“Dr. Meadows. She’s the one who gave me the reading and warned me about the full moon.”
“Does she have experience with werewolves?” he asked.
“Almost — she’s a psychic.”
“I know… but has she dealt with werewolves before?”
“Well…” I said, “she’s never seen one.”
He couldn’t hide his disappointment. Brandon turned away from me. “There isn’t anyone to help me—” he said.
I felt awful.
“I don’t want to be some stranger’s experiment,” he continued.
“I understand—”
“It’s hard enough making excuses to my grandparents why they don’t see me for a few nights,” he said. “If word gets out in town about me, then I’ll have to remain in the woods during the daylight, too. I won’t be able to show myself to anyone. But I’ve got to find a way to stop this from happening.”
“Celeste?” I heard my name called from outside the woods.
“I have to go,” I whispered, but Brandon had already retreated into the darkness. I heard his heavy breathing but couldn’t see him to even hug him good-bye.
“Celeste! Where are you?” a girl’s voice called.
I jumped out of the woods to Ivy and Abby’s shock and horror.
“What are you doing in there?” Ivy asked. “Are you okay?”
“Of course I am,” I said. My hair was damp from the snow and my coat soiled from brushing against the tree bark.
“What were you doing in there?” Ivy asked. “We saw your car and freaked!”
“I thought I saw someone,” I said.
“Someone in the woods?” Abby said.
“There could have been wolves in there!” Ivy warned.
“Or worse!” Abby said. “Are you crazy?”
I think I was. Crazy in love, that is. But I wasn’t about to tell them that.
“You’ve been acting so strangely lately,” Ivy said, “ever since you and Nash broke up. You’re hard to get hold of and always seem distracted. But we’ll fix that, won’t we?”
Ivy took one arm and Abby linked the other. Both girls escorted me back to my car and followed me as I drove out of the school parking lot.
I was lucky I had friends who watched out for me. It was one of the many reasons I didn’t want anything to jeopardize my relationship with them.
The following day I stopped in Penny for Your Thoughts again. It was the third glowing of the full moon and I wanted to see if I could finally get help for Brandon.
I waited for a client to leave and another one to pay for some amethyst geode bookends. I was getting so agitated I was almost pleading for her herbal tea.
“He doesn’t want anyone to see him,” I told Dr. Meadows when the store was finally empty of customers. “Can you still help him?”
“I’m afraid not,” she said.
“Please,” I begged. “Don’t you have a crystal charm or some of those teas you make? Surely you have something I can just give to him.”
“I need to see him to properly diagnose him,” she said emphatically.
“You have to believe me. When it’s a full moon he turns into a werewolf. I didn’t believe it myself at first, but there really isn’t any other explanation.”
“A doctor can’t give a prescription to someone they’ve never met.”
However, the patient had to be willing to be seen. And in this case, I’d have to do more convincing.
“Then I must see him, tonight,” Dr Meadows pressed. “Tell me where he will be.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “The woods.”
“Which ones?”
I shrugged.
“Then bring him to me before sunset,” she said. “I’ll meet you here at my shop. Then I can help him.”
Dr. Meadows was pushing me in one direction while Brandon was pushing me in another. With all my research for my own essay and helping Brandon, the only cure I’d found was a silver bullet. And that definitely wasn’t an option.
I knew Brandon didn’t want anyone to see him after the sun set. I would do my best to delicately broach the subject again with him, but if I pushed him too hard, he wouldn’t want to be around me, either.
On Saturday morning, I woke up without knowing what to do next. Ivy and Abby had insisted I join them and Nash at the mall. I couldn’t convince Ivy that today wasn’t good. Once she got something in her head, there was no changing her mind. There wasn’t much daylight in the winter months and I didn’t have much time, so I’d have to make my visit with them quick in order to still have time to convince Brandon to go with me to Penny for Your Thoughts before the sun set.
I wanted to take a quick stroll with Champ prior to heading out. It would give me a chance to get some fresh air and maybe some fresh ideas on how to convince Brandon to meet Dr. Meadows. As soon as we hit the end of our street, Champ was barking wildly. I did my best to calm him down, but all the dogs in the neighborhood were barking as we passed by their houses. Champ was growling toward the wooded area behind the snow-filled soccer field, and I began to wonder if I should be worried about wolves, even with Champ along with me. I started pulling him back toward home when “Fly Me to the Moon” started playing from my back pocket. I was exhilarated. It was Brandon.
“I’m right behind you,” he said when I answered the phone breathlessly.
I spun around. There was a figure standing next to the woods beyond the soccer field; it was the exact direction in which Champ was barking.
I tried my best to hold on to Champ’s leash but he broke loose. I chased after him down the hill.
As soon as Champ reached Brandon, my out-of-control dog was suddenly silent.
Without so much as a command or a treat, Champ sat down and faced Brandon.
“You have a way with animals,” I said when I finally caught up.
“And girls, I hope.”
I wanted to kiss Brandon so badly my heart hurt.
Brandon petted Champ as if he were his own dog.
“I’d like to take you out on a real date,” Brandon said. “But I know there are many complications with that. I mean, there’s Nash, for one, and me being from the wrong side of town… and of course we’d have to be back before sunset.”
“But I’m not dating Nash,” I tried to assure him. “And to me, any side of town you live on is the right side.”
He smiled a sweet smile.
“I should have listened to Dr. Meadows,” I said.
“I don’t know why you blame yourself.”
“If I hadn’t been so skeptical of her prediction, none of this would have happened.”
“Celeste — there is no way you could have known. Besides, it’s not like Dr. Meadows predicted the future. She said things that anyone could have said to you.”
“I know — but it happened. Perhaps she really knew.”
“And what if she didn’t? What if it was just coincidence? Or you read too much into her reading?”
“But she’s the only one I know who can help you,” I said wearily. “She wants to see you. She says that is the only way she can help you. And if you don’t go, then you might be a werewolf… forever.” Tears began to well in my eyes.
“It’s okay…” he said, putting his arm around me.
I couldn’t even bear to look at him.
