It had been a couple of days since my aunt visited, Chris and Karen were still helping me get a handle on my abilities. We've had a couple of successes and some minor incidents like blowing the fuse box at Karen's home. I wasn't scared of using my powers anymore, I was just cautious of the damage I could do.
"You're getting better at this" Karen said.
Chris smiled "We've should have done this sooner"
We were at the basketball court after school, the basketball team had practice and we thought it'd be a little fun for me to mess with the lights and game board.
"Somebody call the repair guy or something" Bob yelled as the figures on the game board kept changing and the buzzer kept going off.
"Your eyes, they're glowing again" Karen said.
I immediately stopped using my abilities and the game board and lights went back to normal.
"Still have to work on those eyes" Chris said.
"I can feel it when my eyes glow now, it's like it happens when I have built up power inside. It's my lightning powers that bothers me, anytime I try to hit a target I miss, it's like I can't channel it right if that makes any sense" I responded.
Chris chuckled "Nothing really makes sense at the moment, as long as you try to have a handle on this, we'll keep winging it as we go"
Karen turned to face me "I got some news"
"What is it?"
"I heard my father talking about someone, a werewolf. Apparently he is part of the pack but left Stowe for a while but now he's back, he's like our custodian, keeper of secrets or something, the point is he has knowledge or access to knowledge of things supernatural and might know what's up with you"
"What do you think?" Chris asked me.
"I think I definitely want to meet him" I responded.
"You sure?" Karen inquired.
I sighed "I thought I would be comfortable with just having this under control but, I need to know"
"Great!" Karen exclaimed. "Just one problem"
"What's the problem?" Chris asked.
"I don't know where he lives but I do know where he'll be tonight"
Chris' face went dim "In the woods"
It was only then I realized that tonight was the full moon. During a full moon, all the werewolves in Stowe gather together in the woods to turn while the rest of the town is on lockdown, effected by the Anti-Mystical unit (AMU).
"What are you thinking, Isn't that dangerous?" I asked.
"Not entirely, he'll be there on time, all you have to do is see him and leave a couple of hours before the full moon comes out"
Chris tapped his feet repeatedly "This is crazy, Fred can meet him another time"
"According to my Dad, he's not fully settled in yet, which means he doesn't stay in town, he only comes around for the full moon"
I sighed "So basically the only time you can confirm where he'll be is on a full moon"
"Yes"
Chris gave me a look of disbelief "You're not really considering this?"
"Chris, I have to know more" I said.
Chris turned to Karen "Let me ask an obvious question, when you turn to a wolf, what's stopping you from ripping Fred to pieces?"
"Calm down, yes the wolf instinct in me becomes stronger but I'm still present in my body. Don't worry, if things go according to plan Fred should be long gone before we change"
I turned to Chris "If you're scared you don't have to come"
Chris stared me right in the eye and then leaned in "I'm not coming"
Karen laughed "I wasn't expecting that"
"Every full moon my Mum and I have a movie night" Chris said.
"Totally forgot about that" I responded.
Chris still wearing his worried face asked "There's going to be a curfew, how are you planning on sneaking out?"
"I'll figure something out"
Karen stood up "Hey Chris, nothing is going to happen to him, he'll be in and out before the moon reaches its peak. Let's go home, I have a lot to do before the full moon"
Later that evening I was still thinking of a way to sneak out of the house, my parents and I just had diner and usually we watched a little TV before bed.
I faked a yawn "I'm tired, I think I'll turn in for the night"
"Fred are you alright? You seem really occupied recently, it's either you're with your friends or you're always in your room, you barely come out" My Mum asked.
"I'm okay, I've just been really busy, between school and Chris' project, I come home really exhausted and tired" I answered.
"But if anything was wrong I'm sure you would come to us right?" Dad asked.
"Yes" I answered. Typically this is the part where I lecture my parents that I'm not a kid anymore but all I could think about was getting out of the house unnoticed. I quickly ran up the stairs and shut the door to my room. I waited for about thirty minutes before opening my bedroom window, I climbed out gently and jumped down on a bush in the yard, thankfully I wasn't hurt. I looked through the window to see if my parents heard me drop but they were just sitting and chatting, I then made my way to the woods. I spotted some AMU patrol vehicles along the way but I managed to stay out of site.
Karen asked me to meet her at a spot just outside the woods, she said she'd pick me there.
"Hey" Karen said as I approached, she was already waiting for me. "I started to think you might've change your mind"
"I almost did, but I had already jumped out my window so I thought – what the hell"
Karen handed me a folded cloth "Here, a gift from Chris"
I unfolded the fabric and it turned out to be a hoodie, a dark blue hoodie with a rigid looking lightning bolt sewed to the chest.
"I'm not wearing this"
Karen giggled "C'mon, it's really not a bad idea. He said you need to conceal your identity and he might be right, this guy might be the pack's custodian but it doesn't mean we can trust him"
"Fine" I groveled as I put it on.
Karen had an ear to ear smile on her face "It's cute"
"Just take me to this guy please" I responded.
Karen led the way, we went deeper into the woods until we started hearing people chattering.
"Wait here" Karen said. "Everyone will freak out if they see I brought a human here. I'll go get him"
Karen came back shortly "He's not here yet"
"What?"
"I asked around and no one has seen him, he might be running late or he might not come at all"
"So what now?" I asked.
"You have to go, we'll just count tonight as a loss and try again later"
"How long till the full moon reaches its peak?" I asked.
"About one hour and thirty minutes"
"It'll take me at least forty minutes to get out of the woods. I'll wait" I responded.
"Are you out of your mind, you are standing right here, which means that in an hour and half there are going to be five dozen wolfs who are going to pick up your scent and you need to be long gone before then cause we are pretty fast"
"I need to do this Karen, this could be my only shot at getting answers. I'm not leaving yet"
Karen hesitated but eventually gave in "You leave exactly one hour to the full moon and not a minute less"
"Understood"
"I'll be back, stay hidden"
It had been over twenty minutes and I still hadn't heard anything from Karen. What am I thinking? I'm about to get eaten by wolves – I thought. I stood up to leave when I heard chattering heading my way, I quickly put the hood over my head.
"You said you needed my help" A man said as they drew nearer.
"I do, just a little further" Karen responded.
"This is far enough" The man said. "I'm not moving an inch until you tell me what this is"
I came out into the open with my hood covering my face "Is he the one?"
"He is" Karen responded.
"Who is this?" The man asked.
"Someone who needs your help" Karen answered.
"You brought a human here, he's going to get killed. You need to get out of here now" The man barked at me.
"Not until you tell me what I want to know"
The man clearly pissed off asked "And what is that?"
I stretched out my hand and started buzzing lightning off it "What am I?"
The man took a step backward, his eyes widened and his mouth literally dropped open, he was in awe.
"Do you know what I am?" I asked again.
The man finally gathering his thoughts asked "What's your name?"
"Not important" I responded almost immediately.
"As our custodian you have a vast knowledge of supernatural creatures" Karen said. "Can you tell us any supernatural creatures that can do that?"
"No, no I can't. I've never seen anything like this" The man answered.
Karen turned to me with a disappointed look on her face "You need to get going"
I turned around and was about to head back when the man shouted "Wait"
"What is it?" I asked.
"There is something that could explain this, it could be nothing but it's the only thing I can think of"
"What is it?" Karen asked.
"After the supernaturals were exposed to the world, there were multiple reports of people going into trances saying the same thing"
"I didn't hear about people going into trances" I said.
"The world was too busy with the revelation of our existence to care about people having visions"
"The people that went into the trance, what were they saying?" Karen asked.
"It's a prophecy, and I don't have all of it"
I lost interest in the conversation when I heard the word prophecy, I thought to myself that a prophecy was a long shot and couldn't possibly explain what was happening to me but I asked anyways "You don't have all of this prophecy?"
"I met someone in Boston some years back, he has a way with information from the supernatural world. We call his kind seers, he was drunk and he passed out before he could tell me the whole prophecy"
"What does the prophecy say?" Karen asked.
"I can't tell you now" The man responded.
I snapped "Listen, I don't believe in prophecies but I am risking my life to find answers, the least you can do is…"
"Less than an hour" The man cut in. "It is less than an hour to the full moon, I promise I will tell your friend and she will relay the information to you but for now you need to get away from these woods"
I looked at Karen and she nodded in compliance to what he had said.
"Okay, I'll get going"
"You might want to run" The man said. "When we change the first thing we'll pick up is your scent and trust me when I say the instinct to hunt you will be strong"
"Hurry, get out as fast as you can, if you can't make it home on time then go straight to any AMU checkpoint, being in trouble is better than being dead" Karen said.
I turned around and ran, swerving through trees, sometimes running through mud. I ran for over thirty minutes when I tripped and fell.
"Ahhhh" I cried out in pain, I took a look and saw that I had grazed my forearm.
"Who's there?" A distorted voiced asked.
I quickly got to my feet, my heart pounding and my eyes looking through the darkness to see where the voice came from. My eyes stopped when I saw a figure, it was in the shape of a man and he was walking right at me. I quickly pulled the hood over my head.
The distorted voice got louder "What are you doing out here?"
I was about to respond when a got a clearer look at the man, he was tall, he wore thick boots with cargo pants, he wore a black jacket, or at least it looked black, it was hard to tell because of the moon reflection wasn't that bright. He had a backpack strapped on his shoulders and he was holding a rifle that had a flashlight attached to it but the most terrifying detail about him was his mask, it looked like a gas mask but not quite, it was a little grille at the mouth region, as he came closer I noticed the knife holster on his belt along with other items I couldn't recognize.
"I'm leaving" I responded and turned around when I heard the howls of dozens of wolves from afar. The man in the gruesome mask began to got riled up pretty fast.
"You can't be here" He said. "You have no idea what you've just done"
I was scared out of my mind "Stay back" I yelled.
"You need to come with me" He said and then charged my way.
Without meaning to, I put up my hands and shot lightning in his direction. He was quick, he moved swiftly out of the way. I could tell from the blue reflection on my hoodie that my eyes were glowing.
"What are you?" He asked.
I started running, trying to get away from him but I could hear him running after me. I ran between trees, thought he would loose sight of me but he didn't, next thing I heard was a gunshot, the bullet hit a tree right in front of me. It gave me a fright, causing me to loose balance and fall. I immediately laid on my back and put up my buzzing hands of lightning in his direction. He stopped running and stood very close to a tree he could use for cover.
He pointed his rifle at me "Put your hands down now"
We stayed in that position for seconds, then all of a sudden we heard growling and running from the woods, the man turned to react but he was too slow, a werewolf pounced on him, the wolf held his backpack with its teeth and tossed him across the terrain. He came to a very rough stop. I got up and tried to run but the werewolf growled at me, I stopped immediately. I looked at the werewolf and somehow recognized it was Karen.
"Karen, it's me Fred"
The growling stopped, I could see it in her eyes that she recognized me. I heard more sounds of growling coming from the forest and before I knew it I was surrounded by five more werewolves. I have to fight, I can't get eaten - I thought. I took a stance, my eyes glowing and hands buzzing just waiting for one of them to make a move. One of the wolves charged at me but before I could react Karen ran straight at the wolf and knocked it down, she took a defensive stance and growled at the wolves. The man with the mask stood up, his mask got knocked off and thanks to the moonlight I could see his face, he had a thick black beard and he was bleeding from the side of his forehead, Karen injured him when she attacked. He made a grunt like he was in pain, the noise drew the attention of the wolves and they started to surround him when all of a sudden he pulled something from his pocket and tossed it, the next I knew the air was covered in gas, the wolves started running and so did I. I ran and didn't look back, finally I made it out of the woods but I didn't stop, I ran straight home, I saw that my window was still open which meant that my parents had no idea I was out of the house, there was a tree at our backyard that had its branches blooming on our roof, I climbed the tree, and got to the roof, I then carefully went around till I got to my bedroom window. I was so relieved when I got in, I laid on the floor for a few minutes until I felt pain from my grazed forearm, thankfully my Mum puts first aid boxes in every room, I quickly sanitized the wound and put on a band aid.
"That was something" I said to myself. I took out my phone and saw over fifty missed calls from Chris, I was about to call back when he called again, I answered the phone.
"Oh thank God, you're not dead" Chris voiced in relief.
I was still disoriented from what happened in the woods "Chris I can't talk right now, I'll see you tomorrow"
"Are you alright? Were you able to get answers?"
"I got something, I'll fill you in tomorrow"
"Okay. I'll pick you up" Chris said.
"Wait, don't drop by the house tomorrow, my Dad said he'll give me a ride"
"Really? You sure you're good?"
"I am" I assured him.
"Alright" Chris answered.