Unseen Falsehoods

Chapter 8 - Project

“I want you to stay home because you’re still weak, but you need to go to school, so as not to bring attention to yourself,” Kamilla sighed as she opened the front door for me.

As much as I wanted to deny it, I was still weak, enough so I swayed on my feet.  And I knew that Marcus would be looking for something out of the ordinary, and a child not coming to school isn’t normal after someone has been shot and is supposed dead might be a little suspicious.

When I’d turned on the TV this morning the news was on, showing a skinny male reporter who looked only to be 17 standing in the woods with Marcus.  I’d shouted to Kamilla to come watch and she’d arrived in the room just in time to hear what they were talking about.

“Hi, this is Jason Holme speaking.  Mr. Helwyr,” the boy gestured to Marcus with a sweep of his arm, “has reported the death of a wolf.  The police, curious as to why a wolf would be wandering into Shady Groves where one hasn’t been sighted in these woods for over 20 years, are even more curious as to why when they arrived at where it should have been lying dead, there is nothing to be found.  No body of the animal has been found, leading the police to question whether their was a wolf to begin with.  What have you got to say about this Mr. Helwyr?” he questioned, pointing the microphone at Marcus and staring at him intensely, waiting for him to reply.

“Oh, there was a wolf, a rabid one.  It caught me off guard as I was strolling in the woods and attacked me, so I shot it in self-defense.  The wound should’ve killed it,” he said, his brow furrowing in confusion.  “I called the force so they could dispose of it, and when I returned with them, the body was gone.”

“Damn girl,” Kamilla remarked as she watched Jason lift the hand that wasn’t holding the microphone to his ear and his face looked as if he were listening intently to something, “why such the big fuss with the police and stuff?”

“That’s Marcus, the one who shot me,” I told her matter-of-factly.

“I kind of figured that out myself,” she said in a ‘duh’ tone.  “Venari?”

“Venari,” I confirmed, then hushed her to be quiet as the reporter started to speak again.

“Just in, the police have found not the remains of the creature, but some blood stains and the bullet that killed it.  Wait, the bullet?  That doesn’t make sense!” he remarked, looking around him wildly at the scene around him, his eyes buzzing with curiosity.  Holding his hand back up to his ear, he nodded.  “The bullet has been taken to be studied and tested, and as for the blood, there was enough for the police to be able to take a sample, so that will be tested as well.”

“Naw sh-“ Kamilla started but I slapped a hand over her mouth to shut her up.  My eyes were riveted to the screen.

“Back to you-“ he began to say but Marcus ripped the mic out of his hand and held it up to his mouth to speak, a menacing look on his face.

“Before the beast advanced on me I saw a girl running away.  She looked as if she’d been injured by the wolf badly, but by the time I’d taken care of the beast, she was gone.  She hasn’t reported to the hospital for help, so if anyone can find her, please send her to get help and phone me in the process.  My number is…” he continued on to tell the camera his mobile number and once he’d finished speaking, Jason took the mic back from him with an irritated scowl.

“Do you have a description for us, sir?” he demanded.

“She looked to be 17.  No younger, no older.  She looked like she had a slight frame from what I could see, and copper brown or red hair,” Marcus relayed to the camera and I was shocked.  How could he distinguish my features when I was a wolf?  Realization hit me as I put the pieces together.  It was simple really, when I was in wolf form my human features reflect my wolf features, which means my fur would roughly match my hair color and my wolf frame matched to my human one.