Page 60 of A Malicious Menagerie
“And you can,” I reassure him. “Nathan will be able to help get you home.”
“Assuming he’s telling the truth,” he grumbles. “But regardless… Anna, what areyougoing to do?”
“Oh, I…” The question throws me. My answer was to go to Alaska with him, but his thoughts obviously didn’t go in the same direction. “I, umm…” I shrug plaintively.
Chase squints at me. “That’s not an answer, and you’re smarter than going into this mad plan half-assed. So, be honest: what do you plan to do? Because you can’t keep working here, and you can’t go home.”
“I know,” I say slowly. “Which is why… I thought maybe… I could go to Alaska with you.”
He goes still, his amber eyes wide. “Is that really what you want? To live in Alaska?”
“Well, I never really thought about it in the past,” I admit. “I guess if someone asked me, I would have said that it was too cold, and there was too little sunlight, and that I’m used to living around a lot more people. But…” Ishrug again, feeling very exposed. “I also wouldn’t have known thatyouwere there.”
Chase’s eyes soften. “Yeah, it’s cold, and the winters are dark. But in the springtime, we get the most amazing wildflowers. And in the dark, we get the aurora borealis.”
Hope wells in my chest, fizzy like champagne. “Are you trying to convince me to go?”
He grins. “Is it working?”
“It’s tempting,” I tease. “But I have one question before I decide.”
He tilts his head curiously. “What’s that?”
“Do you want me to go to Alaska with you?” I ask softly. “Me and Nan?”
He steps closer until I have to crane my neck to meet his molten eyes. He brings his hands up to bracket my face, his touch gentle but his skin rough, before leaning down to press his lips to mine. I wind my arms around his neck, absorbing his warmth, his wild pine scent, his taste, his steady presence.
When he leans away, I’m tempted to pull him right back in. But his expression is solemn, and he’s so rarely serious that I find myself waiting with bated breath. “Anna,” he murmurs, “will you come home with me?”
Every second since I first stepped foot in the menagerie has been a roller coaster ride with no seat belt. I’ve seen fantastical things I never could have imagined in my humdrum life before. I’ve been threatened, belittled, and disregarded. I’ve made friends and allies, and I’ve made enemies. I’ve even witnessed a murder.
But I also met Chase. So would I trade a single second of it?
“Yes,” I reply with a beatific grin. “I will go home with you.”
27
The Costume
Before long, the last vestiges of summer fade with a coconut-sunscreen-scented whimper into a whirlwind of falling leaves that gambol on the crisp autumn breeze. Pumpkins pop up on stoops like prolific mushrooms beneath a moldering log, most carved into an eclectic mix of grotesque faces, sunny smiles, cats, and witches. My own stoop bucks tradition with a wolf painstakingly carved and illuminated by buttery yellow candlelight.
On Halloween night, I don my costume with unbridled glee. It was getting harder and harder to keep the surprise from Chase, who asked me more than once why I was being so squirrelly. It was easy enough to convince him that I was nervous about the upcoming gala and our escape plan. Despite his bravado, I know he’s nervous, too.
When I walk into the breakroom that night, John is already there throwing his usual white-plastic-bagged lunch into the fridge. He’s taken to writing his name in three different places on his yogurt, but it still tends to mysteriously disappear. He glances up at me as I walk through the door, and when he sees my costume, he scowls. “What the fuck are you wearing?”
“Well, hello to you, too,” I reply, ignoring him. Not even his doom and gloom can bring me down tonight. “Happy Halloween.”
“This isn’t a damn kindergarten,” he growls. “There’s no one here that’s gonna even see a stupid costume.”
“Well, you’ve seen it,” I point out. “Colby even cracked a smile when he saw me, and I don’t think I’veeverseen that man smile. Plus, I can see it, and it makes me happy.”
“Simple,” he grumbles under his breath.
“Life is best with simple pleasures,” I agree, ignoring that he was most definitely callingmesimple.
What I don’t mention is that the costume is more for Chase than anyone. John still doesn’t know that I’ve been spending so much time with the werewolf, and I plan to keep it that way.
After tucking away my dinner and grabbing a walkie-talkie, I make my way to the woods, my feet unconsciously tracing the same convoluted path I take most nights now to hide the Halloween cookies and blood I’m carrying in my fanny pack. Not wanting to ruin the full effect, I stop in the trees a few yards away from the wolf enclosure to sling off the pack and hide it in some thick brush. That done, I fluff my blonde hair, which I usually wear up in a messy bun or ponytail but today took the time to curl and leave long. Finally, I pull my hood up over my head, fussing with how it drapes over my forehead before continuing on with a sly grin.
