Right before I head to her house I lose another tooth. I walk to her cabin deep in the chilly woods. I just walk in when I get there. Harper jumps a little.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you.” I see she’s cleaning the dishes. “Go sit down. I got this.”

“No. It’s fine.” I give her a look that tells her to listen. “Fine.” She sits down. I clean and put away the rest of the dishes. When I’m done I sit down next to her. We talk and she tells me more about herself. I go home. The next day I kind of expect to at least be acknowledged because it’s my birthday. The only acknowledgment I get is when Mistress Madern opens the door to check on me at 9:30. I climb out the window and run the whole way there. I knock on her door. No one answers

“Harper” I whisper. I knock again. She opens the door and lets me in. There are two candles in the middle of the table. The table is nicely set with my favorite food; steak. He walks further in. Over the table is a banner that reads; Happy Birthday Louis. There are two gifts wrapped and laying on the couch. I huge harper and for some reason I salivate. I ignore it. I pull away. “Thank you so much!”

“You’re welcome. Come eat.” She pulls out my chair and scoots it in. She sits down next to me. I cut into the steak and see it is rare just the way I like it. I dig in. After I’m done I walk over to her bedroom door. I walk in. I lay on her bed for a minute before standing up again. I go into the living area. I sit down on the couch. Harper sits down next to me. She grabs the presents.she hands me the one that I’m almost positive is a book because of its shape and size. I open it and inside is a book that is worn down. It’s got a gold faded title written on the front. It’s made from a leathery material that feel worn and used. I hold it in my hands with a delict grasps, terrified of ruining it. “It’s one of my favorites.”

“Is this your only copy?”

“Yeah. I’ve had since I was young. It was the first chapter book I learned to read. “

“I can’t take this. It’s yours. It’s something special to you. It’s one of your favorites. I can’t take it away from you.” I try to hand it back. She push’s it back toward me.

“You have to. It would make me happy if you took it. I want you to have it. It would make me sad if you didn’t except it.” She hands me the other gift before I can respond. This one is squishy. I can tell it’s clothing or blanket. I unwrap it. It’s a black sweat shirt with gold block stitched words “The Tale of the Mysterious Demons”.

“I love it.”

“I stitched it myself.”

“It’s amazing!! What time is it?” She looks at her watch.

“11:30”

“I turn eighteen in nineteen minutes.”

“Yeah.” I put on the jacket and put the book on the floor carefully. Harper turns so she’s facing away from me. She leans into me. I wrap my arms around her. I randomly salivate again. I try to ignore it once more. I look at her watch a little while later and I see it reads 11:40.

“Nine minutes”

“Yep.” I pull her in closer. I get a sharp pain in my teeth. I reach up. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Fine.” We relax a little longer. I look at her watch again. “One minute.” We both stare at her watch. As soon as it says 11:49 I get a searing pain in my mouth. I fall to the ground. I reach for my mouth. I feel four teeth grow in. The pain stops. I feel around in my mouth with my tongue. I feel four poky teeth where my four canines used to be. I open my mouth a little.