NOTE - I need to give this one another pass. Please excuse any grammar errors or inconsistencies, and feel free to let me know so I can fix them. Thanks!  :-)

But until then...

Jake, Cameron, and Sebastian exit a small, dank cave.

"Well, that was a bust!" Cameron says, as he throws up his hands. "Three caves and we've made zero progress on this stupid exercise!"

Jake frowns as he makes a visual assessment of where they are relative to the school. He looks at his watch.

"Shit."

"What?" Cameron asks.

"It's 11:45," Jake answers. "We'll never make it back in time." He throws Sebastian an irritated glare.

Sebastian looks around and then digs back into the knapsack, consciously avoiding Jake's gaze. "I don't get it," he bemoans. "I was sure we had it all figured out."

"We?" Cameron asks, sarcastically. "Who the hell is 'we'?!" He shakes his head. "Right from the get-go, you took over and insisted that you knew exactly where we were going. With you, there was no room, no time for a 'we'."

"Well," Sebastian says, "it's not like you couldn't contribute anything! No one was stopping you!"

Cameron grimaces. And he's about to get into it with Sebastian when Jake slices in between them and starts heading back towards the woods.

Sebastian looks after him. "And where are you going?" he asks.

Jake doesn't stop, and he doesn't turn around. "I'm going back to campus!" he shouts back.

But after a few steps, Jake stops. There's something in his boot. He leans back against a tree to remove it and shake out whatever's in there. After pouring out a bunch of pebbles, he begins to put his boot back on. But while he's doing this, a churning mist begins to billow from the cave behind Cameron and Sebastian. With startling speed, the mist blows past them and heads straight for Jake, and by the time Sebastian and Cameron realize what's going on, it has already lifted Jake up and coiled itself around him, like an anaconda seizing its prey, strapping Jake tightly to the tree.

"Good gods! What is that?!" Cameron screeches, his voice cracking as he turns to face Sebastian. "What do we do?!"

"Hell if I know!" Sebastian shouts back, his eyes widening with fear.

And then, Sebastian suddenly realizes he has his sword on him. He wrests it from its scabbard, and as he approaches the beast, he holds his sword above his head with both hands held high. "Let him go!" he yells at the beast, his hands trembling as he takes a cautious step forward.

The mist demon pauses, then squeezes Jake even tighter.

"I said, let him go!" Sebastian demands over Jake's cries of pain.

But the mist demon doesn't react to his command. Instead, the demon coils around Jake even tighter, causing him to gurgle as the demon's tentacles tighten around his neck.

"Sebastian, don't just stand there--do something!" Cameron shouts.

Sebastian holds his sword higher above his head and begins to charge towards the tree. Jake's eyes go wide as he sees the blade coming at him. But luckily, he's able to turn his head to the right, just in time to allow Sebastian's swing to his left to miss slicing off his ear. Missing him by less than an inch, Sebastian's blade slices through the creature's foggy tentacles, and like a squid being attacked with a cleaver, the creature makes a harrowing squeal, and then quickly unwrapping itself from the tree, it drops Jake, leaving him gasping as he crumples to the ground.

But now having made full contact with Jake, the creature begins to shift and swirl, and what was once an amorphous mass transforms into a fully-fledged beast.

With mist still swirling around it, the demon manages to stand upright and is over ten feet tall. It has two legs, a hairy coat of silver fur, pointy ears, and sharp claws. With a double set of fangs, it becomes clear the mist demon has tapped into Jake's Shifter power and transformed into a giant werewolf!

The creature lets out a ghostly howl and then turns to face Jake. Lumbering forward, It swats its giant claws at him.

Seeing their comrade in trouble, Sebastian and Cameron attempt to distract it as best they can--Cameron throwing stones at it and Sebastian by wielding his sword.

Jake--gasping for breath--manages to drag himself over to the bushes to get out of the creature's path.

Sebastian swings his sword haplessly at the creature, but even though the beast appears to be solid, his sword slices right through it with very little resistance. He panics.

"Jake!" Sebastian yells. "If you're going to shift into a werewolf or whatever, you need to do it now!"

Jake coughs as he tries to sit himself upright. "I'm a Wolf Shifter. Not a werewolf!" he growls, irritated by the insult even though he's in a great deal of pain.

"Well," Sebastian shouts back, "whatever the hell you are, we need you to shift now because we could really use your help!"

Trying to ignore the pain, Jake pulls himself up into a crouch. He closes his eyes, and letting loose a preternatural grunt, he begins to change. His whole body vibrates with a fierce energy, becoming a blur to the human eye as his body morphs from human into wolf form.

As he shakes out his fur to orient himself. Cameron and Sebastian marvel at the change. He's large, but not nearly as large as the demon. And he's got a tawny brown coat with thin black streaks running through it and white markings around his snout, feet, and eyes.

Slowly, he turns to face the werewolf, and like a cocky Beta taking on his Alpha, Jake hunches low to the ground, bares his teeth and growls. And as Jake begins to circle the werewolf, the creature's demon red eyes narrow. He follows Jake's every step, letting loose a low growl, accepting the challenge.

Suddenly, he pounces!

And in the blink of an eye, Jake and the werewolf become a tangle of fur, cries, and claws. Jake uses his agility and his ability to keep low to the ground to his advantage so he can keep from getting mauled.

He's looking for a particular soft spot on the werewolf's belly. If he can pierce the skin and make a deep enough bite, there's a chance he can nick the werewolf's heart, thereby completely disabling him, eventually granting the werewolf a slow death.

But when he slips through the demon's legs, the demon reaches down and swipes at Jake, catching him in the belly.

The demon lifts Jake up high above his head and then tosses him twenty feet, smashing him, hard, against the tree.

As Jake crashes into the tree trunk with a sickening crunch, he lets out a pathetic yelp before sliding to the ground in a heap.

Cameron's eyes widen at the sight of Jake, now naked and back in human form, balled up into a fetal position at the base of the tree, clutching his stomach and moaning helplessly. With the demon hovering above him, there's no way he and Sebastian can get to Jake.

He turns to Sebastian and asks, "What now?!"

"I don't know," Sebastian cries back, helpless and annoyed.

And then, like lightning striking out of nowhere, Cameron gets an idea. "Your sword," he says to Sebastian. "It's silver, right?"

"Yeah, why?" Sebastian asks.

"I need you to get a few good hits on this thing!" Cameron howls.

"But silver doesn't kill a Shifter, remember?!" Sebastian points out in a panic.

"No, but it sure as hell will slow it down. And then I can throw all I've got at it!"

Sebastian slides Cameron a skeptical look.

"Sebastian," Cameron cries, impatient. "Please, just trust me!"

"Okay, okay," Sebastian says underneath his breath. And then he sucks in a huge gulp of air, and with feigned courage, raises his sword and begins to approach the beast.

"Okay, you big hairy bully!" Sebastian yells, and although he's hyperventilating and on the verge of passing out, he forces himself to give the beast a challenging smirk and adds, "Let's dance, you asshole!"

Hearing this, the werewolf turns to face Sebastian. Enraged, it huffs, puffs and bellows. Then, lowering its head like an angry bull, it charges at Sebastian, who with one eye closed and hands trembling, manages to hop to the side just as the demon whizzes past him.

Sebastian sucks in a deep breath of relief as he turns before, like a Matador, he lets the werewolf come within inches of him again before swinging his sword upward and slashing the werewolf on the shoulder.

The beast screams as its fur sizzles from the burn. It stumbles, taking a few steps backwards. Clearly, it's retreating from the sting of the silver blade.

Shocked by the damage he managed to do, Sebastian stands straighter, firmer, this time. Then boldly challenging the werewolf, he circles around the beast to try to take another swing at it.

Meanwhile, Cameron chants, trying desperately to generate an energy ball, the biggest he possibly can. But his first attempt fizzles, just like it did in practice. His heart sinks.

Gods! He so desperately wants to give up and just stop humiliating himself like this. But instead he rallies and tries again.

This time, the fire ball goes further than the first one did, but it still fizzles out in the end.

Cameron stomps his foot and screams,"damn it!"

He clenches his fists at his sides and now getting just plain pissed off, he gears up to try again, refusing to let Jake down.

This time, he mentally reaches down deep into his gut and draws upon his emotions--his frustration, his shame, and his fear--to help fuel his magic this time.

And as Cameron begins to chant, his incantation grows louder, and the energy ball hovering between his hands grows bigger. In a flash, it turns from an electric blue into a fiery red, right before his eyes. It sparks, and when it reaches the size of a volleyball, it bursts out into flames!

Cameron chuckles, relieved. Finally! Finally!!  This one looks like it's gonna take!

He gives Sebastian a quick nod--a signal for him to try to distract the demon again.

Sebastian inhales deeply and decides to try his matador trick again, but this time the werewolf doesn't fall for it and instead, swings his powerfully large arms and knocks Sebastian flat on his back, causing his sword to fly out of his hands and crash into the bushes.

The werewolf stands before him huffing and puffing, trying to catch its breath before it ends him.

Red eyes fix on Sebastian and a bile-like drool begins to drip from its double fangs.

Sebastian whimpers at the sight of it. He scrambles backwards on all fours, blindly grasping for his weapon.

"Cameron!" he shouts, but there's no response. "Cameron!!" he calls out again, but still, no reply. Sebastian scrambles backwards even faster as he huffs out, "Cameron, dude, whatever you're gonna do, now's a really good time to do it!"

As Sebastian calls this out, the beast lunges at him, and just as he's about to pounce, he manages to wrap his hand around the hilt of his sword and roll onto his back. He holds the sword up, right above his stomach, then closes his eyes and prays.

Suddenly, he hears a sickening squish and when he opens his eyes, the werewolf is hovering above him, frozen, suspended like a skewered shish-kebab on his family's heirloom sword.

He lets out a relieved breath and begins to relax...

But...

The creature is still alive!

It growls as it flails above him, and then takes a swipe at Sebastian's face.

Sebastian shifts, just missing the sting of the creature's razor-sharp claws.

The werewolf takes another swipe, and this it time catches Sebastian's cheek.

Sebastian screams out in pain.

And just as the beast is about to take another swipe, the werewolf suddenly arches backwards with an agonizing cry as a giant fireball crashes into its back.

In a howl and a puff, the werewolf disintegrates instantly, raining demon ash down on Sebastian's head.

Sebastian sits up and wipes his eyes as he spits demon ash out of his mouth.

Cameron rushes over to Jake. He immediately rips off his jacket to cover Jake's naked body.

"Sebastian!" He calls out, but there's no response. "Sebastian!" Cameron roars.

"What?!" Sebastian responds, setting himself upright.

"Jake's looking really bad, dude." Cameron's voice trembles, and then it breaks. "I mean really bad..."

Sebastian stands and brushes the demon ash off his jeans, then he walks over.

He takes one look at the enormous amount of blood pouring out of Jake's stomach, and his eyes immediately dilate. His nostrils flare and before he knows it, his canines have dropped.

He covers his mouth before Cameron can see what's happened.

"What do we do?" Cameron pleads, helplessly. "Master Achebe took our phones. We can't call for help?"

Sebastian, still covering his mouth, starts to back away. "Leave him here," he says. "We can go back to the Academy and get help," he concludes.

Still kneeling by Jake's side, Cameron's head whips around. "What?!" His eyes narrow.

Sebastian keeps moving backwards. "They regenerate, don't they?" He points down at Jake. "Shifters? They heal. I think he'll be fine," he murmurs.

Cameron stands. "And what if there are other demons out there, Sebastian? Gods! We can't leave him alone out here. We have to find a way to carry him back!"

Sebastian shakes his head.

"Look," Cameron snaps as he stands, taking a few steps towards Sebastian. "I know the sight of the poor guy's guts practically spilling out is totally gross, but you've got to help me!"

Sebastian, whose head is spinning from the intoxicating smell of Otherworlder blood, begins to stumble away.

"I can't help you," he mumbles over his shoulder. "I'm sorry, but I just can't," he whispers.

He turns and begins to head down the path that leads back to the Academy.

Stunned, Cameron looks after him for a second, then turns back to Jake. He's trying not to panic, but he's never seen cuts that run so deep. The blood, all of the blood... gods!

Cameron watches Sebastian walking away and then shouts after him, "Why are you being such a dick?!"

Sebastian stops. There's no way Cameron, an Enchanted, could possibly understand what he's going through, what he's struggling with in this moment.

The smell of human blood is hard to ignore--it's salty and tangy and can satisfy a Vampyr like almost nothing else on the planet... almost nothing.

Otherworlder blood. Now, that's a whole other story. Shifter blood, in particular, is potent; it's powerful. It has a thick, syrupy sweetness to it that's irresistible. It energizes you, empowers you. That's why it's been so tempting to him. It's always been his Achilles heel.

Sebastian bends down and plants his hands on his knees. He scrunches his eyes up, and takes a deep breath, muttering to himself. "C'mon....c'mon, Sebastian," he whispers. "Don't do it. Don't be a dick," he pleads to himself. "For once in your life, dude, don't be a dick. You can do this. You can control this urge!"

Sebastian huffs out a few short breaths and then inhales deeply, so deeply his eyes begin to bug. He hunches over and exhales, and after a moment, his canines finally retreat.

Relieved, Sebastian stands.. Then, he turns and heads back to Cameron and Jake.

Unbuckling his sword and scabbard from his belt, he kneels down next to Cameron.

"We're gonna need to wrap his belly really tight if we're going to carry him back to school," Sebastian says, his voice commanding and calm, surprising even himself.

Cameron looks at Sebastian for a moment, grateful that he's come around. Then, he silently nods and begins removing his polo shirt while Sebastian pulls off his jacket.

Suddenly, a voice wafts over the hill. "Well, well, well... what do we have here?" Patrick, of all people, inquires playfully. "You two having a little party?"

Cameron and Sebastian look over their shoulders to see Patrick, with a cocky smirk spread across his face, cresting the hill. Fiona and Aidan aren't far behind.

They were cutting through the woods on their way back to the Academy, so it isn't until they're within a few feet of the boys that they realize Jake is with them, and he's badly hurt.

Patrick rushes over to him, shoving Cameron and Sebastian aside. "What the hell happened?!" he growls.

"We got attacked by a demon," Cameron says. "I'm talking a real fucking demon!" The panic he'd been holding inside suddenly pours out of him.

"Oh, dayum..." Aidan says as he approaches, his immature brain unable to process the severity of the situation.

"We've got to get him back to campus, now!" Patrick shouts as the rest of the kids stand, frozen, feeling completely out of their depth.

Cameron and Sebastian step back further to allow Patrick ample room to help.

"We were trying to figure out how we could get him back to the academy without hurting him further," Cameron says.

"I'll take care of it!" Patrick grunts.

"How?" Sebastian asks innocently, wondering if they're all going to have to try to carry him back, each holding a limb or something like that.

"I'll carry him on my back!" Patrick shouts, frustrated with having to explain himself. And with that, he begins to rip off his jacket, and then his shirt, and then his pants.

"Oy!" Aidan says as his eyes widen and his cheeks begin to flush. "Okay, look," he coughs nervously and holds up a hand to block his view of Patrick's ridiculously well-toned body and six-pack abs. "I know they say clothes can slow you down, and clearly you're a strappin' dude. I'm sure you like to show that off whenever ya can. But not all of us are comfortable stripping down to our skivvies just to get Jake back as soon as we can."

He clears his throat and spreads his fingers to see if Patrick's even listening to him and if the other kids are as shocked and uncomfortable as he is.

And then Patrick drops his boxers...

"Oh, good gods!" Aidan exclaims. "I want to help the lad, but I didn't sign up for this!" he screeches.

Patrick whips around and with a scowl leans in, getting right in Aidan's face. He throws his mouth open, and out comes the most ferocious roar imaginable, causing Aidan to lean back in its wake.

Patrick immediately begins to vibrate and grow--just like Jake had when he'd shifted--and in a matter of seconds--he doesn't turn into a wolf, but instead Patrick turns into a big, burly grizzly bear!

In bear form, he stomps the ground and roars again, causing the trees around them to shake and tremble.

Everyone stands there in awe, but after a moment, Fiona is the first to snap out of it and kick into action. She runs over to Jake's side, drops to her knees and carefully tries to lift him up.

"Help me, dammit!" she yells. "Help me get him onto Patrick's back!"

Suddenly, the boys scramble to help her.

Patrick drops down onto his enormous belly and stretches out his arms and legs out as far as he can, and somehow the kids,