by Cheree Alsop
I made a game of jumping the roads that crossed the ditch to see if I could make it to the other side. The thought of hurting myself never crossed my mind as my body easily took to the task. I found that if I bunched my muscles and sprang earlier in the run, I could jump lower to the ground and for a further distance. By the time the sun was rising, I felt more at ease in my wolf body. It was nice not worrying about the clutter of human thoughts. As a wolf, it was easy to be in the moment, to relish the run and the feeling of the moonlight on my shoulders. Even the ache of my right paw which had caused me to limp at first moved to the back of my mind.
I reached Cleary as the sun began to rise. The familiarity of the small city made my heart pound. It was cold, with fall just edging on winter, but I didn’t feel it through my thick fur. It was strange how we felt locked away from the seasons in the Academy, especially with the strange doors to distant places that didn’t seem to feel the seasons as we did. There was ice in a few spots on the road. It brought back memories I didn’t want to visit.
I crept through the shadows and made my way behind a grocery store I used to go to all the time with my friends because their soda was cheap and the owner bowled with my dad. I ran through several neighborhoods along the same path I used to travel on my way home from school. I was almost to the cul-de-sac where I lived when I felt the wolf form begin to leave.
No, no, no! I pleaded in my mind with each step. I pushed myself faster, but there was no way I would make it in time. I finally skidded to a stop near Mrs. Thomlinson’s house. She still hung her laundry out to dry on a line in the backyard. I knew that because we used to play football in Kendall’s yard and lost it a few times over the fence. She hated when we hopped into her yard because she was always afraid we would knock down her carefully strung-out clothes.
I ran through the narrow passage between her house and the side fence, then leaped the gate, grateful I had practiced jumping on my way there. I hit the ground with less grace than I intended. I could already feel my muscles changing form. At the sight of the clothing on the line, I set down the tee-shirt I had carried the entire way and searched quickly through the garments. I found a pair of Mr. Thomlinson’s pants and pulled them down. I balked when I turned to the next row and found white briefs far too large for me even if I had considered wearing someone else’s underwear, which I would never do.
I carried the pants back to the shadow of the house just in time to beat the phase. I didn’t fight it at all this time and was grateful when I made it back to human form easier than ever. The entire phase only took a few minutes. When I was done, I reached carefully back and lifted the sleeping dragon from between my shoulder blades. When I set her on my arm, Sparrow stirred only long enough to wrap around my wrist before she was sleeping again.
“Rough life,” I said with a wry smile.
I pulled on the pants and tied the drawstring at the waist. Mr. Thomlinson was a portly man and the drawstring only helped so much, but wearing his pants was far better than the option of no pants at all. I fumbled with my shirt which was torn slightly and had a bit of wolf drool on it from the run. When I pulled it on, I was relieved to find it in at least serviceable condition. I promised myself I would grab some clean clothes from home after I made it inside.
Feeling less conspicuous in my human form and in clothes, I climbed over the gate and made my way toward our house. I hesitated behind the semi-truck parked across the street. I don’t know if I had never really expected to reach home or if I figured I would come up with a plan when I did, but sitting there behind the truck with my house only a few steps away made me feel completely unprepared.
The truck brought back a wave of nostalgia. Mr. Dewyze used to let Drake and I sit in the truck on the weekends when he came home. I always imagined driving a semi-truck like that, owning the road and driving wherever I wanted. I knew now that it didn’t work like that, truck drivers had bosses to listen to and routes to follow, but when I was younger, driving a truck had seemed like the coolest thing in the world.
I was just about to inwardly thank Mr. Dewyze for parking his truck there that weekend when a footstep caught my ear. I turned and my heart sunk.
“Welcome home, Finnley Briscoe.”
I stared up into the face of Sebastian’s older brother, Grayson Newton. He had broad shoulders and a football build, but spent most of his time playing videogames when he wasn’t working at the grocery store I had just passed. The anger and triumph on his face let me know I had made a very bad mistake.
He grabbed me by the front of my shirt and pinned me up against the truck.
“What do you know?” he said with a sneer. “The prodigal son returns.” He paused, then continued with, “Or should I say, prodigal beast?”
I struggled against his hold. I could have broken it easily with my new werewolf strength, but given that his bullying had been a common occurrence before the accident, I thought that it would be better to just go with it.
“Let me down, Grayson,” I said.
“Why?” he taunted. “Are you going to bite me?”
I stared at him. “What are you talking about?” Inside, my blood ran cold. I kept my face carefully guarded against revealing how much his words bothered me.
“You know very well what I’m talking about,” he replied. “I’ve seen the pictures. I know what you are and why you weren’t at the funeral.” He pulled me closer and said with breath that smelled like Doritos, “You’re not a very good friend, Finn. You turned into a beast and left my brother there to die. I knew if I waited here long enough, I would catch you and find out the truth for sure.”
I was about to deny it all when he said, “Then I’ll turn you over to the Maes.”
If I felt cold before, my entire body turned to ice at his statement.
He must have seen the flicker of fear on my face because his gaze sharpened. “You know who they are!” he said with triumph in his voice.
Thoughts of the worry on Don Ruvine’s face when he told Vicken about his mother filled me. “They’re dangerous, Grayson. You need to stay away from them,” I told him.
“If you know who they are, then there’s more truth to what I’m saying than you’re letting on,” Grayson replied with a gleam in his eyes that scared me.
I held his gaze. “I have people to protect.”
“Your family?” he said. His hands trembled with rage. “Where were you when my family needed protecting? You let Bast die!”
I shook my head. “He was dead when we hit the water.” It hurt to relive the memory. The sound of his head striking the window as the car slammed into the water played over and over in my mind. Blood coated Sebastian’s face. I shook my head to clear the image.
“You’re a liar,” Grayson accused. “You let him die there. I know you did.”
I shook my head, but I could see in his eyes that he would never believe me. There was only one thing I could do to show him the truth.
“You’re not going to like this,” I warned.
“Like what?” he asked with such anger I thought he would try to kill me before the Maes could do the job.
“Like this,” I replied.
I grabbed his arms with both of my hands and forced the memory at him. Grayson gasped. I pushed mercilessly, shoving the memory at him so that he would be forced to accept that I didn’t let his brother die.
He saw us hit the water, saw the way his brother’s arms floated in the dark, icy liquid when I left Drake on the bank and returned to save him. I tried to break the window, and felt my breath leave. I heard him draw in a breath in unconscious response to me drowning at the bottom of the lake when I couldn’t swim any longer.
I stopped the memory. A brief flicker of triumph filled me at the fact that I had found some control. The elation faded when I opened my eyes and found Grayson staring up at me with tears on his cheeks.
“I-I didn’t know,” he said. “And how…how did you do that?”
“Put me down first,” I told
him.
He lowered me back to the ground and let me go. The expression on his face was one of fear mixed with sorrow. A tear fell onto his hand. He looked down at it as if he couldn’t figure out where it had come from.
“Come with me, Finn,” he said. Without another word, he turned away and left me staring after him.
I was left to debate whether it would be easier just to go inside my house, but the expression on Grayson’s face unnerved me. I finally followed him toward their house a few blocks down from ours. As we walked, the sun rose above the edge of the horizon, lighting the quiet neighborhoods with gentle sunshine as though a monster didn’t walk in their midst.
“Back here,” Grayson called over his shoulder.
I ducked under the loose slat in the fence and trailed behind him to the treehouse us boys had practically grown up in. He motioned for me to follow him up the ladder.
“Grayson, I don’t think—”
“Don’t think,” he called down. “Do.” They were the same words he always used to say to Sebastian whenever his brother had a different idea than him. It used to make Sebastian so frustrated; I now understood the feeling.
I couldn’t help wondering as I climbed up the rope ladder if I was going willingly into some sort of trap. My instincts thrummed and I checked the air, but couldn’t smell that anyone other than Grayson had been up the ladder in a long time. Sebastian’s lingering scent made my heart ache. I gritted my teeth and pulled myself up to the top.
I paused at the edge of the treehouse hatch and stared. Pinned to the walls and covering the table we had made from an orange crate were charts, pictures from the accident, a map with different colors of pins in it that led to partially-obscure pictures of monsters, and several drawings and notes on werewolf characteristics.
“Grayson, what is this?” I asked in quiet horror.
“Logistics,” he replied, his eyes wide and wild. “Everyone needs logistics. That way I can impress the Monster Abolition and Eradication Society.”
I shook my head. “You don’t want to impress them. They’re monster killers.”
“You’re a monster who’s a killer,” Grayson replied.
I looked into his unstable gaze and said, “You saw what I showed you. The accident was from ice across the bridge. Sebastian died in the fall. N-not by my hands.” I couldn’t help the way my voice broke. Seeing it again had shaken me, and to hear the accusation in Grayson’s voice gripped my heart in a fist.
“You’re the reason he’s dead,” Grayson said with a hitch in his words. “If he hadn’t been with you, he’d be here today.” He shook his head and made a wild wave of his hand. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is that there are monsters out there like you who need to be stopped before they hurt anyone else.” He turned his back on me and studied the charts before him.
“Like here. Reports say a girl was attacked in an alley in Venton. When she was found, she was taken to a hospital with bite marks on her neck and no memory of what happened.” He pointed to another line where a green string ran from a small town to a blurry picture of a sasquatch. “And here, there have been tons of sightings of a Big Foot. People are afraid to camp because they think the smell of hotdogs and marshmallows will attract him to their camp.” His finger thumped on a picture of murky water. “And don’t get me started on the merman of Johnson Lake. Even I could find him given all the rumors.”
“Why would you want to?” I asked.
He stared at me. “Because they’re dangerous.”
“How?”
He opened his mouth, closed it again, then opened it and said, “Because they’re monsters, Finn!” He spun back to his pictures.
I watched him carefully, uncertain of what I should do. “What about me?”
“You should go.”
Relief swept through me. “I can leave?”
He glanced over his shoulder. “If you didn’t show me what you did, I’d be taking you in to the Maes right now.” His voice lowered and he said, “I know you cared about Sebastian. You were a good friend. But be careful. I’m not the only one who’s been suspicious about you and your family.”
I had to force myself to ask, “Will you try to join the Maes still?”
Darkness swept through his gaze. “We have to stop the monsters, Finn. They’re dangerous. I won’t stop until they’re gone.”
I climbed down the ladder with a heavy feeling of foreboding on my shoulders. My plan to sneak in and out of my house had vanished in the face of the threat Grayson brought up. I tried the front door, but it was locked. I could have rung the doorbell, but the thought of doing it at my own house rankled the last of my pride that hung threadbare since wearing somewhere else’s pants became my last option for sneaking through my own city.
I unlatched the gate and walked around back. I paused at the edge of the grass. There was something calming about standing in the yard I had grown up in. The tall wooden fence we helped Dad stain every year was surrounded by fruit trees that felt like old friends. Drake and I had climbed them since we could walk. We had apple wars, picked cherries, and had eaten so many apricots one year we got sick. The trees had been our shade for family picnics, and were the bane of our existence when we had to rake leaves in the fall. Dad always looked the other way when we spent more time jumping in the piles than doing a good job.
The grass was getting long. I wondered if it hurt Dad’s thumb to mow it. I should ask Drake to take over. There were piles of lumber next to the back door where Dad had started the deck. The holes filled with cement and supports gave me an idea of how big it was going to be. It made me smile to think of Dad being finally able to build the deck he had always dreamed of. I made a vow to help him complete it during our holiday time off.
My smile faded when I turned to see the scene in through the back door. Dad, Julianne, and Drake sat around the kitchen table eating breakfast. Julianne said something and both Drake and Dad laughed. They looked so happy there, Julianne with her hand on her belly that looked even bigger than before I left, Drake with his hair disheveled; he held his bacon in one hand and used it to scoop eggs onto his toast in the other even though Julianne always scolded him about using a fork. Dad had on his favorite red and black striped shirt and the black tie he said was his lucky teaching tie. His students must have a test today. He always wore it to give them the best chance at passing.
I didn’t want to break up their carefree breakfast. The scent of eggs, bacon, and Julianne’s homemade sourdough toast made my mouth water. I couldn’t remember the last time I had eaten. I was about to turn away when Julianne looked up. Her eyes met mine and widened. A smile crossed her face. She said something to Drake and Dad and they both looked me.
“Finn!” Drake said.
Dad motioned for me to come in. When I hesitated, Drake jumped up and pulled the door open.
“I didn’t want to interrupt,” I said lamely.
To my surprise, Drake hugged me. “It’s good to have you home,” my brother said.
I stepped inside to the embraces of Dad and Julianne.
My stepmother chided me even while she hugged me. “You should have called. We could have picked you up!”
“In hindsight, it would have been easier,” I admitted. “I didn’t plan to disturb you guys.”
She stepped back to look at me and gave me a warm smile. “You’re part of this family, Finn. You know you’re always welcome here.” Her eyebrows pulled together as she looked me up and down. “You’re not eating enough. Come on. I made plenty.”
I tried to protest, but she herded me to the table and had set a plate heaping with food in front of me before I could get a word in.
Dad squeezed my shoulder on his way back to his seat. “Good to have you home, son,” he said.
“Where’d you get those pants?” Drake asked. “They look like something Mr. Thomlinson would wear.”
That made me laugh. “They are Mr. Thomlinson’s actually.” At their surprised looks, embarrassment filled
me. “I took the bus here and couldn’t make it home with the moonlight.” It felt so weird to talk to them about being a werewolf. I didn’t know how much Dad had told Julianne, but when I looked at her, she gave an understanding nod. “So I had to get off the bus before I phased in front of everyone.”
“That would have made the news, I’m sure,” Drake said with a laugh.
I grinned. “Yeah. I figured I’d try to keep a low profile. So when I reached Cleary, I realized when I phased back that I wouldn’t have any clothes.”
“So you pilfered Mr. Thomlinson’s,” Dad said. “I’ll slip some money in their mailbox to pay for the pants.”
“Thanks,” I told him. “I didn’t plan on stealing them.” I pointed to my dirty shirt. “I carried this in my mouth.”
Drake laughed so hard he nearly fell off his chair. “I wish I could have seen that!” he said. “A big scary wolf carrying his shirt in his fangs!”
I took a bite of the eggs. I had forgotten how good Julianne’s cooking was. “This is amazing,” I told her.
“It’s just eggs,” she replied. “If you let us know you’re coming next time, I’ll make a real treat.”
“Why did you come here?” Dad asked. His tone was light to make the question unaccusatory, but the curiosity on his face was undeniable.
I let out a breath and admitted, “The Academy’s in trouble, and so are we.”
Chapter Seven
“What do you mean, we’re in trouble?” Julianne asked.
I told them quickly about my encounter with Grayson.
“So he knows,” Dad said with a nod. “I’ve seen him sneaking around a few times and was afraid he believed the stories of you being some kind of monster.”
“They’re not stories,” I reminded him. “And with the videos whoever saw the accident took, I don’t know how I can deny it.” I shook my head as anger filled me. “Who films an accident instead of helping out anyway? They’re the real monsters.”
Dad set a hand on my arm. “Alright, Finn. It’s okay. We’ll figure out a way to take care of it. But for now, I’m glad you’re safe. At least Grayson didn’t call the Maes.”
