The last of the adults left the lab, their thanks echoing down the hall. The fluorescent hum filled the silence, broken only by the rhythmic whirr of floppy drives and the faint click of a screen saver bouncing across a monitor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mark gathered up his notes, clearly thinking we\u2019d be heading out too. But Gabriel swung a chair around backward and dropped into it.
\u201cNot so fast, maestro. We want the private show.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mark blinked. \u201cPrivate show?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I grinned. \u201cYeah. We saw you running circles around those grown-ups. Now you\u2019ve got two of the dumb jocks in the back row. Teach us something.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mark\u2019s face pinked, but he nodded. \u201cOkay\u2026 um\u2026 sure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He pulled up to one of the terminals and waved us closer.
\u201cComputers are just\u2026 logic,\u201d he began, fingers flying over the keyboard. The screen filled with green letters:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
10 PRINT “HELLO”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
20 GOTO 10<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNow watch.\u201d He hit Enter. The word HELLO<\/em> began flooding the screen, line after line until it blurred into a wall of text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel let out a low whistle. \u201cEndless hellos. Kind of poetic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark smiled shyly. \u201cIt\u2019s a loop. The computer does exactly what you tell it, over and over. Even if it\u2019s nonsense. Even if it\u2019s dangerous. It\u2019ll follow you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I leaned on the desk, watching the letters race. \u201cLoyal without question. Like a packmate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He tilted his head at that, clearly intrigued but not sure what I meant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTry one,\u201d Mark urged, sliding the keyboard toward Gabriel. \u201cAnything you want.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel typed carefully, tongue between his teeth:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 10 PRINT “FERAL RULES”<\/p>\n\n\n\n 20 GOTO 10<\/p>\n\n\n\n The monitor erupted with green FERAL RULES<\/em>. He barked out a laugh. \u201cOh yeah. That\u2019s more like it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even I chuckled. Mark\u2019s eyes lit up \u2014 it was the first time we\u2019d seen real pride on his face outside of music class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the laughter faded, he sat back, studying us. \u201cYou two are\u2026 different. Not just because you\u2019re tall and scary. I saw it today with the bullies. And\u2026 there\u2019s something in your eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel glanced at me. My turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I leaned in, let my focus narrow, and with just a thought, let the wolf show through \u2014 not fully, not enough to scare him, but enough that my eyes glowed faintly, amber fire catching in the lab\u2019s dim light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark froze. His mouth opened slightly. \u201cWhat\u2026 what was that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel joined me, just for a heartbeat, his own eyes catching with the same unnatural glint. Then we both blinked it away, casual as shutting a door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark whispered, \u201cThat wasn\u2019t the monitor reflection.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNo,\u201d I said, keeping my voice calm. \u201cBut it\u2019s not something we can explain yet. Just\u2026 call it a family secret.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He leaned back, staring at us like we\u2019d pulled the rug out from under everything he thought he knew. His fingers hovered over the keyboard, forgotten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou two are\u2026\u201d He didn\u2019t even finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gabriel smiled, low and quiet. \u201cDifferent, yeah. But so are you, Mark. Don\u2019t sell yourself short. What you did in here tonight? That was power. Maybe not fists or growls, but power all the same.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark sat in silence, processing. Then, very softly, he said, \u201cI want to know more. About\u2026 whatever that was.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I nodded. \u201cYou will. In time. For now, keep shining where you shine. We\u2019ll have your back everywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The last of the adults left the lab, their thanks echoing down the hall. The fluorescent hum filled the silence, broken only by the rhythmic whirr of floppy drives and the faint click of a screen saver bouncing across a monitor. Mark gathered up his notes, clearly thinking we\u2019d be heading out too. But Gabriel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-high-school-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions\/102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}