by TJ Klune
“Is it always this empty?” Kelly asked me, looking at the buildings. Others were uneasily peering in through the windows. “It’s like this place has been abandoned.”
I shook my head. “There’s normally people here already. These businesses should be getting ready to open. It’s mostly for the people in the compound. Something’s off.”
“Understatement,” Chris said. He looked spooked. His nostrils flared as if he were trying to chase a scent. I had done the same, but there was nothing in the literal sense. It was like an absence of smells. “Do you think they know we’re—”
Someone laughed. It was high and sweet and caused my stomach to clench.
We spun around.
There, standing in the middle of the empty two-lane road, was a child.
He was dressed in shorts and a T-shirt with a graphic of a cartoon on it. His feet were bare and dirty. But the way he held himself made a chill run down my spine.
His head was cocked, his hair falling over his forehead. He held his arms down at his sides, his fingers flexed. Claws grew slowly and shrank back. Grew and shrank. Grew and shrank. He twitched like a low current of electricity was running through him.
And his eyes were violet.
“What the fuck?” Rico whispered.
I pushed through the crowd. Kelly tried to pull me back, but I shook him off. I stepped off the sidewalk into the street, crossing behind Ox’s truck, losing sight of the boy briefly before seeing him again.
“Tony,” I breathed.
He smiled around a mouthful of sharp little needles.
The smile faded as I said his name again and stepped toward him. “Hey, cub. It’s me. Robbie.”
“I don’t like this,” one of the wolves said.
I took another step toward the boy. He didn’t move, never looking away from me.
“I’ve come back,” I said. “I missed you. Did you miss me?”
Tony growled in warning.
I stopped, spreading my hands wide to show him I wasn’t going to hurt him. “It’s all right, cub. I’m here now. You’re safe.”
The violet in his eyes faded slightly. “Robbie?” he whispered. He sounded lost and unsure, and it made my heart sore.
I nodded. “Yeah, cub. It’s me. What happened?”
A tear slid from his eye onto his cheek. “I had a bad dream.”
I took another step. “You did? About what?”
“Monsters,” he whispered. “Monsters who want to eat me.”
“You’re awake now. And if there are monsters here, I won’t let them hurt you.”
“You won’t?”
I shook my head. “Never.”
“You promise?”
“Yeah, Tony. I promise.” I was almost to him. One more step and I could reach out and touch him. I still couldn’t smell him. I couldn’t smell anything other than the sour road sweat of the group of people I’d come with.
He looked up at me with wide, wet eyes. “You left.”
“I know.”
“You left,” he repeated, his voice taking on a strange lilt. It was almost like a song. “You left. You left. You left. You left. You. Left. You. Left. You—”
He tilted his head back and screamed.
I rushed forward even as Ox shouted for me to stop.
I scooped Tony up in my arms. He didn’t struggle, only continued to scream. It tore from his throat, and I didn’t know how someone so small could make such a terrible sound. His claws dug into me, and I grunted as they pierced my skin, blood welling, the sharp coppery tang shocking in the void. He stopped screaming immediately, sitting back in my arms, wrapping his legs around my waist. He stared down at my arms, where blood was spilling.
He grunted.
Ox said, “Robbie, put him down. Now.”
Tony bent over, almost in half, and I felt the wet slide of his tongue against my skin, lapping up the blood from the wounds that had already healed. He grunted and snorted as he sucked it down his throat, and I let out a cry of revulsion. I pulled my arms away, meaning to drop him, but he tightened his legs around me and looked up, eyes glowing, a bright smear of blood on his lips. His tongue flicked out, chasing it, coated red. He grunted again before he inhaled deeply, fangs snapping together, jaw clicking.
Kelly was behind me, shouting at Tony to let me go, to get the fuck off me. Tony reached up, digging his claws into my shoulder, glaring at Kelly and hissing.
Kelly took a stumbling step back. “What the fuck is wrong with him?”
“He’s feral,” Aileen said. “Oh my god, he’s feral—”
“Holy shit,” one of the wolves breathed. “Look.”
I turned, still trying to hold Tony back, following the wolf’s shaking hand as he pointed above us.
There, standing on top of the buildings, were children.
Many, many children.
The wolves and witches tried to scatter as one vaulted over the edge of the movie theater, claws extending from her hands and feet. She landed on a witch, the man who’d helped Aileen, Patrice, and Gordo shore up my mind. He screamed when she dug her claws into the flesh of his face. Rico pulled out his gun, but before he could raise it, magic began to gather around the witch. He screamed as the girl sliced through his face again and again, spinning around. There was a sharp crack as a flash of light burst from his hand. It struck Ox’s truck on the passenger side, causing the frame to crumple, the metal shrieking as the truck flipped over with a jarring crash, the windows blowing out, shards of glass flying out and refracting the morning sunlight.
The witch fell, but the little girl never stopped. Her hands rose and fell, rose and fell, feet kicking into the soft flesh of his stomach. She snapped her head up, her face dripping with blood as she snarled at two wolves who were rushing toward her.
The other children followed, jumping off the buildings, raining down around us with claws and fangs, their eyes all violet.
I jumped away from the sidewalk, Tony still holding on to me. Wolves around me shifted, clothing tearing as muscle and bone tore and broke. The timber wolf knocked Carter out of the way before a child could land on his back. The wolf yelped as the boy, who couldn’t have been more than six or seven, lowered his head, burying his teeth into Gavin’s neck. He bent forward, trying to knock the kid off him. I recognized the child. His name was Ben. His mother was a sweet and quiet Beta who lived in the compound. Ben fell off the wolf, landing on his back on the ground, blinking up toward the sky, body twitching.
Ox’s eyes blazed in shades of violet and red, and he roared, the sound shaking the ground beneath our feet. The Omegas with us whimpered.
The children did not.
They didn’t stop.
“Do I shoot them?” Rico shrieked. “Oh my god, do I shoot them?”
“They’re fucking kids,” Jessie snapped at him. She ducked, her crowbar trailing along the ground as another boy sailed over her, landed roughly on the ground, and rolled along the pavement. The boy was up and moving even before he came to a stop, bits of gravel stuck into his arms as he rushed Jessie again.
A great black wolf landed in front of her, eyes a mix of red and violet. He roared at the boy so loudly that one of the windows in the movie theater shook and cracked. The boy skidded on the road, feet tearing and leaving bloody streaks behind him. He jerked back, mouth hung open.
Aileen stepped forward, reaching into a pouch that hung on her hip. She pulled out a bluish powder and muttered into it. It flared like gunpowder, and she threw it at the boy, sparks dropping onto the ground with a hiss. The boy screamed as the powder struck him in the face, and he bent over, trying to wipe it away, tears streaming down his cheeks.
I shoved Tony off me and he landed on the road, my blood still dripping from his mouth. He glared up at me, feral and pissed off. He came for me again, loping on his hands and feet, but jerked back when a sharp crack of gunfire exploded around us and a divot appeared in the pavement in front of him.
“Don’t make me shoot you,
” Kelly said, finger tightening on the trigger again. “Please.”
Tony growled at him, muscles coiling in his legs as he prepared to jump, but he stiffened before I could step between him and Kelly. His back arched like he was having a seizure, the cords on his neck sticking out.
It was happening to all of the children. Every single one of them stood as Tony did, like they were being electrocuted. The wolves growled as we regrouped, unsure of what the hell was happening. I saw the witch who’d been hit first lying on the sidewalk, eyes open and unseeing. His chest didn’t rise.
“What’s happening to them?” Rico whispered.
“I don’t know,” Gordo said, panting. There was blood on his face, but I couldn’t see where it’d come from. I didn’t think it was his. “It’s like they’re—look out!”
But his warning was for nothing.
The children moved as one, but they didn’t come for us. They took off across the road, heading east toward a line of trees that led to the top end of the Aroostook National Wildlife Refuge. If they were returning to the compound, they’d cut north once they hit the trees. They didn’t stop once they disappeared into the forest.
“Jesus Christ,” Rico said, sounding breathless. “What the fuck was that?”
Ox’s face was twisted as he shifted back. “They…they didn’t hear me. They—”
“Livingstone’s stronger,” Aileen said, crouching down next to the dead witch. “His magic is deeper. He knows we’re here.” She shook her head as she reached up and closed the witch’s eyes. Elizabeth paced around them, growling low in her throat. Carter was licking at the blood on the timber wolf’s back. Aileen stood slowly, hands curled into fists. “Alphas, if we’re going to do this, we have to do it now.”
Joe tilted his head back and howled. Ox shifted to a great black wolf once more, joining in with his mate. The other wolves sang with them.
Kelly grinned at me, crazed and beautiful. He said, “Shift. Lead us.”
“You stay with me. You stay by my side.”
“Always.”
He kissed me then, and I tasted blood.
I called on my wolf.
My skin rippled.
I was angry.
So fucking angry.
My clothing shredded and I—
breathe
just breathe
ox
alpha
kelly
mate
i am wolf
i am pack
i am bennett
sing
sing this song of war
I was above myself, like I was floating and attached by a tether, my wolf holding on to me tightly. I led the way through the reserve, ignoring the familiar sights and scents of the refuge. The others followed closely behind, the humans and witches running at our sides. Kelly was there, always there, the scents of grass and lake water and sunshine filling my lungs with every breath. I was stronger because of his presence, his need to hunt combining with my own.
There was a twist of green shooting through me, the sweet power of relief as my Alphas followed me, trusting me to lead the way. I could hear the faint voice of Ox in my head, louder than it’d ever been, saying go go go PackBrotherLoveFriend show me show me.
The trees should have thinned as we got closer to the compound. The trees should have fallen away. Instead the forest grew thicker, the brambles and underbrush overgrown and wild like they hadn’t been just a few months before. I was going to ignore it, hell-bent on getting to the compound, but I was shocked out of my shift when a recognizable scent filled my nose.
Kelly nearly tripped over me but managed to stay upright. “What are you doing?”
I couldn’t answer.
The other wolves stopped. Ox tilted his head, asking a question without making a sound.
I ignored him.
I took a step toward a tree I didn’t recognize. It looked like it was rotting, its trunk black and leaking sap like blood.
Some of the other wolves shifted behind me, demanding to know why we’d stopped, what the hell I thought I was doing.
I pressed my hand against the tree trunk, my palm immediately coated with a viscous fluid. I recoiled as the trunk seemed to breathe, the wood expanding and contracting, the bark split.
“What is this?” I whispered. I inhaled again, and I swore it smelled like Sonari, the teacher from the compound. The one who’d once tried to court me with the carcass of a bear.
Patrice said, “Robbie, don’t,” but I didn’t listen.
I tore at the tree, digging into the bark. It peeled away like flesh and muscle. Each piece I pulled off snapped wetly. Sap leaked in thick streams. I was about to dig further when the stream of sap parted and a finger stuck out from the tree.
“No,” Aileen whispered.
I stared as the finger twitched as if beckoning me. I heard Jessie say there were others, that all of these trees looked like they were breathing, but I couldn’t look away. I reached up above the finger and broke off another large section of tree bark. The tree bled, and through its lifeblood, a face appeared, the mouth open and closing soundlessly, lips coated in sap, eyes blinking.
Sonari.
She was in the tree.
I cried out as I stumbled backward. Kelly caught me around my bare waist, saying, “Robbie, Robbie, Robbie, listen to me, listen to me,” but all I could see was Sonari, her finger jerking, her mouth opening and closing over and over and over.
Gordo pushed by us, tattoos flaring brightly. Mark was there too, still a wolf, pressed against his side. The raven on Gordo’s arm looked like it was screaming, the roses closing into tight red buds, vines and thorns twisting.
“Is she alive?” Jessie asked, voice shaking. “Are they all alive?”
I looked around at the sound of her voice. There were dozens of similar trees, their branches leafless and dark, their trunks groaning. The sound reminded me of when Kelly was sick, that wet thickness in his chest. The trees stretched out ahead of us toward the compound, though I couldn’t see the walls, given how many there were.
“I think so,” Gordo said. He sounded grim. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Patrice stepped forward, palms together in front of his chest. He turned them until his fingers pointed in opposite directions toward his elbows. He dragged his hands apart, a brief moment where his fingertips touched before they parted. There was a beat of nothing, and then his skin seemed to glow preternaturally, the spots of rust that covered his face standing out in sharp relief.
The trees moaned, Sonari’s most of all. Their branches shook, sounding like the rattling of bleach-white bone. Sonari’s tongue stuck out from her mouth, sap dripping off the tip. Patrice caught it before it hit the ground and rubbed it between his fingers. He brought it to his face and inhaled deeply.
“Dere alive,” he said quietly as he wiped his fingers on his jeans. “He’s contained dem. Trapped dem here.”
“Can you help them?” Jessie asked. Chris and Tanner, still shifted, pressed against her sides.
Patrice shook his head. “Not now. Take more time den we have, if I could even do it at all. Dis is deep magic. Deeper den I ever seen. Dis is black. All black. If we remove dem, we might kill dem.”
Gordo looked like he was going to touch Sonari’s face, but Mark took his shirt in his jaws, pulling him back. Gordo barely put up a fight, still looking at Sonari. “He did this,” Gordo whispered. “He did this.”
Ox went to him as a human, stepping carefully in front of him. “Gordo.”
“Ox,” Gordo said in a fractured voice.
Ox nodded. “I know. And we’ll fix it. All of it. But we have to finish this first. Focus. I need all of you. Can you do that?”
For a moment I thought Gordo was in shock, but he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. When he opened them again, they were clear. “Yeah. I can do that.”
“Good,” Ox said. He looked at me. “You with me?”
I tore my gaze away from Sonari
, whose tongue still hung from her open mouth, dripping sap. “Yes.”
“Are we almost there?”
“Yes.”
“Show us.”
I pushed through the trees, Ox’s voice in my head a low and constant thrum.
I knew them, these trees. Those encased inside. I could feel them. There were no children, though that knowledge didn’t bring any relief. It only meant they were inside the compound.
The air was thick and heavy. It rested on my chest, making it harder to breathe. I wanted to tear into the trees, to rip apart the bark and pull them out, but I knew that Livingstone would expect that. He wanted that. The wolves’ blood would be on our hands.
It took longer than it should have to reach the compound, the trees getting thicker the closer we got. We had to push aside branches, and every time we touched the wood, there was a low, dark pulse from inside the tree, a moan, a quiet scream. They were aware.
I was devastated.
Kelly knew. He whispered, “We’ll take care of them. I promise.”
I wished I could believe him.
We reached the wall at the south end of the compound. The others gathered behind Ox, Joe, and me. Ox looked up, brow furrowed. “I know you told us about this, Robbie, but it’s bigger than I thought it would be. Have these always been here?”
Elizabeth shifted, pulling herself to her full height. She stepped up between Ox and Joe, pressing a hand against the wall. “No. Thomas, he… always believed that this place should be open and free to anyone and everyone so long as they came in peace. He learned that from his father. This isn’t like it was before. This is Michelle. Yet another thing she’s taken from the wolves.”
“Maybe it was Livingstone,” I said before I could stop myself. “Maybe she didn’t have any other choice. Maybe she—” I closed my mouth, almost biting my tongue.
“We can’t take that chance,” Joe said quietly. “If she’s here, if she’s with him, then she has to be dealt with. We don’t have a choice. You heard what he said. That she was the one who let him out.”
