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in your eyes
and soft, pale twists
of wolfbane
squeeze your heart.
A grinding pain
is writhing in your thighs
the crunch of bones
proclaims the change's start.
Pirate of the flesh
throw back your head
and part your jowls
to sing a lunar song.
The forest paths are dark
the night is long.
She shivered in delicious shock.
He knows, she thought. He knows what's in the picture. Anger edged out the excitement and her eyes narrowed. Who was this Aiden Teague? Why should he know forest paths?
But she was intrigued. Maybe she should seek him out and have a look at this person who wrote of the crunch of bones, see if she approved of him.
And what if she didn't? Set the Five on him? She laughed softly, baring sharp white teeth.
Chapter 2
2
The morning was tentatively warm, and the smell of early roses drifted over from a neighbor's yard. The day would be hot later; she was glad she'd decided to wear shorts. Not much school left now, Vivian thought as she walked down the tree-lined street. What will I do in the summer? Move, she hoped. Get out of this place.
"Hey, Viv."
A lean, muscular figure peeled out from behind a stone gatepost, and her eyes widened briefly. "Rafe," she said in casual greeting, and kept on walking. If she hadn't been daydreaming she would have sniffed him out.
Rafe fell in beside her. She noticed that he was now cultivating a goatee and mustache. He ran a hand through his thick, long brown hair and shifted his grip on a package wrapped in newspaper he carried under one arm. "Going to school?"
"Some of us do."
The Five were more likely to be found hanging out by the diner around the corner from school, or down by the river.
"Yaaaaahhhhhh!"
"Whoooooooooooooooo!"
Two boys dropped from a roadside tree in a jingling of chains, hair flying. This time she did start slightly, and cursed herself. She should have known the others were near. The twins, Willem and Finn, looked pleased with themselves. Round-faced Willem slipped an arm around her waist and gave her a friendly squeeze. "Didn't scare you, did we?" he asked, obviously hoping he had.
"You are such a puppy," Vivian said, removing his arm. He'd been her favorite of the twins as they were growing up. He was sweeter and more predictable than his brother, but his affectionate gestures had lost a great deal of their innocence in the last year or so.
