girl behind me hasn’t said a word since you sat down, Jay.” She explained in a whisper. I looked at her with a strange, confused look.
“What are you talking about; I can hear her even with my music blaring.” I complained. She raised an eyebrow this time.
“Jay, I promise you, she has not said a single word since you sat down.” She said. I looked at her face, taking in her expression. Though I had heard her voice, I never saw her lips move. Then it hit me: nobody was talking—I was hearing their thoughts. Suddenly, a flow of voices flowed around me and I could sort them to different people within the room. What the hell was going on…?
I shook my head and turned my music louder than it was. Emily looked at me like I was a freak. I soon realized that I had a psychotic look upon my face and understood her expression. I tried to relax my thoughts and face as I sorted out the voices and tried to tune them out. I was starting to scare myself. I looked at the clock and saw that it was only a minute until lunch was over, so I stood and started walking towards the hallways. By the time I got to the hallways, the bell was ringing and I was the first one into the hallway. I grabbed my books and sat in my seat in Algebra II, trying to concentrate on anything but the voices. One by one, as the students of my class began to enter the room, their thoughts became louder. Finally, I gave up and decided to listen to the agonizing sound of their thoughts judging him…
To my surprise, most of the thoughts I heard were about how awesome or attractive I looked. Some were how I looked so much different than before and how much better I looked now. After we had our lesson and we started working, I noticed someone in front of me had a strange thought. It sounded something along the lines of, ‘I wonder how Jay would react if I tossed something at his girlfriend…’ I wasn’t really paying attention, but I looked up and saw Josh smirking at me. I glared at him and went back to my work. The next thing I knew, I heard him think about how to flick his pencil and I looked up to see it in mid-flight. I reached out and crushed the pencil in my hand with a semi-loud snap. Everyone looked up as I opened my hand to see splinters of Josh’s pencil shift in my hand. I looked up to Josh’s eyes huge and his mouth hanging open. Finally, he pulled himself back together.
“Dude! That was my pencil!” He gripped, and I just rolled my eyes.
“You shouldn’t have thrown it at someone. It’s not nice.” I grumbled as I swiped the pencil fragments into the thrash and tossed my extra pencil at him. I shouldn’t have given him my extra pencil, but he needed it. As I sat down, I looked at Emily and noticed she was shaking. Concentrating a little, I listened to her thoughts, ‘What in the hell…? I didn’t even see him move.’ After I listened to her thoughts, I felt a huge wave of guilt and shame flow over me. Why did I feel ashamed for listening to her thoughts? The bell rang then, and I stood slowly and grabbed my books. I looked down at Emily, and saw that she was still shaking and it was almost like she was frozen. I kneeled down beside her and looked at her face.
“Emily, are you okay?” I asked, slightly worried. She looked at me, the color almost completely gone from her face.
“…Yeah, uh, I’m… okay…” She muttered hoarsely, as I helped her out of her chair. She was shaking much more than she looked, but she seemed to settle a little at my warm touch. She looked at me with frightened eyes and fell into my chest, bursting into tears. What had I done to scare her like that? Dare I listen to her thoughts again and feel the shame and guilt? I listened carefully to the voice in front of me.
‘What am I crying for? What am I freaking out about? The look on his face? The speed he had to catching that stupid pencil?’ She thought, and through her thoughts I saw my face from her point of view and understood exactly why she was freaking out. I had looked so evil and had so much hatred in my face…
I sighed and put my arms around her. I had scared her so much it hurt. Her huffs began to slow and she whipped her eyes on her sleeves. I gave her a tissue and led her out of the classroom and into the hall. After putting her books away and grabbing her others, I led her to her next class and sat her in her seat along with her books. As I left I could hear the wave of voices again, wondering about what had happened.
School was out now and I walked home like usual. As I left the school the voices quieted and the quiet of the wilderness seemed to consume me. I wandered away from my house and headed to the woods in which I was found by the Native American. I followed the trail and left it the same place I had before, exploring until I found the stream. The rocks in the stream looked exactly the same as they had before. Damp, covered in moss, eroded and smooth. I followed the dry stream until I came to the small pond-ditch I had come across before. Everything was exactly the same, but I saw little specks and splotches of blood against the two foot dirt cliff. I stepped closer and stared at the blood splotches, remembering the incident that had happened just three days earlier. Suddenly a voice came from behind me and I turned around to see Emily standing there. My eyes widened and she just stared back at me, a curious expression on her face.
“Feeling better, Emily?” I asked after a moment’s hesitation. She nodded, still a little colorless and took a little step forward.
“What exactly are you doing here…?” She asked hoarsely, looking around the dry pond. I tried my hardest to keep from hearing her thoughts, though it wasn’t too hard.
“This… is just a place I like to be sometimes.” I answered hesitantly. I could see she was still shaking, or shivering since it was so cold outside. I forgot that it was so cold, and that I wasn’t wearing a coat.
“In this weather?” She asked, unbelieving. Apparently it was colder than I thought. I nodded and leaned against the cliff behind me, still looking at her.
“Are you cold?” I asked, pointing out her shivering. She hesitated and nodded shakily. I beckoned her over to me. She hesitated and walked over to me. When she was within arm’s length I put my arm around her. For a second, she was surprised, but she soon got comfortable and snuggled against me. I smirked and led her back to the trail and to my house. When we arrived in front of my house she stopped. I figured she would and looked at her.
“I promise that I will not do a thing to you. You can come in, use the phone, warm yourself and then leave when your ride gets here.” I explained my hands in the air. She looked at me with a suspicious look and then sighed in defeat. I led her inside and sat her down on the couch right inside the doorway from the kitchen. I went to the kitchen to grab a Dr. Pepper.
“Do you want anything to drink?” I asked from the kitchen. I could tell she was hesitating from the long pause.
“I guess.” She answered finally. I opened the fridge and looked at what we had.
“Water, milk, Dr. Pepper, Diet Sunkist, or Chocolate Milk?” I asked. The fact that we had such a large variety of drinks was no surprise. We all drank different yet same drinks.
“Just water, thanks.” She said shakily.
“Would you like to come in here and watch me pour your drink to make sure I don’t put anything extra in it?” I asked, chuckling. I turned around and saw her glaring at me. Pouring her water so she could see, I couldn’t help but laugh. She obviously didn’t find it amusing.
“There you go.” I said, handing her the glass of water. She took a small sip and faked a faint. We laughed at each other and I sat down on the couch, taking a sip of Dr. Pepper.
“So, why did you follow me?” I asked as she sat up again. She traced her finger around the mouth of the glass as she watched me carefully. I stared back at her, as if she would disappear if I looked away. She looked down at her glass.
“I was curious about where you were going. Everyone else was walking to the busses, but you walked out the other direction. I just wanted to see where you were going.” She faked. I noticed when she looked up, that she was looking at my mouth instead of my eyes. Smart, but not good enough for me.
“Are you sure?” I asked, looking at her closely. She figured out I knew. She sighed and kept looking at her glass.
“I saw something in you. Something that was different. Today in Algebra… you were savage. You had a look of defense in your face. Why is that?” She asked sheepishly. I blinked and thought about it. What could I tell her? I didn’t even know what was wrong. I just knew that I was different than before. I decided on a lie.
“Josh likes to pick on people. You’re the new girl in school; it’s unfair for him to pick on you. I thought it wasn’t nice, and it was annoying.” I acted. I had to give it away with my eyes. I had to stare into hers, trying to back up every word I said. As I looked into her eyes, I had to force every bit of feeling of truth within me. I felt the lie within me, but covered it with a thin blanket of truth, hoping it would help.
“I see…” She muttered. I don’t think she bought it. It was silent for a while, and I kept thinking about what I would do. As soon as I figured it out, I would tell her. She deserves to know the truth, right? Thoughts raced in and out of my head, taking most of the capacity within my brain. What was it with her? What made her stand out more than others?
I looked at the clock. 4:06 p.m. She should probably be home. I stood and put my drink down.
“Do you need a ride home?” I asked, taking a step towards the kitchen. I watched her face closely, seeing all the emotions within her face. She wasn’t quite satisfied by our short conversation.
“Just a minute, Jay. I have more questions.” She stated. I turned on my heel and stared at her. More questions? What could she possibly want to know about me?
“Ask away, then.” I said, leaning against the doorframe.
“How old are you?” She quizzed. My shoulders slouched and my eyelids drooped slightly.
“Sixteen. You?” I asked. If this were going to be the questions, this would take quite a while.
“I just turned seventeen,” She stated. “What about your family? Where are they right now?”
“My dad is at work until seven, my mom is taking my sister to her dance lessons until about six, and my brother is at work until about five-thirty. Why?” I added. She turned a light shade of pink and looked around my house. I never noticed how un-color schemed my house was. We just had a mixture of basic colors that fit together. Peach for the walls, brown for the tables and desks, light tan carpet and mostly greenish tan furniture.
“Just curious about whom you are, Jay Matthews,” She said playfully and stood. “You can take me home now. I’ll have more questions tomorrow.”
What was with all the questions? I couldn’t help but think of random and far-fetched possibilities as I drove her home in my 2008 Chevrolet Black Granite Metallic Malibu LTZ. She seemed to enjoy the smooth ride and the leather grey and wood interior. She messed with the radio and volume as we pulled into her drive way. I put the car into park and sat there. She looked up at me.
“Thanks for the ride.” She said as she opened the door and grabbed her bag.
“No problem,” I said indifferently. “Just warn me next time you decide to follow me, okay?”
“Alright. I’ll have more questions for you tomorrow.” She said with a grin. She got out and walked into her house as I pulled out. What was there to know about me? I drove home in a thick fog of thought.





2. Questions



And just as she promised, she had questions. Tons of them. Hundreds, maybe. She pretty much wanted to know everything about me. And I told her—how much I knew, anyway. She occasionally asked about the three days I was gone, and I told her I was asleep. At least I gave her the truth. She wasn’t very satisfied by my answer, but it was okay. I had a better time blocking out the thoughts of everyone around me at school. As long as I had something to concentrate on, I was fine. Every once and a while, I would let myself listen in to thoughts of others around me, but I pulled myself back into the conversation with Emily whenever it happened. She talked a lot, but gave me room to speak as well. It seemed like a simple conversation, but it was much more complicated. She wanted to know everything. So, at the end of the day I promised her I would ask questions the following Monday.
When I had gotten home, I had noticed a note in my hoody pocket. I instantly thought of Emily. As I pulled out the note I saw my name on the front in a neat, elegant script. I lazily unfolded the note and read her elegant writing:
Come by my house tomorrow. I want to talk to you more. I have questions. You never said anything about me asking questions over the weekend, remember? You’ve got Monday, and I’ve got Saturday. Just ring the doorbell at around noon.
~Emily
I sighed at her note. She couldn’t get enough of me. Though, I didn’t mind at all. In fact, I felt tense when I wasn’t around her. I felt helpless and worried. What would happen to Emily while I wasn’t there? Instantly I would feel stupid after realizing my worried feeling. Emily could handle herself. Though, she was a bit of a klutz. No, scratch that, not a bit—A lot. I put the note on the counter and pulled a Dr. Pepper out of the fridge. I sat in front of the computer and checked my e-mail, played on Adobe Photoshop and watched TV. Finally, I couldn’t help myself. I couldn’t avoid it any longer. I got up and walked outside into the cold, 34 degree weather. I walked past my neighbor’s house and into the woods, following the familiar path. I trailed off at the same spot and walked into the dry pond. This time, someone was waiting for me there. The old man that had saved me? I stood at the edge of the pond, staring. He turned around, his wrinkled face almost bored. He looked up at me and took a deep breath.
“You have not yet found your destiny, but your blood proves that it has been set. I apologize.” He said his voice full of wisdom.
“I don’t really know what you’re apologizing for…” I said confused. He was apologizing for nothing. I didn’t even know what he was talking about. Nothing seemed to make sense.
“You will soon enough. It won’t be long, I know. You’ve got heart, and courage. A bloodline that has been hidden for decades and I have re-emerged it. Just remember to think of it as a gift, and not a curse.” He spoke, and turned to leave. As he disappeared behind the wall of trees, I could have sworn a saw a shred of his shirt fly and land softly on the ground.
I spent the next hour sitting there in the dry pond, thinking. It was now known as my thinking spot, I told myself. This was where I wanted to be when something was wrong, when I had something to think about…
As I stood, the stars started to gleam. I looked up and saw the beautiful moon. It wasn’t quite full yet, but it was close. A Waxing Gibbous. A strange shiver ran down my spine, and I looked around. The moonlight was bright enough to show me bits of the woods, and the sun wasn’t completely gone yet. I walked back onto the path and headed towards the opening to my neighbor’s house. When I stepped outside the wall of trees, I heard a deep rumbling from behind me. I turned around quickly to see absolutely nothing in the dimming shade of trees. I stared into the almost darkness for minutes and decided there was nothing and it was my imagination.
As I walked into my house, my mom looked at me from her glass of water. After swallowing her gulp, she put her glass down.
“Where have you been?” She asked.
“I was in the woods again.” I said casually, though I knew I’d get in trouble.
“Oh, don’t go in there! I don’t want you to get hurt again.” She complained. I rolled my eyes and pulled out a giant pot to start dinner with. After turning on the stove and putting the thawed meat into the pot I turned to her.
“I still love it in there, even if I was attacked. By the way, I have somewhere to go tomorrow at noon, so I’ll be leaving at about eleven-thirty.” I added quickly. I watched her from the corner of his eye, scraping at the raw meat. She apparently didn’t care—or so I hoped.
“Where are you going?” She asked quizzically. I shrugged, trying to be nonchalant.
“To hang with a couple friends.” I replied plainly. I knew this would end uncomfortably.
“Jerry and Zack?” She asked, folding clothes from the dryer and putting them in a basket.
“No, some other friends. They’re busy this weekend.” I said as I drained the meat in the sink and put it back into the pot and adding the tomato juice. I stirred the soon-to-be chili and waited for her to speak.
“Alright then. When will you be back?” She asked, indifferently. I was caught off-guard.
“I don’t know. It’ll be before dinner, though.” I answered quickly. I added the spices for the chili as I thought about what Emily wanted to do the next day. This wasn’t really like how I knew her. She was being much more… progressive. Now, they had a sort of date tomorrow. What was she planning?

I awoke suddenly and abruptly. I shifted to my side and looked at my clock. 9:21 a.m. I had never wanted to stay in bed so badly. Something Emily was planning aggravated me, and I didn’t want to find out what it was. I forced myself to get out of bed and hop into the hot shower. When I was dried and dressed, I grabbed a bit of breakfast. A bowl of Fruity Pebbles was about it, and I watched TV as I ate. After I washed my bowl, I went to brush my teeth and grab my wallet. I looked at the clock. 10:48 a.m. I was planning to run a few errands before I headed to Emily’s house anyway, might as well do some extra ones. I grabbed my keys and headed to the door.
“I’m heading out early to do some errands, mom. I’ll see you before dinner.” I lifted a hand in goodbye as I left and she just nodded as she gulped a glass of milk.
With my cousins’ new birthday presents in the trunk of my car, I looked at the car’s clock. 11:52 a.m. Time to see Emily. I drove casually, yet tense, to Emily’s house. When I pulled into her driveway, I saw that my clock read, 12:09 p.m., and sighed. I turned the car off, pulled the keys out of the ignition and walked to the porch. I rang the doorbell and waited casually for the door to open.
The door opened and I saw who must’ve been Emily’s mom. She smiled and beckoned me inside, and I regretfully walked inside. The Belles’ house was a very elegant, clean house. There was a smell that was pleasing whenever you inhaled. The floor was a nice, stained wood and the furniture was a complimentary light tan. Pictures hung on the wall of Emily as a child, and family members, I guessed. I followed Emily’s mom to the couch and sat in the light tan chair. As I looked around, I noticed the walls were a peach-ish tan and there was a large window the size of the wall showing the backyard and the woods in the distance. I glared at the woods for a second and then turned to the sound of footsteps from the stairs. I looked up to see Emily smiling at me.
“You came.” She announced, as if it wasn’t obvious enough. I nodded.
“Yeah, I did. What’re we doing today, exactly?” I asked. She came down the stairs and sat on the couch, putting her socks on.
“I’ll tell you in your car.” She answered playfully. I tried to hold back a groan. I knew by the smug look on her face that this was going to be a long day. When she had her shoes on, she led me out the door, followed by her mom. She waved to us as we hopped into my LTZ. I put the key into the ignition.
“Where are we going?” I asked. She smiled at me.
“We’re going for a stroll,” She answered. “In Wintersmith Park.”
I groaned quietly and turned the car on, and drove off to the park. On the way there, she was unusually quiet. I looked at the clock. 12:38 p.m. Lunchtime.
“Do you want to grab some lunch first?” I asked casually. She beamed at the idea. She turned to look around the streets, hopefully spotting something she wanted.
“Yeah, I’m starving. How ‘bout some Taco Bell?” She asked hopefully. I shrugged, and then nodded. I hadn’t been there in a while. It sounded pretty good to me. I turned into Taco Bell’s parking lot and parked beside the door. As we walked in, she smiled at the menu.
“I’ll pay.” I announced as she tried to reach into her pocket for money. She pouted, but I could see a little bit of a smile in her pout. I couldn’t help but smile back.
As we tossed our remains of lunch and finished slurping down our Dr. Peppers, I noticed she was grinning. I completely forgot about the questions.
We got back into the car before she started shooting out questions like a mini-gun. Left and right, I saw nothing but questions all the way to the park. I knew that it was going to be a long day. Some of the questions were stupid useless questions. Some were about what color I liked best, music I listen to, and things like that. At times, I thought she was just trying to make conversation until we got to the park. What exactly was she thinking…? I stopped myself before I could go too far. I promised I wouldn’t read her mind again, so I won’t.
When we got to Wintersmith Park, I parked in one of the crappy parking spots and pulled the key out of the ignition. I put it in my pocket and got out, waiting for her. Her head popped up from the car, over the roof and smiled at me.
“We’re going into the wooded area.” She stated, walking towards the woods. I followed right beside her, my hands in my pockets. She shivered every once and a while, so I gave her my jacket. Apparently, it was around 30 degrees today. She snuggled in my jacket and continued to shoot random questions until we reached the border of the wooded area. I turned and looked at the giant waterfall that kept the water in the Wintersmith Pond in the pond. As we followed the trail further into the woods, the path became shaded and I noticed she was smiling more. I watched the water in the creek flow as she asked more questions, and I couldn’t help but hear the excitement in her voice. She had planned something. I just had to wait for it to come. We finally came to a bench and sat down on the cold stone. Sitting there, she hesitated. I braced for impact, watching her.
“Wow, you suddenly got quiet.” I urged. I wanted this bit to be over with. This was the tensest time of his whole week. She turned a light pink and turned away.
“Do you see anything special about me?” She asked shyly. I froze. I never thought of us as anything more than we were at the moment. The thought was strange. I popped my knuckles as I thought about it. How did I think of her? A friend? A girlfriend? Family, a sister?
“I… I honestly don’t know…” I muttered. I could see disappointment cover her face, and I felt ashamed. I had hurt her with my words, and it hurt me too. In the back of my head, something was yelling at me, but I couldn’t quite hear it. I couldn’t quite make out the words. A distant voice yelling, but the words made no sense. Suddenly, a flow of voices flowed into my head, making any kind of concentration and thought in my head that was my own disappear, or hard to think of. So many voices around me, like there were hundreds of people around me. I shook my trying to make the voices disappear. I looked up to see Emily’s tears fall from her eyes. I cringed at the sight and wiped one of the tears from her cheek, voices almost yelling at me now.
When I put my hand to her cheek, all the voices were gone. Everything was silent, even my mind. She stared at her face, watching me. Her eyes were slightly wide, but also in despair. I cringed at the despair. Her eyes dropped to the ground and another tear fell from her eye. Cringe. I wiped that one from her cheek and pulled her closer to me. I held her in my arms while she cried. She leaned her head on my chest, and my head gently fell upon hers. As the thoughts of people around us came back, they were more of a whisper. I noticed one that was familiar, and I looked up. The elderly Indian man was watching us from the open part of the woods. I stared at him for a long while, and he turned and left. His thoughts were quiet, and I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. I felt another hot tear hit my arm. Cringe. I started to rub her arm gently, my jaw tightened. What’s with the old man? I felt anger rise in me, but I sighed it off as another hot tear hit my arm.
As she whipped her tears from her eyes, a hopeful sign that she was done crying, she stood.
“We should get going…” She murmured, trying not to look at me. I stood, but shook my head.
“Let’s walk a bit longer, so you have time to cool down more before you go see your mother.” I suggested, leading the way deeper into the woods. I knew she’d go for my idea, because it was reasonable. The thought of facing her mother like that just screamed a bad idea, and she knew it. After reading my casual expression she followed me. She shivered slightly, so I put my arm around her, and she snuggled into it. I smiled. We walked further into the woods, following the concrete path made for us.
When we hopped into the car, she was smiling again—a good sign. I looked at the clock. 5:57 p.m. I nodded and smiled.
“How’s dinner sound?” I asked cheerfully. She beamed at the thought. I knew this would cheer her up even more. Question was what’s for dinner? Not many nice places for dinner in Ada.
“Absolutely! Where to?” She beamed. I chuckled as I drove down to where the nicer restaurants were. I looked around down the street and spotted what was probably my best bet: Chili’s.
“How does Chili’s sound?” I asked. She nodded excitedly. Grinning, I parked the car and hopped out, opening her door for her. Her face turned a light red and stepped out of her seat. As I shut the door, we walked into Chili’s together, side by side.

“How do you have the money for this? I’ve never seen you go to work.” She pouted as I paid for the evening. I grinned at her playfully pouty mood.
“I do work. I work at the Ada Music Center, but my boss gave me the week off since I was sick…” I trailed off, thinking of how I wasn’t really sick, but that was just a cover up my family made.
“Oh… so we won’t be able to spend as much time together next week, will we?” She asked her face full of concentration. I chuckled.
“Not as much as this week, but I’ll have my days off.” I assured her. She lightened up and smiled. When the waitress came back with my debit card, Emily’s face slumped into the pout. This waitress was totally checking me out. She was always smiling at me, and then gave Emily a disappointed look. I would laugh, and she didn’t like it. In fact, every time I laughed, I could feel a kick in my shin. It didn’t hurt like she wanted it to, though.
“Thank you.” I said as I put the debit card in my wallet. She smiled seductively and walked away. I chuckled when she gave Emily the look again. Her kick missed and I waited for her to come. As we walked to my car, I opened and closed the door for her, then hopped into my seat. The drive to her house was quiet, but cheerful. When we got to her house, there was no doubt she didn’t have a good time.
“I’ll see you Monday.” I concluded, putting the car into park.
“What about tomorrow?” She questioned. I chuckled.
“Work.” I said, shrugging. She groaned under her breath and I jumped out to open the door for her. When she stood, I noticed I was almost a head and a half taller than her. Weird. She stared up at me with a grin.
“Maybe I’ll come and visit you at work.” She teased. I laughed, because it didn’t work.
“Go ahead,” I smirked. “It’ll be nice to have someone to mess with while I’m at work.”
She folded her arms and stuck her tongue out playfully at me. I laughed and waved to her as she walked inside her house. Smiling, I hopped into the car and drove back.
The sky was a murky purple, but mostly midnight blue. I glanced at the clock. 8:01 p.m. I groaned; missing dinner when I had said I was going to be home before dinner wasn’t a good thing. I’d get in trouble for sure. As the stars started to twinkle, I saw the bright moon. It wasn’t a full moon yet, but in about a week it’d be full. There was less than a quarter left of darkness on the moon, and I felt a little heat and a shudder move through my body. Nothing wrong with a full moon, right?
When I parked beside the garage of my house, I hesitated. I knew that going into the house was going to be a bad idea, but sleeping outside didn’t sound very comfortable. I sighed, turned the car off and stepped out the door. When I got to the door inside our garage that led into the house, I hesitated again. Taking a deep breath, I walked inside. As usual when I was late, my parents would be sitting on the couch inside the living room. I walked through the doorway and looked at their faces. They seemed content.
“You’re late.” My mom said, putting her Diet Coke down. I sat down on the couch and sighed.
“I lost track of time.” I said, knowing I was still in for it. Strangely enough, my dad wasn’t home. Where was he?
“You said you’d be home before dinner. It’s eight ‘o clock for Pete’s sake!” She yelled. I winced, my nostrils flaring.
“I told you, I lost track of time. I’m sorry.” I said, holding back screaming at her. I knew that would only make matters worse.
“Next time you won’t be out so late.” She stated and turned her attention to the TV. I sighed, and walked to my room. When I landed on my bed, I suddenly felt tired, exhausted. I closed my eyes, and let the darkness consume me.
When I woke up, I was still in my normal clothes. I’d forgotten to change before falling asleep. I stretched and yawned and gotten out of bed, walking into the living room. The entire house was quiet. No one was home. I blinked, wondering where everyone was. On the kitchen counter, I noticed a note written in my mom’s handwriting. I picked it up and read:

Jay,
We’ve left you to sleep while we go to church. Don’t forget that you have to be at work by 1:30. DO NOT BE OUT LATE AGAIN.
Love, Mom
I sighed. Work. How could I forget? I looked at the clock. 11:28 a.m. Well, I had plenty of time to wake up and eat. Fifteen minutes to work, twenty to get ready. I grabbed a bowl and a box of Fruity Pebbles, poured the milk in and ate, enjoying the peace. When I finished rinsing the bowl, I grabbed some decent clothes and hit the shower. The hot water felt great, and woke me up. When I was dressed and my teeth were brushed, I looked at the clock. 12:42 p.m. I could get to work early.
I hopped into my Chevy Malibu and drove off to the Ada Music Center. When I got there, there weren’t many cars there. I walked in and waved to Dalton, my drum teacher. Dalton is around 6’8” or so. He’s got short brown hair and light blue eyes. So far that I’ve known him, he’s one of the coolest people I know. I went behind the counter, punched in and sat down in a chair.
“Slow day?” I asked Dalton, whom was pretty much the only one here. He laughed.
“Is it ever fast? C’mon Jay, you know better.” He teased. I grinned and started looking at drum equipment. I was hoping to find something good for my drum set. I usually didn’t find anything, but sometimes I’d get lucky.
“Feeling any better?” Dalton asked from the chair behind the counter. I turned to look at him.
“Yeah, much better, thanks.” I said, faking a smile. If there was anything I could fake, it was a smile. I don’t think anyone could find a lie in my smile, which made me feel better. I hated being read easily.
“Hey Dalton, I’ve got a friend coming by later to check up on me, alright?” I announced, making sure he was okay with it. I usually made sure anything extra was okay with Dalton, just in case I did something wrong. You can never go wrong if you talk to your boss first.
“Sure, I guess.” He shrugged. He started clacking on the keyboard as he probably looked up some extra piece to his drum set. I gave up on finding anything cool for my drum set and sat down behind the counter, waiting for Emily to walk through the door…
Only a few customers came to the store, so I eventually got around to going back into Dalton’s ‘classroom’ as I called it, and started playing the drums. I started with something quiet and easy, and then started to complicate it and add speed. I lost track of time, and when I slowed down to give my limbs a rest from playing so hard, I saw someone in the window of the door to the classroom. The angelic face and hazel eyes made me stutter my playing on the drums and I slowed and stopped. I turned the snare drum off and took my headphones off, putting my drumsticks on the snare. I opened the door and smiled.
“Good afternoon, Emily.” I said. She grinned and blushed slightly, giggling. What’s so funny?
“Good afternoon, Jay.” She giggled. I raised an eyebrow and she giggled again. “You seem so funny when you play the drums.”
“What’s funny about my playing? How long have you been standing there?” I asked, rolling my eyes. She giggled again.
“I’ve been here for about five minutes.” She replied, ignoring my first question. I shook my head and walked out of the classroom.
“So this is what you do, huh,” She said, looking around. “Just hang around and play drums?”
“Yup, this is pretty much it. There’s really not much here.” I said. To be honest, there really wasn’t. It’s mostly just a large room with musical equipment organized in certain places. Thin dark green carpet and a regular store ceiling. Nothing special.
I showed Emily around the boring place and let her hang out a while. By the time she left, work was over. Time flies, huh? I noticed that there weren’t any extra cars parked in the parking lot.
“Did your mom drop you off?” I asked. She nodded and pulled out her cell phone, dealing. I put my hand on hers, stopping her from dialing.
“I’ll give you a ride home, okay?” I suggested. She beamed, as usual, and I chuckled, getting into my Chevy.
The ride home was nice. Actually, it was great. Emily seemed more interesting to me then the other day, and we talked the whole way. She would ask a few questions, and I would ask a few questions, and eventually we just started laughing at each other’s answers. By the time I had gotten to Emily’s house, it was almost dark. There was a thin layer of orange over the horizon and the rest of the sky was a midnight blue with gleaming stars. The moon shone brightly, just a crescent left until it was full. I put the Malibu into park and smiled at her through the almost complete darkness. I could see she was smiling back.
“Do you want to stay for dinner?” She asked. I could tell this idea had been eating away at her all day. The way that she would hint at her hunger kind of grumbling in her stomach and that she owed me for taking her out to eat twice. This was just too easy to see coming.
“Sure, I guess. Just let me call my parents to give them a heads up.” I said, smiling. She beamed and hopped out of the car. I got out, my phone to my ear and explained what was going on to my mom. She agreed, teasingly, and hung up. Upon entering the Belle’s house, an incredible scent hit me. The smell of spices, sauces, and more flew through the air. Obviously, they were expecting me. I walked into the living room and smiled at Mrs. Belle. She smiled back, almost beaming like Emily.
“Nice to see you again, Jay.” She said, holding out her hand. I shook it, still smiling.
“Nice to see you again, too, Mrs. Belle.” I replied.
“Oh, please call me Beatrice.” She said quickly and politely. I nodded and turned to Emily. Excitement was written all over her face. I struggled to hold back a slight groan. She was plotting again. The sound of heavy footsteps coming from the kitchen distracted me from the worry inside me. That worry quickly turned to fear and Emily’s bulky father walked into the room. He had a large, comforting grin on his face.
“Ah! You must be Jay. I’m Dennis, Emily’s father. Nice you meet you, finally.” He said cheerily, holding out his large hand. I smiled at his polite tone and shook his hand, looking into his hazel eyes. Emily must’ve gotten her eyes from him.
“Nice to meet you too, Dennis.” I said, smiling. I felt relief drape over me at how polite the Belle family was. Not many fathers are this polite and happy about a strange teenage boy eating dinner with his daughter and family.
Dennis was an inch taller than me, and he was big. Not fat big, but he had muscles. He looked almost like a body builder, but he didn’t try hard. He seemed to be naturally big. He had red-ish brown hair and an inviting look on his face. His skin was about the same light tan tone as Emily’s and his eyes just the same. Beatrice was thin, but a little bit shorter than me. Her brown hair reflected off of the lights overhead and her brown eyes showed no harshness towards me. He skin was a little lighter than Emily and Dennis’.
I turned around when I heard another pair of footsteps. Emily had a sibling? A young boy, about twelve or thirteen years old stood in front of the staircase. His reddish hair symbolized his relation to the family, but his green eyes stuck out like a mountain in the middle of a prairie. He was about as tall as Emily, his skin a little darker than the others’. He had shaggy hair and an annoyed look on his face. He really didn’t want to be here. Honestly, I couldn’t agree with him more, but I wasn’t going to show it. Being polite was all that mattered to me right now.
The boy leaned against the wall beside the stair case. I heard Beatrice sigh from behind me and Dennis grumble something as he walked back into the kitchen. I heard Emily step behind me, probably giving the boy a look because he instantly looked away.
“I’m Tyler.” He mumbled, not looking at me. I tried to smile politely.
“I’m Jay.” I said, nodding.
“I know. Emily doesn’t seem to shut up about you.” He grumbled, and he walked into the kitchen. I turned, watching after him and turned to Emily. She was upset.
“I’m really sorry about him. He’s had a long day today…” She trailed off and I shrugged.
“It’s alright. I was his age once, too.” I said, forcing a smile.
Emily led me into the kitchen where the food was being cooked and sat me down at the dinner table. I sat politely, smiling and answering questions asked, nodding and whatnot. Tyler didn’t say a thing to me all evening. In fact, he seemed to ignore my presence the entire night. The rest of the Belles were as polite and happy as possible. It was almost like there wasn’t anything wrong with the world, but I looked out the window and saw the moon, a shiver shooting down my spine. I shrugged it off and continued the evening with a cheery act.

I awoke Monday morning, surprised. Last night had been very nice, other than the fact that Emily’s little brother, Tyler, hated me. But I knew there wasn’t anything I could do about that for a while. I started to recall everything last night until my breathing stopped completely. I had forgotten about the decision I had made last night. I groaned quietly and put my hands on my face. Emily and I had finally decided that we were dating. Yeah, it was cool, but also it was tense. The word would spread, and then many annoying thoughts would be heard. I could see it now, me yelling at people for accusing them of something they said when they had actually thought it. I would humiliate Emily and me in one little slip up. I groaned again, a bit louder. Finally, I decided to get up and get in the shower. I couldn’t skip out on today. It was my turn for questions.
When I got out of the shower, and had eaten my breakfast, I sat on the couch and debated on what I was going to do. I finally decided to go through with dating Emily, considering that was really what I wanted, but also decided to not pay attention to anyone else. That could endanger my popularity, Emily’s popularity and my being able to even show my face around this small town.
I went to go brush my teeth in the front bathroom and heard a muffled crash coming from my parents’ bedroom. When I looked up in the mirror, I noticed something different about my hair. There was a large chunk sticking out more than usual. With the toothbrush sticking out of my mouth, I reached up to pat it down. When I did, I felt it, as though I was touching skin. Skin? That couldn’t be right. I started to mess with that clump of hair and froze, my toothbrush falling from my mouth. I spit the tooth paste from my mouth to the sink and stared at the top of my head, my mouth open. Using some part of my brain I didn’t know was there, two triangle-shaped, brown hair-covered ears were sticking out of the top of my head. My breath quickened and I thought about people’s reactions at school today. Today could be a nightmare, the worst day of my life. I patted my extra ears as much as possible until finally I relaxed part of my head and the ears flattened into my hair as though they weren’t there. That’s probably how no one saw them. How long have I had these ears? I sighed, knowing that I couldn’t remove them, and headed out the door. I waved to my mom as I walked outside into the bitter cold. Though, it felt nice to me, I could tell it was freezing. I got into my LTZ and turned it on, putting the seat-warmer on the passenger seat. Today, I would be picking Emily up and taking her to the church. This had ‘bad idea’ written all over it, but she wanted to come.
When I got to the Belle residence, a few of the lights were on. I left the car running, and knocked on the door. The door opened almost immediately and Emily stood, beautifully, grinning at me. I smiled back (who could resist that smile?) and took her hand, leading her to the passenger door. She shut the house door behind us and I opened the car door for her to get in. When she was in I shut the door and hopped into the driver’s seat. She watched me as I backed out of her driveway and drove onto the road.
“Thank you for the ride, and turning on the seat-warmers.” She said, smiling. I chuckled and nodded.
“No problem, but are you sure you want to hang out at the church? I could just pick you up later.” I suggested. She shook her head disapprovingly and folded her arms.
“No. I’m going to hang out at the church with you, Jerry and his brother. There is nothing you can say to stop that.” She stated. I sighed. Great, she wasn’t in the mood for cooperation.
I parked the LTZ in front of the church and turned it off. I hurried the passenger door and opened it for her, helping her out and shutting it behind her. I opened the church door for her and let her in, following behind her. I looked around the inside of the church for Jerry and Jake. They must’ve been downstairs in the Youth Room. I pulled a chair out for Emily to sit in and went downstairs. When I walked into the Youth Room, Jerry was at the computer and Jake was sleeping on the couch. I chuckled. Instantly, both Jerry and Jake looked up at me.
“’Bout time you got here, dude. I was beginning to think you weren’t coming.” Jerry said, staring back at the computer screen. I rolled my eyes and turned to Jake, waiting for whatever he was going to say. He shrugged and laid his head back down on the couch. I sighed.
“Guys, we have a guest this morning.” I said, closing my eyes and ruffling my hair a bit, hoping my ears weren’t showing. Jerry looked at me with a confused expression.
“Who else would be here? Surely not Lane.” He said, thinking. I shook my head.
“No, it’s not Lane. It’s Emily. Emily Belle.” I added, sighing. Here it comes. Jerry laughed, pointing at me and Jake sat up, grinning. They both laughed playfully at me and got up, running up the stairs. I ran after them, making sure they didn’t do anything too stupid, considering them doing something stupid was a guarantee. Jerry was the first one up.
“Oh, yeah, you’re Emily. I’ve got Algebra II with you. You sit by Jay.” He pointed out, smirking. Emily blushed slightly and nodded, looking between the two and towards me. I stepped through the two and kneeled beside Emily.
“This is Jerry, and this is his brother Jake.” I introduced, pointing to Jerry and Jake. Emily smiled and nodded to them both.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Emily.” She greeted and blushed slightly. I grinned at her blush and stood back up.
“Well, what’re we going to do now?” I asked, glancing around. We usually didn’t do much at the church. Just whatever came to mind. We did whatever we could find to do at the church, which wasn’t much.
“What do you normally do?” Emily asked, curiously. We all shrugged at the same time.
“Nothing, usually. We just hang around and do stupid things. If we have money, we sometimes go down to the store and get some breakfast or something. Feeling hungry?” I asked. Emily nodded sheepishly and I chuckled. “Then to the store we go.”
When we got to the Byng Mini Mart, I pulled my wallet out and looked inside. I had about $34. That would be enough for Emily and me, and some extra money for whatever else I would need later in the week. We walked inside, and Emily instantly bolted for the energy drinks. I watched her as she pulled out a Monster and held it out to me. I looked at the drink and chuckled.
“Is this what you want?” I asked. She nodded, grinning and I reached past her for a Monster Chaos. “How ‘bout some food?”
Emily looked at the menu of food and then turned to me, asking, “What do you normally get?”
“A bacon-egg-and-cheese biscuit.” I shrugged. She considered it for as second then shrugged.
“I’ll have one too.” She decided and smiled.
“Alright. Two bacon-egg-and-cheese biscuits.” I said to the lady behind the counter and went to the cash register. The lady typed in a bunch of buttons, asked for about $10 and gave me my change. I led Emily outside and into the car to wait on Jerry and Jake. While we were in there, Emily had a strange question for me.
“What is it about me that people like?” She quizzed, tapping the top of her Monster. I froze. What kind of question was that?
“Uh…” I scratched my head, stuttering. “I don’t really know… it’s just… you. It’s not really a certain bit of you, it’s sort of the whole thing.”
She blushed deeply, and Jerry and Jake hopped into the car then. I put the LTZ in drive and drove back to the church. When we got back inside, Jerry and Jake started pigging out. I grinned at them as I opened my Monster and took a sip. I handed Emily the bag with the food in it and sat on the counter of the kitchen. Emily joined me, handing me my biscuit and I ate it with enjoyment. Maybe this day wasn’t going to be all that bad.




3. Full Moon





I casually pulled the LTZ out of Emily’s driveway after dropping her off. Today had gone by fast, and tomorrow didn’t seem to be coming any slower. I pulled the car into my driveway and put it in park in the usual spot. I turned the car off, hopped out of the car and walked casually into the kitchen, through the garage. I tossed my book bag on the couch and crashed right after it. I flicked the TV on and flipped through channels, hoping to find something good. When I had finally made a complete circle on the channels, I decided to turn it off and see how my new ‘ears’ worked. I sat up, ruffled my hair and closed my eyes. I felt my ears move, and carefully listened. I heard the thoughts of people all the way at school, and I was surprised. I could hear teachers, like Mrs. Allison, all the way in the Elementary. I started to focus on the voices closer to my house, hearing less and less voices, until one caught my attention. It was a strange voice, close to my house, but somewhat familiar.
I opened my eyes and looked out the window. As I scanned the yard, I saw the old man from my dreams walking down the driveway. I blinked at him and walked out my front door to meet him. As I walked towards him, he smirked at me.
“How’re you feeling, Jay?” He asked playfully.
“Fine…?” I answered, confused. What did it matter to him?
“That’s good. Maybe I should check up in a few days.” He said, emphasizing ‘days.’
“What d’you mean?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. He chuckled and turned to leave. As he walked off he raised one hand and shouted, “’Till next time, Jay. Stay well.”
I blinked after the old man as he walked away and shook my head. What a crazy old man. I turned around and walked back into the house, planning on a nap.

I awoke to complete darkness. I let my eyes wander the black with curiosity. How long was I out? I sat up and glanced at the clock. 3:42 a.m. I groaned and went to the bathroom. I wandered through the kitchen grabbing some food and something to drink. I had skipped dinner, and I needed food. I put some Hot Pockets into the microwave and poured a glass of water. I took my water to the couch and clicked on the TV. There usually wasn’t much on at 3:30 in the morning.
I heard the microwave beep and I hopped up to grab my pockets. When I pulled them out of the microwave, I looked out the window and noticed a slight glow in the sky. I blinked and flicked the lights off to get a better look. When my eyes adjusted, I noticed that the glow was the bright moon. Nearly full, and glowing, the moon floated with clouds wiping around it. I felt an army of shivers run through my body and I shook them off. Goosebumps. I sat down and started to eat my Hot Pockets.
When I finished my Hot Pockets, I noticed I was still hungry. I blinked and got up to toss my plate. I knew I shouldn’t be up much longer, or else I’ll get in trouble. I tossed my plate in the trash and put my glass in the sink. Yawning, I flicked the TV and lights off, heading to bed. Another glance at the moon sent more shivers down my spine, and I drifted to sleep, my stomach growling menacingly.

My alarm screamed at me, telling me to awake. I slapped the snooze button and jumped up. Ugh, school. I grabbed my clothes and hopped into the shower. When I got out, Jerry and Jake were at my house. I tilted my head at them and opened my mouth to ask but Jake interrupted me.
“The old people voted us out of the church in the mornings.” He explained in an aggravated tone. I scoffed and rolled my eyes, tossing the clothes I slept in into the dirty clothes hamper. I walked back into the kitchen, took my vitamin and grabbed a bowl of cereal.
“I’ll finish this and go grab Emily. You guys can play Halo 3 while I’m gone, alright?” I said, swallowing a mouthful of Frosted Flakes. They grinned at me and ran to the Game Room. I chuckled and finished my cereal.
As I pulled into Emily’s driveway, my stomach started to churn. I winced and made a face, thinking it was only the milk that was with my cereal. I stepped out of the LTZ and knocked on the front door of the Belle residence. Instantly, Emily opened the door and smiled at me.
“G’morning.” She greeted.
“’Morning.” I greeted back.
Emily smiled at my tired face and followed me to the LTZ. I opened and closed the door for her, hopped into the driver’s seat and drove off. Suddenly, a stabbing pain ripped through my stomach. I winced and had to use all the strength I had not to groan. I flexed my jaw and relaxed when the pain eased.
“So, apparently we’re not allowed to be in the church in the mornings, so we’ll hang at my house this morning.” I explained through gritting teeth. She looked at me weird and shrugged.
“Alright. I like your house.” She added, smiling. I smiled and pulled into my driveway. When I helped her out, I could hear the yelling and cheering of Jerry and Jake. I chuckled and led Emily inside.
“What are they doing?” She asked, bewildered. I laughed.
“Playing Halo 3.” I answered, leading her into the Game Room. I sat down on the couch and watched as Jerry sniped a guy and Jake got blown up. Laughing, another jolt in my stomach hit. I wrapped my hands around my stomach and fell to my knees. Emily gasped and Jake turned instantly, dropping his controller.
“Jay, are you okay?!” Emily shouted, panicking. She quickly ran to my side and helped me up.
“I’ll be fine, thanks…” I muttered, gritting my teeth. “Just a little stomach ache.”
“Just a stomach ache my butt!” Emily exclaimed. She ran out and came back in with a glass of water. She handed it to me, beckoning for me to drink. I sighed and did so, just to humor her. She paced around the room nervously and I closed my eyes.
“You’re getting worried over nothing,” I said, standing. “I’ll go take a Pepto Bismol and be alright for the day.”
I walked out of the room and grabbed a Pepto from the cabinet in the kitchen. I could hear Emily stomp her foot, and I smirked. Aggravating her was always fun. I popped a tablet into my mouth, swallowed and chugged down a glass of water. That should do it.

As I pulled into my driveway, another surge of pain hit my stomach, even worse than the one during Science. I yelped in pain and skid to a stop. Holding my stomach, I leaned over in my seat and waited for the pain to ease. When the pain eased a little I floored it down my driveway, slammed on the brakes and jumped out of my LTZ. Instantly when I was out of my car, I felt the vomit in my stomach project. Closing my eyes, I could taste and feel my lunch from earlier. I stopped myself and spit out whatever was left in my mouth. With my eyes still closed, I gasped for air and shakily made my way inside. When I got inside I ran straight for the bathroom, projecting again. I finished when there was nothing left to project. I spit out what was left in my mouth and slowly stood. I went to the sink, washed out my mouth and stared at myself in the mirror. I was pale. I washed my mouth out again and ruffled my hair, sighing. I walked out of the bathroom and sat on the couch, my shoulder aching. Burning. Searing pain shot from my shoulder and I cringed. I squeezed my eyes shut and squirmed, groaning. I ran to the kitchen as quickly as I could and grabbed the bottle of Advil. I poured out a couple and popped them into my mouth, swallowing instantly. Shakily, I made my way back to the couch and crashed.
I spent the next hour or two lying on the couch drowsily, staring at the TV. My mom got home about two hours after the incident and I told her that I wasn’t feeling well. Then Will got home, and then my dad got home. They all watched me carefully and I stared at the TV, relaxed. Before I knew it, it was nearly dark outside. I looked at the clock to see what time it was, when I got an excruciating headache. I squeezed my eyes shut and held my head in my hands. Sitting up, I checked the clock through the pain. 7:27 p.m. I got up and walked towards the door to the garage. I needed fresh air, fast.
When I stepped outside, I looked up at the sky and stared at the moon. Full and blinding. My headache worsened and my shoulder seared. I fell to my knees and gritted my teeth. Groaning, I quickly ran to the backyard, hoping not to be seen. When I was standing in the middle of the more wooded area, I fell to my knees again, pain aching my entire body. My bones began to pull on themselves, and I could feel my skin stretching. Hair started to grow rapidly on my arms, legs, back, and face. When I looked down at my legs, I noticed that I was very quickly and painfully growing an extra joint. Everything started to get darker, and then I could see. I could see in the darkness, like everything was black and white. Easily, contrast was controlled by my eyes, allowing me to see everything in the darkness.
My skull started to shape differently, and I could feel it stretching outward. The excruciating pain that was searing through my body was unbearable. I arched backwards and yelled out into the darkness, but it didn’t sound like a yell. It was a howl. I looked at my hands and saw that they were covered in dark fur and my fingers were tipped with sharp claws. I crossed my eyes at my nose and saw a snout where it should be. I started to pant, my bones aching less and less, and then everything was out of my control.
I felt as though I was sitting back and watching a movie. Everything was black and white, and it moved so fast. I knew what I was doing, but I couldn’t move. I could only watch. I ran through the woods on the other side of my neighbor’s house and bolted past the trees. Barely panting, my eyes scanned the dark woods for life. My eyes locked onto a slight bit of movement, and I took off. I ran after a small doe, which must’ve been scared sick. I felt a strange feeling of grief, then competitively. I could feel a small smirk creep on my face and I ran faster. I leapt at the doe and took it to the ground, biting at its neck. When it finally lay still, I howled in success. I looked down at my pray and attacked it with my teeth, gnawing at its flesh. I scraped and clawed and bit at the carcass, feeling almost greedy. With every growing second, I wanted more and more…

My eyes barely lifted open to see a tiled ceiling. Weird, I thought, my houses ceiling isn’t tiled. I blinked and sat up, my body aching. I glanced around to see a bunch of equipment attached to me. I looked at the person asleep next to me and saw my Uncle Dennis asleep in a chair. I chuckled quietly and immediately knew where I was. But why was I in a Hospital? The door opened and a nurse walked in.
“You should lie back down,” She instructed. “You need a bit more rest.”
“No thanks.” I said, shaking my head. “I need to get to school.”
She shook her head and leaned against the doorframe of the room I was in. She opened her mouth to tell me off, but a voice behind her interrupted her. Emily.
“Jay!” She exclaimed, running into the room. “You’re awake! Oh my God, I’ve been so worried; I was scared sick!”
I groaned and lay back down. I never liked it when people worried about me. Even Emily. I’d rather worry about others than them worry about me like this.
“Don’t worry ‘bout it. It’s just a little scratch.” I said, shrugging. Dennis had woken up by now, and he was standing back. I smiled at him and he winked at me, walking out. Good ‘Ol Dennis.
“So when can I leave?” I asked the nurse who was fixing my IV.
“Later this evening.” She said. Evening? What time was it? I grabbed Emily’s wrist and looked at her watch. 4:53 p.m. I’d been out the entire day. I shook my head and crossed my arms.
“Nah, I’d rather leave now.” I said, pulling the blankets off me. The nurse looked at me angrily and so did Emily. I rolled my eyes and grabbed my clothes that Emily had brought for me. After I changed, I signed the papers needed to be signed and walked out.
I hopped into Emily’s car and let her drive, since I had just gotten out of the Hospital. She was angry enough; I didn’t feel like arguing right at the moment.
When we got to my house, my mom almost tackled me. She started rambling on about how worried she was, what the hell I was thinking and my dad got a few good words in too. I shrugged them off and headed to my room. I needed to do homework. Emily followed me and sat at the foot of my bed while I sifted through the day’s work.
“Jay… what exactly… happened last night…?” She stuttered, almost as if she was afraid of my reaction. I opened my mouth to answer but stopped myself. What had happened last night? I couldn’t tell Emily about the doe incident…
“I’m not sure. I needed some fresh air so I went outside to go for a walk. That’s all I remember.” I lied. I didn’t need her worrying about me any more than she already was.
As I went through the day’s homework, I let my mind wander. Thinking about the weird experience last night, and about what I was. Then a thought popped up. The old man. Emily had noticed that I stopped moving and stared at me.
“Jay, what’s wrong?” She asked, worried. I shook my head.
“It’s nothing. I just need to talk to someone, that’s all.” I said casually. I got up and walked out of the room. When I passed my parents, they both jumped to their feet and ran after me.
“Where d’you think you’re going?” Dad asked. I shook my head while grabbing my car keys.
“I’m going to talk to someone. It’s important, please let me go.” I said, walking out. No one followed me. I felt a wave of relief wash over me as I drove out of the driveway, and to the reservation.
Aside from my incredibly painful headache, and my heavy body, I felt fine. I could drive, right? I pulled into the reservation and cruised along to see if I could find the old man’s place. As I looked down the row of houses, I saw the man standing on his front porch like he was waiting for me. I drove to his house and parked in front of it. Shakily, I got out of my LTZ and walked up to him. He smiled at me.
“How do you feel?” He asked, smiling.
“Like crap. Tell me what happened.” I demanded. The old man chuckled and sat down in an old rocking chair, picking up a drum and a stick with a small bulged cloth at the tip. He started a steady beat upon the drum and muttered a few words under his breath. Then he smiled at me and nodded to the steps for me to sit.
“Many years ago, long before either of us were born, my great grandfather was the chief of the Chickasaws. Before he became the chief, he was but a boy. His name was Dirty Fur. He was almost a complete disgrace to the tribe, and wished to prove himself.
“The Chickasaws believed that any mammal with white fur was magical, so Dirty Fur set out to find a mammal with white fur in order to redeem himself within the tribe. Dirty Fur traveled through the Arbuckle Mountains and through the wooded areas of Oklahoma, searching for a white furred mammal.
“Three months had passed, and Dirty Fur had not found a white furred mammal. He began to lose hope and started to head home when he came across a pack of rabid coyotes. They stared Dirty Fur down and crouched to attack. Dirty Fur took out his dagger and prepared to fight. When the coyotes attacked, Dirty Fur won, but barely. He lay against a tree, badly wounded, and waited for the spirit of death to come and take him away.
“Two days passed, and Dirty Fur had nearly starved. His strength had left him, and he lay on the cold ground to die. On the third night, a white wolf walked through the light of a full moon and came across Dirty Fur. Dirty Fur pleaded to the white wolf to help him. The white wolf refused to help him, for he knew that Dirty Fur had wanted to hunt him. The white wolf sat and watched Dirty Fur slowly die.
“Finally, the white wolf came up with a plan. He walked up to Dirty Fur and bit him upon the shoulder. Dirty Fur yelled in pain and asked why the wolf had bit him. The white wolf explained that Dirty Fur would live after this day, but every full moon, he would experience what it was like to be a hunted animal.
“Dirty Fur thanked the white wolf as it walked out of the glow of the full moon. Dirty Fur fell asleep, and when he awoke he was healed. Dirty Fur returned to his tribe without any white pelts. The tribe saw him even more of a disgrace than before and banished him from the tribe.
“Just before the next full moon, Dirty Fur stood before the chief of the Chickasaws and explained what had happened on his journey. The chief demanded that he prove himself, and Dirty Fur waited for the moon to shine in the darkness of the night.
“When the night finally came, and the moon shone bright, Dirty Fur had transformed into a strange creature. He looked as though he was part dog, or wolf, with white fur, that shone like silver. The chief watched in awe, and saw that Dirty Fur was no longer just a man. He was a great and magical creature. From then on, Dirty Fur was known as Silver Fur and he became a great warrior within the Chickasaws.”
I blinked at the old man, awestruck. What the hell? What in the hell? I’m a wolf? I’m a freaking wolf? A werewolf? Thousands of thoughts raced through my mind, and I stared at the lowering sun in wonder. Everything seemed different now. The colors were sharper, the sounds clearer, and the scents more fulfilling. The world was almost anew.
“Wow.” I said, still awestruck. The old man put down the drum and the stick, getting up to leave. Just before he walked through his front door, he stopped.
“You can call me Pete, or Padfoot if you want to poke fun. I suggest that for the next couple of weeks you come over for more explanation and other things.” He said. He walked inside and shut the door behind him. Still awestruck, I walked to my LTZ and climbed in.
As I drove home, I didn’t listen to music or pay attention to all the calls I was getting on my phone. I was too busy thinking about what Padfoot had said. So, the Chickasaws were actually werewolves? Why didn’t dad ever tell me? I had questions, but they couldn’t be answered until tomorrow. Tomorrow, I would go back to Padfoot’s house and ask my questions. We’ll just see how it goes.

As I watched Jerry and Jake play Halo 3, I debated on my questions for this afternoon. Emily had a good time cheering and jeering with the two while I sat back and let my thoughts take me. It felt good to just sit with my friends and think. While they cheered and had a good time, I was able to get things straight in my head. I decided I wouldn’t tell them about my… curse. Maybe Emily, but not for a while. Not for a long while.
When the time came to go to school, Emily hopped into the LTZ with me and Jerry and Jake went in their mom’s van. We drove one in front of the other to school and Emily and I parked at school while Jake dropped Jerry off at the High School and he went to bring his mom back the van. Emily and I walked inside and sat at our usual spot which was to be populated in the next few minutes with Zoey and her group. Emily didn’t mind much that they were there, but I was a little more agitated. Even more now that I know what I am. The scent of Zoey was a little unnerving, which brought another question to my list of important questions: ‘Why did Zoey smell so weird and not anyone else?’
All throughout the day I felt excluded. I knew I was different, and that everyone else was just normal. It felt wrong, and awkward. I had too many urges to just run and skip school, but I suppressed them. I couldn’t do that to Emily. Though I might after she learns what I am. I couldn’t imagine her reaction after I told her. It made me feel sick to my stomach.
At lunch, Zoey had noticed something. When Emily had gotten up to go to the bathroom, I got a text from Zoey. I looked down at my phone and read the message:
feelin bttr now Jay?
I blinked and typed my reply quickly before anyone noticed what I was doing:
uh ya i am thnx
I glanced at Zoey after pressing send and saw her smirk. I froze and watched her carefully while listening to the thoughts around me to see if anyone was paying attention to us. Luckily, no one really cared and kept with what they were doing. Then my phone vibrated with another message:
good. maybe we shuld tlk sumtime. it mite b good.
I reread the message a hundred times in order to comprehend it. What did she mean? I typed in my reply:
how so?
Emily sat down next to me after I hit send and I smiled at her. She smiled back and looked around the Student Center, bored. I waited for Zoey’s reply, but it never came. When I noticed it was taking longer than it should for her to reply, I looked at her and she mouthed, ‘You’ll see.’ I gave her a weird look and she just chuckled.
The rest of the day was as boring as before I was bitten by that giant wolf. Excluding the urge to skip school and the feeling of being different from everyone else, it was normal. I took Emily home like usual and instead of driving home I went straight to the reservation. When I got there, Padfoot was waiting for me. I jumped out of the car and stood in front of the steps of his porch, staring at him. He smiled and beckoned me inside. I stepped inside and looked around. The walls were covered with old Native American paintings and ornaments. Dream Catchers, feathers, paintings of old chiefs, pictures of tribe members and his children and grandchildren, covered the walls. Behind the ornaments and pictures were wooden walls, and below was an old gray carpet. The furniture looked like it was from the 70’s or 80’s. It was brown and grey, but was decorated with Native American designed pillows. Through the doorway and to the left was the room with the old furniture, then to the right was the kitchen. I guessed that down the hall was the bathroom and bedrooms. I followed Padfoot into the living room and sat down on the old brown couch. He smiled at me.
“I’m betting that you have tons of questions for me?” He asked, answering the question in his head.
“Sure as hell I do.” I said, aggravated. He chuckled and sat down in an old rocking chair.
“I’ll let you ask ten questions. Then we start with training.” He said.
“Training?” I asked. Then I regretted it.
“You’re going to train on being a Werewolf.” He answered. “That’s one question.”
“Figures. Okay, second question: How do I cure being a Werewolf?” I asked. I stared at him for a while and he didn’t answer. Then he started laughing and he looked at me in an evil way.
“You die.” He answered. I froze, staring at him.
“What?!” I exclaimed, and then covered my mouth. That was another question.
“You have to die to cure being a Werewolf. That’s three.” He stated, smirking.
“Okay, fourth question: Is there any way to control the Full Moon thing?” I asked. He shook his head grimly.
“It is close to impossible,” He said, sadly. “It takes tons and tons of practice, and it has only been seen done best by the White Werewolf.”
“The White Werewolf?” I asked. Another question. Padfoot nodded at me and looked out the window.
“The White Werewolf is sort of like the leader of all the Werewolves. It’s the strongest out of us all.” He explained. “Though, there hasn’t been one since my grandfather.”
I nodded. Makes a little sense. The white furred monster being the strongest. Okay, so I had five questions out the window. I had to pick my questions wisely now. I thought about what I wanted to ask, and a question popped into me head.
“I have a friend at school. Her name is Zoey Smith, and she is beautiful. But I think she knows something. I think she knows about the whole Werewolf thing. What d’you think?” I asked. He took his sweet time thinking about it. Finally, he sat back and looked at me.
“What does this Zoey look like?” He asked.
“She’s got brown hair, sort of golden eyes and she’s pale.” I said, thinking about it. He looked at me in a weird way and nodded.
“I see. Best to stay away from her.” He said. “Next question.”
I blinked at Padfoot for a second. Stay away from one of my best friends? Right, like that’s going to happen. I decided not to argue about it and go on to my next question.
“Can we get started on the training?” I asked. He smiled at me and nodded.
“Yes, I believe it’s about time to start.”




4. Training





Padfoot smirked at me. He had told me that this would take a while, but I would probably catch on soon. He looked at the setting sun which shone a beautiful orange, pink, yellow, and red. The sun setting was almost as beautiful as Emily, and I began to let my thoughts dwell on her until I thought about her reaction to my curse. I grimaced.
“Well, I guess it’s time now. It’s better that we start when it starts to get dark so there are fewer chances of witnesses.” He explained, smiling. I tilted my head at him and shrugged. Made sense to me.
“Okay, to start, you’re going to become a wolf.” He said. I stared at him, my jaw dropping.
“I’ve gotta do what?! You’re going to make me go through that experience again? Don’t I need a full moon for something like that?” I yelled. If this old man thought he was going to make me relive that willingly, he had another thing coming.
“It’s not the same thing as what you experienced the other night. This is you willingly transforming, and it’s not a Werewolf you’re becoming, it’s an actual wolf. There’s a difference.” He said, chuckling. I stared at him, completely lost.
“…And how exactly do I do that…?” I asked, puzzled. He laughed and shrugged.
“You’ve gotta feel it. Think and feel—that’s how it’s done.” He said. Great, with no clue how to do it, I’ve got to magically transform into a wolf. I started to feel more and more like an idiot, the more time I spent with him.
I sighed, and closed my eyes. Thinking back on the night of the incident, I concentrated on what I felt. The thought of being on all fours, the fur covering me, the feeling of my snout, tail, and all other wolf-ish body parts flew through my body, and I felt a heat radiate through my body. As it radiated, I fell to my hands and knees, and then felt myself standing. When I reopened my eyes, everything was different. Padfoot was almost short and he was smiling.
“Good boy.” He teased. I blinked for a second and looked down at my feet, seeing two giant black paws with white ‘socks.’ I could feel a smile creep upon my face and I started to laugh, though it sounded more like a bark. I looked down at Padfoot with a smile and he smiled back.
“Well, now that you’ve got that down, I suppose you can have a go. Go ahead and make a few laps around the place, but stay in the woods.” He said, pointing at me. I nodded and bolted into the woods.
The experience was incredible. The wind in my face, flowing through my fur, and off the tip of my tail, it was amazing. As I dodged the trees, I decided that I was probably running about as fast as a car on the highway. Though everything around me was clear and I could focus on where I was going, my speed was logically fast. I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself as I dodged the trees and stopped behind a large bush to watch the highway. The sun had almost disappeared behind the horizon, and the darkness was creeping through the woods and onto the highway. Though it was getting dark, I could still see. Black and white, the focus of what I was looking at was within my control. As I sat in the darkness, I began to listen to the wilderness around me. I heard the rustling of leaves, the birds snuggling into their nests, the coyotes creeping around, and the thoughts of people driving on the highway. Then, I heard Padfoot’s voice. He was thinking for me to come back, and obediently, I did. I ran as fast as I could back to the reservation and stood in front of the old man that was shorter than me now.
“Okay, now change back.” He demanded. I blinked at him and thought about being on two feet. No more fur, no tail, hands, hair on my head and snout-less. The heat within my body shriveled into the deepest part of my body, and I balanced on two legs. Padfoot smirked at me and threw some clothing at me.
“When you change back, you’re naked. Keep some clothes with you, that way it makes things easier.” He snickered. I looked down and let my head fall back, groaning.
“I wish you would’ve told me that earlier.” I grunted, putting on the clothes. He laughed and motioned me to follow him through the house and out to the front porch.
“We’ll continue tomorrow. For now, rest.” He said, pointing at the LTZ. I nodded and waved to him as I drove off.
When I got home, my parents weren’t too happy about my disappearance. I groaned as they lectured me and told me to keep my cell on at all times when I leave and etc. I informed them where I’d be going after school over the next couple of weeks and they looked puzzled about it but didn’t ask any questions, thankfully. I went to my room, laid on my bed and waited for dinner to be ready. I was starving, and hadn’t eaten since lunch. As I lay on my bed, I heard the phone ring and my mom pick up. I let my eyes close and let my thoughts wonder until my mom burst into my room.
“It’s Emily.” She said, handing me the phone.
“Hello?”
“Jay, hey, where have you been?” She asked. I yawned.
“Out. Just seeing someone. What’s wrong?” I quizzed.
“Well, you never told me anything about it so when I tried to call earlier no one picked up. Then I tried your cell and you didn’t pick up, so I started to worry…” She trailed off. Poor Emily, I had worried her. I told myself that I couldn’t let something like that happen again. I sat up on the edge of my bed and sighed.
“I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to worry you. For the next couple of weeks I’ll be down at the reservation after school.” I explained. She sighed, relieved and I could hear her voice perk up.
“Alright. Can you do anything this weekend, though?” She asked.
“Sure. What d’you wunna do?” I asked. I could hear her hesitation and I smiled.
“I was thinking dinner and a movie?” She asked shyly. The smile on my face grew, and I had to hold back a laugh.
“Absolutely. I’ll pick you up around 6:30 on Saturday, alright?” I suggested. I could hear her try to hide her squeak and the she brought the phone back to her head.
“Sure. I’ll see you tomorrow, Jay.” She said.
“Alright, bye.” I said, hanging up the phone.

Ah, nothing like Friday morning to cheer you up, right? I sat up from my bed and yawned, then went and jumped into the shower. When I was clean, I hopped out, dried off and went through my usual routine. I let Jerry and Jake in, and then left to get Emily. She was very cheery when I picked her up, obviously excited to go eat dinner and see a movie tomorrow. I lead her inside and sat on the couch, Emily sitting next to me and laying her head on my chest. I smiled and put my arms around her, watching Jerry and Jake play Halo 3.
After school I dropped Emily off at her house, kissing her on the cheek before I did so, and waved goodbye to her. I drove over to the reservation and parked in front of Padfoot’s place. When I got out, I saw him standing in front of the doorway. I smiled at him and he just nodded.
“It’s time.” He said grimly. I tilted my head at him and followed him to the backyard. When we were in the backyard, he stood back and nodded at me.
“Change.” He demanded. I nodded back and changed into my giant wolf form. He pointed to the strange looking dummies that he obviously had just made or had for a long time. “Attack.”
I shrugged at him and lunged at the dummies, biting and dismembering their limbs. I let the animal part of me rip the dummies to shreds. When there wasn’t much more to rip up, I stepped back and looked at Padfoot. He nodded.
“Good boy.” He said, smirking. He walked up to me and patted me on the shoulder blade. He turned and looked at the sun’s position, and then turned back to me. “Now, you hunt.”
I looked at the old man as he pointed to the woods, his thoughts loud and clear. I sort of smirked at him and bolted into the woods. I could feel the air getting cooler as the sun drooped and the light faded. My eyes quickly focused to the darkness and I shifted them from left to right, looking for something to hunt. Anything would do, a doe, a coyote, a bunny, cat, dog, anything. As I ran out of the woods and into the plains, I heard a light thud, thud, thud behind me. I continued to hunt while quietly listening to the running behind me. As I ran further, I began to concentrate on the thoughts of the one behind me.
I’ll follow you anywhere, sir.
I skid to a halt turned around, allowing my eyes to focus the one following me. I looked the giant wolf in the eye and thought for a second.
Who’re you?
My thoughts made a voice as though I was talking. The dark brown wolf chuckle-barked and sat down to scratch its ear.
You’re Beta. You’re second in command. I’ve joined the pack.
I stepped back and tilted my head at the wolf. What was he getting at, exactly? I was the Alpha? I’m not a good leader. I’m not even a part of a pack. I’m just out and on my own.
Not anymore, you’re not. I’ve been watching you for a while.
The wolf was watching me. Great. I sighed and turned around, starting walk off again when I noticed that the wolf was following me. I grunted and stopped.
Fine. What’s your name, anyway?
The wolf chuckled and sat down, scratched its ear again.
The name’s Scott. And you’re Jay, right?
I nodded and looked at the sky. The moon was just a thin crescent. I sighed slightly and started again towards the direction I was originally in. Scott followed me obediently, keeping his thoughts to himself, thankfully. As we ran through the plains of Oklahoma, I started to think about what was going on in my life. First, I was bitten by a giant wolf, whom was probably Padfoot. Second, I turned into a more human-like wolf, known to be a Werewolf. Third, I’m being trained to turn into a wolf at will. Fourth, I’m the Alpha, or the head, of a pack of two wolves. What in the hell is wrong with my life?
I heard Scott snicker behind me, but I ignored him. We kept running through the plains and the woods until we were probably close to around Norman. That’s when we came across a bear. It was brown, from what I could see so I guessed it was a Grizzly. Scott stared at it for a second, and then let his head get inflated.
I can take it, Jay. Just watch me.
I sighed, rolling my eyes and stood back to watch him. The Grizzly growled at Scott and stood on its hind legs while Scott crouched. He lunged at the Grizzly, biting and snapping. The Grizzly swatted at Scott and hit him in the head, knocking him back. I sighed again and lunged at the Grizzly while it was distracted. I was able to bite at its neck and pull it onto its back. After it was on the ground, Scott joined me in finishing the job.
We went back to the reservation and stood before Padfoot. He smirked at the both of us and nodded.
“Good. Scott finally found you.” He said. He tossed some clothes at our feet and we changed back and dressed. When we went inside, he stood in front of the front door. He looked at us both carefully for a minute and grunted.
“If you have any plans for this weekend, cancel them. We’ve got training to do.” He stated, opening the door. I let my jaw drop and clenched my fists.
“What? I’ve got a date with my girlfriend tomorrow night! Can’t I at least spend the evening with her then join back with you guys?” I asked, anger rising in me.
“No!” He yelled. “All day and night tomorrow is training. You’re doing nothing but training tomorrow. Call you girlfriend tonight and cancel your date.”
I grumbled and cursed him under my breath before finally muttering, “Fine.”
“Good boy.” He smirked and ushered us out of his house. As I walked out, more cursing flew from under my breath. I gritted my teeth the entire drive home and nearly crushed my phone as I punched in Emily’s number.
“Hello?” Emily’s beautiful voice answered. I could feel a calming sensation wash over me, but when I remembered what I was calling for not even Emily’s voice could calm me.
“Emily? It’s Jay.” I said.
“Oh, hey Jay! What’s up?” She asked happily. I cringed again, thinking about what her reaction would be to what I was about to say.
“Not much. Hey, listen, I’ve got some bad news. I’ve gotta cancel tomorrow night’s date. I’m going to be busy all day and night tomorrow and probably the rest of the weekend. How ‘bout we reschedule for next weekend or something?” I asked. I could hear the disappointment in her voice and a little bit of stuttering.
“O-oh, okay. That’s okay, Jay, you’re a busy person. I understand. How about we reschedule for next Friday night?” She asked, faking a casual voice. I sighed and tried to fake a happy voice.
“Sure, sounds good. G’night, Emily.” I said.
“Good night, Jay.” She concluded and hung up.
Instantly, a brick fell in my stomach. I could feel exhaustion hit me like a brick wall, and sadness stab me a couple times. I couldn’t believe I just did that. Padfoot was going to pay for that one.
My eyes slowly opened Saturday morning. I groaned and gritted my teeth. Training with Scott and Padfoot. All day and all night, nothing but working and training. I got out of bed and poured a bowl of Frosted Flakes while grabbing some old worn out clothes to wear to training today. I hopped into the shower, got out, dried off, got dressed, ate breakfast, and was out the door before anyone was awake. By the time I was at Padfoot’s house, it was about 9:30 a.m. When I pulled into the driveway, Scott’s bike was already there. What’s the deal with this guy, anyway?
Getting out of the LTZ, I could see Scott and Padfoot talking through the window. I walked up to the front door and walked through. They both smirked at me, standing up and Padfoot led us outside.
Padfoot nodded, and Scott and I dropped to the ground, changing in the process. It felt good to be in my wild state; feeling the freedom. As I relaxed into my wolf form I looked up at Padfoot. He nodded at Scott and me and pointed to the woods.
“In there is an animal. Kill the animal. The animal has a specific scent. Use your nose to find it, and when you do, kill it. Don’t give it a second thought, just kill it.” He explained. Scott and I nodded and ran into the woods, sniffing for anything out of the ordinary. Finally, I found a scent that was unfamiliar. It was a burning smell, like something was on fire. I started to follow the scent and Scott followed me. We started to run faster and faster, dodging the trees and shrubs, following the scent until we came upon a strange looking child. I halted immediately and stared at it as it stared back.
The child was about 2 feet tall, with short, pitch black hair and grey skin. Its eyes were a deep golden yellow, with slivers of red within them. Its teeth were white and sharp, easy to bite into anything. I looked into the golden eyes carefully, looking for any kind of threat. There wasn’t a single bit of threat that I could find within the child. I looked over it again, and found hidden in its hair two small horns, the same color as the skin. Sitting about 10 feet from me, the child grimaced, a cracking noise coming from it. I stood half a step back and watched.
Watch it, Jay. This thing’s strange, and I can’t hear its thoughts.
The child cringed as the cracking noise became louder, almost as if its bones were breaking. Finally, out of its back spawned two giant, bat-like wings, covered in a strange gooey liquid. The child flapped the wings a bit and lunged at me. I hopped out of the way, the child barely missing me. It growled and hissed at me and lunged again, this time slightly scratching my shoulder as I dodged. I yelped slightly, the scratch burning like it was filled with gasoline and set on fire. I glared at the child and lunged at it. It shrieked and attempted to fly away from me. I bit it by the leg and flung it to the ground. The child whimpered and looked up at me with its golden eyes. I growled down at it as the scratch on my shoulder still burned. I bent down and bit its head, silencing it forever. I turned around and walked away from the corpse of the child as it set on fire by itself.
Let’s get back to Padfoot, Scott. I’m done for the day.
We ran back to Padfoot’s house to see him sitting on a lawn chair, smiling. He obviously knew that we were successful. I stood before him, my scratch still burning and growled at him. He just laughed and pet me on the head.
“Good boy.” He congratulated. He pointed to the clothes next to the lawn chair and walked inside his house. I glanced sideways at Scott and sighed, changing and putting the clothes on. I followed Padfoot inside with Scott behind me. Finally, we sat in the living room.
“So what the hell was that?” I asked. He continued to smile at me as he propped his feet up onto the center table. I glanced at Scott and back at Padfoot, waiting for a reply.
“What d’you think it was?” He asked, like a smart-allelic. I gritted my teeth and asked again.
“What was that thing I just killed?”
“A nuisance. Don’t worry; you’re doing the world a favor, getting rid of those pests. They were created by hell’s creatures; they deserve to be put back in their homes.” He explained. I jumped to my feet in anger.
“It was a child, dammit!”
“No, it was a monster. Monsters have no age labels, such as child, teenager or adult. They are just what they are.” He said. I could feel my nostrils flaring, so, I took a deep breath and sat back down. The scratch on my arm still burnt from the child’s attack, so I looked at it and saw three red scratch marks running down my shoulder. I grunted and looked at Padfoot.
“How can we fix this?” I asked. He laughed and stared at it.
“It will take a little while, but it will heal on its own. From now on, be a little more careful.” He suggested, chuckling. I grunted and bolted out the doorway, changing back into a wolf and running through the woods. Padfoot was starting to piss me off.
As I ran through the woods, I passed by the spot I had killed the child, and I ran past where Scott and I had killed the Grizzly bear. I ran as far as I could, not caring at all if anyone would miss me. I ran more than 100 miles from Padfoot’s house and stopped, turning around and looking at the direction I came from. I was panting slightly, tired from the long run. Distantly, I could hear Scott trying to talk to me, though I was blocking him out the entire time.
Jay, come back, dude. We need to talk about this more.
I growled at him and I could tell he was backing off a little. I sighed and started running back, the sun setting behind me and the woods and plains darkening. I was about three quarters the way back when I started paying attention to Emily’s thoughts.
I wonder what Jay is doing right now… I wish I were with him now. What did he have to do that was so important…?
I felt my stomach flip, and I changed my course, running towards Emily’s thoughts. As her thoughts became louder, I slowed my pace until I came to the edge of the woods beside Emily’s house. There, I lay down and listened to her thoughts, feeling worse and worse for what I did. After an hour or so, I finally stood and ran back to Padfoot’s house. When I got there, Padfoot wasn’t happy. He flicked me on the nose and threw a pair of jeans and a T-shirt at me.
“Bad boy.” He grunted, walking back into the house. I glared at his back as he walked away and changed back to normal, putting on the clothes. I didn’t bother walking through the house; instead, I hopped his fence and got into the LTZ, driving away.
While driving, I concentrated on my breathing to keep my thoughts from Padfoot. I gritted my teeth every once and a while, but I soon became virtually calm. Since I was able to become calm so quickly, I thought I deserved a prize. I turned onto the road that Emily lived on and looked at the clock. 10:16 p.m. It was a little late, but I didn’t think she’d care much.
I pulled into the Belle residences’ driveway and turned off the car. As I climbed out of the driver’s seat, I let out a deep sigh and braced myself for whatever was to come when the door was answered. I stepped onto the front porch and rapped on the door. There was a pause, then the door opened and I saw Emily’s beautiful face; her hazel eyes glowing in the porch light, and her brown hair framing her heart-fluttering face. Her beautiful face was obviously tired, but her expression enlightened greatly when she realized I was at the door. She smiled and wrapped her arms around my waist, almost tackling me. I laughed.
“I’m sorry for dropping in so late, but I felt bad for cancelling our date.” I explained. She smiled and hid her face in my chest, letting her mouth become exposed to speak.
“Don’t worry about it at all, Jay! I’m glad you’re here!” She said excitedly. I hugged her and she led me inside, sitting me on the couch. She sat beside me and laid her head on my chest, closing her eyes.
“I’m so glad you’re here, Jay. I missed you so much…” She muttered as the blanket of sleep fell over her. I smiled and brushed her hair gently while watching her sleep. As she slept, I thought about what happened at Padfoot’s today, and thought about my being a werewolf. With my werewolf abilities, I’ll have the strength to kill the monsters within the world. I’ll be able to keep Emily safe from harm’s way, and I’ll be able to keep our families safe, as well. But the creature I took the life of today was also but a young child. No matter what species it was, it was still a child, and that was what was bugging me the most. Finally, I decided that I needed the training, no matter how much I didn’t like it. Padfoot had mainly good intentions, right?
After finally deciding my situation with Padfoot, and I picked Emily up carefully, not to wake her, and carried her up the stairs to bed. I laid her in her bed, under the comforter and kiss her gently on the head. As I closed the door to her room, I saw Beatrice in the hallway. I was so distracted by Emily and my own thoughts I hadn’t heard hers. She looked at me in a weird way; I got nervous.
“Uh, Emily let me in and fell asleep while we were talking…” I trailed off nervously. She smiled and nodded.
“Don’t worry, Jay. You’re always welcome here. Thanks for seeing her and putting her to bed. She was worried that you canceled.” She explained. I nodded and we said our goodbyes and goodnights, then I left the Belle residence. I drove away, silently and happily. Tonight was a good night for me.
Sleeping felt good after the long day. The only problem was that I didn’t feel like I had enough sleep—even if I slept until about noon. I ate some cereal for lunch, took a shower and headed over to Padfoot’s. Today was going to be a little different, I knew, because I would be on my better behavior. I pulled into the gravel driveway and turned off the LTZ. Yawning, I stepped out of the car and walked into the house, listening to thoughts. Everything was silent. I froze, listening intently. Either no one was home, or no one was thinking. The entire house was empty of voices of any kind. Carefully, I stepped into Padfoot’s house. I stared unbelievingly at the mess. Furniture was ripped, tables knocked over, papers and books scattered—everything was torn to shreds. Slowly, I made my way through the house, looking at the mess. I looked for any sign of blood. I inhaled through my nose, sniffing the air, and growled. The scent of something burning filled the house. I followed the trail of the scent throughout the house until it led outside. I stood, staring towards the wall of trees, where the scent led to. I took a deep breath, filled with the “monster’s” scent and ran towards the woods, leaping into them, and changing into a wolf as I landed inside the cover of the trees.
I ran as fast as I could, following the scent of the monster. I had to find Padfoot as soon as I could. But one thing kept eating away at me—where was Scott? He was usually at Padfoot’s before me, especially today when I had slept until noon. I didn’t catch his scent at all when I was at Padfoot’s house. Did he not come? I had no information on Scott except for his name and that he was in my pack. I regretted not asking questions so I could get a hold of him when I needed to. I continued my sprint through the woods, following the scent. Finally, I came to a cave beside one of the large mountain-like hills. The scent of fire and brimstone covered the area, making it stink. I backed away as I heard the steps of many of the monsters heading toward the mouth of the cave. I let out a low growl and ran back to Padfoot’s, developing a plan. I had no clue how much time I had, but I needed a plan and I needed to prepare.
About twenty feet away from the cave, I stopped and turned around. I didn’t have much time, and I couldn’t prepare anymore than I already was. I just needed to jump in there, kill as many of the monsters as possible, and get out. Simple, right? I hid behind the trees and bushes, watching and listening to the footsteps of the monster as they made their way to the opening. I decided the best plan was to just jump out and kill them one by one, and hope I can kill them all. I crouched lower as the steps became louder, then, suddenly, they stopped. I stood straight up and stared without blinking at the opening. None of the monsters had exited the cave, yet it was as if there were none in there in the first place. The scent was nearly gone, and it wasn’t being replaced by a new one. It was just, disappearing. I gasped as the scent was nearly gone, and bolted for the cave opening. Before I had even gotten to the actual cave, Padfoot emerged. I skid to a stop and looked at him, wondering. I looked at me and just shook his head.
“Don’t worry, I’m fine.” He assured me. He walked past me and headed towards his house. I followed not far behind. I couldn’t help but wonder what had happened, or how he was unscratched. He knew I would listen to his thoughts on the matter, so he thought about something else. Every time I checked his thoughts, they were on the mess at his house, or decided what to do next for my training.
Finally, we got back to Padfoot’s house and I reverted back to human, putting some jeans on. I looked up at Padfoot, and he had his back to me, looking into his messy house.
“So what exactly happened here?” I asked, irritated. He shook his head and sighed.
“Those damned monsters broke into my house and destroyed the inside of it. I followed them to that cave, but lost them once I was inside.” He explained with a hint of annoyance. I sighed and looked into the sky. There was a thick blanket of dark grey clouds overhead, and a gust of wind was starting. I shook my head and walked past Padfoot into his house.
“Well, I’m off. Scott’s obviously not here, and after what just happened, I doubt you’re up to training today. We can pick up tomorrow after school.” I said as I walked towards my car, putting a shirt on. I heard him grunt, but I ignored him. This was a good chance to spend the rest of the weekend with Emily, and I wasn’t going to miss out on it.
“Fine, but tomorrow you’re in for a big surprise. For this little stunt, you’re going to be training extra.” He warned. I shrugged him off as if I didn’t care.
“It’s worth it.” I said, climbing into the LTZ and driving off towards Emily’s house.
The drive seemed longer than usual. I was almost paranoid about what was around me. I kept thinking I smelled a hint of something burning, so my eyes were always on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary around me. Finally, I arrived to the Belle residence. I listened to the thoughts of the Belles to see what they were doing, until I realized that there was only one voice in the entire house—Emily’s. She was in her room, listening to music and playing on her laptop. I grinned as I decided to climb up the tree beside her window and sneak into her room. I climbed out of the car and walked up to the tree. I looked up and listened to Emily’s thoughts, making sure she was completely oblivious to my presence. I jumped as high as I could and grabbed onto the closest branch when I was at the peak of my jump and pulled myself onto the branch. Conveniently enough, the branch that I climbed onto was the one beside Emily’s window. I grinned as I carefully stepped to the window, opened it and slipped into her room. As I shut the window, I noticed she was still oblivious to my presence. I snickered quietly and snuck up behind her, and quickly wrapped my arms around her.
She did a few things in that same exact instant: she jumped in fear, screamed, turned around to look at me, and punched me in the chest. I laughed at every single reaction. She got blushed, and got angry at me. Hiding her face in my chest, she tried to beat me with her fist while holding it in pain. I laughed even more.
“Calm down, calm down.” I instructed, grabbing her arm and looking at her hurt fist.
“How’d you get in here?” She demanded. I laughed.
“The window. I thought I’d have a little fun and surprise you.” I explained, laughing. She shivered.
“No wonder it got so cold in here. You do know my parents aren’t here, right? Or Tyler?” She asked. I nodded but didn’t explain. That agitated her. I snickered and pressed certain points on her wrist. She didn’t wince so I let it go.
“You’ll be fine, Miss.” I said in a deeper voice, poorly impersonating a doctor. She laughed at my poor impersonation and did one herself, but as a poor, helpless woman.
“Why, thank you, doctor. I don’t know what I’d do without you!” She exclaimed in a high, fake voice. We laughed together and she leaned against me. I smiled and wrapped both my arms around her, taking in her beautiful scent—vanilla.
Finally, after a few minutes, I heard Emily’s stomach growl, so I swiftly picked her up and carried her down stairs while she flailed about and demanded I put her down. I laughed the entire way.
When we got into the living room, I carefully dropped her onto the couch and walked into the kitchen, looking for food. I could hear Emily gripping about my sifting through their stuff, and I grinned.
“So what d’you feel like eating, Emmy?” I asked, using the fun nickname I thought of on the spot. She appeared in the doorway, an eyebrow raised.
“Emmy?” She asked. I laughed.
“Last minute nickname.” I explained. She scowled at me, and then sighed and followed behind me, taking my hand and looking for something to eat. I smiled and gently squeezed her hand. I glanced at her and saw her smile back, and then reached for a cup of instant ramen. I laughed and grabbed it for her. She smiled in a pouty way.
“I could’ve gotten it.” She mumbled. I laughed again.
I filled a kettle with water and let it boil, then poured it in the ramen cup, letting it sit for the three minutes. The ramen smelled delicious, but I decided not to eat, considering I ate like an animal. I chuckled at that thought and Emily looked at me weird. I shook my head and waved her off. She shrugged and kept eating.
When she finished, we went into the living room and sat down, while watching the TV. We laughed and made jokes about the shows and talked about what we’ve been doing lately. Well, mainly what she’s been doing lately. Finally, we got to an odd conversation.
“So, what’ve you been doing down at the reservation so much lately?”Emily asked, trying to act nonchalant. I groaned.
“It’s just busy work. Helping out an old man.” I lied. It sounded pretty good to me, but she didn’t buy it.
“Alright, but what have you really been doing down there?” She pressed. I groaned again.
“Can we just talk about something else?”
“No, I want to know.” She demanded.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, anyway.” I said bitterly, getting up and looking out the large window-door. Emily got up and stood behind me. I heard her thoughts and knew she was angry.
“Jay, just tell me. I want to know. Can’t your girlfriend know where you are all the time instead of spending time with her?” She asked, pleading. I sighed and shook my head.
“I can’t, Emily. I just can’t. You wouldn’t understand.” I said, looking at the woods behind her house.
“Try me.” She said coldly. I gritted my teeth at her tone and her anger, and took deep breaths to keep my temper at a very low level.
“Emily, you don’t understand—I can’t.” I explained. She shook her head, enraged.
“God damn it, Jay, just tell me!”
“No! I can’t! Trust me; it’d be better if you didn’t know!” I shouted back, my temper shooting up but I forced it back down. Had turned around and looked at her. Her face was red with anger, and tears were in her eyes. Pain struck through my body at the sight of tears, so I turned around and looked at the woods.
“Please, Emily. I can’t. I just… can’t.” I said my voice calm and quiet. To my displeasure, she didn’t give up.
“No, Jay. Tell me now.” She demanded again. I shook my head, still staring into the woods. Then, I noticed something. I heard a quiet whisper in the distance towards the woods and saw something move. Something furry. My eyes widened and rage flared through me. I had to bite my tongue to keep myself from transfiguring into a wolf at that moment; the heat was almost burning my veins.
“No, Emily, stop it, now.” My voice was shaky from the rage. Emily’s thoughts became somewhat frightened and curious, but mostly enraged.
“Are you going to cry?” She asked in disbelief.
“No, Emily, I’m not. I’m trying to keep my temper down, but you really aren’t helping.” I growled, my eyes not leaving the woods. I looked for any other signs of movement. The voice was gone, but I could’ve sworn it was Scott’s. Rage flared through even more through my body. As soon as I left here, I would hunt him down.
“Jay, if you’re just going to glare at the woods and lie to me, then maybe you should leave.” She suggested depression and anger domination her emotions. That suggestion hurt more than I thought. I didn’t want to leave from fear of what might happen while I wasn’t there. I sighed shakily and stared at the woods.
“Jay, please leave.” She asked, still angry.
I didn’t move. I continued to stare at the woods, looking for any kind of hint that what I saw and heard was true.
“Jay, leave.” She demanded.
Still, I stayed put, staring intently into the woods, looking for someone or something to move or think. Still nothing was there.
“Jay, get the hell outta my house!” Emily yelled, rage rising in her, and at that same moment I heard Scott’s thoughts:
Haha, Jay.
I grabbed the sliding window-door and bolted out of the house, heading straight for the woods. The 30˚F air probably froze Emily, but I didn’t care. My eyes began to tear up from the cold air drying them out as I ran as fast as I could towards the woods. While I was running, I hadn’t noticed anything else, like the constant yelling and screaming of Emily telling me I’m going the wrong way, and the snow that had started to fall when I lunged out of the Belles’ house. It started to make a very thin blanket as I got closer to the woods.
Finally, when I was within the cover of the woods and snow, I transformed into a wolf and ran after Scott. Growling, I found his thoughts and ran faster towards him. When I finally found him, I lunged at him and pinned him down against the snowy ground.
What the hell were doing following me to her house, Scott, and where the hell were you this morning?!
My thoughts were like a screaming yell at Scott and he flinched at every single syllable. I barked at him in rage and continued to growl, still keeping him pinned.
I was just checking on you! And Padfoot said I could sleep in today, so I did. Then when I got to his house it was trashed and she said that you had run off. I just went to where I last found you!
His thoughts were scared, and I took pity on him, my rage still flaring. I paced around in the snow, trying to calm down. His presence didn’t help me at all. He heard that and began to walk away. I didn’t stop him, but he stopped himself. I growled and looked at him as he turned around.
Um… Padfoot wanted me to tell you something. He said, ‘Tomorrow is no mercy. You’re going to kill them, and as many as possible; whether you like it or not.’
I threatened him with my teeth and barked at him.
Tell him I’m not afraid of what the hell he has in store. And tell him he’s got to watch his back.
Scott nodded and ran off. I continued to pace through the woods, calming myself. The snow slowly fell and started to stick to my fur, making me more white than brown. I shook it off and decided I needed to grab some clothes, so I started to run towards Padfoot’s. Half way there, I met Zoey, whom surprised me. I skid to a stop and tried to back away before she could see me, but she smiled at me and threw some clothes at me.
“Get dressed, Jay. I wunna talk.” She said with a smile. Oh no.
I picked up the clothes with my mouth and walked behind a couple of bushed, reverting back to human and putting the blue jeans, black shirt and black leather jacket on. Nice outfit, I thought. While putting on the clothes, I attempted to read Zoey’s thoughts—until I realized I couldn’t. I froze and looked at her. Her golden eyes watched my Lapis blue ones. Was she one of them?
Finally, I was dressed, and I came out from behind the bushes. She looked me up and down and nodded, smiling.
“You look good like that. You can keep it.” She said, smiling. I nodded, sighing.
“So what d’you want? And how did you know it was me?” I asked. She smiled and shrugged.
“I’m good at following people, I guess—”She smiled at me“—but the question at hand is what are you going to do about Emily?” She asked. I froze, and stared at her.
“I… don’t know.” I finally answered. It was the truth, and she knew it. She nodded and leaned against the tree behind her.
“Alright. But I want to warn you about something,” She said.”That Padfoot guy… he’s dangerous. He’s not what you think he is, Jay, and he’s going to lead you the wrong way.”
I sighed and shook my head. Since when did everyone care about me? I glanced up at her serious expression.
“Since when did I invite you into this party?” I hissed. “Obviously, you know my secret, but what about yours, huh? I only know what you’ve put out. You’re hiding things, Zoey.”
She flinched at my tone and clenched her jaw. I was aggravating her. It was a good thing, too. She deserved to be annoyed and mad, considering she had no business just jumping into my problems like that. I didn’t want her help.
“Yes, Jay, I am hiding things. Trust me, it’s for the better.” She explained her face somber. She was completely unbelievable. If she thought telling me my secrets and keeping her own was for the better, she was wrong.
“No, it’s not. Tell me what you are, Zoey. You know who I am, who are you? Are you really Zoey Smith?” I asked annoyance and anger rising back in me again.
“Jay, calm down. I am Zoey Smith, I promise. I’m just… not human.” She managed to finish.
“Then what are you?” I demanded. She bit her lip, staring at me in aggravation. I could see the angry battle going on within her and I awaited the outcome as if it were nothing. Finally, the battle ended, and she spoke.
“In Germany, we’re known as Albtraum. In Dutch, we’re known as ‘Die van de Satan.’ In Italian, we’re known as ‘Quelli di Satana’ or ‘Incubo.’ But, here in the United States of America, for those whom know of us call us the ‘Incubus’ or ‘Those of Satan.’” She explained carefully. Her attention was to the ground, and I noticed a kind of sadness within her voice as she explained what she was. I couldn’t help but feel a little sorry.
“So… you’re demons.” I simplified in a quiet voice. She kind of giggled and looked up at me.
“Somewhat. We’re like a different species of demon than the regular demon you read about in the bible… we’re like half-vampire, y’know?” She asked casually. I thought about it and decided I didn’t know.
“You’ve lost me.”
“Well, we’re demons, but instead of feeding on souls of humans or taking over their bodies, we manifest our own flesh and feed on… living things, depending on how we wish to live. But, in the way we’re like vampires is that we can eat humans, or animals, or whatever we find. Our bite is infective, if we don’t kill you first.” She clarified. Finally, I understood and I nodded. That made enough sense for me to understand.
“Well… that’s interesting. But how come you smell different from the others?” I asked. She thought about it and laughed.
“It’s because I’m female. Males tend to smell of brimstone or something burning, females are sweet-smelling.” She said. I nodded.
“Alright then.” I concluded my questions. I looked around us at the blanket of snow that had fallen around us. Then Emily slipped back into my thoughts.
“You need to go calm Emily.” She commented. My eyes widened as I listened to the thoughts of her crying in her room. Pain fell over me, the brick dropped into my stomach and my chest ached. I needed to apologize, soon. I nodded at Zoey and she just smiled and waved me away. I turned around and bolted back towards her house.



5. “Quelli di Satana”




I sprinted across the Belle’s backyard and stopped at the backdoor. I walked around the house and quickly jumped into a tree and climbed up it in one motion. When I got to Emily’s window, I calmed myself and carefully pulled it open, climbing in. She was crying on her bed, her head under her pillow. I stood next to her bed, the brick in my stomach heavier. Carefully, I sat next to her on the bed and put a hand on her shoulder.
“Emily…” I mumbled. She went quiet but didn’t move. A few moments passed and she finally peeked out from under her pillow. Her eyes were red, and she had streaks down her cheeks from the tears. Suddenly, I felt uncomfortable. I reached my hand out to put on her cheek and she allowed my hot hand to lie on her face. I whipped away a tear that was slowly streaming down her face and cringed.
“I’m sorry. Things are… complicated…” I trailed off. She sat up, holding my hand against her cheek, and shook her head.
“I’m the one to be apologizing, Jay. I should’ve just trusted your judgment…” She said. I sighed. Who knew girls were so… difficult?
“Don’t worry ‘bout it, Emily. I’m so stubborn, and I never really notice it.” I confessed. She shook her head again and whipped her tears with my hand. I kind of chuckled and whipped my hand on her bed.
“So we’re okay now?” She asked. I laughed.
“Shouldn’t I be the one to be asking that?” I asked, and she laughed, too. After that, we both knew we were okay again. Every couple has their fights, right?

We spent the rest of the day talking and having fun. After an hour of our talking, Emily’s parents came home and we talked and messed around with them. It was getting late when Tyler came home, and with his annoyed look of seeing me there, I decided it was time to take my leave. We said our goodbyes, and I set off in my LTZ, heading home. I decided I would visit Padfoot tomorrow after school.
When I got home, I finally realized that I had forgotten about work. I groaned and knew I would pay for it next weekend. As I headed towards my room, I noticed an interesting smell. A smell, much like the Incubus, yet slightly different. My heart started to beat quickly (which didn’t happen often since I became a werewolf) and looked for my family. Will was in the Game Room, Kate was in her room and my parents were in the living room, watching TV. I slightly relaxed and headed to my room. I lay on my bed and quietly listened to the thoughts of my family. Nothing was out of the ordinary, thankfully, but it still didn’t calm me. Finally, I decided to sneak out of my room through my window, and follow the scent. I wanted to know what was invading my house. The scent had led me to the wall of trees behind my house, and behind the sheds. There, standing quite tall and muscular was a pale white male with golden hair. His eyes were an interesting mix of crimson and gold, with a slight hint of green within them. The man was about my height, and his golden hair was perfectly combed back so you could see his forehead fully. I breathed in his scent and exhaled quickly, eyeing him carefully. He smiled this interestingly handsome smile and put his hands in his pockets.
“I was wondering when you were to decide to follow my scent, Mr. Matthews.” He said in an English accent, and somewhat formally. I kept on my guard, just in case.
“No need to be tense, sir, I wish to only know of whom my friend speaks of. That person, obviously, would be you, Jay.” He explained. “My name is Arthur Daniels. It is a pleasure to meet you.”
I couldn’t move. This man—or thing—was casually speaking to me, even though I knew he wasn’t human. He obviously knew I wasn’t human, and he knew I knew he wasn’t human, yet he spoke with no threat or defense whatsoever.
“Uh… nice to meet you, too, Arthur.” I said, not sure what to say. He quietly laughed, his voice was a pleasant noise to hear, though still nothing compared to Emily’s.
“In case you haven’t noticed”—he knew I did—“I’m not human.” He said. I nodded for him to go on.
“I am a vampire. I know, it seems to be cliché to have a vampire and werewolf together in a story like your life, Jay, but I’m here to help you.” He explained. I stared at him, dumbfounded. A vampire? You had to be kidding me, a vampire and a werewolf, what I grew up to know as enemies now standing in front of each other casually talking. This was one of the many points in which I had started to miss the old days where my only worries were the need for more money and playing video games.
“A vampire. So, what friend of ours sent you to me? Zoey?” I asked. He tilted his head and looked puzzled at me.
“I’m not sure whom this ‘Zoey’ is, but I was sent by my good friend, Pete.” He said. I thought about that name; I was sure I had heard it somewhere… then it hit me. Padfoot’s birth name was Pete. Padfoot was starting to piss me off more and more by the hours.
“Oh.” I said in a bitter tone. He chuckled and nodded.
“Yes, he informed me of your somewhat bitterness towards him. He’s expecting a visit from you tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I’mma tell ‘em off for spying on me.” I growled, clenching my fists. Arthur smiled pleasantly at me and turned his back to me.
“I’ll be sure to inform him of that.” He assured me as he began to walk away.
“Hey, wait!” I hissed. He turned and looked at me strangely.
“What is it, Mr. Matthews?” He questioned.
“What is all this for? You’re sudden appearance, then disappearance?” I asked. He chuckled.
“I was sent to evaluate you. And, as Pete had said, you are indeed right for the job. So, I will be off now. You need your sleep. Tomorrow will be interesting. Good day to you, sir.” He said, and he vanished in a blur. Evaluate me? Didn’t he just say he was here to help me? I scoffed and headed back inside the house where I could relax. Each day, Padfoot was starting to enrage me even more.
The next morning was a little edgy for me. Emily noticed something was on my mind, but didn’t bug me about it. I thanked her a million times in my head for that one. We sat silently, watching Jake and Jerry play Halo 3 and laughed at whenever one of them failed to play decently.
By the time we needed to go to school, Jerry had shown Jake who was better. We laughed and jeered about the morning’s rounds of killing on our way to school, and finished before walking into the doorway of the High School. The day was slow and boring, but spending time with Emily made me relax. Since yesterday’s incident, I was tense whenever I wasn’t around her. Eventually, Emily sat me down and told me not to worry, obviously noticing my tension. I sighed and allowed her quiet, silky voice relax me. Keeping what she said in mind, the rest of the day was much easier to get through.
Finally, the last bell rang, and I took Emily home. We kissed each other goodbye and I waited until she was inside her house before I left to Padfoot’s. As I drove away, I kept my ears to her thoughts until I knew she was alright. I had been keeping tabs on her all day, and I couldn’t ever let go. Finally, she was out of range for me to hear her thoughts, so I let it go, still a little tense. Then, my thoughts drifted to Padfoot. My anger started to rise and irritation flickered within me. I pulled into his driveway and walked up to the front door, rapping heavily on his door.
“C’mon in, Jay.” He called. I nearly pulled the door from its hinges when I opened it, and carefully let it shut when I entered the house. I turned the corner and walked into the living room where Padfoot and Arthur were sitting, obviously expecting me.
“Arthur.” I said, nodding. I turned to Padfoot.
“You wished to spe—”
“You’re pissing me off to no end, Padfoot. You keep spying on me and sending people to keep tabs on me and I’ll rip you apart if you don’t stop, you hear me? I’m sick of your games.” I cut him off, rage flaring through me almost to the point I transformed.
“I can understand that yo—”
“No, you can’t! You’re so incredibly inconsiderate of what others think! What if I wanted what was going on between Emily and me to be private, huh? You sent Scott!” I cut him off again, yelling. He took a deep breath and waited.
“I’m done.” I grunted, looking down at him like he was a pathetic insect I could squash.
“I like you’re anger.” He chuckled. “Would you like to go outside?”
“No.”
“What would you like to do?” He asked.
“Have a fun time with Emily, without you interfering.” I said coldly. Even Arthur shivered.
“So be it. But I want you to do something for me.” He said, standing. I sighed and grunted, looking at him.
“What is it?”
“Go into the woods next to your dear Emily’s house and terminate all the monsters in there. That way she can be safe.” He commanded.
“They’re called Incubus.” I corrected him. He glared at me and pointed me out of the house. I nodded and left quickly.
I drove close by the Belle residence but parked a decently far distance away so they wouldn’t see the LTZ. I got out of the car and walked into the woods, changing into a wolf. Quickly, I sprinted towards the closest wooded area beside the Belle’s house and followed my nose to the nearest Incubus camp. When I arrived, I was attacked by many of them. They were smart, and had squads that attacked me, one after another. I yelped at their fiery bites and rolled around, squashing them. First were the smaller ones, only about two feet tall. After I flung most of them off of me, bigger ones came at me. These were about three and a half to four feet tall, carrying large stone and metallic weapons; they used them to stab and cut me. I yelped even louder and bit one on the leg, throwing it into the air and running towards the biggest group of them, plowing them over. With one or two smaller Incubus on my back, I growled and bit and ripped at all the ones I had knocked over until they all burst into flames.
Finally, I had none left attacking me, though I was scratched and cut up quite a bit. I slightly limped towards where they came from, expecting more, but only finding Zoey who stared at me with wide eyes. I sighed and sat down, closing my eyes.
“Look at you! You’re so beat up! Geez, I don’t know what those guys were thinking! You poor thing…” She complained, worrying about me more than them. She came to me and examined all the cuts and gashes then grabbed me by the ear and pulled me towards the camp.
As we walked into the camp, all the Incubus stared at me, some fearful, others scornful. If I had ever felt out of place before, it was nothing compared to now. None of the Incubus came within a twenty foot radius of me as Zoey worked on cleaning my wounds. I tried to keep from looking at the others, but I could hardly keep my eyes off of them. Whenever I was able to take my eyes off of them, I looked around at the camp. There were buildings built from dirt and stone, and tents that looked as though they were made from deer skin. Trees and large sticks held up the tent-like shelters along with the animal skin covering the roofs of the buildings. In the middle of the village like camp was a large stone circle where a large fire had been made. Then there were miniature fires in front of the tent-like places. I was placed under a tent near the outside of the village. Still, the Incubuses looked around corners at me and stared.
None of these looked the same, unlike the ones that attacked me and the child I had killed Saturday. They all stared at me with different expressions until one slowly approached us.
“Zoey?” It asked its large silver and orange eyes on me. I could tell this Incubus was female, not only by its high-pitched voice, but by its appearance. Its skin was a light charcoal grey and not so rough looking like the males’. Along with its large, strangely colored eyes, most of its young facial features appeared like a female’s, and its hair was to the middle of its back and shiny silver. She was only about two feet tall, and she had very small hands and feet.
“Yes, Cynthia?” Zoey answered.
“Why did you bring the big bad wolf into our home?” She asked her large eyes still on me. I tried to hold back my sad facial expression and my sigh, and looked away from the little girl. I could feel a wave of grief fall over me for killing so many of them. They (well, this one, at least) weren’t harmful. The young female Incubus that apparently went by the name of Cynthia was actually somewhat cute.
“Cynthia, please, be nice to our guest. He is a friend of mine, and he would only hurt one of us if we attacked him first,” Even more grief. “And he doesn’t know about our ways. I would like to teach him. He’s really nice.” I knew Zoey was nice, but right now she seemed kind of mean for making feel even more grieved about what I had done.
“Oh, okay.” She understood and turned to me, lightly tugging on my fur. I turned my head towards her and looked at her. She smiled a very adorable smile and me and pet me on the head.
“Hello, Puppy, my name is Cynthia, but you can call my Cyndi.” She informed me and continued to pet me. I smiled at her nickname for me and let her pet me. They seemed completely harmless.
Suddenly, Cyndi’s hand was pulled from my head (a few hairs being pulled out) and she disappeared in a blur, with a few grey blurs appeared where she was, hissing and growling at me. In reaction, I jumped back and growled at them while showing my sharp white teeth. I quickly looked at my sudden opponents, evaluating them. I found the largest Incubus, being a male with dark grey (almost black) skin with red and gold eyes. He had snow white hair that was slicked back and two large horns showing. He was about six feet tall and muscular, looking at me with an interesting look. I felt a soft hand on my shoulder blade and I looked at Zoey, her skin a light grey. She gently pushed me back and nodded at me, a signal to lower my guard. I relaxed and let my lip fall over my teeth again. She stood in front of me and spoke to the others.
“Do not hurt this wolf!” She called to them in a superior voice. “He is a friend of mine, and will not be further harmed! He is called to be a friend and a helping hand to our kind! Please, enjoy his presence and pet him. Take care of him and befriend him! Show him our ways, and he will prove to be a help in the future.”
The Incubus stared at her in disbelief. All but six or seven of the many Incubuses walked towards me, Cyndi included, with friendly looks upon their faces. I examined them, all but two being female. One of the males was the large, six foot, dark skinned, red and gold-eyed Incubus that was looking at me strangely earlier. They all walked towards me and pet me. Politely, they all introduced themselves. One female and the other male were twins, Anna and Cole, Cyndi, a female being about five and a half feet named Brandy, a shorter female, almost five feet tall, named Alexis, and the large male’s name was Trevor. Zoey gave me a pair of jeans and pointed to the large wall of bushes and shrubs. I looked at the group while having the jeans in my mouth and walked behind the shrubs, reverting back to human and clothed myself. I emerged from behind the vegetation and looked at them. They smiled and came to greet me.
“My name is Jay.” I informed them, smiling. The group greeted me happily and I shook their hands, while the others glared at us and whispered to one another. I hadn’t noticed before with Zoey, but the Incubus looked different when I was human. They actually looked… human. Their skin was tan, or peach, or black, depending on the Incubus, and their eyes were a normal color like blue, green, or brown and hazel. They had no horns or oddly colored hair and their features weren’t so demonic. They were actually considered normal-looking from human eyes. My surprise stalled me for a moment, but quickly I gained back my thoughts and accompanied the friendly Incubuses.

The evening was quite eventful. It was full of happiness and energy—well, with the Incubuses that were actually nice to me, that is. We played games, shared stories and jokes, and even ate dinner. The food wasn’t much different then what people normally ate. They cooked food and everything, vegetables and meat.
The games they played weren’t much different from human games—well, they were the same thing just that the Incubuses didn’t have the same equipment. Instead of using a basketball, they used a rock, instead of a net they used vines that were weaved together. All in all, they were just like humans, except for the few basic setbacks. Two teams of Incubuses were playing basketball (or rockball if you were to be more accurate), one with thin dear skin on and one without. Obviously shirts and skins, I thought. While we watched them play, I leaned over to Zoey.
“Hey, Zoey?” I asked.
“Yeah, Jay?”
“Are there Incubuses that are… more civilized?” I asked, not quite sure how to put it.
“Yeah, there are.” She chuckled. “There are some mechanics here in Ada that are Incubuses, computer specialists, athletes, teachers—like Mrs. Souza, she’s an Incubus—and believe it or not, there are even preachers that are Incubuses.”
I thought about that for a while. Mrs. Souza was an Incubus? That was complete news to me. She always seemed… not very dangerous. I chuckled to myself of the thought of Mrs. Souza, my English teacher, being dangerous and demonic. The thought was somewhat funny. As I thought more and more about all the Incubuses that lived peacefully among us, I couldn’t help but think about why Padfoot didn’t like them. Then another thought came to mind: If there were civilized Incubuses, why were these Incubuses here?
“Hey, Zoey?” I asked.
“Yeah?”
“If there are other Incubuses that are more civilized and have money, why are these Incubuses here?” I asked. Zoey thought about it for a little while and sighed.
“These are the Incubuses that just arrived from hell. Well, I’m not one of them, I’m just here to help, but they come here and stay for a while so that they can get on their feet and we can get legal documents for them.” She explained. I nodded and let my mind wander for the rest of the time I was there.
Finally, nightfall came. I thanked all of the nice Incubuses for the good time and started heading back to the LTZ. I wasn’t quite sure about how far it was from the Incubus camp to the LTZ because I ran there as a wolf, and got caught up in a fight which made me loose all sense of direction, so I wandered in the right direction until finally I reached the shiny car.

The next morning, I awoke to a strange noise. It sounded like Scooby Doo, from the cartoon show. When my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I noticed Jerry and Jake in my room. I rolled my eyes and nudged Jerry off of my bed. I got out of my bed and pointed the two towards the game room while I picked out a pair of jeans, a T-Shirt and some boxers to wear for the day. I took a quick shower and jumped into the LTZ to bring Emily back to my house. When I arrived and rapped on the door, Beatrice opened the door and looked at me in a hysterical face.
“Um, Mrs. Belle? Are you—” I began to ask, but she interrupted me.
“What the hell did you do with her, you monster? Where is my Emily?” She shouted, ignoring how early the day was.
“I’m sorry? What d’you mean, ‘Where is my Emily?’” I asked, frozen.
“Emily is gone! You took her, didn’t you? You raped her, didn’t you? Rape her, kill her, and throw her corpse in those damn woods you’re always in! That’s why you’re there, to find the perfect spot to dump her body!” She shouted even more hysterically.
I couldn’t move. My legs were glued to the ground; my muscles frozen. I thought about where she could be, but didn’t think she could get far—she didn’t have a car. My thoughts began to race, but my heart was a hundred miles faster. Finally, I was able to clear one thought that was tangled in the mess of the other strands of thought in my head.
“Mrs. Belle. Mrs. Belle! Beatrice!” I yelled over her hysterics. She looked at me, terrified and in complete rage.
“Where did you last see Emily? Beatrice, I need to know this, please. Tell me where she was last before you noticed she was gone.” I said as I kept her still with my hands.
“Where did I see her last? I saw her in her room, of course! She was doing her homework like she needed to! Why do you want to know this? You’re the one who took her, aren’t you?”
I ignored her accusations and walked past her, and up to Emily’s room. My thoughts started to become hysteric just as I reached her room. It smelled of two smells: that of a dog’s or wolves, that of a vampire’s, and that of an Incubus. Just as the hysterics arose in me, so did the rage. It took every bit of thought in my head to keep myself human and walk out of the Belle residence. I, as calmly as I could, walked out of the house, told Beatrice to please be calm and call her husband and son back home, and left the house in the LTZ.
I drove as fast as I could in the cold weather down the road towards Padfoot’s house. I was lucky not to crash on the slippery roads, but I made it to Padfoot’s house in one piece. I pulled into his driveway and barged into his house, the rage almost flaring from every pore in my body.
“Where is she?” I demanded. Padfoot and Arthur just looked at me, puzzled.
“Who is it that you are looking for, Jay?” Arthur quizzed in his snobby, British accent. I growled at them both.
“You know damn well who I mean! Emily! What did you do with her, you *******s?” I yelled. I was not going to let them get away with snooping into Emily’s room. They both just shook their heads.
“What makes you think we have her, Jay?” Padfoot asked in a calm voice. What was he asking? Such a stupid question, I thought. I had plenty of reason to assume that he had her. His scent was in her room. He had been so teasing about her before…
My thoughts calmed as I really thought about what he was asking. His scent could’ve only been there because he was looking for her too… He could’ve been teasing me just for the fun of it, just like everyone else had… Padfoot could actually be trying to help me…
I noticed that Arthur and Padfoot were staring at me. I took a deep inhalation and exhaled, turning to the door.
“Well, where are you going?” Padfoot asked.
“I’m going to find Emily. I think I know where she is.” I answered, walking out the doorway.
I jumped into the LTZ and drove to the spot where I found the Incubus camp. I parked in the same place, but had to use every ounce of strength I had to keep from becoming a wolf. I walked the direction I had before to find the Incubus camp. As I drew closer, I could smell their scent and I began to run. I ran faster and faster until finally, I made it to the opening of the camp. I slowly walked further and further into the city of animal-skinned tents until I made my way to the center, where the campfire was. The sun was only slightly up, making it a little less than barely twilight. I looked around at all the ‘people’ around me and looked for Zoey. Finally, I gave up on looking and walked up to a familiar Incubus, Alexis.
“Hello there, Jay. Why are you here so early?” She asked.
“D’you know where Zoey is?” I asked in a hurry. She blinked at me and nodded, pointing towards what I guessed was supposed to be the hospital tent. My stomach dropped and I walked quickly to the tent, moving a sheet of animal skin to enter. There, I saw Emily on one of cots with Zoey right next to it. My jaw dropped.

 

Awesome story!! Really suspenseful. I really wonder who Emily is, and what that wolf did to Jay!!

Really good!! Can't wait for the next chapter!!

 

Wow, I really like this. Can't wait 'till the next chapter.

 

BUMP.

Chapter 3 (the shortest) is up.

 

BUMP because of updates.

 

Bump: Chapter 5 is up. If you're still reading this story, VM me or send me a PM please, I don't wunna keep posting this if no one wants to read it. Thanks.