by C. D. Gorri
Ronan was seated at our usual table with Angela and Sebastian in the cafeteria. Ironically, the entire cheer squad and boys varsity soccer team were now sitting with us. I suppose that made this the most popular table in school. Whoopee.
There was a time when I would’ve loved to belong to that group. Just a year ago it would have meant everything. Now, I wanted to walk away with my tray of food. Too late, though. Sebby saw me.
“Hey, Grazi. Let me help you.” He pulled out my chair and took my tray from my hands. I felt Ronan’s eyes on me, but couldn’t read him. Was he angry at me for snapping at him? I should probably apologize. But I knew I wouldn’t.
“So how’ve you been?” Sebastian patted my shoulder a little awkwardly and let his hand fall away. His beautiful brown eyes were watching me intently and I smiled at him. It was the least I could do.
“Good, thanks. I feel much better.” It was true, I felt great. The full moon had sort of recharged me. Sure, I had been tired after our hunt, but good tired. I felt strong and my senses were sharp. That’s how I knew that the female detective from the auditorium was now in the cafeteria. Ronan shook his head slightly when she approached. Like he knew I wanted to get up and leave.
“Hola, Tia.” Sebby jumped up and kissed the detective on the cheek. Apparently, she was his aunt. Great, just great.
“Hola, mijo. You look great. When’s the next big game, eh?”
“Indoor soccer starts in two weeks. I’m psyched!”
“I bet, Mr. All-Star! Who’s your pretty friend here?” Her eyes were on me and I tried not to react. This woman was dangerous. My Wolf sensed that too.
“Oh let me introduce you, Tia. This is Grazi.” I nodded and smiled. Just Grazi, no girlfriend or anything. Hmm. I wasn’t sure if I was disappointed or relieved.
“Hi. Grazi, is it? Strange name.”
“It’s Maria, actually. Maria Graziana. Grazi is a nickname.”
“Oh, I see.”
“Hi, Detective De La Cruz, I’m Julianna. Sebastian and I are in the same class and student council together.” I tried not to watch as Julianna inserted herself next to Sebby, essentially pushing me out of the way and played up to his aunt. She chatted with the detective about cheering, soccer, even how important self-defense is for a woman to learn. My cousin tossed her perfect blonde hair over her slender shoulder and effectively cut herself off from me in the process.
“You know I think it is great that you have come so far in your career and at such a young age! I was wondering if maybe you’d come to speak to the school during career week?”
“Well I have to check my schedule, but I’ll try and make time. Thank you, Julianna. Sebby, why don’t you email me when it gets closer to career week?”
“OMG! Thank you so much! It is so important for young girls to see women in strong jobs. You are like, such a huge role model for me personally!” I snorted. I couldn’t help it. As if Julianna had ever cared about police work or the community. Whatever.
“Listen, Sebby you and your friends need to be careful when you’re outside, okay? What happened here was a freak accident because the windows were open and the animal wandered inside. But wild animals that are about to hibernate can be very dangerous even if you just pass one. There may even be evidence that the bear was rabid. So if you guys see a bear or something else call me or dial 911, okay?” She dropped some business cards on the table. After a quick hug for her nephew she nodded at me and left the cafeteria.
“You know I saw something the other day, a huge dog or something, maybe I should tell her?” Sebby was only joking, but I almost choked on my bite of chef salad. Ronan raised his eyebrows. I ignored him.
“Why would she want to know about a dog?” I tried playing it off and took a sip of iced tea I brought from home. It was delicious. No more Wolfsbane, thank you very much.
A few weeks ago before my first change, Nonna had attempted to stop it by adding aconitum, or as it is better known, Wolfsbane, to all of my drinks and food. It hadn’t affected me the way it should have. No one knows why. All it did was taste grossly bitter and make me irritable. I think I was just hungry.
“It was one super-sized dog, Grazi. Like a giant sled dog, but with darker fur and like a patch of yellow down its face.”
“Were you scared of the pup then?” Ronan asked. Jerk.
“No, I wasn’t scared. I’m just saying the thing was huge.” Sebby was embarrassed. I could smell it coming off of him and it was sort of like burnt rubber. I am so weird.
When the bell rang we parted ways and I walked to the library. The shrine had been moved inside. Great. I sneezed and went to the desk for a tissue. There I was greeted by the familiar smell of tea and Sr. Marcia bent over a book in her long gray nun’s habit. She held a tissue out with one hand. I took it from her and wiped my nose.
“Good afternoon, dear!” There was a sparkling silver walker next to her along with a new looking cell phone and a box of mints.
“Hello, Sr. Marcia. How do you feel?”
“Oh lovely, child! Thanks for asking. I need to keep off my feet though, so I hope you are up to helping out around here. Oh, and I am sorry for your loss, dear, I understand you were close with the substitute librarian.”
“I talked to her a little, thank you, Sister. I’m most sorry for her family’s loss.” They had lost her months before her death, to the Demon that had possessed her. They just didn’t know it. Still, I felt heavy with guilt and I didn’t know quite how to shake it off.
“That’s nice of you, dear. I continue to pray for her family as well. Hope they catch that bear. Such a shame. Well, since I am laid up here, I asked Sr. Diane for another helper. We had quite a few volunteers, and from the cheerleaders and soccer team too! I could only pick one though.”
Fear and excitement filled me at the same time. Could it be Sebby? No, he had, Spanish this period. OMG, not Julianna please, not her. Imagine my surprise ad relief when a head full of bouncy red curls and a familiar face strolled in.
“Hi Grazi! Hello Sr. Marcia, you probably don’t remember me, I’m Angela Tanner. I’ll be helping you and Grazi during this period.”
“Sure dear, good, good. Grazi’ll show you the ropes while I finish up here.” We smiled and I pulled Angela towards the shelves with a cart full of returned books.
“Why didn’t you tell me at lunch you were going to be helping out, Ang?”
“Well, I didn’t get a chance to speak to you at lunch with that detective taking up all your time. Jeez, Sebby and his aunt are so good looking, right? What, is that whole family gorgeous? Life is so unfair.”
“Tell me about it! I am so happy you’re the one doing this! You have no idea.” I gave her an impulsive hug and she laughed.
“Ouch! Jeez girl, stop lifting weights! Anyway, I can guess how happy you are and you owe me! Seriously! I was in the office when Julianna walked in and asked that she and Sebby be put on library duty. She gave this whole speech about how she needed it for college applications, but I stepped in and told Ms. Barbero that I had already volunteered and needed the computer access for NewsFlash and she was totally fine with it.”
Angela grabbed some books and started shelving them in the wrong order and went on with her story. I stood next to her listening as she stage whispered on and on about my troublemaker cousin. While I listened, I pulled out the books she was incorrectly shelving and put them back in their rightful place. I didn’t mind the work. I needed a distraction from the turn my thoughts had taken. And Angela was perfect for that.
“I’m telling you Grazi, I don’t even know how the two of you are related! I asked for photos from people to upload on NewsFlash and she purposely got the picture with you and Sebby from the dance and cut you out! And that’s not all. One of her clones has apparently initiated a ‘help our cleaning staff’ fundraiser like she’s going to get brownie points or something from colleges if she gets the janitors like cheaper Windex or something-”
I just shook my head and conti
nued to put away the books. By the time the period was over I had re-shelved everything and Angela had apprised me of every minute detail of her weekend. Seriously, I love the girl, but she could talk forever.
After school I headed for the bus stop as usual, but to my surprise a familiar black SUV was there waiting for me. I immediately recognized the hulking figures of the brothers, Dimitri and Sascha. They were pretty hard to miss. Nineties techno blared from the speakers and I cringed a little.
“Our ride’s here.” Ronan snuck up behind me and walked on towards the SUV.
“What do you mean ‘our ride’?” I stopped in my tracks causing him to pause with the door open.
“Rolf left instructions. You are to be watched.” Dimitri said, at least I think it was him, and closed the door as I got in to the spacious vehicle. The seats were comfortable and it smelled factory new inside. A lot different from Uncle Vito’s landscaping truck.
“Watched? Like I’m a prisoner now.” Ronan shook his head and tried to hide his smirk at my comment. I kicked him in the shin.
“Not a prisoner, printzyessa. You have special rank in pack, therefore you must be guarded.”
“Like a prisoner.” Dimitri and Sascha both glared at me then spoke to each other in Russian. It sounded beautiful, but of course I couldn’t make out one word.
“What are you smirking at?”
“Nothing.” But Ronan continued to smirk. By the time we got home he was rubbing both shins furiously.
“You didn’t have to get me twice in each leg. What are you wearing steel toed shoes to school now?” I walked ahead of him to my uncle’s house. It was time for our usual lessons. Only they were anything but usual.
Uncle Sean had a huge room cleared out except for some heavy rubber mats and weights and work out machines. After an hour of basic cardio we began sparring. Only not just me and Ronan and Uncle Sean. Dimitri, Sascha and another Werewolf, a woman I had never met named Cara.
“So, I hear you can change whenever you like?”
“I don’t know about that.”
“You don’t know much about nothing. That’s something, I also heard.” Her accent was faint, but she sounded like Ronan and Uncle Sean. I wonder if she grew up with my dad. I guess she would have been younger than him. But when it comes to Werewolves you just can’t be sure of age.
She hit me in the ribs when I wasn’t looking and bent to sparring position. I could feel the eyes of the others on me and my body trembled with anger. I didn’t know we had started. My cheeks were burning and I could just imagine how red I was.
“Let’s go, princess. Seems your reputations all for naught.” She kicked and caught me behind the knees. This was no easy going, show me the moves sparring like I had had before. She meant to hurt me, maybe put me in my place. I swung with all my might and she dodged me easily. She laughed and tapped me in the back hard enough to make me stumble.
“What a mess you are? Did you know that? Can’t even block. What was Sean thinking?” She caught me again behind the knees and I fell down hard.
I was breathing heavy and completely outmatched. She crouched down and lunged pinning me to the mat. She jumped up and laughed again.
Again and again. I got up and she beat me down. My body ached in ways I had never felt. I was pretty sure I fractured a rib, I knew it would heal but still. The woman could pack a serious punch.
Focus, Grazi. I tried to let go of my anger and closed my eyes. I raised myself off the mat for the umpteenth time. She laughed again and said something rude. I concentrated on my listening. It was not easy, but I ignored her voice and listened to the noise the mat made when she shifted her body to attack. I slowly straightened, favoring my left leg. She grinned and threw a punch. I exhaled and stepped to the side.
She missed me. I couldn’t believe it. Cara’s brows knit in an unbecoming frown. A vein throbbed in her forehead. She grunted and attacked with a combo punch and kick. I ducked and got out of the way quick as I could. It wasn’t a graceful move, but still I remained untouched.
That’s when Cara got angry. That’s also when I got better. The more frustrated she was, the clumsier her attacks. I learned to listen, to trust my gut. You see, Werewolves move fast. My eyesight wouldn’t help much when fighting another Werewolf, but my hearing. That was another story.
The mat squeaked under the force of her stance every time she lunged towards me. That’s what gave her away. After dodging three more attempts to take me down, I made my move. I grabbed her wrist and with my shoulder, I heaved her over and threw her down on the mat.
“Okay?” I had her wrist bent backwards in my hands and my knee on her back. Uncle Sean had his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed.
Clearly he was not pleased, but surprisingly I was not the focus of his displeasure. I threw down her hand and turned to walk away. I was hot and thirsty. I desperately wanted some of the cucumber lime water Dimitri made especially for after sparring and a nice cold shower.
I heard some scrambling behind me. I turned and as if it was in slow motion I saw Cara. She raised herself as if to attack me from behind. I was stunned. I couldn’t move. It never occurred to me she would do something so underhanded. My body was frozen and I shut my eyes as I waited for the pain that would come after she hit me. She didn’t get the chance though. Sascha had her pinned to the floor in an instant.
“No, Cara. The printzyessa beat you. Stay down.” She grunted again as he easily held her down.
“Fine, I’m fine. Let me up, you’re crushing me.” She shouted.
“You good?” Sascha asked again.
“Yes.” Cara spat the word. I continued to walk across the room. I kept my back to her. Ronan handed me my water bottle.
“How did you do that?”
“What? Not get hit?”
“Cara is one of the best martial artists in our pack. Once you were aware she was attacking, she never hit you. How?” I just shrugged and tried to not feel the weight of Cara’s stare from across the room. She was petite and pretty with short blonde hair and crystal clear blue. She looked so young, maybe twenties, but again I had to remind myself Werewolves age differently so I couldn’t really know.
It was hard to recognize her dainty appearance with the ferocity of her attacks. She must be one hell of a Werewolf. I just wished I knew why she disliked me so much.
“Why is she here?” I asked.
“I’m not sure.” Ronan shrugged.
After that Cara left the sparring room and I watched as Ronan worked out with Dimitri and Sascha. All thoughts of my cool shower behind me.
I was surprised by him. He was very skilled and his knowledge of hand to hand combat was infinitely greater than my own. Ronan held his own against the older, stronger men. He was graceful and fast. Really fast.
Because he was lighter he was able to dodge most of the blows the two guards rained down on him. Unfortunately one caught him in the shoulder and he stumbled to one knee. I was up and ready to help, but Uncle Sean stopped me with a hand on my arm. He gestured for me to wait. I’m glad I did. Ronan was back on his feet in an instant and giving as good as he got.
“He’s a good lad. We’ve been training him for pack soldier since he was a pup. The time for his testing will be upon him soon.” Uncle Sean leaned against the wall next to me.
“Testing?”
“Werewolves are tested when they come of age. It is how we prove we are of worth to the pack. It is also how jobs are assigned. Ronan will have his testing soon. I wanted to tell you I’m sorry that happened before. With Cara.”
“She doesn’t seem to like me very much. Why is she here?” I wondered about the testing Uncle Sean spoke of, but I was more concerned with the lethal blonde who seemed to have taken an instant dislike to me.
“She’s a master. She holds black belts in varying degrees in several different martial arts. Rolf picked her to see if your training is up to par.”
“I wonder what she’ll tell him.” We both smirked and unfortunately d
istracted Ronan. He landed on his butt with a loud thump.
“Oooh, that’ll leave a mark.” Dimitri bopped him on the head and Ronan stayed down.
I looked over the messages on my cell as I walked over to my house. Cell phones. What was the world like before them? Must have been an awful place where people had to speak to one another and write stuff down on paper to remember it. Smh.
No, but really, most of my school work was located on SHPS School Pages. It was a website for teachers and students, and now it even had an app. I could find homework, projects, chat with students in my classes, and message my teachers if I needed help. I could even send my homework to teachers online.
It was pretty cool. Geek that I am I never missed an assignment and this made completing them and handing them in even quicker. Unfortunately, for those who claimed to forget their books, they could now get those online as well. No more dodging homework or misplacing assignment instructions. Everything was online.
Poor Ronan. It wasn’t really his fault. I mean he was smart, but he tended to only want to go running, play the piano or spar. I guess it’s a Werewolf thing. Sitting still just wasn’t for us. I found I could read faster and my memory was better than it had been. It just made studying easier for me. Which was good since I now spent so much time working out.
I missed my jogs with Sebby, but running with Ronan was much more satisfying. I could push myself and not worry about showing him up. I think he liked the competition too. Besides Sebby was playing indoor soccer now.
To a regular teen it was way too cold outside for running. He wouldn’t get why I’d go jogging when it was so cold. I tried meeting him at the school gym, but the treadmills were too slow. Besides I couldn’t sweat at that pace, not like he did and it was making me self-conscious. I mean he’d be soaked by the time we were finished. How could I explain why I wasn’t even breathing heavy? Nope. This was better.