Chapter 9 - A Quiet Night In
I opened my locker, thinking about tonight. I was going to have to spend the night before the full moon locked up and underground. It was going to be awful. Just then Maddy came over,
"You ready for the practice run?" She asked me.
"No." It was the truth.
"It's not as bad as you think..."
"Do you have to lock me in?" I interrupted her.
"Well...yeah. If you can't cope was a human, you're never going to cope as a wolf" she wasn't helping my nervousness.
"I hate it."
"It's not that bad!"
"I'll get claustrophobic."
"I thought that, but I didn't."
"I won't be able to breathe."
"All Wolfbloods do this. Once you do it once..."
"Yeah, I'll be tame."
"Is that what you think I am? Tame?"
"Ugh, no!"
Suddenly she grabbed the lapels of my jacket and turned me round to face her.
"Look into my eyes," she instructed me, "you will enjoy this. You WILL enjoy this!"
I smiled and asked, "but what if I don't!"
"Well then stay away tomorrow night, we can't force you."
"I guess so."
"It's your choice. Lone Wolf...or," she put her hands up in a kind of weird dance move as she said, "pack."
I shook my head at her weird gesture and walked away. I made my way out of school with Maddy following. We were trying to avoid meeting Tom and Shannon because if we didn't, we wouldn't have to explain ourselves to them. Unfortunately, they just caught up with us as we were leaving and Shannon asked,
"What are you guys doing after school then?"
"Mr Vaugan's dad's not well, they've gone to stay with him for a couple of days," I told them.
"Hey, doss at mine!" Tom sounded excited, "Mum's on split shifts, we'll have a laugh!"
"Sorry, it's already been arranged," Maddy answered for me, "between his social worker and my parents."
"Since when did a social worker tell Rhydian what he can and can't do?" Tom questioned in disbelief.
"Yeah, well, I mean, they're expecting me now," I wriggled my way out, "maybe another time. Sorry mate."
"Ok."
I felt quite sorry for Tom because he really did sound disappointed, whether it was just because he knew I fancied Maddy or because he actually wanted to spend time with me.
"See you tomorrow." I said before we left across the field.
When we got home, Mam and Dad were already in the den. We went downstairs and watched whilst they got out everything we needed for the night. They inevitably started lecturing Rhydian.
"Living near humans is always a risk," Dad started.
"That's why we keep our heads down." Mam carried on.
"And live out here," Dad finished Mam's sentence.
"It's all about responsibility." Not this again.
"Being a Wolfblood affects everything." Didn't they think that Rhydian already knew that?
"We're not saying live like a hermit."
"No, no, no, it's all about seeming normal."
I had to stop them, "okay he gets it. Stop nagging."
"That's great but your family's owned this place for centuries. I don't think I could afford a country mansion on my weekly allowance." What was he doing? Rhydian was provoking them to start another lecture.
"Well you've got a talent!" Mam complimented him.
"Wolfbloods usually do," Dad softened the compliment.
"An artist or an illustrator can live and work wherever they like."
"As long as there's a dungeon in the cellar," Rhydian joked.
"It's not a dungeon." Mam laughed.
"It's a precaution," Dad was trying out the bed to check it was sturdy, "think of it as a rite of passage."
I shook my head at them, when were they going to stop?
"Yeah, like an initiation into our pack," Mam carried on, "because deep down, that's what you really want, to be in a pack. All Wolfbloods do, it's greater than the instinct to be free."
"And there's no freedom without responsibility. Not in the human world anyway." I could tell that they were making Rhydian nervous with their bright attitude towards it.
"Look, the full moon's not until tomorrow," I said to him, "if you don't want to sleep down here tonight..."
"Maddy!" Mam interrupted.
"Mam! It's his choice!"
"It's ok, I need to learn." I smiled at Rhydian, was he really willing to go through with this? "I won't let you down."
"Well, we never thought you would," Dad said as Rhydian smiled back at me.
A/N: Thank you
