Chapter 18 - Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

"Korey know what?" Sandy asked. For she had found her voice at last and the previous circumstances were enough to make her steaming mad. Madder than mad.
"What?" Asked Korey in the strange voice he had been using to tell his story. He was distant, wrapped up in his tale, so that he didn't notice Sandy slip from his grasp.
"I will go. Into the fire, as you so charmingly put it. And leave this pan!" Sandy stormed out of the room and tore through the hall before Korey could stop her. At the end of the hall was the front door, and Sandy threw it open.
She ran down the walkway into-
Into where?
Where Korey lived..
Which was where?
Sandy thought for a minute. Where to go. Where to go.
Then she heard a crunchin noise behind her and all thought flitted away. She didn't even look back. She just ran. Fast. Sandy tore down the street fast as she could. Which was pretty fast thanks to her athletic skills. Farther and farther and farther away.
...Thirty minutes later Sandy was exhausted. As much as she could run she was only a few minutes above normal, and then she got tired.
And as if it weren't enough that she had worn herself out already, she didn't recignize any of her surroundings.
------
Charlie was lying on his bed. It was two A.M. and he couldn't get to sleep for worry for his sister. He rolled over, tucking his arm underneath his head.
Where was Sandy?
Where and how?
-----
Sandy plopped down in the leaves on the side of the road and swiped the dirt off of her face. She looked around her. Nothing as far as she could see.
"Talk about stupid." She chastised herself glumly.
Crunch! Sandy's head snapped up and she whirled around. Or, at least she tried to, but she tripped over her own feet and her chin hit the ground painfully. She threw herself up like she had so many times in soccer and glanced around.
Despite the strange, calm state she remained in, her heart was thumping against her ribcage so loud that she was sure whatever had made the noice could hear it. But there was nothing. Nothing to see and nothing to hear, other than her own harsh breathing, which was crystallizing in front of her in puffs.
And then a blur darted from the woods and hit her from behind.
This time her arm hit the ground first, and the soft leaves were gone. There was a sickening crunching noice as her elbow hit solid pavement. She cried out in pain and the wind thrashed at the trees above her. Whatever had hit her growled and circled.
Turning to face her was a gigantic, chestnut furred wolf. It snarled and drool dripped down its jaw as it eyed her hungrily.
"K...Korey?" She muttered, tears coming to her eyes as she forced herself to sit up and sling her useless left arm into her lap. The thing hunched its shoulders and chuckled. Or at least, it was trying to. What came out was a grotesque snarl.
"He's only a whelp. He can't even change when he wants to." The thing told her, leaning back on its haunches. "Only on the full moons. And he's not very strong or brave, even then...It was a very rude thing you did, dashing through my house so and seducing my pup. Made me very angry indeed."
"I didn't-" Sandy started, but she let it drop. What was the use of trying to explain? Why help Korey out? She asked herself, but found that she still cared about him, even if he had attacked her. It wasn't his fault. It was this thing's!
Suddenly that anger boiled up in her again, and this time she embraced it. She lept to her feet, completely ignoring her arm. She didn't need it when she had the wind and the earth.
And she snarled back at the wolf. The wind tugged viciously at his brown fur and even pushed him backwards. His claws scraped the pavement and his ears swiveled against his skull at the grating noise. He glared at Sandy and she glared back.
"YOUR pup? You BIT him, you monster. You destroyed him." She said darkly.
"I made him stronger," The wolf scoffed, though he looked far less threatening. "And he is MY pup, in all aspects of the word."
"..." Sandy had to think of something to say, quick. Had to keep the upper hand while she had it. What had she read about wolves in school? Carly MUST have told her something! At least one thing she could use against the monster!
'Show him you aren't afraid.' Said that cursed voice in her head, even though it didn't create a poem this time. Sandy looked back up at the wolf, into its golden eyes, and dropped all the threatening stuff. She just wanted to beat the snot out of the guy, despite the trouble she was jumping in to by not running for her life. The elements were on her side, after all!
So she gave the beast a grin and said, "Fight ya for him."
-----
Charlie sighed as he stared at his ceiling. His father was pacing above him and he could hear the scuffling of his socks through the cheap plaster. He rolled onto his side.
"It sucks here without you, Sandy." He muttered, poking at the bedspread. It was true. He hated it here. He wasn't always in trouble like Sandy, but it was so...
So BORING without her!
He sighed again and buried his face in the pillow.
"I wish I was wherever she is."
-----
The wolf chuckled again, and its ears straightened.
"Foolish wench. I'll rip through you like tissue paper." He snorted, flashing her a grin. Sandy didn't let it phase her, and stood tall, her good arm outstretched and flowing with the energy from her anger.
"Bring it on, gramps. I've faced tougher than you." Sandy said, and mentally added, 'in computer games.'
"...Not uglier, though, I have to say."
"You stupid child." The wolf growled, "You are an infant, and you banter like one as well."
"Why waste my good ones on you, squirrel bait?" Sandy asked.
At this the wolf lunged at her, and she was fully prepared to knock it aside with a chunk of earth when something did it for her.
Out of...absolutely nowhere! her brother Charlie appeared and landed directly on the monster. Charlie yelped in surprise and grabbed the animal's ears so he wouldn't fall. The wolf bucked and snarled and thrashed in a circle, but he couldn't throw the boy off of his back. Charlie was just panicking and screaming his head off. After all, the fur beneath him had been his pillow only a few seconds ago.
Sandy just stood there. She would have laughed if it wasn't so serious, but other than that she couldn't do anything but stare as her brother wore the monster down.
The wolf sank to the ground and Charlie rolled off of it and ran to his sister.
"What the heck is going on!? What happened to your arm!? What IS that thing!?" He yelled, his eyes wide.
The wolf moaned, only this time it was a human sound. And in the place of the great wolf was Charlie's father, looking bruised and battered, but no worse off than Charlie.
"I'll explain later." Sandy said wearily. "Just pick him up and we'll try to get him somewhere safe. I think I ran that way..."
"You THINK!?" Charlie shreiked.
"Just help me!" Sandy snapped, then tried to calm down, "I can't pick him up, I think my arm is broken. The best thing to do is find a house. Just, a house, anywhere, and call for help."
"We can't call mom and dad, if we want some real help." Charlie said, propping the semi-concious werewolf on his shoulder as instructed.
"We won't," Sandy said as she unfolded a mud-sploched slip of paper from her pocket and read over it. "We'll call Izzy."

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