by Amy Hopkins
Cisco hastily shut that idea down, his face turning so red it was almost purple. "It was a joke, man. Just a joke. Here, I'll take your plate back up to the kitchen. Do you want anything else to eat?"
In response, Red’s stomach growled. "I'm starving. Another burger?"
Penny's eyes bugged out. "Red, you just ate a burger, fries, coleslaw, two roast potatoes, and Amelia's leftovers."
Red frowned. "You're right." He looked over his shoulder to call to Cisco. "Get me some roast potatoes, too!"
Amelia shook her head. "You're gonna get so fat."
Red patted his stomach. "A big lad needs a big feed to keep his energy up. Speaking of energy, what are we doing tonight?"
"Tonight?" Penny shook her head. "I'm going for a long shower and an early bed."
"No way." Amelia grabbed her hand. "You need a break. Come on, let's go out. We need to blow off some steam, especially you. Who knows? Maybe a night out will lift your spirits and change your luck."
Penny shuddered. The last thing she wanted to do was go out in public. She'd much rather spend the night curled up under a blanket, alone and miserable. She dropped her head into her hands. "What happened to me? I've turned into a miserable old lady!"
Amelia clapped delightedly. "That's my girl! Come on, we'll have a blast."
"Who’s having a blast?" Cisco slid Red’s packed plate in front of him.
"We’re going out," Red said, his voice already muffled with a mouthful of food.
"You're such an animal," Amelia said with a note of disgust in her voice.
"Aye, I am." Red burped proudly. "You know you love it."
"I love it like a hole in the head," Amelia said. She stood and grabbed Penny's empty plate, stacking it on top of her own. "Come on, Penn. Let's leave these disgusting boys to gorge. We can go upstairs and play with each other's hair."
"Can I watch?" Red called.
"You're disgusting," Amelia yelled over her shoulder. As they walked away, her smile faded quickly.
"Amelia, are you sure he's okay?" Red didn't seem terribly off to her. He'd always been a little exuberant, though the last few days he'd been taking it a little far even for him. It was Amelia's reaction that was worrying her.
"Did you see the bags under his eyes?" Amelia asked. "I don't think he’s slept at all in the last two days. It's making him really cranky, and…well, really weird."
"How so?" Penny asked. They reached their room and Penny unlocked the door, holding it open for Amelia.
Inside, Amelia pushed up the sleeve of her shirt. A circular bruise on her forearm was just starting to show tinges of yellow around the blue and purple edges.
Penny leaned in for a better look. "Amelia, did he hit you?"
Amelia yanked the sleeve back down. "He didn't mean to hurt me. We were just mucking around, you know? He was licking my wrist, and then—"
"Licking your wrist?" Penny couldn't hide a grin at that.
"There's nothing wrong with that, Penny." Amelia rolled her eyes. "Anyway, Clive walked up behind him and slapped his back. It gave him a real fright, and somehow, he bit me. I wasn't expecting it, and it hurt, the bastard."
The alarm bells ringing in Penny's ears were so loud she almost couldn't hear Amelia talk. "Amelia—"
Amelia shook her head. "I know what you're going to say. I told him it wasn't cool, and if he ever does anything like that again, he's dead. Dead and dumped." She sank down on her bed. "Come on. I'll straighten your hair for you."
Penny resisted the urge to argue. Amelia was headstrong and proud, but she could take care of herself, and if she couldn't? Penny would be right behind her, ready to have her back the moment she was needed.
Penny leaned her head back, feeling the gentle tug of the brush running through her hair.
"Any more job prospects lined up?" Amelia asked.
Penny shook her head, wincing when the movement yanked on a snarl in her hair. "Not a damned thing. I've got enough drinking money for the rest of the semester, but that's about it. Having that Jeep the other weekend really makes me want a car."
"That was a month ago. I can't believe the semester is passing so fast." Amelia tipped Penny's head forward and gathered her hair up in a clip, leaving a small section out at the back.
Penny could feel the heat of the straightener in the back of her neck, and a delicious shiver ran down her spine.
"A month?" Penny's mind brushed against the memory of stalking through the woods that night. Everything about it—the strange altar, the bloodied bandage, the mysterious scream that had set them on the hunt in the first place—still haunted her.
Amelia loosened another section of hair. "Now you're dwelling on it again, aren't you?"
"Guilty as charged." Penny fell silent, trying to concentrate on the tug and pull and sliding warmth at the back of her head. "Did you know Mythers don’t have DNA?"
"As in, they don’t match anything on record?" Comb, press, slide. Amelia had settled into a steady rhythm now.
"As in, they don’t have any. Crenel said there was no way to match that blood to the body, or to anything else. Apparently, every Myther is the same!" In her frustration, Penny moved her head just as Amelia was pressing the straightener down on a section of hair. She sucked in a sharp breath as her scalp touched the iron.
"Stay still!" Amelia clicked her tongue. "You're going to end up with third-degree burns all over your head if you don't calm down."
"Sorry," Penny muttered.
"You know, it's not just Red that’s out of sorts. You've been really jumpy." As she spoke, Amelia rose to her knees so she could work on the top layers of Penny's hair. "Look, I know that it's bugging you. There's nothing you can do about it, though. If something is still out there, eventually, someone will see it, and when they do, Crenel will realize you were right all along, and he'll spend the rest of the semester sucking eggs."
"I suppose." Penny picked at a loose thread on Amelia's comforter. "It's the not knowing that's frustrating me. No matter what he says, I can't seem to let this rest, and knowing that I was probably wrong, but not that I was definitely wrong seems to be throwing my head for a loop."
"You definitely need to get drunk," Amelia said flatly. "We all do. But no more beaches, for crying out loud. It's turned you and Red barking mad."
Penny could feel Amelia still behind her but thought nothing of it until the smell of singed hair tickled her nose. "Dude!" Penny jerked her head forward and the hair came free of the straighteners.
"Oh shit! I'm so sorry, Penny!" Amelia quickly examined the damaged hair. "It's not so bad, I promise."
Penny could deal with a bit of singed hair. It wasn’t like the rest of it was under control on any given day. She was more concerned about what had made her friend drift off into space like that. "What happened?"
Amelia gave an unconvincing laugh. "Just a stupid thought. Like, a really, really dumb one."
Her tone of voice said something different, though. Something had occurred to Amelia—something she didn't want to admit.
Penny slid off the bed and turned to face her. "Spill."
Amelia waved it off, laughing again. "You'll just laugh. Which you should, because it's ridiculous. It's just, when I called you and Red barking mad…" She winced.
Penny's eyes widened. Then she laughed. "You think Red has turned into a werewolf?"
Seeming relieved that Penny thought the idea was ridiculous too, Amelia gave a more convincing giggle this time. "I know, it's ridiculous. He didn't even get bitten, just scratched, and it's not like he's gotten all hairy or anything like that. But when we were talking about the werewolf, I remembered what Cisco said about Red yapping in his sleep…" She gave an embarrassed shrug. "At least you had your entertainment for the day."
Penny leaned down to give her friend a hug. “He’s not a werewolf,” she said confidently. “We would absolutely know if he was.”
Amelia pulled back with a look of bemusement. “Well, I know that,” she said, laughing.
“Now, what are you wearing? You can’t dress down when your hair looks like that.”
Chapter Twelve
Penny ducked under the plastic awning just in time to avoid the fat drops of rain that had begun to fall.
“My hair!” She squealed, bursting through the doors and into the Chinese restaurant. “Is it wet?” She patted it down while Amelia assured her that, no, the weather hadn’t made it explode into a giant frizzy halo.
“Damn!” Only a few seconds behind her, Cisco hadn’t been so lucky. “It really opened up out there, didn’t it?”
Penny ducked his soggy bear hug. “Touch my hair and you die,” she threatened.
Cisco laughed. “Okay! I get the picture. Did you book a table?”
“Sure did.” Penny didn’t admit she’d used the online form to book said table while they were in the Uber, two streets away. “Let me go ask.”
Cisco tailed her to the small kiosk where a young Chinese girl was furiously writing notes. She looked up when Penny approached, startled. A quick peek showed that rather than bookings, she’d been working through an advanced chemistry textbook.
“Hi. I booked a table for Hingston?” Penny gave the girl a winning smile. When the attendant blushed, scrambling to find the reservation, Penny added, “I used the online form. It hasn’t been long. Maybe it didn’t go through?”
The girl tapped a screen in front of her. “Oh! I see it. Here, you can sit at table nineteen. It’s a lucky number, you know.”
“Really? I could do with some luck.”
Amelia leaned in close to whisper in Penny’s ear. “I’ve come here a few times. According to the staff, every table number is lucky.”
Penny groaned. “You could have let me believe it anyway.”
The waitress scurried away to get menus while Cisco, Amelia, and Penny sat. Amelia craned her neck to look at the door.
As she did, it blew open again to let Red in, along with a stiff breeze and a scatter of leaves. “Blow me down, it’s as windy as a box of farts out there!” He shoved the door shut and gave a toothy grin. “Who’s buying?”
“I am,” Cisco said, surprising Penny. He winked. “If I’m going to offer, it’ll be here, not at a bar full of top-shelf whiskey.”
Red’s face stilled and he sucked in a long breath, nostrils flaring. “What’s that smell” His eyes darted to a corner of the shop.
Something moved in the corner. Penny tensed, ready to flee if it was a rat. Instead, the creature—she thought it was a cat—uncurled and stalked toward the Irishman, its golden fur reflecting the light from the paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling.
The cat sat at Red’s feet and hissed. Red tensed, his neck muscles tight and his hands clenched. The waitress looked up from her textbook and hurried over.
“Maneki-neko! Bad cat. You are here to bring the customers in, not scare them away.” She picked up the golden feline and waved Red through. “I’m sorry. She won’t hurt you.”
“It’s not the cat I’m worried about,” Red growled. He walked to the table, his stride smooth but somehow unsettling.
“Woah.” Amelia put her hand on his arm and pulled him down to sit next to her. “You okay?”
“Just hungry.” Red flashed another grin and snatched up a menu. “I’ll have the potstickers, some honey-fried wings, the kung-pao beef, and…maybe the pork belly rice.”
Penny waited for Red to laugh. When he simply continued to flick through the menu, she glanced at Amelia. Her friend’s eyes were narrowed.
“I take it back,” Cisco said. “I’m too broke to feed this giant.”
“Red, you ate two whole plates of food at lunch today,” Amelia said. “What is going on?”
“I’m a growing lad?” Red seemed genuinely confused by his friends’ reactions. “Seriously. I’m starving!”
Thunder boomed, making Penny jump. “Well, I might have the chow mein.” She glanced longingly at the bar. “Anyone else want a drink?”
“Whiskey!” Red called.
“Margaritas?” Amelia suggested.
Glad the tension had eased, Penny went to order their drinks. By the time she returned with a margarita pitcher, a whiskey poured from a dusty bottle on the bottom shelf, and a beer, her friends were chatting happily with the waitress, who’d arrived to take their order.
To Penny’s shock, Red ordered everything he’d asked for, as well as a round of spring rolls. “To share,” he insisted, although the way he licked his lips suggested that might not be the case.
As the waitress walked away, Penny saw Red slip Cisco three twenties with an apologetic smile. Cisco attempted to refuse, but Red shoved them back.
The food came quickly, and it was good. Penny dove into her dish, soon regretting the two spring rolls Red had shared with her. Halfway through, she sat back and rubbed her stomach.
“I’m so full,” Penny moaned.
“You’re not finishing that?” Red asked, his eyes on her half-eaten dish.
Penny blinked. “Red? You did not eat all that food.”
He blushed and shrugged. “I told you, growing.”
Penny sighed. “Sure, go for it. But can you go fetch us another jug?” She held up the empty pitcher and dug in her handbag for her purse.
Pain stung her wrist. She looked down to see the golden cat lean back on his haunches, then pounce on the table. It hissed at Red.
His eyes narrowed. “I told you, cat. I’m hungry.”
The cat hissed again and lifted a paw toward the door.
“Kitty really doesn’t like you, babe.” Amelia’s voice held a hint of worry. She glanced at Penny, teeth tugging her lip. “Why is that?”
Silence fell. Penny realized that the rain had stopped.
“Guys? We’re pretty much done. Maybe we could ask for a doggy bag…” Electricity buzzed in the air, making Penny’s hair stand on end. Just the storm, she told herself. Residual electricity. That’s all.
“Good idea.” Cisco’s voice was grim. “Red, I’ll sort out the bill. Maybe you should wait outside before this cat tries to tear strips off you.”
Rubbing her stinging wrist, Penny nodded. “I’ll walk you out.” She snatched up her handbag, and the cat let out a comfortable purr.
“We’re gonna let this bag of fleas—" Red backed down when the cat hissed again, rising up on its back legs. “Okay. Guess we are.” He glanced back at Penny’s plate. “Make sure they pack that up, though. I’m not leaving good food behind just because Mr. Whiskers here doesn’t like me.”
Penny hurried to the exit, doing her best to ignore the fingers running chills down her spine.
“Hey!" Cisco grabbed her arm. “Are you guys gonna be okay out there while I settle the bill?”
Despite a frisson of worry at his words, Penny nodded. “Of course. Red’s fine. He’s just….hungry?”
Red burst out into the cool air and Penny followed, darting forward when he staggered.
“Penny?” He looked up, his eyes wild. “Penny, I don’t feel so good.”
“Was it the chicken?” As soon as she said it, she felt like an idiot. This wasn’t bad food. It was something else.
“Snap out of it,” Amelia said briskly. She grabbed his arm and yanked him upright. “I don’t know what’s going on with you, Red, but we’re going back to the Academy, and we’re going to deal with it.”
The streetlight flickered. Penny glanced up as the moon began to peek out from behind a fleeing storm cloud. “We should get you home,” she said.
Red snarled. His lips pulled back to bare his white teeth.
Penny's eyes widened. I never realized how pointed they are. The thought passed in an instant, lost in panic when Red hunched over, his body contorting as he growled in pain.
“Red!” Amelia screamed as Cisco burst through the door, grabbing his friend just before he collapsed into the muddy gutter.
“Stay with me, buddy!” Cisco called.
Red shoved him back, and Cisco went flying. Standing, Red gave a furi
ous roar as his face…stretched. His mouth elongated, his whiskery beard turning to fur as he fell back to all fours. His shredded clothes fell away to reveal the enormous wolf he had turned into.
“Penny? Penny, what do we do?”
Amelia’s sobs tore at Penny’s heart, even as a howl drowned them out.
Red, now a five-foot-tall, shaggy red wolf, bounded down the street away from them.
Penny watched him go with her heart sinking in her chest. “I don’t know, mate. I don’t know.”
Penny, Cisco, and Amelia reluctantly trudged back into the Academy not long after daybreak the next morning.
Penny pushed the door open first and slumped when she saw Dean March standing in the middle of the foyer, arms folded. “Morning, Dean.”
A crawl of discomfort made its way up Penny’s spine, even though she technically hadn’t done anything wrong.
While the Academy didn’t have a curfew, turning up to class after spending all night on the town—or hunting a werewolf—wasn’t endorsed. However, the dean had long since admitted that there wasn’t a damn thing she could do to stop them as long as their grades didn’t suffer.
The dean sighed. “I’ve been waiting for you three to return. Come with me.”
Shooting Amelia and Cisco a worried glance, Penny trailed after the Academy’s head.
Instead of taking them to her office, the dean led them down the corridor, past the small storerooms, and into the infirmary, a single-bed bay that was used for students who were sick or injured.
Lying on that bed, blanket tucked up to his chin and dirt smeared on his face, was Red.
“I don’t know whether to kiss him or slap him,” Amelia whispered.
Penny giggled, her relief and exhaustion welling into tears. “Thank god he’s okay. Now I’m going to kill him.”
Red twitched and opened an eye. “Come on, now. I thought you’d be a wee bit more excited than that.”
“You stupid, stupid man,” Amelia said, voice rising as she ranted. “I told you to get that scratch checked. I told you that you were acting strange. Barking in your sleep? Fevers, mood swings, and do you know how much you’ve been eating lately? Why didn’t you listen? Instead, you go and harass a poor cat, ruin your best shirt, and keep us out all night looking for you while you were here all along!”