"Well, who decided that?!" Rory demanded.
"That would be me!" Wolfgang snarled back.
As winter dragged on, it seemed to Demarco that everyone in Moonwood Mill was getting irritable. Lou called it cabin-fever - too many people stuck together in town, by the cold and the snow, for too long. The fact that a significant minority of the townsfolk were werewolves - already naturally temperamental and territorial - didn't help. Tempers were running short.
"Why do you get to decide!?" Rory snapped.
"I don't know Rory, maybe because I'm the librarian," Wolfgang answered, clearly struggling to keep a grip on his rising fury.
Demarco kept her eye on the book she was pretending to read. Her mom had told her once, after some senseless blow-up Demarco had had with her dad, that arguments were never about what arguments were about. At the time, she remembered, that hadn't made any sense to her at all.
"That gives you the right to shut the gym!?" Rory yelled.
"The gym is part of the library," Wolfgang snarled back. "We can barely afford to heat the main rooms. It's almost freezing in here already. There isn't enough in the budget to heat the gym too!"
Yeah, her mom's nonsensical words made more sense now. Demarco was pretty sure Rory wasn't this mad about the gym being closed. She hardly ever used it anyway, preferring the workout equipment at the den and the trailer. She was pretty sure the usually even-tempered (for a werewolf) Wolfgang had other things on his mind too... though she didn't know what.
"If you don't like the way I run the library, bring it up at the next Town Meeting," Wolfgang bellowed, losing his tightly held control.
"Right! It's not like you and the rest of the Collective don't totally control that!" Rory shouted back.
It's funny, Demarco thought. It's been years since I thought about my folks. Ever since Etta had opened up about her family, she'd found herself thinking more about her own sometimes. Not enough to try to reach out to them. Some bridges were burned and better left in ashes. She had a new family now, in the Wildfangs... not that they were necessarily less dysfunctional than her birth family.
Speaking of dysfunctional, she thought, Kiril seemed to be enjoying Rory and Wolfgang's fight a little too much.
Something was up with that guy, Demarco thought. Of course, she felt like something was usually up with Kiril. Still, that creepy smirk of his had seemed more sinister the last couple of weeks.
Then there was the fact that he and Rory had their heads together a lot, especially when no one was around. If it was anyone but Rory, Demarco would have seriously considered that she and Kiril had a little something-something going on the side... but even if Kiril wasn't serious about the whole "wolves mate for life" idea, she knew Rory was.
No, this was something else. Demarco didn't know what, but it was getting her hackles up. (She actually knew what hackles were now that she had them - that fur down her back when she was a wolf - and she could actually feel them rising with tension, even when she wasn't.)
---------------------------------------
"They were literally growling at each other," Demarco exclaimed later, telling Etta about what had happened at the library. "I thought for a second they were going to shift and go at each other."
"Oh wow," Etta breathed.
"You've lived here for a couple of years," Demarco continued. "Is winter always like this?"
"Well..." Etta considered the matter.
"Yes and no," she admitted. "Everyone gets a little 'eeiii' after being snowed in for a couple of months. Still, thinking about it, last winter wasn't this tense. I mean, people got irritable and snarly, but Kristopher would go around talking to people, or just listening to people. I remember him taking his pack on a run through the woods a few times... just to blow off steam."
"What about the Wildfangs?" Demarco asked. "I mean, I've never seen them together but from what she's said, Rory doesn't seem like she's on the best terms with Kristopher."
"Well, that's the thing," Etta said. "Kristopher hasn't been around as much this past year. I mean, he's around... somewhere... but he's hasn't been as involved as he was."
"Also, Jake was here," Etta continued.
"Rory's brother, kind of, right?" Demarco said. "She's mentioned him a few times."
"Yeah, they were both 'foundling' werewolves. Kristopher brought them in and taught them both," Etta said. "Anyway, Jake could talk to Rory even when Kristopher couldn't. He moved down to Henford after he got married, but he used to come up here a lot more. Not so much, since he and Beth had their baby.
"I guess, between them, Kristopher and Jake managed to keep things from boiling over," Etta sighed. "Now Jake's moved out and Kristopher's..."
"What?" Demarco asked.
"I'm not sure... It depends on how much I trust what Father taught me," Etta admitted. "Still... he said sometimes immortals... really old immortals... start to lose their grip. Mortals around them change so much and finally, something happens that's just too much for them. They lose their grip on the world, stop caring and just... drift off."
"Wait... immortals?" Demarco blinked. "Are werewolves immortal? Am I immortal?!"
"No, Etta shook her head. "Well, not most werewolves... not you... but some of the really powerful ones are. Rory might be strong enough. I know Lily's over a hundred and even she calls Kristopher 'Old Man' sometimes. Kristopher is... old. I don't know how old but I've heard Mr. Moonrunner call him 'Firstborn.'"
"... and you think Kristopher is, what did you call it, losing his grip?" Demarco asked.
"I don't know," Etta sighed again. "Like I said, it depends on how much you trust what Father taught me. I know he had an axe to grind with certain immortals... like the Sages and the heads of the Old Families... which is funny given that Father is over four hundred years old himself."
"OK that's... wait, are you... How old are you?" Demarco demanded.
"Nineteen," Etta smiled. "Give or take."
"Good," Demarco sighed, "because I don't think I could take it if you were a hundred-year-old witch."
"Nope, just a nineteen-year-old ex-witch," Etta replied.
Sobering, Etta added, "You going to be OK?"
"I don't know," Demarco sighed again. "I guess I just have to wait it out and hope everyone calms down. Who knows... maybe things will be better when they get back tonight."
"Back?" Etta looked puzzled.
"They all headed down to the Harbor," Demarco said. "It's Kiril's big live recording."
"Why didn't you go?" Etta asked.
"I told Rory I needed a little me time," Demarco said. "Besides, you and I had plans."
"You picked me over your pack?" Etta looked a little shocked.
"I'm not proposing to you or anything," Demarco laughed, then added seriously, "And I'm not giving up on them. I love the Wildfangs. Still, after a month in that damn trailer listening to Kiril practice... yeah, I'd rather hang with you than watch him play. Even if I do miss out on meeting the Markus the Great Music Producer."
