"My arms are not hairy!"
Evan jerked in his chair and turned to make sure no one was paying any attention to CJ's outburst. There were only a few other people in the school library that early and only one of them, a freshman girl, even spared them a glance.
"No, they're not," he agreed. He grinned and added, "Not right now."
"What's that supposed to mean?" CJ demanded.
"Look, in the woods last weekend you felt different. Only for a few minutes, but you looked different too. It's crazy and I've been telling myself I was just seeing things in the dark, but after what I've been reading up on this week..."
CJ crossed her arms and slumped back in her wooden chair beside him. "Great, now I have to go home and shave from head to toe before you come over."
Evan raised an eyebrow. "Head to toe? Even..." his eyes darted to her denim shorts long enough to finish his sentence.
"Everything!" she snapped. "If a little hair bugs you that much..."
Evan wiped the grin off his face and shook his head. "That's not it. I mean, that'd be cool, but that's not the point."
"I kind of thought that was the point of doing it?"
"Well yeah, but— hang on, you're getting this all wrong. Look," he said and turned back to the message board he was showing her. "It took me a couple of days to even find this board. There's a lot of them out there and most full of creepy or crazy people. Come to think of it, a lot of the people on this board might be too, but some tried to help."
"And you told them that when you and I make love I get hairy?"
"That was one time," he hissed and glanced around again. "I didn't say it like that either, just that we were outside at night and during a time of a lot of activity your arms looked different, almost hairy."
CJ looked down at her crossed arms and then held them out and twisted them. "No hair. Peach fuzz, sure, but everyone has that."
"This wasn't that," Evan said.
She snorted. "I think you're wasting your time."
"You said you were scared. We have to ask questions if we're going to get answers."
"I'm scared about whatever psycho followed us home and left my clothes folded on your doorstep!"
"I kept looking behind us on our way back, nobody was following us," Evan said. "No way a person could have done that."
"So who, the wolves in the woods? Wolves can't fold clothes!" she snapped.
Evan hesitated before sighing. "No, wolves can't. You need opposable thumbs for that."
"What, so there's monkeys running around in Southern Illinois now? Monkey's that can do laundry?"
"This doesn't make sense to me either," Evan argued. "We're living through it though. You've seen what I've seen."
"I didn't see my arms get hairy," she muttered.
Evan sighed. He turned back to the message board. "Okay, fine. Can we go back to this now?"
"What, where some crazy bitch wants to meet you? I don't think so. No way you're going god-knows-where to meet some strange woman."
"Not me, us. I need you to come too. The wolves are one thing, but Ceej, admit it, you've been different."
"I told you, I woke up after that wolf bit me. I'm not taking things for granted anymore. Not my parents and not you."
"That's one thing, but what about the other stuff?"
"What other stuff?" she asked. "Hairy arms?"
He winced. "You hated gym class. You hated running and just about any sports, but now you leave me in the dust. I can't keep up. You're faster, stronger, and keep going longer than anybody I've ever seen. You got bit and the bit marks were gone two days later. That's not normal!"
CJ crossed her arms again and glanced away from him. He watched her blink away tears and had to force himself to swallow to keep his throat from locking up. Without thinking about it, he reached out and placed his hand on her thigh.
"Ceej, I love you. I'm freaked out about what's going on, but I'm here for you. I'm here with you. We'll get through it, whatever it is."
She turned back and looked at him. Her lips parted and her eyes darted around as she tried to find a way to say something. Evan watched her struggle and squeezed her leg just above her knee again.
"She sent me a private message on here, she's in Arkansas, about three hundred miles southwest of here. She wants us to come down there. Both of us."
CJ licked her lips. "Three hundred miles is a long ways."
"Five hours, give or take. My dad told me I could borrow his truck, he's not working this weekend."
She glared at him. "You told your dad?"
"No details, just that you and I were thinking about getting out of town for the weekend."
CJ frowned and then slumped back in her chair. "Who is she?"
He grinned. "Stephanie. Her name is Stephanie Edgerton. She graduated a couple of years ago."
"Great," CJ mumbled. "Can't wait to meet her."
Evan clicked the mouse and brought up another window for her. "This is her senior picture."
CJ sat forward in her chair and stared at the beautiful blond in an expensive dress and a tiara. "She's pretty."
Evan kept his eyes on CJ. "You're prettier."
She snorted. "What's a prom queen that looks like that going to help us with? Hasn't she moved on from cheerleading to being some rich guys mistress?"
"Wow," Evan said. "You haven't even met her and you don't like her."
She sneered at the picture. "I'm better than she is."
Evan nodded. "I agree. You are. But we need help and she says she can help us."
"What's she want?"
"Huh?"
"She can help, you think? A girl that looks like that doesn't just help without getting something in return."
"Damn," Evan muttered. "You don't even know her. She's been nice in our messages."
"I'm a girl, I know."
Evan sighed and decided to give it up. "Okay. Today's Friday, we'll leave first thing tomorrow. You staying at my place tonight?"
"If we're going to see her tomorrow you bet your ass I am!"
"What if we weren't?"
She softened a little and narrowed her eyes. "I see what you're up to. Yes, I'd be there anyhow."
"What about Laura and Trista? You haven't spent time with them in a while, other than when they meet us at lunch. I hardly hear you even talk about them anymore."
She shrugged. "I'd rather spend time with you. Is that bad?"
Evan chuckled. "Bad? Hardly! I'd rather be with you too, it just seems funny, that's all."
CJ sniffed and nodded. "Maybe a little. I've always wanted us to be together. Finally seems like we're really doing it is all. I blame myself."
He laughed. "So, it's your fault now?"
"Totally," she agreed with a grin. "I'm the one that stopped screwing around and trying to make sure everything was perfect. I decided we needed to just go for it, otherwise we'd never know. And you know what? Everything ended up being perfect without even trying."
Evan grinned. "It did," he agreed.
CJ nodded to the computer. "Shut that off," she said. "We've got some time before first hour starts."
"Yeah, so what do you want to do?"
She leaned close to him and made sure her warm breath brushed his ear as she whispered. "I want to find somewhere where I can give you a nice sloppy blow job."
Evan's breath caught in his throat and his body stiffened in the chair. His entire body, not just his most interested part. "Ceej—"
She nuzzled the side of his face and slid her tongue over the contours of his ear. "I'm going to make sure you don't even look at that prom queen slut."
Evan shuddered and melted into the chair he was sitting in.
"Come on," CJ insisted and leaned back to gather her bag. "Or should I just say come?"
Temporarily freed of distraction, Evan corralled his thoughts. "I don't think I can stand up."
CJ grinned. "Sure you can. Adjust him and walk right behind me. I want to be able to slow down and feel him against me."
"Him?"
Her eyes dropped to the bulge in his pants. "He seems to have a mind of his own, don't you think?"
Evan grinned. "It's been all week since I've seen you. He's missed you."
"Make sure he doesn't miss this time then," she teased.
Evan chuckled. "I bump into you in the hall and it might be too late."
She bit her lips and then licked them. "That would be pretty hot."
"Hot? Try embarrassing!"
"No," she corrected him. "I mean if I got some on me and I wore it without noticing it."
Evan's face heated up at her obscene suggestion. He had to shift in his seat to accommodate the growing hardness in his pants. "Uh, this is crazy and probably stupid, but let's hurry up."
She giggled. "I talked you into it?"
"Oh yeah!" he nodded and erased the browsing history before closing the computer down. "Let's go!"
"Come," she corrected.
He chuckled. "Okay, sure. Anywhere you want."
"Uh uh. Everywhere I want," she said before standing and taking his hand in hers so she could pull him out of his chair. She moved in front of him and looked back over her shoulder and winked.
Evan grinned back and followed as close behind her as he dared. The weekend was off to a hell of a start and it hadn't even started yet!
* * * *
CJ stretched in her seat, arching her back and lifting her already short tank top up so that it almost showed the bottom of her breasts. Evan glanced over and then looked again, unable to turn away. She caught him looking and smiled before sliding her hands up and tugging the bottom of her shirt up until she exposed the bottom of her boobs. "How about a little underboob?"
"Yes, please!"
She laughed and dropped her shirt. "Eyes on the road. We're almost there. Hate to waste over four hours on the road for nothing."
Evan was about to protest when she curled her body up in the passenger seat and leaned onto the console. Her long legs curled up under her in the seat while her head rested on her arm on the console between them. She stretched her other arm out and traced lazy patterns on his thigh with her fingernails.
"You don't want me distracted looking at you so instead you're doing that?"
She smiled. "I'm not going to touch him, I just like touching you."
He watched her baby blue painted fingernails slide through his leg hair below the bottom of his shorts and shook his head. It wasn't her fault, she could distract him in a snowmobile suit! Her fingernails felt nice as they scratched along his skin.
"Hey," he jerked his eyes back down and then over to CJ. "Are you growing your nails out? I don't remember them being that long."
She picked her hand up and stared at it. She frowned. "That's weird."
"What?"
She shifted so she could hold her hand up between them. "I painted them this morning."
Evan looked at her fingers, trying to understand the problem. It only took him a few seconds to overcome his gender-induced blindness. "Wait— your nails have grown that much since this morning?"
She stared at the almost quarter inch of new growth near her cuticle and then looked up at Evan. "That's never happened before."
He shook his head. "No, I don't imagine it has."
She curled her fingers into her palms and clutched her hands to her chest. "What's happening to me?"
Evan reached over and rested his hand on her shoulder. He gave her a squeeze and began to stroke her arm. "We're going to find out," he promised.
She slipped her hand and rested it over his. "I'm scared. I feel fine. No, better than fine. I feel awesome, other than when I get really tired. But that doesn't last long."
Evan glanced down at her and tried to give her a reassuring smile. His lips twitched when he noticed her hand. The gap between the end of her fingernail polish and her cuticle had disappeared.
"What's wrong?"
"Your fingers," he whispered.
CJ lifted her hand and sat up in her seat. Her legs were still curled under her, but she didn't look uncomfortable in the awkward position. Her brow furrowed as she looked at first one and then the other hand. "What the hell?" she muttered. "I saw what I saw— you did too, right? I'm not crazy?"
"No, you're not," he reassured her. "Or we both are, maybe."
She nodded. "How much longer?"
Evan glanced at his phone that was connected to the vent on the dashboard. "Our exit's coming up in a couple of miles. Then we're meeting her at some roadside park."
CJ sat up straighter. "A roadside park? Does she know I'm coming?"
Evan ignored the sharp tone in her voice. "She asked that you come."
"Oh."
Evan fought to keep a smile off his face at her subdued response. This was crazy, what was happening to her, and the only things he could find that made any sense at all didn't make sense. They were impossible.
"Evan?"
He jerked himself out of his thoughts and glanced over. "Yeah?"
"I love you... you know that, right?"
He wanted to crack a joke and lighten the sudden tense mood in the truck, but he knew better. "Yes," he replied without hesitation. "Almost as much as I love you."
She smiled and nodded. "Thank you for helping me."
"Stop, this is my fault. I'm the one that talked you into going out parking with me that night when...uh, when this started."
She responded with a sad smile. "Hardly. You beat me to the punch is all. I'd been dying to find a way to jump your bones without you thinking I was some kind of slut."
"Slut?" he blurted out. He laughed. "You're insatiable and the sexiest woman alive, but you're not a slut."
She blushed and shook her head. "I am. I like it. I want to be..."
"You do?"
She nodded. "Only for you though. You make me so hot... even right now I want to make you pull over and climb on top of you."
"Woah!"
"Yeah, tell me about it," she said. "I'm scared and nervous and god-knows-what-else! But one thing my twisted little slut mind keeps thinking is trying to make love to you. It pushes the other stuff away and calms me down."
"Well, that's not all bad, I guess."
She laughed. "You're such a boy."
Evan grinned and turned the truck off onto their exit. He rolled up to the stop sign and looked both ways. The road was empty. "I thought we lived in in the middle of nowhere."
CJ shifted onto her other hip and looked around. "Lots of fields and trees. I think it looks nice. Better without people ruining it."
Evan shrugged and turned onto the road. He drove less than two miles before he noticed a speck growing in his rear view mirror. The speck turned into a motorcycle that raced towards him. He glanced down at his speedometer and frowned. He was doing sixty and the biker was making him look like he was standing still.
"Stupid," he muttered.
CJ turned and looked out the back window of the truck. The biker caught up to them in a few seconds and passed them, roaring past in a thunder of exhaust and a streak of red hair. The motorcyclist pulled back in front of them and raced ahead, leaving them in the swirling dust.
"Jesus," Evan muttered. "I bet we find that idiot smashed into a ditch in a few miles."
"That idiot was a girl," CJ said.
"I wasn't sure," Evan admitted. "I did notice she had shorts on and wasn't wearing a helmet. Stupid."
"Skirt."
"What?"
"Those weren't shorts, she was wearing a miniskirt."
"A miniskirt? You're kidding me!"
CJ shook her head. "Only thing she had on that made sense were her boots."
"Unbelievable." Evan said as he stared ahead at the disappearing speck. He shook his head and then offered a grin for CJ. "Any chance you'd wear something like that?"
She slapped his leg.
Evan laughed and drove on. Two more turns and another twelve miles passed before he pulled off into the roadside park dedicated to some local redneck who'd done something heroic in the middle east. The small parking lot was muddy and almost abandoned. A weathered picnic table looked like it might fall apart if someone tried to sit on it. The only other thing of interest was the trail that led through the weeds at the edge of the parking lot beside the motorcycle.
"That figures," CJ muttered as she stared at the redhead leaning against her bike. She had a black leather miniskirt and a matching leather vest barely held together by two buttons.
"She look like she's our age," Evan noted. "But that's not Stephanie."
"She looks like she's going to need a hair net if she bends over."
Evan shifted into park and frowned. "Hair net? Why? She's got a pony tail."
CJ scowled. "Nevermind. Come on, let's go."
"Go where? Stephanie said she'd meet us here," Evan reminded her. "This chick isn't Stephanie, and I don't want to get into details about why we're here. I've heard stories about people down this way."
CJ laughed. "I bet they've heard stories about us too. Come on, let's find out. Besides, maybe Stephanie died her hair? That's not a natural shade of red."
"It's not?"
CJ rolled her eyes and opened her door.
Evan fumbled with his door before he got it open and hopped out. He shut it behind him and locked it at the same time CJ rounded the front of his truck and joined him. He glanced at her, expecting to see her waiting for him to take the lead. Instead she kept going and forced him to move to stay beside her.
"Stephanie?" CJ asked.
The redhead raised an eyebrow and laughed. It was a toothy laugh, showing off clean and even teeth. "Hardly. I'm a friend."
"Who's friend?" CJ asked. "Hers?"
"Who else?"
"I hoped ours," CJ said.
"I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you," she said.
"Wait," Evan tried to insert himself into the conversation. "Stephanie asked us to meet her here. Is she coming?"
"No. If you're serious, you'll come with me and meet her somewhere else."
"Not if you're going to drive like you're auditioning for the next Fast and Furious movie," Evan said.
The redhead smirked. "No driving, just walking. And maybe a little swimming."
"Swimming?" CJ asked as her head twisted to look at the path into the woods.
The redhead's nostrils flared as she sniffed and raised an eyebrow. "You know how to swim, don't you?"
"Yes, I know how to swim," CJ said.
"Then it shouldn't be a problem. "Leave your clothes here and let's go."
Evan gawked.
CJ glared while the redhead's eyes twinkled. She waited a moment for the two strangers to act and when they didn't, she shrugged and released the bottom two buttons of her vest. She rolled her shoulders and let it slide down her arms, exposing her trim breasts to the warm afternoon air. Her eyelids fluttered for a brief moment. Finished with that, she twisted and slipped her vest into one of the saddlebags of her bike. She turned back and, still watching them, unzipped her skirt and let it slide down her legs. She wasn't wearing anything beneath it.
Evan stared, shocked at her brazen display. He couldn't stop himself from follower her descending miniskirt and noticed something peculiar. He turned to CJ and asked, "Thought you said it was colored?"
CJ snorted.
The redhead chuckled at his observation. "All natural, above and below. Carpet matches the drapes."
Evan felt his face heat up and wondered if it was as red as the strange woman's hair. He tried to push the thought away, but it only embarrassed him more. Then she stepped her right leg free of her skirt and lifted her left leg up, bringing the skirt with it. She flicked her foot and sent it spinning through the air until it smacked him in the face.
Evan caught the miniskirt and stared at the black leather in his hands. It felt hot, and so did he. He jerked his head up, first to the redhead and then to his girlfriend. CJ was no amused.
"Nice catch," the redhead teased. "Can you shoot too? Two points if you can get it in my hole."
Evan's cheeks were ready to burst into flames by the time he realized she was talking about the saddlebag she was holding open. He stepped closer and dropped it into the container instead of throwing it. "Sorry, I only score for the team I'm playing for."
The redhead laughed. "That's cute," she said before she leaned against her bike and lifted one leg to untie her boot. The action exposed even more than being naked already had, but she didn't seem to be concerned in the least. Between pulling her first boot off and working on the second she glanced at CJ and asked, "How long has it been?"
CJ twitched and glanced at Evan. Her angry glare was replaced with uncertainty. "Has what been?" she asked.
The now-naked woman tucked both boots in the other saddle bag and tied them shut. She turned, unconcerned with displaying her lean body to two complete strangers. "Since the change started."
"Wh— what change?"
Evan shook his head. "Ceej, we're here to get answers and help."
"He's right. You haven't changed yet, otherwise you wouldn't be so scared and confused. But you haven't noticed much yet or you wouldn't be acting like this. A week? Two?"
CJ stopped fidgeting and lifted her head to stare at the biker. "Two weeks and a day. Half a day, really."
The redhead nodded and glanced to the side as she did the math. "Full moon. Nice. That should help."
"Help? Help what?" Evan asked. "What is going on?"
She smiled and turned to walk away from them towards the edge of the primitive parking lot. "Lose your clothes and follow me if you want to find out."
"This is crazy," Evan grumbled.
CJ pulled her shirt over her head and kicked off her tennis shoes. "Do it," she snapped before she peeled her sock off. Her shorts and underwear joined the growing pile before she scooped it up.
Evan stared at her, admiring how beautiful she was in the sunlight. CJ turned her face into the sunlight and closed her eyes. A soft moan slipped through her lips and her nipples stiffened as the basked in the Arkansas sun. His vision shifted and brought the redhead into focus. She was watching CJ with a gleam in her eyes and a predatory smile on her face. Evan's jerked when the redhead licked her lips.
"Hurry up," CJ snapped, now staring at him. "Put my clothes in your truck too... please."
Evan grunted and snatched up her clothes before he turned and jogged over to his truck. He tossed her clothes in the back and then swallowed and began to strip naked. He hesitated before dropping his boxers and forcing himself to move as quick as he could. Hearing the biker whistle as his pale white butt was exposed didn't help.
"Come on," she said.
Evan turned and moved as fast as his bare feet on the dirt lot would allow. CJ's eyes dropped to his crotch and then rose back to his face. She smiled and reached out to take his hand.
"You're cool with this?"
She shrugged. "Skin is skin," she said. "I just realized I'm not the only one that loves not wearing clothes."
The redhead laughed from her position almost twenty feet ahead of them.
"How did she hear you?" Evan whispered.
"Easy," she said. "Your girlfriend knows. Or she will soon."
"His girlfriend has a name," CJ said. "I'm CJ."
"Ceej," she repeated and nodded. "Makes sense."
"I'm Evan."
She offered him a weak smile in return. "Good to know."
CJ's brow furrowed in irritation. "So it's your turn. What's your name?"
She studied them both a moment before granting their wish. "Ember."
"Ember?" Evan repeated. "I've never heard of a name like that before."
"It's pretty," CJ admitted.
"Thanks. Can we go now? You can stare at my ass the whole way if you like, or do you prefer the front view?"
CJ gasped and Evan tried to laugh his way through another blush. "Go," he said. "And don't worry. CJ's got the only ass I want."
CJ turned on him, her eyes wide and mouth open. She pointed a finger at him and was about to say something when Ember beat her to the punch.
"I don't blame you, it's a nice one."
The color drained from CJ's face while she searched Evan's grinning eyes. He bit his lip and shook his head. She sighed and turned back around. "No offense, but I hope this Stephanie is nothing like you."
Ember smirked. "She's nothing like me, but somehow that only makes her more fun."
Evan opened his mouth to ask what she meant but CJ squeezed his hand and shook her head. "We'll find out soon enough."
"Yes, you will," Ember agreed as she turned and led them into the woods.
They walked through the forest until the ground grew wetter and wetter underfoot. Mosquitos buzzed and came in to feed on their exposed flesh. Evan was swatting constantly and cursing at the biting bugs. CJ showed less concern and was distracted by almost everything around them, from her toes squishing through mud to the feel of damp moss on the bark of a tree. Only Ember moved with a purpose, unbothered by the mosquitos that trailed after her.
Evan's skin was red and smeared with his blood by the time they had to stop or run into Ember. She stood ankle deep in a mix of mud and water at the tip of a small peninsula of land. Clumps of earth with trees and bushes rising out of them dotted the swamp ahead of them, promising a shallow, if muck-filled, future.
"It's time to get wet," Ember said. She let her eyes linger on CJ and added, "If you're not already.
Evan was busy scratching a fresh bite and missed her lecherous behavior. "Where are you taking us?" he muttered.
"Evan, it's okay," CJ said. "Relax."
"I've lost a couple pints of blood," he whined. "With my luck there's some kind of fish that's going to get a taste and want more."
Ember shrugged. "Maybe. Walk fast."
"Oh great!"
Ember grinned. "Come on. It's only a little further to the— to where we're going."
"To the what?" CJ asked, catching her slip.
Ember ignored her and walked ahead into the murky water.
They watched her slowly slip deeper into the water until it stopped at her navel. She turned and gestured for them to follow her.
"This sucks," Evan complained.
"This is amazing," CJ corrected with an unrestrained grin. Her pensive mood was gone, now she was practically bouncing off the trees with excitement. "I'm sorry you're not having fun, but this experience is incredible! The things I'm feeling... Oh my god! Later, when we get back, I'm going to show you how awesome it is. You think this sucks now, wait until I get done with you! I'm going to redefine sucking!"
Evan chuckled when he remembered to breathe. He kissed her puckered lips and backed away to slap a mosquito on his leg. "All right, let's go. We've come this far."
"You're going to come a lot farther before I'm done with you."
He blushed again and shook his head. "Is this your dirty mind helping you get through, or..."
She winked at him and led him into the water. "Everything's so much more. Everything I'm feeling is making my mind go into overdrive. The dirty parts too!"
Evan grinned. "I guess that's cool."
"Oh, it is," she assured him. She gasped and let out a squeal as the water slipped up to her thighs. "Oh my god, I think I just had a tiny orgasm!"
"You need help."
"You're just jealous!"
Evan considered her retort and shrugged. "Yeah, maybe a little."
CJ laughed and pulled him on after Ember. They waded through the water, pushing hard to keep up with the redhead. They caught her as she rose up out of the water and walked across a small island with trees rising out of it. Moss hung from the branches and trunk, forcing Evan to duck and dodge to avoid running into it. They plunged back into the water once they reached the far edge. The difference this time was what lay ahead in the swamp. The swamp came alive in front of them with vines, trees, and moss forming a cabin in the middle of the open water. Flowers of every kind and color bloomed on the walls and ceiling. Only the deck in front of it looked to be made of worked planks of wood, though vines studded with leaves and flowers wound their way around the railing and across the floor.
"It's beautiful!" CJ whispered.
Ember chuckled. "Clover will like you."
"Clover?" Evan asked. "I thought we were looking for Stephanie."
"Clover has the real answers," Ember said. "Stephanie's just her apprentice."
"Apprentice?"
Ember nodded and slowed. She glanced back at them, her eyes narrowing and darting back and forth. Her voice dropped, all the humor replaced with a soft but serious edge. "Look, what's happening to you isn't the only crazy story that's happened. I had mine and a sister of mine had another. A lot of people had. This sister I mentioned, her story involved a lot of people. Including Steph. We've all been changed, some more than others, and we've all come to terms with things. Just like you will."
"What are you talking about?" Evan asked.
Ember's glare shut him up. "I'm saying that you will respect Steph and you will respect Clover. If you don't, I'll rip your throats out and feed you to the gators."
Evan stiffened and felt CJ bristling beside him. He was about to respond when he noticed Ember looked different. More gaunt and wiry. Her fingers were curled and her nails elongated and sharp. She licked her lips, exposing teeth that were sharper than any human had a right to. He blinked and the moment passed. Her body softened and her hands looked normal again.
"What just happened?" he whispered.
"You were warned," Ember said. "Now be a good pup and mind your manners. Clover is a witch and she knows more about the things the civilized world forgot than anyone else I've ever heard of. Steph is her apprentice, not just because she was born with the talent, but because she had to make a deal if she was going to survive."
"This is real?" CJ breathed.
"This is more real than any memory of your ignorant childhoods. I've told you more than I should, it's their stories to tell, not mine, but I want to make sure you treat them with the respect they deserve."
Evan forced his anger and fear down with a swallow. He nodded, but Ember wasn't looking at him, she was staring at CJ.
"You're life depends on it."
CJ gasped and turned to look at Evan. He squeezed her hand. "We'll be good," he promised. "You don't need to threaten us."
Ember smirked. "That wasn't a threat. Without help, a lot of people don't survive the change." She turned her head back to CJ and said, "You've only got two weeks left. Listen hard and you might make it."
CJ clamped her mouth shut and turned to look at Evan again. "Ev?"
He nodded and looked deep into her blue eyes. "This is crazy, but we're standing naked in the middle of a swamp. We've been chased by wolves twice and you've been bitten. You've changed in these past couple of weeks, and we both know it."
CJ nodded slowly and turned back to Ember. "Okay. We'll be good little pups, like you said, as long as nobody tries anything. Then we'll see who gets fed to the gators— are there really gators in this water?"
Ember laughed. "Clover's got them tamed, as long as you're good with her, you're safe. Oh, and the bit about the pups? That's more for him."
CJ glanced at her boyfriend. "Why?"
"Because I can already see it in you, you're an Alpha."
CJ jerked her head back. "Uh...okay. What's that mean? Is it good?"
Ember grinned. "You'll find out. Come on, let's go. And don't tell them I told you anything. I'm not worried about Clover so much, but I don't want Steph pissed off at me."
Evan shrugged when CJ looked at him. Ember was moving again, which forced them to wade into the water and hurry after her. The water was open, save for floating islands of algae and lily pads with white flowers sticking out of the water. Ember led them through open paths in the water until they reached the cottage built on stilts and tree trunks that plunged into the swamp. She moved to an open part of the deck where stairs descended into the water and climbed up ahead of them.
"The wood's slippery," Ember warned.
Evan struggled to ignore her naked butt as she climbed ahead of them. CJ went after Ember got out of the way, giving him a chance to let go of his worries and enjoy the view. She turned at the top and caught him staring. He grinned and she rolled her eyes. With no more excuses, he climbed up and out of the water and joined them on the wide porch.
Ember wait at the door for them to join her. "Never enter a witches home without getting permission," she warned them before turning to the open doorway. "Steph, Clover, I brought the kids from Illinois."
Evan frowned at being called a kid. Ember didn't look much, if any, older than he was.
"Evan and CJ?" A girl's voice asked. "Bring them in!"
Ember stepped in and motioned for them to follow her. They walked in and saw the inside of the cottage was just as covered with flowering vines and growth as the outside. A large iron cauldron was in the middle of the room, as well as various tables, stools, and even a bed in the corner. The bed was covered with what looked like a blanket made out of woven grass and flowers.
Two women stood in the midst of it all. The first was an older woman with a brown and blond curls hanging from her head all the way to her chest and back. She wore a few small pouches and a strip of cloth that hung from a cord around her waist. The cloth hung free, rather than tucking between her legs.
Evan blinked, unable to process the savage but beautiful woman in front of him. Beside her stood a younger woman that he recognized after a moment. Instead of a cheerleading uniform, Stephanie wore a thin but tasteful pale blue robe that was unremarkable save for its missing sash. Instead of the loin cloth the older woman wore, Stephanie wore the top and bottom of a white bikini beneath her robe.
"Always good to see you," Ember said as she crossed in front of them and stepped up to Stephanie. The two embraced, wrapping their arms around each other in a quick hug that included a kiss that was a lot more than just a friendly greeting. The other witch turned her attention back to the iron pit in the middle of the room.
Evan heard CJ gasp but his brain was short-circuiting on him. He couldn’t do much more than recognize the sound she'd made.
Ember turned around and rolled her eyes. "Close your mouth," she chided him.
Evan slurped up the drool he nearly spilled and clamped his lips together. "Sorry," he mumbled after he swallowed. He looked at the beautiful blond behind her and waved. "Stephanie?"
The witch's apprentice nodded and smiled.
"Hi. I'm Evan...this is CJ."
"Chelsie June," CJ explained. She looked back and forth to Ember and Stephanie before shaking her head. "So, you're into girls? I've never met someone like that before."
Stephanie's cheeks flushed and Ember laughed before explaining. "Sure you have, you just didn't know it. Besides, we're just friends... with benefits."
Stephanie groaned. "It's a long story," she said and glanced at Ember. Ember nodded, giving her the silent encouragement she needed. "Or maybe not so long. Ember and I are friends. I love someone else, but without her I might go crazy."
"She's using me," Ember sighed.
"Stop it!"
Ember laughed.
"Wait, you love someone else but you're having sex with her?" CJ asked. "Isn't that cheating?"
"Or an open relationship," Evan suggested. He clamped his lips shut when CJ's glare told him to.
"That's the complicated part," Stephanie admitted. "The person I love is with someone else."
"Doesn't seem that complicated," CJ said. "You just move on if they don't love you back."
Stephanie favored her with a sad smile. "Magic complicates all things."
"Magic?" CJ scoffed. She cleared her throat and glanced around the room and then back at her. "I'm sorry, this place is amazing... but magic? We're a little old for that, don't you think?"
The witch turned from her cauldron and stared at her. She didn't have any warts, a pointy hat, or a crooked nose, yet there was something about her that kept CJ silent and still while the woman studied her. "What was it?"
CJ twitched. "I'm sorry?"
The woman gestured at the cauldron and around her, speaking as she went, "This fire, that vine, those flowers, that bird high on the sill looking for a juicy bug. They all have the magic of life in them. You and your boyfriend, you have it too. All of us do and so does everything around us. It is the nature of our being. The nature of the world."
"A fire is alive?" Evan asked, confused.
"It has magic in it, the same magic that everything has. So yes, it is alive, young man, and you would do well to remember it."
"Energy, you mean, not magic."
The witch squatted down beside the pot, causing the front and rear flaps of cloth to sway in the air and almost leave her exposed. Evan was so distracted by her skimpy clothing that he missed her reaching into the flames. He noticed as she pulled her hand back out and held a palm filled with flickering flames. There was nothing between the flames and her skin.
She straightened and walked over to him. "Magic," she insisted. "Hold out your hand."
Evan glanced at CJ and the two other women. He swallowed and then shrugged. He lifted his hand and tried to keep it from shaking. "Sure, why not. It's not hurting you, it must be a trick."
Clover rolled her hand over. The flames continued to flicker, but now they were stretching towards the ground, not the sky. It looked as though, in some impossible way, the witch had made heat sink instead of rise.
"What—" Evan's voice failed him when she grabbed his wrist in her other hand and held him still. She brought her other hand over his open palm and tickled his skin with the heat sinking off of the tips of the flames. He squirmed and tried to pull away, but she held him fast.
Evan was about to speak again when she lowered her hand to his and engulfed his hand in flames. The growing heat in his palm was nothing to the sudden agony that seared up his arm and into his brain. His hand was being eaten away, the skin and muscle poked and picked away with a thousand tiny strikes each second. He cried out and fell to his knees, reduced from a proud and strong high school athlete that could do anything to a sobbing child.
He cradled his hand in his other hand and looked around. CJ was beside him, saying something and wrapping her arm around his back. When had the witch let go of him? He saw Ember watching, her lips straight but her eyes twinkling with amusement. What had he gotten them into? And when would his hand stop hurting?
He turned his attention to it and gasped. His skin was charred black and splitting open. Juice oozed from the cracks and ran across the ruined flesh, only to drip to the floor beneath him. His blackened fingers reminded him of a bratwurst left on the grill too long.
"Evan!" CJ's voice finally cut through the static in his head from the biting pain in his hand.
He looked at her again and blinked away the tears. It hurt worse than anything he'd ever felt, but that was only a part of it. This was his right hand she'd ruined. The hand he threw with. He looked over at Clover and saw her tending the cauldron as though nothing had happened. Her hand, the one that had been wreathed in fire, looked white, healthy, and whole.
"Here, let me see it," Stephanie said as she knelt in front of him.
He glanced at her as her robe fell away enough for him to glimpse the full swell of her breasts inside her tiny bikini top. He looked down, uninterested in boobs for the first time since he hit puberty.
Stephanie held a wooden bowl in her hand. She took his hand in hers, making him hiss as his skin cracked and broke open from her gentle touch. She lowered the bowl and drizzled the thick liquid in it over his hand. It poured slowly, like honey in spite of its milky white color, and soothed the pain from what felt like hundreds of ants that were chewing their way deeper and deeper into his flesh.
She turned his hand over and poured the last of the bowl's contents onto him. Once it was gone she set the bowl on the floor and captured his hand between hers. She began to rub and stroke his charred flesh, reigniting the agony and making him see the dancing flames all over again as colored spots in his vision.
After a couple of minutes that stretched for eternity she let go of his hand and reached up to wipe the tears from his cheeks. "Is that any better?"
Evan's jaw ached from the clenching he'd been doing. His tongue was raw and worn out from scraping his teeth. He felt hot and sweaty all over and his legs trembled. Even his head ached from the pressure of him fighting back the pain. His hand... that felt okay.
Evan stared at his crippled limb. Fresh moisture filled his eyes and he had to blink it away to be sure he wasn't crazy. The charred skin was gone. The weeping cracks in his flesh were whole. His hand looked the same as it had before he'd arrived, if perhaps a little pink. He rolled it and tested his fingers, curling and relaxing them. His hand was as good as new. Black flakes and a pile of goo on the floor were the only signs that anything had happened to him.
"Holy shit," Evan whispered. He looked up at Stephanie, his lips parted in a grin that wouldn't stop.
"You're okay!" CJ breathed. She hugged him and kissed his cheek, celebrating for a brief moment before she turned her attention elsewhere. "That was mean. Mean and cruel. And unnecessary!" she snapped.
Clover turned to regard her. "You needed to believe. Now you do. I taught you both a valuable lesson, be thankful. Next time it will cost you."
"Cost us?" CJ sputtered.
"Not money," Ember interrupted. "Witches don't work that way."
Evan and CJ both rose and turned to the naked redhead. "What then?" CJ asked.
"Tell us what happened," Stephanie said, recapturing their attention. "Tell us what happened to you."
Evan and CJ looked at each other. "Go ahead," he urged her. "I'll fill in the blanks if there are any."
CJ took a deep breath and let it out. "Okay, um, I— we, sorry— were out driving around late a couple of weeks ago and an animal ran out in front of us. We hit it, but it was dark and everything happened so fast we didn't know what had happened. We stopped and I got out to check on it. It was a wolf, but I thought it was dead."
Evan nodded when she looked to him to confirm the story.
"One minute I was there touching him— he looked so beautiful— and the next he woke up and jumped on me."
"He jumped on you?" Ember asked. "You were on top of him."
"He scared me, I fell back," CJ explained. "He was on top of me then. He held me down with a paw on my belly. Then he...uh, he bit himself."
"He bit himself?" Stephanie asked. She glanced at Clover and Ember before returning her attention to CJ. "Sorry, go on."
CJ nodded. "Yes, he bit his leg and really chewed at it, then he bit my arm and did the same thing."
"There was only one?" Ember asked.
"No," Evan spoke up. "There was a bunch. I'm not sure how many. I swung a stick at the one on CJ and sent him running. Another one came for her but I wacked him in the side of the head and sent him rolling. Others were running after the first one... it was dark and crazy. I got CJ up and into the truck and we got the hell out of there."
Ember nodded. "That makes sense."
"None of this makes sense," CJ disagreed.
"To you it wouldn't," the redhead said. "Guntar ran into an old friend a couple weeks ago. He didn't survive the night, but Guntar said he told him that his pack turned on him."
CJ looked at everyone and then back to Ember. "Who's Guntar?"
"Guntar is... well, he's my alpha," she said. "There's no other way to describe it. Leader, sort of, but more and less than that, at the same time."
"I don't understand."
Ember smiled. "You will soon."
CJ frowned. "What do you mean they turned on him?"
"Duh! They killed him," Ember explained. "And a pack without a proper alpha is a lost pack."
"What is all this pack stuff?" Evan asked. "Like a biker gang or something?
Ember laughed. "Something. But that's not why you're here. We can talk about that later, if you still want to know."
"What? Why?" CJ turned back to Stephanie and Clover. "I've told you everything that happened."
Stephanie tilted her head. "Did you? Have you noticed anything different about yourself? Or about Evan? About anyone?"
CJ opened and closed her mouth. She glanced at Evan and got another encouraging nod. "I guess I've been changing. My fingernails, they grew earlier...a lot. Then the next time we looked they were back to normal."
"That's it?"
She sighed. "No. Clothes bug me. I hate them and can't wait to strip them off. I use any excuse I can to be naked. And sex. Oh my god! I'm constantly horny. I want to screw Evan every waking minute, just about."
"She does," Evan agreed.
CJ slapped his shoulder, earning a chuckle from Ember.
Ember grinned. "I'm that way with clothes too. Plus it's fun dressing in almost nothing and teasing people."
"Looks like all of you are like that," CJ said.
Evan cleared his throat. "Uh, I was just getting used to it, but now that you mention it, I'm feeling awkward again."
Stephanie frowned. She gestured at her robe and swimsuit and said. "Oh, sorry! I thought wearing this would make it easier for you."
He groaned. "Wait, you like being naked too?"
Stephanie blushed a little before admitting, "I'm a witch. We embrace nature. We don't need to be nude, but the more we can feel the world around us and open ourselves to it, the better. I've gotten used to it."
Evan shook his head and looked at CJ. She had a half smirk on her face. "What? This is funny?"
She let a small giggle slip out. "It is. It feels so much better...and knowing there are other people that feel that way? It's vindicating and releasing! Just give in to it, baby. Besides, you can't possibly be upset watching these two gorgeous women."
Evan's eyes narrowed. "This is a trick, isn't it? Your testing me. Well don’t worry, I only have eyes for you."
"You should," Stephanie agree.
"She's a beautiful girl," Ember agreed. "I'd rock her world if I had the chance."
"Ember!" Stephanie scolded.
"What, like you wouldn't?"
"Her boyfriend is right there!"
CJ held up her hand to stop them. "Please, um, this is really awkward. Can we just move on? Pretend you're not trying to make me feel better and—"
Ember growled, shutting CJ up. "Why are so many girls so stupid? You are beautiful, accept it. Men want you and women either want you or want to look like you. And over the next couple of weeks you're only going to get better."
Evan knew from the shade of red on CJ's face she wasn't going to respond right away. She was embarrassed and trying to find a way to deflect the compliments. "Better?" he asked. "How can she be better?"
Stephanie laughed. "Ooh, you are a clever boy. Where were you a couple of years ago?"
Ember ignored the young witch and answered his question. "The blood will change her more. Prepare her body. She'll lean up a little more and thicken in other areas— areas you'll appreciate."
"You should see Crystal," Stephanie said in a soft and dreamy voice.
Ember rolled her eyes and continued, "It's ironic, we are designed to survive, and that includes mating, yet it's almost impossible for us to have children."
CJ gasped. "What if I want children? Someday, I mean. Not now!"
Ember shrugged. "It's not impossible, just difficult."
CJ nodded. She turned to Stephanie. "Crystal? Is that..."
"Yes," Crystal said. "She is."
Ember tilted her head and scratched behind her ear. Her eye lids fluttered as her hand dug at her scalp. When she finished she shivered and focused on CJ again. "Smells? Food? Strength? Recovery? Anything else?"
CJ gasped. "Yes! I really notice how things smell lately. And they seem to smell stronger. Not gross stronger, either. In fact, when I smell something it's like I'm reading about it or tasting it or...or...I don't know, something. I understand it. Even the worst smells don't gross me out like they used to."
"Stronger too," Evan added. "Oh, let's see. She healed faster when she got hurt, recovers from exercise that leaves me on the verge of a heart attack, and she runs longer and faster than ever before."
CJ licked her lips and nodded. "Yeah, all of that."
Stephanie stared at Evan. "What about you? Have you experience any of this?"
He frowned. "No, nothing."
"Saliva," Clover said. "That breaks down the blood. It helps make the change easier."
Ember and Stephanie turned to her and said in unison, "What?"
"The wolf that bit himself and then her, he knew to use his spit to weaken his blood and hers. They merged, fooling her body into accepting it."
CJ looked back and forth between the three women. "What are you talking about? His blood invaded me? Like I've got Ebola or something?"
"Something, but not Ebola," Stephanie said.
"Oh my god," CJ mumbled. Evan grabbed her hand and held it tight, trying to force his strength into her. "So, um, what do I have?"
"You have a wolf," Ember said.
"A w— wolf?" CJ asked. She shook her head and turned to look at Stephanie and Clover. "I don't underst—"
Evan winced as CJ's statement ended in a scream that splashed ice water against his spine. He spun on the balls of his feet, looking for what had her freaked out and tried to keep his balance steady to defend her. Standing a few feet away from them was a long and lean wolf covered in red fur. The she-wolf's lips parted so she could lick her chops.
CJ stumbled back a step and then stopped. She looked around and then refocused on the wolf. "Ember's gone!"
Stephanie walked around them and up to the side of the wolf. She reached down and ran her finger nails through the fur between the wolf's perked ears. "No, she's not."
The wolf turned, craning her head and looked up at CJ. She grinned, if a wolf can be said to grin, and licked the inside of Stephanie's thigh.
Stephanie yelped and leapt back. "Stop that, Ember! That's sick and wrong!"
The walls of the cottage stopped spinning around Evan as Stephanie put a name to the wolf. He took a half step to stay balanced. Ember couldn't be... the wolf couldn't be Ember. She was a human woman!
"Magic," Clover reminded them.
The wolf sit down on her haunches and then grew. Her fur became blurry as she shot up, growing at an impossible rate on her head and shrinking until it disappeared on the rest of her body. Her arms rippled and reshaped, from shoulder to paws elongating into fingers. Her chest grew wider while her sternum shrank back towards her spine. Her breasts swelled and darkened as her nipples popped into their proper place.
"Ta-da," Ember said as her shifting finished. She grinned.
"You're bad," Stephanie scolded her.
"You like it," Ember said over her shoulder. She stared at CJ and nodded. "Two weeks, the next full moon. You can do this too."
CJ shook her head and reached out for Evan. "I... I'm going to—."
Evan caught her as her legs gave out and she crumpled to the floor. He lowered her the rest of the way to the floor and looked around, half expecting to see a hospital waiting room around him. There had been enough crazy stuff going on he wouldn't be surprised if it was all a dream since he'd taken CJ to the hospital two weeks ago.
The cottage didn't disappear. Ember stood, a puzzled expression on her face. Stephanie rushed forward and knelt down next to him. She reached out and stroked CJ's cheek with her hand. Her fingers traced across her face, touching her forehead and then sliding down across her throat and brushing between CJ's breasts. She went lower and left her hand resting on the unconscious girl's belly just below her belly button.
"What are you doing?" Evan demanded.
"Trust her," Ember said.
Evan turned and glared at Ember. "Trust her? After—"
"After she put your hand back together and stopped you from having a lifetime of love with The Stranger," the redhead corrected.
Evan hesitated and then nodded. He turned back and watched Stephanie kneeling over his girlfriend. The blond's eyes were closed and her head was bowed. One hand rested on CJ's forehead and the other remained on her lower abdomen. She looked up and took a breath before smiling.
Her eyes met Evan's, chasing his worries away with a simple glance. "She's sleeping. She'll be fine, but you should stay here the rest of the day. Leave in the morning."
Evan glanced around. "Here?"
Stephanie smiled. "Well, not here, here. I have room at my place. You can stay there."
"Oh, okay. Can I wear clothes?"
She laughed. "Yes, you can."
"Okay...um, I guess we can. Can you help her?"
"Help her? How?"
"Stop what's happening. Make her, you know, normal."
Stephanie smiled and glanced at Clover. The older witch's eyes narrowed. Stephanie sighed and turned back to him. "Her body will fight the Hunter's spirit. My best friend had a similar battle. Hers was worse, but she survived, with our help."
"Wait, survived? You mean she might die?"
"The Hunter wants her body. He—"
"What the fuck is this Hunter? Who is he?" Evan interrupted the elder witch.
"Not who, what," Ember said. "It is the spirit of the wolf. The Hunter. The thing that runs in all who have the blood."
Evan shook his head. "I can't believe this is real."
"Believe it," Coral barked at him. "Your next lesson won't be so mild."
He wanted to shout at her but stopped. She looked slender and peaceful. Far from threatening. Yet she could juggle fire that burned him to the bone. He shuddered and nodded. "I'm sorry. Just scared is all."
"You should be," Clover said. "I can help your girlfriend, but there is a price."
Evan heard Stephanie and Ember's gasps. He stiffened as he met the witch's gaze. "It will keep her from, uh...turning?"
"Changing," Ember corrected.
"She will be able to keep control," Clover promised.
Stephanie spun on the elder witch. "Wait— why didn't you do that for Crystal?"
"I can help with the Hunter's spirit. Crystal had the Beast in her too. There is no known way to thwart him."
"Crystal did," Stephanie mumbled.
"With my help," Clover added. "And the help of the Hunter. Without both her will would have been enslaved and she would have become a monster."
Evan looked back and forth between the two witches and realized they were losing focus on what mattered. Whoever Crystal was, her story was in the past. CJ was here, now, and she needed all the help she could get. "I'll do it."
Stephanie spun and stared him, her eyes wide. "Wait!" she cried, "Find out the price first. You don't know what you're doing!"
He shook his head and stared down at his sleeping girlfriend. "It doesn't matter. I'll do anything for her. Help her and I'll pay your price."
Clover nodded. She reached into a pouch at her hip and drew out a dull silver disc on a leather thong. She held it up and over the cauldron before dropping it in. She hummed and moaned, making noises Evan didn't understand. They made the hair on his arms rise, but he didn't send any harm coming to him. She stopped after a couple minutes of her bizarre chanting and grabbed her stirring stick for the pot. She poked it in and swirled it around once before pulling out the amulet by the thong.
Clover walked over and knelt down beside CJ. Stephanie picked the unconscious girl's head up so Clover could slip the thong over her head and then place the medallion between her breasts, over her heart. CJ's sucked in a deep breath and let it out in a shudder. The moment passed and she remained asleep.
Evan stared down at the amulet and wondered what he'd just done. The medallion was plain and simple, reminding him of something made out of lead or unpolished silver. It was featureless save for the single impression in it that took up most of the face. Evan had seen the design before— recently. It was the same as the footprint in the soft ground beside the road. The medallion had a wolf's paw carved into it.
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