Chapter 6
As they called the first werecat up to the podium to introduce themselves, my mind was racing. In the short moment it took for the speaker to begin, I was desperate. What was I going to say? I’m a freak of nature, pick me?
Part of me wondered why it mattered to me so much, but the other part had an idea. I always got nervous in front of a crowd; at least I always had in my human life. Was I still the same? Or had I become a whole different person that I, myself, didn’t even know? Had I managed to keep my personality?
I shook my head and tried not to dwell on my human life too much; this would be a bad place to have an emotional breakdown.
So I decided to stick with the truth. I outran a werecat, picked a fight with Griff, and for some reason, turned into a werecat without a full moon. I had to admit, it made me sound mysterious and even powerful, but it was mostly just me losing control of myself. And that didn’t sound mysterious or powerful to me.
Someone tapped my shoulder, and I spun around in surprise. Rheeba grinned back, “You wanna’ meet the rest of us?”
“Sure, why not,” I shrugged, glad of a distraction.
She grinned again. Actually she didn’t really grin again, seeing as the grin hadn’t left her face in the first place; it never did. She shuffled through the crowd, with me at her heels, and stopped in front of a short, fierce looking girl with red orange eyes and untidy black hair that was cropped in the back and dangled over her eyes in the front.
“This is Jasmine, but everyone calls her Tiger. Actually, pretty much everyone has a nickname here but we use some more than others; Tiger’s is one we use all the time ‘cuz she likes it better and we all think it fits her…”
“Yeah and yours is RR, for Rambling Rheeba,” Tiger cut in, smiling. The smile didn’t do much to make her look any tamer; it was kind of a wild, almost mad smile that electrified her fiery eyes.
Rheeba grinned sheepishly, and I could see she was fighting an urge to respond.
Tiger flashed her eyes over to me, sizing me up and down, “I know who you are, of course. You’re the one who beat Griff and turned into a werecat.”
I nodded, frowning at first but then letting a reckless smile slip onto my face. I had to admit, if I was going to be well-known for anything, this would have to be it.
Tiger grinned at me and her wide eyes continued to hold mine as Rheeba led me to someone else. I finally ripped my eyes from Tiger’s and turned my attention to the next person Rheeba introduced me to. He was short with spiky blonde hair, a babyish face, and mischievous sky-blue purple eyes. He had the look of a small child that had maturity forced upon him, while still maintaining a certain playful nature.
“Hello!” he greeted me in a distinct British accent.
“This is Breck, or Puppydog, as I like to call him. He’s been here a long time so if you have any questions, he’s the one to ask,” Rheeba went on cheerfully.
It seemed funny that a werecat would be called ‘Puppydog’ of all names.
He nodded and his smile seemed to light up his face, lifting years from his appearance, “You’re Coden, then? Rheeba said she knew you, but I didn’t believe her. Guess I was wrong”-he laughed-“Well let me be the first to welcome you to club monster!”
I laughed, “Thanks, means a lot to me.”
He smiled, “I had a feeling it would. So what are you guys up to?”
“I’m introducing her to everyone. Hey is it just me or is Tiger acting really weird?”
“Weirder than usual? Nah, she gets like that every time someone new comes. She’ll get over it in a little while,” Breck said confidently, with the air of someone who definitely knew what he was talking about.
“Cooper, Breck?” the guide announced, motioning towards the podium.
“Well that’s me, see you later Coden,” Breck started walking to the spotlight.
“K, you too,” I called, smiling.
Rheeba wasted no time, seizing my arm and dragging me off towards my next victim.
I was still watching Breck at the stand, admiring how calm he looked, when Rheeba announced, “This is Godzilla.”
I was just thinking, Godzilla?! What the...?, when I caught sight of him. Let’s just say if you looked him in the eyes too long, your neck would fall off. He was huge, standing maybe six and a half feet and two feet thick. He had a friendly smile, but it looked slapped on, not agreeing with the rest of his face. His eyes were a dark green with neon green flecks and were shadowed by enormous black eyebrows and short, messy black hair. He had a large chin and block like features, emphasized by a thick, muscular build.
I realized my mouth was hanging open; how had I not seen him before? He would be easy to spot in a crowd, that’s for sure. I shook my head slightly, and closed my mouth.
His reckless grin widened, “Hullo.”
Rheeba smiled at me, “None of us know what his real name is, he doesn’t remember his human life. So he’s Godzilla.”
I nodded, trying to keep my cool. He stuck out a hand and I gripped it… barely. His large, rough hands easily dwarfed mine so you could barely call it a handshake.
Rheeba led me on and I gave her an incredulous look. How many more could there be?
She smiled apologetically and walked towards another.
In the time it took for the next person after Breck to finish their turn at the podium, I had met Shadow; a mysterious, impassive guy with dark eyes and a sinister face, Diana; a bubbly motherly girl with bouncing blonde curls and gold brown eyes, Evalee; a short, Irish girl with red hair and green eyes who was unbelievably shy, and Lathan; a cruel sneering boy with straight blonde hair and icy blue eyes who reminded me of Erin. How many more people could their possibly be? Rheeba never seemed to tire of the intros but I sure did.
When the guide finally called, “Daniels, Rheeba” to the stand, I nearly laughed with relief.
This time, as Rheeba talked, I watched. She wasn’t smiling, not exactly, but she still looked much more approachable than a lot of werecats I had met. She went on talking about her previous training, who had bitten her, how long she had been here, natural talents and strong points… All the while, I glanced from her unusually straight face to the council members, who were all scribbling notes madly.
I paid attention to the way Rheeba spoke about her talents and history, in lists, not elaborating on anything. It seemed to be an appropriate and efficient way to do it, but it was so unlike her that I wondered if that was how all werecats were: acting as if they were without a personality in public.
It wasn’t encouraging.
I had learned a lot about my friendly cabinmate while she spoke; for instance, she had been a werecat three years, had been bitten by someone named Arley, had trained with Lachlan and Kynan, and some of her strong points were tactical intelligence and thinking things through.
A hand tapped my shoulder, breaking my train of thought. I whirled around, half expecting it to be Rheeba even though I knew she was at the stand.
So of course, it wasn’t Rheeba. It was a boy who, even after Rheeba’s tour, I didn’t know.
“Hey,” he said cheerfully, “I’m Stryder. I heard it was you who turned into a werecat and decided to ask for myself.”
You and the rest of the world, I thought as I took a step back, “Yeah it was.”
“Man, you’re lucky,” he said in a jokingly wistful voice.
I laughed, “Sure.”
He smiled, “So who have you met?”
I rolled my eyes, “Rheeba took me on a tour so I know Tiger, Breck, Godzilla, Shadow, Diana, Evalee, and Lathan. Oh and Erin and Clarissa are in my cabin.”
“Wow. That sounds like Rheeba alright, but of course she would avoid me,” he looked at his feet.
“Why’s that?”
He glanced up at me, he had lovely blue eyes, and answered, “Oh she’s just never liked me as much as everyone else. I can’t figure out why. I’m not that scary, am I?”
No, he was not. In fact, he looked like the kind of guy that would have a million friends and about as many girls crushing on him. He had wispy black hair, electrifying eyes that were varying shades of blue, a large friendly smile, and nearly perfect features. It almost made you want to hate him.
I realized he was staring at me and shook my head, “No, you’re not that scary. I mean, I’ll be having nightmares for weeks, but this is a werecat camp.”
He grinned, “Yeah I figured as much, I get that a lot.”
Yeah right.
“I’m sure you do.”
He flashed his perfect teeth. Man that was annoying; did he have to be so perfect?
I distracted myself by asking, “Have you gone up yet?”
“Yeah,” he said, “But I sounded like a complete idiot, I’ll probably be the only one that isn’t picked.”
“I don’t know, you might have some competition.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Me,” I clarified.
He laughed, “You?! Practically everyone will want to train you because of what happened last night. Speaking of which, what really happened? I mean, I’ve heard the story but…”
I sighed, “I got into a fight with Griff and won. Rourke pulled me aside to ask me what happened but I sorta’ exploded into a werecat and almost killed him. Then we went to Llewellyn. The end.”
“So why didn’t you kill him?” he pressed eagerly.
“Because I realized what I was doing and stopped.”
“Wow.”
“What?”
“Well it’s just that I’ve been a werecat and it’s really hard to stop if you’re that close.”
This surprised me, it hadn’t been hard for me at all. But a more pressing matter was on my mind, he had said it had been hard to stop… I whispered the question, “Have you ever killed anyone?”
He looked away awkwardly, then nodded, “We all have.”
Well great! Camp monster… land of the lunar enslaved and home of the murderers. Catchy.
Stryder was watching me awkwardly, and I tried to think of something appropriate to say.
“Freeman, Coden?” came the call. I was actually happy to get it.
“See you later,” I said to Stryder and strode towards the podium.
Funny how the crowd of people seemed to triple as soon as I stepped behind it.
“Uhh,” I began, using my expert skills to convey my awesomeness to the crowd, “I was bitten about two days ago by Guerin, Rourke stopped him killing me because I outran Guerin. I won a fight against Griff and I turned into a werecat last night.”
I stepped down from the podium, watching the council members scribble notes.
Rheeba met up with me, offering a friendly smile. I thought it looked sort of sympathetic.
That was odd; I wondered what my face looked like.
Whatever, I could worry about that later.
Because I had plenty to worry about already.
