5)

That sort of called out for further explanation, but standing around chatting would just give Neal a better chance to hide.

I gave Del a nod and headed off to cheat.

“Grandpa, can you tell me where Neal is, without teasing me.”

Grandpa was standing near the fire pit along with my Dad and my cousin Charles who had begun to slowly open his mouth and raise a finger, but I was already familiar with his sense of humor.

“Same goes for you.” Then I shot a narrow eyed glare at my father who did his best to look innocent. Despite normally being on my side, the Lathe family's curse of dad jokes had begun to infect him.

Chuckling at the ground as his eyes began to look a bit unfocused, Grandpa outed the location of the only person my age in town that I had spoken to more than once.

“He’s found his way down to the exercise room. Looks like the kid’s got a strong back.”

I could see him begin to say something else, then stop himself with a grin and a slow shake of his head. “His parents will be here soon with the baked goods, and they will probably want him to help unload, get going if you want a chance to talk.”

As I dashed off I could hear my dad mutter. “Better just be talking.”

I hesitated for a second as I realized that was more than me enhancing my hearing, he was projecting his voice somehow. With a stern promise to myself to pry how to do that out of him later on, I pushed off to talk to the boy.

Took the stairs down with a bit of chi going down to my feet with a certain twist to it. The Ichiban call the technique something that translated into English as "The elusive footsteps of the shadows.” but my Uncle said to just call it Shadow Walking. It was not only quiet but didn't leave marks on the ground.

My Uncle was much better at it them me, so much better that he could use it to walk on water. Which he said was pretty much useless since it tired you out pretty fast to use it at that level. And he had no interest in founding a religion.

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Before I even got down the stairs I could hear the sound of metal clattering on metal, and in the weight room I could see Neal stepping back in confusion from the reinforced weight bench Grandpa had custom made to handle the similarly specially made barbell and weights.

“You aren't supposed to lift without a spotter.”

Neal jerked in place as he fought the urge to jump, and he took in a sharp sudden breath as he turned around wide eyed.

“How did you do that?”

Shadow Walking also did something to block your scent, something I learned while sneaking up on Sheriff Karras to try to ask her embarrassing questions about what were her intentions with my Grandpa.

I also learned not to ask Sheriff Karras such questions as she considered thirteen years old to be mature enough to give honest, overly detailed answers to.

Ew. Even if it wasn’t two old people, let alone her and my Grandfather.

Anyways, he asked. So I wiggled my fingers around. "Magic. But seriously it's a real rule, you need a spotter or you can't use the weights here."

He blinked at me a few times and then looked a little awkward. "Sorry, It's just that I didn't think it would weigh that much. I've got to try one of the school's weight sets, but even with all the weights on the bar it wasn't that heavy."

I went over and took a quick look at the weights. “It’s got eight hundred on it right now, my Dad must have left it set for my Grandpa. He can probably lift more, but Grandpa says he only works out for maintenance, not to push himself.”

Neal started to talk, then shook his head and grinned. "I'm not going to start talking about how much I can lift, I don't think you'll care, and I don't want to find out if you can lift more."

I gave him a quick glance and a grin, then looked away. “So then why did you come down here?”

He frowned a little. "It's going to sound creepy.”

I turn to give him a guarded look. “What do you mean?”

He leaned back against the barbell. “It’s a werewolf thing, you might not like it.”

I reached out to smack him lightly on the arm. “Talk, or I abandon you to your girlfriend.”

He straightened up while looking a little upset. "She's not my girlfriend, we've just known each other forever, and I was the only one to stand by her when her family got in trouble."

I held my hands up to show him I was backing off from teasing him. He huffed some air out as he calmed himself down.

"She's a little clingy because everyone else only started to come around when made it clear I still considered her a friend. Neither one of us are interested in or old enough to be dating, and I'm stronger than the older guys so making it seem like we're together keeps her from having to knock them around to make them behave themselves. But we are just friends."

I nodded along as if I understood. It seemed pretty complected to me. But between being high schoolers, and werewolves it was probably hard to explain.

We both took a moment to calm down before I finally asked. “So what was the creepy reason you came down here?”

He blushed a little. "It smelled like you spent a lot of your time down here, I guess from working out here, and I figured it probably wasn’t going to your bedroom down here.”

We took another moment before I nodded again. "You're right. That is pretty creepy." then I gave him a smile after he started looking worried to let him off the hook.

I decided I definitely needed to have a talk with Grandpa's girlfriend again. Time time about what kinds of soap and antiperspirants were good to use around werewolves.

And maybe ask about perfumes, and how much to use.