It really wasn't her fault if she touched it or not. Sometimes things just, fell, right? When Annie had 'cleaned' Mariah's room she had mostly just shoved things off the bed into the corner and since then Mariah had decided to tidy none of it. Well, occasionally she would dig through the pile, find whatever she needed and leave the rest. She often cursed the whole time about not being able to find whatever it was she was looking for, make a vague comment about the mess needing to be taken care of, then start over a few hours later. But Gabby wasn't supposed to touch anything.

It was day six of her convalescence period, supposedly ending tomorrow and she'd been out of the room a total of five times. On top of that Chris had suddenly stopped coming to relieve her of her boredom the last two days. It was strangely reminiscent of the days at the library. His absence was more noticeable now that she was used to it. And he was a good distraction. She was soooo bored. But she wasn't supposed to touch anything.

Mariah's error was leaving her alone so long. She should know better. Gabby couldn't stand it anymore.

She poked the delicate chain attached to a small metal box with her toe, then tugged it slightly. Gabby glanced at the door. She curled her toe and tugged again. The box came loose, along with a shower of other items. Gabby put both hands on her face. "Oh noooo how could that have happened?"

She turned to the door, scooting a few inches at a time until she was next to the escaped papers, bottles and other random bits. "I'm just cleaning it up. Putting it back where it belongs."

She flipped open the metal box greedily. Inside appeared to be a series of metal toothpicks each tipped with what reminded her of the colored see through plastic that decorated the wooden spear shoved into diner club sandwiches. She pulled one out, surprised with the weight of it. The side felt a little gritty and when she rolled it in her fingers a dusty coat came off to show the dull orange of rust. She put them back quickly, burying that one on the bottom. Only one thing examined and she's already messed up.

Gabby clasped her hands around her legs. She glanced at the door, rocked back and forth a few times, looked at the pile. Gabby picked up another box. This one just seemed to be random junk. Safety pens, a few thumb tacks and ugly gray bobby pins. She put that back neatly and moved onto a notebook. This was more interesting. Mariah didn't really seem like the artsy type but it reminded her of sort of free form poems with titles like 'Blind' and 'Quiet for everyone'. They were a little too modern. Gabby had no idea what she was supposed to feel from reading them. She replaced that neatly on a box and noticed something white and shiny in a jar. It was very much not in the pile she'd accidentally dislodged.

She grabbed it anyway. It looked exactly like the ointment Mariah had put on her leg previously, minus the concerning red streaks. In fact... Gabby examined her leg. She had a large area of scabbing at this point and pink, sensitive skin around it but the cut was completely closed. It didn't even bother her when she bumped it. Werewolves had crazy good medicine. She frowned, wondering if the infirmary team hadn't used any on her since she was human. She found a second notebook, or, what she thought was. Instead it had letters, sealed in plastic tucked inside the pages. They were all in the same scratchy handwriting.

After you reached out I thought you were going to visit us but I guess that was too much to expect from you. It rains here more than I'm used to. He behaves- most of the time. Please respond. Oh, and you're welcome.

-L

You missed my birthday but I didn't forget yours. Did you like the flowers or did you throw them away?

-L

I saw horses and thought of you. Did you need another charm for your collection? All you need to do is respond. Why did you ask me a favor if you are just going to ignore me again now?

-L

PS The ocean is cold here. You'd hate it.

Gabby closed the notebook and scratched her arm. 'L', huh? Did someone house an unrequited love for Mariah? If so it was weird she was keeping the letters. Especially in plastic. As curious as she was to continue, this felt too invasive even for her. She tucked the letters back in carefully and set it down so she could return to the pile. Gabby poked her way past a tray with candles attached with their melted arms curled around the edges to seal them in place and found a paper bag looking oddly unrumpled for being in trash heap. It was heavy as well. Cool. Gabby scuttled back to lean against the wall with her prize and pulled out a number of pieces of jewelry. All appeared to be rusted. The inside of a vicious looking bracelet was smooth and shiny, only the outside looked to be carved from volcanic rock.

The door clicked open while Gabby had her arm extended to snap the bracelet around it. There was no time to pretend she wasn't snooping so she gave Mariah a little wave. "Oops. I guess my spy skills have gotten," she lifted the bracelet a little higher. "rusty."

"You little shit."

Gabby stiffened. This time she'd gone too far- Mariah was really going to get violent. She certainly appeared to have that in mind, her eyes had gone yellow and her hands were clenched.

"You just can't keep your nose out of other people's shit, can you? I told you over and over and since you won't listen I guess-" she was blocking any escape Gabby had when she turned to look at the pile then the notebook on the floor. Her expression shifted and the next thing Gabby knew she was on her hands and knees, snatching the bracelet off Gabby and looking at her palms.

"Open your mouth!"

"What-"

"Open it!" Mariah yelled. She sounded... scared.

Gabby opened her mouth wide shaken by her change.

"Nothing..." Mariah dropped her wrists and inhaled. "Did you touch any of the letters?"

Gabby's face, previously drained of blood from fear flushed back red. "Uhh... I promise I only read a few and then I realized they might be personal so, you know I didn't keep going but-"

"Gabby for the absolute sake of fuck, answer the question! Did you touch the paper?"

"No. Only the plastic."

Mariah exhaled and her body wilted as she did so. "Good." Then she was sitting up straight again and second later Gabby felt a sting on her cheek. It wasn't hard but it was a slap nonetheless. "You are such a pain!"

Gabby touched her face. "Ow. Sorry..."

Mariah picked up the braclet off the ground and tilted her head a little. Gabby steadied to be yelled at again but instead Mariah tilted her head the other way. "Did you like this?"

"I mean..." Gabby didn't know what the correct answer was. "It looks pretty cool."

Mariah snapped it around her wrist and Gabby felt her hand droop at the weight of it. "Punch me."

Gabby stared at her. "If this is one of those, I-just-hit-you-so you-can-return-the-favor things, no thanks."

"I'm going to show you something. Just, here. But punch downward so it scratches." She tugged her sleeve away from her shoulder and nodded.

"I really don't-"

"Do it or I'll eat you!"

Her punch was half-hearted but the sharp edges still broke through her pale skin. Mariah winced and gritted her teeth. Gabby watched in amazement as the skin burned brightly but then there was a flickering of blue and green and the color became a more solid gold. Mariah gagged and Gabby leaned back but she cleared her throat. "Look at my shoulder."

"Doesn't look much different..."

"Exactly. Shifting includes chemical reactions, which needs oxygen which is particularly reactive with iron." Mariah tapped the bracelet. "It's much more of pain in the ass to heal or shift with iron to disrupt. If anyone gets mouthy with you, just move that to your hand and punch them in the nose."

Gabby looked down at the bracelet. "This will stop a bren?"

"Not completely depending on who you cut. It will slow anyone down at least a little and it will for sure make them feel sick if they force it."

"Why do you have this in your room if its like poison? And... and why are you telling me? You shouldn't be telling me, right?"

"Oh no. Scott would try and get me skinned if he found out."

"Why would you tell me." Why would you save me.

"Chaos is fun sometimes. People are assholes and its funny to see them get punched in the nose."

Gabby looked back down at the bracelet and then touched her pendant. If Chris' necklace wasn't enough she always had Mariah's gift as a back up.

"Now what I was going to tell you is that you need to get cleaned up. Sheira is going to come speak to you about your introduction tonight."

"Sheira? The Alpha? Now? Tonight? Mariah!" She pushed the bracelet off and ran for the bathroom.

"That's what you get for fucking around in my shit!" she called after her.

-----

It wasn't just Sheira though. Henry and Scott the angry sentient scarecrow were there as well. Sheira sat on the bed while Henry stood. Scott hovered by the door, occasionally glaring over at the mess stuffed into the corner with a curled lip.

"-so don't be nervous."

Gabby was already so nervous listening to Sheira she missed hearing why she shouldn't be. "I... I just have to say hello, right? And explain who I am?"

"I'll do most of the explaining." Sheira patted her knee. "I know you aren't used to being around us."

"That's not true- I was around the betern at the university-"

"No." Sheira smiled. "You weren't. I certainly never authorized having you as a 'spy'. Mariah went rogue on us, didn't you?"

For once Mariah didn't crack a joke.

"So... so if you didn't... why am I still alive?"

"Well its not your fault she did that. And you did such a good job for two years. We have found other ways for you to be useful rather than killing you now."

Gabby swallowed. That eased her fear a little but she wondered what they would do when they no longer found her useful. "What can I do?"

"I think Henry mentioned the drawings. The ones we were discussing during the committee meeting you stormed in on?"

"I did."

"He did."

"Very good. So, Henry will help get you the details but the important thing is, we want you to do your best to draw different parts of the bren process. It's very hard staying in-between forms for an extended time, even a minute can be exhausting from the tension."

"Like a rubber band stretched too far."

Sheira grinned. "Just like that. So, if you are able to draw the process that would be very useful. Think you are up for it? There can be some blood involved."

"I'm not afraid of blood. Just happy to be of use."

"What a good girl. Well then. I'm glad we are in agreement. Mariah, please have her down around sunset for the introduction. Oh- and Mariah, Henry has some materials from you, can you please show her what she will need?"

Gabby wasn't sure where to look now that it was just her and Sheira sitting in silence. The Alpha was smiling pleasantly but Gabby's throat felt like chalk. She wasn't actually sure she could stomach seeing the entire bren process at all, much less draw an entire figure with much detail in a minute.

"Was it nice to see your friend again?" Sheira asked.

"C-Chris? Oh. Yes. He's- I'm glad he's doing well. Very well it sounds like. He's told me some."

"I hear he has checked on you frequently."

Gabby nodded. "It's very kind of him to keep me company while I recover. No idea how he puts up with me so much."

Sheira laughed but it didn't quite reach her eyes this time. "Yes, yes. And for now that is completely fine. I understand you were close briefly. Like you said though, he is doing very well. We are expecting quite a lot from him yet. I just want to request that you avoid distracting him too much. I'm glad Mariah took a chance on you but, as you might have noticed that we are having great struggles. We need to prepare new leadership."

"Oh- right well. No. I-" she didn't know why she was talking when she had no idea what to say.

"You can do that right? Occasional group time together is great, but his pack is counting on him. A good friend wouldn't want to ruin that."

"No. Of course not. I'll make sure not to interfere with whatever he needs to do."

Sheira's smile was back. "Excellent. I'm glad we understand each other. I look forward to introducing you! It will be fun I know the pack is excited. This will be an interesting experiment for sure!" She stood abruptly. "I wish we could stay longer to chat but of course there are issues with oil shipping for the generator. Work work work!" She rolled her eyes as she waved them goodbye, Scott following in her stead like a starved vulture.

----

"Do you not like lunch?"

Gabby looked up from her plate where she was pushing around some kind of unknown meat and greens. "No no... its um... its-"

"Terrible I know." Chris held his own plate up. "Steph let Paul create the recipe and he used frozen chard. Chard. Can you believes that? Completely falls apart if it's cooked too long. You lose the color too which is half of the reason to use it in the first place."

Gabby had no idea what he was talking about but nodded in response. He propped his chin on his palm, gazing down at the plate and gave his head a small shake. "Ridiculous."

After two days it was nice to see him but honestly she hadn't tasted the food much since this morning. Knowing that she was supposed to be up in front of a crowd that could eat her, wondering if she could actually do the drawings fast enough not to mention Sheira's not so subtle way of telling her to push away her only friend here... she twirled her new bracelet around her wrist. She'd briefly mentioned the drawings to Chris and he'd immediately volunteered to help. It helped her ease the concern of finding someone to help her with the drawings to avoid her getting killed, but if that took him away from whatever kingly schooling he was doing she may also be killed. Her hand spun the bracelet faster.

"Is that iron?" Chris was leaning away from her. "Have you always had that?"

"Mariah gave it to me."

"Mariah gave it to you? As a joke? You can't just wear that around."

"You can't tell me what I can and can't do. You aren't king yet." She snapped.

He looked surprised but then huffed. "Did she tell you what the issue with iron is?"

"Yes."

"Ok then if you know, why would you wear it?"

"For protection."

Chris narrowed his eyes. "That's absurd. That's not going to protect you."

Gabby groaned. "You can be such an ass sometimes!"

"What?" he looked genuinely annoyed now. "That's not going to do anything, its not going to stop someone from attacking you. You'll be overpowered easily and if you accidently cut someone-"

"I'm not going to accidently cut someone."

"Then it will just make everyone mad. So what's the point?"

She stared at him, remembering Sheira's warning. Maybe now was a good time to keep him at an arms length. He was annoying her anyway. She lunged.

"Gabrielle are you out of your mind!?"

She'd managed to knock him flat but his reach was longer, keeping her from actually punching him in the nose which was probably good because that was terrible idea. She moved her hand so the bracelet was pressed against his skin. He stared up at her and swallowed.

"The point." She panted "Is it makes me feel better to know someone might hesitate for a moment knowing I have this. Or at least if they kill me I can give them something to remember me by. Mariah said deep cuts can even scar."

His expression was stony as he looked her up and down. "Fine. So can you let me up now or do you actually plan on cutting me?"

"I dunno I'm pretty proud I pinned the king."

"I'm not the king and I'm not pinned. Let me up."

"If you're not pinned get up yourself." It was funny but she tried to keep her expression sour.

He frowned. "Ok." The next thing she knew she fell forward over him and braced herself to stop her face from hitting the floor, only to have him roll her completely over so he was almost sitting on her, holding her hands to the ground. She started laughing as he released her wrists. She was dizzy, unsure exactly what had happened. It hadn't hurt. One second she was trying not to fall on her face the next she was staring up at the ceiling. "That was fun! I went woop-dee-woop now I'm upside down how'd you do that?"

"You're an actual insane person, you know that, right?" He had a hand in his hair.

"Can you teach me how to do that?"

"I'll consider it. But you can't threaten me with that iron anymore."

"What if you are being a doo-doo ass grumpy pants."

He gave her a bewildered look and offered a hand to help her back to a sitting position. "Are you really going to wear that when you are introduced?" He was sitting with one knee bent up, not quite looking at her.

"Yes. I need to make a good impression."

"It will make an impression, certainly. I don't think everyone will think well of you."

"Then they'll think I'm a badass." She flexed arms then sat next to him and reached up a hand to ruffle his hair.

His expression was unreadable. She'd done a terrible job of trying to make him mad but being flipped was too much of a surprise to keep annoying him properly. Should she outright tell him what Sheira said? He was so stubborn though and it sounded like he was barely interested in this alpha training to begin with. She could picture him just following her around with his arms crossed simply because they threatened her about him doing just that. Gabby blew hair from her face wishing she knew the correct move to stay alive.

----

That evening came faster than Gabby was prepared for. Mariah had rolled out of bed after a nap to grunt that it was time to go. Gabby in the meantime was fastening and unfastening the stone buttons on some type of cape. It had sleeves and a collar but almost no coverage on the front. The fabric seemed to be woolly but there was a trip of something sleek and black, fur from a creature she didn't know. Per Mariah this was a big deal. Something similar was given to new apprentices, although she probably would keep the wool sections for her entire life since it was unlikely she could hunt for more fur.

The lobby area had opened up, couches and tables shoved against the bar to make room for everyone to take a position. If it had a been a room full of humans Gabby would have had no trouble, she rarely had trouble speaking in front of crowds. These were not people though. And forty of them together was terrifying. The only thing keeping her standing was Mariah right next to her. Even looking bored and rumpled the others gave her space.

Sheira was explaining something about a reunion taking place in the next couple of weeks and a hunt after giving some confusing updates about dens, that they hadn't found bodies to confirm missing before quickly switching into an excited state explaining one of the pack had an important mile stone coming up and welcomed the tiniest betern Gabby had yet seen. The recognition was brief since the moment the pale-eyed woman helped the child up to the front, the kid proceeded to through a fit. Apparently she didn't like the wool cape and tore it off. She growled and whimpered despite appearing like a human girl, flinging herself to the ground and whining. Apparently young Hannah was turning six but from that behavior Gabby would have guessed three.

Chris, Matt and a girl who had been in the lobby the first day approached Sheria next. In the back was another boy. Gabby recognized him, the one who looked at her with such disgust. They were all wearing capes of various colors however had thicker trims of fur. Nothing compared to what Sheira wore which looked like an entire fur coat of glossy browns and grays, different textures and yet some how the melded without looking patchy or strange. Chris had significantly less fur on his cape that the other. Sheira quickly finished explaining they would be representing for the reunion hunt. There was a chorus of yells, barks, howls and some kind of strange stomping all at once. It lasted briefly. The werewolf version of an ovation, she guessed.

Her turn. Sheira was saying her name and telling her to come forward. The air shifted. Some of the crowd was shoving, trying to get a better look. Others were merely tipping their heads. A few looked horribly like their current desire was to remove her head. Gabby swallowed and approached. At the last second she remembered what Henry taught her and quickly turned her head lowering herself much further than he had in the demonstration. Sheira seemed surprised, but pleased.

"Good manners for a human, eh?" Sheira asked the crowd. Some of them chuckled which helped her relax. "As some may know for awhile now had been working on a pilot program using humans to assist us with intel gathering."

"Spies?" a voice yelled. Gabby turned to see a good-looking stocky boy with dark hair grinning. He'd been with Annie the day she arrived. To her alarm and confusion the stranger winked.

"If you prefer that word, sure. We can call them that." Sheira's mouth twitched like she wanted to laugh but kept composure. "I'd like to introduce you to Gabrielle. For the last two years Mariah has been her handler and most recently she helped us with the U-den fire. Those rumors are correct. We decided to repay her by sparing her life. Until she can be useful outside again, she will stay in the lodge. I expect all of you to welcome her warmly!"

There was a rumble of slightly less excitement from the crowd, though she recognized Annie bouncing next to the boy who spoke earlier, clapping in a very human way. Unsure what else to do, Gabby nodded a few times to the crowd and then swiped her fingers down her cheek, then remembered and put them to her lips. Laughs now, but not at her, more of surprise. She heard yells of 'welcome' and 'thanks'. She was starting to relax. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. At least here she could reinvent a little. It's not like she could be herself at home or school. They were the secret that had been crushing her, after all. Annie liked her already. Maybe Chris and Mariah were exaggerating the hatred. She continued to motion 'thank you'. To everyone. One woman pushed her way to the front. The one Mariah had argued with in the lobby. The first one to approach. Gabby preformed the most formal introduction, not bending nearly as much as she had for Sheira of course. Gabby smiled. The woman spat at her and the air around them started to crackle with heat.

                                                                                 End Part Two

*************************

We only have one more part to go which is strange to consider after spending so much time with these characters. Sorry if the editing is choppier than usual I have been droooowning in homework. I'm going to need gills soon.

Thank you for sticking with me for this long!

-Andi