Brotherhood of the Wolf

Chapter 4.1: Gone Missing

After getting my car towed to the rental house, I spend the rest of the weekend first unpacking and then fiddling with my syllabus.

The Anthropology of Western Oral Tradition is my first class as a professor and to say that I'm nervous is an understatement.

Thankfully the extra preparation makes me think less about everything else that has already happened to me since arriving at Packard, including Clayton and his snooty fiancée. Once the handyman who Carlos has arranged fixes the mess I'd made of the bathroom and back door (no questions asked, so I'm guessing this wasn't his first rodeo), the splinters and broken glass are also no longer there as reminders.

On Monday morning, I'm up early. Grabbing a tall latte at the coffee shop, I sip my drink as I walk across the increasingly busy campus.

Sleepy faced students in plaid pajama pants,  baggy hoodies and worn Crocs lug large backpacks between their dorms and the dining hall, hopefully caffeinating themselves enough to stay awake for a few hours.

Checking my phone for the time, I decide that at this pace, I'll be too early so I call my sister.

I sit on a bench underneath a tree as the phone icon flashes next to the name 'Lark.' This is at least the third time I've tried to talk to her this weekend, but it has always gone to voicemail until now.

"You realize it's half past the crack of dawn, do you not?" she mumbles into the phone as a less-than-cordial greeting.

"A cheery good morning to you, too," I say, ignoring the attitude. "And if you'd pick up your phone when I call at a decent hour, maybe I wouldn't have to try you this early."

"Okay, okay," she says amid the ruffling of bedding, not taking the bait about revealing her weekend activities. "You've got me. What's up?"

The lethargy in her voice betrays her, but I guess this is the best I'll get right now. And since there's no real lead-in to what I want to tell her, I'm going to have to be blunt.

"So you know this new job I'm starting? Well, you'll never believe it, but no sooner did I get here that I finally met another wolf," I say, whispering the last two words just in case any of the passers-by are close enough to overhear.

"No way! And is he cute?" asks my sister, cutting to the important stuff. In her eyes, anyway.

"Lark! How do you even know it was a he?" I ask even though she's correct.

"Something about the way you said it."

I hate it when she makes assumptions and I scoff.

"How else was I supposed to say it?"

"Ha! So I was right," she gloats. When I grunt in agreement, she continues. "Well, was he good looking? I have a theory that all wolves are attractive. I mean, why wouldn't they be? It's sexy as hell to--"

"It doesn't matter because he has a girlfriend. Err, fiancee rather," I reluctantly correct myself.

"Well, that's a yes. And did you meet her? Is she a wolf, too?" she fires off question after question.

"We met briefly, yes. But I'm not sure," I say, thinking back to anything that could have been an obvious tell. But short of also showing up naked after a full moon transformation, I'm not even sure what that would have been.

"Would she necessarily have to be? You know that I don't have much of an idea how any of this works," I sadly admit.

She sighs in sympathy. "Mom and Dad really screwed you over, didn't they?"

It's easier for her to be critical since she isn't like me. As an outsider to this condition, Lark has a different perspective and often, her unbiased viewpoint can be useful. But I don't want her to disparage the dead when they can no longer defend themselves, especially if they're our parents.