by WB McKay
I bent down to get a closer look, all the while considering her words. She'd said earlier that someone who wasn't a wolf could deactivate the glyph, and she wasn't willing to risk touching the pine needles over the lines even though she'd walked right up to them. It sounded to me like anyone who wasn't one of the fae the glyph was keyed to could deactivate the glyph by smudging some of the lines. That was a delicate system. I wondered if a light breeze could deactivate the whole thing, or if there was more to it than that.
"How does the key work?" I asked.
"Well that's pretty cool, actually," Gail said. I didn't bother pointing out that the whole thing was 'pretty cool'. "Like I said, the coven had already activated the glyph with witch magic. It was turned on and waiting for you. You were the key, or, your magic was. The moment you stepped in the circle, the glyph latched on to your magic as a wolf. It's holding on to you by using your own magic."
Years and years of practice kept my face impassive. The glyph wasn't holding me, but my magic as a wolf. I strongly suspected that if I were to use my skills as a witch to manipulate my own magic as a wolf—as I did when I accelerated my shifts—the glyph would become confused, read my magic as something else, and let go of me.
Gail had been right to keep her mouth shut before. She'd just told me exactly how to break free.
I DIDN'T DO THAT though. I studied the lines of the glyph, I listened to Gail tell inappropriate jokes about sex, and I stared up at the stars. The moon would be full tomorrow night. If I was still in the cage at the time, it would serve as a good excuse for avoiding the full moon run with the pack. Graham hadn't barked about that the last time he'd come to bother me. Somehow, I doubted that meant he'd forgotten about it.
I fell asleep to the sound of Gail snoring, and woke to the sound of Gail swearing.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"I got sap on my shirt," she said.
"I was sleeping."
"Good for you," she said.
"Are you planning on feeding me?"
"Why?" she asked. "It's not like you'd starve to death."
"You're right, I wouldn't starve to death, but I would starve. Would you like to deal with a starving, angry wolf? I would not. I would like to eat breakfast. Prisoners eat breakfast."
"Have much experience being a prisoner, do you?"
I groaned and rolled over. I wasn't going to answer that. I didn't have a watch, but by my hungry belly's guess, two hours passed without breakfast. The idea of making a break for it was going to start sounding a lot more appealing if someone didn't feed me soon.
"Gail?" I asked to get her attention. She looked up from her phone. She'd had someone come in the night to take it inside to charge and bring it back to her. No one had fed her either. I suspected her of being an evil entity able to live off the glow from her screen. "Is your coven okay?"
"Huh?"
"You didn't tell me if everyone is here or not. Did the vampires find any more of your people?"
"We're all safe," she said.
"Good."
"Of course, the longer we're all safe with you trapped in the cage, the more we'll believe the violence has stopped because we've already caught the killer."
"That's true," I said. "Perhaps you should start searching out the vampires and proving my innocence."
"And where would I start a search like that?"
"I'm only joking," I said, to be sure she understood. "It's not safe for you to search out vampires. You understand that, right?"
"You are a very odd duck." When she'd said it the night before she'd sound puzzled but amused. Now she sounded done with me. I hoped they would switch guards soon. There was no point in staying put on the witches' property if I wasn't gathering as much information as possible. So far during my stay, I'd heard multiple witches step out of the noisy Erickson residence to grieve in private, argue about my imprisonment, and speculate about the durability of my cage. They'd be happy to know the glyph had held up through a wind that had picked up late in the night and still felt as strong to my touch as it had when it had first keyed into my wolf magic.
A familiar car came down the road, but I assumed I must have been hearing things until it turned at the driveway. Stuck in the center of the driveway as I was, I stood up and waved my arms to avoid having Tess run me over.
"You know them," Gail said. She got out her phone and put it to her ear. "Evelyn, we have a problem."
"She's human," I said, since that would be most important to Gail and her fae envy.
Tess slammed on her breaks though she had the room to stop slowly. She jumped out of her car with her finger wagging. "You're in the middle of the road! Why haven't you been answering my calls?"
"Welcome to my basement." I put my hand up to the barrier and paced the curve of the circle to illustrate the idea.
"I fucking told you didn't I?"
"To be fair, I still have all my pieces."
"Is that the criteria we're going by now?" She put her hands on her hips. "That sounds about right for the past couple jobs I've worked. Okay. So it's the witches, yeah?"
"Tess, meet Gail." I gestured between them. "Gail, Tess." Neither of them moved to shake hands. "Yeah, this is the work of the witches, but to be fair, they think I killed their coven members. They don't know anything about the vampires. They're probably going to be the ones who end up in tiny pieces."
"Are you telling me that I'm here to protect the people who locked you up?"
"It would seem that way," I said. "Thank you for coming all this way. I'm surprised you knew to come so soon."
"You didn't answer my calls after texting me the address."
"I could have gone home and not had reception."
"I traced your phone to be absolutely sure. It's still sending a signal from the property. I wasn't going to make a ten hour drive for nothing."
"That was smart," I said. "I didn't know you could do that."
"Well, you're a good law-abiding citizen."
"You should tell that to the people who think I'm a murderer."
"So talking is the plan, huh? That's probably a good thing. I'm mean when I'm tired. I always hit a little too hard when I'm mean."
The door to the house finally opened, and I heard the feet of many witches running out. "The witches are coming," I warned Tess.
She rolled her head in a circle over her shoulders. "Hey witches!" she hollered. "The cavalry's here! How about you pop my friend out of this bubble and we get to work saving you jerkwads from certain painful death?" She shrugged her shoulders. "Or not. Totally your call."
CHAPTER TWELVE
Tess's approach to diplomacy was a little different from my own, but it worked. I'd spent over ten hours in Gail's company, and Tess had them convinced to break the glyph's seal after twenty minutes where she mostly called them names.
I'd never thought Tess would actually show up to rescue me from a basement and put my pieces back together. I had a friend. I hoped the novelty would never wear off; I always wanted to feel that lucky.
There were seven surviving members of their coven, and they were all safely hiding away at the Erickson residence. The first thing Tess ordered once I was free was that all of them stay put on the property. "Staying here was a good plan," Tess said. "You have the home turf advantage."
"They can key that trap for vampires," I told her.
"Ooooh," she said. "That might actually be worth learning magic for."
There were some disgruntled faces after that comment, but the witches kept their mouths shut. I liked to think it was because they knew they were out of their league arguing with Tess.
"Do you think the pack will help take out the vampires?" Tess asked me.
"They killed the first three," I answered. "I'll have to talk to them to know. They didn't even know there was a coven in Redding."
"You're going to ask the pack for help?" Evelyn asked. "Wolves hate witches."
"Well, it seems to me witches hate wolves plenty, speakin' as a
wolf who just spent a night in a cage."
Evelyn had the grace to look embarrassed about that, though it hadn't truly been my intention to make her feel bad, I still hadn't eaten.
"Did you all already eat breakfast?"
Gail nodded. I knew she hadn't, so she must have been hungry, too.
"They locked you up and didn't feed you?" Tess asked. "Are you sure you want to be saving these fools?"
Evelyn's eyes widened with fear. Apparently she wasn't good at reading Tess's banter. As grouchy as she often sounded, Tess would always save people from monsters, no matter how much she disliked them, and I actually thought she seemed okay with the witches, locking me up aside. Still, Tess wagged a finger at Evelyn. It hadn't taken Tess long to pinpoint the leader of the coven. "Feed your prisoners next time."
Gail wasn't taking to Tess's bossy teasing. "According to you, our next prisoners will be vampires."
"Only briefly," Tess said. "We'll kill them before feeding time comes around."
Gail looked adequately pacified. "I can get on board with that."
"I'm glad you're happy," Tess said. "Now is anyone going to get breakfast, or do I have to keep asking?"
"I'll make eggs," Gail said. "You explain to us why asking the wolves for help isn't a complete waste of time."
We were standing around a long plastic table in what I now realized was their living room. The dining room was closer to the kitchen, but that table was covered in books and scraps of paper. From what I could see, it looked like work they'd done to make sure they had the glyph drawn correctly.
Tess whipped a chair around backwards and sat down with her chin resting on the chair back. "You can't fight the vampires alone," Tess said.
"We can trap them," Evelyn said. She looked at the coven members hanging back in the room. She didn't want them to be afraid.
"You can trap them," I agreed. "But it never hurts to have greater numbers. Allies are a positive thing." I said this as gently as possible when what I wanted to say was that three of their group had been killed already. Glyphs or not, they needed help. "It might also be a good thing that when the pack finds out you've been hiding in their territory for however long you've been here, they'll have a bigger issue to distract themselves with. That might be a real good thing for the lot of you."
Evelyn gave a slight nod.
"I don't know what the pack will do. I'll let you know."
"In the meantime," Tess said, "I'll stay here and keep you company."
"Are you sure?" I asked her.
"I can't let them end up in pieces in their own basement," she told me, right in front of all of them. They looked confused, not horrified.
"You know what this means?" I groaned and finally dropped down in the chair next to Tess. "I have to run with the pack tonight."
"It's the full moon, isn't it?" Tess asked. "Shouldn't that be a nice thing?"
"I told them all I wouldn't do it," I said. "Repeatedly."
"They're going to think you've lost your stubborn streak," Tess said. "Maybe instead of running you could walk real slow."
"This is why we're friends," I told her. "You show up to save me from an eternity of basements, bully my captors into makin' me breakfast, and come up with clever ways for me to be a wolf of my word."
"There's also my sparkling personality. Don't forget that."
"Never," I promised her, and when she looked me in the eyes, I think she saw I meant it.
I DID RUN UNDER the moon, and it was better than I'd tell anyone it was. I barely told myself.
The night began with the proper visit to the alpha I was supposed to have done when I first crossed into Lassen Pack territory. Gretchen wasn't the kind of person to remind me of that fact. She clutched my hand with both of hers, nodded, and with sincere warmth, said, "Welcome, Julia. We're happy you're here to run with us." Not even a reminder that she'd invited me and I'd refused more than once. It was an evil plot to kill me with kindness, and it was working.
Everett clutched my hand next. Husband of the alpha, I'd always thought of him as the beloved heart of the Lassen Pack. I doubted he thought of himself in that way, if he thought of himself at all. The man barely spoke, but when he did, it was to ask others how they were doing.
The spouses of alphas and betas took on the weight of their significant other's position. While it wasn't Everett's job to issue orders like Gretchen had to, he carried the burden of protecting the pack and its overall well-being. It wasn't a job that let anyone sleep soundly at night, that was for sure.
"Hello Graham, beta of the Lassen Pack," I greeted the man standing on Gretchen's other side.
"Hello Julia, lone wolf running with the Lassen Pack."
I couldn't read his expression well enough to tell if he was amused, or if he thought this was how we were addressing each other. Heck, for all I knew, this was how Graham spoke to everyone he met.
As I stepped away from the leaders, it became more difficult to pretend I wasn't being silently stared at by the entire pack.
Gretchen and Everett had a large, open canvas tent set up in their backyard for the pack to gather under as they arrived. A buffet of snacks was set out, and two tables placed side by side. Though I thought I'd shown up early, it seemed everyone was there already, all sixteen of them, and none of them sat at the table. They stood tense, guarded. If I hadn't known of the choices they were struggling with, I'd have thought it was about me.
Avoiding eye contact with Nathaniel had proven easier than expected. He wasn't looking at me either.
"We all know what the situation is by now," Gretchen said to them. "Witches are in our territory. Vampires want to kill them all and have already murdered one family and another witch the other night. Do we kill the vampires? Or do we wait until the witches are gone and then address the situation?" Gretchen sniffed. "We won't answer this tonight."
Murmurs of unhappiness spread through the group.
"Continue to talk amongst yourselves," Gretchen encouraged. "We'll come to a decision on this soon enough."
I bit my tongue so as not to tell her that it would not be 'soon enough' for any witches who might die while they felt their way through the situation.
Rachel raised a hand and Gretchen nodded her assent. "Do we want the vampires dead? Obviously. I say we take out the vampires before they decide to do something stupid, like kill innocents, and then we can deal with the witches ourselves."
Someone I didn't know, but recognized from the other night at the Salty Snowman, argued, "We risk ourselves fighting the vampires. It's not our business if they're targeting the witches."
The conversation became impossible to follow from there. I pulled out enough to know there wasn't a consensus, but I never heard a word about protecting the witches.
"Excuse me," I said, expecting to be ignored and surprised to find all eyes on me, conversation immediately ceased. "I'd like to point out that the witches have been here for a while and not done a thing to any of you."
"Pfft," Rachel said. "They couldn't anyway." Many voices agreed.
"Trust me," I said, annoyed with her flippancy. "I've met them. They could." I regretted the words as soon as they were out of my mouth. The appraising look in Graham's eyes confirmed my mistake. If they trusted my word, and the way the pack members all turned to the people next to them and began chattering suggested they did, I'd just made a case for the wolves to let the vampires kill the witches off. I'd established the witches as a threat.
Nathaniel met my gaze then, pouring comfort across the crowd to me with a single look. I closed my eyes, certain there were many reasons I shouldn't accept it.
"It'll be okay," Everett whispered in my ear. "A run under the moon'll set everyone on a clear path." He squeezed my shoulder and stepped into the crowd, doing the work of comforting his pack. He repeated his words to the others he went to comfort, but that didn't diminish them, in fact, it gave them weight. No matter how heated the wolf he spoke with got, he remained calm. There was an assuranc
e in his tone that made me think however things worked out, it would still be okay. Drama didn't exist with Everett around.
It must have been some kind of alpha magic, because once Gretchen passed by me—not even bothering with the reassuring touch, merely nodding in my direction to acknowledge my presence—the feeling intensified.
I'd never been part of a pack. I wasn't all that sure, even after so much time as a wolf, what kind of magic existed in a pack. With no plans to ever join one, I hadn't wanted to know. I'd have wondered if the feeling was in my head if it weren't for the whole of the pack—so riled five minutes before—now speaking in soft voices, emulating the feeling warm in my chest.
The farm had several barns, all but one of them smelled like one animal or another even from a distance. The last one smelled like wolf. Before the fae council had exposed werewolves to the humans, werewolf shifts had been covered by a glamour that removed the memory of witnessing the shift from any human minds. That glamour was gone now, but the barn still smelled like it from the many pack shifts the barn had seen in years past.
Benjamin, Nathaniel's best friend, brushed against my side. "Julia," he said, and tipped his hat.
"Benjamin." I returned the hat tip of my imaginary hat, and he grinned, mouth tight and lips to the side. The smile was familiar. I hadn't realized I'd missed it. "So, I'm smelling that we shift in this barn."
"Some folks do," he said. "Some prefer to shift outside. The stalls give privacy for folks that matters to."
I wasn't one of those folks. I undressed in one of the many guest stalls, grateful for a private place to store my things, and walked on bare feet over the straw of the barn onto a grassy slope. From the opening of the barn there was a view of over an acre of green, tall grass waiting to be played in. Eventually the large field gave way to trees as far as I could see.
Rachel came up beside me. She'd been annoyed with me when she'd given me a ride home the other night, but she smiled happily at me now. "Are you going to shift or stand there all night?" she asked me.
"I was waiting to ask how far we can go."
