He tried on a smile, checked his reflection and decided against it. It seemed predatory somehow, exactly the last thing he wanted, as he was going to meet the kids.
The sky was a Hitchcock film, heavy with suspense. Clouds were gathering like an angry flock of bloodthirsty birds.
The kids were out on the soccer field, passing a jack-o’-lantern-painted Frisbee between the three of them and the exuberant Bravo. Yoshida raised a hand to wave, but they were having too much fun to notice. He envied them and remembered how much they deserved it after the extremes of raw terror they had lived through.
He was within thirty feet before Bravo charged for a vigorous greeting rub—then stopped hard. Some troubling scent had him on edge.
“You don’t seem so square in your regular clothes,” quipped DeShaun.
Bravo issued a low growl.
“Bravo disagrees.”
Yoshida slowed, extending his hand for the dog to sniff. “Hey, it’s me, boy!”
Bravo remained leery.
“Jeez, what’s wrong, Bravs?” asked Stuart.
Candace tossed the Frisbee to Yoshida and went to hug the dog. “You’re trembling, fella!”
“Maybe he thinks you’re a cat,” said DeShaun.
Yoshida smiled, but it was not genuine. He was reminded of his skirmish with Mr. Purrfect.
“Sorry, kids. Not feeling very jocular.”
“Yeah, well, my dad is gonna give you a major frowning-upon if he sees you sporting that scruffy samurai look, Lone Wolf.”
Rubbing his chin, Yoshida had a disconcerting moment of paranoia that DeShaun knew his secret and was mocking it—then realized the boy was making reference to a Japanese manga and film character with that appellation. His point was well made; there was already gritty stubble where he had shaved just hours ago.
As DeShaun hoisted his backpack and started toward the nearest picnic shelter, Candace attached Bravo’s leash. “Maybe I should hold onto him.”
“Stay close, okay?” said Stuart.
Watching how the kids kept careful watch on one another drove home for Yoshida just how much they had been through together. He winced at the sound of distant thunder, which the kids did not seem to hear.
Candace laced Bravo’s leash around a picnic bench at the next table and sat close to the dog.
“Did you bring the books?” the deputy asked, as he sat opposite the boys.
“Nah.” Said DeShaun as he unzipped the backpack. “This is just full of heroin and whatnot.”
“Didn’t think anybody but us ever looked at these,” said Stuart, helping DeShaun unload the books.
“Mrs. Washburn at the library must have thought the same. She said she was letting you guys hold onto them indefinitely.”
“Friends in high places.” DeShaun arranged the books, seven in all, side by side on the table.
* * * *
Modern day
Yoshida found himself avoiding eye contact with Bravo. The mastiff seemed to be studying him like a code, reading his darkest secrets and fears straight from his brain.
His eye caught the title of the book before him on the picnic table—Men into Animals: A History of Magical Transformation. “Is this a joke?”
Stuart opened the book to a page he had marked with a folded Chalk Outlines flyer. “Why don’t you ask yourself from a year ago?”
With this, Yoshida realized how deep was his denial, that he was willing to ignore the battle with lycanthropes he had personally experienced, to avoid the idea of what he was becoming.
“Why’d you even want to see that stuff if you don’t believe in it?” asked Candace.
“I’m curious about the biker girl.”
“But that’s a done deal.”
“Is it a crime to be curious about something?” he snapped.
“Yeah, so arrest yourself, Deppidy Doofwad.” The kids were as quick on the draw as ever.
“Sorry, guys. I haven’t been sleeping well.”
“Who has? We live in Scarytown, USA.”
Yoshida skimmed over several passages in a couple of the books, wondering how he could pose his main question without giving himself away. “Is there anything about what happens when a skinwalker bites someone?”
The kids all blinked in alarm, having skipped to the end. “Oh, shit, Yosh.”
“When?” asked DeShaun, in a low tone.
Yoshida sighed with resignation. “When we caught her.”
“My dad…?”
“He didn’t get bit, and he doesn’t know,” said Yoshida. “For now, I’d like to keep it that way.”
The kids circulated a grim look. “All that stuff about the curse being passed on from a bite, that’s just made up for Lon Chaney movies,” said Stuart.
“Werewolf of London with Henry Hull was actually the first,” added DeShaun.
Stuart raised a middle finger in his friend’s face as he continued. “On the other hand, I didn’t read anything about anybody being bitten by a skinwalker and actually surviving.”
“Maybe you’re the first,” said Candace.
When Yoshida turned to look at her, Bravo gave a low growl, placing his big body in front of his girl.
“I’ve had some weird incidents,” Yoshida said, giving details about losing control at Aura’s transformation ceremony, sleepwalking, following the moon home—and apparently trying to eat Mr. Purrfect.
“Psychosomatic maybe?” DeShaun said.
“You see how Bravo is acting. And these cat scratches…” Yoshida rubbed the pink lines on his arms that looked a week old. “That was last night.”
The kids gawped.
“I’m at a point where I can’t take any chances.” Yoshida said. “How long do we have till the full moon?”
“What’s the moon like now?”
“Wait, you guys…” Candace began. “You already said it’s not like the movies.”
“Yeah?”
“He could be changing a little more every night.”
“Which means…” Stuart did not want to finish.
“It means I might turn full-blown wolf one of these nights.” Yoshida closed the book. “And…never turn back.”
Chapter 14
Witchery
Violina had asked Maisie to meet her in the Blue Moon lobby.
“I want you to come here if you need.” Violina pressed the slip of paper with the address into Maisie’s hand like it was a precious gem. Before Maisie could ask—“I’ve rented a little house in Ember Meadows, just near the church.”
Her brow furrowed as she slid her hand around Maisie’s elbow and hugged her close. “I was afraid my being at the inn was too stressful for
