CHAPTER 2 .:. WOLVES WITHOUT TEETH

You say you're from another world … I can see through you; we are the same

Technically, my 'school' day wasn't supposed to be out until 4:05 (and "Not a minute sooner"). At the start of the 'school year', Principal Mom had cut a deal with me anyway. When we heard the bell ring down at the middle school, I had half an hour to relax before 'homework' began. Or as I liked to call that stuff, 'life work'. Sure, I mean, it was fun, I guess, but it was just nachos-at-the-dollar-theater kind of fun. Not try-to-pickpocket-Bob-and-Ken-while-they're-out-reporting-on-live-TV kind of fun. Y'know?

It only made sense to spend those thirty free warm, sunny minutes with the people I'd adopted as my friends. Two precious minutes had to be wasted skating through town over to dear ol' Muckledunk Middle, even when I raced at top speed, but that couldn't be helped. Boy, it would've really spiced things up if I had rockets under my heels! The General has rockets he probably got from being in the military, and he doesn't always lock his garage around lunch. Since he hadn't asked me, I hadn't told him I'd noticed. I also couldn't help but notice that he left his jetpack fully exposed in the third padlocked drawer of his filing cabinet in the back corner behind all the heaps of styrofoam packing peanuts and distracting bubble wrap. But that's not really your business, now is it?

I crested Tailspine Hill without stopping and coasted down to Muckledunk's solitary middle school. Sunlight glinted off the bright orange letters that declared the town's name above the front entryway. Mallory saw me tearing towards her on my skates and threw out her hands. When I caught them, she swung me around three times before my momentum zipped away. Good thing too, since she almost flung me straight into a gravel heap near the outdoor lockers that the construction crews had left behind.

"Darcy!" she sputtered. Her face brightened; I tended to have that effect on people. It was a gift. When she shifted her shoulders, the straps of her inviting backpack cut into her dark skin. "So good to see you. You still in 'school'? When do you get out for the summer?"

"Out?" I laughed. "Oh, I get to be stuck in that teeny little box all year long. It's just me and three scarecrows right now. Strawman Larry got expelled last week. I think Principal Mom did it as a threat to teach me a lesson." After a brief pause for dramatic effect, I pressed, "Did you have fun in class today? What did you learn about? Anything crazy? This is madness. Lemme guess- Gladiators? Greece? Italy? Volcanoes?" I pricked up my ears. "Did you know a chicken was released into the Roman Colosseum once? It's true! Also, fun fact: pom-poms don't come from Pompeii. If they had, cheerleaders today might do their routine over boiling lava! Haha… Oh wow, I don't talk to people much."

"Well." Mallory dropped my wrists and popped her thumb behind her shoulder. "As for what's new with us, Mikey got called into Freshwater's office before lunch. He came back with a big white folder so stuffed with papers that it doesn't stay closed, but he won't tell anyone why. Amanda's been hounding him about it ever since. I think they're still inside."

I stared towards the lockers for a beat, listening to the doors slam, and then skated over to join another couple of kids. The alluring mystery of what could be hidden inside Mallory's backpack would have to wait. I had bigger turkeys to pluck. And speaking of big, Bobby flinched when he saw me and tried to duck behind a girl who was a lot, well… let's say "smaller" than he was. But Willy maintained eye contact, even if his fingers tightened around his latest hardcover book. He'd had a different one yesterday, and it hadn't been any thinner.

"Hey guys!" I pushed my braids behind my shoulders. "I'm on skates. Unless I crack my head open, don't freak out if they fly off; I pinched them from a sleeping teenager in the dog park, so they're a little too big for my tiny feet. I'm a size 7.25. Did you know our skating rink is actually covered in ice for the high school hockey team to use? Yep! Hey, so where's Mikey? Mal said he was being a sneaky little rascal during lunch. Is he cheating on me with a new best friend?"

"Only if he's decided he likes Amanda," Willy said with a snort. "She's shaking Winston down for cash; he slogged her in the nose today. The news crew even stopped by to grab an exclusive interview." His tongue flicked across his lips. Then he winced. His wrist came up to touch his cheek. "Is there still blood on me from when it spurted? Anyway… I assume Mikey got distracted on the way to his locker."

I grinned. "Slogged a Killman? Wellll then! Winston just got super hot. Come on, admit it! We've all wanted to smack that puppy. Not me of course, though. Too mature for that! I don't play favorites with my boys. Just my girls. Oh! Is that them at the door? That's a Munroe with a Killman on his tail if ever I saw one. Quick- boost me up on the roof! I wanna surprise 'em when they pop out."

"No." Willy walked straight past me without a backwards glance, so I turned my attention on Bobby. The blonde girl who had been 'hiding' him had already scooted off, and he wilted under my gaze.

"Just… go ahead, Darcy. But watch my eyes this time, okay?"

"I never don't!"

I used his head to springboard up to the overhang that shaded the lockers. I caught the edge with my elbows, and after several grunts and kicks, I managed to heave over the rest of me. A chubby seagull (I call 'em lake gulls, but Principal Mom says they're 'Eastern herring gulls' and deserve to be addressed by their full title) flew off with a squawk. Another ten feet along the roof, even Muckledunk's local photobombing emu, Ricky, lifted his head.

"Phew," I huffed, sitting up on my knees. "Next time, I think I won't do that in heavy skates."

Ricky sized me up with idle curiosity. I checked my overall pocket for my phone so I could take a selfie with the poor bird. Rats. I must've forgotten to pick it up from the front desk after school hours.

I waited until I heard the bickering voices directly beneath me, then swung forward so my braids dangled. One of them actually bopped Amanda in the nose.

"Whoops!" I readjusted my fingers against the stucco overhang. "Hope I didn't reopen any scabbed-over wounds there, Killer! That Winston's got a craaazy right hook. But, I'm sure you know all about that, popping him like a zit."

Amanda stared at me. Flecks of blood still decorated half her face, mixed among her freckles; she wore them like a trophy, or a warning. The front doors swung shut behind her.

"Darcy," Mikey managed when his feet touched the ground again. He'd jumped. He always jumped. He shifted a step closer to the east lockers. "I-is homeschool already out for the summer?"

I shook my head, batting them both with my braids. Between the glint of the sun and the shade of the overhang, they looked almost purple. "Heard Mikey might squeal the big secret today. I came as quickly as I could to be here. I even rode skates! They're not my skates."

"Oh, come on!" Amanda flung her arms forward. "The shocially-odd weirdo ish in on the joke, but you won't tell moi?"

At their arrival outside, an innocent crowd of young teenagers had begun to drift together until Killman and Munroe were effectively pinned against the nearest row of sun-fried lockers. Mikey seemed to realize this for the first time as his eyes flicked past my braids. His knuckles turned almost as snowy white as his folder. I saw him clench his jaw.

"Fine! I was gonna tell you all anyway. I just didn't want Principal Freshwater to catch me doing this and get on my case for freaking you guys out. Give me some space."

Woo-whee! Now this was interesting. Ricky and I shared a glance. He rose and sidled a little closer to the edge of the roof, ready to pounce at the first sign of a camera.

"Oh, get on with it, Munroe," Amanda spat.

"You're not going to like it." He threw a soft sing-song in his voice when he spoke, walking towards the edge of the crowd and forcing them to offer up more room to maneuver. I set my chin on one hand, wriggling out of one skate with the other.

Mikey drew out the fact that he had everyone's attention like he had the last sip of ice-cold water on a broiling Arizonian day. Then he hoisted the folder above his head. "Principal Freshwater and Miss Lighthouse pretty much made me head of the welcoming committee for next year. We're going to be getting a new transfer student."

Over a few grumbles of, "That's it?" and "Hopes up for nothing", Mikey played the final attention-snatching card:

"Oh yeah, and did I mention he's supposed to be a Beast?"

My grin could have sawed down a redwood tree.

Stunned silence from half the crowd; startled noises from the other. Accusations- "You're a liar!" "They would never!" "They can't do that!" "Freshwater wouldn't dare!"

"Puh-leashe!" Amanda shouted, shutting up most of them. "Shince when hash Munroe been hand-shelected to be in charge of anything? On purposhe?"

We all agreed that part of his claim seemed suspicious. Mikey… struggles sometimes when he has to be a team player. He only leads several of the school clubs because he rose to the opportunity when former leaders handed over the reins just to shut him up. A miffed expression crossed his face as several members of the crowd told him so. Bobby crept away, never to return. Poor introverted fellow. He was gonna miss all the fun. Really, who sneaks off after a bomb like this just gets dropped? I swung down from the roof, clutching my skate in one hand. Sometimes sharing with others was hard for Mikey, but that's why he had me. I share everything. Especially Mikey's things.

"A Beast, huh?" I slapped him on the back. "Loopy-dupe, Mikey. I never saw that one coming. This Beast guy must be one sweet kid if they're allowing him above ground. Or, he's gotta be scary enough that no one dares to tell him 'No'."

"Not really helping, Darcy."

"It continued the conversation," I pointed out, bouncing on my toes. Not an awesome idea when I was balancing on just the one skate; I lunged for Mikey's shoulder for support. "Ooh. So, how long's he staying in Muckledunk? Give us the deets. Are they in here?" As I kept him distracted by holding his arm and getting all up in his face, I reached for the white folder. But Mikey passed it to his other hand and held it above his head again. He was tall, so he could do things like that. It's this little game we play.

"Guys," he said, his voice pinching as he realized he was losing the attention of the disgruntled crowd. "Guys?"

"Is it legal for them to be above ground?" Brandon grumbled.

"He's not moving here, is he?" Sarah asked.

"Wait- would his parents have to live here if he did too?"

"They'd stay at the bog, right?"

"How's he gonna fit on the bus?"

"Do you think he eats people?"

"Can I feed him my brother's wife's mom?"

Mikey kicked Violet's locker door shut so it clanged. "Everybody calm down!"

We all looked his way again. Mikey scurried up the nearby heap of gravel, pebbles slipping beneath his tennis shoes. While that happened, Amanda made a grab for his folder to mimic the grab I made on his other side.

"Back off, Amanda," he snapped, aiming a kick in her general direction. He almost lost his balance, grit rattling down to the concrete. "Principal Freshwater entrusted me with this information. It's client confidentiality."

"Yesh, apparently. And we want to shee."

"I really, really want to see," I agreed, tugging on his sweater vest. My fingers slipped into a loose loop of green thread. I pulled on it until he noticed and pushed my hand away.

"Tch. Okay, fine. Here." Mikey slid a photo out from beneath its paperclip and passed it down to Rachel. I caught a glimpse of blue fur. Or purple fur (Maybe both!) "Look. His name is Bunsen. His eyes are closer to the sides of his head than they are to the front. That means he's probably not that dangerous. Prey animals have their eyes on the sides of their heads, so they can watch out for danger." Under his breath, I heard him mutter, "Which you would know if you actually did your own science homework instead of letting Amanda correct all your answers five minutes before the bell."

As I popped over Ashley's shoulder to peer at Bunsen's picture head-on (pun only a little intended), I pricked my ears. Apparently, big drama goes down in public school.

Also apparently, this last part wasn't quite as much under his breath as Mikey thought. Amanda smacked Bunsen's picture out of Rachel's hand, which was very rude, and peeled her lips away from her teeth in a great, slobbery sneer. "Oh, sho I'm the bad guy! Pleashe. You make it shound like it benefitsh anyone if our classh pullsh an average of shixtiesh, Munroe! Do you want our field trip budgshet cut just becaushe she shtruggles to identify her rock formationsh? Or you can't shpell 'herbivore'?"

I started a rising chant of "Ooooohhhh!" as Mikey flipped Bunsen's file shut again. "So, anyway. Yeah. That's what's going on. Try not to freak out about it. He's moving to Muckledunk with his family in the fall."

"Perfect," Amanda snarked. "Sho we have all shummer to wait around exshpecting our demishe. Pleashe excushe me if I missh anyone'sh funeral. If all goesh ash planned, I'll shtill get to be away enjoying an Alashkan cruishe."

Mutters washed over the group like lake waves. Some of the people, their curiosity satisfied, drifted separate ways towards home. Other kids lingered to hear the end of this, with mixed expressions suggesting whose opinion they backed. I returned Bunsen's photo to Rachel and quietly shifted closer to the base of the gravel pile, not completely delighted with what I saw. In the crowd, I mean. Bunsen looked adorable. He's my best friend. I love him.

"No one would invite you to their funeral anyway," Mikey insisted, with the usual stubborn lift in the area of his face we generally referred to as his chin.

"Sho you admit there'sh a posshibility of rishk!"

"Kheh! There's no danger." Mikey snatched Bunsen's photo from Rachel and the cluster around her. Facing Amanda again, he pointed at Bunsen's snout. "Plant. Eater. The horns are for defense, like a goat's. I think."

"He thinks right on," I offered. "I took a whole course studying Beasts in homeschool last year. That fluffbutt looks sure looks like the friend of a friend to me. You can see it in his rounded teeth. And technically, I don't think that's a carnivorous muzzle he's got on him there. Muzzles are short, like the Dunk family. His face is long like a Muckle. That there is a twitchy little snout, see? And it's more expressive than a muzzle anyway, so this will be fun for everybody! Of course," I went on, grinning as I shrugged, "I've been known to be completely wrong before. Sometimes Mikey is too. We're not smart. Sometimes I lie just to mess with your heads. Unlike my skates, which aren't really my skates, I keep an even balance. I don't play by your rules, but I always play fair!"

Mikey shot me a sideways glare. "Right. Thanks, Darcy. So, I really think we should give Bunsen a chance before we start judging him."

"Where'sh Shophie?" Amanda joined him at the top of the gravel heap, tapping her injured nose. "The deschendent of Abigail Shanders probably has shomething to shay otherwise."

"Beasts didn't kill Abigail." Mikey's patience splintered with every word. Every time his foot tapped, it sent pebbles bouncing down the pile in all directions. "Amanda, just accept that you can't win this argument, and be upset about it in silence."

"Abigail wash bitten by a Beasht who attacked her unprovoked. Eliash shot her. Which he wouldn't have if she hadn't been bitten by a Beasht. Therefore, Beashtsh are the reashon for her death."

Mikey made a face. "Okay. The kid who plays him in the founding day performance every year wishes Elias hadn't done that. It causes him a lot of distress when he has to aim that paintball gun, even when he knows the kid who plays Abigail wears a padded vest underneath her dress."

"Hurts to be hit with it," Amanda grumbled, touching her wrists where Charlotte Dunk's dangling jade bracelets hung once a year.

"I don't completely 100% disagree entirely," I said as I sprang up to join them. My feet wobbled; I flapped my arms like wings. Or maybe like pinwheels. "Hey, I love Priscilla and all. She sure did pick a great location for our town. That spear of hers in the museum is a fine piece of work, but she had really questionable taste in men. Even by my standards, and I'm not a picky fella. Elias had trust issues, Mikey." I thought back to the tattered Beast costumes, made mostly of tanned buffalo skins and now speckled with bullet holes, still stuffed away in an old trunk back in my closet. My twin something-great aunts had learned the hard way that the guy couldn't take a joke. Worth it.

"Wait a minute!" Amanda spun in my direction. "Bashically your whole family got shlaughtered by Beashtsh until you were all too shcared to approach the town bordersh, and shet up shop in the middle zshone permanently. Where do you shtand on thish?"

Mikey rounded on me, a sharp curl in his upper lip. That was new. Uh-oh! I turned my hands into finger guns and pretended to fire them one after the other.

"Hey guys, make out, not war. Hate-On-Darcy Day isn't until July." The guns dropped. "Yeah, I have Beast casualties in my family. I mean, a lot of us do, right? Ha. That's like, really widespread knowledge that stretches allll over Ohio." I drew a circle in the air to indicate allll over Ohio. "As long as everybody's afraid of Beasts, the security system business just keeps on booming, am I right?"

"Well, my parents got really good at what they do a long time ago," Mikey admitted.

I took pleasure in cutting off Amanda when she opened her mouth to respond. "So yeah, a couple of my family members got plugged here and there, but it's cool. Everybody makes a mistake now and again. Plus, I didn't even know them. It's not like they're anybody's great-grandparents; I mean, they died before they could have kids. So it's hard to be sad. Hey, and I'll bet the Beasts would say almost the exact same thing if we asked them. We're kind of even. Humans on one side, Beasts on the other. They lost a lot of their people because of us too."

I carefully avoided Elias's name that time, because Mikey's eyes were growing more narrow by the heartbeat. And my heart can beat really fast beats all through my heart. I slurped my lower lip and adjusted a twisted strap on my overalls. "But hey, my great-great-great-great-great grandma also left her husband for a Beast, and I don't even blame her. He was a looker. Eight feet tall and seventeen pairs of lips. Yummy!"

That did not impress them. I shook my head. No accounting for tastes.

"I don't want to get eaten," Rachel interjected, gripping her backpack in one fist like a mallet. I eyeballed it a moment, trying to guess how many books it held at the end of the year. Maybe it didn't hold books. Maybe if I opened it, I'd find leftover pizza. Maybe leftover pizza and a half-eaten taco lunch. Nachos were sounding pretty darn scrumptious right about now. I'd never been completely sure how public school works, but if my nightmares and daydreams were both correct, chocolate fountains were almost always involved.

Whatever was hidden inside her bag, I wanted it.

"I'm not going anywhere near that Beast once he gets here," Kyle agreed. "I'll even start sitting at the front of the classroom if I have to share it with him."

"Cool," I said. "If Mom ever lets me go to social-kid school, I'll take you up on that and join you there! You can copy off all my answers." When I said that, I pulled a fan-folded scrap of notebook paper from my overalls pocket. "But just to put all the cards on the table before we start, I don't always put all the cards on the table. I cheat on tests and I cheat at every game. A lot, in fact." I took Kyle's scarlet shirt and bonked his head into mine. "A lot. At least I'm an excellent sport. That sounds motivational, but I really am. I'm the mascot on some knock-off hockey board game for Luxembourg or something. Great sport, as long as I win!"

"You're crumpling my bow tie," Kyle muttered back.

Mostly, the others had broken off in tiny groups to ignore my presence in a similar fashion. "The school is like a safe space for us kids," insisted Blake, folding his arms. A crease appeared on his forehead like a web of spider silk.

Manny said, "This whole town is supposed to be a safe space from Beasts. The beach most of all."

"The houses most of all," Drayken retorted.

Lucas tapped his fingertips together. "It's probably all a trick. Beasts used mind-control on Freshwater, changed the school records, took over the board of education, and now they're gonna come for the rest of Ohio. Starting with us kids. They plan to slit our throats one by one from inside our walls."

"Oh gosh." Nancy grabbed two clumps of her ginger hair. "I volunteer Willy as a sacrifice. He's got the biggest brain, so maybe that'll satisfy them. We're all thinking that, right? I don't want to see any of you deny it."

Betty kicked her in the ankle.

Mikey put his hands to his hips. "Okay, again, no one's getting eaten," he said, then slapped his forehead. His eyelids flickered shut. "I'm sure the state wouldn't allow this if they thought he was going to be dangerous."

"Ohh, they can't confirm," Amanda insisted. She crossed her arms. "No Beasht hash been allowed in a human shettlement shince the Shecond Creature War. And for good reashon. Theshe are shettlements for humansh. The Beashts have their world. We have oursh. That'sh what our ansheshtorsh agreed." Here, she leaned forward on her toes until her eyes were almost level with Mikey's. "Ishn't that right? Muckle?"

"I wouldn't know, Dunk," he growled back. "Your ancestors signed that old peace agreement behind our backs."

"That's right, guys!" I pumped my fist. "Get it all out. Release that negative energy!"

"Shorry. I know you wanted to keep mowing all thoshe Beastsh down for shport, but we Dunksh actually prioritizshe the shafety of the people."

"I care about the safety of the people!" Mikey was starting to get irritated enough that tears were prickling in the corners of his eyes. I looked the other way. Rachel's backpack dangled from her shoulder by just a single strap. Juicy, tempting prey.

"Yesh, and your parentsh' shecurity camerash are sho helpful with that. Shomeone broke into my houshe, shkillfully dishabled the alarmsh, and shtole my diary lasht week! I almosht had him too, but I losht the trail after a few of the longer hallsh."

Giving up on the 'look the other way' plan, I checked back as Mikey opened his mouth, lifted a finger, and then let both drop without a protest. "The Killmansion's a big place," he offered instead. A sigh. Both hands, and the folder with them, moved to his chest. "You can choose to be upset about this if you want to, Amanda, but it doesn't change the fact that it's happening. You don't have to like everything. But don't ruin this great opportunity for everyone, okay? We're meeting a Beast." His eyes flew wide. "Think about everything we can learn from them! Maybe they have cameras that take pictures you can feel. Maybe they can talk to animals. This is our chance to finally hang out with people of another society. It's like meeting aliens from another planet. Inside, Bunsen might be human, just like you and me."

"Humans kill other humans sometimes," Amanda said simply.

Mikey looked at her for a moment. "I can see why."

As Amanda scoffed and the last of the middle schoolers started to meander away, Mikey tucked Bunsen's file under his arm and jumped down from the gravel heap. I followed on my one skate. When he started through the drifting crowd, I tapped his shoulder.

"Hh-? Oh, Darcy." Mikey brushed his shoulder with his fingertips, turning uncertainly to look back at me. "You're still here."

"You're head of the Muckledunk school welcoming committee," I said, folding my arms behind my back. "That means you'll be seeing Bunsen in school, right?"

"Well, yeah, kind of. That's sort of how this whole school welcoming committee thing works."

"Grand nifty, then!" I slung my arm around his shoulders- or at least the highest point on his back that I could reach. "So who's going to be hanging out with him when he's heading out and about around the town?"

Mikey squinted. "Do you, uh, want something, Darce?"

"Just some answers." I brought my face close to his, which made him lean away, as it usually did. Mikey's predictable like that. When he put his hand on my cheek to push me off, I said, "Even if none of your school friends are willing to give him a chance, I think he deserves one. Like you! I don't go to your school, but don't forget to introduce me. If you can't fit him into your schedule, slide him my way."

Oh, gosh… I'd stepped right up against Mikey, I could have reached into his back pocket and snagged his phone right then, with its shiny red case. Too bad he knew me well enough to always keep one hand there to stop me from making a move. I shook my head, bonking my nose on his elbow. Focus, Darcy. Focus on the Beast.

"Right. Uh… Muckledunk's my town too. I might not be in his class at school, but I am more than happy to welcome our new pal Bunsen as a super fun neighbor." A new thought sproinged into my head. I jerked back. "Hey, do you think I'm famous down in the Beasts' world? Related to a woman who married one and everything?"

"I'll bring Bunsen by and introduce you sometime," Mikey answered vaguely. He shoved his hand through his bright red hair. It looked like he had just shoved his hand through bright red fire. His fingers raked across the coals. "Just try not to freak him out with that thing you do."

I checked over my shoulder. No one was there, so I looked back at him and shrugged. Mikey's eyes went from my forehead to the one skate on my foot to the one skate I'd stuffed over my hand.

"You know." The hand dropped to the file folder beneath his arm. "Look, don't take this the wrong way, Darcy, but you can be a little too much. You know, with all your popping up out of nowhere and elbowing your way into everybody's private business. We don't want Bunsen to feel like we're spying on him or hunting him or whatever. He might get offended."

… Oh.

"Well, he is a Beast. I'll bet he's gotten kinda used to…" I made wiggly fingers to suggest the mood behind 'freaky things' without saying the words. Mikey didn't laugh, so I stopped. Instead, I pressed my hands into my cheeks, squishing my thumbs against the bones of my jaw. "Hmm. Well, if Bunsen isn't used to being spied on or feeling hunted, then he'd better psych himself up for that kind of thing quick. I can think of a whole bunch of Muckledunkian families who'd be opposed to a Beast kid coming around. How many people do you think know about this? Was it on the news? I don't really watch the news during school."

Mikey scratched just once behind his neck before he shrugged. "I mean, I guess this has to be legal? Freshwater can't just do this if people aren't okay with it. So the grown-ups must have worked something out, between the people of Muckledunk and the Beasts and stuff."

We stood together for another few awkward seconds, mulling over our individual thoughts. Then Mikey started up the gentle hill towards home, and I hobbled after him on my own skate, since my place was on the way and all.

"So Mikey, when exactly does Bunsen move here? This year's pig ceremony's happening in September, right? Are he and any other Beasts going to be here in time to see that?"

"If there's a pig ceremony this year."

He dropped me off back at my house and offered his usual half-hearted shoulder hug good-bye. As he walked down the other side of Tailspine Hill, heading towards Hunter Street, where he would then turn right on Speartip Road until he reached the Dunks' tourist shop on the corner of Tooth and Nail with its leather backpacks, boots, and rugs crafted from Real™ Beast pelts, I sat on my doorstep and thought about his parting words until it was time to go inside.