Find Me Under The Moon

Chapter Three: Reckoning

IVAN:

Every werewolf knows, without being taught, the very first rule. The unspoken rule.

This is it: Do not make a werewolf.

No matter what you did, how you felt, where you were, do not make another wolf.

This thing that we are this half-human, half-beast thing, it has its appeals. But at the end of the day, most of us agree it is more of a curse than it is a gift. We have to perpetually pretend to be what we are not. To be human. We pretend to not be as strong as we are. When we get hurt, we pretend not to heal as quickly as we do, because if we do not pretend people will ask questions. We keep tight leases on our anger—on all our emotions—because if we do not, we could turn to giant wolves in the middle of a tirade. So in a sense it is our duty to ensure we do not pass it on to humans. Do not 'taint' them.

But accidents happen sometimes, I suppose. This is why the Spire made the first rule. The first spoken rule. You make a wolf, you raise it.

That, coupled with the fact that The Bond exists. When an older wolf makes a new one, a bond exists between them for a period of time. It passes within a short time. Weeks often. Days occasionally. But sometimes, very rarely, it does not. The Bond ties wolves together. You can sense the ones you are bond to for miles. You can feel them. And when they feel, you share in their emotions, too. If you hear the old ones speak of it, it is like been sewn into someone else's skin.

That it what it felt like when I touched Liana.

Our hearts beat in sync, together as one. I could hear hers clearly, and I was sure she could hear mine.

She must be freaking out, I thought.

I would have already if I woke up in the middle of nowhere and the world had up and changed itself while I was asleep.

'Don't freak out,' I told her.

I was at the verge of losing it. But Liana simply c****d her head, and looked right at me.

'What happened?' She asked.

I looked to Iris who was seated close by, arms crossed, mouth tight. She stared back angrily. We were in one of the numerous guest rooms at the manor. It was like the rest, high-ceilinged, wide, bright-lit. A single bed sat at the edge next to a stool with ornate lion paws as its legs. On the stool sat a bedside lamp. On the bed sat Liana, statuesque. She was already changing. Her skin had taken on the colour of fallen leaves in autumn, a golden brown that would ordinarily have required months of tanning. Against the backdrop of her hair, a mussed shock of cantaloupe, the brown of her body gave her a fierce look she did not have before.

Iris sat in a cushioned chair near the window. She had brought us to this room after a few hours, when she was certain Liana was stable. She was smoking a cigarette, looking very angry.

When I would not tell Liana what she had become, Iris did.

LIANA:

There are many madnesses in this world. Many. But the greatest of all is having your boss and his sister sit over you, watching you like hounds.

At least, that was what I thought was the worst part, until they told me the other, more hilarious part: that I had become a werewolf. That they were wolves too.

I laughed long and hard in both their faces. 'If you are werewolves, then I am a duckling.' I said when I stopped laughing for a moment. Their glum faces held no hint of humor.

I got to my feet, and Iris stiffened at the sudden movement. You could tell by the way her spine became a pillar, straight and stern, her gaze razor-sharp. She remained sitting, though. It was Ivan who edged closed.

'Liana,' he said, blocking my path to the door. His voice was a warning. Ivan showed me both of his hands, as if in surrender, as if someone had a gun pointed at him, and I guessed it was meant to be a soothing gesture. The gesture did not soothe me, however. It just made me even more irritated than I already was.

'Get out of my way, Ivan.'

He shook his head. 'You can't just leave now, Liana, not with what you have become. It would take a while for you to learn how to be among normal people.'

I felt my hackles rise. 'Get out of my way.' I snarled at him.

Where did all this rage come from? I wondered to myself. Why did I become so hot-tempered?

Ivan did not seem fazed. In fact, he seemed more certain of himself, more determined to restrain me.

I tried to sidestep him, and he followed my steps. Immediately, blocking me again. He said, 'What we are telling you is the truth, Liana. Even if it sounds crazy.'

'It does sound crazy!'

'Granted, it does. But it is the truth.'

'Hell it is!'

I scrambled towards the side and he rushed after me and gripped my arm. A feral, unfamiliar rage built up inside me. I felt the urge to sink my teeth into him. I growled.

Iris who had been silent since, watching our exchange, was now on her feet. 'Let her go, Ivan.' She said evenly. But the warning tone that had inhabited Ivan's voice was now in hers, as if he were a little boy holding on to a rattlesnakes tail. As if he were endangered. As if I was the source of the source of the danger.

Ivan looked at her stricken, and she nodded at him. 'Let her go.'

Reluctantly, Ivan took his hand off my arm and took three steps back. I eyed him, and then Iris.

'I planned to resign, you know,' I told both of them. 'I was not sure if I could leave Birds, leave you, Iris. But now I am.'

Iris did not say a word. But her eyes never left me.

Uncomfortable under her stern gaze, and Ivan's curious stare, I asked, 'How do I find my way out of here?'

Iris smiled. She stepped away from the door.

'You will.' She said.

***

True to her word, I did.

Somehow, I had found my way out of the labyrinth that was the Flag Manor, and I was outside, in the courtyard, with the soft, coniferous trees standing several inches above me, and the hard, interlocking tiles under my shoes. I had found my clothes on my way out, all washed and clean, the underwear too. They smelled of detergent, the expensive kind.

I wondered how many days I was out. It had to be more than a day. There were no signs of Tobias and Iris' birthday party.