Gabby rubbed the goosebumps off her arm. She wasn't cold anymore. In fact, she felt a sheen of sweat forming on her own cheeks as her hand swept across the paper trying to keep up with the slowly shifting fingers glowing in front of her. It was just still a little creepy to watch Mariah transform. A human arm to something else much less... solid. The in between states where her flesh almost seemed to melt away, sloughing partially off only for the edge to brighten like the smolder of a flame catching on paper. It refurl into the arm again, expanding outward into a new muscle.

Only twenty minutes and Gabby's hand was cramping from non-stop use. Mariah wasn't faring much better. Her teeth were bared with concentration as she waited for Gabby's signal- the frantic flapping of a turning page- to indicate she could move into the next phase. How many were there? She'd only drawn five images and one of them had been with Mariah's regular arm merely outstretched. Gabby glanced down at the tendons she was sketching in a shadow of the gleaming skin and decided it would be close enough. Fur. Now there was thick fur to contend with.

Shit this was hard.

Mariah gave an audible grunt of relief when Gabby confirmed she was done with the last sketch. She was thankful that the other woman's arm was staying still. It looked freakish, her having an arm the size of a gorilla's covered in red fur and those massive hands with the strange delicacy of a human's fingers tipped with terrible black nails. When Gabby put the pencil down Mariah's arm seemed to explode, bright light curling into it until once again her limb was freckled and petite.

"Whelping bitch..." Mariah wiped her forehead. "I don't think I've worked that hard in years. Why did I agree to this? Give me a leg."

Gabby reached back to push her the plate of chicken legs she'd insisted on bringing and was pretty sure her teeth weren't completely human when Mariah tore into the first one. "You're the one that insisted it would be easy. And made me come here in the first place..."

"Why the fuck would anyone listen to me?" A bone cracked as she chewed thoughtfully looking down at her arm which almost appeared to be steaming. "So did you get it?"

She pushed the woman the sketch book, prepared for a half-eaten piece of chicken to be flung at her in disgust. "It was my first time. I'll probably need a couple of times seeing it... I only have done cadavers of muscles before obviously and they don't move-"

"Wow Gabby you're good!"

She stopped her groveling. Mariah flipped the page and cocked her head. Well in that case... "I don't understand why it was so hard of you to stay still. When that monster woman tried to jump me you had no problem."

"That was different." Mariah seemed too enthralled by the drawings to be irritated.

She flexed her sore fingers and watched the perspiration beading off Mariah's arm. She'd made it look easy when Louise charged at her.

One second Gabby was turning to run, preparing for the pain of teeth or claws in her back and instead felt scalding air against her eyelids and the brush of fur. It almost looked like Mariah's furred cheeks had freckles with the flecks of dark brown. Just under them were inch long fangs. Gabby felt the hot blood splash back when Mariah opened Louise's shoulder to the bone. Some was in her mouth. It had gotten in while she was screaming. Gabby could hear that crashing wave of a terrible howl that carried a weight she couldn't explain-

"Stop staring at me, perv."

Gabby hadn't even realized Mariah was halfway through stripping down. "I'm not staring at you I'm just staring. I'm used to seeing naked people. Doesn't bother me any." She tried to shake off the feeling that her face was still stained with blood.

"Professionally or recreationally?"

Gabby chewed her tongue. "I'm an art student."

Mariah laughed. "Just don't let Chris hear that... Now that we got the hard drawing done with. Let's do a regular one without motion." Gabby wasn't able to ask her a question about either statement. The entire room felt like a window had opened, pulling at the hair she'd tied back in a ponytail and tickling her neck. Then the heat followed, the Vent as Mariah explained. It took a lot of energy to change a body that much and even though Mariah was able to change rapidly even with her abilities it was impossible not to lose some energy.

That explained the burns Gabby received that night. Mariah had changed so fast it was more an explosion than what she was witnessing now. This was almost a pleasant heat. Gabby squinted, feeling like she was stepping out the door into a bright summer day. The naked woman was gone and the werewolf stood in her place. Mariah shook herself and opened and closed her giant hands.

"Where you want me to stand." She asked. Her voice was less level and pitched lower than a human, fluctuating between gravel and song. Some of the parts of words dropped off suddenly or became more clipped. An accent born of a differently shaped set of jaws but still obviously English.

"Whatever is comfortable. This is going to take me awhile longer." Mariah reached for the chicken again which was comically small in her hands now. "Ok anything but that. I think Sheira will let Scott pull my ears off if I show them you looking like a cartoon character."

She wrinkled her nose and took a position like an empty-headed bimbo on a beach, kicking her giant feet back and forth. Gabby cackled. "You want me dead, don't you?"

"Yes. This was all an elaborate trick to have your downfall arrive with you failing to capture the majesty of the beterni. I wanted your drawings to be the end of you."

"Get your finger out your nose!" She was worse than Mel at holding still.

"What happened?" she struck a simpler pose, upright with a hand out. "Your smile fell off."

"Just missing my friend." Gabby told her and put pencil to paper, forcing the smile back. The goosebumps were returning now. Fatigue stretched out in front of her. She'd thought tricking humans was bad, it was much worse when failing to stay in character could mean instant death. She turned her pencil and used a blunted corner to fill in the soft fine fluff inside the werewolf's large ears.

"Not your family?"

She eyed Mariah and decided she wasn't teasing. This was such a weird conversation to have when she looked like that. "Them too. But Mel... Mel was different."

"Chris didn't miss his family as much as I expected either. He was worried about them. Mostly that sister of his. Most everyone misses their family. I did."

Gabby didn't think she's ever heard Mariah mention even having a family. She was still young, but not so young. Was she married? Did she have a kid? Were her parents alive.

"Did- do you have siblings?"

"No."

She kept her mouth a thin line thinking of the cards she wasn't supposed to touch. "No one you went anywhere special with like the ocean or... or rivers."

"Why water. And no. Lav was my only friend and since she's probably just ashes now I don't have anyone to miss. Or miss me."

"Sorry."

"Why?"

Gabby went quiet, focusing on figuring out how to make the shoulder look correct. Mariah's hand out was making proportions difficult. Something about Mariah asking about missing her family made her nervous. She'd been missing Mel for over a year now but her family was only expecting her to be back for school break. It wasn't that long of a delay. Days. They'd still think she was just missing at this point. She'd already grieved the possible life events she wouldn't make it to. She wasn't in the mood to repeat that now and apparently Mariah wasn't open to talking about herself.

"Did anyone else here run from home or just Chris? Maybe he just doesn't miss people. Didn't seem like he missed me enough to reach out."

"Huh. So he hasn't said anything."

Gabby assessed the vague statement. "Anything about... what?"

"You'd have to ask him about it."

"Gee thanks that really narrows it down. Hold still!"

She complied finally and the room grew quiet other than the clicking scratch of the pencil.

"Hey Gabby, am I your friend?"

That caught her off guard especially because it didn't come with a smirk. She searched for the sarcasm, the trap set to remind Gabby she wasn't on the same level as Mariah but only found sincere curiosity even in that feral face. "You- you um,"

"So. No."

That was the obvious answer. She could be downright nasty when she wasn't being funny. "Mariah you have threatened to kill me at least weekly for the last two years."

"I threaten everyone like that."

"Yeah that doesn't make it better."

She was met with a blank stare. "But I only hit you once and it wasn't that hard."

"Why do you even want to be friends with a human?"

"I don't. Just thought I was. Silly me."

"Will you hit me or bite me or threaten me if I tell you the truth."

Mariah considered this. "Maybe."

"Mariah."

"Ok fine! I want to hear the truth I guess."

She put down her pencil. Just tell her what she wants to hear. Just tell her she can be a little difficult but of course they are friends- "You scare everyone and are a bully but also can be super funny and I appreciate that you stand up for what you care about also you've kidnapped me twice which may or may not be for my benefit but still makes me angry. You would be the worst friend I have." She blurted louder than necessary. Nice.

To her surprise Mariah didn't react much, just nodded her head. "Good to know."

Whether it was to try and make up for being a bottom tier friend or because she was genuinely excited it was pleasant to see Mariah gush over her artwork again. It was weird she didn't put any clothes on to do it.

"You really got my nose right. I feel like the muzzle curves more than others. I think Sheira will be impressed that this is your first one! I bet you'll have this down sooner than they thought."

Gabby gave her a hesitant grin. "And will that make it more likely to lead to me leaving sooner or me becoming useless sooner?"

"I'll figure something else out. You can work with me if needed. You're good at lying now so that would be helpful."

She looked down at her paper, confused. What did Chris say she did? "You do assessments for Roamers, right?"

"Something like that."

"How does lying play into that."

Mariah looked up from the paper. "Did you ever meet Hannah officially?"

"Uh." Gabby tried to place the name from the re-routed conversation. "The child? The one they said was turning 6 this week?"

"Yes that one."

"Chris said Prim keeps her locked away normally. So, no. Just that once before I almost got my face bitten off. What does that have to do with yo-"

"I have an idea."

"For what? Mariah- hey hey- wait! For what?"

But she had already headed for the exit leaving a mess of chicken bones behind her.

-----

Gabby was standing in a chamber that was half pristine classroom, half toddler altered natural history diorama. There was a small desk with three sentence word books a few feet from a stuffed cow toy that's head was partially removed. It seemed to have real bones stuck into it. The cow was also colored with highlighter pink and yellow. She looked down at the girl who seemed to shake with the effort of keeping both a pair of pants and a shirt on.

"Say hello to our guest." The pale-eyed beterna's attempt at friendly was all teeth like a preschooler told to smile for a picture. Gabby found it severely unsettling.

She was absolutely shocked when Hannah rolled her liquid black eyes up to her and with all the sullen misery of a child forced to thank some for an ice cream cone. Hannah said 'Hello Miss Gabby' in completely perfect English. Better than her caregiver even. She then wilted a little, giving a pleading look to Prim who ignored her. Hannah began mouthing Prim's leg.

"Hannah." Mariah straightened when she said it and the small girl froze and closed her mouth. She kept blinking and avoiding her eyes but her response was cheerful enough.

"Yes Miss Mariah."

"Did you know Gabby is the only human who lives here? Just like you are the only pup from the canineborn pack tha-"

Before Mariah could finish Hannah stood up straight again and faced Gabby, though she only met her eyes briefly. "Did you know that I cames from out in the scary wilderness. They used to starve me and they killed my brothers and sisters. I was saved. Do you know why, Miss Gabby?"

Gabby looked between the two adults. The answer was easy. "No."

"Because they are monsters out there." She cocked her head. The beads in her hair clicked together. "But we have to learn to get along with everyone. Don't you think?"

"I..." Listening to her say this felt the same as seeing Prim's imitation of a human smile. "I agree?"

Hannah beamed and looked to Prim whose smile was less wide now. She made a strange sort of sound and the girl dropped onto all fours, picked up her bone-filled cow and buried herself in a pile of blankets and boxes.

"Why am I here." Gabby asked them in a low tone when the child was clearly busy. "I thought she was super important to... peace or something and I'm a danger to everyone. Shouldn't I be kept away from her if I'm so scary?"

"I thought both of our prisoners should meet more formally, make sure you trust each other."

"Mariah, you're freaking me out."

"I'm kidding." Mariah nudged her too hard. "You're right, you shouldn't be here. Scott will hate it if you are involved with her." She cackled.

Gabby felt both cold and hot at the same time. "Mariah I was almost killed for existing a few nights ago and you think its fun to purposely piss everyone off?" She wanted to cry in frustration. One second the woman was asking if they were friends and the next this shit?

Prim's mouth was tight. "You're hero. They not keep you or Hannah. Mariah lies. I need talk with her. She very, very Late and now Hann-ah awake again."

Mariah pointed at the pale-haired woman. "Ok but I was helping Gabby and since I did that she agreed to watch Hannah while we talk-"

"Oh." Was all Gabby could say.

Prim looked her up and down, a relieved expression.

"Hannah-" Mariah toed the blankets and almost got herself bite. "Do you want to see magic?"

Hannah shied away.

"Not real magic."

She perked up.

"Gabby can do magic. She can make anything you want in that little book." She pulled Gabby toward the table. "Go be useful and entertain the kid while we talk."

Gabby glanced around the room, feeling dizzy from Mariah's stories but dropped down into the too small chair. At least this one seemed accurate as she and Prim retreated to the back of the room where a stack of manila folders waited. It looked like Mariah's eyes glazed over the instant Prim opened one. The child slithered out to join her, eyes on the book.

"Do... you want me to draw you a..." what did werewolf children like. "A bunny?"

Hannah only stared up at her.

"A... rabbit I mean? No? Ok... how about a deer? No... a... tree?" Really, Gabby, a tree? "Do you want me to draw you?"

Hannah's eyes went wide. She didn't speak but leaned forward to stare down at the book. Gabby's poor hand was aching but she did her best to get the little girl's likeness down.

By the time Mariah was done Hannah had picked up the pencil herself. Prim seemed very excited by this. "She never likes. I usually have to give treats." She whispered as she let them out of the strange room.

Mariah slapped her hand to her forehead so hard it must have hurt. "Treats! I forgot! Its her birthday. Gabby do you know what that means?"

"She's turning 6-"

"Fucking cake. We get to have cake!"

"Cool?"

"You don't get it we never get cake. It's going to be a whole event." Mariah started ticking off on her fingers as they left, passing the hallway were Chris and she had hid to eat lunch last week. "The den will be arriving tonight, we will have our candidates show off the last hunt, have a giant feast and Sheira will be telling them all about Henry's find, you and then cake! Cake, Gabby!"

Gabby was a little stuck on part of it. "Me? Again?"

"Oh yeah, its going to be a hot topic for awhile having a human here won't be popular."

"Great." It was exhausting enough to convince Santi and Angela not to hate her, now a completely new group was arriving.

Mariah nudged her. "You know what will make you feel better?"

"Cake?"

"Cakes. We should check to see if its ready. Steph always lets me be a tester."

Gabby wondered how much of a choice Steph had in the matter.

-----

Unfortunately for Mariah the cake was not ready. In fact, it didn't seem like it was even close. Santi, Annie and the other guy who worked in the kitchen were getting a tongue lashing from Steph. Chris stood behind her shaking his head. He had circles under his eyes. Mariah's annoyance at there being nothing to taste test didn't help the situation. Apparently this Paul guy had believed Santi when he insisted he knew how to bake and they'd managed to ruin the first attempt. That forced Steph to call down a clearly anxious Chris to take care of it while she was making everything else for the feast. Annie seemed to have no part other than innocently attempting to help but looked much more contrite than the grinning Santiago trying to talk up the benefits of the monstrosity of a baked good he'd formed. His explanation only seemed to make Steph madder.

"-swear I'll tack your hide to my wall to dry and sew it into my furs! What a beautiful wolf pelt, they'll say, however did you get it?" She pointed at them. "As if this day wasn't bad enough- Paul, you make Santi clean up everything he wrecked since you let him in. And you-" Gabby had never seen Mariah cower but she got close. "Why are you in here? No cake. No pancakes. If you even so much as sniff too close..."

Mariah showed her teeth. "I was just dropping Gabby off to help."

Gabby wished she couldn't believe it but she absolutely could. She using her to get out of trouble, again. This is what one favor got her.

"Gabby." Steph looked like she just remembered she existed. "Can you follow directions?"

Her expression was so irritated Gabby nodded quickly. "Yes, chef."

"Good," she jerked her head behind her. "Go do whatever Chris says."

Chris appeared alarmed when she trotted over to him and saluted. He finished tying an apron around his waist and gave her a once over. "Can you really follow directions?"

"Uhhh.... Yes." She beamed when he sighed.

"I guess there is no way you are worse than him."

"You just don't appreciate creativity." Santi called.

"Creativity and baking are a bad idea if you only have a single bag of sugar, Santiago." Chris grumbled. He drummed his fingers on the metal table. "How did drawing go?"

"Mariah got naked and asked me if I was her friend. But otherwise swell. Oh and I got to meet Hannah and Prim did not eat me."

"I... just come on over here."

"You look stressed too."

"I am stressed. I'm supposed to be preparing for a hunt and instead Steph comes raging into my room..." he was gathering the scatter supplies throughout the kitchen in a huff. Gabby wondered how much he was worried about catching the deer vs killing it. The tv documentaries only showed so much when it came to watching predators take down prey. She touched her own throat and stuck out her tongue. Watching her uncle shoot a deer from a distance had been jarring enough. But the idea of using a knife, no, your own hands or mouth...? Suddenly cake sounded a little less appealing but Chris clearly needed moral support.

"So Mariah mentioned she might have me work with her if the pack won't let me escape."

He frowned but stopped muttering to himself. "I'm not sure how you could help exactly. All she does is assess if pack members need a refresher course on bren and sometimes check up on the ones that live at a distance."

"That's what I was trying to figure out. Who needs spy skills for that kind of thing?"

Chris gave her a calculating look. "Spy skills. Right." Gabby didn't love the way he said it but didn't have a chance to argue her false case as he started giving her instructions. Most of what she was allowed to do was mix the dry portions together but then she managed to whisk a little too vigorously and explode flour onto her shirt. And half the table. She could hear Paul arguing with Santi about using water on an oil fire and Steph having a slightly calmer talk with Annie who was helping her make a list of all of the portion sizes for the guests coming in.

"Are you excited for all the other den members to visit? Have you met them before?" She wanted to get his mind off the hunt.

"Oh yeah. So excited to meet a bunch of nervous new beterni, half of which probably haven't done a full bren yet and will still be moping about their families. It will put everyone in a great mood. Not so much! A third of the liquid into the dry at a time!" He was preparing some pans. "If they showed any potential they would have been sent up here by now."

"Potential..." He said it in a way that suggested it wasn't worth dealing with anyone who didn't have it. Potential for what? She fell silent as she watched the thin mixture spin together into a homogenous beige. He poured some thin brown fluid into the bowl and she was impressed that a vibrant bloom of vanilla lifted from it. Her mouth watered a little as he stopped the machine and scrapped the sides.

"Gabby. What are you doing."

"Nothing." She promised, hand outstretched towards the bowl.

"Yes you are. Stop- don't touch the cake batter."

"I'm not." She said, fingers edging closer.

"Gabrielle..." his hand caught her wrist before she could swipe at it. Gabby stuck out her lower lip. "Chris we have to make sure its good! What if we put salt in instead of sugar? Your reputation would be ruined. I'm only thinking of you here."

"First, I'd never mistake salt for sugar. Second, its uncooked batter and third we don't put our hands in food we're making for others."

"But I washed my hands."

He narrowed his eyes.

"Fiiiine."

He released her hand cautiously. Her eyes turned to the gooey drippings clinging to a beater he hadn't managed to knock off. She waited until he was pouring the batter into pans.

Again her hand darted out. Again he caught her. This time it was just going to be wasted if not tasted. She grinned at him and pushed her hand up, smearing cake batter across his knuckles.

"Gabby!"

She laughed while he stared down at his hand as though a spider were on it instead of dessert. Chris gave her a dark look and started to turn to the sink.

"No! Wait! You can't just wash it off and waste it! Not without... not without-"

"Without what?" He demanded hand still held aloft. Gabby slurped some of the cake batter off his fingers. She licked her lips and nodded a few times before wiping her mouth.

"It's good. We can serve it." She started to laugh.

He didn't join. His expression went from wide eyed to some kind of grimace, he was staring at the table. The muscle in his jaw twitched. Gabby stopped smiling when he turned without looking at her went over to the sink. "Why would you do that?" His voice was low.

"I thought is would be funny. Are you mad?"

"It's not funny- I just said not to put our hands in the food and so you..." he trailed off hunched over and scrubbing his hands forcefully. "Gross."

"I just wanted to try it..." She frowned. He was in quite the mood today. "I'm sorry, ok?"

"You'll need to frost the cake yourself."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes I'm serious. I need to go get ready and now there's no point in waiting to do it since there won't be any time for it to cool the frosting will just melt off. Have fun." He fumbled with the apron as he left and ended up taking it with him leaving Gabby lost. It wasn't that big of a deal, spit washed off.

"Sorry for trying to make you chill out." She grumbled picking up the bowl to clean only to nearly run into Steph. She watched him go in confusion and wrinkled her nose.

"What the hell did you do."

Gabby showed her all her teeth.

----

At least Santi thought it was hilarious. "I was wondering why he stormed out."

Gabby finished tying the wool cape around her shoulders. She hoped the outfit she picked would be good enough. It was relieving to see while Santi's cape wasn't as impressive as Angela's or Matt's certainly had fur. Her bodyguard wasn't a light weight even if he wasn't a Candidate.

"He's too rigid. I just was trying to get him to chill. Shouldn't we be trying to help him chill? Isn't that would good friends do?"

Santi shrugged, one eyebrow lifted. He looked like he was trying not to laugh. "Well it certainly would've helped me relieve some tension. You ready?"

It wasn't quite as bad as that night at the Lodge but all of the new faces seemed to be looking for her before she even managed to make it in the room all the way. Gabby froze. She had to be imaging there was still a dark stain in the stone from blood. Thankfully Santi put a causal arm around her and steered her towards the back. It didn't help she could see Louise was allowed back out, probably to save face. Louise looked tired but still alert enough to shoot a death glare at them from where the Candidates stood.

Sheira was making some introductory announcements giving Gabby a chance to scan the crowd. Every once in a while she caught someone's eye. Most of them turned away but a few continued to stare. To her surprise instead of the annoyance she'd witnessed before it was mostly a look of melancholy directed her way. Chris had been right. She managed to see him as well, standing with Mariah looking distinctly less tense but he was still frowning. He looked away when she tried to wave. Ouch.

"What are we supposed to do during the hunt?" She whispered as the crowd started moving.

Santi pointed at many of the new faces, most of them quite a bit older eyeing the crowd from the corner.

"What you do best. Make new friends while you wait."

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

Never trust Santi in the kitchen. Or with anything if he seems to smug about it. He's very fun to write. Anyone else enjoying him or is he mostly annoying?

-Andi