Wendy had been staring at the clock for hours.

The whole day so far had just been waiting. Waiting for it to be a certain time, and as the clock ticked by, each second became longer and longer than the one before. She had done everything she could to make the day go by fast, wake up late, take longer to do things, help out Gideon by the counters but it only seemed to take longer every new activity she did.

Finally, Wendy gave up, and retreated to lying on the counter inside of the gift shop of the Archives of Mystery, watching the clock tick by. It was tedious, and it seemed she had been doing it for hours. She was waiting for her sister to come by and say that it had been only five minutes, but she never did.

Speaking of her sister, it reminded her of the incident just yesterday. She still felt bad about it, saying she was insane. But she hadn't said sorry yet, why hadn't she? Maybe because she hadn't even approached her at all today, maybe because she thought it would be too awkward.

She pushed those thoughts aside, saying that she was just busy. Busy, of course! I've been busy all day, from waking up late, to helping out Grunkle Fiddleford to running outside in the woods to doing a whole bunch of other things. I've barely had time to talk to Pacifica, and she's seemed too busy to talk to me as well.

Wendy smiled, although the smile wasn't real. Even though she was convincing herself of that answer, something on her mind still told her that it was her fault she hadn't apologized to Pacifica. And if Wendy had any sense, she, although secretly, knew it was right.

She looked at the clock once more. It was almost half after four, almost just half an hour until Oran was arriving. She had been anxious about him coming all day. Not just because Oran had promised her to make this fun for her, but he said he was going to tell her something. Something that was his secret.

What could it be? That had been racking her brain all day, and the thoughts seemed to vary along with what emotion she was feeling. Perhaps he was going to tell her he wanted to become something more, that was if she was happy, but there were moments where her thoughts would take a dark turn and think he was telling her he had to go away for vacations, or even moving.

She looked to her right, looking at the merchandise inside the gift shop of the Archives of Mystery. She closed her eyes for a second. Maybe napping through the next half hour would help her go through it quickly. She could fall asleep dreaming of Oran, and wake up and he was right at her door, like I'm those dreamt romance novels some of her and occasionally she read, that would be so-

"Kid, why are you lying on the counter?" She heard a voice. "Everything alright?"

She sat up quickly, looking around, to see Gideon sitting at the chair. When she sat up, he placed his feet on the counter. How long had he been there? Had he been watching her?

"Yeah, everything's fine, but time seems to be going slowly right now," Wendy said. "Is time always this slow? If so, I think I'm going to die."

"I think you're just bored, Wendy," Gideon said. "Usually doing things make the time go by faster, have you tried that?"

"Already have, it makes it seem like it takes even longer," Wendy replied. "Plus, I've done everything. From cleaning the racks for the Archives of Mystery shirts to climbing trees. You name it, I've done it."

Gideon chuckled a bit. "I get the idea. If I might ask, why are you so anxious about the time? You waiting for something?"

Wendy grinned a bit. "If you want to know, there's this guy, Oran, who said he's taking me out tonight and I'm just too excited!"

"Really?" Gideon asked. "Aren't you, what, how old are you?"

"I'm thirteen, but I'll be fourteen at the end of the summer," Wendy answered.

"Thirteen? Isn't that a bit young to be dating?" Gideon said. "I, for sure never had a date at that age. But props to you, Wendy. You seem like a pretty cool kid, though, I'm not surprised."

"Well, I guess thirteen is a little young, my parents would never let me date someone a this age, especially my dad, he'd go insane about it," Wendy said. "But hey! They're not here! And Grunkle Fiddleford doesn't seem to care, so I have the opportunity to do all kinds of things they wouldn't allow since they won't know! Isn't it great?"

Gideon chuckled a bit again. "Wendy, you one day have to meet my friends, I think they'd like you're attitude."

"Thanks!" Wendy said.

"I've been actually meaning to get them all over here one day, sometimes it gets so boring around this place," Gideon said. "But they always seem to be busy."

"Huh," Wendy said.

There was a knock on the door. Wendy's face lit up with excitement, as she practically leaped off the counter, and after landing on the ground finally, ran towards the door to see who was there. Gideon seemed a little surprised at how excited she was, but he didn't say anything.

Wendy opened the door, to see Oran standing there. He had a smile on his face, and it seemed for once, to be a confident smile, unlike his usual nervous smile. Wendy got even more excited, but also a little nervous at the same time.

"Hey Oran!" Wendy said.

"H-Hey Wendy!" Oran replied, smiling more. "S-So, you ready for our, um-"

"Of course!" Wendy said. She looked down at her clothing, wanting him to notice she had dressed up, well, somewhat.

It wasn't actually really much to dress up in. It was her best piece of flannel, and her best pair of shorts that had recently been washed. But she felt a little nicer than usual wearing them.

"That's great," Oran said. He smiled again, this time more nervously, taking her hand. "I'm excited too."

The two walked side by side, deep into the forests now, though not far off the lake, Wendy could see it through the masses of trees.

"I-I like trees," Oran said. "They're quiet."

"I like trees. Well, more, I like climbing trees, since they're really tall and fun to climb, but they always made my mom and dad nervous when I climbed them. They said  I'd get stuck up there forever if I couldn't get down, but look at me now!" Wendy said.

Oran smiled at her, again that nervous smile. She had gotten used to it by now.

"H-Hey, Wendy?" Oran asked.

"Yes, Oran?" Wendy replied.

"Y-You know, we've been getting close lately, I've come to know you and you've come to know me, I'd consider is friends.  Or, e-even more than just friends."

Wendy felt herself blush slightly, as her lips curled into an excited smile, she felt herself listen even more intently, wanting to hear him continue.

"Y-You know yesterday how I asked you to t-trust me?" Oran said.

"Yes, I remember," Wendy said. "And I said I do trust you."

"Y-Yes, you did." He replied. "But there's one more thing I need to ask you, t-that I should've asked you yesterday."

"What is it, Oran?" Wendy asked. She felt her heart race slightly as he again held her hand tightly, looking deep into her eyes, like he had done yesterday.

"You, you'll always accept me for who I am, right?" He asked. "I-If there's something about me that's a little weird, you won't care, will you?"'

"Oran, of course I wouldn't!" Wendy said. "I like you for who you are. If there's something weird about you, I don't care! You're a really cool person."

Oran smiled more, still looking at her straight in the eye. "Well, then, if I show you this, you'll accept me for it. But you, you have to promise you won't freak out, or think I'm strange."

"Oran, I already said-" Wendy said before she was cut off.

"I know, I-I know," Oran said. "I'm just, nervous, okay?"

Then, Oran stood up, he looked serious now, and Wendy's heart raced even faster. This had to be what he was talking about earlier, his secret about something. If she was lucky, maybe he would be a werewolf! Then she could tell Pacifica she was right that he was a monster but she could still like him, instead of him being one of those siren things.

Please be a werewolf, please be a werewolf.

She looked as he unzipped his sweater, starting to feel uncomfortable, but slightly intrigued at the same time.

But when he was done, she stared at something she wasn't expecting at all. She sat there, stunned, unsure of what to say.

"Is it bad?" A voice said.

All Wendy could think to do at the very moment was scream.

She had gotten the shot, and she stared at it.

Pacifica had watched as Wendy and Oran headed out the door, except this time she had a camera in hand. When Oran turned around, just before closing the door, she had gotten the same snapshot of his right arm, with the same blue fins. She quickly looked at the picture, giving herself evidence. She walked over back into the gift shop, still looking at the picture.

"Well, someone was excited about something," Gideon said.

Pacifica looked up, looking up at the teenager, feeling herself become slightly awkward.

"I saw your sister get excited and rush towards the door," Gideon explained. "She was telling me earlier about how she had a date with this guy, what was his name?"

"Oran," Pacifica replied. "His name was Oran."

"Oran! That's a bit of an odd name," Gideon said.

"Oh, yeah. . ." Pacifica said. "He's not my favourite, I think he's a little odd."

"I think there's something more behind that," Gideon said, giving her a small grin.

What was that supposed to mean? What did Gideon mean there was more behind that? Did he know she thought he wasn't a human? He couldn't, she had never spoken about it near him.

"What do you mean?" Pacifica asked.

"I think you're just a little jealous," Gideon said.

"Gideon, that's really silly," Pacifica said, feeling herself become even more awkward. "She's my sister."

"Not what I mean," Gideon said. "I think, since she's your best friend, you're jealous of the attention she's giving Oran lately. She had been spending a lot of time with him, and as her sister and her twin, like her second half, you're jealous."

Pacifica looked at him. Those were the feeling she was trying hardest to shove down, and now Gideon felt the need to bring them up. Gideon was right, even if she tried hard to not be jealous, part of her was. She knew that, although she had tried to avoid those feelings, knowing they could hurt her relationship with Wendy more.

Maybe that was also part of why she thought this.

"Maybe a bit," Pacifica said. "But it's hard not to be. My sister, getting a boyfriend? It's something that's never happened. Wendy's also my closest friend, of course it'll be a little odd."

She deliberately left out the part that Wendy was perhaps her only friend, too. She didn't need people to know exactly how anti social and awkward she was.

"Don't worry, Pacifica. The two of you are still young, only technically teenagers, this won't last long. There were people who dated at thirteen and it barely lasted a week sometimes," Gideon reassured her. "I think dating so young is dumb."

Well, she knew that. She had seen people at her school dating way too young at ended quickly. "Okay. . ."

"Don't tell Wendy I said that, though," Gideon said, throwing her a wink.

She smiled for a second. "Thanks, Gideon."

Suddenly, she heard an ear piercing scream. It must've been coming from somewhere close by. Her thoughts raced, fearing the worst.

Wendy.

"I-I've got to go," Pacifica said.

I've got to go save my sister.