They lead me outside; a large crowd had gathered. “We would like to formally introduce you to our town!” Anna exclaimed. Everyone in the crowd cheered as if they had never had someone join their community. “Orca, you know me, but the al- the mayor would like to introduce you to himself and the town, since it is a small community.”

“Hello Orca! My name is Brad Tremaine.” A man stepped forward. He motioned to the crowd and they started lining up in front of me. They each came by and introduced me to them. There were about 30 people, including kids. I remembered a few names, definitely not all of them. There was a white-haired teen who was named Ambala. She was definitely one of the wolves I met in the forest. Chance was anna’s mate and he had dark brown hair, similar to his wolf’s color. Arianna was a blonde and she looked at me very suspiciously, an aura of unease rested around her. She would probably be the first to sound the alarm about me, if she figured it out. Joanna and Jane, who were twins. They both had reddish pelts, I had seen them in the forest, that were the same color as their hair. Tyler and Rob were brothers in their thirties who had grey hair. They had also been in the forest earlier.

Arianna and her friends were my age and they insisted on showing me around town, though I pushed into their minds the idea that they wanted to show me the forest. They led me around the town, showing her the two diners, the pack house, and a bunch of other buildings. Along the trip they took me to one of the stores and we got me some clothes and other supplies, including ropes and a new pocket knife. They were planning to go rock climbing with me, but simply ended up showing me cool spots in the forest and planning to climb another time. There was a bunch of cliffs and waterfalls, all of which had caves. I’ll have to find a cave to stow stuff in, just in case. I could never be too careful. Though I was never caught after the orphanage incident, I shuddered at the thought of that, I had been chased by many groups of militia and gangs.

“By Orca, see you tomorrow, get ready to climb!” Arianna and her friends left me at my house, waving bye. I waved back and went inside. I dropped my bags on the ground and got out the backpack I arrived with. It held a necklace Shrike had given me, a recurve bow, which could be broken down into small pieces, some jerky I bought, and an extra pair of clothes. I took everything out, except for the bow and arrows, and put in the new knife and rope. I hung the backpack up by the door and went to put everything else away. The dressers in the bedroom were moldy and I didn’t want to risk anything in the crappy cabinets, so I used the two metal coffee tables to put everything on, moving one to my room. The mattress was in surprisingly good condition, as well as the bathroom, thankfully. I flopped down on the bed and look and the peeling paint, this house definitely needed some work done on.

I slept through the rest of the day and woke up around dinnertime. I rushed into the bathroom and turned on the shower, which to my disappointment, would not turn on. Instead, I shifted into my leopard gecko and started hunting for bugs. It worked well, since eating bugs would fill up my leopard gecko body, which would surprisingly, fill up my other forms. It also eradicated the bug population.

Satisfied, I swept out the window as an owl and flew through the night. Once I was a good distance away, I shifted into my wolf and ran towards town. I am going to spy on the pack tonight! The streets were deserted and everyone’s scent trails led to the large building in the middle of town. I shifted into an owl and flew to an open window. Once I landed, I shifted into my gecko form. Once, I had been mistaken for a pet in this form, and lived with a little family for a week or two. They had named me Hyper, so that is usually what I call this form. I escaped from my tank after two weeks, sad to leave the nice family. Anyway! Back to the present. I perched on the window sill, which had no screen, so I was technically inside the building. Almost everyone was in wolf form, and they were listening to the alpha, Brad.

“We must not let our guard down! The human must not suspect who we are, but at the same time, we must protect her from the rogue. It’s still out there and if she finds it, the army will come. Remember, stay vigilant. I am doubling the scouting missions. All hunters must meet here at 5 this morning, you have morning shift. Night wolves, you know your job. Dismissed.” I looked around the room to see everyone looking around. I would be seen if I wasn’t careful. I jumped out the window into wolf form. Big mistake. As I rounded the corner to enter the forest, I was seen by two scouts.

“Rogue!” Dena shouted, a white colored wolf. He started racing towards me and I high tailed it out of there. Two wolves were hot on my trail. I didn’t want to risk them think I was connected to my other forms so I continued running. Already exhausted from earlier, they caught up with me eventually. Dena and Arianna circled in front of my as more wolves came behind me. I recognized Brianna, a grey wolf, and Scott, an orangish brown wolf. I circled around, looking for gaps. They closed them immediately.

I was trapped.