Wolfblood
Lies
It was the middle of the night when Jana woke up to noises outside her caravan. She'd turned in not long after Maddy and Rhydian had visited, so she was buzzing with vibrant energy. She was ready to face whatever was out there. But as she flung open the door, the sight she saw wasn't what she expected.
"Rhydian, is that you?" Jana couldn't believe it. "It's roughly one in the morning! Where's Maddy? I thought you two were inseparable. What are you doing in wolf form anyway?" Jana relaxed slightly against the doorframe. She'd know that brown wolf anywhere, even if she didn't smell it coming. Unfortunately, that was what the brown wolf had been waiting for. Without warning, it jumped forward and snapped its jaws around Jana's arm. She didn't even have time to scream out.
The next morning...
Rhydian realised he'd overslept when there was a knock at the front door of the Vaughan household. As he heard Mrs Vaughan walking over to open it, he looked at his clock to see that it was eleven on the dot.
"Maddy, this is a pleasant surprise. We weren't expecting you today." Rhydian jolted upright at the mention of Maddy's name. She never normally came over on days he hadn't pre-notified Mrs Vaughan unless he had a homework crisis or a personal one. That meant that this wasn't a social call.
"Where's Rhydian?" Maddy asked bluntly. Rhydian could sense Mrs Vaughan was taken aback at how forward she was being.
"Rhydian, Maddy's here!" she called up the stairs. "From the looks of it, she's angry about something!"
"Just let me get dressed." Rhydian called back, becoming increasingly aware of the fact that he was only sleeping in his boxers since the weather was so blisteringly hot.
"I'll be waiting outside." Maddy shouted to him, her footsteps thundering up the stairs. Hastily, Rhydian pulled on the jeans that he'd discarded on the floor the previous night before racing over to the wardrobe and grabbing a plain white t-shirt like the ones he usually slept in.
"Okay, come in." Rhydian said as he pulled it over his head. Maddy immediately tore the door open and stormed inside. Her eyes were blazing yellow and the black veins had sent her arms almost to the point of transformation. "It's nice to see you too." Rhydian remarked as she let out a threatening growl and grabbed him by the front of the shirt.
"Where were you last night?" Maddy demanded.
"What?"
"You heard me!" Maddy snapped. "I'm trying to establish your alibi here! Where were you?"
"Mads, what do you mean?" Rhydian asked. "I was right here. I've literally just woken up to the sound of you knocking on the door. I have to say, it wasn't the worst sound to wake up to. I pulled a late night last night and stayed up to watch Alien 3 on DVD since Tom lent it to me and it's the only one I haven't seen yet. Mrs Vaughan called in at half one in the morning to tell me to go to bed and turn it off. I just turned it down so she couldn't hear and kept watching. It was better than people give it credit for, but I do agree that they shouldn't have used so much CGI for the alien. They should have just used the puppet for more of it."
"Okay, back up on that." Maddy finally let go of him as her black veins and yellow eyes faded. "You said it was half past one when she called in?"
"Yeah, it was around that time." Rhydian shrugged as he brushed the creases from his shirt where Maddy had hold of him.
"Jana's phone made it one twenty-five by the time you left." Maddy muttered. "That would make it impossible even for us. You couldn't make that distance in that time."
"Maddy, what are you on about?" Rhydian was completely lost.
"Jana just phoned me from a Segolia emergency room." Maddy explained. "She claims she was attacked by you while you were in wolf form. I don't want to believe it. I love you to the ends of the earth. But when someone says that-especially if we know they'd never say that lightly-I can't just ignore it."
"And it didn't occur to you to maybe start by telling me that?" Rhydian couldn't believe it. "Maddy, you have to start from A and wok along. You can't just go straight to Z and see how it goes!"
"I know, and I'm sorry." Maddy hugged him briefly before pulling back. "Can you just do one more thing for me?"
"What is it?" Rhydian asked, rolling his eyes slightly.
"Jana said she managed to get a lucky hit on your front left paw. Can you just wolf out and show me you don't have any injuries?" Rhydian was angry beyond belief that they were still discussing this and not rushing to see Jana, but he also understood. Maddy wanted to prove it wasn't him before any real struggle started over it.
"Close the door." Rhydian pointed to the door. Maddy raced to close it as Rhydian stood in the centre of the room and focused.
"Well?" Maddy pressed.
"It's not a dark moon today, is it?" Rhydian asked.
"I was just using my powers." Maddy replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"I don't feel anything." Rhydian shrugged.
"Rhydian, I didn't ask you to get all touchy-feely on me, I asked you to transform." Maddy rolled her eyes.
"I know." Rhydian ground his teeth as he focused even harder. "And I'm telling you it's not coming to me! I can't call my wolf forward!"
"Get your shoes on." Maddy tossed Rhydian's shoes at him from by his bedroom door. "We're going to see my parents."
"Okay, you head outside and I'll be down in a second." Rhydian nodded as he headed over to his sock drawer.
Less than a minute later, Maddy and Rhydian were stood outside and ready to set off. Maddy instantly took off at a blistering pace. Rhydian on the other hand was struggling to keep up and out of breath by the first corner.
"Slow down!" he panted, as his breath came in ragged gasps.
"What is it?" Maddy asked, backpedalling quickly.
"I can't keep up." Rhydian looked close to tears. "Maddy, what's happening?"
"I don't know." Maddy admitted. "We're going to find out though."
In the end, the teen wolves just walked to Maddy's parents. It was a short walk, but slower than Rhydian would have liked. Each second they were on the way was a second passed that could have been spent saving his powers. They made it eventually though, and Maddy knocked on the door. As soon as Emma answered, she knew something wasn't right.
"Rhydian, what's wrong?" she asked.
"He can't use is powers." Maddy was clearly just as scared as he was.
"Okay, come inside." Emma ushered them in and led them down to the den. "Show me what you mean."
"Go on Rhydian." Maddy encouraged him. Rhydian closed his eyes and concentrated. He remembered the sensation of his wolf coming forward. He remembered the feeling of the black veins spreading through his arms and his eyes changing colour. He remembered how when he closed his eyes and brought his wolf forward, he could see every vein in his eyelids. But nothing happened. His wolf didn't even stir. He gingerly opened his eyes and shook his head.
"Okay, this is serious." Emma led them back upstairs and grabbed her car keys. "We're going to Segolia. I'll just let Dan know. He's out in his workshop. I'll just be a minute." Hurriedly, Emma walked out to the back garden. Sure enough, Dan was in his shed. He was using his sander when Emma walked in, so she decided to wait for a second to avoid any accidents. Just then, he caught sight of her and turned it off before taking off his ear defenders.
"Is everything okay, Em?" Dan asked.
"No. We're heading to Segolia." Emma replied. "Rhydian's lost his Wolf somehow. I've never seen anything like this."
"I'll come with you." Dan said, pulling his apron off. "The poor lad's probably terrified."
"He is." Emma nodded. They raced back inside and grabbed Maddy and Rhydian before heading out to the car. Maddy wrapped her arms around Rhydian as he got into the back seat with her. Dan jumped in the driver seat and pulled out the driveway.
"Okay, so did anything weird happen lately that could have led to this?" he asked.
"We have no idea." Maddy shrugged. "Nothing out of the ordinary happened yesterday."
"Apart from that new girl moving in down the road and finding out that Jana's in a relationship with Katrina." Rhydian added.
"There's nothing wrong with someone loving someone of the same gender, Rhydian." Maddy growled.
"I know." Rhydian rolled his eyes. "I was on about the fact that Jana managed to get into a relationship. This is Jana we're on about here."
"Speaking of which, what of her accusing Rhydian of attacking her?" Emma asked as Dan pulled up to a roundabout and took the second exit.
"If Rhydian can't wolf out, then we know for a fact it wasn't him." Maddy replied. "I knew as much anyway, but I had to be sure. I know Jana wouldn't say that stuff lightly, so right now we just have loads of questions and no answers." Dan passed the outskirts of the city as they caught sight of the Segolia skyscraper nearby.
"Okay, we're coming up to it now." Dan called out. "Get ready to head inside. We'll get Doctor Whitewood to have a look at you, Rhydian."
"So, tell me about this new girl, then." Emma said as Dan looked for a parking spot.
"Rhydian doesn't like her, and I think it's a bit early to draw an opinion." Maddy replied. "There's something about her we can't put our finer on, but I don't know if that's just because she's new or because we couldn't get a read on her."
"What do you mean?" Dan asked.
"While she was talking to us, I tried to pick up her scent." Rhydian told him. "I didn't get anything."
"Did you get anything, Maddy?" Emma asked.
"No, she was being sick under a tree." Rhydian told her. "That Rescue Remedy stuff really didn't agree with her.
"Maybe I went a little too heavy on one of the ingredients?" Emma shrugged. "Okay, I'll pour that bottle down the sink and make some more up."
"Maybe my gag reflex is just getting worse." Maddy muttered under her breath. Just then, Dan pulled up into a parking space that was free. Maddy and Rhydian jumped out and Emma rushed them inside while Dan locked up the car. Emma made it to the reception desk with the kids just as Doctor Whitewood was about to head back to the science wing.
"Oh, hello everyone; what brings you here?" she asked.
"We needed to see you urgently." Emma replied. Instantly, Doctor Whitewood's expression turned serious.
"I can't use my wolf." Rhydian said. "Nothing's working."
"Okay, follow me and I'll take a look." Whitewood beckoned them to follow her as Dan caught up. She punched in the code to her lab door before heading inside and seeing everyone in. "Okay Rhydian, can you take your shirt off for me, stand in the centre of the room and try to bring your wolf forward?" Whitewood asked.
"Maddy, go and wait outside." Emma said, turning to her. A sour expression crossed Maddy's face.
"It's nothing I haven't seen before!" she protested.
"What?" A menacing tone dripped from Dan's voice.
"We all went swimming in the lake near the Moors one time." Rhydian said, covering his tracks. "It was during that heat wave when Dan was ill."
"Don't remind me." Dan rolled his eyes. Rhydian didn't bother to add that he couldn't swim so hadn't joined them, and that he and Maddy went back to his place shortly after.
"She can stay. It's fine." Rhydian shrugged, before pulling his shirt off and standing where Whitewood indicated. He tried to bring his Wolf forward like he'd done in his room. As everyone watched with baited breath, (Maddy with keen fascination) Whitewood walked slowly around him, looking for any sign of the black veins appearing like usual. She found nothing.
"Rhydian, would you allow me to take a blood sample and see how much wolf DNA my analysis machine can pick up?" Whitewood asked.
"Do what you need to do; just don't expect me to keep my eyes open through it." Whitewood prepared the needle and cleaned the area she planned to take the sample from while Maddy gripped his other hand.
"You know, the fear of needles is all in the mind." Whitewood said, offering reassurance.
"Actually, Maddy and I collapsed on our first dark moon day." Rhydian told her. "Tom's mum happens to be a doctor. She took blood samples to see if we had a virus. We were terrified they'd find out the secret until we learned that all trace of the wolf vanishes from our blood when there's no moon."
"And there's definitely a moon today." Maddy added. "I nearly wolfed out earlier. It came as a shock when he couldn't."
"Okay, well I'll get the sample analysed and then we'll know more." Whitewood filled the needle full of blood and emptied it into a sample tube. "I'll rush this through, but it'll still be a good hour's wait. You should probably all go and get something to eat if you want it. I hear the canteen has a special deal on lasagne today."
"That sounds good to me." Maddy said as Rhydian shrugged his shirt back on. They left and headed to the canteen while Emma and Dan decided to give them a bit of space. Once they were seated, Maddy went up and got two lasagnes. When she came back, she couldn't help but notice the worry behind the mask of bravery Rhydian was wearing.
"Thanks, Maddy." Rhydian muttered as he took one of the plates with a layered square of pasta, tomato and cheese woven perfection from the tray and Maddy passed him a spoon and fork.
"You don't have to worry, Rhydian." Maddy said. "We'll figure out what's happening and get your wolf back again."
"I really hope so, Maddy." Rhydian said, fighting back tears. "This is literally the most powerless I've ever felt. Even on dark moons, I knew that the next morning I would wake up and have my powers back. This is something else entirely."
"I remember the thing you told me on the day we met." Maddy sat opposite him and locked their ankles under the table. "You told me that what you turned into was better than anything you'd ever known and you weren't going to let anyone take that away from you. We're going to find the answers we're looking for, Rhydian."
"I want to go and see Jana after this." Rhydian looked over at where Maddy was tucking in. "I want her to know that I'm innocent. I didn't attack her, so when we find out who it was that did it we will hunt them down."
"Okay, I'll send her a text once we're done eating." Maddy nodded. Rhydian returned the nod and went to tuck into his own lasagne. It was far too rich and the square was far too big for him to finish in his worried state. It wasn't so much the surface area, but the number of layers. Each time he got through one, it didn't look like he'd managed to get anywhere. If anything, there seemed to be more layers each time he counted. Maddy could see he was trying his best, but in the end she had to finish it for him. It was a shame as well, because he didn't think he'd had a better lasagne in his life. It was the kind of thing that would taste great and not sit too heavily without burning off too quick so he'd be hungry before supper. He'd have to get the recipe.
"My parents have just text me." Maddy told him. "Apparently the blood results are back. Let's head down there and I'll text Jana on the way." Rhydian nodded and stood up. They walked back hand-in-hand together, with Maddy using her free hand to text Jana. Once they made it to Whitewood's lab, they went over to where Emma and Dan were stood and waited. Doctor Whitewood walked over and met everyone pleasantly, but Rhydian could sense the tension coming from her.
"So, how does it look?" he asked, a lump forming in his throat.
"It's really not good news, I'm afraid." Whitewood looked at him regretfully. "The analysis uncovered no wolf DNA in your blood at all. The forty-six percent canine DNA contained in all Wolfbloods is completely gone."
"What?" Maddy couldn't believe it. "That can't be right! Something like that can't just happen!"
"There's more." Whitewood's two words shut Maddy right up. "From what I can see, it looks like the DNA has been ripped out. I'm reading significant damage to your genetic material, especially your X chromosome in each XY pair."
"So, you're trying to tell me I'm now infertile as well or something?" Rhydian was trying to wrap his head round the news.
"I'm not saying you can't have kids." Doctor Whitewood reassured him. "I'm saying that if you had a child it would most likely be born a human, because that's effectively what you are now." Rhydian looked ready to break down right there.
"God, how did this happen?" he muttered. "So you're saying my wolf was effectively stolen?"
"I'm saying it was ripped right out of you." Whitewood said. "Did you feel anything unusual at any point during either yesterday or last night?"
"No." Rhydian shook his head.
"Okay, so we can't even get an accurate margin to narrow down to." Whitewood shrugged. "Well I hate to say it, but I'm out of ideas for now. I can do some lab work and see if I can find a way to offer up some donor wolf gene to your DNA to repair the damage. If I get it right, your body should accept and replicate it so that your DNA fuses with it. It'll be just like having your old wolf back."
"So I'll be able to transform on full moons?" Rhydian asked.
"You'll be able to do everything you could before." Whitewood assured him. "The only thing is that I have no idea when it'll be ready. I could get it right first time and be ready next week, or it could take until next year. I honestly don't know."
"Well, it seems like I have no other option." Rhydian looked totally broken. "I'm not totally sure I agree with it, but I don't think I have a choice. I don't want to live as a human."
"I'll get to work immediately and shove everything else aside for it." Whitewood promised. "I'll send Miss Sweeney an e-mail so she knows not to put any work on my desk until I complete the treatment."
"We're very grateful, Doctor Whitewood." Dan said, shaking her hand.
"Call me Becca, please." She returned the handshake and cast a wink at Maddy, who burst out laughing while Emma ground her teeth as her eyes flashed yellow. "Seriously though, that goes for all of you." Whitewood looked around the room.
"Well thanks, Becca." Emma said, standing up and shaking her hand a bit too hard. "Come on, kids. Let's head home."
"Actually, Rhydian and I were thinking of going to see Jana." Maddy replied. "She should be in the medical wing here."
"Okay, we'll wait for you in the car then." Emma grabbed Dan by the arm and hauled him out of the room. Maddy burst out laughing again as they left Whitewood to carry on what she was doing and walked towards the medical wing.
"I'm sorry about that." Maddy said, turning to Rhydian. "It must seem cruel that I'm laughing while you're trying to process news like that. Don't get me wrong, this is seriously troubling. But we're going to get it sorted out and we're going to find out how it happened, I promise."
"Thanks, Maddy." Rhydian said, taking her hand. They walked into the medical wing to see the rows of beds set up. Asking a nurse got them pointed to bed twenty-four, which was right at the other end of the room. As they neared Jana's bed, they spotted a figure sitting next to the bed on an uncomfortable looking plastic chair. The figure was clad in pink with long blonde hair. They instantly recognised it as Katrina. As if on cue, she looked up and spotted them.
"You've got some nerve showing up here." Katrina said angrily as she stood up with difficulty and stormed over to Rhydian.
"What?" Rhydian decided to try and act like he didn't know what she was talking about. He didn't know if Jana had let her in on the secret yet because of her injuries and shared her belief that it was him, but he didn't want to say too much in case she hadn't.
"Your name was the last thing she said before the drugs sent her to sleep and now she's clammed up about why." Katrina told him. "Did you do this?"
"Katrina, take one look at her injuries." Rhydian pointed to the pattern on her arm made by the blood soaking through the bandages. "That's clearly an animal bite. Why or how would I do that?" Katrina instantly flushed red as she realised that she'd said something stupid.
"Katrina, it's okay." Jana said, drawing her back over to the bed. Rhydian could see the bandages covering her. Clearly the wolf had known what it was doing. Instead of going for random points on her body, it had gone for both legs and one arm. "So, how's it looking with Rhydian?" Jana asked before remembering Katrina was sitting there. "Katrina, would you mind going to the cafeteria and getting me a sausage roll or a bacon sandwich or something?"
"Okay, I'll be right back." Katrina stood up and left. As soon as she'd gone, Jana turned back to Maddy.
"Okay, so what's going on?" Jana asked.
"I've actually got no wolf." Jana could see the panic under Rhydian's calm exterior. "Apparently, it's been ripped out of my DNA somehow. I'm totally human."
"So whoever attacked me has your wolf and knew how to use it." Jana summarised. "That means they must have known about you beforehand and this was pre-meditated. There's only one person I can think of that would have come close to being able to do this."
"Who are you thinking?" Maddy asked.
"There's only one person who knows about Rhydian and knows how to pull something like this off." Jana shrugged the shoulder on her uninjured arm. "It's got to be Alex Kincaid."
"Is he that one you told me about that tried to turn you all human while I was on holiday?" Maddy asked.
"Yeah, that's the one." Rhydian replied. "I'm not so sure though. He's in a Segolia prison now and he's been nowhere near me. The person who did this would have to get close enough to touch me to do this. There's no way Kincaid could do it from inside a cell."
"That's a good point." Jana muttered. "I could help you get your wolf back, but I'd need the person who stole it captured alive."
"What can you do?" Maddy asked.
"I don't know if I can yet." Jana said. "The power was only a myth, but anyone who can use Ansion has a chance."
"What do they have a chance of?" Now Maddy was confused.
"I don't want to talk about it right now." Jana said. "My father swore me to secrecy over it in the first place. I'm breaking all sorts of traditions telling you this much."
"Jana, if it can-" Rhydian cut Maddy off as Katrina came back with the sausage roll.
"So, what's happening with you long term?" Rhydian asked Jana.
"I'm going to stay with Katrina for a couple of weeks to build my strength up since Dad's not at home right now." Maddy was impressed that Jana had made up her own seamless cover story. "It'll only be two weeks and then I'll be out at the caravan for the final two days before he comes back. Actually, you two could give me a hand if you like. When I get you of here tomorrow, can you just stay with me while I go to the caravan and grab my basic living essentials?" she asked. "It's not much. I just have a bag with toothpaste, my toothbrush and a few other bits in there."
"Yeah, we can help you with that." Maddy shrugged.
"That's fine with me." Rhydian agreed.
"Okay, so I should be getting out of here either tomorrow or the day after. Katrina's mum said she'll get me to the caravan in her car and I'll meet you there. I'll text you when I'm out." Jana double checked her phone. "They'll let me go as soon as I can show them strong enough to stand on my own." Katrina handed Jana the sausage roll. She bit the wrapper off and tucked in.
"Well, it seems like you're okay for now." Maddy grinned. "We'll check back in tomorrow if you're not getting out and then be ready to help you the day after."
"I'll text you updates to you know what's happening." Jana returned the grin.
"So, do you know what actually attacked you?" Katrina asked.
"I think it was a fox or an abandoned dog." Jana rolled her eyes. "That doesn't matter now though. Let's just focus on the future for now."
"Yeah, I think that's for the best." Katrina sat down in the chair again. Maddy and Rhydian could sense her back protesting. She then reached into her bag and pulled out one of the few books she owned that wasn't centred on hair and makeup.
"I think we'd best go." Maddy said hurriedly. "See you soon, Jana." She pulled Rhydian away quickly and led him out of the ward.
"What the hell was that?" Rhydian asked.
"She was reading Fifty Shades of Grey." Maddy told him. "I didn't want to be there for that."
"I understand." Rhydian nodded in a way that suggested he really did. "It's a pity it wasn't called 'How to Steal Wolf DNA in Fifty Easy Steps'. Then we'd have our culprit right then and there." As they walked, Maddy fired off a text to Jana.
'Was there anything odd about when the wolf showed up?' The reply she got chilled her right through, but also confirmed her theory beyond a doubt.
'I didn't smell the wolf. It must have known to mask its own scent somehow.'
As she and Rhydian climbed into the car and Dan pulled out from the parking space before heading back towards Stoneybridge, Maddy reflected on the text Jana had sent her.
"You're awfully quiet, cub. Is something on your mind?" she asked.
"I think I've figured this thing with Rhydian out." Maddy replied. "I can see now that it's a great plan, and it's disguised so well by lies."
Epilogue
That night, the Moors were quiet without Jana's presence there. In nearby farmland, the sheep grazed peacefully. Normally, they'd be on edge from the wolfish scent coming from the nearby caravan. This time though, there was nothing. The yews ate calmly as their lambs stayed close to them warmth. The ram that was their father watched from through the gate, knowing that each of them was safe. The scent of danger that was normally close was totally gone. As he turned to go to the stables, he was startled to come face-to-face with a pair of burning yellow eyes. Before he had time to call out, the shape lunged. He tried to fight free, but the creature was at his throat, fangs severing his windpipe and constricting his vocal cords in the process. He didn't even have time to wonder how he hadn't smelled it coming.
The wolf only had to shake her head. With a brief crunch that sounded no different to someone walking on pebbles on a beach, the ram's neck broke. He flopped dead to the floor as the wolf's structure shifted and reformed. Her muzzle shrank into her beautiful face as her black fur receded into her flawless human skin. Ellie untied her long black hair from the ponytail it was in as she stood up and looked over the rest of the flock, who were still eating peacefully.
"Stoneybridge is mine."
End!