I spent a lot of Thursday trying not to chew my nails. I was seriously tense, and I couldn’t concentrate at school at all. I actually considered just going home, but it would have raised too many questions. I had to act as normal as possible. I was fretting about Fletch’s family. Would they try and find me? Were they okay? Would they turn his body off? I was also fretting about doing the spell wrong, as well as fretting about doing it right but with Fletch being unable to make peace with his wolf so it still wouldn’t work.
All in all I was pretty glad of the distraction when Kate started to talk about our double date the following night.
“So, have you thought about what you’re going to wear?” she asked, by way of a note during French class.
I blinked at the words in surprise. How could I not have even thought about this? On my last date with Sean, I had blown a hole in my meagre bank account to buy a new outfit for the bowling night. I was a firm believer that wearing something brand new made you feel more confident, and I needed all the confidence I could get if I had any hope of being sparkly and interesting.
But the date was tomorrow and I hadn’t even looked through my wardrobe, let alone made time to buy something especially for the occasion.
“I haven’t decided,” I wrote back; “what are you wearing?”
“Jeans, boots, a black cashmere jumper, and hair in a ponytail,” Kate sent straight back. I smiled; she was obviously trying to create the look that she wasn’t dressing up too much so he didn’t think she was particularly interested in him, yet she knew full well that her cashmere jumper was one of her most flattering items – she only pulled it out of the cupboard when she wanted to impress with her curviest asset. Poor Duncan, he didn’t stand a chance.
I chewed my nails again, thinking through my own clothes. I wrote back, “Green lace top, red kilt, black tights and ankle boots?”
“Green lace top, skinny black jeans and your killer knee-high boots.”
I sighed; those boots were killer alright, but not in the sexy way she meant it. The heel was at least three inches, and I couldn’t walk for more than about two minutes in them. But I supposed I should get some use out of them; they’d cost me a fortune last winter and I’d hardly worn them. At least they would make me look taller and slimmer. I usually avoided my skinny jeans too because I thought my hips were too big, but perhaps with the killer boots they would balance out. Yes, I decided it was a good call, plus the practically unworn boots might give me the feeling of having something kind of new on.
“Okay, my hair up or down?” I scribbled back.
“Definitely down.” Kate had added a smiley face to her comment. So I simply sent back a few kisses.
How would any of us be sane without good girlfriends? I wondered, as I walked home.
By dinnertime, I was once more going back and forth on my Sean v. Fletcher internal monologue. It was hard to keep two separate lives going. I wanted to be teenage girl Emily Rand, fretting about kissing the cute boy, but I also wanted to be Natural Witch Emily Rand, who runs with werewolves and does amazing spells.
I felt totally pulled in two directions. I knew I should embrace my powers, just like Fletch had to embrace his wolf, but I also spent a lot of my evening wondering if a lipstick called Red or Bed was just a bit too trashy for my date. I put it on and took it off several times. In reality I knew I wouldn’t wear it. But I liked the idea of it. It made me feel sultry and grown-up. It’s as if my lips knew when I had lipstick on and were just that bit more pouty. Usually I think they are kind of thin, and I have a secret trick of biting my bottom lip to try to make it appear slightly swollen when I’m around Sean.
In the end I threw it back into my make-up drawer, and wondered when I might find the time before the following night to get a new deeper gloss instead. Gloss is my old standby for making my lips seem fuller. Most of my glosses seemed to be in a rose-brown shade, but I was feeling more of a red vibe. Why hadn’t I considered this earlier in the week? Maybe if I hightailed it into town on my lunch hour?
I shook my head. Maybe I was just looking for stupid things to care about instead of dealing with the weighty reality of Fletch’s life being in my hands!
I dedicated a fair amount of time to worrying about whether Fletch’s parents were going to show up at my door with pitchforks, but I guess Penny had managed to stave them off, because they didn’t come.
As soon as dinner was over I called for Bob.
“Hi, sweetie. Would you mind very much going over to the wizard and checking on Fletch?”
Bob looked comically annoyed but agreed. He was back in half an hour.
I opened the window with a smile, but I felt waves of concern coming off him and quickly changed my expression. “What? What’s happened?”
“Fletch is AWOL. After dinner with the wizard last night he went back into the woods. He said his wolf wanted to run. He didn’t come back and he’s still not back.”
I sat on my bed feeling almost dizzy with anxiety. How could I have spent my evening trying on lipstick when Fletch needed me?
Bob cocked his head at me. “The wizard doesn’t know if it’s good or bad, Mistress. You must not lose hope. It could be a good thing, that he is accepting his wolf and being one with it?” His head tilted to the other side. “Or it could be that the wolf is taking him over and he’s a goner.”
“Don’t say that! He cares too much about his family to just disappear into the woods forever.”
“Does he?” Bob didn’t meet my eye. “Didn’t he just disappear in the woods before and leave them wondering where he was for months on end?”
“Oh, shut up.” I felt all tearful again, but determined not to cry. “I’m sure it’s a good thing. Can’t you see if any of the other animals have seen him?”
Bob looked resigned. “Yes, Mistress, I’ll ask around.” He hopped back onto the windowsill, prepared to go back out in to the dark.
“It’s okay, Bob, don’t go tonight. But could you check tomorrow?” As worried as I was, I didn’t want my Familiar to spend his night trying to find Fletch sightings; what would they confirm anyway? Only that he was still in the area, and somehow I already knew that he was.
Bob looked relieved and flew across the room to his cushion. “There’s one more thing. The wizard says you must contact your aunt and tell her not to come on Saturday.”
“What? Why?” I needed Iris there; I needed her to tell me the spell would work, and as back-up. Plus I didn’t think she would agree to stay away; the whole thing could put me in danger and I didn’t see Iris just leaving me to it.
“The wizard says that he hopes Fletch will have reached an understanding with his wolf by then – and you are not to repeat this to Fletch – but actually he has made no progress in doing so, and the wolf just seems to be getting stronger as we get closer to full moon, and could take control of Fletch. He says that every human, apart from you, should stay away, and there can be no exceptions.” Bob paused and lowered his voice, “Basically he’s saying that Fletch may well be much too dangerous for your aunt to be present. He is even unsure if the wolf will bother to show up.”
“He’s not the wolf,” I said. “He’s Fletch. He’ll be there.”
I pulled out my phone and noticed guiltily that it had been on silent all evening. Iris had tried to contact me several times.
I rang her straight away and relayed everything that had happened so far and what Bob had just told me.
“There’s not a blue moon explosion that would keep me away, Emily,” Iris said, when I’d finished. “I’ll take the risk. I think it’s about time I paid another visit to the wizard. I’ll drive over there tomorrow after I close the shop; shall I pick you up on the way?”
I exhaled slowly. “I can’t, I have a date.” I waited with gritted teeth for the expected raving, and she didn’t disappoint. I had to listen for several minutes as she ranted about my priorities, but I wasn’t going to change my plans. I’d already written my spell, and I knew what equipment I needed, which wasn’t much. But I still had to go on being a normal sixteen-year-old the rest of the time, otherwise I would become as crazy as she sounded at that moment.
In the end I fobbed her off. “Talk to the wizard, Iris, and we’ll catch up in work on Saturday morning.” She was still grumbling as I gently rang off.
I got ready for bed still feeling guilty about Iris and about Fletch too. I put back on his favourite pyjamas, even though I knew he wasn’t coming.
I did check out of the window several times though, just in case, but there was no sign of him. The moon, on the other hand, was getting all too bright and rounded.
As I lay in bed I was convinced I heard a howl in the night.