Personally, I knew Nikkan could and would do a lot more crazy in his life, but for her, this had to be the first time she saw him act before thinking. That was a way of life for my best friend.
Grace’s red hair was now flying around her as she whipped between each man behind Nikkan, and she gave them each a glare to send them on their way. Her fear of them was utterly gone since her anger had taken over.
“You should all be ashamed of yourselves. Matthean? Liam? Really? Bill, don’t you have a wife and kids to take care of? Running off to help Nikkan pretend he’s in charge when you all should be back in the village helping those that need new homes, and if that’s all done, then making the fence. You don’t have time to run off and play backup to some guy’s jealousy. Why in the world are you here and not being the men you’re supposed to be?”
Nikkan opened his mouth like he was going to protest, but Grace didn’t give him a chance. Her anger flowed freely from the men and back to Nikkan.
“You aren’t my father, and you don’t get a say in my life. Go home, Nikkan.”
She emphasized her last three words slowly and carefully before slamming the door shut in his face. I froze where I was just behind her and listened to the space outside my house. Nikkan must have been as much in shock as I was. He wasn’t moving an inch.
“The girl isn’t coming back with us tonight,” Micco said loud enough for me to hear. “And she’s right. We need to head back and keep building. There’s still much to get done.”
Not a single guy with Micco disagreed with him as they all trudged back into the woods. I heard the breaking of bones as Nikkan must have turned back into his wolf form. He gave a growl at the closed door and then followed the men back to their village.
Grace turned around and leaned her back against the door. She slid down to the ground and let out a breath like she had been holding in the whole time. Her hands shook a little as if the adrenalin had worn off, and she was back to sweet, quiet Grace.
“I’m sorry about that,” she said as she covered her reddening cheeks.
“Sorry for what? Making them go away?”
I pulled her hands down so she could see my face. She had done a great job of getting them to leave. I didn’t need to do a thing once she got going.
“Never be sorry for standing up for yourself. Never.”
Grace’s cheeks stayed red, but silently she nodded her head.
“Now, what do we do from here?” I asked, though it was more for me than her.
I wasn’t sure what to do. I wanted to go back and help the wolves build houses and the fence, but Grace didn’t feel safe there. So, I couldn’t go and bring her back. I couldn’t leave her in my house alone while I went to the wolves. What Micco needed was more help, but I couldn’t offer anything like that. Unless I talked with my mother.
“Do you think what Micco said was true?”
I wasn’t sure what she was talking about.
“About the wolves that turned and stayed wolves the whole time during the last curse.”
She was talking about the day before. She must have overheard Micco and I talking.
“I don’t know. I could ask my mother, but I’m not sure.”
Grace bit her lip and nodded.
“It’s not that I like my wolf form so much. Kind of stinks to be naked all the time and unable to talk to people when you can understand them. But if it would keep me from turning into a monster, I’d do it.”
While I knew the wolf Grace was, I couldn’t imagine her as a wolf all the time like Nikkan preferred. Grace was a girl and a human.
“It could be many, many winters before the curse is broken again. Would you want to be a wolf that long? What about the rest of your life? The last time the curse lasted hundreds of winters. You could spend the rest of your life trapped in a world you could see, taste, feel, understand, but you could never talk back. Would you truly want that?”
Nikkan loved to be a wolf, but most of the wolf humans would rather be human. To lose that side ultimately was something I wasn’t sure anyone would volunteer for.
“Would it be fun? No,” Grace explained. “But it would keep me and everyone around me safe. I can do that for everyone else. I want to do that.”
I looked at my friend that had been around as long as I could remember. Most of her family was taken by the last curse and never recovered, hunted for the monsters they became. Her mother was left alone and pregnant with Grace, spared from changing into a beast, but having to raise a baby on her own once the curse was gone. Grace was only a child when her mother passed on. The village had taken care of her since.
It was strange to see her not as that child that pestered me and Nikkan when Red would take me to the wolf village. Grace endlessly followed us around and tried to do whatever we were doing. We spent half our time trying to get away or hiding from her. She was almost three full winters younger than me, but right now, she seemed so much older. She was making a life decision without any hesitation.
“Is that what you truly want?”
I knew she had a crush on Nikkan. If she turned into a wolf right now, she’d never had a chance to tell him. Her life as a human would be over.
“It doesn’t matter what I want. That was taken away from me the moment I was born a wolf. I don’t get choices often, but I know this is the right thing to do.”
I tried to smile, but there was no happiness in what she was suggesting she was going to do. Essentially, she would be gone. The friend I couldn’t remember meeting since she’d always just been around would be gone. Human Grace would possibly never come back.
I would have loved to change her mind, but I understood. She wanted control of her life.
“Okay. If that’s what you want. But let me talk to Red first. She might be able to tell us if that’s true or not.”
Grace nodded as she finally stood back up, full of strength she didn’t have before, a new determination in her eyes.
“Tomorrow at first light, I’ll go visit Red. If you promise to stay here, I’ll see what she knows, and then we can go from there.”
Grace gave me a small smile and nodded. With one choice, she was possibly going to be gone forever. Human Grace would cease to exist anywhere but inside her head. My friend would be gone, and everything she had ever hoped and dreamed would go with her. There wasn’t a right answer; there wasn’t a good choice to make. This was life in Elder and something no one had wished to come back. Now, Grace had to deal with it, and I was going to have one less friend in the world.
5
8th March
I woke before the sun the next morning. Grace was still sleeping on the couch as I finally convinced her I wasn’t going to use it as long as she was visiting me.
Grace had returned to her quiet self as soon as the wolves left yesterday, but that could have been because of what she planned to do. There was the very likely chance that Grace was going to be a wolf for the rest of her life. Where Nikkan loved his wolf form, Grace wasn’t as happy being a wolf. It was a sacrifice she was willing to make, but it didn’t make it any easier.
I wasn’t sure what was going through her head, but I knew she was thinking about it after the wolves left. The curse being back didn’t just mean life-changes for the tree people; it meant the wolves had to make a choice also. I wasn’t sure how many would want to leave their human loves behind. Mothers wouldn’t see their children grow up, siblings would never hug one another again, and couples would never be able to tell each other they loved them.
Life, once all my friends were furry and never able to speak to me again, would be different. When Grace and Nikkan became wolves, I would be alone. The tree people of Elder never cared much for me. They knew I wasn’t a wolf, but I was still not one of them. They never let me forget it, no matter that my mother was the Red of Elder. I had no friends in the tree village. The wolves until yesterday were always welcoming to me, even if most kept their distance. They didn’t shun me like the tree people.
It was going to be a lot quieter without my friends to talk with. Nikkan wouldn’t be there to argue with me over everything he could think of, and Grace wouldn’t be in the village every time we went back to visit. But I guess that wasn’t completely true. I was still going to be able to talk to them; they just weren’t going to be able to respond to me.
I watched Grace sleep a bit. It wasn’t in a creepy way, but just in knowing that soon, I wouldn’t see her human form again. Part of me was mad at Nikkan. She was never going to get to tell him her feelings for him because he was a jerk. They would never get to have the time together that I knew both of them wanted. It was hard to remember that being human would be over for her if Red confirmed what Micco had said.
And with that thought, I quietly left my house and Grace behind asleep.
My jog through the woods was quiet as a regular morning would be. I was glad to find that it was clear of wolves or the carnage of their hunger. As soon as the cursed wolves got near my place, I was pretty sure Red would send hunting parties out to keep the rest of the people safe. Both sides would lose with that.
The wolf village had more going on than either Red or I had known about. I hated to see that the wolves had been upset with Grace for sharing with me. I understood that the curse was their problem to deal with, but if they were running around and killing without memory, it was the problem of everyone in Elder. We needed to know the truth, even if it wasn’t going to put the wolves in the best light.
Birds filled the air with their morning greeting as the crickets and night insects began to go to bed for the day. Sounds of nature surrounded me on every run I made in the woods, and I was thankful that the sounds were still there. I had grown used to the forest and all its sounds when I left the village. It seemed the animals kept away from the tree-dwellers as much as they stayed away from the wolves.
The run was quick as I jogged at my new-found speed. I would arrive early, but the tree city began their day early, so people were bound to be up and around—the same people that tolerated but never accepted me. Lucky for me, Red preferred her cottage, and if I got there early enough, I wouldn’t have to see any of the tree dwellers.
It didn’t take me long to make the run to Red’s cottage. It seemed like I was getting faster every time the sun rose. I really had to wonder how much faster I could get. I was beyond a normal human, but with all that was going on, I didn’t have time to wonder what it meant. Nikkan and I always wondered where I came from, but Red wasn’t one to share details about anything with anyone unless she chose to.
As I got close enough to smell the hyacinths that dotted the cottage grounds of my mother’s place, my jog turned into a walk. The deep floral scent was easy to pick up on as I was pretty sure she was the only one that wanted her place to smell strongly of flowers. Red was like that. She was tough, barely smiled, and yet loved to grow flowers. Hard, rough, and floral, all mixed into one. A bit of a mess of ideas all bundled into the leader of Elder and the woman that raised me. I gave up on trying to understand her many winters ago.
Red was at her kitchen sink as I stood just inside the tree line. I was well hidden by the branches and the early spring foliage growing around her cottage, and it gave me time to watch her.
The day was just beginning, but that wouldn’t mean a thing to Red. She was an early riser and always had things to get done. Red was doing dishes. It seemed like an ordinary task but threw me for a loop. Red was meticulous about everything in her life. She had to be. Chores were one thing she never put off until morning, and yet here she was washing away. I watched as she soaped up another dish and then rinsed it off. I wanted to think it was just a breakfast dish but knew better. Something was up with her.
Growing up as the child of Little Red Riding Hood was more than a little intimidating. She was bigger than life, even if she was only a sapling tall. There was nothing Red couldn’t do. She beat the curse that no one else could. She fought for and saved her people time and time again. She was amazing. Everyone in Elder knew her name, and heck, other kingdoms knew her too. She was that famous.
Having her as a mother was more than a little strange, as at the end of the day when everyone else was gone, Red was just Red. What the world around us didn’t see was that she never turned off the part that made people worship her. She was always in control and always looking for a way to make life better for everyone in Elder. I was pretty sure no matter what I ever did in life, I was never going to live up to that.
I spent most of my childhood trying to learn from her and understanding that I would never be able to do things as well as she could. It wasn’t that she was mean or didn’t try to raise me. It was just that she had the highest expectations of anyone I ever met, and those expectations were placed on me too. When I reached fifteen winters, it was best to be on my own, but that didn’t mean I never saw her. I made sure to visit the village at least once every moon cycle. And one thing that never changed was Red, until now.
I wasn’t exactly ready to talk to her again after our last conversation, but I needed to, for Grace’s sake. One thing that didn’t change over the winters was the tension between us. Red still couldn’t see that she raised me right, and I was strong enough to stand on my own.
Red continued to wash the dishes, and I just stood there watching her. Life wasn’t easy growing up in her shadow, but because of her and all she taught me, I didn’t fear to live in the forest alone. I didn’t fear my friends or the curse that was taking more wolves every day. I knew I was strong enough to handle that, even if she didn’t see that.
Red was the strongest person I had ever met, and that said a lot. There were many dignitaries and leaders she worked with over the winters, and as a child, I was there for a lot of meetings. I could tell just by looking that if no one understood the power in her, Red didn’t care. Her life was about Elder and making our kingdom better. She never flaunted her strength, but I always saw it. It was strange to see it fading. It was weird to see her as just a human.
Slowly, I approached her hut. One thing I knew well was you never tried to surprise Red because if it was possible to catch her unaware, any surprise could be deadly. She didn’t hit to maim or injure; she hit to kill.
Red didn’t look up as I neared the door. I knew from experience, the door would be unlocked. Why would the most powerful person in Elder need to lock her door? If anyone actually tried to attack her in her own home, they wouldn’t come out alive.
Without knocking, I stepped into the house I was raised in. The place was small yet larger than my own home by the addition of the two bedrooms. I didn’t need a bedroom since I was the only person living in my hut. Red’s was also cleaner. Typically, not a thing was out of place, nor was there a speck of dust. She didn’t keep anything personal around her house. Yes, there was a blanket on the couch, but it wasn’t made for her or given to her by someone special. There were no pictures on the wall or trinkets on the counters. I guess that much rubbed off on me as my house was similarly plain, but at least, I had the excuse of having only lived there for three winters, not twenty-five.
“Did you forget something when you left?” Red asked, not turning around from the sink where she continued to scrub away.
I walked over and stood beside her. It felt like only yesterday I was looking up to her, and now I was more than a full head taller than her. I took up the dry dishcloth and held my hand out for whatever needed drying.
“I talked to Micco yesterday.” That was partially true.
“Mmm-hmm,” Red replied as she continued to wash. She was always like that. She never took the bait to start a conversation even though she knew perfectly well that I wanted her to.
“He said the wolves are getting worse, and Elder kicked all the wolves back to the forest. He doesn’t have enough food, homes, or supplies for all the people that returned.”
Red just continued to wash as I talked. She didn’t try to explain or tell me what would be done. One thing that was always Red was that sh
e never lied, or sugar-coated anything. She was always truthful and honest to a point. It was hard to accept as a child, but as an adult, I appreciated her honesty.
She wasn’t going to offer help or a solution, so I kept talking.
“He mentioned that the last time the curse came, a group turned into wolves and didn’t turn back to human. He said that the curse would only affect those that were human, not wolf.”
Still no input from Red.
“Is that true?”
“Yes,” she replied as she finished rinsing the last dish. I took it from her and dried it before stacking it in the same pile with the rest of the dishes.
“So that’s the solution, right? They turn into wolves while we brew a new cure.”
Red never told anyone how she broke the curse, but I had to imagine it was with the help of the witches. While there were few witches left in Elder, there was still some left. They had grown fewer over the winters, but were always around somewhere, if you could find them. While Red wasn’t a witch, I was pretty sure that if they made the cure the first time, she could get them to do it again.
“It doesn’t work like that,” Red chided me as she opened a cupboard and took out a loaf of bread. Reaching for the serrated knife she used to cut bread, she went to work making nice even slices.
“Then tell me how it works,” I pleaded. If Grace was going to give up her human life, I wanted to be finding an answer for her, and the sooner, the better.
Red stopped cutting her loaf of bread and turned to me. She eyed me over like she was contemplating what to tell me.
“It wasn’t a potion. I don’t know how it works exactly. I can’t explain, but it wasn’t something that can just be made. It was something deeper, different. Something I can’t make,” she admitted as she watched me carefully for my reaction.
Castiel: Son of Red Riding Hood (Kingdom of Fairytales Boxset Book 3) Page 13