Chapter 12: Full Moon
FALL TERM - October 7th
Fuck it. I'm not doing this tonight.
FALL TERM - October 8th
So, last night was the full moon.
I could have done more in the days leading up to it. I see that now. I could have talked to Marblebrook. I was in her office two days ago and should have brought it up, but I hadn't. I'd been too preoccupied with everything happening back home that it hardly seemed relevant that I might be a werewolf.
Before last night, I'd thought it was a possibility, because it had only been a possibility. I didn't know for sure.
But now, I know. Fuck.
Yesterday was difficult from the start. I woke up irritable. My skin itched. The mark of Orendell seared like a blister. Call it a sign of what was to come if you must, but I'd been feeling this way for weeks. This wasn't that unusual. I wrapped it in gauze hoping that applying pressure would help. It didn't.
Only Kelyn's poultice had ever made a difference, but I didn't have time before classes started to put it on. Every wrong move sent the wolf in my head into a frenzy. My Divination and Sigils lectures were marginally bearable. Combat lessons involved more review of conjured frost for the few remaining students (ahem, Aries...) who still hadn't managed to get the hang of it. I mostly just wanted to bang my head against the desk.
I felt like a powder keg waiting for a spark. I passed time with gritted teeth, feeling the minutes in my bones. Aries, for once, seemed to take the hint and gather that I really wasn't in the mood for more of his shit today.
He didn't so much as mention the full moon until early evening. It was after dinner and Aries and I were hanging around the coffee urns filling up fresh mugs. This was a common enough occurrence. I'd long since given up on trying to ditch Aries. He always found me, usually with Noodle trailing behind him. Sometimes alone. Tonight, he was alone. I'd expected us to hang around the dining hall for a half hour - drink coffee, read quietly, then retire for a night of independent study. Aries was in the middle of heaping sugar into his coffee mug, when I'd asked, "So what time do you want me to help you shadow step into the Sanctum?"