George
I look at Sophia. Her eyes are filled with anger. She balls her fists and furiously brushes her hair. An angry grunt escapes her lips. The strands of her full bangs bounce as she quickly shifts her gaze to Clarkson.
"What is wrong with her?" I whisper.
I tighten the grip around the handle of the sword, preparing to attack.
Why is she always like this?
I never talked to her.
Only during the afternoon class, that's the only time we can get to talk to each other.
And it'll always end up like this.
It's much better if you never exist. Her voice rings in my head.
I scoff. I plant the sword on the ground. She looks at me preparing to defend.
Now I'm getting irritated seeing her face.
I don't like it here too!
I run and push her shield. Sophia falls to the groundâthe werewolves mumble.
"Did she justâ"
"Oh, no no no no. That's definitely not how you attack."
"Her grip is a little off."
I turn and face them.
"You know I can hear you guys now, right?" I say to the werewolves. "I am a werewolf now," I stress.
"I guess that's enough," Fatima says. "You two," she points at the two of us with her sword. "You should take a break."
"You must take a break," Fatima repeats.
"This should not happen ever again," she firmly says." I'm getting enough of your small fights that ruin the flow of the discussion"
"One more fight and you'll delay it finishing your training days in my class," she warns. "I hope you understand."
"Yes, Ma'am," the two of us say in unison. Sophia looks at me and rolls her eyes.
"It is much better if you do it this way." I can still hear Fatima's voice even though I'm a the edge of the open field.
"Hey," Clarkson says. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," I nod. "I am basically in detention."
"It's my first time though," I add.
I should not let myself sit here. Every minute counts, George.
I walk back to my place.
"Hey, where are you going?" Clarkson says.
"Back to our place," I look at him. "Besides, I'm not allowed to attend the session anyway," I shrug.
"Okay, I'll stay here in the training," he says.
I nod and leave.
"Okay," I say as I sit on the bed. I put my journal on my lap and open it.
'What is happening?' I wrote in my journal.
"Meow," Tuna says and jumps on the bed.
"Hey, Tuna," I coo and pet the cat. The cat rubs his cheek on my leg.
What is happening? I bring my gaze back to the page.
"My mother is in the dungeon," I say as I write the words I say. "Because... She is somehow labeled as a traitor."
Why?
"She builds an alliance with Joaquin," I continue writing, encircling Joaquin's name.
"Why did they ally?" my gaze lands on Mr. Tuna. The cat is watching my pen.
"You wanna play?" I ask and shake the pen in front of him.
I continue writing.
"They knew there was an internal alliance between high-ranking officials and vampires," I look outside the window.
'Looking for spy' I write between Joaquin's name and my Mother's.
"What else?" I mumble.
"Jared," I say and write his name. "I have to find him."
The cat beside me sways his tail.
Nothing is suspicious in Saber's pack.
I guess I should go up to the cliff.
I should also check Fatima, Elis, and other trainers.
I should look for Jared.
"How?" I whisper. "Where on earth are you, Jared?"
"Meow," the cat purrs and sits on my journal.
"Hey, I'm using it," I furrow my eyebrows. But the cat never moves.
Number 1, Find Jared.
Number 2, Find the vampire allies.
Number 3...
I look outside.
Get my life back.
I lift the cat on my lap and stand up. I close the windows and pull the curtains. Gently, I remove the braids. I take off my uniform walk across the room where the cabinet is and change to my soft french fries pajamas.
"It's too early for pajamas, George," I nag myself, remembering how Aunt Liz would react if she saw me on this.
I open the window once I'm done changing. I rest my chin on my arms while my gaze is watching Fatima's class.
Sigh.
I am a werewolf now.
I'm still not used to it.
I awake at the sound of the door opening.
"Hi," Clarkson greets.
"Hi," I softly say.
"Look, I brought you something," he says with an excited smile across his lips.
"Tadaaa," he says and gives me a box.
"What is this?" I furrow my eyebrows and open the box. I pull out the glass with a wooden lid.
"Um, Honey Milk," he says and smiles.
"Well, I have Strawberry Honey Milk," he says showing his drink.
"Yours is Blue Berry Honey Milk," he continues explaining.
"This is best enjoyed every summer, but they serve warm drinks as well," he says. I watch him open the wooden lid.
I copy him and see a disc-like thing covering the drink.
"You put the straw here," he says and puts the straw in the hole of the disc.
"Well, you can break the sugar disc if you want. But we usually don't break it. We have a mini-game while having it. The werewolf who removed the sugar disc with the least cracks can have a bite of their opponent's disc," he excitedly drinks the honey milk.
"Then, at the bottom of your drink is a thick layer of blueberry jam," he adds. He shakes his drink. His drink turns pastel pink.
I shake mine and sip.
"Mmm mmm," I look at him with wide eyes. "I thought it'll taste weird. But it didn't!"
He laughs a bit, amused by my reaction.
"Let's play then. Let's do that game," I say to him with a smile.
"Ooooh, are you sure? I'm pretty good at it though," he says.
"Yeah," I nod while sipping the drink. The smile on my face never faded.
The door opens. Saber and Cayden enter the house. The two walk with the frown on their face.
"Why? What's the matter?" Clarkson asks.
"There's someone who's been stealing some of the chickens on the farm," Cayden.
"Hey, Honey Milk!" Cayden happily says. "Whose disc is this?" he frowns while pointing at the disc with a bite.
"Mine," Clarkson says in a sulky voice.
"Oh my... You lost!?" Cayden laughs loudly, enjoying the failure of his sibling.
"There's so much going on this week," Saber massages his head. He sits beside me on the bed.
"I'm sorry," I whisper to Saber. "For using your car without you knowing."
Saber sighs.
"Everyone one has their supplies," Clarkson says, avoiding his other brother messing with him. "Why would someone steal a chicken?"
"It's not a chicken," Cayden says. "Chickens, a lot of them were found lifeless on the farm."
"The guards are inspecting the whole place and every household," Saber.
Knocks on the door interrupted our conversation.
"Speaking of the guards," Saber says.
Cayden opens the door, "Saufe," he greets.
"We'll be inspecting your place," one of the guards politely says.
I give them a nod. They enter the house. They search for every corner of the house. They sniff and look around.
"When is the last time that you receive your supplies of meat?" one of the guards asks.
"It's them who always get our supplies of meat," I say, pointing at Clarkson and Cayden. "I have no idea this is given to us for free."
"It was the other day," Cayden says. "I'm the one who gets their supplies."
"Clear," one of them says.
"Thank you for your cooperation,"
"Maybe they run out of supply. Tomorrow, I'm sure someone will surrender," Clarkson says.
The two eldest continue to talk about the case.
"How do you do it?" I ask Clarkson.
"Do what?" he asks back.
"Transforming, and having control with it," I ask. "I can transform. But I'm like a rabid dog that is getting out of control."
"It's hard to describe how. Maybe if you practice daily. That's what I did when I was a kid."
"It's hard," I say.
"It is," he says while taking a sip of his drink.
"Why is Sophia mad at me?" I ask.
"I don't know," he shrugs. "Maybe she's threatened. She's a top student and she's paired with you."
"You can tell me I suck in this training directly, Clarkson," I say.
"What!? No! That's not what I meant!" he whines.
"Yeah, right," I roll my eyes.
"Meow," I hear the cat say.
"Oh, hey Tuna," I say.
The cat purrs and rubs his cheeks on my arms.
"What? You missed me that much huh, huh, huh?" I coo and rub the cat's chin.
I lift the cat and place him on my lap.
"I don't know, but after transforming I felt something is different with Tuna," I say. "Maybe because he's a cat and we're dogs?" I laugh at my weird thoughts.
I cannot believe I'm considering myself a dog.
"A slight chills," Clarkson says. "Blanketing your whole body, trying to separate you from the cat."
"Yeah!" I say and quickly nod. "Wait... You too?"
"Mmm hmm," Clarkson nods.
"What does that mean?" I ask.
"Usually it means they're hiding something. But I wonder if that means the same knowing Tuna is a cat," Clarkson says. That's probably why he's been observant with the cat.
Cayden starts preparing for our meal. Ever since I've been here I never cooked. Cayden cleans the house. He cooks. He even cleans the outside of the house.
I move my gaze from the siblings to my arms. I wanted to transform. What should I think when transforming?
I want to transform.
Abracadabra?
Transform!
Kachow?
I'm a werewolf!
I feel my jaw aching. My arms grow a bit of fur. Tuna startles and gets off my lap. My fingers begin to ache. My eyes widen realising what's happening.
No, no, no, stop!
I close my eyes firmly. My fur is gone. I lift my gaze and see the three of them looking at me.
"Why did you stop?" Cayden asks.
"I got scared."
I try again. But fear encapsulates my body.
"You should stay calm. It's part of you. You should be the one controlling your werewolf form," Saber says.
Hah, it's not that easy.
It won't be easy.
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