Another school day, gone. I sigh, looking through the textbook and examining the illustrations of plants from another land. I think of Jacob and wonder what he’s up to. Did he like living in another province, taking classes with people who wanted to be there?

“How’s your wolf?”

I look up at Merle’s voice. “What do you care?”

“Because.”

“Because what?”

“You don’t seem happy with him around.”

Damn it. She was too observant these days. “You think I have to be happy all the time?”

“You were the one who chose him. Do you regret that?”

I put down my pencil and look at her. “No. He’s just weird.”

“So? You’re weird, too.”

“Not as weird as you.” She rolls her eyes. “Why do you keep talking to me?”

“You know he was trained to act like that.”

I can’t deny that.

I don’t want to tell her any more. About how he talks, or acts, or how he moves, or anything. It’s so unnatural, and yet I wanted more of that attention. More of how he never pushed back. How I could do anything I wanted to him and he would do anything he could to carry out my orders, no matter how stupid, or cruel, or dangerous they were for him. The way he was almost always there, making sure that I was the one that was okay. Those little ears. His silky tail, the feeling of it brushing across my face on the first night. My stomach flipped. I didn’t want to think any more about it.

“I don’t think he’s any more different than any of us.”

“Yeah. He’s completely different.” I say this more to my book than her, and too loud.

She raises an eyebrow. “You ever think about how my brother is completely different from anyone around here?”

“Can you stop trying to insult him all the time?”

“I’m not insulting him. It’s true.”

I sigh heavily. “Is he ever gonna come back?”

“He hasn’t written to us ever since he left. There’s a better chance of him writing to you, anyways. You’re basically twins. Like, closer than you and your wolf.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Why are you always putting him and Kai in the same conversation?”

She doesn’t answer the question. “So how’d you convince your parents to get him?”

“I didn’t. I snuck out while they were busy.”

“Typical.” She sits across the aisle from me. “So then what’d they do when you brought him back with you?”

“They thought it was normal.”

“No way.” She’s laughing.

I grin. “Yes way.”

“They just let another kid in the house? Just like that?”

“Yeah. Like nothing weird ever happened.”

“That’s a lie. You guys argued about it.”

“No, it’s real. They just acted like they were expecting him after we bonded.”

She blows air through her teeth. “Seer magic, right?”

“I guess.”

“So, what, you sleep in the same bed?”

I blush, more from anger. I think. “No. We sleep in different beds.”

“Well, that’s one rumor down.”

“You actually listen to those?”

She leans an elbow on the desk and crosses her ankles into the aisle. “It’s more interesting than hearing about who’s got a simple crush on who.”

“Seriously, why are you talking to me?”

“Because you’re talking to me?”

I roll my eyes and try to focus on the textbook.

“What are you reading?”

I sigh. “Nothing, because you’re distracting me.”

She’s silent, just watching me trying to read my book about plants in far-away places. “You know what Jacob said before he left?”

“What?” And I was just getting to the best part.

“He said he wanted to learn everything he could about everyone he met.”

I look at her. “He did?”

“Yeah. He said no matter if they were human, or other, or whatever, he wanted to spend time with them and learn about who they were.”

I just stare at her, my mouth open, trying to figure out what to say, trying to put these pieces together. And they come together, like the sky meeting earth. “So that’s how he and Kai are related?”

She snaps her fingers. “See, you got it.” She raises her eyebrows and grins. “Words of wisdom from your role model, passed on to you by yours truly.”

I groan. She gets up and walks past the rest of the desks and chairs, towards the door. She leaves the room, and I am left alone with something far more valuable than a book about plants.

- - - - -

“Hey, it’s wolf boy!”

A girl comes up to me. Her voice is too fast and too hushed. “We heard you slept in the same bed and kissed each other good night. Is that true?”

“With who?”

“Your wolf.”

“No.”

“Merle?”

“No.

“So, are you breaking up with Jacob, then?”

“No. I’m not seeing him.”

“Is it true you abuse your slave?”

“Who said that?” I shake her hand off. “That’s not true.”

“He always looks so sad and dirty. You sure you’re feeding him?”

“Yes. Fuck off!”

“What were you doing in that classroom? Hiding from us?” The boy grins and cracks his knuckles. “He’s too small to fight us so he needs to use his dog instead.”

There’s laughter. “Fuck off.” Right now, I don’t care what you say, Jacob. I hate this place.

“Look, there he is! Tell him to run up to you and lick you.”

“Make him show his belly!”

There is howling around me, and I think of that night, when he and I were alone, outside, in the dark, making him howl. I blush with shame. Why did they have to do this to me? Why did he have to exist? Why did I ever choose him? “Fuck off, all of you.”

“Poor little book boy. Can’t even fight back.”

I huff and leave them and their stupid howls and walk through the trees.

I walk past Kai. He follows, his eyes on the ground, looking more dejected than ever before. I roll my eyes, their taunts filling my head, and I want to kick him, push him, throw him in the river.

But I have to keep going. I have to leave this place, and I will take every step I need to leave forever.

But I look back at Kai. He looks different, somehow. His outline is sharper, the wrinkles in his clothes deeper, every movement more exact. In the setting sun, like this, is when Jacob’s words float back to me.

When he looks up, I look away. I release the breath I’ve been holding. I slow down and let him catch up to me, and we walk home together.