Such a bossy bitch, I growled. Disturbing my meal. Just because Deen could see the future didn’t mean everyone had to bend to her will. Makes me want to not move. That’d teach her. I continued munching parasite monsters.

Stronger explosions. More quaking. Rocks and dust falling. A few parasite monsters remained; most had scattered. An annoying blonde pest yelling in my ear. She pulled on my fur to get my attention. Itchy, itchy, itchy.

My meal was already ruined. Fine, I’ll do what she says.

I headed to the tunnel behind me, picking up items Deen pointed out along the way like we were shopping. I say ‘items,’ but they were more of heavy machinery and construction materials. All the while, rocks fell on my back and head. Too bad they didn’t hit Deen. I shook my head, trying to catch more rocks.

“Erind, hurry!” Deen climbed down my cheeks to be safer. “We don’t have much time!”

Shopping done. I had a small backhoe between my jaws, sections of reinforced concrete columns in my left hand, and a few long steel girders in my right. I hadn’t really looked at this place, but it seemed the Tea Party was busy with construction. Sore losers destroying their stuff to get me. Their efforts would go to waste.

Both in making this place and trying to kill me.

I crawled through the tunnel, stacking my loot and pushing them with my head.

Was this going to be safe? I enlarged this tunnel when I passed here earlier. I supposed it was less dangerous if we hid in a cramped space than staying in the open cavern if shit collapsed.

“Forward! Forward!” Deen continued to yell. “Place one steel beam here, propping the ceiling.”

Going to be a tight squeeze, but okay. I did as she instructed. She told me to do other things, like pushing a concrete column against a rock slab we passed. It irked me to obey Deen, but this was no time for me to be a spiteful bitch. Just remember she doesn’t know that Mom is safe, I reminded myself to pacify petty Erind.

Going to be so much fun blaming Deen for losing Mom.

Bonus points if I could make her cry.

Several seconds of furious crawling later, the tunnel opened up into a wider area. A few lightbulbs still worked. Surprising. This was an intersection if I wasn’t mistaken. Just that I covered the side tunnels with rubble as I passed.

“Put that yellow scoop machine there.”

The backhoe? I stacked the rest of the ‘items’ I brought in various places according to Deen’s interior decorating plan. She pulled my fur whenever she wanted me to do something.

“Last girder over there,” Deen said. “Place it diagonally against the ceiling.”

What now?

Strings of louder blasts. Close to us. Getting closer. Crashes of heavy objects. Everything shook so much that Deen wildly swung from the bottom of my ear like a dangling earring. Very itchy with her pulling my fur. Dust rolled through the tunnel—the cavern on the other side was collapsing. Dust and smoke.

I plucked Deen from my ear and protected her with cupped hands near my chest.

I curled next to a pile of rocks flanked by columns of reinforced concrete and steel girders. Clouds of dust covered me, obscuring my vision and clogging my nostrils. I cleared my nose with a mighty snort and blasted away the dust. Then I took a deep breath before bowing down, my chin to my chest, right above my hands.

It turned dark as the earth covered me.

Was this the second time I got buried? Third? I should find better activities.

I sang in my head as the world turned upside down. This was one of the songs Deen played while we drove through the desert. Deen sounded like she was praying inside my hands.

Half a minute later, the blasts stopped.

The earth was calm. No more explosions but plenty of other noises. Creaks of bending steel, rocks grinding against each other, pebbles rolling. And then it turned silent except for Deen’s and my breathing.

Everything had settled. Boulders pressed on my head and back. Heavy. Couldn’t crush me.

I opened my eyes and raised my head. Rocks shifted. Some rolled down the sides of my neck and head.

What the—? Piercing through utter darkness, I realized the rocks and concrete conveniently broke and fell in such a neat way that there was a sort of crude hole in front of me. Beyond that, there were plenty of gaps in the rubble. Our way back was going to be easy. That Guardian Angel…

Deen pried my fingers apart. My werewolf mind was calm—probably the same as a dog inside a covered crate—so my Erind self was more or less in control. No urge to eat Deen. But, like Vanessa, I wanted to mess around with Deen. I thought of closing my palms like those trap walls in movies that squished people.

Nah. She came looking for me. I didn’t need any saving, though I appreciated the gesture. I opened my hands and let her go.

A slight pang of regret in my heart. That’s the closest chance I got to kill her. No way her Guardian Angel could save her if I—hang on. Deen could do that bullshit she did back at Eve to snap me out of my frenzy. Touché, Guardian Angel, I thought. Deen wasn’t in any danger all this time.

“Erind, are you okay? I can’t see much.” Deen climbed over my palms and felt around my face. She touched my nose. I wanted to sneeze. She rubbed it like I was a dog. “Are you hurt anywhere?”

Uh, the earth just fell on me? Stupid question. I raised a thumb up and slowly nodded.

Feeling it move in the darkness, Deen hugged my thumb. “I’m sure you’re trying to hide your injuries from me. Thank you for saving me. I’m sorry I got you into this mess. If only we had caught the guy with the teleporting doors, you wouldn’t have been dragged here. Pino and I—Oh, you don’t know Pino. I forgot.”

I growled, trying to make it sound as unthreatening as possible.

“Pino, she’s, um, she showed up after you passed out. I even thought she was the cause of it. Maybe she was, I don’t know. She’s a robot, basically.”

I whined in surprise. At least, that was what I intended to sound like.

“Yeah, hard to believe.” Deen shrugged. “You have to see her to understand what she is, but I don’t know where she went. Anyway, she helped us escape from the room.” She narrated what I had done as Pino, inserting comments about how suspicious she was of me. Her story continued until the point we parted ways, and I went to meet Vanessa. “At first, I thought she was in league with the teleporting door guy and lured me here. But that doesn’t make sense. They should’ve restrained me if this was a trap. I don’t believe Pino’s story, though I don’t think she’s with the Tea Party.”

I grunted. So annoying that I couldn’t talk.

“I freed the hostages with Gabe’s help,” Deen said. “Pino was supposed to provide a distraction—maybe she did. There was some commotion earlier, way before you got here. I haven’t seen her since. Then the parasites escaped their cells, and everything just got way crazier!

“Or… or the Tea Party must’ve released those monsters. All of them got out at the same time and attacked the people I freed. It wasn’t my fault because Gabe won’t let that happen. Like, they also attacked me. Yes, the Tea Party released them. I’m sure of it.”

Again, I grunted. It might’ve been her Guardian Angel’s doing. Wouldn’t be the first time Deen’s invisible pet sacrificed others for her benefit.

“Everyone was running everywhere,” she continued. “I didn’t know what was going on. I focused on saving a few people from the monsters. Tea Party people also attacked us. As I said, I overheard them talking about you, I mean a werewolf, which is obviously you. Gabe guided me to you.”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Is the storytelling over? She left out the part about what happened to the people she was protecting.

Deen walked across my palm with her hands out. I moved my head closer to her. She hugged the side of my snout while laying her head on it. “Erind… I’m sorry. You need to stay in this form a bit longer. Be strong, okay? I’m proud of you for staying in control. It must be hard to keep yourself from eating me.”

I snorted. I don’t want to eat you. Gross.

“I’m really sorry. You have to remain as a giant wolf because you’re our way out.”

Our? My brows furrowed

“All of us here are counting on you to save us,” Deen said. “Me and the hostages. I-I’m sure there are many still alive. There has to be.”

“Ghroooar grrr.” I’m not saving anyone. I just wanted to get out of here, return to my condo, and sleep. And find Mom. Or Mom was going to find me because I had no clue where the fuck this place was. I was going to be so pissed if this was Africa or something.

Deen smiled as she patted my nose. “I knew you’d help me. We’re their only hope. No… You’re our only hope to reach the surface.”

“Hggrraaargh…” Fuckkkk…

“Thank you, Erind. I trust in you. Now, let’s get out of here.”

I sighed and started digging. It was going to be much harder to make a new tunnel, so I followed the passage back to the cavern with the construction stuff.

Deen hid in the thick fur lining my throat, grasping my hair tightly as I moved earth aside with my claws. I protected her further by tucking in my chin, using my face as a shield. Deen was like a baby monkey, hanging on to her mother while they traveled from tree to tree. I should get a show on the Animal Channel—The Giant Werewolf That Lives Underground.

It was surprisingly easy to dig my way through.

The girders and columns I positioned as per Deen’s instructions affected the collapse of the tunnel. There were parts with minimal damage despite the powerful explosions. In one place, the girder broke the ceiling as it fell into easy-to-excavate chunks of debris.

Eventually, we reached the cavern—or what once was the cavern. I recognized the markings by the exit. The stench of the parasite monsters also strengthened. I spilled fountains of black slime while snacking on them.

“Erind, wait!” Deen climbed back to my head.

I bent low so she’d have space. Such a considerate monster I was.

Light came on. It shone from atop my head.

“I need to see the rocks to give instructions on how to dig,” Deen explained. “I was going to turn on my phone earlier to check on you, but Gabe told me to save my battery. I should’ve charged my phone to full before leaving your condo. My phone’s battery doesn’t last that long anymore.” She patted my head, which felt like poking with her tiny hand on my broad crown. “Since we’re in Vegas, might as well get the latest phone, am I right?” She chuckled weakly.

She was joking not only to lighten the situation but also to make herself braver. Her heart was beating fast, and I felt the coldness of her hands. Was she afraid of the darkness? Scared of getting buried underground?

I grunted to join her chuckling, though it did make me think about what’d happen if I ran out of Blanchette’s power.

How long after I stopped eating would my transformation last? Would I stay like this until I removed the mask? I hadn’t tested it. I knew it was possible to get knocked out of this transformation, like when I escaped the explosion in Eve’s underground arena.

Deen and I were both fucked if I returned to my Erind body while we were buried.

I resumed digging again.

“Erind, head left,” Deen said. “Don’t touch that roundish boulder. Go over it.”

Having Deen telling me where to go was assuring. Also comforting.

When digging to escape the Eve explosion, I got really lucky to hit a tunnel. If fate decided to fuck me over, I could’ve ended up digging deeper, losing myself underground. It sounded stupid but was very possible. I had no idea how moles knew where to go when digging; I couldn’t remember what the Animal Channel mentioned about them. Just a few degrees lower of an angle, I could be digging under the tunnel instead of into it, heading for hell or something.

Okay, I’m not going to bully Deen about Mom, I promised while I dug, following her directions.

Deen positioned herself at the top of my snout, between my eyes. She’d get squished against the ceiling if she stayed on my head. With her phone’s light, it was like Deen was my miner hat, that one with the flashlight on the forehead.

There were so many boulders in our path. I squeezed under one that was almost as big as my torso. Now, I understood why the Guardian Angel didn’t want us to stay here. These huge things falling from the high cavern ceiling would be painful.

Was it the plan of the Tea Party fuckers to draw me here and crush me? Impressive if that was so. I thought they were just running away. There might be someone with a brain among them.

These massive rocks were difficult to move. Very. Although I had immense strength in such an advanced state of my transformation—I could juggle these boulders if I knew how—I didn’t have the leverage or space to push them. I was also pushing them against tons of earth.

Breaking these huge things might cause a further collapse. All I could do was rely on Deen to tell me the right way. I hate depending on her!

Dig, dig, dig. We passed by several body parts of parasite monsters. Deen coughed from the smell concentrated in such a small space.

“Oh my god, that smells awful,” she said. “Not you, Erind. I meant those monsters—no, I’m not calling you a monster. You’re not smelly and not a monster. That’s right. That’s right. Not smelly.” She spoke rapidly. Her breaths were shallow. Did she have a panic attack?

I shook my head a little and focused on her. She looked over her shoulder and chuckled, seeing my cross-eyed face.

“Sorry, Erind,” she said. “Just… never mind. Gabe’s telling me you should go right between those rocks down here. Push the left one, but don’t move the right.”

Minutes passed. Our progress was slow. Even if the Tea Party didn’t kill me, they bought a lot of time for themselves. Time to do what? If I were in their shoes, I’d probably escape if an unkillable Adumbrae wanted to eat me.

I planned to destroy the Tea Party base, but I honestly didn’t know how to do that other than methodically smashing everything I saw. Sounded like a fucking hassle. In action movies, there was always a convenient way to destroy the evil mastermind’s base, usually a stupid self-destruct button. I doubted if the Tea Party had that. If they did, Deen’s Guardian Angel would warn us… right?

Should I go along with Deen’s plan to save precious innocent lives, then? I already had my fill of destruction for the night, and there wouldn’t be much to destroy after this.

“Erind?” Deen shifted on my snout and spread her arms as if measuring something. She scooted forward, near the tip of my nose, and looked around. I took care to balance her. Then Deen turned her phone’s light on me. “Erind, your nose… did it become smaller? I swear it was wider before. Are you… are you shrinking?”

My eyes widened. I focused on my nose. It was shorter. And continued to shorten!

Was I returning to my Erind body? Could I transform to Blanchette straight after? Even if I could, I didn’t have any means of growing big again.

Unless I ate Deen.

“Don’t panic, Erind,” Deen said. She tried to keep her voice firm, but it was wavering. “Just keep digging. We’ll get out, I promise. Don’t panic. Gabe foresaw this.”

You sure about that? How long had it been since I started digging through the collapsed cavern? Felt like longer than ten minutes. Did her stupid pet see the future that I’d return to my cute and pretty self in the middle of digging? Probably not at first. But when the Guardian Angel’s future sight ‘range’—or whatever it was supposed to be called—saw my transformation wearing off, it told us to continue anyway.

If this fucking piece of shit had plans to sacrifice me to save Deen, I swear I would eat Deen.

“Left here,” Deen said, her voice a pitch higher. “Le-left—no! I mean, right! Sorry, so sorry. Go right. Over this rock.”

My head had shrunk to the size of Deen’s body. She couldn’t ride on my head anymore. It would be better if she followed behind me, but she wouldn’t see what was ahead to give accurate instructions. We settled in an awkward position where she pressed against my chest as I reached around her with my long arms to continue digging.

Her heart raced. It pounded so hard I could feel it through her back. It also made my heart pound. This wasn’t some romantic movie bullshit. Am I also panicking? Awesome! I drew my lips back, trying to smile. I sort of got my wish somehow.

I continued to shrink. Deen and I were digging together.

“Trust Gabe, trust Gabe,” Deen continued to chant. She was on the verge of tears.

We worked together to push a rock aside. A large pile of earth fell from the ceiling, covering us. The light went out. Deen cried out in a panic, thrashing about next to me. I managed to grab her arms and held her still.

“Don’t do that or—oh, I’m back.” The transformation wore off. I couldn’t see anything anymore.

“Oh my god, Erind!” Deen hugged me. “It’s really you! I-I do-don’t—”

“Don’t panic,” I repeated what she told me earlier. “Pull yourself together. Where’s your phone?”

“I-I don’t… Here it is!” The light returned. “Thank you, Gabe.”

Two dirty-faced girls looked at each other. Deen’s hair was messy, as if she had passed through a hurricane; I couldn’t tell she was blonde with all the dirt. Her face was caked with earth. I was sure I didn’t fare any better.

“Calm down,” I said calmly, trying not to laugh. I felt giddy because of my panic—such a refreshing sensation. Getting buried was scary, for sure. “What is Gabe saying?”

“We… we continue digging.”

“Okay. Let’s do that.” We were going to dig with the power of friendship!