The next morning, Nathan stepped out onto the front porch of his Grandparents' house, finishing a piece of toast to free his hand and get it through the final sleeve of his hoodie. He and Kaiden clearly hadn't been what their grandfather had expected to see rolling up the long gravel drive when he went for his Saturday paper, but he'd been happy to see them nonetheless. Their grandmother had insisted on feeding them, and since the motel had no offerings for breakfast, they'd been quick to accept a decent meal.

He took in the view of the town down the hill, most of which was blanketed in the early morning fog that had settled across it. His eyes narrowed a bit in thought before the front door opened and Kaid's heavy footfalls broke the silence. The older boy passed Nate as he headed towards his truck.

"You comin'?" Kaiden called to his cousin from the other side of the vehicle. With a sigh, Nate abandoned his vantage point on the porch to join him.

They'd made it halfway to the town without Nate saying a word before Kaiden decided Nate's silence didn't sit well with him. He turned down the radio until the volume was so low that it might as well have been off.

"Alright...I'll bite, what's wrong?" Kaiden wondered, receiving a soft snort in response.

"I wanna run..." the younger boy said with a small, mischievous smirk.

Kaiden's smile faltered slightly. "You know what Travis said...We aren't allowed until he and the others get here." Kaiden knew that would hardly stop Nate if it was something he was set on doing, though.

"How's he even gonna know? He's just flexing his power because he can," Nate speculated with a tone of disgust.

"Isn't that what being Alpha is all about?"

"No, being Alpha is about doing what's best for the pack...not sticking to old, dead traditions just because our ancestors did," Nate grumbled. "A leader who leads us in circles is no leader."

"Well, he is still in charge, like it or not," Kaiden pointed out, as they pulled into the gas station.

Nate pulled off his hoodie tossing it behind his seat. He could already tell that it would be too hot for it today. Kaiden could feel the heat rising as well. Werewolves always ran a little warmer than their human counterparts for some reason, and unfortunately his old truck didn't have a reliable air conditioning unit.

"Hey, isn't there a river around here?" Kaiden asked while he waited for the gas pump to finish.

"Yeah, why?" Nate asked, as Kaiden disappeared to put the nozzle back and close the gas cap.

"Maybe some rules are meant to be broken," Kaiden suggested when he got back into the truck flashing his cousin a small smirk.

Irene and Jobe Gibson's land was on the edge between the town and a state park, not far from the river that cut across Aspenview. The park had a simple setup with parking, a covered picnic table area, and trails down to the river with a few benches scattered around.

Kaiden and Nate got out and started to walk away from all the amenities up the river. They looked for a place further from where people were likely to gather, and after a while, they'd found a spot free of any signs of humans. It was overgrown, with the only sounds coming from birds and the slow rush of the river a few feet away.

Nate was the first to shift, and it was fast. A single blink and the punkish boy was replaced by a black wolf bounding off towards the water. Kaiden smiled and shook his head. Not wanting to be left behind, he shifted and followed.

The two black wolves hit the cool mountain water with a splash, darting across the stream to the other bank and then up into the trees. They spent the rest of the day patrolling their little patch of river, dodging the occasional jogger or bicycler, and wrestling in the water. When they had worn themselves out around noon, they found a cozy bunch of bushes and trees to nap under.

They'd probably slept a little longer than they'd intended to, though, because it was sundown when Kaiden lifted his head. He nudged his cousin awake with his nose and the two of them began to head back. Even as it had started to get dark, they didn't have a problem finding their way with their sense of smell. But it was Kaiden's hearing that made him pause as they neared the park grounds.

He could hear music and people. A lot of people. Nate caught the scent of alcohol on the wind and the two of them shifted back before they went any further down the trail. When they reached the picnic area, they found what looked like an entire party. The parking lot was full, and people that looked mostly around their age were everywhere. Some were in bathing suits heading down for an evening swim, others were gathered around the picnic area where there was an assortment of chips, hot dogs, burgers, and of course, drinks.

Having not eaten since breakfast, the two cousins exchanged a glance.

"You hungry?" Kaiden asked.

"Starving," Nate replied.

Kaiden was sure, given the size of the party, that he and Nate could just slip in and get some food as long as they acted like they were supposed to be there. He led the way over to the table, and before Nate knew it, Kaiden had struck up a conversation with three girls and a guy at one of the tables. He explained that he and Nate were from out of town, and were visiting family nearby.

A few minutes later, Kaiden was exchanging funny stories and talking about some local concerts. While he worked the crowd, Nate loaded down a few plates for them. Mission successful.

Since he hadn't ended up going yesterday like he'd planned, Sean spent the majority of his Saturday poking around the grimoires tucked away in the 'spiritual' section of the Book Barn—a used book store stuffed to the brim with an eclectic hoard of second-hand literature on Mainstreet. Trevor had bailed to go do something 'less boring' after getting all the attention he could soak up out of the book club ladies, leaving Sean alone in his search.

He was convinced that there had to be something, somewhere to help sort out Trevor's situation... something different from the ritual he'd performed to get Trev's spirit into Trouble's body in the first place. He couldn't use that method again. Sean knew he wouldn't be able to bear it.

So, every couple of weeks he'd come to the Book Barn to see if Mrs. Bell had gotten in any new grimoires. They weren't common, and there was always something that felt distinctly lonely about each one he came across. Detached from the witches that wrote them, either by age or circumstance, thumbing through their pages was like looking through a witch's family photo album or recipe cards... They'd all been very personal and private to someone at one point. But now they sat on shelves where virtually anyone could come and pick them up, and giggle at them as 'hokey occult novelties'.

After reading through a few of the grimoires multiple times, he snapped some pictures of a page or two and headed home.

His phone had stayed uncharacteristically quiet until late that evening when, sure enough, he got a text from Jesse asking how he was doing and if he wanted to go to the party tonight. Sean didn't respond.

He knew if he did, he'd want to apologize. Then Jesse would probably lightheartedly ask if he was sorry enough to reconsider their split... Then he would waffle, go back to Jesse, and just end up hurting him again. He didn't want that.

After getting changed for bed, he opened the window beside his nightstand. The screen on it popped out easily as the jingle of a cat collar gave away the approaching tabby. Sean had taken that screen out so many times to allow Trevor to come and go, that he was surprised it even still sat in the window frame right.

"Hey, Trev," Sean greeted as he sat the screen down against the side of his nightstand.

Trevor perched on the windowsill. "Mood, Bro," the cat commented, observing Sean in his sleep clothes already watching him as he moved towards his bed.

"Should I have broken up with Jesse?" Sean asked, guilt swelling in his chest. It wasn't that Jesse was a bad person or a bad boyfriend.

He was loving, attentive...even if a little overly so. But Sean still didn't feel any more attached to him than he had when they first started dating. If anything, he felt more apathetic, and that didn't seem right. When he glanced up at the tabby, its back rose.

"Hell, man, I don't know," Trevor replied before padding over to the laundry basket in the corner of the room.

Sean watched his friend kneading his spent clothes and towels. "Dude, that's weird..."

"It's only weird if you make it weird." The cat stretched, yawning before curling up.

"Hn." Sean stopped just short of his bed.

In the few times he hadn't been stressing over Jesse, the Gibsons still kept popping up in his thoughts, and he was actually starting to wonder if there wasn't something behind it. His grandmother often told him and his cousin that when things repeated, there was a reason. Kneeling down, Sean pulled out an old Converse shoebox from under his bed.

He noticed Trevor's head perk up as he pulled off the dusty lid to expose its contents and fish out some of what he'd need; a candle, one of the smudge sticks he'd made with his aunt, and just for kicks, the faded, embroidered altar cloth to set them on. He had plenty of newer instruments, all readily available on the altar in his room. But this stuff had more history, and he was in a 'nostalgia' kinda mood.

"Whatchya gonna do?" Trevor wondered as he flopped onto his side across the delicate gold stitching adorning the deep navy fabric.

"I wanna see something," Sean replied as he shooed Trevor off the cloth and pulled out a polished sphere of obsidian that fit comfortably in his grasp.