Kennel Club

by Geonn Cannon

  Segura didn’t look pleased, but some of her anger had faded. She stood up and looked down at Ari. “Do you need help?”

  Ari said, “No. Thank you, though.” She put her hands on her knees and pushed herself up. She’d just gotten used to transforming without pain, thanks to a solution Dale came up with. Now holding back the wolf hurt just as badly. She knew the cure would be easy, knew that spending an hour or so as the wolf would loosen her up, but there was no chance she would get that. Not without revealing her secret to everyone in the block.

  She got to her feet. She had worked through pain before and she could do it again. It would definitely have helped if she could get one of Dale’s magnificent massages, though. She put a hand in the small of her back and tried to improve her flexibility by twisting one way, then the other. Segura was still in the doorway watching everything with a curious tilt to her head.

  “I had you pegged as, like, thirty-five when you came in. Now I’m thinking it’s closer to double that.”

  “Hey, watch it.”

  “I’m not being rude. My ninety-year-old grandma had more range of motion than that.”

  Ari stumbled to the door for morning count. “I’ll loosen up in time. My girlfriend usually gives me massages when I’m this stiff.”

  Segura leaned against the door. “I hope you aren’t expecting conjugal visits.”

  “Do they really have those?” She let her hope rise. If she could get into a private space with Dale or her mother, she could let the wolf out. It would be the solution to her problems.

  “Yeah, in this state they do. Extended Family Visits. But you’re not going to get one, not for at least six months.” She nodded at the cell block. “See all these ladies? The majority of them all have requests in. You make the request and, if you even get approved, you get added to the bottom of the list.”

  Ari deflated. “Oh.”

  Plan B it is, then.

  Vogel arrived at their cell and did the count, staring hard at Ari. “You’re looking better, Willow. Eat something that didn’t agree with you last night?”

  “Something like that.”

  “Whatever it was,” she said, “avoid it today.” She looked at Segura and walked away.

  Segura whispered, “You pissed off my girl, Willow. That is not the way to stay on my good side.”

  “Understood.”

  Ari had slept in her boxer shorts and a T-shirt, so she just pulled her jumpsuit on over it all. “When do I get a cool brown uniform like yours?”

  “Probably today,” Segura said. “They don’t like any of us standing out in a crowd any longer than we have to.” She gestured at herself. “They like us all to blend into one faceless lump of humanity. Easier to deal with us that way.”

  Ari was moving a little better on the walk to the cafeteria. Segura noticed but didn’t say anything. Ari watched the guards. Vogel and Baker - no, not Baker. Burke - were stationed by the entrance to the cafeteria. Burke had his thumbs hooked in his belt, carefully eyeing every prisoner as if he expected them all to make a break for freedom. Ari had to wonder how many successful escapes there’d ever been from this place. It was a high-rise in the middle of the city. Once outside there were dozens of places to hide, but getting out of the building in the first place seemed like a herculean task.

  The first person Ari noticed in the cafeteria was Miriam Kunz, the Amazonian blonde she’d had a brief run-in with. She was eating with her goons, smiling in a way that seemed cruel just from the way her lips curled. Ari realized what had to be done and her spirits dropped.

  “Ah, shit.”

  Segura followed her gaze. “Just ignore her. She’s like a cat. If you don’t engage, she’ll move on to a target who is more fun to... Willow... what the hell are you doing?”

  Ari was crossing the cafeteria. She couldn’t risk waking up paralyzed, or worse, mid-transformation. The wolf was in a full panic. There was no guarantee she would be able to keep the secret another night. What happened next was going to suck, but she believed in Dale. She believed in this plan.

  “Kunz and her goons,” Ari said as she approached the table, raising her voice loud enough to be heard. Kunz swiveled her head like a periscope seeking its target. Her eyes narrowed when she saw who had spoken. Ari stopped at the head of the table, smiling in a friendly way. “I can’t believe scientists are wasting all their time in the woods when Bigfoot is right here in front of them.”

  One of the goons hissed through her teeth. “Bitch, you better walk away.”

  Ari was surprised that her tone really was worried, not threatening. Her eyes were sincere as well, but her body language was that of someone who had just spotted a snake and was trying not to get bitten.

  “What the hell are you saying to me?” Kunz said, incredulous.

  “I said you’re the biggest fucking cow I’ve ever seen, Miriam. Oh. Wait, we go by last name in here. Cunts.”

  Miriam stood up.

  “Willow,” Segura snapped.

  She was keeping her distance, looking toward the door in the hopes Vogel would come in and defuse the situation. Ari looked at her and hoped she could convey a very complex message without words: You said next time you wouldn’t help me. I’m holding you to that. Keep your promise, Segura, and stay safe. Please.

  When she faced forward again, Kunz had advanced on her. Her face was red, embarrassment and rage mixing beneath the surface.

  “I don’t know you, bitch,” Kunz said, “so maybe it wasn’t clear when we met the other day. So I’m going to give you one warning before I snap you like a twig. Don’t look at me. Don’t talk to me. Show some fucking respect. That’s all you have to do. Understood?”

  Ari said, “Yeah.” She spit in Kunz’s face. “Spitting wasn’t on the list. You should revise--”

  Kunz’s punch was so brutal and untelegraphed that Ari was legitimately caught off-guard despite the fact she’d been begging for it. Kunz punched her again, this time in the stomach, and Ari folded double. She couldn’t breathe and her head was swimming as Kunz twisted and punched her hard in the kidneys once, twice, three times. She was only upright because Kunz had her free hand balled in the material of Ari’s jumpsuit. When she let go, Ari collapsed on the ground.

  Everything was pain. Kunz kicked her in the stomach hard enough that Ari was pushed six inches across the concrete. Another kick lifted and dropped her in the same place. She curled into a ball, instinctively protecting herself by lacing her fingers on the back of her head.

  “Little coward pussy!” Kunz shouted, and stomped once on Ari’s folded hands.

  After that, everything went black.

  #

  “...hadn’t stopped her, she would be dead.” (Vogel) “She’s lucky to be alive.”

  “I don’t know.” (Segura) “It can be a burden to live when you’re this stupid.”

  #

  The next time Ari regained consciousness, she managed to get her eyes open. One of them, anyway. She was lying in a bed. She could tell that her wrists and ankles were restrained before she even tried to move them. Looking down, she saw leather cuffs strapping her to rails on either side of the mattress. Another strap was pulled taut across her waist. The blood splattered across her T-shirt was more alarming than the restraints. She was dizzy and confused and not in any pain, but she assumed that was due to whatever painkillers they had pumped into her while she was unconscious.

  “You’re up.”

  Ari jumped. She’d been completely unaware that anyone else was in the room. The woman stepped into Ari’s line of sight. She was young, with black hair that was just short enough to be pulled back in a stumpy ponytail. Ordinarily, Ari would have called her cute, but there was just enough hardness in her expression to prevent that word from being entirely accurate. One eyebrow was naturally arched to give her a look of constant skepticism.

  “I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt here and assume you aren’t the biggest idiot in the world. That might sound like a complime
nt, but it’s actually very bad for you. It means that you had a reason for provoking Miriam Kunz. Your cellmate says you had an episode last night. So just save me some time and tell me what you’re on.”

  Ari said, “I’m not... addict.” She was slurring her words.

  The doctor’s face softened ever so slightly. “I’m not the bad guy here. I can help you. I want to help you. But I need to know what I’m fighting.”

  “Nothing,” Ari said.

  “Fine.” The hardness was back. The doctor turned and made a note on her chart. “Enjoy those painkillers currently running through your system, because they’re the last you’re getting. You’re damn lucky you didn’t break anything.”

  Ari lifted her head. “Wait. What? I didn’t...” She looked down at her body, battered but without casts or splints or any signs of a broken bone. “I didn’t break anything.”

  “Kunz is smart,” the doctor said. “She focuses on the soft parts. Bruises are easier to explain away than broken bones.”

  “No, no, no,” Ari dropped her head back onto the pillow, legitimately close to tears. “I can’t believe this. All of that, for fucking nothing...”

  The doctor frowned. “Hold on. Just calm down.”

  Ari looked at her. “I need you to do something for me. It’s probably better this way, since you’re a doctor and this is a controlled environment. I need you to break my arm.”

  “You need me to do what?”

  “Please. I can’t explain it. I just... I need a broken bone.”

  The doctor was standing at the foot of the bed. “If you’re looking for some kind of psychiatric evaluation, you’ll have to try a lot harder than this.”

  “I’m not trying anything. I just need a broken bone. I have... I need to...” She thumped her head down on the pillow, wishing there was a way to explain without sounding crazier than she already did. “I need help. I need help, I need... I need a broken bone, or it’s all going to shit. I won’t be able to control it. It’s going to happen and I can’t control it...”

  “Control it...?” The doctor thought for a moment and then moved to the locked cabinet. She withdrew a small phial and a syringe and brought them to the bedside. “You have a head trauma. Things are obviously getting jumbled up for you because of it. I have a new drug I can give you. It’s a diluted version of an experimental pharmaceutical that had some controversy a few years back. It was called wolfsbane.”

  Ari pushed to one side of the mattress, her unswollen eye wide with terror. “No! Get that shit away from me! Don’t...”

  The doctor slapped her free hand on the railing and very firmly said, “Canidae.”

  Ari blinked at her. “Wh-what... what did you say?”

  “Do you know that word?”

  “Do... you know that word?”

  The doctor grunted and shook her head. “I should have known.” She returned the phial and syringe to the cabinet. “There are protocols for this sort of thing. Damn it, your pack should have taught you about this sort of thing. Where’s your pack now?”

  “I don’t have a pack.”

  The doctor rolled her eyes. “Of course you don’t. Okay. Just relax. I’ll be right back.”

  Ari said, “Doctor... uh, doctor...”

  “Dr. Byrne.”

  “Right. Thank you.”

  She said, “Don’t thank me yet, Willow. We’re still not out of the woods.” She left the room, letting the door swing shut behind her.

  Left alone, Ari tried to catalogue her injuries. The swollen eye, of course. Her arm and head felt like they were wrapped in gauze with something very softly thudding against it. The pain was probably just muted by whatever drugs Dr. Byrne had given her before she woke up. She wouldn’t feel very good when they wore off, and she hoped the truth about her nature would convince the doctor to give her more. She started to drift off back into unconsciousness. Maybe she could just stay here in the infirmary until the trial or until Dale found a way to save her.

  The door slammed open again, waking her. Byrne returned with Gladys Celestin in tow. The librarian was carrying a small leather bag and winced when she saw Ari.

  “Goodness, they told me you were missing work because you were in the infirmary, but lordy. What the hell happened to you?”

  Byrne walked around to the other side of the bed. “She picked a fight with Miriam Kunz hoping to break a bone to stop her transformations.”

  Gladys put her bag on the bed, glaring at Ari. “What, you were too shy to just ask me for help?”

  “I didn’t... I’m... I didn’t know there were canidae in prison.”

  “There are canidae everywhere, girl,” Gladys said. “We find our ways to survive. We get the word out however we can so people know who they can trust. Why didn’t your pack know about this?”

  Byrne said, “She doesn’t have a pack.”

  Gladys pulled her head back in surprise. “Well, now. Little girl thinks she can do it all on her own, huh? Well. I’m here now, and I’m going to take care of you. I have a little concoction that will put the wolf to sleep.”

  Ari thought about Gladys’ accent and looked warily at the small wooden box she had taken from the bag. “Is it... voodoo?”

  Gladys glared at her. “Baby, I’m Protestant. Don’t be racist.” She thumped the box with one knuckle. “This didn’t come from me, anyway. It’s something that’s been passed down for generations of canidae who want to stop the transformation for one reason or another. It isn’t permanent, but it will keep you safe. If I give this to you, you won’t be able to change into the wolf for six months.”

  Ari felt cold, and it had nothing to do with her injuries or the painkillers. Six months without the wolf. Realistically she would probably need to go much longer without changing, but the idea that she would be physically unable to do it was horrifying. Her eyes teared up and she managed to nod.

  “Do it.”

  Dr. Byrne handed a syringe to Gladys, who filled it with the concoction from her bag. She turned Ari’s arm so she could find a vein and positioned the needle. She looked at Ari.

  “Do you need a minute?” Gladys asked.

  Ari shook her head, but she was crying. She was surprised to feel Dr. Byrne gripping her free hand, but she didn’t question it. She needed all the support she could get. She squeezed and looked away as Gladys injected her. Liquid warmth spread through her, briefly covering the cool numbness of the painkillers. Ari tightened her grip on Byrne’s hand, her body going rigid as the drug began to take effect. She lost the ability to focus and her gaze drifted up to the acoustic ceiling tiles.

  She expected losing her wolf to be an epic moment. She wanted to feel something, even if it was pain. Instead, once the initial burn wore off, she sank into the mattress and let her hand relax. Byrne moved her fingers and pressed them against the inside of Ari’s wrist to check her pulse. Gladys returned the drug to her bag and then laid the cool palm of her hand against Ari’s forehead. Ari closed her eyes and felt more tears building behind the lids, only a few thin drops of them slipping out to travel down her cheeks. There was no need to focus inward or take stock, because there was suddenly an absence she couldn’t explain. It was like a sound she hadn’t realized she was hearing had gone silent, leaving the world eerily still and quiet. She didn’t need any confirmation from Gladys or Dr. Byrne. She knew the drug had worked.

  Her wolf was gone.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Someone knocked on the window next to Dale’s head. She opened her eyes and saw water and sand, then realized where she was. She sat up straighter, grabbed at the collar of her robe, and looked up into the mirrored sunglasses of a police officer. Punch him in the dick, the devil on her shoulder said. Go to prison. You and Ari can roleplay as Piper and Alex, it’ll be hot. She ignored the destructive impulse and rolled down her window.

  “Morning, miss,” he said. “Everything okay?”

  She smiled and tried to look bashful. “Everything’s great. I just, uh, lost track of
time.”

  He looked pointedly at her pajamas. “Uh-huh. Miss, if there’s a reason you’re sleeping in your car instead of a nice, comfy bed...”

  Dale held up her hand. “Officer, I appreciate the concern. But this isn’t... I’m not afraid of my partner. The whole reason I’m here is because my partner isn’t at home and I’m finding it really hard to sleep without her. I probably should have gone home when I started to feel sleepy. But everything is fine. Thank you. Do you have to give me a ticket?”

  He seemed to consider it. “Why don’t we call it a warning this time?”

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. And, uh, next time you want to go park in the middle of the night, you may want to choose a different place. We’ve had a few issues around here the past couple of months. Drug dealers moving in. You’re lucky they didn’t catch you on their turf.”

  Dale nodded. “I’ll remember that.”

  He touched the brim of his hat, like an old-timey cowboy. “You have a good day, Miss.”

  She watched him walk away and thought about what he’d said. A plan was starting to form. A bad plan, maybe, but one she could imagine Ari going through with. She took out her phone and dialed Gwen’s number, but it was Milo who answered.

  “Where the hell are you?”

  “Good morning to you, too,” Dale said. “I’ll explain where I am when I see you. How many of the pack are still at the house?”

  Milo said, “All of us. We were getting a little worried when we couldn’t find you.”

  “Get some of them to volunteer and meet me at my house. Gwen has the address.”

  “We’ll be there, of course. But what’s going on, Dale?” Milo’s voice was cautious, but there was a hint of excitement under the words.

  Dale said, “We’ve been doing this wrong. Evidence, lawyers, waiting until Ari goes to trial and hoping we can defeat Cecily Parrish in court... we’re just playing into her hands. We’re letting her fight on her own turf. Let’s not do that anymore.”

  Now Milo wasn’t bothering to hide her excitement. “What do you need?”