by Kali Harper
Lance wasn’t gone long, reentering the town hall with Ivan walking behind him, their faces grim. But when I approached them, Lance shook his head, quickly walking by on his way to talk to Ida. As I watched them both go, the uneasiness in my stomach from earlier returned.
I hadn’t seen Lance after Maggie’s murder, not right away that is. By the time he came to see me, Maggie had been gone for hours. I wondered then how long it took for him to pull things together. He made it look so easy, but even as I thought back on the man lying face-down on the sidewalk, my stomach turned. I couldn’t stand to think about it much less discuss it with anyone else without feeling ill.
Did he feel the same way? Ida said he hid it well, but it must’ve bothered him somehow. Risking a quick glance in his direction, I noticed the slump in his shoulders, his uneven posture, and how he’d shoved his good hand in his pocket.
Ida’s posture wasn’t any better, her eyes averted as she nodded silently to whatever he’d asked. Ivan, however, didn’t seem bothered at all. Then again, I didn’t know what all he’d experienced in California, so maybe a murder in our small town wasn’t as big a deal to him.
“What do you think they’ll do to the wolf you caught?” Kat asked, waving a hand in front of my face until I gave her my undivided attention. “You okay?”
“Not really, but I don’t think I have much of a choice.”
“Any thoughts on who the wolf might be?” she probed, which was Kat’s way of keeping herself distracted. Anything to gossip about was way better than taking part in the commotion around us. It was why she always had a book with her and insisted on reading much of the time.
“It could be anyone,” I said, keeping an eye on Lance. “Most of the town has shifted by now.”
“But it is the wolf you saw before, isn’t it?”
Thinking back on the one I saw at Joe and Marcy’s shop, it was hard to say. Without the blood caked on its chest, the wolf sitting in the back of Felix’s truck matched half the ones I’d flown over earlier. Sure, they each had their own distinct markings, but I’d only glimpsed at them.
Kat continued when I didn’t say anything. “What about the one who killed that guy? You think they’ll go to jail?”
“I can’t see why they wouldn’t.”
“I can.” When I looked at her, she explained. “A new wolf is out of its own mind and generally has no idea what he or she is doing. If that’s the case here, then shouldn’t whoever infected the water be held responsible for whatever the wolves did because of it?”
“That’s up to Max and Lance to decide.”
“You’re no fun,” Kat pouted, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
“None of this is fun, Kat.” I sighed and shook my head. I knew what she was doing. “Sorry. I can’t get lost in the mystery the way you do. I honestly want to go home and forget today ever happened.”
“You aren’t going to wait for the wolf to change back?” she asked hopefully.
“If it changes back,” I reminded her. “Putting it in quarantine might not work at all.”
“It worked for me.”
“But you were a shifter before.”
“And I shifted because of my contact with the water. He’s going to change back.” She sounded so sure of herself.
I wasn’t convinced. “You’ll text me his identity as soon as he does,” I said, already making my way toward the exit.
“They aren’t going to let you leave.”
“Let them try and stop me.”
Without another word, Sammy and I walked out, the cool autumn air tussling my hair once the door closed behind us. A deep, chilling howl reached my ears first, followed by a second, then a third, each one as beautiful and haunting as the last.
Beside me, Sammy kept whatever thoughts he had to himself, grumbling when I summoned my broom and motioned for him to get on.
“I could leave you here,” I warned, getting on the broomstick.
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“After Felix’s, are you so sure about that?”
He hesitated a moment, then got on, his body going rigid as soon as I set him in my lap. “So we go home, then what?” Sammy asked, his voice squeaking as I lifted away from the ground.
“We aren’t going home,” I told him. “Not yet.”
“But you told Kat—”
“I didn’t say anything of the sort. Besides, do you really want to go home and tell Maggie everything she missed? You know how she gets when she’s left out.”
“So staying away is your solution?”
“I want to bring something back for her and you’re going to help me do it.”
“You don’t know how to hotwire a car!”
“Keep your voice down,” I hissed, glaring at Sammy as we surveyed the streets below.
Okay, so maybe it wasn’t the best idea with Max and a few of the other officers keeping watch, or with the other wolves in the vicinity, but we couldn’t afford to wait on the trapped wolf. What if he never shifted back? What then? Kat was so confident it would happen after the quarantine, but her shifting abilities were completely different from these new wolves.
If what Ivan said was correct, they had no idea what they were doing. So, even if this was the same wolf as the one we saw on the videos at Kyle’s farm, the fact it shifted into human form to unlock the barn doors would’ve made complete sense.
“It’s the hunger,” I said under my breath. “Their actions are driven by hunger. Remember what Ivan said about new wolves and how a pack is responsible for keeping them safe after their first shift?”
“Yeah, so?” Sammy didn’t want to hear it, his eyes still focused on Felix’s truck and the wolf we’d managed to trap.
“We are that pack. While everyone else is busy thinking up ways to interrogate him, we’re out here.”
“About that… why are we here exactly? You aren’t a Whisperer, remember?”
“And no one’s heard back from Adelle,” I countered, squinting when someone drove up in a second truck, their high beams momentarily blinding me. “If we can get the wolf to Maggie—”
“No, absolutely not!” Sammy said, loud enough for the officers below to hear.
I grabbed him and hopped on my broom before anyone could spot us. “Will you keep it down? Look, we have no idea if this wolf will ever shift back, and even if it does, the rest of them could kill someone else in the same amount of time.
If Maggie can possess him, then maybe she can delve into his memories and find out who he is.” Once I had Sammy’s full attention, I went on. “Look, you said so yourself when Maggie possessed you. You could talk to her. What if the wolf can do the same thing? Shouldn’t we find out who he is? What if he knows something that could help Ivan and Lance?”
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Sammy’s tail swished in my face. “Max has an entire team surrounding Felix’s truck. How do you plan to reach it without them seeing you?”
“I was thinking you could lure them away.”
“Not going to happen,” Sammy said, “but… if we brought Maggie here—”
“Then we could talk to the wolf along with everyone else. Sammy, you’re a genius,” I said, hugging him close to my chest as I flew for the edge of town. “Do you think she’ll agree?”
“If we let her possess someone else?” Sammy laughed. “She’ll be over the moon.”
Chapter Thirteen
Not only was Maggie excited about our plan, but she insisted Lance join us. Telling him the plan wasn’t a problem, but getting him alone was. Ida hadn’t left him out of her sight ever since he walked back into the town hall, keeping on his heels whenever I tried to pull him aside.
Eventually, I gave up and texted him using Kat’s phone instead, the quick message causing one brow to go up as he looked in my direction. When he met my gaze, I shrugged. Ida didn’t miss a beat, thwacking him upside the head before lecturing him on proper dating etiquette.
“Planning another date at a time
like this?” she asked, her voice carrying in the long hall.
Lance played along, smiling as he did. “What else am I supposed to do?” he asked, waving his good hand in the air. “Until that wolf out there is ready to talk, there isn’t much else I can do.”
“Can’t your wolf talk to him?” she asked, loud enough for everyone else to hear.
Uh oh. Now he’d never get to leave. Not only did most of the town not know he was a wolf, but if Lance could talk to the one outside, it would put him right in the center of everything.
“I’m not a mediator,” Lance explained, heading in my direction, “But Astrid is.” He passed me a hopeful gaze, then lowering his voice so only those close enough could hear, he asked, “Is she with you?”
I looked to my left where Maggie waited patiently, having seen the entire thing. “Waiting and willing,” I told him along with Kat, Ivan, and Ida. “Max is still out there, though.”
“You leave him to me,” Ivan offered, excusing himself from the group as Lance and I continued our discussion.
“So when did you come up with this plan?” Lance asked once he was gone.
“I didn’t,” I admitted, averting my gaze. “I actually planned to hotwire Felix’s truck.” That got a good laugh out of him. “Sammy suggested we bring Maggie here instead.”
“Good man. I guess we should get out there while we can,” he said, glancing around the room as most folks looked in our direction. To Ida, he said, “If there’s a lie, I want to know about it.”
“Can she detect a lie if the person talking isn’t the one in question?” I asked, not knowing how Ida’s gift worked on those under the influence of someone else.
“Only one way to find out.”
As soon as the five of us stepped outside (Sammy included) we were surrounded by the other officers along with Ivan and Max. Apparently, our chief of police wasn’t in the listening mood, placing himself between Lance and Felix’s truck.
“Come on, Max,” Lance said with a hint of disgust in his voice. “We can question him. We might even save someone.”
“No,” Max snapped, wincing as he grabbed at his arm. “You should leave him be.” Sweat covered his brow, his face flush.
“Lance,” I said under my breath.
“I know,” he replied, motioning for us to take a step back. Kat went even further, retreating into the hall for who-knows-what.
In front of us, the other officers penned Max in, their loyalty to their chief terribly obvious as Max struggled against his shift. I knew Harris’ charms were temporary, but I thought for sure they’d last longer than this. Max hugged his arms around himself and growled under his breath.
“Astrid, can you shield him like you did before?” Lance asked, his eyes focused on Max. “I know I’m asking too much, but—”
“I got it,” I told him, meeting Sammy’s gaze who was in agreement with me.
Ida stood behind us, placing a hand on my shoulder to keep me steady as I focused my shield on Max, encasing him in an invisible bubble the same way I’d done with the other wolf. Beside me, Maggie waited patiently, covering her mouth with her hand as she looked on. If a ghost could go pale, she might’ve done just that, her eyes widening as Max bristled and dropped to his knees.
Before he could finish his shift, Lance dropped to one knee and looked him right in the eye. “Who bit you?” When Max didn’t answer, Lance spoke again. “What wolf was it?”
Max shook his head, his entire body shaking. Behind him, the other officers looked on, no doubt as out of their minds as Max was. Keeping my focus on him, I watched for any signs of shifting on the other officers, of which there were none.
Maggie was the first to move, disappearing as soon as she reached my shield. My heart dropped, and I almost stopped my spell completely until Max spoke again, his words coming from Maggie.
“He doesn’t remember,” Maggie said, pausing as she searched his memory. “It happened after you sent him to Marcy’s,” she said, Max’s vacant eyes looking in my direction.
“Then it was probably the same wolf I saw before,” I said, gritting my teeth as my arms burned with fatigue. “He must’ve seen the other wolf. He made it sound like I’d made the whole thing up.”
“It sounds like he didn’t want to get blamed,” Lance said, reaching out to Max before retracting his hand. “Do you think you can hold him a while longer?”
“I’ll try,” I said, watching as Lance went around behind Max to place a pair of cuffs on him. The cuffs glimmered with magic, and once Max was secure and handed off to one of the other officers, Lance gave me the okay to let him go.
The world spun around me and I dropped to my hands and knees, struggling for breath as Sammy did the same. Ida stooped behind me, smoothing back my sweat-dampened hair. When she offered me a bottle of water from her purse, I waved it away.
“It’s safe,” she told me with a warm smile. “I’ve been drinking it all afternoon. I have a case of it at home I bought weeks ago.”
Too weak to stand, I sat back beside her and took the bottle she’d offered to me. I drank what was left in one gulp, wishing I had more as the bit she offered only made me feel worse. My mouth was dry, my throat raw, and as I fought to keep my eyes open, Sammy collapsed in my lap.
“It’s the magic drain,” Ida told me. “It’ll pass. Give yourself a few minutes.”
I nodded, then waved my hand to dismiss Lance’s look of concern. “I’m fine. Honest.”
“You don’t look fine,” he said, his brown eyes boring into my own.
“You wouldn’t happen to have one of those mana potions on you, would you?” I laughed, remembering the tiny blue vial he’d handed me after my run-in with a flock of witch hunters.
Lance patted himself down, then offered me a tight smile. “I wish I did.”
Getting to my feet with his help, I leaned against Ida as Lance took Sammy in his arms. The poor guy had taken on the brunt of our work. After warding Felix’s shop, helping me with the gray wolf, and now this, his exhaustion didn’t surprise me.
In fact, I wasn’t doing much better. Every step I took was agonizingly slow. It felt as though I’d been hit by a truck. With Ida’s help, we slowly made it over to Felix’s truck.
Without having to ask, Maggie invited herself over and possessed the unnamed wolf, nodding once she had full control.
Then Lance started his interrogation, keeping his voice level as he spoke. “Who are you?”
The wolf looked at him, its eyes glassy as Maggie answered for him. “Joe.”
My legs went out from underneath of me as Ida gently helped me to the ground.
“What do you remember? Were you bit?” Lance asked.
“He was bitten by a stray,” I cut in, coughing around the words. “Marcy said he had a fever the other day, but he’d been checked out. He didn’t have Rabies or anything.”
“That,” Maggie said for the wolf, “was a lie.”
I waited for Ida to say otherwise, but she nodded instead, allowing Lance to continue his interrogation.
“Were you bitten?” Lance reworded his previous question.
“Yes.”
“By who?”
“I…” The wolf whimpered, bowing its head. “I can’t access his memory,” Maggie said once the wolf calmed down. “He’s guarding it.”
“Please, we need to know. There are others who have also been infected. A man’s dead—”
“I cannot,” the wolf barked, its eyes narrowing at Lance. I’d never seen Maggie have a hard time with her possession of someone else before. There was clearly something this wolf wanted to hide.
“Where’s Marcy?” I asked before Lance could say anything. “Were you the one I saw this morning?”
“Yes.”
Oh god, Marcy. “The blood…” I closed my eyes and took an unsteady breath. “Who did it belong to?”
“No!” Joe, the wolf cried out.
Maggie reemerged from his body once he was through. “He won’t let m
e see anything else.”
“He’s shutting down,” I told Lance. “He kicked Maggie out. I don’t know how, but he did.”
“We need to find Marcy,” Lance said, turning away from Joe once he realized there wasn’t much left he could say. “She could be in trouble.” To me, he said, “Did she seem off at all yesterday?”
“You were there,” I reminded him.
“But you spent more time with her.”
I shook my head. “She seemed more chatty than usual, but she was also running the place by herself and probably hadn’t talked to anyone all day. Everything else seemed fine to me.”
“She wasn’t flush? No fever? No bandage on her arm? Anything out of the ordinary?”
Again I shook my head. “No. Everything was fine.” Thinking back to when I tried to check on her this morning, I said, “The wolf. Joe was in the bakery this morning. There was blood… lots of blood. I thought Marcy might’ve needed help opening up since her shop was still closed but the lights were on.”
“But when you checked on her, you found Joe instead.”
“Yes.”
Lance released a breath and ran his hands through his brown curls. “We already have one body—”
“Please,” I begged, covering my ears with my hands, “please don’t talk like that.”
I knew what he was going to say. Marcy’s dead. No one had heard from her since yesterday, and aside from Joe, I was the last one to see her. I’d stayed late to help her in the bakery and had even swept the floors.
“Did she leave with you?” Lance asked, drawing me from my thoughts.
“No, she finished up without me, but I could’ve sworn she said she was heading home. She hoped by then, Joe would’ve been asleep.”
“Has anyone checked their home?” This time Lance directed his question at the other officers along with Max who was still trying to turn into a wolf.
“There was no point,” Max spat, doubling over in pain.
“Did you find her?” Lance urged.
“We found… someone. A shoe.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because it bit me!”
