Bad Moon Rising - Chapter 25

"Kristopher came to us a short time ago," Gwen said as she led Jake down the brookside path. "Days? Weeks? I lose track." 

Jake paid little attention to the path, to the evening sunlight dancing off the brook, or to the scents of flowers and new spring growth. He struggled to let the White Witch set the pace. He wanted to run, to shift and race on all fours to reach his father.

"Where is he?" he all but demanded as the Glimmerbrook Gate came into view. 

He had known already where Gwen was leading him and expected to find Kristopher sitting by the Gate and the waterfall, lost in thought as he often did on the mountain back home.

"Through there," Gwen replied, nodding at the portal.

"Through there?" Jake gasped. "Through... the portal? He's... he's in the Magic Realm?"

"Yes," Gwen smiled. "He said he was very close to a decision and needed a quiet place to think."

"Can I..." Jake started, then took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. Is... is there some kind of protocol or ritual for asking to go through?"

Gwen laughed, "Yes, but I've never had much patience for formalities. You're with me and have my permission to go on. That's good enough for the Gate. Step through."

"Whoa," Jake gasped, looking around. Inwardly, he winced at not saying something more profound, but really, all his brain offered him was: "Whoa."

Stars wheeled in an otherworldly twilight sky lit by a vast shimmering aurora, and great shattered stones drifted like clouds. The air smelled of unfamiliar spices, of trees that bore both flower and fruit, of wet autumn leaves, the cold whisper of imminent snow... and under it all, a hint of dust and shattered stone. A place of wonder, touched by ruin.

Jake took another breath and, among the many uncanny odors, caught a familiar scent. 

Kristopher.

Just as Jake had been expecting, his father was sitting, clearly lost in thought, in this mystical place. Even as Jake saw him, Kristopher's shaggy head rose, and a smile spread across his face. 

Jake rushed forward into his father's warm embrace.

"It's good to see you, Jake," Kristopher sighed.

"Father, I'm so glad I found you," Jake said.

"We need you. I don't know where you've been or what's so important, but we need you," he continued. "That wizard, Faust, has the Wildfangs under a spell. He's been playing on the tensions between the packs, and now he's driven Rory to some kind of violent takeover of the town. We have to put a stop to it. I've got the new Wildfang, Demarco, and Claudette... Etta... with me, and Gwen and Cassie. With your help, we can free the Wildfangs and drive Faust out. Come on. We have to go."

"Oh, Jake," Kristopher sighed. "I've been thinking about what you said."

"What I said?" Jake replied, confused. "Said when? Just now... what's to think about?"

"No, no," Kristopher smiled, sadly. "What you said when you and Beth left to follow Miranda... right after poor Nick died. Do you remember?"

"That was like three years ago," Jake said, growing even more confused. "I was angry. I mean... does that really matter now?!"

"It matters a great deal," Kristopher said.

"Three years ago, when the Dark Court attacked the Guardians," he continued, "and Cassandra asked me to protect her daughter, Miranda, I agreed but I insisted that we would not fight in their war."

"I remember," Jake said, solemnly. It has been the first time he had truly believed Kristopher had been wrong about something important. 

"You don't remember the first war, the war that created us," Kristopher mused. "My parents and the other Mooncasters had taken on the powers of their wolf familiars to fight against the vampire uprising. I was raised in that war and, as a young man, I fought in it. I saw so many fall, so much horror and bloodshed. When it was over, my parents let old age claim them... and I became the leader of our people. I accepted the burden of immortality, so I could protect and guide us. I brought us back to the Moonwood, where we could make a sanctuary for ourselves.  I believed I could keep us safe, from the world and the horrors of war."

"You have," Jake said. "You've been a great leader to our people... and they need you now."

"I have done the best I could," Kristopher replied. "No more, or less... but now... When Miranda came to us," he continued, "I said I would not fight in their war... but she was so brave, so willful... and you and Beth followed her. Nick fought and died for her. I saw the horrors of the old war claim another young wolf. I said, again, that we would not fight in their war! But you said to me...

"Wake up, father! The war is happening, whether you want it or not... We can't be diplomatic with someone who doesn't even see us as people. We can't peacefully coexist with someone who wants to destroy us. People are dying. Nick died! No, he didn't just die... they killed him.

"Nick wasn't part of your pack, father. He was part of mine... and my pack is going with Miranda. We're going to stand against the vampires because it's the right thing to do. Because it's not her war, father. It's everyone's."

"I'm sorry, father," Jake began.

"No! You were right," Kristopher insisted. "I have led our people for a long time, Jake. Hundreds of years, building a sanctuary for us, finding peace with the Wolf within us. and trying keep us out of the world. You showed me that it is time for a new way."

"OK," Jake nodded. "OK, so you'll find a new way. We'll go back, save everyone and then you can lead us into this new way."

"No," Kristopher said, almost laughing. "Not me. You."

"We have to... huh, what?!" Jake rocked back, shocked.

"You, and your sister Rory," Kristopher smiled. "I can see that now, at last. I can't say I was wrong, not even now, but I can say that it is time for a new way. You will find that way for our people, to move forward in this new Age. I am too old, too set in my ways. I raised you. I raised you both... to be leaders, to take my place... so I could finally put down the burden and privilege of leadership. For a time, I thought you weren't ready, like I thought about so many other possible successors over the centuries. I finally realized I wasn't ready. I need to be. I need to step aside.

"I entrust you, Jacob Volkov, with the leadership of our people and with protection of the Moonwood," Kristopher knelt, bowing his head before his new leader.

"... and the Prince comes to Garden," Gwen said softly, "to receive that which he does not want."

"Thank you Gwenivar," Kristopher said rising. "I know I can trust you to keep an eye on them."

"Both eyes, as often as I can spare them," Gwen quoted. "Fair well, Kristophorus Lykos. I hope you find the peace you seek."

"You're leaving?" Jake gasped. "You tell me I'm pack leader, protector of the Moonwood... which has been invaded by an evil wizard in case you've forgotten, and you're just leaving?!"

"You don't need me, Jake. You're ready," Kristopher smiled. "You can do this... and you won't be doing it alone. To be a wolf is to be part of the pack. You said, three years ago, you have your pack, and you have only added to it since. I wouldn't give you this burden if I didn't believe you could carry it."

Turning, Kristopher walked away, and with each step, he seemed to fade.

"Goodbye."

Bad Moon Rising - Chapter 24

"OK, I can't believe I'm sitting in Cassie's dining room!" Demarco whispered to Etta, looking around at the painting, hardwood walls and antique furniture of the old house.

"You are such a fangirl," Etta chuckled softly.

"I know," Demarco smiled. "Hey what was that thing Gwen said... about light in a dark wood and a prince?"

"The Light illuminates the Dark Wood," Etta repeated.

"Yeah, what's that about?" Demarco asked.

"Well... Lux," Etta said pointedly.

"Gwen is a Seer," Cassie put in, smiling as Demarco looked abashed at having been overheard. "She can glimpse Moments of the future."

"That's amazing," Demarco said, awed.

"Mostly annoying, honestly," Cassie replied, smiling at her wife. "Gwen speaks in riddles at the best of times, and her prophecies are even worse."

"That's what you guys meant when you said they knew we were coming," Demarco said, "but... wait... if you knew what was happening in Moonwood Mill..."

"I didn't," Gwen said sadly. "I can't See anything in Moonwood Mill right now."

"Father," Etta said, her tone making it a curse.

"Yes," Gwen smiled sadly. "He's gotten better at hiding himself and his plans from my Sight. I've had hints... enough to know that he'd come to you, Etta... and enough to know that you would all come here... but I can't see more than that."

"Which is a good thing," Cassie added.

"It is?" Jake looked confused.

"So she insists," Gwen replied. 

"The Moments Gwen sees are inevitable," Cassie said. "Once she Sees a thing, it will happen... and she doesn't decide the future. She just foretells it. That's why she couches everything in annoying metaphors and symbolism... the vaguer the prophecy, the more leeway we have in dealing with it. Faust hiding himself entirely from her Sight means that nothing he is doing is certain. There is no predetermined outcome. This future is entirely ours to create."

"OK," Demarco nodded. "I like that. Free will, right?"

"It's a rarer thing than you imagine," Cassie smiled. 

"Alright," Jake said. "So, we've got a chance... or at least no insurmountable prophecies that say we don't. We've got two werewolves and two powerful witches... or maybe three?"

"No," Etta said softly.

"Could you?" Demarco's eyes widened. "Could you give Etta her magic back?"

"Yes," Gwen breathed.

"No!" Etta repeated, loudly. "You can't. I won't. Please, no."

"Why?" Cassie asked gently. 

"My magic, my Father's magic... it's dangerous," Etta said shakily.

"Like Black Magic?" Demarco said. "Is that a thing? Is magic, like, evil?"

"Is being a werewolf evil?" Cassie replied. "Magic is a force of nature, like wind or rain or fire. Like the Wolf in you, it isn't good or evil... but it is powerful and it is wild. It's always easier to destroy than to create, easier to hurt than to heal."

"I won't," Etta repeated. "Please don't ask me. I'm sorry."

"It's OK," Jake nodded. "I get it. We work with what we have. Two werewolves, two powerful witches and an ex-witch. We can do this," he added confidently.

"Yeah, but Faust has us outnumbered. He's got the Wildfangs under his spell," Demarco pointed out, "and, by now, probably the Collective too."

"Not the Collective," Etta said. "He'll be stretched thin holding onto the Wildfangs. He won't be able to control the Collective elders too... and he wouldn't try. Not if he's after warriors."

"You've clearly never seen Lily fight," Jake put in.

"Doesn't matter," Etta replied. "Even under Compulsion, he'd be hard pressed to make her fight for him."

"Compulsion?" Gwen asked.

"He'll be using a Grigorian Compulsion spell. It's like a classic Fabian Mesmerism," Etta said, "but with elements of vampiric Dark Energy thrown in. It allows him bend their will more by drawing on darker, even self-destructive impulses."

Demarco exchanged a look with Jake as the conversation moved into esoteric discussions of magical theory. It was clear that, whatever she had lost, Etta still had a firm grasp on the principles and theories behind Faust's dark magic, which was apparently different from Cassie and Gwen's magic.

From what little Demarco could follow, it seemed that Faust's spell had tapped into Rory's frustration with the Collective, enhanced by months of Kiril's subtle manipulations, to drive her into violence, and then pulled on the bonds of the pack to drag her and Lou along. Still, they seemed to think the spell could be broken, provided Faust wasn't actively reinforcing it.

"Could you use the power in the Moonwood against him?" Etta asked. 

Gwen's only reply was a quizzical smile. 

"I've felt it," Etta said. "Even cut off, I could feel the ancient magic all around me in those woods. That's what he's really after, isn't it?"

"Probably," Cassie said. "To really use it ourselves, we'd need..."

"Need? Need what?" Demarco said after her pause had gone on longer than she could stand.

"A key to that magic," Gwen said. "The Moonwood Wand."

"Miranda's wand," Etta breathed, eyes wide. 

"Beth and I found it for her," Jake said. "In the old ruins, under the Moonwood."

"She said once her magic was moon magic," Etta said. "But why didn't he have me take it years ago when we... you know..."

"Stolen magic," Gwen said. 

"Of course," Etta nodded, as if it made sense. 

Demarco actually growled in frustrated confusion.

"Stolen magic is weak," Etta explained. "Magic won is strong. Magic freely given is strongest of all. If Father had stolen the wand when we... well, it wouldn't have been much more than any other wand to him. But if his allies on the Dark Court had... well, killed her...  they would have won the wand and then could have freely given it to Father."

"I think it would be best to keep Miranda and the Moonwood Wand out of this fight," Cassie said after a moment. "Better not to risk Faust getting his hands on the wand."

"There is another key to the magic of the Moonwood," Gwen said. "Its protector. The lord of the Moonwood."

"Kristopher," Etta said.

"Yeah, that was something else I needed to talk to you about," Jake said. "No one knows where my dad is."

"I do," Gwen said.

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Author's Note: There will a second chapter this week, posting on Friday 12/1

Bad Moon Rising - Chapter 23

"That's the place," Jake announced. "Glimmerbrook Watch."

They had left the van in a public lot by the rustic looking pub on the edge of town. The foot path they followed from there led them down wooded hillsides alongside of a bubbling stream. Even after months of getting used to Moonwood Mill's clear mountain air, Demarco was amazed by Glimmerbrook's clean scents of green spring growth. 

Jake had led the way, Etta having sunk back into her own thoughts once they had arrived.

"You OK?" Demarco asked with a worried look at her friend.

"Not really," Etta admitted. "I haven't been back here since the Sages took my magic and exiled me. I'm not technically breaking that, because Glimmerbrook isn't technically part of the Realm... but... no, I'm really not OK."

"Come on, you two," Jake called. "Let's not keep them waiting."

"Waiting?" Demarco asked. "They don't even know we're coming. I mean, you didn't call them or anything..."

"They know," Etta sighed. "Believe me, they know."

"OK, let's meet these all-powerful Guardians," Demarco said, setting her shoulders. "I mean how impressive can they really... Oh My GOD! That's... that's Cassandra Goth! That's Cassie... the Raven Witch! The Raven Witch is one of the Guardians?! Wait," she added to Etta, "Miranda... Miranda Goth? You were behind the Miranda Goth Kidnapping?!"

"Yes, Lux," Etta groaned. "Please, loudly remind her mother of the reasons she has to turn me into a frog!"

"It's good to see you, Jake," Cassie said, the musical star's famous voice warm. "Beth and Diana are well, I hope."

"Hey Cassie. Hi Gwen," Jake said. "Yeah, they're both fine."

"You've brought us guests," Gwen added serenely. "Claudette, we know..."

"That's Lux Demarco, of my sister Rory's Wildfang pack," Jake said.

"Lux," Gwen seemed to savor the name, smiling mysteriously.

"We need your help," Jake continued.

"It's my Father," Etta said, stepping cautiously closer. "He... he's put the Wildfangs under a spell and attacked Moonwood Mill. I didn't know... but... Please, people are in danger... the townies, the Collective... the Wildfangs... he's forcing them to obey him. I... I couldn't fight him... it was all I could do to free Demarco from his spell and... Please..."

"Hi, I'm Demarco," she said breathlessly. "Lux. Demarco. Everyone just calls me Demarco. 'Cause I had this friend Knox. Knox. Lux. Lux. Knox. Anyway. You're Cassie. Oh My God you're Cassie. I know like everyone says this but I am such a big fan. Your music changed my life. I mean, your song, Brookside, totally gave me the guts to hook up with Annie my next-door-neighbor and I really liked her but I think I blew it and I went to Moonwood Mill to like get over her and I got turned into a werewolf and joined the Wildfangs and met Etta and her asshole dad put a spell on me and made us attack everyone and Etta broke the spell on me but we totally didn't kiss 'cause we're really just friends even though I really like her a lot so please don't turn her into a frog."

"Demarco," Cassie said with a smile. "Breathe, before you pass out."

"Right," Demarco said. "Breathe. I can breathe."

"The Light illuminates the Dark Wood," Gwen said softly, "and the Prince comes to the Garden..."

"Of course," Cassie breathed. "Claudette... but she called you Etta, I think."

"Yes... Etta. I'm using Etta Blackwood now," she said. "Freddie... little Freddie Moonrunner, he called me Etta so I..."

"You what?" Cassie asked, her voice stern but motherly.

"I didn't... I didn't want to be Claudette anymore," Etta admitted, looking away. "It's stupid."

"Is it?" Cassie said, drawing her eyes back. "Who is Etta Blackwood then? A new mask to hide behind?"

"No," Etta said, firmly. "Not a mask."

"You both said you broke Faust's spell on her," Cassie continued, nodding at Demarco. "How? Has he restored your powers?"

"No," Etta said again. "He... he said he would, if I joined him... but I told him to go to Hell. It was hedge magic... a poppet... I've been working on the method for a while for... for someone else. I thought it might work for a friend, for Demarco, and it did."

"Look, I know you don't have any reason to trust me," Etta continued, "but this isn't about me. Those people back in town need your help. Please, do whatever you want to me. Just help them. Please!"

"Etta," Cassie said softly. "I've spent a lot of my life learning the dangers of living in the past. Old pain, old hate, old regrets. I try not to be trapped by them. You've made mistakes... but as Gwen says, it's your choices that matter. Of course, we'll help."

"Come inside, all of you," Gwen said. "We have much to discuss."

Bad Moon Rising - Chapter 22

Author's Note: This brief chapter is meant to serve as a summary of certain key events and background details from the Wyrd Girls stories. If you are a new reader, or it's been a while since you read Wyrd Girls, this is intended to bring you up to speed. - Leo

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"Ok, so who are these Guardians?" Demarco asked, as she drove the van.

Etta, lost in her own thoughts as they walked back to the lot, had climbed into the back of the van. Jake, with a shrug, had taken the front seat. He glanced back, giving Etta a chance to answer before he spoke.

"I can tell you what I know," he said at last, adding to Etta, "but you'll have to fill in anything I miss or get wrong. So, I guess the first thing is that witches are from another realm, another world - The Realm of Magic. 

"Oh, turn left at the old church ruins," he added.

"What, like another planet?" Demarco said.

"I guess it's more like another dimension," Jake replied, glancing back at Etta for confirmation. "A parallel reality, something like that. A long time ago, they came to this realm and settled in a place called Glimmerbrook, where our realm touches theirs. There's this Gateway... a door between the realms... and there are the Guardians - a coven of witches who protect the Gateway."

"Protect it?" Demarco asked.

"There was a war between the witches and the vampires," Jake said.

"The ancient witches created the vampires, as servants," Etta put in. "When the vampires rebelled, the witches created your people - the werewolves - to fight them."

"Something like that," Jake shrugged. "History is more Beth's thing. Anyway, that war is still kinda going on. A few years ago, a group of vampires, along with our 'friend' Faust, attacked the Gateway, trying to get through and invade the Magic Realm. We managed to stop them."

"We?" Demarco glanced back at Etta. "That's what you meant about Jake helping beat your father?"

"Yes," Etta replied. "That was the first time. The second..."

"Another left, around that big old oak," Jake put in. "You should tell her this part," he added to Etta.

"I've told you most of it," Etta said. "Almost a year after the battle with the Guardians, Father sent me to Glimmerbook. I was supposed to get close to the youngest Guardian - Miranda. She was about my age and being sent off to school. I used my magic to seduce her..."

"That's a nice way of putting it," Jake grumbled.

Etta sighed, "And I lured her outside of the protection of Glimmerbrook. With the help of some mortal agents, we kidnapped her... but I didn't know what Father really intended. At the time, I didn't even think to ask." 

There was a long silence before Demarco said, "You said before he was going to hand her over to the vampires, to be killed."

"Yes," Etta said softly. "I... Miranda was supposed to be the enemy... that's what Father had taught me... but I... I liked her. She was nice to me. Even after I betrayed her, she was nice to me. Like she genuinely cared about me, even after what I'd done."

"Yeah, she's like that," Jake nodded.

"So, I helped her escape," Etta said. "I defied Father and we ran... but it wouldn't have been enough if Jake and Beth and Miranda's parents - the other Guardians - hadn't arrived."

"You tried," Demarco said gently. "You went against everything you'd been taught to do the right thing."

"Yeah, you did," Jake agreed. "That's worth something."

"I hope they think so," Etta sighed. 

"She won't be there, you know," Jake said. "Miranda, I mean. She's at University."

"Oh," Etta breathed. "That's... that's good, I guess."

"Left around the hill," she added to Demarco.

"There's no left turn... oh, there it is," Demarco said, turning down the road that she hadn't seen a moment before.

"Thrice widdershins, and through the mists," Etta said softly as they drove through a sudden, dense patch of fog that had sprung up out of nowhere, "to the Place Between."

"Lux Demarco," Jake said, "welcome to Glimmerbrook."

Bad Moon Rising - Chapter 21

It felt wrong to leave Moonwood Mill, Demarco thought. The Wolf in her wanted to stay, to fight for her territory, for her pack and for her people. The woman in her really didn't like the idea of leaving normals, like the Jackson and McGee families, alone to face Faust and the entranced Wildfangs. Still, she knew Etta was right - they couldn't do this alone.

So, rather than staying to fight, she drove away (Etta having admitted that, while she knew basically how to drive, she didn't have a lot of practice and her license was fake). 

"So, where are we actually going?" Demarco asked as they cross the bridge out of town.

"Henford," Etta replied. "Just follow the river."

Demarco ended up following the road signs, after quickly giving up on Etta's navigation skills. Her declaration that she was used to spotting landmarks from the air was both disturbing and unhelpful.

They turned away from the familiar road down to the Harbor, instead driving through green rolling hills, dotted with open fields and old farms. It was a quiet drive. Freddie dozed in his car seat and Etta seemed to retreat into herself, lost in her own thoughts. Demarco focused on driving.

In the little village of Old New Henford they left the van in a public lot and walked down a path marked as Olde Mill Lane.

Demarco was pretty sure who they were going to see. She was actually a little excited about it. 

She was shocked, however, at the sight of the sprawling farm with its huge stone house. After the urban decay of the Harbor and Moonwood Mill's beat up trailers and rustic cabins, the house at 3 Olde Mill Lane was not someplace she expected to see in real life. It certainly wasn't the place she expected to find the heir of the Moonwood Collective.

"Claudette?" Jake Volkov said, surprised, a moment after he opened the door. "What are you doing here... with Freddie... and a Wildfang I don't know yet?"

"Um, I'm Demarco," she said. "How did you..."

"You smell like a Wildfang," Jake said distractedly, "and Freddie smells like a pine tree."

"Etta did it," Freddie grumbled.

"Jake, you know I wouldn't be here if it wasn't important," Etta sighed. "We need your help."

"Let them in, Jake," a woman's voice came from deeper in the house.

"Well, hi little brother," the young woman said, smiling cheerfully at Freddie as she joined them. "Don't you smell fresh and clean."

"Etta did it," Freddie repeated fiercely. "Etta made me smell like pine-y tree to hide from 'Arco, 'cause 'Arco was under bad spell and Etta kiss 'Arco to break spell and we drive here."

"I didn't..." Etta stammered.

"We didn't..." Demarco said quickly. "I mean, I was..."

"... under a spell... and I broke the spell... " Etta continued.

"... but we didn't..." Demarco added.

"... we're just friends," Etta insisted. 

"You have a lovely home," Demarco concluded, looking around the entryway.

"Well, isn't this exciting," the young woman smiled. "Anyway, hi... Demarco, is it? I'm Beth and this little one is Diana."

"I was just about to put her down for a nap. Jake, Freddie looks hungry," she continued. "Why don't you take our guests into the dining room see if we have anything for them for lunch. I'll join you all shortly and you can explain..."

"She's always like this," Jake smiled as Etta passed Freddie to him. "Come on in. I think we have some leftover pasta and I know I can dig up a peanut butter sandwich for you, Freddie."

"P'nut butter," Freddie said excitedly.

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"... and then we came to you," Etta said, concluding her account of the troubles at Moonwood Mill. "You are the best person I could think of to help... both Rory and Lily respect you, and you've been involved in defeating my Father... twice."

"Where's my father in all this?" Jake asked, stunned.

"Oh damn," Etta sighed. "I'd hoped you would know..."

"What do you mean?" Beth looked puzzled. "Has something happened to Kristopher?"

"He's been distant for months," Etta said, "and as far as I know, no one has even seen him for the last couple of weeks. I'd hoped... maybe he'd come to you."

"No, he hasn't been here," Jake said grimly, "but it explains why Faust would move on Moonwood Mill now. He's taking advantage of Kristopher's absence."

"No, that's not it," Demarco said softly, struggling to catch a memory. "I think he's looking for Kristopher."

"What?" Etta looked startled.

"I can remember some of what happened when I was enchanted," Demarco said. "It's like... like trying to remember a bad dream, but I think Faust said he wanted to find Kristopher... Kristophorus, he said... the Annointed."

"Yes," Beth nodded. "That was his original name... Kristophorus. It means Bearer of the Anointed."

"I'm studying our history," she continued. "Kristophorus is a firstborn child of the Mooncasters, the ancient coven of witches who became the first werewolves."

"But that doesn't explain why Faust would be looking for Kristopher," Demarco said.

"The Moonwood," Etta breathed. "The power of the Mooncaster's wild magic is still there in the Moonwood."

"... and in ancient times, when Kristophorus became leader of the werewolves, he would have been ceremonially made ruler of their lands," Beth said. "Ritually anointed as Lord of the Moonwood."

"... and as the Lord of the Moonwood, Kristopher would be bound to the land by the ancient magic," Etta said. "Faust doesn't just want to control the werewolves. He wants access to the wild magic of the Moonwood. Defeating Kristopher gets him both."

"Well, this just gets better and better," Demarco sighed.

"You know who we have to talk to," Jake said, looking at Etta.

"Oh... I was really hoping to not have to do that," Etta sighed.

"You said one of the reasons you wanted me to help was because I helped beat Faust," Jake said, "but you know who really beat him. We need her help."

"I'm going to get turned into a frog," Etta groaned.

"Is a bedtime story," Freddie yawned hugely.

"OK, little brother," Beth smiled warmly. "Time for a nap. You can sleep in Di's room."

"I'm a n'ucle," Freddie said proudly.

"You are?" Demarco asked, stunned by the sudden change of topic.

"Yes, he is," Beth said, picking the little boy up. "Freddie is my baby brother... my three-year-old brother who is the uncle of my almost one-year-old daughter."

"Weird," Demarco said.

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"You go," Beth said later. "We can hardly bring the kids into a fight for Moonwood Mill. So, one of us has to stay and Claudette's right... The Wildfangs and the Collective both respect you. You're Kristopher's heir... not me."

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Jake asked. "What if Faust sends someone after us?"

"Honey, I may not be Kristopher's heir but I'm still a werewolf," Beth smiled fiercely. "Let them try."

"I've been thinking about this," Etta said. "There must be another way. I mean, there are other small packs. We could rally them. Or maybe someone else... like the police. The National Guard. The Agency! Are super-heroes real? Can we find a super-hero?"

"Wow, you're really freaking out," Demarco said.

"They're going to turn me into a frog," Etta moaned.

"That can't really happen, can it?" Demarco asked.

"You know, Faust turned me into a frog the first time I met him," Jake mused. "I ate a bug. It was disgusting."

"OooooK," Demarco said. "Who are we going to see?"

"The Guardians of Glimmerbrook," Etta sighed. "A coven of powerful witches, including the girl I betrayed. I am totally going to be turned into a frog."

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Author's Note: There will be another chapter post on Friday (11/17) - Leo