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Chapter 7

Jenna lay on her bed. She wished she had listened to her parents, if only she had been in by ten o’clock.

A soft knock on her door brought her out of her thoughts. Claire slipped into her room and closed the door behind her. She crossed her arms and starred at Jenna.

“What’s up?” Jenna asked. She knew that look. Claire wanted answers.

“I got a call from Gran. Do you know what she wanted me to do?”

“She’s crazy Claire. What does that have to do with me?”

“You had an MRI. She asked me to hack into the hospital records and delete the scan from their system,”

“Why?” Jenna was interested now and sat up.

“Because something was wrong, Jenna something is going on,”

“Maybe they were just a mistake,” Jenna said, and Claire sat on the edge of her bed.

“No Jenna. Gran said if they get a hold of the scan then you would be in danger. She was right. You scan it shows you have extra cells in your brain and….”

“Claire that is impossible,”

“Is it really Jenna? Gran taught me to hack. She told me one day my skills would be needed,”

“Claire, gran has said many things all of them completely insane,”

“Your right,” Claire tapped Jenna’s leg and left. Jenna had a feeling in her gut one she didn’t like. Her gran knew more than was ever possible. Perhaps she had just inherited the crazy jean.


The jangle of keys broke Jax out of his slumber. It was hard to sleep when your arms were chained above your head.

When he did sleep, it was light. The slightest noise would wake him. He listened carefully. They were moving closer to his cage. The pitter patter of their boots sent a jolt of nerves through his body.

He prayed that they didn’t take the young boy. He wouldn’t last much longer. He was only a cub not barley a teenager in human years.

They passed his cage and stopped outside of the young wolf’s cell.

Jax had to protect him. The urge was strong, like he was one of his own pack or cub. That was a problem. His connection to his family was slipping. It was breaking, a little by little. Soon he would lose it all. All the while his bond with his family was fading away.

A new bond was forming. The wolf boy. But how? Jax was not a wolf. It shouldn’t be possible. Maybe it was being in captivity together. Who knew? But one thing was for sure. Jax was a wild animal. Drove by the instinct to hunt and kill. A part of him was feral. Untenable. That part of him wanted out. He wanted his freedom. Soon he would have it. Then Jax would be lost.

He began to thrash at his chains and growl. The man titled his head in his direction and then placed the keys into the lock of the cage. He heard the click of the lock and grinned.

“Come here you coward!” Jax screamed.

“When I am free, I am going to rip your entire family to shreds! While you watch!” the man looked at him and laughed. Jax faintly remembered a name. Claire.

“Claire will be the first,” that caught his attention and he barged into Jax’s cage. He had made a wrong move. Jax slashed his claw across his face. Then placed his fingers into his mouth, the taste of blood gave him little strength and he grinned. The man backed out of the cage on his hands and knees. Once he had firmly secured the gate he walked quickly back to where he came from.

Jax knew he would pay. But he also knew he had saved the boy for now. They would come back but for now he was safe. He had bought a little time. How much? He wasn’t sure.


Jenna had been home from the hospital a few days. It was now Monday and her first day back at school. She was nervous. Sleep was hard to come by and when she did, the night of the attack would play out, more horrifying than it actually was.

She wasn’t sure what had really happened now.

Her nightmares had twisted reality and reality had formed into a nightmare. Her eyes stung and her brain wasn’t ready to function. Yawning she got out of bed and dressed for the day. Jenna was too lazy to take much care in her appearance. Life had changed. Not only did she feel different, but her family wasn’t the same.

Her Dad was working more. Something about they were close, almost there. They were close to finding a cure. Jenna hoped it was true.

If they found a cure for that dreadful killer, then people would have hope. Families wouldn’t be lost, and children wouldn’t have to lose their parents. They would finally be able to beat cancer.

The world would be a better place and her dad would be one of the people that had made that happen. He would be a hero while his daughter was a murder.

Sighing, Jenna went down for breakfast. She couldn’t eat the pancakes her mum had made her. Her stomach was in knots. So, she stared at them. Her mum gave her a worried look but kept her thoughts to herself. When Donna’s car horn beeped, Jenna’s heart rate picked up.

Slowly she made her way out saying a quick goodbye.

“Hay, you, okay?” Donna asked.

“Yeah, just a little tired,”

She wished she could tell Donna what was going on. But the little voice inside her head warned her against it.

So, she suffered alone with the guilt and shame. The strange things that were happening were playing heavy on her mind. She pushed them back and painted a smile on her face.

What more could she do?

The drive to school was spent in silence. Just the low hum of the radio played in the background. Jenna’s thoughts kept swaying to the attack no matter how hard she tried to think of other things.

As they pulled into the school parking lot, Jenna took a deep breath. It was time to face the questioning stares of her fellow classmates. She didn’t feel ready. Her legs had turned to jelly, and her body trembled as she walked.

Jenna pushed the double doors open. The school hallway stank. The odor of the stale urine curled from under the restroom doors, depressingly mixed with deodorant and body odor in equal measure.

“You would think that the cleaners would take extra care with the restrooms,” Jenna muttered. The smell was stronger today. Her stomach rolled and she was glad she didn’t eat breakfast.

Jenna kept her head down and pushed her way through the sea of pupils. She scoffed as she walked under the banner: "The child in pursuit of knowledge, not knowledge in pursuit of the child." Most teenagers saw school as a social gathering rather than a place to learn.

So far, everything was fine. No one approached them. Jenna stopped at her locker and took the books out she needed for the day.

Algebra was her first lesson. One class she never understood. How the alphabet made its way into math’s was a mystery to her.

“I will catch you later, winter formal committee duties,” Donna sang as she walked away. Jenna closed her locker. She jumped back. Her heart had leapt into her throat. Leaning against Donna’s locker was Josh.

“Hay, I am glad to see you back, how you are feeling?” Jenna was at a loss for words. Josh had sought her out. He was standing right beside her. With a slight smile and his eyebrows raised. Jenna loved his smile. It sent flutters into her stomach and the dimple. The small dimple that appeared in his right cheek gave him a sense of vulnerability. But there was nothing vulnerable about him.

His messy hair, bed hair. That is what it was. She wanted to run her hands through it, feel whether it was soft or ruff. Her thoughts were jumbled.

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