For the rest of the day on Tuesday, Harold and Melissa finished unpacking the van and relaxed a bit. The two had a nice view of the lake and of the sea of orange of the fall leaves. Later in the evening, while Harold was cooking dinner, a knock was heard on the door. Harold wiped his hands on a nearby towel and made his way to the front door. He opened the door to reveal a woman wearing a business dress suit and holding a briefcase. "Harold Jenkins?" she asked as she looked up at him.
"Yes?" he replied. "And you are?"
The woman smiled and said, "Samantha Twist. I'm the town chancellor. I understand that you and your daughter moved in today."
Harold looked a bit surprised as to how she knew this, and slowly responded with, "Yes...that's correct."
Samantha noted the surprised look on his face and said, "Don't worry. As the town chancellor, it's my business to know about these things. Honestly, with everything that's been going on recently, my job's been a bit busy. In fact," she paused a moment to think, "there's a Jenkins wedding going on this weekend. You wouldn't happen to be related, would you?"
He looked up a bit as he thought, and then replied with, "Not that I'm aware of. It wouldn't surprise me if I were related."
"Hmm," she responded as she took a moment. "Anyway, I'm here to go over a couple of things about the town. Would it be all right if I came in and spoke with the two of you? It shouldn't take very long."
He looked back at the kitchen and with the food cooking and then turned back to Samantha. "I suppose if it won't take too long. Honestly, it's sort of refreshing having someone from the town visit us. It shows that they care. Come on in." He motioned to Samantha to enter into the house. She smiled in thanks to Harold before she walked in.
Harold followed Samantha into the house. "We don't have much furniture, I'm afraid. Most of our stuff is still somewhere between here and Michigan." He then went out the back door and called out, "Mel! We have company!" He then turned towards Samantha and motioned towards a small kitchen table with a few chairs. "It's all we have for furniture right now. We weren't expecting guests."
"Quite all right," Samantha replied as she sat down at the table and put her briefcase on top of it. Melissa bounded through the back door and saw both Samantha and Harold sitting at the table. Samantha smiled at the two as Harold and Mel sat on the other side. Samantha looked at Mel and said, "So, this must be Melissa. Your daughter I presume." Harold nodded in agreement. "Okay then, and I can see from your paperwork that you've already registered to attend school there starting tomorrow. I'm glad to see that you're keeping up with things here.
"Well, I do like to keep all of my ducks in a row. I'll be teaching at the college starting next semester, but I decided that I needed to move in a little early so I can get ready."
"That's good," Samantha replied as she opened up her briefcase. "So, let me tell you the reason why I'm here. This town is a special place. It has a rather unique citizenry here. You see, most of the people here are were-creatures of some sort. Most are werewolves, but there are others were-species here, such as werefoxes, weretigers, werebears, werecows, and other species. I, myself, am a were-cat."
"What?" Harold could only reply. There was a rather quizzical look on his face, as if he couldn't make out what Samantha was saying to him.
"This is a joke, right?" Mel followed up. She had a similar expression on her face as her father's. "There's no way that could be real. I mean, werewolves? Those only exists in movies."
"Oh, I assure the both of you that I'm being quite serious. And that I'm not joking." Samantha stood up from the table and took off her suit coat. Harold and Mel could only watch as Samantha closed her eyes and concentrated a little. Hairs started to grow all over Samantha's body as her nose and mouth changed into the form of a cat. Samantha's strained a little as she grew in mass and height. A cat's tail peered out of the back of Samantha's dress, and Samantha's ears travelled upwards towards the top of her head. When she finished changing, she had the appearance of a tabby cat, yet still had human features. "As you can see," she said after she finished changing, "we're quite real."
Harold and Melissa's eyes were wide with fear, and a good part of Harold wanted to get away in fear. Yet, despite it all, neither of them actually left the table. Samantha changed back to her human form and sat back down at the table. "Now then, it's good that the two of you are still here. As I said, this town is special. It's a sanctuary for us weres to keep us safe from people who are afraid of us and who want to do us harm. We'll do anything to protect this sanctuary and the secrets that are contained within."
"What do you mean by anything? You're not going to...kill us are you?" Harold's face was pale, his eyes were wide, and his mouth was pursed together. Melissa's face was buried in his father's arm, and one eye was on Samantha."
Samantha raised her hands a little to show the two that she meant no harm. "We're not animals," Samantha replied. "While we will do anything to protect our town, we don't kill without reason. However, there are laws in place concerning relations between normals and weres. First, no one can change you into a certain were without your permission. So, no, no one will change you without your permission, but there is one exception. We have a law that all families living in this town must have at least one member a were. This is to protect the secret of this town, as it would make the risk personal. If a family member was a were, it would put that family member at risk if that secret were revealed. It's a way of tying your fortunes in with the town's. Now, since neither you or Melissa is a were..."
"That means that one of us must change," Harold responded. He was stroking his chin as thoughts went through his head as to what this meant. "And if we don't?"
Samantha's lips pursed a little as she looked at Harold as she replied, "You have one week to decide which were community you want to join. If you fail to do so, the decision will be made for you. And if you try to escape, the consequences will be serious." She looked at both Melissa and Harold as she continued, "I know this is quite a bit to take in, but you have to understand the seriousness of this. We love this town, and we'll do anything to defend it and the people who live here. And being a were isn't all bad, as there are some perks. You rarely get sick, heal from all sorts of things, and you can live for a few centuries." She took some pamphlets from her briefcase and placed them in front of the two. "This will give you more information about the were community. For now, I would suggest getting to know this town and continue living as normal. You'll find that for most of us here, outside of getting some fur, we're quite normal in most respects."
"Is there anything else?" Harold asked.
"Not at this time," Samantha replied. "If there are no further questions, I'll see myself out." The two remained silent as Samantha closed her briefcase and started to walk towards to door. Before she walked out, she turned to the two and said, "I know that this is quite a bit to take in, but everything'll be fine." With that, she walked out the door.
"Daddy..." Mel said as she buried her face into Harold's arm. "I'm scared."
"Me too, honey. Me too." Harold replied as he put an arm around his daughter. His eyebrows were a little furled as tried to make a brave face for his daughter. "I suppose the best thing we can do is keep going forward as Samantha said."
"But, what if they want to hurt me?" Mel asked.
"I won't let them," Harold responded. "Let's eat some food, and get some sleep. We both have a busy day tomorrow. I'm going to have words with my boss." A scowl appeared on his face as he thought about what he was going to do tomorrow.