Werewolves and Werecats

Š 2020 Sloane Passmore. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the artist.

Chapter 1

Kastel’s mom handed him a duffel bag full of supplies, most of it food.

He wouldn’t need half of it once he was hunting in the wild. The thought made Kastel’s heart ache-he’d have to take care of himself now. Of course, the werewolf pack wouldn’t let him starve…he hoped. Kastel’s sandy brown hair reached his chin, and he had green eyes. He wore a tattered jean jacket and grey shorts. His mom shared most of his looks, except that her hair was longer and in a braid down her back.

“You don’t have to worry Kastel, the werewolves will help you. They

won’t push you around like the neighborhood kids do.” Kastel’s mom said matter-of-factly.

“Mom!” Kastel said, embarrassed. He’d hoped she hadn’t noticed.

“Seriously, when I joined my pack, I was your age. It was hard, and

sometimes we fought, but those werewolves became my closest friends, and I met your father when I was traveling around with them. I became the pack

leader after I woke up all the werewolves in my pack when a forest fire had put them to sleep with its deadly smoke. And I was promoted to pack leader a day later. Maybe an opportunity like that will come up for you? Hopefully a less dangerous one. Even if it doesn’t, I’ll be happy as long as you can find your place in the pack. Just listen to your pack leader, and you’ll be fine.” She said, hugging Kastel tightly. Kastel nodded.

“I’ll try to make you proud.” He said, a bit shaky. His mom smiled.

“I know you will. And if you find your sister Hollie, see if she can come

to visit. I miss her.” Kastel gave a weak smile and walked off. Kastel’s dad was a werecat and his mom a werewolf-Kastel turned out all werewolf and his sister, Hollie, was all werecat. She was a year older and went off to join the werecats already. Kastel missed her and wondered how she was doing.

He walked to the edge of the village. Marentell was a small, isolated

farming village. As a result, they counted on the werewolf packs to help them hunt. Some were grateful for their help and others thought it was pointless, content instead to build better weapons for hunting themselves. After nuclear war decimated the population, werewolves emerged. They bit many villagers there, but they were too far from other villages to confirm how far it had spread, and the werewolves had arrived three generations ago. All Kastel knew is that it was

a badge of honor to be a werewolf, since they could protect everyone from some of the ruthless nomadic packs. Kastel was a werewolf who was born from wereparents, instead of bitten. Some worried everyone would end up with werewolf babies and humans would go extinct. Kastel tried not to think about it.

Kastel saw Silos over the rise of the mountain and hurried over.

“Silos, I’m here.” He said, unsure how he was supposed to address the

leader. Some people in the village bowed to their pack leader, so he did the same. Silos’ hair was long and grey, he had large mussels and kind eyes.

“Welcome to the pack, Kastel. But you won’t need that bag. We’ll hunt

together: we won’t let you go hungry. I’m proud to have you in my pack.” Silos said confidently. Kastel smiled, his worry easing.

“Thank you. It’s good to meet you, leader.” Kastel noticed the other

werewolves looking at them from nearby.

“Here, meet the others. This is Vita, Ivy, Nelson, Dimitri, and Callum.”

Dimitri was tall, with black hair that fell below his shoulders. Vita had an eyepatch and was muscular, which Kastel could tell, even though her long sleeved shirt. Her hair was dyed purple and she smiled at Kastel. Nelson had a shaved head and wore all black, and Callum had curly hair that was dyed green, and wore brown overalls. “We know your mom was quite the leader, but don’t think

you can take over just yet, Kastel.” Silos said abruptly. Kastel shook his head vigorously.

“I have no intention of taking over, I’m just here to learn.” He said wor-

riedly.

“Good.” Silos said. “You’ll fit in just fine.” A heavy rain began to fall. The

werewolves led Kastel to their makeshift camp. There were two trees with a tarp over them, and the werewolves transformed into wolves, their backs falling over as their noses extended, their fingers shrank into paws, and a tail and triangle shaped ears appeared. They were all covered in fur in under a minute. Kastel’s fur was light brown and he went under the tarp to join the other wolves. They all huddled together to wait out the storm.

The next day, Silos was different.

Chapter 2

The wolves went out hunting. Vita took Kastel under her wing eagerly.

“You have to pull your weight hunting, and soon, Kastel. But for now, it’s

fine if you can only take down smaller animals. I’ll protect you from bears, but you have to be careful of other wolf packs. We try to avoid them.” Vita said as they walked through the woods. Kastel cringed.

“Will they attack us?” Vita nodded.

“It can be dangerous to meet other packs. Some are vicious. But most of

the time, they’re curious about us. Oftentimes, werewolves are rare in their own village, and just want to learn how other werewolves live. But be on your guard.

Tell us if you see anyone lurking around.” Vita replied cheerily. After that, Kastel became paranoid, barking at moving shadows.

“I’d better not hear another noise from you Kastel, or it’ll be your fault

when we starve!” Silos yelled. Kastel shrank back, afraid. The other werewolves stared at Kastel, and he felt alone.

“Kastel’s still learning.” Vita said to Silos. Silos looked away quickly and

kept leading them forward. Kastel was shaken by this, but hoped it was a onetime event. And perhaps he shouldn’t have let Vita’s advice spook him.

“Don’t worry about Silos yelling at you.” Dimitri said. “He’s only scared

the noise will scatter all the prey, then we’d go hungry. You’ll learn all these things in time.” Kastel smiled halfheartedly.

“I’ll try harder.” Kastel said. “Has Silos been the pack leader a long

time?” Kastel asked.

“For sixteen years. Usually pack leaders retire after ten years. Sometimes

I worry the six extra years are getting to him.” Dimitri admitted. Kastel gasped.

His mom had told him other werewolves rarely said bad things about the pack leader.

“Then why did he take on the extra years?” Kastel asked quietly.

“Six years ago his wife Lola died after a particularly dangerous fight with

a bear. The way I heard it, Lola kept the bear from swiping at Silos by biting its paw, but the bear flung her into a tree. She hit her head and never woke up. Silos has been slowly unraveling since then. We try to cheer him up. He says the pack is all he has left in the world, and we wouldn’t take it from him. But between you and me, I hope he retires soon.” Dimitri looked thoughtful for a moment. “Don’t

tell him I told you. We keep Silos in charge because we love him like a grandfather. We just want him to be happy.” Dimitri smiled. Kastel smiled back.

“I understand.” He said, happy to know a bit more about Silos. But a

foreboding feeling was clawing at him, and he wasn’t sure how to remedy it.

The next day they were hunting and Kastel saw a tiger. He didn’t believe his eyes at first, and walked to Vita and nudged her with his muzzle.

“Can you see what I’m seeing, or did I go mad with hunger?” Kastel

asked. It was true he’d only eaten a squirrel that morning, and it was past noon now. But he felt sure he’d seen a tiger.

“Yeah, I see it. Get down.” Vita said, grabbing Kastel and scuttling be-

hind some bushes.

“Seems like it hasn’t seen us yet.” She said in a whisper.

“You don’t seem to surprised, am I missing something?” Kastel asked.

Vita nodded solemnly.

“The werecat’s lair is around here. We think there’s a trap door some-

where, but they must do something to block out its scent, since we haven’t seen them go in.” Kastel yelped and Vita covered his mouth.

“What?” She whispered.

“That is a werecat?” Kastel asked. Vita smirked.

“You didn’t know the werecats could transform into tigers?” Kastel

blushed.

“Well, it’s not like its common knowledge. My village mostly had were-

wolves in it. Dad and Hollie transform into calico cats.” Kastel said. Vita stifled a laugh.

“They turn into tiny house cats? How cute.” She said with a smile. Silos

came over and motioned for them to follow.

“We should get out of werecat territory. Don’t want to start a turf war

with creatures bigger than we are. They used to live nomadically, but now that they’re all gathered in one cave, it’s easier to avoid them unless they hunt.” Vita said, and they headed further into the woods.

Chapter 3

Kastel started worrying about Silos. When they were hunting, all the

werewolves gathered into their usual hunting formation: Kastel was younger and weaker, and stayed in the back.

Kastel felt intimidated watching Silos pounce on a deer and tear into it.

When Kastel was trying to get just a bite of deer meat, Silos turned on him and attacked him, shoving him away with his powerful claws. Kastel went hungry then.

“Silos, why do you keep me from eating?” Kastel asked him directly.

“I did that? Sorry. I didn’t mean to.” Silos said, his deep voice comforting

somehow. Kastel didn’t know what to say to Silos, so he nodded and let it go.

The next day they traveled until they arrived at a field.

“No humans or werecats are anywhere to be seen.” Silos declared. “We’ll

rest here before we continue to the next stop.” The pack members scattered and lazed about, most laying in the grass. But Kastel became bored and saw a mouse

scurry through the grass. His ears perked up and he chased it through the field, trampling dandelions and overturning rocks. Then Silos leaped in front of him, batted the mouse out of his way with one paw and growled intensely at Kastel.

Kastel leaped back, his ears flattening against his head and his knees buckling.

Silos snarled at him.

Minutes later, when they both were in human form, Silos said;

“Sorry. I should’ve let you have that mouse, what with the food being

low.”

“It’s okay.” Kastel replied. But there was no conviction in his voice. In

fact, it quavered slightly. He went to Vita and asked about Silos.

“Does he seem different to you? I don’t remember him getting mad eas-

ily before.” Kastel said in a whisper, hoping Silos wouldn’t hear.

“Yeah, he’s been weird. And he’s not just mean to you. When he was

leading us to water yesterday, he bit my ankle just because I walked in front of him. I growled at him, but he turned into a human again and said he didn’t mean to.” Vita said, concern in her eyes. Kastel nodded.

“Has he been…off any other time recently?” Vita shrugged.

“Just little things…maybe it’s the hunger getting to him. We’re all feeling

it lately. I asked Silos if we could buy food from the humans, but he got really

mad at me. Maybe he feels like if we ask to buy food from the humans, then it’s a sign he can’t provide for us?” Kastel nodded. Trying to let his nagging feelings of discomfort slide.

The next day, they left the field and walked through a long forest, the

ground scattered with brown, orange, and yellow leaves, with more raining from the sky. The long shadows of gnarled trees played tricks on Kastel as they shifted across his field of vision with every step. The crackling of leaves made him turn his head often to seek out small creatures to eat. But he was distracted from them easily. The stress of trailing behind Silos and being unsure of his mindset was gnawing at him.

“Kastel, why are you so tense?” Silos said nonchalantly leaving the front

of the group to fall in step beside him. Kastel jumped up ever so slightly, surprised to hear a voice; they often traveled in silence as to not disturb their prey.

Kastel felt himself shiver involuntarily, but he answered:

“There are a lot of possible prey running around, Silos. Why haven’t we

stopped to catch any?” Silos laughed.

“We’ve been hungry too long for mere mice. That’s why I kept you from

the mouse yesterday, Kastel. You’ll need your appetite for our next prey.” Kastel’s ears perked up.

“You know where we can get food? Excellent! Where?” Kastel’s heart

soared just thinking about fresh meat.

“The werecats. Can’t you smell them nearby? They’re in that under-

ground hideout of theirs. They must be afraid of us to hide in such a place.” Silos said with a mocking sneer. Kastel felt confused.

“Oh, I wonder if Hollie’s there. Are you saying we should visit them?

I’d love to!” Though Kastel wondered if a pack of werewolves would startle the other werecats. He didn’t want to scare any of Hollie’s friends. Silos laughed bitterly.

“How naïve, Kastel. We aren’t going to visit them for a chat: we’re going

to eat them.” Kastel’s heart froze in his chest.

“What? You can’t be serious!” Silos smirked at Kastel.

“You want to starve this winter? The werecats are huge. They could feed

us for weeks. We just have to storm the place and take what we want.” Kastel’s legs were shaking.

“No Silos! You can’t do this! Vita, Ivy, Nelson, Dimitri, Callum, you can’t

possibly agree with him?” Kastel implored to his other packmates.

“It’s better than starving.” Nelson said.

“You don’t have to watch us do it.” Ivy said. Kastel pulled away from

them, his back legs smacking into a tree.

“This is insane! I can’t go along with this!” Kastel was shaking. He

couldn’t tell if his packmates had resigned themselves to this out of loyalty to Silos or fear of him. He turned to run.

“Kastel! Wait!” Dimitri shouted after him. But Kastel ran away. His

heart hurt, leaving Vita and Dimitri-since they’d always been kind to him-but he couldn’t stay by Silos any longer. He had to do something: he had to warn the werecats.

Chapter 4

Kastel was exhausted. He had run as far as his four legs could take him.

He knew disobeying Silos would cost him. Silos was probably at the werecat’s lair right now: he hoped he wasn’t too late. Kastel slumped against a tree trunk.

The forest was thick and muggy. Tall trees reached so far into the sky the light barely filtered through the leaves. His paws were covered in mud. He heard a noise to his left and looked up, filled with fear and suspicion.

“Is there a reason you’re in my territory?” It was another werewolf, a

smaller one than Kastel, but he still reared back at the sight of its bared fangs.

“Just passing through, I assure you!” Kastel said, feeling wobbly.

“Oh really? Which pack do you belong to?” The werewolf asked.

“I left Silos’ pack.” Kastel replied quickly. The werewolf laughed, the hu-

man voice giving way to a wolfy timbre.

“Is it possible you’re the last person to realize he’s a disaster? I left the

pack as soon as he became the leader.” The werewolf said. Kastel nodded.

“You were right to do so. But I can’t dwell on the past, I have to find

Hollie.” The werewolf transformed into a tall girl, her red hair apparent in the low light and a dignified suit of armor around her.

“The Werecat’s leader might have seen her. Follow me.” Kastel was taken

aback.

“What? The Werecat’s Leader has a werewolf working for her?” The

werewolf nodded.

“Yes. I’m Rona. The Werecat’s leader is Paisley. She doesn’t care what

someone is as much as she cares about what you can provide her.” Rona pushed back some freshly fallen foliage to reveal a trap door.

“Come with me.” Kastel nodded as she opened the door and led him

into an underground cellar. He was beginning to worry that he was going to be deceived and possibly killed there. But before he could berate himself for this, he was struck with awe at the sight of a crystal doorway.

“Woah.” Kastel said, shocked. Rona nodded.

“Yeah, it is pretty in here.” She said, unamused. Beyond the crystal door

was a long banquet hall. Kastel was surprised to see about as many werecats in their human form as in their cat form. Several tabby cats and Persians lounged on the tables, sleeping or grooming, and a tiger rested its head on a guy’s boot,

sleeping. Kastel was intimidated, but no one else seemed to notice, chatting away. A few people stared at Kastel warily, but not enough to cease the canopy of conversation. Visitors mustn’t be too rare then, he thought. Rona walked over to a girl with her hair long on one side and not the other. Rona whispered to the girl, and Kastel worried again for a moment if he should flee. But the girl nodded and approached, smiling.

“Hello, I’m Paisley. We don’t get many visitors, especially not were-

wolves. Rona’s the only one I’ve gotten to know, actually. You look like you’ve been through a lot.” Kastel looked down at his clothes for a moment, realizing he was muddy and bleeding in several places and hadn’t really registered it. When he’d been running, his head was spinning with Silos’ betrayal and Hollie’s safety, and he hadn’t thought much of himself. He was suddenly embarrassed.

“Sorry, I must look like a mess.” Paisley waved away his concern.

“Nonsense. You had a long run. What is it you wanted to say?” Kastel

took a deep breath and rattled off his worries.

“Silos is planning to attack this place, you’re all in danger! And I need to

find my sister Hollie, she’s here somewhere, isn’t she?” Paisley sighed.

“Oh, Silos really cracked. I can’t pretend to be surprised. When all the

pack leaders came together for our semi-annual conference, he was spouting a

lot of nonsense about taking back any werewolves who’ve come under our protection, and taking our supplies if we didn’t. Since he was ranting like a lunatic and stormed out of the place, I just didn’t give it much thought. I mean, who would follow someone so unstable?” Kastel felt a pang of guilt. He’d noticed Silos slowly unraveling but hadn’t had any idea of what to do about it. Paisley seemed to notice Kastel’s look of despair and he cleared his throat.

“Sorry, no offence Kastel. Were you very close to Silos?” Kastel

shrugged.

“He’s been slipping for a while, but there was a time when I looked up

to him. I have to tell Hollie what happened, mostly because I can’t return to his pack now, and this place might be attacked soon. We need to get out of here.”

Paisley shook her head.

“Don’t worry for your safety. We werecats are prepared for a fight at any

time. What does Hollie look like, in human and cat form? Some werecats come here in their cat form and never shift to human form in front of us. Also, some of them could just be ordinary cats, we offer sanctuary to any strays.” Kastel nodded.

“She’s got blue eyes, brown hair, and she almost always wears two braids.

She’s rather muscular and when she shape shifts, she’s a calico.” Paisley looked

around, the room, ducking slightly to peer under chairs.

“I haven’t seen a girl like that, but I did see a calico yesterday. We could

check upstairs.” Kastel’s shoulders slumped. How long would he have to wait to see her again? What if she wasn’t even here and that calico was really a stray?

And if it was her, what could have caused her to stay in cat form? Was she hiding? Was she in trouble? Kastel wanted badly to see a familiar face. Paisley led Kastel upstairs and he followed obediently, worried for a moment about what he would do with his life. When he found Hollie, where would they even go?

“Fire!” Shouted someone down the hall. Paisley rose up and peered

down the staircase.

“So, the attack’s begun already. Thank you for your message Kastel, but

we can handle it from here.” She began to leave. Kastel was struck with panic.

“What about Hollie?” He asked.

“You have my permission to look wherever you want, but I have a battle

to lead my soldiers into, so I’ll be a bit busy.” Kastel felt especially helpless as she walked away. Where was he going to find Hollie? He heard hissing and growling down the hall as the werecats transformed and collided with the approaching werewolves. The underground hideout erupted in noise as the fight broke out.

Kastel ran through the halls. Many of the smaller cats hid in or under furniture,

while larger cats like tigers and leopards rushed to the forefront of the fight.

Several werecats were struggling to put out the fire. Werewolves were streaming through the front door and Kastel could identify them as his former packmates.

His heart clenched painfully to see Rona biting his friend Dimitri on the leg. He dismissed his worry quickly though, determined that he had to get to Hollie.

“Hollie!” He yelled, though his voice didn’t carry well through the noise.

Running down the halls, he narrowly dodged a few attacks and ducked when a werewolf lunged for him. He worried if he shape shifted into a wolf, the other werecats would think he was a threat. But in human form, he was much slower than the combatants in the room, and was tackled easily by a werewolf he recognized as Callum.

“Please Callum, stop this!” He said, trying to push the other werewolf

off of him as Callum sank his teeth into Kastel’s arm. He let go soon after, barking at Kastel.

“Traitor! You left us for these cats!” Kastel tried to pry his arm out of

Callum’s mouth, the blood dripping onto his face, making it hard to see.

“Callum, I only came to find my sister! And I was afraid! Silos hasn’t

been normal lately, haven’t you noticed?” his words were choked and quick, but Callum released Kastel’s arm anyway.

“Kastel, you were always a bit of a burden, not as strong as the rest of

us. I still think of you like a brother, but how can I trust you now, when you ran to warn our enemy instead of obeying Silos like you were supposed to?” Kastel shook his head.

“I can’t obey Silos when he’s wrong, Callum! Even an alpha can be

wrong, you know that!” Callum lowered his fangs to Kastel’s throat and he grabbed Callum’s jaws, trying to keep them from snapping.

“Callum, I had to come here for my sister! She’s my family, can’t you

understand why my loyalties would be torn?” Callum just growled, and Kastel waited for his life to flash before his eyes, but then Callum let out a tortured yelp and leaped off of Kastel. Not waiting to find out what happened, Kastel jumped up and transformed into a wolf, feeling safer in his true form. He bared his fangs, looking around to see the room was still in pandemonium with the cats attacking the wolves. A tiger stared him down, but he put his ears flat against his head in a non-threatening pose and the tiger walked off. Kastel looked up to see a calico digging its claws into Callum’s back. Kastel stared in awe, then it occurred to him to help her. Callum was flailing wildly and Hollie was barely hanging on. Kastel bit Callum’s ankle and was rewarded with a bite to the ear.

He jumped back and bared his fangs, feeling afraid, but knowing he had to do

something. He tackled Callum, Hollie sliding off Callum’s back and onto his own. He yelped when Hollie dug her claws into his back to stay on, but there was nothing he could do about this. He fled through the halls, the occasional werecat hissing at him as he passed. Callum raced after them.

“You can’t run from me!” He said gleefully, thrilled by the chase. Kastel

ran to the front of the room, ready to leave through the opening, but Callum sank his teeth into Kastel’s tail, causing him to yelp and fall face-forward. He turned around and nipped Callum’s muzzle. Callum pulled away and snarled at Kastel. Kastel snarled back as Callum bit into Kastel’s leg. Kastel was tired of the fight and just wanted to leave, so he lunged quickly and bit into Callum’s ear, holding it tight between his jaws until Callum whimpered and released Kastel’s leg. Kastel let go as well, uncomfortable with Callum’s blood leaking out of his mouth. Kastel looked at the damage he’d caused, shocked, but tried to maintain an intimidating edge to his growls. Kastel howled, sound reverberating through the hideout, as he pleaded with his pack.

Come with me, you don’t have to hurt the werecats, we can be peaceful

together. Follow me out of here! He’d hoped he sounded authoritative, but all he could feel was a pang of fear that the other wolves wouldn’t listen to him. But he held a glimmer of hope that they didn’t want to be this way: violent like Silos

ordered. He raced out of the hideout, Hollie still on his back, and ran until he was in the woods. Hollie jumped off his back and returned to human form.

“Woah, that was intense. Are you okay, brother?” Kastel assumed hu-

man form as well, rubbing his bloody nose.

“I think so. Sorry…I tried to find you but I couldn’t warn everyone in

time to do any good.” Hollie shook her head.

“No, you did so well Kastel! I didn’t know you had it in your to go

against your pack, and you came to get me. Thank you.” Hollie hugged Kastel and he weakly returned it.

“What will we do now? We lost our pack.” Footsteps could be heard over

the hill.

“You didn’t lose me.” Dimitri appeared, patting Kastel on the shoulder.

“Dimitri! You want to come with me?” Dimitri nodded.

“I really missed you Kastel. I hoped you weren’t gone for good! And I

should have listened to you. You were right, that Silos’ orders were getting pretty out there. I just didn’t want to believe it. But we can be a pack together.” Rather abruptly, the remaining members of Silos’ pack were chased out of the werecat’s hideout by roaring tigers and leopards. Silos bore claw marks on his side consistent with a leopard’s claws. One of the leopards changed into human form, and

Kastel saw it was Paisley.

“Get out!” Paisley yelled and Silos and the other werewolves turned and

ran. Kastel and the others went to the hideout to help put out the fire. Once they were done, they wandered away from the werecat hideout.

“Where do you think Silos and the others will go?” Kastel asked Hollie.

Dimitri followed closely beside them.

“They’ll be disgraced for having attacked another pack, so they certainly

won’t return to Marentell. Come to think of it, where will we go?” Hollie asked.

“We’re quite a small pack. I think we need more pack members.” Dimitri

suggested.

“Alright. Let’s go.” Kastel said, nodding somberly as they made their way

to the forest.

Chapter 5

The new pack wandered for a few days. There were vast stretches of wil-

derness before them. After they’d left the forest, they found themselves wandering across a large open plain. The area had little water, but Hollie taught Kastel to dig deep into the ground until the groundwater overflowed. At times, Dimitri would look thoughtful.

“I hope Silos gets the help he needs. Maybe a human doctor could ease

him out of his violent mood?” Dimitri said abruptly. Kastel was digging for water while Hollie hunted.

“Nelson, Vita, and Ivy will surely take care of Silos. He’ll be fine.” Kastel

said tersely, uncomfortable on the subject of Silos since he’d wanted to kill his sister.

“I guess. It’s just that Silos took me into his pack when he didn’t have

to. Did I tell you, I was exiled from my first pack for stealing food from the humans? I was younger then, my family was ostracized because they worked

in nuclear power, after those implements destroyed society. When I was turned into a werewolf it was because a wolf bit me and tried to kill me, since he blamed me as well as my family for the disaster. And yet I survived the bites. I lost a lot of blood.” Dimitri said, cringing.

“I’m so sorry.” Kastel said.

“It’s fine. A stranger called out for the doctor to save me, but after he

did, I transformed into a wolf for the first time. It opened all my stitches. The doctors were terrified. I ran out into the streets and everyone screamed. Then an old man got on his knees and beckoned me to come over. He patted me on the head and bandaged my injuries and turned into a wolf himself. I was so glad I wasn’t the only one. Later he told me he was Silos and that I could join his pack.

I didn’t want to go home, where my werewolf state would just scare my family.

He saved me…and I abandoned him so easily.” Dimitri was sadly staring into the distance. “I should have helped him, but I didn’t know how.” Kastel patted his shoulder comfortingly.

“Do you want to go back? Silos and his pack went in another direction,

but I bet you could sniff them out if you wanted to find them.” Kastel asked.

“No, I’m just worried, that’s all.” Dimitri replied.

“Look up ahead.” Hollie said, “Do you think that’s a village?” They

looked out over a hill to see a cluster of tiny mud spheres that were dotted with gemstones and had wooden doorways. The stones sparkled in the light. In the middle of town, many shifters sparred in what looked like an arena, as spectators watched. It was shabby: a dirt floor with a crooked fence around it, but a werewolf and werecheetah were fighting inside. Kastel and his pack made their way to the crowd.

“What are you doing?” Kastel asked, facing one of the cheering crowd

members.

“Haven’t you heard of Cydorin? The shape shifter testing ground? These

fights are tests that shifters go through in hopes of forming a new pack. We do it once a month.” A girl said. She turned back to the show. The cheetah-being so thin-was tossed out of the arena with a mighty tackle and landed at Kastel’s feet.

He jumped back, startled.

“Are you okay?” He stammered out. The cheetah shifted into a human

boy, a bit older than Kastel.

“I’m fine. Got to learn how to dodge better next time.” He said, as

though flying across the arena was a minor annoyance. He brushed dirt off his pants. His hair was in a braid down his back, his mussels bulging against his shirt, and he wore blue, matching a few blue flags Kastel saw in the audience.

“But as for this month, I lost again. I can’t join Adelind’s pack yet.”

“Adelind?” Kastel asked.

“You’re new here, aren’t you?” The boy asked. Kastel nodded.

“Yeah, we’re from Marentell.” Hollie said, appearing next to Kastel.

Dimitri was still watching the arena as new opponents began fighting.

“Well, Adelind is the top fighter here. She’s the only shifter who can

turn into any animal. I’d prefer to have the protection of someone who can shift into a lion or an eagle at will. She’s going to take her pack to an oasis away from humans, but only the strongest can join. Better get in line if you want to go with her.” The boy rubbed his bruised arm and walked over to a medical tent.

“An oasis? In this land so destroyed by bombs? No way. She just wants a

strong pack so the other shifters won’t fight her. I bet being able to turn into any animal is just a myth too.” Hollie said dismissively.

“I want to try and join. We all should. Don’t you think expanding our

current pack could be beneficial for the hunt? Especially if Adelind can turn into a lion or something and take down bigger game.” Kastel said eagerly.

“You have a point, but I feel like this can easily be a trap.” Hollie said.

“It’s worth the risk if the prize is consistent food and safety, right? I’m

not that strong, but maybe if I impress Adelind, she’d let us in her pack.” Kastel

said. Hollie shrugged.

“Fine. Don’t cry to me when you get hurt.” Kastel stood in line nervous-

ly until it was his turn. He twitched and hopped about nervously until he was matched with his opponent. Kastel shifted into wolf form while the curly blonde haired boy on the other side of the ring became a hawk. The referee came into the ring.

“Okay, just so you know; no killing is allowed, no hitting your opponent

in the face, and you can only fight in your animal forms. The time limit is ten minutes, I’ll blow my whistle when the time is up or one opponent is unable to continue. Now go.” He blew his whistle to start the match. Kastel bounced a little on his paws, unsure of what direction to go. The hawk had such a sharp beak and talons that he was afraid to get too close. But he knew he had to get him while he was still on the ground, so he lunged at the bird, confident in his size verses his opponent’s. The bird flew right over him, so fast he was a blur, and grabbed Kastel’s tail with his talons and pulled, dragging Kastel while he made an undignified attempt to claw at the dirt.

“A wolf being overtaken by a bird? How pathetic.” An onlooker jeered,

and the crowd booed at Kastel. He got angry and snapped at the bird, landing a bite on the tip of its wing. It cawed and released Kastel. Growling, Kastel kept

the wing tip in his mouth while the bird pecked at his nose. He took the hits but pulled away when the beak neared his eye.

“No hits to the face!” The ref yelled. “The match is over!” But Kastel

didn’t hear him over the loud crowd.

“Bite him again Kastel, you can do it!” Hollie cheered, her words barely

registering from the sideline. Kastel leapt into the air, baring his fangs with a snarl, trapping the bird under him, pinning its wing. But it pecked him hard on the neck and he recoiled. He had never fought like this, didn’t know he could.

But he felt urged on by something. He was tired of worrying, of being afraid, and wanted control over his life. To be safe, he had to fight now for future happiness. Shaking his head, some blood fell off his neck fur and pelted the crowd who gasped and cheered in equal measure. The adrenaline kept him going through the blood loss and when the bird dove at him with his talons, Kastel tackled it again, leaning on its chest until its air restricted and it fainted.

The bird shifted back into human form, eyes closed and chest heaving. Kastel vaguely felt large paws around him, pulling him away from his opponent. The referee had turned into a grizzly bear, and dragged Kastel out of the ring.

“You broke the rules! Your opponent broke the rules: you’re both dis-

qualified!” The ref yelled. Kastel nodded, panting. He was in a daze over what

he’d done, turning back into human form himself. His hair was disheveled and his nails chipped and filled with dirt. Blood was rolling down his neck, dried in some places and wet closer to the wound. The crowd cheered, and a referee pulled the blonde haired boy out of the ring and onto a stretcher. The boy was wincing in pain. Kastel was shaking, having forgotten suddenly why he’d been fighting in the first place until a girl with long orange hair and fatigues came up beside him.

“I like your determination. The winner is the werewolf!” She said in a

booming voice. “Welcome to my pack!”

Chapter 6

Kastel was shocked that this girl was Adelind: he was full of curiosity,

she could turn into any animal. Had she ever tried to turn into a T-Rex, or a blue whale, or an elephant? And how did she get these powers? She looked pleased with him. He was disturbed he’d been capable of such violence, still tasting the boy’s blood and some feathers between his teeth. He wanted to apologize to the boy, but he’d already left to get medical attention, and Adelind had her hand on Kastel’s shoulder and was leading him away from the ring.

“Kastel!” Hollie said, approaching him.

“So, your name’s Kastel?” Adelind said, ignoring Hollie, who’d come up

beside them. “How long have you wanted to join my pack?” She asked proudly.

“Um…about an hour ago, when I first heard about it.” Kastel offered in a

voice that sounded tinier to him than it ever had. Adelind chuckled.

“Really? And all these other fighters trained specifically to join me.

What a waste of their time. I guess you’re very lucky then.” Adelind said. Kastel

nodded, but a frown was on his face.

“I hurt that boy…” He said in a daze.

“Conner will be fine. When he shifted back, you could tell he even kept

all his fingers.” Adelind said breezily. A terrified whimper left Kastel’s throat, but it was drown out by the cheering as the next person in line won a fight. Dimitri showed up beside them, caked in someone else’s blood.

“I won too. Are you okay Kastel?” Dimitri asked, eyeing Kastel’s bleed-

ing neck with concern. The wound hadn’t gone all the way to the inside of his throat, or else he would be a goner already. Hollie threw her arms around Kastel.

“That was amazing! I didn’t know you had a dark side, good for you.”

Kastel nodded faintly at the praise.

“It’s okay to cry.” Dimitri said simply, and as if a spell was broken, tears

ran down Kastel’s face.

“What was I thinking? I could have died. I feel like I’m still in danger,

still tense.” He said distantly. Dimitri hugged him.

“It’s okay.” He said. Adelind took this in with a bored expression.

“Will he break down every time the pack hunts too?” Adelind asked.

“He’s just sensitive. Deep down, I bet he’s proud he won and would fight

again if needed.” Hollie answered for Kastel. Adelind led Kastel to the other

shifter who had won their fight.

“This is Macel.” This girl was tiny and had wire rimmed glasses, a pixie

cut with sweeping blue bangs over her for head. She wore a pink sweater and cargo pants. Kastel wanted to know what she’d fought like, since she was as tiny as he was. She nodded in hello.

“Congratulations on winning your fight, Kastel.” Macel said, shaking

Kastel’s hand.

“T-thanks.” Kastel said, still in a daze. “If I join your pack, can Hollie

come too?” Adelind looked skeptical.

“What do you shift into?” She asked Hollie.

“A werecat. A calico.” Hollie said, ready to be defensive about her di-

minutive form.

“I heard werecats kill pests for humans, but tend to stay away from each

other unless they’re at the werecat den. Are you used to pack life? Could you hunt for us?” Adelind asked.

“Yes. I’m used to hunting mice. In Marentell I would go from house to

house, posing as a house cat for various humans. Mostly Zara-she had a barn full of mice, and would give me tuna in exchange for catching the pests. But I had to stay away from the shops, they’d think I was a health risk. Restaurants

too. Except for Maury’s café. He loved cats and kept trying to domesticate me.”

Adelind laughed.

“Poor guy, doesn’t it break his heart when his cat vanishes?”

“Yeah, but various werecats come to him in a rotation of sorts, so he

usually has at least one cat.” Hollie shrugged.

“Sounds pretty good, being taken care of by humans. So why did you

join a pack in the first place?” Adelind asked.

“To stay with Kastel. I can’t leave my brother alone, he needs someone

to protect him. Though I guess after today, not so much. But I figure, if you’re going to be traveling around, then maybe I might someday find dad.” Hollie said sadly.

“Is he missing?” Adelind asked.

“He’s a traveling writer, and he has to go to different towns to find work.

Dad said he had lived nomadically in his youth too. So he’s used to travel. I just wish he was used to sending letters.” Hollie said.

“That’s too bad. Is he the werewolf or werecat side of your family? Also,

how did your parents meet? It’s not that often that werecats and werewolves have kids.” Adelind asked.

“Dad’s the werecat. He’s a domestic cat like me, which is why I worry for

his safety. It’s too bad he can’t turn into a tiger, then I wouldn’t be worried. He and mom met when they were hunting the same mouse, and pounced on it at the same time, and they both turned back into human form to argue over who caught it first. But they agreed to share the prey and found they had fun traveling together. Mom was leading her own pack at the time and dad joined so they could be together. But now we aren’t sure were dad is.” Hollie said sadly.

“Well, perhaps we’ll see him on our journey.” Adelind said optimisti-

cally. Hollie smiled.

Chapter 7

Kastel hadn’t been sure what to expect from his new pack members, but

he soon found food was no longer scarce, since Adelind could turn into whatever predatory animal was needed to catch their prey. Even the largest buck was no match for Adelind, as she transformed into a lion, and no rabbit could outrun a cheetah.

The fight with Conner still bothered Kastel. He could recall the feeling

of his teeth sinking into the shifter’s wing with a vividness that wouldn’t recede.

Even when he hunted, he felt uncomfortable. He was worried about the part of him that was willing to do anything to live. Conner’s claws had left a scar on his neck, one that reminded him why he fought back so strongly to begin with.

Hollie kept telling him he’d just been defending his life, and shouldn’t feel guilty.

They wandered the woods together until they stopped to make camp in a clearing.

Macel was an expert navigator and told them they were exactly three

miles from Claw Town, named for its reputation of declawing werecats and werewolves alike who entered their territory. Macel explained she’d narrowly escaped them one day.

“It’s such an unassuming town. Pastel colored houses, cute meadows

and a scenic wildflower field. But when I last visited, I told them I was a shifter and they chased after me with knives and plyers, saying the claws of big cats, the hooves of horses, and horns of shifters were worth a fortune.” Macel shivered.

“It’s lucky I’m much faster than them as an animal.” Macel said shiver-

ing.

“I’ve seen you run, they surely won’t get you.” Adelind concurred.

“What do you turn into?” Kastel blurted out.

“I’m not sure you would believe me if I told you.” Macel said. She stood

up and then stepped away from the campfire before commencing her transformation. In a moment of rearranging bones and muscles, Macel acquired hooves, long thin legs, and a sweeping mane. Though unlike a regular horse, she had a long horn on her head.

“No way!” Kastel said, swiftly running up to Macel. “A unicorn! But

how? I didn’t think shifters could become mythical animals!” Macel whinnied at Kastel and reverted to her human form.

“I must be some kind of fluke. Might be because my mom was a were-

horse and my dad was a weredeer. Perhaps his antler gene turned into a unicorn horn? Too bad we can’t study it as well as we once could.” Macel said, matter-offactly. “Not after most of the research labs were bombed.”

“I think you’re amazing!” Kastel said.

“Yeah, that is pretty special.” Hollie agreed. “Are you the only wereuni-

corn you know?” Hollie asked.

“Yes.” Macel said sadly. Adelind patted Macel on the shoulder.

“Even if you never find more of your kind, you’ll always be family to

me.” Adelind hugged Macel.

“Thank you.” Macel replied genuinely.

“How did you meet?” Kastel asked.

“It’s sort of sad.” Adelind said. “Macel heard about another unicorn in

the area, one that transformed into a human to lure people into the woods and rob them when it took human form. But that was just me. I wasn’t well off after the end of the world. So in my youth when I was ten I’d rob passerby by making them think I was a unicorn or dragon, and they’d come to get a photo and I’d charge and take their wallet.” Adelind cringed, embarrassed.

“You were a kid, surely you didn’t know any better.” Hollie said.

“I’d hoped Adelind was one of my kind, but knowing she was one of a

kind like I was, that was comforting to me. So we stayed in the same village.”

Macel said.

“Hearing rumor of a unicorn and a multiple animal shifter drew other

shifters to our town. Before long, we became one big community of shifters.”

Adelind said.

“But while it was nice to meet so many shifters, it was common for us to

fight, to test the strength of different animals against each other. We could never live peacefully in that village.” Macel spoke with sadness in her voice.

“That sounds difficult.” Dimitri said. He’d been so quiet, his comment

startled Kastel.

“So you think it’ll be more peaceful to wander with us? Seems like we’d

just end up in more danger. Won’t yours and Adelind’s tough reputation draw fighters to us?” Hollie asked.

“It’s possible.” Adelind said.

“The village five miles away is shifter-friendly. We just have to get there

without being attacked and everything will be fine.” Macel said, inspecting a map she had folded in her pocket. It looked hand-made to Kastel, and recent.

They shifted into animal form to sleep. There was mostly dirt and rocks around

them, so they left the campfire burning. Adelind shifted into a large dragon, with long teeth and red scales, and formed a circle around the whole camp.

Hollie, Kastel, and Dimitri were afraid and jumped back. But Macel retained her human form and laid her head against Adelind’s tail, and went to sleep. Kastel wondered if Adelind regularly turned into a terrifying beast to scare off robbers.

He crawled into the middle of Adelind’s circle, not touching any part of her, and turned into a wolf for warmth. Curling up into a ball, he went to sleep.

Morning came and the pack got on Adelind-the-dragon’s back and flew

around in search of food. Adelind said she couldn’t maintain dragon form for long, so they’d better hurry. Kastel was terrified, riding the dragon’s back. With every cold gust of wind, he was sure he’d fall to his death. But in the air, he did see a village in the distance.

“It’s Bloodston. We can stop there for travel supplies.” Macel said.

“Sounds good.” Hollie said. They landed with a thud on the ground, a

jostling landing. Kastel slid off Adelind’s back and felt dizzy. Dimitri spared him a glance.

“Are you feeling sick?” He asked with concern.

“I think I’ll be okay.” Kastel replied. The village they entered seemed sur-

prisingly empty. The houses were wooden, and broken down in places. A stream

ran through the town, and there was blood in the water. There were two barns in town, and both looked charred from a recent fire.

“What happened here?” Kastel asked, more to himself than anyone in

particular.

“Maybe my information is wrong? Could it be that Bloodston is one of

the towns that never recovered after the war?” Macel inquired.

“What a surprise to see you here, Kastel.” Silos said, approaching him.

“You’re trespassing on my town, you know.” Silos said angrily. His

clothes were ripped and tattered and he was gaunt. Kastel shook his head.

“What do you mean, your town? And where are Vita, Ivy, Nelson, and

Callum?”

“They weren’t as loyal as I’d first hoped. They were willing to attack the

werecat lair with me, but after we lost, they figured it would be too dangerous to continue, and we went our separate ways. But I came here, and fought the villagers until they left, and now this whole place is mine. Too bad for them they were all wererabbits, it wasn’t much of a war.”

“Did you…did you eat them?” Kastel said in horror.

“Only the ones I could catch.” Silos said.

“You’re sick! You’re a murderer!” Hollie exclaimed, disturbed. Kastel and

Dimitri gasped.

“You two are just weaklings. You wouldn’t eat the werecats even though

food is scarce after the apocalypse. What are we supposed to survive on?” Silos mused.

“We’ve been able to hunt fine with Adelind’s help.” Kastel said. Adelind

glared at Silos.

“I can’t believe you’d eat your fellow shifters. It’s the end of the world,

not the end of reason or compassion. You deserve to be locked in a cell.” Adelind said.

“You won’t be able to lock me up.” Silos lunged at Adelind, tackling her.

She shoved him away easily, and he turned into a wolf just as she turned into a tiger. She swatted at him with her large claws, but he bit her ear, and she turned into a bird so that she would be earless, and could fly away. She swooped down and pecked at Silos’ head before becoming a rhino and charging at him. Kastel, Hollie, Dimitri, and Macel dashed out of the way. Adelind nearly rammed into Silos, but he got past her and bit her tail. She turned into a black widow spider, so that her tail would disappear, but Silos trapped her between his jaws. She bit into his tongue, filling him with venom, and he fell over after that. Adelind-thespider crawled out of his jaws, with Silos’ teeth digging into her. She turned back

into a human, falling over. Red scratches marked her back.

“That was a bad idea, I’m never turning into a bug again!” She said an-

grily.

“Adelind!” Macel exclaimed, pulling Adelind up off the ground and

holding her head up.

“Are you alright?” Macel said worriedly.

“I should’ve just turned into a dragon and fought him.” Adelind scolded

herself.

“Don’t beat yourself up over it. We need to get you to a doctor! These

cuts are bad.” Macel looked up at Kastel. “Hey, Kastel, I’m going to turn into a unicorn and you have to put Adelind on my back. I’ll take her back to Cydorin, they can heal here there. Not a lot of doctors know how to treat shifters.” Kastel nodded.

“I-I understand.” Macel transformed into a unicorn and Kastel draped

Adelind over her back, and she galloped off. Silos was on the ground, moaning in pain. Kastel and Dimitri supported Silos, each grabbing an arm, and dragged him to the same hospital.

“Oh Silos, why do you keep hurting my family?” Kastel asked angrily,

feeling helpless.

“They‘re all after me.” Silos said though the pain. “The werecats, the

humans, the weather! The prey, the very thing I need to live is always running away from me. I can’t protect my pack, I couldn’t even save my beloved Lola. But the wererabbits were here, so many, and perfectly edible. I could’ve served them to my pack, if only they weren’t so picky, then at least one need in my life will be met.” At the hospital, Kastel told the doctors of Silos’ crimes, and was informed he’d be punished accordingly. He and Hollie and Dimitri visited Adelind in the hospital. She was lying in a bed with her back bandaged up.

“Sorry I won’t be able to come traveling with you. Not until my scratch-

es heal. It’s too bad, I messed up my chances to have a pack, and so soon.” Adelind said sadly.

“Don’t say that!” Kastel said. “You’re a pack member even if you aren’t

traveling with us. Thank you for protecting me. For protecting all of us.” Adelind smiled.

“Anytime. You three be safe, okay?” Adelind said. And with heavy

hearts, Kastel, Dimitri, and Hollie left.

Chapter 8

As soon as the pack left Bloodston, snow was falling in thick, feathery

clumps. Hollie and Dimitri were cornering a deer, and Kastel was about to join in, but he fell through a hole in the snow, and crashed into an ice cave, whimpering as he tumbled down a tunnel. When he landed, he shook off the snow and looked around cautiously. He wanted to howl to Hollie and Dimitri, letting them know he was still alive, but he was distracted. It seemed he’d interrupted some sort of gathering, since a few dozen white furred wolves looked up from whatever they were doing-be it playing with their young or hunting rabbits-and they gave Kastel a hostile look, growling. A calico cat was with them. Kastel hurried to get up, but winced. His back paw was clearly damaged. He wasn’t sure how to escape. The tunnel he’d entered in was so slippery, he couldn’t climb up it.

One of the wolves was taller than the rest and sniffed Kastel’s paws,

and so did the cat. Kastel stood as still as he could. The wolf howled and Kastel

worried it was a signal to attack. He threw himself at the icy cave opening, but couldn’t scramble up it fast enough. It was then that Kastel smelled someone familiar and turned around. Kastel transformed into a human right away.

“Dad?” He said, confused. His dad was in human form. His hair was

sandy brown like Kastel’s. He had a scruffy beard on his cheeks, and he was wearing a heavy orange coat and green pants.

“Kastel! What are you doing out here? It’s too cold to be out, where is

your coat?” He said with concern. Kastel wanted to run to his dad, Roy, and hug him. But resentment was worming its way into his thoughts. Why hadn’t his dad visited him in so long? His letters hadn’t said anything about living in an ice cave. Kastel knew Hollie had spent a lot of time looking for him. And here Kastel just happened to find him.

“Why are you here, dad?” Kastel asked.

“I’ve been writing about the arctic werewolves. Making a book, actually.

Did you know they can transform into not only wolves, but upright standing wolves that more closely resemble people? I can’t tell if it’s a missing link or an evolutionary adaption. But it gives them the advantage in fights with polar bears.

I’m writing a book on it. This might be the one to give me the breakthrough I needed. Then I can come back to you and your mother.” Kastel felt pain lance

though his heart.

“You didn’t even come to visit me before I left to live with the pack.

Weren’t you worried about me?” A coldness entered Kastel’s voice.

“Of course I was! But it’s difficult to leave the arctic, you see. I have to

stay with this pack I’ve bonded with. And human villages are so far from here.

But don’t you worry, my book is almost done and I’ll be back home.” Kastel’s dad said chipperly. Kastel’s heart hurt. His dad cared more about his wolf pack and his book than him and Hollie.

“You haven’t been around in so long…” Kastel said angrily.

“But I knew you’d be old enough to join your own pack. I knew they

would become your family. So I’ve been here. And these wolves are my family.

I couldn’t find solace with the werecats. They never understood my writing or thirst for knowledge. But these werewolves accept me as I am.” Kastel’s dad said.

Kastel ran at him.

“I could have been the one to accept you! You could have taken me with

you. If you want to do research, that’s fine, but you didn’t have to leave me.” He felt his face growing red and pushed back tears.

“Son, I never thought you’d want to go with me. It’s cold here and I’d

be distracted with work, I didn’t want to trouble you.” Kastel’s dad was smiling

sadly. A look of doubt passing over his face as though he was just now wondering if he’d made a huge mistake all these years.

“I was thinking when I first saw you…” Kastel said, choking back tears.

“...of how happy Hollie would be to see you. But now I’m so ashamed of you, I don’t want her to feel this way too.” He turned swiftly to go. The ice tunnel he slid through on his way in was too slippery to go back through.

“How do I get out of here?” He asked with reluctance, not looking at his

dad.

“There’s a door this way.” His dad said, leading Kastel to a large door, big

enough to accommodate the werewolves in their upright form. Kastel ran out the door, not looking back. He felt the tears, cold on his face, and ignored them.

He transformed into a wolf, howled to get his pack’s attention, and bayed sadly, the sound seeming pitiful. Soon he saw Dimitri and Hollie over the horizon.

Returning to human form, he threw his arms around Hollie and Dimitri as animals, noting how warm their fur was.

“I saw dad again. But he doesn’t want to be with me or you Hollie. He

just wants his work.” Hollie and Dimitri took human form then.

“You found him! He’s alive. I was starting to worry, it’s been so long

since we’ve been traveling.” Hollie said, surprised but numb. “Why doesn’t he

want to come back with us?”

“He found upright-standing arctic werewolves. He’s writing a book.”

Kastel said sadly.

“That’s what he’s so excited about? It’s not like they could mass produce

anything he writes about, not like they used to. Maybe he just doesn’t want to come home to responsibilities. Should we drag him home? What would mom say?” Hollie asked, confused.

“I don’t want to think about it. Let’s just go.” Kastel said sadly. Dimitri

pulled him into a hug.

“Sorry about your dad.” He hugged Hollie too and said the same.

“We should really get out of this cold though. The wind’s picking up.”

Dimitri said. They took one last look at the ice cave and set off for the next village.

Chapter 9

The blizzard flowed tenaciously for hours. Nothing but white in every

direction, to the point that the pack had trouble navigating. Dimitri howled to them.

“We should find some shelter and wait out the storm!” Kastel heard

him, but couldn’t detect anything resembling shelter, unless they dug a trench to hide in. He tried pawing at the ground, but under the snow it was much too hard and cold to break through. They continued on, but it was so hard to see.

Then Hollie and Dimitri disappeared. At first Kastel thought the storm had played a trick on his vision, but when he looked down, he saw his companions tumbling down a crevice in the earth.

Fear gripped Kastel as he howled into the crevice, hoping they would

howl back. He assumed human form and climbed down. The further down he went, the less the snow above blurred his vision. Before long, he could see the rocks he was climbing clearly before him. Then he saw Hollie, in cat form, cling-

ing to the rocks. She leaped onto his back and clawed up until she could rest on his shoulders. Kastel’s eyes watered from the pain, but he wasn’t mad at Hollie, too grateful that she was unharmed.

“Dimitri!” Kastel shouted, his voice echoing. He wondered if Dimitri

was nearby, or even if he was conscious. “Please say something!” Kastel shouted.

Dimitri was usually the calm one, and Kastel felt rather incapable without his advice. He lowered himself further into the crevice, until the light filtering down was scarce. He saw Dimitri lying on an outcropping of rock and jumped down to his level. He was unconscious. Kastel tried to sling him over his back, but it was no use: Dimitri was too heavy. He needed help. Hollie transformed into human form and tried to help him lift, but with their combined weight, the thin outcropping that was holding them started to crumble, and Hollie turned into a cat again and jumped on Kastel’s shoulder.

“We need help.” Kastel said, and he ascended the walls of the crevice and

ran towards the lights of the nearest village. It was full of bird perches and large tree houses were in every tree. Kastel was sure this was the werebird village.

Since it was winter, it was likely they’d migrated south already. Kastel wondered if anyone was awake. He leaped upon a tree with low-hanging branches. A sign read “Inn” and he rapped on the door. A scraggly man opened the door.

“Dad?” Kastel said with a mix of surprise and disgust. Hollie leaped off

Kastel’s shoulders and their dad caught her.

“Hollie!” He said, hugging her close. “Kastel! I’ve been looking for you.

We didn’t part on good terms last time. I said things I didn’t mean-“

“I don’t care!” Kastel blurted out, but under different circumstances, his

heart would’ve warmed at the words. “My friend Dimitri is in trouble!” Kastel’s dad nodded.

“Lead the way.” He said.

“We need a rope. He fell down a crevice and he’s unconscious!” Kastel

said, his voice aching with emotion.

“Right!” His dad said, turning to go into the inn and running back out

with climbing supplies. They raced to the crevice and descended down it on strong ropes.

“Dimitri! We’re on our way!” Kastel yelled. Kastel’s dad turned on a

lantern. An eternity seemed to pass as they slowly scaled down.

“Dimitri!” Kastel yelled, finding his immobile form where they’d last

seen it. The wolf was lying in a pool of his own blood. Kastel reached out to Dimitri.

“Please be okay!” Dimitri’s fur was still a little warm, but his breathing

was faint. Kastel sighed heavily. They tied Dimitri to a sort of rope cradle and pulled it up. Hollie was at the top, and pulled. As Kastel and his dad climbed up, they heard a noise.

“Is someone there?” Kastel asked. But just as he said it, he was tackled

by something fast, and teeth sunk into his arm. He swayed on the ropes. One of the arctic werewolves was clinging tightly to him, the beast’s fangs in his arm.

“Ahh!” Kastel yelled, sinking at the weight of the wolf and letting go of

the rope. He slammed into a rocky outcropping and pulled his arm free, transforming into a wolf. He growled at the arctic wolf.

“Cece? What are you doing?” Kastel’s dad said, confused.

“You’re going to leave here with Kastel and Hollie aren’t you Roy?” Cece

asked accusingly.

“At first I thought I’d stay, but after arguing with Kastel, I feel like I need

to go with him. I don’t want my children to resent me over some work project, and I have been away a long time.” Roy said. Cece growled.

“But you were going to stay with the arctic wolves! You were going to

stay with me!” Cece yelled, accusingly. “Do I mean anything to you?” She asked angrily.

“But your place is here with the other arctic wolves. I couldn’t ask you to

go.” Roy pleaded for understanding. Kastel felt uncomfortable. Had his dad been considering leaving his mother for this Cece lady? And not telling his mom it was over? It hadn’t occurred to him that his dad might make a family elsewhere.

“When were you going to tell mom?” Kastel asked. Roy looked at him

sadly.

“It’s not like that! Your mother has all of my heart. But Cece is my busi-

ness partner.” Roy said. Cece growled.

“Is that all?” She said, and she lunged at Kastel, pushing him further

down the crevice.

“Kastel!” Roy yelled, and Hollie transformed into a human, and held

one end of the rope in her hand and had tied the other end to Dimitri’s still unconscious form. She leaped into the cavern towards Kastel and made contact, grabbing his arm. He wrapped an arm around her and one on the rope, and they bounced as the rope went taught, causing Dimitri to wake up with a jolt.

“I’ve got you!” He yelled, and Hollie clung to Kastel’s shoulders as he

climbed up the rope. Roy backed away from Cece.

“You tried to kill my kids! I could never be with you, you’re sick.” He

climbed up the crevice as did Kastel’s pack, and they all made it to the top. Cece growled and ran off. Roy embraced Hollie and Kastel.

“I was so worried about you! You mean more to me than anything: let’s

go home, together!” Kastel pulled away.

“No.” He said simply.

“No? What do you mean?” Roy said with disbelief.

“He said no.” Hollie said. “We’re not going home with you. We’re with

our family right now.” Hollie gestured to Dimitri and Kastel.

“If you want to be with family, you could make up with mom. You have

a lot of apologizing to do.” Kastel said angrily. “Not sure she should take you back though.” He said bitterly. “But we have to go.”

“Have to go where?” Roy said in confusion.

“To the next village. And the next village after that. We’re a pack of wan-

derers. We wander for food, we wander to meet the next new species and see their way of life. What more is there to life than to travel and learn all you can? I think I’ve gotten comfortable with it.” Kastel said proudly. Hollie nodded.

“Exactly. A wanderer is what I was in the village, and a wanderer is what

I am now.” Hollie smiled at Dimitri.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Dimitri said. Roy nodded.

“Very well. I see you kids have grown up. I’m proud of you. I hope you

have a nice journey.” Roy said, smiling sadly.

“We will.” Kastel said reassuringly. The three of them turned away from

Roy and the arctic wolf ’s tundra.

“So we’re off to the next place?” Dimitri asked.

“Yeah, let’s head south like the werebirds did. I wonder what they’ll be

like when we meet them?” Kastel asked.

“I’m not sure, but I want to find out. Let’s be on our way.” Hollie said.

And the three of them traveled on, searching for a new adventure.

Chapter 10

The pack headed south for several miles. They came to a white sand

beach, and Kastel liked running through the water. They were surprised to find pigs roaming the beaches, and no human owners in sight, so that’s what they hunted. Seagulls cawed overhead, but Kastel noticed there were a variety of birds in the sky, and wondered how they’d all come to be together. A peregrine falcon landed among them to peck at a pig carcass. Kastel assumed human form, and the falcon jumped back. It inspected Kastel before becoming human itself.

“A werewolf in these parts? Who would’ve thought?” The transformed

werebird had long black hair down her back and brown eyes. She was tan and wore a green dress.

“Hi, I’m Kastel, this is Hollie and this is Dimitri. We were wondering

what became of the werebird flock?” Kastel said. The werebird eyed Hollie with suspicion.

“Surely your werecat friend could have told you? The werelionesses

fought us out of our territory in the north, so we flew south.” The werebird grumbled. Hollie transformed into a human as well.

“A werelioness pack? I was in a werecat pack, the one run by Paisley, and

they mostly liked to lay about a lot. We were rarely fighters.” Hollie said.

“Paisley’s pack? No, of course not. These werecats are all lionesses. I was

surprised to escape them: they killed many of us. Werebirds that turned into robins, or blue jays or vultures alike were taken down. I only escaped because I’m such a fast flier. The fastest in my flock, really. You steer clear of the lionesses if you see any, okay?” The werebird said. Kastel shivered.

“So another wereanimal pack ate a fellow pack! Barbaric!” He tried not

to think of Silos’ actions from before. “Shouldn’t someone stop them?” He said warily.

“Right.” The werebird said sarcastically. “I can’t wait to fight a pride of

lionesses, the deadliest hunters in the land. Great idea. We fled to survive. They were attacking at night and would have us in their claws before we could awake and fly away. And they followed us here! They’re just up the mountain. How do you think we would stop them anyway?” The werebird said. Hollie looked at her sympathetically, patting her on the shoulder.

“I’m sorry for my brother. He’s usually more sensitive than this, but

we saw our estranged father recently and it’s unbalanced us both. What’s your name?” Hollie asked. The werebird smiled.

“Gisselle. Well, your brother can sleep outside.” She said with a laugh.

“But you and your handsome friend are more than welcome to come to my home to stay for a few days. You should see the sights, since you’re traveling, right?” Hollie beamed at her.

“That would be wonderful Gisselle! Allow me to get you a gift as a token

of my appreciation. I could hunt for you while we stay with you.” Hollie said enthusiastically. Gisselle nodded.

“Excellent.” They walked off towards a series of small houses in the dis-

tance. Dimitri patted Kastel on the back.

“You can see how Hollie was able to be so many people’s housecat: she

can endear people to her.” Dimitri said appreciatively. Kastel nodded. They made their way to Gisselle’s house. It was a small cottage with yellow walls and a circular table in the middle. Kastel felt weird sitting at a dining table, he’d gotten so used to hunting for food. When she sat a kettle of tea and a tray of muffins before them, he felt awkward holding one with his too-human hands. “Thank you.” He told Gisselle mechanically.

“So, a werewolf pack. Do you fight other werewolf packs? Which of you

is the alpha? Do you fight for the position all the time?” Gisselle looked genuinely interested. Hollie laughed.

“I think it was Adelind for a while, but she left the pack when she was

injured. Silos used to be our alpha, but he cracked under pressure and I think since then, we just haven’t put much emphasis on having one.” Kastel let this sink in. He hadn’t put any thought into it, but it was strange they didn’t have an alpha.

“Oh. Weird. For our flock the leader is Fumiko. She’s a falcon like me,

but even when we teamed up, we weren’t strong enough to beat the lioness pride. We did some damage, but they were just too strong.” A horn sounded and Gisselle flinched. “That’s the order to evacuate.”

“How often does that happen?” Hollie asked.

“Every few days. I guess I’m used to it.” Gisselle said, quickly slurping

her hot tea with a grimace as she fled to the door. “When we evacuate we take to the skies. Maybe you can hide here? The lionesses can take down the door though. But who knows? You’re big predators too, perhaps you can fight them off?” Gisselle said quickly, in a panic, and she turned into bird, cawed once, and fled through the open window.

“Did she just abandon us to die?” Dimitri said, surprised. Kastel shiv-

ered.

“Looks like it.” He said.

“And she seemed so nice too.” Hollie said casually. “Well, we’d better

hide.” They turned into animals in case they needed to fight, and hid under the table, huddled together. Kastel was shivering. He wished Adelind was with them.

She didn’t seem scared about anything. He envied her that, and her ability to shift into bigger animals. If only he could too. And why were the lionesses after the birds anyway? Didn’t they usually eat antelopes? Kastel wondered if there were a bunch of wereantelopes around, or if normal antelopes even existed anymore. Suddenly the world seemed too full of unknown things, and he wished he’d been born in the time of technology and information that had already passed. He heard claws on the door, and the sound of wood shredding. The door snapped like a large, flat, twig, and a lioness walked in.

Kastel could see the paws approaching from his place under the table-

cloth. No one made a sound. Kastel wished he’d never left his mother’s house.

He wished he was safe in Marentell, and that he and Hollie and Dimitri had all stayed in the woods there. Again, he wished Adelind was with him. Without warning, the lion lunged into the tablecloth and its paws surrounded Kastel and Hollie, who were shoved down. Dimitri narrowly backed away, avoiding the

blow. He snarled, the hair on his back raised, his teeth exposed intimidatingly.

The lion’s paw was planted on Kastel’s shoulder and he couldn’t move. He knew the lioness could tear him apart just by extending her claws, but she didn’t. Hollie was caught only by the tail. She hissed and arched her back before turning around and biting the lioness’s ear. The lioness shoved Hollie away. Being so tiny, she went flying before she crashed into the wall, and Dimitri stood in front of her, lunging at the lioness, who swatted him away easily. Another lioness came through the door, quickly transforming into a human.

“Taylen, what’s taking so long?” The newly appeared werelioness said.

“Werewolves? In these parts? Strange. Let’s capture them and use them

as extra hunters. Hurry up.” The werelioness grabbed Kastel by the scruff of the neck like she would a cub, and dragged him out the door, his paws wearily sliding with her. Dimitri wormed his nose under Hollie’s body, moving forward until he’d elevated her motionless form onto his back. He could hear her breathing was shallow. The three of them were marched out of the village, with more lionesses showing up and joining the group. Kastel helplessly followed them as they were led up the mountain.

Chapter 11

Taylen shoved them towards a large lioness who transformed into a hu-

man with curly red hair and brown eyes, wearing old-fashioned armor.

“Winnifred, what should we do with these werewolves and a werecat?”

Winnifred stood before the mouth of a cave. Inside, there were wooden doors, which led to apartments. Winnifred went over to Kastel and sniffed him.

“Certainly not eat them: they smell awful.” She shoved Kastel down and

Hollie and Dimitri crouched beside him on the stone floor.

“Throw them in the dungeon.” Winnifred demanded.

“They have no leader, so I thought we could make them hunt for us.”

Taylen suggested.

“I wouldn’t trust them to return if we sent them out. They’d need quite a

bit of training first.” Winnifred said, bored.

“You killed those werebirds! They were people! I’d never hunt for you!”

Hollie yelled. Winnifred punched her in the stomach and she choked.

“Half the food around here is made of werecreatures. What does it mat-

ter? You’ll understand when you’re hungry enough.” Winnifred looked back to Taylen. “Starve them.” And off they went to a tiny cell with a dirt floor and stone walls. A dog bowl with water was in the corner, but no food. Kastel noted that it wasn’t enough for three people. He turned to Hollie.

“Is your side okay? What about your stomach? Anything I can do?” He

said, concerned. She shook her head.

“Just going to have a bad bruise. Maybe a cracked rib.” Hollie and Kastel

slumped against the wall.

“How will we get out of here?” Kastel asked. Dimitri threw himself

against the door.

“The door’s too sturdy. It’ll be easier to create a distraction and flee

when we’re out hunting for them. For now we should wait.” Dimitri suggested.

They sat beside each other, facing the door. Kastel’s stomach growled. Then Winnifred pushed the door open and a man in a full suit of armor walked in.

“These are the prisoners? They aren’t very muscular. And you said they

were found hiding under a table? Not the fighting instinct I was hoping for.” The man said, disappointed.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Winnifred slumped. “We’ll draw lots to

figure out who gets to eat them. Though they look pretty pitiful.” Kastel tensed.

“Y-you can’t do this! You can’t talk to us like we’re food! Have some

decency!” He stammered. Winnifred slapped him.

“Don’t talk, prisoner.” Winnifred said. Hollie had turned into a cat and

started hissing menacingly at Winnifred.

“I’d feel bad about killing a fellow feline. Even if she is misguided.” Win-

nifred said. She reached her hand out to Hollie and Hollie bit her, digging her claws in, but she had no effect on Winnifred’s armor glove. “Spunky.” She said, scooping up Hollie like a stuffed animal and heading out of the dungeon.

“No! Hollie!” Kastel yelled. He and Dimitri slammed their fists into the

door, to no avail. Exhausted, they slumped in a corner.

“At least they don’t seem like they’re going to kill her.” Dimitri said, try-

ing to comfort Kastel, who was fighting back tears.

“Yeah, but how long will it take them to draw lots and figure out who

eats us? A few minutes? We aren’t strong enough to fight them! How did we ever think we could help the werebirds? We can’t help ourselves!” Kastel cried and Dimitri patted him on the shoulder.

“Don’t lose hope. We might be able to rush them when they get to the

door. Maybe we can knock them down?” Dimitri said.

“Right. Then they can just turn into lions and tackle us before we can get

out of the cave!” Kastel said. Dimitri sighed. Hours passed. Occasionally growls or murmurs could be heard from the outside. The water ran out. The cold of the mountainside was seeping into the room and Kastel shivered. He could hear the mewing of a cat.

“Hollie?” He said hoarsely. Suddenly, the door crashed in.

“Come on!” A familiar voice filled the room.

“Adelind?” Kastel asked. She pulled him and Dimitri off the floor by the

hand. Hollie was in cat form, on her shoulder. They crept quietly through the nest of lionesses who were slowly waking up. He wondered what she had turned into to knock down the door. Unexpectedly, a growl sounded and Kastel saw Taylen. She lunged at Kastel in lion form. Adelind jumped in front of him, taking the shape of an elephant. Her head brushed she ceiling as she struck the lion with her leg. Taylen tumbled away and Winnifred appeared.

“Forget the werewolves: that girl would be far more valuable to our

hunting party!” She said, pointing at Adelind.

“Never! You’re killers and you imprisoned my friends!” Adelind said

angrily, turning into a rhino, and pawing the ground, ready to charge.

“Ah, the wereanimal who could turn into anything. From what I heard,

the humans bombed themselves into oblivion, but before they were mostly gone, they made you to fight the shifters. Weren’t you going to end the war or something? And here you are, starting fights. Not even under the human’s control. What a waste.” Winnifred said. Adelind charged. Kastel considered this.

Had Adelind been used as a weapon just like Vita? When? Taylen leaped onto Adelind’s back, claws extended, and sunk them in. Adelind turned back into an elephant, grabbed Taylen with her trunk and tossed her. A bunch of lionesses attacked Adelind now, leaping at her, clawing and biting. One went for her face and Kastel bit the lioness’s leg, distracting it. Hollie and Dimitri formed a barrier at Adelind’s sides, tackling any lionesses that came close. Adelind charged through the lionesses, knocking them over. Kastel’s pack followed in her wake as some lionesses growled and swiped their paws at them.

They marched back to Gisselle. She opened her door in surprise, taking

in their cuts and torn clothes.

“You’re back!” She said, astonished.

“We fought the werelionesses. But they’re still around. They’re too

strong for us.” Kastel said, wiping his cheek and finding blood there.

“I thought so.” Gisselle replied, slumping. “The forest didn’t work, not

the beach either. We’ll have to find another place to hide from them.” Kastel felt

sympathetic.

“We are wanderers too. It’s hard to find a safe place in this world.” Kastel

said.

“Yeah. I had just hoped…that maybe this place would be the one.”

Gisselle sighed. A few days later, the werebirds took flight, leaving their empty houses behind.

“It’s too bad we couldn’t really help them.” Kastel said, feeling defeated.

“They were asking too much of us.” Hollie said. “There’s no shame in

leaving so you can stay alive.”

Kastel, Adelind, Hollie and Dimitri sat on the beach. Hollie and Dimitri

hunted pigs while Kastel bandaged a cut on Adelind’s leg.

“Thanks for saving us. You were amazing! How did you know we were

in trouble?” He asked.

“I’d healed up enough from the last fight, so I went looking for you. Ma-

cel’s at the closest village in the hotel. I could have sworn I smelled your blood, so I followed it here.” Adelind said.

“Smelled my blood?” Kastel asked.

“I was in wolf form at the time. Been taking a wolf ’s form a lot lately.

Makes me feel closer to you.” She said bluntly. Kastel blushed.

“C-closer to me?” He stuttered.

“I was worried about you. I didn’t worry as much about Dimitri or Hol-

lie, but I was hoping you were okay.” Adelind said. Kastel was happy, grinning widely, until he realized this meant she must think of Hollie and Dimitri as more capable than he was.

“Thanks.” Kastel said, assuming this was the right thing to say.

“I thought about you too.” Kastel said, nervous somehow. He thought

his nervousness was odd. Hadn’t Vita been protective of him in Silos’ pack? But having someone cool like Adelind worried about him made him wish he was special to her. Adelind smiled brightly.

“What’s taking so long?” Hollie asked.

“We’re talking.” Adelind said to Hollie. She turned to leave and Kastel

reached for her hand, taking it in his.

“W-wait! Do you want to travel with us again?” Adelind squeezed his

hand.

“Sure, I’ll come with you.” Adelind said, smiling. Kastel was grateful.

Chapter 12

Adelind walked beside Kastel.

“So, are you all headed to a particular place?” She asked. Kastel

shrugged.

“We just like to wander from town to town. At first we wanted to ex-

pand our pack, but we haven’t found many shifters who want to come with us.”

Kastel said. Adelind nodded.

“Let’s see, have you been to Owelette Town? They train birds to hunt

for them, it’s a small town but they’re friendly to outsiders. Traders and drifters wander though there a lot. We could stay with my friend Juniper.” Kastel smiled.

“That sounds great!” Hollie came up beside him.

“After being beaten up and imprisoned in the previous town, everything

sounds like an improvement.” They left the rocky terrain as Adelind transformed into a dragon and they climbed onto her back. They flew to Owelette Town. The perimeter was surrounded by trees and adobe huts lay in rows in the landscape.

A bunch of people rushed to greet them, awed by the sight of a dragon. Adelind landed and turned back into a human, noting that less impressed villagers were waving their swords around.

“It’s just me!” She said. A wolf with white fur raced up to them, wagging

its tail. Adelind knelt and threw her arms around its neck.

“Juniper! I missed you!” The wolf pulled away and transformed into a

woman with short, light brown hair, wearing jeans and a long-sleeved blue shirt.

She appeared to be the same age as Kastel’s mom.

“You’re back! I wasn’t sure when you would return!” Juniper smiled.

“Of course! I always come back.” Adelind said. “I trust you’re doing

well?” Juniper nodded.

“Business has been booming. It’s more than I can handle myself. I hired

some kids to feed the messenger pigeons, but I still need more help. But I’m managing as well as I can.” Her smile was weary.

“And Hollie and Kastel, is that you? I haven’t seen you since you were

toddlers, but the scent is the same.” She sniffed the air.

“You know us?” Kastel asked.

“Why, yes.” Juniper said. “I was in your mother’s pack when you two

were young. I would babysit. But I moved to Owlette Town ten years ago. Your

mom, Eloise, was a great alpha, and took good care of the pack.” Meanwhile, Adelind was being dragged off by kids in the village, who begged her to turn into more animals. Kastel smiled, seeing her turn into a pony one moment and a puppy the next, an applauding audience all around her.

“Who else was in the pack?” Dimitri asked.

“Lola, Silos and Roy. It was kind of awkward when Lola and Silos

became a couple and Roy and Eloise did too! I felt like the odd one out. But I’m married to my work now.” She led them to her garage and revealed a large printing press. She cranked it and one page of a newspaper slid out. “I print the newspapers for Owlette and twelve other towns around here. I have local stories, job opportunities, and also farming and scientific information that gets distributed everywhere that can be reached by ponies and carrier pigeons. Just because most technology is dead doesn’t mean information should be!” She said cheerfully.

“That’s amazing!” Kastel said. Hollie nodded.

“Wow.” Dimitri looked awestruck. “And here we’ve been running

around, looking for a purpose and you already have one.” Dimitri looked at her with fascination. Kastel felt odd. He couldn’t remember Dimitri being enthusiastic about much. Comforting, sturdy, yes, but not with a fire in his eyes like he was now. He cleared his throat.

“So, Juniper, my mom mentioned how she became alpha. Something

about a gas leak? How did that happen?” As soon as he said it, he felt guilty. Remember that time you almost died? I was curious about it! Seemed like a cruel subject to bring up. Hollie was glaring at him and Dimitri stared at Juniper, concerned.

“Yes, I can tell you the story.” Juniper sighed. She loaded another blank

page into the press, working as she spoke. “Well, in the old days, there was mostly fighting and desolation. The war was winding down, but forests were still burning and wereanimal packs fought a lot. Perhaps just as dangerous was the remaining human technology that had been abandoned. The fires would set off cars to explode if their gas was leaking. And one such leaking car had been abandoned and hidden under fallen tree branches beside the cave we chose to sleep in one night. I can only assume humans left it, hidden, with the intent to return for the car. Maybe they searched for food in the woods? Maybe they died in one of the many fires and couldn’t return for the hidden treasure? Working cars had become rarer by that point anyway, with most gasoline going to the war effort. But somehow, it was beside our cave without our knowledge.”

“We had been hunting all day and were tired. We usually slept in human

form, with whatever blankets and pillows we could barter for in the villages we

passed. You see, back then, shifters were a relatively unknown species. Because there was little research on us, and because shifters being born from ordinary humans was a fairly new concept, there just wasn’t much known about how we work. Like now, I suppose. Rumors went around that if a wereanimal stayed in their animal form too long, they would be stuck that way forever, and develop the instincts of the animal they became. So we were afraid to sleep as wolves, and shifted back to human form for travel and only became wolves to hunt. Eloise was braver than we were, and she slept in wolf-form, saying she was willing to be the guinea pig. She said even if she got stuck in that form, being a wolf was safer than being a human in this day and age. Silos had laughed at her. Told her she was losing her mind. It’s a pity we didn’t know he’d start to lose it as soon as Lola was gone. Eloise was brave and impulsive. I was desperate to stay as human as possible, and didn’t follow her lead.”

“We went to sleep, curled up on stolen covers, except for Eloise, who

was on the bare ground. I heard her howl, it startled me from a dream. I recall being so sleepy. I was angry at her for making noise. But when I tried to push her prodding nose away, she poked my head with her paws and whimpered. It was only when I felt her teeth in my coat sleeve that I awoke. She had dragged Roy and Lola out of the cave already. Seeing the others lying outside on the

grass startled me. I thought they were dead. I raced over to check, but they were all breathing. Eloise laid on the ground, panting, and exhausted. I turned into a wolf and sniffed the air. It was so obviously a gas leak. I couldn’t believe we’d nearly died, just because I couldn’t smell it. So even to this day, I still sleep as a wolf. I recall thanking Eloise profusely. We all did. How could we ever repay her? I had been alpha at the time, but I surrendered the title to Eloise at once.

She earned it. She hadn’t beaten me in battle, but she’d proven she could protect the pack better than I had. She was a fair leader.” Juniper concluded.

“Wow, that’s amazing. I never knew mom dragged you out of the cave.”

Kastel said. Juniper laughed.

“You think you’re impressed? You’ve got nothing on your father. He’d

already loved her, but now that she’d saved his life, he was proposing to her every few days! She loved him, but mostly laughed his proposals off. When I asked her about it, she said, “What kind of future could I have with him in this wasteland?” We all settled in Marentell the year after she’d rescued us. That was when Eloise and Roy got married. They completely adored you kids. I babysat a lot and you kids used to travel in the pack with us, do you remember traveling with us as cubs?” Kastel shrugged.

“Only vaguely.” He said.

“I remember hunting with all of you a little.” Hollie said.

“Yeah, I didn’t think you’d remember it well. Eloise and Roy moved to Marentell when you were still tiny, and traveled with the pack less. I left for Owlette Town when I received a letter that they’d built a printing press and needed someone to run it. I had already gotten the hang of sending messenger pigeons, so I brought my flock to Owlette Town and never looked back.” Juniper smiled. Kastel nodded.

“Thanks for babysitting us.”

“Of course! You and Hollie were well-behaved kids!”

“So, the newspaper…do you need helpers?” Dimitri asked. Juniper

laughed.

“Yes! It takes a long time to tie tiny scrolls to hundreds of pigeon’s feet!”

“Then let me join you.” Dimitri said devotedly.

“But Dimitri…” Hollie said.

“What?” Kastel asked. “You’re leaving?” Dimitri waited for Juniper to

answer.

“I would love your help Dimitri!” She said, smiling.

“It’s like you said earlier Kastel, we’re just wandering from town to town.

And like you said too, Hollie-the visit with the Lioness pack was dangerous! We

could have been killed. And who would want to be killed over nothing? This aimless search for a pack. I want to have a purpose. And sending information to people is a worthwhile goal!” Dimitri said, sighing. He smiled at Juniper.

“Well…you have a point.” Kastel said. Dimitri threw his arms around

Hollie and Kastel.

“I love you both so much. You’re my pack, my family. But I want to be

useful, and I can do that here.” Dimitri smiled. Kastel smiled back.

“I’m happy for you.” He said. Dimitri rented a room at the inn and im-

mediately got to work, leaning how to use the printing press. And Kastel and Hollie left Owelette Town, Adelind joining them on the outskirts of town.

“Where’s Dimitri?” She asked.

“He seems to have fallen in love at first talk with Juniper, the local

printer and postal service lady.” Hollie said.

“In love? Are you sure? I thought he was just answering his calling or

something.” Kastel said, confused. Hollie sighed.

“Well, it didn’t seem that way to me.” Hollie said.

“We can’t wander forever, can we? It’s only natural he’d want to take up

roots. I had them in Cydorin after all. It was comforting.” Adelind said. Kastel pushed down his sadness over his friend leaving. Maybe the wanderer’s life just

wasn’t the right one for Dimitri. They wandered a little ways in silence before Hollie exclaimed:

“We should tell dad there’s a way to distribute his research findings. I

know he was all concerned about that. And here, his former packmate has a newspaper and everything! It could validate his life’s work.” Hollie said.

“Do you think he deserves that after abandoning us?” Kastel said.

“Hummm….” Hollie considered. “How about, if he comes home and

apologizes to mom for running off, we’ll tell him about the newspaper. And if he doesn’t, we’ll never mention it.” Kastel nodded.

“I approve!” He said.

Chapter 13

Kastel, Hollie, and Adelind explored for six months, before becom-

ing travel-weary and homesick. It was then that they approached Marentel, it’s small, dilapidated farms looking so quaint now that they’d seen so much of the country.

Roy was close behind them, a small army of upright-standing-were-

wolves in toe.

“Son, I’m sorry. I don’t want you to think I’d leave you, not again. I’ll

take my work home. My pack agrees and wants to stay in Marentell with me.”

Roy said. Kastel just nodded. He wanted to be grateful his dad was back, but at this point he felt more loved and protected by Dimitri (whose parting still stung), Adelind, and Hollie, and wasn’t sure he still needed a father figure. But he figured his mother might want to see Roy again, so he didn’t object to him coming home with them.

The upright-standing-werewolves demonstrated their strength by

quickly rebuilding some of the torn-down buildings, starting with the hospital, and their efficiency at work made them beloved by Marentel citizens immediately. The villagers were inspired and joined the pack in making bigger and better housing and shops. It warmed Kastel’s heart to see hope after the end of the world.

He was nervous, however, to see his mom again. He approached the

house and knocked on the door. His mother answered a few minutes later and threw an arm around him and an arm around Hollie.

“Kastel, I was so worried about you when Silos and the others came

back and you didn’t! Silos is at the hospital. They’re trying to train him to let go of his homicidal thoughts. The rest of the pack is with him. Apparently they’re into this mice-only diet. They say Silos hasn’t bitten anyone in a few weeks, so that’s good news. They still have a long jail sentence awaiting them.” Kastel didn’t know how to process this. He wanted to be happy the pack was trying to reform themselves, but he remembered when Silos scolded him for going after mice and now he was eating them? At least they weren’t hunting wereanimals. Eloise hugged Hollie.

“Hollie, it’s so good to see you again! Who’s this?” Eloise asked, gestur-

ing towards Adelind.

“This is Adelind. She helped us out a lot!” Kastel said. Eloise nodded.

“Nice to meet you, Adelind. I’m Eloise. Thanks for helping out my kids.”

Adelind blushed.

“Oh, it’s nothing, I’ve really enjoyed getting to know them.” She said shy-

ly. But she squeezed Kastel’s hand and warmth spread through him. He speculated that perhaps she was nervous about meeting his mom. Was it because she thought of them as an item? Kastel’s heart sped up. Then Roy approached the house.

“Oh. You’re here too.” Eloise said emotionlessly. He took her hand and

kissed it.

“Please forgive me for being gone so long, Eloise.” She glared at him.

“Roy, as far as I’m concerned, you’re married to your work. You can stay

at the hotel. Oh, right, it needs rebuilding. I guess you can sleep in its ruins.” She pulled Hollie, Kastel, and Adelind into the house and left Roy outside.

“Mom!” Hollie said. “He came back for you.” Eloise laughed.

“I was his pack leader, remember? He’s used to tough love. Besides, he

doesn’t have time to worry about rebuilding our relationship. Maybe after him and his friends rebuild the whole town, I’ll let him move into the garage.” Hollie sighed.

“Mom, we don’t have a garage.”

“Then he’d better build one.” Eloise said with a smirk. Despite his am-

bivalence about Roy, Kastel had been hoping that maybe his parents would fall back in love right away. Only now did he realize that might take a long time, if it happened at all.

“Well, it’s good to see you again, mom.” Kastel said. “I learned a lot out

there. How to fight, and that you can’t trust everyone.” He said, sadly. Eloise patted him on the head.

“Then it was worthwhile. So, are you staying here, or will your pack go

traveling again soon?” She asked.

“It might be nice just to stay home for a while.” Kastel said.

“Yeah, and I have my role of pretending to be people’s housecat. Can’t

let them think I slipped away for good.” Hollie smiled. “I could go for some tuna right now.”

“That works out. Adelind, you can stay in Hollie’s room while she’s

away.” Eloise said.

“Oh, I wouldn’t want to impose!” Adelind said. “I can turn into any ani-

mal, so I was thinking of turning into a bird and perching on the roof or something.” Eloise laughed.

“Nonsense! Just because you can turn into an animal doesn’t mean you

have to. Stay as long as you’d like! So, when’s the wedding?” Eloise said. Kastel blushed.

“What?” Kastel asked.

“Oh Kastel, I’ve never seen you hold hands with a girl before! It must be

love!” Eloise said.

“Mom! It’s too soon for a wedding!” Kastel said, thinking it was for

Adelind’s benefit. Surely she wouldn’t have interest in him for long. Did she even have interest? She worried about him and held his hand, but did that mean anything to her? Suddenly he was unsure.

“Yeah, it’s too soon. I haven’t even had the chance to ask Kastel on a

date!” Adelind said. Kastel’s heart filled with warmth and he blurted out;

“I-I would say yes if you asked!” Before he could think too long about

wanting to disappear into the ground or turning into a wolf and dashing away, Adelind said;

“Excellent. We could catch some food and have a picnic. Does that

sound nice?” She smiled at Kastel. He nodded.

“I’d like that very much!” Later that evening, Adelind and Kastel had a

picnic, facing the sunset. They ate some rabbits they caught. Kastel, Hollie, Roy,

Eloise, and Adelind all had dessert at Kastel’s house.

They aided in Marentel’s construction until it looked as good as new.

And while they traveled as a pack now and then, hunting for the good of the whole village, they always returned home.

The End

About the Author I graduated from columbia College in Chicago with a B.F.A. in Illustration. I work at my family’s web design company, Ramsey-Passmore Design.

Werewolves and Werecats was my first attempt at a

serial story. I posted it every month to my wordpress blog from March 26, 2018-March 26, 2019. It was lots of fun!

Thank you for reading!