Mercy's POV

"Can we go home now?"

"No."

"Now?"

"Shut up!"

I was in the middle of trying to make one of the guards patrolling go crazy, this conversation had been going on for an hour so far.  As far as hours go, I think we had been in the heart of the Fright Zone for at least twelve hours.  It was just one of those internal clocks, I guess.

Senna and Nieta were taking turns making faces and making loud sounds that grew to be very irritable to the guards.  We would sing songs loudly, testing the limits of our captors.  I pressed my face to the force field and puffed up my cheeks.  The guards were trying not to pay attention to us but that clearly wasn't working.

"Hydrogen, Helium, Lithium, Beryllium, Boron, Carbon everywhere, Nitrogen all through the air!" Senna sang the first seven elements of the periodic table aloud, and Nieta slapped a beat on the metal floor. "Oxygen so you can breathe, Florine for your pretty teeth!"

I was even irritated with myself, but then again, that was sort of the point.

"Would you shut your mouth already?" One of the guards snapped, and I recognized his voice.  This was the guard who's gun I previously had in my mouth.  You remember, when I was such a blooming idiot, putting a real gun nozzle between my teeth.

"Leslie, darling. How are you?" I smirked. This of course was not his name, but it would be irritating for any guy to be called Leslie by an eighteen-year-old who was rubbing her face on a transparent force field.

"You told her your name was Leslie?" The second guard chortled, and the guard I called Leslie whirled on him.

"Of course not!"

"Aw, Leslie.  It's such a pretty name." I said, sticking out my bottom lip and leaning back.

There was the newly familiar sound of mechanical whirling, coming from bellow, and I looked out over the edge as Shadow Weaver appeared, three new soldiers at her side.  The two at our cells jerked up at attention and looked dead ahead at nothing in particular.  Shadow Weaver scrutinized our casual position on the floor of our cells.

"Would you accompany me, young ladies?" She asked, sounding cool and laid back.

The shield melted away and I stood up before the guards could step into my cell, and I obediently held out my hands as the opened a pair of new looking cuffs, smooth and modern looking, a metal coated cords connected to another set of the same cuffs, each about three feet apart.  They clipped onto my hands, feeling smooth, even if they were a little tight. 

I stepped out and walked towards Nieta who was connected to the cuffs on the other side of the metal cord, and Senna was attached to the third pair off cuffs on the other end of the second section of the cord.

We were loaded onto the small platform which bobbed a little under the weight. We were backed on one wend with the guards between us and Shadow Weaver.  I felt the rush of anxiety as we were lowered through the air and connected with the hub again.  I got off the small platform as quickly as possible and I savored the small adrenaline rush.

Shape shifting was harder than it looks, and movies often get it horribly wrong.  Some people expect we just magically turn into wolves, but in reality, it is a much more painful and intriguing process.  It is impossible to gain mass, and we don't gain mass.  We have our mass, packed into our bodies.  We have fifty percent more bones than regular people, and muscle is doubled in quantity; which makes it possible for us to complete inhuman feats, such as jumping up to thirty feet horizontally, and around twelve feet high with a good running start.

We were herded along the corridors and hallways past training rooms and outdoor sparing areas.  We received strange looks from younger people and taunts from teens.

"Go back to Valor witches!" One boy taunted, and I glared over at him, lips curling up and my fangs elongated and sharpened a little, making the boy shut his trap and stare.

We were moved past sparse window peering out into the Fright Zone.  It was dark, even though it should have been a little closer to the afternoon, the smoke, and clouds completely blocking out the sky we were all so familiar with.  There was no sign of the moons of enchantment or the sun.  There was nothing but metal towers and people bent on making the rest of the world like this.

"I miss Nisha." I whispered, my head down.  I met Nieta's eyes first then Senna's, both conveying sympathy through their eyes.

The most treasured possessions to Wolves are our eyes, it's the one thing we keep from our human body on the outside.  The color and emotion in these eyes never change, you could never forget someone's eyes, a blessing, and a curse.  I remembered my dad's eyes, they were Black like mine, with hidden hints of russet brown and even auburn hues.  Mom told me I had his eyes, but no matter how hard I looked at them in my reflection in the mirror, I could only my eyes, nothing of my father hidden there.

We rounded six different corners, and headed straight, up, and down in the maze of buildings, even walking across the mesh-wire sky walkways.  I didn't mind the height.  I was too busy thinking of how frantic Nisha would be.  He would be running around the forest looking for me. Maybe he found the blood on the rocks at the springs.  I could see him tearing through the trees, eyes wide and frantic.  I hated myself for the worry I was undoubtedly causing him.  Nisha had been nothing than good to me, like a second father, he loved me when my parents were no longer there to ask him to love me.

I looked up, biting back the anger in my throat I walked a little quicker, trying to step prouder.  I could feel a similar control in Senna and Nieta, the same anger and longing for family. We had always craved adventure, but I don't think we ever dreamed of it being so far from home.  My head had stopped bleeding a while, and was scabbing over, and my hair was matted.

We were steered to what looked like a locker room, two rows of lockers, benches, a punching bag, and showers on the back wall.  The doorway leaning into this room was marked with a female symbol on a panel outside siding metal doors.

We walked into the room and the guards left, leaving us with Shadow Weaver.

She walked over to a cardboard box on a small bench in the middle of the room.  She stood next to it and beckoned to us.  I hesitantly shuffled forward, shielding Nieta in case it wasn't safe.  And to my surprise, the clothes she held up were very... safe looking.  They were similar to the uniforms the teens and children wore.  Grey and white shirts made of a material that was breathable and probably made to last under prolonged active stress.

"These are for you.  It is compromising is it no? To be here in only bathing suits." She was right about this.  We wore white under clothes, an once piece swimsuit, white with itchy twine straps, and they looked very dirty. Mine was stained with blood on the back and covered with dirt.

She laid out the clothes, the three shirts all in identical styles, and black pants, made for running no doubt, but I doubted we'd do much running here.

Shadow Weaver introduced us to the showers, and we were placed in stalls all next to each other.  Our cuffs had been removed so we could bathe and get dressed.

We had never used a shower in our primitive lives.  We bathed in natural hot springs, which sounds a lot more luxurious than a shower.  I cocked my head at the nozzle above me, and I inspected the handle.  It was two little levers as knobs with a screw painted blue on one and red on the other.

I kept my bathing suit on, as we usually did, I reached for one of the knobs and switched on the knob with the screw painted red.  I heard a rush of water and looked around as the nozzle shuddered and spat out warm water onto my face.  I started and pressed my back against the stall door.

I heard similar shuddering sounds from the stall next to me and Senna yelped. "Cold!"

"Which one did you press?" I asked tentatively stepping into the stream of water. "Blue or red?"

"Blue." Senna breathed, and I heard the nozzle splutter in the next stall over. "That's better." Senna informed me and sighed.

It smelled like water and felt like water.  So, I think it was safe to say, that it was water.   I realized then how thirsty I was, and opened my mouth, letting the warm water wash down my throat.  I relaxed a bit, and turned my body to face the door, pulling my head back so I could wash the blood out of my hair.  The cut at the back of my head stung, but I waited it out, feeling my hair.

I saw the stain of fresh blood and clumps of dried blood wash down the drain, and my swimsuit took on a brownish pink stain.  I let the warm water wash my face and I imagined the warm summer rains back home.  I remembered the squelch of mud under my feet and the adrenaline rush as we played games outdoors in the downpour, the houses bordered with rain stones, so no water got into the dens, and covered with a tarp.   I remembered playing in the mud, rolling around, throwing clumps off the stuff at Senna and Nieta, singing loudly with joy.

When I opened my eyes, I was met with the face of the shower nozzle, and I felt the sense of nostalgia fade away.  The water shut off abruptly, and I looked around seeing smoky tendrils peaking under the door, and Shadow Weaver placed a towel over the stall door.

I took the towel and dried off my body, discarding my clothes, and took the ones Shadow Weaver handed me over the door.  There was even a pair of high wasted underwear and a sports bra.

After drying off, I wrapped the towel around my head, tentatively pressing the cloth into the back of my head, touching the cut.  When I had secured the towel around my head, I slid the clothes on over my body and tentatively opened the stall door.  I stepped out into the open, hearing Senna and Nieta getting dressed.  Shadow Weaver had taken our swimsuits and placed them on the bench beside the box.

I stood protectively outside Senna and Nieta's doors, and when they came out, we looked at each other.  We didn't look like we spent our lives in the mountains, we looked like we were one of them.  I was immediately filled with hatred for these clothes, and I almost wished I had stayed in my dirty swimsuit.

Shadow Weaver dipped her hands back into the box drawing out three muzzles.  They were made with leather and iron mesh over where our mouths would be. I got into a defensive position.  I would not let them contain me like a wild animal.  I was indeed wild, but I would not be caged.

"It's either this, or this." Shadow Weaver informed us calmly, holding up a chain like collar with angled metal wires, not sharp but, if one would pull on the cord attached it would feel like they were.

I relaxed my body a little.  I would not let my own anger punish us all.  I tilted my chin up and held out my hands for the cuffs.  The white eyes on her mask turned to slits, and she moved towards us...