Before we all tie the Calculator to a stake and burn him for either Witchcraft or Heresy

  (‘Scent’ Excerpt Chapter 3)

Within a minute of our arrival, Vincent who must have foreseen this next walked through the automatic doors of the Lab to greet us.

“Arabella and Jess? I need to talk to you…” he began but he pulled up the moment he saw my disheveled appearance, “…good god B, what happened to you?”

The male Werewolves glared dangerously upon our blonde haired, blue eyed English cousin.

“What’s the wrong Vincent, can’t you ‘see’ what happened to B?” Dad growled out.

“Funny you should say that, Hunter.” Vincent growled back. “But no I can’t. That’s what I need to talk to Arabella and Jess about.”

“Well what a stroke of luck, coz we came here to talk to you about B.” Mum sung sarcastically.

Vincent became aware that all seven unhappy faces were aimed his way.

“What did I do?” He asked, taken aback.

“What didn’t you do more like!” Dad fired up. “You call yourself these girls Calculator? Why didn’t you see this happening to B?!”

“And if you did see it, why didn’t you tell us?” Gran asked in a low voice.

“Hold up a minute people.” He held up his hands. “Before we all tie the Calculator to a stake and burn him for either Witchcraft or Heresy, how about I hear the charges first?”

“B’s a Werewolf!” Mum cried out.

Silence… Vincent blinked and then he blinked again as he looked on in disbelief.

“You’re a Werewolf?” He looked my way.

“She’s the first female Lokoti Werewolf in the history of the Lokoti tribe.” Grandfather advised.

“You’re a Lokoti Werewolf?” Vincent wanted to clarify as he stared in my direction. “So you weren’t bitten and changed that way?”

“One of the pack died and B’s Lokoti Werewolf genes were activated last night, the first night of the full moon.” Uncle Julian put his hands on his hips.

“I thought you understood from the SSIT notes on Lokoti Werewolves that our bite or blood can’t turn a human into one of us.” Grandpa’s eyes narrowed.

“I do remember that fact thank you, Fern.” Vincent said in annoyance. “But I also remember that females can’t change into one of you and that only the males in the tribe can.”

“Well don’t just stand there, examine her!” Dad demanded.

“Then if you lot get out of the way, maybe I will!” He snapped back.

The male Lokoti Werewolves all stepped aside from standing protectively around.  This enabled Vincent to lead me over to the bench underneath the main scanner to begin his examination.  I sat up on the bench and just before I laid down, he handed me a papery smock to wear.  Then he helped me to lie in position underneath the scanner.

Vincent gave a curious look before he observed, “B you’re taller, plus you’re more bulky. I think your height and your weight have changed.”

“Has it?” I raised my head in surprise.

My Calculator pushed my head back down then he walked over to the control panel and activated the machine.  It hummed to life as a green light ran over my body from head to toe, as the technology collected its readings of my physical changes.

“B, when you changed into a Werewolf last night, did anything else strange happen?” He inquired.

“She ran away in the speed of light.” Grandpa told him.

“That explains her higher bio-electromagnetic frequency.” Vincent thought out loud. “It appears when your Werewolf genes were activated, it also triggered your Circulator’s ability to phase.”

Gran and Grandfather stood together, holding hands as they looked on; Mum and Dad stood together holding hands as they looked on; Uncle Julian and Grandpa stood side by side with their arms crossed, listening in to the results.

“Aha!” Vincent remarked. “I was right!  You’re now 10 cm’s taller. You’ve gone from 160 cm’s to 170 cm’s tall and your weight has changed from 60kg’s to 70kg’s with your new Werewolf muscle.”

“Am I fat?” Anxiously I raised my head.

“No, but you are bulkier.” He replied. “Even your shoulders look broader.”

“What, do I look masculine?” Now I sat upright in alarm.

“I wouldn’t say ‘masculine’ but definitely more athletic.” Vincent mused.

I looked worriedly to my parents, “but I don’t want to look athletic!”

“You’ve always been a bit of a tomboy growing up.” Dad gave a rueful grin. “You always played soccer with Derik and the other boys of the tribe instead of dolls with the other girls.”

“Do I look ‘butch’?” I looked Mum’s way in concern.

“Nah, of course not!” She was quick to reassure as she and Dad came to stand beside, as I was sitting up on the bench. “You’ve always given the boys a run for their money, so now you can always beat them at sport being a Werewolf.”

“Derik’s never minded that you were always as strong or as fast as him.” He tried to use as his consolation. “I’m sure he won’t look on you any less now that you’re stronger or faster.”

“Don’t worry B, it just means that a guy has to work extra hard to impress you.” Uncle Julian gave a wink.

Vincent next came back to where I was sitting as did the rest of my family.

“Well.” He took a deep breath. “From the read outs, I can see a change in her dental structure, her muscle tissue, the calcium deposits around her nails and even with her irises and her ocular sensory input, which confirm her change into a Lokoti Werewolf.”

“My irises?” I echoed confused. “My ocular sensory input?”

“It means that now you can see better in the dark.” Vincent put it simply.

“Oh yeah, I could see through the dark woods last night as if it were daylight.” I confirmed.  Then something occurred to me which made me look at the other Lokoti Werewolves, “did my eyes change colour like yours do?”

“They did.” Grandpa confirmed.

“What color did they turn?” I asked out of curiosity.

“Turquoise, like your great, great grandfather Flint Riverclaw’s eyes.” Grandfather announced.

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