Page 67 of Shifting Years
"But," I said, "I didn't know itwould happen. It just did."
Authors like Carlos Castaneda and others were right. Absolute will could rewrite reality. Tina and Dawn were proof, but they had control. I tapped into something I shouldn't have touched.
"Don't tellanyone." His voice stayed low. "I'll see about the bayou ladies, and we need to track that thing down, cuz it ain't Henry no more." It looked like he was going to say something else, but his face softened. "Just stay here, and for all our sakes, don't do any more wishing."
It's an Omega instinct to listen, but every fiber of human and wolf said I should go. She wasmydaughter, but the sheriff's words made sense. Others needed my help, especially with no doctor. One day we'd get one, even if I had to choke our useless pack leader, but it wasn't today.
My growing power to sense someone's need screamed from behind in several directions. Ahead, men in trucks and others as wolves fanned out in pairs of two, looking for a monster I set loose upon the world.
Is this the last time I'll see them? What about Angel?
I turned, telling myself a small crowd would find her and to concentrate on the men and women in front of me. Mary lay broken on the ground, bloodless but barely breathing. Penny, the pretty woman who could be a model, stared up with bloodshot eyes, perhaps hoping she wouldn't live my Alpha-less life. To their side, was their infant daughter miraculously not harmed.
I grabbed a First Aid kit, and my fingers brushed over bandages and bottles until thick gauze felt right. Instinct had me wrap Mary's elbow with a broken plank from their cabin. Once done, she stirred awake. I whispered so low, that only the two ladies heard. "I'm sorry. I did this."
"Maybe," said Mary slowly. She gestured to the splint. "That too." Even after the attack, she still found time to make me feel better.
She coughed violently and I found a lozenge on the ground, amid the rubble. Penny placed her hands on mine and then withdrew as if touching me burnt her fingers.
"We'll find her Mike," she said. "N-nothing will happen."
***
A month of torture passed, and Penny was half-right. Nothing happened, but wolves went out far and wide, looking foranything.There were no smashed trees, animal carcasses, or clothes belonging to a little girl. My daughter and a monster vanished off the face of the Earth.
Tina and Dawn were nowhere to be found. Their tiny metal house sat undisturbed, but when I stepped toward it, one word pounded in my head.Respect.
I had opened the rusty door anyway, finding an old room the exact size of a shack. Maybe it was too late. If humans saw a giant, armored, slithering monster, they wouldn't believe it, despite their eyes. Disbelief would erase it and anyone around them from existence.
My hand rested on my stomach. I couldn't take another loved one taken away, and certainly not erased.Please, let me find my little girl, ladies. It's not a wish, but I need to make sure she's okay.
A minute in the swamp crept by with no answer except a dank, watery smell.
If I don't see her soon, I'll wish and promise anything in return.
Again, there was no answer, but I could imagine the universe frowning in response.
Two more weeks passed, searching in groups, and searching alone. Even the human authorities were brought in. To them, my wife was dead since we couldn't explain howIhad a child andhad to lie about the time. Between searches, I helped nurse Mary back to health and other still injured shifters, hoping I'd hear something.
I didn't.
***
Mary healed and their cabin was almost rebuilt, and I offered mine as a temporary home. Penny's hand rested on my palm while a tiny, static voice blared from a twenty-one-inch television. The other three stations had the same overall message.
The solemn voice of a news anchor filled the room. "Massacre today at Triple Island Campground, where two families were found brutally slaughtered."
The screen flashed images of bodies covered in white sheets already soaked with blood.
"The strange wave patterns in the ground could be Satanic markings of some kind."
My threat to the bayou ladies never happened. I never made another wish offering anything, but I got my sign, a first real clue, and more shame. People would be alive if it weren't for me. None of the reports mentioned a five-year-old girl, but not all the victims were adults. Someone paid the price, so I could believe Angel still lived.
"I'm going." Before Mary could speak, I continued. "She's my daughter." I pointed totheirbaby daughter sleeping in the crib. "What would you all do?"
"I'd go," whispered Mary.
"And that would be a mistake," said Penny. "Let the menfolk do it because that's what they're supposed to do." Technically, it was Alphas.
