Chapter III







Xena and I burst out of the door into the cold, clear night.

*Quarter moon… 6 days till the first night of the full.*

We heard Ashley squeal. Alex had her pinned to the Fence railing and held a knife to her neck. Xena quietly came up behind him and jumped on his back. He was so startled that he dropped the knife. Which landed between Ashley's feet. Alex flipped Xena over his head and she landed against the railing. Xena cried out in pain. I kicked him in the head, which brought him down. I straddled him and started to beat him up. The suddenly the warning bells in my head went off again. I got off of Alex and stood up. The cloaked stranger was standing with their hands reached for the sky. Their back was too me, so I couldn't see who it was. Then the pain started. The pain that told me that I was transforming.

* This can't be! I have 6 more days to go! Must…Stop…Stranger*

The wolf was taking over. The last thing I saw was Xena tackling the stranger.



I woke up the next day around noon. I was lying naked in bed covered up in blankets. My head hurt...a lot. I rolled over and closed my eyes. I tried so hard to remember what happened. All I could remember was blacking out. Like I always do before the wolf takes over. I prayed that I didn't hurt anyone. Tears streamed down my face. I hated it. Every time I change, I am terrified that I hurt someone. Normally, Xena would take me out to the pit that we dug a couple of years back and I would transform there. Xena would then watch over me at night so I wouldn't escape. Usually I didn't. Last night shouldn't have happened. The stranger must have summoned the full moon. If anyone can control the full moon, the could control me. It scares the freak out of me.

A bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. I got up and got dressed. Again I prayed that no one was hurt. It was Tuesday, so my friends (minus Ashley) and I didn't have class until 2. We all mostly had classes together. It was a good thing, I could never get through class w/o Ioleus' antics and Xena passing me notes.

I hurried to the courtyard. Just as I passed through the doors, a pair of hands grabbed me and took me back inside. Steering me back to a class room.

"'Kia! Your awake! You can't go outside though. We need to talk though...NOW!"

I automatically knew it was Xena. She didn't seem to happy with me either.

"You transformed in front of Alex!!"

"What? I thought he was out, when transformed! Did I hurt anyone?" I asked desperately..

"When you started to transform, I realized what the stranger was doing. You were screaming in pain and when I tackled the stranger, the moon changed back and so did you. You passed out. Ashley and I wrapped you up in her cloak. Then the guys..."

"NO! They didn't see me transform...Did they?"

"No, you were back to your normal self when the guys came. Only clothesless. Herc carried you back. The thing is, Alex is telling everyone what you are! He swears you hit him. I know you didn't. I was there!"

I sat down on a desk. I felt like crying. Why was I cursed with this? Xena sat down next to me.

"Let's get something to eat. We have a couple of hours till Greek."

"Oh, No!"

"What?"

"I sit next to Herc in Greek! He doesn't know does he?"

"Well, I think he knows that there are rumors going around, but I don't think he believes them." Xena steered me toward the Cafeteria. All through the halls, people shirked away in fear. We ate lunch and talked for a while till Greek. When got to class things got worse. No one would talk to me and 'accidentally' missed me when papers were passed back. So most of the period I kept quiet. At the end, Chiron came to get me personally. I got up, gathered my things and went to his office.