by Geonn Cannon
“I’m exactly who I said I was. My name is Isaac Hayden. My job is investigating the mythical. Creatures that most people don’t believe actually exist. They’re out there, as you well know. Bigfoot. Vampires. Werewolves.”
“Mermaids,” Dale said.
He nodded. “I’ve heard rumors, but I’ve never taken the time to really explore it. When I was younger, I was fascinated by werewolves. They weren’t like vampires, who could never really hide among humanity. Weakened by the sun, garlic, drinking blood. They look human but they’re still monsters. Wolves, though. Wolves lie, wolves can hide.”
He sat up straighter and scanned the restaurant, so Dale looked as well. A trio of college guys, two girls in pastel blue and pink workout clothes, an elderly couple.
“Anyone in this room could be a wolf, and we would never know unless they wanted us to know. I found that fascinating and disturbing at the same time. I became obsessed with finding out as much as possible about them.”
“So you could kill them?”
“No.” He looked down at his food, but she knew he was seeing something farther away. “No, at first it was purely academic. I’ve investigated countless creatures like this over the years. But because of their nature, because of their... brutality... their ability to hide. They weren’t just another species. They were invasive. You’ve spent a lot of time with them. You’ve seen how they spread. What do you think the wolf population of Seattle is?”
Dale said, “It’s a fraction of...”
He held up a finger. “You heard the howl. Hell, you were probably part of making it happen. That was a call to action. That was every canidae in the city announcing itself to the world. How any human could hear that noise and not flee immediately is beyond me.”
“What happened to you?” Dale asked. “Something must have happened to turn you into this.”
“I simply had my eyes opened. In the seventeenth century, a village in Estonia was besieged by wolves. They were killing livestock. Only one family’s farm was left untouched. Pretty damning evidence. So the villagers marched on this family, surrounded the house. They killed the father in front of his children, strung him up, gutted him.”
Dale said, “And the wolf turned out to be his wife.”
“The wolf turned out to be some asshole who had specifically skipped that farm so everyone would suspect that man. When the witch hunt began, the real wolf grabbed whatever he could carry and headed off into the forest. This is just one of a dozen stories I’ve found along the same lines. Wolves who only cared about themselves, who sacrificed humans so that they could survive. This is what they do. Do you think Ariadne Willow kept you around so much because she loved you? A wolf can’t love a human. They never have. It’s simple biology. She wanted you nearby as a decoy. To look normal. And if that failed, so you could be her sacrifice.”
“Ari... wouldn’t...”
“It hadn’t been an issue yet. I’ve spent the past few weeks reading up on Miss Willow. She’s very good at weaseling her way out of tight spots. But if it came down to life or death...”
“It has,” Dale said. “A couple of times. She never tried to sacrifice me.”
Isaac held his hands up. “Maybe she’s different. Maybe she’s the one wolf who can care, who sees beyond her species. But I truly believe you just got lucky. You got away before she was cornered.”
Dale didn’t want to believe him. She didn’t want to believe any of the trash coming out of his mouth. There were dozens of instances where Ari had risked life and limb to save her. She touched her hair, pushing aside the strands to feel the scar tissue where a bullet had skimmed the side of her head. She remembered how hard Ari pushed herself after that. She’d gone feral, transformed so terribly that she’d hurt for days afterward. Dale slid her hand to the back of her head and made a fist, like she could grab the conflicting thoughts and yank them free.
“I’m just so confused.”
“That’s to be expected. You’ve been indoctrinated for so long that the truth sounds like a lie. When did you last spend any amount of time with humans?”
Dale didn’t even have to think. “Three weeks ago. Dinner with Diana and Lucy. They’re our friends, they know everything about Ari.”
Isaac looked worried. “That’s not good. If Willow has been grooming other people--”
“Don’t use that word.”
“What word?”
“Grooming. That’s a pedophile term, using it to describe Ari’s relationship with people is disgusting.”
He shrugged. “But is it inaccurate? Witches have their familiars. Wolves have their humans.”
Dale closed her eyes. “I’ve never felt this way about Ari or her family or her people...”
“Never?” he said.
She looked at him.
“Come on, Miss Frye. Dale. You never had the slightest trepidation about dating someone who was a completely different species? You never once weighed the pros and cons?”
Dale rubbed her upper arms and looked away from him. Their burgers were getting cold and the milkshakes were melting. Isaac picked up his burger and took a bite.
“Mm. Salmon. I’m from inland, so salmon burgers aren’t really an option. I’ve been eating a lot of seafood since I’ve been here. It’s fantastic, but I’m sure after a while you’re just... you’re in the mood for a nice steak or a regular USDA beef--”
“I won’t hurt her.”
Isaac stared at her. “Miss Willow...? No, I understand why you might have qualms about that. Don’t worry. I have no intention of harming her. At least not directly. Once the ball is rolling, I have the feeling the Willows and Miss Duncan will get up to their usual antics. Things may happen then, things I have no control over and things in which I would never ask you to participate. You deserve a quiet life, Dale, normalcy.”
When have I ever asked for normalcy? Dale wondered. God, save me from a quiet life.
“You’re going to expose the canidae, aren’t you?”
“That’s my plan, yes. I’m going to release the book to the public, and I need you by my side to prove it’s true. There will be turmoil at first, obviously. The information is going to change the world. People will react with hate and fear. Lives will be lost. But once things settle down, everything will be better. People will accept the new world, and peace will settle. Everything will be as it should be.”
Dale laughed and shook her head. “We can’t even accept people whose skin is a different color or who pray differently than we do. You really think we’ll find common ground with dirty fucking mutts?”
Her stomach twisted at the words and tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. Her head was hurting again.
“I believe in time. But even if we can’t, even if there are horrible losses, it will all be for the greater good. Because people deserve to know. They deserve to know if their neighbors are a threat.”
“How?”
“Like I said. I’m going to finish the work Karl Magnusson started. I’m going to publish those essays. I think enough people know the truth, or suspect it, that I will be taken seriously. And even if I’m not, maybe that’s better. People will bring me on their talk shows to laugh at the werewolf freak. But I’ll have undeniable proof. I’ll have a video of my own, of an actual werewolf transformation. It will spread on social media, people will share it on social media, and before long, people will back it up with their own stories. And I’ll have you, the woman who lived among wolves for a decade. You have the information, you won’t be tripped up by journalists. You’ll confirm it isn’t just a publicity stunt. Eventually it will be impossible to ignore or dismiss.”
Dale said, “People will just claim the video is special effects.”
Isaac said, “You’ve most likely seen dozens if not hundreds of wolf transformations up close and personal. Even with the magic they can do in Hollywood, have you ever seen anything close to what a real change looks like? I know you haven’t, because I’ve seen one, and the movies don�
�t even come close.”
“No,” she admitted.
She swallowed the lump in her throat as she remembered what it was like to see Ari go away and a wolf unfold in her place. Even when she and Ari were deeply in love, she found something unsettling about the shift. It was wrong. But then she remembered when Ari transformed on top of her, how the muscles had felt under her hands. It felt intimate. Like something divine that no one else could ever claim. She closed her hands into fists and put them in her lap.
“I need some time to think about this.”
“Of course. I want you to feel comfortable.”
She said, “What will happen if I decide to join you? You said you won’t make me hurt Ariadne. That includes deceiving her in any way.” She was disgusted by the idea of faking a romance with a mutt, but also disgusted by that thought. It felt like mold at the front of her mind, always growing and reaching into every corner of her mind. “I won’t pretend to go back to her just to get more evidence.”
“You’re already the best evidence I could hope for. A human who has spent years in close proximity with wolves. Living with them, sleeping with one of them. You’ve been accepted by the canidae of Seattle in a way no human has ever been. When the book gets published, I want your insights. Your experiences. I want a new essay for the book, written by you, to be included as the foreword. You will help convince everyone that what I’m telling them is true.”
Dale said, “They’ll call me the wolf fucker.”
“They’ll probably call you worse than that. There’s a good chance authorities will try to charge you with bestiality.”
“Oh, come on, that’s absolutely bullshit. Ari’s...”
“A wolf half the time,” Isaac said.
“She’s a sentient being. She’s not a wolf, she’s... she’s...” The fog almost cleared then. She felt something approaching relief, like breaking the surface before being dragged back underwater. “She’s... I’m not... I wasn’t...” She looked at her hands, which had become unfolded. “I was in love with her.”
Isaac said, “And now?”
“Now I’m not.”
He smiled sadly. “I know this is difficult for you. Your feelings were real, even if they were manufactured. But Dale, I want you to know, you’re on the right path now.”
“It doesn’t feel like the right path. I don’t even know where I’m going to sleep tonight.”
Isaac held up a finger. “I thought about that. I’m going to get you a hotel room--”
Dale laughed. “No. Sorry, but there’s no way. Wherever I end up tonight, it won’t be anywhere near your hotel room.”
“Okay. You’re right, that makes sense.” He took out his wallet and put five hundred dollar bills on the table between them. “Get a room wherever you want. You don’t even have to tell me where it is. The important thing is that you separate yourself from outside influences. That includes both the Willows and me. You need to make your own decision.”
He opened his bag and again produced the original book of essays. He held it out to her.
“I also want you to have this. Knowledge is power, especially in this case. There are things in here you won’t find online, things wolves will want to keep quiet. Take it with you to wherever you end up, read it, and make an educated choice.”
Dale took the essays. “You’re going to let me take the real thing?”
“I’m asking you to put a lot of trust in me. I want to show it’s going both ways.”
She had to admit, that did make her feel better. She looked down at her bracelet. I don’t love you, Ariadne. I don’t love a mutt. I don’t want this disgusting thing on me anymore. She pinched it between her fingers.
But she didn’t break it and she didn’t unfasten it. She left it where it was.
Just for right now.
Chapter Twenty
Vivian’s storage unit was in Queen Anne, though Ari didn’t know why she bothered to pay for a fancy neighborhood when every storage facility she’d ever been in was exactly the same. She supposed it had something to do with extra security for the large items in the fenced-in area, alarms, and better-trained guards. But when it came down to it, they were all big concrete blocks filled with claustrophobic corridors and identical blue doors with padlocks on them.
Timothy had provided Ari with the keys and address, and both twins volunteered to accompany her to the storage unit. Preston wanted to talk with Timothy more about his new responsibilities as the owner of the house, while Eleanor hadn’t been seen since she stormed out of the office. When they arrived at the facility, Evelyn went to find someone to let her into the auto lot while Elizabeth led Ari to Vivian’s unit. Both girls had spent the ride in their own heads, looking out the window, and Ari was grateful she didn’t have to force her way through a conversation. But now, navigating the storage labyrinth, she could tell that Elizabeth wanted to say something but didn’t want to break the silence.
“So how are you dealing with everything?” she asked. “I got the impression that wine she left you was pretty special.”
“It’s the wine. There are only about a hundred thousand of them. It’s ridiculously expensive. I don’t even know where I’m going to store the thing.”
“How ridiculous are we talking?”
Elizabeth sighed and shook her head. “Everyone is talking about how much the tapestry is worth, but this wine...? You could buy a winter house on an island, or you could buy this bottle of wine.”
“Damn.”
“I know.”
“When I came up with the fake tapestry theory, I was thinking maybe Vivian was secretly broke. But today kind of blew that out of the water.”
Elizabeth glanced down one row, checked the numbers, and kept moving. “We haven’t cashed the checks yet. It could all just be for show.”
“True. But I feel like the reading of the will would have been the ideal time to come clean. Right now I’m hoping the storage unit has something that will point me in the right direction.”
“What will you do if it’s a dead end?”
“Quit.” Ari didn’t know she was going to say it until it was said, but she knew it was the truth. “Vivian showed her true colors today with what she did to Eleanor. That was maybe the cruelest thing I’ve ever seen a mother do, and that means a lot coming from me. If I can’t find a lead here, I’m going throw in the towel and accept I got screwed.”
Elizabeth looked surprised and disappointed. “Sorry to hear that. But I get it. Unsolved mysteries happen all the time. A tapestry goes missing from a locked room... there will probably be a podcast about it someday.” She turned a corner and Ari followed. Now she was paying closer attention to the numbers on each door. “I guess I can’t feel too bad about you dropping the case since I’m going home soon anyway. My flight leaves Monday night.”
“It’ll probably be nice to get back to normal.”
“You have no idea.” She stopped in front of Vivian’s locker and took out the key. “So... did you talk to your girl about the threesome idea?”
Ari was surprised by the change in topic. “Uh. Yeah. She wasn’t very interested. Sorry. It had nothing to do with you. She thinks you’re very attractive. It... it might have more to do with me.”
Elizabeth looked at her. “Everything okay there?”
“No idea. Go ahead and open the door.”
“Don’t want to talk about it. Gotcha.” She slipped the padlock off and pushed up the door. She went in, groping in the dark for a light.
Ari’s hope that they could just walk in and scan the contents collapsed as she saw just how full it was. The space was large, ten by twenty, and it was filled with furniture and stacks of boxes. She’d seen apartments that were smaller. Elizabeth stepped around a stack of boxes and touched a lampshade, slowly passing her attention over everything.
“This is a real blast from the past,” she said. “This is the furniture that was in the house when we were little. I had my first kiss on that divan. Mom liked
to keep things fresh.” She stopped next to a wardrobe and opened it, examining the clothes inside. “Oh wow, I remember this dress. Every few years, she changed everything up.”
“It’s going to take ages to go through all of this,” Ari muttered. She opened a box at random and saw books carefully stacked inside. The tapestry was relatively huge, but it could very easily be hidden anywhere in this space. “I don’t even have a solid lead that she actually hid anything in here.”
Elizabeth said, “You’re sounding awfully defeatist over there.”
“Maybe because I don’t see how I could possibly win this. Hell, at this point, I’m not even sure what would count as winning. I don’t think anyone stole the stupid thing anymore, I think Vivian took it herself, and put up a copy in its place, and then sent us on this wild good chase just... just so...” She gestured, then flipped her hands up. “Fuck, I don’t even know that much! This case doesn’t make any sense. Why would she spend all of this money for a game she wouldn’t even get to watch play out? And why bring me into it?”
She moved a box off the nearest chair and dropped into it. Elizabeth found a path through everything and stood in front of Ari.
“What would you normally do if you hit a wall like this?”
“I’d go talk to Dale. But we’re... she’s... I think we’re in a fight right now.”
Elizabeth tensed. “I hope not because of the threesome thing.”
“No, she liked the idea in principle. It’s a long story, and really hard to explain without getting really personal with you.”
“Ah, I understand. Well, I might not be Dale, but I’m here. Talk to me. Lay it out.”
Ari sighed and slapped her hands down on her knees. “Okay. At some point before Vivian hired me, she replaced Crossing-Over Place with a fake for reasons unknown. That was at least six weeks ago. A week ago, you and the rest of your siblings start arriving for your final goodbyes because Vivian had decided it was time to end her life. You each had separate meetings, except for Eleanor and Evelyn, who... shared the last meal.”
