Page 6 of In This Iron Ground
“What do you mean?”
“I do this type of stuff. Bad things. I get into trouble at school. I don’t do as I’m told. I…”I’m not good, he wanted to say, but she wouldn’t understand. “Can you stop asking me questions, please?” Damien asked softly, tilting himself away from her in case she got angry.
“Yes—sorry. I…Damien, sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you. How about we give them a call, okay? They must be worried sick,” she said, and Damien managed to tamp down a snort, nodding. Despite her words, Mia remained seated. Damien could feel her eyes on him.
“Damien…about what you saw tonight. I think I should explain.”
“You’re werewolves, right?” Damien blurted, coming to life. Underneath the exhaustion, a whole hive of questions buzzed. Damien turned towards Mia, who looked surprised for a second before smiling.
“You’re pretty smart, huh?” she said, and Damien did snort this time.
“Not really. I’m failing most of my classes,” he replied offhandedly. Mia frowned, but Damien went on before she could tell him off. “I’ve read about werewolves. Well, I mean, probably notrealwerewolves, but they come up in comics all the time. Like, have you heard ofFables? It isso good, though don’t tell the McKenzies, okay, ’cause they don’t like me reading stuff like that, but the wolf inFablesis an ex-sheriff and he rips the head off a Nazi zombie! And then there’s another one calledWolves, and also did you hear that Captain America was turned into Cap Wolf for a few—”
Damien suddenly realized that he had started babbling manically and snapped his mouth shut, twitching apprehensively. He tucked his hands back inside the blanket from where they had been gesturing wildly.
“Sorry” he said, cheeks heating. He looked up at her. She was smiling.
“No, that was interesting. You sound just like my kid, Koko. She must be around your age, actually. Maybe you’ve—”
“Koko Salgado? Yeah, yeah, she’s pretty cool. Doesn’t take shi—I mean…I mean she’s pretty, like, strong. The other day a teacher asked her a question in the middle of class ’cause he thought she wasn’t paying attention, but she answered it straightaway. You should have seen his face,” Damien grinned. Mia snorted.
“Yep. Sounds like her,” she said before falling silent again. Damien stilled.
“I won’t tell anybody. I’m good at keeping secrets,” Damien said softly.
“What about your foster carers? Don’t you want to tell them?” Mia asked. Damien couldn’t hold back another snort.
“I’m not tellingthemanything,” he muttered. At Mia’s expression he straightened, correcting himself quickly. “I mean, they don’t need to know. It’s not like anybody would believe me anyway. I say a lot of stupid things and, come on, werewolves?”
“Somehow, I don’t believe you say a lot of stupid things, Damien,” Mia said seriously. Damien opened his mouth to protest but Mia went on quickly. “I appreciate your loyalty, but I want you to know that you don’t need to be scared of us,” she said, softer now. Damien frowned.
“Why would I be scared of you?” he asked. Mia looked at him for a moment.
“A lot of people would think werewolves are scary. That we’re monsters.”
“How does that even make sense? How are werewolves scarier than people?” Damien scoffed.
“Probably has something to do with the fangs and the claws and the glowing eyes, if I had to guess,” Mia said wryly.
“Yeah, but people have knives and guns. What can a werewolf really do that a person can’t? Like, in the really good comic books, evil and good are never separated by species or something, but by, like, motivation.”
Damien understood better than most that some people did bad things and some people did good things, and having claws and fangs wasn’t going to change that.
“It’s not about what peoplecando, but what they’rewillingto do,” Damien said with surety. He looked at Mia cautiously. Her expression was open with astonishment before it melted into a soft smile.
“You know, Damien…that’s…that’s probably the smartest thing I’ve ever heard anybody say,” she replied. Damien blushed, feeling instantly uncomfortable. “How about we call the McKenzies, then?”
Damien closed his eyes and nodded.
He remained seated as Mia grabbed one of the cordless phones and sat next to him. He recited the McKenzies’ number, having memorized it along with their address and birthdays when he first arrived.
He fiddled with the edges of the blanket as Mia let the phone ring, having to call twice more before the McKenzies picked up. He listened as Mia gave a heavily edited version of the encounter in the woods.
“Do you want to talk to him?…Oh. Well, in any case, he’s safe.…No it’s okay, he hasn’t been any.…No, he.…Right. Okay, yes. That’s fine. We’ll be ready,” she said, putting the phone down and frowning, although she gave Damien a strained-looking smile when she caught him looking.
Mia tried to make awkward conversation, as adults often did. Damien shrugged and nodded in response to her questions, watching the living room doorway. People would peek in every now and again. He saw Koko’s glare briefly. Nadie, the eldest sister, asked if they wanted anything and was shooed away. Hakan, who Damien knew was two years older than him, appeared very briefly before disappearing.
Damien shrunk into himself, wondering if they could smell him. What if they told the whole school Damien was a freak, wandering the woods at night? Mia must have noticed his change in posture because she got up, ushering the others away and out into the garden. There was no going to bed during the full moon, Damien guessed.
