The sun had just plunged over the horizon when Mr. Jeffries closed up his office to head home for the day. The history teacher had been grading papers for three hours straight. His eyes felt ready to roll out of their sockets. His fingers ached from scribbling in red ink. His head—well, it suffered from a dull ache that promised to become a drumbeat in the very foreseeable future. For most people notating across dozens and dozens of papers, each student's words would have started to blur together. Not for Tim Jeffries.
Jeffries walked briskly to the bike rack behind the faculty offices. He rummaged through his briefcase, double-checking and then triple-checking that everything was in order. That sense of satisfaction made him smile even though no one else could see it. They all passed, and Tom outdid himself. Tom Okanawe was one of those students who had the greatest potential, who participated effectively in class yet struggled on the actual test-taking. Jeffries was glad to see that it was starting to come together for the young man.
Tom's first 10/10 exam. I can't wait to see the expression on his face when I hand this back to him. Jeffries mounted the briefcase on the bike's basket and proceeded to pedal his way home. The town of Stoneybridge became a drowsy creature at this time of day. Bernie was just getting ready to close up his eatery, and all the other shops along the main avenue were either dark…or about to be. The simple satisfaction of a day's work hard-done and well-done made Jeffries less observant as he made his way home partly in a daze, partly lost in his own thoughts.
The history teacher could be forgiven for not noticing the shadow that seemed to follow him. A shadow that moved at a discreet distance.
Jeffries stopped outside his modest bungalow. Putting the bike up against the side of the house, he left it propped without a lock. That was just the kind of town Stoneybridge was. Jeffries took out his key, unlocked the door. Normally he was so meticulous, always locking it behind him. Tonight he was so distracted his subconscious decided not too—and that turned out to be a fateful decision.
Slapping his briefcase on the table, the middle-aged history teacher moved to the refrigerator for a cold glass of water to quench his sandpaper-dry throat. After a few gulps he strode over to shut the shades. He was just deciding whether to get ahead on some of the Year 9 students' essays on the War of the Roses when he felt something. A presence. He turned slowly. The hairs on his neck snapped up till they all stood straighter than toothpicks. His eyes widened as he saw something that he couldn't un-see. Something that couldn't be real.
"I must be working too hard," he muttered. "I'm so exhausted that I'm hallucinating." He blinked again, expecting the wolf in his living room to magically disappear. Instead the lanky wolf with the mesmerizing golden eyes and tawny fur just darted around wildly, whimpering and trembling. Jeffries stood there for a good fifteen heartbeats before he came to a few conclusions.
I am not going insane. I am not imagining this animal in the middle of my living room. He abruptly realized that he had been slowly edging over towards the kitchen. The young wolf continued to whimper and keen, its fur in disarray as its eyes looked frantically around the room. Jeffries was no Wolf Whisperer, but he had a fairly strong notion of what might help. Carefully, making sure to avoid any sudden movements, he opened the bottom drawer of the fridge and took out a package of bacon. Ever so delicately he unpackaged it, laid the strips of meat on the floor. He stepped back gingerly. He stood there…waiting. Please let it choose this for dinner instead of me.
The sight of a pile of scrumptious bacon managed to distract the wolf from its anxieties. Hunger overcame whatever stresses had made the animal bold enough or reckless enough to enter a manmade dwelling. Jeffries watched the creature, surprised at the thoughts which distracted him even as he knew he should be concerned that there was a wild wolf in his own house! What if it's rabid? I should really call animal control right now. Yet the animal was also breath-taking, like a furry gem that didn't belong in the modern world. The same thing that made Jeffries love history, cherish the things that were now out of place in the modern world, that same passion made him see the wolf in his kitchen just now as this little piece of history come to life. How many years have wolves been thought to be extinct in the UK? His mind reeled at the implications of this, but the history teacher in him didn't want to ruin it all by calling the authorities. It was like he'd stumbled on some historical treasure. Jeffries felt an instinct to keep this secret just to himself, crazy as it sounded—even to him.
But he wasn't prepared for what came next, nothing could have prepared him. Nothing.
Jeffries watched as the wolf finished its meal. It shuddered, contorted, whined with a pitiful sound that tore at Jeffries' heart. It then proceeded to change. Its talons retracted into something resembling fingers. The snout drew back as the muzzle and jaw morphed into something resembling a human face. It all happened so fast that to Jeffries the wolf might as well have vanished and been instantly replaced. And yet what confronted him now made his chest tighten before his heart felt like it might explode.
There was now a girl where a wolf had once stood. A teenage girl. She was short and petite and the jacket she wore seemed very familiar to Jeffries. She blinked rapidly, her vivid hazel eyes filled with pain. She looked exhausted. She looked like she hadn't slept or eaten in days. Jeffries had shoved a hand over his mouth to keep from shouting as the wolf had changed into its new form. After a brief internal battle where part of him reawakened to the idea that maybe, just maybe he really was losing his ever-loving mind, Jeffries' eyes widened like saucers. He knew this girl. She had been one of his best students.
"Maddy Smith?" Jeffries remained at a devastated loss for words, rooted to the spot as his brain tried to process the impossible. He remembered Maddy and her family abruptly leaving town several months ago.
A thin, barely perceptible whisper trailed from the girl's lips. "Mr. Jeffries. Please…please help." Before Jeffries could recover from his shock the brown-haired girl collapsed at his feet. He sprang into action, gently smacking her cheeks as he drew the cold glass of water he'd been drinking and put it to her lips. Luckily Jeffries could compartmentalize. He threw aside the fact that Maddy Smith had just changed from a wolf right in front of his own eyes. He had a girl in need of his help, and he, Timothy Jeffries, was known for one thing above all else. He always put his kids first, put his students first, they were his responsibility. And this was no different.
What in the bloody world is going on here? Maddy's eyes fluttered open, her breathing shallow and weak. He made her take a few sips of water. Satisfied that she'd at least stay conscious for him, Jeffries picked her up gently and carried her to the couch. Setting her down, he stood back as Maddy's eyes finally took on a semblance of awareness. The girl's expression looked so forlorn it ripped his guts out. Before he knew what he was doing, Jeffries knelt beside Maddy on the couch and looked down at her with concern lining every crease of his face.
"Maddy, whatever is wrong, you're safe here. Do you understand? If you need my help all you have to do is ask." Does she have some strange disease that causes her to change into a wolf? As absurd as it sounded, Jeffries was half-convinced it could somehow be true.
"Mr. Jeffries…" Her voice still sounded so weak and Jeffries was too alarmed by the whole situation to sit on formality.
"Please, call me Tim or just Jeffries. Maddy, what's happened? Where are your parents?" When he said the word 'parents' he saw a spasm of pain flash across the girl's face. He felt suddenly uncomfortable. Comforting people was not the history teacher's forte. Touch generally made Jeffries feel queasy.
Maddy sat up, tears sliding down her cheeks as she brushed them away just as quickly.
"Sir, if you don't help me I…" Tears welled in her eyes again and Jeffries took her by the hands. Her chest was heaving, her eyes looking wild and, if Jeffries wasn't mistaken, they were even starting to glow yellow.
"Maddy, just take some deep breaths for me. I've already told you, I'm going to help you."
"No matter what?" Maddy said, her tone half-pleading, half-doubtful.
"No matter what," Jeffries said firmly.
Maddy leveled a stare at him, her eyes hardening. "I'm a wolfblood. I…I can change into a wolf. Sometimes I have to, when there's a full moon. My family had to flee Stoneybridge because of what we are…because we didn't want people finding out." She took a shaky gulp of air as more tears leaked out. "I came back to Stoneybridge because my parents are dead…only to find all my friends are away and I didn't know who to turn to…and before I could figure out what to do I started panicking, wolfing out, and then I couldn't control it. I turned into my wolf and I didn't know where else to go. When I saw you—" Seeing how this was just working Maddy up into a frantic anxiety attack all over again, Jeffries did the one thing he never did.
"SHH. You're safe here now. I've got you." He hugged Maddy, at first stiffly because, really, one just never hugged one's own students. But as he felt her relax against him like a lost child, he couldn't help it. Jeffries loosened his arms, just letting his presence comfort her as he tried to absorb the awful news. Maddy's parents, dead? But how?
That would have to wait for another time, Jeffries realized. The exhausted wolf girl had fallen asleep in his arms. The poor girl really hadn't slept in days.
What am I going to do? For the love of God, what do I do now? Jeffries sat there, Maddy fast asleep and already starting to drool on the sleeve of his sweater. He had a decision to make—several decisions in fact. He looked over towards the countertop separating the kitchen and the living room, at the phone resting on the marble counter. He reached for it as one thought pounded in his head to join the real headache that was already in progress.
I hope I'm doing the right thing….
A/N - Hi Wolfblood fans! I'm back :) This story will focus on not just Maddy but also a lot of characters that don't get enough love in the Wolfblood universe. Jeffries, Ceri & Gerwyn, Katrina, and others will be important. Of course Rhydian will still be pretty significant further on, but for "Mr. Jeffries and Maddy's Return" I'll be covering new ground I haven't dealt with in any of my other stories. Don't worry, I'll still be working on the sequel to "Wolf Bond" and I promise not to start any other projects besides these two.
Many thanks to two of my beta readers who helped me polish up this chapter. It's much the better for it. I hope you enjoy where the story goes and I'll do my hardest to make it a read worthwhile. As always, thanks for any comments. They're sort of like oxygen to a writer, so please review :-)
