The Dream Catchers

Decisions

Candice got in Tyler’s truck, itching to ask him what this was all about.

He got on and turned the keys on.

He never listened to music in his car, so the persistent silence began hanging way too heavy on her.

She crossed her arms in front of her and looked at him intently.

He didn’t spare a glance in her direction, but she knew he could see her. 

“What?”

“You were the one who wanted to talk.”

He exhaled audibly and said.

“I’m leaving.”

Candice almost jumped from her seat. 

“What? "

" I'm leaving. "

" How come? Where? For how long.” She’d raised her voice.

“Wow, wow. Jeez, calm down, sis.”

“I’m calm. You’re the one who wants to go somewhere. You still haven’t answered me. Where are you going?”

“I’ll be traveling? “

“Traveling? Where?”

“Canada.”

“Canada? But that’s like…on the other side of the world, Ty.”

“Not really… but yeah.” 

“With who?”

“We’re not the only hunters in the world, Candice.”

“Yeah. But you don’t know the other hunters out there. “

“Well, I guess it’s time to make learn stuff about them.”

She searched his face.

It was unreadable the way it always was when Tyler didn't want to discuss things with her.

“You’re going alone. “

She said flatly.

“At first I'll be alone, yeah. But Dad has a friend who’s one of the keepers and hunters there.

I'll be with them for a while, then we’ll see.”

“But why? I still don’t know why you want to leave everything just like that. Out of nowhere.”

“It really isn’t out of nowhere.”

“No? How long have you been planning this, then?”

“A while. It doesn’t matter.”

“Damn it, Ty.”

Her fingernails dug into the palms of her hands. 

“Besides, what  am I supposed to do here?”

He turned to her.

“What you’ve been doing this whole time? Taking care of everyone? Work with dad?”

He shook his head

“No, that’s Jamie.”

"But we still need you. All of us."

"Nah, Jamie's...he's the one who was born to be the head of all hunters. And he'll be great."

"With you by his side."

"He'll learn everything he needs to know, Candice. He's almost there."

Her brother forced a smile. 

“You perfectly well know that’s not true."

Candice protested, even though she knew if Tyler had decided something, he wasn't changing his mind.

Nothing in the world could.

"What if something happens?”

“Nothing will happen. Everything’s been safe and fine for years.”

“How do you know?” 

“Candice, look. I don’t want to be here, all right? ”

“Is it because of Eadan?”

“What?”

Tyler went rigid for a second, before regaining his composure back.

And judging by his reaction, she had been right.

“I’m going to kill that f*****g snake, I promise.”

“It wasn’t him who told me.”

“Of course not.” 

She saw her brother clenching the steering wheel.

“I swear,Ty. It really wasn’t him, I had no idea if I'm right and actually…”

“Candice.”

He said gravely. In moments like those, he looked a lot more like their father than he realized. 

Than anyone else in the family.

“It’s because of me." he said."It's because I don’t feel…I’m not me. And the moments I feel like myself are the times when I shouldn’t feel that way. Do you understand?”

“I do. You’re insane. “

“Oh, come on.”

“What did Dad say? Or Jamie? You can’t just do this.”

"They're fine with it.“

" Fine? "

" Yes? "

“You’re kidding me. You’re also wrong. Not everything is the way you think it is and…”

“I’ve made up my mind.”

She knew that was it.

And whatever she was going to say was going to be wasted to the wind. 

“I mean, I am going to help Jamie, as I promised,” he continued, his eyes staring blindly ahead, “ but if we don’t find anything and everything turns out to be normal, I’ll leave.” 

“For how long?”

“I…haven’t thought about it.”

“You have, we both know it.”

“Until I decide it’s time. “ Candice didn't reply and Ty looked at her-  a smile crossed his face.

“Now, don’t cry.”

“Shut up.”

She was biting the inside of her cheek “Who’s gonna miss you, you’re terrible.”

“Now that’s more like you.”

He said and ruffled her hair.

“Nooo, stop it! I hate when you do this!"

They continued teasing each other, their usual way of pretending everything was fine and masking the emotions they could better express with banter and fights.

One was less harmless than the other and they were definitely very good at pretending. 

***

They arrived at her school shortly after. Candice tried for the door, when Ty said.

"Let's wait a bit before telling the others, okay?"

"Okay, yeah."

"Thanks."

"No problem Ty. I'm not the one who has to tell them. "

"I know."

Her brother said quietly; that was the only reply he gave her and Candice got off.

"Okay. I'll see you at home, then. "

"Yeah."

Tyler was just about to hit the gas, when Candice turned around and said over the sound of the engine

"Hey, Ty!"

"Yeah?"

"Talk to him, all right?"

Tyler pressed the pedal and was soon gone and out of sight. 

***

When he got home in the evening, he discovered Jamie was already waiting for him.

"Ready?" 

"Yeah, let's go."

They got on the car and drove deeper into the woods.

Neither of them spoke much, but Jamie and Tyler had both never been much the sharing type.

Ty decided to break the silence, obviously it had obviously been a day of speaking to your siblings. 

"So how's your girlfriend?" He asked, trying to sound casual. 

"Mia's not my girlfriend. For now." 

"But you do like her, don't you?"

Jamie made a face

"If I didn't, I wouldn't do any of that. "

"True, you're like that."

Jamie laughed.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Come on, bro. It was supposed to be a compliment."

"Yeah, I know, it's just...I don't know."

"What's there to know?" 

"Everyone's against it."

"Jamie, the only people against it are probably Mom and her mom. And I'm not even sure about the latter."

His brother laughed

"No, she's...she isn't. I'm actually invited to diner next week."

"See? Mom will have to get used to it, though."

"and if she doesn't?"

"You'll steal Mia and take her somewhere, where you'll get married and all that."

"Yeah, right."

He paused, then said

"Im ready to watch over her even if she's not mine or with me."

Tyler shook his head.

"She's already yours, Jamie. And I know you wouldn't, but don't let stuff get to your head, okay?"

"Yeah, I'll do anything. As long as she wants me."

"There you go. Mom will always be against something. And in that case, I don't see how it matters if Mia's human. She saw you killing an innocent goat and didn't scream, so..."

"You're not funny."

"All I'm saying is, I'm happy for you. Ok?"

"OK. And hey?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks, Ty."

"Always. We're here, by the way."

Tyker pointed ahead.

They'd reached the place Candice told them she'd seen the imprints.

They got off and searched the place.

It was something they'd done a million times and felt so natural, Tyler had the feeling he could sense the animals moving before even seeing them.

They were hunters, and even though they didn't have an animal form, like werewolves, for example, they still had instincts, much more developed than a normal human's. 

They looked around and traced different marks- some big, some smaller. 

"Do you see anything?"

"Not really.I mean nothing different from what the animals we have here."

"Same."

"Let's search some more and if there's nothing, we'll just go back. "

It was two days before the full moon, so the light made tracing easier, although they didn't really need it. 

After a while, they reached the lake. 

And then Tyler paused.

"Wait."

He lowered himself to the ground and saw it.

His eyes were much more adaptive to the dark so he could easily see the outlines of prints, something few people could even notice.

Jamie followed and they both saw it. 

"Is it a..."

" A werewolf."

Tyler said. 

"No, it can't be."

"Why not?"

"Tha mark's not so big."

"Compared to what?" Tyler asked.

"No, you..." Jamie wiped his hands in his pants and got up. "You're right. I really haven't seen prints since we were what, ten?"

"But you're right, they should different. "

"Let's ask dad what's that tomorrow, yeah?"

"Yeah, ok."

Tyler got up too and they searched the area around the prints for more traces.

"Nothing else?"

"Nope."

"Let's go back, then. Or Mia will start missing you."

"Jerk." 

They got on the car and left back home. Tyler kept thinking about the imprint and couldn't shake the feeling it was actually a werewolf's.

Granted, it had been different from the ones he remembered, but there was another thought, that had began shaping in his mind from the moment Candice had mentioned the marks. 

What if that was a new kind of wolf? One no one had seen yet?

He was very honestly hoping he wasn't right.

Tyler hated being right. 

***

Their father was waiting for them when they got home.

He was sitting in the kitchen, finishing his coffee.

He always had coffee, despite the late hours. He had it at six am and at ten or eleven in the evening.

It had stopped having any effect on him a long time ago, though.

"Anything?"

He asked when he saw them come in.

Jamie and Tyler took the seats opposite him on the table. 

"There are imprints, but they don't look the way a normal werewolf's would be." Jamie said. 

"How so?"

"We don't know, they're just different. "

"Anything else?"

"No, " Tyler shook his head and looked at Jamie. 

"No, nothing besides that. "

"Right. I'll send more patrols to check the woods, then."

The brothers nodded in acknowledgement.

"Jamie?"

"Me and the guys check all the time, so I guess we're okay for now."

"Good." Jack crossed his hands and turned to Tyler 

"Are you ready?"

"Yeah. I think so. " 

"When do you leave? "Jamie turned to him. 

"In a few days, I wasn't sure whether I'll have to stay, but considering everything's fine here..." he looked between his brother and father. 

"It is, "Jamie reassured him." Don't worry. We'll handle things here fine. "

"Patrick is going to wait for you once you arrive in Alberta."

Jack said.

"Okay, thanks. "

"Tyler?"

"Yes, Dad?"

"They live differently from us, their hunters are not ...let's say they're not trying to be part of people's society , the way we are."

"Yeah, he.. I mean Patrick mentioned it when we spoke the other day. " Tyler smiled. 

"So they might look more violent in their ways of dealing with creatures out of this world." Jack said pointedly. 

"Uh..as long as it works?"

"I would assume it does. They don't allow anything pass their boundaries."

"Right."

"And the creatures never get mixed with people."

"So I'll like it there."

Tyler laughed.

"You'll like it there. "

His father said.

"Let's see."

"Try and learn their ways, as much as you can. " his father continued.

"Their knowledge will be helpful one way or another. See what they know about werewolves. "

Tyler nodded and his father continued "What you found may not be a werewolf's mark, but it still is not something from here.Whatever you can find and  investigate, do it. " 

"I'll do my best. And Jamie? " Tyler turned to his brother. 

"Yeah?" 

"Don't lose your head, okay?"

"Oh, come on. You know everything's under control."

"You boys forget your Dad's not that old and still know his things?"

They laughed. 

"Fine, then. You're right. "

They wished each other goodbyes and headed for their rooms. 

Tyler had one more thing to do, so he waited for the house to be completely silent and went out.