by Melissa Haag
“Is it safe to open the door?”
“Sure. They won’t come in, but they’ll watch us.”
Just as I’d figured and hoped.
Once we kicked the leaves out, we could maybe use one of my shirts to screen the window and give us privacy. Standing there watching the fire burn low, I realized the direction of my thoughts. I wanted to clean the place up as if I intended to stay, not just until I learned more about them, but permanently. Did I really want that?
Despite what had happened, I did. This place had no electricity or plumbing; and, without the generosity of the people here, I had no source of food. Was I crazy? I didn’t think so. I realized there was a high threat here. I allowed my fingers to drift up to my collarbone, but I caught myself before touching my wounds. I didn’t want to contaminate the bites. Was the threat here any higher than in the real world? No, it was just different.
In the real world, I could picture myself caught and taken to a secret lab where cold-hearted scientists would poke and prod me. It would only take one person of importance to believe Penny. If they caught me by surprise and knocked me unconscious, my ability wouldn’t save me. Here, I had a chance at freedom. These people didn’t want to dissect me, they wanted to, what? Date me?
Decided, I walked to the door and opened it. All the wolves in the yard turned toward me. I didn’t look at them and tried to pretend my heart hadn’t just leapt in fear at their attention. Instead, I focused on the sun angling through the door. The light warmed me.
Sunlight and fresh air won over a cage.
I took a step back from the door, then turned to get my bag. From a pocket, I pulled the money I’d hoarded during my journey. Ms. Lewis—Winifred—had asked them to make me welcome, and Mary said they would be willing to help me. Standing with the money, I nervously approached the door once more.
“Would any of you be willing to get a few things for me? I’m not sure how close the nearest grocery is, and you’d need clothes to enter the store.”
Immediately, several of them dashed from the yard into the trees.
“It’ll take them a bit to find clothes,” Mary said from behind me.
“They have them hidden somewhere?”
“No. Usually they take them off a laundry line. Some of the clever ones can get into houses without being noticed.”
I glanced at my bed. “You mean these things are stolen?”
“How else would we get them? We have nothing to trade.”
“Only Winifred has a job?” I asked.
Mary stared at me for several long moments.
“She says there are a few others. But not many. Mostly, the men only resort to jobs when they want something they can’t steal.”
“She says?” I asked. Then I realized she meant Winifred. “You’re talking to her now? How?”
“In my head. Elders like Winifred connect us all. They help us communicate with each other. That’s how the families know to meet here for an Introduction and how the unMated males know when to show up.” Mary looked outside at the remaining wolves while I tried to wrap my head around what she’d said. Winifred’s abilities were impressive.
I followed Mary’s gaze and found the remaining wolves watching us. My pulse jumped a little; their scrutiny unnerving me.
I’d hoped to send one of them for supplies and to start cleaning. But to start cleaning, I’d need to leave this room. The idea of walking around out there...well, I was having a hard time picturing it without them running after me.
“Can I go out there?” I asked.
“Sure. Why?”
“I was thinking. If we took a bunch of that thick grass at the edge of the clearing and tied it into a tight bundle, we could use it as a broom and start cleaning this place out.”
However, my feet stayed where they were, safely inside. My hand drifted up and hovered over the marks on my neck. I closed the door, walked back to the bed, and sat down. Logically, I knew I could stop them from biting me. I’d felt their wills; they weren’t just wild animals I couldn’t control. But, that understanding didn’t overcome my fear.
“Are you okay?” Mary asked.
“No,” I said. The sound was more a hoarse rasp than a word. “I can still feel their teeth on me. Seeing all of them out there...”
She didn’t say anything. I stared at the dying coals until someone knocked on the door. We both turned toward the sound, but neither of us moved. It wasn’t fear that held me this time. It was surprise. They knew to knock? I looked at Mary. She looked at me and shrugged.
“Yes?” I called.
“We have the grass,” a rough voice said.
Mary walked to the door and opened it. Men, wearing pants, stood outside. Each held a bundle of grass. When the ones in front saw Mary, they shifted their positions in an attempt to see around her. Those behind them craned their necks, too. They wanted to see me. However, they didn’t try to enter. They just waited and watched, each holding a clump of long grass.
I forced myself to stand and went to the door. The first man held out his fistful of grass.
“For you.” Red tinted his cheeks as he handed it over.
“Thank you,” I said, feeling equally uncomfortable.
One by one, they handed me grass until I had a pile next to the door large enough for several brooms. After the last one left, Mary closed the door, gave me an undecipherable look, and motioned for me to follow her. We went to the room I’d first slept in. She shut the door and turned to me.
“I have never seen anything like that before,” she said in a whisper.
“What do you mean?”
She motioned for me to keep my voice down and peaked out the window. I followed her gaze. Men and wolves mingled in the yard.
“They don’t do that,” she said moving away from the window. She caught my puzzled look and pointed at my neck. “They do that. They see a female and Claim her. If there’s someone else interested, they fight for the right to her. They’ll hunt for you, but they don’t bring you things. They don’t try to get on your good side first. I thought they might be nicer to you, but that was unbelievable.”
Bringing grass to a girl was unbelievable? It hardly seemed worthy of her astonishment. Yet, it was their way. I sat on the floor and started winding together some of the grass I still held. Mary sat next to me.
“No flowers, nice dinners, or seeing a show. Just a life-threatening bite on the neck.” It seemed a very harsh courtship. Nothing I wanted any part of.
“It’s not life-threatening to us. We heal quickly. The ones who bit you didn’t know you wouldn’t heal.”
I didn’t think it made it any better but tried to look at it from her point of view. Would I feel differently about the bites if they were already healed? I couldn’t decide.
She watched as I wove the top of two clumps together. When I had a decent bunch, I stood and tried it. It worked all right.
“Here,” I said handing the sad little broom to Mary. “Can you start sweeping this room out? I’ll get more of the grass.”
She took the broom with an arched brow but nodded. I left her there, sweeping awkwardly, and made my way to the main room.
As soon as I entered, someone knocked on the door, and I regretted leaving Mary behind.
I’ll be fine, I told myself as I squared my shoulders. I’d run from Penny. I wouldn’t run from them, unless they started eyeing my neck again. My shoulders slumped, and my hand drifted upward in a protective gesture. I didn’t want to experience that ever again.
Another knock on the door pulled me from my thoughts. What to do?
“You said you needed supplies.” The hesitant voice beyond the door gave me my answer.
With a sigh, I cautiously opened the door. Men waited, and the rest of the wolves shuffled around behind them. They were so different. I was different, too. Different didn’t necessarily mean bad. As Mary had pointed out, the first two hadn’t known I wasn’t one of them. I needed to give the rest a chance, didn’t I?
>
“Have any of you ever been inside a grocery?” I asked.
No one responded.
“Have any of you used money before?”
They remained quiet. It looked like I wouldn’t get any of the things I’d wanted.
“Winifred is willing to help whoever you send,” the one closest to me said. He had dark brown eyes and wore his light brown hair in shaggy waves back from his face. Sparse whiskers grew on his chin and upper lip. He watched me with interest but seemed relaxed.
Since he’d answered, I handed him the money from my pocket.
“Canned vegetables and a can opener, nails—as many as you can buy—and a hammer, toilet paper, and a handsaw. I don’t know how much of that you can get. Just don’t steal anything.”
When he turned, the men parted and watched him leave.
I eased the door closed, collected my grass, and went to join Mary. If I worried each time I had to open the door, how would I ever be able to live here?
* * * *
We had the bed moved into the newly cleaned room and another rabbit roasting on the fire by the time the man returned. When he handed me the bag, he gave me an expectant smile. I wasn’t sure what he wanted.
“Thank you. What’s your name?”
“Anton.”
“Thank you, Anton.”
He grinned wider, nodded, and walked away. With relief, I went to sit by Mary, who waited near the fire. Inspecting the bag, I pulled out each item and found we had the nails we needed but no hammer. There were also several canned goods, an opener, a handsaw, and my change.
“Why do you need all of that?” Mary asked.
“Because, if I’m going to stay here, we need to fix this place up. Winter will be cold, won’t it?”
She started shaking her head then stopped. “Without fur, yes. So you know how to fix things?”
I shook my head. “But it’ll be easier to learn that than it would to grow fur.”
She nodded, and we ate the rabbit as the light faded.
Four
Mary slept in the room with me. She didn’t mind the floor so I gave her the extra comforter and gladly took the bed. I slid under the covers, closed my eyes, and pretended I was back home. Despite everything that had happened, I slept well.
When I woke at first light, Mary continued to breathe softly from her place on the floor. I quietly used the bucket then went to the window. In the yard, several of the wolves slept on the ground while some already walked in and out of the trees. Those who wandered seemed bored, yet they didn’t stop to talk to one another or interact in any other way. I watched them for a while and noticed some studied the area. It seemed as if they were new here, like me.
One stopped and stared at a shed directly across from the main building where I slept. The small structure leaned at a precarious angle. Many of the cedar shake shingles had disappeared into the black hole that pierced the roof. However, the boards covering the walls seemed solid enough. As I studied it, I thought a few of those boards might help cover the broken windows in the main building.
“I smell...” Mary said suddenly, startling me. I turned and watched her sit straight up and sniff the air. “Pheasant. Good. I was getting tired of rabbit.” She stood and stretched. I heard her stomach growl and grinned at her.
We made our way down to the main room and found the pheasant roasting.
“Who brings the food?”
Mary shrugged. “They’re either hunting on their own and the first one here provides it, or they’re fighting for the right.”
The idea that they would argue about who could bring us food had me shaking my head. Why was that okay to do but helpfully collecting grass was not?
I opened a can of green beans to eat with the bird and scooped half onto Mary’s plate. What I wouldn’t give for a bowl of Sugar Crisp.
We ate in companionable silence for several minutes before she spoke again.
“So what do you want to do today?”
“Start boarding some of the windows, I think.”
“You know it’s summer, right?”
Since I’d left home, I’d watched spring change to summer, and with each passing week, I knew summer’s hold wouldn’t last forever. Just another reason to find somewhere to burrow in.
“Summer and sunny. But it’ll rain eventually and start getting cold. There are a lot of broken windows and no ladders. It’ll take time to get it done.”
She gave me a long look.
“Where’s your family, Charlene?”
Hopefully, safe where I left them, I thought. I finished chewing before I answered.
“Where I’m not.” I tossed the bones into the fire as she’d done the day before then went to wash my plate. Thankfully, she didn’t push for more of an answer.
“Some of the broken windows still have unbroken panes,” she said coming up behind me. “Do you think we can take them apart and fix a few of the windows in some of the other rooms?”
“Sure.”
Someone knocked on the door. She handed me her plate. I washed it as she moved across the room and opened the door.
“We’d like to help,” a deep voice said.
I turned and glanced at the men who stood just outside. Their faces were familiar this time, and I recognized Anton from the day before. When his gaze met mine, he offered me a smile which I automatically returned.
“Thank you for the offer,” I said. I wiped my damp hands on my jeans and moved closer to the door. “We need some of the boards from that shed over there.” I pointed in the general direction of the building since I couldn’t actually see it through them.
“Will you show us what you mean?” one of them said.
He wanted me to step out the door? I glanced at Mary. She nodded.
My stomach churned as the men parted to make a narrow path between their bodies. They waited, watching me closely as I hesitated, swallowed hard, and tried to obliterate my fear with logic. If they made a move toward me, I’d grab their wills and force them to stop. However, the thought of using my power like that didn’t reassure me. It disturbed me as much as the idea of going back outside. Yes, I’d used it like that before. But the situation at the gym had been different. I hadn’t put myself in that situation on purpose. I’d only used my ability instinctually. And I hadn’t hurt anyone.
If I wasn’t willing to use it here, where did that leave me? I couldn’t stay inside forever.
“Maybe you should give her a little more room,” Mary said.
She watched me just as closely as they did. I felt weak and stupid. Clenching my teeth, I took a deep breath and stepped forward.
They moved around me like gnats before a storm. I tried to ignore them as I made my way across the yard in the early morning light. Those still on four legs watched me with interest.
When I reached the shed, I found it was bigger than I’d thought. I glanced back at the main building and noted all the broken windows in the daylight. It was a good thing the shed was big; we would need many of the boards.
I scanned the men around me and patted one of the shed’s walls.
“These boards,” I said. “If you pull them off carefully so they don’t crack, I want to use them to board up some of the broken windows. Actually, if you can take apart the whole shed, I’m sure we can find a way to reuse all the wood.”
The men nodded, and Anton went inside the building.
“Don’t break the glass in the window,” Mary said from somewhere behind the men. “We want to reuse the unbroken panes, too.”
I was glad she’d followed. I stepped away from the building and heard the screech of nails pulled from dry wood. A board popped away from the wall, and I caught a glimpse of Anton before he moved out of sight again.
A younger man with light blonde hair stepped in front of me, stealing my attention.
“Is there anything else?”
“Um...” I tried to find Mary in the bodies crowded around me but couldn’t. The urge to start backing away
took hold. Yet, I remained where I was. I didn’t have a choice. Another man stood behind me.
“Yeah,” Mary said, her voice floating around us. “The rest of you can go to the junk yard and look for useful things.”
The men shifted so I could see Mary. She reached through, wrapped a hand around my wrist, and pulled me out of their circle.
“Like what?” one asked.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Useful things. Like...a bathtub. She doesn’t wash in a stream.” She tugged me toward the main room’s door as she spoke.
“A bathtub?” I asked under my breath.
“Ask Winifred,” Mary said over her shoulder as she nudged me through the door. I wasn’t sure if she was telling me to ask Winifred or the confused men behind us, but as she quickly closed the door, I didn’t care.
I breathed a sigh of relief, turned, and threw my arms around her. “Thank you.”
She awkwardly returned the hug. “Wini suggested the bathtub.”
I pulled back, confused. “Is she listening to everything?”
“No. I’ve been talking to her, so she knows what they’re doing,” she said nodding toward the closed door. “When they started crowding you, she suggested we send them to the junk yard since this place could use a few things, and you don’t like stealing. They’ll reach out to her, and she’ll help them figure out what’s needed.”
“How exactly does that work? Her connection to everyone, I mean. Is it like little mental strings that connect her to everyone?”
Mary was quiet a moment. “She says it’s like a two way radio. You just need to know the right frequency.” She gave me a puzzled look. “What’s a two way radio?”
I grinned. “Your head, apparently. It’s far out you can talk to her like that. But doesn’t it get a little noisy in her head?”
This time Mary laughed.
“No. It’s usually pretty quiet for her. We keep to ourselves unless there’s a problem our leaders can’t resolve.”
“Leaders?”
