That Saturday afternoon Sofia had arranged to meet Dave to do their usual exercise routines in preparation for the physical tests they would have to face in the Civil Guard entrance exam. Sofia had had the good sense to take advantage of the afternoon’s early hours, since the full moon would rise that night. However, she already felt its influence, something like a slight caress that stirred the energy in her chest. She didn’t feel that she would change that night either, although it had never happened to her before so she could not be entirely sure. In any case, she chose the time thinking of finishing the routine with enough time to go deep into the pine grove. She wanted to try to find the cinanthrope by taking advantage of the full moon, when by his very nature he would have no choice but to hide in his house or go to the forest until it fell. Of course, Sofia could not tell the boy who was running beside her anything about all that.

The girl furtively glanced at him and a small smile tugged at her lips. Dave, dressed in his tracksuit, was looking straight ahead with an expression of absolute concentration on his face. The day he said he wasn’t feeling well, they hadn’t been able to meet in the afternoon for their exercise routing. However, the following day he came to class like usual, and claimed to be quite recovered. In fact, he had been studying with her after class, since Sofia's mother was not at home, and after they both had taken Kas for a walk. Whatever it was that had made him sick had stopped giving him trouble.

Suddenly, Dave looked in her direction. Sofia's stomach flipped and she looked away quickly, feeling her cheeks start to turn pink. She didn't like him, he was cute, but she didn't like him. It was just embarrassing when he caught her stealing him a glance. Shyly, she glanced sideways at him just to see if anything had changed on his face, any expression that would give away what he might be thinking. Surely that she was an idiot for looking at him when she thought he wouldn't notice. She found nothing of the sort on his face. On the contrary, he was looking straight ahead again, but on his lips was now drawn the shadow of a smile. The afternoon sun highlighted the soft blush that had appeared on his white cheeks. For some reason a pleasant warmth welled up in Sofia's belly.

After several kilometers at a brisk jog, an exhilarating exercise that always made Sofia feel great, they stopped to rest and do some muscle stretching.

“It's early. Would you like to take a walk with me?” commented Dave, the evening light reflecting off his blond hair and blue eyes.

“A walk?” Sofia asked as she finished stretching her back muscles. “I don't know... I didn't want to get home too late today,” she added, biting her lip slightly.

It was a lie. What she wanted to avoid was being alone with him during the full moon, just in case something happened. She doubted very much that she would change, but if she did there would be a lot of explaining to do, and she didn't want to lose him. Besides hunters, that was the other fear she always carried with her; the fear of rejection. To most people, those of her blood, the children of the moon, were nothing more than ancient legends and guys in crappy costumes in a bad after-dinner movie. They hid because hunters killed them, and because society rejected them for being different, for not being human. Sofia had made a mistake, she had let that boy get too close and now she was afraid of losing him if he ever discovered her secret.

“If you don't want to, it's okay. I wanted to show you something, but I can do it some other day,” he said with a shy smile.

“If it won't take too long... but before five to nine I want to be back home.”

“Oh, that wouldn't be a problem,” the boy commented, raising an eyebrow. “Is there any special reason why it has to be at that precise time?”

“No, not necessarily. It's the time when I usually have dinner, and I wanted to review some notes before going to bed,” Sofia murmured, looking away and biting her lip.

“I understand... I think it's a good plan,” Dave replied with a weak, almost forced smile, as he started walking into the forest.

The two teenagers left the wide dirt road and entered the depths of that incredible place. Under the cold darkness of the night it had an atmosphere that was somewhere between ghostly and magical, as if only then could the most incredible miracles and the most terrifying apparitions occur. However, bathed in radiant sunlight it seemed like another world altogether. Golden rays filtered through the tree’s branches, creating a dance of light and shadow that brought out the color from the lichens that covered the rough trunks, the red berries of the holly trees and the moss that carpeted the ground. It also descended on the two of them, highlighting the gold of the boy's hair and the light brown that Sofia wore on her ponytail. The girl took a deep breath to inhale all those smells that mingled in her nose.

“You like to walk around here,” Dave observed.

“Very much. It's one of the few places where I feel calm, happy, where I feel alive again,” said Sofia, opening her arms to bathe in the evening light. “Sometimes I think I'd like to stay here to live, to just get lost and get away from all the shit from my past life. It's just silly, of course.”

“It is, and it's not. I can understand that longing because I have it sometimes as well. Where I used to live there was a forest too. I used to walk there a lot. When you're in a peaceful place like that, surrounded by trees and nature, it's hard not to come to believe that things would be so much simpler just letting yourself go.”

“What were you going to live on? You reject hunting.”

“I never said I rejected hunting. Hunting for food is something I respect and support. What I don't support is hunting for a trophy, or to kill an animal just because it annoys you. I find that despicable,” he exclaimed, clenching his fists and looking away sharply.

“I understand you better than you think. My mother is a psychotic lunatic. For a long time she tried to teach me her hobby, and I...” Sofia sighed, “I accepted it at first. It was the only life I knew and for me it was normal. All my friends belonged to our hunting guild and it was hard not to want to be part of that. I never got to shoot game, and I'm glad for that, but it doesn't change anything.”

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“What happened?”

Sofia pursed her lips and looked straight ahead, into that maze of giant colossus dotted with rocks and bushes.

“The wrong prey. My mother shot an animal she wasn't supposed to shoot, a dog, and that brought me to my senses. I…” she swallowed. “I was there.”

Her voice lowered until it was no more than an almost imperceptible whisper, so quiet that it lost itself among the bird’s song and the sighing of the leaves above their heads. Sofia bit her lip to stifle a sob and looked up at the patch of sky visible through the tree’s branches. Thick tears began to run down her cheeks. Dave said nothing, but in his silence and presence he supported her more than a million catch phrases and empty comments. All he did was move closer to her to wrap her in a hug. Then Sofia hugged him back and began to cry, for the first time feeling understood.

“I couldn't prevent it. I was right there, I saw her take aim, and I didn't stop it. I… I froze. I'm a monster,” she said between sobs.

“Shhh, you're not a monster,” whispered the boy against her ear.

“How can you say that when we hardly know each other?” Sofia exclaimed, pulling away from him abruptly.

“Because I've seen that this anger is your defense mechanism, it's what you use to protect yourself. You don't let anyone get close to you because you don't want to suffer again, and because deep down you are a sensitive person who cares about others. Look at all you're doing for a dog you don't even know,” said the boy, wiping the tears from Sofia's cheeks with his hands. “It's true that we've just met, but in this time you've already become important to me. I... I like spending time with you, and I trust you more than you think. This may all seem silly to you, but I already consider you my friend.”

Sofia's cheeks lit up in a deep blush, matching the boy’s who, despite his apparent calmness, showed that nervous gesture of his of licking his lips. However, she was unable to look away from those sincere eyes, so pure and so innocent that it was impossible not to feel a shudder.

“Me too!” Sofia suddenly shouted, taking him completely by surprise, “I consider you my friend too, and I hate myself for it! I swore to never let anyone else come near me again, for my sake and yours, because I don't trust my mother, and what do I do? I let you and Sara become my friends, I'm an idiot!”

Dave burst out laughing and walked over to the young woman to gently grab her hand.

“And I'm glad you did. You're an amazing person, and I wouldn't change a single moment I've spent with you. Except maybe the first day.”

“You idiot!” Sofia hit him gently on the chest, in a gesture that was more playful than anything else.

“You know I'm right,” he replied, laughing.

“Yes, the truth is that I was too rude,” she said, blushing again.

A little more cheerful, the two friends continued their walk through the woods, accompanied by that radiant afternoon sun that hid the brightness of the first stars and their unquestionable queen. As they walked, going further and further into the deepest part of the forest, a place that even Sofia did not know, the two chatted and smiled, sharing snippets of their lives that were more or less accurate to reality. Naturally Sofia wasn't going to tell him that her mother hunted supernatural beings, and that her father was a cinanthrope, but being able to say some things like the fact that he abandoned them when she wasn't even born felt like taking a slab off her shoulders. Suddenly she had a person by her side whom she trusted completely.

“I will never understand what kind of man abandons his own children. I may sound a little... conservative perhaps, but a man has to be there for his partner at all times, to care for her and support her, and it is his duty to protect and raise his children,” he said, frowning, his voice slightly deeper.

“Oh, I'm all for women's independence and feminism and all that, but after seeing what my mother became and what they turned my life into between the two of them, I wish the bastard had thought more like you.”

Dave let out a quiet sigh.

“I hear you,” he said, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. “So... here we are.”

Sofia looked around. They had reached a patch of forest that looked exactly like the whole stretch they had crossed to get there. There were some large rocks covered with moss and lichen, sheltering under the shade of the towering Valsaín pines. The ground was covered with a blanket of leaves, with grass patches, ferns and other shrubs growing on it. Moss carpeted the rocks and woody roots that had been exposed to the elements. It was beautiful but there was nothing remarkable about the place.

“I don't want to seem ungrateful, but...”

“Shhh.” Dave put a finger to her lips. “Wait.”

The boy took a few steps away from her and looked into the depths of the forest. Suddenly, to Sofia's surprise, he took a deep breath, raised his head and, with his hands forming a megaphone around his lips, let out a long, melodious howl. It was breathtakingly beautiful, and it felt so real that the energy in her chest jerked hard, and Sofia had to fight with all her might to repress the urge to join him. It wasn’t easy because she instinctively recognized, in a language so ancient that it was imprinted in her genes, that it was a friendly greeting. The howl fell silent. Its echo was lost in the forest while Sofia, dumbfounded, was unable to take her eyes off her friend.

“Dave... what...?”

“Shhh, listen,” he said in a quiet whisper.

Then she heard it. Far, far away, but still clear and distinct, the answer. Not one but a chorus of six howls that made Sofia shudder all the more, that made her blood wake up with a shout of joy as she recognized her people in those voices. It was a friendly response and also a warning that indicated the size and strength of the pack, and also marked the territory they occupied. It was a cordial greeting to a neighbor with whom they would get along if he did not cross the invisible boundary between the two areas.

“Wolves...” gasped Sofia, barely able to suppress the urge to howl back. “Wolves in Madrid. It's not possible. They were exterminated decades ago.”

“I thought you might like it.”

“It's incredible... How did you know? How were you able to do such a good imitation?”

“Biology runs in my family,” Dave said, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. “My grandmother has taught me a few things, and she's also told me a lot. There's a group of scientists who know about that pack, but they won't say anything to protect them. You've seen what happens.”

“Yes, I understand. Still, thank you for showing me. It's been an incredible experience.”

She took his hand. He gave it a gentle squeeze. A simple gesture and nothing more, one that was accompanied by a blush on her cheeks, a crossing of gazes and matching smiles. Then Sofia saw it and her stomach tingled with a pleasant warmth, because it was the first time. That smile on her friend's lips was no longer the restrained grin she saw on the first day. It was broad, spontaneous and sincere, and the most beautiful smile she had ever seen. It was at that moment that she understood that he felt so comfortable next to her, that he relaxed and let out his most natural side. The Dave under that mask of seriousness, who controlled all his gestures and movements, was simply a noble, cheerful and lively teenager, a boy who would become a good man.