High School Bites

by Rachael Alcobia

  I looked behind me but there was only darkness. Maggie and the fire were nowhere to be found. I ran. I felt so close but not quite there. Like a mouse trapped under a bucket. I could move all I wanted but I couldn’t get to where I needed to be. I think I ran a mile before I finally stopped. I looked all around but there was nothing but trees and darkness. Just when I was out of options, I heard it. The pressure returned to my hand and I knew it was Kodi. He was calling my name. It was faint and sounded so far away but it was something to focus on so I took what I could get.

  Closing my eyes, I concentrated on his voice. I imagined him there, holding my hand where I felt the tingle of his touch. The more I heard him say my name, the louder, closer it sounded until suddenly, there was screaming, and I was being shaken.

  “Meghan, please! Please come back!” Kodi screamed with pain and desperation clinging to every word. My eyes snapped open and my chest rose with my gasping effort to drag in a deep, ragged breath. It felt like the first breath I’d taken in years. At first the only thing I could register was a chandelier. It was made of a dark natural metal, like iron or something. It had colorfully stained glass on all sides with clear jewels that descended into a perfect circle like a halo around an iron spike that was the center of the display. It was beautiful.

  Everyone was talking all at once. Hands clasped my face and gently turned my head until Kodi filled my view. His eyes were wet and bloodshot and there were tear streaks running down his face. Had he been crying because of me? He must have thought I was dead. Hell, I’d thought the same thing for a minute there. I shifted slightly to test my body and found that every part of me ached. I’d take aches over agony any day of the week. I sagged in another breath and released a sigh of relief. Kodi had my hand clasped tightly in his and held it up to his mouth. Suddenly he had an expression of such joy on his face that a laugh bubbled up from him and it made me smile for a second until I realized that even my face ached. I decided to test my voice.

  “Please tell me it’s over.” My voice came out gravelly and quieter than I’d intended but it was heard, and several laughs rang around me, however, I only had eyes for Kodi.

  “Yeah. Yeah, it’s over. You did great,” he said in a soft, soothing voice.

  I tried to laugh but it came out as a cough. “Liar.” At least there was no blood this time. Realization hit me. I survived, which meant…I’m a werewolf. I repeated it louder inside my head. I AM A WEREWOLF. I looked around the room and found Trina and Stephen. Stephen was grinning goofily, and Trina looked happy and worried at the same time.

  “Where’s Jack?” I asked and I knew that was the reason for her look when her eyes went to the floor.

  “He’s resting. He tried to do what he did before and heal you, but it doesn’t work on someone during the Change. He’d hoped it might have been different in your case, but it wasn’t. It backfired and wore him out a little. He’ll be fine, just needs some rest like before,” I think she said that last bit as much to herself as to me. Jack was important. I was grateful to him more than he could ever know, but I wished he would stop putting himself at risk just to help me.

  I took a deep breath before forcing myself to sit up and I couldn’t help but groan. Didn’t we have super-human healing? When was that going to kick in exactly? Kodi launched forward to assist me and I let him. I didn’t trust myself to walk yet but I felt disgusting. I had dried tears on my face along with sweat from exertion. Trying not to die was pretty tough work, but I was becoming a pro.

  “Can someone help me upstairs? I’d really like to take a bath if that’s possible,” I said and really hoped it was, but not everyone had a plug to hold the water. The group home hadn’t until I bought one from a department store. Sometimes I would get sore after really long swim sessions and bubble baths were just what the doctor ordered. Speaking of doctors, I was surprised that Dr. Thomas hadn’t shown up but then again, there was nothing he could have done this time.

  Kodi moved to bend down but his mother’s hand on his arm stopped him. He looked at her, brow creased in confusion.

  “Kodi, let me,” she said softly. Trina leaned over and scooped me up into her arms and it was unbelievable how strong her small frame was. She acted like I was a two-year-old and didn’t weigh more than a loaf of bread. Turning, she was halfway up the staircase when she looked back at Kodi, who looked like he was going to protest.

  “You go check on your father, see if he needs anything. And no matter what he says, go to the kitchen and pull out the ingredients for Grandma Maggie’s stew, he’s going to need the protein,” she said, and her tone left no room for argument as she ascended the remaining stairs. Wait a moment.

  “Maggie? I thought Kodi’s grandmother’s name was Margaret?” Everyone stopped walking and turned to look at me.

  “Yes, Jack’s mother. I told you about her when we ate her stew,” she said while watching me carefully.

  “But you call her Maggie for short?” I asked but I already knew the answer.

  “Yes.”

  “Did Maggie have an Irish accent, grey hair with some spots still red? Maybe wore a green dress, kind of old-timey with white buttons?”

  Stephen rose an eyebrow, Kodi was staring at me open-mouthed with a frown like he didn’t know what to say, and Trina looked at me like I just grew antennas.

  Trina cleared her throat before speaking. “Margaret came over here with her parents from Ireland long before Jack was born. She passed away almost ten years ago wearing her favorite dress. The green one that matched her eyes. Kodi got her eyes,” she said softly and we both looked at Kodi.

  “How did you know that?” Kodi asked.

  I sighed, and my body reminded me of its lack of energy. “Can I explain it later?” I asked and knew my voice sounded as exhausted as I felt. Kodi nodded and continued to wherever Jack was, I assumed. Trina set me on my feet in the bathroom next to Kodi’s room and I braced myself on the countertops as she turned the faucet on and put the plug into place. She poured a purple liquid under the faucet and for a moment it joined the stream of water before flourishing into bubbles.

  “Thank you,” I said with a smile. She turned and offered me a smile of her own that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

  “No, thank you. Thank you for being strong enough. I’ve never seen my son in so much pain and I honestly don’t know what he’d have done if you hadn’t pulled through.”

  Was it wrong to be delighted that I seemed to mean so much to him? Perhaps. I never wanted to cause Kodi pain in any way and I was incredibly grateful that I was able to return to him. I couldn’t even imagine what would have happened if he hadn’t shown up to the group home and rescued me. Trina set a large folded towel on the sink along with a stack of clothes that didn’t belong to me. I hadn’t exactly had time to think to grab my overnight bag while I was being carried out of a window. Trina was about to leave the bathroom, so I searched for something to say in response. I settled for the truth.

  “Kodi brought me back.”

  She turned to look at me with her brow creased and I realized that she didn’t understand.

  “I heard his voice. From…wherever I was. I could feel him holding my hand,” I explained softly while looking at my hand, remembering the phantom feel of Kodi’s touch. She nodded like she understood and hesitated before speaking.

  “You’d stopped breathing. Just for a minute, but it scared him. It scared all of us.” And with that, she made her exit and closed the bathroom door behind her.

  It took me much longer than usual to get my clothes off but finally, I sank blissfully into the hot water of the tub and closed my eyes. So Kodi had brought me back from the brink of death and Jack had weakened himself in trying to heal me. I was a mess even while unconscious. I expect now it will be all about learning to be a wolf. I didn’t know how to shift. I didn’t know how often I could, or how often I’d have to. I didn’t know much about the pack, or how I would handle any of this werewolf stuff while living in the group home.r />
  Sinking down into the tub so that I could drag my head below the water’s surface, I tried to block out all of my hurried thoughts. My peace was short-lived when a booming noise made me come up gasping. Looking at the door I realized someone had been knocking.

  “Yeah?” I asked, waiting for an answer.

  “It’s Kodi. I just wanted to make sure you were alright.”

  I couldn’t help but smile. He was very attentive, and I liked that he wanted to be. I shifted a little and realized that I did seem to be alright. I was still sore and there was definitely some stiffness but other than that, I felt great.

  “I’m fine. I’ll be out in a little bit,” I called. There was a pause and I wondered if he’d left.

  “Okay. I’ll see you downstairs?” he made it a question.

  “I’ll be there,” I said loud enough for him to hear.

  I closed my eyes again, and this time, I could hear him walk away. I could hear every footstep as he descended the stairs. I could hear Trina tapping the ladle against the side of the pot after stirring Maggie’s stew. I could hear Stephen telling her a joke about a religious man and a bar. And I could hear…coughing. Wheezing. Jack. He was weaker than I’d thought. Guilt settled in the pit of my stomach.

  “Challenges. Ask your young man.”

  The words echoed through my head and I jerked in surprise causing the water to slosh. Maggie’s voice rang inside my head like a distant memory and then I realized that’s exactly what it had been. Maggie had told me to ask about challenges and I never had. But why would it be so important now? I’d ask him over dinner, which I knew would be ready soon.

  Using the soap and a washcloth I washed my body clean and rinsed out my hair. After standing and wrapping myself in the beige towel that Trina had left for me, I picked up the clothes for inspection. There was a blue pair of basketball shorts and a black t-shirt. I became thankful for the color when I realized that I’d have to go without a bra until I washed the one I’d been wearing. Underwear too, for that matter. Going commando wasn’t the most comfortable thing in the world, but honestly, I was so happy that the clothes actually fit me that I didn’t care about what I didn’t have.

  I made my way down the stairs and into the kitchen to find Trina ladling Maggie’s hearty stew into bowls which Stephen and Kodi carried to the table. When she filled a bowl that was larger than all the others, she carefully turned with it in her hands.

  “Kodi, can you take this to your dad, please?” she asked and Kodi went to grab the bowl from her.

  “Actually,” I said quietly, “would you mind if I took it to him?” Everyone turned to look at me at the same time and I guess they’d been too distracted to realize that I’d entered the room.

  Trina watched me for a moment but then she smiled and extended her arms for me to take the bowl. I looked at Kodi and he gave me a happy nod which I returned.

  “Our room is up the stairs, all the way down to the left,” said Trina. I was careful to keep the bowl level and really hoped I didn’t trip and spill hot stew all over myself.

  Reaching the upper hallway, I veered left. I’m sure it had seemed strange to those downstairs that I’d volunteered to bring Jack his food, but it was because of me that he couldn’t join us at the table. I needed to see for myself how much damage I had caused to the Alpha of our pack. Our pack. Strange words to hear, even inside my head. I also knew them to be true.

  Reaching the door, I gave a short knock before elbowing it open and my eyes locked with Jack’s. Out of nowhere, instinct kicked in and I bowed my head in respect. He gave me a nod and a smile as he slowly sat up in the large bed. He looked so pale surrounded by the red bedding. His skin was covered in a light sheen of sweat and being that he was shirtless, I’d bet that his veins weren’t normally as prominent as they seemed now. They stood out like green vines spread across a white stucco wall.

  “Glad to see you made it,” he said hoarsely. I smiled and walked to the tray that was already set up at his bedside. Carefully, I set the large bowl down and just then realized how light it had been. Werewolf strength. Cool.

  “Yeah, me too.” I looked down at the floor. “I heard what you tried to do. I’m sorry that you’re like this because of me.”

  He smiled weakly. “It wasn’t your fault. It was mine. I had to go and be all mighty and heroic. It’s an Alpha thing.” His smile faded and he added, “But I’d do it again in a heartbeat. If there was a chance that it could have been the difference between you living and dying, then it was worth the risk.”

  I smiled at him because I didn’t know what else to say except, “Thank you.” So, I did. He gave me a nod and sat up further, slowly bringing his legs over the side of the bed so that he was sitting in up in front of the tray.

  “How long will it take for you to heal?” I asked and hoped it would be soon.

  He shrugged, “Last time it was just a day, but it wasn’t as bad. There is a pack meeting tomorrow morning so I’m hoping that with enough of Mom’s stew I’ll be in top shape by then.” I know that I was closer to Kodi than I was his father, naturally, but when it came to Maggie, I think that Jack deserved an explanation first. The only thing I needed to figure out now was how to approach the subject. Absorbing the information that there was a pack meeting tomorrow night helped me do just that.

  “Mr. Barrett. What is a challenge? Within the pack I mean.”

  Jack paused with a spoonful of food halfway to his mouth and dropped the spoon down slowly.

  “Why do you want to know about that?” he asked suspiciously.

  “Well I’m a wolf now. Part of the pack. I need to learn everything,” I said and watched him carefully before adding, “and because your mother told me to ask.” His head whipped back to me with a frown and I cut him a break by elaborating.

  “Your mother has been visiting me in my dreams since the beginning of the school year. She’s kind of been my guide in a way. She warned me about Simone. She’s been helping me. I only found out she was your mother a few minutes ago and judging by the look on your face, I’m guessing that’s not a normal werewolf thing, is it?”

  Jack’s frown eased but only a little. He shook his head and there really was nothing to say after that. So, I repeated my earlier question.

  “What is a challenge?”

  Jack sighed. “To settle differences within the pack, a member may challenge another member in a fight. Once the fight begins there are two ways out, which are death or submission.”

  “You mean like a tap-out?” I interrupted.

  He nodded, “Yes, physical or verbal, it doesn’t matter.”

  “If someone challenges someone else, can that person decline?” I asked and fear crept along my spine at the possibility of being forced to fight should I rub someone the wrong way.

  “Yes, but I must warn you. Declining a challenge is a tremendous blow to a wolf’s ego, and to a wolf, pride is important. Kin of a challenged wolf may accept the challenge on their behalf and fight in their stead ."

  So, if Simone tried to challenge me, my wolf would be very hesitant to let me back out of it. I had no kin in this pack, and I didn’t want to be considered weak. Suddenly I was less enthusiastic to attend this pack meeting.

  “Thank you. Eat up, you need to get your strength back,” I said with a teasing smile. He rolled his eyes and mumbled something about me sounding like his mother as I walked out the door and went downstairs to join the rest of the family for dinner.

  Nineteen

  Dinner consisted of Maggie’s delicious stew and my explanation of everything I knew about her, including our meetings and her many predictions about my future. When I was finished with my story, all eyes were wide with amazement and brows furrowed in confusion. No one could tell me why I’d connected with Maggie and had sworn up and down that they’d never witnessed such a thing before. The rest of the time was filled with me asking questions about werewolves. I should have asked them all before I’d turned, but I hadn’t wanted to know
anything about something that I might not have survived to become.

  I learned that along with werewolf strength and faster healing, we don’t have to turn into a wolf on the full moon, but that most do because it’s like scratching an incredibly bad itch that you didn’t know you had. Silver has no effect on us, which was great news, but it also meant that a bullet made from any kind of metal would have just as good a chance of killing us as any. There was one other pack in the town of White Point, which pretty much consisted of the remaining top half of the mountain, Mountain Falls being toward the bottom of the mountain’s mid-section. That pack was led by a man named Moki and was predominantly Native American, which was ironic because as it turns out, Moki meant deer. I also learned that Moki’s pack did not believe that werewolf was the correct term for what they were. Neither did they like shape shifters because in their legends, wolves are not the only creatures that man could shift into. They referred to themselves as moon-called. Stephen thought it was lame, but I thought it was beautiful.

  The state of California was home to twenty-eight packs. There were fifty-eight counties, but most counties didn’t have werewolves, let alone enough to be considered a pack, which I’d learned took at least three. Apparently way back in the day, werewolves were considered so rare that California had one Alpha per state, but it didn’t take long to realize that much ground was too much territory to regulate efficiently. There were many attacks and that brought on way too much unwanted attention. Jack, Moki, and the other twenty-six Alphas held a Summit meeting once a year to report on any major happenings and update each other on the state of their packs. The location rotated to different territories every year. Mountain Falls held the Summit twenty-five years ago, so next year it would land here again.

  Another interesting fact that I learned was about Born werewolves. Kodi had already told me that their first shift happened at age thirteen, but what I didn’t know was that for the entire year that a Born wolf was thirteen, he or she was homeschooled to prevent any surprises that could risk discovery like mine almost had. This system must be working because I certainly hadn’t heard of werewolves being anything other than mythological creatures like unicorns or mermaids, at least not before this school year.