Eve, Marion, and Taia walked into the sheriff's station and looked around. It wasn't as busy as one might think apart from a teenager sitting at a desk in handcuffs and with another teenager sitting beside him with a bloody nose, and lastly, the lady yelling about how someone stole her purse and that she knows who it is but things are complicated.

Taia looked around with wide eyes. There were many people in uniforms with shiny badges, which caught her attention. She did like shiny things, only because they were interesting and only shined in the light. 

Marion looked around for his long-time friend, who also happened to be the city's head Sheriff. "Murphy, it is good to see you again." He said walking over to his office while the door was wide open, using each other's surnames was an inside thing. 

Reid Murphy looked up at his friend, withdrawing his hands from his messy black hair, his brown eyes magnified behind black rectangular glasses. "Martin, good to see you. What brings you down here?" He said standing up from behind his desk and shaking his hand. 

Marion looked to his wife then back at his friend. "We found this girl," He motioned to Taia. "She came to our door last night during the big storm. We were wondering if you could help us figure out who she is and if she has a family who is missing her." 

Reid ran a hand through his hair to smooth it back down. "A missing girl huh?" Thinking about it for a moment, he eyed Taia and as far as he recalled, he could think of any missing child as of lately. "I know recently there hasn't been a missing child reported."

He looked once again at Taia. "First I will need to run her face through facial recognition, then probably a blood sample and run her fingerprints through as well, I might as well do a DNA test too, can never be too certain."

Marion nodded, allowing him to do the tests he needed. "Thank you. Do whatever it takes. Run as many tests as you need." He said walking with Taia to have her fingerprints taken, a DNA test, and a picture of her to run through facial recognition. 

〰️🐾〰️

A few hours later, Reid's fingers typed on the keyboard. He pauses as he looks at what comes upon his screen. 

"Oh, wow this can't be -" He was at a loss for words as he looked between the computer and Taia, his mouth gaping wide. "How is this even possible?" He blinked a few times taking off his glasses and cleaning them off with his shirt before looking back at the screen. 

Eve glanced over at her husband before looking back at Reid. "Sheriff, is everything okay? You seem at loss for words. Is there something wrong?" She inquired then thought. 'Was she supposed to be dead? Was she a runaway? Was she kidnapped and escaped? Did she escape juvie?' 

Reid nodded and shook his head. "Oh sorry, I am just trying to figure - let me explain: the girl's blood is an 85% match to that of a young girl, whose family all died ten years ago in a tragic accident. Her name is Taia Reagan, the same Taia Reagan who was believed to be dead after her family's SUV was found in a river off the main highway. She was six when they seemed to have been attacked by an animal with all the blood and claw marks everywhere."

"We closed the case as an animal attack, of course, no bodies were ever found but that wasn't surprising under the conditions. Before their vehicle was found there were tire tracks and a front bumper found not too far off the road in the ditch, her father's fingerprints were found on the steering wheel showing he was driving, plus it was raining and that road was dangerous in that weather." He was still uneasy about recalling the scene. "I recall it like it was yesterday, still haunts me, haunts everyone here."

Eve glanced over at the girl who was chewing on some gum to keep her from wanting to chew on things. "Are you sure she is the same girl? If what you are saying is true, then she must have been out there for ten years." 

Reid solemnly nodded, his eyes seemed to be a bit downcast. "It seems she had been, or she had been kidnapped when she was found just wandering around and managed to escape or maybe was taken in by wild animals? It does happen."

He sighed gently, leaning back and taking off his glasses. "She is the only living family member as of now and she knows what happened to her family. She is the only witness to what happened all those years ago. We will need to talk to her and hopefully, she can remember what happened all those years ago."

Eve exchanged another glance with her husband before twisting her watch. "We can be in the room when you talk to her, right? We are the only ones she has right now and she trusts us." She started glancing over at Taia then back at Reid.

Reid nodded, that was reasonable. "Of course you can stay in the room with her when we talk to her. You are indeed all she has right now and I am not ready to have her put into the system. She has been through so much and she is much needed by us." 

Eve knew that it was probably a traumatizing experience for her and she may have blocked it out to help cope. "You are not suggesting foul play or this was planned to happen against the family?" She asked curiously, twisting her wedding ring around her finger.

Reid shook his head. "The case is closed. If Taia tells us it was an animal attack then the case remains closed and even if she doesn't tell us anything, it will remain closed unless we get evidence that states otherwise." He stood up from the desk. "I will get one of our youngest deputies to help us with talking to her."

He looked around the room and sighed heavily. "Does anyone know where Deputy Bennett went?" He called only to be answered with shrugs, no's, or shaken heads. "This is just great. I will be right back, let me go find her." He said, walking to the back of the building.

Serafina, known around as Deputy Bennett, walked through the side door that led to the break room that had been broken for the longest time. Her amber eyes panned around the room, laying on Murphy. "I heard my name being called." She said putting the spoon for her pudding into the cup, pushing her auburn rope braid to her back.

Reid pitched the bridge of his nose and sighed heavily. "What did I tell you about eating while on duty? I have no problem with you snacking but please tell me beforehand so I won't have to interrupt you." He said, watching the young girl walk over to him.

Serafina shoved the last few bites into her mouth quickly. "Sorry, forgot." She said tossing the plastic spoon and empty pudding container into the trash. "What do you need, Boss?" She said walking over as she wiped her hands on her pants.

Reid had been getting rather frustrated with her. "This isn't a white-collar job, no need to call me boss. I need you to speak with Miss Taia Reagan for us and see if she will talk to you." He explained, crossing his arms.

Serafina eyes it up at what Reid had said. "Taia Reagan? As in the Reagan family who was viciously attacked by wolves and no bodies were ever recovered and all that was left was a bloody mess?" She exclaimed, a little too happy about it. 

Reid shook his head in dismay. "You could act less thrilled and more solemn about that tragic accident. There does happen to be one survivor which you need to speak to about what happened. She is our only witness so please be gentle." He reminded her, hoping she could follow his instructions. 

Serafina sighed, averting her eyes around the room as he spoke, then locked eyes with him after he was done. "Sorry, sorry. I can do that and I won't be overbearing or my normal self." She trailed off and cleared her throat and straightened her back up. "Uh, Miss Taia, would you mind following me?" She asked motioning for her to follow. 

Taia looked back at Marion and Eve, a bit reluctant to follow. They motioned for her to go, so she nodded her head and shyly followed the girl into the break room. She knew as long as Marion and Eve thought it was okay, she knew it was since they wouldn't ever hurt her.

Marion and Eve followed behind Taia and sat down in chairs beside the table Serafina had sat down in after Taia who was across from her. 

Eve placed her purse on the table and crossed her legs, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear. Marion on the other hand twisted his watch back and forth on his hand.

Serafina pulled out a notebook and pulled a pen from inside the notebook. "If at any time you need me to stop, just say okay?" She said not getting anything from Taia but Taia simply nodded. 

She looked over at Reid who was getting a cup of coffee, which would have been this fifth today. "Miss Taia, do you recall what happened to you ten years ago?" She asked, looking at her skeptically. 

Taia thought about it for a moment. She remembered bits and pieces but a majority of it she had blocked to save herself from any more trauma, or at least her brain did. The reality was too gory for anyone to comprehend, not just the aftermath, but during when it happened. 

She shrugged her shoulders causally averting her gaze to the floor.

Serafina knew she needed to reword what she had just said another way. "Did it happen this way: it was raining, your father lost control, got stuck and a wolf or pack of them attacked you and your family while you were stunned from the wreck?" She asked, looking over the file.

Taia didn't want to recall what happened, even if what she said was true, she didn't want to bring up any memories. She remained silent and neither shook her head. 

Couldn't she take a hint and stoke asking her these questions? It had been ten years, she had forgotten all about what had happened and it was for the best. She kept her focus on the floor as she chewed on the gum.

Serafina took that to say she needed to ask another question. "Do you recall what you were doing before the event took place? Were you shopping?" She asked as Taia shook her head. "Coming back from out of town?" Another shake of Taia's head. "Do you recall anything that happened?" She asked and once again was met by a shake of her head.

She sighed feeling defeated, then it hit her. "Do you think you could try and draw what you do remember?" She asked and surprisingly Taia nodded.

She grinned and stood up thrilled. "I will be right back." She said walking out of the breakroom and over to her desk. She opened up the drawer and pulled out a box of crayons and a sketchbook. "This should do." She hummed. 

She walked back into the room and opened up the sketchbook, flipping to a page and folding the cover back. She laid it down in front of her then she opened the box of crayons and slid them out on the table. 

She placed her hand on a few of them to keep them from rolling off the table. "There, just take your time and draw whatever comes to mind, even the smallest detail that seems irrelevant would be helpful."

Taia curiously picked up the crayons and sniffed when, which struck Serafina as odd. She noted it had a waxy, odd smell to it and she didn't know what they were to be used for. 

She poked the tip of the crayon into her finger but it didn't hurt, it was round and flat. She then brought it up to her mouth and chomped down on it.

A gasp left Serafina's lips when she saw her chomp down on it she shook her head and tried to get it out of her mouth. "No, Taia, you don't eat that. Spit it out." She asked as it was also echoed by Eve and Marion. 

Taia gave an innocent look to them, looking like a puppy who accidentally went to the bathroom on the floor. Was she doing something wrong? It seemed by Serafina's insistence to spit it out the crayon.

She spits out the piece of crayon into Serafina's hand, saliva coating in and she wiped her mouth with her sleeve. It tasted disgusting anyways. She made a note that crayons weren't good.

Serafina cringed, trying not to gag at the snobbery crayon piece in her hand. She stood up and held out her hand rushing over to the trash bin. She gagged as it fell into the bin and she washed her hands, piling a large amount of soap on her hands. 

She reached for a paper towel and dried her hand. She turned back to see Taia looking like a pitiful puppy. "It's alright. It happens. I used to lick my hands after I played with play dough, it was pretty good - er but that isn't good either." She sat down and stopped rambling picking up another crayon. "You draw like this." She demonstrated it with another crayon on the white paper.

Taia watched with wide eyes, marveling at what Serafina had done. The crayon marked its color on the paper when pressure was applied. How interesting. 

She picked up a black crayon and mimicked what Serafina had done, drawing little squiggly lines across the paper. It was almost mesmerizing her.

The trio watched her for a good half an hour as she doodled on the paper using various crayons. 

Taia ended up growing bored and stopped drawing, so the young deputy picked up the drawings and inspected them.

Serafina's eyes bugged out and she turned the papers various ways. "Um, I think I should ask my father since he's a licensed child psychologist so he could probably make sense of these." She handed the papers to Marion and Eve for them to look at.

Eve looked at the papers and saw a lot of red coloring in blobs and splotches across the paper along with what seemed to be an animal and stick people? "I think that would be best to get a professional. When you do, please allow him to contact us so we can hear it first hand." She handed the papers to her husband.

Marion took the papers and looked at them, snickering a little. "Taia could give Picasso a run for his money or was it Van Gogh? Not sure. Not an art fan." He used to hand the papers back to Serafina, who had gladly taken them.

Serafina sighed and glanced back at Reid, who was lost in whatever was on his screen. "Well, I'm done here so you can go talk to Murphy about whatever. I'll keep her company." She smiled watching as Taia inspected the whole room, looking in cabinets and under the tables. 

Reid looked over at them anr stood up, walking over to them crossing his arms. "So, did it help at all?" He asked, wondering if it told them anything about what they already or didn't know. 

Eve sighed, shaking her head to confirm it was no help. "Not really. Deputy Bennett said she was going to let her father take a look. We think it's best to get a professional opinion on her drawings." 

Reid nodded his head along as she spoke, taking it all in. "Dr. Bennett has helped with many cases so I trust his judgment. Is there anything else I can help you with or you would like to know? I don't want to keep you for too long." He explained, placing his hands on his hips for a brief moment.

Marion looked over at Taia who Serafina had given a donut to munch on and she seemed to enjoy it. "Is there a way we can obtain legal guardianship over Taia since she has no living family nor relatives to take her? She certainly can't be thrown into the system, it wouldn't be right." 

Reid could understand where they were coming from. "Oh, yes, it will be a long process but you can obtain guardianship of Taia and move onward to adopting her if that is what you want. You will have to go through the proper channels but I can set you up." 

Marion would go through the whole process, and so would his wife. "Then we will do that. She seems to be already comfortable with us and the kids. Plus, I do believe we can take better care of her than the average person. We understand what it entails and what she has gone through, and we hope to be supportive, loving, and protecting parents to her."

"We of course won't replace her birth parents, but we will do our best to teach her and raise her as our own." Eve sighed, feeling a sense of relief wash over her.

Reid understood, he nodded his head and gave a grin. "I wouldn't think you would replace them. If I was in Taia's shoes I would want you to give me parental guidance. Of course, I'm not Taia, nor do I have any kids, but hypothetically, I would be happy to have you as guardians." He then paused as he realized what he had said may come off as odd. "Am I just making things uncomfortable? It sounded better in my head."

Marion shared a laugh with his wife over what Reid had said. "Murphy, don't worry about it. You meant well and I am touched for you to say that." He glanced at his watch. "Well, if you are done now we best get going."

Eve motioned for Taia to stand up, which she did, and gave a grin, her mouth covered in chocolate icing. "Devon and Janie are home alone. They haven't called us but I know they are probably wondering where we are. We should get going. Thanks for everything, you too Serafina." She called and waved to the deputy.

Serafina smiled with a wave as she sipped on a cup of coffee. "Not a problem Mrs. Martin, anytime, anytime!" She called before pivoting on her foot and getting sidetracked with what another deputy was doing on his computer. 

Marion and Eve left the station with Taia, getting her into the SUV, they drove away.

The trip home was silent, but it seemed that Taia was enthralled with everything that they passed, sticking her head out the window like a dog. 

Marion pulled up into the driveway of their cabin and turned off the SUV with a sigh. He opened the door to his SUV and stepped out, walking to the back door he opened it for Taia, who got out and followed Eve to the door as she unlocked it.

Janie rushed up to her mother as soon as she opened the door. "So, how did it go? Get any answers or find anything out?" She asked if bright eyes bounced a little on her heels. She then paused seeing Taia come in behind her mother. "Oh, hello again." She beamed brightly with a toothy grin.

Marion closed the door behind him and locked it, clicking the lock for their SUV as it chirped in response confirming it was locked. "Yes we did find out some things, where is Devon?" He asked, placing his keys into the dish on the table by the door.

Taia sat down on the loveseat and picked up a phonebook which she started to look through curious to know what it was. She couldn't read any of the words or numbers, but it did have some pictures of businesses in it and they were colorful.

Devon walked into the room taking off his headphones. "I'm here, I was trying to see if these were truly noise-canceling because Janie decided to sing while you were gone when I was trying to do my homework." He frowned. 

"Whatever do you mean? I thought I sounded good." Janie simply gave an innocent smile sitting down in a recliner. "Anyways, tell us what you found out, the suspense is killing me." She crossed her legs and leaned on the left arm of the recliner.

Eve crossed her legs after she had sat down on the couch. "Her name is Taia Reagan, the only surviving member of her family who was brutally killed in an animal attack after their vehicle lost control and crashed in a ditch. However they found the vehicle in a ravine a bit away from where they crashed, no bodies were ever found." She replied, keeping her voice low so Taia didn't have to hear it again.

Janie grinned but dropped it as quick as it had appeared. "Ah, that makes sense. A werewolf could have attacked them by accidentally turning her into one or she was already a werewolf and she attacked her family not understanding how it happened." She hypothesized, knowing it was a bit out there but she had seen that happen in tv shows and books.

Devon rolled his eyes glancing over at Taia who seemed to not be paying attention. "Janie, please stop speculating and show some respect. Her family died and she saw it happen. You would want to block it out too and I doubt she wants to hash up the painful memories." He shook his head, pressing this thumb and index finger into his temples.

Janie glared at her brother. "One day you will see I am right and apologize, you know deep down it could be possible." She said in a low tone.

Marion ruffled his daughter's hair and gave a hearty laugh. "Don't take it seriously. Listen to your brother, he is right, speculating what happened isn't good. Besides, whatever happened we do not need to speak about it in front of Taia. It could bring up a memory that could do more harm than good."

Devon was going to bring up the obvious since no one else was going to. "There has to be someone out there who - you know - can help Taia with shifting and all that? If she is a werewolf, it could be disastrous." He asked, making various hand gestures. 

"Don't get ahead of yourself," Eve said to her husband, taking off her watch. "Right now we should focus on continuing with our normal lives and when the time comes we will deal with her being a . . . werewolf."

Janie crossed her legs sitting on the couch and hummed. "Normal lives? Sure. Sure. As normal as someone can take care of a werewolf. I've seen TV, I know how this could turn out." She sarcastically commented, shaking her head.

Marion looked at Devon and Janie, a thought popping into his head. "From now on, we need to be extra careful. We shouldn't be throwing the word werewolf around so casually. It could cause more harm than good." He explained, going into the kitchen. 

Little did they know Marion's warning would eventually come to pass sooner, rather than later.

🐾〰🐾〰🐾〰🐾〰🐾〰🐾〰🐾

A/N: 
I have been cutting back a lot of words and trimming these chapters down. So, they are much shorter than the originally was and I'm pretty happy about that. I'm also doing better at less telling and more showing while not dragging things out.

Chapter Talk: 
There are a lot of fun characters to write about. You will be seeing more of Reid and Serafina, don't worry about that. They will both play a major part in the story. 

One of these days Erin will return and you will get to meet her. But be warned, she is nothing like Devon or Janie, she is the opposite of them. So. I am still trying to figure out when I want her to come in, I know it won't be to at least the middle or near the end.

Oh, in speaking this will be a series but each one will follow a different moon phase, which is gonna be pretty cool. Since almost all mythical creatures go by the moon, I thought it'd be perfect for the title of this series.

Thanks for reading!