Josh threw his hands up. “I didn’t believe in werewolves, and yet here I am.”
“But people believed in curses and werewolves. Your origin story is well documented. Hell, the owner of this entire estate is one of your relatives. That’s how we knew what you were.”
“A werewolf?”
“Yes.”
“Not true.”
“It is true.” He held up his hand to stop Josh’s knee-jerk argument. “Look, assume for the moment that it is true. That belief creates reality.” He waited until Josh gave a reluctant nod. “Now imagine what happens if people start really believing that monsters are real. Werewolves, vampires, child-eating demons? We’re already seeing a surge in monsters because of modern media. Because it’s in the public consciousness.”
“As fiction.”
“Yes, as fiction. Now imagine if someone managed to prove they’re real. Imagine what we’d be fighting if suddenly everyone started believing in more than evil leprechauns. What about a planet-destroying demon or—”
“Red Wolf.”
Nero blinked. “What?”
“Red Wolf.” Josh spoke the words as if he was realizing the truth as he said it. “Pretty Boy out there plays Red Wolf on TV. You said he was a surprise. That you don’t know how or why he became a werewolf.”
Nero nodded. He’d already figured that out, and if he hadn’t rushed getting a geek squad together, he would have realized that Bing might get caught up in things by accident. People believed that Bing was Red Wolf because he played him on TV. So add in Wiz’s magic spell, and bam, the guy’s role becomes reality. Meanwhile, Josh kept explaining what Nero already knew.
“In the cages, he looked like the wolf he plays on TV. And he does that hypnotism thing just like his character.”
A shot of adrenaline spiked through Nero. He hadn’t heard that Bing could hypno-lock anyone, but then the actor was closemouthed about a lot of things. Mesmerizing someone with his eyes was a power they could definitely use. “Hypnotism thing?” Nero prodded.
“Yeah. You’ve got to watch the show. The CGI is awesome.” He paused. “Except I thought the story came about because Pretty Boy is really a werewolf.”
Nero shook his head. “Like you, this was a complete surprise to Bing. But he didn’t say anything about his hypnotism power.”
“Maybe he doesn’t know.”
Probably true. That was the first job of any new recruit: figure out exactly what his or her abilities are. “I’ll mention it to his trainer.”
Josh nodded slowly. “You said you know my origin story. Anything cool in there? Claws of steel? Poisonous fangs?”
“If that was true, I’d be dead by now.” He gestured to his shoulder. The bite wasn’t bad and the bleeding had already stopped, but Josh had definitely punctured the skin.
Josh flushed slightly. “Oh, yeah. Sorry.”
“Don’t be. I loved it.” He shrugged. “Virus wolf, remember? We are born from a bite and we love the rough stuff.”
“Right. And I’m a….”
“Romani magic. I’ll get you all the details we have.” Then he touched Josh’s hand and Josh flipped his around so they were palm to palm, holding hands like lovers. He intertwined their fingers and squeezed. “Do you get it now? The only way we’re keeping Earth from total chaos is by maintaining secrecy. If people realized how powerful their own beliefs are, we’d have—”
“Every monster known to mankind rampaging the planet. But we’d have gods and angels too.”
“And what happens to our cities when Godzilla and the Terminator go head-to-head? Not to mention Titans and the Avengers—”
“And all their villains.” And again, Josh shook his head. “That can’t be how it works.”
Nero remained silent. Everyone fought this concept at first, but eventually, if they kept their eyes open, they saw it for the truth.
“We have to keep ourselves secret.”
“Okay,” Josh said, obviously reluctant. “So it’s a secret.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “But I can tell one person, right? Like Savannah.”
