Southern Dreams

by Amy Boyles

  “Pepper, no!” Garrick yelled.

  I ignored him. This was my chance. My one shot to help the town.

  I broke through the deputies and quickly realized I was approaching Axel fast.

  The werewolf turned toward me, and my heart nearly stopped. The massive jaws, the long snout—I could easily fit inside the creature’s mouth.

  But that wasn’t where I was aiming. The beast positioned itself facing me, and I flung magic from my body.

  My feet left the air, and I sailed into the sky. My aim was Axel’s back, and that was exactly where I landed.

  I grabbed two big handfuls of fur. Axel, it’s me. Come to me! You’re in there, I know it!

  The wolf bucked but I hooked my feet into his sides. I was not about to let go. I grabbed hold and hunkered down, determined to ride the werewolf until he broke.

  Because he would eventually break.

  The crow flew from my shoulder as I was jolted up and down. I kept my grip, but sweat soaked my palms. My hand slipped. As I reached to regain my hold, the wolf bucked hard.

  I flew from his back and landed with a thud on the ground, right in front of Axel’s snarling mouth.

  Fear, bright and hot, flashed in my core. I stared at the jaws, knowing that Axel could snap me in two. I shielded my eyes, afraid of what would happen.

  Then the wolf opened his mouth and grabbed me around the waist. He lifted me into the air, turned and ran from the deputies into the night.

  Chapter 23

  The beast ran through neighborhoods until he reached a stretch of forest. The ride jolted me into a realization.

  He hadn’t eaten me. Axel hadn’t killed me. I was alive, but where was I going? Where was the beast taking me?

  Axel raced through the forest until we reached a clearing. Then he stopped. My heart thundered. Would he drop me?

  Then, ever so slowly, the wolf opened its massive jaws and I rolled from its mouth onto a bed of moss.

  I’d never been so thankful to see moss in my entire life. But I remained perfectly still, unsure what would happen next.

  Would Axel try to eat me? After all, I’d just given him a free meal if he wanted it. Or had he just brought me out here to have a friendly little chat?

  Just kidding. I hadn’t reached him before. There was no way I would now.

  I lay still, wondering exactly what to do next. Play dead? Wise choice or stupid? Well, one thing was for certain, I couldn’t lie on moss all night.

  I felt Axel’s warm breath on the back of my neck. He hadn’t moved since depositing me. I took that as a good sign.

  Ever so slowly, I rolled over so I could keep an eye on him. The wolf studied me with curiosity. I didn’t look him in the eye as I didn’t want to challenge him.

  I lay there for a moment, and the werewolf sat on his haunches. Another good sign.

  I slowly tucked my knees under me and rose to sit. No quick moves, nothing sudden that would spook him. Since I couldn’t reach Axel inside, I didn’t know exactly how feral he was, so I had to assume one hundred percent.

  No problem. I worked with animals every day. I could handle this.

  “Well,” I said quietly, “what do we do now?”

  The wolf cocked his head to one side as if in question.

  “The deputies will be looking for you,” I explained. “You’ve kidnapped me. Might be my fault. I don’t know. All I do know is that you looked pretty fierce back there, like you wanted to tear them apart. Then you took me. For all they know, I’m now your dinner.”

  The wolf whined. I almost laughed. Misery had wanted so badly to control us, and she still couldn’t, could she? The nightmares we’d each had all ended differently—from Idie Claire’s to mine to Axel’s.

  He wasn’t about to eat me. I bet if I offered to scratch his stomach, the beast would roll over.

  Not that I was going to do that. You know, teeth and all, but still…I probably could if I wanted to.

  I decided to try to talk to Axel out loud. “So…here we are. You and me. Axel, are you in there?”

  The wolf’s eyes narrowed. I wasn’t sure if that was a good sign.

  “Are you in there? It’s me, Pepper. I know you can hear me. Why can’t you just break through?”

  Even though I knew Misery’s spell blocked Axel from me, it didn’t help my irritation at the entire situation.

  My frustration must’ve been obvious. The wolf sat up and stared at me.

  “Axel!” I was angry now, yelling. “Get out of there!”

  Apparently that was the wrong thing to do. The beast growled and rose, padding forward.

  My heart leaped to my throat. Oh wow. I’d ticked him off now.

  “Sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean it.” I waved my hands, thinking it would calm him, but the werewolf’s growl grew louder.

  What would happen if it attacked? If I lived, would I become a werewolf like Axel? That was if I survived. From the looks of those massive jaws, I would not.

  I dug my feet in the moss, pushing myself back. I had to get to my feet. Had to figure out a way out of this.

  I decided to hold my ground. “Go away! Leave me alone!”

  The wolf leaned back on his haunches. He was ready to spring. I raised my hand, prepared to unleash a tidal wave of magic straight into Axel.

  I didn’t know what it would do. If it would hurt him or make things worse, but I had no other choice.

  Axel sprang. Magic flew from my hand.

  Just then, the crow appeared from out of nowhere. It dive-bombed Axel, clawing at his head.

  The wolf, shocked and surprised, broke his attack and careened in the opposite direction before stopping. My magic hit a tree and broke it in half.

  The top of the pine fell next to Axel. He jumped and ran off into the forest, disappearing with a crunch of leaves and breaking branches.

  I flattened my hand to my heart and sank to my knees. I pinched my thumb and forefinger together.

  “This close,” I whispered to no one. “I came this close to hurting him.”

  But so did Axel. He would’ve done some serious damage to me. I needed out of the forest before he decided to come back.

  The crow landed softly on the ground in front of me. I’d almost forgotten about it. I stared at the creature, who seemed completely uninterested in me.

  “You saved me,” I said. “You did it without me asking or begging, or me even being nice to you.”

  Wait. I had offered the bird water and food. Not that it had eaten them, but I had made the offer.

  I knelt on the ground and extended my hand. “Thank you for saving me.”

  The crow stared at me unblinking. It seemed foolish to talk to a bird that wasn’t talking back. After all, I was used to animals at least acknowledging my presence with a meow or something.

  But all this bird did was stare. At me. Like I had two heads.

  Yet that wasn’t going to stop me. “Seriously. I know you’re angry about your situation. I know you want to be back with Misery. I can’t say I blame you. But this is where we are. In a forest. With a werewolf not far away, and you clearly attacked him to save me. Thank you for that.”

  The crow still didn’t say anything.

  Unsure of how to take that, I decided the best course of action was to simply shrug it off. “Let’s get out of here, okay? Get back to the house.”

  I walked off back toward Bubbling Cauldron. I figured I’d run into Garrick and his men. At first the crow didn’t come with me, but after a few steps the bird landed softly on my shoulder.

  I couldn’t contain the smile that spread across my face.

  I ran into Garrick not long after and told him what happened. He looked like he wanted to spank me. For that, I didn’t blame him.

  “Good thing is, Axel ran off toward the mountain, away from everyone.”

  “I’ll send some men in that direction.” Garrick motioned for several deputies to split off and search. Then he turned to me. “That was really stupid, wha
t you did.”

  I shrugged. “You would have done it if it was Cordelia and you were in the same situation.”

  Garrick glowered but he knew I was right. He absolutely knew it. There was no doubt in my mind.

  He rubbed his chin and studied me. “You’re right. But that doesn’t make any of that true or right. Or even reasonable.”

  I lightly punched his shoulder. “Thanks for not arresting me for…anything that you might’ve arrested me for.”

  He shot me a dark look. “You’re welcome. Now get home before anything else bad happens. Hurry. Your cousins and Sherman should be on their way, too. Now scat.”

  Garrick didn’t have to tell me twice. I rushed back through the rest of the forest and spilled out onto Bubbling Cauldron. The scene was still absolute chaos, but I kicked up my feet and ran as fast as I possibly could, dodging stray magic as if it were bullets.

  By the time I reached the house, my chest was heaving, my side hurt and sweat poured down my forehead even though it was cold outside.

  The crow, for what it was worth, had latched on to me good. When my hand touched the doorknob to Betty’s house, I didn’t even notice its presence anymore.

  I threw open the door and shut it quickly behind me. The living room was empty. I expected to see Betty stirring the cauldron.

  “Hello?” I called.

  No answer.

  “Hello?” I repeated, expecting Betty to at least respond. I didn’t know if my cousins and Sherman had arrived, but surely Betty would be there.

  And Grumpy. Where was Grumpy?

  The door opened and in raced Amelia, Cordelia and Sherman.

  “Well, speak of the devil,” I said. “Or at least think of the devil because I was thinking about y’all.”

  “I hope it was good,” Amelia said. “Because we’ve been through heck out there. It’s horrible.”

  Cordelia shrugged out of her jacket. “You can say that again. Magnolia Cove’s gone crazy.”

  Amelia glanced around. “Where’s Betty?”

  “I was about to ask y’all that.” I tapped my toe impatiently. “I just got in and the house seems empty.”

  Right as I said that, Grumpy appeared in the kitchen doorway. His shoulders hunched as he stooped to enter the breakfast nook.

  “Grumpy,” I said. “I’ve been calling but no one answered. Where’s Betty?”

  Grumpy didn’t answer. Instead he made his way to the couch and sat, hanging his head.

  “I tried,” he mumbled.

  I shot my cousins and Sherman a confused look.

  “Tried what?” Sherman said as he unwrapped a canary-yellow scarf from his neck.

  “To stop,” Grumpy said.

  I tiptoed over to the creature. “You tried to stop? Stop what?”

  “It.”

  That didn’t exactly help. I rubbed my lips together and had to remind myself that I needed to be patient. Grumpy didn’t have the same vocabulary we did. It wasn’t as well-rounded. He didn’t have years of practice. He only had days.

  “What do you mean, it?” Cordelia asked. “What it?”

  Grumpy shook his head. “Not an it. Person. Woman.”

  “What do you mean?” I said. “What person? What woman?”

  Amelia’s arms flared. “Grumpy, are you trying to tell us that Misery showed up?”

  I nearly gasped. My gaze darted to Grumpy, and I watched for a sign, any sign that Amelia was wrong.

  Grumpy nodded. “The woman. I tried to stop it. But she took Betty.”

  My eyes widened. I fell to my knees in front of Grumpy and took his hand. “Misery took Betty. She took her from this house?”

  “Yes.”

  “You don’t happen to know where they went, do you?” Sherman asked.

  The chances were pretty much zero that Grumpy would know, but I had to hand it to Sherman; it was a smart question.

  Grumpy replied by slowly nodding again.

  He knew! Grumpy knew where Misery had taken her. I prayed it wasn’t Misery’s house because if that was the case then the possibility of infiltrating and saving Betty was small. Misery had blocked us from entry several times. There was no reason to think this would be any different.

  Grumpy wasn’t answering. I grabbed his shoulders. “Where? Where did she take Betty?”

  Grumpy took my hands off him. He pointed to the front door. “Cabin, she said. Took Betty there.”

  The hair on the back of my neck soldiered to attention. Oh dear goodness. Misery had taken Betty to the cabin—the place of Betty’s nightmares.

  Our role was to disappear from there, one by one.

  I licked my lips and met my cousins’ gaze. “Time to meet our worst nightmare.”

  Chapter 24

  We took Grumpy with us. I figured, why not? He might have an idea where this cabin was, as none of us did.

  Amelia wouldn’t let Sherman come. She told him this was something the three of us cousins had to do. So she sent him off to help Garrick.

  After all, Sherman might need to call in reinforcements from the Order. If things kept getting bad and witches and wizards continued to turn on one another, we would need extra help.

  A lot of help.

  We followed Grumpy back to the house Axel had bought for me. Back past the front gate and past the meadow until we found ourselves deep in the thick woods.

  Foliage so dense the lights we held barely revealed more than three feet in front of our faces.

  A dense fog flared up, and we huddled close.

  “I really, really don’t like any of this,” Cordelia said.

  “Join the club,” I added. “If I could go home, I would.”

  “Can we?” Amelia said, her voice shaking.

  “No,” I snapped. “You know that.”

  She peered around at the dark trees. “This place gives me the creeps. At least you have a crow on your shoulder. It’ll keep you company.”

  “It doesn’t even talk,” I pointed out.

  She shrugged. “Still. It’s better than nothing.”

  Cordelia stopped. “Did y’all feel that?”

  I looked up. “What?”

  She turned around and said ominously, “Snow. Wasn’t that part of Betty’s dream?”

  “I don’t remember. Maybe.”

  “It was,” Amelia whimpered. “I recall that.”

  In order to assuage her fears, I shoved out my chest and lifted my chin. “Good. Then we’re on track. Since it snowed in Betty’s dream, that means we should find her soon.”

  I didn’t want to give Amelia a reason to get soft on us. We needed her ready, willing and able to tackle what was to come. The three of us knew what was going to happen, but we didn’t know why. Why did we leave? Why didn’t we return to the cabin?

  So many questions and absolutely no answers.

  The snow fell hard and fast. It stacked to my ankles in minutes. Within half an hour it was up to our knees. Frigid cold burned into my flesh.

  I hadn’t dressed for a snowstorm. My teeth chattered, my muscles ached and my toes were on fire.

  “Grumpy,” I said, “how much farther is it?”

  Grumpy pointed. “There.”

  Sure enough, at the edge of a row of pines sat a small log cabin. Wood smoke plumed from the chimney, the scent of it making me want to fall into the snow and weep for happiness.

  But I knew what was inside that cabin. It was time to find Betty.

  We walked to the door. “Grumpy, you stay outside and keep watch. In case someone tries to come in, you stop them, okay?”

  Grumpy grunted, which I took to be his version of okay.

  I turned to my cousins. “Y’all ready?”

  They both nodded. I exhaled a deep shot of air and turned the knob.

  A thousand thoughts flooded my mind. What would I see when we entered? Would Betty be in there alone? Would Misery be inside instead of Betty? What kind of craziness would we be facing?

  The door creaked as I pushed it open. I held
my breath.

  Inside, the cabin was cozy. A warm fire burned in the hearth, and all sorts of antler decorations were sprinkled around the room—from lamps to a chandelier, to mounted horns on the walls, this place was stocked with antlers.

  And one Betty.

  She sat in a rocking chair, knitting a pink ombré scarf. My grandmother looked up when we entered.

  “Hey, Betty,” I said hesitantly. I was literally waiting for someone, like Misery, to jump out of corner.

  “Hey, kids,” she said nonchalantly.

  The three of us crept inside. I scanned the room, but we were the only people in the cabin. “You okay?” I said.

  “Oh yeah, just sitting here knitting myself a new scarf.”

  Amelia folded her arms. “I thought you told us that you’d rather be dead than caught knitting.”

  Betty scoffed. “Now why would I ever say that?”

  “Because it’s true.” Cordelia peeked inside the kitchen. “You would.”

  “Now girls, that’s ridiculous.”

  “Betty.” I crossed to her and stood, afraid to sit. I didn’t want to get too comfortable in this place. “Where’s Misery?”

  “Who?” She flicked a hand at me. “Why do you have a crow on your shoulder, Pepper?”

  “You put it there,” I said.

  Betty scoffed. “Now why would I do that? He seems like such an ugly bird.” She reached for him. “Why don’t you give him to me?”

  I leaned away. Why would Betty want the crow? I looked at the bird, and the crow flapped its wings, leaning away from Betty.

  Something didn’t smell right in the cabin, but I didn’t want Betty to know that.

  “Give me a second. I just need to talk to Cordelia and Amelia.” I paused and stared at her. “Do you want to come home?”

  Betty shook her head. “Why? It’s so nice in here.”

  I stared at the fire. “It is nice. Be right back.”

  I motioned to my cousins to meet me by the door. “It’s not her.”

  Cordelia glanced over my shoulder. “You sure?”

  I nodded. “She wants the bird. Betty wouldn’t want it.”

  “Why would she want the bird?” Amelia said.