Maurice stood tall and proud at the head of the class, holding a small, flattened rock between two fingers. The sun was as high as it ever was, not single wisp of cloud to conceal it. With the sun shining so brilliantly, it was no wonder the day was as warm as it was – perfectly reflecting Maurice's mood. Heat was escaping easily from his barer belly and face, the rest trapped under thick blankets of dark orange hair. As beautiful as the day was, he was thankful that the lesson was nearing its end. A good portion of his thoughts at that point rested in a bowl sitting by the cool, refreshing waters of the communal pond.

"Alright, and lastly, little ones, who can tell me what the biggest carnivore in the forest is?" Maurice gently signed to the many, many little faces staring up at him. There was a flurry of responses as little hairy arms were all waved eagerly into the air. Maurice examined the volunteers carefully, making sure to choose as deliberately and fairly as possible. Hmmm, last time I picked a male gorilla, so this time… "Kim?" he pointed to a little female orangutan.

At first Kim buried her face in her hands, as if regretting that she ever put her hand up. But seeing that the teacher was expecting a response she timidly put her hands up and signed, "Is it…the bear?"

Maurice felt so sorry for the little orangutan. She seemed deathly terrified of being wrong, and unfortunately she was. "A very good guess Kim," he signed as easily as he could, "but remember, a carnivore is an animal that only eats meat, while bears eat meat and plants." Kim looked positively heartbroken. Maurice cooed softly and signed, "It's alright Kim. Do you remember what we call an animal that eats plants and meat?"

Kim thought hard, eager to redeem herself in the eyes of the other Ape infants. The she jumped up and down, signing, "Omnivore!"

Maurice grinned widely, showing off his teeth just for a second, nodding and signing, "Yes, very good Kim! So bears are the biggest omnivores in the forest. But what about the biggest carnivore?" Once more, hands flew up and waved around, and once more, Maurice picked carefully. "Skye?"

A male chimpanzee stood up and signed, "Mountain Lion?"

Maurice nodded and signed, "That's right Skye. Mountain Lion." In addition to repeating the sign, he took a flat slab of rock and drew on it with the small piece in his hand. When he was finished tracing the pictorial symbol for mountain lion, he held it up for all of them to see. "That finishes the lesson for today. Tomorrow we talk about the reptiles."

In less than an instant, the young ones were back to their instinctual selves – playing, wrestling, shrieking, and running around. They were never so excited as they were to be free on this gorgeous day. And Maurice was in complete agreement.

As he turned to make his way to the pond, he was stopped short by the sudden appearance of Cornelia. She was standing on all fours, looking up at him. "Cornelia?" he signed.

She nodded and signed, "Good afternoon Maurice. All finished with today's lesson?"

Maurice nodded, his cheek flaps bobbing up and down slightly from his enthusiasm. "Just finished now."

Cornelia turned and looked out over the small sea of little black and orange bodies, rolling around amongst each other without an ounce of care or worry between them. "You're so good with them," she signed, her brow ridges perking upward.

Maurice looked away in modesty. "They make it easy for me. So eager to learn. He waited a second, and then noticed that Cornelia was still standing by him. "Something you need? I was just about to get a drink."

Cornelia whimpered a little bit as she shook her head. "Oh sorry," she signed. "There is something I wanted to talk about. I'll come with you," she said, reaching out and gently tugging on the hairs of his right arm.

The two Apes ambled over to the pond, where Maurice instantly reached out for a bowl when it was an arm's length way. He carelessly dipped it under the water and brought it up to his lips, splashing his entire face with water even as he gulped down several mouthfuls of the precious liquid. He could feel the water travel down his gullet and give his insides a very welcome cool down.

When he was all finished, he signed, "Now, what can I do for you?"

Cornelia paused before signing, turning her head to see if any Apes were looking at them. When she was certain that they were all too busy to give them any care, she slowly signed, "It's about Caesar. There's something wrong with him but he won't tell me what."

Maurice signed with concern, "What's wrong?"

"He hasn't been sleeping well at all," she signed, worry glistening in her green eyes, "Been this way for about two weeks."

The timeframe caused Maurice to grimace as he confirmed, "Two weeks? You mean since New Year's?"

She gave a reluctant nod. "Every night, he wakes up panting heavily. He thinks I don't know, and he hasn't spoken to me about it."

"What are you going to do?" Maurice asked.

"He needs to talk about it. If he continues to ignore it, then it's going to hurt him," she signed.

"You want me to talk to him?" Maurice asked, sitting down to get closer to her level.

"You, Rocket, Koba, and me. He needs to know that he can trust us, and that we can help him through this," she signed.

Maurice nodded and signed, "That is probably the best thing for it."

As if on cue, the sound of many hooves pounding against dry earth was heard coming up the path toward the village square. It started out very faintly, rising in volume with each passing second until a herd of dark chocolate-covered horses galloped into the village square, each with a chimpanzee sitting atop its back. Beside the horse-mounted chimps, several others ran along side them on foot. In addition, there were a few large, male gorillas with them, wooden baskets filled with hunting tools strapped to their backs. Caesar rode at the head of the party, Blue Eyes, Rocket, and Koba riding right behind him.

When they arrived, many of the Apes in the village went up to them expectantly. They looked all throughout the group, but disappointment spread quickly among them. This was confirmed when Caesar looked at them all and shook his head. With nothing for them there, the other Apes sulked back to their daily business.

"Another unsuccessful hunt," Maurice guessed, judging by everyone's reaction to the returning hunting party. Blue Eyes jumped down from his horse along with Ash, and the two wasted no time in distancing themselves from their fathers. As the rest of the Apes dismounted, Louise the orangutan came to collect the horses and bring them back to the stables.

Caesar kept his head down as he made his way to the tree fort, only offering the simplest nod to Cornelia and Maurice as he passed them. When he was gone from sight, Cornelia turned to Maurice and signed, "Go get Rocket and Koba. I'll try to start."

Maurice ambled off to catch Rocket and Koba before they retired to their homes. Cornelia followed Caesar up the tree. She found him sitting in their nest, facing away from the overlook. She let out a soft hoot to let him know she was in the room. When he didn't look up, she approached him slowly. Since he wasn't facing her, she had to get very close in order for him to see her signs. "How was the hunt?"

He didn't look up as he snorted and signed, "Caught nothing."

Cornelia could easily sense that Caesar wasn't in a talking mood. But as Maurice, Rocket, and Koba all walked in on them at that moment, Caesar's mood hardly mattered. He looked up at the three newcomers, then back to his wife, confusion worn clearly on his expression. "What is this?" he signed.

Cornelia stood up tall, looking him square in the eyes and signing, "We need to talk."

The long, exhausted sigh that Caesar gave told them very clearly that he wasn't looking forward to the talk. But as he turned his body to face them all, they were surprised by his lack of resistance. There was something labored in his gaze, as if he recognized the inevitability of it. "Very well," he signed simply.

Caught off guard by his willingness, Cornelia paused before signing, "I…I know you haven't been sleeping well. You think I don't notice when you wake up in the middle of the night, panting and whimpering before going to get a drink."

"I know it too," Koba signed suddenly. The composure of his signing seemed to imply that he'd been carrying these thoughts all day. "You're not focused during the hunt. Prey gets away. You seem exhausted all the time." Rocket stepped back from Koba as he signed, slightly embarrassed that Koba seemed to blame Caesar for the failure of their hunt. "And not just today. We haven't caught anything all week."

There was clear pain in Caesar's eyes from Koba's accusatory signing. Maurice interjected to try and take some of that pain away. "If there is something that is hurting you, then please let us help. Apes together, strong."

There was nothing Caesar could sign to argue with that. He nodded and answered them. "It is true. I haven't been sleeping well at all. Every night, I have bad dreams. Very bad dreams.

"They started two weeks ago, after the attack on New Year's. At first they were just normal nightmares – visions of the wolf and the attack. But after a few days, they changed. I wasn't being attacked by the wolf," and he paused, as if debating with himself whether to continue or not, "I…I was the wolf. I dreamed that I was a wolf, running through the woods, prowling and hunting and howling at the moon. As I dreamed, I felt this…feeling of…anger. Fury. Like I was building to attack. When the feeling eventually came out, I would wake up. The dreams were bad enough, but….there's more.

"Ever since the last week, I've been having strange feelings. I feel…more irritated. More aggressive. When we go out hunting, and I look at the prey, I become filled with this urge, an urge to leap on to it and tear at its throat with my teeth. It's like…it's like I'm not just the wolf in my dreams. I feel like the wolf when I'm awake too."

There was a deafening silence after Caesar was finished signing. Rocket looked absolutely confused, unable to fully comprehend what Caesar was telling them. Koba's jaw was just slightly agape, the tips of his long canines visible under the lips. Maurice kept perfectly still, but his stillness was just as disconcerting in and of itself. Caesar looked at all four of the other Apes, hoping for anything from them to comfort him.

Finally, Maurice stepped forward and signed, "I was most afraid this would happen. I had hoped that the attack on New Year's would pass without anything happening. But it would seem I was wrong." As he signed, his hands were shaking, conveying the deep terror building behind that stony face."

"What's happened?" Koba signed simply. "Just bad dreams, nothing more."

Maurice shook his head vigorously, grunting as he signed, "It's more than just bad dreams. The feelings in the dreams keep getting stronger, and now they start coming to Caesar while awake. What if this continues, what then?"

"So? What then?" Koba asked.

"Who knows?" Maurice asked, putting his long, hairy arms up in the air. "We don't. And that's the problem. These feelings may go away, or something worse might happen."

"Worse? How?" Rocket asked, getting more anxious as he rocked back on all four legs.

The full extent of the potential horror sat inside Maurice's mind, though he dare not sign it in front of them. It was something he desperately wanted to believe wasn't possible, but that was no longer a valid excuse. The impossible had already happened, and there was nothing to keep it from happening again. Slowly, with weak hands, he signed, "We found a wolf that changed into a man. But what if…what if it was the other way around? What if it was a man who changed into a wolf?"

The idea hit Caesar like a rock to the head, causing him to stand up. The sign acted as a catalyst to this thoughts, connections being mad, possibilities being examined. He started pant-hooting instinctively out of fear, pacing around the nest.

Maurice tried to calm Caesar by signing, "Remember, we know nothing about this for sure-"

"Then…we must...learn more!" Caesar said in a low, hoarse voice. The spoken words were not angry, but they were fiercely determined. Standing at full height, he gave all of them a very serious expression. Then he brought up his hands to sign, "You all must go. Find out as much about the wolf that attacked me as you can. Where it came from, how it got here. And you must do so as quickly as you can."

Maurice, Cornelia, and Rocket all instantly bowed their heads in obedience. Koba looked around and saw their reaction, mimicking it even as he sighed in disbelief. They all turned around and headed down the stairs, passing through the village square on their way to the stables. Koba stopped them midway and signed, "Before we leave, we should each get a weapon."

Maurice shook his head, "Don't have one."

Koba rolled his head in frustration and signed, "Will lend you one of mine."

They all met up at the stables after grabbing a spear each. After quickly harnessing their horses, they rode out of the stables, through the back entrance to village, heading South as they retraced their steps. Turning right at the river, they reached the sight of Buck's grave in just over half an hour. A few hundred feet away from it was the corpse, still human after two weeks and very well-decomposed. Any skin left on the body was well blistered, even as many patches head already fallen off. With the skin so far dried out, the roots of the fingernails and hair were exposed, making them look longer than they had two weeks ago. They all covered their noses as they were ferociously assaulted by the putrid odor drifting off the carcass. The sight of many black flies and white maggots squirming in the flesh did not add to the appeal of the scene.

Turning away from the rotting corpse, Koba signed, "So what are we looking for?"

"We need to find out where this wolf came from," Maurice signed, ignoring the fact that he was referring to a human body when talking about 'this wolf.' "Cornelia, you're the only one of us who came from the wild. What sorts of things should we be looking for?"

"Foot prints, hairs, kills, broken branches. Anything that might indicate the wolf passed by," she signed.

"Foot prints are no use," Rocket signed. "They'd be gone after 2 weeks."

"Then we look for the other signs," Maurice signed.

"It would be best if we split up," Cornelia signed. "That way we can cover more ground."

They all agreed, riding off in different directions. Koba and Rocket stayed on that side of the river, while Maurice and Cornelia crossed to the other side to begin their search. The sun was shining at full force in the midst of the late afternoon, though in the shadow of the redwoods, that wasn't too helpful. Still, every bit of light helped, and whatever stray beams of sunlight found their way unfiltered to the forest floor were extremely helpful. They couldn't ride as fast as they wanted since their searching took them off the beaten paths into more uneven terrain, but the horses still made good time. Koba and Rocket were probably the most skilled trackers due to their participation in many hunts over the last 8 years, and they did indeed find a few signs that the wolf had passed by. The most obvious of which was a deer carcass that seemed about as old as the human they'd found. Cornelia was no slouch in the tracking department either, having learned such necessary skills in the jungles of Gabon. Though she hadn't exercized these survival skills in many years, she found that they came back to her very easily. However, she was having less success.

Maurice was no doubt the weakest tracker of all. He rode slowly through the woods, trying to spot any potential clues. But in the end, the forest just seemed to blend into itself. Maurice was not the dumbest Ape of the clan – far from it in fact. There was a good reason Caesar had made him the teacher of all the Apes' children. But he simply lacked the practical experience necessary to appreciate the subtleties of the forest. He spotted many pieces of broken foliage, but there was no way for him to discern what kind of animals made them. It all just looked like woods to him.

Shaking his head and growling in frustration, he brought his horse to a stand still. He scratched his left cheek flap, thinking intensely. There has to be an easier way…

His green eyes lit up. Somewhere inside, the answer just came to him. He had been trying to track a wolf. But maybe it would be smarter to try and track the man. He was much better at picking out signs of recent human presence, if only because stealth and nuance were things humans had no clue of, especially when it came to the outdoors.

He slid off the back of his horse and made contact with the ground. Then he clambered over to the nearest red wood and reached up with both arms, hauling his tremendous weight straight up the trunk. Grasping hold of the bark with both his opposable thumbs and toes, he used his immense strength to pull his 300 pound, bulky body up the side of the tree. He may not have been an expert tracker, but climbing was something he was born good at.

Reaching one of the higher branches, he plopped himself down and peered out over the sea of treetops extending for miles around. He held his hand over his yes, shielding them from the intense rays of the sun. At first, there didn't appear to be any signs of anything. But looking off toward the Southeast, he caught sight of something. A break in the trees, and sitting right in the middle – a human house.

Maurice descended the tree as quickly as his old bones would allow him, and remounted his horse as quickly as possible. He rode out Southeast, trying as hard as possible to maintain a straight line despite the rugged terrain and many trees in the path. Staring straight ahead, he thought he saw it; obscured by many trees and shrubs. He pulled on the horse's reins, slowing its pace to a slow walk. He didn't want to signal his approach on the off chance that the residents were home. It wasn't likely at this point, but fate never punished the cautious.

When he was about 500 feet from the house, he descended his horse, tying it to a nearby tree stump. He made is way toward the house, maintaining as much silence as he could. He could see there was a car parked by the front door; not a good sign for his hopes that the house was abandoned. He tightened his grip on Koba's spear as he pushed on. Then he noticed the door itself, which looked somehow eschew. Curiosity was beginning to outweigh his caution, and he slowly began heading toward the door.

As he got closer he noticed many things. First and foremost – deep gashes made into the wood grain of the door. It looked like someone had taken a knife – or four – and slashed at the wood in an attempt to force their way in. Their efforts must have been rewarded with success, as the door was barely hanging to the hinges. All Maurice had to do to open it was gently nudge it with his finger.

The door swung inward, letting in the light from outside. Otherwise, there was no light, at least none from inside. There were two things that Maurice noticed as he got his first look at the inside of the house. These two things were all he needed to see. They were enough to cause him to go wide eyed, low hoots sounding from his lips. He turned around to face the outside and he let out several loud trumpeting hoots. The calls were amplified by the throat sack hanging low under his chin. This ensured that, even from several miles out, the other three would hear him.

The first things he saw were paw prints; bloody paw prints prowling around the house in a few different directions. They were very large, and were more than a match for the size of the wolf that attacked Caesar. Lying on the floor, surrounded by all the bloody tracks, was a long, robust-looking gun. Several bullet casings lay scattered all around on the floor. Maurice could almost hear the gun shots being fired by a desperate human, screaming for his life with the wolf barreling down on top of him. The shots, the screams, the snarls. They were all so vivid in Maurice's imagination. Even as he tried to get the images out of his head, he could feel his blood chilling to a startling cold. He was frozen at the doorway, not daring to go further inside lest he be attacked by the lingering memory of the horror that took place there.

Maurice was so caught up in the ghost of the event that he didn't even notice the sound of hooves galloping up toward him. Two horses, Koba's and Rocket's, came up to him, their riders dismounting with frantic faces. "What is it?" Koba asked.

Maurice shook his head to bring himself back to the scene around him. He looked down to see he had dropped the spear Koba had lent him. He hadn't even noticed it wasn't in his hand. "I…found something," he signed meekly.

Koba and Rocket could tell that much. They went up to the open doorway, looking past Maurice to what lay inside. The rusty-colored paw prints and the fallen shot gun told their story as quickly to them as they had to Maurice. Rocket let out a few hoots of distress followed by a few whimpers. Koba was less put off by the display of long-past violence. He stepped across the threshold, his own foot coming into contact with one of the tracks. Dropping to all fours, he slowly walked into the house, walking along his knuckles as he peered into every room. Going to the other side of the first room, he grabbed a set of blinds along the windows, letting more light into the room. With more sunlight illuminating the room, it became less foreboding. Rocket could now bring himself to step across the threshold, even if Maurice was still hesitant.

When Cornelia arrived on her horse, Maurice was less entranced. He watched as she rode up to the door and dismounted, sighing, "What did you find?"

Maurice simply gestured to the inside of the house. As Cornelia peeked in, the story was once again instantly conveyed. She whimpered a little and moved closer to Maurice. He reached around to put a hand on her shoulder, as much for his own comfort as for hers. They crossed over together.

Koba was going around to each room, opening more blinds to let in more light. Rocket wasn't looking for anything in particular, and was still quite captivated by the story lost to the old, dusty wooden walls.

Koba opened up another door to another room, but this one gave him cause to stop. He pant-hooted a few times, drawing the others' attention. They rushed over to where he stood at the doorway. Inside, they could all make out the bodies of three humans, two of adult size, one that noticeably, tragically, smaller. Apart from a few rancid fluids, there was nothing left but their skeletons, still dressed in the blood-stained clothing they'd gone to sleep in.

Once again, Maurice, Rocket, and Cornelia all let out loud, vocal signals of their distress. Koba merely snorted and turned his attention to the rest of the house. It didn't take long for the other three to find better things to focus on.

Koba signed to them, "So the wolf was here?"

Maurice nodded, "Definitely. A large wolf was here, broke into the house and killed the humans who lived here. It fits," he signed gravely.

"Let's see what we can find," Cornelia signed, looking through an old dusty bookcase. A lot of the house seemed dusty to Maurice. Judging by the state of the bodies, he'd have guessed that that this house had been ownerless for over a month, at least. There was a fine layer of dust on just about everything. Just about.

Maurice turned a corner to see what looked like a living room. Inside, all around the coffee table, was a backpack, a few books, some folders, and even a pair of clothes. They weren't in the best condition ever, but they did look like they'd been handled more recently, at least compared to everything else in the house. Curious, Maurice walked toward the table.

The first thing he noticed was a map. The title of the map read, "Muir Woods," which Maurice recognized as the humans' name for their home. The map was incredibly detailed, so much so that Maurice thought he could make out the site of their village. Sitting on top of the map was a folder filled with several documents, documents with print too small to be worth reading at this point for Maurice, and next to that were a few books. Maurice picked one up and looked at the title, sounding it out in his head.

The Secrets of Black Magic

The title made no sense to Maurice. He had no idea what 'black magic' was, let alone what secrets it may or may not have had. He ran his hand over the cover, feeling age of use along its torn bind. He casually opened it up. To his surprise, the book seemed almost to open by itself; the bind neatly folding as it settled on one point about half way through the book. Once again, one look was all Maurice needed to call out to the others. They rushed into the room, all looking around for anything unusual. Whey they arrived, Maurice turned and held up the page for them to see. Their attention was instantly drawn.

There was an illustration on the lower half of one page, or rather a series of illustrations. The one on the farthest left was of a man. The one on the farthest right was of a wolf. And the four drawings in between showed what could only have been the physical stages of transformation from man into wolf. The three black Apes all started hooting loudly at the sight. There was no doubt – this is what they were looking for.

"You read," Rocket signed. "You're the best reader. Tell us what it says!"

Maurice nodded, setting the book down and starting to read. Although Rocket was correct in his assessment of Maurice's reading comprehension, this book was still a challenge. It was filled with many words that Maurice had never heard of before. Other words he'd heard humans speak but didn't know the sign. With this in mind, he started his translation as best he could.

"The book says that there is a thing, a creature called…," and Maurice had to spell it out for them, "W. E. R. E wolf. A werewolf. A werewolf is a human who will turn into a wolf under the light of a full moon."

"The moon was full on the night of the attack!" Rocket pointed out with a few hollers.

Maurice kept reading. "At first, the victim of this curse will only transform partway, being part human part wolf. The longer they are cursed, the wolf part becomes stronger, until they transform completely into a wolf. When as a wolf, a werewolf can be told apart from a normal wolf in a few ways. It is much larger than a regular wolf, and much more aggressive as well. It singles out humans to attack, though it will attack other prey if there are no other humans around. Once the night of the full moon is over, the wolf will change back into a human, and will remain that way until the next night of the full moon. The curse of the werewolf can be transferred from person to person via a bite or scratch from another werewolf. The wound will heal by sunrise, but by the next full moon, the victim will undergo their first transformation."

All four of their hearts sank as Maurice signed out that part of the text. They were all stunned into silence as the revelation smashed into their minds, accompanied by all sorts of truly dreadful implications. Finally, after stewing in the horror of the reveal, Cornelia frantically signed, "Is there a way to fix it?"

Maurice skimmed ahead, passing over things about history and mythology. Whoever owned the book had made a point of highlighting certain parts of it in red ink. Maurice used these notations as guides for relevance, and he found just what he was looking for in a big red circle scribbled eagerly over the text. "There is only one way to kill a werewolf while in its wolf form. Silver is poison to the werewolf; any weapon fashioned from silver – a bullet, a sword, a knife, any weapon – will be enough to kill the wolf. Any other weapon made from anything else will only wound it, but never kill it. While in human form, the werewolf is as mortal as any human."

Rocket hollered a few times at the sight of that sign. "That's why the wolf didn't die when I stabbed it! The spear wasn't made from silver!"

"So the wolf had the spear impaled through its ribs, and when it changed back into a human…," and Cornelia couldn't bring herself to finish that sign. "But is there anything about a cure?"

Maurice nodded, signing, "There is only one way to cure a werewolf. The werewolf must drink the blood of the werewolf who originally bit him. But both the victim and the original werewolf must be in wolf form in order for it to work. If either is human, then the curse will remain."

There was much snarling and snorting from the two chimps and one bonobo. "How are we supposed to do that!" Koba signed with a snarl. "The werewolf that bit Caesar is already dead!"

"There must be something, some other way!" Cornelia signed, hooting distressfully as she clambered through the other things on the table; the bag, the other books, the folder, the clothes. Maurice caught sight of something that fell from one of the pant's pockets. It was a small brown rectangular object. When Maurice picked it up, he could feel the texture of dried animal hide. He opened up a flap on the object and saw a few different things. There were some green pieces of paper stored in one part, and many pieces of plastic in pouches. One of these had a photo on it. Maurice took it out of the object and held it up close to his eyes. The picture was of a young adult human, one of the pasty, lighter-colored variety. He was smiling, baring his white teeth right at the onlooker, a face Maurice always thought as hostile. But despite the difference in the expression, there was no doubt about it – this was the same man they'd seen lying dead in the forest just a few hours ago. His name, apparently, was Brendan Larsen

Cornelia was still rifling through the assorted junk on the coffee table, looking for any glint of hope for Caesar. When she picked up the manila-colored folder, many pieces of white paper fell out, along with one small piece. Cornelia stopped searching for a moment and picked up the small piece. It was a photograph, showing a rather carefree-looking young adult female human with bright red hair.

Koba caught sight of the photograph and snatched it away from Cornelia. She flared her lips with a hiss at him, but he was too busy. He started panting at the sight of the woman in the photo. "I know this human!" he signed, drawing all eyes to him. "This was the female that Blue Eyes and I saw on our way back from hunting two weeks ago!"

They all tilted their heads at that point, Rocket scratching his bald crown. Looking for more answers, Maurice reached down and picked up the papers that fell on the floor. Despite their small print, they had become worthy of deciphering. As near as Maurice could understand, these were documents telling the reader about the girl in the photo. Her name was Amelia Murphy, and she was 28 years old. She was born in a place called Connecticut, before moving to another place called Texas. And then another place called Nevada. In fact, most of these documents seemed to trace where Amelia Murphy had been over the course of her life. The last document settled on a place name that Maurice actually recognized – California. Still holding the documents in hand, he looked over at the map of the forest spread out on the table. After just a few moments, the pieces were put together in his head, and they fit together so perfectly that Maurice threw up his arms and started hooting at full volume. The three confused ones all turned with questioning looks.

"I finally understand!" he singed in an orange flurry. "Caesar was bitten by this man – this werewolf – named Brendan Larsen. Brendan Larsen had come to our forest looking for this werewolf that bit him, this woman, Amelia Murphy!" he signed, pointing at the photograph still in Koba's hands. "He was hoping to drink her blood to lift the curse! He's been tracking her whereabouts for a while, but when he came here, he wasn't expecting to run into us."

"And we killed him," Koba signed rather blandly, reinforcing the hopelessness of their predicament.

Maurice put up his hand and countered. "Ahh, but there may still be hope! This woman, Amelia Murphy, is still in the forest! Or she was still here at least two weeks ago! We know this because Koba and Blue Eyes saw her! Maybe…if Caesar drinks her blood, he'll return to normal!"

"But the book says it has to be the one that bit him," Rocket signed confusedly.

"Ah, but Amelia Murphy is the werewolf that bit the werewolf that bit Caesar! There is a line connecting them!" Maurice persisted.

"It's our only hope," Cornelia signed with an optimistic whisper.

"Quickly, let's gather all of these things and bring them back to the village. We only have two more weeks until Caesar's first transformation. We have to find Amelia Murphy before then!" Maurice ordered. They all started gathering up the books, the maps, and the documents before exiting the abandoned house and riding back toward the village, carrying the only hope they had of undoing this malevolent curse.