I glanced at Joan.

A stranger who possessed her likeness now stood in her place. The smiling, laughing buffoon who I had grown fond of disappeared, replaced by a hardened child soldier. Joan bounced on the balls of her feet, her stance wide and unfaltering as she stared into the forest. The air around her grew thick and crackled with static electricity. The sixteen-year-old looked completely lethal in her white, polyester suit, like a science experiment gone wrong.

Joan offered my hand a tight squeeze upon noticing my stare. That was her real superpower, I realized, making people feel better in times of utter hopelessness. There was a light that existed within her and when she looked upon you, even for the brevity of a second, that light could warm your soul. I had grown dependent on her light but like most things, I didn't notice until it was gone.

"I'm going to do something really stupid, Phe." She whispered in my ear.

I pulled back, frightened by her morbid tone. "What do you mean?"

Stupid implied she was about to do something silly or dumb. Like the time Nic and I raided her mother's closet, stealing her finest dresses made of silk and satin fabrics, imported from fancy Parisian boutiques with names I could never pronounce. That day we situated Nic's stuffies into two parallel lines, creating a makeshift catwalk. We performed the most outrageous child fashion show to be seen in toy history. Looking back on the whole affair now, I would call it pretty stupid. But Joan's tone implied a degree of severity that did not quite match my definition.

"Remember what we discovered at the canteen," she said, "you need a lot of energy to manifest your power."

"I can't do anything here, Joan. I can't make an electrical surge from trees." I gestured to our surroundings.

"Everything possesses energy." Joan released my hand and took a step forward.

Baited by her sudden movement the demon also stepped forward, not yet exposing itself to us. They looked to be playing a twisted game of chess, with each step bringing them closer to an attack. With one final movement, Joan drew the creature into the light revealing its foul profile. The rotting figure towered over Joan, its face a gnarled mess of shredded skin and exposed bone. Its mouth, a perpetual smile carved onto its face with daggers replacing teeth and black ink oozing from its lizard-like tongue. The metallic odor of its victims blood hung to its skin like a repugnant cologne.

For one breathless second the two stared at each other, predator and prey, trapped in a deadly dance. Then, Joan stepped around the creature and darted into the woods. Thrilled by the hunt, the demon took after her. It was not long after the chase began did I hear Joan's scream and the hungered snarl of the beast's stomach. Joan's body soared through the trees before landing into a crumpled ball at my feet. I crouched over her body noticing the deep gash which ran along the length of her arm. She whimpered as her whole body began to convulse in my embrace.

I stood as Daruma San made its dramatic return. If possible the demon looked smug with its beedy eyes staring at me, begging for me to try next. My blood simmered as an uncontrollable rage consumed me. A powerful wind swept across the forest floor, shaking the ground beneath my feet as it uprooted centuries old trees. The demon stumbled back as the wind raged on. I watched through a film of tears as the Daruma San attempted to brave the elements. It swiped through the air with one clawed hand in a vain attempt to grab me. At this point, the wind carried its body to the edge of the treeline.

Untouched by the gusts of wind, I stalked towards the beast. My hands twisted in and out of fists as the murderous fire continued to ravage my body. I acted without abandon, reaching out and grabbing the demon by its face. In one swift motion, I stabbed my thumbs into its sockets and gouged out its beedy, red eyes. I became a spectator as a darker presence lingering within my body rose to consciousness. This presence, this thing trapped inside of me was the source of the insidious fire which licked at limbs, propelling me to brutally maime the beast in front of me. I had no idea how to gouge someone's eyes out nor did I possess the ability or desire to do so but the darker being refused to settle for anything less than blood.

The demon beneath me cried out in pain. In one last-ditch effort to save itself, the Daruma San kicked me off of its body. I flew into a nearby tree with a sickening crunch before falling back to the forest floor. The dark presence suddenly disappeared and the wind dissipated, allowing for the demon to stand and exact its revenge on me. Cowering into the fetal position, I ducked my head beneath my arms, refusing to watch as my killer approached.

"Phe, no!" I recognized Joan's voice but it was distorted, sounding vaguely like a growl.

Peeking through my fingers I watched as my friend convulsed on the forest floor. Her face red and twisted in pain as beads of sweat slid across the bridge of her nose. Crack! She screamed as her bones snapped and shifted, her body nearly tripling in size as she shifted into a more primal form. The cheap stitching of our uniforms offered little resistance to her transformation, I thought, as shreds of fabric lay beside her naked body. Her smooth mahogany skin was quickly covered in fur as her feet morphed into paws and nails sharpened to claws. With a low, animalistic growl, she lifted her head from the ground revealing the snarling face of a rabid beast.

My breath caught in my chest as I stared at a real werewolf. Joan Calloway changed early.

She turned her golden stare to the demon looming above me, her eyes narrowing as she sensed a threat. Joan pounced on the demon with ease, sank her fangs into its neck and ripped out its jugular. The demon collapsed on the ground with black goo oozing from the wound. I found myself suffering from a momentary spell of shock; the Daruma San demon was just killed by a sixteen-year-old girl.

Joan turned her feral stare upon me once certain her victim was dead. Correction, I thought, the Daruma San demon was just killed by a sixteen-year-old werewolf girl who looked ready for another fight. As taught in biology class, werewolves were lethal creatures who possessed the might and speed of a beast while maintaining the intellect of a human. If they had any weaknesses my teachers didn't feel the need to share that information with us. Probably due to their safe hunch that none of their pupils would need to survive a werewolf attack. That information, if it even existed, would have been incredibly useful, I thought, as Joan stalked towards me.

"Joan please! It's me, it's Phe!" Her steps didn't falter.

I was suddenly reminded of Ana's tale of the werewolf boy who changed early. He was captured, she said, only after he had killed two innocent bystanders. Staring into the golden eyes of the female werewolf who hovered above me, I quickly realized that I was no longer speaking to my friend.

I threw my hands over my face and closed my eyes as I awaited her attack. But it never came. When I opened my eyes again, my position had changed. From my vantage point, I looked to be looming above a frail girl who bore a striking resemblance to myself. Glancing down, I was shocked to see fur covered paws and claws rather than two bloodied hands.

A whine escaped joan's throat when my fractured mind finally put the picture together. I was trapped inside of Joan's body.

The feral beast within her pushed against my control, howling from the bowls of her subconscious. I was not going to be able to hold her back for long. Surging forward, Joan wound an arm back to launch a lethal assault upon my unconscious body. Acting on impulse, I redirected the swing of Joan's arm. She released strangled cry as I propelled her hand into her own chest, piercing her heart. I closed my eyes as my control over Joan's body broke.

When I opened my eyes again I was back in my own body, lying on the forest floor with my knees drawn to my chest. Two bodies lay haphazardly on the grass in front of me.

"J-Joan," I called out.

No response.

I crawled over to Joan's unmoving body. Hoisting her large head into my lap, I ignored the aches and pains in my joints and brushed my hand along the deep gash in her chest. Two golden eyes stared up at me through heavy lids. The light I had grown so used to seeing had been snuffed out. I snuffed it out.

My chest heaved as I sobbed over my friend's body. "P-please Joan. W-Wake up. We gotta get out of here."

"We gotta go. W-wake up!" I screamed.

"No- please no." I pressed her forehead against my own, allowing my tears to dampen her fur. "I'm so sorry."

Joan Calloway died in the middle of a forgotten forest somewhere on the northwest coast. Her body was probably recovered the morning after the first Aptitude Trial when the G.S soldiers canvassed the land for any straggling survivors. There would be no funeral, no memorial service for friends and family to bask in the memory of her life. In fact, no one outside of those she knew in Garrenbuck would ever learn of her death. Her father, Chief Calloway and her three bigs brothers would continue on with their lives with the belief that their daughter and sister had the chance to live in the Otherworld.

I was the only person in the world who knew of the strange circumstances surrounding Joan's death, and I intended on keeping it that way.

Once the sky turned a deep shade of violet, I pressed a chaste kiss on Joan's muzzle, closed her eyes and stumbled into the forest- leaving her body and the memory of her death behind me.

**I am well aware of the reaction I will be receiving from this decision but remember that this book has been planned for months, so this was not a spur of the moment decision. Joan meant a lot to me, the other characters and to many of you and her death plays a significant role in the rest of the story. In this moment I can only quote Phe: "...death is inevitable." I enjoyed writing the dynamic between Joan and Esther and I will miss that immensely. I know many of you will be mad at me and/or stop reading and for that I am sorry.
XOXO,
Ro.**