by Cutter, Leah
Lukas jerked his head around to see Rudi, then back again to Mei Ling. He’d been thinking these things for so long, but he’d never had a tongue with which to say them.
Did he need to keep all his secrets still? Could he finally tell someone what was going on?
“What do you mean, the knight? Ritter?” Mei Ling asked, using the German word.
Lukas nodded. He looked at Rudi, helpless. What secrets could he tell?
“Do you trust her?” Rudi asked softly.
“Yes,” Lukas said without hesitation.
“Then you can tell her what she needs to hear,” Rudi replied.
“I am the guardian hound,” Lukas said, standing, then turning to face her.
He towered over Mei Ling. And Rudi. He had no idea he’d be this tall as a human.
“Oma—my grandmother—told me that one of my breed only comes when the need is dire. But I am…” Lukas paused.
The words had been so hard to hear as a boy; now, after so many years in hiding, they were still difficult to say.
“I am not part of it. A member of the knight. I can’t defeat the shadows myself. I merely search out the people who are necessary to save the world. You. Sally. Peter. Others.”
“And what will we do, after you’ve brought us together?” Mei Ling asked, skeptical.
“Amazing things,” Lukas assured her. He suddenly felt the solid warmth of the knight’s sword beside him. “You will defeat the shadows. Drive them from the earth.”
“How?” Mei Ling insisted.
“There’s a knight, and a sword…. You are part of the knight. Your scales are part of his armor.” Lukas said, looking down, pressing his lips together. Such an odd feeling, to press his teeth against his lips. “I don’t know exactly how,” he said. “But I know you will. I’ve seen it.” His dreams only rarely showed him the knight and his battle with the shadows—just often enough that Lukas didn’t despair.
“Foreseen it?” Mei Ling clarified.
“Yes,” Lukas said. “But it isn’t clear.”
“Prophesy is like that,” Mei Ling said kindly.
“Will the shadows try to stop you?” Rudi asked, looking around the room, seeking their enemy.
“Yes,” Lukas said, as certain of it as he was his hound soul. “And they’ll attack the others who are part of the knight. You need to be careful. So will Sally, and Peter.”
“They won’t stop me,” Mei Ling said, her smile brighter, her teeth suddenly larger.
“Or me,” Rudi said, standing at attention, his ears and snout transforming him into a hound warrior.
“Good,” Lukas said. Hamlin rose and he added his own snarling voice, “I’ve been wanting to go hunting shadows for a long while.”
# # #
The flip-flops Albert found hurt Lukas’ feet: He didn’t remember ever wearing such things. The gray drawstring pants barely slid up past his hips, and he couldn’t button the bright yellow-and-green shirt.
But at least he had enough clothes to be decent, to go outside.
Lukas sat in the backseat of Rudi’s car. It was uncomfortably small. His head brushed up against the ceiling and his knees were pushed up against the front seat.
The air was no longer alive with scents. Lukas missed chasing and teasing apart all the smells he could catch. His human nose couldn’t identify anywhere near as many as Hamlin’s.
After they dropped Mei Ling off at a hotel (at her insistence), Lukas gratefully moved up front. However, even with the seat fully pushed back, he still couldn’t stretch his legs all the way out.
“I’m going to have to get a new car, aren’t I?” Rudi asked as he watched Lukas squirming in the seat, trying to get comfortable.
“I’m going to have to learn to drive, aren’t I?” Lukas groaned. Even as a hound, he hadn’t liked cars that much.
“It’s a handy skill, Prince.”
Lukas twitched, but he wasn’t sure why. Before Lukas could think more about it, however, Rudi asked, “Was it Lady Metzler, your grandmother, who cursed you?”
Lukas paused for only a moment before he said, “Yes.” Then he took a deep breath. He didn’t feel relief after letting go of that secret, not like he’d expected.
“I suspected she had, when I saw her last week,” Rudi said. He added, “I’m sorry.”
Lukas shook his head. Sorry wasn’t right. She’d saved him, kept him safe from the shadows by forcing him to stay in the form of a hound, despite how she’d done it. His dreams had shown him, too many times, what would happen if he’d remained in human form.
It had still been such a terrible price. Why hadn’t she found another way?
“I can’t get us to Germany, to the court, for at least a day, maybe two,” Rudi said. “I need to get papers for you, first.”
There it was again, that uncomfortable twitch at something Rudi said, and not just about going home, seeing his family after all this time.
“Papers?” Lukas asked, pinpointing it after a moment. He didn’t need to prove his hound heritage, did he?
“Passport. Birth certificate. Social Security number. Like that.” Rudi paused, thinking. “When we get to Germany, we can replace them with real versions. A German passport, visas, like that.”
“Okay,” Lukas said. He’d misunderstood. He’d leave all that to Rudi.
“Do you want to tell them?” Rudi asked quietly. “Before we get there? Your family, the court?”
Lukas shook his head no. He didn’t want them to know, not until he could tell them in person, could see them again.
To see Da, and Mama, and Greta—anytime Rudi had started talking about them, Lukas had left the room. He hadn’t wanted to know. Not if he couldn’t be there with them. Now—he didn’t know how he felt about seeing them again. He knew he should want to, but he just wasn’t sure.
Lukas followed Rudi into the house, trying to listen to his instructions on how to turn off the alarm system, but he couldn’t pay attention.
This had been his home for over a year, and while it smelled the same, it was still so different.
First, everything was smaller. He hadn’t realized the walls in the living room were a cheery yellow, or that the couch was a comforting brown. It seemed neater as well, or maybe that was because he could see around all the obstacles.
“Are you hungry?” Rudi asked, noticing Lukas’ distraction.
Lukas paused. Was he? Was that what he felt? “Yes?” he replied, unsure.
Rudi laughed. “Come on,” he said, walking into the kitchen. “I don’t know a seventeen-year-old boy who isn’t perpetually starving.”
Rudi continued to lay out plans as he prepared thick cream-of-tomato soup, wheat-free garlic-cheese bread, and fatty sausages, “Comfort food,” he proclaimed as he served them. He talked about buying clothes for Lukas, getting “barefoot shoes” (whatever those were), and luggage and certificates and on and on.
Lukas focused on the taste and feel of the food—so very different than what he’d been eating. While his nose wasn’t as good, there were so many more flavors and textures in his mouth: Savory and sweet, salty and creamy, crunchy and juicy.
“And you should go talk to Sally and Peter,” Rudi said as they finished. “I can loan you some sweats and a hoodie that I think will fit you.”
Lukas nodded. He did need to talk to them, to tell Sally why he’d been guarding her, to make sure they both understood how important they were.
Rudi’s clothes did fit better than what Lukas had on—long, comfortable, navy blue sweats, a soft, faded gray T-shirt, and a hoodie. Rudi even dragged out an old pair of sneakers that had belonged to his older brother.
“Thank you,” Lukas said, still feeling as though he was settling into his own skin, decorating an outside that didn’t belong with his insides.
“Of course, Prince,” Rudi said casually.
“Don’t call me that,” Lukas said, then bit his lips, as if he could take back the words.
Rudi raised a single eyeb
row and waited as the silence rolled between them.
“That’s a dog’s name,” Lukas explained finally. It was what Rudi had always called his hound form.
“Ah,” Rudi said, nodding. “But you are my prince. I may have called you that when you were in hound form, but it was to remind both of us of your royalty.”
“Okay,” Lukas said, looking down at his covered feet. He hadn’t understood the human nuance. He suspected he was going to embarrass himself frequently as he learned.
He’d been living in the human world, but not as a human.
“I won’t use just ‘Prince’ since that makes you uncomfortable,” Rudi promised.
Luka nodded, the continued embarrassment turning the warm food in his stomach to a solid, uncomfortable ball. “I’m going to go visit Sally and Peter,” he said, wanting to flee.
“I’ll walk with you,” Rudi said.
“I can walk myself,” Lukas snapped. Then he shook his head. He kept stumbling over his tongue, inserting his newly human feet into his mouth.
“Yes, yes, you can,” Rudi said, agreeing. “But I just got you back, Lukas. I’m afraid to let you out of my sight.”
Lukas understood Rudi’s fear all too well. He didn’t want to change into hound form again, to call Hamlin too close, afraid the curse would return or that shadows would attack.
But he also had to learn to navigate this human world as a human, and he needed to do that on his own.
“Flank guard?” Lukas proposed, meaning that Rudi would walk behind him and to the side. That way, Rudi could keep him in sight, help him if he got into any trouble, but wouldn’t be next to him, by his side.
“It would be an honor,” Rudi said seriously.
Lukas walked over to where Rudi was standing. “I don’t know how to do this,” he said out loud, but he tried anyway, giving Rudi a hug, like how Da had hugged him when he’d been a boy. “Thank you,” he said, his heart full of everything he couldn’t say, of ten years of gratitude toward this man who had kept him safe.
“It was always my pleasure, my prince,” Rudi said.
Lukas knew there wasn’t anything horrible waiting for him outside the house, but even if there had been, he knew he would face it gladly with this man at his side.
# # #
Lukas stayed in human form on the walk to Sally’s apartment, so he couldn’t really sense Rudi behind him. However, the knowledge that Rudi was there made him walk with broader steps, secure and safe. The streets were full of people on their Saturday errands. One day, would he be able to walk so aimlessly, like he had as a dog? Right now the need to do more buzzed under his skin, pricking him sharper than the shadows.
Even without his hound nose, Lukas could still smell Sally’s apartment building from half a block away, a unique mixture of old cat, older bricks, city dust, and the particular people living in the three-story building.
Lukas buzzed Sally’s apartment number on the intercom, waiting until the crackling voice said, “Hello?”
“Hi,” Lukas said. “It’s Lukas.” He paused, and though he knew no one was close by, he still very softly added, “Pixie.”
“Oh. Oh! Let me buzz you in.”
The hallway smelled more strongly of a cat’s litter box. Lukas was surprised at how dingy it seemed. As a hound, he’d loved the old, red carpet; it held so many interesting scents. Now, he could see how threadbare it was, how the walls were all scuffed, and that two of the lights in the hallway were burned out. Thinking back, he realized it had been out for a while.
“Hi,” Lukas said, awkwardly sticking out his hand to Sally when she opened the door. “I’m Lukas.”
“Sally,” she said with a cheery twinkle in her eye that made Lukas feel better. She wore a bright red–and-white plaid shirt with jeans, her hair pulled back into a high ponytail. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”
Peter came up and they shook hands as well. He was in an old T-shirt advertising an even older band. They stared at each other in the dark vestibule.
Not only did Lukas’ nose tell him that Peter was more than he seemed, Lukas’ eyes did as well: Even though Peter was fully human, he still appeared to wear a large, long, feathered cloak.
Peter stared right back. “I don’t see it.” His eyes suddenly turned raven-black. After a moment, he said, “There’s something there, but I don’t know what it is.”
Lukas nodded, fascinated that Peter couldn’t tell just by looking at him that he was from the hound clan. It meant the old curse still worked.
When Peter came all the way back, he seemed chagrined. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have made you wait like that.”
Lukas shrugged. It hadn’t bothered him.
“Come on in,” Peter said, gesturing to the living room.
Like Rudi’s place, this old home of Lukas’ looked smaller. It also seemed a lot more run-down. The long olive green couch Lukas sat on was patched on the arms, the TV cabinet was badly scratched, and the coffee table needed to be refinished. It still felt happy and warm, a welcome refuge.
“Can I get you something?” Sally called from the kitchen. “Coke? Beer?”
“Just water, thanks,” Lukas replied. He had yet to try alcohol, and he’d already learned that even unsweetened food tasted overly sweet to him.
“So you were cursed, huh?” Peter asked as Sally joined them.
Lukas nodded. “Thanks,” he said, taking a sip of his water. “Ten years,” he added.
Peter gave a long whistle. “It’s been ten years since you’ve been in human form?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you know who cursed you?” Sally asked.
“Oma, my grandmother,” Lukas admitted. It was easier to say it out loud the second time—but admitting it still didn’t bring any relief.
“Dude, that sucks,” Peter said.
Lukas looked up, surprised at his sympathy. Was it possible that he could make friends now? He hadn’t even considered it. “The curse did protect me from the shadows. Saved my life.”
“The shadows?” Peter asked, growing dangerous and still.
Sally looked at Peter, then at Lukas, then said softly, “Tell us about the shadows.”
“They don’t—I don’t think they come from here. They’ve been brought here, through magic. If they gain power, more power than they have, they’ll move out into the world and destroy everything. Suck the life out of every living thing, boil the oceans, dissolve the mountains into heaps of dust.” Lukas shivered, images from his childhood nightmares returning.
“Oma said they were connected to hound magic,” Lukas continued. “However, that creature that attacked you—” he nodded toward Sally “—that was tiger magic, and it was infected with shadows. Which means either my grandmother was wrong, or they’ve already spread. Maybe tainting the magic of all the clans.”
Peter got up and went digging in a green canvas backpack sitting near the door. He brought back a charm, made from twigs but tied with a strong, white thread. “How about this?” he asked, showing it to Lukas.
Hamlin rose and scent entered the world: The smell of the burgers that Sally and Peter had eaten the night before, the sex they’d had earlier, the car outside with the bad engine, the couple above them cleaning their camping gear, the squirrel in the tree near the window with the cat two branches away, and…
Lukas shook his head and focused back on the charm. The magic in it was surprisingly uniform, but not strong.
And not a hint of the shadows was attached to it.
Lukas shook his head and handed it back to Peter. “No shadows,” he said.
“I made it,” Peter admitted.
“Cool,” Lukas said. He’d never had training in magic, making charms or casting simple spells. Maybe now he could learn. Then he paused.
There was the faintest trace of the shadows still in the air, that foul, wet-ash smell.
Lukas stalked over to the bag. It didn’t hold any shadows, but it had been near them. Smeared with them. “This pack?”
Lukas asked, turning and showing it to them.
“Was my friend’s, Jesse’s,” Peter said. “He was killed by the same woman who cast that tiger shadow creature that attacked you two.”
“She’s strong,” Lukas said, taking in her scent, the barest thread of it still intertwined with the bag. “And completely corrupted by the shadows.”
Peter exchanged a glance with Sally. “She won’t be walking for a while. We don’t really have to worry about her.”
“She can still do magic from her bed,” Lukas pointed out, putting the pack back on the floor. “I wouldn’t discount her.”
Peter nodded grimly. “I understand.”
Lukas sat back down. “There will be a battle, with the shadows,” he said, hesitatingly. “You’re essential to it,” he added, addressing Sally. “Both of you are. I don’t know exactly what will happen when we confront them. There’s the knight. You,” Lukas said, nodding toward Sally again, “you’re the heart.”
“That’s why you came to stay with me?” Sally asked.
“Yes. I am a guardian hound. My breed is rare. We rise only when needed.”
“Interesting,” Peter said. “So your dad—”
“Is a scent hound, like most of the court.”
“I—we know so little of the other clans,” Peter confessed.
“We all know about the ravens,” Lukas replied. He looked down at his hands, running them together. They were so big. “We were warned about them, actually.”
“Why?” Peter asked sharply.
“Why?” Lukas asked, surprised. Didn’t Peter know what they’d done?
“The raven elders, uhm, purged, I guess, a lot of our history. I didn’t even know about the existence of the other clans until recently,” Peter explained.
“Back in 1731, the raven clan betrayed all the other clans,” Lukas said. “They told their secrets to the British, then worked with them to decimate every clan at their sacred temple.”
Peter turned white under his normally dark skin. “I didn’t know.”
Lukas nodded. The recitation had started with the Roman meaning of “decimate,” to kill one in ten. For some clans, though, the number had been higher. “In the end, the British turned against the raven clan. Your clan was decimated, too.”
