Chasms of Copper

Chapter 7

[Edited]

Chase

Chase dragged his feet up the stairs and down the hallway. The walk to his room wasn't a long one, but he still resented it. Rather, he resented anything that made him move, unnecessarily. Most called him lazy, and perhaps they were right, but the Beta preferred the term 'genius.' His philosophy was to do his Pack duties to the best of his abilities.....and then do the bare minimum when it came to anything else.

At last, Chase moved to his left and turned the knob to his wooden door. He entered the room. It was messy, with a few clothes strewn about and food wrappers littering the wood-planked floor, but that was how it was, normally. There may or not have also been a bag of jumbo-marshmallows stuffed in the sock drawer of his dresser. 

Chase wasn't too fond of the boring blues and grays that Jason liked. He preferred to have brighter colors; oranges, yellows, reds, and the likeness of others. 

The room's walls were an interesting brown-gray, with white baseboards along the walls and the large window facing east. Crimson, orange, and yellow items were a positioned around the room to provide more colorful atmosphere. Orange curtains hung from a warm-brown rod above the wide window. His king-sized bed was comfortable and had a wooden headboard—it was the same warm-brown as the rod and the wooden flooring. A honey-yellow oval rug was at the base of the bed, in front of his ash colored dresser. The bedspread, itself, was mainly cream-white and stripes of orange, yellow, red, and burgundy. As for his pillows.....well...he was very proud of his Lightning McQueen pillowcases.

With a huff, Chase McGinnia sat on the edge of the bed, dropping his belongings on the floor as he did so. He leaned back with a sigh and kicked off his shoes. 

Chase sank into the comforter on top of his bed. After a few more moments of staring at the ceiling, the blonde man looked at the book he'd dropped on the floor. Could it really be that important? Would it really solve the mystery?

Giving into the impulse, Chase rolled on his side, reached for the thick history book, and brought it up to his bed.

He paused to examine the cover. It looked like something one would expect to be in the opening of a Disney movie. It was a dark green. He was sure that someone, perhaps even his sister, might know the correct name for the color. But, for the time being, he would call it 'whatever color my puke would be if I ate pine needles.' 

The title was emblazoned in fancy-schmancy gold lettering. And, of course, there was the image of a wolf howling at the moon in the center of the dust cover.

"'A History of Lycanthropy,'" he read aloud. "'By Professor Yobish.' What's so special about you, huh?"

He was just about to pry open the covers when a thought occurred to him.

Wait, he thought. Isn't there a saying about situations like this? 'Curiosity killed the...caterpillar?' Should I be worried? He looked back at the book in his hands. Nah, what more can a little book do besides give me a headache?

At last, he opened the book, searching for the 'Table of Contents'. He found it and held a finger to the page, bringing it down on the list until he found the 'Mates' section.