"I know that you've had more experience with this sort of thing than he has," you say. "Than I have, either. He'd have to be stupid not to be nervous, and we don't need stupid right now."
You look at Will. "It's weird, I know," you tell him. "But if you stick with us, it's going to be all right."
That's not true, or at least you have no way of proving it. Still, it's something to reassure him with. And if he views your classmates as a way he can stay alive, that could go some way to healing the species divide.
You'll take what you can get.
You set off. The forest doesn't offer much in terms of a path or direction, but it seems likely that, the deeper you head into it, the more that you'll find.
You've not been walking long before you hear a rustle from up ahead. You freeze, as does Will; Michelle shifts in front of the pair of you. Sonia and Max crouch, ready to spring.
Ahead, you see a flash of white and red; you raise your hand to point, but the others have already spotted it. Max lets out a guttural growl while Sonia flexes her fingers. Before anyone can move, however, Will lets out a gasp.
"It's Grace!"
You stare at him. Even Sonia, Max, and Michelle turn to look at him, surprised.
The Head Boy looks back at you, returning your gaze blankly. "She's a girl in my year," he says. "Just…just a girl. She's a prefect; our parents even know each other."
"And she's not, you know, like the headmaster?" Michelle asks.
"No," Will says finally. "I mean…nothing that I've paid any attention to. There's not been anything out of the ordinary with Grace."
At the mention of her name, you all look up ahead. There's no sign of the girl. There may as well have been nothing there to begin with.
"Damn," Max says, letting out a sigh. "Took our eye off the ball there."
"Any chance you can track her, fleabag?" Sonia asks.
Max rolls his eyes, then closes them, inhaling deeply. After a moment, he opens them again, the cynicism replaced by surprise. "No," he says, his tone disbelieving. "There's nothing."
Sonia snorts. "Fat lot of good you are, then. How can there be nothing?"
The werewolf shakes his head, like he's trying to flick away a fly; he doesn't even seem stung by Sonia's insults. "Beats me," he says. "I don't like it, though."
No one says anything. It seems like a good bet that no one likes it.
"If we find her again," Michelle says, "then we could get her talking."
"And if she's out here, and she's not like the headmaster, then she might not want to talk," Max counters.
Sonia shrugs. "There's ways to deal with that."
"Hey, wait," Will says, stepping forward. "She's a member of this school, which makes her my responsibility. We're not just going to…" He trails off, looking at you in what seems like appeal.