Albus inadvertently reveals himself to the werewolf girl

But on one early evening, about to round a landmark tree to head back home, he felt as if something was amiss. He had gotten so used to the walking, the scenery, the ambience, that anything remotely out of place would stick out like a sore thumb. And right now, he could have swore that he heard some rustling behind a tree or shrub somewhere. Of course right as he thought this and stopped moving, so did the sound.

What was this nonsense? Had one of the girls become so neurotic that they started stalking him? His mind immediately jumped to these conclusions because it couldn’t have been a highwayman – the city had practically exterminated such people in a very large radius and kept it that way. It couldn’t have been a wild animal either – they normally steered clear of humans.

There were only so many trees out here that a person could hide behind, and this number was narrowed when he recalled which direction the sound had come from. He tiptoed ever so gently towards one of them, avoiding the fallen branches and leaves. He looked behind the first tree that he had set his sights on and there was…

A girl? She had completely white hair that draped well past her shoulders, and her skin looked a sickly pale. She was squatting down with her back against the tree, her fists curled up into little balls in front of her face. For some reason her eyes were also closed. Her choice of attire also stuck out prominently – a completely white gown, here in the middle of nowhere… and she was barefoot. Now he was really confused. Is this what city girls look like or something? And what was he to do now? He probably couldn’t have sneaked away at this point though, so...

“Excuse me.” He said, in a gentle voice.

Despite trying not to scare the crap out of her however, it seems that he failed. The white-haired girl looked aghast, and these two pointy things suddenly protruded out from her hair – her ears? She tried to cover them up with her hands but it was already way too late. The girl seemed to realize this too as she let her arms drop in resignation, before slowly rising to her feet.

“Ah, alright you caught me.” She said.

He naturally had his suspicions that this girl was stalking him, but he wanted to test her to see what she might say.

“Caught you doing what?” He said in response, as if to play dumb.

Her eyes glowed for a second in incredulity as if she had gotten off scot-free, but this quickly turned into an annoyed smile as she tilted her head at him in irritation.

The girl remained silent, so he remarked playfully, “You believed it for a second.”

She couldn’t help but giggle a bit, but soon afterwards the silence had returned. They said nothing, but merely looked at each other. And what was there to say? No city folk – let alone a girl – would be several miles out from the city alone, so there wasn’t any excuse she could make up that could be taken seriously. He may not have exactly known what this girl was, but he knew that she knew that he knew what she was doing.

This “moment,” if he could have called it that, seemed surreal. Both of their eyes wandered around the other’s form, but would always end up absorbing each other again. Her figure was lithe, and looking at her complexion now her skin almost appeared as if it were glowing in the setting sun. Likewise, she noticed how greater his stature was in person, the shoulders much broader than when she was spying from afar.

Mutually spellbound, the time slid past the both of them. For Albus, he was thinking about the obvious things that couldn’t be denied: the ears, being in the middle of nowhere, the unnaturally radiant pale skin, and her completely white hair. For her, she was just basking in the presence of finally having met a human being face to face.

“What’s your name?” He asked, breaking the long silence.

“Lysia.” She replied.

“Albus.” He said, automatically.

There was no doubt about it now. He really didn’t need to ask such an obvious question. She had been hiding it quite well before, but this time he caught the slightest glimpse of her fangs: she had let her guard down saying her name just now.

The two had barely exchanged more than a dozen words, but anything more didn’t really feel necessary. Albus wished that he could have stayed longer, but it was rapidly getting dark now.

“Well, Lysia, it’s been a pleasure. But I should really be heading back home now.”

Again it was completely silent.

“You’re going to follow me all the way back, aren’t you?” He asked.

Lysia smiled for real this time, and bared her fangs for him to see while she bit her lip. She contrasted this by casting her eyes downward. It was adorable, yet coy: her blushing and continued silence affirmed his answer, but the way she just blatantly flashed those killer teeth at him...

It was settled then. Not like he could do much to prevent her from doing so anyways. Without any further words, Albus turned around and started making his way home. She followed along beside him, and they began the walk back to Albus’ hamlet.