CHAPTER 20
HOW DO YOU KNOW IF
YOUR BOYFRIEND IS A WEREWOLF?

JENNY Fowler was rushing down the corridors of Forks Hospital at the speed of light. She almost tripped several times as she ran, but that wasn't of her concern right now. She didn't slow even when she noticed the wet floor sign in the ICU, but it did hurt just a bit when her butt hit the floor. Jenny still got right back up, and began sprinting again to the desired room.

Once she arrived at room #229, she skidded to a stop. Jenny pushed through the two doctors crowding the doorway. "Get out of the way!" She ordered. "That's my niece in there!"

The man on the right, titled Doctor Messel, was the chief doctor. He was Carlisle Cullen's replacement, but Jenny still shoved him out of her way. "Nurse Fowler, there's no need to –"

Jenny wasn't listening as she pushed him off. She found her niece in the middle of the room, sleeping on a fresh cot. A large bruise covered the right side of her forehead, while a bandage sat on the lower half of her face, stretching down from her lip to her chin. Jenny gulped, but then released a sigh of relief. The other nurse with Doctor Messel had vanished, and it was only him who walked in the room moments later. He closed the door and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"It's not that serious, Nurse Fowler," Doctor Messel assured.

Jenny closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. "I just ..." She paused to gather her thoughts. "I saw my niece's best friend in the lobby, and she told me she was hurt, so I just ... I came straight here. I thought the worst."

Doctor Messel clasped his hands behind his back. "She suffered a blow to the head. That's probably the biggest issue, but I gave her a heavy dose of pain medication for it. She also has a large scratch from the right side of her mouth to just by her chin. We stitched it right up, but it'll scar for sure." When Jenny turned to blink at him with shock, the chief doctor continued, "The girl who brought your niece here – that's her best friend correct?"

Jenny nodded quickly.

"I asked her how all this happened. She told me they were in the woods." Doctor Messel frowned for a moment. "She said a bear tried attacking them."

Jenny's mouth dropped. "A bear?"

•••

When Margo Richards finally awoke, her hands immediately went to her forehead, where a bandaged sat near her hairline. Margo's mouth dropped as her fingers traveled to her lips. Another bandage extending to her chin. Her head whipped to the left, and she was surprised to see Melinda sitting in a chair, staring at her with wide eyes.

Margo knew she was in a hospital bed, but why was the question. She, luckily, still had her same wet clothes on. She had never been a fan of those uncomfortable hospital gowns. As Margo hesitated to ask why she was at the hospital, the reality of hours before flashed before her eyes. She saw Jacob in front of her. She felt the rain coat her skin. It was all gone within a second, and all Margo saw was a large wolf.

"You're gonna be okay, Mar," Melinda finally spoke. Margo heard the stutter in her voice as she turned to look at her. "Jenny is really worried, but it's all okay."

Margo nodded slowly, not saying a word. Every time she blinked, she saw a flash of the auburn-haired wolf. Without realizing it, her fingers began to pick at the edges of the bandage on her chin. While peeling it off, Melinda said, "The doctor said you'll now have a scar there."

Margo blinked with shock towards her best friend, who was now handing her a compact mirror. Margo opened it instantly, staring at the stitched up wound traveling from her lip to her chin. Margo wanted to scream, but she could barely form a sentence. Her right hand hovered slightly over the wound until she finally touched it. Margo was mortified.

It was the wolf – no, it was Jacob that scarred her.

"I told the doctors that you were attacked by a bear in the woods." Melinda whispered, pausing as she tried to gather her next statement. Margo met her eyes again, and as if their minds were connected, Melinda knew that her best friend was thinking about the same thing. Melinda sighed heavily. "Your boyfriend turned into a big dog, Mar."

Margo closed the compact mirror and handed it to her friend. With a large exhale, Margo finally replied, "I know."

"I think I even saw his friends ... I don't know – turn into them while I was leaving," Melinda whispered in a frantic tone. "What is happening?! Has our life turned into Underworld?"

Margo bit the edge of her thumb. "I don't know about that one, Mel." She shook her head. "But you seeing the same thing helps me feel less crazy."

Melinda smiled softly and embraced her friend. The two hugged tightly for a minute, but it felt like an hour. Margo had never been more thankful for Melinda in that moment, and as her best friend leaned away, she grabbed Margo's chin. "It's not that noticeable anyways," she murmured.

"Yes, it is," Margo argued, covering her mouth. "I can't ... I just can't believe ..."

"MARGO!"

The two girls looked in the direction of the patient room to see Jenny Fowler rushing through it. The aunt pushed Melinda out of the way, causing her to plop into her seat while Jenny hugged her niece tightly. "God," Jenny sighed, "I'm so happy you're okay."

Margo wanted to say, Me too, but she chose not to respond. She nodded into her aunt's scrub top. Jenny leaned away, but kept her hands on Margo's shoulders. She looked at her niece with worry in her bright blue eyes. "What the hell were you two doing in the woods?! For Christ's sake, we had animal attacks in town just months ago!"

"We were ... going on a hike," Margo replied. "We ended up finding a bear – or, I should say, the bear found us. It didn't turn out so well."

"Yeah, no kidding," Jenny spat. She then narrowed her eyes. "Since when do you two like to hike?"

Margo glanced to Melinda with wide eyes, who was shrugging behind Jenny's back. "Since now," Margo quickly responded.

Jenny shook her head. "Well, Margaret Richards," she said, "you're book smart, but you've never been street smart. Ever."

•••

Once Margo was allowed to leave the hospital, Jenny instructed her to rest in bed for the next couple of days. She was scared about her head, even though Doctor Messel said she was fine for now, Jenny was a paranoid person and just wanted her to sleep. But Margo had done enough sleeping in her hospital bed, and found herself kicking off the covers to grab her laptop. She pushed her glasses on her nose.

The question, How do I know if my boyfriend is a werewolf?, was something Margo never thought she'd type into Google. After a moment of hesitation, Margo deleted the sentence, and instead went on her trusty school database. She chewed the inside of her cheek as she typed the term, werewolf.

She felt utterly ridiculous looking this up, seeing as she felt the same the last time she was doing her dumb investigation on the Cullens. However, now that she practically saw her own boyfriend turn into a wolf, were her questions involving the Cullens really that hard to believe now? That was for another time.

After scrolling for some time, Margo finally found a site that ended in dot org, which she trusted more than the other academic articles she saw. (Why were there so many editorials on werewolves, anyways?) The site led her to a page all on werewolves. She clicked the first link, which sent her to a page on the Children of the Moon. Margo furrowed her brow as she read on:

The Children of the Moon are creatures similar to the traditional werewolves of myth. They phase, or change forms, in response to the cycles of the moon. In their changed form, they do not entirely resemble actual wolves: their forelegs are more powerful than their hind legs and their still have usable hands with opposable thumbs. Children of the Moon change form only at night, and during the fullest phase of the moon.

While in their werewolf form, Children of the Moon are not aware of their human selves; they are feral rather than rational. Usually, they run alone, or with one companion of opposite gender. Children of the Moon cannot breed in their animal form; they can spread their species only by infecting other humans through bite.

In their animal form, Children of the Moon have heightened strength and speed that makes them both deadly and difficult to kill; contrary to the legend, these werewolves cannot be killed with a silver bullet, nor does silver repel them. Their amplified abilities make them capable of destroying a lone vampire; however, the vampire has the advantage due to the fact that he retains his logic and intelligence. One advantage the werewolf has, in both human and animal for is immunity to vampire venom.

Because vampires and Children of the Moon share the same food source and because each is an exception to the others near indestructibility, they are natural enemies. Over time, however, the vampires have hunted the once populous werewolves into near extinction.

Margo pushed her glasses back up on her nose when she noticed them sliding down, but they got in the way again when she rubbed at her eyes. The moon shined a bright light into her room from the window, and Margo instinctively pulled down her shade with suspicion.

Jacob's voice suddenly invaded her head as she remembered him on the beach saying, Did you know that Quileutes – as in my family and ancestors – were supposedly descended from wolves?

There was no way that this was for real. But she saw it with her very eyes. How could she even deny that? Margo clicked out of the web page and searched in the database, Quileute wolves. The amount of articles that turned up were scarce, so Margo went with the first one linked. She didn't have to believe everything, right? Her eyes wandered the page until she reached a paragraph that interested her:

The Quileute wolves are believed to be shape-shifters that take the form of a wolf. They phase by choice and retain their human minds, reasoning abilities, and personalities in wolf form. Vampires are the enemies to themselves and all humans.

Not every member of the Quileute tribe has the potential to transform into a werewolf. Only those who can trace a direct bloodline back to the first shape-shifter, Taha Aki, are born with the potential to become shape-shifters themselves. The first transformations occurs between the onset age of puberty and approximately age twenty-five, and is based on two factors: heritage and the proximity of vampires. The direct descendants of Taha Aki are born with twenty four chromosomal pairs rather than the twenty three pairs of a normal human. Also, if the potential werewolf is not exposed to vampires within the window of time, transformation will never occur. It is the scent of the vampire that triggers the reaction; a potential werewolf would not have to actually see or touch a vampire, only cross his scent.

If a tribe member meets both conditions for transformation, he will go through a number of physical and psychological changes. First, the male will undergo a noticeable growth spurt, affecting both height and musculature. He will then experience a drastic rise in body temperature, one that a typical human would be unable to survive. When the transformation is very close, he of she will begin to tremble and shake during these moments of rage.

After the shaking begins, the first transformation, or phase, can happen within seconds if the affected person does not calm himself. All the initial transformations are triggered by rage, until the werewolf can learn to control his reactions. The actual act of phasing lasts only an instant. There is no gradual shift, no in-between form where the werewolf appears to be a mix of human and animal. Because the wolf has more than four times the mass of the human, to an outsider the change looks explosive as the human expands to the size of the wolf.

Young werewolves are often unable to control their phasing, shifting forms whenever they feel anger. This unpredictability, combined with the massive size of the wolf form and the suddenness of the phasing process, makes werewolves dangerous to any humans in proximity to them during the change. Standing too close to a young werewolf during phasing can result in unintentional injury, or even death.

Margo gasped and immediately shut her laptop. She felt her lip quiver, though she did not cry at the sudden memory of Jacob's somewhat "phasing." Her hand was at her stitches again, and just the feeling of her wound caused her eyes to reflect back to the wolf she saw. Margo blinked rapidly, bringing herself to reality once again.

She knew something weird was going on with Jacob this whole time, and she ... did nothing. Seeing as her investigation of the Cullens went horribly before, there was a reason for her meddling to cease. Even so, she saw Jacob's physical changes, and she did nothing. She noticed him undergo a large growth spurt. She felt his rise in body temperature. His skin was able to warm her, even in the cold. At the movie theater, and even just hours ago when he phased in front of her, he experienced a moment of inexplicable rage. He had never been like that in front of her before, and she didn't know if his rage fits had been worse around other people.

And if his phasing was caused by a vampire's appearance, then what vampire was in Forks, Washington? Just the thought that Margo might've been correct last year left her shivering. If this website was correct, and her boyfriend was one of the Quileute wolves – which she certainly didn't doubt now – then that meant vampires existed too.

Margo bit her bottom lip before setting her laptop back on her bedside table. She grabbed her phone, which had been sitting idly on the same table. She hadn't touched it for hours. Margo flipped open her phone to see multiple text messages and missed calls for Jacob. Her breath got caught in her chest, and Margo found herself trying to clutch it.

Her head immediately flopped onto the pillow. Margo held her cellphone tightly to her chest, but she did not answer Jacob's messages. Not even when her phone dinged again that he sent another text. Margo's eyes filled with tears as she realized the reality she was now living in.

For once, she wished that she hadn't been right.

•••

A/N: All the descriptions on werewolves that Margo reads are taken from the official Twilight Saga guide!