The forest was dark, Addison felt like she could barely see beyond ten feet in front of her beneath the shadowed trees. The moon was near full, but almost no light was reaching the ground. The wolves were moving at a brisk confident pace, it was obvious that they owned the forest and the night.
"Where are we going?" Addison asked after they had been hiking for at least a half-hour, Zed at her side like always, they were following behind Willa who was leading the group, Bonzo, Bree and Wynter were walking behind them, with Wyatt and Eliza bringing up the rear.
"It's just a little bit farther." Willa promised.
"It's just past this ridge." Wynter said. But when she did, her eyes and necklace glowed green again and she started coughing, trying to catch her breath.
"Are you OK?" Bree asked, stepping back and placing a hand on her back in comfort and support.
"My necklace is losing its charge." Wynter revealed.
Wyatt started to explain. "Every day, more and more of our pack are getting sick. Because their moonstones are losing power. All our elders are too sick to travel. Which leaves-"
"Which leaves taking care of the pack to us. To me. You'll be fine Wynter. I promise." Willa reassured her packmate.
"Interesting, your magic necklaces run out of energy? Can you recharge them?" Eliza asked.
"Unfortunately no, not anymore, that's why we need your help." Wyatt revealed.
"I understand computers, not magic, but I'll still try to help any way I can, but I assuming you need more than a pair of double-A's?"
"Yeah, that definitely won't help." Wyatt released a small chuckle.
"Are you actually going to tell us anything soon? What's with all this cloak and dagger game?" Eliza asked.
"I know we can trust you, but we want to earn your trust and your support, you should see the real us, and just how vulnerable we are. We wolves try to be strong but when we need to, we won't hide away from showing ourselves anymore, if we did, all our hope would already be lost." Willa replied.
"I get it." Eliza agreed.
"So Zed, what are you thinking?" Addison asked him quietly, as they continued their hike.
"I think we may have to rethink our camping idea, these woods are kinda creepy at night." Zed whispered back.
"Awe, is the big bad zombie scared?" Willa asked, apparently he wasn't as quiet as he thought, or the wolves had much better hearing than he gave them credit for.
"Maybe a little. I can hear so many random noises, but I can't tell what anything is. Like that, is that an owl? A rabbit? A monster? I don't know. I'm used to light gardens and the sounds of civilization."
"Don't worry Zed, the only monsters you have to worry about around here are us." Willa's eyes glinted gold in the dark for just a moment before they moved on.
"It's OK, I'm kinda freaked out too. Plus I am entirely blind." Addison agreed with him.
"I think I can see slightly better than you like I can see Willa just find but not much else."
"Then make sure you warn me if you see any holes or something. This is not the time to twist an ankle."
"You got it," Zed's eyes were now focused on the ground in front of him. "Yeah, it would suck if you can't do the Cheer Championships next week."
"Yeah, and I don't want to miss dancing with you at Prawn either."
"I would agree that that's even more important to me, but I know how much cheer means to you."
"You are more important than cheer, but Bucky would kill me if I couldn't perform with the team."
"Well, don't worry, would you rather have me give you a ride?"
"No, I'll be fine Zed, what's with all the offers for rides all of a sudden?"
"Maybe I like the feeling of you holding on for dear life. Are you really claiming you don't enjoy it either?"
"OK, you got me." Addison admitted with a smile.
"Oh watch out, there's a pothole about three feet in front of you, come this way." Zed pulled Addison closer and led her safely around the hole.
"My hero." Addison giggled and gave Zed a peck on the cheek.
"Bree are you doing alright?" Addison asked behind her.
"Yeah, I may be blind as a bat out here, but Bonzo and Wynter have me covered."
After another ten minutes of travel, they arrived underneath a large cliff and after walking through a pitch-black tunnel where both Zed and Addison kept a firm hold on each other's hands they walked into a cavern lit by torches and moonlight.
"Welcome to the Wolf Den!" Wynter announced as they all entered.
"Wow." Addison tried to take it all in, the cave was mostly dark, but lit by the moon in the center, with many smaller tunnels leading off the main cave lit by firelight. As more and more wolves noticed the new arrival, she was surprised at just how many wolves there actually were, but she was also shocked by just how terrible they all looked, most of them were sitting or lying down on the ground, covered in blankets, their faces gaunt and exhausted. Many of them turned to see the new arrivals, but many others looked like they didn't even have the energy to do that simple gesture.
"Our language, Awooo Friends!" Wyatt led the way deeper into the cave. "That means welcome."
"Aaawwooo!" Addison howled in greeting. But she was met with a den filled with laughter in response. She felt embarrassed and confused, but she was happy to see some smiles on the other wolves' faces.
"Ostrich Boots?" Wynter asked confused.
"No, I think Addison meant Awoooo!" Wyatt suggested.
"Let me try Awwoo!" Zed howled.
More laughter filled the cave.
"Polka dot unicorn?" Wyatt asked.
"Really? Where?" Wynter asked, scanning the den looking for her prey.
"I want to try!" Bree decided "Aawoo!"
"Woah, language! There are werepups around." Wyatt playfully warned her.
"She needs to put a pebble in the swearwolf jar." Wynter demanded.
"Awwooo!" All the wolves howled in unison. Slightly freaking Addison and the others out.
"I am so sorry." Bree whispered. She had no clue if she was being a terrible guest or not. For all she knew she just insulted all their mothers.
"Enough. This is not why we brought her here." Willa reminded everyone.
"Why are we here? Really?" Addison asked Wyatt.
Wyatt looked over at Willa, who gave him a nod before she began a quiet conversation with another wolf.
"Gather round." Wyatt brought them to the center of the cave and motioned for everyone to sit down.
Wyatt lifted up his necklace when they were all settled. "So these necklaces we wear were all carved out of our sacred Moonstone, passed down from our ancestors. The crystals hold the energy that gives us our powers, it's what makes us wolves, makes us, us. But the energy doesn't last forever, it can run out. Normally we'd recharge them of the night of the full moon, but we haven't been able to for a hundred years."
"Why is that?" Addison asked.
"Because Addison, a hundred years ago, the first human settlers arrived in our valley…"
Wyatt began his tale and everyone was quickly entranced, Willa and Wynter joining in from time to time with extra details, Addison almost felt like she could see everything in front of her.
"We have lived in these woods and much more of the surrounding land for thousands of years. Things were peaceful, we hunted, we fished, we played, we had perfectly happy lives. Everything was perfect, until it wasn't. Then the humans showed up. We've known about humans for most of our history, other groups that had always lived here, just like us. But we never had any problems with them, we had our land, and they had their own. We had nearly a thousand years of peace before the new humans came."
"They completely ignored our borders and set up their camp. They cut down trees for firewood, gathered the plants and prey that belonged to us, that we depended on for survival. So we went to investigate, always at night, because we knew that was when we would have the advantage. They didn't see any sign of us for several days, and we soon found out they were planning to build a new town on our land. That couldn't happen, this was always our home."
"So the Alpha at the time, Woodrow Lykenson, my great grandfather, took a few pack members and tried to meet with them and explain that they could stay for a few days but they couldn't build a town here."
"That meeting didn't go well at all." Willa growled as she joined the circle. "We even revealed ourselves in daylight, so we didn't appear threatening, but it didn't help. At the very sight of us, the humans panicked and either tried to hide or waved their weapons in warning. Woodrow stopped several yards away and tried to communicate they come in peace and want to talk. So the leader, Mr. Buchannan told everyone to lower their weapons and they could meet."
"Woodrow and Mr. Buchannan sat down at one of their new tables built from one of our trees and Woodrow tried to explain that this land was already our home. Mr. Buchannan flat out denied his claim and said he had permission from the government to set up a new town here. He took out a piece of paper like that would mean anything to us."
"Woodrow of course disagreed, and told him that he had to leave and settle somewhere else. This was our home for generations and we didn't have the room or the resources for a human town."
"They kept arguing back and forth until Mr. Buchannan said something about moving to a reservation. Woodrow asked him to explain what that was and apparently, it's the land that native human tribes could live so that settlers could develop the land."
"We aren't leaving. We are werewolves, and our pack has lived here for a hundred lifetimes, and we will still live here for a hundred more." Woodrow declared.
"Excuse me, what was that? You aren't humans?"
"Of course not, we are proud fierce werewolves, haven't the other tribes warned you about us? We lived in peace with them, and we don't mind living in peace with you, but not here, go settle somewhere else."
"So what, you're saying is you're monsters?"
"No, we're wolves."
"Enough of this. Get out of my sight. I only negotiate with people, not dogs."
"Fine, if you want to play it that way, we'll be gracious hosts and give you until sunset three days from now, then you have to be on your way, never to return."
"No. I am Bartholomew Buchannan. I gave up everything to come here with my family and we, humans, are going to build our new town here. No freak of nature like you is ever going to be accepted. I suggest you leave, find some other place live. Away from here, or we'll show you what we do with monsters."
"Do what you like, as long as you leave. Three days." Woodrow turned away and howled, Aawwooo! And the pack that had the humans completely encircled all answered back in unison.
"You can't defeat our pack, so don't even try it. We don't want to hurt you, but we will defend ourselves." Woodrow left the humans and returned to the forest, but he made sure the pack was watching the humans' movements at all hours of the day.
"Unfortunately that wasn't enough. Two days later, the humans attacked us, leading to a vicious battle, most of their weapons couldn't hurt us, silver is the only metal that can pierce our skin at all, once they figured that out, they started to burn down the forest to force us to leave, whether they knew it or not, they actually set the fire in the perfect location, so that within a matter of hours, the fire surrounded our den. So all the werewolves retreated here, to wait out the flames, but that was only part of their attack."
"When we emerged the next night, most of the undergrowth was ash, only the strongest trees were left standing. The whole pack was devastated, our home was destroyed, and with all the ash and smoke in the air, we couldn't smell anything else, and our eyes burned just standing outside for even a few minutes. And for once the whole forest was silent. Woodrow knew it would take years for our land to recover. But there was one more thing that they had to check."
"Woodrow took a hunting party to our most sacred place, in another cave, about a mile away from our den, was Mothermouth. It was a dark cave hidden beneath a towering cliff just like our home, but it held something even more important. Thankfully the area around the cave seemed untouched until the wolves picked up the smell and tracks of humans."
"Woodrow then sprinted into the cave, through the pitch-black tunnel that not even werewolves can see in, and entered the Cavern of the Moonstone, but when he got there, Woodrow couldn't believe his eyes. The Moonstone, the source of the pack's life was gone as if it had never been there in the first place. A pale beam of sunlight showed down in the center, just enough to make it completely obvious what was missing. Woodrow scanned the walls, and his anger grew, even the many paintings that told the pack's history had been destroyed, either smashed or painted over in ugly black splashes of paint. Woodrow howled his anguish to the sky and the rest of the wolves joined in. He led his party home, and gathered the entire pack."
"They attacked at dusk and this time, every wolf knew this was a fight for their very survival now. They couldn't just drive out the trespassers, they had to save the Moonstone, but the humans were prepared, seems they had learned their lesson from last night, and now had silver-coated weapons, it was a massacre. Nearly half of the wolves who attacked that day died that day, or eventually fell from their wounds, the ones that survived, all received scars to remember the fateful day."
"So we retreated, Woodrow also died in the battle, along with his mate, Wanda. Leaving leadership of the pack to their young daughter Willow, who was about our age at the time. Our grandmother. She made the decision that we would hide from the humans always, and do whatever we can to find the Moonstone. But we wouldn't leave our home, if we did, any chance of finding the Moonstone was gone for good. About a year after Seabrook was built and they opened their powerplant, they set up a fence, the top lined with silver barbed wire to keep us away from them, not that we had any desire to ever see any humans again. They labeled our home the Forbidden Forest, and that was just fine with as long as it kept more humans away."
"So we've spent the last hundred years in hiding, but we can't anymore. When the humans stole the Moonstone, they started a countdown clock on our lives. The reason our pack is so sick, and why Wynter got sick today, is because our necklaces, they keep us alive as long as they have enough energy. But all of them are running out." Wyatt solemnly finished his story.
"We no longer have a choice. We're asking for your help, or we all die." Willa said, her voice quiet.
"Wow. I am so sorry."
"It isn't your fault Addison. Do we have a problem with most humans? Yes. But we've seen that you and Bree are good people. Just because some people are monsters, doesn't mean everyone is." Willa reassured her.
"OK so we need to find this Moonstone, what does it look like?" Zed asked.
"It's a glowing purple crystal, about five feet long." Wyatt explained.
"I have never heard of or seen anything that looks like that." Addison admitted.
"Eliza, hiztary gru think arg?" Bonzo asked.
"I have no clue Bonzo, I know zombie history, not the werewolves. Does Seabrook have a bank or some other place with a vault they could keep it in? Or maybe it could be in an important building like City Hall?"
Addison shook her head "I doubt it's in City Hall, since they just built a new building a few years ago, and the old one got torn down and replaced with a park."
"Banz?" Bonzo asked again.
"I think a bank would make sense, but also not really, I don't think people would hide something like that just in a bank. Maybe there's something at the Seabrook museum?" Bree suggested.
"Again, I'd feel like it would be obvious if it was there." Addison sighed. "Willa, you've been pouring over history books the past few days, have you found any clues?"
"Nope, nothing, wherever the Moonstone is it's not in your history books."
Eliza pulled out her phone, "Well its no surprise I don't get a signal down here." She slid her phone back in her pocket. "Do you think it could be in Zombietown somewhere? I mean there are tons of abandoned buildings that no one's been in for fifty years, there's literally a fifty-fifty chance it was in the half of Seabrook that became Zombietown."
"I guess that makes sense, but it still feels like we're looking for a needle in a haystack, or wait, not to be a pessimist, but how do you know it hasn't been destroyed?" Zed asked.
"We don't." Wyatt sighed, "We know the humans carted it back to their camp when they originally stole it, but no one ever found any sign of it during the battle, and then we never saw any humans again until now. We have to believe its still out there, or else we're dead men walking. No offense to you guys."
"None taken." Zed smiled.
"Maybe a little bit taken." Eliza tried to joke.
"Do you know how much time we have?" Addison asked.
"Not for certain but with the way everyone's been lately, most of them have less than a moon left, if that much." Willa answered.
"But we do have some time? Right?" Addison asked again.
"I'd say another week at least. Hopefully." Wynter said, looking out over the huddled shapes of the pack.
Addison got another idea, "Well, if you guys don't know my Mom's the mayor of Seabrook, and I have no clue if she knows anything that could help us here, but she might be able to help us look through Seabrook's public records or something."
"Thanks for the offer Addison, but I would rather we still try to do this on our own. For now, at least, I know we can trust you all, but for anyone else, I'm still saying it's too risky. So no. Don't tell anyone else about the Moonstone." Willa shot her idea down.
"Plus Addison, your parents don't exactly have the best track record with zombies. Much less werewolves." Eliza reminded her.
"That was before they got to know Zed, they love him."
"They do?" Zed asked.
"Well I think they do, or at least they know how much I love you and you love me, and you know they like you at the very least. No matter how many times you use the containment joke that's never happened once since we all made up."
"I know, you're right. I think it's a good idea too, but if the wolves don't want to ask your parents for help, I can understand that."
"OK then. So can we start looking tomorrow?" Addison asked. "It is pretty late, and we still have school tomorrow."
"Why is school so important? It's obviously not there." Willa growled.
"I'm sorry, but we have to go, or our parents will get on our cases and we won't be able to help you at all. So if you can wait until after school tomorrow we'll all help, and Bree and I can make cheer practice short tomorrow but you can get started right away with Zed and Eliza and then the rest of us can join you."
"Fine, I suppose, we can wait one more day. Wynter, Wyatt lead them back to Seabrook, I need to check on some stuff here, then I'll meet you at school tomorrow."
"Actually, can Wynter and I check on a few things?" Wyatt asked, Wynter nodded along.
"Of course you can. Don't take too long though, I think it's past our friends' bedtimes." Willa laughed as Bree released a massive yawn.
"Oops sorry." Bree blushed in embarrassment. Bonzo gently squeezed her hand in sympathy.
Wynter and Wyatt jogged into two different tunnels and disappeared, leaving Willa with the rest of their new friends.
"Come on, we can wait outside." Willa led the way back out into the forest.
"Willa, can we ask a few questions now? Because I have about twenty bubbling in my headspace right now." Addison asked.
"Alright, you can ask, but I may not be able to answer everything, yet."
"So you said Mr. Buchannan, was he Bartholomew Buchannan?"
"Yes, I actually just learned his full name in the history books this week, but he is the human we hate the most, for obvious reasons."
"OK, I get that…"
"What's wrong Addison?" Zed asked, picking up on her nervous mood.
"I'm pretty sure that's Bucky's great, great grandfather. He was the town's founder and first mayor."
"Well that explains a lot, no wonder Bucky's such a jerk." Eliza laughed.
"Hold on, so are you related to that guy?" Bree asked.
"No, it's on his dad's side and our moms are sisters. It's one of his family's sources of pride, like they keep his portrait up in the living room of their house. Bucky's family has always been at the center of Seabrook, even the bad stuff. Do you think I should tell him what he did? I mean I don't blame Bucky or my aunt or uncle or anything but shouldn't they know the truth, and shouldn't we tell the whole town the truth? I feel like we'll have to explain ourselves if we try to take the Moonstone from wherever it's hidden."
"I'm all for rewriting the history, but only after we save the Moonstone. Right now, if Seabrook does anything to us, we have no way to defend ourselves. I am not spending the rest of my life wearing a Z-band, even if I only have a month left." Willa growled.
"I refuse to believe we would attack you again, and Eliza don't you think the Zombies would rise up if humans tried to contain the werewolves like you guys were treated?" Addison asked.
"Of course, I would lead that battle myself. Realistically, as long as you don't run in teeth first I doubt people would attack you all. Besides the rumors about you wolves have already been spreading, but I don't think anyone except us and a few teachers and Principal Lee understand that werewolves are going to our school. I mean I've explained to a few zombie students but that's it, and we're the last people to hate others for being monsters."
"I'd say wait to tell Bucky, he still sounded kinda scared at practice today." Bree suggested "Has he asked you anything?"
"Yeah, I confirmed that werewolves exist and are at our school. He still took it better than I thought, but again once people get to know you, are you guys have a chance to relax and enjoy high school you'll really like it."
"Thanks, Addison, there are some things I'd like to do in Seabrook. Choir's pretty great, right Bonzo?"
"Garuzica grueno!" Bonzo agreed.
"So what do you have to do here before tomorrow?" Bree asked.
"I'm the Alpha, and I need to see how everyone's doing, do what I can to boost morale, stuff like that."
"Have you been in charge a long time? You can't be much older than we are." Zed asked.
"No, it's just the last few months since my parents got sick, I always knew I was going to be the Alpha, but I never thought it would be this soon."
"I'm so sorry, are, are your parents still alive at least?" Addison asked nervously.
"For now. I have to believe we can succeed, for them."
"We got this. Willa, don't worry. We'll find it somehow." Addison told her.
Wyatt and Wynter exited the cave and rejoined the group. "Ready to head back?" Wyatt asked.
"How are they?"
"Wayde's still fighting," Wynter reported, "he even helped make the stew tonight but he was exhausted after. He says he still has time."
"How are they?" Willa asked Wyatt.
"Father woke up for a little bit, but Mother slept through everything. I promise Willa, our plan will succeed."
"I know we will Wyatt. Now get a move on, we're burning moonlight."
After everyone else left, Willa let out a long, howl full of emotion, right then she didn't care who heard it, she let everything out, all of her stress and fear, so it could make way for hope. Addison, Bree, Bonzo, and Zed were too positive for her own good, she had her doubts but for the first time she believed they might just succeed.
Willa walked back in the den and talked with as many wolves as she could, seeing how they were doing, sharing the good news, grabbing extra blankets and bowls of stew. After nearly an hour she slowly crept her way to see the two people she was most worried about.
Her mother and father looked just as exhausted as before she left, if not even worse. "Mother, Father," she gently shook their shoulders trying to wake them.
Thankfully they both opened their eyes and gave her kind, loving smiles when they saw her.
"Willa, is Wyatt back too?" Her mother asked.
"He already stopped by dear, but you slept through it."
"He had to leave because he was taking our new friends back to Seabrook. We've made allies, and they've agreed to help us out. I'm sorry I brought outsiders to the Den without permission but I thought if they saw how desperate we are they'd help us for sure, but none of them are dangerous, other than Eliza maybe I don't want to get on her bad side, well probably Zed too if we kidnapped Addison or something like that but-" Willa started rambling.
"Willa, it's OK, you're the Alpha, it was your decision, you don't need to apologize for any…" Her mother broke into a fit of coughing. "Anything, you are the Alpha, and you did it to help us. To help the pack. You did exactly what you are sup…supposed to do."
"Have you figured out where the Moonstone is?" her father asked.
"No, all Seabrook's history books are useless, they hardly even mention us, and don't tell the real story at all. My friends have some more ideas, so we'll all start looking tomorrow."
"That sounds like a good plan then, I wish you luck." Her father replied.
"Do you two need anything before I go again?"
"No, we're fine here. We know you will succeed, who knows maybe you'll be the Great Alpha that recovers the Moonstone the next time we meet. All we need is to wish you luck, and to tell you we love you." Her mother sighed.
"We love you Willa."
"I know, I love you too. I promise I won't rest until we save the Moonstone. Whatever it takes."