Nevaeah wasted no time entering the house when Julien opened the door, releasing the beagle from her leash once she was inside and removing her shoes.
"I have a few leads we can start with."
That, at least, was a good sign.
However—
Julien smiled.
"Have you two eaten yet?"
Nevaeah shook her head and Julien clicked his tongue.
If she was focused on something for too long she always forgot to eat.
"Then go to the kitchen."
She sniffed the air and lit up, throwing a teasing jab his way.
"Man, I wish I had someone to make delicious food for me every morning…"
Julien gave her an amused grin and the two of them moved the short distance to the kitchen.
"Yeah? You'd like it a lot less if you remembered what he's here for."
He gestured towards Andrew's room—the only place they hadn't repaired yet due to the likelihood of it happening again.
"And what he's done."
Nevaeah threw a wary glance at Andrew as she sat down at the counter but recovered after only a few seconds. She gave Julien a cheeky smile of her own.
"You don't seem too put out by it anymore though?"
Julien glanced at Andrew as well as he moved towards the cabinets. Having been changed for a month, he seemed to slowly be getting used to his new senses—hardly reacting to their presence or their, admittedly, rude conversation.
"I'm taking things one step at a time."
He pulled out a can of wet dog food and cracked it open over Cello's bowl.
"I'd go crazy if I didn't take a step back from time to time."
Besides, Andrew was pretty easy to ignore most of the time—no offense to him—and once he took the stick out of his ass, his company…
Actually, Julien wasn't sure.
But everything he did no longer sent him into a frenzy—he'd call that progress.
Julien moved Cello's bowl to the floor and watched her cautiously approach it—throwing a cautious growl at Andrew and a wary look at him before chowing down.
People… we sure are an adaptable crew.
He watched her for a while before moving to take a seat of his own and putting a tablet in his mouth.
Nevaeah piped up.
"So there's a few sites I wanted to show you—"
Julien raised a finger to her lips in a hush motion.
"Let's eat first, work later."
She pouted before leaning on the counter and muttering.
'Nothin' wrong with hoppin' on it early.'
He shook his head.
Luckily it didn't take long for Andrew to finish cooking, and soon, the three of them began eating with Julien acting as a barrier between the blue-haired chipmunk and the wolfish-behemoth.
After a few minutes of silent, almost comfortable mealtime, Nevaeah spoke again—swallowing a piece of pancake more syrup than cake.
"You're both so quiet. Do y'all even talk when I'm not here?"
Julien swallowed his own food.
"Yeah?"
He paused.
"Sometimes?"
She stared at him.
He averted his eyes.
"Not often."
I mean, we spoke yesterday? And Monday… and when we went on that botanical trip a few weeks ago. Oh—and during the holidays…
…
And when they first met.
Actually, those last few might've been interrogations…
He glanced at Andrew before looking back at Nevaeah.
"We don't need to talk, it's all vibes."
She looked unconvinced.
"Bad—mediocre vibes."
He heard Andrew shift and looked his way. Andrew pointed to the two of them, then at their half-eaten plates—his was already done.
"Eat."
The two of them shut up and ate as Andrew cleaned up his plate and started on the dishes.
Julien peeked at his back.
It takes time to get used to people silly girl!
—
The three of them settled in the living room and Nevaeah brought up several holograms, spreading them throughout the room. Most displayed different websites detailing various things about werewolves while one was a large board with a myriad of notes and more than a few doodles covering its surface.
"This is everything I've bookmarked and compiled on werewolves. Some of it's a bust from last time, but I figured myths were still usable—if only to tell us what people have thought of werewolves over the years.
She brought forward a separate subset of holograms.
"These are different creatures—just in case Andrew isn't a werewolf, which, other than a few things, I'd say he is."
Julien slowly nodded.
"Well this is… comprehensive."
He hadn't even started researching yet so he felt a little bad.
He paused.
Julien narrowed his eyes.
"Nevaeah, please tell me you went to sleep last night."
Her smile didn't falter, but she quickly hid behind Andrew who glanced at her before stepping to the side.
She clicked her tongue.
"Traitor."
"Nevaeah."
She lifted her hands.
"In my humble defense, I was doing my homework as well."
He grimaced.
"You have work already?"
"Dr. Winfreed."
"Damn."
There wasn't really anything he could say about that except to offer her a silent prayer.
Sighing, he approached her, put their wrists together until a ding sounded and used the sync to bring forward a few of her open tabs and the colorful board.
Werewolves and the Moon. Secrets of Wendigos? Skinwalkers? Can those even infect people? No, but I guess I can see where she's coming from…
Andrew watched them curiously before glancing at the open laptop he brought out from the study.
"Why do you use holograms…"
He hesitated.
"…There's a computer?"
Neither of them looked up as they replied in sync.
""Computers are too slow.""
Andrew just looked at them, then he pulled the computer towards himself and turned it on.
After a few seconds he muttered.
'It works just fine.'
Ignoring the technologically illiterate giant, Julien continued to skim through the rest of her notes.
"… I think we can safely rule out skinwalkers, and wendigos."
She came over to his side and tilted her head.
"Why?"
"They can't change others, just themselves."
He glanced at Andrew.
"Andrew, you were human before this, yeah?"
Andrew gave him a look for that.
"I'll take that as a yes."
He sighed.
"These don't fit him. He's not a witch, a shapeshifter… a willing shapeshifter, or a man-eater."
I hope.
She nodded slowly.
"I guess…"
She brought a few of her other tabs closer and expanded them.
"Other than witches, the other two can't change him like this anyway."
He looked at the page.
"Witches can be born or made by ritual…"
He smirked at the man behind him.
"Were you in a ritual Andrew?"
The man huffed.
"No."
Julien stared at him for a second before realizing something and nudging Nevaeah—he whispered.
"Vae, I think he just laughed."
She looked at him funny before shaking her head.
"Yeah, ok."
"What?"
Julien whispered, knowing full well that Andrew could hear him loud and clear.
"Look at him, his facial muscles rarely move, I had to find some way to figure out what he was thinking and recently, I think I've figured a few things out."
He saw Andrew's right index finger hit one of the keys on his laptop a little too hard and he grinned.
"You see how he twitched his right index finger? It means he's annoyed by something. I wonder what."
Nevaeah looked in the direction he was pointing, making eye contact with a less-than-impressed Andrew and shaking her head slowly.
"Um, Julien, you're starting to freak me out, his right index finger? Really?"
"You don't get what it's like living with someone so unreadable for months on end."
He remembered hearing from his sister once that if he made a face for too long it'd be stuck that way.
Maybe that's what happened to Andrew.
Julien looked at the older man with pity.
Poor thing.
Nevaeah's face twisted into an unreadable expression.
"You're funny."
She was clearly not as amused by the discovery as he was and she pulled up another tab.
"Anyway, stop looking over there and focus on this, I think I found something."
Julien leaned forward.
"What?"
"It's a forum, there have been people talking about all sorts of things online."
Julien perked up.
Finally some progress.
"What's it called?"
She expanded the hologram and moved it in the middle of the room for all three of them to see with a swish of her hand.
The title read:
"The intricacies and mystique of the elusive werewolf? True stories, real sightings, everything you need to know!"
Julien looked at the title for a few minutes, then looked at Nevaeah with an incredulous expression on his face.
"That's the best you could find? It sounds so… unconvincing."
It sounds fake.
She rolled her eyes.
"It's not the original poster I was looking at, it's one of the comments."
She flicked her thumb and index finger, expanding the screen to show a few comments on the bottom of the page.
They read:
"What the fuck is this crap? Is the creator ********?"
And—
"You lunatic, what do you know?"
Then a link was sent.
"Look here you POS see that? It beats whatever bullsh1t you have up, at least get your facts straight if you're gonna post **** for brains!!!!"
Julien blinked.
"Wow, what a character."
He heard Andrew's own typing stop as he too took in the… flavorful comments.
Nevaeah smiled.
"For real, but that's besides the point. I clicked on the link—"
"Real smart."
"Hush. Anyway, when I clicked on it, it brought me to this page that kinda matches what you've told me about Andrew's condition."
She scrolled down for a bit.
"It's an anonymous bulletin seemingly for others in his situation, and while a lot of them are pretty vague about their experiences, the most concerning part is this."
Julien looked at the page.
"…Packless Shifted, if you are reading this, beware the dangers of unmarked moon progression. Hide your loved ones, hide yourself, and may the gods bless us all."
Reassuring.
Julien glanced at Andrew who had long since stopped typing and was staring intently at the words on the screen. He met Julien's gaze.
"… When's the next moon."
Julien didn't have an answer and he looked to his friend. She glanced at him and pulled up a calendar of the moon cycle.
"It's February 4th right now so… 20 days from now. February 24th."
Julien frowned.
"That's not far off at all."
The room fell silent.
—
Damnit.
It'd been several days since their research group adjourned and there was still no notable progress from any of them. Top that off with school ramping up and first exams being around the corner and it was just a shitshow.
If Andrew doesn't kill me, the workload will.
Though he'd prefer to stay alive.
Julien glanced at his larger companion who was sitting in a swivel chair in the corner of his study—something he found while clearing out what was now his bedroom—while furiously typing away with his perpetually bland expression.
He hadn't said much during or after their meeting, but it wasn't as though he weren't paying attention. Whatever it was he was typing over there, he hadn't stopped since that day.
He brought it everywhere.
When they were at home he'd have it beside him while cooking, reading, and now while Julien was studying. At school—which was its own hassle because of the human repellent Andrew had become—Julien would leave his classes to see the man cross-legged on the floor or standing tall while resting the laptop on his arm and typing away.
He had asked of course, but all he got in response was Andrew's side eye and a brief reply.
"I'm still working on it."
Working on what!
He wanted to shake the answer out of the man right that instant, or even just take his computer and take a peek but he couldn't. Now he was stuck with a burning curiosity and a looming round-two research party.
The only thing that became clearer as time marched on was that if they didn't learn something soon, something terrible was going to happen.
And he wasn't sure if they'd be able to stop it if it did.
—
With Nevaeah's return and more dead ends, Andrew finally decided to reveal his secret project.
It was a data log.
Julien glanced at him before reading over the data.
Possibility of being a werewolf: High.
Supporting information:
Full moon controlled shift, increase in senses, increase in strength, change in hair texture
Analogous Information:
High body temperature, aggression, rapid healing injuries, need for stabilizing proximity to 'host'; further inquiry required.
Bodily progression:
Christmas Day - Day of attack, immediate aftermath being - a bite mark, several scratch marks, and excessive blood loss.
December 26th - Sudden fever, body aches, chills, sharp pain, overwhelming heat, minor relief from contact with 'host'; further inquiry required.
…
January 1st - End of week long fever, sensory overload, increased irritability over minor inconveniences, inability to sleep.
…
January 25th - Spike in aggression, fever, loss of bodily control, attempts at self-regulation resulted in failure, instinct-driven behaviour; further inquiry required.
…
Julien looked at Andrew with concern.
He didn't say anything about nearly any of this.
"…Am I supposed to be the 'host?'"
Andrew nodded.
Julien frowned.
He opened his mouth to say something to him but closed it and looked away.
Nevaeah took the computer from him and looked through it as well. She paused, lifting a contemplative hand over her mouth.
Julien ran a hand through his hair.
We're running out of time.
There were six days until the full moon but they'd made almost no progress.
If they could just talk to an actual werewolf instead of relying on vague blog posts spelling their impending doom and lists of information that would've been helpful to know a month ago—they'd get somewhere.
But how would they…
Julien felt a crystal light up above his head.
"Hey guys."
They looked at him.
He wrote out a word on an empty board and underlined it.
"Does this mean anything to either of you?"
It was Oasis.
The bastard hadn't shown up in a while. So he'd almost forgotten.
Nevaeah set the computer down and bit her lip.
"Like an oasis in a desert?"
He shrugged.
"Maybe? I talked to the stalker the other day—"
"You have a stalker!?"
She glanced at Andrew.
Andrew frowned at him.
"You what?"
Julien averted his gaze.
Andrew pressed on.
"When was this?"
Julien rubbed his neck.
"The Wednesday or Thursday after you left?"
Andrew looked unimpressed.
"Three days."
Julien met his gaze.
"Well I got something didn't I? I asked them to tell me what they wanted and they threw this at me."
He pointed to the word.
Andrew's frown deepened.
"…Don't do it again."
Julien scoffed.
"We'll see."
Not that he'd ever get a chance to anyway now that Andrew was back and the stalker was gone.
Nevaeah awkwardly cleared her throat.
"So… are they looking for Oasis? Or are they telling you where to find them?"
Good question.
The two of them stared at the board, throwing out guess after guess before they heard a sigh come from behind them.
"It's a place."
They turned around.
Andrew glanced at Julien, clearly still miffed by his reckless behavior.
"When did they show up?"
Julien furrowed his brows before answering hesitantly.
"When we went to the botanical closest to my sister's research center?"
Andrew nodded.
"Oasis is nearby."
He typed something on the keyboard of his laptop before spinning it around for them to see.
The two of them got close and they said in sync.
""It's a club?""
Andrew nodded, turning the laptop back towards himself.
"I used to work there."