Casmas Clan: Josiah and Clara
Chapter Five

~ Josiah Josiah sat within the playground with newspaper in hand, waiting. Every day for the past month, he would sit here, waiting for her to appear just to annoy the hell out of the girl. For an entire month they have been playing this game and yet she still has refused to tell him her name. Well not this time, by the end of the day he was bound and determined to get it from her. He just had to be patient and she would finally appear and he'll set his plan into motion. Ahh, there she was. His four foot, petite package of anomalies. That's what she was to him, an enigma, a complex mixture of do's and don'ts and no touching. Josiah smiled as he rose smoothly to his feet and began following the tiny little morsel. The 'no touching' always amused him, since he made sure to touch her as often as he could, just to annoy her that much more.

For several minutes, Josiah quietly followed behind her, contemplating just how he would annoy her this time, when out of the corner of his eye he noticed a shadow out of place down an alleyway. Sighing in disappointment, he reached out and gently ran his hand across her back, before turning and heading down the alleyway.

Josiah hated leaving her, leaving the game un-played, but as the newest member of the Casmás Clan, he had to know who was lurking down dark alleyways, spying on people. His wolf wasn't happy with him at all, he fought against the human side, trying to get back to the girl they left behind. Ignoring him the best he could, Josiah followed the shadow down a couple more alleyways before he slowed and crept up to the end of the house beside him.

Peering around the corner, Josiah's brows drew together. Why was Zach so far from the den and speaking with an outsider? Yeah, Josiah was new to the Clan, but he could still tell the difference between Casmás and another. The scents were highly different.

Josiah attempted to eavesdrop, but they were just far enough away that he couldn't hear anything. Something was wrong though; by the concern that was rising in Zach's eyes, it had to be very wrong.

Josiah quickly turned away and hurried back down the alleyways when Zach yelled out three words at the other man. Dermet must die! For the short time he knew the Alpha, Josiah had come to respect the man. So far, he was a far better Alpha than his old one. Josiah just had to reach him and tell him what little he knew before Zach returned to the main den.

~ Clara Clara couldn't believe how disappointed she actually was over that big oaf deserting her. All she got was a soft caress against the middle of her back before he disappeared. She pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind when she reached Charlie's house. Forcing a smile upon her face, Clara knocked on his door and waited....And waited.

Knocking on the door after ten minutes of waiting, Clara looked around the house and up at the second-story windows. No lights were on, but that wasn't out of the ordinary. Charlie hardly ever used lights, even when the moon was high in the sky. Odd, she thought as she finally turned away nearly a half-hour later. Charlie had never missed their appointments before.

Sighing, Clara began down the sidewalk heading out of town. With no clear destination in mind, she allowed her thoughts to roam, while walking through the sand surrounding the town and ending at the swamplands that separated Kosta from Remora several miles away.

There were creatures in the swamp that protected it from beings they felt were a danger to their home. The crocodiles and alligators of old were no more, at least that was what she was told in school, leaving protectors a lot larger and more fierce living within the swamps. Clara had never seen any of those creatures; she didn't even feel any fear from the swamps, just a sense of peace.

A large, rotten tree stump poked out of the murky waters, luring Clara to sit upon it and stare out over the waters. She could see swirls in the water and small crests where something swam, but could not see what caused them. Reaching into the bag she carried over a shoulder, Clara pulled out a wrapped sandwich and began opening it. Charlie had always insisted she brought food with her to every session they had, and he made her eat whenever she took a break. Clara also pulled out a textbook and notebook, figuring she might as well work on her homework. This was her last year, which she was quite grateful for. A splash nearby was loud in the quietness of the area, but Clara ignored it until something began climbing up her leg. She jumped with a squeal and leaped away from the stump, dropping everything in her lap.

After checking her leg and the rest of her, making sure whatever it was wasn't still on her, she turned to look back at the stump. Clara's eyes squinted at the food, a small claw reached up, grabbed a handful of food, then disappeared. Her curiosity piqued, Clara walked back over to the stump.

Large, glowing, orange eyes, they seemed bigger than the small body, stared up at her as it quickly grabbed another handful of food and devoured it. Clara couldn't help but smile at the little creature. It was so small; it would fit inside her palm. The color of its scale and spiked body was grayish with blue and black spots at the spikes. Its little head with the too-big eyes, tilted slightly to the left as it stared up at her.

'What is it doing?' Clara thought when it opened its mouth and showed its many, many sharp teeth at her. It wasn't growling at her or acting menacingly at all. A thought struck, causing her to crouch down to be closer to its level. 'Maybe it's mimicking me?' She had been smiling at it before it showed her its teeth.

Deciding to test the theory, Clara raised her hand and slowly wriggled her pointer finger at the creature. Her smile returned full force when its claw raised and it tried to copy her movements. A giggle escaped as she crawled closer to it and lifted the nearly full sandwich.

"Here, let me help," Clara stated when the creature gave such a cute pout.

Breaking a part of the sandwich off, she held it out to the creature, slightly out of its reach to see what it would do. It sniffed a couple of times, before inching closer, only to stop and sniff again. Another hesitation, then it scooted closer and quickly snatched the bit of food from her hand and shoved it down its throat.

For an hour, Clara sat at the edge of the swamp. The little creature, she decided to call it 'Pipsqueak', was now relaxing on her knee, and staring out at the swamp. Despite being highly disappointed earlier in the day, Clara decided today turned out to be a pretty good day.

"Well Pipsqueak, I hate to do it, but I'm going to call it a day."

Pipsqueak chirped at her for being disturbed and crawled off to the swamp water's edge, where it turned back to her.

"Don't worry; I'll bring you more food tomorrow."

Pipsqueak chirped again, then disappeared into the murky waters. Standing up, Clara dusted off her clothes, before putting her books back into her bag. Whistling to herself, she began the long walk home.

~ Dermet Dermet stood within the den of his home, waiting upon the return of Zach. The newest member of his Clan, Josiah, stood beside him. He didn't truly want the boy here, he had barely fully recovered from his wounds, but it was their way. Since Josiah followed Zach and stumbled upon the secret meeting, he was the accuser and had to be present.

Dermet also had his Second, Harvey, in attendance as well. Otherwise the room was empty and quite quiet. Any minute now, Zach would arrive and they could get to the bottom of this. Dermet didn't disbelieve Josiah's claims; there was no reason for the boy to lie to him. Besides, Dermet had always distrusted Zach and kept a close eye on him. He always had him followed to make certain the cougar stayed out of trouble. As soon as the matter with Zach was through, Dermet was going to find Craig and find out why he hadn't done as he was ordered to. Infractions within his Clan were not going to be allowed. Any who didn't want to follow him would be thrown out of the Clan and town.

Dermet's fingers began to rap against the top of the high-back chair beside him in impatience. Zach was late. Dermet hated tardiness and couldn't stand for it. If Zach wasn't here in five more minutes, Dermet was going to send the Clan out to bring him back. Kicking and screaming if need be. In fact, time was up.

"Harvey, summon the Clan. I'm tired of waiting. Bring Zach before me for trial over his treachery."

When Harvey left, Dermet glanced in Josiah's direction. The boy was chomping at the bits to go out hunting with the rest, but this time it just would not be.

"Josiah, you will stay here with me. I know you want to go out with the rest and hunt Zach down, but it cannot be. You are the accuser and as such must stay within this house."

Though the boy sighed deeply, he nodded in understanding. Dermet turned back to the door. His anger rose further and further the longer he was forced to wait. Zach would pay for that as well once he was found and brought back.