Thomas was pushing them harder each day. He usually wasn’t so reckless, but they would have crossed right in front of the plateau beast’s path if not for Mel’s vigilance.

  It helped that the closer they were to the monster, the more sensitive Mel’s awareness became.

  There was no denying the gains they were making. With the [Primeval Brews] at their disposal, they were racking up the Battle Points.

  Despite the cause for celebration, both Thomas and Gwen seemed more reserved.

  Gwen was changing slightly, but steadily, day by day. She laughed less and was definitely sleeping less. It made Mel uneasy. Whatever sort of werewolf she was, Mel wasn’t entirely familiar with it.

  “When will you transform next?” Thomas asked as they sat around the campfire one night. He said it so casually, as if it was the most ordinary thing in the world.

  “Without a suitable heart? The coming full moon,” Gwen answered earnestly. “Or another rage break.”

  Mel leaned in, waving her hand. “Hi. Mel, here. Girl that’s totally out of the loop. I am, however, up to date on all the hot trends.” She cringed. “You’re not into…horxnaxing are you? What about bimbleplopping? Nah, you don’t have enough limbs and this world doesn’t have the right number of moons. Anyway, if you’re into normal deviant stuff , I got you covered. If you need, I could whip up a ball gag, gimp mask, muzzle–”

  “Okay!” Thomas said, unwilling to hear anymore. “Okay. We get it, Mel. You’ve made your point.”

  Mel chuckled. She really thought Thomas was going to call her out on how she might acquire those things. There was nothing more enjoyable than winding somebody up. “I was just pointing out how open I am with my friends.” She leaned in toward Gwen, pumping her eyebrows meaningfully. “Unlike some people.”

  Gwen struggled to relax. “…What do you mean?”

  Mel took a deep breath, wondering if she went a little too far with the joke. “I get that I told you to go at your own pace and everything, and you’ve shared more than some people I knew.” Elora, I’m talking about you, you silly, lovably repressed goof. Even Komachi knew before you. “But if something is going to happen that might put us all in danger, I think I deserve to know. Let me help.”

  “Oh, well…” Gwen appeared to be immensely relieved by the direction Mel took that. “It’s best we hunt that plateau beast, or I might eat some poor bastard’s heart out when I transform.”

  “Girl, I know some people who would pay extra for that kind of thing. I’m not seeing the problem here. Judging by your expression though, there’s something I don’t get. I’m going to need a lot more than that, Gwen.” Mel leaned in close. “Dish bish.”

  Gwen’s eyes fumed with silver energy. “You don’t understand.” She pushed Mel away.

  Mel leaned back and put a hand on her chest with a gasp. “Are you literally and figuratively pushing me away right now? What about hashtag girl boss solidarity?!”

  That got a slight smile out of Gwen. The tension eased in her jaw and posture.

  A strand of blonde hair fell into Mel’s face. Mel blew it away and turned her gaze back to Gwen. “Seriously though. A burden shared is a load lightened and all that sappy shit. You really want to carry this all on your own? I’m not going to force you to tell me anything you don’t want. But I’d appreciate it if you at least told me if my life was in danger.”

  “I’m not sure what can be done. You’re not likely in any danger…I’m just having a hard time.”

  Thomas put a gentle hand on Gwen’s back. That had a calming effect.

  “You’re awfully quiet, mister,” Mel said, looking at him.

  He shrugged. “Nothing for me to say. This is her burden. I’m just sharing it.”

  “Kudos for not mansplaining,” Mel said earnestly, turning her attention back to Gwen.

  “Listen, this isn’t a burden to me. I’m not ashamed of what I am. Only, it’s been different since the Convocation.” Gwen shut her eyes, sighing. “I’ll transform and I’ll be dangerous, but not likely to Magi. This is a thing that will happen no matter what. Except what I’ve been doing to manage it has been less than effective.”

  “What’re we talking about here…old style Wolfman where you change in a series of still frames and get hairier and a bad, poofy hairdo? Or is it more like the sinisterly evil bone snapping and splitting as you change suddenly and painfully into a hybrid bipedal wolf-slash-human? Or is it like a really big dog like Twilight?”

  Gwen’s gaze slid away from Mel. The serious expression didn’t fit her ordinarily friendly lupine features. “Probably the second one.”

  Thomas watched her the entire time, a look of polite interest on his handsome, tanned features. Mel could guess enough what was going on in his head.

  “I’m being entirely serious, bee-tee-dubs. Just wanted to make that clear.” Mel turned to Gwen. “I’m sorry. You mentioned something about a heart though? What’s that do?”

  “Typically, the transformation is invoked by the full moon,” Gwen explained. “Except, since I’m not an ordinary werewolf, I can pursue things to manage the change and reduce the frequency. Eating potent hearts, becoming stronger, hunting, or even partaking in humanizing activities. I’m similar to a vampyr in some ways, though Miranda, the exchange student, probably wouldn’t like me to explain it like that.”

  “So eating hearts keeps your ‘freak out’ meter low,” Mel said.

  Gwen flashed a grin at Mel. “That’s a good way of putting it. Not to be melodramatic, but it satisfies the beast inside. Regardless, I’m not normally this bad. And while I might be incredibly dangerous, such as if Thomas stabbed you, I’m more likely to be lethal to individuals and creatures I don’t know. That aren’t my territory, as it were.”

  “Hold up, rewind. You can’t just casually throw out ‘I’d be dangerous if Thomas stabbed you’ and not expect me to latch onto that. So if Thomas stabbed me, whomst would you be more dangerous to?”

  “Maybe it’s a poor example, but definitely Thomas. He would need to run to keep all his blood inside his body. And he might not make it far.”

  Thomas chuckled. He hardly seemed bothered.

  “And if I stabbed Thomas?” Mel asked, curiously.

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  That got a rise out of Thomas, just a flicker of doubt, but it was there.

  Now does that mean he thinks I might actually stab him, or does he think that Gwen is going to be dangerous to him if I stab him? Because that’s kinda messed up.

  Gwen smiled sadly. “Probably a variation of the same thing. Like I said, as an instinct driven beast, I respond extremely poorly to threats to my Magi family territory. I might be less vicious with you, to be honest, since you were missing and suffering. I should’ve found you sooner, and I didn’t.”

  Mel folded her arms. “I’m not above milking sympathy for my benefit.”

  “It’s my own hang ups. And not something I’m too comfortable theorizing about. The thing is, you can generally trust wolf-me to go after the plateau beast since it’s trying to murder my family.”

  “What you’re telling me is if we get into a fight with a plateau beast, you’re not going to totally lose control and come after us. You’ll just be…a little hairier and more unpredictable?”

  Gwen’s shoulders hunched. “I’m not going to be a burden. I won’t hurt either of you, not unless you spontaneously commit attempted murder on one another.”

  “I don’t think you’d be a burden, Gwen. Can you…understand speech? Like, if I need you to move or get out of the way, will you? Or do I need to adjust my own tactics? I’m trying to figure out how to best work with this.”

  “I won’t turn into a dumb animal. I’ll be able to understand you, just in an altered mental state. You probably won’t be able to understand me though.”

  Mel laughed. “Will you listen though?”

  “No guarantee.” She itched at the chain around her wrist.

  “All right, no different from normal then.” Mel slapped her thigh. “I think that’s a good enough rest, don’t you? Why don’t you vent some of that furry rage on some monsters with us?”

  Gwen growled at Mel.

  She stood and grinned at her. “Aw, you love me. C’mon, mama needs some more Battle Points! My brew cooldown is nearly up and I need another fix.”

  Thomas stood up, offering a helping hand to Gwen. “We are getting more BP than you could possibly spend on your brew, Mel. What are you doing with all those points?”

  Mel wagged her finger at him. “Never ask a girl to reveal her secrets.”

  “But you just–”

  “Ah! Bup-bup-bup.”

  Thomas gave her a weary shake of his head. It would be hard to keep hiding what she was doing. After all, you couldn’t really experiment with potions and alchemy quietly .

  Gwen’s nose was growing more sensitive as she came closer to the transformation, and Thomas had found her the copper cauldron she was using in some old standing ruins.

  At least the suspicion was alleviated some when Gwen sniffed Thomas, then Mel.

  “I bathed last night!” Mel argued.

  Poor Thomas has the patience of a damn saint.

  “I can tell,” Gwen said, chuckling, then prowled away.

  Once she was out of earshot, Mel nudged Thomas. “Seriously though, you want a collar or somethin’? Hit me up, fam. I got you.”

  Thomas shook his head. “You’re incorrigible.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Wasn’t a compliment.”

  “Agree to disagree!”

  Heath woke up to the glowing lamplight eyes of his savior. Shrubley was particularly interested in him, though Heath couldn’t figure out why.

  This group had taken him in, nursed him back to health, and allowed him to tag along with them. They didn’t ask much of him.

  His Shadow aspect could conceal them and he could find people lurking in the shadows easily. Aside from availing themselves of his Shadow powers, they were otherwise fairly indifferent to him.

  It wasn’t that they were unkind. Shrubley was very sweet and gentle. Shrubley’s talking sword, Smudge, liked Heath’s jokes and would often giggle like a little kid. Even Camilla, who he was pretty sure was a vampyr with those green and ruby red eyes and pale beautiful skin, was welcoming.

  Jacob, the obvious leader of the group, had been supportive of keeping him around even before they knew of his powers.

  He just wasn’t one of them. There was something other about all of them, even considering that Shrubley was a talking, magical shrub .

  For several days they had traveled together, mostly because it was in the same direction as Heath was heading. When the sensation from the coin shifted to a distant plateau filled with amber hills and dark, craggy mountains, Heath let Jacob know he was leaving.

  Jacob’s piercing green and ruby red eyes studied him for a moment. He had the opposite eye color as Camilla. Whenever Heath brought it up, they both went silent, so he learned to stop asking. Jacob had all the gravitas of the Savior himself. His twin-eyed stare was unsettling. That moment felt like a lifetime. His back felt bowed from the weight of the man’s gaze. He had a way of looking at people that broke even the most resolute killer.

  That was the one reason Heath was concerned about leaving. Jacob had been chasing cultists straight out of a cosmic horror movie. Tentacles, teeth, and all that. If he hadn’t seen it with his own two eyes, he might have doubted Jacob.

  Once they chanced upon an altar and they saw the… remains of what the so-called Vile Covenant had left behind, Heath was a believer. He just wished he could have kept his innocence (and his lunch).

  “We all have our own paths to tread,” Jacob said, extending his gauntleted hand. “I hope we’ll cross paths again, Heath.”

  Heath shook his hand, surprised that he was letting him go. “Just like that?”

  “You want me to force you to stay?” Jacob asked, clapping him companionably on the arm. “I should hope you understand me better than that by now.”

  Heath opened his mouth, then stopped. Jacob was right. The man had used his talents in the same way that he would use any tool he came across. He didn’t try to own Heath.

  This was the first time that Heath tried to leave a group and they weren’t trying to force him to stay in some way. It felt…odd.

  “It’s just…a little odd, that’s all.” Heath cleared his throat. “Not that I don’t appreciate all you’ve done for me. But a lot of groups here are…not right. My dad used to tell me that if our family didn’t have bad luck, we’d have no luck at all. I always seem to fall into one horrible thing after the other.”

  “Did you like the things you’ve seen while you were with us?”

  Heath disassociated for a moment as his mind played a reel of horrors across his inner eye. “…No.”

  “Then I would say your luck holds.”

  “Huh,” Heath said. “When you put it like that…”

  Jacob turned to look at Camilla and Shrubley. When he returned his green and ruby eyed gaze to Heath, he said, “May the flames light your path.”

  “Be seeing you,” Heath said.

  He was halfway down the hill before Shrubley caught up to him. He looked out of breath, though how a shrub could be out of breath was a question that Heath didn’t know how to answer.

  “I wanted to give you a parting gift, but you left before I could go get it!” Shrubley said excitedly. He handed a small golden acorn to Heath. “Here! Bye!”

  “Bye!” Smudge, his talking pink sword, echoed.

  The shrub was darting away before Heath could respond. He looked down at the warm, heavy seed in his hand. “Huh.” For some reason, having it in his pocket made his steps a little lighter as he continued the final leg of his journey to reunite with Mel.