The first fight of the year was, of course, with Maybelle. It was with a boy in Maggie's grade, named Anthony. Apparently he had been a werewolf, despite Merle being sure he was a human. They had shifted in the middle of the lobby early in the morning, when tensions were always high. There was blood caked in their fur by the time the teachers split them apart, shouting and wailing because they didn't know if they wanted to call animal control or the police.
Ever since then, the fear of werewolves suddenly blossomed. Merle had his head down at lunch when the question popped up.
"So."
He looked up. His best friend from kindergarten, Dylan, was looking him dead in the eye.
"Are you one of those wolf things?"
The table turned their eyes on him. Merle tipped his head down a little at his food. "Yeah," he said quietly.
"Huh."
Nobody moved. Everyone went back to eating but noone spoke after that. It was a weirdly silent lunch. He sat alone, after that.
So when he saw Maybelle a week later, crossing paths outside of the school, he looked at her with narrowed eyes. "You know what you did?"
"I made everyone aware of us," Maybelle said simply while she adjusted her backpack.
"You made everyone afraid of us," Merle moaned, eyes wide. "They hate us. Kids've slowly been sitting farther and farther away from kids who have admitted to being werewolves. We'll be ostracized before you know it!"
"Who cares?" Maybelle asked, shrugging. "Now our identities are out there. We don't have to hide anymore."
"We have to hide more than ever," Merle said in exasperation.
"Maybe that's your fault, then." Maybelle turned and walked away. It took all of Merle's self control not to run at her and attack. If he did, the fear of werewolves would only go up from there, and he didn't want that.
So he turned and went to find his sisters, who were probably already starting their walk down the street.
YOU ARE READING
Wolf's Blood
WerewolfMaggie, Merle and Paige learn the struggle of being a werewolf in a human-dominated world. As things get more dangerous, the oldest two - Maggie and Merle - seem to have two different opinions on how to handle it. In the end, only one answer is righ...