Chapter three
Later that night, after I’d taken a shower and laid down to sleep, I was dreaming. In my dream, the night was chilly, but I was in my she wolf form, so I was warm under the protection of fur. I felt compelled, the way I did around Ayden. Like some invisible source was connected to her and it was pulling me along, controlling my motions like a puppet.
Anyway, I was wandering around outside my high school, feeling that source of power pulling me inside. It was dark, but my lupine eyes saw everything as if it was lit up with a spotlight. That power was radiating from the building, slowly, I padded my way to the front doors and shrugged my way inside.
The usually packed halls were so empty they echoed my paw-steps as I walked deeper in. My super-sensitive ears were alert, and caught the sound of another pair of steps above me on the second floor. They were so quiet, I thought I might’ve imagined them. But, upstairs was where the power was coming from, so up I went.
Quickly now, I trotted up until I saw it. The power source that compelled me. Although, it wasn’t an it. It was a her. And she, was a beautiful pure white wolf with thick fur and runners muscles like my own. She was gorgeous, so pretty, that even in sleep—aware I was dreaming—I was envious of her luck.
But who was this strange powerful white beauty? I inched a little closer to see.
Her eyes were solid blue, not purple like I had imagined, because I knew she was a werewolf. But her eyes…they were like a crystallized ocean, liquid and stunning.
She sighed in relief as I approached. Like all she wanted in the world was for me to be standing there with her. I’m not kidding. Her entire body heaved with the sigh and her ocean eyes solidified into grief and longing.
The silence between us was deafening, until one thought, her thought, smacked into my skull.
My name is Kerza, although awake you know me by a different name. We need your help, Kara. Help release me.
Okay, so I had no clue what she was talking about. What the hell? ‘Although awake you know me by a different name’? Huh?
Her mental tone was slightly familiar, but asleep, I couldn’t place it. Her stunning eyes never left mine. The power she radiated decreased as she stared into my eyes.
Who are you really? I asked. Why am I here?
Then I did something I would never ever do awake where anyone but Isaac could see. I crouched down low, swishing my tail almost between my legs, showing submission to this beautiful she wolf.
I am Kerza. Awaken me in her body. She said, my show of alliance not relaxing her tense body one tiny bit.
What?! I was sooooooo lost. I could feel her terror, not of me, but of herself.
She whimpered at me and her image flickered like a ghostly projection. You must awaken me, Kara. Kara…Kara… “Kara! Get up!” Luna’s voice startled me awake, out of the dream I felt slipping away from me. Right before I was fully conscious, I felt Kerza’s power wink out like a light bulb and she’d disappeared. Gone. But now I was awake and Luna was standing over me. A growl rose in my throat as I involuntarily snarled at my mom. I narrowed my eyes and took in her calm face.
I blinked. “Oh,” Yawn, “Sorry.”
“Time for school,” she sighed and sat at the end of my bed.
“Ewww, thank God it’s Friday.” I sat up and almost fell out of my bed, my dream was still bouncing around inside my head and I struggled to keep hold of it all.
“Yeah,” Luna mumbled as her intense blue eyes—like mine—followed my every move as I picked up a pair of jeans and tugged them on, then pulled a dark blue v-neck shirt over my head.
I kept thinking about my dream and those deep blue ocean eyes kept evading me. Like I couldn’t see them unless I was staring right at them. But…they hadn’t been like my blue eyes, I remembered that. My eyes were a darker blue, more focused and violent somehow. Kerza’s had been…fluid, like liquid. And lighter, like the sky reflecting on ice. I shook my head.
“Kara, honey?” Luna asked, her calm voice—one very like mine—hesitant.
“Yes?” I turned to face her, bracing myself for more scolding about last night. Anger threatened just out of reach.
She surprised me, but didn’t make me any less angry. “Well…will you promise not to get your hopes up on this pure-bred girl? Please?”
My head, I swear, was about to explode.
Who cares if I want to try this out? Why are all of you on my case about it?
I swear, if Isaac…I’d kill.
“Mom! I know,” I realized something then. “Hey…how did you know about her? Finn wouldn’t have told you.” Because if he did I’d kill him.
Luna squirmed a little and suppressed a smile as she stared me in the eye. “Lucky guess?”
I snorted, “Nice try,”
She sighed and stood up. “Fine, so I listened in after your father left last night. What else am I supposed to do Kara? You never talk to me. Always your brother. Or no one. It’s not healthy.”
I grinned. “Yeah, right. ‘listened in’ means taking a shower—which I heard you doing—and just happened to overhear. I’m not upset, just genuinely curious. It’s my fault for talking so loud and close to you. I would’ve told you anyway, eventually.”
“Eventually, oh gee, thanks! I feel so special, hon! Ha, yeah. So how ya gonna explain that out-of-nowhere scar on your face?” Luna asked, concern ruining her laugh.
I thought about it and walked into my bathroom and stood in front of the mirror. I knew Luna could still see me, and therefore my expression, so I kept a business like face while inside I wanted to cry.
Last night it had still been a freshly scabbing gash, but this morning it was healed. My kind healed faster than pure-breds.
The scar created by Vincent was, I had to admit, impressive. Along with a few bruises and scrapes, he had made this long pink line that ruined my left side of my face. Okay, so not really, but it was bad enough. It was a centimeter wide and about and inch and a half long. A little of it ran just above my eye, through my eyebrow, then continued below my eye until it cut off. At least it hadn’t actually touched my eye. That would’ve been worse.
“Uh,” I cleared my throat, trying to sound stronger. “I used to cover it with make up and got lazy.”
Luna smiled at me. “I’d believe it,”
I returned her smile and finished getting ready for school.
I had one class with Zena and none with Antony. My class with Zena was history—boring—so we sat in the back and talked so quietly and fast that no one else had a chance of hearing or even understanding. God, I loved being a werewolf.
“You gonna eat with the meat again?” Zena asked snidely, leaning casually on her arm towards me.
I suppressed the urge to growl and even more importantly, to morph and smack her and put the most menace I could into my hushed tone. “Meat? Zena, you know we don’t hunt humans. It’s one of the oldest Laws. So don’t joke like that again. And, yes, I will try and sit with her again.”
Zena snickered, “You say you despise him, yet you manage to mimic Isaac perfectly. I guess it’s the alpha thing. Mmmmm, to be alpha female…” she trailed off, lost in fantasy. I knew she didn’t mean with Isaac. Probably meant Vincent, her new objective.
“Ugh, you are so…” I grinned as I watched her face flush red out of the corner of my eye.
“I know what you are. Weird,” she hissed, winking one eyeliner rimmed eye at me.
“I see her next class.” I coughed.
Mrs. Tolito eyed me, but kept talking.
“What’s her name?”
“Ayden Pentra,”
Zena perked up a bit and I felt why a few seconds later. It was all but silent, like a dog whistle, to human ears. The soft humming sound traveled through the school ceiling and reached its destination.
Two seconds later, the bell rang. The class cleared and Mrs. Tolito sighed as she relaxed.
I shook my head as I stood up. It seemed like every teacher either loved teaching, or absolutely despised it. There was no inbetween.
Zena blew me a kiss then sauntered into the hallway, earning envious looks from girls and awed looks from guys. I chuckled. If only they saw her mid-phase. She wasn’t so hot with half a snout and a hunch back.
My already fast heart beat, beat frantically as I walked to English.
Would she be there? Would she talk to me? What would I say?
I walked into the classroom, noted she had yet to arrive, then slid into my seat and layed my head down, letting my long hair fall across the desk.
I listened carefully, trying to remember what her footsteps had sounded like. My ears prickled at the sounds of everyone else coming in, but they were all heavy and unfamiliar.
“You know teachers look for those who suffer. It’s in their rule book.” Ayden said matter-of-factly beside my head. I lifted my head dubiously. How had I not heard her?
“Uh, okay.” I mumbled.
The tardy bell rang as I mentally smacked myself.
What a brilliant response! She probably thinks you don’t like her now! Ugh, I had planned something much more sophisticated, but the fact that I hadn’t heard her approach bothered me. If only I could get close enough to catch her scent clearly.
Mr. Landsin called the class to attention and everyone grudgingly turned to look at him. He was notorious for assigning detention for petty little things. Students around here were pretty scared of him. I tried not to laugh.
“All right, today we’re going to take a break from reading.” He began, but was interrupted by cheering. He twisted his face into a scowl. “Quiet! Or we will read! Now, I want you—for the whole class period—to write about what you feel inside. What your goals and such things are. I want five pages by the bell. Get started.” Mr. Landsin ordered, sitting back down in his desk chair. His face I swore looked smug.
We stared at him in disbelief until one kid—poor pure-bred—raised his hand. “Um, what we feel? That’s not very, er, clear Mr. Landsin. Can you…” he gulped, “elaborate?”
Mr. Landsin looked at the kid and curled his lip. “Using big words now Tommy? Do you feel better about yourself if you do? Yes, what you feel. I already said that. Now get to work all of you.” He looked back down at his book.
If I knew where he lived I swear I would’ve done some damage.
Everyone groaned and started to scribble meaningless crap. Write about feelings? Pssh, I could write a novel about what I felt. What else had he said? What’s inside of us? I could write a horror story about what’s inside of me. Please! I'm a friggin’ werewolf! There was more than human organs churning inside me.
I turned to smile at Ayden, sure to think it a joke too and hoping to repair some of my damage earlier, only to see a vaguely frightened look on her face.
Hmmmm. She was so different from these humans. They were all complaining and scared of getting a bad grade, but she looked more…inwardly frightened. I wanted to know everything about her. To know why she was so different. She wasn’t a werewolf. That would’ve been obvious, plus she would’ve known I was one. And, we were not aware of any other packs—except that one near the border—around here.
This sudden closeness I felt towards her reminded me of something Marshall had taught me as a pup.
“Kara, when you get older honey, you’ll feel connections with other werewolves—particularly the ones in your pack. Those are the ones you know you can trust.” He had said, shrugging his shirt off because he had been about to change.
“Will it happen often daddy? Or with pure-breds?” I asked, pulling the edges of my favorite dress back then.
“Yes, it could happen often. But, no, not with humans. They can’t reach us mentally.” My mind swirled as I tested the connection I felt forming between Ayden and I. it had the same feeling as the connection I had with every member of my pack. But this was a little different. More…timid.
I looked at Ayden again and realized she was staring at me.
“Whoa, you looked like you were gonna pass out. You turned all white and twitchy.” She whispered, nothing but concern in her greenish blue eyes. Those eyes…my mind swirled in a different direction and I was suddenly reminded of my dream last night. Of the scared white wolf, Kerza. I blinked and the dream faded and I was still staring at Ayden like an idiot.
“Oh, um, headache. Wow, took me by surprise.” I coughed, then winced for more affect.
She nodded, but didn’t look like she believed me one bit. She wasn’t easy to fool.
“Well…all right. What are you going to write? And, what happened to your face?” she asked.
“It's an old scar, got tired of covering it up. And about what to write... about feelings? Gotta spill my guts.” I laughed under my breath.
Ayden joined me quietly, so as not to alarm Mr. Demon at his desk. “Ooh, yeah. I have no clue what to spill about that wouldn’t put up a red flag of insanity.”
You and I both, girl.
“Ha ha, yeah.”
We stayed pretty silent the rest of class until the lunch bell rang and Ayden walked with me to the cafeteria.
Take that Finn! She does like me! I thought with a smile. Well, she hadn’t found my tail or anything yet at least. I was working so much harder at staying human than I usually did.
“Wanna join me again?” she asked, pausing at the same bench as yesterday.
“Of course,” I said and sat beside her.
“What would you say if I wanted to ask you a series of questions? To get to know you better?” I asked.
Ayden examined my expression curiously then sighed. “All right as long as I can ask the same of you when your done.”
I beamed. “Okay, favorite color?”
“Orange,” Ayden said immediately. “Yours?”
“Forest green,” I replied. “Favorite place to go where you can be just you?”
“Walking in the woods behind my complex. My mom doesn’t know I do it though, so shhh.” She giggled.
I smiled, “I do the same, only my parents know.” And I do it as a wolf. What were the odds she liked the outdoors too?
We continued like that, asking questions back and forth the whole lunch hour while I saw Zena and Antony sit at a table a few yards off, watching me.
I was so glad school was out in a month and a half. I could breathe without supervision.
Ayden’s birthday was in the summer and she liked that. She hated the heat though, and disliked sharp wind. She loved thriller movies and hated romantic comedies.
“They’re highly entertaining, but so stupid.” She laughed.
It was amazing that almost every response she had was the same as mine. She loved reading, the night sky, and running. Her mom always yelled at her and she was an only child.
The parents and only child thing were some of the only minor differences between us.
Right before the bell rang I asked her one more question, possibly the most important to me.
“Okay, okay. Last one, ready? What is your most favorite animal ever? The one animal you wish to be?” I held my breath, waiting.
Her eyes, laughing just seconds before, became distant and turned almost completely blue as I watched. It was a familiar liquid blue I couldn’t place. “I want to be a wolf.” She whispered, her voice choked, like it was painful for her to say. It also didn’t sound like something she just now thought of. She said it like a conviction, something that haunted her.
I wanted to take my fur and hand it over to her. In that moment there was just so much pain in her eyes. But then, as fast as it had come on, her eyes dimmed and turned green again and she smiled a little.
“Silly, huh? What about you?”
“Wolf,” I said, watching as her face twisted into minute shock.
“Wow, two of the same. Cool, but the bells gonna ring.” She said, her voice ringing in my ears.
“Darn, this was so much fun. Hmmmm, hey—here’s my number. Call me whenever okay?” I scribbled it down on a spare napkin and handed it to her right as the bell rang.
“Thanks, I will” she said.
I watched as her back faded into the crowd of students and wondered what the hell she was.
