(Zack)

Mother actually did faint when I told them I had a date with Jess, and I'm grateful they didn't try to stop me from going. Luca's trying to cling to me, but I promise him that I'll be back once the date's over. I think he knows there's more to the date than it being just a date.

I still need to figure out how to talk to him about something, too. His injuries healed way too fast, and I realized last night why. When he thinks I'm sleeping, he starts emitting this golden glow around him. It's very faint, but it apparently heals.

Luca's got powers, like me. His tend towards the more healing side, it seems, but it could just be that one thing, that strange aura, that has healing potential.

So I need to figure out how to talk to him and find out what other things he can do.

For now, I need to focus on the date. Jess just walked into the diner, and she's looking at it in confusion before noticing me and walking over. She's wearing a nice, light green dress that reaches down to her ankles, as well as a pair of flats that compliment it nicely. Her earrings today are emeralds hanging from silver.

I only really picked her for the date because she's our nicest female classmate and I knew a couple of things that would provoke her into agreeing to it. Dressed like this, though, I realize that she really is pretty.

"You're actually here," she says.

"I said I would be," I say. "We do have time before the birthing happens, so we can eat lunch. What's in the backpack?"

"A change of clothes," she answers. "I told my parents that we were going to the amusement park, and that a dress wasn't that good for it, so I'd change in… a restroom. This place does have one, right?"

"Yes," I snort. "I can't imagine your parents liking that idea."

"They don't," she states. "They also don't like me going to an amusement park, but I've never been before."

"Even Luca's been to one!"

"Who's Luca?" She asks as a waitress comes over.

"The kid of one of my family's former servants."

"Wait," her eyes widen. "You mean-"

"Yes," I interrupt her, looking at the waitress. "Get us two of my usual, please?"

"Sure thing, Zack," she says. "Where've you been the last couple of weeks?"

"Grounded," I grumble. "I got suspended from school again."

"You need to stop doing that," she smacks me with the order book.

"Yeah, well, people need to stop pissing me off," I say. "We'll both have lemonades to drink."

"Got it," she smacks me with the book again. "Start behaving, Zack, or your parents are sending you to military school."

"They're going to, I get expelled!" I tell her, and she laughs, smacking me with the book again before walking off.

"You seem pretty friendly with the staff here," Jess comments, and I glare at her. "What? She kept smacking you with that thing and you didn't attack her."

"She's my martial arts instructor's daughter," I tell her. "She can kick my ass. It's one of the only restaurants my parents will let me visit."

It's the only one I 'behave' in. Mostly because her dad pushes me even harder in my martial arts lessons, and he actually scares me.

Sometimes, I think he's not human. He's freakishly strong.

"I've never eaten in a place like this before," Jess tells me.

"You'll like it," I say. "It's greasy and delicious."

"Greasy?" She makes a disgusted face.

"Yep," I grin at her. "Greasy! So what are you going to do between lunch and the amusement park?"

"Watch a wolf give birth."

She doesn't believe me.

"You don't believe me, do you?"

"Not one bit," she says. "So I'm sticking to you. And if you so much as think about losing me, I'll tell your parents."

"As long as you do exactly what I say while we're in the forest," I tell her. "We won't really have an issue."

"I'm serious."

"So am I," I tell her. "I really am going to a wolf giving birth."

She gives me a disbelieving look, but I know she'll be believing me soon enough, since it really is what I want to do.

The waitress returns a few minutes after we fall silent, setting two baskets with burgers and fries in them, and I dig in immediately, devouring it as if I'm starved. Probably because I am. I think my parents forgot that I'm a growing boy about to turn thirteen, because they aren't letting me snack between meals, and they made me wait until this to eat, even though breakfast was six hours ago.

After lunch, Jess heads into the restrooms to change and I wait at the table, the waitress clearing our baskets and drinks away.

"So you're on a date?" She asks.

"That makes more than you, right?" I ask, and she smacks me with one of the baskets. "Hey!"

"You know I'm engaged," she says. "How did you convince her to date you? Don't you scare off everyone?"

"It doesn't work on you," I grumble.

"Maybe not," she says. "So how'd you bribe her?"

"She got out of a boring party her parents are throwing."

She snorts.

"So when are you off grounding?" She asks. "My dad said you haven't been to lessons because of it."

"I dunno," I shrug. "I got hit by a truck, and he won't lighten my punishment. My father's an ass."

"Be nice," she says. "He is your father."

"Only by marriage," I mutter.

"What was that?" She asks.

"Nothing," I straighten up. "Jess is back, I have to go."

We're pushing it close for time with the birthing, too, so I make haste out of the cafe and into the forest it's near the edge of. Jess calls for me to slow down a few times, but I ignore her. If she wants to follow me, she needs to stay with me, because I really want to be there for the births. I wasn't able to see the last few.

We reach the cave from behind, as I planned, and I stop walking. Jess catches up to me, breathing heavily.

"Where are we?" She pants.

I look at her. She's soaked in sweat from the walk here, and even took off the jacket she'd put on with the outfit. It's a blouse that matches the dress from earlier, and a pair of black pants. Should've worn shorts or a skirt for this trip, Jess.

"My family's property," I answer. "We own huge tracts of land, including most of this forest. The birth's about to happen. Count to twenty, then follow me. I need to warn her that you're going to scream when you see her."

Jess snorts, but stays put, and I walk around to the front of the cave, where the wolf's laying there, about to give birth. She's the only member of her pack. Max, her husband, died recently, and the rest of her pack got sick and died. Ghost's had issues through her pregnancy, which is part of why I wanted to be here for the birth.

"Hey, Ghost," I say softly as I remove my shirt, folding it up and setting it to the side as I continue talking. "I've got a friend with me, she's going to scream when she sees you, okay?"

Ghost dips her head, acknowledging my statement, then a moment later, I hear the crunching of leaves that indicate Jess is here, followed by a scream.

"There's an actual wolf!"

"And she's starting to give birth," I say, moving forward to help if there's an issue.

Jess watches as Ghost does her best, and I make sure the pups are moved to beside Ghost as soon as they're free.

"They're going to be blind for a bit," I tell Jess once Ghost finishes giving birth, thankfully without complication. "But eventually, they're going to start seeing. Until then, they're going to be largely dependent on her."

"Where's the rest of her pack?" Jess asks. "Aren't most wolves living in packs?"

"Yeah," I answer. "Her pack's died off. Max, the alpha male, died about a month ago. There aren't any other wolves in the area, other than a lone male that lives probably an hour's wolf to the north, but he only moved that close after Max died. He'll probably take over as alpha, which Ghost will probably accept only so that there's another wolf to protect the pups."

I stand and kiss Ghost on the head, then tell her I'll be back when my grounding's up. After that, I walk to the nearby stream and wash the gunk from the birthing off of me.

"What's that?" Jess indicates what looks like a small camp around fifty feet from the stream. "I don't feel safe. What if they-"

"I ran away when I got out of the hospital," I tell Jess. "That's my camp. And since I know you're hopelessly lost, you aren't going to be able to tell anyone where it is, so it's safe."

Jess hands me my shirt, then we leave the woods, making our way to the amusement park. Her friends meet us outside of it to hand us the wristbands showing we've paid, and they look stunned that we really are together.

We spend a few hours walking around the park and enjoying the rides, and eventually, I decide to try my hand at the darts game. For a dollar, I'm given three darts to pop balloons with. The balloons range in size from fully-inflated all the way down to a partially-inflated small balloon. The darts will have an easy time popping the full balloons, but a harder time with the ones that aren't as full, due to not being stretched as thin.

To make scoring easy, the sizes of the balloons are color-coded. The smallest balloons are metallic gold, and worth one hundred points each. If I can score three hundred points, I'll earn the giant stuffed bear.

The trick to this game is to use as much force as possible. There's probably some 'better' trick, but I like my way better. I don't even need telekinesis for it, for which I'm grateful, since I don't actually have fine control over it.

It's mostly useful for blasts, like when I threw Father through the patio doors, or a projected 'push', like when I flipped the lock on the window. I was lucky I didn't break the lock or the window when I did that.

As soon as I win the teddy bear, I give it to Jess, who squeals in excitement, then we move on. I find a small arcade center, and there's a crane game near the front with a bunch of stuffed animals in it.

I put some money into the change machine to exchange them for quarters, then start putting money into the crane machine and grabbing bunnies. If something else is in my way, I move it out of the way, creating a pile of stuffed rabbits beside me.

A crowd grows as I do this, and I stop once all of the machine's rabbits are in a pile.

"You're really good at these," Jess says.

"You just have to know the tricks," I tell her, noting that she's put her jacket back on. I suppose the autumn air is a bit chilly. "Come on, Jess, let's go meet up with your friends. It's time to leave."

"Alright," she says, following. "Wait! What about the bunnies?"

"Did you want one?"

"No," she answers.

"Then I see no issue," I say. "Someone else can take the bunnies, if they want. They're free, I guess? I did it because I was bored."

Jess snorts, following me to the front of the park, where we meet her friends. They ask if we had fun and Jess tells them about how I got the bear on the first try and all the bunnies from the crane machine.

After that, we leave the park, her friends walking away to meet with their parents, and I see my father approaching.

"You know," Jess says. "When you aren't being a jerk or a bully, Zack, you're actually a really cool guy. I think Noah thinks it's a bit harder to pull that out than it really is."

Noah thinks what?

That's what they were talking about? He was pulling her into Operation Rehabilitation because of my comment about rescuing her, too! He thought that maybe getting my crush involved would help things along!

"Don't get mad at him," Jess says, and I realize that my fury was probably evident. At least she knows it's not towards her. "You did ask me out. And I liked it, Zack. Let's do it again."

She kisses me on the cheek, then walks off, humming a light song, and I'm left stunned. I mean, it was on the cheek, but she still kissed me.

A spike of bloodlust hits me, pulling me out of the shock as I realize it's aimed at me… and they're right behind me. They managed to hide themselves well, but it's just one of my classmates. He's normal. He must not realize what he did.

I start to turn to face him, only to feel something sharp stab into my back. I strike at him, my fist connecting with his throat as black spots form in my vision. I stumble a few times, punching him again before falling to the ground myself, darkness overtaking me as I hear my father shouting, his voice drawing nearer.