Henry saw the stone Keep. Instead of a strong central tower that traditionally formed the heart of a castle, the Keep had been placed beside the school so if there was an emergency the children would not have to go out into the open. It was built inside of a mountain to better protect those within the caves. Henry had been evacuated into the Keep several times during his time in Heiligdom until he was ready to fight. There were tunnels that went underground for a mile with several barricades to keep the children and human residents safe.
Henry turned his attention to the front and marveled at the enormous Gothic-Renaissance style castle. It was a beautiful sight. From the detailed rounded arches over the intricately carved doors and the pointed roof, the ribbed vault, the beautifully crafted large windows, and the gorgeous flying buttresses, Henry was in awe. Rising high above all the trees, it was a sight that would take anyone's breath away and it looked just the way he remembered.
Inside was as beautiful as the outside. Henry entered the castle through an enormous entry hall. It was one hundred feet tall with large marble pillars and detailed paintings about Haven's history from floor to ceiling. Henry didn't stop to admire the artwork. He walked to the left and into the Great Hall. It was a massive room and built with pine and giant limestone bricks.
Memories flooded Henry's mind. He had spent many dinners and holidays in this hall. It had always been full of laughter and warmth during celebrations. The roof was the first thing Henry saw and it made him smile. It was timber-framed, using short beams projecting from the wall on which the rafters land, with the middle cut out. They spanned the entire width of the roof, supported by curved braces from the wall. Then his eyes moved to the massive fireplace that was built with large river rock on the side of the hall. It was wide with the hearth high enough to be used as a seat. It was curved at the top of the opening with a simple wooden mantle made of a pine trunk with the bark still attached. It was often full of treasures that the small children would make. Henry could still see the perfectly round pine cone he had found many years ago and painted silver. It was placed among shells, framed drawings, and tiny models made from sticks and twigs. He could remember roasting hot dogs and marshmallows with a stick with his best friend, Dresden and several other boys when he was small. Henry couldn't believe he had forgotten these memories.
Then he remembered something else that he should have never forgotten at all. A small four-year-old girl with reddish-brown eyes was running around and laughing one Christmas morning while Henry was sitting by the fire with his new mittens from his best friend. She had come up to him holding a marshmallow in one hand and a stick in the other. She was covered in pine needles from playing under the Christmas trees. There were needles in her hair and on her bright red lace dress. She had the biggest smile on her face as she looked up at him. Henry was only ten years old at the time so he wasn't as interested in the small four-year-old as one of the older kids might have been but it was him she approached. She held out her marshmallow to him.
"It's the last one," she said. "It's for you."
"Thank you," said Henry.
She sat close beside him and put the marshmallow on the stick. She handed it to him and watched gleefully as he roasted it.
"Are you sure you don't want this?" he asked.
"I want it," said the girl. "That's why I'm giving it to you. It's a Christmas present."
"Thank you. What's your name?"
"Timber."
"I'm Henry."
"I'm very happy to meet you, Henry."
The girl's face lit up as she said his name. Henry ate the marshmallow and smiled at her thoughtfulness. He was wondering why she seemed so interested in being with him rather than being with the children her own age when two older boys came over to Henry.
"See you gotcherself a little girlfriend," sneered one of the boys.
"Leave him alone," demanded the girl. The smallest of the two boys were three times the girl's size but she got to her feet and immediately placed herself in front of Henry.
"Come on Henry it's Christmas," said the bigger one.
"Give us a present."
"I don't want anything to do with you, Bren," said Henry.
"Yeah? Well, I wanna see you cry."
Bren made to hit Henry but instead of punching him, Bren was backing away, yelling in pain. The little girl was gone. Instead, there was a silver wolf cub with her teeth and claws sunk into the boy's arm. She would not let go no matter how hard she was shaken. When she was finally thrown off, she landed hard on the stone hearth. Seemingly unfazed, she rolled to her feet, barked a small squeaky bark and launched again, sinking her fangs in deeper. Bren screamed loudly for someone to help get her off.
The commotion had gotten the attention of a man and a young woman with large ice blue eyes. The man pried the small wolf off of the boy and handed her back to the woman. She continued to attempt to keep the boy away from Henry. When Bren stepped away from Henry, the pup stopped growling and struggling and relaxed.
"What happened?" asked the man.
"They were trying to pick a fight with Henry, Lord Frost," said Henry's friend. "Henry told him to go away. Bren went to hit him and she protected him."
"I'll deal with you later. Off with you," said Lord Frost sternly to the boys and they obeyed. Then he turned to the woman. "Your daughter is extraordinarily brave for one so small."
"Yes she is," said the woman proudly. "Let's get you a slice of meatloaf, Timber."
Henry watched the two walk away. His eyes remained on the small wolf. He watched her eat and wag her small tail.
"She said her name was Timber. Isn't that Timber Brogan?" asked Henry's friend.
"I think so," said Henry, not taking his eyes off of her.
For some reason, he could not look away. He was drawn to her which made no sense to him whatsoever. Then she looked up and their eyes met. Henry could feel a warmth spreading from his heart to his fingers and toes. It was as if his soul itself was being warmed. She smiled at him with bright, sparkling eyes and Henry felt himself swoon over her. Nothing else in the world mattered at that very moment but the smile of that wolf girl.
Timber did not recover from the fight against the Vanquisher with any level of ease. During the first few days after the fight, she couldn't sleep. When she did, she felt clawing on her skin and she woke up with shallow scratches on her back and the distant echo of a man's angry voice in her ears but there was no one in her room. Three days after the fight, the nightmares started. The beginning was always the same. Her parents would die. Then she would be fighting the Vanquisher again only in her dream, there was more than one and she would see herself ripped to pieces. She would wake up crying and whimpering in the middle of the night. She would calm herself down and go downstairs for water. She was tall enough on two legs to reach the sink in the kitchen so she would turn the handle with her paw, lap water from the faucet, turn it off and curl up in the middle of the living room floor, away from anything that could cast a shadow.
Timber was unable to transform into her human form due to the amount of stress she was under from fear and a severe lack of sleep. She was jumpy and completely unapproachable unless she could see someone coming towards her first. She had become extremely aggressive and territorial and more wolf-like in her mannerisms, much as she had been when she first moved in.
For reasons unknown to everyone, she was afraid of shadows too, so Grace kept the curtains shut and the house dark. Emily had been the one unfortunate enough to make the discovery of Timber's new fear. She had passed by the open window beside Timber and her shadow crossed over the wolf. She jumped up towards Emily with a threatening growl at her but stopped when she saw that it was her cousin. She immediately lowered her body in apology. Being physically incapable of turning into a human, she was unable to explain that the thing that was hurting her in the middle of the night was a dark shadow in the form of a man.
At his own request, Henry had started to sleep on the Frunden's couch bec
ause Timber was flat-out refusing to sleep in her room and someone needed to keep an ear out for her. Timber slept in the middle of the room away from the walls. One night Henry was lying awake, watching Timber sleep. He wanted to see if he could find out what was frightening her so badly that her whole demeanor had changed from laid back to aggressive. Then he saw it. A black shadow approached Timber slowly, whispering angrily.
"You should have died. You should never have existed."
Another fainter shadow in the shape of a woman appeared, presumably guarding Timber. She fought the darkness for a moment but could not hold her ground and was swiped away with the sound of an echo-like scream. Timber's ears twitched but she did not move.
The dark shadowy figure came in contact with Timber's faint shadow and clawed at her. Timber woke up with a terrified and livid growl and jumped up with a start, backing away from her spot with her fur on end. Henry leaped off the couch and yelled out, "GET AWAY FROM HER!" The figure seemed to look at Henry and then it vanished as footsteps were heard running upstairs. Not a minute later the family was in the front room looking at Henry.
"Take Timber into the kitchen and get her to eat somethin', Emily," said Grace. As soon as the girls were out of the room, Grace turned to Henry. "What happened, Henry?"
"I think something was trying to kill Timber," said Henry weakly.
"What? What hurt her?" asked Chad looking alarmed.
"It was some sort of shadow," said Henry in a trembling voice. "It scratched her and I heard it whisper that she shouldn't be alive. Whatever it was, it left when it saw me. Timber can't sleep alone. It seems that it is afraid of being seen. I think it only attacked Timber because it thought she was alone. I don't think it would hurt Emily or Timber if they were together."
"Was the Vanquisher sent for Timber?" asked Grace.
"I'm nearly certain," said Henry. "Though, since Timber killed him, the word may get around that she has werewolf venom. They shouldn't attack her again. For now, I think it's best if Timber doesn't know this. Tonight should be the last of it. Whatever is after her will eventually be informed that she's being guarded by me. They won't be foolish enough to attempt anything further."
"Henry, what do we do?" asked Chad, in a worried tone.
"Let me protect her. If they know that I'm the one protecting her, no one will go near her; no one who values their life anyway. I'm a high ranking Haven Soldier. No one who knows who I am is foolish enough to openly challenge me."
Two weeks later life had returned to normal for the most part. Timber was able to regain control of herself and take human form again. Most people were still afraid to go near the middle of the courtyard at the high school, Timber and her friends included. For the first few days after school resumed the biggest thing on campus wasn't the Blue Lady; it was the large timber wolf that appeared out of nowhere. It was all anyone could talk about. Timber avoided joining in on that particular topic, preferring to listen to the theories instead. The most popular theory was the wolf was the spirit guardian of the school. The school mascot was a timber wolf after all, so to many of the students, that made the most sense. Michelle's testimony of a wolf protecting her from her stepmother only seemed to confirm everyone's theory.
Eventually, the gossip at school died down and life completely returned to normal. Timber was happy about it. She preferred to not be the talk of the school even though no one but Henry knew that she was the wolf. What made her happier was that Grace had completely drained her system of werewolf venom and the results were instantaneous. Timber started to gain color in her usually pale cheeks and she began to lose weight. The nightmares and the scratching had stopped too since Emily starting sleeping in bed with her again. Timber could finally be happy once more.
Now, in the last weekend of her seventeenth year, Timber was looking forward to two parties; one with her, Xianna, Kendra, Ashley, and Gina, and one with Henry, Chad, Grace, and Emily. Timber knew that the night she turned eighteen, Henry was going to ask Chad for permission to date her. When he told her that, she went into a short giggle fit. Timber found it funny that Henry was going to ask permission to date her when they had been kissing in secret already for three weeks. Henry told her it was the right thing to do.
Timber was most looking forward to her night out with the girls. Grace had rented a room at the Beachcomber Motel and Spa for her and her friends for the night. So when the Saturday of the party arrived, Timber was understandably excited. It would be the first night she would be without Chad or Grace since she moved in with them, though Grace would be in a room on another floor of the hotel.
At four in the afternoon, Timber started packing an overnight bag. She grabbed two extra changes of clothes, and her toothbrush and toothpaste. As she was zipping up her bag she felt arms wrap around her waist.
"Hello, Henry," said Timber as she sunk back into his chest.
"Your nose makes it impossible for me to sneak up on you," teased Henry.
"Good thing for you too," said Timber turning around to face him. "One time when I got sick and my nose got stuffed up Uncle Chad thought it would be funny to sneak up and scare me."
"I would assume that he regretted it," said Henry.
"You know how he walks with a slight limp?" said Timber with remorse. "That was my doing. When he scared me I jumped and Turned in midair. When I landed I took a small slice out of his leg with my claws. I panicked when I saw what I did. He went to the ER and got patched up. I felt so bad I kept to my room for a week until Chad came up and said that I wasn't in trouble and that he shouldn't have tried to scare me."
"How old were you?" asked Henry.
"Ten," said Timber. "It was only a few months since I had moved in, we had just moved into this house and I was still trying to cope and adjust after everything I had been through. I was still jumpy and easily scared. I wasn't as bad as I was a few weeks ago, though."
"I'm sorry," said Henry. He kissed the top of her head. "So are you looking forward to tonight?"
"Yes. The hotel has a Jacuzzi so we'll all be able to relax and enjoy each other's company. We're also having a bonfire on the beach."
"Sounds like a very relaxing weekend," said Henry with a smile.
"Oh yes," said Timber, "and a much needed one too. My shoulder has been a bit stiff since the fight with the Vanquisher. I'm looking forward to the Jacuzzi." Her face fell. "Though, to be honest, this is more for Xianna than me."
"What do you mean?"
"Xianna and I are exactly a day apart in age down to the minute," said Timber. "Her parents don't remember her birthday. And yesterday I saw another bruise on her arm. She tried to hide it from me, but I knew where it came from." Timber sat down on her bed. "Xianna's no help either. She won't admit she's being abused so of course, the police aren't going to do anything if Xianna is going along with her father's story wearing a fake smile. I'm the only one she'll be completely honest with."
"They still hit her? It happens more than the last time she came over?" asked Henry in disbelief.
"It's worse than that." Timber ran her hands down her face. "What you saw last time was just a beating. I've tried everything I can to get her out of that house but nothing I do seems to work."
"What could be worse than them bloodying up her face?"
"Don't tell anyone I told you. Please. Xianna was raped two years ago by her father when he came home high and drunk," said Timber. "She showed up on my doorstep at three in the morning and told me what happened. She stayed with me for three days before her mother came and picked her up. Her mother was battered up pretty bad. She said she tripped and fell down the stairs but I don't believe her. Six weeks later Xianna told me she was pregnant. Mr. Greydlan made her get an abortion. Xianna didn't speak for a month and she barely ate. She won't call the police either."
"What about her mother?" asked Henry in disbelief. "Doesn't she do anything?"
"No. She's too afraid. I've told Xianna she needs to leave but she won't leave her mother. That strong a
nd flirty exterior that she puts up at school is a front. The other girls don't know either. She's good at covering the bruises with makeup. I'm the only one. So tonight, I'm stealing her. She's not going home. I'm keeping her with me."
"Can you do that?"
"Monday, Xianna will be eighteen. She can legally leave home. I've already spoken to my aunt and uncle. They've agreed to take her in because they know what happens in that house. They've tried to offer to adopt her, but she refuses to leave her mother. Though, if she does stay with us we have to be careful. Xianna doesn't know about me yet."
"Have you thought about telling her?" asked Henry.
"Many times, but I think she's better off if she doesn't know now. I'll tell her someday. Well, that's everything." Timber double checked her bag and stood up. "I wanted to ask you about something. I'm going to get Xianna's things from her house tomorrow afternoon after we get back. I know there will be trouble with her father. I'll be okay. Aunt Grace is going with me and she's armed whenever we leave the house. I have half a mind to Turn in front of him. He's usually so doped up on drugs; he'll think he's having hallucinations."
"While it will be undoubtedly funny, I would recommend you don't. Promise me you won't."
"Alright, alright, I won't. I promise." Timber suddenly grinned. "You're not going to believe what happened yesterday. Do you know Michelle Bouht? The tiny freshman girl?"
"Yes," said Henry. "She spends her mornings before school helping me in my classroom."
"Well, she asked me out on a date yesterday," said Timber. "I didn't know what to do. I've never been asked out by a girl before. I mean, I was flattered but at the same time, I felt awkward. It took her a while to get what she was trying to say out, but she asked me out to lunch."
"What did you say?" asked Henry with a grin.
The Timber Effect Page 13
