by Brent Miller
Aldric reached his arms out and lifted Cailean from the ground. Screeching with joy, Cailean flailed his arms and legs in the air. One stray kick connected with Aldric’s elbow, forcing him to recoil a bit. The force would easily have broken a human’s arm. While Aldric was concerned that his son may accidentally hurt someone – he was more impressed.
Aldric spun in a circle, giving Cailean the illusion of flying through the air. After a few spins, he stopped and placed the boy on the ground. Cailean dizzily threw a punch toward Aldric’s knee, but his aim was far from accurate.
“I wanna go across the room again!” Cailean demanded as he straightened himself up, apparently becoming bored of actually trying to fight.
“What?” Aldric laughed.
“That was fun, I wanna fly again!”
“Okay,” Aldric shrugged. Lifting Cailean, he placed his palm on the boy’s chest and held him diagonally. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah!” Cailean exclaimed. Aldric pushed his hand upward, careful not to apply enough force to break the wall. Cailean soared through the air, slamming against the other side of the room. With the impact, the walls vibrated, shaking the house. Despite the fact that he should have been in at least some pain, Cailean stood, beaming and laughing. “Again!”
Aldric obeyed, fulfilling his son’s wish for their violent game. As the room finished vibrating, Linda burst through the door.
“What’s going on in here?” She demanded.
“I’m throwing Cailean,” Aldric shrugged with a laugh.
“It’s so fun Mommy! You should try.”
“No,” she replied coldly. “Aldric, you could hurt him.”
“He’s a werewolf,” Aldric defended. That defense, he knew, wasn’t actually a viable one. His son’s lycanthropy didn’t prevent him from harm – it only healed the wounds more quickly. While his pain tolerance was likely higher than other kids his age, and his bones were less likely to break, he wasn’t immune to being harmed. Regardless, he wasn’t as fragile as Linda seemed to believe.
“Still,” she argued weakly. With a sigh, she softened her gaze, turning from angry to exasperated. Although Aldric didn’t particularly like displeasing her, he couldn’t think of better ways to play with Cailean.
“Just be careful,” Linda ordered with a sigh. Aldric kissed her cheek.
Cailean retrieved Nina and ran up to the two of them, smiling up at his parents and clearly not sensing the slight tension. He tugged at his mother’s pants, beaming up at her until she turned her attention to him.
“Mommy, want to play Fight?” He offered.
“Oh,” Aldric interjected, squatting down to face Cailean. The image of Cailean accidentally kicking too hard and breaking his mother’s arm raced through Aldric’s mind. Trying not to make the panic from that idea too apparent, he gently suggested, “Let’s only play Fight together. It’s a boy game, okay?”
“Oh, okay,” Cailean accepted. Slyly, he added, “No girls allowed.”
Present
One Day until the Full Moon
Cailean
Sitting across from Brooke at the lunch table, Cailean could practically hear her heart beating. As he focused harder, he became confident that he was actually hearing the loud, rhythmic thumping as she twirled her long hair around a finger and gazed at him. Distracted, Cailean battled the urge to dart his eyes toward each sound around them. Every footstep was a roar of thunder and every conversation a resounding echo in his mind. Brooke spoke, but Cailean couldn’t process any of the individual pieces as everything melded together into a cacophony of sound.
Unable to hide his discomfort from the sitation, Cailean dropped his head onto the table in front of him. With Brooke nearby, he felt safe, so despite the overwhelming nature of the noise around him he didn’t panic. Still, his head ached and his brain longed for a moment of silence.
Since Cailean had easily beaten three eighth graders in what the other students were calling a fight, no one had bothered him. Cailean struggled to acknowledge that altercation as anything more than an inconvenience – a fight typically involved at least a semblance of a threat on both sides. Regardless, rumors of the confrontation were spreading like wildfire through the school, and Cailean’s name was on all of the students’ lips. Lifting his head, he noticed other kids ducking their heads as they passed his table – which he’d taken over from the previously most intimidating group.
As he looked up, his eyes met Brooke’s, and he detected a hint of concern. Her lips parted, but Cailean couldn’t hear any sound. Wondering if it was because she hadn’t spoken or her words had simply blended into the deafening roar of student life, Cailean narrowed his eyes in confusion. Brooke closed her mouth and gently reached out to touch his arm.
The sounds were momentarily washed away with her touch as goosebumps covered his skin. Everything in the world faded except her soft hand against his bare arm. Cailean stumbled for words, but he found himself lost, overtaken by emotions he hadn’t experienced before. As she retracted her hands, the sounds of the world around him returned, but they weren’t as overpowering as they had been before.
“Are you alright?” Brooke questioned, her voice nothing more than a gentle whisper.
“I’m fine,” Cailean nodded with a feigned smile.
“Sometimes it takes a while to adjust to a new school. Especially when there are so many people,” Brooke consoled.
“I guess,” Cailean responded unconfidently. Though he didn’t question her logic, he wasn’t sure why the stimuli became more unbearable with each passing day.
“So, what do you think?” Brooke asked, a hint of hope replacing the concern in her voice. For the first time, Cailean noticed a red tint to her cheeks. Apparently, it was obvious that he noticed, because as he looked toward her, her eyes dropped to avoid eye contact. Cailean searched his memory, desperately struggling to find any statement she’d said which may justify her reaction. Thinking back over their conversation, though, all he could hear was an incessant buzzing as his ears rang from the screaming world around him.
“I’m sorry,” he apologized slowly.
“Oh, no, I totally get it,” she shrugged.
“I just didn’t hear you,” Cailean quickly interjected, a strange mixture of awkwardness and defensiveness polluting his words.
“Oh,” she laughed.
The two sat in silence for a brief moment. Cailean’s heart raced, but he couldn’t quite understand why. The world around him didn’t seem quite as terrifying, so there was no reason for the strange tightness he felt in his stomach. Regardless, though, the feeling was present, and it almost felt like nausea.
“I was just thinking,” Brooke started slowly, hiding her embarrassment. Cailean wondered why it was suddenly so hard for her to speak to him. The two had been friends for two weeks, and they hadn’t tripped over words before. Brooke especially was always able to say what was on her mind, which was one of the things Cailean found so appealing about her. For some reason, though, there was something different about the heavy thoughts on her mind.
Cailean wondered if she thought he was attractive. He found it difficult to talk to her sometimes, but that usually happened when his mind drifted to certain aspects of her body which particularly drew him in. He couldn’t quite understand the feeling, but something about Brooke made him uneasy in the best way.
“Since it’s the weekend tomorrow, maybe we could go somewhere.”
“Where?” Cailean asked – completely missing her intention. Ignorant to her body language, Cailean just peered at her eyes thoughtfully.
“I don’t know,” she shrugged and laughed quietly.
“Then why do you want to go there?” Cailean wondered.
“I just want to hang out with you outside of school,” she blurted out.
“Oh, okay,” Cailean replied.
“Do you want to go swimming tomorrow night? I was thinking we could go to the river.”
“That sounds like fun,” Cailean smiled. Eve
n with his lack of experience in the subject, Cailean was fairly certain that he had just agreed to his first date.
❖ ❖ ❖
“How was school?” Cailean’s father questioned as Cailean took a bite of steak. Although the question itself was innocent enough, Cailean knew his father’s tones well enough to understand that there was something hidden beneath the question. After the awkward conversation a week ago, he didn’t want to talk to his parents about Brooke, but he assumed that was what his father was asking about.
“It was good,” Cailean shrugged.
“Nothing special?” Aldric asked with a laugh. Cailean shrugged off the question. Part of him wanted to ask his father what it was that he was actually trying to find out, but a larger part knew better than to question his father. Instead, Cailean quietly ate another piece of meat as he brushed away any conversation regarding school.
“Are you noticing any changes?” His mom asked slowly, more bluntly approaching the subtext behind his father’s line of questioning. Cailean’s mind jumped to the moment Brooke had placed a hand on his arm. He sifted through all of the confusing thoughts he harbored for her. Cailean had never been so interested in being around a girl before, but it was beyond that. Something about the way she walked made him feel odd – and he was far more excited to swim with her than he thought he should have been.
“What do you mean?” He shrugged the question off. Rather than talking through any of his perplexing thoughts, he elected to pretend they didn’t exist. It was something Cailean would much rather work through on his own than deal with the painful conversation as his parents tried to explain anything.
“Well, as you get older,” she began slowly.
“Okay, Mom, I know what puberty is,” Cailean groaned. That wasn’t an entirely accurate statement, but he hoped it would be enough to avoid the conversation. All he knew was what he’d heard and what he’d read in one book as he tried to better understand his strange symptoms. It was all very limited knowledge, but at least he’d managed to retain the word, because as he uttered it, his mother’s expression changed slightly.
“That isn’t what we’re talking about this time,” Cailean’s father interjected.
“Then what are you talking about?” Cailean couldn’t help but wonder why his father was always so cryptic.
“Loud noises, stronger smells, anything like that,” Aldric explained.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Cailean shrugged. “I think it’s all pretty normal.”
While some of those things applied to him, Brooke understood how he felt. As much as Cailean wanted to be like his father, there was no reason for him to believe that there was anything abnormal about what he had experienced.
For a moment, Cailean toyed with the idea of ranting – complaining about how much louder middle schoolers were than elementary schoolers – but he decided against it. There was no reason to concern his parents over nothing, and Cailean didn’t want to relive the most stressful parts of his school days. Instead, he chose to stay silent as they both examined his face for any sign of hidden information. Slowly, Cailean took another bite of his meal, chewing as he looked back up inquisitively at his mother, meeting her gaze.
“Well, I’m glad you’re not getting in any more fights,” his mom teased.
“That was barely a fight,” Cailean replied. “Anyway, I think I may be the scariest guy on campus now.”
“What makes you say that?” Aldric inquired, concerned.
“I just hear a lot of people talking about how I beat up the bullies.”
“So you’re a local legend, then,” Aldric laughed.
“Yeah, I guess,” Cailean acknowledged quietly. “I think it’s fair to say I’m standing out.”
“You’re doing well,” Aldric praised. “I’m sorry that you have to focus so much on this, but I am proud of you.”
“I’d still prefer you not get in fights,” Linda muttered.
“Mom,” Cailean sighed. “I’m not going to lose a fight to some bully.”
“It doesn’t have to make sense, I’m a mother,” she defended.
Cailean considered his own word choice for a second. When he thought of those three eighth-graders, they were no longer simply humans in his mind. For the first time in as long as he could remember, Cailean didn’t separate himself from humanity. Though he wasn’t sure if that was because he was beginning to doubt whether he’d ever take the form of a wolf as his father did or because he was happy to associate with Brooke’s species, Cailean wasn’t sure, but it was a novel feeling either way.
As dinner proceeded relatively uneventfully, Cailean continually bit his tongue about Brooke. By no means was he embarrassed of her, but he wasn’t ready to try to defend his reasons for spending so much time with her. Carefully, he avoided mentioning how excited he was to meet with her the following day or how his stomach had been tied in knots when he’d noticed her red cheeks. Instead, Cailean focused his conversations on the topics covered throughout his mundane classes as if they were the highlight of his day. In reality, Cailean was just counting down the minutes to the following evening.
Chapter 7
Seven Years Ago
Aldric
Uncomfortable, Aldric shifted to the side slightly as he sat on James’s couch. The last thing Aldric wanted was to be sitting in that room trying to be friendly with neighbors, but his wife had insisted. Of course, there was logic behind her argument. First, if they were attempting to appear normal, playdates for their children and friendships for adults were a necessity. Also, the main reason Aldric hadn’t wanted to raise Cailean in his pack was because he didn’t want the brainwashing that came with exclusively interacting with werewolves throughout childhood to affect his son. Despite Aldric’s own hesitation to interact with the world, it was good parenting to allow Cailean those opportunities to socialize.
Linda sat next to him, leaning on his shoulder and laughing at something Bree had said. She and James sat on a sofa adjacent to Aldric and Linda, and Cailean and Samantha were playing with blocks in the middle of the room. Building intricate structures from the geometric shapes, Cailean appeared focused on his creation. Aldric and Linda were careful in their decisions of toys to provide for Cailean. Anything which provided mindless entertainment was intentionally avoided in exchange for something more stimulating. Partially because of that, Cailean’s intelligence had developed impressively well for his age. Although that wasn’t a sign of lycanthropy, Aldric had been paranoid that it would be mistaken for one. However, Samantha seemed to be able to keep up with Cailean fairly well, and she was working on her own small city built from logs.
Dividing his focus, Aldric closely monitored his son while watching every move from his hosts from his peripheral vision. Leaning back on the couch, he smiled and attempted to appear relaxed. The role of a calm father watching his son play was a simple one to play, so Aldric slowly slipped into it. Breathing deeply, he was able to force away any evident sign of his uneasiness.
Before much more time had passed, Cailean had finished laying out blocks across the floor. Samantha was placing the finishing touch on a roof of one of her houses and Cailean reached forward to start moving another structure she’d built. The two of them worked together to transport her houses, lying them next to Cailean’s interconnected blocks.
“They make a great team,” James observed, turning his attention to the children. Both of them were too focused on their creation to notice the eyes moving toward them. Meticulously, they positioned Samantha’s buildings around the streets Cailean had laid out in a pattern which vaguely resembled the town.
“Maybe they’ll get married,” Bree joked.
“That seems premature,” Aldric muttered quietly.
“I don’t know, it’s never too early to plan,” Linda shrugged.
Aldric couldn’t understand their eagerness to plan for the children to grow up. Especially Linda, who was nearly daily mentioning how it felt like no time had passed since Cailean was in di
apers. Rather than risk making a scene about the joke, though, Aldric just bit his tongue.
“At the very least, they could open an architecture firm,” James suggested, either agreeing with Aldric about the joke or at the very least sympathizing.
“No, Cailean,” Samantha argued, her voice rising above the adults’ conversation. She had her hands firmly wrapped around one of the buildings, but Cailean was trying to move it elsewhere. Panic forced its way into Aldric’s mind as he fought the urge to pull Cailean away. Instead, Aldric just tried to think of ways to explain it in case Cailean accidentally broke some of the toys.
“The school goes here,” she concluded confidently.
“No, if your house is there, then the school is this way,” Cailean debated. Releasing the school, he moved his hand to an empty place on his street, patting the floor beside it.
“If you walk from my house, you have to go up this way and then over that way,” Samantha explained, moving her fingers along the street to simulate a person walking.
“That’s backwards,” Cailean disagreed.
The two of them argued back and forth for a few more moments. Due to the relative civility of the conversation, none of the parents interjected. Finally, Cailean groaned and walked away, storming toward the couch.
“Father,” he complained, grabbing Aldric’s pant leg. “Samantha said the school goes there.”
“If you’re being creative, the school can go anywhere,” Aldric told him.
“Not if it’s wrong.”
“Alright,” Aldric sighed, picking Cailean up and setting him on his lap.
“I think he’s probably getting hungry,” Linda defended.
“Oh, do you want us to get some food?” Bree offered, standing up and motioning toward the kitchen.