Wolf Storm

by Dee Garretson

  “Cut!” Mark yelled. “Now what!”

  “Sorry, Mark,” Raine’s mother said from the background. “I thought Mr. Snuggums needed some fresh air.” She held up Raine’s dog, which was some sort of miniature squashed-face breed. “He almost never barks, do you, sweetie? Those big bad old wolves won’t hurt you.” Mrs. Randolph’s nasally voice switched to crooning baby talk.

  “Mother!” Raine said, as if she was embarrassed. Stefan would have been in her place. At least his own mother never did things like that. He couldn’t imagine his mom talking baby talk to real babies, much less dogs.

  Raine’s dog barked again, struggling to get free, and Inky, Raine’s wolf, whined. The wolf trainer looked furious. “Mrs. Randolph, it would be a good idea if you kept that dog away from the wolves. Wolves don’t like animals that aren’t part of their own pack. It upsets them to see a dog they don’t know.”

  “They’ll just have to get used to him.” Mrs. Randolph made kissing noises at the dog. “Raine needs Mr. Snuggums on set with her. It’s in her contract.”

  “Mom, I do not need him,” Raine said, a clear edge of anger in her voice. “Why don’t you take him inside? It’s too cold out here.”

  Stefan wasn’t sure the wolves would think of Raine’s pet as an actual dog. He doubted if they’d ever seen any animal dressed in a beret, knitted boots, and a cheetah-print dog sweater that matched the coat Raine’s mother wore. It didn’t smell like a dog either. Even from ten feet away, some sickly sweet odor emanated from it, as if it had been dipped in perfume.

  “Please, Mrs. Randolph,” the assistant director said. “We’d really like to break for lunch soon, and we need to get this shot if we are going to keep on schedule and make the day.”

  The producer, a man named Sherman Gregson, who seemed to wear a permanent frown, put his arm around Raine’s mother. “You’re looking cold too. Why don’t you go on inside?”

  Jeremy coughed again, so hard that he lost his balance, bumping into Stefan. Stefan put a hand out to catch him, but the slight shift in his own weight made one foot slip out from under him. Trying to stabilize himself, he fell the other way, into Inky and Raine. It was like a domino effect; they all went down off the side of ramp into the snow. As he felt himself falling, Stefan instinctively reached out to catch something to break the fall and grabbed hold of one of the lights. It came down after him and landed with sickening thud, right on Inky, just as the wolf was scrambling out from under Raine. The wolf struggled to get up, then dropped to the ground.

  Chapter 4

  Warnings

  Immediately, the trainer and his assistant were down in the snow beside the wolf. Everyone else froze in place.

  “I’m sorry,” Stefan said, scrambling to his feet.

  “Get out of my way!” the trainer shouted.

  Stefan backed up. “I just grabbed on to the light without thinking. I didn’t think it would fall over. I didn’t mean to hurt him.” He couldn’t tell at first if Inky was breathing, and then he saw the wolf’s chest rising and falling.

  He was about to explain how Jeremy had bumped into him, but then he noticed the kid’s face, scrunched up like he was about to cry. Jeremy’s dad was gripping his shoulder.

  “Is he . . . is he dead?” Jeremy asked.

  “I’m sorry,” Stefan said again. “I slipped.”

  No one answered. Boris leaped off the ramp and positioned himself near Inky.

  “I can’t tell if any of his ribs are broken,” Hans said. “I’ll have to take him to a vet with an X-ray machine. Somebody find me the closest one. We’ll need some sort of stretcher.”

  There was a burst of activity; then Stefan heard a babble of voices as everyone around him pulled out their cell phones. Within a few minutes some of the crew brought over a piece of plywood covered with a blanket, and the trainer and his assistant eased the wolf onto it. Inky whimpered but didn’t move. As they lifted up the board and moved off, Boris barked. Inky didn’t respond.

  As the wolf was loaded into the back of a van, there was more discussion and hand waving, and then two crew members climbed into the back. The snow had left a few inches on the ground since the last time the parking lot had been plowed, and the van’s back wheels skidded.

  “I hope the road down the mountain isn’t too bad,” Mark said. “We’re not exactly on a main highway.” Mark was right about that, Stefan thought. When they had driven up to the lodge, crossing an old bridge right out of the village at the base of the mountain, the road had narrowed almost to a single lane. Once it passed a cluster of cottages and one small farm, it had also been bumpy and broken up in places, like no one had used it since the ski resort closed.

  The assistant trainer came over to Mark. “I need to put Boris back in his cage now,” he said. “Hans doesn’t want me working with the wolves until he gets back.”

  “Of course,” Mark said. The assistant fastened a collar around Boris and then led him off. Stefan didn’t know what he should say.

  “You know, Mark, that ramp is impossibly slippery,” Cecil said. “The only reason I didn’t fall is because I was in the back on the level part. Can we add something either to the ramp or the soles of the boots to help? I don’t fancy a broken bone at my age.”

  “You’re right, Cecil. We didn’t think that through enough, and it will be fixed by tomorrow. It’s all right, everyone. I’m sure the wolf will be okay. It’s not your fault, Stefan. Okay?”

  “Right,” Stefan mumbled.

  “Change of plans,” Mark said. “Too much snow anyway for now. We’ll pick up that scene tomorrow, but after lunch we’re going to try a little rehearsal of the scene where the frost demons attack. We’ll just need Raine and Stefan. Good job, Jeremy. Let’s call lunch.” That triggered a mad rush to the door of the main lodge, an old building that everyone said looked exactly like a Swiss chalet. Stefan had never seen a chalet, but he figured they meant all the fancy woodwork around the roof and the rickety balconies off the upper stories.

  “Let’s get you all inside and get you warm,” Amanda said.

  “I may never be warm again.” Raine gave an exaggerated shiver. “Amanda, I don’t know what happened to my copy of the book of Slovak folktales. I want to do my paper on them. Can you get me another copy?” They walked away, busy talking.

  Stefan hung back, not interested in eating. Nothing like accidentally taking out a wolf to kill a person’s appetite. All he wanted to do was find a place where he could be out of sight. Inside the lodge, everyone was heading to the dining room, so Stefan went the other way. The lodge was a massive old stone and wooden building unlike any hotel Stefan had ever seen, all dark, carved woodwork and stone floors. The main area, a big open space in what used to be the lobby, still had a reception desk and a wall of wooden mail slots behind it. Off to one side was a giant fireplace with sofas and chairs scattered around it. At the end of the room, near where it opened into what was now an empty office, was a bowed window like something out of a castle, except it looked out the back of the lodge to the parking lot behind the building.

  Stefan pulled one of the big chairs to the window, turning it away from anyone’s view. There was nothing much to see but cars, movie trailers, and motor homes, all lined up on one side of the parking lot, and one big evergreen tree on the other side of a stone wall at the back of the lot. He guessed the wall was supposed to warn people there was a sharp drop-off right beyond it. The lot was built almost right to the edge of the cliff separating their part of the mountain from the lower slope.

  “There you are,” Heather said. “Tough luck about the wolf.”

  So much for hiding out. “I know.” He didn’t want to get into a discussion about Inky.

  “You did great though, standing there and all. I can’t believe how many times they made you do it. I thought it was just fine the first time.” Stefan didn’t answer, hoping Heather would get the hint to go away. Her phone rang. “Hey, Sis. He’s right here.” She listened for a moment and then said,
“It’s your mom.”

  “Is something wrong?” He and his mom had arranged beforehand that they would try to keep the cell phone charges down. Calling Slovakia from Massachusetts wasn’t cheap.

  “He’s got his costume on.” Heather gestured at Stefan as if his mom could see him over the phone. “That’s probably why he doesn’t have his phone. You should see him; you wouldn’t even recognize your little boy.” Stefan was glad no one was close enough to overhear his aunt. At fourteen he was hardly a little boy. “He looks so much taller and older.” Heather held her hand up over her head like she was trying to show his mom how tall he was. “Okay, I’ll let you talk to him. Here he is.”

  “Mom?”

  “Hi, sweetie, how’s it going?”

  He could hear the sound of the television and his brother Jake yelling “Watch out!” in the background. Jake was only four and still thought the actors on screen needed help during times of danger.

  “I’m fine, Mom,” Stefan said. He wasn’t going to tell her about the wolf. “How’s everyone there?” He heard Jake scream, “Run! The dogcatcher is right behind you!”

  “Jake, please, not so loud!” his mom shouted. “Stefan, I’m sorry to bother you, but there’s something wrong with the water pressure in the house. I’m going to call the plumber in the morning. Since you talked to him last time, I wanted to know if there was anything special I should tell him.”

  Stefan wasn’t surprised to hear something else at the house was broken, but he wished it hadn’t happened now. He and his mom between them tried to figure out how to keep the place from falling apart, even though neither one of them really knew what they were doing. “No, don’t call the plumber. Call Neil Hadley instead. It’s probably a bad pressure controller like last time, and Neil will fix it a lot cheaper than the plumber.” Stefan couldn’t wait for his next paycheck to come through. Even though his mom had said they weren’t spending any of his money on the house, he was going to make sure they did at least get a new pump for the well and a new roof.

  “Okay,” his mom said, “if you’re sure Neil can fix it.” A blast of noise drowned her out. “Jake, turn down the television! Stefan, I saw Aaron with his mother at the grocery store. He can’t wait to hear all about what you’re doing. You should email him when you get a chance.”

  “Sure.” He doubted Aaron actually wanted to hear from him. It was Aaron who wanted to be the actor and who had convinced Stefan to go with him to the big open casting call in Boston for the movie. Stefan had just gone along to see what it was like, so he had been floored when someone at the tryouts pulled him out of the line and interviewed him, giving him lines to read. Stefan didn’t think Aaron would ever forgive him for getting the part.

  “I have to go, sweetie. Are you sure you are okay? Your voice sounds funny.”

  “It’s just the connection, Mom. I’m fine. Talk to you soon.” He handed the phone back to Heather.

  “We should eat,” she said.

  “You go ahead. I’m not very hungry.”

  “Are you sure? Are you sick? You’re always hungry.”

  “I’ll eat later. There’s food everywhere here.” He could always get something from the snack truck. It was parked outside the front of the lodge, close to the base of the main ski slope, and now that everyone was inside eating, there wouldn’t be too many people out there to face.

  After Heather left, Stefan sank into the chair, hoping no one else would find him. The snow was still coming down, lighter now, but still the sort of steady snow that back home would have led to days off from school. There wasn’t much activity out by the trailers in the parking lot, except for a crew person loading a camera into one. He’d been surprised at the amount of stuff needed to make a movie. There were at least ten big trailers and motor homes full of equipment and props.

  A semitruck pulled up, sliding to a stop on the far side of the lot, away from all the other trailers and motor homes. The props crew opened up the back and lowered a ramp. Stefan moved closer to the window and rubbed it to get a better look.

  Two men wheeled out a small trailer, the kind people pulled behind their cars when they were hauling boats. On it was something like an oversized snowmobile without any runners, with a clear plastic canopy over the driver’s seat. It had to be one of the snow skimmer props, the little vehicles that they’d pretend to fly around to explore the surface of the planet. Even if the skimmers couldn’t really hover over the surface of the snow, it would be fantastic to act like he was flying one. That sort of thing he just knew he wouldn’t mess up.

  The men covered the skimmer up with a tarp before Stefan could get a good look. When they had situated the trailer in a cleared spot, they wheeled another one down, covering it up as well.

  “Hi!” Jeremy said. Stefan hadn’t heard the kid come up. He was going to have to find a better place to keep away from people. “What are you doing?”

  “Sitting, you know, looking out the window.”

  “Oh. Can I look too?”

  “There’s not much to see but snow.” If he told Jeremy about the snow skimmers, he wouldn’t be able to get rid of him. A gust of wind shook the window and a mound of snow slid off the roof, covering up some piece of equipment in a crate.

  “I wish it snowed where we live in California. Isn’t it great?” Jeremy said.

  “Pretty great. I’m really glad I’m not the one who has to shovel it though. Shouldn’t you be eating lunch?” Stefan asked.

  “I already did. There’s too much weird food in there, so I just had a bagel. Besides, my dad is in a really crabby mood. He’s yelling at whoever he’s talking to on the phone.”

  “You know what? I’ll let you have my seat.” Stefan got up. “I’m going to go check on the wolves.”

  “Can I come with you? I want to talk to Brad again too. He didn’t finish telling me about how they train the wolves.”

  “Who’s Brad?”

  “He’s the assistant trainer.” Jeremy looked at Stefan like he was already supposed to know that, but Stefan didn’t remember ever hearing the man’s name. There were way too many people working on the movie for him to remember names yet.

  As soon as they got outside, Stefan wished he had bothered to put on his coat. The wind was biting into his face. They made their way over to the wolves’ motor home, Jeremy talking the whole time. “Guess why they parked their motor home at the front of the building away from the parking lot.”

  Stefan hadn’t thought about it. “I don’t know,” he said.

  “One of the wolves doesn’t like the sound of trucks, so they couldn’t park it in the parking lot. There’s too many vehicles coming and going. They like to be by themselves.”

  “Oh,” Stefan said.

  “Do you think you have to go to college to be a wolf trainer?” Jeremy asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Don’t you think that would be a great job? What are you going to be when you grow up?”

  “I don’t know. Probably an engineer or something. Look, I’m getting cold. Let’s hurry.” He hoped if they speeded up the kid would quit talking.

  “Tomorrow there might be a bad storm,” Jeremy said. “I heard the producer, Sherman, say most of it is going to miss us, but it’s still going to snow tons. Do you think they will let us get some sleds and go sledding?”

  “Maybe.” Stefan felt a momentary pang of homesickness. This much snow would have brought everyone out to the hill by the school, to pile on sleds and snowboards, racing until it got too dark to see. The old wooden bobsleds their grandfather had fixed up for them weren’t the showiest, but they were fast. And he had attempted snowboarding over the past year, even though the hill wasn’t long enough to be like a real slope.

  Now that he thought about it, the ski slope in front of the lodge would make a terrific sledding slope, if you weren’t afraid of a little speed, actually a lot of speed. It was so steep it must have been one of those runs for expert skiers. It would be fun to try it out with sled
s.

  “It might even be a blizzard,” Jeremy said.

  “Are you sure they said a blizzard?” Stefan had experienced one blizzard back home and didn’t want to be near another. He’d only been about seven at the time and had been scared their house was either going to be blown away by the wind or collapse under the weight of the snow.

  “That’s what I heard. Sherman doesn’t want the filming to stop because he says it costs too much money, so he wants somebody to go get more snow shovels and rent some snow blowers. He’s sending people off to get all sorts of other supplies too so we can keep working.”

  “Great. Snowblowers in a blizzard. That’s not going to do much good.” Stefan knew it was the producer’s job to keep the movie on budget, but if the man thought they’d be able to accomplish anything in a blizzard, he was in for a big surprise.

  Chapter 5

  Strangers

  The gray wolf lingered among the trees, watching. The hunger gnawed at him, and the pain, but there were too many humans, and humans were dangerous. The agony in his skull never stopped now. He had killed the invader who attacked him, a lone wolf trying to take over the pack, but the pain remained, lancing through his head into his eye. Foreign shadows sometimes jumped across the eye, enraging him, and he snapped at them, trying to protect himself against those who would bring him down, but he never caught them. Now there was a new threat. These strange wolves smelled of humans, and they had no place in his land. He had to protect the pack’s territory before the cubs arrived in the spring. He knew he needed to feed to regain his strength, and then he would overcome them.

  Chapter 6

  Mistakes

  Jeremy stopped Stefan right before they reached the door of the motor home. “I’m sorry I bumped into you and made Inky get hurt. I wanted to tell Mark it was all my fault, but my dad said I didn’t need to.”

  “It’s okay.” Stefan knocked on the door. “It was just an accident.” Music was blasting inside, so he knocked again, harder.