Page 20 of Black Hollow: Awakening

“Since… yesterday.”

“Yeah, apparently,” Dan replied, amused. “Are you finally going to tell me what happened? Wait. One minute to the bell,” he announced, checking his phone. “Robins will kill me if I’m late again. But you’re telling me at lunch, you hear me? All the details.”

Will forced a smile, not answering.

Lunchtime finally arrived. After getting his food, Will took a seat at one of the tables. Danny wasn’t there yet. Thank God, because Will was trying to come up with a believable cover story.

Blake sat down two tables away and started staring brazenly in his direction, effectively distracting him. Will snorted quietly under his breath. He was about to whisper something particularly insulting to test just how good Alden’s hearing was, but before he could, someone’s chest blocked his view.

“Hey,” Liam said, sitting down across from him.

“Hey,” Will replied slowly, eyeing him with suspicion.

Liam took a sandwich out of his backpack.

“So… how’s it going?” he asked before biting into it.

“With what?”

“You know what.”

Will glanced around uncertainly. He doubted they should be talking about this here.

“Good.”

“Really?”

“No.”

Liam laughed quietly.

“It might be hard at first, but you’ll get the hang of it,” he said, before taking an impressively large bite.

“Yeah.” Will watched him attentively. “I’ve heard that.”

First, he thought that Liam didn’t look like a werewolf. Then it occurred to him that he didn’t know any other werewolves, so he had no basis for comparison. Finally, he realized how absurd these thoughts were, so for his own sanity, he stopped his mind from wandering and said, “Can I…?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you… are we…” Will leaned low over the table, whispering, “the only ones like this in the whole school?”

“No. There are more. Maybe thirty or forty of us in total? I haven’t counted.”

“That many?”

Liam nodded.

“Mostly werewolves. It’s that kind of town. There are a few witches and wizards, too. Vampires are rarer. Blake is the only one in the school. Not counting Mrs. Loring.”

Will’s eyes widened.

“Mrs. Loring is a vampire?”

Liam started laughing.

“Was that a joke?”

“Yeah. Though I think she’s got a lot of bloodsucker in her.”