I was running.

The sound of my breathing was loud in my ears, almost but not quite masking the crackling of flames and the snarling.

I stopped to catch my breath on top of a hill, looking at the burning forest behind me as my heart pounded. The flames seemed to jump over my head and set the trees that heralded my escape alight.

Dark, canine shadows appeared in the flames and I went into all out panic. I was going to die, right here, right now.

I spun, trying to keep all of the approaching shadow wolves in sight, but it was impossible. There were just too many.

A wolf from behind jumped onto my back, forcing me to the ground with a cry and I could feel its hot breath on my neck. Pain flared up in my shoulder and leg and I screamed.

I woke to a rendition 'Let it Go' and lay there, panting and scanning the room as the nightmare lost its grip.

I was fine, there was no fire, no shadowy wolves. I was alive. I'd managed to sleep late, morning light shining through the curtains; I guess I deserved a lie in after last night.
My parents had barely let me out of their sight until I fell asleep when I got back.
Couldn't really blame them though.

I groaned and rolled into a sitting position as the song cut off, signalling that whoever had been trying to call me had given up.

My right shoulder was sore and stiff, so I reached over with my left hand to grab my phone, seeing that I had a text and a missed call.

The text was from Jason, apparently there had been wolves seen in Burgess after I'd gotten home, but it had been difficult to tell what they had been doing. I didn't see why he was telling me, there were only ten Descendants of Lupine, right? It's not as if there weren't wild wolves in America.

The call was from Jamie's mum.

"Jackie! Thank goodness! When you didn't pick up I-!"

"Mrs Bennett, calm down. What happened?" I asked calmly, calmer than I would normally sound after just coming out of a nightmare.

Mrs Bennett took a deep breath before talking again.

"Jackie, have you seen Jamie?"

"Not for a few days, I've been out of town the last couple of days." I replied, not really lying. "Why?"

"He's not in the house, and his room's a mess."

"Isn't it usually a mess?"

"Messier than usual. I haven't called the police yet, but he's not answering his phone..."

That got my attention.

"Seriously?" I asked, sitting up straighter on my bed and wincing slightly from my shoulder.

"Yes, sorry, I'd thought you'd know where he was."

"I'll give him a call now and if he doesn't answer I'll be right over." A suspicion formed in my head, but I hoped that I was wrong.

"Alright, I hope you have better luck than me."

Mrs Bennett hung up and I scrolled through my phone's contacts, finding Jamie's number and hitting call.

The phone rang, and rang, and rang, until.

"Sorry, the person you are calling is unavailable, please a message after the tone."

I hung up and tried again. Same result.

I felt dread bubble up in my stomach. Please not Jamie, please let him be with Jack and just can't hear his phone. Please let that be the case. Please let my worry just be an aftermath of the nightmare

I got dressed in record time, with a now blood free hoodie, fresh jeans and headed straight for the Bennett residence. The door opened before I'd even had a chance to ring the doorbell.

Mrs Bennett didn't look so good. There were shadows under her eyes and her usually neatly bunned hair was loose and frayed.

"Any luck?" She asked hopefully, either ignoring or not noticing that I'd borrowed a walking stick from my parents. She didn't know about my powers, and I had no intention of telling her.

I shook my head. "I'm sorry."

Her shoulders slumped. "I've called all his friends and they said that they hadn't seen him either. I'd better call the police."

"Hey, while you do that, can I look at Jamie's room?"

Mrs Bennett frowned in confusion. "Yes, but why-?"

"Curiosity." I said.

Her expression didn't change but she stepped back to let me in. "Alright, but don't touch anything. The police may want to look in there."

"Okay, thank you." I said as I passed, and that's when she noticed the walking stick.

"What happened to you?"

"Training injury." I lied before waving away her concern. "I'm fine, really."

"Okay, but if you need help up the stairs..."

"Thanks, but I'll be fine."

As I walked over to the stairs I was suddenly bowled over by a charging six year old with a mop of blonde hair.

"Jackie!" cried Sophie, barrelling straight into my bad leg with Abby barking behind her.
Seeing the aging greyhound suddenly made me freeze up, images of snarling black wolves filling my mind. Sophie's giggling managed to dislodge the images, but they stayed in the back of my mind, out of the way for now.

"Hey Sophie, how you doing?" I asked, trying to ignore the pain she had unknowingly inflicted.

Sophie looked up with her bright green eyes and grinned. "Great! You wanna play?"

"Not today Sophie, there's something I need to see."

Her face fell, then lit up again. "Play later?"

"I'll try, but no promises." I said, but Sophie didn't seem to hear that last part as she ran off giggling.

Abbey gave me a look before bounding as fast as she could after Sophie. Abbey didn't seem to like me, in fact most dogs don't, so Abbey's indifference didn't really bother me.
While Mrs Bennett rang the police I made my way up the stairs to Jamie's room. It hadn't changed much since I'd first seen it. The only difference was the larger pile of school stuff in the corner, adding to the clutter.

However today it was like a tornado had a party in it.

The bed covers were on the floor, various toys had been knocked off their shelves, along with Jamie's gundam robot and his old stuffed rabbit. His old alarm clock had been knocked off the bedside table and the figurines there had also been knocked over. The windows were wide open and the curtains had been thrown apart. The glass in the windows was cracked in some of the panes and outright shattered in one, with shards of glass on the floor.

It honestly surprised me that Mrs Bennett had waited this long to call the police.

I walked cautiously through the clutter, looking for anything black. I hoped not find anything, but there was something. I wasn't completely sure what, but out of two options, one was more likely than the other.

When I found it what made me tense to shock was the fact that it wasn't black sand, which I thought would be more likely.

As bold as brass on Jamie's desk was black fur, contrasting with the open book it was lying on.

There's no way it could be Abby's fur, as Abby was brown and white and had shorter fur. So there were more Descendants of Lupine, great, just great. Jason's text made more sense now.

I tilted my head to the side, trying to work out a good way to collect the fur. I didn't want the police to find this, nor did I want my fingerprints on the book. If the police got involved then things would only get more complicated. The presence of the fur made it a Descendant problem, and as I'd tried to explain to the Descendants of Lupine, you don't get non Descendants involved.

I surrounded the fur in ice and put it in my pocket before scouring the room for more fur. Finding no more black fur I left the room, beginning the slightly painful descent.

Mrs Bennett was waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs.

"Did you find anything?"

I had to lie. "Sorry, no."

She almost seemed to deflate, as if hoping that I'd found some hidden clue that she'd missed. I had, but she couldn't know that.

"Well, let me know if you hear anything."

I nodded, "Will do."

I started to walk past when I saw her eyes glistening. She must have been putting on a brave front for me and Sophie, but now she seemed close to breaking down.

"Mrs Bennett?"

"I'm alright Jackie."

I swallowed nervously. I needed to be on my way, but I knew Mrs Bennett, I saw her as a friend, and her son had just gone missing. I knew in theory what I should do, but doing it was suddenly very difficult.

"I-if you need to let it out, then..." Forget what I said earlier, I had no idea how to handle this.

"Thank you." Mrs Bennett choked and I could see tears beginning to fall behind her glasses.

I hesitated, bracing myself, then awkwardly placed an arm around her shoulders. She and I were about the same height now.

"He'll be okay. Jamie's a tough little guy."

"I know, but I dread to think..."

I rubbed her shoulder, trying to think of something to say. When I did I realised how risky it was, both in practice and just me saying it.

"I'll get him back." I said softly.

"Thank you, but I think we'd better let the police handle it."

"I'm serious. If I find him, I'll get him back."

"Don't be silly, you're injured and think of your parents."

"I know, but I can't do nothing while one of my best friends is missing." And I think I know who did it.

"I know, I feel the same way, but I've got to think of Sophie..."

"I know, but don't worry. It'll be either me or the police that'll get him back. You'll see."

Mrs Bennett sighed, accepting my stubbornness. "Thank you Jackie."

"No problem Mrs Bennett." I retracted my arm and leaned towards the door. "I'd better get going."

I had no desire to be here when the police arrived. HOG and the police were more often than not like oil and water. There were exceptions I think, but overall, we don't mix.

"You're going?"

I looked to the living room door to see Sophie peering around. "Aren't we gonna play?"

"Not today Sophie. Another day?"

"But I want to play now." She complained.

"I know, but I have to go. See you later okay?"

I gave Mrs Bennett a hopefully supportive smile and left the house.