Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 71314 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71314 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
“You seem happy,” he notes.
“I am. I like moving around. Traveling, I guess, people call it.”
“That is what people call it,” he agrees. He’s eating a bierstick. I take one from the packet. I crave flesh right now. I kind of hope that goes away because I really don’t enjoy the idea of meat as much as I am enjoying the taste of it.
“Maybe we can travel when things settle down,” I suggest. “I can go to England with you and meet your mom.”
“You want to meet my mom?”
“Sure. I already met your dad, and that went great. I think he really likes me,” I say, collapsing into giggles.
“My god,” he groans.
“I bet your mom is nicer,” I say. “Most people are.”
“If we make it that far, and by that far, I mean through the full moon, we’ll set that up.”
CHAPTER 13
Callie
The house in the wilderness is probably haunted. I’m not worried about that. I am haunted too, and the ghosts that live inside me are much more of a concern to me and the rest of the world than anything that happens to inhabit an old country house.
As we pull up to it, I find myself looking at a big old majestic building that reminds me quite a lot of the house I was staying at with my family after my parents died. It’s big and painted white and there are massive bay windows and all kinds of fretwork and general charm. It’s the sort of place that was built by people with less than good intent or behavior. There’s a heaviness to it if I look too hard or think too long. I try not to do either.
The place has been left clean. I enjoy carrying the groceries inside and getting set up. It feels very domestic and normal, which is a nice change from feeling like a psychotic animal.
“This is nicer, right?” I prompt Gray for his response.
“Sure,” he says. “It’s a lot more private, but…”
“Oh, my god, don’t ruin it immediately.”
“We’ve gone from being surrounded by people, who act as a sort of natural protection, to being alone out here. If something goes wrong during the shift, there won’t be easy help for you.”
“If something goes wrong, you call for my personal helicopter,” I tell him.
“Why didn’t you do that when you broke out of the lab?”
I shrug. “Didn’t really need it.”
“God,” he mutters to himself. “You’re absolutely…”
“I wasn’t in any danger then, and I’m not in any danger now. Full moon’s tonight, right? Let’s get this over with.”
Gray
Let’s get this over with. I share the sentiment, but not the enthusiasm. I know something is coming through Callie. I can feel it. I can see it behind her eyes. The last vestiges of her humanity have been forever twisted, and when the moon rises from behind the trees which surround the house, it’s going to be over for who she once was.
I try to stay cheerful. Callie is clearly unbothered by the whole situation, but that’s because she doesn’t know what it feels like to shed one’s human skin and take on the mantle of the wolf. I am going to have to be at my best tonight. I made sure we have plenty of protein on hand to not only feed us up beforehand, but to help recover from the shift after.
“That smells like… not good,” Callie says, coming to sniff at a pot of bone broth I am stewing on the stove. Her voice is lower and huskier than it was before. Her shift is already beginning, though she clearly doesn’t know it yet. She is also getting snappier and less patient. I don’t think she’s going to eat dinner. She’s been pacing the kitchen and lounge as the sun sets.
“I have to go outside,” she says suddenly. Her voice is full of certainty. She doesn’t want to be out there, she has to be there. The moon is summoning her, and there is no escape.
I turn the burners off and follow her out, stripping my shirt off as I go. It’s going to be a warm, quite humid night. As good a night as any for a human female to be forced through a transition that will not come naturally to her. Fireflies are dancing low over the lawn, messing around low and high.
Callie’s pacing is faster. She’s wearing a light white dress. It’s almost sacrificial in nature. She is so beautiful as she loops about much like the fireflies in the gathering dimness, flashing a smile at me when she realizes I’m here with her.
I remove my pants and fold them neatly on the stairs, standing naked in the twilight before the celestial body who governs us rises and takes her sway.
“I feel amazing!” Callie yells to me. “I’ve never felt so free!”