That night I was pretending to do homework, but in reality was actually playing a montage of all the creepy, unexplainable things this town had thrown at me. Maybe it was a mistake moving here... Maybe France wouldn't be so bad after all.

No, that was insane. I'd rather live in a mystical town where men turned into wolves than with mom and baguette-man in France.

I'd been reading the same line for about ten minutes, when my bedroom door opened and Estelle walked in. I hadn't seen her since the school lockdown. She looked serious, the happy light usually on her face replaced with a solemn, more nervous look.

"Estelle, what are you doing here?" I put my pen down.

She gave me a half smile. "It's time you knew."

Those four words made my stomach drop so hard that I wasn't sure it was even in my body anymore.

Without wanting to sound smug... I knew it. I knew it! They were all hiding something from me, a secret they were all in on. A secret I'd partially uncovered. I wondered if I'd ever be let in on it if I hadn't seen the group in the woods. Note to self - find out how I ended up in those woods as well.

"Finally," I groaned, getting up and grabbing my jacket. "I'm so sick of being in the dark."

"You may wish you stayed in the dark..." she said quietly.

"So you'll tell me everything?"

"Everything," she sighed.

She led me to her car, silent and serious. I was nervous as anything, scared even. But the fact that Estelle was in on the secret meant that it couldn't be too bad... right? I felt almost a sense of relief in knowing that everything was going to be explained.

"What's wrong?" I asked, feeding off her energy. She was acting like she was walking to her own funeral. My skin prickled slightly. Was it really that bad? I'd partially convinced myself that the wolves were either just really good costumes or a trick of light, so I wasn't so afraid anymore. Just confused about how it could possibly relate to everything.

She gave me a worried look. "I just don't want you to stop being friends with me."

"What, I would never! I mean unless you all kill people. Then I may have a small problem, but I'm sure we could work through that," I joked, trying to make her calm down. It should have been the opposite way around - I was about to find out this secret that everyone had been guarding for months and had caused me an incredible amount of pain.

She chuckled lightly, but still looked concerned.

We drove for about forty minutes, until she pulled over at the side of the road. "It's a bit of a walk."

She was right. We walked for another forty minutes, getting deeper and deeper into the forest. A sane person would have refused, based on my last two experiences with the forest. But I was too drawn into finding out this secret that I managed to shrug off my fears.

I couldn't quite shrug off the feeling that nothing was ever going to be the same after whatever Estelle was going to tell or show me.

We finally came to a clearing, similar to but different to the one I'd come across the other night. It did, however, have the same people in it. But no fire, which was somewhat of a relief. I slowed slightly as I saw the group of people watching us approach. There were about ten people, all of whom I recognised. Thomas smiled at me from the group, but also looked very nervous.

You'd think these people were going to admit to murder. Maybe this wasn't safe.

Levi stood slightly in front of the group, his face blank, watching me closely.

We reached the clearing, and I stopped about 20 feet away from everyone, suddenly feeling scared. Estelle squeezed my hand, offering me a small smile.

No one said anything - the tension was thick and I couldn't help but feel like they were all bracing themselves for me to freak out.

Eventually, Levi cleared his throat and walked towards us, standing a few feet away.

"Thank you for coming."

I nodded, remembering that I was trying to stay far away from him.

"If at any point you want to leave, Estelle will take you back home, okay?"

"Uh okay," I gave them both a weird look.

"What I'm about to show you is what we've been keeping from you. It explains everything. I'm sorry we couldn't tell you, but it's a ... unique situation. Unprecedented." Levi spoke slowly, almost pained. That annoying part of me wanted to reach out and comfort him, but I resisted.

"I know what you saw in the woods the other day. I'm sorry you had to see that, it was unexpected and must have scared you," he continued. "But you have to know that it isn't something to be afraid of. Do you remember the bonfire, all the myths that man was telling?"

I nodded slowly, my heart picking up. "They're all true. We descend from mythical creatures, werewolves - no one knows why and no one knows how. But that's what we are. Most of this town is."

If I hadn't had literally seen it with my own eyes, I would have laughed, screamed and then ran. But instead, I stood there in shock. While I'd managed to convince myself that what I saw wasn't true, here Levi was telling me to my face that the world was nothing that I knew.

"You..." I managed to get out, then turned to Estelle, "and you?"

They nodded, Estelle looking at me with big, worried eyes. I frowned, struggling to take it all in. "But... I can't... What?"

"I know. It's hard to understand. Our tribe - our village - we protect everyone in the area. We are very strong, and you are safe here. No one would ever hurt a human, especially you." Levi remained calm, but I could tell he was struggling. I was also struggling, to keep my breathing in check. I took a few deep breaths, and took a few steps away, pulling myself together.

"That sounds insane," I laughed, almost hysterically. Estelle and Levi exchanged a look. I'm sure I looked insane. I couldn't help it, sometimes I laughed when I was nervous.

"Is it too much?" Estelle asked, wavering slightly.

I nodded, then shook my head. "No. Yes. Kind of. I just don't understand how this explains everything. And how do I know you're being serious? I could have seen anything the other night."

They exchanged another look. "Do you want to see?" Levi asked in a low voice, almost afraid to hear the answer. A part of me wanted to run screaming, but for some insane reason, another part of me was keeping calm, and felt like Levi wanted me to approve or something.

"Um. Okay," I squeaked.

Estelle shook her head. "Don't overwhelm her."

"No. I want to see. It'll help me process." I didn't know if that was the best idea or not, but I was following my gut.

She led me closer to the group of people, who'd been respectfully staying out of our conversation. They looked slightly more relaxed now, probably feeling more confident that I wasn't going to go batshit crazy. There was still a bit of trepidation though, and I'm sure I looked much worse.

Levi and Estelle stood on either side of me, and my heart picked up. "Remember, just say the word and you leave, okay?"

I nodded. "I'm okay." He gave me a long look, before nodding towards the group.

I wrapped my arms around my waist, bracing myself. The boys cleared a space, and removed their shirts.

"Ready to see something amazing Parker?" Thomas yelled happily. He seemed to be the only one genuinely happy to be there. Levi and Estelle inhaled sharply, but I chuckled.

"Impress me," I joked back, surprising myself with how calm I sounded.

He laughed, took a few steps back then broke into a sprint. It happened exactly the same as how I'd seen it the other day, except up close it was a lot more.... Majestic. Maybe it was the fact that the crippling fear wasn't there, and part of me felt like I was in some kind of surreal dream, but it was definitely a sight worth beholding.

When Thomas jumped into the air, it almost looked like it was slow motion, yet it was in one movement that his body twisted and simply changed. There was no other way to describe it.

I gasped and took a tiny step back out of shock as a massive wolf landed where Thomas once was. Every fibre in my body was telling me that this wasn't possible, but here I was, seeing it up close with my own eyes.

The grey wolf knelt, as if to bow.

Levi and Estelle were trained on my face, which seemed to be frozen in shock. I met their eyes, swallowed and looked back at Thomas.

It was amazing. I couldn't find any other words for it. The fear I'd felt was gone, replaced with amazement. This is literally impossible, and here I am witnessing it!

Which is why I couldn't help the small smile that pushed my lips up. I breathed an amazed laugh, and shook my head.

Levi looked as though twenty tonnes of worry had lifted off his shoulders, and a small smile played on his lips too.

"That's.... Incredible," I breathed, taking a step forward. "Can he... is he, like.... Can he understand..."

The wolf nodded it's big head. "Yes, no thought processes change - he's still who he is, just in a different physical form," Levi answered.

I turned to look at Levi, who was watching me with his own sort of amazement. I suddenly felt excited, so reasons that i couldn't understand.

"Can... can you?" I asked, nervously. The guys laughed, and even Estelle giggled a little. The tension began to fall, and I was feeling more and more curious.

Levi looked surprised, but a bit more concern filled his eyes. "Are you sure you want to see that?"

I thought about it for a moment. "Yes, please."