I do not own Wolfblood, Debbie Moon and the other writers do.

Maddy's dialect: My is me; me, us; us, we; we, our, and our, oor. I won't use it all the time, because Maddy doesn't, but I'll try to keep it consistent.

Pack Bonds

I hate this, I really fucking hate this. The 21st Century Family Art Show? This is going to be horrible. Should I put up my real drawing, or just bullshit something?

I walked towards my display, still trying to decide what I should do. I walked past the three K's, and they decided to ambush me. "Let's see your drawing, Rhydian." "Yeah, I bet it's brilliant." Yeah, it's brilliant, in its simplicity. I used pencil on a 9x12 sheet of paper. The subject matter, on the other hand, not so much. What can a person without a family draw? So, I drew what it was like, when they left me.

I hung up my picture, and turned to smile at two of the three K's, the orange one, and the pink one. They looked horrified, and I could feel my smile fall. "What's that got to do with family?" For me, everything. "That's just spooky." Not what I was going for, but, considering her lack of smarts, I took what I could get. "And weird." I'll go with my second option, then.

Feeling their eyes on me, I turned my picture over, and started hastily making stick figures of what a family should look like. "Is that normal enough for you?" I managed to say, in a relatively normal tone, and moved away from drawing, only to be stopped by Maddy, coming up behind me, and pulling on my arm. I tensed, turned, and saw Maddy, looking at me with pity... or was it sadness, in her eyes.

"You're not actually going to listen to them, are you?" Maddy demanded, angry, at me, or what I was doing, I wasn't sure, but the look that she gave me just heightened my anger. "Why? You do." I nodded towards her display, showing herself, and her parents, when she looked confused at my statement. She turned to look at it, and I continued to speak. "Pretending to be something you're not. You're just like them, pretty and fake." And with that, I turned around, and walked away. I started to run, until it was time for the show to start, so I headed back to school, to see people's reactions to various pieces of artwork.

I made it outside, but I couldn't bring myself to enter, so I just stayed and watched everyone moving around. When Maddy and her family made her way towards mine, I couldn't look away. I saw her turn the paper over, revealing my original drawing, and saw her start talking with her parents. Somehow, she knew I was watching, and looked straight at me. I couldn't stand to see that look in her eyes, and left.

When I got to school, the art show was closed off, and people were crowded at the door, trying to see inside. "It was like spoww!" I heard Tom say something, but then Shannon asked "What happened?", and then started moving towards the door for a better look. "Oh, mum's jacket!" The pink girl pushed through the crowd, ripped the sign off the door, and went into the room. Tom, Shannon, Maddy and I followed."Who would do this?" Shannon asked, walking around the room, taking in all of the destruction. "Mum's gonna kill me." The pink girl whimpered, holding her mother's jacket.

"No one's supposed to be in here!" Mr. Jefferies called out to us all, angrily. When we all looked at him, he sighed, and quietly said, "Just don't touch anything." He walked further into the room, and Maddy turned towards him. "What happened. sir?" "Someone came back here Friday night, after the exhibition closed." He put his hands in his pockets, and looked around at the destruction. "What about security cameras?" Shannon questioned, looking directly at Mr. Jefferies, ignoring the overturned displays for the time being. Mr. Jefferies shook his head. "All we have is a glimpse of someone running away. At that speed, in the dark, it could have been anyone." Mr. Jefferies turned and left. I looked at Maddy, and she looked to me, already trying to figure out who the vandal could be.

After getting to our home room, everyone took their seats. I sat at a table in the middle, by myself. Maddy sat alone, on the left side of the room. Mr. Jefferies started lecturing the class on vandalism. "This school has a zero tolerance policy towards vandalism. The end of time Disco is canceled." "Sir!" "You can't do that!" "Unless the vandal is found." Jimi and his friend Liam were whispering to each other, but I wasn't listening. I knew that I would get blamed, it was only a matter of time, with my being new here, and my record. "So if any of you know anything, now's your chance to speak up." Their whispering was getting louder, and harder to ignore. Everyone was starting to look at me, blaming me. Jimi, and his friend, those two annoying girls, weren't their usually three of them, and Maddy.

I was standing at my locker, waiting for my next class to start. I could hear the three annoying girls chattering about something, but I didn't really care about that, but I could still hear what they were saying. One was complaining about her mum's jacket. I was thinking about how Maddy had looked at me earlier, blaming me for wrecking the art show. "Hey, leek boy." Jimi called out to me, and I couldn't not look to see what he wanted. "Is it true you smashed up the dark room on your first day?" I could tell that this wouldn't end well. "I knocked some stuff over. What do you care?" The pink girl of the three K's came over. "Where were you Friday night, Rhydian?" The other two came over, and I was trapped against the lockers. "It's none of your business." The orange one took a step forward, and continued to interrogate me. "If you're innocent, why not tell us where you were?" A lie sounded to be the best bet, because I had started running after leaving school, and had only made it back to the Vaughns at seven, barely in time for supper. Saying I'd been hanging out with Maddy sounded like the best bet, but before I could say anything, Jimi started talking. "Because I can tell you where he was, because I saw him skulking around the playground like a burglar." I saw Maddy enter the hallway, and start moving towards me. "Is this true?" "Why pretend to go home, and then come back?" I was beginning to loose my temper, and I could feel the Change coming on."Yeah, Welshie?" Maddy looked worried. "Unless - " I couldn't take it anymore, I broke out of the group, and started moving down the hallway.

Maddy hurried to catch up with me. "Hands.", she muttered anxiously, seeing how my veins were black. I look at my hands, and seeing how far the black had spread, I tucked my hands under my arms. "Why do you care?" I angrily questioned Maddy, and only looked at her briefly, seeing as how she was blaming me for the destruction, like everybody else. "You think it was me as well." "Was it?" She continued to walk beside me, pressing me for more information. I turned to her again, still walking down the hall, and I kept getting angrier."No, it wasn't." "Ok, well, I know you were there. I seen you at the window." At this point we had made it to the other end of the hall, and were about to enter the stairway. I was angry with Maddy, and everyone else, but I couldn't stop talking. "Yeah. I got here and I looked in, saw you and your parents." We opened the doors, and we stopped there. "Why didn't you come in?" Maddy was curious, and I could tell that she wouldn't rest until I gave her a good answer, so I gave her the best one that I had, currently. "Just- you know." I shrugged, not sure of the words to use. "I'm not ready for all that." I looked down to avoid seeing the pity in her gaze, but looked at her when she spoke again. "All right." All right what? "I believe you." What, really? Finally! There's still a problem, though. I'll still get blamed. "Thanks a bunch, not that it matters. I mean, I'm just going to get blamed for everything anyway." Maddy shook her head, confidently, informing me, "Not if we find the person that actually did it." And with that, we went to go get lunch.

Today was pizza day, which meant that the food was better than usual, but not all that good. I sat across from Maddy, and next to Shannon. Tom was sitting next to Maddy. We had barely started eating, when Tom started complaining, putting down his slice of pizza. "You call this pizza? My chemistry textbook tastes better than this." "You just got spoiled in Manchester." Shannon shook her head, concentrating on cutting her pizza. "What?" Tom looked, and sounded, confused, as if he had no idea what she was talking about. "The pizza place where you and your dad went." Tom began to smell stronger. "Oh, yeah. That was brilliant, you know?" Tom was lying. I was never sure how I knew, but he was lying. "Design your own pizza. Anything you want." Tom was still lying. Maddy was looking at me, oddly. I blanked my face, removing the frown that I was sure was there. "It was amazing."

"You're in trouble, Welshie." Sam walked up, to threaten me. "Is that right." I was ready to hit him, but decided that it was more trouble than I could afford, and didn't move. "You'll see." Sam turned and walked away. Maddy looked to watch him walk away, and then turned back to her food, in disgust. "You lot should definitely try it out. It was brilliant." "Whatever, Tom." Fed up with Tom's lies, I got up and left the table, heading towards the food disposal. Maddy followed me. "Look, Rhydian, I know you're angry, but don't take it out on Tom." Maddy said, chastising me, putting away her food tray. I shook my head, reaching my hand out towards her, to make my point. "Tom is a lot angrier than I am, right now. Just ask him."

Maddy shook her head, not understanding me. "What are you talking about?" I pointed towards Tom, "Look at him." I turned to look at her. She shook her head, still not understanding. "Really look at him. He's obviously lying about something." She shrugged, still not getting it. "It's a cold day today. Nobody else is sweating, so why is he?" I could tell that Maddy was going to get it, she just needed more pieces. "You should be able to pick out his heart beat. It's easily the fastest." She moved her hair away from her ear, to hear better. We started to walk back towards the table. "Are you sure this works?" She whispered to me. I nodded. "Normal humans get hunches when someone's lying. I've just learned to do it better." I needed to, in some of the homes. "When you have a new home and a new school every few weeks, it's really useful knowing who's telling the truth." I turned away from her, heading towards the tables again, turning back to Maddy when she spoke. "Yeah, except Tom wouldn't lie." I made my way over to Tom, "Sounds like you had the greatest weekend ever, mate." Tom looked uncertain, but nodded, "Yeah. Best weekend ever."

I could feel everyone looking at me. When I looked up to check, the pink idiot gave me a sneer. I turned back to my work, trying to concentrate. I heard the door open, and a pair of footsteps enter the room. I heard Mr. Jefferies call out, "Sorry, I need to speak to Rhydian Morris." I could tell, this was it. I was going to be suspended, or, more likely, expelled. Great. I got up, and followed Mr. Jefferies to his office.

He sat down at his desk, and I sat at the chair in front of his desk."You were seen hanging around on Friday Night." He looked very serious. "I came, but then I changed my mind." I knew this wasn't going to end well. "So Mr. and Mrs. Vaughn, they drove you here and back, did they?" I had best tell the truth, even if it sounds ridiculous."I made my own way." "You walked from Stoneybridge?" His tone was disbelieving, he leaned forward, hoping to get me to tell the truth. I could feel the heat start, running through my veins. "Don't call me a liar." I hate it. I don't lie. No one ever believes me. I saw my veins darkening, and quickly crossed my arms, hiding them from sight.

"Rhydian, calm down." Maddy whispered to me, somewhere from behind me. I automatically turned when I heard my name called. "Have control. Don't let on that you can hear me." I turned to face Mr. Jefferies again, hoping that he hadn't noticed my turn, and offering no explanation if he had. "What happened on Friday night was a serious matter, Rhydian." He still looked very serious, as if just by saying these things, he could get me to confess to whatever wrongdoing he'd thought I'd done. "A criminal matter." Yeah, I know. Vandalism is a crime, so stop wasting your time with me, and actually start searching for the guy that did it. "I didn't do it." Pointing out the obvious. I was still angry, and it showed. "Ya need ta calm down." I know, your advice is being extremly unhelpful. "Shut up." "I beg your pardon." Crap. Evidently I spoke louder than I thought. "You can't just accuse me." I was almost shouting. So much for Maddy's advice. "I am simply asking, young man, to explain where you were and why." I could feel my veins burn, anger spreading through my body, and I knew I had to calm down, or I would Change soon. "I'm trying to help you, Rhydian." He probably meant it, but he was wasting his time talking to me.

"Keep breathing. Stay calm." Maddy whispered to me, but then I heard a door slam, and someone climbing up the steps. Maddy had to move away to avoid getting caught. There was very little from holding me back now. Knowing Maddy was outside helped me to keep control and think.

"Just think about lying in a green field, in the sun" As soon as she said that, I couldn't help but laugh. "What exactly is so funny? You are trying my patience." Mr Jefferies threw down his pen. He was nearly shouting. Before I could respond, Maddy was back in front of the door, continuing to whisper to me. "Rhydian, are you okay?" She sounded worried, but her worry brought me back from my anger. I quickly checked my hands, and didn't see any black in my veins. "Last chance, Rhydian. Where were you on Friday?" Maddy started whispering again. "Okay, here's what you need to say. Me parents took ye home." I could hear her messing with her phone, and then whisper, "Mam? Could you..." I tuned out the rest of what Maddy was saying, focusing on my story to tell.

"I said, I came on my own. Maddy's parents gave me a lift home." Watching him turn to look up the Smith's phone number, I couldn't help but goad him. "Yeah, that's right. Call them. They'll back me up." He went and picked up the phone, dialing the Smith's number. "Hello, Mrs. Smith. It's Rhydian, I'm calling to confirm that you took him to the Vaughn's? You did take him home. Okay, thank you. There was an incident at school, a vandal destroyed the art show that the students worked on. Thank you again." Mr. Jefferies put the phone down, and put his elbows on his desk, lacing his fingers together. "It seems you were telling the truth." Now that my part was over, I started listening to Maddy, still talking to her mum. "Yeah. Sorry, mam. Thanks." Now that I was out of trouble, I could hear Maddy go down the stairs.

After I got out of Mr. Jefferies office, I followed Maddy to the dark room. Maddy went to sit at the table, and I went to lean against the sinks. "Think about lying in a green field?" I couldn't keep my amusement out of my voice. "How lame is that?" Maddy shook her head, "It worked, didn't it?", her voice held annoyance. I guess I shouldn't have called her advice lame, she had been trying to help. "Yeah." "Well, now Jefferies knows it wasn't me, it's not a problem."I shrugged my shoulders. I was satisfied. For the first time, I didn't get blamed for trouble. "Actually, it is." She looked worried, but I didn't see what the problem was. Maddy hesitated, and then spoke quickly, wanting to get it out. "Tom was the last to leave the building on Friday." Tom was the vandal? It made no sense. "Tom?" I was confused, had I misheard what Maddy said? Why would Tom destroy the art show? "His marvelous weekend in Manchester never happened. His dad didn't show up." Ah. "I told you he was lying." I was pleased to have been correct, but found it odd that he would lie about his weekend. "And his artwork was the worst damaged, photos of him and his dad." She sounded sad, and I hoped that Tom wasn't the vandal, for Maddy's sake. "So talk to him." It was the only thing that I could think of that would help, and cheer her up. "Better coming from you than someone else." Maddy looked a little more hopeful, and stood up, and muttered a quiet, "Yeah, thanks." She gave me a smile, and then left the darkroom, going back to class.

I waited for a few seconds, and then followed behind her, so whatever cover story she gave to explain her absence from class would hold. As I neared the classroom, the door had closed behind Maddy. I heard Jimi call out to Maddy, mocking me, "Couldn't save leek boy this time, could you?" "I didn't need to. He didn't do it." I could hear the satisfaction in her voice, and decided it was time for my big entrance. I walked in, gave a smile and a nod to Jimi, patted Liam on the shoulder, and took my seat next to Maddy. As soon as I sat down, Shannon exclaimed, "Ultraviolet!", and drawing the attention of everyone in the room. She mouthed 'sorry' to the room, and then leaned forward, closer to the group. "Can you remember Kara's ultraviolet painting? The ink was spilled everywhere." Where is she going with this? "The vandal must have trodden in it." "So they won't have washed it off?" "Because they don't know it's there." There was just on flaw in Shannon's plan. "How are you going to check everybody's shoes." Shannon smiled triumphantly, "I have a plan!"

After class was over, Shannon got a black light and starting looking at people's shoes as they passed her. I was watching from the end of the hallway, with Maddy. I was trying to think of a way to help Maddy with Tom. "Are you just going to confront him?" Maddy turned towards me. "I don't have any choice." She started walking backwards, "If she gets anywhere near him with that UV light -" Tom came over, asking, "Any luck?" Maddy turned towards him, muttering, "We need to talk about Friday. What really happened." Tom looked confused, as if he had no idea what she was talking about. "Huh?" Maddy sounded sad, desperate to be proven wrong. "I know you were the last to leave school." Tom's voice was incredulous, "You really think that I did it to other people's work. I wouldn't -" Maddy interrupted defensively. "I'm just trying to help you!" She stared at her in disbelief, and then shouldered past her, getting the black-light from Shannon. "If you really think it's me, check it yourself." He offered it to her. Maddy stood there, looking at Tom. She turned to glance at me, but I didn't know how to respond, so I kept quiet. Maddy took the black-light, and checked Tom's trainers, and found nothing. "Thanks, Mads." Tom's voice was scornful, and he pulled away from Maddy. "Some friend you are." Maddy moved to lean against the wall. Tom went towards the exit. "Maddy?" I didn't know how to help, so I stood next to Shannon and waited. Thankfully, I didn't have to wait too long. She inhaled deeply, and stood up. "Rhydian, will you help Shannon find the real vandal? I'm going to go after Tom, and talk to him."

After fifteen minutes of looking at people's shoes, Shannon sighed. "Well, that can't be everyone." She got up from her crouched position. "I never saw Kay and her mates, or Ryan Boswell." "We're bound to have missed people." I was tired of searching. "Let's try again tomorrow." Shannon sighed, pushing her hair into place. "I'll take this back." "I'll be in the Darkroom. I'll come to the front of the building when I'm finished." I took the black-light from Shannon and climbed the stairs. I turned to the hallway, amusing myself with the black-light. I noticed something green out of the corner of my eye. Looking up, I saw that a pair of patent leather shoes, hanging over a locker door, glowing green. A hand grabbed them, putting the in the locker, and then the door swung shut to reveal Jimi.

I dropped my raised hand to my side, staring at Jimi. He was the one who accused me, when he was the real vandal. "Push off, Leek boy." He moved around me, probably trying to leave school. If I ran fast enough, I could cut him off, stop him in this hallway. I burst through the green doors. Jimi glanced behind him, to where I had been a few minutes ago. He was probably wondering how I got there so fast, but I was too angry to bother. "I want to know why you did it!" Stunts like this would get me moved, and this is the first place I could imagine staying at. I didn't want to be forced away because of something that someone else did.

"Get lost!"Jimi scowled and turned away. As soon as he turned I started running. It was nice to be able to run, letting go of my limits, to protect me and mine. I turned to lean against the wall, and wait for Jimi to turn the corner, playing with the black-light. I was enjoying this game. He turned and started running, going towards the entrance of the school. I was faster, and headed for the roof. He made it to the first floor, and was almost out of the building. I waited until he was under the awning, and jumped to the ground.

I took a step forward, and was pleased when he took a step back. "Did you do all that damage just to get me into trouble?" "No." He was telling the truth. I heard a car pull up, and could smell someone kind of like Jimi. I pushed him lightly, making him turn. "You've had it in for me ever since I arrived." I pointed at him, still moving towards him, causing him to keep moving backwards. He didn't like the attention that I got from people, being the new guy, the foster kid. "You told Jefferies that I was here that night." At this, Jimi's back straightened, and he stopped backing. He swatted my hand away. He found his backbone. "You think everything's about you, don't you?" He actually took a step towards me, his anger overriding his fear. Idiot. "Poor little orphan boy." Don't kill him. I cannot kill him. There's a witness. "You know how lucky you are?" Lucky?! How the hell have I ever been lucky? The only good break I got was coming here, and I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts. "No one telling you you're not good enough, you're a disappointment." Oh, god. Why are you telling your family issues to me? "If that's family, who needs one?" I couldn't deal with him any more. My anger had faded, and replaced with repulsion. He was truly pathetic. "Next time you lose your temper, smash up your own things." I turned to leave. "Off to tell on me, are you?" I'm not that petty. I also don't need to. "He doesn't have to." Jimi's father spoke, having stayed quiet through Jimi's pitiable words. Jimi didn't speak, and they both walked towards the school. I turned and moved to the side of the building, waiting for Maddy and Tom to come back. I could smell them before I saw them. Tom stopped to talk to his father, and got in his car. Maddy came over to me.

Just then, Shannon stepped out of the building. Maddy and I walked to where Shannon was waiting. "Hey." "Hello." "Did you catch the vandal?" Maddy questioned us, eager to know if he had been caught. "No." Shannon sounded glum, but then perked up, "But we're going to keep looking. We didn't get to check everyone." Before Shannon could make further plans, I interrupted. "There's no need. Jimi did it." "What?" "Why?" I just shrugged, not sure how to answer their questions.

Maddy, Shannon and I were walking past the schoolyard when Maddy asked me, "Do you think he'll get expelled?" I wasn't sure, I didn't know how strict the headmaster was. "It's not my call." "He deserves it, for trying to get you done for it." "Jimi's got problems of his own." "Like what? His family's loaded." Shannon sounded scornful. "All families have problems. It's nothing to do with money." Maddy chastised her friend. Just then, a car went by, and we could tell that Jimi's dad was yelling at him. I would never have to deal with things like that. "Yeah, maybe I'm the lucky one being on my own." "You're not on your own," Maddy looked at Shannon quickly, then turning back to me. "You have us." I wasn't sure how to respond to the look that Maddy gave me, part sadness and part hope, but for what, I wasn't sure. When in doubt, escape before things get bad. "I've got to go."

I started heading towards the Vaughns' house, planning to take a detour through the woods, when I heard Maddy mutter something to Shannon, and started to jog towards me. "Rhydian! Wait up, will ya!" I stopped and turned to Maddy, watching her come towards me. "Yeah?" I was wondering why she wanted to come over here. "I want to talk with you." We both started walking through the woods. I was really enjoying being outside after having been in school for so long. "Why haven't you joined our pack yet? I know you don't really like people, but it's for the best." I tried to think of a good way to answer, because I knew Maddy wouldn't leave it alone, especially if she saw it as an opportunity to help me. "I don't really see why I should join your pack. You're not my family, and I'll be moving to a new home, soon enough." I shouldn't have said anything, because I could tell Maddy was going to react badly, and I was right. "How can you say things like that? When are you leaving? Why are you leaving? Where are you going to go?" I was not going to enjoy this conversation. I kept my eyes on my shoes, and kept walking, Maddy walking beside me. "Maddy, why should your family take care of me, when they have no obligation to do so. I don't let my foster parents take care of me, and they're required to. And as for the leaving, I'm supervised that I haven't been kicked out, with my record and all. I was in my last house for two weeks before I was kicked out, and five in the one before. I haven't been in one place for over a year since I was twelve. I could be moved any time, whether I want to or not." Maddy looked upset, so I changed the subject. "I don't want to leave, though. It's nice, being here."

Maddy laughed, but it sounded rather forced. "You say that 'cause you've been elsewhere! The only time Ah've ivvor left home was t' visit family friends in other villages, and if you've seen yen, ye've seen 'em all." What did she say? She must have been more upset than I thought, because I didn't understand everything that she said. "Maddy, could you repeat what you said, I only understood about half of it." She turned to face me, with a dumbfounded look on her face, clearly not expecting me to say something like that. "Ye divnt understand me accent? Must only be when Ah'm excited." She shook her head. "I'll try te talk better 'round you. When I'm at school, I speak better English, but when it's family, it's all Geordie, Mam especially." "I'm getting better at understanding what you say, it's just when you get really excited that it's hard. I used to be really bad, mixing Welsh and English. As far as the social workers could tell, I was raised bilingually, mostly knowing Welsh and some words in English. Being found, and growing up in England, I spoke English, so I've forgotten most of the Welsh that I knew."

We were talking for so long, we had gotten to the part of the woods where we had to separate, and start heading towards our houses. "I guess, this is bye, then?" "I'll see you later, yeah?" "Yeah." We parted, and I ran to the Vaughn's house, eager to get my homework done, and start drawing. There were a bunch of things that I wanted to start sketching.