Page 167 of Sigils & Spells

I stepped out from behind the tree, into the headlights, and cupped my hands around my mouth, “Minho!”

The car stopped moving, and honked. I waved my arms in a huge arch motion, and when the truck honked again I stepped back into the underbrush. It moved forward, faster than before, and I saw I’d been right as Minho pulled up alongside me.

Without turning the truck off, Minho lept out and grabbed my shoulders. “Holy shit, Julian, are you alright? Are you hurt?”

I shook my head. “No I’m fine, but dude I—”

He spoke over me, and as I said “I think I’m a werewolf” he said, “Julian I think you’re a werewolf.”

We stared at each other for a dumbfounded second. Tentatively I stepped back, and he dropped my shoulders.

“Did we just say the same thing?” I demanded. “Minho you’re supposed to tell me I’m crazy, not agree with me.”

A handful of emotions passed in my friend’s face and he rubbed the back of his neck. “You’re not crazy, man. This… is what happens.”

I threw my hands up, “Yeah in movies. You’re supposed to remind me of all the logical alternatives. Werewolves aren’t real! Right?”

Minho shook his head slowly, and I realized suddenly that there wasn’t any humor in his face. He wasn’t messing with me. Not even a bit. He was serious. And… he looked pained. Almost like he was about to cry.

“Julian, I have something to tell you.”

“I knew it! I know you’ve always been in love with me.” It was a long standing joke, but my heart wasn’t in it this time and Minho gave me a look I read as not now. “Sorry”—I cleared my throat—“Continue.”

“I think you’re a werewolf. And I think so because I am one.”

I blinked at him. I’d heard him, but for a long moment it felt like the information was just sitting on the surface of my brain, like water droplets that hadn’t soaked into the fabric yet.

“What?”

“Come on.” Minho turned away from me, back to the open car door. His tone was different than I was used to. Softer. “I brought you some pants. I’ll explain on the way home.”

* * *

The biggest questionin my head, trumping any other thought was did I believe him? Minho wouldn’t lie about something like this in the current circumstances. And I knew when Minho was lying because he was a shit liar. He was telling me the truth but that didn’t actually make it true. He could be delusional or need help.

Or, I thought, he could be telling the truth.

He started without looking at me. “Ok so remember how I dropped out of school?”

I did. But the subject was sore for him and I didn’t broach it very often. I nodded. Minho had thankfully also brought me my own boxers and a big t-shirt in addition to the sweatpants.

“A couple of months into school,” He started, his voice still that odd soft and strained tone. “I was out with a friend, and we got mugged, or at least, we thought we were getting mugged. This guy seemed like he lost his mind and was snarling and screaming and growling and scratching at me, and he ended up biting me in the shoulder so hard it broke the skin and then ran off into the woods on all fours. We assumed he was drunk or on drugs and went to the hospital. They gave me meds to keep me from getting an infection and commented on how pointed the guy’s teeth must have been, and for a while, I didn’t think anything of it. I was still in school, and I started having a hard time focusing on classes that were anywhere near the end of the day—this was in the winter so it got dark really early. I was suddenly stronger than I ever remembered being and I got stir crazy to the point that I was working out two-three times a day just to do something and move, and then about a month after the attack I thought I was sick, and I started to feel less and less like myself and then I remember eating a whole bunch of burgers in our dining hall and no matter what I did I couldn’t get full. I remember running out of the dining hall and out back where no one was… and then I remember waking up completely naked in the woods a few miles from campus. I thought I’d been drugged, but when I went to the hospital, they told me there was nothing in my system, and other than my heart beating faster than normal, I was completely fine. It kept happening, and eventually, I wasn’t forgetting what happened anymore. I was turning into a wolf, a big ass wolf with glowy eyes and…”

Minho trailed off. “And I think that’s what’s happening to you.”

I stared at him for a long time. I wanted to argue. To logic my way out of believing him. But again there was complete sincerity in his face. And just like how I had with myself the more I thought about it the more right it sounded. Minho had been so much stronger when he came back from school. He ate so much and never seemed to get full or gain any weight. He worked out enough to exhaust a body builder, and on days when he didn’t he’d get so antsy I thought he’d pace a ditch into the floor.

They were things I’d been able to explain through logical real things before, but now… now I wasn’t sure.

I still wanted to say “prove it.” But I couldn’t bring myself to say it.

“You don’t believe me do you?” He asked, glancing at me. I looked away, out the window, embarrassed.

“I don’t know. That’s… it…”

“Julian, look at me.”

I did. And nearly jumped out of the pants I’d just put on.

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