I sit up in bed. This is ridiculous. He’s probably not even down there now that I’m gone and he doesn’t have to keep up the pretense.
But what if he is? What if my mother decided she wanted to keep the leadership role a little longer? What if the pack decides that, since he’s unfit to lead, he should eat poisonous mushrooms and rid them of the burden of his care?
I swing my legs off the bed and stand. My father is already in bed, too, though it’s only just past nine. After working all day, going to bed early feels natural. But now, I’m wide awake. Bright moonlight spills across my rumpled sheets. I slip my feet into a pair of tennis shoes and ease the screen out of the open window, a smile forming on my lips. For the first time since we’ve lived here, I’m doing something normal. Something I’d be doing back in Oklahoma. Sneaking out after bedtime to see a boy.
As soon as I’m outside, I realize this is not going to work. It would take hours to hike over the mountain and down into the valley of the wolves. Checking to make sure I’m alone and no cars are approaching on the road that goes by Dad’s house, I kick off my shoes, drop my pajama shorts, and peel off my long-sleeved top. I push everything into the body of my shirt, tie the bottom, and tie the arms loosely around my neck. Perfect.
I crouch against the wall as a car approaches and then passes. We don’t get visitors, but Dad’s not exactly hiding that we’re here. If the shifters decide to get together and haul him off to jail again, they know where to find us. So far, they’ve left us alone, which Dad says is normal for around here, where everyone minds their own business. Once a week, Dad goes out to play poker with a couple friends from childhood, but otherwise, we keep to ourselves.
When the car is gone, I think, feel, and reach for the tiger inside me. My body shivers in anticipation, and I know I’ve snagged her. I’ve been practicing this every day, with a few pointers from Dad, and I’m already faster at it than a wolf. As I embrace the pull of her, my chest swells with warmth and power. Adrenaline floods my bloodstream, and my muscles ripple and bunch, pain rushing over me in a dizzying, blinding wave. And then I’m shaking off the initial disorientation, padding out from the shadow of the house, my white coat glowing in the silvery moonlight.
33
It takes a few minutes to find the place where we left our clothes the last time. But after a bit of roaming the woods around the area, I catch a whiff of stale sweat. I weave through the trees and find Dad’s clothes, filthy and discarded, hanging from the branch where he left them. My jeans have fallen from where I hung them and are lying on the ground, half covered in leaves and bits of bark and dirt. My shirt remains where I hung it, tied to a branch.
I sniff at the tree where I left the necklace, excitement growing inside me. This could work. It worked for me. It worked for Dad. If I can get it to Harmon in time…
I glance up at the big white moon rising higher by the second. Where is the necklace? Suddenly, the fur along my back bristles. I am not alone.
My muscles bunch, and I turn slowly, lowering my belly towards the ground, getting ready to pounce. But only trees surround me. I search the woods with my tiger eyes, prick up my tiger ears, inhale the night air, searching for a scent, but there’s nothing there. Still, I can feel a presence.
I turn back to the small hollow tree and scrape at it with my claws. I’m scared to shift now, to be a vulnerable human when I’m still unsure. My tiger senses might not be as accurate as a wolf’s. In the month since I’ve had them, I haven’t practiced using them. I press my nose to the small opening, searching for the necklace.
A tremor works its way across my skin, and my fur bristles again. I reach into the little hole with a claw and snag the string of the necklace, tugging at it as something shifts under my other paw. I step back quickly, and the necklace string slips from my claw. Something is holding it in place. I step forward, peering into the little hollow. Tiny twigs and vines have twined around the necklace, plastering it to the wall of the hollow, with only the stone showing.
Another shiver goes through me. I can’t fit a paw into the hole, but I reach in with two claws, ripping and slicing at the little vines to break their hold on the necklace. Under my feet, the dirt shifts, stones grinding together. Something is moving. I strike at it with my paw. Leaves and dirt go flying, revealing a root slithering across the ground like a snake.
I swipe at the necklace again and miss. The root begins to wind itself around the small tree with the hollow carved out. As it climbs closer, then reaches out a tendril for the entrance to the hole, I swipe at it again. It falls away, then rears back like an angry snake, and dives forward, into the hole. Just as it wraps itself in the string, I reach in and snag it with my claw. With a quick yank, I jerk it free from its moorings. But the root winds around the other end of the string. The loose end swings free of the hollow, and the charm races down the string and drops through the air.
I lunge for it, catching it in my mouth just as the root whips across my eyes. Blinking in shock, I hold in the roar of pain, cradling the enchanted stone on my tongue. I turn to flee, but a vine swings down from a tree, curling around my hind leg. I swipe at it with my powerful claws, just managing to yank my foot free before a branch comes hurtling towards my shoulder. Ducking aside, I bound forwards. A branch whips across my chest, but I continue, dodging branches and tree trunks, vines and roots. A rock hurtles through the air and bounces off my hip.
In my human form, I’d already be dead. But now I race through the trees, weaving my way back to the road that leads into the wolf community. Just as I think I’m safe, a vine comes swooping across the path. I leap over it, only to land with my foot in a trap of roots. They tighten around my front paw even as I swipe at them with the other. I tear at the fibrous root with my claws, laying bare the moist inner layer. The living part of it, of some person. I rip through it with my teeth, and surge forwards.
The haunted trees come less often now, but every minute or so, a branch draping into my path snatches at my legs or tail. One of them snags on my bundle of clothes, and I leap forwards, barely noticing the tearing sound as the shirt rips. It bounces awkwardly on my back, barely hanging on. I dodge another rock, another vine. At long last, I come within sight of the clearing, and the attack ceases. But ahead, a fire glows through the trees, and my chest tightens. Am I too late?
On alert, I creep forwards, remembering what Harmon said. I’m a tiger, but I’m no match for a whole pack of wolves. And I’ve been warned not to come back. But when I come within sight of the fire, it lies abandoned. Only embers glow in the pit, and for a moment, I think I missed the transition.
But surely it didn’t take me half the night to run a few miles as a tiger.
And then I remember. Like last time, they’ll all be gathered outside Harmon’s house, waiting to see if they have a leader. Tonight, especially, it will be crucially important. It’s his last chance before he loses the ability to transition forever.
Picking up my pace, I streak along the path, through the clearing, through the short stretch of trees, and onto the path that leads past all the little log houses. At the end of the dirt track, the big community center which doubles as the Alpha’s house stands watch over the others. I slow and raise my head, trying to determine which unfamiliar scent might signify wolves rather than humans. But I don’t have to wonder for long. A lonesome howl from ahead gives me all the clues I need.
They’ve already transitioned. I don’t know what that means, if it’s too late to help Harmon or not. I don’t know all the powers of the stone. But if it can make a person turn human and stay that way, maybe there’s still a chance. If only I can get past the pack of angry, mourning wolves in one piece.
They’ve congregated on the grass behind the house again, between it and the rose jungle. Unfortunately, that is also the side of the house with the flight of stairs leading down to the basement. Harmon demolished the ladder, so I can’t use that. Still, there is a door inside the house that leads to the basement, so I creep
that way.
As I approach, I’m hit with a round of spasms that I know all too well. My body jerks painfully one way and the other. My joints pull and ache, threatening to tear my shoulders and hips from their sockets.
The tiger eye.
I can’t drop it, though. I take another step, and a twig snaps under my foot. Before I can catch myself, I stumble forward and fall to my knees. If I’m not making enough noise to alert the wolves now, I will be by the time I reach Harmon’s house. But if I give up my one advantage, my strength and power, there’s no way I can fight off even one wolf. My best bet is to head for the front door, and by the time the wolves realize I’m here, I might be close enough to fend off the first few. I’ll barrel through the front door and leap down into the basement.
Obviously, that plan is not going to work if I’m human. The tiger eye falls from my mouth as another convulsive burst of energy shoots through my muscles. I have to fight not to cry out in pain, which would surely alert the wolves. They may be used to the night sounds of the forest like snapping twigs, wind, and insect noises. But they will notice the foreign sound of a tiger crying in pain.
Before a rogue spirit can snap up the stone, I place my paw on it. I’m just going to have to go in as myself. Within seconds, I’m back in my human body, shivering with relief. Now that I know shifting ends the pain, it’s much harder to hold back when one of the fits begins. I pick up the stone, only then realizing that somewhere during my escape, the bundle of clothes gave up its hold on me.
Oh, well. No one here pays nudity any mind, and it will be easier to shift. If I have to throw the stone away and shift to save my life, I will.
Now in my human form, I duck low and run hunched over towards the house. The smell of a human can’t be as suspicious to them as that of a tiger, anyway. And they might be too preoccupied to notice one more human.
I stop when I reach the end of the road that circles through the community. The houses are all off this main road, with Harmon’s house at the end of the circle. At the other end of the house, I catch a glimpse of a white wolf walking back and forth, patrolling.
Elidi.
I freeze, pressing my back to the tree closest to the house. Between the big oak tree and the wooden porch, the narrow, rocky road now seems impossibly wide.
I hold my breath, praying for a miracle. Maybe she didn’t see me. But then she stops, lifts her nose, and scents the air.
Please don’t smell me, please don’t smell me…
Her head swings my way, and adrenaline pumps through me. For a long moment, her black eyes fix on mine. And then, she lifts her head and howls. The mournful wail is deafening. It echoes through my blood, tugging at something deep within my chest, my bones, my DNA.
Maybe there is a bit of wolf in me after all.
When my sister turns back to pace the other way, I dart across the drive and up the steps. At any moment, they’ll be on me. She alerted them. I yank open the screen door and reach for the doorknob, sure that it will be locked. But no one around here locks their doors. I twist the knob and slip inside, my hands shaking as I ease the screen door closed. I wince at the squeak of the hinge and the soft click as it latches. Then I close the inside door and lock it. If they want to get in, they’ll have to transition to human first.
I turn and grope my way through the unfamiliar house towards the door that for months, was my only hope for escape. The door through which my food was delivered, and through which I was thrown when I tried to escape. That day, Harmon came up the ladder after me. If he hadn’t broken his arm, would he have been strong enough to heal in time? Is my one ill-planned dash for freedom going to cost him a lifetime of leadership, the fulfillment his dream and his fate?
“Psst.”
The voice comes out of the dark, and I freeze, my arms outstretched, searching for the door to the basement. Around me, the blackness deepens, suddenly full of terrible possibilities.
A tiny flare of green light bursts into life, no bigger than the flame of a single matchstick. In its light, I can just make out a beautiful woman with long dark hair, somewhere in her twenties, sitting halfway across the room on a barstool at a small, round table. Though she looks vaguely familiar, my eyes are drawn to the ball of green fire in her hand, and I know she’s no wolf. For a second, I try to place her, thinking she must be another person from my old life who was hiding some magical ability.
“What are you doing here?” she hisses.
“I’m here to see Harmon,” I hiss back. “Who are you?”
“I’m just waiting for him to come around,” she says. “Once he realizes what he’ll have to give up if he won’t marry my daughter, he’ll agree to it.”
“Mrs. Nguyen?” I ask, taking an involuntary step back.
“Don’t look so shocked,” she says. “I told you that old bag wasn’t my real body. I’m just Yvonne when I’m not borrowing Mrs. Nguyen’s body.”
That’s not why I shrank back, but I’m not about to tell her that I know she’s the one who trapped my father here. If she wanted me to know that, she would have told me herself. Dad may not hold that against her, but I do.
“Why do you want Harmon to marry your daughter so bad?” I ask. “Don’t you want your daughter to marry someone who loves her and actually wants to be with her?”
“Oh, darling, that was cute when you were thirteen,” she says with a smug smile. “Surely you’re not that naïve anymore.”
“But why? What do you stand to gain from it?”
“Ah, that’s better,” she says, shaking one finger at me and smirking. “That’s the question you must always ask. Who benefits? And how?”
“If not for love, why would you want Harmon for your daughter? You’ve seen him. You called him a monster, and he hasn’t shifted back since then. He’s not going to be Alpha if he can’t transition. He won’t live in this big fancy house. He’s not even handsome anymore.”
“And yet, you’re here,” she says, tilting her head and giving me a calculating look. “Why?”
“I asked you first.” I raise my chin, trying to ignore the fact that I’m naked and, for the moment, defenseless. It’s hard not to feel vulnerable when I’m so completely exposed.
“Fair enough,” she says. “I cast a little spell on your friend, kept him ugly all this time. So I’m here bargaining with him. When he agrees to marry my daughter, I’ll remove the spell, and he can transition back. If he doesn’t do it by morning…” She grins triumphantly. “Tick tock, deal’s off.”
I swallow hard, squeezing my fist closed around the stone. It suddenly feels hot in my hand. She’ll notice it at any moment. “So if he marries your daughter, you’ll let him transition back. But if he refuses, he’ll be stuck like that forever, so you have no use for him?”
She shakes a finger at me again. “Now you’re catching on.”
“He’ll never agree.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure,” she says. “That’s a lot to lose. Beauty, status, a wife. You know how wolves feel about their mates. If he accepts her, he’ll have everything. If he refuses, he has nothing.”
“He has me,” I say quietly. “That’s why I’m here.”
She laughs, sounding delighted. “You are naïve,” she says. “It won’t last. You’ll see. You’re enamored with the image of his tragic fall, and you think you’ll rush in to rescue him. But you can’t save him. He’ll grow tired of hiding in your basement, but you can’t take a monster out in public. You’ll despise him for holding you back, and he’ll despise you for your embarrassment at being seen with him. Do the kind thing, Stella, and tell him to marry my daughter.”
“You’re wrong,” I say, stepping towards the basement door. “I love him. I don’t care what he looks like.”
“Love never saved anyone,” she sneers.
“Tell me that tomorrow.” I reach the door, slide my fingers down until I find the knob, and twist. This one is locked. That’s when I realize the wolves haven’t gone crazy outside, fightin
g to be the first to get in and tear me to shreds. Maybe that howl didn’t mean what I thought it meant. Just as I’m about to give up, my palm presses against the lock. Of course it locks from this side. I twist the tiny mechanism in the center of the knob and turn.
“Need a light?” Yvonne asks from her spot halfway across the room.
“I got it.”
“Hm, I don’t see one,” she says. “Unless you’ve invented invisible light. Or wait, if you’re a cat, you can see in the dark, right? But that only works when you’re in animal form.” As she speaks, she comes closer. Suddenly, her little light blinks on like a tiny firefly. She peers past me, down into the blackness of the basement. Faint moonlight glimmers from the far window.
“Why are you helping me?” I ask. “I thought you wanted your daughter to marry Harmon.”
“She will,” Yvonne says. “Harmon may be ugly, but he’s a smart boy. He knows it’s not really a choice.”
I’m tired of stalling, so I pop the enchanted stone in my mouth, preparing to shift.
“What was that?” Yvonne asks, her eyes narrowing.
Before I can answer, she shoves me hard, and I plummet into the basement below.
34
I land in a heap, my head spinning. For a second, I don’t know what happened. The door slams above, and Yvonne’s gloating laughter echoes from above. I try to stand, but it takes me several tries to push onto my hands and knees. Except, I don’t have hands or knees. I have paws.
My tiger took over by instinct, saved me from the fall. When I stand, I feel suddenly indestructible. I just fell ten feet onto a packed dirt floor, and I’m fine. More than that, I shifted in two seconds flat. Excitement roars through me, and I open my mouth to roar. But then I think of Yvonne up there cackling, thinking she got me. I’ll just let her keep right on thinking that.
Beastly Beauty: A Fairy Tale Retelling (Girl Among Wolves Book 2) Page 20
