Dita noted that her mother had really planned for everything; the entire row of eight seats had been bought by their mothers. At first, she'd chalked it up to her mom's paranoia, but realized now she'd been accounting for the girls getting chatty, and not wanting anyone to overhear. That was truly a good thing, because Rachel was busily asking question after question to both of them.
"So why are you guys coming? I mean, I KNOW why I'm coming...my grandparents are there. But why you guys?" Rachel asked.
"Because they're worried about us," Heather replied, looking rather worried herself. Though she'd always wanted to travel, she'd wanted to do it later on, and certainly not as some sort of cloak-and-dagger operation.
"So where are the rest of the girls, then?" Rachel asked, "Why aren't all of them coming? I mean, their moms are werewolves too, aren't they?"
"Yeah...but I guess they had other plans for them," Heather replied.
"And they're not like me and Heather," Dita replied, rather matter-of-factly.
"What do you mean by that?" asked Rachel.
Dita smiled at her. "All you guys are regular humans, because you were born before your moms were gifted. Me and Heather...well, we were in the womb when it happened."
"So that means what...that YOU guys are werewolves too?" Rachel asked, sounding shocked.
Heather sighed, sounding quite sad, "No, we're not. Our moms are sure something's supposed to happen when we see the full moon...but I doubt it. Nothing's gonna happen. Hell, even if it did, it's not like we'd be different people, Rachel. You've known us most of your life."
"Deny it all you want, Babe," Dita interjected, "But you can feel it inside of you as much as I can. On October 7th, you and I are gonna change."
"We don't know that!" Heather snapped, "Sure..that's what they're saying, but we won't know until it happens."
"The hell you don't, Heather...the hell you don't," Dita said, leaning right into Heather's ear. "You can feel it just as strong as I can. I can tell because you're scared."
Heather looked out the window, refusing to look at her best friend, becoming more bothered by the subtle yet disturbing personality changes Dita was going through, ones that seemed to show that Dita indeed was becoming a different person. "You're damn right I'm scared, Deet. I've got family who are monsters, and FBI agents trying to kill my mom's friends. I myself am told that I will become a monster, like most everyone I've known for ANY length of time in my life, and my best friend in the WHOLE world seems to think it's the greatest thing ever!" She looked at Dita, a few tears rolling down her cheeks, "So yeah...I'm scared as all FUCK."
Instantly, Dita's expression changed. In a heartbeat, she was back to being normal Dita, not this new creepy person living in Dita's body. She stopped throwing off the 'oddball vibes' as Heather had begun to privately think of them, and simply reached out, pulling Heather to her, holding her tightly. "Don't worry, Babe...we'll make it through this. It's all gonna be fine. I'm not gonna let this beat us, and I'm not gonna abandon you, 'kay?"
Rachel sat awkwardly, not sure how to react to the little heart to heart that her friends were having. Eventually, their embrace ceased, and Heather looked much calmer. "Sorry bout that, Rachel," Heather said, "I'm just really stressing out."
"No, it's fine," Rachel assured her, "I was the same way when I got my first period."
Heather sighed. It was obvious that Rachel was nowhere near grasping the weight of the situation.
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Meanwhile, back home, Blackhorn had a logistical nightmare on his hands. Ranger One, AKA Dan Ramer, had gone freelance, and was conducting his own private war, one that threatened the safety of not just the Bureau, but potentially thousands of Americans.
He had the local werewolf pack in a straight-out panic mode, shipping their girls off to foreign countries. Two of those girls were known to be transforming involuntarily on the next full moon. Thankfully, all the other countries were on good diplomatic status with the US, so he could request help, but that might raise eyebrows. Plus, that ran the danger of raising the interest of the CIA, and he didn't want that...sometimes they crossed lines that Blackhorn himself wouldn't.
He had the problem of Agent Vix, who he had loosed onto the scene, thanks to Ramer's idiocy. Her particularly volatile temper, and rather attention-attracting way of getting things done could blow what little secrecy that they had left. He didn't even want to think what might happen if Ramer convinced her that HE was in the right. She had her own issues with lycanthropes, ones that Blackhorn imagined stemmed from a past experience, though one she'd repressed.
Then there was Wendy-Agent Patel, he corrected himself. Perhaps his soft spot for her had clouded his judgement on her. Blackhorn had always tried not to get attached to agents, because he might have to one day order them into a situation that cost them their lives. But with Wendy, he'd found it impossible not to get attached to her. She had an infectious smile, and a great personality and attitude. He wondered how much of what he cared for was left intact now that she had become infected.
His own concerns aside, he had Wendy's family coming down, expecting to take her home to Pittsburgh for a bit....with the full moon coming. While that might be the safest place for her to be, it certainly wouldn't be the best situation. Her family might one day find out about werewolves, but he didn't want it to be like this. People who found out like this tended to go to newspapers...and if the story got out that the government had been covering up the existence of werewolves, Blackhorn would have to silence them. He didn't want to have to, but it would be for the good of the nation.
Blackhorn sighed, rubbing his eyes. This had been a very trying couple of days for him. Soon enough, the higher-ups would find out about it, and then the shit would really hit the fan. Blackhorn didn't even want to think about the situation at that point.