Burning

Chapter NINETEEN

He knew he should feel more guilty, but it was hard not to be excited. Gabrielle was alive. Sometimes he still had trouble believing it. Mariah decided to put off introducing her to the pack after she had the completely justifiable freak out the morning after arriving. So now she was mostly just in Mariah's room until they deemed her stable enough to stand in front of a crowd. Considering that he really should feel more guilty that he was able to see her daily now. It was hard to explain why he had the urge to check on her so often without explaining directly to her that he'd been under the impression she was dead this whole time. Luckily Gabby didn't mind his company. And maybe she was so miserable she even enjoyed it.

Since he was off any physical training, his only concerns were the kitchen and Henry's classes which he could also study for with Gabby. Henry had also given her some basic lesson plans with history as well manners. Chris was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to give her those but she seemed to have charmed him enough he decided to risk it. Chris could understand that.

She was laying on the second bed in Mariah's room, legs swinging back and forth, eyes shut tight.

"There are four packs in... north east, north west, south west and south east."

"No. Midwest and mountains. We have no pack in the south east or southwest. You just made a square of the country."

"Damn."

"You don't actually have to know this stuff." Chris flipped a page.

"Yeah but I want to know more about you guys. For two years I've known werewolves were real and Mariah answered none of my questions! And I have so many!"

"Like what? I can try and answer."

"Like you know how dog- canines. Smell each other's butts to learn about each other? Can you do that? Was it ever a greeting before the head tilts?"

Chris closed the book. "Never mind I'm never answering any of your questions again."

"I'm kiiiidding. For real though. What does it feel like to, you know change- wait- bren."

"It feels like... well burning is a big part of it. Hence the source of the name but it only really hurts when its not controlled. Otherwise it feels, hot and pressure but also pulling..." he sighed trying to describe. "The weirdest part is for sure how you lose track of yourself."

"What do you mean."

"Like... even if my hand were completely numb from cold I still know where my fingers are. But not during bren. Its like it expands somehow. You don't end where you end and the air or ground starts. It's like trying to unwind and literally pulling yourself together, so losing focus isn't good."

"Dude that's so weird." She looked at her own hand. "What happens if you lose focus."

"Depends. It will slow down, you could lose a lot of blood or you could snap back into one state or another."

"You don't just get stuck."

"For some reason our bodies don't seem to like being too much in between. Like... like a rubber band. A little tension is easy to maintain if its similar, like if our eyes change color, but if I tried to walk around with one human and one wolf leg-"

"You'd fall."

"Well, yeah. But also it would be extremely difficult to maintain."

"Because you'd lose focus when you fell."

"Sure. That's why. You're brilliant."

She pumped her fist once and then slipped off the bed.

"What are you doing."