Page 35 of Emerald Moon
“She’s very friendly,” Cass said.
“Yeah, she’s a good cat,” Jo replied, voice getting higher.“Aren’t you sweetie?You’re super nice and probably too trusting for your own good — which, same — so it’s good you’re in here where it’s safe now.”They turned their attention to Cass.“She warmed up to you pretty quickly.”
Cass glanced up.She was smiling so hard, the corners of her eyes crinkled.
Jo let go of all the conflicting thoughts and embraced the warmth they felt when Cass was around.
“It makes me feel special,” Cass said.
“Aw, you are.Dolly knows it.”
Cass sat back, landing hard on the rug beneath them.She sat cross-legged, too.Dolly wandered back over towards Jo.
“Dolly’s a good judge of character,” Jo said.“She only likes the good ones.”
“And I’m a good one, then?”
“Well, yeah.That’s implied.”Jo ran their fingers gently from Dolly’s head to back as she passed by and felt totally at ease.They’d made a mountain out of a molehill.Cass coming over was nothing to be weird about.Being around her, even alone in their room, felt warm like sunshine in the spring before it got too humid and sticky outside — just right.
“Is there anyone Dolly hasn’t liked?”
“Not that I know of yet, but I also hang out with the best people, so there’s only good ones.”
“I’m glad to be one of them.”
“I’m glad you are, too.”
eleven
Groggyandslow,Jowas up before dawn to go birding with Cass.They’d only fallen asleep a few hours earlier, but they were summoning the excitement they felt before about this outing when Cass asked over text the other day.They’d even borrowed a pair of binoculars from Lock and they were not wearing white, just like Cass had suggested.That morning, Jo had opted for a black band t-shirt and shorts with some hiking boots they were glad to have now that they were looking ahead at the narrow, rocky path.Cass looked the part of a birder, wearing a camouflage-patterned shirt with a brown bird hidden throughout.
Cass dug in her backpack and pulled out two brimmed hats covered in buttons and pins.“I brought one for you, too,” she said, handing one to Jo.“It doesn’t have as many pins — just the ones that wouldn’t fit on this hat anymore because it got too heavy.”
“Where are all these from?”Jo asked, looking at all the colorful bird pins on the hat.
“Birding conventions.There’s a big one I go to every year and also some smaller ones I’ve been to a few times.”
“There’s a lot of buttons between these two hats.”
“When you’re a werewolf, you find you have a lot of time for annual traditions.”Cass tugged the hat onto her head and reached back into her bag.“I also brought you a notebook to jot down what you see and hear.And a guidebook.Plus a pen I like because it writes more smoothly than other pens.”
Jo took the items and smiled.”Thanks.I’m not going to really know what I’m seeing and hearing, though.”
“That’s what the guidebook is for!It’s specifically for this area.”Cass slipped her book bag over her shoulders.“And you’ll have me.”Her smile was wider than usual.Everything about her seemed more lively than what Jo was used to seeing.
As they started walking, Cass lowered her voice.“We’re in the period now where migrating songbirds are coming through the mountains.”
Jo nodded along as Cass continued, explaining exactly which songbirds they were.They tried to hold the names in their mind, but it was more fun to focus on Cass and her unusually animated features.
The deeper they got into the forest, the quieter Cass became until there was nothing but the sound of their shoes on the ground.Cass’ binoculars hung around her neck and she’d reach for them whenever she saw something.She’d point and Jo would try their hardest to see what Cass was seeing but, even with the help of their own binoculars, they could only spot the bird about half the time.
Cass jotted down notes in her well-loved notebook and logged the sighting of each bird in an app on her phone.“I don’t love using my phone, but this app is a way to track what I see and also for scientists to gather data on bird migration and general movement patterns,” she whispered.
“Very cool.”
“Isn’t it?”Cass’ eyes lit up.“What have you collected so far?”
Embarrassed, Jo flipped their notebook up against their chest.“Not a lot.”
