We enter into a grey room with a dark red accent wall, and I am immediately captured by the art that is splayed against the walls. Such bright colors moving into forms of women, animals, entire forests. One particularly catches my eye from across the room, and I walk over to see what it is. It's a very detailed portrait of a lioness. Somehow, the portrait captures her essence of grace and beauty, while still making her seem intimidating. She's the most breathtaking creature Ive ever seen.

"It's a cool painting, huh? Harry did it himself, that man is a magician I swear. I aspire to make something with this much passion and feeling behind it some day. It's like if the lioness were to come out of the wall right now, no one would be fazed. Shes already so present and she's not even real." Jaxon muses from beside me. I nod, studying every form and line to try and find an imperfection to tell me that its art and not just a photo.

"Ooh. Pretty picture. Ya'll ready?" Sym asks from behind us, causing me to jump. She laughs and puts a hand on my shoulder. "You good?"

"Yeah just got a little lost there for a second." I rub my forehead, smiling. I turn and see that Sym has lost her shirt and is now just wearing a thin paper mask like material to cover her breasts. "Oh."

"Yeah. Harry said that guys who come in here dont know how NOT to stare, and though I said it was fine, that I didnt mind, he was like 'Well I mind, and if someone doesnt know how to move on I end up swearing at them about how disrespectful theyre being and thats bad for business so I cover my ladies up for their privacy', and honestly, you know we stan that." She laughs. That's cool that he'd fight other men on behalf of the girls being harassed.

"Symali, are you ready?" A man asks, popping his head out of a back area. "I'm finished scanning the image through onto the stencil."

"Coming!" Sym perks up excitedly at his words before walking, or rather, skipping her way over. She seems really excited for this. I slowly make my way over, not wanting to get in the way but still wanting to see. I watch as the man, presumably Harry, slowly applies the stencil to Syms ribcage, smoothing it out to prevent any bubbles, and wetting it like it was one of those temporary tattoos that you can get from those little kid vending machines. He peels it off and a bright blue stencil of a D20 peels off on Symalis skin.

"Alright, so we just gotta give that a minute to dry, then we can get started. If you need me, Ill be out back having a smoke." Harry smiles kindly and Sym nods. As hes walking away I notice how big Harry is. He's probably about 6'3, and built like a pro wrestler. He has a long salt and pepper braid going down all the way to his lower back, and has a gray scruffle for facial hair. He wears wire rimmed glasses and looks like he could be about 50. I notice hes wearing a plain grey tee and some jeans with some nondescript black boots. He's a lot less... Tattooed than I thought he would be, considering he owns a parlor. He has one visible tattoo on his forearm of a really detailed moon, and thats it.

The parlor is relatively empty, save for a man getting a ship on stormy seas done on his chest. The man doing his tattoo looks a lot more of what I imagined a tattoo artist to look like. Cargo shorts, black tank and some converse, and he is tatted all over his body. Down his arms and his legs, and Im sure his back and chest are just as filled. He has a black buzzcut and huge filled gauges.

After a few minutes of us lounging about, Harry returns, drying his hands on a paper towel before tossing it in a no-touch trash can. He dons a pair of blue non-latex gloves and begins to disinfect everything, and I mean everything. He wipes down the table/seat Sym will be laying on, his working table, all of his handles on his equipment, before covering all of it in plastic wrap. I thought tattoo parlors were these grungy, smokey places with gruffled scary looking men and women, but I couldnt be more wrong. The place is bright and smells clean, vaguely of disinfectant, and Harry has a picture of him with his two kids for Goddesses sake. I see Harry then throw out the gloves he was just wearing to prep everything, put on a new set of gloves, and begin prepping his needle and ink before placing them on a fresh paper towel. Watching him methodically prep his station was weirdly fascinating. I guess I never realized how much work goes into someone getting a tattoo before ink was ever even thought of.

Harry gestures for Sym to lay down on her side, facing him with one arm above her head, and he tells his Alexa to go up in volume a little bit before setting in to work.

"Motherfucker I didnt think it would hurt that bad." Sym says, holding her arm up as Harry applies cooling gel and plastic wrap to the outline of her tattoo.

"Yeah. You chose one of the most painful parts of the body, and numbing cream can only do so much." Harry laughs. "But you sat really well. Good idea with bringing the hard candies to bite down on."

"That did look super painful." I offer my sympathy and she responds with a wry smile.

"Truly not all that bad, just the hard shading lines are killer. Anyways. Daniel, you wanted to get your piercing today too right?" Sym asks, finally being able to put her arm down but flinching and raising it back up.

"Yeah."

"My guy Zig should be here in a few minutes. Says he got caught behind an accident. Sorry 'bout the wait." Harry says, checking his phone.

"No worries. He gets here when he gets here, I dont mind waiting. Tell him to make sure he gets here safe, not to rush because of me." Daniel smiles and I wonder how he can be so at ease all the time.

"Man I wish I had your patience Daniel." Jaxon says from one of the couches where he's doodling.

"Yeah, me too. Goddess knows I could use it when it comes to Blake." I laugh mentally, joining Jaxon on the couches. Sym, Trinidee and Daniel all walk over with us, Daniels face suddenly dangerous.

"Is that asshole still bothering you?" He asks, anger lacing his tone. So much for being at ease all the time I guess. "I told him to leave you alone."

"What? When? And I mean, I guess. He keeps trying to talk to me during class but he's not being more of an asshole than usual. The hell do you mean you told him to leave me alone?"

"Oh? Nobody told you? At the party when you got drunk, after Daniel dropped you off to sleep he basically ripped Blakes asshole out through his throat. Definitely my favorite Daniel moment so far." Trinidee says, patting Daniel on the back in the 'way-to-go-champ!' fashion. Daniel just rolls his eyes.

"You'd think he'd get the picture by now." Symali cuts in, looking annoyed as she picks at her nails, her one arm still floating above her.

"You'd think s-"

I'm cut off by the doors bell ringing behind us. I turn to see a frazzled looking young man.

"Hey! Sorry Im late, are you Dan- Dove?" He looks over at us, his apologetic smile coming to a close as we meet eyes. Do I know him? He looks kind of familar, but the names not right.

"Yeah, I'm Daniel." Daniel stands up and walks between us to shake his hand, and I hear a giggle from behind me.

"He's really cute. Don't be shy Dove. Introduce us to your friend." I hear Trinidees voice bounce through my head and I look back at her, rolling my eyes.

"I dont know him."

"Well maybe you would want to." I can hear her giggle out loud as she speaks.

I turn back to see Daniel and Zig hugging. Do they know each other? I don't think I've ever seen Daniel hug someone before, much less someone he just met.

"Its good to see you man, you've grown up a lot." Zig admires, and Daniel laughs.

"You're one to talk! Not scrawny little Andrew from third grade anymore." Daniel teases and thumps Zig on the shoulder. Wait. Andrew? Why does that sound so familiar?

~*Flashback to First Grade*~

"I'm sorry I made you fall Andrew!" I apologize, guilty tears starting to fall as I hand him the Elmo bandaid I got for his knee.

"It's okay Dovey! You were so fast I tripped 'cause I couldn't tag you! Will you teach me to run that fast too?!" He asks me, his eyes sparkling.

"Yeah! It's easy!" I agree, wiping my face with my sleeve.

"We're best friends now, okay?" He exclaims while hopping up, his scraped knee forgotten, and I feel my chest get warm.

"Yeah! I've never had a best friend before!" Andrew grabs my hand.

"We'll be best friends forever and ever!"

"Promise?"

"Pinky promise!"

~*Current Day*~

Oh God, how could I forget? I go to call out to Andrew, feeling my eyes sting when I remember I can't. Instead I simply stand up and start walking over. He meets me halfway and all of a sudden I find myself swooped up into a hug, my feet barely scraping the floor as he twirls us.

"How have you been? I thought I'd never see you again after I moved! How's Leo? And your parents! Does your mom still make those wicked good cinnamon rolls?" He puts me down, searching my face for some kind of response, my heart panging at the mention of my parents. I see a hand come between us as Daniel puts his hand on Andrews chest.

"We'll explain all of that later, let's get my ear done first though." Daniel suggests softly and Andrew nods, the realization that not everything is okay to talk about right now apparent on his face.

Andrew quickly sits down and preps his station, being even more thorough with his cleaning than than Harry was. I watched closely as he dons a pair of black non latex gloves and gets the needle ready to put through the top of Daniel's ear.

"Does it hurt?" I asked as I watched the needle cleanly slide through his ear.

"Not as much as you might think." He smiles nonchalantly, but I can see his knuckles turning white from squeezing the chair. I place my hand on top of his in support.

"Daniel you sly dog, is that why you've been so protective?" Andrew muses, a shadow of a smirk playing on his lips.

"What are you talking about?" Daniel asks, visibly confused.

"I didn't mean to touch your girl, man." Andrews smirk is in full force now, "Though I never took you as the jealous type."

I feel my face flush and pull my hand away, Daniels face three different shades of red. I can hear Sym dying of laughter behind us as Daniel clears his throat.

"We're not dating." Daniel states definitively.

"Well why not? You obviously enjoy each other's company, and people only blush like that when attraction is present. Doves grown up to be quite the girl, and assuming that she hasn't thrown away her winning personality, she won't be on the market for long. Better get on that, Prince Charming, before someone else does. And with that, we're done." Andrew finishes with Daniels bar, and smiles innocently at us.

This is it. I'm going to die of mortification.

"Zig, Andrew, whatever your name is, I like you." Sym declares, slinging her good arm around his shoulder, "This man speaks for the people."

Okay, I was being dramatic before. NOW I'm gonna die.

Daniel has resorted to covering his face with his hands, and Drew is looking at both of us like he's confused as to why we're freaking out.

"Uh, you too..? Who are you again?"

"That's Sym. That's Trinidee. Trinidee thinks you're hot." Daniel States in a short tone. I really hope he's not mad, he sounded irritated. I searched around in my bag for my trusty whiteboard.

"If you we're trying to embarass me, you failed. I would've told him he was hot anyway." Trinidee says loudly, and I fight back a chortle. That's Trinidee for you, honest as always.

"You flatter me, Trinidee. It's not every day a pretty girl says you're hot."

"D'aw. You're sweet. Definitely keeping you around." Drew laughs at Trinidees declaration.

"Only if Dove'll have m- huh?" Drew finally notices me poking him.

"Andrew, Daniel doesnt think of me like that so dont tease him too much, okay?" I plead him with my eyes and his face twists into such a confused look its almost funny.

"Dove, whats the matter? Did you lose your voice or something?" He asks and suddenly his eyes shoot to my throat and get stuck there. Suddenly his eyes turn dark. "Who-"

"Alright Champ, time to go! Hey, we're stealing your Zig for a while." Sym grins at Harry and he waves dismissively, not looking up from his paperwork.

"That was his only appointment today, so have fun."

We all but drag Andrew outside, and he's looking angrier by the second.

"Alright. Someone just needs to explain what the fuck happened while I was gone right now." Andrew says through clenched teeth and I try to give him a thumbs-up to show that I'm okay.

"She crashed in a motorcycle accident." Symali explains, unlocking her car.

"Then who was the driver?" He asks, calming slightly.

"She was." Jaxon pipes up, startling me. I forgot he was here. "I'm Jaxon."

"I know who you are. You're one of Blake's lackeys from school." Drew scowls at Jaxon, " and bullshit, Dove wouldn't be so careless." I can see all the hairs on Drews arms standing on end.

"It's not going to be easy to lie to him guys. He and Dove were best friends for years until he moved." Daniel cuts in with an explanation through mind link.

"We could just tell him. We would need my dad's permission first." Symali says like revealing that were werewolves wont just break his mind. "Besides, he doesn't even smell human so I'm sure it'd be fine."

I freeze for a second, actually taking the time to smell Andrew. She's right, he doesn't smell human. At least, not completely human. I guess we were all so busy catching up and the smell of disinfectant was so strong that we didn't notice.

"I think we need to go for a drive." Daniel says out loud and Andrews eyes soften.

"Yeah. I agree."

"We're not all gonna fit in the same car." Jaxon points out.

"That's fine, I have my car, but Dove rides with me." Andrew slings one of his arms over my shoulder protectively.

"I'm sorry but I cant let that happen." Symali states in so low of a voice I almost didnt believe she was the one who said it.

"Well until I find out who tried to kill Dove, I don't exactly trust her in your care." Andrews arm tightens around me as he and Sym have an intense staredown.

"Well I have a solution. I'll go with Andrew and Dove. You trust me, don't you Sym?" Daniel steps inbetween the glaring.

"More than most. Fine. Keep her safe or I'll have your head." She threatens but he just waves her off.

"Yeah yeah. We both know you love me too much to kill me. Calm down and just get to the clearing." Daniel teases from over his shoulder and Sym relaxes a bit. We say our goodbyes and follow Andrew to his car. He unlocks a bright orange Camaro with white stripes.

"Dude. Nice car. Here you go Dove." Daniel opens the door for me as be fawns over the car. I sign 'thanks' to him I but dont think he was paying attention. I crawl into the front seat and buckle up. Daniel gets in behind Andrew so I can see him.

"So are you going to tell me who did this?" Andrew asks, his anger fading slightly.

"Please, just wait a little longer. At least until we're out of the city. Besides, we're not the only ones with explaining to do." Daniel says quietly, watching the scenery pass out the window. I turn to my window and do the same, my nerves starting to build up. Who has Andrew become? Or moreover, what has he become? I know he was definitely human when we were kids, he reeked of it.

"I remember that my mom told me why humans smell different when I was a kid because 'it's not nice to call Drew stinky'" I mindlink and Daniel starts laughing.

"Whatre yall laughing at?" Drew asks, obviously missing out on the joke.

"Oh, Dove was just telling me that she remembers calling you 'Stinky' when we were kids." Daniel says and Andrew chuckles.

"Oh God, I forgot about that. I don't still stink now do I?" Drew grins at me, the sparkle back in his eyes. I give him the gesture of 'a little' and he feigns hurt.

"Oh Dove! How you wound me!" He calls out loudly and I fight back laughter. It's nice to know that Andrew as a person is still the same, just something has changed. I look back at Daniel and can tell we're thinking the same thing.