Grady's POV:

"There aren't any." Evan said. Kermit and I looked over, startled by the tone in the teen's voice. It sounded resolute, yet... scared at the same time.

"Uh... are you okay, Evan?" I asked, worried. I had been grumpy, but... had I really caused that?

"No," Andy said, startling me, and I think Kermit. "He's not. And neither am I." I was suddenly scared. The same scary yet scared tone in Evan's voice was in Andy's. And I didn't like it. Not to mention, I still had some werewolf abilities when in human form- I could smell their fear and anger.

Suddenly, Evan leapt forward, running full speed towards the shop. "H-hey, wait!" I said, stumbling forward. I didn't know how fast I was supposed to go! I mean, c'mon, werewolf speed is a LOT more that regular human speed- I didn't want to blow my cover. So, I went very slowly, but Andy blew past me. So did Kermit.

I groaned, and ran faster to keep up. I obviously didn't go full speed, though… that would have turned quite a few heads.

Evan was stopped in front of the store, panting. Kermit looked like he was about to collapse. Andy cried, "What are you doing?!" and I nearly said the same thing, but then she clarified- "Don't go running off so suddenly without me- you could have gotten yourself killed!" That stopped me dead. Killed? I thought, my eyes feeling like they were going to pop out of their sockets. What the hell is she talking about that could have killed him?!

Then Kermit did collapse. I realized that, if I was going faster than him… that meant I should probably be about as exhausted as him. I quickly leaned over, hands on my knees. I fake panted, glad I had realized this so quickly. Thank you, Mom and Dad! Thank you for all the hours of making me do boring observations on your experiments!

Then I realized I wasn't so observant- Evan was talking. I quickly tried to catch up, and luckily, it seemed like he wasn't too far into whatever speech he was making.

"-and then we got out of there with the monster blood. We had NO idea what it was going to do. Anyway, we should get in there, shouldn't we?" Evan finished, turning from Kermit to Andy.

Ooor not. I shook my head, deciding to ask for details later. After all, it didn't seem like the two were about to stop on whatever mission they were doing, if that's what it was.

"Yeah, we should. C'mon, Grady!" Andy called, waving me forward. Kermit and Evan were already heading in.

Unfortunately, she chose the wrong words to get me to follow. Unfortunately, me training Grady kind of… ingrained the stuff in me, too. At least, when I wasn't saying the commands.

Andy had turned back now, because she apparently didn't know I was following her. She called back, "Hey, Grady, are you co- whoa WHOA WHOA!" she yelled while I was bowlling her over. "Hey, get off!" she yelled, pushing me out of her face.

I yelped slightly as she pushed me off, but the rational, non-animal side of my mind that was actually working right now said to quiet down- it wasn't reasonable for a regular human being to jump all over someone you just met.

"S-sorry," I managed to sputter, gulping down my instincts. Now that my animal side was almost completely suppressed, I realized that what I just did… was very embarrassing. I mean, jumping all over a girl like that! Come on!

"You better be sorry!" she spat back, brushing herself off. "Sheesh, you were acting like a dog!" At that statement, I quickly glanced up for Evan and Kermit, hoping they hadn't heard that. I mean, come on, do I really want the dots connected for them?

I sighed with relief that they were already inside, the door dinging as it shut. Then I looked up at Andy to see if she was still angry.

She didn't seem to be, but… she was red. What…? Oh, I thought, becoming aware that my face was growing warm. She's blushing. I realized that I must have been, as well.

Then I also realized that I was still kind of on top of her. I quickly scrambled off, so as not to cause more embarrassment.

She shot me a quick glare as the red quickly faded from her face. Then she muttered, "We should get going in," and stomped off. I stared after her for a moment more before shaking off the incident and following her… without acting like a dog, thankfully.

Evan's POV:

When we got inside, I heard a crash from outside, but ignored it. I had to- I was on a mission. I leaned over, afraid to look at what it could be. Just a new shop? Just a place where kids could get toys?

Or the little shop where I got the monster blood on that fateful day?

It was stuck in my head because of the fact that it had closed. No warning, no "We're closing" sale, nothing. Just… closed. Shut down forever to give me no answers.

I really didn't want to open my eyes to that little shop.

I'd probably snap and yell at the guy behind the counter so loudly, and I'd get tossed out for something. Being disruptive. Then I still wouldn't have my answers.

"Um, can I help you?"

My head snapped up. Kermit was looking around, picking up one of the chemistry sets. I could tell that he loved the whole shelf of them with chemicals from A-Z.

But that wasn't where the voice was coming from. The voice was coming from in front of me.

I stared at the kid standing there, barely older than me. He stood there, looking at me, waiting for a response. He was in a uniform, matching the themed colors of the store. "Sir?" he said timidly, when I didn't respond.

"U-uh…" I stuttered, stunned. This was what I was freaking out about? This little chain store with toys all over? With muzak playing softly in the background?

I heard a ding behind me. "Wh-what?" I heard Andy stutter. At least I'm not the only one who's stuttering, I thought dumbly.

I looked back, noticing Grady brush off seemingly nonexistent dust from his tee. "So… what's the rush?" he said, cool and collected. Then he smirked, quipping, "Need to buy something before they sell out?"

I rolled my eyes at his jerkiness, and I'm sure Kermit did too. I turned back to the store employee, ignoring Grady. "So," I said, raising an eyebrow (not one of my best tricks- I'm sure I looked ridiculous), "I guess you guys don't sell Monster Blood."

The kid gave me a funny look. "Sorry sir, but what's Monster Blood?" He jumped a moment later at Andy and mine's huge sighs of relief.

I turned, and walked out of the store, Andy right behind me. glancing back, I saw that Kermit and Grady were looking at each other in confusion, shrugging, and then finally following us.

Over the ding of the store's door, I heard the clerk say, "So you aren't buying anything?"

AN: FINALLY! I nearly forgot to put this up today! Anyway, yes, that's not really a cliffhanger or anything, but this is what you get. More next Tues. (Also, if anyone has suggestions for this, please send them in! Constructive criticism, not just destructive criticism, please!)