Page 26 of Jacob Michaels Is Not Jacob Michaels

He shrugged, unfazed by the question. Points for Andrew.

“About the same.” He said. “I mean, magic is more likely to deliver a fatal blow—nature of the beast and how they are related—but we can recover from any wound if it doesn’t kill us really quickly.”

Thinking about this, I wondered if the werewolf had died as soon as I had burned her and it had nothing to do with the naked burned lady. Maybe the lead wolf—alpha?—had drug a dead wolf away and the naked lady was just a coincidence? Perhaps she was just someone who had been involved in a meth lab explosion? Then again—why was she naked?

“When you, uh, change back to human, you are naked, right?”

Andrew flushed again.

“Yes.” He exhaled. “Why?”

“Calm down.” I squinted at him. “I was just wondering whether or not someone would change back fully clothed or what. That’s all.”

He nodded, looking away.

If I had burned a werewolf badly while in wolf form, logically, that person would be naked and burned when they changed back to human form. If the woman who had wandered up into the yard had been involved in something like a meth lab explosion, surely, she would have been wearing clothes. Or at least the remnants of scorched and charred clothes. The woman who had wandered up in the yard was burnt all along one side—just like the wolf I had blasted—and she was stark naked. It made more sense that the two events were connected than them not being linked.

“I guess that’s all I needed.” I stood.

Andrew stood quickly.

“Rob—”

“You’re forgiven, Andrew.” I turned to him.

My face was bland. Impassive.

“If I forgive you, you can stop worrying about it, right?” I said. “So, you’re forgiven. I understand now that it’s the nature of the beast. I don’t believe you did anything on purpose. I still think it’s fucking shitty that you chose to go on a date with someone when you knew that the full moon was coming…and I’m even madder that person was me. But I forgive you. I just hope you’ve learned to keep to yourself on those nights.”

Andrew nodded with a sigh.

“Good.”

“Rob,” He stopped me from turning away, “do you think I could get another chance? I mean, we could go out again. Try to start over?”

I didn’t mean to, but I laughed loudly.

“You can’t be serious.” I chuckled. “I mean, I’m not completely stupid, Andrew. I may believe that what happened was an accident—but I’m not going to give you the opportunity to make the same mistake twice.”

“I won’t.”

“I’m seeing someone.”

“Oh.”

“Yup.”

“Are you seeing someone, or is that the nicest way you could think of to make me stop asking for a second date?”

“Both.” I nodded. “Always a pleasure, Andrew.”

With that, I turned on my heels and strolled away. To Andrew’s credit, he didn’t chase after me, holler any apologies or promises or do anything to keep me from going on about my business, which was good. I already had too many things on my mind to spend any more energy explaining how little I would like a second date with him. Andrew was cute. Very cute, actually. But he was a werewolf who had tried to eat me alive on the one date we had gone on. Even if I could genuinely forgive that, I couldn’t overlook the fact that he had been an utterly insufferable douchebag during the date leading up to him turning into a wolf in front of my eyes. Maybe his behavior had been connected to his condition and the oncoming full moon, but it was too hard to overlook.

Regardless of the problems with even thinking about Andrew in such a way, I also knew that I was showing bias. Andrew was a werewolf. Oma was a witch. Lucas was…something. And I certainly wasn’t just vanilla-flavored human. Ordinary humans don’t shoot green shit and fire out of their hands, do they? Of course, I had no idea what I was. The worst part was—that wasn’t my biggest problem. I also didn’t remember some essential things from my past. Flashes of memories I’d had proved that to me.

Even more disturbing than not having the best memory was the discovery that I had memories in my head that weren’t entirely accurate. In my mind, I had lived with Oma until I was sixteen years old because my parents had…well, I didn’t know. That was a sudden revelation. Where were my parents? What had happened to them? Were they dead? Had they run off? It dawned on me that I didn’t know where my parents were or if they were even alive to be somewhere. Something in my mind had just made me accept that they were no longer around and I had never thoroughly and honestly questioned that. Why was that?

Remembering life with Oma before I ran off to chase fame and fortune was difficult as well. I knew I had gone to school; I had found Oma’s house odd when I lived there, I had not had too many friends, I had loved school plays and choir and playing guitar, and…everything was vague. I honestly couldn’t put a finger on a single complete memory while I was awake. But when I slept and dreamed or had nightmares, or sometimes when I touched other people, full and complete memories came back to me. But they became hazy as time went on. I was already forgetting the memories I had seen in my mind’s eye when I touched Ernst and Lucas.

I stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and pulled out my phone. Pulling up the notepad app, I made myself notes about the memories still in my head. Just in case I forgot them again.