Thoughts

Brett looked over at Levi. He hadn’t moved since Brett had run the wolf though. Levi was looking at Brett like he had never seen him before. His face was pale and his eyes were wide. His breaths came in pants and he was shaking slightly.

“Dude, are you okay?” Brett asked Levi. Brett felt the change. The slight green light was fading the smell of the forest was almost gone now. The fence that Brett had torn apart fell and crashed to the floor. There was yelling from the gym below. “This is no time to be in shock.” Brett said grabbing Levi and pulling him towards the narrow staircase. “We need to get out of here now.”

They meet Taylor coming up as they were halfway down. “What happened?” he asked animatedly. “One moment Sam is saying how you’re taking too long and then the next we hear a gigantic crash coming form up here.”

Brett was about to answer him when Levi beat him to it. “It was awesome!” Brett almost strangled him. “That other guy from the other school just came here to fight Brett. Brett just threw him down and then the guy just started going crazy and broke the fence then took off didn’t you see him go past you on your way up?”

Brett looked in shock at Levi. That was not what he had been expecting him to say. Levi was still white and shaky, but the light was coming back into his eyes and he was grinning excitedly.

“No I didn’t see him go past me.” Taylor said looking around him, and up and down the stairs. Looking to see if Camdon was still hiding somewhere in the shadows. “Figures, the guy looked like nothing but trouble. Well we better take off. Most of the guys are already gone, come on.”

They took of down the stairs clearing the last in one great leap and headed out the gym doors. The color was now back in Levi’s face and his eyes shown with excitement. Brett should have known better. Levi would never betray him. Levi had been the only one that he had told his experiences to. For some reason he had been certain that Levi would never betray him and tell anyone. Now he just had those thoughts and feelings confirmed to him.

They didn’t stop running until they were safely outside of the school. They stood for a moment panting Levi had his hands on his knees. Brett slapped him on the back. Levi wasn’t the best at running and sports. Finally Taylor stood up looking around.

“Well I think I’m gonna go look for the other guys and make sure they haven’t been caught. I’ll catch you latter at Practice k Brett.” Taylor said turning to go back into the building.

“Okay sees you at Practice.” Brett replayed watching Taylor disappear into the building. Levi and Brett just stood there in silence just looking at each other finally Levi broke it with a question.

“Sooo, what are you?” He asked

“What do you mean?”

“Well you threw a pony sized wolf around like it was a doll and then you riped a mettle poll out of the ground and used it like a spear. I know you’ve told me stories, but to be honest, I thought they were just stories. That was pretty weird and in your case superhuman and in its case not human at all.” Levi paused for a moment thinking and then almost yelled excitedly. “Dude are you a super hero?”

“Wait, what?” Brett said confused

“Have you ever been bitten by a radioactive spider?” Levi asked.

“No”

“Are you an alien from another world?”

“NO!”

“Just making sure, did you ever sign up for a top military experiment?”

“No.”

“Would you tell me if you had?”

“Yes.”

“Sweet, Are you a billionaire and were your parents killed in front of you.”

“Dude Levi you know my parents.”

“Did an alien come and give you a magic ring that you have to charge at night.”

“Dude no and what’s with the alien questions.”

“Just making sure. So that only leaves two possibilities. One you’re a mutant. And the other is that you’re a demigod.”

“Dude Levi you’re confusing me buddy.” Brett said his head starting to hurt.

“Well it is standard for superhero origins. If you’re not an alien, have no alien weapons, aren’t rich and haven’t had your parent killed in front of you, if you haven’t been exposed to anything then that leaves being a mutant and or demigod. Although we are gonna have to keep an eye on you and make sure you don’t turn into a werewolf.”

“A what. Dude Levi you know that sometimes you’re really out there.” Brett said incredulously.

“Come on Brett wasn’t that what Camdon was. He was a kid that turned into a wolf. I think that is the definition of a werewolf.”

“Look Levi I don’t even know what’s going on. I would love to know what’s going on but I don’t. So right now I just want to get my arm wrapped up. I’m surprised Taylor didn’t say anything about it.” Brett walked off starting to go back inside and turned around when he realized that Levi wasn’t following. Levi was staring down at the sidewalk lost in thought. “Dude are you coming?”

“Well I can’t help you with your arm.” Levi said. “But I might know where we can get some answers.” 

The Wolf

"Great, not again," Brett sighed and turned to see what it would be this time.

Camdon stood behind them, growling, eyes narrowed. His hair stood straight up on his head, and as they watched his eyes started glowing a dull red. Fangs like needles schiiiikked into place where normal human teeth should have been. Camdon's chest narrowed and bulged grotesquely, claws extended from fingers, and fur rippled across his skin.

"You should have said something before," Brett said, cracking his knuckles and settling into a more defensive posture. "We could have taken this outside." Brett glanced over his shoulder, where Levi was scrambling back out of the cage of sports equipment. "Stay back Levi."

"I got your back," Levi answered, completely ignoring his advice. He dragged a hockey stick out from the supply room, eyes shining with excitement.

"Dude, you can't handle this," Brett turned slightly, focusing his attention on Levi. In that moment the wolf-Camdon was rushing him.

Camdon was now a totally transformed monster. He ran on all fours, with great curving talons instead of nails. Saliva dripped from his toothy maw, and his pointed black ears were pressed tight to his skull.

Brett was ready. His pulse quickened in excitement. He dropped to the floor, letting Camdon sail over him. The monster just missed, and Brett caught at the back paws before it had time to react, yanking it forward. Heaving the wolf-like creature now bigger than a tiger, he smashed it into the ground, cracking the linoleum flooring.

It was back on its feet in a second, teeth firmly bared in Brett's direction. The beast now favored one front paw. Its hackles raised, the thing that had looked like a boy only minutes before cut loose with a shivery, hungry hum, like the grumble of a diesel truck on steroids. They circled each other slowly, each looking for an opening.

That's when Levi came up from behind and swatted the monster wolf over the head with the hockey stick. Probably not the smartest decision he'd made in his life.

Camdon howled and swiped at him, breaking the hockey stick in two. Levi stumbled away, a comic terror pasting his face.

Brett leaped forward as the beast sprang for Levi's throat, just barely managing to pull the creature off of the smaller teen. He strained to keep the thing contained, Levi yelling and screaming to get it off of him, muscles straining as it struggled forward.

The wolf thing turned, teeth snapping, and grazed Brett's arm. Its claws scraped gouges across his chest.

A moment later they were all tumbling, twisting, falling down onto a branch of the Tree.

That's how Brett always thought of the strange gold-green twilight of leaf-litter and rough bark. He'd been here several times before, always just before or during a fight with some kind of monster. What made this visit different is that this time someone else had come along as well.

A moment after Brett and the Camdon wolf, Levi hit the ground, groaning.

Brett barely had time to worry about that. Almost before he could get to his feet the wolf was on top of him, snapping, scraping, clawing. Its jaws slobbered and bent forward, snapping inches from Brett's face. It twisted and bit down, hard, on Brett's arm, shaking him.

Brett gritted his teeth to keep from howling. He felt wet warmth in his arm, but managed to block out most of the pain. Rage tinged the edges of his vision red, and a feeling of invincibility engulfed him. A second later he gripped the wolf-things throat, injuries forgotten, and roared at it. The thing yipped back. Yanking it off his arm, Brett surged to his feet and tossed the beast away, all in one motion.

It thudded into a tree and lay still for a moment, stunned. The monster tried to regain its feet, wobbling, and then fell down, whimpering.

Brett ran over to Levi. "Are you alright? What did you think you were doing?" He yelled.

Levi stood shakily on his feet. "I'm alright."

"You won't be," the monster snarled, the worlds strangely twisted from its unnatural lips. "I'm merely the first. Soon my brothers will come for you, and they will tell others. The spawn of the dead gods shall not live." The creature hacked blood.

Brett broke off a branch of the tree, body trembling with adrenaline. As the creature made one final, halfhearted rush in their direction, Brett speared it through the chest. It shuddered once, and lay still.

"You killed him," Levi whispered, shocked.

South Gym

They walked through the hall. Most of the guys talked about their fantasy football teams. They would then switch and talk about real football teams so much that Levi didn't know which was which. They also talked about cars and girls. Girls was the only one of their subjects that Levi would have felt comfortable talking with them about. Besides Brett, Levi didn't feel very comfortable with any of the other guys. They were all seniors and juniors, they were jocks as well. Not the type of guys Levi usually hanged out with. Although it seemed that they only associated with him when they wanted him to open up the gym for them. they all seemed pretty cool. except for Camdon. He followed them through the Halls like he was stalking them.

            It was easy enough getting into the gym. Lynn Academy had three of them and Levi could pretty much get into any of them. He didn't know how to pick locks but he could get in with just a pen and a credit card. The biggest and nicest of the gyms was to the east and was reserved for Varsity events. The second largest gym was the North gym, and was the second largest gym used for school gatherings.

They headed to the South gym. It was the smallest of the gyms but held an advantage over the others, new equipment. The south gym held the room where all the new equipment was stored in. It was a strange room, Levi always thought of it like a birds nest. It was built into one of the walls over the rooms beneath. it was open to the gym but was about to levels up. the only way to get to it was a small staircase also built into the wall. This was the real reason that they all need Levi to help them.

Levi got the door open easily enough, and they all filed inside. He had found out how to get in here one day when he was looking for a place to play his music. Then Brett had showed up with some of the other football players and started to play basketball. Levi had never joined them, he had helped them get the Basketballs but he had never joined them. Levi wasnt that great at sports, not like Brett was. But most people weren't like Brett. Most people didn't have weird things happen to them all the time.

Most of the guys started rough housing and running around as soon as they were in the gym. Brett and Levi headed for the door set into one wall that lead up to the supply room and the basketballs that everyone wanted to play with. Levi was able to open the door and they headed up the narrow staircase.

“So, what brought up this basketball excursion?” Levi asked Brett as they headed up the dark passageway.

“Oh, you know. Didn’t like the way the conversation was going and decided to bail. “A couple of the other guys joined me and said they wanted to play basketball. And so thats how I ended up here.”

“Wow Brett. Thats so exciting I don’t know how you can handle your oh so popular and hard lifestyle.” Levi said sarcastically.

“Haha shut up man. You know I just love to play the game.” Brett said. “I could do without all the extra stuff.”

“Ha, ya, I know you Brett. You're just eating it up. Just admit that you like the attention. It will be easier when you do.”

“Ya sure Levi.” Brett said sarcastically, as they reached the top.

All the new equipment was behind a chain link fence that made a wall. They must not have had enough of the fencing because there was a little bit at the top that was just wood slats. Levi had loosened one up so that he could move it. When he did that there was just enough room for him to fit in. Thats why the jocks needed him. They were all to big to fit through the small whole.

“Okay.” Levi said. “I’ll be back in a jiffy.”

“Not if I eat you first.” said a cruel voice from behind them.

Levi

Brett went to find Levi, who of course was hanging out in the band room. He had out his guitar and seemed perfectly able to to ignore the three flautists in another corner, shrilly practicing their solo performance. Levi was totally engrossed in his music, head bent and shaggy hair obscuring his eyes.

"Dude, what are you playing?" Brett asked. Levi looked up, startled. Brett laughed. "You're so spacey, bro. I've been standing here, like, five minutes."

"Sorry," Levi placed his guitar back in the case and stacked it carefully in the back with the rest of the instruments. "Cliffs of Dover. Just kind of needed some music time. What's up?"

"A couple of the guys and I were thinking you could open the gym for us." Brett grinned.

"Again? Isn't this like the third time this week?" Levi made a huge sigh, pretending to be upset about it, but Brett knew his buddy was pleased to be asked for help.

"We've got to get in extra practice for Friday's game," Brett held up his hands. "We've been a little rusty on the last couple plays."

"You play basketball in the gym."

"Haven't you ever heard about that one dude that took ballet so that it could make him faster in football?" Brett threw his arm over Levi's shoulders as they left the squeaky flutes behind.

"Why don't you guys do ballet then?" Levi laughed.

Out in the hall Luke, Sam, Taylor, and two other guys that Levi didn't recognize were waiting. "Hey guys,"

Luke and Taylor were arguing about who got Andrew Luck for their fantasy football teams. "Dude, you got screwed on the draw. It happens, I got him fair and square." Luke crossed his arms.

"Payton Manning and Eli Manning are already taken by the red heads," Taylor listed on his fingers. "Brett's got Tom Brady is taken, Drew Breeze is taken. All I got left is Tony Romo. Switch me and I'll give you DeSean Jackson."

"What's up Levi?" Sam greeted him. He nodded to the two new guys, while Luke and Taylor continued arguing. "This is Camdon and Zhang from the game last week. They're hanging with us today."

Zhang smiled in greeting, but Camdon only bared his teeth. "So this is the guy? Let's get going," He said.

Brett had been feeling uneasy over Sam's friends... mostly Camdon. But Sam always tried to keep in touch with players from the other teams, and Zhang was pretty cool. Camdon just got on Brett's nerves with his gruff attitude and the weird way he stared at everyone like he wanted to murder them.

"No way," Luke wasn't budging. "Luck is mine. Better luck next season."

"Let's get going," Brett said, leading the way towards the gym. The older guys continued arguing as they wandered down the hall.

Brett

“Okay five hottest girls in school go.” Sadly this was a normal conversation around Brett. At least it was better than when they said what 5 girls do you want to bang in school. They had stopped doing that one around Brett when he started yelling at them for it.

“And this time no Clair, everyone knows she’s the hottest but she’s with David so none of us are going to get that one.” There was some laughing around the table, at Luke’s comment. Luke wasn’t always the instigator but he brought up the conversation about girls more often than anyone else.

The table consisted of your typical jock type. Athletic, big and burly. Most of them were seniors and juniors. There weren’t really any sophomores and Brett was the only freshman. 15 and already taller than most of the guys on the team, Brett had earned his right to sit at this table. He was there quarterback, and as of right now they were undefeated. Something unheard of for a new school like Lynn Academy. It was all thanks to players like Brett and others like Ben and Mark. Brett wouldn’t have even come here but Levi said he wanted to come for the music. So Brett had followed his best friend and became the quarterback, easily beating out the old one.

“Well, have you seen the librarian’s assistant, Emily?” Said one of the linebackers.

“When have you ever been in a library?” Someone else said bringing louds of laughter from the rest of the table. Even the guy who they were laughing at joined in.

“haha ya well she’s pretty Hot. I bet she would just go wild when…” The linebacker looked over at Brett and swallowed what he had been about to say. “Well she’s real hot.” This was meet by everyone pounding on the table showing there agreement.

“Dude my choice is…” Sam the cornerback said, quickly looking around, and after his next sentence it became apparent why. “Holly. Redheads are hot and she is smokin.” This was again meet by laughter and hearty pounding on the table. They would have never said that with Ben and Mark around. It just wasn’t a good idea to have your face reconstructed by the twins.

“Well if we are going for dangerous here why not…” again another quick look around. This time it was Taylor the wide receiver doing the talking. Good natured and always one for a laugh he had most of the guys attention waiting on his choice. “Autumn?” This brought on lots off table banging and some hollering and back slapping. “I know you would probably never be able to tell who was in charge of the relationship.” Taylor went on. “But if tall, brunette sexy amazon is on your list you won’t find any girl better then Autumn to fulfill your dreams.”

“Well if you’re gonna do Autumn you might as well include Tori.” Said someone else. “Heck there always together and if you get lucky you might get both. Although with Tori you’ll always need to check for a bucket of cold water.” More laughter and table slapping.

Brett sighed inwardly. Too bad the twins weren’t here. They at least had cool things to talk about. Especially Mark, if you could get him talking about circuit boards and stuff he could go on for hours. And even though Ben didn’t share is brother’s love for electronics and spent most of his time in shop class, don’t let that fool you. He had the mind of an engineer and had stumped countless people with the puzzles he made.

“What about you Brett?” Luke asked. “Who’s your pick?”

Crap Brett thought, I should’ve left when I had the chance. The whole table was now looking at him, smiling. They all knew who he liked. It was pretty obvious. It was also obvious that half of them liked her to. When she showed up it seemed like half the team came down with injuries. They just liked bringing this up to watch him squirm.

“Annnd that’s my queue to leave” Brett said grabbing his stuff. “See you guys at practice.” As he was leaving he could barely make out some of the conversation he was leaving.

“Dude his head over heels for her.”

“Ya but if he wants her he better get in line. He might be the QB but his still just a freshman.”

“Come on guys. You all know none of us stands a chance she doesn’t go for athletes and if any of us got with her we’d all beat the crap out of him.”

The last thing he heard was laughter as he left the lunchroom was the sound of their laughter and the beat of their hands on the table.

Waiting in the Car

Hod, Claire, and David walked out of the caves together. The bright lights of Lion's Gate Bridge and the city, the sound of the cars rushing past, and the cool running water were so clean after that dark place. They wandered back to David's car, where they finally got some decent reception. David stepped out for a moment and made a call to Mr. Lords.

When he got back, Claire and Hod were snuggled together in the back seat. They'd pulled out one of the emergency blankets. Hod seemed at ease, finally, the near permanent crease in his brow smoothed, the tightness around his mouth loosed in sleep. His head was on Claire's, her head on his shoulder. She was quietly fiddling with the lapels on his jacket.

"You're dad's already on his way, with James and Alvarado and the others. They'll be here in a half hour," David said quietly. "You guys doing okay?"

"Yeah," Claire said quietly, "I'm fine. Hod's asleep."

"I am not," Hod said, smiling. "I just like it here." He hugged Claire to him, and she snuggled closer. "What did you tell Mr. Lord?"

"Nothing much. Just that we found his daughter. Apparently he noticed something strange with Sherrie, and when they started going through old security footage they noticed Claire and Sheila in multiple places at the same time. By that time we were already underground, so we didn't get any of their messages." David settled into the driver's seat. "Guys, what are we going to do? We've never told anyone about the weird stuff before. Now suddenly Claire's whole family knows. More than my own mom and dad, definitely more than yours, Hod."

"David, stop being silly. Claire was kidnapped, we all almost died. I think worrying about that right now's a little insensitive," Hod said irritably.

"I'm fine, Hod," Claire said firmly. She paused. "Stuff like this has happened to you guys before, huh?"

David nodded. "Yeah."

Hod grimaced. "A lot." He hesitated. "And we're not the only ones."

"What?" Now it was David's turn to be surprised. "Who?"

"I'm not sure but... I think maybe Autumn. Maybe Brett, that new quarterback. A few others I'm even less sure of," Hod said, thinking out loud. "And... I think Claire has as well." The last was a slight question.

"A few times, I thought I've felt some things. I always called it luck," Claire admitted uncomfortably. "But I think I've always been subconsciously aware of the odd weirdness cropping up. Nothing like this. This was..." She shuddered. "I'm going to want counseling for sure." She got a puzzled look on her face. "But how I'm going to explain this, I have no idea."

"You can't," Hod said quietly. "My mom's a psychiatrist, and she never understood my 'psychotic episodes' as she called them. Tried to put me on Seroquel. The only person who really understood was David, and that's because the same kinds of things were happening with him."

"So you guys are like superheroes?" Claire asked. "David's impossible," she checked out his face and amended, "really hard to hurt."

"And my insufferable charm," David said, grinning. "Not even the hag could resist falling for my good looks," he stated, almost bitterly.

"And Hod, I'm guessing, can do something with ice," Claire continued.

Hod nodded. "And a few other things," he admitted. "It's not just what we can do, though," Hod continued seriously. "It's like their's another world behind this one, and we catch hints of it. Sometimes we notice things looking back from the other side."

Claire clutched his hoodie in her hand, then sat up. "Okay. We'll keep this mostly to ourselves. I'm pretty good at keeping secrets. So's my dad. It's kind of his job." She looked at David in the eyes, holding Hod's hands in her own. Hod sat up, looking in her direction. "I'm pretty sure I can convince him this was a mostly normal kidnapping, and that you guys saved me. The caves will take some explaining, and the doubles in the security footage, but I'm sure we can come up with something."

"Thanks," David sighed. "I guess all we have to do is wait."

Claire leaned close to Hod's ear, speaking so softly that even in the close confines of the car David wouldn't hear. "Thanks for coming to my rescue, Hod."

In the darkness, Hod smiled.

Rags

David was glowing! He was literally glowing. Clair walked beside him in the now illuminated passageway. It was hard for her to believe everything that had happened. if she hadn't been able to hear taste and touch everything she might not have believed it had happened at all. She gripped the nail and stayed close to David. Haf’gifr could be hiding anywhere.

As they walked in silence other things entered Clair’s mind. Things that didn't quit make since. David getting thrown incredibly hard into the wall and getting right back up. The hags claws that had so easily gone into Clair’s shield sliding across David’s skin barley scratching it. The way that David’s touch had just melted the Hags drug effects away. She understood none of it, and it frightened her.

They walked further and Clair put her hands to her arms. It felt like winters bone cold chill was coming from the direction that they were heading. They turned a corner and entered a large cavern and suddenly it was winter. Everything glittered, covered in a layer of ice. It all had an eire beauty about it.

There was a hep of rags by them. Clair gasped as they moved slightly. It wasn't rags it was Hod. Both Clair and David rushed to his side turning him over. He was covered in blood. His sweater and cloths now just ribbons of cloth. He felt colder then the room around them.

“Hod? Hod are you okay?” David and Clair said at the same time. His eyes didn’t open and his breath was so shallow. Clair eyes started to tear up. She couldn’t help it. Hod looked so torn up, he didn't even feel alive, and she had been so terrible to him lately. She pulled Hod onto her lap and then really did start crying.

“Cant you do anything for him?” Clair said through her tears turning to David.

“I’ll try.” David said taking Hods hand and closed his eyes in concentration.

“I’m so sorry Hod.” Clair started to say. Crying and holding his head. “Its was me Hod. I’m Elizabeth. I’m so so sorry that I ran out on you. I didn’t mean to I wanted to tell you for this whole time but I didn’t know how. Don’t die Hod. Don’t die hear not now.”

A hand brushed across her face wiping away a tear. Clair stared down at Hod. His eyes were still clossed but his face now held a smile.

“It is you.” He whispered.