Clay handed me a glass of water breaking my train of thought. He took away the potatoes I’d cubed into tiny pieces, rescuing them.
“Thanks,” I said taking a quick drink. “You and I, in the middle of those dots, stand out. I have the same yellow light as everyone else, but my halo is orange. I’m different from the people around us. Even different from you. Werewolves have a green core with a blue halo. At least, that’s all I ever saw in the past two years, until the night we were attacked. That werewolf had a blue-grey light. Imagine my shock when I opened the door and see a man, who introduced himself as Elder Joshua, with the same color light. Only the difference in the color of their eyes kept me breathing.
“I’ve been like this my entire life and I have more questions than answers about this second sight. Why are all humans green and yellow except Charlene and me? We’re human. Why is Charlene’s light a yellow center with a red halo? Or mine a yellow center with an orange halo? The only similarities are the yellow cores. I’ve been thinking it means human, but don’t know what the halos mean.
“And I’m sure that you’ve caught on to the whole guy situation. I call to them somehow, as if I’m a beacon or something. Do I really send out some kind of signal?” I looked up at him questioningly.
He held a plate in each hand. Both loaded with some kind of chicken skillet dinner. He handed me a plate, studying me for a moment before shrugging and shaking his head.
“So nothing as far as you can tell. There’s got to be a reason, a connection to it all.” I sighed and played with the food on my plate for a minute, thinking.
“I’ve never told anyone all of this. People figure out there’s something different about me if they’re around me long enough. But no one knows about the lights. I’m torn. Do I call Sam and tell him about the lights? Do I tell him the light of the guy that challenged you is the same light as Joshua? There’s nothing concrete I can offer about the coloring or why I’m so worried about it.
“Why would a werewolf I don’t think I ever met challenge you? And why does he share the same coloring as Joshua? Everything so far has a category: humans, werewolves, and compatible mates. And I don’t think they can be compatible mates because Charlene and I are uniquely colored from each other.” I shook my head trying to clear away my frustration at my inability to solve the puzzle.
Taking my first bite, I struggled to swallow the cold food. I looked up at Clay in surprise and saw his empty plate. “Bet you’re wishing you hadn’t asked.”
He shook his head slowly still watching me. I started to doubt the wisdom of sharing so much with him. What if he started to treat me differently? I didn’t want to lose his friendship. Having no true friends in my life, it devastated me to think I might lose the one person I might have had a chance to be myself with. When he didn’t say anything, I forced myself to eat.
He waited until I finished eating and took both our plates, cleaning up the kitchen while I did my homework. The spatter of running water, the soft clicking of dishes, none of it distracted me as much as my own doubts. The uncertainty about what I’d just shared and the lack of response ate at me. Granted, he hadn’t spoken to me at all before my announcement, but still.
When he finished, he left the room for a few minutes and padded back in, nails clicking on the kitchen floor. I didn’t have time to wonder why he’d changed to fur. He nudged my arm with his head and looked toward the living room. The tightness in my chest, which I hadn’t even noticed, loosened slightly as he watched me expectantly. I ran my fingers through the fur at his neck hoping he wouldn’t ever act like a real dog and run away from home.
Deciding I’d done enough for the night, I packed up my homework and followed him. We watched some sitcoms and then called it a night. When he curled on his usual spot at the foot of my bed, I sighed and closed my eyes. He hadn’t seemed to treat me any differently after telling him everything. I hoped it stayed that way.
Rachel came home alone very late after an evening shift at the hospital. I knew I was right when Clay only shifted on the bed acknowledging he’d heard something. The nights Peter stayed, Clay grumbled a bit. They probably did keep him awake. Poor Clay.
Chapter 12
September passed in a blur taking most of October with it. I still struggled to fend off the few stragglers who hadn’t yet grasped the concept of ‘No’. Thankfully, I didn’t run into Scott again.
Rachel and Peter were inseparable although they made a big fuss about giving each other their own time. Meaning they only did overnights three times a week. It limited my quiet time with Clay, but we managed.