Elsewhere in Glendale, Julie Butler woke to the blaring of her alarm. She glanced over toward the clock beside her bed, and after noticing the time gasped nervously. The alarm had been going off for half an hour, and she could hear both her daughters in the kitchen getting ready for school. She also noticed that Frank was not in bed with her.
"Please be home," Julie whimpered as she got up and walked toward the kitchen, leaving the alarm on, "Please be home."
Her pleas were not answered, as her five year old daughters were wrestling with pouring bowls of cereal for themselves. So far they were doing okay.
"Morning, Mommy," a dirty blond haired girl, Abbey, spoke.
"Did daddy come home?" a brown haired girl, Samantha, asked.
Julie could barely keep herself from crying when her daughter asked the question. Mommies were supposed to be strong. They weren't supposed to break down.
"No he didn't," Julie answered, "I will be calling the FBI today to see that he comes home... but you two need to get ready for school."
"Okay, mommy," Abbey and Samantha answered and went on with their breakfast.
Julie did smile at that. Both girls were very smart, and some had said smarter then other kids their age. Julie only prayed she could get Frank home before the FBI made her a widow and her daughters fatherless, not yet knowing what she would encounter in the future.
+++++++
Back at the estate, things were preparing for the beginning of dealing with the rest of the staff and ensuring that the pack's power base was secure. With Martha secure in role, and the plans for the staff finalized between Bart and Jensen, all that was left to do was wait for the other staff members to arrive.
"So, who usually arrives first?" Kaylee asked as she looked out over the driveway from a second floor window, where she could see farther.
"Usually the grounds crew, mother," Jenny spoke back, "although, if they left anything unfinished the day before, they could go straight to the project and not check in till lunch."
"What about this drifter the Master mentioned at breakfast?" Kaylee asked.
"Adam? He's part of the grounds crew," Jenny answered, "although he usually does the windows and then leaves... but then with our staff's size in relation to the estate, it's all we've needed him for."
Kaylee found herself chuckling at the fact that the estate's window washer was to become the pack's glass spy... if he chose "transform" as an option.
"Do you know if they had anything left to do, yesterday?" Kaylee asked nervously after a few moments.
"I don't think so, but that is where father has Marcy and Kevin come in," Jenny answered, "They'll appear, run about and will lead the staff to Miss Martha who will ask the question."
"And once their inside, if there's more then five, the Master and the Twins can easily handle them while Martha asks the question," Kaylee nodded and returned to her post as lookout.
The black furred pup scooted closer to Kaylee, until Kaylee's paw was resting on her head, and the two continued to wait for the rest of the staff to begin arriving. Kaylee found herself smiling contently as she scratched gently behind Jenny's right ear.
After a few moments, both of them noticed movement near the gate. A bus had stopped near it, and about ten people got off.
"That is the grounds crew," Jenny spoke, "Adam is the third from the left."
Kaylee nodded and was about to turn and rush to where Jensen and the others where, when Jenny turned and yelled down a nearby stairway.
"THEY'RE COMING!" Jenny yelled to alert Jensen and the others.
Downstairs, Darla acted like she was cleaning out one of her ears.
"Anyone could have done that," Darla chuckled.
"Pups..." Jensen shrugged and then peered out the side door to see where the men were approaching the estate's main building.
"Now, Marcy, Kevin, you know what to do?" Jensen asked the two pups, sitting at his feet.
"Yes, daddy," they smiled.
Jensen nodded and then pointed to Adam, "remember he is to be with the first group to come in."
"Right," Kevin and Marcy answered and then hopped out the door.
+++++++
He was only known as Adam... or at least that's what people knew about him. He had shown up in Glendale three years ago with nothing but an old shirt a pair of shorts. He had run into Jennifer Smith I by accident and the woman had given a job on the estate's grounds staff as an act of mercy.
The other staff members never really knew what to make of him. He worked hard, but he was quiet. He never complained, never asked for favors, and was usually never seen when the Smiths held parties for their staff around various holidays, usually Christmas, New Years, and Easter. They helped him with ladders and let him go about his work.
He found the pay to be good. Enough to routinely pay for a room at Glendale's Motel 6, where he had become a sort of household name among the hotel staff there.
But none of the staff knew what was going to happen to them. As they came along the side of the mansion that the Smith's lived in, two reddish brown, somewhat human-like wolf pups appeared out Mrs. Smith's flower garden and looking rather playful.
"Kinda cute, dontcha think?" was the first thing Adam said upon seeing the two.
The other grounds staff looked at Adam like he'd grown another head and then back to the two pups. Both of them had lowered their heads and shoulders, and had their tails wagging. A couple of short barks soon followed.
"See, and friendly too," Adam commented.
"Yeah, after they've destroyed Mrs. Smith's flower garden," one of the other grounds-men grumbled, "we gotta catch them!"
And with that, Marcy and Kevin bolted, going off in two directions, hoping to divide the grounds-men into two groups. Each one knew that when they would turn toward the mansion would determine which one of them Adam chased after.
Adam ended up joining a group running after Kevin. The thing was a dead sprint for all of them, and they had all they could do to keep Kevin in sight, as the little wolf dropped to all fours and easily put some distance on them. Once he saw that Marcy was leading the group chasing her away toward the back edge of the property, Kevin then turned toward the door he had earlier come out of, knowing that Bart was waiting to open it for him.
Adam actually enjoyed the chase, even though it looked like he had no chance of actually catching the red furred wolf pup. It struck him as somewhat fun to do something other then stand on a window and scrub glass.
"He's going inside!" one man gasped.
"Don't let him get in!" another added and they rushed toward the door.
They didn't get there in time as Kevin hopped inside when Bart opened the door for him. He quickly rushed to hide behind one of Martha's tails, as the silver furred she-wolf was seated with Jensen and the Twins waiting for the grounds men to arrive. They could also hear Marcy's cheerful barking and the exhausted gasps of the men trying to catch her.
"Quick we gotta..." the first groundsman spoke as the group with Adam rushed into the room, still chasing what they perceived to only be a pup.
"Oh my Go..." he then gasped when he realized that the pup was not alone.
"Watch your language," Martha growled, "there are children present."
This made the eyes of the men bulge out of their heads.
"Martha!?" several of them gasped in shock.
"Whoa! You're like some Hindu Goddess with all the arms!" Adam spoke, sounding more in awe, rather then frightened, "Don't know about the extra head or the eyes though..."
The other grounds-men looked like he'd grown another head, again. The whole situation creped them out.
"I suppose I am," Martha chuckled at Adam's comment, "but I've received a new position, one that requires me to ask all of you one very important question."
Adam was somewhat intrigued how both of Martha's heads talked at the same time. Mostly how they could synchronize everything. Martha, meanwhile, was going along with the plan Jensen had instructed her to follow when the pack had eaten breakfast, mostly raw eggs lapped up out of a large bowl.
"Transform or dare?" Martha asked the group.
"Dare." "Dare." "Dare." "Dare," the first four grounds-men spoke as they did not want to end up like some sort of freak show creature that Martha had somehow become.
Adam then knocked them all for a loop with his answer.
"Does it work?" Adam asked.
"Of course it works," Martha answered, "You have thirty seconds left to answer."
"Transform then," Adam spoke, "this is so cool!"