Chapter 3

(Chapter song ‘Teenagers' by My Chemical Romance)

QUINN I sit slumped in the chair in front of Mr. Drenners desk.

My parents are on either side of me. My dad is analyzing the shit out of me and it’s pissing me off.

“Stop looking at me.” I grumble without looking at him.

“We are terribly sorry for Quinten’s behavior, Mr. Drenner. Honestly, we don’t know what’s gotten into him.” My mother’s head turns to me as I bite the inside of my lip.

“He’s not normally like this.” My dad adds. “This is all new territory for us.”

“Quinn. Do you have something to say?” Mr. Drenner asks.

“No.” I look down at my shirt.

I glance at him as he leans on his desk.

“Quinten. We understand this change you went through might be confusing and troubling, but lashing out isn’t the answer.” Mr. Drenner says in a deep voice. He’s trying to council me, but I see through is bullshit.

“It’s not lashing out, Drenner. You’re just pissed I won’t fit into your little institution here and I won’t sit and listen to the precious curriculum meant to dumb down the population, so government murder machines, like the Alliance, can indoctrinate the masses without question.” I sit up and arch a brow.

“QUINTEN!!” Both my parents yell.

I slump back in my chair. “What? It’s true.” I grumble.

My dad rubs his forehead. “Uh…Quinn. Where did you learn that?”

“It doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is that I refuse to submit to barely minimum education standards.” I roll my eye to him.

Mr. Drenner looks at my parents. “He’s six?”

My mother takes a deep breath. “He was when I left him this morning? Quinten?”

“Can I just go home?” I whine.

“No. Young man, you’re apologizing ta Mr. Drenner and Miss Franks.” My dad points at me.

“Quinn, we raised you better than this.” My mother says.

I whip my head to her, my angry eyes scanning her face and body. “You never raised me. A one terabyte hard drive did. A simple computer told me everything I need to know. I don’t give you any credit, mom.” My snark fired straight to her heart. I knew it would hurt, but she needed to hear it.

“Quinn…” Her face falls as her eyes study my angry face.

“Quinten Preston! You apologize to your mother right now!” My dad sits at the edge of his seat and glares at me.

I shoot him a snarky look too. “You’ve been in my life for like five minutes. Like you’d know anything about it.”

“Listen, here!!...” My dad’s voice got louder.

“Whatever. I’ll be in the car.” I get up and leave the office.

My mind is filled with knowledge, but my body is doing something else. I feel angry, used and confused about what’s happening here.

“Quinn!”

I turn to my name as I cross the school yard.

“Hey, Tony.” I mumble.

“You coming back?” He says with a tiny smile and kicks a rock with the toe of his sneaker.

I squat down to his level and scratch my head. “No. I’m too big for this class.”

His eyes meet mine and his face turns sad. “We're not friends anymore?” I could scent the tears in his eyes.

“No. We can be friends. It’s just, I’m older now so, I can't be in kindergarten anymore.” I say. I’m trying not to upset him, but I’m being honest.

“You leaving?” He asks. I see his little chin quiver.

“I’m sorry, Tony. I have to.” I say to him.

I see his hurt surface and the big tears well in his eyes.

“Awe, come on, Tony. Don’t cry.” I tilt my head to him. “We can hang out sometime after school.”

“I gonna miss you, Quinn.” A tear falls down his cheek.

“Come here.” I put my arms out and he smashes me in a hug. “I’m gonna miss you too.”

I let him go. “The bells going to ring.”

“Ok. Bye Quinn.” He says through a big frown.

“Bye, buddy.” I give him a little smile and stand.

I turn around as I hear Tony cry to Miss Franks. I feel the ping of leaving my friend behind, but I can’t pretend I belong here. The rate of maturity my body went through, has outgrown Solomon Elementary. Where I’ll end up is at question now. Where does someone like me fit? Just yesterday, I was a 3 foot tall six year old. I feel like I’m being thrown through time without the privilege of enjoying and learning from the experience gained from it.

There’s also something else brewing in my gut. Something I haven’t been able to express as a child. It’s a bomb in my stomach that could go off with the right push of a button. I pity the person in the blast zone now that I’m fully aware of it.

The car ride home was silent. My dad glances my way every now and then in the rear view. My mom is still visibly hurt from what I said to her. The truth hurts and I won’t spare her feelings. She knows what she did to me.

The feelings I have flow from me to my wolf and back again. He’s still trying to connect with me, but I’m not up for it right now. I push him away. I know at my perceived age, the hormonal level increases. Things change. Your body changes. Fuck. Isn’t that an understatement.

The science flows through my brain as I make sense of my mental health. It’s not helping. I know where my anger comes from. It sits in my memory banks, fresh as the day it happened. The day my own mother dropped me off at the New York School for Lycan Boys. From my crib, I watched her leave me behind, only to visit on weekends when she could and holidays for five years. I had no birthday parties. No Christmas mornings. Nothing. I got day trips and handed back to the school. She had her excuses, but when I hear them now, I realize how weak of a woman she really is.

My father’s no better. I’m still processing that one, but I know I don’t like it.

Once home, I head to my room.

I drop my bag and look around my room. I look over the blue walls, the space mobile over my twin bed with the solar system blanket. The dark blue dresser covered in cartoon stars. I give my head a shake and leave.

My parents are having a heated discussion in the common room.

“We can’t leave him like this, Bella?!” My dad shouts. “Let’s take him to Ricky and see what she can do. She might be able to stop it…”

“You want to suppress him.” My mother snaps.

“You saw him! If his continues this way, we’ll be bailing him outta jail! He can’t handle this!” His arms flail as his talks.

“He has just as much right to his Lycan as he does his shifter. I won’t let you choose which one he wants to be." My mother points in his face.

My dad steps to my mother. “Bella, doll. I’m not saying that. It’s just, you know da Lycan instinct. Right? His growth rate is shoving it forward. You saw it.”

“No. What I saw is a troubled little boy who's trying desperately to figure out what’s happening to him. Suppressing it will not solve that problem, Gideon. He has to learn to come to terms with it.”

My dad rubs his forehead. “Ok. We’ll…get some councillors and talk with da doctors. Just ta make sure everything’s OK.” He reassures.

I take the last few steps and cross the floor past the kitchen. My face full of confusion and concern.

I scratch my arm as I barely look at them. “I want another room.” I mumble quietly. I’m unsure if it’s OK to interrupt them, but I need to fix this right now.

My mother turns to me. “What’s wrong with your room?”

I tilt my head and arch a brow at her. I hold out my arms. “Really?”

She clues in. “Uh…oh…OK…” She walks over to me. “We will call the decorator and you can make it whatever you want. You can sleep in the guest room until it’s fixed.” She meets my eyes with a small smile and nods.

“Ok.” I mumble.

“Why don’t you get cleaned up and we can go into Falcon Ridge to buy some clothes.” She suggests.

“Alright.” I turn and head for the stairs.

As I climb them, I hear my mother tell my dad that Lycan suppression is off the table.

Before hitting the bathroom, I jump on my computer and type in lycans.

I was never told what I was. I wasn’t there yet in my development. It’s time to find out.

I open a link and start reading…

Lycans or Lycanthrope is a species thought to be a branch developed from the Wolf Shifters.

The Lycan is a powerful creature with full control on all stages of transformation. It can also transform individual parts of their bodies. (E.g. head, arm or legs).

The Lycans weaknesses include iron, wolfsbane and mistletoe. Silver is ineffective.

The Lycan social structure consists of Queens who breed pups with what’s known as Breed Princes, alpha and beta males. The complete life cycle of a Lycan is unknown as no natural death has ever been recorded. Most lycans die from unnatural causes due to their nature.

Lycan pups grow at an alarming rate. At three years old, they are considered dangerous. Able to kill. At five they are fully matured adults. To survive to maturity, a pup is born with a special pair of scent glands. These glands formulate a scent that protects the pup from being attacked. The scent infects the attacker and the attacker literally forgets why he has the pup. This allows the pup to escape from the confused offender. Once mature, the glands are absorbed into the body as they are no longer needed.

Although some lycans have been documented to fit into society, most cannot. Lycans are instinctually driven to conquer. They will fight before integration. Often turning to lives consisting of crime and murder.

In 1602, the High Council of the Supernatural World ruled all lycans be suppressed. Their DNA blocked for reasons of planetary safety. High King Zaydon Maximus proclaimed, “The Lycan is a long lived threat the world cannot bare. It’s this councils concern the Lycan will cause a havoc we could not heal from. In the interest of my throne, I must suppress the creatures desire to breed and take over the Kingdoms.”

To this day, the lycans remain suppressed…

I read further down.

“Once in the millions, the lycans have been reduced to only 50 recognized individuals documented in Midwest, USA.” I sit back and hold my hands in my lap.

“I’m a monster on the extinction list.”