Rafael took a deep breath to steady himself, then walked inside his health class. Coach Miller was gathering up tests. “Hey, Rafael. Ready for practice today?” Rafael slowed to a stop, not sure how to say this. He didn’t need to. Coach Miller read it on his face as he shook his head. “You don’t have to punish yourself, kid. It was in the past.”

Rafael glanced down at his hands. “Yes, I do. Because no one else is.”

“We have rules for this kind of thing, and getting kicked off is too harsh a punishment for so light a crime,” Coach Miller said.

Rafael sighed before shaking his head. “No, coach. It wasn’t a light crime. Evelyn’s been attending therapy every week. We’ve had to set up firm boundaries about when I can and cannot talk to her. Boundaries that are helping her. Boundaries that no one set up but me, her, and a group of our friends. They are working for her, helping her thrive, and they should have been implemented sooner. I’m not playing anymore football. My heart hasn’t been in it since everything came out, anyway.”

Coach Miller sighed, ruffling the pages of the tests. “It’s two more games, Raf. Two weeks, then we’re done.”

“And I should have stopped a month ago,” Rafael said.

This was his decision. Derek assured him he would have enough time to make it back for Ezekiel’s lycanthropy cleansing after the football game finished. The thought made him uneasy, though. Everything involving football made him uneasy lately.

“You shouldn’t have to do this,” Coach Miller said.

“No, I didn’t. You should have.” Rafael turned around, feeling the monster growling inside as he circled another length of chain around the cage and locked it tight.

“And the other sports?” Coach Miller asked. “Swimming this winter? Track and field in the spring? You giving those up, too?”

Rafael hesitated at the door. He couldn’t imagine what life would be like once the winter months settled in. Or when spring came. His answer appeared when he thought about what it meant for Ezekiel and his friends rather than what it meant for him. He used sports to run away. Now he needed to stop running and work together with the people he betrayed to save the world. Swimming, track and field, they didn’t hold the allure they once did. “Probably, Coach,” Rafael said before slipping out of the room.

He gathered his gear and turned it in, then walked home from school. Alejandra took the car home already. He usually rode home with one of his buddies, but they were at practice now. Elmwood High got smaller, and a weight lifted from his shoulders. Being at practice when everyone knew what he’d done made him feel uneasy. Being in the games while Evelyn cheered on the sidelines felt gross. It was amazing how much better he felt about this.

The warm breeze picked up, and he was happy to not drive. It was still hot, but he needed time alone. He wasn’t reflecting, more like understanding that he made the right choice. No one could take this from him, and the walk home helped him realize it.

Rafael opened the door, seeing Alejandra in her McDonald’s uniform. She looked up, surprised. “Oh. Hey, I thought you had practice today.”

Rafael shook his head. “Not anymore.”

She took in his facial expression, her own turning to confusion. “You… quit?”

“Yeah. I did.”

“The football game was a home game. You could have attended and come home well before moonrise.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Rafael sat down on the couch. “It was the right thing to do.”

Alejandra furrowed her brow even more. “Is this about Evelyn?”

He glanced at her. “No one else was doing it, so I had to.”

She again studied him, and it surprised Rafael to see her slight disapproval.

“You are too good,” Alejandra mumbled.

Rafael frowned. “No, if I was too good, I never would’ve sexually assaulted Evelyn in the first place.”

She winced at Rafael’s language, but he found no need to censor it.

“I’m just saying… you know,” she said.

Rafael raised an eyebrow. “No, Alejandra. I don’t.”

She sighed, her gaze flickering away. “It’s good of you to… take on a punishment when the law wasn’t giving it to you. Not everyone in this group would do that.”

It was clear she meant a particular someone, and it was almost embarrassing that Rafael thought about it for more than a few seconds. “Nick?”

“Yes, Nick,” Alejandra said.

“What did Nick do?”

Alejandra’s eyes widened. “You can’t seriously forget he broke your nose! Broke your ribs!”

“Oh.” His furrowed brows loosened. “Right.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Oh, right? That’s your answer to him committing a crime?” Alejandra asked.

He could only stare at his sister. “I deserved it.”

“No, you did not,” she said, emphasizing every word.

“Holy shit, Alejandra. How long has this been eating you?”

“Since it happened! He hit you!”

Rafael stood up, shaking his head. “Stop, Alejandra. Nick and I have talked about it, and we’ve both come to an agreement.”

Alejandra threw her hat on the table with more force than necessary as she went into the fridge. “You’re not the only one he hurt with that action.”

Rafael rubbed his forehead, watching her take out an ice tray and fill her water bottle with ice.

“Do you honestly think if we ever kill Akshi, that we’d have to apologize to Grizzizzik for it?” Rafael asked.

“You are not a villain.”

“I was in that moment. And I have been by keeping it a secret for as long as I have. Pushing everyone away as I’ve delt with this privately. Maybe CCNC has moments of obvious black and white, but the world has never worked that way. Didn’t you ever feel in the years I spent apart from you that you wished someone had knocked some sense into me?” Rafael asked.

Alejandra glared at the sink as she filled her water bottle. “I didn’t mean literally.”

“I did. I don’t want Nick to apologize for what he did. Ever. Mostly because that’s all I needed. I mean, if he ended up murdering me, then yeah, but he didn’t. So that’s a plus.”

Alejandra did not smile at his attempt at lightheartedness. Instead, she moved her glare from the sink to his face.

“We both agreed I deserved it. And we also agreed that if he… you know, ever hurt you the same way, I’d do the same to him. It helped us move past it all.”

Alejandra snapped the water off. “You don’t need to worry about him ever touching me.” It came out as a sneer. “I never want to see him again.”

Rafael sighed. “Yeah… Nick got the impression you’d say something like that. He’s not the villain, you know.”

She snatched her hat. “I’m closing tonight. Don’t expect me home until late.”

Rafael watched as she brushed past him, feeling a panic at how angry she was. “Alejandra-”

She forced her hat on her head. “Bye.” She moved past him and walked out the front door.

Rafael wasn’t sure what to do. He didn’t have much time to think before Milo appeared out of his room. Rafael frowned, glancing at him. “Milo? What are you doing here?”

The mana fusor shrugged. “What I always do. Research. Ezekiel is more paranoid, and wanted to plan this without anyone else’s knowledge.”

Rafael’s eyes widened. “Ezekiel is planning something in secret?”

Milo nodded. “Yeah. I thought so too.”

The door opened again, and Ezekiel slipped out. The cleric looked awful. Even though his muscles looked far more pronounced, there was a thin covering of off-white fur all over his body. He looked in pain, his blue eyes a constant battle. His longer, pointed nose sniffed and twitched. “As my creator, we should let you know about this. But we keep this between the three of us.”

Rafael frowned. “Do you think secrets are wise?”

Ezekiel glanced down at his fingers nervously tapping each other. “I don’t know. But… but Akshi’s ears are everywhere. He knows when the full moon will rise, and he wants me in my wererat form. It’s not a matter of if he’s going to sabotage it, but when.”

“Is this about the silver?” Rafael asked.

Ezekiel shook his head. “I have a plan for that, too.”

“Oh. Good,” Rafael said.

Milo gave a non-committed shrug.

“This is about Friday night. All I’m asking is for two days where you withhold information from your friends. Once this lycanthropy is out of me, then we can tell them,” Ezekiel said.

Rafael was far happier about his choice to quit the football team.

***

Evelyn came home with her dad. She saw her mom finishing decorating the living room with birthday signs. She smiled as her parents sang happy birthday to her. Lydia gave her some car accessories that she loved, but also brought up the nagging thought that she shouldn’t accept the car.

The flowery vent clip that doubled as an air freshener smelled amazing, though, and once Nick got back with the car, she would put it in there. She loved the floral scent.

She got her paper license and was nervous about driving Nick to school now. She wasn’t sure she was ready to drive someone who had a few more years’ experience. It wasn’t the only thing making her nervous, though. She couldn’t help but notice that Nick was at work, and therefore her parents were celebrating without him.

“Shouldn’t we wait to cut the cake until Nick is home?” Evelyn asked as her mother cut a slice of cake.

Walt leaned back in his chair, folding his arms. “He knows how to get himself food.”

Evelyn gnawed on her bottom lip, feeling uncomfortable, but then went right back to smiling as Lydia brought over cake and ice cream.

Once the festivities were done, Evelyn slipped away to her room, trying to make sense of her situation. Her parents never asked Evelyn if she wanted Nick there. She figured it was a given. She wanted him to be there. They somehow uninvited him without offering an invitation. Without consulting her. It was her birthday, after all.

Annie and Brandi were texting her about their own celebration for her on Saturday. Evelyn was excited for it and knew it would be fun as long as they cured Ezekiel of lycanthropy. Evelyn didn’t want to think about what might happen if Ezekiel wasn’t cured. They didn’t have the grounded-up silver. It was the last thing they needed. It was two days away, and they didn’t have everything.

Her phone chimed, and she picked it up to see a text from Tyler. It had a picture of a cartoon cake with Happy Birthday! written under it.

Evelyn stared at her phone, remembering the conflicted feelings she had this morning. Why couldn’t she pull herself together? This day was turning out horrible. It was her sixteenth birthday, and there were too many things on her mind to enjoy it. How was she supposed to respond to Tyler now that he had a girlfriend?

“Sit down, I have a few questions for you,” came Walt’s voice, cool and even. It was then she heard the garage door close, and her heart leapt to her throat.

Nick was grumbling about something before Walt cut in again. “Why did Officer Hendricks pull you over today?”

Evelyn couldn’t take it. She opened the door and marched out. “Don’t dad. Don’t blame him for that.”

“I wasn’t asking you, Evelyn.”

“Obviously not, because we would’ve talked about this already, and I would have told you it was my fault. We were running late to school because I was getting ready,” Evelyn said.

“Then what rumors are true?” Walt tried to see past Evelyn to glare at Nick. “Is it true you insulted an officer of the law?”

Evelyn stood in front of Nick, forcing herself to look bigger to get Walt’s attention. It was impossible, since Nick was so tall, but she tried anyway. “You promised me this morning you wouldn’t get on Nick’s case for being late to school. We were late because of me. That’s all that matters. Keep your promise. It’s my birthday.” She said the last part with far more bite than she intended. It certainly didn’t feel like her birthday. She had everything a girl could dream. A car. A license. Phone, laptop, earbuds. All this because Nick had nothing.

A key clattered on the table in front of her. She turned to see Nick reaching into his pocket to pull out the flip phone and toss it on the table closer to Walt. He then headed straight for his room, holding his backpack. Walt didn’t even offer cake.

Evelyn headed toward the back door.

“Evelyn,” Walt said.

“I need a moment,” she said, opening the sliding glass door.