“I mean, that’s how it’s supposed to work. They’re supposed to monster out as soon as the toxin hits the bloodstream and they feel something’s wrong. It’s like literally their number one defense system—animals are so predictable—but by the time they’re mid-transformation, all the little wolf cells are totally freakin’ paralyzed. They can’t move forward, but they can’t move back either. You can see it in their eyes as it’s happening. They’re like, huh? Does not compute! It’s actually so wild to watch. Nature is crazy!”

A flash of irritation passed over Ryan’s face. “You could have seen it yourself if this one hadn’t figured out what was happening right away and refused to do his thing,” he said, wandering over to Eli’s cage and looking in. “There’s something extra abnormal about him.”

Eli pulled himself up a little taller, stuck his chin out defiantly, and with a glimmer of his old self, puckered his lips and blew a kiss. Ryan’s face turned red and his expression angry before he turned away and walked quickly back to his cart.

By the time he got there and started sorting through his tools again, he seemed to have regained his composure. “Still, all the greatest discoveries have come from making mistakes,” Ryan said practically.

Something about it set off a distant memory, but Cooper didn’t have time to contemplate it further. Ryan was still talking. “Like, look at how horrible they both look right now. They’ve never felt this way before because they’ve never felt human before. Even when they look like they’re a human or when they look like they’re a wolf, they’re not. They’re never entirely one or the other. Doesn’t that just teach us something amazing?”

“Is that why you’re doing this?” Cooper asked. “Why you murdered James, Arthur and Neil? To learn something?”

Ryan looked startled, then laughed. “Um, no, what do you think I am, crazy or something? You killed them.”

“What?” Cooper choked.

Ryan nodded earnestly. “Oh yeah. Wolf traitors hated by all, getting away with it, living guilt-free, until you swept in and punished them with your unnatural powers that banished them between worlds and left your mark on their bellies so that all will know who struck them down. Don’t you get it, yet? You’re the Moon, Cooper Dayton.”

Ryan smiled a bit, as if amused despite himself. “Or that’s what the wolf world is going to think, anyway, when I’m done setting you up for these murders. I mean, jeez Louise, even these guys were looking at you spooked there for a minute,” he said, gesturing at Eli and Park.