--SUPERNATURALS--

EPISODE 1:

Freaky Fortunes

“Hey, look at that.”

“Hey look at what?” Kevin asked Dillon.

“At that! At them!” His friend pointed wildly at something.

“It’s rude to point you know.” Kev responded without turning to see.

“Will you just look, man?”

Kevin glanced over his shoulder at two girls neither boy had seen before. With fleeting interest, he turned back to the open side of the van and busied himself with the two speakers he was trying to fix.

“What’s your point?” he asked.

“Hot, aren’t they?”

Kevin sighed, looked over his shoulder at the girls to decide, and then up at his friend.

“Yes,” he admitted, “but you’re impressed by any pretty girl who can walk and talk.”

“She doesn’t have to talk.”

“Oh, but how will she tell you how wonderful you are?” he asked in a subtly sarcastic way.

But his friend, not very bright, took him seriously.

“Oh yeah, good point.”

Kevin rolled his eyes, and remained crouched in front of the speakers. Dillon, to his friend’s relief, quietly scribbled on a note pad. It wasn’t that Kevin didn’t like talking to Dillon, Kev was just being a little short with him today because they had been working, well, Kev had been working and Dill had been ‘helping’, to all hours last night on a third speaker for a client who thought time was money and didn’t want to waste it on them. And on top of that, some dog had bit Kevin on his way home. It hadn’t been serious, just a graze really, but he had reported it and now the police were on the hunt for a rabid stray dog.

Without warning, Dillon started up the conversation again.

“What do you think of that tiny little blonde one?” It seemed Dill’s mind hadn’t wandered far. Kevin stood up and took a good look, then frowned.

“Hey!” he replied. Dill looked between his friend and the blonde several times before he noticed they were about the same height.

“Oh! Sorry man! I mean that really tall blonde, whoa she’s tall, she’s almost as tall as you, I mean whoa.”

Kev smiled appreciatively. “Thanks, and I suppose she’s sorta cute.”

“Cute? Man your standards are way too high,”

“And I should bring them down to say, your level?”

“Exactly man. If they walk, talk and look pretty, it’s a package deal.”

Kev smiled, shook his head and went back to working.

“Man, what are your standards anyway?” Dillon asked, confused, which was normal.

“I like my girls with brains.” he responded busily.

“Hey, those are over rated buddy, I should know.”

He sounded so serious that Kevin laughed.

The two girls meanwhile, cousins Lisa-Marie and Jody, were weaving in and out of the stores along the street. A black van that had caught Lisa-Marie’s eye was parked across from them. She caught Jody’s arm and mentioned the two boys who seemed to be working in the van, oblivious to the attention they were receiving. Lisa curled a lock of red hair almost mischievously.

“What do you think?” she asked.

“Of what?”

“Of them, silly. I like the tall dumb looking one. What do you think of the shorter one? I like his hair; how it kinda spikes up like that, and that jet black soooo suits him.” Shivering with delight at the sight of potential prey to her charm, she curled the lock between her fingers over her lips to stop herself saying something her mother Lesley would have scolded her for in shock. But Jody was well used to hearing such things escape her friend’s mouth, and having to remind her not to say things like that aloud in case she let one slip in front of her parents. They still thought she had no interest in boys and Lisa was quite happy to let them live in blissful ignorance rather than be pestered whenever she tried to go out with friends.

To Jody at least, ‘the tall dumb looking one’ looked like the single most simple-minded creature on planetEarth. But the other boy, while he looked capable of intelligent conversation, had some quality that frightened her. Jody had learned to trust this sixth sense, as more often than not, she was right.

“How about we go say hello?” Lisa suggested, oblivious to her friend’s fears.

Not wanting to hear another Lisa-Marie seminar about how sixth senses were a load of nonsense, Jody agreed.

“Hi guys,” a voice said to them. Too busy to care about first impressions with whomever was talking to him, Kevin continued working while he heard Dillon introduce himself badly. Poor Dill had a habit of stuttering slightly or just going blank altogether when he was nervous. Kevin worked as fast as possible without screwing up, awaiting the inevitable cue for him to turn and greet the stranger:

“So who’s your friend?”

Wiping his hands on his jeans, Kevin got up and turned to say ‘hey’. He was surprised to see the redhead and the blonde whom Dill had been so obsessed about.

“This is m-my friend, Kiev.” Kevin gave him a horrified look and Dill slapped his forehead. “K-Kevin!” he corrected, embarrassed. Kev gave a shot at rectifying the situation.

“Hey, Kiev, I’m sure you’ve heard of my work with delicious frozen chicken dishes.”

The redhead laughed in a girlishly airy way and shook his hand as he offered it.

“Hi Kevin. This is my friend Jody.” She stepped aside gracefully and, looking slightly embarrassed, the girl behind her met his eyes.

Zap.

They both felt it, an instant connection as if they could communicate worlds to each other with a look.

“Hey.” he said.

“Hi.” she responded shyly.

‘Sorta cute’ didn’t quite cover it anymore, Kev decided.

Jody’s sixth sense was struggling to make any kind of sense. She knew he wasn’t trouble, but the element of danger still remained. Maybe she should do as Lisa said for once, and forget her sixth sense for now.

“Oh, you don’t wanna go in there.” Dill instructed Lisa-Marie later that afternoon.

“Why not?”

“Terrible prices. You’d be lucky to afford the door mat from that place.”

“How is it,” Kev began “that you flunked all your tests at high school, but you remembered old girlfriend’s shopping tips?”

“I dunno.” he shrugged. “What did I say again?” Lisa took his arm and walked with him.

“You could prove invaluable to her Dillon.” Jody joked.

“Hey!” Dillon replied sharply. After a moment, he leaned close to Kevin. “That was an insult, right?”

“No, but it sounds a bit like one, anyone could have made that mistake.” Kevin answered comfortingly.

Dill nodded appreciatively. “Thanks.” He smiled to Jody, and walked ahead with Lisa-Marie.

“You’ll have to excuse my friend, I think he was dropped on his head as a baby.” Kevin leaned close and whispered to Jody. She giggled quietly in response, enjoying the conspiracy.

“Guys!” They hurried forwards at Lisa’s call.

“What’s this place?” she asked the boys excitedly.

They had come to the last shop on the corner. It smelled of incense, the windows had violet and partly transparent curtains and the door was a deep red wine colour. The rectangular purple sign above the door read in gold letters:

“ --SUPERNATURALS-- ”

Lisa-Marie looked closely at the blue square in the corner depicting a brightly coloured shooting star.Jody read the list by the door aloud:

“Supernaturals. Stationary, arts and crafts, occult books, back to school items, magazines. All specially marked down items come with free fortune-cards.

The boys looked uncomfortable.

“Lets go in!” Lisa-Marie beamed eagerly.

But before she could enter, Dillon caught her arm and, gently tugging her back, whispered to her and the group.

“The guy who runs this store is a wacko. He used to have a mystics store, but it got shut down after complaints from customers. I know a few people who’ve been in there,” he nodded towards the store, “well they say he stares at you like he’s trying to read your mind or something. And if you buy one of those ‘marked down items’, well he gives you this business card with creepy little poems on them that tell your future, like fortune cookies. And above his number, he’ll write ‘shriek if you need me’ or ‘roar if you need me’ or something like that. Nobody knows what the stupid poems mean until they come true. And you know what else? The fortunes always come true, and they’re always bad.” He looked intensely at the others.

“Wow,” Lisa breathed. “That is so cool, lets go!” Before the gang could catch her, she was in the store with a little jangle from the bell above the door. They nervously followed.

They were greeted warmly by the floral scent of Patchouli. They saw Lisa eyeing up the marked downitems tray. They glanced fearfully to the counter and realised with relief that no one was there. The boys each took one of Lisa’s arms and Jody covered her friend’s mouth to stop her protesting as they dragged her backwards away from the tray and released her.

“Oh come on!” she whispered. “You must be curious about these fortune cards!”

They heard the shopkeeper humming to himself through a beaded curtain behind the counter.

“Can we just go before that crazy old man hypnotises us or something?” Dill hissed.

“You don’t believe that bull, do you?” Lisa-Marie asked sincerely.

“I just-” The old man’s humming cut him off and he dragged them all behind a stack of shelves at the end of the isle. “I just know those cards are trouble, that’s all. I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

Just then, they heard the man emerge from behind the curtain. Curiously, the group looked over the shelved bits and pieces to the old man. He wore an old-fashioned red bow tie and a pin-stripped waistcoat with matching trousers. He had a neat white shirt on underneath. He took out a gold pocket watch and checked the time as he ran a hand over his thinning white hair and receding hairline and straightened his tiny gold-framed glasses. Sixth sense kicking in, Jody felt a sickeningly strong air of powerful yet natural energy around him. Panicking, she felt for someone’s hand, for a touch of comfort and support. Her hand eagerly came in contact with another.

A jolt of adrenalin went through him, tightening his stomach and sending blood to his muscles, ready for fight or flight. Unsure as to what had come in contact with his skin, Kevin looked down and saw Jody’s hand. It seemed he wasn’t the only jumpy one after all. He squeezed her hand reassuringly and another jolt went through him, it went through her too, like a spark of electricity at each other’s touch. Looking in each other’s eyes again, speaking volumes of gratitude and reassurance, they weren’t afraid anymore, they each knew the other would protect them.

The old man still hadn’t noticed them hiding there. Clutching each other’s hands and letting curiosity lead them, Jody and Kevin stood up and headed to the marked down items tray. The shopkeeper, not looking surprised, smiled at them and watched keenly as they explored the contents of the tray. Their friends also emerged, avoiding the old man’s watchful eyes as they moved towards the tray also. Using their free hands, Kev and Jody looked through the tray for something either of them could use under the supervision of Lisa-Marie, Dillon and the shopkeeper.

Jody came across an artist’s sketchpad and Kevin picked up a geometry set.

Releasing each other’s hands, Jody and Kev walked calmly to the counter. Jody was first.

The old man looked her up and down, smiling.

“Well that’ll be 1.95 little lady.”

She handed him the money, smiling in return.

“Awh, such a pretty face. I’ll just go and fetch you a bag there.”

He went into the back for a few moments and retuned with a brown paper bag that he slipped the pad into.

“Goodbye then little lady, and thanks for stopping by.”

Next was Kevin. He reached the counter and presented the geometry set.

The old man remained smiling, but eyed him inquisitively.

“That’ll be 1.50 young man.”

He cautiously gave the old man as he requested. The shopkeeper reached under the counter and pulled out another bag and put the set inside. Kev watched warily, he hadn’t seen any cards so far. The man didn’t hand him the bag. Instead, he asked a peculiar question:

“May I see your hand young man?”

Kev looked back to his three friends for advice. While Dill and Lisa looked grave, Jody nodded. He did as he was asked, and presented his right hand.

The shopkeeper supported Kevin’s hand at the wrist and bent his fingers back gently to check flexibility. He smiled and muttered something that sounded like: “Ah yes, very good” He then examined each of Kevin’s fingers, either smiling or frowning at what he saw. He turned over Kevin’s hand and seemed to be examining his nails and the slightly chipped black nail polish there. He then went on to Kevin’s palm and followed each of the lines in turn with his index finger. When he was done, the old man took a pen and went over to the table behind him. He scribbled on both sides of something the group couldn’t see and came back to the counter with seemingly nothing in his hands. He picked up the bag and handed it to Kev.

“Have a nice day.” he said simply.

When they had exited the store, the boy’s looked through one bag while the girls looked through the other. Kevin pulled out a small white business card and looked on the back. Sure enough, there was a simple poem scrawled upon it:

You may have received the deadly bite

Upon the last full moon,

But the effects you sure can fight

When five weeks have passed too soon,

Stay calm dear boy, and think of the sun,

And the moon’s effects shall be undone.

“Oh my god,” Kevin breathed.

“What?” Lisa asked.

“It says something about a bite, I was bitten by a dog last night… and it says it was on the full moon, last night was…” He drifted into silence as he pondered over the card, reading it repeatedly. He flipped it over and read the message above the number aloud:

“Howl if you need me”

“I told you! I told you this guy was wacked!” Dill yelled.

“Yeah, O.K. you did, I don’t care, this doesn’t mean anything.” Lisa returned.

“But take a look at mine.” Jody had been quietly reading hers and offered it to Lisa-Marie.

Lisa eyed it as if it were poison or she could catch something from it. She picked it up and her mouth dropped open as she read. Dry-mouthed, she licked her lips and read it out.

“Welcome, my dear, to this small town, and greetings to your friend. But your time here is counting down, and near is at its end. You’ll have to run, to stay alive, take rough terrain, and you’ll survive” She turned the card over. “Scream if you need me” she finished.

“It says I’m gonna die, doesn’t it?” Jody asked, her skin looking pale and drained.

“Oh no sweetie, no,” Lisa hugged her. “It’s all bull sweetie, it’s not true.”

“But what about Kevin’s dog bite? And that we’re new here?”

“Jode, he could have found that stuff out anywhere.”

“Jody,” Kevin spoke softly. She turned away from Lisa-Marie, her eyes red as she blinked back tears. Seeing her in pain was almost more than Kev could stand. “We won’t let anything happen to you, O.K?” Blue eyes met blue eyes and once again silent messages were sent between them, telling tales of pain, thanks, and friendship. She flung her arms around his neck in a thankful hug. Stunned for a second, he realised what he should do next, put his arms around her in return and hugged her back.

“Do I get any of this?” Dillon asked, trying to lighten the mood. Jody smiled weakly and hugged Dill too.

“Come on cuz, let’s go home,” Lisa-Marie offered her cousin. She and Jody waved goodbye to the guys, and walked home.

Jody had vague nightmares for weeks. One night, as she lay tossing and turning in a restless sleep, shemanaged to decipher the dreams images. She was running through a dense wood from something unseen and dangerous. But then Kevin appeared and hugged her protectively, and the evil thing chasing her went away. But then she saw the full moon through the trees and Kevin was replaced by a snarling wolf. It would howl and she would scream and then the old shopkeeper from SUPERNATURALS would appear and say:

“Stay calm, dear boy, and think of the sun, and the moon’s effects shall be undone.”

The wolf then looked playfully at her and it’s eyes were Kevin’s; blue and beautiful, telling her of it’s world as a wolf as she reminded it of her and Kevin’s world as people. Then it turned back into Kevin and he smiled. “Thank you.” he said so softly it sounded like the rustling of leaves in the breeze. She awoke. The messages. The poems. Jody understood.

“Kevin! Dillon!” Jody called out. She dragged a flustered Lisa-Marie behind her. They caught up with the boys on the street.

“Kevin, Kevin I know, I know, I know what the poems mean!”

“Whoa, whoa! Slow down. What’s she talking about?” he asked Lisa.

Lisa was breathless behind them. “Ugh! Hell if I know.” she panted. “She’s been like this all morning, it’s driving me nuts!”

“Yeah man, she’s making the kinda sense that’s… not.”

“Kevin, I know what the poems on the fortune-cards mean.”

Kevin looked at his friend carefully. “What do they mean Jody?”

“Think about it Kev. ‘Howl’ if you need me? The dog bite? The full moon? Ring a bell?”

Kevin looked lost in thought and Dillon looked at him strangely as he himself had never been so engrossed before in his life. Suddenly, Kev looked up at Jody and smiled incredulously.

“So, what are you saying?” He looked as if he was trying hard not to fall about laughing. “God, you don’t think I’m a werewolf or something do you?”

His friends looked humourless and severe. His smile faded, and he repeated in a more fearful tone: “God, you don’t think I’m a werewolf or something do you?”

Jody nodded.

“Whoa! What are we saying here?” Lisa-Marie stepped in. “This stuff doesn’t exist!”

“Well,” Jody said, “I guess we’ll have to wait, until the next full moon.”

Lisa-Marie, in all her infinite wisdom, managed to convince them there were no such things as werewolves and that the old man just wanted attention. The four continued to meet and Jody’s nightmares ended. One day, Kevin had promised the group a tour of the old deserted manor house on the hill behind the town. Jody’s sixth sense was bugging her again; she was getting the same feeling from Kevin as she had the day they first met, the same feeling of mistrust and fear.

They ran merrily through the gigantic courtyard after a day of exploring, playfully hiding from each other under towering arches patched with moss and lichen. Dill had almost found her, so Jody went quickly and quietly into the building through a door-less entrance. She was just in time, as Dill turned the corner the very next second.

“Jody! Jody, we’re going now!” he called. But she thought he was joking so as to catch her, and so ran down a stone corridor and deeper into the old manor.

“I can’t find her.” Dill announced upon his return to the courtyard centre where Kevin and Lisa-Marie stood waiting for him.

“Jody!” called Lisa-Marie. “Jody! Where are you?”

“I’ll go find her.” Kevin offered. “You guys can go home.”

“Kev, I don’t want to leave you two here, it’s getting dark.” Lisa protested.

“It’s O.K. You could get in trouble, it could take a while for you guys to get back if you don’t go now.”

They knew he was right and said their goodbyes as they reluctantly left Kev to find Jody alone. But unseen eyes watched from the bushes near by.

“There’s people in there with it,” came an impatient whisper.

A hoarse female voice replied maliciously. “Kill them.”

The sun was beginning to set and Jody was getting worried. She leaned out of a window and saw Kevin in the courtyard.

“Kevin! Up here!”

He looked up and saw her, utterly relieved that he had found her before dark.

“Come down, Dill and Lisa have gone home!” he called up.

She nodded and ducked back inside.

Within minutes they were walking out together. The sun had set but the remnants of its light guided them across the castle grounds. Kevin stopped in his tracks, seemingly frozen.

“What is it?” Jody asked quietly. He glanced at her and she knew immediately it was something dangerous.

He looked around again.

“Get back inside.” he spoke tonelessly. “Go and hide somewhere, I’ll find you later.”

She stood, looking confused for a moment. He turned to her and looked into her eyes. “Please. Find a room

and lock yourself in it. Don’t answer the door until I knock and say it’s me.”

Normally, she would have questioned him, but his eyes spoke of worry and so she turned away and walked inside. He glanced around fearfully. He wasn’t sure what he was afraid of, but he knew it was out to kill. He turned back toward the building when his stomach gave a terrible lurch. He looked up. The full moon was rising.

Clouds drifted across the sky, blocking the only sources of light. Jody fumbled along the walls in the dark, trying to find an entrance. She could have broke down with relief when she found one. She ducked inside, following the shafts of fading moonlight along the corridors shining in through the windows.

The world swam before him. Kevin lay dazed and nauseated on the cobblestones of the courtyard. Hewas loosing grip on consciousness; fading in and out like the moon behind the drifting clouds. Slowly, very slowly, he began to change.

She took the nearest flight of stairs and climbed, and kept on climbing, because she knew somehow that whatever was after her, had entered the building.

It was in the building with Jody, its three predators in pursuit. It was following her distant footfalls, hearing them as if she were mere feet away, seeing the darkened corridors with perfect clarity, and worst of all, it was hungry. It started up the stairs.

She entered a large empty room with bare stonewalls and floor. Moonlight filtered in through one window, shining on the door which she closed behind her and locked. She took a few paces backward to the edge of the moonlight. Something scuffled up to the door on the other side. It scratched at the door, discovered it was locked, and growled. Jody feared for Kevin. Was he all right somewhere? …Or was he there, on the other side of the door. She remembered the fortunes and her nightmares. Was it possible? Was Kevin a werewolf? The thing beyond the door snarled loudly, blocking off all other trains of thought she might have apart from escape. How could she get out? Should she get out? Could it get in? A loud bang on the door made her jump as the creature leapt at the wood. It leapt again, and again. On the third attempt, the wood splintered slightly at her end, and she began to panic. She looked wildly around for an escape option, when the creature stopped its onslaught upon the door and bellowed at something down the hall.

Three figures ventured closer to the wolf. It could small fear in one, that made it hungrier, but the other two were unafraid, and that scared it.

It was huge, and muscular, and looked ravenous. Dense black hair covered its skin, and looked silver in the moonlight as it roared and glared. One equally huge and muscular man asked unemotionally:

“Do we kill it?”

A shorter, slimmer, dark haired woman answered in the same neutral tone:

“No. The good doctor wants it for research. Don’t you doctor?”

The man in the middle, of her height but certainly twice her weight, responded with more emotion:

“I- I… y- yes, I d- do.” he stammered.

“Don’t be frightened doctor,” the woman said, brandishing a large gun, “you’ve got us to protect you.”

Jody heard a shot and a whimper, then silence. Then the door handle turned slowly, then whoever was turning it discovered it was locked and it rattled impatiently.

The large man wrestled with the handle while the woman re-loaded her tranquilliser rifle. The doctor addressed her cautiously. “Do we really have to kill whoever’s in there? I mean they probably don’t even know what happened, so we could just leave with the-” He stopped mid-sentence as she eyed him sternly. “O.K. then.” he murmured and backed away.

The large man glared at him from behind dark glasses. “We’ll let you do your job doctor, let us do ours.”

The lock was blown clear off the door by gunfire. Jody screamed. A tall man dressed in black stepped in and came at her. She backed away into shadow but he grabbed her arm and led her out into the hall.

She was taken roughly from the building by a slim woman in black, while a man in a white coat with red-framed glasses followed them. Behind him, the large man who had dragged her from her hiding place was carrying a gigantic slumbering wolf on his back. A thin weasely looking man awaited them at the entrance to the courtyard, seated at a laptop.

“Took you long enough. I was beginning to think he’d eaten you.” he joked badly.

He had an oversized cage with him, presumably for the wolf. What they were going to do with her, Jody didn’t know, but it wasn’t going to be pleasant, she guessed that much.

The woman pushed her over to a spot not far away by the bushes.

“Stay there.” she ordered. “Watch her.” she told the doctor.

He wandered over to Jody while the woman joined the two men at the laptop.

“Hello.” he said as warmly as possible given the situation. “I’m Charles. Who’re you?”

Should she give him her real name? Why not, it didn’t seem like it mattered at that point. “Jody.”

“Well Jody, I want you to run.”

She frowned at him, unsure if she’d heard him correctly.

“I want you to run,” he repeated, “get out of here now, while they’re busy, or they’ll kill you.”

She glanced at the three near by. Their backs were turned.

“Thanks.” she whispered, and slipped into the foliage and out of sight.

The woman nodded in agreement to something the weasely man had suggested. She turned and her face portrayed emotion for the first time. The girl was gone. She looked to the doctor, whom looked as bewildered as she. “Where’d she go?”

“I- I don’t know, sh- she was right here!”

“You!” she ordered the large man. “Find her and kill her!”

He gave a slight nod, and took a few gigantic strides into the bushes after her.

Jody ran, tripping with panic over roots every few steps. She could hear someone coming after her, but she dared not look back. She continued to crash and stumble through the undergrowth. A gun was fired, narrowly missing her, and she screamed, but didn’t stop. She could feel tears of desperation welling up in her eyes, blurring her vision and making her stumble even more. It was then that the old man’s fortune from the card echoed in her mind, then as she kept falling and regaining balance through teared vision, then as the thunderous footfalls not far behind her steadily got louder and closer, gaining and gaining…

“Welcome, my dear, to this small town, and greetings to your friend.

But your time here is counting down, and near is at its end.

You’ll have to run, to stay alive,

Take rough terrain, and you’ll survive.”

She was taking rough terrain all right, except she kept tripping up. But her life hung in the balance, maybe even Kevin’s life. So she ran harder and faster, missing the roots and snagging bushes as her pursuer’s loud footsteps faded. Then another line from the card pushed her onwards:

‘Scream if you need me.’

She ran into town, down dark moonlit streets with the odd flickering white streetlight. She ran up to SUPERNATURALS and was relieved to see light in the windows. She banged on the door, pleading for an answer. The old shopkeeper came to the door, looking slightly bedraggled, but not too surprised to see her. He let her in. The shop was lit by dozens of candles lining the wall shelves and still smelled headily floral. She turned to him as he closed the door.

“Please, I really need your help.” she began. “There are these people with guns, and they captured me and this big wolf, only I think the wolf was Kevin, then I escaped and came here.”

She’d expected him to think she was crazy or pulling a prank, but he seemed to ponder over what she had said and then spoke.

“Take this.” He went around the counter and picked up a small white bag on a string. He put it around her neck and it felt strange; like it was hot and cold at the same time.

“It’ll protect you from them, but only for a short time, so you must go to him, go to your friend quickly. They will not be able to contain him, but you must keep him away from town and get him to remember himself. Calm him and make him think of the sun, then he will turn back.”

She felt in over her head, but knew what she had to do. She nodded and fled the store.

The large man returned as the woman and the weasely man had caged the wolf.

“Well?” the woman asked, obviously flustered about the girl’s disappearance.

The large man as usual showed no emotion. “She ran back to town, I lost her.”

“Excuse me? This is your job! You’re a professional! And you’re telling me you lost a little girl?”

“Eh, guys.” the weasely man put in. “He’s wakin’ up here.”

They all watched as the wolf stirred and growled, and he did not look happy.

“That’s way ahead of schedule! He shouldn’t wake up for hours yet!” the woman said, exasperated.

The doctor tried to explain. “I must have miscalculated, what with his unusual size and-”

“Shut up!” the woman interrupted. “I’ll deal with you later.”

“It doesn’t matter anyway,” the weasely man dismissed, “he’ll never get outta there.”

The wolf stood up shakily and gave a terrifying roar as it leapt at the bars, which bent under his weight.

“Or maybe the doc wasn’t the only one to miscalculate.” the weasely man gulped.

The woman sighed, defeated. “Grab the equipment. Looks like we’ll have to find another one of these things for the good doctor to experiment on.”

Jody watched from the bushes as they left. She snuck out towards the cage.

“There she is!” someone yelled. Jody spun round as the large man raised his gun at her, and fired.

She stood motionless. All were shocked to see the bullet stop inches from her, and float in the air. The largeman fired again and again, but those bullets too just stopped and floated there in front of her. Then, all three bullets dropped on the ground. Jody glanced down at the pouch around her neck, assuming it was responsible. Amazed, the woman said:

“Leave it, lets go.”

They disappeared into the forest. The doctor stood astonished for a moment, then smiled at her and followed his colleagues.

But Jody’s part wasn’t over, and she was reminded of this as the wolf snarled and leapt against the bars again, bending them even further.

“Kevin? Listen to me.” The wolf grumbled in her direction. “I need you to think about the sun, remember?”

The wolf didn’t seem to register her words, and with one final charge, it snapped the bars like twigs. It turned on her with hunger in its eyes. “Kevin.” She backed away. It kept pace. It growled eagerly. “Kevin.”

It leapt at her, but she dodged, and ran to the manor house. It gave chase, but at least she was keeping it away from town, away from people. Despite its size and muscular appearance, she managed to keep ahead of it, as she entered the manor.

She ran around inside, discovering that climbing stairs slowed it down. So she tore up and down the staircases, the wolf lumbering after her, bounding awkwardly up flights of steps.

Eventually she ran into a room, only to discover there was no back way out. She turned just in time to see the wolf appear at the door.

“Kevin,” she pleaded, “please remember. Think about the sun, think about your life, remember.”

It looked at her zealously, drinking in her fear as a prelude to the kill. But then their eyes met, and she adamantly held its stare. Then it started to remember. It didn’t want to eat her, it wanted to protect her. Its human feelings resurfaced and it even remembered her name. Kevin was back in control and he changed. The coarsely thick black fur retracted back into the skin, which shrank back with the muscles. Bones cracked and bent back into human shape, and sharp dripping carnivore fangs withdrew back into the gums and became omnivoric human teeth. The skull reshaped and the muzzle shrank back into the face, leaving a human nose and mouth. Finally, Kevin was left sprawled on the floor, shaking. Jody crouched by his side. His skin shone with cold sweat. She removed her long coat and gave it to him, and he put it on as he stood up unsteadily, wrapping it tightly around himself for warmth. She put her arm around him and helped him out.

“Lets get your clothes from the courtyard, and get you home.”

On the following afternoon the sun was bright and the sky was cloudless. Jody, Lisa-Marie, Dillon and Kevin were seated at an out door table at a little coffee shop in the centre of town. Jody and Kev had been there for a while, but Lisa and Dill had just arrived. As Lisa stirred her coffee with a plastic spoon in its tall styrofoam container, she looked concernedly at Kevin.

“Are you O.K? You know, after last night?”

Kevin was sitting opposite her and looked up from his own coffee, which he had both hands cupped around to stop them trembling. He sighed and shuddered. “Still a little shaky. But I’ll be O.K.”

“But won’t you like… change, again, on the full moon?” Dill asked.

“Well, like that fortune said, all I have to do is stay calm and think of the sun.” Kev reasoned.

“We’ll have to thank him today.” Jody put in, referring to the shopkeeper. “He did help us out.”

“Yeah.” Kev agreed, nodding. “I suppose he did.”