Heather

A high-pitched noise whined in my ear. Something slimy brushed against my face as everything came back into focus. The wolf was licking me. I sat up and scooted away until my back hit a tree.

"What the hell is that?" My breath came in hollow gasps.

"Good work, Mr. Matthews. I think she’s fully terrified now." The wolf lay down and rolled over, exposing the length of his stomach. "Go back to the dorms," Mr. Langdon said.

The wolf gave one more whimper before he jumped up and took off running.

Mr. Langdon squatted in front of me. "Don’t be scared. I won’t hurt you."

"Bullshit. Tell that to Dr. Needle-Happy over there."

The doctor took a single step closer, and held out her blessedly empty hands. "I did what I had to do to keep you safe and ease your pain. I know it’s hard for you to understand, but you’ve been very sick for the past week. A hurt and confused wolf is a dangerous thing."

Did she just say what I think she said? "I’m a human of the female variety, not a wolf."

"No, you’re not a wolf, but you’re not just a girl anymore either," she said.

"If you ever were just a girl," Mr. Langdon said.

I didn’t like where this was going.

"You’re a werewolf," Mr. Langdon said.

That’s what I was forgetting. He was out of his mind. Certifiable. I stepped toward him. "There are no such things as werewolves."

"Then there are no such things as brujas."

I laughed. "With you on that one. My cousins are a bunch of crazy hippies. Thinking they can talk to spirits and cast spells and do magic. Whatever their little religion is, it’s fake."

"Fake? So you don’t get visions when you touch things? Because that’s so very, very normal."

He had a point, but I didn’t have to like it.

"I won’t lie to you. St. Francis’s is a school for werewolves. Brent is a werewolf. When he bit you and scratched your shoulder, he turned you." Mr. Langdon put his hand on my knee as I tried to get up. "No more running, Heather Elizabeth Jones." The way he said my name, like it held some sort of power, made me pause. "You have to face what’s happened."

This was a nightmare. My parents had left me with some lunatic. "I’d be happy to face something, if you were speaking the language of a sane person."

"What do you think you just saw?"

I thought I saw a guy turn into a wolf. But that was impossible. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

"Xander Matthews changed into a wolf in front of you." Mr. Langdon spelled it out for me like it was totally possible. "A man who can also be a wolf. Human, but more. A werewolf."

I flinched as the needle-loving doctor squatted down next to Mr. Langdon. "I’m Dr. Gonzales. I apologize if I scared you, but I only want to help."

They were completely batshit. What were they trying to pull? Annoyance became anger, and my skin started to crawl.

"Take a look at your hands," Mr. Langdon said.

As I watched, my fingers lengthened, ripping my gloves along the seams again. Memories from the hospital came rushing back to me. "This is not happening. This is so not happening." I was yelling, but I didn’t really care.

"I can stop it for now. But you’ll need to face it soon. You don’t want the wolf to gain control again."

Pain rippled down my body. My knees cracked. "Why does it hurt so much?"

"It only hurts when you fight it," Dr. Gonzales said.

I couldn’t help but fight it. I would not be a wolf. Ever. "What about my parents? They let you take me?"

"They had no choice," Mr. Langdon said.

I groaned as the pain spread to my stomach. My organs moved and mushed inside of me. I didn’t need this. I didn’t want it. "Stop it. Help me. Please. I’ll do any—"

Mr. Langdon’s eyes started glowing as he leaned in close. "Shhhh," he said. Power rolled through my body, taking my pain with it.

I stayed on the ground, panting. My muscles ached but everything was back where it was supposed to be. I was too grateful to question how he’d done it. "Thank you."

"I’ve settled the wolf within you for now, but you must learn to walk your new path soon." Mr. Langdon stood and reached a hand down to me. "I’d take it back if I could, but I can’t change what Brent did. So we’re going to have to go from here."

I blinked back tears, unwilling to let them fall in front of either of them. "How do you know it was him?"

"You smell like him." He crossed his arms. "And he told me. Now that you’re better, Brent’s got some answering to do."

He gave me a distraction and I snatched it up. "What do you mean?"

"He broke our Law."

"Law?"

"We don’t bite. Not ever."

I almost laughed at that. "If you don’t bite, then how come I’m here?"

"I have an idea, but..." He shrugged.

Admitting they didn’t have all the answers made me trust him a little more. No one was perfect. And he seemed reasonably upset that this whole thing had gone down like it had. I took the hand he offered, and let him pull me up. "So, what now?"

Dr. Gonzales stood with me. "You’ll take classes here, and learn to be one of us. It’s going to take time, Heather. You have to be patient."

I snorted. "Patience isn’t one of my virtues."

"You’ll learn it," she said. "You’ll control your emotions, and hopefully one day, you can go to college, grow up, and take a place in our world."

Our world. Not the world.

Fantastic. Was there any way I could get back to my world?

Dr. Gonzales put an arm around my shoulder and I suppressed the urge to shrug it off. It wasn’t her fault she had to stick me with needles. I’d forgive her. Maybe. But how was I going to forgive Brent?

"Come on," she said. "Let’s go back to campus. I’ll show you to your new room. I’m sure Presley can find your suite-mate. Serena’s been looking forward to finally meeting you."

My new room? Suite-mate? I was going to have to actually live here. That totally blew. "I’m not sure I’m good company right now. Plus, I tend to have a hard time with making friends."

"I think it’ll be much easier here," Mr. Langdon said.

"We’re all different."

He had that right. Visions were weird. But werewolves? Total freaks of nature. I laughed at the thought. If I hadn’t just seen my hands changing, felt the pain of it, I’d have thought they were nuts.

It wasn’t until we were walking through the courtyard that I realized that Dr. Gonzales had touched me skin-to-skin, and I hadn’t gotten a thing from her. Not even a hint of a vision. I tugged on my gloves, making sure they were still there.

It was a fluke. No need to panic.

Okay, maybe a little bit of panicking.