Chapter Two
Damon
Hemlock Mountain
I sat between Sawe and Loop. They had once been my littermates but that was many summers ago and now we were all grown up.
Not to mention there was a literal blizzard.
Most of the time that kept the people shifters inside their buildings but not this time around.
They were all gathered in a field yelling ‘SNOW DAMON! SNOW DAMON!’ I wasn’t sure what they wanted me to do but I was not the one who was in charge of making it snow.
Though, if I was, I’d say I was already doing a pretty good job of it.
My sisters sat in the snow, smoothing down their belly fur in little repetitive motions, and using the family link to talk about what they’d make for dinner.
It was winter so of course it would be stew or something like that, but the women would still talk it in circles for hours.
What else are wolves who only shift into yetis supposed to do?
Hell, we weren’t even sure if we were proper yetis or bigfoots – bigfeet?
Who knows?! My clan would’ve never known those words had I not been born with an extra ability.
Like all of us I was born as a wolf. I stayed a wolf for a long time and eventually shifted into the furry almost-man form.
Then as time went on I discovered I had a third form.
I could shift to look like the people who only shifted into wolves.
It wasn’t a very practical form for the winter because it left me with very little hair or fur to keep me warm but it was particularly useful for going out amongst those who claimed they were the be all, end all of civilization.
“Why don’t you go get pizza?” Loop asked, poking me in the ribs because I didn’t answer straight away.
“I have to figure out what they want first,” I crinkled my nose and leaned back against the snowbank. With my thick fur out, it was a toasty little seat as long as one of us didn’t lean back too hard and make it cave in.
“They don’t want you,” Sawe laughed.
“They’re shouting for me!” I said and nodded in the direction of the chanting.
“SNOW DAMON! SNOW DAMON! SNOW DAMON!”
“Damon, I think they’re saying demon.”
“Well, we can’t expect them to know my name properly, can we?” I arched a brow and a snowflake fell down on my nose.
“Damon, they aren’t talking about you. They’re talking about that one guy who lives up the mountain alone. That’s what they call him,” Loop rolled her eyes.
“How do you know that?” I glanced at my sister.
Her fur was russet and sometimes if she sat still one might mistake her for a pile of cuddling vixens.
Loop was muddy brown and I was as white as the snow.
The latter part is why I wondered if I was a yeti.
Though, I wasn’t a mountain spirit exactly.
Then again, I did live on a mountain. There wasn’t a hotline I could call and inquire if I was yeti or not.
We didn’t even know if other packs and clans existed as we did.
Sometimes it felt like we were the only ones but other times that felt like hubris and vanity.
Why would we be the only ones our creator – whoever they were – made?
Maybe they just scattered us around or maybe our ancestors migrated like so many others did.
Anything could’ve shaped our present full of people chanting my name.
Had I slipped and gone out in the wrong form at some point? Had someone followed me home?
“It seems we have fans,” my wolf barked into my thoughts and I wasn’t sure how I felt about a yeti fan club. Being the center of attention didn’t sound fun at all. Not the center of their attention anyway.
“We listen in on them too,” Loop said, answering my question and bringing me back to the present moment.
“I think they’re talking about Wess anyway,” Sawe cut in. “I mean, they could be talking about any seer, but he’s the only one like himself. So, they’re probably trying to lure him out to eat him or something. Those people are weird.”
“Wess’s name doesn’t sound anything like mine,” I shook my head. “They’re yelling for me. I think I’m going to go see what they want.”
“Damon!” Loop called out but I was already sprinting across the crust of the untouched snow. I couldn’t take another second of these loud mouths shouting my name.