The wolf watched as William eased himself back down the ramp. The wolf’s mouth stayed closed but William could have sworn that he saw the animal smiling at him. The thought struck him as odd. Why did so many predators have the ability to look like they were smiling at you? Probably because of a private joke that nature only shared with predators. The hunted never understood the thrill of the hunt and therefore never knew what the joke was, but predators understood, they understood all too well.
William was clear of his door jam and was moving with the same delicate care down the ramp away from his door. When he was clear and hidden from the wolf’s sight, he moved down the ramp, keeping his face and chest towards his door.
“Leaving so soon?”
William stopped cold on the ramp of his building. It was Ares voice coming from inside his room. He let his shoulders slump and his head hang to the side. He shook his head and bolted up the ramp back to his door. How could he have not recognized Ares in wolf form? He had seen his teacher in wolf form before. Well, he was thinking about a lot of things and the last thing he expected was to find a wolf in his room. He had remained calm though. Besides what if it was another wolf, not a shape shifter that had found its way into his room, what then? He felt like he had responded appropriately to the situation, and he wasn’t going to be embarrassed by it. But still, how could he have been so startled by that? Taking a deep breath, he took the last few steps and reentered his room.
He found that instead of a large brown wolf in his room, the space was now occupied by his massive eight-foot-tall teacher. The werewolf was standing in the center of the room, much as the wolf had been. He watched as William walked to his bed and sat down on the thick soft furs of the bed.
William looked up at his teacher. He lowered his head with a small chuckle as he shook his head. “Did you get what you expected?”
Ares seemed confused by the question. “What do you mean, ‘get what I expected’?”
William raised his head and looked Ares in the eye, that familiar weight came pushing down on him and he lowered his eyes feeling drained. “What you expected by being in my room in your wolf form when I came through the entryway?”
Ares folded his arms across his chest. “Ah, you think it was some kind of practical joke?” Ares shook his head, “No, William, I was not trying to get any sort of reaction from you. In all honesty I momentarily forgot that I was still in wolf form.”
“Really? And my reaction to you didn’t tip you off?”
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Ares let his arms fall to his sides. “I am your teacher. Your reaction was not lost on me. However, I choose to let you continue with your course of action. I was pleased that you maintained yourself and the etiquette of nature. Tests can come from anywhere at any time, just like in nature and you will have to be prepared for those tests, whether they be here in the city or out there.” Ares shook his head toward the wall. William knew that what he was really gesturing to was outside the city and the cavern. This reminded him of why he had wanted to see Ares in the first place.
“What is out there, Ares?”
“What do you mean? The world? That is as…”
“That’s not what I mean, Ares.” William closed his eyes and leaned back against the cool stone wall. “What I mean is,” he opened his eyes and bore the weight of Ares glance. “What is out there? What am I being trained for? Who are we at war with? If I am going to die tomorrow, at least tell me why and where the knife is going to come from.”
Ares stood there, not moving. His stance was no more tense or relaxed than it had been a moment ago, but there was a subtle change in the atmosphere. The very air around them changed. William felt a clenching from somewhere inside him, a convulsive muscle spasm that he could not identify.
“You are not ready.”
“I have been readily put up to be sacrificed multiple times since I got here. But the reason for it, why I have almost been killed, why I’ve almost died, why I almost drowned, the reason for all that, I’m not ready?” William leaned forward and rocked himself off his bed into a standing position several feet away from Ares.
“Are you the teacher now, pup?”
William ran his fingers through his hair. “If you can’t tell me why I’m going to die, can you at least tell me why I might be killed?”
“Why would you be killed?”
William heaved a deep sigh. “Is what Acharya was talking about right? Is the reason why I lost control of myself in that lake because I don’t have a strong mental image of myself as a human?”
Ares once again crossed his arms over his chest. For some reason he reminded William of a bouncer at a night club. “Nobody knows why it happens, William. Sometimes werewolves emerge instead of shape shifters.” To William it looked like Ares wanted to sit down but he remained standing.
“Acharya is wrong then?”
Ares shook his head. “Acharya is not wrong any more than what I am telling you is not the truth.” William shook his head and smiled.
“The reason I can’t give you a straight answer, William is because there is no straight answer to give. Sometimes it happens. Pure and simple. We have developed ways of testing our kind to ensure that werewolves are not allowed to endanger this city or our people.”
“You mean kill them.”
“If what they have become threatens us, yes.”
William barked out a sarcastic laugh. “You don’t know the reason behind it, but the judgment is absolute, final, and always the same.”
“Nature is the same.”
William started and then in a sudden rage he spit out, “There is compassion in nature,”
“Have I not shown compassion towards you?”
William pursed his lips and ran his hand through his hair once more, turning away from Ares. He sat down on the bed. All his strength was gone and all he wanted was a simple straight answer. “So, my self-image has nothing to do with it?”