“Let’s hear your theory,” Graeme replied.

“Well, I have two theories, but they both end with you marking her,” Greta said.

He groaned. “We’ve been over this. I can’t do it. It’s not right. Plus look at what Marius put her through! How would she feel knowing I did that while she was unconscious? And who’s to say she would even want me to do it when she’s awake!”

“Just hear me out.”

“This isn’t a damn fairytale, Greta! I’m not going to mark her and then she magically wakes up, loves the idea of being partnered to a previously unknown creature, we become the pack’s power couple, and then everyone lives happily every after.”

“I know that, and that’s not what I’m saying. But at least if it does give her the strength to wake up, you can deal with whatever is waiting out there for the two of you together.”

“What do you mean by the strength?”

“Well that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. Okay, first theory. If we look at the series of events leading up to her superhuman strength episode, the fever and pain had returned… in the middle of an incredibly traumatic slash terrifying event, which I’ll come back to…”

She took a quick breath. Whenever Greta got on a roll with her theories, she always talked in a rush as if she were chasing after the theories in her mind, spilling them out in words before they could take flight and leave her head.

“So she’s in excruciating pain. While this is going on, Marius bites her. Perhaps…” she turned around, appearing to try manifesting this theory in the air with her hands, “somehow Marius passed his strength to her through the bite—an enzyme in the saliva… this is how mate marking works after all—and the fever spells might make her cells more susceptible to receiving the invading enzyme through this genetic transformation that’s trying to happen.”

“That is a whole lot of conjecture,” Graeme said. He was silent for a moment with his arms crossed. “So in this theory, Marius passed strength from his body into hers?” He frowned.

Greta looked at him. “You don’t have to rephrase it like that.”

“But that is what you’re saying, isn’t it?” She didn’t reply. “What if it’s not just his strength?” he said, a muscle feathering in his jaw.

Greta grimaced. She hadn’t thought of it the way her brother was obviously hearing it. “They didn’t exchange a mate bond,” she said simply.

Graeme let out a long frustrated sigh. “Okay, I’ll entertain your theory. Let’s say I do it and she regains strength enough to wake up somehow. Won’t it be temporary? I mean, what if she exhausts herself even more? What if that surge of energy is too much and she actually dies this time when it leaves her?”

Greta furrowed her brow thinking. “I suppose it’s possible.”

Graeme groaned in frustration. “What’s theory two?”

“Okay, theory two—this is a fairytale and she wakes up,” She smiled jovially and shrugged with her arms in the air before adding, “And we all live happily ever after.”

“How scientific of you. What scholarly article did you get that from?”

“Hey, at least I’m researching and using my magnificent brain to do more than grow hair and sit around brooding all day and night.”

Graeme rolled his eyes, “Thank you. I know you are the brains of this operation, don’t worry.”

Greta laughed, “Good. I’m glad to know you know that I’m the smartest.”

“Well I’m glad to know you’re glad to know I know you know… Wait.” They both laughed light-heartedly. It felt good for once.

They were silent a moment before Greta added, “That would be a damn sexy fairy tale, though, don’t you think?” She nudged him with her elbow, “marking between mates is pretty erotic.”

“Oh-kay! TMI, little sister,” he replied screwing his face up at her. Greta was born 12 minutes after him, so Graeme naturally took those 12 minutes for all they were worth. “Keep your head in the science journals and out of that erotic fiction garbage.”

“What? It’s true! Anyway… Common knowledge. Not TMI.” She chuckled.

Graeme sighed again. “I think we should wait. I still just feel wrong about it and there are too many unknowns.”

“I understand,” Greta said, touching his arm lightly. “But please, please think about it,” she looked back at August. “She looks paler today.”

Graeme nodded in agreement. “What were you going to say about the traumatic slash terrifying situation bit?”

“Oh right. I wonder if Eliade allowed her to experience all of that in the woods to maybe ignite this reaction in her body to help the catalyst along. Like lighting a match. It’s common knowledge that stress, particularly acute traumatic events, can alter the expression of genes—perhaps initiating the onset of a predisposed disease or other condition. Which means we should be on the lookout for more students in the woods.”

“Why the woods? Why not something traumatic on campus?”

Greta shrugged, “Too messy, too many witnesses, too many questions? I don’t know. Suicide forest is a convenient cover. This way, regardless of the survival outcome, things can be obscured with the suspicion of suicide. Did you see the marks on her arms when you brought her from the forest? She had them on her legs, too. They were fresh, and I can’t imagine she did it herself, so it was like they were staging her behavior should things fail. Also conveniently—the suicide rate has skyrocketed during the pandemic and quarantine. But that would also mean they have to stagger the people dropped here to not make it look too suspicious…” Greta was rambling on again.

“Maybe we should start thinking of some kind of plan in case more students do show up… There’s no way we can bring them on pack land, especially after what happened with Marius and August,” Graeme thought aloud.

“We need to infiltrate and stop this whole mess all together.”

Graeme crossed his arms in thought. “Okay, well let’s not get ahead of ourselves yet. I’m not launching some kind of covert save the world mission with her in this state,” he turned toward the bed with a pained look. “She’s my first priority.”

“I know.”