Havermouth, Five Years BeforeIt was near midnight when the house was finally quiet and Aislen snuck out of bed, sliding her window open and slipping over the ledge, pausing with her toes on the narrow footing so that she could reach back for her bag before stepping over the pretty flowerbed that her mother was cultivating, onto the path.The night rustled with life, crickets singing in the grasses falling silent as she walked by and resuming their calls once she passed, a cat’s eyes reflecting eerily from the shadows, and a possum scrambling up a tree. She could hear the cars and music from the town – on a Friday night, the pubs were busy.In the distance she could hear the occasional howl – before coming to Havermouth she would have dismissed it as dogs, but now she knew better. It was the full moon after all, she thought, looking up although she did not need to confirm it visually. Ever since she had discovered that a large percentage of the people in the town were werewolves, she

Havermouth High School, Five Years BeforeAislen boarded the bus with a sinking feeling. Already she could hear laughter from the back of the bus. It wasn’t about her, she tried to convince herself, but she recognized Cameron and Heath’s voices, along with Lillian’s and it FELT like they were laughing at her. She picked a seat towards the front of the bus – as far from the Triquetra as she could be. She thought that she had gotten away with it until the bus began moving, and suddenly Rhett sat beside her, having made his way up from the rear, where Cameron and Heath were. He didn’t say anything or look at her but threw himself into the seat next to her with a huff of breath and then organized his sketch book and supplies into his bag between his legs until she couldn’t protest his presence because they were well underway. She sighed and leaned against the windows, looking out. His fingers curled around hers on her thigh, and and her mind filled with his anxiety and concern, images

Havermouth High School, Five Years BeforeAislen waited outside of the headmaster’s office in the chairs deliberately positioned so that their occupiers were subject to the curiosity of passing students. A gauntlet of shame, moving up the queue gradually towards the office door as the headmaster addressed the misdemeanors of those higher ranked.Except that she was the only occupant of the chairs, and the halls were empty but for the few stray students who had lingered behind due to after school commitments, or detentions. Inside the office, her parents’ voices could be heard in rising and falling tones that were rendered meaningless by the wall and glass of the door. The glass warped their silhouettes as her mother rose to her feet, angry. Aislen’s skin was cold, and she swallowed hard. The voices within the office stilled and, a moment later, the door opened. The headmaster, Clive Owens looked down at her. “Come in Aislen,” he said as if it were an invite and not a command. With

Havermouth High School, Five Years BeforeRhett pulled up into the driveway of Aislen’s house, music blaring, and grinned as he got out of the car and opened the back seat. “Hey,” he caught her face between his hands and kissed her, his finger drawn to the curls of her hair and running through them in order to feel them straighten and then spring back whilst he leisurely explored her mouth. His kiss was accompanied by flashes of a balcony overlooking the water, and the sunlight dappling over her skin as she lay naked on a blanket. Forewarned was forearmed, she thought to herself as he eased back with a smile, not that it was exactly surprising that he planned on getting her naked. She shivered a little as a fission passed over her skin. “Today is going to be great. You’ll love the river house. Come on,” Rhett took her art supplies and placed them on the back seat along with his own before holding the door open for her. She saw her mother watching from the front door as she got int

Havermouth, River House, Five Years BeforeSix cars arrived, spilling out a good portion of the football and cheerleading teams. They began to build a fire in a firepit set to the side of the house and set out supplies that indicated they intended to be there for a while. Several stripped down into their underwear and picked their way down the riverbank to swim in the water, their shrieks and the sounds of their splashing carrying up to where Aislen continued to work on her sketch. Rhett had stepped inside of the house with Cameron and Heath, and the three were engaged in an intense, hushed conversation involving many glances out the filthy windows to Aislen. Cameron came out and stripped off his clothing next to her. “You are good,” he said, leaning over her in just his boxer shorts. She could smell animals and hay tangled up in the scent of his deodorant, sweat and skin – a combination that shouldn’t have been as sexy as it was, she admitted ruefully. She was still aroused from Rh