Chapter 39 - *Insert wolf howl here*

Dear Diary,
This will be my last entry. I need to go to the forest tonight. The moon will be full. I lie to Yugi, my friends and my own mother; told them I was going to visit another friend's house. What they don't know is that I haven't actually got a job. I discovered something I wasn't supposed to when I was younger, and I met people who were the same. My life changed then. I don't feel safe around humans anymore. I fear them.
I can swallow swords and dance with fire, but nothing is as risky as what I am going to do tonight. I have to stay awake. Most participants are exhausted after the run, and just collapse and sleep under the trees. I need to get home, before anyone suspects anything. I need to make a plan...


“Boys! Dinner's ready!” Eva calls. She prefers to be called Eva other than Mum for some reason.
“Coming!” I shout in reply.
“Me too!” Yugi adds.
I shove my pens and notebook under my pillow and jog downstairs. Yugi slides down the banister after me. I chuckle and ruffle his hair.
“Hey!” he giggles, shoving me off.
We sit down at the dining table. Eva serves food onto plates.
“Now, boys, feet off the table,” she scolds.
“Feet off the table!” we grin, putting our feet up on the table.


The night arrives quicker than I expected. Eva and Yugi are asleep. I manage to catch a couple of hours before getting up and dressed at midnight. I don't switch any lights on. The moonlight is liberating. The stairs creek under my heavy boots. I'm wearing a black hooded shirt, black trousers, a studded dog collar and combat boots covered in straps and buckles with a flame design. The stairs are far too noisy! I glance around to find another way. Wait. Yugi. I slide down the banister, just as my twin did, and land on both feet at the bottom.


I sneak through the kitchen as cautiously as possible and snatch a key from the table. Quickly and quietly make my way to the front door. I open it, step outside and lock it again, clipping the key to my belt. I put a helmet on and hop onto my motorbike. I have to be quick, to get there on time. The engine roars into life. Hopefully Eva and Yugi will think it's someone else. I set off into the night.


The Great Forest comes into view. I hear the howling. I'm late! I drop my helmet and bike near the curb and run through the trees. There's a clearing at the centre, with ruins of a temple scattered around, and a fire. A large group of people are gathered around the fire. My pack. A tall man clad with leather stands on a large rock protruding from the ground. He has long black hair and a beard. He's dirty and wears nothing at all. The alpha male. He's our leader. He leads our hunts and enforces rules. He taught us that what we are not should be feared and destroyed. Humans. The Alpha lives in the forest all the time. He was born here and raised by our ancestors. Wolves.


I join the cluster. Everyone takes their shirts off. We all bow before him. He nods and we stand up again.
“The hunt will begin shortly. Prepare the bait,” he says to his mate. The alpha female.
She is naked too. She nods and brings forth a struggling, blindfolded human.
“You are all starving, no?” he calls.
I raise my head to the moon, as do the others. A choir of howls.
The humans blindfold is torn off.
“There is a river. If you cross it, you are free. No one ever crosses the river,” our Alpha female hisses. “Run free,”
She cuts his arm with a blade. The scent of blood is strong. We are so hungry. We almost leap forward as the human staggers past. We clear a path. He passes through us, reaches the trees and runs. We start after him.


Breathing hard, sprinting, hungry. I jump over half-buried ruins. Following the scent, letting the animal inside me take over. Getting closer, faster, faster, faster. Closer, closer. Then it happens. The same thing that happened when I was younger. I bound forwards. As I leap, fur spreads across my entire body, my bones rearrange themselves, my face lengthens, a tail grows from the base of my spine. When I land on the forest floor, I am no longer Atem. I am a wolf. The rest of the pack transforms. We reach the human. He has nowhere to hide. We clamp our jaws around any of his limbs. He screams, chokes, silence. The feast begins. Tearing away flesh from bones, scratching away the skin, devouring him. Gasping for breath. I can't eat anymore. I can run anymore. I need to get home! The sun is rising! I change back. The river. I scramble down to the river, wash myself and head out of the forest.


I crawl up the stairs and into my room. Still gasping for breath. I pull myself into bed and curl up under the covers, trembling. What did I do last night? I lost control. I was an animal, literally! I feel weird. Wait a second...I check under the covers. ACK! I've just run from the forest to here with nothing on! I must have lost my clothes when I transformed. Eva usually throws the covers off me to get me up in the morning. Oh, no!


I jerk out of bed again, search through the draws under the wardrobe, find what I'm looking for and quickly shove them on. A pair of black boxers. That normally all I wear in bed. I curl up again. My head is pounding. My breathing has calmed down, but not the rest of me. I'm completely drained. My mind is still buzzing. I have to think of an excuse to spend the day in bed!
“Atem,” Eva knocks and enters.
I close my eyes, pretend to be asleep. She walks over to me and taps my shoulder.
“Atem,”
I groan in response.
“You don't look too good,” Eva furrows her brows.


Aha!
“I feel sick,” I croak. Good thing I'm losing my voice from all the howling.
“Aw...You poor thing. I'll go and tell Yugi not to disturb you and I'll get you something to eat that'll be easy on your stomach,” she brushes my hair out of my eyes and kisses me on the cheek. She tucks me in and leaves.
I close my eyes and fall asleep.

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