The sun had just started to set on an early fall day. A young boy stood in the middle of a side street, just about 20 feet from the main road. His brilliant emerald eyes were scanning the darkening sky. He was oblivious to the world around him, which suddenly changed as he heard the sound of an engine roaring up the street behind him. He quickly ran off the street and onto the sidewalk. The vehicle sped over the spot where he had stood just seconds ago.

	He shook his head and sighed. The fact that he was nearly hit was a sign of even more of his powers disappearing from him. A few months ago, he would have just jumped over that car. Or maybe tucked and rolled over the top of it. Or if he was really in the mood, just let it hit him, just to be thrown around a bit. But over the last three months, his powers had started to desert him. First his superhuman strength had disappeared. A few weeks later, his durability had deserted him too. His long pointy ears had shortened and rounded out, becoming those of a normal human. His hearing had done the same. 

	Now all he had left was some sharp nails, pointy teeth, and a superior sense of smell, which was obviously failing him too. He also retained his unique visibility. Humans couldn’t see him. Or his kind, which also had the superhuman abilities he was losing. The Wolven were the hidden masters of the Earth, though if you asked them, they would simply state that they were born to guard Gaia. They’ve existed for just as long as humankind has according to ancient records. The humans knew of the Wolven, and vice-versa. Most humans choose to ignore these others, since they cannot see them, and for the most part never interact with them.

	This boy with the name of Jake was born to two completely human parents. That in itself isn’t uncommon, since about one in every three Wolven children is born to a human couple. And aside from his eyes, he was perfectly normal until he turned three, which is the age that Wolven abilities become active. So his mother had risen to the challenge of raising a child she couldn’t see, and after eleven years, she had done a wonderful job. 

	As Jake stood pondering his losses, an interesting scent got caught in his nostrils. It was a very familiar scent. Something bestial, not common to this area. An animal. Human at the same time. Another Wolven. And there were only three other Wolven in the town he lived in. His best and only friend, along with her parents. They had been on vacation for about two and a half months, which was very common. They frequently traveled to the Wolven council city in Montana. It was a pilgrimage Jake couldn’t make due to not having a Wolven parent.

	He realized what the smell meant. They had finally returned. They were finally home. He dashed the rest of the way up the street, and briefly looked up and down the hill to make sure there wouldn’t be a repeat of his previous incident before running across the pavement and into the yard behind the three story house. As soon as he stepped into the yard he saw her sitting in the grass, gazing at the sky. He ran toward her, stopping at the split in the yard and trying to do a front flip up it, only managing to land flat on his back. It didn’t matter though, as both he and she began laughing at his magnificent failure. The girl turned her gaze upon him, and smiled. “Well it’s about time you came up here. We’ve been home for nearly three hours! It never takes you this long to find out!”

	Jake smiled, but his eyes showed the sorrow at his lacking abilities. “Yeah… I guess I can’t sense other Wolven now either… Sorry, June…”

	Her joyful smile quickly dropped. She gazed at the ground, a few small tears forming at the corner of her eyes. “It’s worse this time isn’t it? You’ve lost more powers… It’s worse every time we go! I wish daddy would just let you come with us…”

	He looked over to her and sighed, “Yeah, but you know I’m not old enough to go without my mom… Oh well. I’m used to it.”

	Lily just snorted, and shook her head. “I hate going there with just mom and dad. There’s no other kids around. It’s so boring! I would rather stay behind and be stuck home alone the whole time! Gah… Anyway… Wanna stay here tonight? Daddy already said you were allowed!”

	Jake slowly sat up, smiling, really happy this time. He nodded furiously, and got to his feet. “Yeah, of course I’ll stay! I always do, don’t I? Just lemme run home and leave my mom a note, so she doesn’t worry about me for the night.” He hopped down onto the lower part of the yard, and stood on the street corner, making sure the road was clear before crossing back onto his own street. He ran up to his door, slid his key into the lock and stepped inside running up to the counter, grabbing a pencil and a note pad, and started scribbling down his note.

	His mother, a woman in her mid 50s at this point, though her age didn’t show much, aside from some wrinkles, as she took good care of herself. She was currently focused on keeping her fingers out from under the blade she was using to chop of lettuce for a salad for dinner. She didn’t hear the door open and shut, a little piece of reality hidden to her by her son’s natural perception barrier. As she tilted her head over to grab the next vegetable in line for chopping, she noticed something. There was a boy standing at the counter, writing something. 

	She shifted the knife in her hand, holding it in a more defensive manner. She slowly turned to the boy, her own son, a child she hadn’t been able to see since he was three years old, and said, “Who are you? How did you get in here?”

	Jake kept on writing down his note, so used to hearing his mother talking to empty air, since she could never hear his replies anyway. It took him a minute to realize what she had actually said, and turn to face her. He saw the knife in her hand, and slowly came to realize what it meant. “You… You can…. You can see me!?” He looked down at his own hands, which were beginning to shake very badly. “Oh god a human can see me… Oh no, no no no nononono!” His breath started to catch in short gasps, before he managed to gulp in one big breath and let it back out in a massive ear-piercing scream. He quickly turned and ran back outside, still screaming.

	His poor mother, already confused enough, realized that this screaming child, to have been able to get in here, had to have a key. And that he was about the age her own son would be. She walked over to where he had stood, and checked the note on the counter, and the full truth dawned on her. She had never heard of a Wolven child being visible to humans, and she was certain that it was nothing good.

	As Jake ran out into the streets, narrowly avoiding even more traffic across both roads he needed to cross to get to Lily’s house, all three of the beings in her home, with their superb hearing, could easily hear the boy coming all the way from his own home. Lily stepped out onto the front porch, and watched him run up the street, confused. “Jake? Jake, what’s wrong? Why are you screaming SO LOUD?”

	Jake looked up at her as he ran up the stairs, and was pushed even closer to some mental tipping point as he realized she looked hazy and out of focus. “I… My mom… She SAW me! I was standing there, and she could SEE me! And you… You’re all fuzzy! It’s kinda hard to see you…”

	Lily quickly took him by the arm and ran inside with him, seeking her parents. It seemed like the house was stretching on forever, three times its normal size, when time was obviously so precious. After searching nearly the entire house in a space of time that seemed to stretch into hours, she finally found them in the game room in the basement. She repeated to them what Jake had told her mere moments ago. 

	Her father, and tall and very serious man, dressed in what could best be described as semi-casual clothing, turned and took a few steps away, thinking of what to do. He turned back toward them, running a hand through his lightening hair. “Take him out into the moon chamber, and lay him down on the alter. We’ll be out in a minute.”

	Lily nodded frantically, dragging Jake along with her, back upstairs and outside, into what looked like a large stone shed. The sun had fully set by now, and the moon was just starting to peak over the horizon. “I couldn’t… Lily, your parents were all fuzzy too! What’s wrong with me!?” 

	She tugged him inside, and pushed him onto the stone alter in the center of the room, directly beneath a large hole in the ceiling, through which the chamber’s only lighting came from; the moon. Even though it had just risen outside, it floated straight above the whole, a week shy of being full, casting its pale light onto the children. “I dunno, but my parents will… They’re smart, they will!”

	Jake seemed to steady out, his shaking subsiding. As he lay in the pale glow from above, he stabilized, calming down again, and slipping into a sleepy state. Just then Lily’s father walked into the room, and looked him over one more time. “This is bad… Really bad. He’s reverting into a human. It’s something that rarely happens, but sadly it does. It’s caused when a child is away from full grown Wolven for prolonged periods of time. Normally it takes about 4 months for it to fully happen, but… Well, it seems that our repeated trips to Montana, even though we’ve shortened them, have greatly shortened the time he can tolerate being alone…” He shook his head and stared down at the floor, terribly afraid of what the most likely outcome of this situation was.

	The pre-teen girl looked up at the man who raised her, fear in her eyes, tears spilling out. She clutched the edge of the alter, her fingers growing white from her intense grip. “Daddy, please… There’s something you can do, right? To make him better?”  She turned her head to look back down at the sleeping figure before her, hoping desperately for a solution.

	The adult stepped back against the wall of the chamber, and slid down onto the floor. He sighed, and shook his head before looking at his child. “The only way, is… You have to shift, and then transfer some of your Wolven energy to him. But at your age, you can only do it by, well, biting him. And with a little bit of luck, he’ll re-stabilize, and be fine by morning…”

	Lily stood back and stared at her father, eyes wide and mouth hanging open. She stammered, not believing what she had just been told to do. “Wh-what? But you said… That biting people like that could make them feral! And that’s just normal humans. He’s already got SOME of that energy, right? So what will happen to him?”

	The elderly man sighed, and stared at the ground between his knees. He ran his hand through his hair, shaking and scratching his head.  “This is the only way, Lily! It’s this, or you lose your friend forever! He’s a cub, like you. He’s used to having the energy, he’ll be fine.”

	She shook her head, tears in her eyes. Looking at Jake, she sniffed, and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “Okay daddy… I just hope this works…” She took a step up toward the altar, and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath, and focused on what needed done, the change she needed to go through. Her hair began to swing outward, becoming wilder, rougher. She started to grow a few inches taller as the bones in her leg started to shift, changing from a human structure to a canine one.  Her finger nails thickened, and grew out, curving and sharpening to a point, becoming claws. As her teeth sharpened and grew into fangs and her face elongated into a short snout, she started growing hair all over her body, a deep purple color to match what was on her head, the dye affecting her entire body. 

	After just a few seconds, the change was complete. Gone was the little girl who looked so teary-eyed, in her place a purple furred werewolf, wearing nothing but the contrasting white tribal markings along her face. She spoke, her voice now deeper, with a bit of a growl under it. “Alright, I pray this works.” She bent down, lowering her head to Jake’s. She took hold of his hand, and lifted it to her open mouth. She gently bit into it, effortlessly sinking her teeth deeper and deeper into his flesh, and she broke through his skin, and tasted blood in her mouth. Despite the flow of blood moving into her mouth, she felt that something was going the opposite direction, from her into him. To her, the process seemed like it lasted for hours without end, but in reality it was no more than a couple minutes. Some instinct in her told her when it was time to let go, and she did, noting the wound she had inflicted had already disappeared.

	She changed back into her human form, her hair returning to its normal length and texture, as well as her clothes returning to her. She watched her friend for several seconds, anxiously waiting some sort of result, when she could clearly she him solidify back into the Wolven half of the world. She smiled and sat down on the floor, knowing he would be fine.

	“Excellent. I knew you would be able to save him, Lily. Nothing to worry about, see?” He stood up and moved to stand beside her, setting his hand on her head. As he smiled down at her, and she up at him, neither noticed just what was happening to the boy.

	Jake had begun to convulse upon the slab of stone. He was flexing his hands, clenching and unclenching his fists. Each time he did so, his nails grew a bit more claw like. His clothes disappeared a little more. His nose grew longer from his face. His hair spread across his body, until he was covered in chocolate colored fur. His face bore similar white markings as Lily’s, like they could lock together.  He rolled over, right off the edge of the altar, landing on his clawed hands and canine feet. 

	As Lily and her father looked to the altar, they only had time to see Jake stand up, and leap straight through the hole in the cave ceiling, disappearing into the night of the moon’s world.