Chapter Four, Part One.

When I woke up, I found a note left on my bedside table. In excruciatingly beautiful calligraphy, Aubrey explained that my sister was in the elementary wing, and if I could get my butt out of bed, I'd have time to pick her up before class. I delicately tucked it under my pillow, and rushed off to get my stuff together. I got to the room just as Carmen, Delilah, and two other girls were leaving.
"Lali!" Carmen hugged me. "Miss Kathleen" (The housemother, I assume?) "said you were sick, so I'd be with them for a day or two. Do you feel better?"
"Much." I stroked her hair. "Did you have fun?"
"Yeah!"
"Good, because the fun ends tonight, 'cause you're back to being with your boring sister."
She grinned.

Apparently, Aubrey had found a way to inform my teachers that I had been "sick". I made up most of the work in study hall, ignoring the notes and paper planes flying through the air. What struck me as odd was the look that crossed over Mr. Conricht's face when I came in. It was totally respectful, and if I wasn't mistaken, he inclined his head slightly. I sat at my seat and pretended I hadn't noticed. Aubrey behaved no differently, and neither did I, though it kind of stung that he was pretty much ignoring me after everything that had happened. Trent was in detention for the week because he'd set off a stink bomb in the girls' locker room, so it was quite peaceful. Brenner would never behave like his usual sycophantic self without someone stronger to instigate any harassment. Finishing my test, I looked up at Aubrey. When he was in class, he was a completely different person. Though I understood the need for a somewhat different attitude to hide his secret, why such a change? Maybe he'd tell me if I got up the nerve to ask... After all, we were partnered for life.


Lunch period came and went, the same as it always did. Overall, life remained largely unchanged, aside from my desire to howl at the moon whenever I caught sight of it, but that was to be expected. I fell back into my regular routine. That is, for a few weeks.
I was sleeping soundly when a sharp tap-tap-tap came from the window, rousing me. I figured it was just a tree branch, tossed in the wind, so I ignored it, rolling over to go back to sleep. The tapping came again, louder and more insistently. Okay, so maybe it isn't a tree. Annoyed, I rose and walked to the window, and there was Rafael, sitting in the tree. He was also knocking on my window with a really big stick.
I opened the window, stage-whispering. "What in the hell do you think you're doing? It's like, two in the morning!"
"You need to come with me."
"It's two in the morning, in case you missed that last part of my statement. What could possibly be so important?!"
He looked me dead in the eyes, all trace of his obnoxious sense of humor gone. "Someone's dead. And a wolf killed him."