Aja was still a little suspicious, but Sierra actually seemed kind of nice, and genuinely interested in making friends, unlike some of the other girls at school who only wanted to be around her because she kicked Steve Palchuk in the face.

Everyone said that was heroic and "cool", but she hadn't wanted to do that. Steve had been threatening her brother. It had been a last resort. Why was she so popular for it?

Humans were so callous.

Why not pay attention to my brother, for his amazing genius ideas and personality, instead of me for my violent outbursts?

Like Sierra.

Sierra even liked Krel. And she never once said anything about the incident with Steve. The chance still stood that she was just getting close to Aja to get close to her brother, but it didn't seem like it. She only started talking to her after Aja had confronted her about staring at Krel, and she'd definitely come off as a little strange, but everyone thought they were strange, so maybe Sierra had only seen the common ground and thought it would be nice to make friends.

But then there was that bite scar.

It had looks so much like her own wound. And when she'd shown her own wound, Sierra had briefly looked what Aja could have sworn to be guilty. Sorry, ashamed, regretful, but it had been quickly buried. Like she was hiding something.

Earlier that week, Douxie had said that the red-eyed werewolf was most likely a cursed individual that was traveling alone, and that since there was no werewolf pack in Arcadia, the other one was most likely just one person who had been unfortunate enough to run into an aggressive werewolf at some point in their life.

Was Sierra the werewolf?

Unlikely. She said she'd been bitten by a regular wolf.

Unless she was lying. Why would you just tell someone you're a werewolf?

That makes sense, but it just doesn't seem like she'd be something like that.

Like you don't seem much like an interplanetary royal-on-the-run.

The inner arguing with herself was cut short when she opened the door of her house and was met with the outrageous, goofy antics the Blanks were currently taking part in, which mostly involved 60's or 70's commercial slogans and throwing dinner instead of cooking it.

"Why are you so violent?!"

She didn't get a proper response. Rather, she had to duck to avoid a flying mixing spoon.

Varvatos casually turned the TV volume up.

Krel pushed passed his sister and entered the house, pretending not to notice the Blanks and briskly escaping to his room. Luug bounded in after him, happily eating the food the Blanks had scattered on the floor.

Aja shut the door and ducked into the hidden part of the Mothership, removing her transduction before going to see her parents. She sat on the floor in between the two orange pods, wishing she could talk to them. Wishing they could be here to help her through all this.

It wasn't that long ago that another bounty hunter had tried to steal their cores right out of this room, and she'd only barely been able to defend them. She was training with Varvatos now, but the Zerons were very powerful, and most likely very angry after some of the stunts she and the others had pulled on them. What if she wasn't strong enough to protect her brother and her parents next time?

And then there was Kubritz. She wanted the Akiridions for who knows what, and if she ever discovered where they were hiding, it could mean disaster. The last time they'd been to Area 49-B, Krel had been seriously hurt, and ever since then Aja had been even more scared for him. He couldn't fight like her, couldn't defend himself. What if something happened while she wasn't there?

And Morando. He was still trying to find them. If he did, he would kill them. And then what? What would happen to the Akiridion people? How badly would they suffer under the General's tyrannical rule? And, Gaylen forbid, what other planets would he conquer?

She usually wouldn't fret like this. She tried to see the good in a situation most of the time, because negativity never really worked out for her. But sometimes, this situation they were in just weighed down too hard, like her first night on Earth, after everything had happened, when she'd cried for the first time. It seemed like the tears came much easier now, after that first wave of negative emotions that just couldn't be drowned out with positive thoughts, like she'd always used to do to turn a situation around.

"You look really sad. I wish you could understand me so I could tell you to be not sad."

The voice startled her. It sounded like it was in her head, almost, but it definitely belonged to someone else. She looked around, but the only one there was Luug, who's transduction had just worn off. He was looking at her intently, blue tongue lolling cheerfully out of his mouth.

Am I hearing things?

"Maybe you'll say why you're sad. You like to tell me things. Then I can lick your face and make you happy again. Or I could do that anyway, which sounds like the best plan."

She stared at the dog for a long moment. That voice.... It wasn't coming from him, was it? She watched him carefully, hoping she wasn't going crazy. He looked mildly intimidated.

"You--you're staring. That's rude."

Her core jumped up to an alarming speed. She could hear Luug's regular rrf-grrf and all that, but it was like it was being translated. When he barked, she heard the words in her head. She could hear what he was saying.

How could she hear what he was saying?!

"Wait." She said quietly as she pulled back her sleeve. Douxie had said that werewolves could talk to animals in the canine family. He'd also said that the symptoms of lycanthropy could appear at any time and in any order in the month leading up to the full moon. It had been a week since the attack in the woods, and nothing had changed yet. Could this be the beginning?

She finally got her sleeve pulled back enough to see the bite. The teeth marks were faintly producing a white glow, almost too dim to see. She looked back towards her dog.

"Are you okay?" He asked. Hearing his voice was a little strange. She wasn't sure if she should respond.

"I...I don't know...I think I need to talk to Douxie." She said, gingerly touching the sore wound. Luug stepped closer and sat down next to her.

"Hmmm...that was almost like you understood me. That kind of coincidence doesn't happen very often." He remarked to himself. Then he looked up at the bite mark on her forearm and added, "Does that still hurt? You need me to lick it for you?"

Pushing the weird question aside, Aja took his head in two of her hands and made direct eye contact.

"I did understand you. I can hear what you're saying and I don't know what's happening to me!" She told him anxiously. His eyes got very wide.

"You can understand me! Wait, since when?"

"Since now."

"Oh. That must be why you look so freaked out about it."

She pulled her sleeve back down and scooped him up in her arms, holding him tightly to help her calm down. All the issues and problems that they had to deal with because of Morando and Kubritz and bounty hunters, and now she was turning into a werewolf.

"Okay, is this related to the werewolf thing?" Luug asked simply, apparently not hindered by his current situation of being squeezed.

"I think so... You know what's going on?" She replied.

"I was in the room while you were talking about it. Of course I know. I just couldn't give any input because you couldn't understand me." The dog explained with little concern. "I also don't know why you're so upset about it. After all, you can talk to me now! And if a werewolf is so big and scary, maybe it's good thing. I don't think anyone would wanna mess with you anymore."

"I just... I don't know. I guess I'm just scared." She said softly. She put him down. "Maybe our enemies would be scared of me, but would Krel be scared of me? What if I accidentally hurt him?"

"I don't think you would. You're the best sister this universe has ever known."

"Thanks."

That's when she heard the shattering glass.