Damaged Mate

12

I wasn’t the type to remember my dreams. I was pretty sure I’d lost the ability to do so after elementary school, but as I sat in bed, neatly tucked in and head coming out of the fog of sleep, I could remember every detail of what just happened. I rolled with a sleepy groan, fumbling for my phone to turn off my chirruping bird alarm. As my blankets shifted, I realized I was still dressed in yesterday’s clothes. Same jeans, same long-sleeve; my jacket was even draped over my desk chair, neatly folded with a few spots of blood on the outside.

“What the…?” I pushed myself up against my pillows, quickly checking my screen. Tuesday, seven in the morning… then, it was the next day? “What the heck happened yesterday, then?”

I swung my feet over the edge of my bed, letting out another yawn while going to rub my eyes.

“Ouch.” I grimaced, rolling my sleeve back to reveal a few bandages covering up the length of my wrist. Memories of the festival came racing back, of Aiden rushing toward one of the food booths to grab me some band-aids. “So, that part was real…”

I groaned, running my hands through my hair. The wolf part had to be a dream, then. Maybe I was just spacing out near the end, or I passed out from the scratches? They were admittedly pretty deep, deeper than I’d expect from someone’s fingernails.

“Still more believable than seeing werewolves,” I scoffed, finally dragging myself out of bed.

Just as I pulled a sweater and some leggings on, a knock came at my door. “Hey, sweetheart! Just checking to see if you’re up,” my dad called.

“Yeah, I’m up,” I said, fitting my head through the sweater’s neck. Then, a thought popped into my head. “Hey, Dad? You remember me asking to go that harvest festival thing yesterday?”

There was a pause, as if my dad was considering the question. “Did something happen there?”

The dream of wolves briefly flashed across my memory. “Uh, no. I mean, Aiden accidentally scratched me, but—”

A sigh of relief slipped out from my dad. “Is that why you sound so worried? I checked those scratches yesterday, sweetheart. You’ll be just fine, unless something looks different about them?”

I quickly rolled up my sleeve, peeling back one band-aid to take a look. “No, they look fine,” I said. “I guess I’m just a bit… hazy.”

Dad muttered something darkly under his breath; I swore I caught something about apple cider and talking to the mayor. “Well, let me know if anything changes, okay, honey?”

“Yeah. Sure, Dad.” I waited until his footsteps clambered downstairs before checking the scratches one more time. “So, Dad saw me come home,” I muttered to myself. “But that doesn’t tell me where I came from.”

My gaze drifted to the mirror, hands tenderly touching my face and inspecting my eyebrows. Were they getting hairier or was it just my imagination?

“Oh my God, Aria,” I scolded myself, reaching for my bag and starting for the door. “It’s just a scratch. Besides, Aiden was the one who got you, not your nightmare werewolves. You’ll be fine.”

Somehow, that didn’t reassure me in the slightest.

---

“W-werewolves?” Laura gave me a curious look, slurping the last bit of her milk before setting it back down on her lunch tray. “I mean, th-there’s a few stories here and there that, um, the town likes to talk about. Wh-why the interest?”

This was a stupid idea. I should’ve just kept my mouth shut, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it, couldn’t stop checking my reflection for extra hair or my scratches for… unusual side effects.

“Oh, well, you know.” I shrugged as nonchalantly as I could manage.

Laura grimaced slightly, clearly not knowing where I was going with this.

“It’s just, one of my classes got into a talk about myths and legends,” I fibbed. “And there was a lot of talk about them.”

“About… werewolves,” Laura repeated.

I nodded, smiling perhaps a bit too forcefully.

She tapped her fingers against the lunch table, spoon playing with a mound of Jell-O before she nodded slightly. “W-well… I guess that m-makes sense. Halloween is, um, coming up, after all. I guess the stories w-would start up s-sooner or later.”

I couldn’t help but breathe a slight sigh of relief.

“M-my aunt could tell you more,” Laura continued. “She’s super interested in, um, the t-town’s lore and all that. We could go after school, maybe? If y-you’re interested, that is.”

My only real obligation would’ve been basketball practice this afternoon, but Noah had made it pretty clear that the gym needed another day to get “cleaned up.” At the time, I’d thought he was being literal, but it seemed less like someone needed to mop up any blood or sweat and more that the area itself needed a day to be rid of the bad mojo.

“Yeah, sure. I’ve been meaning to check the place out for a while now, anyway,” I told her.

With a relieved grin, Laura scooped up her lunch tray and headed to the front to deposit it for the kitchen staff. I watched her absentmindedly for a minute, considering what my next move would be. I was getting way too wrapped up in this dream of mine. It was obvious Dad had just told me one too many spooky stories about the woods, and my mind was blowing everything out of proportion. Still… My hand gently clutched my bandaged wrist, a nagging voice persisting in the back of my head.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when Vanessa slammed her hand on the table. She had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, taking a seat across from me as if she’d been there the entire time, that icy glare persisting on her face. A few eyes glanced our way; there was no way I could walk away now.

“Um… hi, Vanessa.”

Silence.

“So, uh,” I glanced around, fingers curling a strand of my hair nervously, “I heard Clyde’s gonna be back by Friday. Th-that’s not too bad, all things considering.”

I wasn’t about to mention that Aiden would be back, too. Something told me he had as much animosity toward Vanessa as he did Clyde.

Her eyes narrowed considerably. “You should keep out of business that isn’t your own.”

I blinked, completely sidelined by the venom in her voice. “He—you know he’s the one who started it with me, right? I’m more than happy to stay out of whatever stupid vendetta he has against the world.”

A part of me winced internally; it was much harder to be mad at him knowing what I did about his dad. Still, that didn’t give him the right to be a complete ass.

A low growl rumbled deep from Vanessa’s throat. “Just keep out of his way if you know what’s good for you. And I’d make sure that scratch doesn’t get infected,” she added, nodding toward my injured wrist. “Never know what’s underneath someone’s nails.”

I quickly pulled it under the table, clutching it close to my side as Vanessa stood and stormed off. How the hell—no, there was no way. Aiden was the one who scratched me, and he did it by accident. I was getting way too swept up in all of this.

Laura soon slunk back to my side, hands trembling as she hid them in her lap. “S-sorry.”

“It’s fine,” I reassured her. “I’m not scared of someone who’s all bark and no bite. You still wanna meet at the library after school?”

Laura’s expression brightened as she nodded. “Y-yeah! We can walk there t-together, if that’s okay w-with you?”

I gave a weak nod, still gripping my scratched-up wrist. “Hey, Laura? Is Nurse Aurora on lunch right now?”

“O-oh.” Laura’s brow furrowed slightly. “I think she, um, u-usually eats in her office. Why? Are you feeling sick?”

I stood quickly from the table, pulling at my sweater sleeves nervously. “Just… wanted to ask where she got that scent diffuser. I was thinking about putting one in my room.”

Laura gave me a bemused smile. “Um… o-okay. Then, I’ll m-meet you at the front, end of the day?”

“Sounds good,” I called back, already in a half-jog toward Nurse Aurora’s. I should’ve done this from the start; not only was she a medical expert, but Nurse Aurora looked to be the kind of person to believe in the unexplained. If anyone could tell me if I was doomed to being a shape-shifting dog, it’d be her.

God, I sounded insane.

I made quick time to Nurse Aurora’s office, barely needing to lift my fist to the door before she called through. “Is that Aria Harvey I hear?”

I was going to ignore how creepy it was that she knew it was me. “N-Nurse Aurora, do you have a minute to look at something? I know it’s probably your break, but I—”

The door pushed open gently, sending a burst of citrus-lavender into my face. Inhaling deeply, I cautiously stepped through and into her office, finding the panic and anxiety lifting from my body as I exhaled.

Nurse Aurora was seated at her desk, a box of Chinese takeout popped open with a pair of chopsticks set across. She gave a warm smile and gestured toward her desk lamp; I was more than happy to oblige.

“Did you have fun at the harvest festival, Aria?” she asked innocently.

God, she was starting to seriously freak me out.

“I hear tell it is something many students here look forward to experiencing,” she went on, taking my arm as I held it out. “It would be such a shame if you missed out.”

I took another lungful of citrus-lavender, nerves melting away as I spoke. “O-oh. Yeah, I—I had a good time. Got a bit scratched up, though.”

“So I see.” Nurse Aurora carefully rolled up my sleeves, peeling back the bandages to inspect the cuts beneath. They looked like a cat had gotten irritated with me. “Well, it seems you have been taking good care of these. I do not see any reason to be worried.”

Oh, God, was I really going to ask this question? I couldn’t, I’d sound insane. Even for someone who seemed as open-minded as Nurse Aurora, I was pretty sure she’d give me quite the look for asking about werewolves.

And then, as if able to read my mind, she asked, “Tell me, was this scratch from an animal?”

“N-no,” I said. “It—Aiden scratched me by accident.”

Nurse Aurora nodded, sliding a cabinet door open before rummaging around within. “Did you know wolves are more afraid of us than we are of them?”

I blinked, surprised at the sudden shift in topic.

“That is not to say I never needed to treat those with bites or scratches,” Nurse Aurora went on. “But we cannot blame wolves for being frightened at times.” She sighed, waving a hand as she pulled out a tube of ointment and some new bandages. “It is a shame, though, what people tell themselves to justify the killing of wolves. During Ayersville’s first settling, there were many who believed the wolves could pass lycanthropy to others.”

My blood froze in my veins. “O-oh?”

She smiled, applying the last bit of ointment before placing new bandages onto the scratches. “It is quite silly what people believe. As if a scratch from a wolf would cause you to transform into one.”

For once, I was perfectly fine with Nurse Aurora’s creepy ability to read my mind. I let out a soft sigh of relief, rolling my sleeve back down as she sat back in her chair. “Um… thanks. For everything, I guess?”

Nurse Aurora nodded knowingly. “Of course. Feel free to come back for anything.”

With that weight gone, I turned and started toward the door, feeling a bit less panicky than I did this morning. Even if it was just paranoia, I was glad Nurse Aurora had said those things. And it might be for the best that she was so vague about it; I might’ve died of embarrassment if she were direct.

“Yes, it is very silly what folks believe,” Nurse Aurora mused as I closed the door behind me. “After all, scratches do not infect humans, and the bite would simply kill you.”

I blinked, uncertain I’d heard her correctly. I turned to face her, door half-closed, but Nurse Aurora’s attention was back on her food.

“There’s no way,” I muttered, slowly closing the door the rest of the way.