A couple minutes after Shadow had left, I jumped down from the tree. Naomi, Brazen, and Harlow looked as if they were coming up with a plan. I didn’t know what they were actually talking about, though. “What’s the plan?” I asked them. “We’re going to find Ren,” Brazen said, tearing his eyes away from the school. We all needed to focus. It didn’t take long. We met up with Shadow on the way, her face pale. “He’s that way,” she told us, pointing East. When we got there, we arrived at a cliffside clearing. There were two boys and one girl awake, fighting Ren. Or at least, there had been three of them. The girl got thrown into a tree, and one of the boys got shoved off the cliff. The other boy held his own against Ren. He got Ren to the edge of the cliff. “C-carlos?” Naomi called, recognizing her brother. He looked over his shoulder, and Ren took his chance and knocked Carlos off of his feet. “Get off of him,” Shadow called, striding confidently into the clearing, smack in the center of her father’s line of vision. Ren stared in shock. “Shadow?” “I said, get off of him,” she repeated. Ren obeyed, slowly getting off of Carlos, who sat up and looked over at me and Naomi in the trees. “Okay. So, you have two choices, Ren. You could be a regular human being, or you can continue being this heartless monster you are. Remember, Ren, you still have a daughter and wife who care about you. My mom spoke highly of you. You can still make the right choice and leave behind this... thing that you’ve become.” Shadow paused for breath, staring at her father. He stared at the ground, not daring to make eye contact. “If you decide to stay what you are, then we’ll have no choice but to kill you to keep everyone safe. I know that you’ve bit me, and Wolf, and countless others, but you don’t have to live with that monster anymore. Remember my mom; you can be that person she spoke good about. You can also try to earn my forgiveness. Maybe you could be in my life for once.” Shadow shrugged. “The choice is yours, Ren. What’ll it be?" Ren stayed silent, staring at the ground. At last, he made eye contact with his daughter, then teleported away. Shadow sighed. “I knew he would do something like that,” she muttered, turning back to us. Naomi and I jumped down, the twins emerging from the trees a few feet away. Naomi went over to her brother, and I watched her carefully. I didn’t want anything else to happen to her, especially since it hadn’t even been an hour since my last brush with death. The girl who had been thrown into the trees groaned, and it seemed like that made Carlos remember something, because he leapt up and went over to the edge of the cliff. Naomi came back over to us. “What’s he doing?” Brazen asked her. "I think one of his friends fell off the cliff. Do you want to go help him?” Naomi answered. Brazen nodded, and went over to Carlos, the girl already over there. A couple seconds later, Brazen flew down as an eagle and came up with an unconscious boy. Carlos and the girl thanked him, and Brazen came back over to us. Carlos glanced over, and Naomi went to help them. Naomi got a healing elixir from one of her memories, handed it to her brother, and walked back over to us as they started healing the boy. I reached for her hand, reminding her that we had gotten through this. Carlos could, too. The boy regained consciousness, and the girl called him by his name - Diego. He sat up, smiling weakly. Carlos looked relieved - Diego and him were probably friends. Eventually, Carlos left Diego and the girl. He went over to the Western part of the clearing. Naomi hesitated, then followed him through the trees. “What should we do now?” I asked the others. Brazen shrugged. Harlow was silent, watching Diego and the girl. “I’m gonna go find out her name,” she told us. I nodded, and she went. Shadow was sitting on the grass. Harlow came back a second later. “The girl’s name is Jackie and Diego’s her brother,” she reported. Brazen nodded. I glanced up at the trees. I couldn’t see Naomi or Carlos anymore. I hoped they were okay. Naomi came out of the trees and pulled me away from the twins for a second. “Carlos and his friends need a place to stay. Can you help?” She asked. I nodded. “Sure.” She led me back over to Carlos. “Okay. Do you guys have any preferences on where you’d like to live?” I asked him. Carlos shook his head. “Anywhere is fine. We’re just glad to get out of prison.” He managed a shaky laugh. I nodded again. “How many of you guys are werewolves?” Naomi asked. “4 of us. Me, Kia, Melody, and Leo,” Carlos answered. “How about a place near Wolf Fruit Trees?” Naomi suggested. “Like I said before, we don’t care. But that sounds good.” Naomi nodded. “Let’s go, then.” Naomi and I led Carlos through the trees, stopping at a similar Wolf Fruit clearing closer to the shadow area. “Do you like it?” Naomi asked as we studied the place. (Cont. Below)
(Story Cont.) “Yeah. How many treehouses?” Carlos replied. “Well, I think 10 would be too much. What about 5? You can have 2 per house,” I suggested, leaning against one of the trees. “That would work.” Naomi nodded, then she and I conjured up the houses. “Satisfied?” She asked Carlos when we were done. He nodded excitedly. “Yeah. Thanks.” Carlos looked inside each of the treehouses, then he and Naomi went to find his other friends. I went back over to the clearing. Jackie and Diego had left. Shadow was sitting on the edge of the cliff, while the twins were talking quietly by the bushes. I sat next to Shadow. “Hey.” “Hi,” she said softly. “W-what do you think Ren is going to choose?” I thought for a minute about her question. “I think… well, he almost seemed to have a split personality or something. Like, when he captured us, he was like a fierce… monster. But when you arrived while he was attacking Carlos, he changed. He was more like a regular person, not a monster.” “So what you’re saying is that I change him?” I shook my head. “No, what I’m saying is that he might have an actual monster inside of him, and you make the monster back off. So I think Ren might say yes, if he’s the one in control.” Shadow hesitated, then nodded. “Makes sense. But how could we dispell the monster for good? If we did that, then he might be safer.” “I don’t know. It’s worth a shot. Maybe we could ask him?” “But if he has the monster-” “You just have to be there, too. And we’ll be ready for an attack.” I stood up and offered her my hand. “Want to go now?” She paused, then reached up and took my hand. “Let’s go.” ----------------------------------------------------------------- Notes/Credits: So, I am writing a story. It's called the Wolf Boy, and it's about a werewolf. This is Chapter 23. New chapters will come out every Sunday, Friday and Wednesday. Chapter 1: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/534060010/ Chapter 2: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/534063855/ Chapter 3: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/524407102/ Chapter 4: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/535116523/ Chapter 5: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/539191166/ Chapter 6: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/541091515/ Chapter 7: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/542478639/ Chapter 8: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/543943477/ Chapter 9: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/545518981/ Chapter 10: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/547310742/ Chapter 11: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/547908874/ Chapter 12: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/548716751 Chapter 13: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/548720777/ Chapter 14: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/548720823/ Chapter 15: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/548720878/ Chapter 16: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/548720909/ Chapter 17: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/548720955/ Chapter 18: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/548720993/ Chapter 19: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/548721015/ Chapter 20: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/548721051/ Chapter 21:https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/548721077/ Chapter 21.5: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/548721102/ Chapter 22: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/548721149/ Credits: Me, for writing it. @aqua_di_angelo for being the first reader & giving feedback. J.K. Rowling for some inspiration.
