As the minutes seemed like hours to Crissa, the night dragged on until daylight could be seen outside. The sonic vibrations had ended several hours before, and with it the cries of the local wolves which were in the end, heard to be far in the distance. Checking on her surrogate patients, Crissa watched as each of them twitched in sleep and showed some signs of improvement with the passing time. When her phone rang that morning at seven thirty, she was surprised by the hour and the fact that it was her mother trying to reach her.
After numerous muffled rings, Crissa felt the call might be important and chose to answer. She quickly carried the device into the bathroom and shut the door to speak.
"Crissa?"
"Yeah? Umm, hi, mom!"
"I thought I'd catch you before you headed out to classes today?"
"What?"
"Your classes, darling. You do have a few on Monday morning, as I recall."
"Oh Yeah. Right . . . I was just about to get in the shower."
Crissa had totally lost track that the weekend had ended a day ago, and that she was still in the mountains. Her priorities had just shifted so extremely over the past critical days and nights.
"Well I won't keep you, Crissy, but just wanted to tell you. Your father and I will be traveling tomorrow."
"Oh? Great, mom . . . I mean, really? Where?"
"Your father has this conference. Some lawyer thing over at the Banff Springs Hotel resort. In Alberta."
"Where, Mom?"
"That fancy castle-looking place in Alberta? With the hot springs and famous. . ."
"Oh yeah. Wow . . . So far? And when again, Mom?"
She wanted desperately to get off the phone and back to her monitoring of David and Julie. She had no idea how their recovery would work should it begin to occur simultaneously.
"Well the first snows come there this week. And the conference is sort of a gala event. Should be just beautiful!"
"OK. Great, Mom. And so you're leaving . . .tomorrow?
"That's right, sweetheart. I know it's kind of sudden. But your father just decided to go."
Great Mom . . . but I really have to get to class now. So . . . how long you'll be gone?"
"Well that's just it, Angel. It's a full week in the Rockies . . . six or seven days."
"That's good. You and dad could use the trip."
"We'll be driving so . . . we might even take a few more days. Sightseeing."
"Nice. Well enjoy. Just tell dad to be careful driving on those mountain roads."
Crissa suddenly thought about the opportunity to have their second car.
Mom . . . tell Dad . . . I'll definitely need the car a few times while you're gone. OK? It's some club stuff for the college . . . and, you know, shopping."
"Well, I suppose he'll be OK with that. But you'll have to be very . . ."
"Careful, I know, Mom. So . . . on the kitchen table, OK?"
"What?"
"The car keys, Mom! Leave them on the table."
"Oh. Alright. I'll tell your father."
"Have a great trip . . . take a lot of pictures. But got to get to class now!"
"We had another crazy night with the wolves out here. Guess you heard."
"No mom . . . How so?"
"They were just going crazy! So many of them. Something really seemed to set them off. All night long. It was strange!"
"Yeah, well . . . I don't have time for . . . for wolves right now, Mom. So see ya. OK? Have a good trip!"
With this, Crissa closed her phone and quickly went into the bedroom to see David's progress. He was fortunately starting to show positive signs of recovery—wanting to sit up and mumbling quietly to himself. She backed up quietly and went into the living room. There she could see that Julie was still in a fairly deep state of unconsciousness, lying on her back with the blanket not quite covering her nakedness.
As Crissa came closer and leaned over to adjust the cover over the girl's body, she suddenly opened her eyes. She looked at Crissa blankly and her cold stare was terrifying. It showed no emotion. No recognition but seemed to follow Crissa's nervous movements back to a safer distance.
"Julie?" Crissa asked softly.
There was no response. Just the continual stare. It was if Julie was trying to put together who, what, Crissa was to her.
As she walked away and back into the bedroom, Crissa saw David now sitting on the bed with his head in his hands. She watched as he gingerly touch the wounds still deep and significant on his forearms. Then he ran a finger exploringly along the narrow gash to his nose.
"David?"
He brushed his long, dark hair back out of his eyes while she waited nervously for his recognition of her.
Slowly he looked up in her direction and a faint smile came over his boyish face. He ran his fingers again through his hair then smiled more fulsomely.
"Come over here, lover," he said in warm, weak voice.
Crissa walked then ran to him. She embraced him with all her might.
"God, David!"
"Guess, I'm back, huh?"
"Yes. You really are!"
"I had a few . . . scraps I can see," he said, again looking at his injured arms."
"Yeah. A few. We'll get those tended to, don't worry. I'm just so glad you're here . . . all of you, my love."
"David, seeing he was naked, took the comment self-consciously and covered himself more carefully.
"Don't worry, you're beautiful," she said with lightness to her voice.
"Ok. Well my memories are slow . . . but their coming back. I mean . . . about the wolf stuff."
"Don't try to remember any of that now, David. I'll tell you all I know when you're . . ."
"Hey, did Julie make it back?
Crissa's light voice quickly disappeared
Yes. She's in the other room. Recovering."
"God, Crissa. She was such a pain!"
"I know . . . For both of us."
" Crissa? . . . About that . . . Well, I didn't. I want you to know that. I didn't give in . . . or pursue to her."
Crissa hugged him again and began to cry. His comment seemed to release a floodgate of emotions.
"I knew you wouldn't, David," she answered, trying to dry her eyes with the back of her hand. "Our love is strong. We both showed that."
"I remember all of it. Well now. We never even got close."
"I totally believe you," she said, standing up. "But we must now get you cleaned up, into those extra clothes, and back to your place. While I make sure that Julie . . ."
Just then, a loud scream emanated from the living room and Crissa turned and ran to investigate. As she entered, David was quickly at her side with the blanket around him.
They found Julie walking around in the dim room, naked, and still trans-like. She seemed to be interested only in going outside. Crissa and David guided her away from the door and back to the blanket on the floor. While she sat, Crissa covered her shoulders with the blanket and hid as much of her bare body as she could—in preparation for the girl's modesty and all else human about her to return.
* * *