Chapter 8

"What I'm about to do is called shifting. It's fast, so don't be scared, okay?"

My lips downturn. Wind sweeps through the forest canopy, drowning out all other sounds. There's only the swishing and rustling of branches as they shake more orange and brown leaves free.

"You ready?" She calls over the wind.

I hold onto myself as though I'm tipping over the peak of a rollercoaster. There's no going back now, so I say, "Just do it."

Let's get this over with. Abby can finish her scheme, laugh at me for giving her an inkling of trust, and I can go back to my booth at the festival.

She shakes out her arms and mumbles something under her breath that I can't make out. The last thing I hear is her huff, "Here we go." Then it all happens in seconds — fractions of seconds. Abby's upper body jerks towards me as something rakes through her, and her hands touch the dirt, but they aren't her hands anymore. It's like watching a firework; Abby burns away, contorts, and grows all it a flash.

I move away immediately. There's a wolf in her place as she said there would be — umber like her hair, standing on her shredded clothes — but I...

It's eyes aren't her warm brown ones; they beam amber, vibrant even in the daylight. My breath can't catch up. As I cower backwards, I'm almost gasping for air. The wolf doesn't move, however. On it's four legs, it's taller than Abby — bigger than any wolf I've seen. I latch onto the closest tree to stabilize, and I watch it as I catch my breath.

"Abby?" I rasp.

The wolf lifts a paw to come forward, but it stops when I hold up my hand.

Tears blur my vision. "What the fuck?" I accuse and swipe quickly under both eyes.

"There's no..." My sentence dies from a lack of effort, yet the wolf remains. It waits like a statue, far from the haunting thing I saw the night I left Blue Moon. "Is that you?" I ask.

The wolf's head begins to drop like its conceding. My panic worsens, so I demand, "Change back. I-I want Abby back."

When the wolf shifts back, a blur of Abby's bare skin turns me away. "Abby?"

"Yeah?" She calls, a bit winded.

"Are you..." I glance over my shoulder and catch a glimpse of her wrapping up in her jacket. "Are you okay? What the hell was that!"

"It's real. I shifted, and you saw it, and now you know."

I look again and she's standing upright, completely covered till her jacket ends at her upper thighs. She must be freezing. I grab at my own coat and take it off; it's thicker and longer than hers — knee-length. "Wear this," I tell her and hand it over. "I'll wear yours."

She takes my coat, and I turn back around. "But you believe me now, right?"

"Honestly, if I think about it, I might throw up."

"Are you scared? Shocked?"

I touch my palm to my forehead. "I can't believe it."

"But you do?"

She hands me her jacket, so I put it on, avoiding her eyes. "I don't know what I saw. I think I need to wake up."

"This isn't a dream." Abby touches my shoulder. "You're freaked, but that's good because you should stay away from Harvey and stay out of this."

"I'm so confused."

"About what? I'll explain anything," she offers.

"Do you and Harvey hurt people? Is he going to hurt me? Have you killed—"

"No. Never. We don't hurt people. This gift roots back to native people who shapeshifted to protect their tribes."

"So you, Harvey, and... Who else?"

"There are others," Abby confirms. "But none of them wanna do Black Lake any harm. We're all from here. We've been here for a long time."

"Like Harvey's family?" I look at the sky and mutter, "I can't think anymore. Nothing feels real."

"This is why we aren't supposed to expose ourselves. People are easily scared and overwhelmed, and only bad things happen as a result, but I'm still trusting you, Mia, to keep this between us. You can't tell anyone, not even your parents or sister or Harvey. No one can know I showed you."

Abby's rant starts to melt into one incomprehensible mass. I'm caught in a net of rushing thoughts, trying to be rational.

"Mia?"

"What else?"

"What do you mean?" She questions.

"What else is there? What else has been real my entire life?"

Abby suddenly closes up. "I should bring you back before your mom notices."

"No, no, I need to know. What do you know?"

"You need to sit down and take a moment. Focus on right now, not all your hypotheticals. I told you I shift into a wolf, and you need to comprehend that before anything else."

I lower against one of the larger trees and sit between its roots. "There's more, isn't there?"

"Goddess, you haven't change. You're still the same little girl."

My phone starts to buzz in my back pocket. I spring into full awareness and fish it out. It's my mom; I answer right away.

"Hello?"

"Where did you go? No one is at the candy apple booth." She says, her voice a tad too loud even with the wind.

I hold my phone an inch from my ear. "I'm...in the bathroom. I think something upset my stomach."

Abby gives me a funny look.

My mom's tone softens. "You are? What did you eat?"

"I-I don't know, but I'm too sick to come back. I think I need to go home."

"Really? You're sure?"

I clench my phone and rest my head against the tree trunk. "Yeah. I'm sorry. I want to be there but—"

"Don't be, just get home and there should be something in the medicine cabinet you can take. I'll find someone to take over your job."

"Okay. Thanks."

"I'll see you when I get home. Watch what you eat or have Harper G****e what's good for you."

"I can handle it. I'll see you later. Bye."

"Bye, Honey. Lie down and feel better."

I hang up and drop my phone to my lap.

"You're free?" Abby questions.

I rest my head against the tree again, tangling my hair. "My heart won't stop racing."

Abby crouches. "Take deep breaths. Don't think about it, if that helps. I've never exposed my wolf to a human before, so honestly, I'm not sure what helps."

My chest rises and falls. "What about fairies?"

"I remember that game." She smiles. "It was my favorite. Remember when I wanted to be a water fairy, and I jumped in the pond?"

"Are they real?"

"Probably somewhere. I haven't seen them here."

I breathe again. "Really? What about witches?"

"I've heard they are. Heard more about them existing back in the Salem days, so they're around, I'm sure. Hope they stay away from Black Lake."

"What have you dealt with?"

"I can walk you home, and we can talk more. I'll tell you all about how I found out what I am and my first shift and how I missed you."

I exhale and lift off the tree. "Yeah. Okay."

Abby helps me up, and we stay close as we retrace our steps. We emerge from the forest onto the two-lane street I always turn onto when I drive home from work. We follow the side of the road, and she talks.

"When I found out we're always wrapped-up in trouble, defending and fighting and attracting bad energy, I knew I had to separate myself from my old life," she explains. "I know I can be pushy and demanding when it comes to this, but it's only because I know how dangerous it can be. My mom says shifting is a gift, but, most of the time, it feels like a curse. Telling you to be careful in the forest, ending our friendship, warning you now — all of it is because I don't want you to get hurt. I don't want you to see what I've seen."

"But I'm not one of you. I'm not a werewolf, so how can I get hurt?"

"You'll get hurt just by being around us," she says regretfully. "I saw you with Harvey and I panicked. I thought the only way you would take my warning seriously is if you knew the truth."

"Harvey and I aren't... We're just friends. Maybe not even that. We're friendly."

Abby looks ahead. "Right. Okay. But—"

"I'll be careful. I doubt I'll see Harvey much anymore anyway."

"Yeah," she sighs.

"Does this mean we'll go back to how we were?"

"I don't know. Who am I to tell you to stay away from Harvey and keep seeing you myself?"

"There really isn't any way?"

She smiles slightly. "If you really want to be around me after I dragged you into the woods and changed into a wolf, then I'll see what I can do."

We continue walking, but when we enter my neighborhood, I ask, "So when I talk to you later and mention this whole shifting, werewolf thing, you won't tell me I'm crazy and imagining things, right?"

"I promise I won't. You'll have to question reality and ponder about it the rest of your life."

"Lovely," I drone.

"But at least you didn't faint."

"Yeah. That's true."

"I always thought you'd do well if I ever broke the news."

"It was all those days at Moody Pond. You filled my head with magic and monsters." We watch a car drive past, and then I add, "When I don't wake up in bed and start this day over, my reaction might be worse, though."

Abby purposefully bumps into me, and then we trek the rest of the way to my house shoulder to shoulder.

~•~

I spend the following week doing schoolwork and searching the internet for werewolf nonsense, curious if anyone has got it right and can tell me more. When I asked Abby on our way out of the forest about the things she defends Black Lake against, she kept skipping over any solid answer.

What could be so terrible in the Adirondacks that giant wolves are their contenders?

According to the internet, all sorts of mythical beats could roam the deep woods, but the only way I can discern fiction from fact is to ask Abby and hope she tells me.

In theory, Harvey must know all about these mysterious monsters too — he said the forest can be dangerous just as Abby did — but if I ask him, and he knows I know what he is, he could very well kill me just to ensure his secret stays a secret. I don't know what Harvey's willing to do to make sure no human exposes them.

"Still working on your project?" Dad asks after I descend from upstairs.

I needed an excuse to hermit in my room in front of my computer. "Yeah."

"Is this for midterms?"

I look over my shoulder on my way into the kitchen. "No it's just for... English. It's a book report thing. Super long."

My dad doesn't turn from the football game. "Which book?"

"Uh, Girls of Slender Means. It's a feminist literature course."

He jumps suddenly and cheers, clapping his hands in reaction to the game. Perry enters the living room with his tablet and drops onto the couch against the wall. "You just missed it," he tells Perry. "Hester threw 65 air yards in stride, Peterson caught it and ran it the rest of the way. Beautiful."

"Beautiful," Perry mutters and continues tapping on his tablet.

The front door jostles open from the other room followed by jingling keys and clicking heels. Mom comes in the main room and says, "Hey, guys."

"Eagles are up twelve," Dad tells her.

"Oh, wonderful." She sets her purse on the counter island, energizing at the sight of me. "Mia, good, just the person I wanted to talk to. I'm swamped with festival data and need help organizing some things before the society meeting tomorrow. Are you working?"

"No, but I have a project I—"

"Can you spare a little time? Just an hour or two will make a huge difference."

"Um. I guess I can. It's before the meeting, though?"

"You'll be out of there by four," she says, "but I'll be home later, so you guys can order in if you like."

"Village curry!" Perry shouts, still glued to his tablet.

"We got Village Curry last time. How about pizza, huh?" Dad suggests. "Any toppings you want."

"I want Village Curry."

Mom calls, "Looks like you're having Indian."

"Sure does," Dad mutters and reaches to muss Perry's hair. Perry swats him away.

If I go to the Laboratory before the meeting and leave at four, then I won't see Harvey, and after everything Abby and I went through during the festival, I decide it's for the best. Besides, I've convinced myself nothing will come of it, and that was before Abby told me what he really is.

I make a mug of tea and take it to my room, eager to get back to my research.