Chapter Four

The scream ripped through the air, echoing through the forest, the most pure sound of pain I had ever heard. Llewellyn and Zak, still in wolf form, shuffled in the snow, looking around as though trying to locate the sound. I raced to the trunk of the tree, looking up through the leaves and branches in search of the source of the scream. But found nothing. No sign of coal black hair or a dark blue jumper. I could see right through the branches and into the sky. My eyebrows furrowed as I pushed myself against the trunk, trying to see if the boy had climbed around the tree so as not to be seen. But it wasn't a mistake. He wasn't there. Silence swirled around us, my heart racing in my ears, as anticipation crushed down around me. Something was very wrong, and it wasn't just people turning into wolves. After a few moments, I went to turn away, thinking he must have climbed down and was hiding in the undergrowth, when another heart wrenching screamed tore through the air. And then there he was, black hair and blue jumper all, clinging to the trunk of the tree, his face screwed up in pain, sitting exactly where I'd just been looking.

His hands were trembling against the trunk, his body wrapped into a ball as he sobbed, the little sounds so quiet I almost couldn't hear them above the sound of the trees. I didn't hesitate, grabbing onto the closest branch, I pulled myself up into the tree and quickly found my way over to him. I was lucky he'd chosen one of the largest branches on the tree as I climbed my way around so I was sitting behind him.

"Hey Monkey, I got you, I got you." I said, wrapping my arms around his waist. He didn't respond, continuing to shake in my arms. I leaned over to find Llewellyn and Zak looking up at me, still in that damned wolf form.

"Would you mind turning human? I need help getting him down!" I shouted. The boy screamed again and I flinched, my ears throbbing as I pulled him closer to me when Zak pranced below me, jumping on his forelegs as though trying to tell me something.

"Will you just change back?" Glaring at the stupid wolf, I started trying to detach the boys hands from the tree bark when Zak shook his head, snorting into the snow. I paused, frowning at the wolf when he pointed with his snout at the sky. I frowned and twisted in my new vantage point of the tree, when the snow surrounding us suddenly lit up silver and a large orb began to rise through the branches. I blinked, looking down to find Zak pacing beneath us, Llewellyn gone from sight. I could see his concern in the way his tilted his head, the frustration in the way he couldn't sit still.

"The full moon made you shift?" I asked and the wolf nodded, his fur looking like a wave of black as he moved. I swallowed, looking at the boy in front of me, only to almost fall out of the tree. Because the boy wasn't there, but he was. I could still feel him, trembling in my arms but he was no where to be seen. I froze, every muscle tensing in place, as I was too scared to move until he appeared again. What if he moved and I couldn't tell? For a fleeting moment, the thought that all of this was impossible creeped into my mind but I pushed it away. Now was not the time to have an existential crisis.

For a few moments, I held my breath, terrified to even breathe when something strange happened beneath my hands. I could feel the boys waist, too skinny and wrapped in a jumper, even though I couldn't see him but for a moment, just for a fleeting moment, I thought I felt the waist of an animal, the fur soft beneath my fingers. And then, like nothing had happened, the boy was straight back in front of me. I exhaled in relief before untangling his fingers from the tree.

"Come on Monkey, I need you to work with me. We gotta get you off this tree but I can't climb with you in my arms. You gotta turn around and hold onto me. Can you do that, Monkey?" I asked, loosening my grip on his waist. I swallowed, watching, waiting, for him to hopefully do something. I didn't know how else to get him down if he didn't respond but slowly, slowly, the trembling boy managed to pull one leg over the branch and reach for me. I grabbed his arms, looping his hands around my neck so he could hang on, hooking his legs around my waist I kissed the top of his head.

"Okay, Monkey, you hold on now. I'm gonna climb down, I need you to hold on as tightly as possible." I told him, marvelling at how strong his grip was as I hurriedly made my way back to the ground where Zak was waiting for us. As soon as my feet hit the snow, I wrapped my arms around the boy, holding him close to me as Zak tried to stand on his hindlegs to look at the boy.

"Is this normal?" I asked as Zak circled around us, eyeing the boy in concern. He shook his head, snorting into the snow in frustration.

"Can we take him to where you live? Maybe someone knows what's going on?" Again, he shook his head, prancing on his forelegs as though the idea was impossible. I sighed, chewing my lip as the boy sobbed in my ears.

"We're going to my place then." I announced, resettling the boy on my hips so he was more comfortable. Zak paced in front of me, snorting in response at the idea. I glared at him as the boy screamed again.

"I don't care what you think, my place is the closest solution." Turning away from the wolf, I made my through the familiar forest, talking to softly to the boy as we exited to find ourselves surrounded my buildings, the soft padding of the wolf in the snow following quickly behind us. The walk from the forest to my house took longer then usual as I'd freeze in place every time the boy disappeared, the strange feeling of holding an animal always occurring right before he'd appear in my arms again. We reached my apartment, and I quickly opened the door, stepping back to let Zak into my small one room home before walking in myself.

I moved over to the bed, pushing the pile of clothes sitting on the end all over the floor as I went to lay the boy down. However, instead of lying down, the boy suddenly screamed and straggled at my arms, tearing into my skin with his nails. Zak growled, jumping onto the bed he sniffed the boys face, trying to see what was wrong with him when he screamed again, pulling at my shirt as though trying to get away from something. I blinked. He wasn't screaming in pain, not right now, he was screaming in fear. I looked around the room, trying to find what was scaring him so much, his legs were already stretched across the black doona that lay along my bed but he was refusing to lie down. I stared at the only option I could think of, the bright red pillow case that lay on the bed like two blood stains, and blinked. It had to be them but I didn't exactly have the time to change the pillow cases.

"Zak!" I cried, making the wolfs head shoot up to look at me. "Lie down, cover the pillows." Zak tilted his head, just for a moment, before he dug at the pillows, throwing them off the bed before lying down so the boy could use him as a pillow. The moment the pillows moved, the boy seemed to calm slightly, releasing his grip on my shirt as collapsed onto Zaks side. I raced over to the sink, grabbing a hand towel from the cupboard beside it and filling the sink with cold water, soaking the towel before turning back to the boy. I rested the cold towel on the boys forehead, Zak twisting around to lick the drips of water from the side of his face. Feeling down the boys arms, I frowned, shaking my head.

"He's got a fever." I announced, undoing the boys jumper Zak helped me sit him up, pushing against the boys back with his head as I removed the thick fabric from his body. The moment the jumper was removed, my face scrunched in concern. The boys arms were so small they looked more like sticks, his shirt sat loose around his frame, his breathing shallow as he sobbed. I moved to resettle the towel on the boys head when, without warning, he was gone again.

"Shit!" I cried as Zak whined, licking where the boys face should've been in an almost panic. I found myself holding my breath, waiting, praying, for the boy to return. Several painstaking minutes passed before he appeared again, clinging to Zaks fur as a scream wrenched from his mouth. I bit down on the tears welling in my eyes as I turned to wet the hand towel again.

Somehow, we managed to work all night, trying to keep the boy comfortable, simultaneously feeling as though what I was doing was important and absolutely useless at the same time. At some point during the night, the boy seemed to pass out, the screams and trembling ceasing even though he continued to disappear at random intervals. I found myself clinging to him, just to remind myself that he was there, begging for the boy to come back. Sometimes he'd come back instantly, other times he was gone for several minutes, but he always came back.

"Zak, what is going on?" I asked, several hours later as the boys screams fell away. I pressed the back of my hands to his cheeks, studying him intently, when his eyelids flinched. I sighed in relief. "He's okay. I think he just passed out." Zak exhaled heavily, his muscles relaxing as he licked the boy face.

"He's one of you, isn't he?" I asked and the wolf nodded, looking at me with those dark blue eyes that had seemed so out of place when I'd first met him.

"Have you heard of this before? Not being able to shift?" Zak shook his head, his glossy black fur shimmering as he moved. I frowned, chewing on my lip as I watched the boys chest rise and fall in shallow breaths. I opened my mouth to ask another question when the boy disappeared from sight again.

"Come on, come on, come on." I begged, clinging to the boys hand as some kind of reminder that there was in fact some one there. For several beats, nothing happened but then he was there again, eyes closed and breathing. I swallowed, breathing deeply in relief. Zak whimpered, resting his head on the boys shoulder, twisting awkwardly so as not to disturb his head. I watched as he licked the boys cheek, pawing at the bed beneath him.

"I'm sorry." I whispered. Zak froze, looking up at me with surprise in his eyes. "I'm sorry I accused you of drugging me. This entire thing, whatever it is you guys are, I'm still not sure I believe it. But, I'm sitting in my house with a boy who keeps disappearing, having a conversation with a wolf who understands what I'm saying." I sighed, shaking my head as I let my eyes run over Zaks body. "And besides, I must have been insane for a while if that's the case, I've seen you before." Zak tilted his head, looking at me as though trying to see if he knew me as well. I smiled, shaking my head at him.

"A couple of months ago I was walking home from work, during a new moon, and I didn't see you in the forest. All I could see were your eyes. I almost walked into you." Zak snorted, raising his head, he nodded as though he remembered. I frowned, sighing as I smoothed the boys hair against his head and turned away to wet the towel again. The rest of the night was silent as I worked to keep the boy as comfortable as possible but at some point, kneeling beside the bed with the boys hand clung tightly in mine, I fell asleep.