by Mason Sabre
“What is he doing?” Phoenix opened his eyes to look at Cade, but he stopped him. “Close your eyes. Keep them closed.”
“He’s just sitting there,” Phoenix said after a moment. “He isn’t doing anything.”
“Can you reach for him? Put your hand out and touch him.”
Phoenix did. It was so stupid, but he did it anyway. He reached for his wolf, still not knowing if his mind had just made him up? The wolf’s fur was white and grey, like shades of snow in the shadows. As Phoenix inspected him closer, he gasped. It had a mark above his left eye exactly the same as his.
“Keep your eyes shut,” Cade said when they would have shot open again. “Reach for him.”
Heart thumping, Phoenix reached out slowly. His wolf didn’t move. He stretched out until the tips of his fingers grazed the top of the wolf’s fur. It was soft and warm and so inviting. The urge to run his hands through it was overwhelming. Everything around him had grown silent, the sounds of the outside world non-existent. The real world had vanished.
“Reach for him,” Cade urged. “Touch him. Get closer. Phoenix moved closer and dared to place the palm of his hand down on the wolf’s head and run it through its fur. The wolf pushed his head up to meet him and it suddenly dawned on Phoenix that he could actually feel fur for real. He jumped back instantly, snatching his hand away. Suddenly off-balance, he fell on his side and onto his hand. He screamed as his weight fell onto it.
“It’s okay.” Cade was beside him. “Try not to think about the pain.” Phoenix tried to open his eyes to look at him, but they were so heavy. He peered through them and saw Cade lying down on the ground with him.
“Close your eyes again.” He let his lids slide shut again and looked for his wolf once more. It was no longer sitting in front of him, but curled up against him, the fur pressing into his stomach, all down his legs. Panicking, his eyes shot open, and he reached out towards Cade for help. But Cade simply smiled at him. “You’re doing great,” he said encouragingly.
He tried to speak, but all that came out was a strangled growl. He stared at his outstretched hand and realised it was no longer a hand. It was a paw. It was white and not quite right, but it was a paw nonetheless.
“You're nearly there. I promise.” Cade said.
The wolf had disappeared, gone from sight at least, but his presence was there. It was all over him, enveloping him in a blanket of warmth and fur and contentment. Suddenly, he couldn’t breathe. Suddenly, every bone in his body began to throb with a pressure he had never experienced before. Every muscle twisted and spasmed. He rolled onto his front so that he could get up and move, but when his face hit the ground, he realised that his nose was different. It was longer. His teeth were now canines and even his lips were different—thinner and elongated. He tried to call out to Cade again, but he couldn’t get any words out. A growl vibrated through him, and he realised it was him who had made the sound.
“Breathe” Cade said, and Phoenix struggled to do just that, taking in deep, slow breaths. “Now open your eyes.”
With great effort, he managed to get them open. The bright sunlight blinded him for a moment and he fought the pain that speared through them. It felt like when he’d sat in the dark for too long and then suddenly come out into the sunshine. He blinked to clear his vision, and when he was able to focus, he realised that everything was so much sharper, so much clearer. He noticed details that he had never observed before.
When he turned to look at Cade, he was grinning at him. “You did it.”
Phoenix’s heart started to pound in excitement.
He had done it. He really had. He was wolf.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Cade was sitting at the kitchen table with the back door open. He could see Phoenix from where he was. He would catch a flash of him every so often as the light coloured wolf bounded through the overgrowth, racing around and creating circles in the long grass. Cade grinned. He was sure that just a few more days and the entire stretch of land behind his house was going to be totally flat, and Cade wouldn’t need to mow it. It was a win-win situation.
A week had passed since Phoenix’s first shift—a god damn long week it seemed. A week of trying to ask Phoenix questions, without pushing him too much, and time was quickly running out. Cade needed to know things. In two boxes next to Cade, and on the table in front of him, were reams and reams of paper. Each page held countless entries that Cade had to examine. He had the code to Phoenix’s tracer and now the never-ending job was to search for all the names of listed shifters and match it in the hope of finding the one responsible for biting him. That was easier said than done, of course. It was a series of symbols and numbers, and his eyes had already begun to cross. He rubbed them and let out an exhausted sigh. Sitting back in his chair, he rolled his shoulders, trying to ease the taut muscles.
It had been a good week at least. They had made some progress with settling Phoenix. However, neither of them had talked about anything important—or rather, Cade hadn't. Every time he thought about talking to Phoenix about having to challenge his maker, he would catch a glimpse of the young boy in there, and then the words just seemed to get stuck in his throat. Tomorrow—that was his mantra. Tomorrow … everything would be said tomorrow.
Phoenix was still a little like Bambi on ice as he tried to run. He was not used to running on four paws yet, and he hadn't quite got his coordination down. But he was getting better. Cade had tried to make him feel at home, had bought him clothes, and they had spent two days fixing up the back bedroom. There wasn’t so much to do to it—mostly, it was painting it and actually adding some furniture so that it seemed like it was lived in. It was somewhere that Phoenix could call his own.
Phoenix jumped around in the long grass and then suddenly vanished behind the half-broken greenhouse. Cade chuckled at the memory of a very wet—and a very unimpressed—Phoenix dragging his ass inside the day before, after discovering there was a pond behind it. The minutes ticked by, and Cade straightened in his chair, all his senses going on alert. Just as he decided to go and check on him, even though he could intuit no danger, Phoenix emerged, his arms in the air as he pulled his shirt on over his head. Cade let out the breath he had been holding and relaxed back into his seat.
“Good run?” Cade asked when Phoenix came back into the house. His face was flushed, his eyes bright with excitement. He had changed back into his jeans and t-shirt, and Cade thought how nice it was to see the kid in clothes that fitted him.
He beamed at Cade and then produced a rabbit from behind his back and dropped it onto the table with a thunk. It was dead, of course. Its fur was dotted with red where Phoenix had clamped his jaws down on it and killed it. “I caught dinner,” he said proudly.
“You stayed on the land?” He had stressed the importance of him not straying from here several times since the incident with Trevor.
Phoenix sighed and rolled his eyes, his reaction that of a typical teenager. Cade hid his amusement. “Yes.”
Cade didn’t care if the repetition annoyed him. He would ask everyday if he had to—and he had so far. It was for Phoenix’s safety and, as tiresome as it was, it would be dangerous if either one of them dropped their guard. The last thing he wanted was for Phoenix to get ahead of himself and think that he could handle the outside world. Racing out into areas where the Humans could catch him—or worse, Trevor—could have no good outcome. Cade wasn’t about to risk it. If that meant they had to eat Human food to survive because Phoenix needed to stay near home, then so be it.
Cade hadn't heard from Trevor since the day on the field. It worried him in some ways, but then again, maybe it was a good thing. Maybe he was simply off licking his wounds. Whatever it was, the silence was both a relief and a worry.
“Throw it on the side and we can eat it later,” Cade said. “You’re getting good at this.”
“It was an easy one,” Phoenix said as he dumped it onto the drainer. He lay it down so that it was facing away from him. “My sis
ter had a rabbit,” he said pensively as he ran a hand down the dead rabbit’s body. His hand had healed—no one would think that it had been broken just the week before. Whatever the concoction was from Emily, it had certainly helped to speed up the healing process. Occasionally, though, Cade caught Phoenix rubbing his hand as if it hurt, but when he’d ask him, Phoenix would shake his head. Cade knew that the boy was unable to come to terms with the fact that it had healed so fast—he expected it to still hurt. Another part of being wolf that he would have to get used to, Cade supposed—advanced healing.
“You have a sister?” Cade asked cautiously, daring to jump on the snippet of information Phoenix had just offered.
“And a brother.” Phoenix turned so that he was leaning with his back against the edge of the sink. He let out a long drawn out sigh. “Do you think I can ever see them again?”
Cade leaned back in his seat. “I don’t know. Maybe.” In truth, Cade thought that wasn’t likely at all. If they were Human, they would sure as hell not want anything to do with him. Humans were heartless. Really and truly. He paused for a heartbeat, then said, “Do you think that it would be okay to ask you some things?”
Phoenix sauntered over to the table and sat down next to Cade. “Like?”
Cade pushed the sheets of paper he had been working on across to Phoenix. So far he had gone through the lists and highlighted everyone that was a wolf. “I have to find the wolf that bit you.”
Phoenix leaned closer and inspected the first page. “Why?”
“Because we need to get the Humans off our backs. If we can find the wolf that bit you, we can send the Humans looking for him.”
“But then they die?” His eyes searched Cade’s, a frown marring his young brow. Cade fought the urge to cosset him, to reach out and give his hand a reassuring squeeze. He wanted to care for him and protect him, but at the same time, he had to help Phoenix to become a strong and independent man—it was the only way to survive in the world of Others. Cade might not always be around to save him.
“It is against our rules to bite a Human. We can’t ever do it.” He stared him straight in the eye. “What that wolf did was wrong. You could have died out there. If I hadn't found you that day, you probably would have.” Cade pointed down to the boxes on the floor. “I have to go through all of these. I have to find him. It would help me if you could tell me where you came from.” When Phoenix said nothing, he added, “If we don’t find the wolf, the Humans will want you.”
Phoenix brought his feet up onto his chair, tucking his knees up against himself and wrapping his arms around them. Fucking Humans always caused shit like this. He didn’t like to push Phoenix. He didn’t like the look of fear on his face. “I bit that boy,” he whispered. “I should be punished for that.”
“It isn’t your fault.” Cade slid the papers back in front of him and stared at the list of names without actually seeing any of them. This was the part that was hard to say. He lifted his gaze back to Phoenix’s. “If you are to be accepted into Society, you also have to defeat that wolf.”
Phoenix blinked. “I have to fight?”
Cade nodded. He hated to hear the panic in his voice. He had been through enough already. If he could stop him going through more, if he could fight the maker in his place, he would—but that was against the laws, too. It had to be Phoenix that fought him.
“I’m sorry,” Cade said after a moment of silence. “I know it is hard for you. This is how we work.”
Phoenix rested his forehead on his knees so that Cade couldn’t see his face. “I wish I hadn't been so stupid,” he muttered. “I wish I could take it back. I made everything so bad.”
“Take what back?”
Phoenix began to rock and Cade hated that he had to push him like this. But he needed to know what had happened. He slid his chair back so that his whole body was turned toward Phoenix.
“It was so stupid,” he whispered.
“Tell me,” Cade said gently. “Tell me what happened.”
There was another pause and Cade started to lose hope that he’d open up to him. Then suddenly, he murmured, “Our car ... it had broken down. We had been out of town and the tyre needed changing.” He lifted his head slightly and peered at Cade. Cade inched closer so that Phoenix might feel safer. “My mum didn’t know how to change it so we had to get help. We had to call my dad to come, but we had no phone. We walked long the lane and found a house. Then we knocked … and a man answered.”
Cade stayed quiet, listening, and nodded for him to go on.
Phoenix breathed in deeply. “He said he could come and change the tyre, but we wanted to use the phone anyway.”
“The man was Other?”
Phoenix nodded. “Yes.” He swallowed hard, his breathing speeding up. “I stayed at the house so I could call my dad. The man had a son and … and ...” Phoenix’s voice trailed off and Cade waited patiently. “I was talking to the boy, and he said he was a wolf. When I asked him to show me, he said he could make me into a wolf. He said it wouldn’t last so long because I am … was … Human.” His eyes closed at the recollection. “I let him bite me.”
Cade’s heart sank. Shit. A boy. Of all the things, Cade had feared that Phoenix would have to fight a fully grown man. But it was another boy. Child against child … to their death. He felt sick. “How old was he?”
“I don’t know. Maybe he was my age.”
“How old are you?”
Phoenix focused his eyes on Cade’s. “I’m fourteen,” he said. “It was my birthday two days ago.”
Surprised at that piece of information, Cade stared at him for a quiet moment. “You didn’t say.”
Phoenix shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. I didn’t want it anyway. Can I be excused to my room?”
Cade didn’t want to let him go just yet. He didn’t want him to sit up in his room alone. He had been through so much already. However, he understood the need to be on your own, just get away from everything and everyone and just lie in the dark somewhere. When there was a huge weight on your chest and that was the only thing that would ease it. “Okay,” Cade said. “We have a meeting this evening with Society. Don’t forget, okay?”
Phoenix nodded his head slowly, then stood and left the room without another word.
Chapter Twenty-Four
When Cade lifted his head up and stretched out his aching back, he noticed that it had grown dark around him. He rubbed his eyes hard and blinked. The hours had rolled by and he hadn't noticed. The tell-tale ache in his stiff back reminded him that he had not moved for a long time, his shoulders protesting as he stretched his arms over his head. He yawned and put his pen back down on the table. He had made some progress—some being the key word. The pile that he still had to check remained more than ten times larger than the pile of already checked names—even with the amount of names now reduced by area. He had started with a twenty mile radius of where Phoenix had said he was from. With any luck, that would turn up the asshole who did this. If it didn’t, Cade would just extend his circle by another ten miles, and so on, until he had a name.
He rubbed a hand over his stubble and decided he’d have to shave before the meeting tonight. He hadn't heard Phoenix in quite a while but he knew he was in the house. That piece of him was there—it was like the ultimate tracker.
The time for the meeting was approaching and Phoenix would have to come down soon. He was going to have to face this thing even though Cade wished he could shield him from it. It was a harsh world for a fourteen-year-old boy.
Fourteen …
Sorrow settled deep inside at the thought of Phoenix’s birthday passing, and none of them had had a clue. It shouldn’t have been that way. He thought about getting him a cake with some candles, but then wondered if that would only succeed in saddening Phoenix more—it would be the first time without his family.
Cade’s stomach growled as he sat there pondering all the things he could do nothing about. It had been growling for the last hour at least. Ca
de had ignored it, consoling it with the promise of ‘just one more code’, ‘one more name’. The thought, What if I stop now and the next name is the name? is what had kept him glued to the papers. He wanted so damn much to walk into that meeting today with a name ready to give to Malcolm and his father. But no. Not today.
Cade didn’t waste time with the rabbit. He cut it, skinned it and then divided it up onto four plates—two for now, and two for later. They were small portions each, but this was how it had to be. They would be hungry when they came back and it would perhaps be too late to hunt. That, or too stressful for Phoenix, especially after everything. He put the two plates in the fridge for later and placed the other two on a tray, which he carried up the stairs.
The small lamp in Phoenix’s room gave out little illumination into the hallway—it was just a small, soft glow. Cade knocked lightly on the door and then pushed it open, not waiting for an answer. Phoenix was hunched over his desk reading, a small lamp on beside him. They had bought books while they were out with the aim of Phoenix trying out the whole homeschooling idea. Phoenix couldn’t attend school, not a Human school anyway, and Cade wasn’t sure if he would be accepted into an Other school, either, but he needed an education. He had bought everything from educational books—that Cade planned to help him with—so that he remained up to date with the curriculum, and fiction so that he was entertained. Cade had been most pleased when Phoenix had informed him that he liked to read.
“I brought you something to eat,” Cade said, sitting down on the edge of Phoenix’s bed with the tray. Phoenix closed the book he was reading and Cade caught a glimpse of the title. “You like maths?”
