A good five or ten minutes later, and I had finally calmed back down enough to take a few deep breaths. Gleefully grinning still, I leaned my back against the cool tile wall of the bathroom. I felt amazing. My face hurt a bit from smiling too hard, and I was having trouble keeping my thoughts on task. It was all so much to take in, but in a good way. I had finally seen what I looked like, and I was beyond pleased. Even better, I think that I can still pass as not having had a magical transformation. Far too many questions would be raised if I was completely different, but I was close enough to get by without too much trouble I hope.

My voice was probably the only part that was harder to explain. My range had moved up quite a bit. I was pretty sure that I could get close-ish to the way my voice sounded before, but I really didn’t have a good point of reference anymore. That, and I was aware that the way that your voice sounds to you is different from the way that other people hear it. Maybe instead of worrying about that part too much I should just speak comfortably, and if anyone asks just tell them that I found some new voice training exercises or something. That was… probably believable enough that it should be fine.

Well, with that out of the way and a good mood still allowing me to coast for a moment I should really talk to my friends and let them know that I’m okay. Or, alive at least. Not entirely sure how ‘okay’ I am in the grand scheme of supernatural phenomenon and dangers.

I stepped away from the wall and pulled my phone out of my pocket, trying to ignore the cascade of messages that covered the screen when I put in my passcode. It seemed like it was only from my coworkers at Lexi’s parent’s place. It was nearly noon now, and I am sure that they were very worried about where I had disappeared to. I would probably read through the messages later when things weren’t so tense, but for now I just went to the group chat that our group used to organize get togethers and such. After a moment to prepare myself, I started composing a message.

[11:37 AM] Hey guys! Sorry to worry you, something important came up last night and I had to leave suddenly. Rest assured, I am alive and well :)

The next few seconds were filled with anticipation, but a response came quick enough.

[11:38 AM] Lexi: What the hell Sam?!?! 

No sooner had I read the message that a call came through on my phone. It was set to vibrate, but it still startled me a bit. With some trepidation, I pressed the green button to accept the call. “Hi Lexi, it’s Sam.”

“Sam?! Are you alright? Please tell me that this is you and not some kidnapper demanding a ransom!” I had to pull the phone away from my ear as Lexi’s worried shouts came from the speaker. 

Slowly moving the microphone part closer to my mouth, while keeping the earpiece a respectful distance from my ear, I responded carefully, “Yes, it’s really me. Your mom told me last night while I was helping with dinner about the time that you were in high school and got detention for being caught making out in the-”

I figured that telling that story would be the quickest way to avoid coming off as an imposter, and Lexi quickly cut me off. “Okay! Okay Sam, jeez o’Friday the phone is on speaker and everybody else can hear you.” Lexi paused briefly and seemed to reorient herself to the problem at hand. “But Sam, what the hell?! Where could you have possibly had to go in the middle of the night without so much as a message OVER FOUR HOURS FROM HOME!?!?!”

Ah, okay. Lexi had gone from worried to livid. This was dangerous territory. I had to choose my words very carefully. “I uh, I hooked up with a girl named Liz. I’m at her place right now.” Perfect. A plausible excuse that was also pretty much the truth.

Silence stretched the air thin.

Jenny broke that silence with a tone of admiration. “Damn, didn’t think the girl had it in her.”

“Woo! Go Sam! Get some!” Kevin’s voice chimed in from the background. He no doubt earned a glare from Lexi for that. I thought I could hear Alex sigh in disbelief.

Lexi cut in with a dangerous, precise tone, “Sam. So you hooked up with a girl in the middle of the night. After we had gone to bed. You didn’t bother to leave us any kind of notice of your activities. You let us worry the following day. ALL THE WAY UNTIL NEARLY LUNCHTIME?!?!?”

I pulled the phone further from my ear. Fuck, Lexi was pissed. Methodically thinking for a moment, I came up with another plausible excuse. “I’ve been um… I’ve been a little distracted since I woke up this morning. We’ve been kind of busy. I only got a chance to look at my phone a few minutes ago.”

“…”

“Woo! Go Sam! Get so- OW!” RIP Kevin’s shoulder. You will be missed.

Welp, there was no way I was getting off light after worrying them so much. I came up with a story that was close enough to the truth that it shouldn’t be hard to keep up, and yet I was still sure to receive my fair share of flack. They really had been worried, and I am happy that there are people who would worry so genuinely for me. That said, since I worried them about what they think is a hookup out of the blue I have little doubt that I won’t live this down for quite a while.

Eventually, Lexi sighed close to the speaker on her end as her anger bled away. “Sam, I’m happy that you are safe. I am still very grumpy with you, and you have not heard the last of this. Be sure that we will get you back for disappearing without letting us know what you were getting up to.” Lexi sniffled, and kept going with a quaver in her voice.” We were scared Sam. We were scared that something had happened to you. You need to let us know if you’re going to be doing something like that. Promise me that you will tell us these things from now on. Okay?” Lexi seemed to actually be crying from what I could hear.

Fuck, now I was crying. I knew that I had worried them, but I didn’t realize that I had worried them that much. Damn, they really cared about me. With a sniffle of my own, I responded, “I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry. I didn’t mean to cause you all so much stress. I hope you’ll forgive me.” 

A tiny voice that I hadn’t heard from the group until now spoke up. “I forgive you Sam. Just… don’t do that again please. It was really scary.” Amy seemed to be crying as well.” I woke up first and couldn’t find you. I started panicking. I searched the whole house, but you weren’t here.” She sounded like a kicked puppy. Just imagining Amy running around trying to find me, getting more and more desperate as she went, was heartbreaking to picture. 

I tried to force the sad thoughts from my mind for a moment. “Guys, I love you all. You are such great friends. I am so very sorry. I promise that this won’t happen again.” Above all, I felt thankful for my friends. They were really amazing, and they were hurting in their own way. I got swept up by something out of my control, but so were they in a way. They’ve had their fair share of stress from this. Likely just as much, if not more, than I’ve had. Oh, if they only knew what really happened. Not that I would tell them unless I knew it was safe to do so.

Alex’s voice came through a bit louder and clearer than before, so maybe he picked up the phone. “Sam, you’ve caused quite a bit of trouble with this whole thing. I forgive you for not letting us know. Please, use more forethought in the future when you do things like this.”

I couldn’t exactly dispute anything he said. I really should have told someone what I was doing, even if what I did was not what they thought I did. Would it have changed things if I told one of them I was going outside to check the barn? Probably would have. If I disappeared after telling them that, they may have gotten even more worried, so that was worse I think. What if one of them had come with me though? Would they have been given a similar treatment? Or worse, would they have been hurt like Olive had? Or worse… 

No, I can’t get caught up in what ifs. My friends are okay, if a little shaken, and I’m alive. I don’t really know what the future has in store for me, but I think it’ll be okay for now. Damian even trusted me enough to have my phone back without any kind of restriction in place. I had signal and could easily have called the authorities if I so wished. I’m not sure what kind of jurisdiction that police or anybody really has over supernatural creatures, or the rich for that matter. It might be a moot point. Either way, I think that it was likely a show of trust. I’ll return that trust in kind for now and let him help me in the way that he feels best. I’ll need help anyway to make sure I’m not going to be in danger from unknown forces. Or well, more unknown forces I guess.

Still sniffling a bit, I spoke into my phone, “Thank you Alex, and everyone else. I’ll try to use better judgment from now on.”

There was a messy blob of words from everyone saying something at once that I entirely could not understand. After the noise had settled down for a moment, Jenny posed a rather important question. “So, is your one night stand going to bring you back over here to Lexi’s parent’s place? And when should we expect you back here?”

I was about to respond, but then I realized that that was actually a really good question. I didn’t entirely know what it was that I was going to be doing. Damian had said that he was going to bring me home, but would it be better to have him drop me off with my friends back at the farm? I honestly didn’t know, so I figured I would have to save that for later. “Honestly, I’m not too sure. I’ll have to ask here in a few minutes. Would it be okay if I sent a message in the group chat when I know what I’m going to be doing?”

Jenny’s voice came first to respond to me. “Sure thing Sam. Enjoy your time over there while you can.” She had a bit of a sarcastic tone to her. She likely thought that I was still spending time with Liz. I kinda wished that I was. I felt really comfortable with her in bed this morning. “If you end up needing a ride just let me know, okay?”

I nodded, though nobody on the call could see that since we were only talking over voice. “Sure thing, I’ll let you know what’s happening on my end when I can. Thank you for the offer Jenny. I’ll ask and see what we are doing as soon as I get off the phone.”

“No prob girliepop. Enjoy your vacation.” Oh, that tease. Jenny really was goading me on. Not surprising in the least considering the teasing that she had given me about finding some romance.

Lexi followed up without acknowledging Jenny’s sass. “Well Sam, I’m really glad that you are okay. We would have really liked to spend some more time with you over here, but I understand that you’ve had an… interesting opportunity there. Since the tension is dying down a little bit, I think we are going to get some food and rest, then start getting back into the swing of enjoying some weekend fun. We’ll keep an eye out for you in the group chat.”

I smiled warmly, glad that they were able to still have some fun this weekend. I had the feeling that I wasn’t going to be able to join them while I was figuring out what was going on with my life, but I wished them a good time. “Thank you again everyone. I’ll talk to you again soon. Bye for now!”

Another cacophony of voices sang out from my phone with a mishmash of goodbyes. I took that as a sign to go ahead and end the call, which I did. 

I let out a deep sigh and leaned my back once more against the cool tile. That had gone about as well as I could have hoped without telling them the truth. I don’t know if it would be safe to do so. They don’t deserve to get caught up into this if they don’t have to, so for now I’ll just have to keep up the lie.

Well, now that I’ve gotten that taken care of I think it’s time to go back out and get some more answers from Damian about what we are going to be doing. There is clearly way more for me to learn about what I am and what implications my circumstances will have on my day-to-day life. I suppose I am also kind of excited to learn more about the supernatural. Finding out that what inspired werewolves was real, if not a little different than the myths would have you believe, has really opened the door to my inner curiosity. Surely I would learn more soon enough. That by itself was really exciting. 

Mentally preparing myself for another dose of knowledge bombs, I exited the bathroom and walked towards the room that I figured was the study when I was doing my exploring earlier. Surprisingly, the room was empty. I would have thought that the amount of time I spent giddily bouncing around the bathroom and then talking with my friends would have been more than enough time for Damian to be able to get whatever he needed to do done. To be fair, I didn’t really know what it was that he was doing though. 

Whatever the case, I was now unsure what to do while I waited. After a short mental debate, I decided to head back over to the sitting room. The couch there was super comfy and would be a good place to relax a bit while I waited for Damian to be ready.

A short walk back over to the sitting room later, I was back to the room with the softly crackling hearth. The fire had died down a little bit, and I didn’t think there would be a problem with putting more wood on the fire since it was stacked nearby. I hadn’t realized it while I had been so all over the place with my emotions, but I was pretty chilly. The fire provided a pleasant warmth to the room despite its rather large space and a comforting smell came with it. It would take a moment for the new logs to catch, but when they did it would be all the nicer. 

I took a seat at the end of the couch closest to the mantle. Unfortunately there was no sign of a blanket I could use. I really disliked being cold, which really didn’t work out well for me since I was pretty much always cold. 

Resigning myself to suboptimal comfort, I grabbed the throw pillow from the corner of the couch I had sat down at and hugged it against my chest. The pillow was really soft at least. Making a pleased sound, I curled up on the couch with my head resting on the arm nearest the fire. This would be a good enough place to wait. Yeah, this was nice. 

A yawn escaped my mouth before I knew it. I guess the food coma was finally catching up to me. A nap couldn’t hurt, right? Damian would wake me when he was ready, for sure.

Yawning again, I knew that the sandman wanted me to pay my due. I closed my eyes wearily and nestled myself into the cushions. I could smell faint traces of Liz’s scent on the shirt that I wore. I couldn’t help but to adjust my position to make the most of it. It was so subtle, yet it was there. It set my heart at ease. Combinations of the pleasant atmosphere and the peaceful calm in my chest made relaxing come naturally. The sound of crackling firewood and the gentle heat soon called me to rest, and I gave the pillow another slight squeeze before fading away into sleep.

MegaSuperKami

This chapter was actually a space to cover not a terribly large amount of content. I thought I would have time to move on to the next part before reaching a stopping point, but this ended up being the way that felt right. Next time, we can see who gets to wake Sam up from her nap!

Not... really a whole lot to say for this one. Glad that Sam was able to convince her friends with some quick thinking. I'm sure that it will in no way complicate things or cause any misunderstandings in the future.

Thank you again for reading. This chapter feels like a fairly in-between chapter, but the next one I am really looking forward to. See y'all next time!