Tolu got home just past six-thirty, the walk from the kiosk slower than usual. He slipped inside, the house quiet except for the hum of the ceiling fan. Not long after, his mum returned, a nylon bag of groceries in one hand.
"Welcome back," he greeted.
She smiled tiredly. "Go and set the table. I'll cook something quick."
Dinner was simple—yam porridge with fried plantain on the side—but warm, filling, and quiet. They exchanged a few casual words, mostly about school and how she had to work late the next day, then both retreated to their rooms.
Tolu lay on his bed, scrolling through his phone, the thought of Ore's message—see you tonight, 10—sitting sharp in his mind.
Tolu glanced at the time. 8:07. The hours had crawled since dinner, every minute weighed down by Ore's message.
He finally picked up his phone and typed: Where do we meet?
Her reply came a minute later: There's an incomplete building just past the junction near your street. Meet me there.
Tolu read it twice, his chest tightening. An incomplete building—half walls, no windows, bare cement skeleton—it was the kind of place people avoided at night. Too quiet, too eerie.
Still, he typed back: Okay. I'll be there.
Setting the phone down, he muttered under his breath, "What are you dragging me into, Ore?"
Tolu lay on his bed, thumbs moving lazily across his phone screen as his character in the game fought its way through waves of enemies. The clock on his phone read 9:30 PM, and the excitement that had been simmering in his chest all evening finally started to take over.
He dropped the phone beside him and stared at the ceiling, mind racing. How am I even going to leave this house without Mom noticing?
He sat up, glancing around the room, until his eyes landed on the window. A slow grin spread across his face. Of course.
Moving quietly, he slid the window open and tested the ledge. The night air rushed in, cool and still, carrying the faint hum of crickets. He slipped one leg out, then the other, careful not to make a sound. With one last look back at his room, he eased himself down and landed softly in the yard.
A thrill shot through him—part nerves, part excitement. Without wasting another second, he straightened his shirt, slid his phone into his pocket, and walked into the shadows of the street, heading toward the meeting spot.
The unfinished building loomed like a shadow against the night sky, its bare pillars stretching upward as if reaching for the full moon. Tolu stepped carefully inside, his footsteps echoing faintly on the rough cement floor.
And then he saw her.
Ore stood by one of the open frames where a window would one day be, her silhouette outlined by moonlight. She wasn't moving, just staring out as though she'd been expecting him all along.
When she turned and saw him, her whole face lit up.
"Tolu."
Before he could say anything, she ran forward and leapt into his arms. The suddenness of it knocked him slightly off balance, but then her lips pressed against his.
For a moment, he froze—his brain struggling to catch up—but the warmth of her kiss melted the hesitation away. He kissed her back, heart thundering in his chest.
When she pulled away, she reached into a small bag on the floor and produced a plastic water bottle. She pressed it into his hand, her eyes glinting strangely in the dim light.
"Drink this," she said softly. "It'll help… since tonight's your first time."
Tolu's breath caught. The words were spoken so calmly, so matter-of-factly, that it left him reeling. He glanced past her, spotting a blanket neatly laid out on the dusty floor. His blood rushed hot through his veins, excitement mixing with confusion, but he forced himself to steady his breathing.
With a nervous chuckle, he uncapped the bottle and took a sip. The liquid hit his tongue—and his eyes widened. It was hot, unnaturally hot, burning its way down his throat like molten metal.
He tried to speak, tried to ask what it was, but his body betrayed him. His knees buckled, strength draining away in an instant.
The world tilted. His vision swam.
The last thing he saw before the darkness claimed him was Ore's face, hovering above him, her smile calm… almost too calm.
For what felt like hours, nothing existed but a heavy void. Then, slowly, Tolu's senses began to return—muted sounds, the cold bite of rough concrete beneath him, the weight of iron pressing on his wrists and ankles.
His eyes fluttered open.
Blurry outlines sharpened into shapes. Two figures stood a few feet away. One was Ore. The other—a boy he had never seen before.
His throat was dry, his voice barely a rasp. "Wha… what's… going on…?"
The sound caught their attention immediately. The boy turned to Ore, his tone urgent. "It's starting. You're up."
Ore stepped closer, her face caught between guilt and resolve. "Tolu… I know this is confusing. But listen—I'm not trying to hurt you. On the contrary, we're trying to help you."
Tolu shifted, only to realize his arms and legs were bound by heavy chains bolted into the ground. The clinking echoed in the dim space. He let out a bitter laugh that sounded more like a cough.
"You… kidnapped me. To… help me?"
"Yes," Ore said firmly, her voice steady. "What happened to you last night was real. The beast with the red eyes… it bit you. It wasn't a dream."
Tolu's blood ran cold. She knew.
"How do you—" he began, his voice trembling.
"Because it came for you," Ore interrupted, her gaze unwavering. "Because I marked you. You were chosen—"
Her words were cut short by a deep, guttural groan ripping from Tolu's chest.
The chains rattled violently as his body convulsed. His breath came in sharp, broken gasps, each one harsher than the last.
"Ore!" the boy barked, urgency lacing his voice. "Move back! He's about to switch!"
She stumbled a step backward, her eyes locked on him.
Tolu thrashed, the iron straining against his sudden bursts of strength. His head snapped up, his eyes no longer the familiar brown but a glowing, unnatural purple that burned in the dim light. His fingers curled, nails lengthening into sharp claws. His feet followed, tearing into the ground beneath him.
He dropped onto all fours, bones cracking like breaking branches, reshaping with every violent spasm. His back arched, hair erupting across his skin, shredding his clothes into ragged scraps. His growls deepened, warped, until they no longer sounded human.
The transformation ended with a thunderous clatter of chains.
Where Tolu had once been, there now crouched a monstrous wolf—massive, black-furred, its shoulders rising nearly to Ore's chest, eyes blazing violet fire. Saliva dripped from its fangs, sizzling where it hit the cold floor.
The beast let out a low, guttural growl that shook the air, a sound that belonged more to nightmares than reality.
The boy frowned, watching the massive wolf thrash against the iron. The chains screamed under the strain, links clacking like warning bells.
"With that amount of wolfsbane in his system, he's still this aggressive?" His voice carried both disbelief and worry. He turned sharply to Ore. "Are you sure you put in the right dose?"
"I'm sure," Ore snapped back, though her eyes stayed fixed on Tolu.
The beast snarled and pulled harder, muscles bunching under its dark fur, eyes burning violet. Each jerk of the chain echoed like thunder, sparks flying as metal scraped against stone.
The boy's jaw tightened. "Shouldn't you… try and calm him down?"
Ore's expression hardened. "No. I don't see him in there. This isn't Tolu—it's raw, feral instinct. He's too far gone, even with wolfsbane in his system. I'll have to use force."
The boy hesitated, then nodded. "Fine. I'll give you some privacy."
He retreated quickly, his footsteps fading as the heavy door clanged shut behind him.
Ore exhaled, steadying herself. Then, without hesitation, she slipped out of her clothes, folding them neatly into a pile by the wall.
Her eyes shifted first—deep, brilliant blue, glowing like flames in the shadows. Then her body began to contort, bones snapping, fur sprouting across her skin. The air filled with the sound of breaking and reshaping until, where Ore once stood, a wolf now loomed—massive, larger than Tolu, her body easily the size of a grizzly bear.
She let out a deep, resonant growl that reverberated through the room, asserting her presence.
Tolu's beast froze, ears flicking.
Ore advanced slowly, each step deliberate, her growl dropping to a low rumble. She didn't pounce. She didn't rush. She simply closed the distance, her massive frame towering over his.
The violet blaze in Tolu's eyes faltered, just slightly. His snarl softened into uneasy silence.
For the first time since his transformation began, the clacking of chains finally stilled.