Chapter 18

"How could he talk about his own kid like that?" Lilly growled. She was pacing back and forth across the room, Ariel and Sarah watching her while Jane and Jole remained quiet.

"We were never their kids. Some of them had real kids and we were forced on them. We are just strays they were trying to rehome, and teach good manners." Sarah sighed, leaning against an exposed beam. They had managed to find a gap in the fence that blocked off the old factory district in the town. The town had at one time produced a lot of leather, paper and glass. When the factories were no longer safe or nesicary, they were closed down and boarded up.

Over the years, the boards had been ripped down and the spaces had been used for all sorts of things, just not by adults. When Ariel was a kid, there had been rumors about a cult that lived in one if the factories and sacrificed children to their evil gods. Ariel was sure it was just the older kids being mean.

"We will get them out. When the sun sets, we will find out where they are keeping them and get them all out." Ariel assured Lilly.

The twins had gotten into an argument with their 'dad' and things had gotten heated. He had been under the impression that the girls were somehow mixed up in a vandalism of the pharmacy a few nights prior. Ariel thought it was weird because they had never been in trouble before. He had accused both of them, but Ally had been very vocal about their innocence. Lilly had said that the man smelled strongly of alcohol and that him drinking was out of the ordinary. Ariel had to wonder if this was the start of the 'parents' turning on their wolf 'children' now that it was known to then that some of them had shifted.

"We will get her back." Ariel continued, walking up to Lilly and pulling her into a reassuring hug. Lilly hugged Ariel back tightly. Ally had been taken. Their 'father' had claimed he was going to show her what happened to trouble makers and forcefully dragged her out of the house. That had been the day before. Their 'dad' had come home, Ally had not. He refuses to tell Lilly where her sister was and she was going mad with worry. As far as anyone knew, Lilly and Ally were the only two real siblings out if the wolves in the whole town. They had found documents explaining the separation of siblings. The only exception was twins. When wolf twins were separated, they tended to be harder to manage and would often run away, or simply waste away, knowing that something was missing and they would never find it.

Ariel was determined to get Ally back. Determined to get back everyone they could. They could not just leave them with these hunters. They were all wolves and that made them all family. Even the young children who had no idea what they were, but they knew they could not take them. They had to be able to change, making it easier to get away and fight. From everything they had learned, that happens sometime around sixteen years old. So only kids starting at sixteen who could turn into a wolf would go with them. Any left behind would spread word to the others,creating a chain to hopefully one day get everyone out and cause this sick experiment to fail.

For now, they had to focus on getting out who they could, and that was going to start with the ones they had trapped somewhere in the factories.