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Wolf's POV:

Old Friends

I'm starting to see why, whenever I went to the zoo for a school trip, the animals were always pacing. It didn't matter how big the enclosure was, or how much it looked like their actual habitat, or how many random logs and rocks there were to climb. Inevitably, you would find at least one animal doing nothing but pacing as you gawked at them through the glass. I used to find it confusing. After all, pacing was just something you did to burn energy while your brain went into overdrive from too much stress or worrying. What did animals that didn't have to worry about finding food, hiding from predators or defending territory have to worry about?

The answer? Nothing. It's just something to chase away the endless, mind-numbing boredom.

With a huff, I flop down, leaning against the bars of my enclosure. I suppose I should be grateful. Boredom means that there is nothing to worry about, nothing to do, no excess thoughts filling my brain to overflowing with stress and fear. It's been a long time since I was bored. Stars, if anything, this is a blessing! After all the excitement and terror and confusion that's been following my every footstep, boredom is a gift to be cherished!

"Hello Wolf-friend!"

Which doesn't stop the feeling of relief from spreading through my chest at the familiar sound of Winter's cheerful voice. At long last, a reprieve!

I perk up, ticking my white-painted ears towards the sound of her voice. I smell her before I see her, her distinct scent of silk and silver with a hint of lavender drifting through the air. But there are other scents there too. Familiar scents, ones that definitely shouldn't be in Luna.

Winter skips into view, smiling brightly, with a few other people tailing behind her. A few other, very, very familiar people that really, really, really shouldn't be here.

There's Thorne, his cologne obnoxiously strong as ever, and for some reason he's wearing a guard's uniform.

There's Cress, the scent of her shampoo clinging to her ridiculously long hair, wandering nervously behind him and wearing a servant's uniform.

Behind her is Iko, her sweet perfume almost as jarring as Thorne's cologne, looking about her with eyes practically glowing with excitement. Like Cress, she's dressed as a servant. Did all these guys get jobs at the palace in however long they've been here? And, wait, is that Scarlet's therapist?

I get up and resume my pacing, trying to reel in my confusion. What should I do? What are they doing here? How did they even get here? Should I reveal myself to them? But those clothes, what if they're working for Levana? Maybe I should just pretend to be a dumb animal, at least until I figure out what in the stars is going on here. Yeah, yeah I'll do tha-

"These are you're friends, yes Wolf-friend?" Winter asks, "They were looking for you earlier, so I thought I should help them. They might've gotten lost otherwise, and then there would be no-one to save them if the walls started bleeding again."

Thorne raises and eyebrow at her. "Um… what?"

I huff. Well, so much for that plan.

I circle around so I'm standing right in front of them and sit back on my haunches, staring at them expectantly. Winter may have vouched for them, but I'm not sure she's the best judge of character. Them looking for me (if that's even what they were really doing) can be a good thing or a bad thing, and if there's one thing I learned growing up in Luna, it's to be cautious, and always, always assume the worst.

Cress tilts her head, giving an awkward smile and a wave as she stares at me. "Uh, hey Wolf."

I blink my acknowledgement.

"Right. Well, as Winter just said, we were, um, we were looking for you."

Another blink.

"Yes, you see, we got into the castle to rescue Kai because we found out he'd been captured by the vampires, but, it turns out he'd already escaped and Cinder's group found him-"

"We'd all split up to get more stuff done." Iko chirps, "Finding Kai was only part of the reason we came here. We also came here to start a revolution!"

I stare at her. A… revolution? What in the stars…?

Cress nods, reaching up to fiddle with a strand of hair. "Yeah, and, anyway, Kai told us you'd been captured, so Iko, who was with Cinder at the time, came over to us to tell us, and we've been looking for you ever since."

"And can I just say it was not fun." Thorne grumbles, "I had to go into the dungeons twice! Let me tell you, that place is in dire need of a cleaning."

I offer no reply, only staring, letting my gaze flick from one person to another. Kai? Revolutions? What?

"Oh, also, you're mom's worried about you." Iko says.

Wha-how did Mom know I was here? I was twelve years old when she last saw me!

A frustrated growl rumbles in my throat and I shake my head, as if that could dislodge the many questions rattling around in my skull. I think I preferred boredom.

"Uh, this is Wolf, right?" Thorne asks Winter, "He's not really reacting much."

Winter nods happily. "Yes, this is him. He just doesn't like talking very much. He isn't very trusting. But you are his friends, so you won't hurt him, won't you?"

"No."

Winter turns to me, beaming. "There, you see? It's safe to talk to them Wolf-friend."

I think I'm starting to see why Jacin's always hanging around Winter. This girl is much too trusting.

I allow my vocal cords to morph into something more human, and my jaw clicks into a slightly new shape so I can actually form words. The only one who doesn't cringe as my bones snap and creak is Winter. The others all wince in instinctive sympathy with each sharp snap.

I work my slightly changed jaw, getting a feel for the new shape and movements, before addressing my schoolmates. "What are you doing here?"

"You can talk?" Thorne yelps. I ignore him. I really don't have time to explain my abilities to him.

Scarlet's therapist (Erland, wasn't it?) takes a step towards my enclosure, eyeing me with a fascinated glint in his eye, like a scientist dissecting a frog. "A partial shift. Those should be much more difficult even for a fully mature werewolf to manage, let alone one that hasn't shifted in several years."

"I'm a fast learner." I say gruffly.

"And you're form, its far smaller than typical werewolf deviations." The doctor continued as if I hadn't spoken, "And judging by the mass of your human form, you should be significantly bigger than the average werewolf."

I growl impatiently. "I merged my human skeleton to make myself smaller. Now can you please stop looking at me like I'm a science project?"

Honestly, what is wrong with this man's priorities? There are teenagers from Earth wandering around the royal palace, a supposed revolution going on in the background, and my classmates are the ones apparently orchestrating the whole thing! And he wants to study my skeleton?

A pop rings through the air. I yelp with pain as I collapse to the ground, my left hind leg suddenly useless. Great. Just what I need.

Growling the whole time, I carefully shift my upper body, flinching just slightly when my skeleton protests the unnatural shape, as my forelegs lengthen into something resembling arms. I grip the dislocated leg in both furry, contorted hands, and ruthlessly shove it back into place, letting my skeleton fall back into its previous amalgamation of human and wolf it was before.

I turn back to face the others. They are staring at me with open shock on their faces.

I sigh. "Look, that's just something that happens sometimes. Nothing to worry about."

"Young man," Dr Erland says grimly, "I'm afraid that is something very much worth worrying about."

I prick my ears in curiosity. What did that mean?

He sighs. "Do you know what bioelectric sickness is?"

A/N: I LIVE! Yes, yes, I know, it's been forever. I can assure you though, this story isn't dead. I've just been very busy with school and everything and I've been finding less time to write. I'm going to try and make more time for writing, but you're going to have to expect slower updates now. But I'll try not to make two month pauses between updates again.