YOU’RE HUNGRY, aren’t you?” Jake said beside me.
We’ve been walking and resting at intervals. We were following the flow of the stream this time. Hopefully, it would lead us to a bridge or a main road where we’ll see where we are. Because we even have no idea where we were at.
“Here.” I handed him the bag I carried. “There are some pieces of meat I reserved there.”
“Thanks Jas. You’re a life saver.” He collected the bag from my hand and stuffed his mouth with cold meat. “Where do you think we are?” He asked with a full mouth and in between biting.
“I don’t know. Maybe Africa.”
“Africa?” His mouth hung open in mock horror.
“Maybe… Kenya. We should see some giraffes or elephants anytime soon.”
“Stop lying to me.” Jake laughed.
“I truthfully have no idea where we are.” I told him.
“But we’re really far away…”
“Yep.” I nodded in confirmation.
“Wow… mad stuffs.”
He kept on eating till the sun became too hot and we had to rest underneath a large tree. We still hadn’t seen any bridge or person or road.
“It’s like we’re in the heart of a jungle.” Jake said.
“I agree with you there.” I groaned. I took a piece of meat from the bag with him and nibbled on it thoughtfully.
If this is a jungle, then we’re not in Africa. Africa is mostly composed of dry deserts and grassland savannahs. The voice rang quietly in my head.
“Jason…”
“Hmm?”
“Have you tried shifting since that night?”
“No…”
“Why not?” Jake asked. He was looking at me with an unusually serious face.
“I don’t know. I’m scared, I guess.”
“Scared of what?”
“Stuffs has been happening because I shifted for a few minutes the last time. It could just get worse.” I mumbled incoherently.
“You think they’ll track us using your life’s ripple when you shift?”
I nodded solemnly.
Then he said, “Have you heard of latent shape shifters?”
I shook my head. “No. What are they?”
He shifted and sat in a more comfortable position facing me. “The last time you shifted, you shifted but not completely. You didn’t take the shape of your cat. You, kind of, just unified with it. I mean, he came out but he took your shape instead.”
That was true. I nodded to show I was following.
He continued, “That means, you have created that ripple already. Shifting to that extent won’t raise another red flag in the Fey Watchtower. I’ve never come across a latent shifter before.”
“Where did you read about all that?”
“I came across a book on it in the Alpha’s personal library. I wasn’t snooping around or anything.”
That just confirmed that he was snooping.
“There are some really crazy books in there. I’ll sneak you in there one day. Books that was banned in schools. Books that contains only Alpha knowledge…” He had a dream like face that I had not seen before.
“I thought you didn’t like reading.” I asked him.
“Not those boring books in our school library.” He countered.
I laughed at that. Then sobered up and asked, “Is being a latent shifter bad?”
“No… I’m not sure… I didn’t read anything about it being bad in the books.” He looked flustered. He wasn’t sure of himself anymore.
“What If I can’t control him? Or take him back inside…” I voiced out the thoughts that has been in my head for a while, out loud.
“Hey, you’re not fully shifting, are you? You’ll be able to take him back.” He said with a strong voice.
“Okay then…”
“So you’ll do it… to shift, I mean.”
“Shhh… I’m trying to concentrate.” I said with my eyes closed.
“Sorry…” I heard Jake whisper.
I spoke inside my head, come on big guy. Time to shift. Partially atleast.
I felt the tingle start from my toes and finger tips.
I felt the air grow colder and then warmer as fur sprouted from my neck and arms.
I felt my jaw ache a little as fangs extended.
I heared the sound of a squirrel as it ran past us.
I opened my eyes and turned to Jake who was looking at me expectantly.
I looked at my arms and saw nothing changed. I brought up my hands and my mouth to feel the huge fangs but instead I touched my normal small teeth. I rubbed my cheek and neck and felt nothing except my smooth skin.
“I didn’t shift?”
“Nope. Nothing happened at all”
“Nothing?” I could not believe my ears.
“Nothing.”
I groaned and rested back against the bark of the tree.
“Don’t feel bad, Jas. I didn’t shift on my first.. or second trial.”
“Maybe all these years of doing nothing and he’s finally left me.” I said.
What? The voice rang in my head.
“What?” Jake asked too.
“Um… nothing.” I muttered. “The sun is going down.”
“Full moon is getting closer.” Jake mumbled.
I’ve never really understood the connections between Werewolves and the full moon.
“Come on… We’ll better get going.”
We both got up I realized that still held the remainder of my half eaten cold piece of meat in my hand. I tossed it into the stream and watched it go with the flow.
And then I noticed.
“Hey Jake…” I called him over. “Is it me or does it seem like the stream is clearer?”
He stooped down beside me and peered closely at the water. “I think its clearer even to me.” He cupped his hands and took some water and sipped it. He swirled the water around in his mouth and said, “it feels clearer and cleaner.” Then he swallowed.
“Then we might be getting somewhere… come on.” I urged him to follow me.
“HAVE YOU EVER spent a full moon outside a pack and not in your territory before?” Ellie asked the boys.
The boys-Arthur, Jeff, Billy, Mart and Zach-were locked up in somewhere like a basement prison. The place was stuffy and the air was stale and dry. The only opening was a little window that had bars drilled across it, and even the window had been covered with a thick tarpaulin from the outside.
They looked at Ellie forlornly.
“See their faces.” Ellie guffawed. “Here, let me tell you a secret… Full moon is tonight…. less than 20 hours away.”
Zach groaned and turned over.
“He’s finally coming to.” Jeff said and went over to his friend to assist him sitting up.
Arthur had awoken a few hours before. He had been unusually quiet since he awoke.
“God…” Zach moaned. “I feel like someone broke my neck. Did someone break my neck?”
“The big wolf is this wimpy kid?” Ellie laughed loudly again.
The boys sat huddled together in a corner of their prison.
Zach groaned again and put his right hand on his neck.
“Hey.” Billy called out. “Can we atleast get a block of ice over here?”
Ellie snorted and walked away.
“What are we going to do?” Mart whispered furiously.
“What are they going to do with us?” Jeff whispered, shaking Arthur who had been quiet all along.
“Tonight is full-”
Ellie walked back with a nylon bag. He tossed the bag through the metal bar gate that locked them inside.
Billy caught it and handed it to Zach. “Here. It’s ice.”
Zach collected it and placed it on his neck. “This thing has a funny smell.” He sniffed it.
Mart collected it from Zach and also sniffed it. “True. What is this stuff?”
“Smells like blood…” Billy commented.
Ellie had an eat-shit type of grin on his face. The grin spread from ear to ear as he nodded and said. “It’s blood, alright.”
Nina walked in from behind him smiling. “Frozen werewolf blood.”