“Spence said most male Seers don’t live past twenty. Is that because they all have macabre powers?”
Instead of getting out of the car, Miriam turned to me. “Why are you one of only a handful of female Shifters in the world?”
“Because the Alpha Pack kills all the little girl Shifters so there isn’t a threat to the Alpha Female’s position.”
“So, why do you think male Seers don’t have a long life span?”
Good grief. No one told me there would be an oral exam. “Can male Seers challenge the Alpha Female?”
“No, think about it. What does the Alpha Pack claim to value above all else?”
Crap. I really hate not knowing all the answers. “Shifter unity?”
“Tradition.” Miriam leaned in. “They rule the Shifter and Seer world with the oppression of tradition.”
“Like the whole turning people who don’t go through with a mating ceremony into exiles.”
“Exactly.”
“So… What does that have to do with male Seers?”
“Our entire political structure is based on male Shifters and female Seers. When evolution introduces female Shifters and male Seers in the mix, things start getting confused. The traditional way of picking our Alphas becomes invalid, and when it does, a new way will have to be adopted.”
I started to understand. “A way that will take power away from those who currently hold it.”
"I knew you were bright."
“But I still don’t get it. How do they kill off the male Seers?”
“Most of them they don’t kill. Instead, they convince them they’re crazy. Those whose Sight can’t be refuted usually find themselves involved in some horrible accident before they can get old enough to start causing too much of a ruckus.”
In my head I saw Nicole as a human child standing on a street corner, watching a car heading straight towards her.
“This can’t go on,” I said despite the nausea I was fighting. “This can’t keep happening.”
Miriam cupped my cheek in one hand. “Then make it stop.”
Chapter 16
Miriam is a talker. The woman used more words in a single day than Liam does in a year. During the week we stayed in Fargo I learned about different Shifters and Seers involved in the whole rebellion, including various tidbits about their personal lives, especially the parts they probably didn’t want anyone else knowing. She talked about what Liam and Alex were like when they came to live with her after their parents died. She laughed at Alex’s non-stop antics and worried at Liam’s unbreakable seriousness. I even endured countless stories about her family, including her favorite nephew, Diaz, which explains how Liam knew a gang leader in Texas. However, despite Miriam’s love of gossip, I got the impression she thought her nephew was a nice, law-abiding boy.
Hank turned out to be Fargo’s most well-respected lawyer, which meant he was either in his downtown office or court most days, but he always made it a point to be home for dinner. He would then spend the evening watching Liam and me spar, offering up some pointers for the both of us, or he would huddle in his home office, talking with Liam about Shifter politics and making conference calls to other Shifters and Seers around the world.
Hank and Miriam’s house felt like a home. We didn’t know each other well enough for it to be a home filled with love, but feelings of respect, concern, and safety abounded. Even Liam seemed to relax during our stay.
But for me, and I would wager Liam too, there was a sadness clinging to every corner of the house like a cobweb of grief and loss. Every time Miriam shared an Alex story, I could see the ghost of him there. I could only imagine how much worse it was for Liam, who had seen Alex lounge on the sofa in the family room and eat at the counter in the kitchen. By the time we left I couldn’t decide whether I was grateful to run away from the reminders of the dead, or heartbroken to be leaving the only comfort and safety I had known in a long time.
Liam looked on the verge of tears when he hugged Miriam goodbye. Hank drove us out to a Wal-Mart on the outskirts of town and helped us load our bags into a pickup which had seen many better days. There was a tarp over the back, and I could just make out the shape of something that had to be a small boat underneath.
“Thank you,” Liam said, shaking the older man’s hand in a stiff and formal manner. “I owe you one.”
Hank used the hand Liam was shaking to pull him into a hug. “You owe me nothing. I’ve told you time and again, I will always be here for you. Always.” Liam merely nodded, his lips pressed together tightly. Then we got in the truck and watched Hank drive away.
And then we continued to sit there.
After three full minutes (I know because I clocked it), I turned to Liam. “Are we waiting for someone?”
He shook his head.
“So, we’re… what? On a schedule? A sit here for a really long time schedule?”
Another shake of the head.
“Liam, seriously. Why are we sitting here?”
All of his air left his lungs in a rush as his chin hit his chest. “I don’t…” He mumbled the rest of the sentence so quietly even with my super-hearing I couldn’t discern a word.
“Care to try that again? This time try using your tongue, lips, and vocal chords.”
His head snapped up and the oh-so-familiar Liam glare hit me full-on. “I said, ‘I don’t know how to drive a stick shift.’ Happy?”
I probably shouldn’t have laughed, and I certainly shouldn’t have done so until tears streamed down my cheeks, but I couldn’t help myself.
“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself,” he groused once I calmed into giggles.
“What were you going to do? Just sit here until it magically turned into an automatic?” I knew he wouldn’t answer, so I went ahead and got out of the car and walked around to the driver’s seat. “Scoot,” I said, opening the door.
“What?”
“Scoot.” I made a shooing motion with my hand to illustrate the point. “Slide over to the passenger’s seat.”
Liam eyed me suspiciously, which just made me smile bigger. This was so much fun.
“I would try to tell you how to do it yourself, but I suck as a teacher. So, scoot over and let me drive.”
“You know how to drive a stick shift?” He was still suspicious, but he did move on over.
I hoisted myself into the driver’s seat and readjusted it so I could actually reach the gas and clutch. Stupid boy with his stupid ridiculously long legs. “Of course. I was raised in Kentucky, remember?”
“That merely necessitates that you know the basic rules of basketball and have an affinity for open-faced sandwiches.”
“And know how to drive farm equipment." The truck started with a grumble. “I was driving a tractor when I was seven.”
I didn’t mention how I ran over my father’s foot the first time, or how I took out an entire fence row on my second attempt. Things like that a girl should keep to herself.
“But your family doesn’t live on a farm. You don’t even have a garden, unless you count the two tomato plants your mom planted too late in the season and then forgot to water.”
I started to ask him exactly how he knew about that, but then I remembered how he had been my personal secret bodyguard over the summer. It was one of those things I knew fundamentally, but when it came to realizing the actualities of it, I was ignorant. Like, I knew Liam had hung around our house in his wolf form, but I hadn’t thought about how he would have seen my mom’s sad attempt at going organic.
“My mom’s parents have a big farm out in Livingston County,” I said, referring to the mother who raised me instead of the one who died in child birth. “Jase and I spent a week with them every summer when we were little. I had to feed the pigs, gather eggs from the chickens, and work in the garden. I was quite the little country bumpkin.” The truck jerked to a stop at the red light. “Which way? Or does the driver get to choose our adventure?”
“I thought you said you kne
w how to drive a stick.” Liam braced one hand on the dashboard while the other clung desperately to the oh-crap handle.
“I do. There’s an adjustment period.”
“Can we get to the part where you’re not trying to decapitate me with the seatbelt soon?”
“I can’t promise anything,” I said, jerking the gear shift back into first.
He led me through town and onto the highway, which went straight north. Since we were in Fargo, North Dakota, there was only one thing to the north.
“Liam, are you taking me to Canada?”
“You’re the one driving, so I think that means you’re taking me to Canada.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“We’re going to sneak into a foreign country?”
“We’re going to use the world’s longest undefended border to our advantage.” I shot him a panicked look. “Hey, it worked just fine for Pamela Anderson.”
“We don’t have passports. Or legitimate driver’s licenses.” We were going to get arrested. And what was in the back of the truck? Yes, a boat, but what else? Was there a dead body under the boat? Or an arsenal of weapons? Would I go to jail for murder or treason or terrorism?
“Breathe.” Liam’s voice interrupted my visions of handcuffs and mug shots. “I’ve got it covered.”
“And by ‘I’ve got it covered’ you mean…?”
“IDs. Passports. The works.”
I’m not sure exactly what “the works” entailed, but it turned out we didn’t really need them. At the border, Dudley Do-Right simply glanced at our IDs and asked us what we would be doing while in Canada. I wanted to answer, “Ingest as much maple syrup as humanly possible,” but Liam, whose new ID sported the name Sam Newman, told him we were camping before I got the chance.
I was only mildly surprised to discover Canada looks just like North Dakota. Even the road signs looked the same, except for the whole kilometers thing. I entertained myself by converting everything into miles while Liam channel surfed the radio, only stopping for the occasional Guns n Roses or weather report.
Just outside of Winnipeg I stopped at a Mac’s Convenient store. Liam filled a bag with trail mix and bottled water while I marveled at the way their Reese’s came in packages of three instead of two. An hour later, Liam directed me off the main road and into the wilderness, which is saying something when you’re talking about Canada.
We were only about 482 kilometers (or 300 miles) north of Fargo, but the air was much more frigid and a good inch of snow covered the ground. Liam, who was only wearing a lumberjack-worthy flannel, didn’t seem to notice as he began untying the tarp from the bed of the truck.
“Are all Shifters impervious to the cold, or are you just so badass the cold avoids you out of fear of being Chuck Norrised?” I asked, grabbing the tie-down closest to me.
Liam pulled back half the tarp to reveal part of a canoe and a sled of some sort. “All Shifters are more tolerant of colder temperatures because of our metabolism, but gray wolves are native to northern climates. We tend to carry some of our animal’s preferences for things like that in our human form.” Without taking off the rest of the tarp, he started sliding the canoe out. “Like you. You’re not cold, are you?”
“One, I can’t believe you completely ignored my awesome Chuck Norris reference, and two, I’m actually a little chilly, so nah!” I said, sticking my tongue out.
“I was kind enough to not point out that ‘Chuck Norris’ isn’t a verb and shouldn’t be used as one.” The act of dragging the canoe to the side of the truck closest to the water placed him just a few feet from me. He closed the distance by reaching out and grabbing the arm of the jacket I was wearing. “You’re standing around in temperatures hovering right around zero degrees Celsius in nothing more than some jeans, a t-shirt, and a thin cotton jacket without shivering or turning blue. You’re handling the cold just fine, Snowflake.” And then he stuck out his tongue and repeated my “Nah!”
I giggled and knew I wasn’t imagining the wolf-like cadence to the sound.
It didn’t take long to load the canoe with the sled and our few bags. I stayed at the water’s edge while Liam went to dispose of the truck, which I assumed meant just leaving it hidden somewhere, but revised my theory when I saw flames lick up towards the afternoon sky. Since there seemed to be more water than land in this part of Canada, I decided to only be mildly concerned he was going to burn down the entire country.
Jase, Talley and I got carted off to 4-H camp the summer we were ten, so I had a basic understanding of canoeing, but Liam was clearly the expert. He easily fell back into his role of Always in Charge Man, giving me an obnoxious amount of instruction as we made our way through the waters.
“This is beautiful,” I said once we finally settled on a rhythm. “It looks so different from home.”
A look of contentment settled onto Liam’s features, and I realized this was home for him. After years of being away, roaming all over the United States, he finally returned to the familiar land of his childhood.
“It’s really cool in the summer, but there are always tourists around then. It’s better now. I like the quiet.”
Later, as the sun began to slink towards the earth, I decided I wasn’t quite so sold on the whole silence thing. Not that there weren’t any noises - the water lapped at the boat and our paddles, birds screeched in the sky, and animals went about their normal, everyday lives in the woods - but it was nothing like the world I knew. No car engines. No music or TV or other background noise. Since I became a Shifter I had gotten used to all the various sounds and smells associated with humans, from the shuffling of their feet to the beating of their hearts. All that was absent, and I missed it. I felt isolated in a post-apocalyptic, dystopian future kind of way. It made me tense, as if I was going to have to fight to the death at any given moment.
I consider myself a fairly competent person - I can change the oil in my car, hook up pretty much any electrical piece of gadgetry I come across, and have decent skills when it comes to reading a road map, even without the aid of Google - but navigating water ways was completely unfamiliar to me. It wasn’t shocking, however, to discover Liam excelled at it. Just when I was about to mention how sundown was coming soon and I wasn’t really looking forward to Changing on a boat, he muttered, “There it is,” to himself and began steering us towards the shore.
We worked quickly and without conversation as we unloaded our supplies. Several of the bags were ones we found in the back of the truck. I tried to peek inside one to see what they contained, but Liam barked at me about how we were running out of time and could take inventory later. Once the boat was empty, Liam pushed it back into the water and let it float away.
“What? No fire this time?” I asked in an attempt to tamp down the panic I felt at being stranded in God only knows where.
“No time.” He quit arranging the various bags onto the sled and began to secure them as quickly as possible. Once everything was to his satisfaction, he unzipped one of the bags on top and withdrew a series of nylon straps. “This part goes over my head,” he said, opening up a hole in the middle. “Put that on first, and then slide my front two legs in here,” he opened another hole, “and here.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“We don’t have time for this. I have to Change, and you have to get me harnessed and attached to the sled before your Change starts.”
Whoa. Wait a minute. “You could have explained this all to me while we were floating up the river, you know.”
He moved fast and was towering over me before I could back away. “Just do what you're told.”
“Screw you!” I yelled, although in my fury I may have used a harsher word. “I thought we were past this. I thought we were going to work together, that this not telling me anything routine was over.”
Liam looked ready to explode, and I braced myself for an attack, but it never came. Instead, he took a deep breath and rubbed the back of his head. �
��Sorry. I screwed up. Again. But please, Scout. We can only get to the cabin in our wolf forms, and we need these supplies. Work with me here.”
I was still angry, and I knew this discussion wasn’t over, but I’m not so selfish or stupid to not realize the importance of what he was saying. “Let’s make sure I get it right,” I said, taking the harness from his hands. “Show me one more time what goes where. And you’ll have to tell me how to hook it to the sled.”
We barely made it in time. Liam Changed in record time and was very agreeable with the whole harness situation, even in wolf form, but I was clumsy and uncertain, and by the end I was shaking from the effort of holding back the Change. Once I was sure everything was hooked up the way it was supposed to be, I barely got hidden and my clothes removed before I fell to the ground. Even without someone there to time me, I knew it was my fastest transformation yet, but it was also my most painful. When I was finally able to lift my head I found myself looking into a pair of familiar grey eyes.
Hey you, Wolf Scout thought at her friend. Liam’s ears perked up and he tilted his head, as if he had caught a whisper of what I said and was straining to hear more. Can you hear me? I asked, hopeful, but when he continued to twitch his ears around, I realized it wasn’t going to happen.
Since Liam had a sled attached to his back, I took on the responsibility of procuring us some dinner. The first track I found didn’t smell like anything familiar, but I followed it all the same. Maybe if I had recognized the scent as a beaver I would have found something else knowing a dip in the freezing waters might be in my future. As it was, I was still shaking water off my fur when I returned to Liam. When he laughed at me, or the closest a wolf can get to laughing, I considered not sharing my kill with him.
The path Liam led me down was narrow and winding, and involved a whole lot of climbing up and over things. Wolf Scout loved it and wanted to run it as fast as she could to show off her strength and cunning. Fortunately, the beaver had been enough to let Human Scout have a say in the matter. Following Liam was frustrating, but when the sled started to topple or needed an extra hand (or nose), I was there. The trek took most of the night. It was nearing dawn when the trees began to thin and a small cottage appeared nestled at the base of a small hill.
Fate Succumbs Page 14
