Categories > Movies > Thunderbirds > A Tracy Secret
Chapter Nine
0 reviewsShortly after his 15th birthday an event occurs that alters Alan Tracy's life forever and leads him to uncover the greatest secret of the Tracy family.
0Unrated
A Tracy Secret
A Tracy Secret
Chapter Nine
Mining Site
South Africa, Ten Minutes Later
Gordon Tracy quietly sighed as they finished loading the last of the latest group of miners aboard the Mole and the Moles hatch closed. Gordon glanced at his watch as they backed away from the Mole allowing their father to start the engines once the Moles proximity sensors informed him that they were no longer in danger of getting caught in the metal blades and tracks of the Mole.
Gordon sighed again when he saw what the time was. Damn it I had hoped we would be done by now, he thought knowing from the time that the full moon would have risen over Tracy Island a short while ago and that by now as a result Alan would have changed into a werewolf. I had wanted to be there when that happened, he thought, oh I know John will be with him and will help him understand what being a werewolf means but its not the same. Alan needs all of us there, but because of this damned rescue we can't be there.
Gordon looked around to see that there was only a handful of miner's left down here with himself and Virgil. Barely twenty in all, they would all be able to leave when the Mole returned this time. After they did that it wouldn't be that long before they would be back at home. Gordon already knew what he was going to do when he got back home, he would go straight to the changing room and turn into a werewolf and go and find his little brother.
Gordon felt a hand touch his arm and he looked over to see Virgil standing beside him, since they were standing close together to start with he naturally didn't sense Virgil the way he would normally though through the physical contact he immediately sensed the werewolf inside Virgil. Virgil didn't speak and he couldn't see his brother's face through the faceplate of the helmet but he didn't need to. He could guess what Virgil was saying, that he was saying 'he'll be all right'. Gordon nodded to let Virgil know that he understood the silent message.
Virgil gently released his arm and Gordon quietly sighed to himself hoping dad hurried back with the Mole soon. Then they could go back home and be with Alan. I wonder what there doing now, he thought thinking of Alan and John.
***
Beach
Tracy Island
Fermat Hackenbacker sighed and yawned slightly as he sat besides Tin-Tin Belagant on one of the pure sandy white beaches of Tracy Island watching through a mixture of torchlight and the silver light of the full moon as female sea turtles hauled themselves up out of the surf and up the beach to lay there eggs.
"Are you tired Fermat," Tin-Tin asked hearing Fermat yawn.
"A l...l...little," Fermat stammered back yawning he looked back at the jungle knowing that Alan would be in there somewhere. Or rather the werewolf he turned into would be. "I w...w...wonder what Alan's d...d...doing."
"I don't know," Tin-Tin replied. "I don't know what the Tracy's get up to when they change into werewolves and I'm not sure I really want to know. All I know is whatever they do there really relaxed and at ease the following day."
"H...h...have you e...e...ever s...s...seen them," Fermat asked curious if Tin-Tin had seen one or more of the Tracy's in werewolf form at some point. Since she lived on the island almost all the time she was bound to have.
"Only from a distance," Tin-Tin replied. "When they change they don't tend to hang around near the complex. I've only seen an actual werewolf from a distance and then only as a silhouette. I've never seen the transformation or anything not like you did with Alan last night."
"It s...s...scary to s...s...see."
"I imagine it would be its one of the reasons why they go off on there own when the time comes for them to transform. From what I understand real life werewolves don't like scaring normal people half to death."
Fermat smiled and nodded understanding perfectly, he hadn't seen Alan's final werewolf form though he'd seen enough to guess what his friend would have looked like as a werewolf and that was frightening enough. He yawned again.
"Maybe we should go back," Tin-Tin suggested to Fermat. "You look like you could do with going to sleep."
"Y...y...yes," Fermat agreed and awkwardly stood up. Tin-Tin did the same and started to lead the way back to the villa complex. It would take them along a dark, winding jungle path where seeing even with the torch would be difficult but it wouldn't take long to get back.
Fermat followed and they disappeared into the jungle.
***
Tin-Tin led the way along the jungle path using the torch to see the narrow path back towards the villa and avoid obstructions like the roots of the trees. Until the moment when the torch light spluttered fitfully. Tin-Tin looked at the torch in concern wondering if the battery was running out, and in that moment of distraction she tripped over a protruding tree root and fell.
Tin-Tin cried out in pain as she felt her ankle twist badly.
"Tin-Tin are y...y...you a...a...all right," Fermat asked worriedly. Tin-Tin awkwardly tried to stand up but her right ankle refused to take her weight all she got for her efforts was a sharp blast of pain that shot right up her leg, drawing another yelp of pain from her lips.
Fermat frowned in concern and picked up the torch and carefully looked at Tin-Tin's leg. He couldn't see an obviously break but he knew that didn't mean that there couldn't be one.
"G...g...great," Fermat stammered. "Now w...w...what are we g...g...going to do?"
"I don't know Fermat," Tin-Tin replied normally they could just call the villa and one of the Tracy sons would come out to help them. But will almost all of them out on the rescue and the other two having disappeared off somewhere and turned into there werewolf forms they couldn't really do that.
"I don't know," Tin-Tin repeated.
***
A Short Distance Away
Alan ran along with John through the jungles of Tracy Island not really caring where on the island they were going, he was just enjoying the run. Though he couldn't help but feel a little surprised by the fact that he was running fast for a sustained period and not even beginning to feel tired. He had learned that his werewolf form was powerful last night just after his first transformation but he hadn't realised that it was this powerful.
As he ran his eyes easily penetrating the darkness so he could see almost like as if it was a day Alan noticed a light ahead moving slowly along what he knew to be one of the jungle paths.
"John is that a torch," he asked his older brother.
"Indeed it is," John replied. "Fermat and Tin-Tin must have gone to one of the beaches on this side of the island probably to watch sea turtles coming ashore to lay eggs. We should wait here until they pass by."
"Yeah. Seeing us would probably scare them," Alan agreed coming to a stop. John did the same and together the two of them watched the slowly moving light.
After a moment the light seemed to lurch then come to a halt at the same time as there sharp hearing picked up a scream.
"That's Tin-Tin something is wrong," Alan said.
"She's probably just tripped," John replied a moment before there was another pained scream. "Okay that's not right."
"She's hurt. We should go over there and see what the problem is. They might need our help."
"Your right. Come on."
John started moving again moving at a normal walking pace this time. Alan followed quietly hoping both that Tin-Tin was okay that however she had hurt herself it wasn't to bad and that she wouldn't completely freak out when she saw not one but two werewolves appear out of the forest.
***
Forest Trail
Tin-Tin gasped as she tried unsuccessfully to stand up for the third time. Her right ankle refused point blank to take her weight; she obviously badly sprained or twisted it.
"Fermat, Tin-Tin you two need any help," John's voice abruptly said into there heads.
"John, Alan where are you," Tin-Tin called out picking up the torch and scanning the forest for any sign of them but the torch wasn't powerful enough to really penetrate the gloom of the forest.
"In the forest near you," Alan's mental voice responded. "Are you alright?"
"I've hurt my ankle," Tin-Tin replied. "I can't put any weight on it at all."
Tin-Tin looked at Fermat with a silent question on her face. Fermat nodded knowing what Tin-Tin was asking. She was asking if it was okay with him to ask Alan and John for assistance, given that they would be in werewolf form. He was a little nervous about seeing them but knew full well that they didn't have much choice but to ask for their help. There was no way he could hope to get the wounded Tin-Tin back to the complex on his own.
"You two can show yourselves," Tin-Tin called out. For a few moments there came no response.
"Are you sure," John asked at last and in his mental voice both Tin-Tin and Fermat heard very real concern for them.
"W...w...we are s...s...sure John," Fermat stammered out inwardly feeling a shiver at the prospect of being face to with not just one but two werewolves. Inwardly he told himself that despite appearances Alan and John would inside be the people he knew, but it was still a frightening prospect.
"All right if you're sure," John responded at last.
"We're coming up on your right side Tin-Tin," Alan's voice added and they could hear the nerves and uncertainty in his mental voice. Alan was clearly nervous about facing them while he was in his werewolf form.
Tin-Tin turned her torch to the right hand side and watched. After a moments waiting she saw them appearing out of the gloom that had enveloped the jungle with the loss of the powerful light of the sun.
Despite herself Tin-Tin gasped when for the first time in her life she saw a werewolf up close and really for the first time grasped how big they actually were. They both towered over herself and Fermat and not only were they tall but they were also big, very, very big and muscular. Between their height, size, the claws on their hands and feet and a muzzle full of sharp cutting teeth, they were very fearsome in appearance. Looking at the werewolves Tin-Tin had a hard time relating them to the two people that she knew so well that they were almost like the brothers she'd never had.
But despite the disbelief that part of her felt Tin-Tin knew that they really were Alan and John. Though who exactly was who she didn't know, the two werewolves looked very much the same except their fur colour one having light silver grey fur and the other having dark charcoal grey fur. Looking at the dark furred one closely Tin-Tin saw a hint of nervousness in the warm amber eyes that looked back at her along with concern. Tin-Tin looked deep into those eyes and suddenly knew that the darker furred werewolf was Alan.
Again Tin-Tin was stunned by how different Alan looked as a werewolf compared to how he looked when he was human. It there hadn't been something in his eyes that she recognised somehow then she would not have guessed that the dark grey furred werewolf was the youngest of the Tracy's. She pushed aside the disbelief and reflexive, instinctual fear that she felt at the site of not just one but two werewolves, reminding herself that despite appearances they hadn't really changed, their bodies had but their minds remained their own.
Cautiously obviously not wanting to frighten them Alan and John approached.
"Let me take a look at that Tin-Tin," John said telepathically. Tin-Tin nodded permission and John approached cautiously. "Which leg is it?"
"My right leg," Tin-Tin replied and was a little surprised when John nodded at her, the very human movement looking bizarre coming from a huge, furry werewolf.
John squatted down beside her and carefully started looking over her wounded ankle. Carefully John removed her the sandal on that foot so he could properly examine the ankle being careful so as not to injure Tin-Tin further with the claws on his hands. Then carefully John started feeling around the wounded ankle, Tin-Tin hissed in pain as John's touch sent stabs of agony up her leg.
"Sorry, sorry," John said. Tin-Tin nodded even as Fermat put a comforting hand on her left shoulder and a moment later Alan put one of his own hands on her right shoulder. The touch of Alan's hand felt odd to her as she could feel the inhuman strength in his hand. Looking at it out the corner of her eyes she was very conscious of the sharp claws extending from the tips of his fingers, claws that she knew could disembowel a human with a single blow. Despite being slightly uneasy about Alan's hand on her shoulder she tilted her head so her cheek rested against his hand well away from his claws. She was surprised by how silky soft his fur was against her skin it felt really nice.
"You've definitely badly sprained your ankle," John said at last, "we should get you back to the complex. It might be an idea to get your ankle scanned as well just to make sure you haven't broken it. I doubt it but its better to be safe than sorry."
"I'll get my dad to do that," Tin-Tin agreed though like everyone else she hated getting up on the diagnostic bed but knew that it was a sensible precaution in this case. John nodded again.
"Do you mind being carried Tin-Tin," John asked, "since you can't put any weight on your leg."
"No I don't mind," Tin-Tin replied.
"Okay."
Gently John slid his arms Tin-Tin's knee's and back. Quickly Alan and Fermat withdrew their hands and then John picked Tin-Tin up as if she weighed nothing at all. The movement startled Tin-Tin slightly but for additional purchase she put her arm across his shoulders and feeling the softness of his fur against her skin which contrasted sharply but nicely with the rock hard muscle underneath.
"Let's get going," John said starting along the path back to the main complex carrying Tin-Tin. He hadn't bothered to pick up the torch, as he didn't need it being able to see perfectly well in the dark.
Before following John Alan picked up the torch and offered it to Fermat.
"Here Fermat you'll need this," he said. Fermat looked up at the werewolf that Alan had turned into still trying to reconcile the huge, muscular and furry creature in front of him with his best friend. It was hard to do and the scientist in him was still trying to understand how a man could change into a werewolf.
Trying to hide the hints of fear that he was feeling he accepted the offered torch from Alan.
"T...t...thanks Alan," he stammered slightly and almost jumped when a mental picture of Alan in human form smiling at him flashed through his head. "D...d...did you d...d...do t...t...that?"
"Yes. Sorry I didn't mean to startle you," Alan replied realising that sending the mental image to Fermat had probably startled the young genius just as he could tell that Fermat was afraid of him at the moment. He could literally smell it. "I'm scaring you aren't I?"
"A l...l...little," Fermat admitted guessing that Alan was able to tell from his body odour that he was scared, "b...b...but I'll g...g...get u...u...used to it," he added not wanting to upset his best friend. Alan nodded at him.
"I understand," Alan told him, "this werewolf thing has been a big surprise for both of us. Until yesterday I had no idea that I was anything other than a normal human being."
"It h...h...has," Fermat agreed starting to feel more at ease with talking to Alan now, though hearing Alan's voice in his head still struck him as something that was very, very strange. "H...h...how d...d...does it f...f...feel being a w...w...werewolf."
"Strange at first. But you know what Fermat I like it and you know what it didn't hurt this time when I changed. It just happened."
"T...t...that's s...s...something then," Fermat replied curious now despite himself as to how it would feel to be a werewolf. Again a mental image of Alan smiling at him flashed through his head. It still startled him but not as much as it had the first time.
"Come on Fermat we should catch up with John and Tin-Tin."
"Y...y...yes," Fermat agreed. Another image of a smile flashed through his head then he Alan turned away from him and started walking along the path moving with a silence and grace that complied belied his immense height and weight.
Fermat sighed to himself and followed his best friend.
A Tracy Secret
Chapter Nine
Mining Site
South Africa, Ten Minutes Later
Gordon Tracy quietly sighed as they finished loading the last of the latest group of miners aboard the Mole and the Moles hatch closed. Gordon glanced at his watch as they backed away from the Mole allowing their father to start the engines once the Moles proximity sensors informed him that they were no longer in danger of getting caught in the metal blades and tracks of the Mole.
Gordon sighed again when he saw what the time was. Damn it I had hoped we would be done by now, he thought knowing from the time that the full moon would have risen over Tracy Island a short while ago and that by now as a result Alan would have changed into a werewolf. I had wanted to be there when that happened, he thought, oh I know John will be with him and will help him understand what being a werewolf means but its not the same. Alan needs all of us there, but because of this damned rescue we can't be there.
Gordon looked around to see that there was only a handful of miner's left down here with himself and Virgil. Barely twenty in all, they would all be able to leave when the Mole returned this time. After they did that it wouldn't be that long before they would be back at home. Gordon already knew what he was going to do when he got back home, he would go straight to the changing room and turn into a werewolf and go and find his little brother.
Gordon felt a hand touch his arm and he looked over to see Virgil standing beside him, since they were standing close together to start with he naturally didn't sense Virgil the way he would normally though through the physical contact he immediately sensed the werewolf inside Virgil. Virgil didn't speak and he couldn't see his brother's face through the faceplate of the helmet but he didn't need to. He could guess what Virgil was saying, that he was saying 'he'll be all right'. Gordon nodded to let Virgil know that he understood the silent message.
Virgil gently released his arm and Gordon quietly sighed to himself hoping dad hurried back with the Mole soon. Then they could go back home and be with Alan. I wonder what there doing now, he thought thinking of Alan and John.
***
Beach
Tracy Island
Fermat Hackenbacker sighed and yawned slightly as he sat besides Tin-Tin Belagant on one of the pure sandy white beaches of Tracy Island watching through a mixture of torchlight and the silver light of the full moon as female sea turtles hauled themselves up out of the surf and up the beach to lay there eggs.
"Are you tired Fermat," Tin-Tin asked hearing Fermat yawn.
"A l...l...little," Fermat stammered back yawning he looked back at the jungle knowing that Alan would be in there somewhere. Or rather the werewolf he turned into would be. "I w...w...wonder what Alan's d...d...doing."
"I don't know," Tin-Tin replied. "I don't know what the Tracy's get up to when they change into werewolves and I'm not sure I really want to know. All I know is whatever they do there really relaxed and at ease the following day."
"H...h...have you e...e...ever s...s...seen them," Fermat asked curious if Tin-Tin had seen one or more of the Tracy's in werewolf form at some point. Since she lived on the island almost all the time she was bound to have.
"Only from a distance," Tin-Tin replied. "When they change they don't tend to hang around near the complex. I've only seen an actual werewolf from a distance and then only as a silhouette. I've never seen the transformation or anything not like you did with Alan last night."
"It s...s...scary to s...s...see."
"I imagine it would be its one of the reasons why they go off on there own when the time comes for them to transform. From what I understand real life werewolves don't like scaring normal people half to death."
Fermat smiled and nodded understanding perfectly, he hadn't seen Alan's final werewolf form though he'd seen enough to guess what his friend would have looked like as a werewolf and that was frightening enough. He yawned again.
"Maybe we should go back," Tin-Tin suggested to Fermat. "You look like you could do with going to sleep."
"Y...y...yes," Fermat agreed and awkwardly stood up. Tin-Tin did the same and started to lead the way back to the villa complex. It would take them along a dark, winding jungle path where seeing even with the torch would be difficult but it wouldn't take long to get back.
Fermat followed and they disappeared into the jungle.
***
Tin-Tin led the way along the jungle path using the torch to see the narrow path back towards the villa and avoid obstructions like the roots of the trees. Until the moment when the torch light spluttered fitfully. Tin-Tin looked at the torch in concern wondering if the battery was running out, and in that moment of distraction she tripped over a protruding tree root and fell.
Tin-Tin cried out in pain as she felt her ankle twist badly.
"Tin-Tin are y...y...you a...a...all right," Fermat asked worriedly. Tin-Tin awkwardly tried to stand up but her right ankle refused to take her weight all she got for her efforts was a sharp blast of pain that shot right up her leg, drawing another yelp of pain from her lips.
Fermat frowned in concern and picked up the torch and carefully looked at Tin-Tin's leg. He couldn't see an obviously break but he knew that didn't mean that there couldn't be one.
"G...g...great," Fermat stammered. "Now w...w...what are we g...g...going to do?"
"I don't know Fermat," Tin-Tin replied normally they could just call the villa and one of the Tracy sons would come out to help them. But will almost all of them out on the rescue and the other two having disappeared off somewhere and turned into there werewolf forms they couldn't really do that.
"I don't know," Tin-Tin repeated.
***
A Short Distance Away
Alan ran along with John through the jungles of Tracy Island not really caring where on the island they were going, he was just enjoying the run. Though he couldn't help but feel a little surprised by the fact that he was running fast for a sustained period and not even beginning to feel tired. He had learned that his werewolf form was powerful last night just after his first transformation but he hadn't realised that it was this powerful.
As he ran his eyes easily penetrating the darkness so he could see almost like as if it was a day Alan noticed a light ahead moving slowly along what he knew to be one of the jungle paths.
"John is that a torch," he asked his older brother.
"Indeed it is," John replied. "Fermat and Tin-Tin must have gone to one of the beaches on this side of the island probably to watch sea turtles coming ashore to lay eggs. We should wait here until they pass by."
"Yeah. Seeing us would probably scare them," Alan agreed coming to a stop. John did the same and together the two of them watched the slowly moving light.
After a moment the light seemed to lurch then come to a halt at the same time as there sharp hearing picked up a scream.
"That's Tin-Tin something is wrong," Alan said.
"She's probably just tripped," John replied a moment before there was another pained scream. "Okay that's not right."
"She's hurt. We should go over there and see what the problem is. They might need our help."
"Your right. Come on."
John started moving again moving at a normal walking pace this time. Alan followed quietly hoping both that Tin-Tin was okay that however she had hurt herself it wasn't to bad and that she wouldn't completely freak out when she saw not one but two werewolves appear out of the forest.
***
Forest Trail
Tin-Tin gasped as she tried unsuccessfully to stand up for the third time. Her right ankle refused point blank to take her weight; she obviously badly sprained or twisted it.
"Fermat, Tin-Tin you two need any help," John's voice abruptly said into there heads.
"John, Alan where are you," Tin-Tin called out picking up the torch and scanning the forest for any sign of them but the torch wasn't powerful enough to really penetrate the gloom of the forest.
"In the forest near you," Alan's mental voice responded. "Are you alright?"
"I've hurt my ankle," Tin-Tin replied. "I can't put any weight on it at all."
Tin-Tin looked at Fermat with a silent question on her face. Fermat nodded knowing what Tin-Tin was asking. She was asking if it was okay with him to ask Alan and John for assistance, given that they would be in werewolf form. He was a little nervous about seeing them but knew full well that they didn't have much choice but to ask for their help. There was no way he could hope to get the wounded Tin-Tin back to the complex on his own.
"You two can show yourselves," Tin-Tin called out. For a few moments there came no response.
"Are you sure," John asked at last and in his mental voice both Tin-Tin and Fermat heard very real concern for them.
"W...w...we are s...s...sure John," Fermat stammered out inwardly feeling a shiver at the prospect of being face to with not just one but two werewolves. Inwardly he told himself that despite appearances Alan and John would inside be the people he knew, but it was still a frightening prospect.
"All right if you're sure," John responded at last.
"We're coming up on your right side Tin-Tin," Alan's voice added and they could hear the nerves and uncertainty in his mental voice. Alan was clearly nervous about facing them while he was in his werewolf form.
Tin-Tin turned her torch to the right hand side and watched. After a moments waiting she saw them appearing out of the gloom that had enveloped the jungle with the loss of the powerful light of the sun.
Despite herself Tin-Tin gasped when for the first time in her life she saw a werewolf up close and really for the first time grasped how big they actually were. They both towered over herself and Fermat and not only were they tall but they were also big, very, very big and muscular. Between their height, size, the claws on their hands and feet and a muzzle full of sharp cutting teeth, they were very fearsome in appearance. Looking at the werewolves Tin-Tin had a hard time relating them to the two people that she knew so well that they were almost like the brothers she'd never had.
But despite the disbelief that part of her felt Tin-Tin knew that they really were Alan and John. Though who exactly was who she didn't know, the two werewolves looked very much the same except their fur colour one having light silver grey fur and the other having dark charcoal grey fur. Looking at the dark furred one closely Tin-Tin saw a hint of nervousness in the warm amber eyes that looked back at her along with concern. Tin-Tin looked deep into those eyes and suddenly knew that the darker furred werewolf was Alan.
Again Tin-Tin was stunned by how different Alan looked as a werewolf compared to how he looked when he was human. It there hadn't been something in his eyes that she recognised somehow then she would not have guessed that the dark grey furred werewolf was the youngest of the Tracy's. She pushed aside the disbelief and reflexive, instinctual fear that she felt at the site of not just one but two werewolves, reminding herself that despite appearances they hadn't really changed, their bodies had but their minds remained their own.
Cautiously obviously not wanting to frighten them Alan and John approached.
"Let me take a look at that Tin-Tin," John said telepathically. Tin-Tin nodded permission and John approached cautiously. "Which leg is it?"
"My right leg," Tin-Tin replied and was a little surprised when John nodded at her, the very human movement looking bizarre coming from a huge, furry werewolf.
John squatted down beside her and carefully started looking over her wounded ankle. Carefully John removed her the sandal on that foot so he could properly examine the ankle being careful so as not to injure Tin-Tin further with the claws on his hands. Then carefully John started feeling around the wounded ankle, Tin-Tin hissed in pain as John's touch sent stabs of agony up her leg.
"Sorry, sorry," John said. Tin-Tin nodded even as Fermat put a comforting hand on her left shoulder and a moment later Alan put one of his own hands on her right shoulder. The touch of Alan's hand felt odd to her as she could feel the inhuman strength in his hand. Looking at it out the corner of her eyes she was very conscious of the sharp claws extending from the tips of his fingers, claws that she knew could disembowel a human with a single blow. Despite being slightly uneasy about Alan's hand on her shoulder she tilted her head so her cheek rested against his hand well away from his claws. She was surprised by how silky soft his fur was against her skin it felt really nice.
"You've definitely badly sprained your ankle," John said at last, "we should get you back to the complex. It might be an idea to get your ankle scanned as well just to make sure you haven't broken it. I doubt it but its better to be safe than sorry."
"I'll get my dad to do that," Tin-Tin agreed though like everyone else she hated getting up on the diagnostic bed but knew that it was a sensible precaution in this case. John nodded again.
"Do you mind being carried Tin-Tin," John asked, "since you can't put any weight on your leg."
"No I don't mind," Tin-Tin replied.
"Okay."
Gently John slid his arms Tin-Tin's knee's and back. Quickly Alan and Fermat withdrew their hands and then John picked Tin-Tin up as if she weighed nothing at all. The movement startled Tin-Tin slightly but for additional purchase she put her arm across his shoulders and feeling the softness of his fur against her skin which contrasted sharply but nicely with the rock hard muscle underneath.
"Let's get going," John said starting along the path back to the main complex carrying Tin-Tin. He hadn't bothered to pick up the torch, as he didn't need it being able to see perfectly well in the dark.
Before following John Alan picked up the torch and offered it to Fermat.
"Here Fermat you'll need this," he said. Fermat looked up at the werewolf that Alan had turned into still trying to reconcile the huge, muscular and furry creature in front of him with his best friend. It was hard to do and the scientist in him was still trying to understand how a man could change into a werewolf.
Trying to hide the hints of fear that he was feeling he accepted the offered torch from Alan.
"T...t...thanks Alan," he stammered slightly and almost jumped when a mental picture of Alan in human form smiling at him flashed through his head. "D...d...did you d...d...do t...t...that?"
"Yes. Sorry I didn't mean to startle you," Alan replied realising that sending the mental image to Fermat had probably startled the young genius just as he could tell that Fermat was afraid of him at the moment. He could literally smell it. "I'm scaring you aren't I?"
"A l...l...little," Fermat admitted guessing that Alan was able to tell from his body odour that he was scared, "b...b...but I'll g...g...get u...u...used to it," he added not wanting to upset his best friend. Alan nodded at him.
"I understand," Alan told him, "this werewolf thing has been a big surprise for both of us. Until yesterday I had no idea that I was anything other than a normal human being."
"It h...h...has," Fermat agreed starting to feel more at ease with talking to Alan now, though hearing Alan's voice in his head still struck him as something that was very, very strange. "H...h...how d...d...does it f...f...feel being a w...w...werewolf."
"Strange at first. But you know what Fermat I like it and you know what it didn't hurt this time when I changed. It just happened."
"T...t...that's s...s...something then," Fermat replied curious now despite himself as to how it would feel to be a werewolf. Again a mental image of Alan smiling at him flashed through his head. It still startled him but not as much as it had the first time.
"Come on Fermat we should catch up with John and Tin-Tin."
"Y...y...yes," Fermat agreed. Another image of a smile flashed through his head then he Alan turned away from him and started walking along the path moving with a silence and grace that complied belied his immense height and weight.
Fermat sighed to himself and followed his best friend.
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