Fall Festival
No day in the history of mankind ever started off so perfectly.
Early morning, the kids woke up, and in what I hoped was a continuing pattern, they were ready to go even before I was.
Aegis, in all his glory, arrived in good time with an iced pumpkin spice coffee in hand. Before I could so much as thank him, he kissed me, hand sliding around my waist to pull me close. Above the sounds of gagging from the twins, Lucy roared, “I stinking NEW IT! You owe me ten bucks, Dylan!”
We saw Brittani at school as we dropped the twins off.
“Ready for this evening?” She asked, giving me an innocent smile.
“Absolutely,” I said, mirroring her.
Work was flawless. Better than flawless. Aegis maintained a professional distance while we worked, but more than once, I felt his gaze on my back through the window. I would turn, and those burning eyes would be there, looking through me in a way that made me shiver in excitement.
It both crawled by and flew past. Ivy stopped by as we were loading up the car, fully geared up in her Sheriff’s outfit. She was surprisingly grim.
“I’m not going as a guest tonight, unfortunately,” she said. “These sorts of events, we try to bridge the gap between the packs, to fizzle out some of the antagonism that can brew up over territory and numbers. Three packs in such close quarters isn’t ideal, but with the world the way it is, finding enough land for packs to call their own is… hard.”
“So you’ll be Sheriffing tonight, then,” I said, frowning. “You think there’ll be problems?”
“Not from the adults. They’re smart enough to know better. Once Aegis is there, everyone’ll be under their best behavior, but the youth…” Ivy rolled her eyes. “There’s always problems from overly-proud teenagers looking to identify with something.”
“No identity like pack identity,” I said, wincing as I remembered days of similarly hot blooded teens all gathering around in one place.
“Exactly. Paul and I will keep an eye on things. I’ll be able to mingle better; I don’t have pack scent on me, even if I’m technically one of the Black Lake. He’s a Beta; he automatically comes with aggression stamped all over his face.”
“You’ve got more scent on you than you think,” Aegis snorted. “You just aren’t a werewolf. They can tell the difference. That, and you’re exceptionally fair, in spite of your ‘technical’ allegiance, so they’ll listen to you.”
“Right. Paul will be watching your six, so just… be aware.”
“Don’t have to tell me twice.”
“Ugh, you’re making me nervous,” I complained. “Now that I’ve got kids, stuff like this feels so much more serious than it used to.”
“Tell me about it,” Ivy laughed. “Back when we were kids, we used to roll our eyes so hard at your mom and dad freaking out over everything. Even Marcus used to get so nervous about us walking around.”
“Why?” Dylan asked, leaning forward. “Is it really that big a deal?”
“Lots of tensions run between the packs,” Ivy said. “Which reminds me: Collin, you’ll want to stay close to people you know. No wandering around with other werewolves, especially if you don’t know them at all.”
Collin startled. “What? Why?”
“She’s right,” Aegis said grimly. We were trying to lay everything as flat as possible, no double layers, between our car and Paul’s. “You don’t have pack scent to you. Worse, you won’t really know pack scent, yet, so you may mistake some of the other kids for packmates, when they’re not.”
“Stay near people you know,” I said, anxiety curling and uncurling in my gut. “And don’t let anyone bait you away.”
“What would they do to me?” Collin asked, ears flattening in anxiety.
“What any stupid teenagers do,” Ivy grumbled. “Fight for status.”
Just as we finished loading up, Leanne and Jade joined with us, as well. Ivy left early to begin her rounds at the school, and we decided we, too, would get there early to surprise Brittani with the fruits of our labors.
“Those macarons are going to be the light of the entire festival,” Jade giggled, clapping her hands maniacally. “I took so many pictures, almost half my photo album is just rose flavored macarons!”
“The cherry pie looks fantastic, Mom,” Aegis said, peering into the box she’d brought it in.
“No better than all of the other incredible things you kids made,” Leanne said.
She made her rounds, hugging and squeezing the kids until they were laughing with the attention, and then we all piled into our cars to make our way toward the school.
My heart was beating out a fantastic rhythm as we got closer to D-Day. The festival couldn’t have been held on a more perfect day; with the sun beginning to set, it dyed the perfectly painted trees into a crimson sea of fire. Leaves fluttered down on a chilly breeze; the air smelled crisp and bright, and our breaths gusted in front of us. Mittens, scarves, fuzzy boots, thick socks… it was the perfect weather. Werewolf Hollow shone its most beautiful in the Fall.
Brittani wasn’t hard to find, even in a surprisingly large sea of unknown faces. Her black hair had been tied up into a perfectly crisp ponytail, and she was wearing intimidatingly tall heals, her makeup styled like an Amazonian warrior out for battle. You know, if Amazonian warriors wore makeup, which like, maybe they did.
I led the charge toward Brittani Choi, all of our arms laden with baked goods. As if she sensed us approaching, she turned as fluidly as one would expect the head of the PTA committee to move, before looking us all over like we were the baked goods.
“Well?” She asked finally, eying me. “Did you bring everything I asked for?”
“Of course,” I said, cool as a cucumber.
“Good. Follow me.” She spun back around, her expression never once cracking.
She’s gotten even better, I thought, following in her brisk pace. Wherever she stepped, the crowd parted like the red sea; even the faces I definitely didn’t recognize scrambled to get out of her way.
Brittani led us toward the buffet tables, of which there were many, all of them absolutely laid out with more food than I knew existed within the small confines of Werewolf Hollow. Indian, Mexican, even some Thai and Vietnamese- it was an overwhelmingly impressive spread.
“I hate to admit it,” Ivy grouched, appearing from out of the crowd almost as suddenly as a werewolf, “but you did good with all of this food, Brit.”
She flipped her hair. “Event planning is my life. Place your goods here, please.”
She indicated one whole empty table with nothing but pristine, shining platforms for all of the baked goods; we carefully laid it all out, and I swear, the macarons glittered in the sunlight. Jade whipped out her phone and started snapping frantically away at it, muttering about “SEO” and “engagement”.
I watched Brittani counting under her breath as she pointed to each of the dishes we laid out. Not a spot was empty.
“Well done,” she said, leaning back up. Again, her expression was a flawless mask; if she felt any sort of disappointment, she didn’t show it. “Everything looks great.”
“I’ll be right back,” Aegis murmured to me, hand on my lower back. “I’m going to find Lawrence.”
“I’ll go with you,” Paul said immediately, sticking to him like glue.
“Better get my rounds going,” Ivy said, looking anxious as she turned to melt into the crowd.
One by one, they all disappeared as quickly as they had appeared at all. Lucy hung close to Jade, giggling as Aegis’s sister snapped one photo after another, and Leanne winked at me before disappearing herself. Collin and Dylan were gone so fast, I wasn’t even sure they’d walked up here with us.
“You don’t seem surprised,” I said, once it was just Brittani and I.
She gave me a mildly irritated look. “Why would I be?”
“That was a huge list for just one person, Brittani.”
“Of course it was.” She rolled her eyes. “You think I didn’t assume your entire squadron of guardians wasn’t going to pitch in? I calculated for it.”
“And if they hadn’t?”
She quirked one perfectly manicured eyebrow. “Now that would have been a surprise.”
I shook my head, marveling. “Aegis said as much. I don’t think I fully believed him.”
“And did that work out too, or am I going to have to put together another ridiculous plot to get the two of you alone?”
I stared at her, totally taken aback. “What?”
“You and Aegis,” she said, irritated. “Are you together, or not?”
“I- I- We- You-“
“Still no grace,” she muttered, tapping her nails on her clipboard. “I’m going to assume you’re together, then, by the enormous blush you’re wearing.”
My face was, indeed, burning, the heat climbing up my neck. “We… we haven’t told anyone… yet.”
“As if they don’t know.” Brittani glanced at the watch on her wrist, and then looked around. “I need to find my husband. My kids disappeared the moment I took my eyes off of them.” A flash of irritated concern flickered across her face. “I only hope they aren’t as stupid as we were, back then.”
“I’m sure they’ll be all right,” I said. Anxiety curled in my own gut. Collin really doesn’t know enough about this world, yet…
“Even so.” She sighed. “Our first event tonight is a dance off between all of the parents. Will you be taking part with Aegis?”
I was startled all over again. “What?”
“All of the parents of actively attending students will be dancing together,” Brittani explained, looking at me as if I were missing a few screws. “Can I expect you to take part? There’s also bobbing for apples, plus a pie eating contest. First prize for any of the events is $100.”
I swallowed, but before I could turn her down- she could’ve offered me one million dollars, and I’d still have said no- Lucy, of all people, suckered me in.
“Mama is a great dancer!” She said, choosing now of all times to pay attention to what I was doing. “I want to see Mama dance with Aegis!”
“Great.” Brittani gave me a dazzlingly triumphant smile as she scribbled our names on a paper without looking at it. “See you on the dance floor in fifteen.”
----
I found Aegis quickly following that. “I’ve got bad news,” I said. “Lucy just got us tagged in for a dance competition.”
Aegis’s eyebrows shot up. “What? Dancing?”
“Yeah. Dancing. As in, you and me. Brittani’s got us signed up for the parents’ dancing competition.”
He snorted with laughter. “Of course she does.”
“I can’t dance, Aegis. I know the last school thing we went to was like, over ten years ago, but I can absolutely promise you, nothing has changed in that regard.”
Aegis grinned. “Oh, believe me, I remember. All the better.”
I gawked at him. “What? No! I’ve got two left feet! In fact, I’ve got backwards feet! I’ll be labeled a national disaster!”
“Not with me. Where’s Lucy?”
“Jade’s got her.”
“The twins?”
“Doing… teen things,” I said. “Hopefully that doesn’t mean they’re getting into trouble.”
Aegis shook his head, then turned and nodded to someone. A few people I recognized but didn’t know nodded, then melted into the crowd.
“What was that?” I said, surprised.
“They’re going to go keep an eye on the twins.” Aegis squeezed my shoulder. “Once everyone knows you’re mine, people will start making a move on the kids. Jade’s smart enough to know better, but the twins… they’re not used to the idea.”
My heart fluttered. He said it so casually: Once everyone knows you’re mine… The idea of being so publicly together was both exhilarating and terrifying. I hadn’t even gotten used to the idea myself, yet. And the kids…
“You all right?” Aegis asked, and I realized he was watching me. “I can tell Brittani I’ve caught a cold.”
I snorted. “You’re a werewolf. She knows as well as I do that you don’t get colds.”
“I can make something up.”
“No.” I shook out my hands. “No. It’s fine. I’ll be-“
A loud crackle picked up over the speakers, and I jumped half out of my skin, making Aegis chuckle as he steadied me.
“Parents of Black Lake Middle School,” Brittani’s voice called out over the din. “Would you please make your way to the dance floor by the buffet table? We will be hosting our dance off momentarily! As a reminder, those wishing to enter need to check in directly with me, and the prize for any of the competitions is $100 and a coupon to Diana’s Pizzeria!”
A cheer rose up, and I broke out into a cold sweat.
“Come on,” Aegis said, taking my hand. “If we’re going to do this, let’s do it.”