Chapter Two

   Grandfather told us that we were to stay here and wait for our new pack mates; that here we would get to know our new pack more in depth. On the third day the others showed up; each one appearing out of the Umbra one after the other. It was at this point that I had started to get anxious; going from the metal cage, the the uncomfortable flying metal tube and then to a larger metal box (this time without windows) had started to take it's toll. I had done the only thing I could to keep sane, I had shifted to my natural form and paced. Even as the others introduced themselves.


   Our new pack now consisted of myself and Lee (the young man missing a limb), and the new members who introduced themselves as Diane, Terry, Morrison, Kari and Theo. And, since Lee and myself didn't know what was going on, the new members filled us in on what it is they had discovered while they had been together. They mentioned taints and finding a grub. They mentioned they were looking into the murders of two humans; they said their names were Tommy Singer and Charlie Smith. The two of them had been shredded upon the full moon. Our pack mates mentioned trying to get into some bound of area for information about the two murder victims or anything about Charlies newer reservation friends, Yanna and Al.

   Eventually someone mentioned trying to get out of the steel box and our new alpha jumped into the Umbra. I'd already tried it but followed her into the Umbra anyway; perhaps she had thought of something I hadn't. The others, except for Lee, followed as well. There was still no way out but there was some squawking stick that wouldn't play with me, and I couldn't understand what it was trying to tell us. The damn thing even fwapped at me when all I tried to do was sniff it to try and figure it out. Theo seemed to understand it once the squawking thing hit him. After that I didn't stay in the Umbra long; there was no way out there. So, back to the stupid metal box outside of the Umbra I went.

   Lee pointed out that food had been delivered while we had been over there, but I didn't really have much interest; I missed hunting, finding and catching my prey. I would have been fine just laying down and observing until Kari pulled off the lid of her plate and a rabbit took off. I didn't even think, I just took off on the chase. It was the best food I had had in days. Morrison took two plates, handing Terry one full of vegetation and he seemed to take offense; if the way he threw the plate was any indication. Lee mentioned that there was a possibility we would be released from our metal box come morning; though I wasn't sure what time it was, I suddenly wished to just sleep. The faster we slept the sooner morning would dawn. A captive wolf makes for an anxious wolf, after all. The others, however, decided it would pass the time quicker if we all started to get to know each other better. I couldn't complain though, as I wanted to know more about them as well.

   It seemed right that our alpha started, though Diane's sharing was a bare minimum. She mentioned that, while she was born and raised to a pack in a place called 'Yosemite', her pack had been brought over from Greece generations before. She mentioned her first change having something to do with dealing with a pipeline. It was vague but it still seemed like more than she had shared with anyone else prior. Terry shared what it was able to share, though he told us that he has no memory of his past so it wasn't much. Morrison went next, explaining how he had grown up in a place called 'New York' when his first change happened. He said he was chased down by lizard cops? He described them as:

     "Police with scale faces."

   He explained that they had shown up at his home with a lot of weapons. That he ran from the lizard police and that was when other wolves had found him. Morrison's story prompted Kari's story, revealing that she too had her first change in this 'New York' place.

   Kari explained that she was harassed in an alley by two men, prompting her change. From what I understood she scratched one's cheek before she got away and made it to her home. Her 'roommate', I'm not quite sure still what a 'roommate' is, told her she had to call the police. She said that when they showed up at her door, one of them had the same marks on his cheek as the one she had clawed up. Then she, too, was chased by lizard police.

   Theo's first change seemed to be the complete opposite of everyone else's; mine included. He explained that he was an Engineering student in a place called 'Yale'. His first change, he said, was basic and energetic. Lee told the others his first change. How it happened when his mother was attacked and killed by a creature in full Crinos form.

   At that point I had been the only one to not really share my first change; Diane told me to change so that I could share. My accent made things difficult a bit but I shared the bare bones of my first change as well. Eventually I'll share more, but this tongue is still a bit awkward for me. Not long after that, we all decided to call it a night. The structure was cold at night, one of the only ways I recognized that it was night, so when I saw Diane change to a wolf and curl up in a corner I was quick to curl up with her. Kari even joined us. At some point during the night I woke to find that Diane had gotten up to lay with Morrison for a while, so I just curled up closer to Kari for warmth. I assume she was looking to make sure the rest of the pack was warm as well. When I woke later for the day, I found that she had come back to lay with Kari and I.

   Come morning we were finally released; I don't think I've ever been so happy for the blazing hot sun. The others weren't as quick to leave. Looking back showed that the building we had been held in seemed to blend seemlessly in with the smalle copes of trees. So much so that I had to focus more than usual to make sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me. Just a ways off there was a smaller structure as well as a lake. The water felt so good through my fur. All too quickly, however, the others were piling into a smaller metal box, another one that moved. I wasn't happy, especially after just having received my freedom from the bigger metal box. Though, since I didn't have much choice, I climbed in. I tried to sit with our Alpha, as being closer to her made me feel safer, but she moved me to the back. Morrison laughed at me as he pulled out some weird buzzing and beeping device; so I bit it. It tasted horrible but at least he seemed to get the picture and he quit laughing. After that they basically all said that they thought I should be in human form. I hated it, but I did it. They gave me these restricting clothes but I put them on as well.

   Stupid clothes.

   As I was doing that, Lee and Kari stepped out of the big moving box to speak, or at least tried to speak, to one of the murder victim's parent. Tommy's mother. From what I saw and what they said she wasn't very interesed in speaking to Lee. And even pulled out one of those gun weapons. Lee even checked her house out in the Umbra but nothing seemed our of the ordinary. They did mention that here were boxes packed within her house and they were worried that she was going to run off. The pack decided that someone would have to stay and keep an eye on her. Terry and Kari volunteered Morrison while I offered to stay. So we stayed while the others went off somewhere. There wasn't much to do in the way of 'hiding' so I just sat on the grass for a while. She came out and yelled at us once before she went back about her business; it didn't seem that she even really cared enough to put her heart into scolding us. After a while she came back out and started loading boxes into another metal movey-thing. I felt bad that she had gotten upset and figured the best way to fix that and gather the information that the pack was hoping to find was to apologize and offer my help.

   The packing was easy enough, though a bit awkward at first. She opened up just a bit after I told her about how I had lost those close to me as well; though I spared her the details about the hunters the day of my first change. Sharing with her that little bit of my past seemed to help her relax around us. Granted, once the metal thing was packed she explained that she was going to go back into her den (or, house, rather?) and watch a television while she waited for her mate to return.

   The others came and retrieved us once they were done with what it was they had been doing; and of course this was after Morrison had shown me what 'bacon' was. As a side note, it wasn't all that good. It was over cooked swine. Had it been raw, I'd imagine it would have been delicious. Once we were all together Lee mentioned what he found at the information place. I think they called it a 'record building'. Lee said he was unable to find any real record of murder victim 'Charlie Smith', but then he also mentioned that 'Smith' was a relatively common surname for humans. What he was able to find, however, was a tome. A journal, he called it. It appeared to be a written account by a Garou; well, at least the first half seemed so. He guessed that the tome might have been passed down from Parent to Offspring. The tome spoke of murders of years past.

   The last page, however, seemed to be the vital bit:

     "July 25th, 1974
       I found something, finally I found something finally. There is a Rite that will give me my birthright. All I need to do is kill a few of them and get their hides. It takes several months. The tricky part is doing it on the full moon."

   A name appearred to be mostly missing on the cover of the tome; beginning with 'Ja' and ending with 'er'. The others speculate that it's some dead being named 'Jack the Ripper', whomever that was.

   Come morning the plan is to go back so that Lee may ask the record human if she has any way of knowing what others, if any, have been learning from these tomes besides us. My query is about whether or not the tome is speaking of Skinwalkers? Could the moon phase during the killings have to do with the Auspice the murderer wishes to aquire? Or is it based on the moon phase that they themselves were born under or that of their parent?

So much yet to be answered and so many more questions arising.