The Wolf in His Arms (The Runes Trilogy)

by Lilly, Adrian

  Collin jumped up out of the bed and looked into Tony’s eyes. Even in the dim light he could see the flecks of pale green floating in the brown. His brown eyes were streaked with green like starbursts. “Fuck.”

  “I can feel it in me. I can’t fight it.” Tony sat on his bed. “I’m feeling stronger. But,” he looked pained. “I’m gonna betray you, Collin. I already know. They’re gonna ask me what you know, and I’m gonna tell them.” He hit his fists against his knees. “It’s like I don’t have a choice.”

  Collin dropped to the bed, silent. He thought for a long moment. “I’m gonna run for it. I’m going straight for the road and hitchhike.” He stood. “I’ll get you help.”

  “It’s too late for me.”

  Collin glanced up at Tony again. As he watched, more green seeped over the brown, like moss overtaking a log.

  Collins fingers fumbled on his laces as he tied his shoes. He slid the chair back into place at the desk. As he opened the door, Tony grabbed his arm. “Take a blanket,” he said. He grabbed the covers from Collin’s bed, and shoved the blanket into Collin’s chest. Collin grabbed it and nodded thanks.

  Collin slipped out the door, closing it silently. He turned toward the stairwell and descended. He hoped that Tony would in fact betray him, since he had no intentions of running for the road.

  * * * *

  Mitch looked around the room at the group Lucy had brought to him, and they looked like a grownup version of the Bad News Bears. He doubted even he could teach them self-defense. Her brother, Alec, seemed the most interested, and even he was distracted, and talking to the one Lucy introduced as Jared. He looked at Maxwell, and he reminded him of the kid who sat on the ball field pulling grass, unaware when the baseball plopped at his feet. Haley, seated next to Maxwell, looked like she would rather be at a salon. In Nadia, he saw a glimmer of hope.

  “Alright,” Mitch called. “Let’s form a half circle around me.” He gestured and waited impatiently. “I’m sure Lucy’s told you I’m a pain in the ass.” He noticed Alec nod exaggeratedly to Jared and fought the urge to smirk. “That’s because I demand focus. You’re here to learn.” Mitch looked from face to face, noting the green eyes staring back at him. He turned suddenly to Jared, “Why do you want to learn self-defense?”

  “To defend myself?” Jared said slowly.

  “I want to feel more assured,” Alec said, nudging Jared with his shoulder.

  “Feeling like you can protect yourself can give you added confidence. What about you?” He turned to Haley.

  “It was either this or stay home with her mom,” she hooked her thumb at Nadia.

  “Nothing else?”

  The memory of Griffin confronting them, and Jared lying in a pool of blood on the sidewalk washed over her. The helplessness she had felt made her knees tremble. “I live in the city. I wouldn’t mind being able to fight a little.”

  “Good. You need to have a reason to be here, or you won’t learn anything.” He addressed the whole class again. “Let’s begin.”

  Lucy, despite herself, realized she did not regret her decision at all. In just one evening, Mitch managed to teach them all more than she had in a week. At the end of the night, as the others headed out, she stopped to thank him. “That was great. They came a long way.”

  “They did.” He stared into her eyes, and Lucy turned her head uncomfortably. “I guess I won’t see you tomorrow,” he added.

  “What?” She back stiffened.

  “Tomorrow’s the full moon. You never come in on the full moon, so I guess I won’t see you here tomorrow.”

  “I’ve never noticed,” Lucy said, trying to sound nonchalant. “See you later.”

  “But not tomorrow,” he repeated. As she fled out the door, he called to her. “Lucy, just a minute.” He stood beside her and smiled down. “I was just wondering where you found so many people with green eyes.”

  “Thanks again for your help,” Lucy said and pushed out the door, feeling her anger burn in her head and chest.

  * * * *

  They fucking locked me in a small room in the basement...

  Mark’s words echoed in Collin’s mind as he navigated his way through the labyrinthine corridors of the basement. As immense as the building was, the basement seemed to dwarf it somehow. Collin began to wonder if underground halls connected the out buildings. He passed an old FALLOUT SHELTER sign attached to a closed door. He knew that it would only be minutes before guards began to search for him, and he needed a place for long-term hiding. Once the search for him cooled—and only then—would he make a break for it. He figured two days tops.

  Lines of light and shadow, caused by the intermittent halogen bulbs in the ceiling, striped the floor. The buzzing overhead reminded him of cicadas in late summer. Door after door, Collin paused outside to listen; if he heard no noise he would try the handle. He pulled a door open. Jackpot! He found a pantry. Collin flipped on the light and pulled the door behind him. He walked over to the food-lined shelves. He lay the blanket on the floor and folded it to use as a knapsack. He piled food he could snack on into it: canned fruit with pull ring openers, bread, crackers. He tied the blanket and slung it over his shoulder.

  Easing the door open, Collin looked both ways before entering the hall. From deep in the basement, he could hear swearing and screaming. He froze. He could see in his mind clearly what was happening: another student was being tied down, injected. His instinct was to run, but his curiosity swelled within him. No, he told himself. After I find a hiding place.

  Collin moved away from the screaming and stopped as he passed a door marked BOILER ROOM. He turned the handle and the door creaked open. Collin charged inside, pulling the door shut. The room was warm, which was good, and dark. A workbench filled with a disarray of tools took up one wall. Collin riffled through the tools, hoping to find something useful. On the bottom shelf he found a large, square flashlight. He flicked it on. A strong beam cut across the room.

  In the back corner of the room, past the boiler, the light landed on a small door. He had seen such a door before, in his grandmother’s house; it was an old coal room door. Collin opened the door to the coal room and shone the light around. Although no coal had been in the room in years, the room was still dingy and dusty. But, it was the perfect place to hide. Best of all, a chute stretched up toward the outside. If the outside door still worked, he would be able to climb straight out of the building without walking through the corridors again.

  Collin placed his blanket and food inside the coal room and shut the door. With a resigned sigh, he walked to the boiler room door, pulled it open, and making sure the hall was clear, followed the cries that echoed down the corridors. The screaming changed to yelling, “What did you do to me?” The words drove a shiver through Collin as he pictured Tony and Mark, and he knew the young man’s fate. Collin continued to trace the sound of the young man as his anger disintegrated into tears. Collin mentally marked every turn for the return trip.

  At a closed set of double doors, he halted. The boy’s cries came from inside. Collin swallowed and took a step, then lost his nerve, and stepped away from the doors. Do I really need to know? He asked himself. Collin glanced around, checking for an escape route, a hiding place in case someone came. Another stairwell descended into the basement near him, and he decided he could duck behind the stairs. Maybe they aren’t even looking for me yet. He decided to push through the double doors.

  The heavy metal doors felt cold against the palms of his hands as he pushed through them into an empty hall. The boy began to yell again. His hoarse voice resounded in Collin’s ears. Below the young man’s ranting, Collin could hear other voices now. The voices were familiar—guards, teachers, and then, among them, he heard Proctor Roth. “The schedule has been amended,” he said. “Every boy in this school gets injected by tomorrow night.” A moment of silence and then, “What are you waiting for. Bring them!”

  Panic shot through Collin as he retreated toward the double doors. He
pushed through, knowing that guards were in the hall behind him. And then, suddenly, voices surrounded him.

  Voices fell on him from above as footfalls landed in the stairwell. Collin ducked under the stairs, pulling his legs tight against his chest. He could not see who was coming. “Collin’s missing.” He recognized Mark’s voice.

  “Begin a search. He won’t get far.”

  Footsteps thundered away, and then more yells and screams filled the corridor as more students were yanked from their beds and dragged into the basement. The clamor of struggle as tables crashed to the floor, lamps broke, and nails scratched along doorframes pelted Collin like rain. Tucked under the stairs, Collin pressed himself against the wall, praying not to be seen or heard.

  The Last Night of the World

  “Tonight’s the night,” Lucy said as she poured a cup of coffee. “Alec feels confident that Belle Isle is a great place to transform.”

  Jared sat at the kitchen table, reading the news on his laptop. “At least all of the werewolf hunters will be at the Fullerton Building,” Jared said with a grin.

  “Hmmm.” Lucy huffed.

  Alec stumbled in, stretching. “Coffee. Stat.”

  “You’ve got arms,” Jared replied, and Lucy giggled. “I’ve noticed,” Jared ventured, “that despite the added stress of this transformation, that you’re not as”—and he added the word gently—“moody as normal.”

  “Totally,” Alec chimed in as he measured sugar into his coffee.

  “I guess I feel...I don’t know. Maybe you’re right.” Lucy said. She sat and as soon as Alec was sitting. “Last night Mitch said something odd.”

  “Odd for Mitch?” Alec prodded.

  “For starters, he wasn’t talking about himself. But, seriously, he mentioned that I’m never around on a full moon, and he commented on us all having green eyes.”

  Coffee poured from Alec’s mouth. “Are you fucking serious?”

  “Do you think he’s one of them?” Jared asked.

  “He has brown eyes.”

  “You wore blue contacts at first,” Jared said.

  “Do they even make brown contacts? I mean, who would want to turn their eyes brown?” Alec noticed Haley walking into the room and added, “Not that I don’t dig brown eyes.”

  “They do make brown contacts. I’ve looked.” Lucy confirmed.

  “What are we talking about besides Alec’s narrow definition of beauty,” Haley shot, as she playfully smacked Alec on the back and helped herself to coffee.

  “Mitch. He noticed everyone’s green eyes.”

  “And...?

  “And he may not be what he seems,” Lucy said, her normal pre-transition agitation straining her voice.

  “Is he a threat? I mean, why help us?” Haley joined them at the table. “Maxwell’s still sleeping.”

  “No I’m not,” he called as he staggered in from the living room where he and Haley had slept. His hair spread out like turkey feathers around his head. “Is there more coffee?”

  “Save us some,” Nadia called cheerily as she and Helena walked appeared in the kitchen doorway.

  “We really have a full house now,” Alec said. “We need a bigger coffeepot. Did you sleep well?” he asked Nadia and Helena.

  Helena replied, “It was kind of Lucy to give us her bed.” Lucy had slept in the study.

  “So are we discussing tonight?” Nadia asked, handing Helena the last cup of coffee. “Can I make more?” She asked, pointing at the pot. Jared stood and offered to make it. Nadia took his seat as Maxwell offered Helena his.

  “Such a nice boy,” she said and patted his cheek.

  “Yes, we are,” Lucy addressed Nadia. She had not expected how much the added chaos of a full house would unnerve her. “We were talking about Mitch. He made some odd comments.”

  “Look, Helena and I can’t come to Belle Isle, right?” Haley butted in.

  “Right,” all the werewolves said.

  “Then, we’ll keep an eye on this Mitch. You said that he said he never sees you at the gym on the full moons. That implies that he’s there. And so, not a werewolf.”

  “So, you guys can drop us off before the park closes, then beat it out of there,” Alec instructed. “I think that sounds okay. They’ll be safe, at least.”

  “I don’t like the idea of my mom trailing somebody. She’s no detective.”

  “Nor am I an invalid. Nadia, please.”

  “And to be honest, I will not be able to sit here tonight,” Haley continued. “Not while we have no idea what’s happening to you.” She examined their faces, looking for argument, and then added, “Besides, what if we’re here, making us sitting ducks? What if that’s what Griffin wants?”

  “I hadn’t even thought of that?” Maxwell said.

  Haley patted his head. “My feet are cold. Will you fetch my slippers?”

  “Your slippers are in Chicago,” Maxwell grunted, unamused, while Haley giggled joyfully.

  * * * *

  Collin’s head lulled and popped up abruptly as he awoke. He couldn’t believe he had nodded off. His tired eyes groggily searched the small triangle of the hallway he could see from under the stairs. Training his ears for even the smallest sound, Collin inched from under the stairwell. He wasn’t sure how long he had slept. The night had worn on in screams and fights and chaos as more students were dragged to the basement. Now in the stillness, Collin hoped to return to the coal room behind the boiler.

  Popping his head out, Collin looked up the stairwell. It was clear. He inched out farther into the hallway. The empty corridor stretched in bands of light and shadow. Collin raced down the hall as silently as he could, slowing at a corner to peek around, then down the next stretch. The Boiler Room sign beckoned him from midway down the hallway. Outside the door, he paused to listen. He could hear only the hissing of the boiler.

  Tucked inside the coal room, with the door pulled shut, Collin finally wept as the horror and anguish of the night flowed out of him.

  * * * *

  The long, narrow road deep into the scraggly woods of Belle Isle grew eerier by the moment as the sun sank into the west. Haley braked. “This good?”

  Alec nodded. “The abandoned buildings are just through the woods.” Alec, Jared, Lucy, Maxwell, and Nadia climbed out and collected their gear for the night.

  Coming around the side of the car, Maxwell knocked on Haley’s window. Haley rolled down the window. “Yes?” She asked coyly.

  “You two be safe,” he said. He leaned through the window and kissed her cheek.

  “You have the flashlight?” Haley whispered in his ear.

  He nodded yes. “Take care of her,” he said to Helena.

  “And take care of my Nadia,” she replied.

  “You got it.”

  The car pulled away. The brakes lights flared red in Maxwell’s eyes as Haley braked for a pothole farther down the road. Maxwell turned to the others. “So, Alec and Lucy each get a room. And you, too, Jared, right, just in case?” Maxwell turned to Nadia. “That leaves you and me on guard duty.”

  “No sweat.”

  Following Alec through the woods, Jared assured, “No one should know we’re here. We just need to lie low tonight and regroup once the full moon passes.”

  The unseasonably warm night raised a mist off the water and ground. Their flashlights reflected back in the hazy air. Beyond the trees, a clearing opened onto the abandoned zoo. The silhouette of buildings cut through the mist. They crossed a small train track with a miniature abandoned train rusting on the rails. Mist snaked through the bars of opened, rusted cages, the doors dangling ajar. “There’s a solid cinder block building up here. There’s a room for each of us. Each with a metal door.”

  “Good scouting.” Jared tousled Alec’s hair.

  Alec led them into the buildings, past broken out windows, shattered bottles, leaves, and other debris. “This was the lion house, I think,” Alec explained. “What’s good is that the rooms were built to house large animal
s.” He flashed a smile. Deep inside the building, he stopped in an interior hall with three doors branching off. “These all lock, but I added locks on the outside of the doors for the padlocks we brought,” he said. “Each of these rooms was where zookeepers accessed the large cats. They lead directly into the cages on the outside of the building through exterior metal doors. So, if a werewolf gets through the outside door, he—or she—goes directly into a cage.”

  “The moon will rise soon,” Lucy warned. “We need to hurry.”

  “This is the fun part where we all get naked,” Alec tried to hide his bashfulness with humor.

  “I won’t peek,” Nadia promised.

  “I will,” Maxwell admitted with a smirk.

  Nadia huffed in disdain.

  “Let’s try to stay focused,” Jared said.

  “I will be,” Maxwell quipped. “Trust me.”

  Lucy stepped inside the small room. She looked around the grimy interior, not much larger than a large walk-in closet. Fallen chunks of plaster and dust coated the floor. A brown water stain marred the ceiling. As Alec had said, a small metal door rested in the outside wall. She undressed and handed her clothes out the door to Nadia. Nadia folded the clothes neatly and tucked them inside Lucy’s bag.

  “Hurry up, you two,” Maxwell called jovially. He waited in the hall between Jared and Alec’s facing doors. He rocked back and forth on his feet, stealing quick glances inside the rooms, one at a time. He blushed at a flash of abs or chest, a quick glimpse of buttock, and as they turned to hand him their clothes, the joyous full frontal. Alec closed his door slightly, and stood behind it, glowering at Maxwell, as he handed Maxwell his clothes. “What? I said I was going to peek.”

  Maxwell turned to take Jared’s clothes. Jared stood boldly with the door to the room fully open. He handed Maxwell the clothes and his glasses. “I’m not as shy as Alec.”

  Maxwell’s face burned red as he took the clothes and glasses. “I see that,” he stuttered.

  Jared chuckled robustly as Maxwell’s reaction reminded him slightly of how easily embarrassed Alec was.