Mayor Stovall knitted his hands together below his chin as he thought deeply about the issue at hand. A ruse might work in the short run, but if she ever came back, or worse, came back with her family, which was likely. This would be a temporary solution at best, and he needed a more permanent one.
"Martin," Samantha spoke up, interrupting his thoughts. "There's one other option I don't think we've considered. While Francis was talking with Claire, I did some research. As you may be aware, our town's residents are about eighty percent were and twenty percent normal. Most of those normals are family members of weres who decided to turn when they became residents of this town. The other large source of normals is in the Moon Lake College."
"Where are you going with this?" Martin asked.
"Well, hear me out," Samantha answered. "In about every freshman class for the past fifteen years or so, about sixty percent of those people are already weres of some sort. Out of the other forty percent which are normals, most of them end up turning were either through marrying a were, joining a society, or accidental scratches, bites, or sex. There's a small percentage, like about five percent or so, that go the entire four years of Moon Lake College without ever learning about were society. That leaves a percentage of people who learn about were society, but never join for one reason or another."
"I think I see," Martin said thoughtfully. "We don't change them as per Statute 2B because they would be more of a benefit to the town as normals than as weres. People like Mera Curry."
Samantha nodded her head and said, "That's right. In fact, it's very rare that we use Statute 2B, and only on those who have shown that they are a threat to the town. And what from what Francis has said, Claire doesn't seem to be a threat, just an unknown."
Martin took a deep breath as he started to think. He nodded his head and said, "Okay, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to reveal the town's secret, and judging by how Claire reacts, I'll decide as to whether or not she turns or stays normal." He turned to the Twists and said, "When I give the sign, I want you two to change." Both Francis and Samantha nodded. Martin called Ryan Connor into the room. "Ryan," Martin started to explain, "We're going to reveal the town's secret to Claire. I want you to bring Claire here, and I want you to stay near here to make sure that she doesn't try to escape or do something rash."
Ryan Connor simply said, "Yes, sir," and left the room to get Claire.
Samantha touched Martin's arm and said, "Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"I'm sure," Martin said with some authority. "We could fool Claire into thinking she saw something else, but in the long run, that would be temporary at best. We'll need a more permanent solution for this problem. Judging by how she reacts, I'll decide if we should involuntarily induce her to were society or not after I talk with her." He looked to Samantha and Francis, "I need you two to trust me on this." Samantha and Francis looked at each other and took a deep breath. What the mayor was doing was risky, but he was right.
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Claire was at the jail window, doing some people watching. It wasn't that she enjoyed people watching, but it was more that there wasn't anything else to do in this jail cell. Since she spoke with Ryan earlier in the day, she was a bit bored. She heard the cell door open and turned to see Ryan. "Claire Robertson," he announced, "The mayor wants to speak with you." Claire was a bit surprised by this. Why would the mayor want to speak with her over a trespassing case? Claire hopped down to the floor and followed Ryan to the conference room.
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Ryan and Claire entered the conference room. The Twists and Martin were seated on one side of the conference table, with Martin sitting in the center. "Claire Robertson? I'm Martin Stovall, mayor of this town. I'm sure you've already met with Samantha and Francis already." Claire looked around the room and noted the Twists. Martin extended his hand out to Claire, and Claire shook it rather weakly. While the two were shaking hands, Martin couldn't help notice the shape that Claire was in. It was obvious that she didn't have time to clean up, and her eyes were red and puffy, no doubt from a good amount of crying that she'd done. Her hair was a bit disheveled, and she was still wearing the same clothes from last night. Martin felt a twinge of sympathy and compassion towards her. Nevertheless, he put on his best smile and motioned to a chair on the opposite side of the table and said, "Please have a seat."
Claire sat down in the chair and noted that Officer Ryan was standing near her. Meeting the mayor, she was really nervous, and she asked, "Am I in trouble?"
"Well," Martin started, "I want to start off with some good news. We won't be pressing charges against you for trespassing or for threatening the life of one of our officers." He saw Claire visibly relax. "Now, I understand that you like to take photographs of wild animals. Could you tell me what do you with these pictures?"
"Um..." Claire said as she started to wonder what this has to do with anything. "I, uh, keep a blog of all the animals I took a picture of. During my college breaks, I like to go to all sorts of natural places and take pictures. I then upload them to my blog and I also post them to Facebook." That last statement made his lips purse. If that picture of the two werewolves got on to social media then...
Martin pulled out Claire's camera and displayed the picture of the two werewolves. He showed Claire the picture and asked, "Do you know what this is?"
Claire looked at the picture and asked, "Oh, that's a picture that I took when I saw those two wolf creatures. It looked like they were fighting or something."
Martin looked directly at Claire and said, "Their names are Eric Anderson and Cassie O'Sullivan. These two are a part of the werewolf pack we have in town."
"What?" Claire asked as a surprised look appeared on her face. "Is this some sort of joke? Is this a prank show, and I'm on some sort of hidden camera show. Well, come on out guys. The joke's on me." Claire looked around and noticed that nobody was smiling. Even Ryan Connor had a somber look on his face.
"I'm afraid that this is no joke," Martin replied. "This town has a secret. It's a secret that we've kept from the normal world. You see, this town has been a were sanctuary for hundreds of years, and part of being a sanctuary is that most of the outside world is kept unaware of the were population here." Martin pointed to the picture of the two werewolves. "This picture and your knowing is a threat to this town. If the wrong people knew about Moon Lake and knew about the weres here, it would spell disaster for this community."
Claire struggled to understand what he was saying. She understood the words, but couldn't process what he was saying. It didn't make sense to her. "There's no way," she responded. "Are you trying to say that werewolves are real? That they're not just stories to scare children? That they really do exist?"
"I'm afraid so. And not just werewolves, but werelions, weretigers, werebears, weredogs, and even werecats." He nodded to the Twists, and they stood up. The first thing that Claire noticed is that each of the Twists grew in size slightly. Not enough to tear their clothes off, but enough to stretch them. On the skin that could be seen, Claire could see what appeared to be fur growing on it. Claire noticed their hands, and saw their fingernails grow to become claws. Claire saw their faces, and noticed that their ears was climbing towards the top of their heads, and that their faces were becoming more feline. Finally, Claire noticed their tails growing out of their backs.
Claire started to panic. Her mind couldn't comprehend what was happening before her, and panic started to enter into her mind. She started to get up out of the chair when a firm but gentle hand on her shoulder stopped her. "It's okay," Claire could hear Ryan whisper into her ear. "They're not going to hurt you. Please, sit back down." After Ryan said these words to Claire, Claire calmed down a bit and sat back down in the chair. She was still visibly scared though.
Francis extended an arm towards Claire and said, "Feel for yourself." Claire reluctantly reached out to Francis's arm and felt the fur for herself. It was soft and warm. Claire looked at Francis's hand and noticed the fur growing on there as well. She also noticed the claws, and touched them just enough to feel how sharp they are. "Careful," Francis said, "You don't want to scratch yourself. Not unless you want to be a werecat yourself." Claire pulled her hand away and then sat there for a moment. She wasn't sure how to react to all this.
Martin, looking at Claire's response, said, "As you can see, this is all real. As mayor, it's my job to protect this town, and I'll do anything to protect it. Under the town's laws, I have the authority to order you to join a were society and become a were of your choosing. I do this so that our secret becomes your secret as well." Claire shook as she heard this, and her face went pale. She just learned that were creatures exist, and now she had to be one as well? Martin sat back in his chair and studied Claire a bit. He then said, "Claire Robertson, I've made a decision."
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Author's notes: And I'll end it here. What happens next? Does Claire have to join a were society? Or does Martin decide to make Claire a were-ally? The choice, dear readers, is up to you.