Page 38 of A Little Red
The woman took an aggressive step forward, her hands clenching in fists at her sides, but she stopped, seeming to vibrate in anger.
“He isnotyours!”
“Yes, he is. And I want him back.”
“He wasneveryours. There is no back. There is no future. You will leave and you will never come back.”
“I want my wolf,” said Scarlet.
The woman made a snarling, angry noise and turned on her heel. Scarlet realized, too late, that the woman was going to lock her in again and ran after her, reaching the door as it shut.
“Bring me my wolf!” she screamed out the words in fury and slapped the door, her power adding an ominous boom to the sound that probably echoed across the entire building. Almost immediately a lonesome wolf began to howl in a long wavering note.
Scarlet wanted to cry. She didn’t know what was going on. Her head felt jumbled, like she’d been tossed around in a drier for a week, but she knew with certainty that the woman was wrong. That washerwolf. And right now he was some place without her.
Sniffing fiercely, Scarlet straightened up and put her shoulders back. She’d tried childish and demanding and gotten nowhere. It was time to be smarter. She took a deep breath, trying to center herself and was surprised to find it was easy. There was none of the everyday clutter of life here. A low buzz of electricity was the only background interference. She could feel the deep exhalation of the forest outside the window. The place, despite the angry woman locking her in a bedroom, was a good place.
Scarlet pulled on her backpack and went to the window. It was sealed shut, of course. She prepared herself and then grabbed the spindly little chair by the bed and threw it through the window.
Moments later the door flew open and a man ran in.
“She’s climbed out the window!” He yelled, running past her and staring at her illusion as it climbed down the rocky face of the house. He ran out of the room and Scarlet followed him, clinging carefully to the illusion that she was definitelynot here. The man roused the household and there was a great commotion as several people went immediately to chase her. But downstairs, Scarlet heard the angry snarl of a wolf who wasn’t going anywhere.
Scarlet followed the noises, creeping along a dark passageway with a low ceiling. She heard another angry growl and she hurried forward to a door, swinging it open all in a rush. The wolf was in a cage.
“What did they do?” she gasped, hurrying forward and dropping to her knees outside the cage. “Oh, if they have hurt you I will murder them.” The wolf came promptly to the cage door and tried to lick her through the bars as she struggled with the lock. It was only looped through the clamp to keep the door shut, but it was heavy and awkward and her fingers were stiff and cold.
“Scarlet, stop.”
Scarlet whirled, the lock in her hand, the door swinging open.
“Paxton?” Scarlet stared at Liam’s brother in confusion.
“Scarlet, he’s not safe. You have to leave him in there.”
“No,” said Scarlet, “he’s fine.” As if to prove her point the wolf licked the entire side of her face. “That’s not helping, sweetie. Paxton, I don’t understand. Where am I? Where’s Liam?”
Paxton looked at the wolf and his expression was an agony of grief and suddenly Scarlet realized how stupid she had been. She looked at the wolf who was truly her Wolf.
“No…”
But his eyes were the same brown as Liam’s and his hair was the same black.
“Make him change back,” she whispered, still staring at Liam.
“We can’t,” said Paxton, his voice anguished. “We’ve tried everything. Whatever the warlocks did, we can’t undo it. We’ve put in a call to Seattle. They have a shaman who might be able to help. We’re not giving up hope.”
She looked up into Paxton’s face and saw that while hope might not be dead, it was only a flickering candle in a storm and one tiny gust would put it out.
“I can help,” she said. “I mean, not right this second exactly, but…”
“Paxton!” The door into the hall was suddenly filled by the woman from upstairs and if she had been angry before, she was furious now. “Get her out of here!”
“Mom,” said Paxton, “just stop for a minute.”
“I will not stop,” hissed the woman. “She doesn’t belong here, let alone within ten feet of him!”
Scarlet felt like she’d been slapped. Everything hurt, her boyfriend had been lying to her and now his mother hated her. Scarlet crawled into the cage with the wolf and shut the door behind them.
