I ran forward to the spot below E.B.'s dangling feet, as if the wolf pack right behind me wasn't even there. I watched the rabbit flinch, with what little freedom of motion he still had left. Seeing him so afraid of me... it broke my heart. I whispered to him, as loudly as I could without the wolves hearing. "E.B.! Listen! It's still me!"
From the moment that I was caught by the wolves, I didn't even dare to think about it, let alone hope that this moment would come. But deep down, I knew - if I could earn their trust, they would let me into their inner sanctum, and E.B. and I would be reunited. But I had buried that hope so deep that I barely remembered it myself. I had let the wolf instincts inside not just my body, but my head as well, and now they were perilously close to taking over. And... oh, god... he was right to be afraid of me now. When I looked up at his bruised and tortured body... I saw meat. Meat that was practically falling off the bone already. And meat that knew, judging by the defeated, humiliated look in his eyes, that he was as good as food.
"I'm not going to eat you!", I said in a frantic but still lowered voice, reassuring myself more than him. "I don't know how, but I swear I'm gonna get you out of this!"
"Is that right?"
I jumped at the sound of Dirk's voice behind me. He was peering right over my shoulder, the two Betas sitting close behind, all three of the wolves wearing a predatory smirk on their snouts.
"You know, this really is a shame, Omega," he continued, as the Betas closed in on both of his flanks. "You could have had everything if you'd just stayed with us, as a member of the pack. We would have gladly given you the fur off our backs. But you had to throw it all away and come up with some hare-brained scheme, thinking you could outsmart us. Well, have it your way, Josh. Our powers will only become stronger when we devour the magic out of the both of you. Betas! Get the leftover ropes. We're doubling our fun tonight."
Suddenly, Dirk reached out and slammed me against a nearby tree, holding me in place with one arm as I uselessly squirmed to get away. My head spun - it had been hit pretty hard against the bark, and the pain only got worse as those ropes started to wrap around me. Each yank on the cords was agonizing, lashing against my fur and the flesh underneath until it burned. I glanced over at E.B., tied to the neighboring tree. "I said I would help you," I squeaked out in his direction. And although my vision was getting blurry, dazed from the aching pains and now starting to fill with tears, I thought I saw a little bit of a sad smile on his bloody muzzle.
And then there was nothing to do but wait. The ceremony, of course, had to take place at exactly midnight. The moon above us drew closer and closer to the top of the sky. The Betas were getting impatient. I don't remember what Dirk said to them - my heart was pounding in my ears, which remained frustratingly canine on top of my head. Were those wolves really going to try to devour me when I still looked - and smelled - like one of their own? Couldn't they have the decency to turn me back into a rabbit before they killed me? But they were too busy celebrating their victory to think about a little thing like that. And the time just flew by with every surge of panic that ran through me. I was really going to die here.
"11:59," Dirk said suddenly. He'd been studying the position of the moon all night with precision, looking up every minute to make sure he wasn't missing his cue. Somehow he had learned to tell the time that way. He turned to E.B. and me, running his tongue over his sharp, glistening fangs in anticipation. "Any last words?"
E.B. hadn't said a word since I'd gotten here, and he couldn't muster the strength to do it now. And his magic, I knew, had all been drained away when they captured him. It would have to fall to me. "Look over there," I said weakly. I couldn't budge my arms an inch from where they were tied up at my sides, so I gestured with my head for Dirk to see what was behind him.
"Really?", Dirk said flatly. "This is that famous were-rabbit cleverness I've heard so much about? Do you honestly think I would fall for a trick as stupid as that?"
"No, seriously," I said, struggling against my restraints with all my strength, which wasn't much. "Right behind you! Look!"
Dirk just chuckled. "You really are a dumb bunny, Josh. I guess it's for the best that we don't have you in our pack."
Then one of the Betas piped up. "Alpha, what is that?", he said, pointing in the same direction that I was bobbing my head toward.
Snarling, Dirk whipped his head around. "What-"
And then he saw it. Hanging there in the darkness was a shimmering ball of light, which reflected and refracted every color of the rainbow and was rapidly growing. Soon it would engulf all of us. Deep down in my reshaped bones, I felt the stroke of midnight arrive, right down to the second. I'd successfully distracted him for just long enough, forced him to miss his moment. And I wasn't going to miss mine. I put all my mental energy into that kaleidoscopic wave of magical force, telling it exactly what I needed it to do. I'd never done this before - I'd only seen it happen once - but somehow I knew exactly how to control it. And at exactly the right moment... I unleashed the power.
The concentrated magic exploded outward, filling my whole vision with blinding light. I saw every color at once, popping and dancing across my vision for what felt like hours before it finally subsided. And when my eyes had finally adjusted to the darkness again, I saw three figures in the shape of wolves - not werewolves anymore, just regular wolves - lying face-down in the dirt, motionless.
"Wow," I heard a familiar voice say from off to the side. "Did you really just conjure that all by yourself? On your very first Easter and everything?" I turned to look, and my heart leapt with joy at what I saw. E.B. was there, restored to the picture of perfect were-rabbit health. Aside from the ropes that still bound him tightly to the tree, there wasn't a scratch on him now.
"E.B.!" I wanted to hug him, but I was still tied to the neighboring tree. "I... I don't know what that was. It just came out of me the moment it turned to midnight." I remembered, of course, that he was the only one I'd ever seen pull off something like that before. "Are you sure you didn't add any of your magic to that?"
"I don't remember a thing," he replied. "You said something about helping me, and then it was just darkness until that burst of light. I... I think I might have died for a little while there. And you didn't just save me from certain death, you brought me back to life! Now get your fuzzy butt out of those ropes and come over here so I can kiss you!"
"How-", I started to ask before the 'fuzzy butt' part of his comment hit me and I looked down at myself. The snow-white fur... The lean muscle... The buck teeth that ever so slightly poked out into my vision... I was fully restored by that burst of magic, too. The wolf features had all been washed away, and I was back to being a were-rabbit, just like him! And that meant I had shrunk quite a bit from my werewolf form. With a little bit of effort, I could just wriggle out of the ropes that now felt loose on me. In a matter of moments, I was out and frantically untying E.B. from his restraints.
As soon as I could get him off of that tree, I was wrapping my arms around his shoulders and pressing my muzzle deeply into his. I kissed him like I was drinking fresh water out of a canteen after crawling through the desert for days. The stars that appeared in my vision were almost as dazzling as the magic I'd manifested earlier. I would have been happy to let that kiss last forever, but after a minute, E.B. suddenly pulled away. "It's past midnight?", he said. "Sunday morning? We've got a lot of work to do, buddy." And he started to lead me by the paw, away from the forest and back toward the city streets.
I couldn't help but glance back at the three motionless figures we were leaving behind. "Wait!", I said, pulling back from his grasp and staying put where I stood. "Are they... dead?"
"It was your magic," E.B. said patiently. "Were you trying to kill them?"
"N-no," I replied. I wasn't sure what answer he wanted to hear, but I had to be honest. I didn't want them to die, even as they were preparing to kill me. I had done too much killing this weekend already. "I was just trying to incapacitate them, for as long as it would take to get away."
"Then that's probably what you did to them," E.B. said. "Now, let's get out of here before they wake up. There's only a few hours left until sunrise, and we've lost a lot of time already."
I grabbed his paw again and let him lead me away.