Warrior, Princess, Werewolf

Aja

Aja was relieved. The girl just liked her brother. That was completely adorable.

But also a little suspicious.

Her intense gaze had portrayed vigorous study, as if her brother was a foreign creature to be observed. And while she'd been talking to her--had her teeth been...sharp? She could have sworn that girl had fangs. That wasn't normal, right? Or maybe it was just a genetic defect, or even more likely, her imagination.

She should stop worrying. The girl had confessed to liking Krel. She was just a little odd, that was all. Besides, there were more exciting matters to think about, specifically the enormous wolf she was going to hunt. Yes, the likelihood of such a creature actually being there was slim, but it was an excuse to get out of the Mothership and spend time with Jim.

And Toby and Claire and Douxie and Archie, of course. Not that Jim was her main reason...

Stars had just begun to speckle the night sky when Jim pulled up on his Vespa, Toby and Claire following on their bikes. Aja had turned off her transduction hours ago, eagerly awaiting their arrival. She grabbed her hoverboard and ran for the door.

"Multiple life-forms approaching. Permission to vaporize?" Mother recited her usual announcement. Aja paused with her hand inches from the doorknob and frantically waved the other three.

"Nope! No, no, no! No vaporizing! They're Friends!" She shouted.

"Affirmative." Mother responded.

"Where are you going?" Krel asked from his place on the couch, a holoscreen in his lap. He, too, had turned off his transduction.

"Jim invited me to help investigate a rumor about a really big wolf in the woods." She answered, anxious to get out the door. Her hand now gripped the doorknob, hinting that she wasn't in the mood for a long conversation.

"I'm coming, too." Krel stated, jumping up off the couch and lightly dropping his holoscreen on the table. Aja forced herself not to groan.

"Come on, Krel, I'll be with Jim and the others! It's no big deal!" She said.

"That's not why I'm coming, Aja. Stop assuming I just want to protect you. If anything, you do a better job of protecting me." Her brother said stiffly. "What if I just want in on the fun for once?"

"But you hate the woods! Why do you want to come?" Aja pointed out. She wasn't sure why, but she'd been looking forward to spending time with the gang without her brother. Maybe it was his overly expressed caution, or inability to keep up when the path required agility.

"I promise I won't complain." Krel assured her, putting on a more please let me come with you tone than his previous I'm coming and you can't talk me out of it tone.

"Fine, fine." Aja reluctantly agreed, taking her chance to duck out the door.

"If you don't come back by midnight, Varvatos will surely show you--" Varvatos started, but the twins cut him off.

"A Glorious Death."

Once outside, Aja activated her hoverboard and hopped on. Krel jumped on behind her, waving lightly at Jim and his friends.

"Ready?" Jim asked.

"Definitely." Aja answered. "Oh, and Krel wants to come, too."

"Awesome sauce." Toby said, doing a thing apparently known as finger guns at the young prince.

"Douxie is meeting us there. We shouldn't keep him waiting." Said Claire. She was looking all around, most likely keeping watch for anyone who might see the twins in their glowing, nonhuman glory.