The late afternoon sun streamed through Burger Queen's front window, casting long shadows across the red vinyl booth where Jessica sat with Kevin and Salina. A plate of half-eaten fries lay between them, growing cold as Jessica focused her attention on the massive hamburger in front of her. The familiar scent of grilled meat and salt filled her enhanced senses, a welcome change from the memories that had been haunting her all weekend.

  She took another substantial bite, savoring the rich taste of meat. No lettuce, no tomato, no vegetables of any kind—just pure protein for her werewolf stomach. After what had happened Friday night, she needed something substantial to wash away the memory of that creature forcing its way down her throat. The phantom sensation still made her gag if she thought about it too long.

  "You know," Kevin said, adjusting his glasses as he studied his own barely touched burger, "I've been thinking about where that creature came from." His fingers drummed nervously on the table, a habit Jessica had noticed intensifying since their encounter.

  Jessica swallowed hard, fighting back a shudder. "Do we have to talk about this now?" Her eyes darted around the diner, checking for any eavesdroppers. At the counter, an elderly couple was absorbed in their early-bird special. The only waitress on duty was refilling coffee cups at the far end of the restaurant.

  "When else are we going to talk about it?" Salina asked, stirring her black coffee with deliberate slowness. Her dark lipstick had left perfect crescents on the white ceramic mug. She leaned forward, lowering her voice. "It's not like we can discuss alien slime monsters in the cafeteria tomorrow. 'Oh, by the way, did anyone else notice that thing trying to body-snatch all of us?'"

  "Point taken." Jessica grabbed her vanilla milkshake, letting the sweetness chase away the phantom taste of otherworldly ooze. The cold helped settle her nerves, grounding her in the present moment. "But seriously, Kevin? Who totally cares where it had come from. And please tell me you haven't been posting about this online."

  Kevin looked offended. "Give me some credit. I know how to keep a secret." He leaned forward, his voice dropping to just above a whisper. "What if it wasn't just a random occurrence? What if it was... I don't know, some kind of advance scout?"

  "You think there are more of those things out there?" Jessica's enhanced hearing picked up the slight uptick in Kevin's heartbeat—he was genuinely worried about this. She could also smell the anxiety rolling off him in waves, a sharp, acrid scent that made her wolf instincts bristle.

  "Think about it," he continued, pushing his plate aside to make room for the notebook he always carried. The edges were worn, the cover decorated with elaborate doodles of what Jessica now recognized as theoretical alien life forms. He flipped it open to reveal pages of hastily scrawled observations. "That creature was incredibly sophisticated. Its ability to mimic its prey, its intelligence—"

  "Its disgusting habit of trying to crawl down people's throats," Jessica muttered, unconsciously rubbing her neck. "Really sophisticated."

  "Exactly!" Kevin jabbed his finger at a detailed diagram that made Jessica's stomach turn. "That level of biological complexity doesn't just happen by accident. The way it could perfectly replicate human DNA, create exact copies—Someone, or something, had to design it."

  Salina's dark-lined eyes narrowed as she studied the diagram. "You think it was engineered? Like some kind of biological weapon?"

  "It’s only a theory, but it could make sense." Kevin closed his notebook. “Or maybe it is just a cosmic bacteria organism that grows to feed on other lifeforms as it become intelligent. But I bet it is a scout sent here to study us by consuming us.”

  Jessica took another bite of her burger, chewing thoughtfully. The meat helped ground her, reminded her of who—and what—she was. A werewolf might not be normal, but at least it was something earthly, something she understood. The idea of more alien threats lurking in the stars above made her skin crawl.

  "So what are you saying?" she asked finally, wiping her hands on a napkin. "That we're looking at some kind of... alien invasion? Because I've got to tell you, my schedule is pretty packed between cheerleading and monster fighting. I don't know if I can fit in saving the world."

  "I'm saying we need to be ready." Kevin's voice took on that intense tone he got when he was really onto something. His glasses slid down his nose, but he was too focused on his notes to push them back up. "If there are more—"

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  "If there are more alien freaks," Salina cut in, reaching across to straighten his glasses with a gentleness that made Jessica smile, "we'll deal with them the same way we dealt with this one. Together." She paused, taking a sip of her coffee. "Though maybe next time we skip the part where Jessica tried to eat the thing.”

  "I didn’t try to eat it!" Jessica protested, feeling her stomach rumble. “The damn thing forced itself down my throat! I couldn’t stop it!”

  "Sure, sure," Salina teased. "Maybe it wanted to impregnant you like a facehugger.”

  Jessica couldn't help but smile at their banter. Years ago, she'd been so focused on maintaining her carefully crafted image she'd barely acknowledged her old friends' existence. Now here they were, planning how to defend their town from extraterrestrial threats over burgers and fries. Life had a weird way of bringing people together.

  "You really think there's intelligent life out there?" Jessica asked, glancing out the window at the darkening sky. Somewhere up there, past the clouds and the atmosphere, past everything familiar and known, what else was waiting? The wolf in her stirred uneasily at the thought.

  "After what we just survived?" Salina arched one perfectly gothic eyebrow. "I'd say that's pretty much confirmed. Though 'intelligent' might be pushing it. That thing wasn't exactly solving differential equations."

  "No, it was just trying to eat us and take our forms." Jessica suppressed another shudder, remembering the cold, alien presence that had tried to override her consciousness. "Real genius move there. 'Yes, let's invade Earth by possessing one cheerleader at a time. Brilliant strategy.'"

  Kevin scribbled something else in his notebook, his pen moving frantically across the paper. "But that's just it—what if it wasn't working alone? What if it are more like it… Like…" He trailed off, clearly remembering how Jessica destroyed the creature.

  "Okay, now you're sounding paranoid." Jessica reached across the table and closed his notebook. "We won today. Can't we just enjoy that for a minute? My treat on the burgers, by the way. Consider it a celebration for surviving a small alien invasion.”

  "She has a point," Salina said, her black-painted lips quirking into a smile. "Though I never thought I'd hear myself say those words. The world really must be ending."

  They all laughed at that, and for a moment, it felt like old times. Before Jessica had gotten popular, before she'd been bitten, before aliens and monsters and all the other complications that had crashed into their lives. Before they'd had to grow up so fast, facing threats they'd never imagined could be real.

  But they weren't the same people anymore. Jessica could feel it in the way her enhanced senses picked up every subtle shift in their scents, every quickened heartbeat when the conversation strayed too close to Friday's horrors. They'd seen too much, faced too much, to ever go back to who they'd been before.

  "We should probably head out," Kevin said eventually, gathering his things. "School tomorrow and all that. Assuming they have found no slime in the gym.”

  "Yeah," Jessica agreed, though the thought of walking those halls again made her stomach clench. How many times would she replay Friday night's events in her mind? How many times would she remember the sight of that thing wearing Camella's face, using her voice? Would the other girls even remember what had happened, or had they successfully convinced themselves it was all a weird dream brought on by too many energy drinks before detention?

  They paid their bill and stepped out into the cooling evening air. The sun had almost set, painting the sky in shades of purple and orange. Jessica took a deep breath, letting her heightened senses take in the familiar scents of her town—car exhaust and fresh-cut grass, the lingering aroma of grilled burgers from the diner, the distinct perfumes of her friends beside her. Kevin's combination of paper, ink, and energy drinks. Salina's mix of coffee, and that expensive gothic perfume she always wore.

  This was her territory now, her home to protect. Whatever else might come falling from the stars, whatever other threats might emerge from the shadows, she'd be ready. The werewolf and the cheerleader—two sides of herself she'd tried so hard to keep separate—were finally feeling like parts of a whole.

  "Same time next Sunday?" Salina asked as they reached the point where their paths home diverged. The streetlights were just flickering on, casting pools of yellow light on the sidewalk.

  "Wouldn't miss it," Jessica replied, and meant it. No more pretending to be too busy with cheerleading practice. No more avoiding their eyes in the hallway. These were her people, weird and wonderful as they were.

  "And hey," Kevin added, adjusting the strap of his messenger bag, "if any more alien blobs crash into town—"

  "We'll handle it," Jessica finished for him. She grinned, letting just a hint of fang show. "After all, what's an alien invasion compared to high school?"

  They parted ways, each heading toward their respective homes. Jessica walked slowly, savoring the familiar sights and sounds of her neighborhood in the growing twilight. Tomorrow she'd have to face the squad again, have to pretend everything was normal while knowing just how abnormal their world had become.

  But for now, she was content. The moon was rising, a silver sliver in the darkening sky, and Jessica felt its pull like a gentle tug in her blood. She might be a cheerleader by day, but under that moon, she was something else entirely—something powerful, something protective.

  Let the space monsters come, she thought as she turned onto her street. Let the monsters emerge. Moon Valley had its own guardian now, and she wasn't going anywhere.

  The porch light was on at her house, warm and welcoming in the gathering dusk. Through the window, Jessica could see her father moving around the kitchen, probably heating leftovers for dinner. He'd have questions about her weekend, about Friday night, about the incident.

  She'd give him the cover story they'd worked out, of course. But part of her wondered if maybe, someday, she'd tell him the whole truth—about the wolf, about the alien, about all of it. He was the sheriff, after all. If more threats were coming to Moon Valley, he deserved to know what they were up against.

  But that was a conversation for another day. For now, Jessica climbed the steps to her front door, ready to face whatever came next. Whether it came from the stars above or the shadows below, she'd meet it head-on, with her friends by her side and the wolf in her heart.

  After all, she had a town to protect. And Jessica Tumblerlee—cheerleader, werewolf, defender of Moon Valley—was just getting started.