The Grand Illusion [https://cdn.midjourney.com/6aaae53c-fa7f-4d09-a9ee-6b69eb1619d7/0_0.webp]
Kay and Daniel shot lots of film of David, trying to get Kennedy to move forward. Being difficult in her bear shape was effortless. At one point, David got behind her and tried to push, scolding her as the camera rolled. She’d had the nerve to yawn. His efforts didn’t move her forward, not even an inch.
Finally, Daniel came into the camera line. “What if we tempt her with food?” He reached up and grabbed a prop box of cereal off the top of the fridge. “Is there anything in these boxes?” When he shook the box, Kennedy perked and swiveled her ears toward the sound. Oaty Sugar Pops were her favorite.
David raised both of his hands. “You agreed to keep everything perfectly sealed. She gets a little weird around food.”
“I’m already going to have to pay for the couch, thanks to you. I think our budget can handle the cost of a box of cereal.” As soon as Daniel ripped the container open, Kennedy headed toward him.
Spooked, for fake or real, Daniel jumped backward and released the box. It tumbled to the floor, spilling cereal across the laminate. Changing always made her hungry, and she felt a little snacky. It smelled good, and she hadn’t eaten since the day started. After hoovering up the crunchy cereal, she used her shoulder to swing the fridge door wider and began to pull things from its interior. Her paws were clumsier than hands, so she spilled some milk across the floor.
As she tried to upright the container, she split it in half. Frustrated, she let out a low rumble, and swept her paw angrily across the middle shelf. Coated in milk, everything she touched seemed to stick to her. Using the flat of her tongue, she cleaned out a large tub of hummus. Kennedy explored every leftover container now on the floor.
After eating enough to be thirsty, she rolled onto her back and tipped a container of orange juice upward. Tart and delicious, the taste made her toes curl. The gesture scarred the front of two cabinets. She relished the fresh taste as she flexed her feet against the cheap wood ruining the surfaces.
Lost in her snack, she ignored David’s cries and pleading and continued feasting with abandon, enjoying trashing the place. Only when Daniel and Kay’s voices joined David’s, edged in panic, did she hesitate. She looked toward them as she pried open a carton of eggs. The surprising jolt of David’s boot striking her hip made her growl. She rose up onto her back legs and roared at them.
“Shit. Tell me you got that on tape.” When Kay gave Daniel a thumbs up, he whooped.
“Hundred percent.” Kay answered.
David struggled to get his other boot off.
Kennedy dropped to all fours and shook her head, ignoring the food for a moment to take in the damage. David yelled at her, “Damn it, Kennedy, stop! We have enough.” He shook his boot at her. “If you change back, I will order some pizza if you’re so damn hungry.”
She tilted her head, right ear flicking. She did like pizza.
*
Steaming from a hot shower and dressed in clean clothes, Kennedy returned to Kay’s living room scrubbing her hair dry with a gray towel. It had taken a hot minute to get her hair clean. The scent of pizza pulled her toward the open boxes on the tiny kitchen table. The couch she flopped onto was identical to the one she had torn apart. In her mouth, the taste of yellow foam lingered.
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Kay nodded from her set up on the counter, eyes locked on the screen in front of her. She held a limp slice of pizza in her hand, forgotten. Kennedy’s mouth watered.
Unfazed, Kay said, “It’s fucking amazing. My parents are going to be pumped when they see this. We pulled this off. Daniel and my tuition is certain to be covered by the community.” She saluted Kennedy with her pizza before taking another bite. With her mouth full, she said, “Here’s to no more student loans.” She nudged the open box toward Kennedy and went back to staring at her screen.
“Thanks. Where are the guys?” The pizza was still hot.
“Cleaning up.” Kay waved toward the door. “We only had the space for three days.”
Kennedy folded a slice of pepperoni in half and groaned as she took a bite. “Aren’t you afraid to be around one of the lost? Especially a pregnant one?”
The girl shrugged. “You seemed pretty aware in your heart shape, even when you were tearing into the back of the couch like it was a giant donut. My kind don’t think of slipping skin in the same way that the Bears do. I’ve never understood their obsession with suppression. I’d hate to spend my whole life in this skin. I look forward to the dark moon each month. When I can get home, I like to go run with my little brothers through the dark nights when it is most safe.”
Kay chuckled when she looked up and saw how Kennedy was destroying the pizza. “Transformation makes me hungry, too. Eat all you want. The tech team is pretty happy with the raw tape we sent them. They’ve already been leaking clips. There is one that is hilarious. Your friend, David, covered in flecks of food, hair sticking up all crazy, is talking to the camera, trying to explain how he was in control the whole time. In the background, Daniel was yelling about how much we were going to have to pay to cover the damage.”
“Will the world believe it?”
“They better.”
“What do you mean?”
“If we can’t re-frame the story, the sheep will become too curious about us. That doesn’t work out well.”
“The wolves are afraid of human beings?”
Kay looked up at her, steady and abruptly serious. “They are sheep. We aren’t afraid of them. Historically, exposure causes fights amongst the communities of Shepherds. They will think of the needs and beliefs of their own people and put those that they think are a threat into the ground. There are wars that have started over breaches smaller than this one.”
Her bite of pizza stuck in her throat. Kennedy asked, “Will they kill Sandy’s boyfriend?”
She shrugged. “I could see it happening. You said he was an asshole, so it won’t be much of a loss for their species. We have culled sheep for less than being stupid, greedy thieves.”
“You are talking pretty casually about murder.”
“I don’t think of it as murder. It’s good animal husbandry. Humans are a disaster without guidance and culling. The things they do to each other.” She shuddered. “Now that would make a good horror movie.”
“There have been lots of movies that explored the darker side of humanity.” Kennedy bit into her second slice with relish.
“I think human beings are all half mad, which is why they need us. They don’t have to blame their nightmares on us. We aren’t the horrors stalking their streets.”
Thinking of her family, Kennedy reached for her purse resting on the floor. “Speaking of horrors, give me a second to check my mom’s messages. She has been sending them all day.” A fresh piece of pizza in her hand, Kennedy stared at her notifications. 57 texts and fourteen missed calls. “Holy shit.”
“A message from home?”
“A literal fuck ton of them. My mother has never sent a message without a whole barrage of others to keep it company. But this is intense.”
Kennedy scrolled through the lines of text, grimacing as the language grew more angry and frantic. When they filled with despair and worry about why she hadn’t answered, the pizza in her stomach threatened to revolt. She gripped her phone so tightly a crack spidered across her screen. “Did your people burn down my mother’s house?”
“No.” Kay’s brow furrowed. “I don’t think so. They are trying to calm down all the attention you seem to draw, not add to it.”
“I need to know for sure. Check now.” Kennedy held Kay’s gaze until the wolf gave her a curt nod and made the call.