Chapter 5
A woman stood in front of us, she wasn't overly tall or big advantage height and very slim but her presence loomed over me as if she were a giant. She had black stripes within her warm brown hair braided elaborately over her skull, making her head look like a tribal tattoo. Her sunken in soulless gray eyes bore into me as I cowered in her presence.
"Is this the boy?" she asked, seemingly with no apparent accent. She seemed to lean in as she spoke too, her black cloak, giving the appearance of darkness creeping towards me. I wanted to recoil but I knew it wasn't wise. I had to stand my ground.
Juno's cheerful demeanour didn't crack, despite the woman's proud and omnipotent one, and smiled up at her as if it were a daily thing to be standing before such a presence, "Yes this is Torsten."
The woman looked over to me, "Come inside," she muttered quickly and threw the door open, stepping out of the way for us.
Juno was quick and careless to walk in, I however, took much more caution in doing so. The scent was something I couldn't put my finger on, a completely foreign herbal scent filled my nose. The interior was dark and seemingly about to fall apart. The floorboards were rotting and a variety of moss sprinkled it. The moss had also been messily sprinkled all over the walls and had started to grow all kinds of leaves. There seemed to have been paintings on the walls however they were now so dusty and uncared for they were decrepit and black with dirt and being strangled with vines. Still the gold of their frames stone with a dull gleam as if trying to reclaim some former glory of what the house might had been. The woman lead us down a long hallway so silent it was suffocating. Juno jumped over untrustworthy and broken floorboards as if it were her own home. She must come here too often.
The woman stopped suddenly, so did Juno. I tried and almost stepped into a gap in the floorboards, I grabbed onto Juno's shoulders for support. She looked back at me and we were so close I could see pink in her long eyelashes and smell her sweet sugary breath. All I could manage to break the awkwardness was, "Your eyelashes are pink?"
She giggled, "Yep!"
The woman opened the door for us and we walked into another musty, mossy, ruin of a room. She gestured for us to sit down on a formally velvet couch. I could feel the moisture on my legs which was extremely uncomfortable. Juno was unfazed by it although, tucking her legs underneath her. The woman sat in a throne-like chair, once had red cushions now they were a dark brown.
"I am Sylvia," She told me while staring seemingly into my soul, "I am a witch."
She was very blunt about it and everything about her was so serious. In any other context I would have thought this to be a joke or some kind of prank but now....
"Prove it," I told her sounding way stronger than I felt.
She gave an irritated sigh and flicked her hand towards a dust-covered bracelet that lay on the mantelpiece. Before my eyes, it turned into a snake and slivered away. Shit, this is real. I tried not to reacted too much to it but ended up flinching a little when the snake brushed past my ankle and I could feel how real it's scaley body was.
So that monster in the forest could really have been any kind of demonic beast.
"It's ok," Juno reassured me, "She won't hurt you."
"I won't, I promise you Torsten," Her voice was cold however it was firm and truthful. Despite being on edge I was comforted.
"So.... can you explain why I have these teeth... I mean what I am?" I asked her, avoiding her gray eyes.
She stared at me, "This is going to be very difficult for you to hear," she started.
"I don't care, I need to know," I told her.
There was a silence where Juno and Sylvia looked at each other, expressionless yet something told me they were communicating. Hell if Sylvia was a witch why couldn't she read Juno's or anyone's mind for that matter. But how was it that Juno replied?
"Torsten.... You're a werewolf," she told me avoiding eye contact.
"A werewolf?" It felt like someone had punched me in the gut, "that does explain a few things I guess."
I licked my teeth not knowing if to be terrified of them or proud of them. I just didn't know how to feel but Sylvia didn't give me a lot of time to feel because she went on -
"Don't worry Torsten being a werewolf won't make you a monster..... if you don't let yourself become one," she explained, "to an extent you will be able to control when you shift into a wolf however under the full moon and when you are unable to control your anger you will shift. Werewolves' wolf forms vary in size but are all at least double the size of a regular wolf. While in human form you'll notice muscle gain, heighten senses and much more animal sensibility. Werewolves are one of the more powerful myths that mutate the soul, body and mind. They usually live in packs, just like real wolves although their sense of family differs from real wolves with the whole bitten aspect to the myth. There are rogues that can be extremely dangerous or harmlessly loners. But you needn't worry about that Torsten, werewolves can live in a mythical community just fine. Silver and Wolfsbane are a werewolf's weaknesses but for werewolves, if they can control themselves their strengths greatly outweigh their weaknesses "
"That's a lot to take in," I whispered... it felt like my head was spinning, being ping-ponged around the room.
Juno patted me on the back. This was just so shocking I could hardly believe it was happening, it was like an insane dream.... so realistic I could feel the moistness of the imaginary moss on my ass and smell the scent of the decaying floorboards. Only it wasn't imaginary, it was all true and I was .... a werewolf. I was a monster, a freak. Juno with pink fucking eyelashes was now the normal one.
Sylvia gave me a smile filled to the brim with pity, "Welcome to the real world."
***
Not long after Juno and I had to leave Sylvia and her dilapidated house and return to school. It was a strange sensation knowing I was a werewolf. Something so dangerous and so powerful I could rip apart anything, even Juno, who seemed so vulnerable and fragile before me and she half skipped half walked in her cheerful kind of way. Of course, I wouldn't though, Juno is too cute to hurt.
There was a wolf inside me just waiting to be let out. Sylvia told me she would take me through my first shift just to ease me into it. But I wasn't scared, I was excited. All this power in my hands just ready for me and only me to play with.
They hadn't told me much else not wanting to overwhelm me. But I knew there was so much more that I wasn't going to be told. It was frustrating. Still, the new knowledge was a lot to play with. I had been given this power by another wolf, but why. Maybe they would explain that the next time. My head rushed with questions but looking at Juno I could only pick the safest one.
"How did you meet a person like Sylvia?" I asked.
"Family friend," she stated simply, "the mythical community here is super close."
"That's certainly an interesting family friend....."
"Oh my family is right into the world of myths Torsten, Sylvia isn't that bad. She's actually quite friendly once you get to know her. She's just a little shy around strangers but when I told her about your teeth she agreed to look at you."
"Into the world of myths..." I trailed off, "Wait she was shy? Then what was I?"
Juno giggled, "Yeah, my teeth aren't fake either you know," she jumped over a crack in the pavement.
"You're a werewolf too?!" I almost yelled.
She giggled a little more, "No not quite, I just have a mutation. I couldn't even tell you were a werewolf myself, I just knew you weren't human."
"Oh I see.... so is your hair natural?" I asked.
She giggled again, this time she didn't reply.
***
Back at school lunchtime came around and I was walking around looking for my idiot friends. They weren't in any of our usual sitting spots which was frustrating. I walked through the school to check the sports field as if they would be there.
To my "surprise" they weren't but William was. I looked at him, the perfect emo athlete, surely he must be a myth too. I was tempted to join in the game to show off some of my werewolf abilities but I thought better of it. If something as powerful as a werewolf existed surely there were evil forces too. After all, weren't werewolves built for fighting? And the feeling that William and his ducklings gave me when they were staring, that screamed evil.
I backed away from the soccer field. Sylvia and Juno will explain when the time comes, no need to start fights with something deadly...
I turned around and started to walk away however Ruby walked over to me.
"Hey Torsten" She whispered seductively then winked at me.
I smirked and walked closer to her. Confused but intrigued
"How are your sexy teeth going?" She asked in the same seductive voice that lost her occa accent, thank god.
"You tell me," I leaned in and kissed her. She kissed back and her tongue flicked my sharp teeth. I felt nothing from kissing her except for cocky. It was so unlike me but I was a werewolf now, the old Torsten is gone. I was powerful. I could feel the strength of a werewolf running through my veins. Conner was no longer top dog in our group. He was part of the soccer team but that was nothing compared to part wolf. If only he were there to see this.
First edit - 1/4/2018
Spelling and grammar check 1 - 25/6/2019
Workshopping edit - 27/7/2022