by Sarah Noffke
“And I never expected to say it, but it makes sense if you think about it, which I know is hard for all your tiny brains to do,” Adelaide said.
From beside her Kaleb slapped the table. “She went a whole minute without insulting us. I almost believed she was a changed person,” he said with a laugh.
“Go back to sleep, Runt. Your elders are conversing,” she said.
“K,” he chirped and slid his head back onto his arms and pretended to sleep.
“If this drug makes it so the man and the wolf are fused then the idea is that you can change at will. There wouldn’t be any sudden changes, but rather more of a partnership. The wolf wouldn’t take over, because it would be more a part of you. I suspect you’d have to listen to it, feed some of its demands, but in return you could control the change,” Adelaide said.
Zephyr pushed back in his seat, his thumb now resting on the side of his mouth. “That’s a plausible theory,” he said.
“When the men changed, would the wolf be in control with the impulse to attack innocent people? Because that’s still a problem for them now when changed,” Rox said.
“Maybe,” Adelaide said, thinking back to her discussion with Aiden about the research. “But the opposite could also true. In essence, the drug makes it so you are in charge. The wolf will feel more a part of you, but you’re its owner. Right now there’s an unfair balance, both when you’re men and when you’re werewolves. This might fix that.”
“But how will we be in man form? Will the wolf make us have impulses and aggression?” Zephyr said.
“Probably,” Adelaide said indifferently. “But you’ve said that’s already the case and you all work to maintain a rational mind. I think you’ll just have to try harder. And there’s a possibility that this will help you to tame the wolf. Right now you’re constantly battling for control, man and wolf. Hunter didn’t have this problem because he embraced the wolf, made peace with it. This drug could do that for you all.”
“I’m liking this idea more than I thought I would,” Zephyr said.
“Because it’s brilliant,” Adelaide said, giving herself an internal pat on the back. “So now the question is, who takes the drug first?”
“That’s easy,” Zephyr said. “It has to be me. If anything goes wrong, I’ll be the only one who suffers.”
Chapter Two
“All Dream Travelers are gifted with one or more psychic or super powers.”
- Dream Traveler Codex
Los Angeles Gazette
If a picture says a million words then this one is full of horrifying screams and inaudible sounds associated with disbelief. Marianne Magner, the person at the forefront of the werewolf protests, acquired this photo from a young girl in Los Angeles. The girl reported that she snapped the photo from her phone while sitting on her front porch. “I saw a werewolf and a man fight. I took a picture at once, and then watched as the man won the fight. Before my eyes the werewolf shifted back into a man. It was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen,” the girl stated in an interview, standing alongside Magner.
This is absolutely one of the most bizarre images ever recorded, and the forensic team who studied it said it doesn’t show evidence of being photoshopped. To see an actual image of a man with fangs and claws is the stuff of movies.
Most of Magner’s campaigns have been debunked by authorities, including the FBI, who reported that her claims didn’t match up with their records. However, it appears, based on this photo, that Magner might be telling the truth and that her son, Kaleb Magner, is in fact a werewolf. If this photo is to be believed then werewolves are real and according to the protestor, they are dangerous and responsible for the death of her husband.
In the past six months there have been over a dozen deaths that were linked to the same serial killer, whom authorities named the Rabid Wolf. In each case, a woman was savagely cut and in some cases she looked to have been maimed by teeth. The LA police force has been reluctant to report that the women were eaten by something, but that might be exactly what happened based on this new evidence.
Are werewolves real and prowling through the streets of Los Angeles? That remains to be confirmed, but if this photo is to be believed then something incredibly sinister might be out there in the city. Citizens, especially women, should be cautious. Travel with others, be vigilant, and be careful of what lurks in the shadows.
Chapter Three
“Middlings are the race that possess no gifts and aren’t able to dream travel.”
- Dream Traveler Codex
It hadn’t been hard for Derek Chang to find a job after he escaped from the sinister lab that did incredibly horrifying things to him. The twenty-eight-year-old had simply gone back into his old work, but with a different company. What had been hard was getting back to his hometown of Ontario. It actually had presented itself as pretty impossible and so Derek gave up and settled for Seattle. Passing over the Canadian border never seemed like a good idea, thinking he’d get stopped and asked for papers he couldn’t supply.
More than anything, Derek wanted to return home, but his instinct told him that wasn’t a good idea. It was always the wolf’s insistence, telling him they needed to be with their pack. His mother and father had been the only pack he’d known, since he didn’t have siblings and didn’t have many friends. Writers never had many friends, or at least that’s what Derek had always told himself. Maybe it was that he just didn’t have friends and happened to be a writer. The manuscript he’d been working on since he was a kid was locked away in his parents’ basement, too far away for him to finish.
The moist Seattle air traveled across Derek’s cheeks as he traversed across the support beam of the unfinished building. Construction was something that Derek kind of fell into as a young adult and now he was glad for it. When he’d told the foreman of his experience, the guy was impressed, but still a little reserved about giving him a job, one that would pay him under the table. However, when Derek spoke of his confidence working up high, the guy warmed to the idea a bit more. The current project involved construction on a nineteen-story building and even the most seasoned worker got a bit of vertigo. To make things worse, the foreman had just experienced an accident with his crew resulting in an injury from a long fall. Now the men had a bit of trepidation, which slowed down the work.
Maybe it was because Derek was low to the ground at five foot, five inches tall, that he didn’t mind balancing on support beams. Or maybe it was because his thoughts were always off somewhere else, which distracted him from the fact that he was up high. Lately he thought about the new story idea in his head. It involved a wolf and a man. They became one in a beautiful union. This wasn’t just the story he wanted to tell but also the one he’d wished were true for him. Each night, Derek felt tortured by the wolf. He’d always thought of himself as a good person, a gentle person. However, the things the wolf wanted, that it barked about in his head, they didn’t seem nice. They were wrong and violent, but more and more he found himself wanting to do them. To hunt. To hurt the innocent.
Chapter Four
“The Dream Traveler gene is passed down from an ancient lineage known as the Founder Families.”
- Dream Traveler Codex
The man in the cell shrieked, his mouth gaping so far open it appeared his jaw might come unhinged. Mika was relieved to be watching someone else in agony and not witnessing his own. It had taken a whole day for the residual tremors and shooting pains from the drug Drake gave him to wear off. It worked, though, because now he was fast; actually he was faster than he remembered being the last time he’d undergone the procedure.
Drool flooding over the man’s lips, he rammed his mouth shut, his teeth clapping together hard. His eyes centered on Mika and then bounced to Drake beside him, a haunting darkness in him. For a long ten minutes the pair had been watching the man after he was injected with the Arcturian virus, which they’d made using the alien samples. This was the third subject and none of them had made it this long.
The man’s eyes glowed blue and he lifted his hands up, spreading his fingers as he did. For a moment he regarded his limbs like they weren’t his own, but then clapped one of his hands to his forehead and sunk down to his knees, screaming out in obvious anguish as he did. With an effort that appeared to almost be too much for him, the man brought his head up and regarded Mika with extraterrestrial eyes that were more slanted than a moment prior.
The devil will come for you and then you’ll burn in hell with him, the man said in Mika’s mind. Then his head dropped to the concrete floor, marking his final moment on earth.
Unflustered, Mika turned to Drake, a relaxed expression on his face. “Note that this subject was able to achieve telepathic communication,” he said.
Drake nodded, scribbling notes on the paper on his clipboard. “That is progress,” he said. “And I’ve also noted that the subject’s eyes started to take on the appearance of the Arcturians.”
“That was interesting to see,” Mika said, his eyes resting on the dead body locked inside the cell. “I hadn’t expected the subjects to take on so many of the characteristics of the Arcturians.”
“And I don’t think they inevitably will. Their skills might resemble the alien, but we must remember these are humans. This is a virus and the way it behaves will depend on its host,” Drake said, and Mika noted a strange new pride in the scientist’s voice. He had been more enthusiastic about Project Vampyyri than any other so far.
“Yes, I do believe it is the human tendencies that will create the desired result. Lust and hunger can’t be taken out of a man. It is hardwired into our DNA, which is why humans make for the best monsters,” Mika said.
“That’s why the mix of the Arcturian and man will eventually yield the result we want. I dare say, this will be better than the mystical vampire. What we create will exceed anyone’s expectations, because this creature will be far more beautiful, powerful, and intelligent than any thus far,” Drake said, again not completely sounding like himself. There was a spark in his usually dull eyes, which Mika caught.
“Yes, well, move the testing for the virus into the next phase and have it ready tomorrow for a new subject,” Mika said, feeling Haiku at his back. The director of security often walked softly, probably due to his martial arts training.
Haiku lowered his chin when Mika spun to face him. He knew that he was still in trouble for what Kris had gotten away with. She’d managed to sabotage the surveillance and therefore was successful at getting Rio free. Maybe Haiku wasn’t able to stop this, but someone had to be responsible for the things that went wrong at Olento Research, and it wasn’t going to be Mika.
“I have a job for you,” Mika said, getting straight to business.
“Yes, sir,” Haiku said.
“The woman who leaked the photo to the newspapers, Marianne Magner, you’ve found her current location?” Mika asked. This shouldn’t have been a difficult task. They’d already been to the woman’s house many times, since this was Kaleb’s mother. He must have returned to his family home and exposed his true identity to the woman. This wasn’t something he expected many of the werewolves did, knowing their family wouldn’t ever accept them and furthermore that they were putting themselves and their family in danger.
“Yes, as you suspected, she’s back at her home in Salt Lake City. Do you want me to bring the woman into custody?” Haiku said, eyes still averted.
“No, I want you to kill her,” Mika said. The woman was making too much trouble for him and she was going to be stopped.
Chapter Five
“Children don’t come into the dream travel ability or powers until they hit puberty.”
- Dream Traveler Codex
Connor obviously wanted kudos for slapping down three pages of handwritten notes about Olento Research. However, he wasn’t going to get it. He’d apparently spent a lot of time with the handkerchief so that he could pull apart as many of the images that it supplied. Adelaide guessed that it wasn’t easy for psychometrists to analyze the information they are given from an object. It’s probably about like having a series of dreams, all filled with places and people that the dreamer didn’t know.
“I guess we can work with this,” Adelaide said, sighing dramatically, like disappointment was eating her up.
He narrowed his eyes, but smiled still. “One day, at least once in my life, I’m going to earn your reverence,” he said to her, standing on the other side of the conference room. She felt like she never left that room, and maybe it was because that’s where she felt closest to her father. It was the home base for the werewolves, who always seemed to be seeking her out, and hopefully that was because they respected her. Needed her expertise.
“Oh, Connor. I’ll give you a bag full of pennies if you will please hope at a wishing well for something else. Anything else that is way more likely to happen,” Rox said, sitting in her usual seat next to Zephry.
“I like going for the impossible. It works best with my defeatist personality,” Connor said to Zephyr, his eyes on Adelaide.
“I know what he likes,” Rox said with a whistle. “Is it just me or is there tension—”
“Finish that sentence, whore face, and I’ll hypnotize you until your nose bleeds,” Adelaide said.
“Ouch. She wouldn’t be so testy if I hadn’t hit a sore spot,” Rox said, slapping Zephyr on the arm.
Adelaide tried to pull her focus to the pages Connor had given her, but his gaze was lighting a warm fire under her and she knew all too well Zephyr and Rox were whispering in the corner. None of these people valued their lives.
“Bum-bumpita-bum-bumpita-bum!” Kaleb sang from the hallway. Adelaide tore her curious eyes up to find him marching like leading a band, his knees coming up high as his arms alternated swinging up and down in front of his face.
Adelaide pressed both of her hands to either side of her head. “Look, someone is playing make-believe again,” she said dryly.
“I’m here to save the day,” Kaleb sang from the entrance to the conference room, coming to a halt with a salute.
“What kind of superhero are you pretending to be today? Would you like me to assign you a secret mission? Go fetch me some tea. You have to battle the napkin trolls and sugar packet gnomes to accomplish this mission, but I have complete faith in you,” Adelaide said, trying to suppress the grin threatening to be revealed on her mouth.
“I might have a similar mission for you. I could use a sandwich,” Connor said, with a laugh.
“I’ve already been victorious on my mission,” Kaleb said, puffing out his chest. “I’ve done that which you all have failed. I have found our missing werewolf.”
“What?” Zephyr said, bolting to an upright position. He was always doing that, like he couldn’t remain seated when big news was announced.
Beside Kaleb, something flickered and then solidified. It was the invisible girl, the one that Adelaide had kicked out of the Institute.
“Kaleb, you bloody wanker! That’s not a werewolf! We’ve gone to great lengths to keep that vermin out of here,” Adelaide said, jumping out of her own seat.
Too distracted by sizing up the invisible woman, who had a large smirk plastered on her face, no one noticed the figure approaching until he was standing just behind Kaleb. “Don’t mind her. She’s with me,” Rio said, smiling wide, his dimple surfacing as he did.
“Yes!” Zephyr said, clapping both his hands together. He jumped up on the table and slid across it, landing on his feet gracefully. Kaleb stepped out of the way just as Zephyr reached out, taking Rio’s extended hand and pulling the larger man in for a side hug. “You’re back! Are you okay?”
Rio’s smile hadn’t dropped when he high-fived Connor on his other side and nodded. “Yeah, I’m perfectly fine and I escaped thanks to this gal,” he said, throwing his chin in Kris’s direction.
“You?” Adelaide said, sizing Kris up. She was about her age, but everything she wasn’t. Tall, tan, and brunette. “Why’d you let him out? What are you p
lanning? What does Mika have you doing?”
“Nothing,” Kris said. “I don’t work for that asshole anymore. I don’t want anything to do with Olento Research ever again.”
According to Adelaide’s lie detector skills, the invisible woman, who was now solid, wasn’t lying. However, this still didn’t add up.
“She promised to get me out of Olento Research if I got her back into the Institute,” Rio said.
“Why? Why do you want to be here? You’re a Middling and you know probably from spying on us that we don’t allow Middlings in the Institute, or traitors or spies,” Adelaide said.
“I also have the ability to become invisible or make anyone else invisible. And I know so much about Olento Research that I can help you,” Kris said.
“But why? Why would someone who did all the horrible things that Mika assigned to them want to help us?” she said.
“Because I realized it was wrong. I recognized that when I gave you back your book. That’s when I wanted to work for the Lucidites and use my powers for good,” Kris said, her voice not pleading, but her hands starting to shake from the nervousness.
“It’s possible that she really had a change of heart,” Zephyr said. “She did give you back your book and release Rio.”
“Yeah, but we aren’t in a position to allow a potential threat on our team. We are better off not having her here at all,” Adelaide said. She saw the advantages of employing a person like Kris on the team, but she also saw the risks. She’d seen them before and that’s why she’d had her evicted from the Institute. Kris was less of a risk outside the Institute, giving Mika information, than she was inside these walls.