Moonstone mysteries; The Werewolf Within

Origins

Bryce and Adam poured over the book for about an hour, not skipping any details. The book contained countless diagrams and explanations on werewolves and the mechanics of how they worked. Most of it wasn't new to Bryce, who already had a pretty solid understanding of werewolves thanks to his dad.

On the other hand, Adam was bewildered. He had never seen a werewolf up close, and he didn't hope to meet one anytime soon. The book depicted diagrams of werewolves in different activities and rituals. One of them showed a werewolf pack hunting, and the next page showed that the werewolves were hunting a man. This sent a chill down Adam's spine. Bryce took a quick glance and explained that this was an old werewolf tradition. When a human disobeyed or angered the alpha, the alpha would offer a punishment: he or she would let the victim run for their life in hopes of escaping and even give the victim a several minutes head start before sending the younger werewolves to hunt him down and, well... devour him.

Adam gulped. "Well, so much for a bedtime story," he joked awkwardly. As he opened the next page, he saw that it only had one word on it.

"Origo," Bryce began, "It's Latin for—"

"Origin," Adam chimed in, smirking. "I'm starting to catch on too."

Bryce smiled back as he opened the next page, and they both began to read: 'The curse of the ancient sorcerer Medb Leth Derg...'

Adam laughed at the sight of the ridiculous name. "What kind of twisted dude names their daughter Med-b?" he mispronounced it.

"It's actually pronounced 'Maeve,'" Bryce corrected with a chuckle. "She was a powerful sorcerer in Celtic mythology. The name might sound weird, but her story is pretty intense."

Adam leaned in; his curiosity piqued. "Alright, let's see what this Medb person did."

"Well, I read a bit about this in one of my father's books in his study," Bryce explained casually. "She was supposed to be this powerful witch in ancient Ireland who could manipulate the weather. She also had the ability to shapeshift and transform other people into animals. She was ruthless and cunning—just straight-up evil. They called her the Celtic warrior queen." Bryce yawned. "Well, bruh, I'm gonna head to bed now if you don't mind. You should probably get some rest too. You have a long night tomorrow. We'll continue with the book some other time."

Adam was reluctant, but after a quick thought, he decided it was best to learn about this origin story with a fresh mind. Besides, he was also exhausted at the moment.

Lying in bed, Adam thought about how his entire world and beliefs were crumbling before him. As he tried to sleep, the thought of that werewolf punishment haunted him for some reason, making his head hurt. He pushed these thoughts aside and finally drifted off to sleep.

***

Bryce lay in bed, unable to sleep. He had just lied to Adam to get him off that book—reading it brought back memories he wasn't very fond of, especially today out of all days. A day that served as a constant reminder to Bryce of the happiness that he lost. After a quick thought, he got up and made sure that Adam was asleep before going to a small backpack in his cabinet and pulling out a smartphone. Phones and other electronics were illegal to have at school, and Bryce knew this more than anyone else, being the president and all.

As he turned it on, he paused on the home screen as he saw a familiar face on the screensaver. It was a picture of his mother, kissing a six-year-old little Bryce while he tried frantically to escape her loving embrace, a look of pure joy on his face. For a moment, Bryce smiled as he reminisced all the good times he had with his mother back then, but the smile soon faded as reality struck. He sighed as he opened his phone app only to find a missed call from his dad from two days ago. Bryce sighed and called back. The phone rang for a while before someone on the other side picked up.