That’s when I heard bells.
Morgan disappeared from view as she traveled down an edge in the land into what seemed to be a ravine. I hobbled quickly up to the edge of the bluff, crouching beneath a particularly dense pine tree. Morgan was following the orb of light down into the ravine…
Where a dozen luminescent horses stood, carrying a dozen ethereal riders, wings unfurled like multi-color pennants.
It was the fairies. They’d returned.
And they’d brought their queen with them.
The queen-type fairy chose just that moment to stand up in her stirrups, at the head of the lot, and nod as Morgan came closer to her, still moving as woodenly as if she was a wind-up tin soldier.
I didn’t know what Morgan was doing out here, or why the fairies were here (I somehow doubted it was for any sort of good reason), but I couldn’t let her face them alone.
“Shit,” I muttered then, and I got up and hobbled over and down into the ravine in plain sight.
The queen watched me impassively with her glowing eyes, her pointed nose turned up as Morgan and I got closer. I tried to hobble faster, and when Morgan finally came to a stand-still, standing right before the queen, I sighed with relief. The glowing orb darted around the queen and disappeared into her horse’s satchel as I reached up and took Morgan’s hand, twining her fingers with mine and squeezing tightly.
And that’s when everything began to go very, very wrong.
I turned and looked at Morgan.
And it wasn’t Morgan.
A fairy held my hand, tall and willowy and slightly terrifying with his jet-black eyes and wickedly curving mouth as he grinned at me. I dropped his hand as quickly as if it was a live coal and had just burned me, and he chuckled a little, moving dancer-like to the only horse without a rider and vaulting up onto it.
Shit.
I’d been tricked.
“It took you long enough,” came a rough voice, then.
I turned and stared, mouth open.
Allen MacRue stood on the edge of the ravine, his arms folded and his eyes dangerously narrowed.
“We’re waiting, MacRue,” hissed the fairy queen then, indicating me with an impatient sweep of her hand.
I took a step backward, but was surprised to find at that moment that the horses had moved around me.
I was surrounded.
“I have kept my end of the bargain,” said the werewolf patriarch roughly, then, and Allen would not look at the fairy queen when he spoke: “the border must be maintained, and the safeguard must remain. I give you now what you have asked for. The exchange of a soul in payment for the continued use of Wolf Town’s safeguard…” And he pointed at me. “Amethyst Linden.”
One fairy dismounted, and—in that moment—I understood that I was in some very deep water.
“What's happening? What are you doing?” I hissed to Allen, who had never looked at me like that before—there was anger in his gaze, and I was honestly afraid in that moment.
“The bargain has been made,” said the fairy queen, words icy and clipped. Allen, too, spread his hands with a rough shrug, not looking at me.
The fairy queen was raising her hands. I assume she meant to do magic against me. Though I didn’t know, exactly, what I’d just gotten myself into, I did know that I was a witch, and I would be damned if some sort of sparkly-assed creature thought it would be able to out-magic me so close to Samhain. I closed my eyes and felt the pulse of the forest around me. I felt the energy of the fairy horses, of the fairies themselves, felt the flare of anger in Allen MacRue. I felt it all, as if from some far distance. I felt the whirl of it, the pulse of energy and magic…
And I gathered it in my heart and tugged…
Time slowed.
A vision swallowed me.
And I saw…
…The founder of Wolf Town, several hundred years ago, arrive to a fiercely wooded valley, felt his heart grow and grow with happiness, knowing he had found home.
…The close-minded people of the next village coming over to Wolf Town and burning down the very first settlement because they called the people there “demons” and “witches,” both facts utterly untrue, but there were no words in puritanical New England to describe werewolves.
…The founder of Wolf Town sobbing on his knees in the forest, his dying son in his arms, burned beyond repair by the fire.
…The fairies finding him in the very center of that forest and striking a deal. How they would take away the child to their realm in exchange for building a safeguard around Wolf Town so this tragedy would never happen again. That Wolf Town would always be safe if the safeguard was maintained. How, with the safeguard and the assurance of safety for all of its inhabitants, Wolf Town would thrive.
…The pact he'd made with the fairy race there, how he'd promised away his son (who was dying anyway), and how he promised that each subsequent generation would also give a sacrifice of someone dear to the MacRue line, this person leaving his or her home on earth to live in the fairy realm in exchange for the safeguard remaining around Wolf Town.
…How the safeguard was in danger of disappearing if that person was not given over, and soon. How—if the safeguard disappeared—Wolf Town would collapse, the magic of this place disintegrating, the real world descending upon it, making every inhabitant in Wolf Town at risk of being discovered.
I opened my eyes, stared at Allen in shock, in pain, saw the pain reflected back on his own face. I felt the energy of Wolf Town, felt its almost-sentience, around me, felt how many people were depending upon Allen, how much magic was dependent upon his decision. I felt so pitifully sorry for him in that moment, I didn't even know what to do.
Because I had also seen what he would have had to do if I hadn’t shown up in Wolf Town. That he was wondering which one of his own kids to give to the fairies to maintain the safeguard.
That he had, eventually, decided that he was going to give himself over.
There was such loss, such pain, in that circle of trees in that moment, it froze me. I wrapped my arms about myself and shuddered. For the sake of a town, for the sake of magic, for the sake of safety for so many people who depended on him, Allen had decided to sacrifice me. Had assumed that the reason I had shown up in Wolf Town, that Wolf Town had wanted me there, was not for Morgan.
It was for this. To be the sacrifice.
“You can't,” I said, and I opened my eyes. The fairies looked down at me, contempt and anger on some faces, laughter and ridicule on others. Allen's eyes were steel, and his face was set in the hardest expression I had ever seen. I curled my hands into fists, my fingernails pricking into my palms, mind racing.
And, in that heartbeat, I felt Wolf Town. I felt all of it, felt the great bulk of magics that it was, the diverse groupings of people and oddities and strangeness that wasn't strange at all on its streets, because Wolf Town was a shelter, a haven, a sanctuary for people like me, for different people, strange people who needed sanctuary, shelter…a home. And I felt the town around me and through me, and I felt it watching. Waiting.
It…wanted me to do something.
I swallowed.
I opened my eyes.
I felt her before I saw her come over the top of the bluff. But then Morgan was there at the edge of the ravine, pausing, taking in the scene before her. The look of happiness on her face melted into something questioning, and then bafflement spread across her features as she stared down at the scene before her.
“Dad…?” she called out in the quiet. “Amy…?”
“Go back to the Fair, Morgan,” said her father, still looking at me, not looking up. Morgan took a step down the bluff, and then another.
“Dad, what's going on—”
“I said go back,” he growled, causing the hairs on my arms to prick up.
“This needs to happen now,” said the fairy queen, barking it out into the cold air. “We have no more time for this nonsense. Is this the soul you give in exchange for the safeguard, Alle
n MacRue, or is it not?”
“What?” Morgan snarled, and in one instant, she was in front of me, her teeth suddenly long, sharp and bared as she stood between me and the fairies.
Between me and her father.
“What is going on?” she growled.
“How did you really think the safeguard was maintained, Morgan?” her father asked desperately, spreading his hands, trying to placate her. “We’ve had a deal with the fairies for centuries. Please don’t make this any harder than it has to be. It’ll be a good life that Amy has in the fairy realm. She’s not dying, she’s just going…someplace else.” He licked his lips, and then his eyes hardened. “And you couldn’t possibly have fallen in love with her in the short amount of time that you’ve spent—” but he couldn’t finish his statement because of how much Morgan was growling.
“The safeguard exists because we…what, Dad? We sell someone down the river? How often do we do this?” she asked sharply. Unbelievingly.
“Once a generation,” he said, his voice so quiet, it was difficult to hear him.
The fairy queen looked to Allen. “You know that if you do not make the decision now, the deal is forfeit. We will no longer protect the town, and the safeguard will die. Everyone in the world will descend upon your town, will find out what you really are, and kill you at best. The whole world is looking for freaks, and they will find the motherload in Wolf Town,” she said with a sneer. “Is that what you want? This long legacy of safety to end with you?”
Allen’s face betrayed the war going on inside of him. I was angry at him, furious, really, that he thought the reason I’d come to Wolf Town was only for a sacrifice, but I honestly couldn’t understand what he must be going through. What he had gone through in order to protect himself, his family, and his town. His town that was his safe place, his sanctuary.
Morgan’s hackles were raised, and her face looked half-wolf, half-woman, as she tried to control her inner wolf and not transform, the bones in her cheeks lengthening as she snarled. I could feel the anger rolling off of her in waves.
“Dad, what have you done?” she asked, her voice a low growl. Her father’s hackles were up, too, and as I watched, the two werewolves began to circle one another, Morgan’s eyes, now taking on a gold-flecked tone, always glancing to me.
“Don’t,” I whispered at the exact same moment that Morgan transformed into a wolf.
It was a domino effect—the second she transformed, her father did, too, falling to his four paws with a great snarl as Morgan backed toward me, keeping me at her back and keeping her father and the fairies in her sights. She was still in her clothes, but they were tearing where the wolf body didn’t quite fit the human-shaped clothes, the sound echoing in the stillness as the fabric ripped.
Allen’s hackles rose, as he snarled, his lips up and over his teeth.
And then Morgan moved forward, deadly and swift. She body-checked her father, the older wolf rolling over and over until he landed by the hooves of the fairy queen’s mount.
As I watched, her father returned to his human form, kneeling and panting, hand over his heart as he shook his head. Morgan, too, returned to her human form, standing in front of me, panting.
I took a deep breath, reached forward and took her hand.
Almost instantly, she turned to look at me, and I could see the savageness in her eyes calm.
“Wait,” said Allen then, raising his hand. His voice sounded tired, exhausted, and as I watched him, I saw him almost age before my eyes. I knew he was in his early seventies, but he always carried himself with a spryness and vitality. But now he looked even older than his actual age as he shook his head slowly and sadly. “I’ll go,” he said then, clearing his throat as he rose to his feet. “I’m sorry that I involved you,” he said, taking a step toward me, and then pausing as he flicked his gaze to Morgan. “I was a fool,” he said then, standing tall. “I should have offered myself a long time ago. I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to make this decision, and I made it out of fear. Forgive me, Morgan, Amy.” He turned to the fairy queen and sighed, raising his hand to her. “I’ll go,” he said again.
In an instant, all of Morgan’s anger evaporated. “Dad, don’t,” said Morgan, stepping forward, but I gripped her arm.
I licked my lips. Goddess, I was so nervous, but I said the only thing that was left in me to say: “do the safeguards need to exist?” I asked quietly.
“What?” The fairy queen, Allen and Morgan said that single word at the same time. I squared my shoulders back, glancing from Allen back to Morgan.
“It was a couple hundred years ago that the town burned down, right? That someone set fire to it?” I asked, my voice weak in the beginning and then growing stronger.
“It doesn’t matter,” said Allen, shaking his head. “Bigotry, prejudice…they exist in any and all times. They exist now,” he said, working his jaw.
“I know they do. Trust me,” I said gently. “But Wolf Town is a safe place. It’s out of the way of everything. There are a lot of good people here. We’re stronger together, right? What if we could survive without the safeguards here?”
The fairy queen sneered at me. “It is the worth the price of a single soul to save many.”
“Is it?” I asked, chewing on my lower lip. I glanced to Allen who looked pained and haunted, remembering what had happened to Wolf Town once. “I think you’ll find,” I said, stepping forward and placing my hand on his arm gently, “that people don’t want to lose you for something that we might not even need,” I said, clearing my throat.
He looked at me in bafflement. “Why are you being nice?” he asked then tiredly. “I was going to give you to them.”
“Because,” I said, taking a deep breath, “Morgan came from you. And I’m pissed,” I said, raising my hand. “But not enough to say that you should totally go with the ice queen over there,” I said, jerking my thumb to the fairy queen.
“We will not come again,” said the fairy queen, drawing herself up to her full height on the top of her mount. “If you forsake us, we will forsake you, and then you must live with the consequences of your decision.”
“I’m a newcomer here, right?” I asked quietly, holding Allen’s gaze. “But I don’t believe that Wolf Town summoned me. I believe I’m meant to be here. That there are some things in this universe that you can’t explain, and that being in the right place at the right time is one of them. This safeguard may have kept the town safe, but Wolf Town itself is full of people now who are strong and good, and who can help each other if close-minded people come our way. No one’s going to find out about you guys being werewolves or the vampires existing or the lake monsters, and even if they do, who would believe them anyway? All I’m saying,” I said with a sigh, “is that there’s no reason for you to sacrifice yourself. We can deal with the fallout if there is any. Together.” I squeezed Morgan’s hand and she squeezed back.
“Dad,” she murmured, her voice low. “We can do this. We don’t need the safeguard. We’ve been doing pretty well without it lately. It’s been flickering,” she explained when her father raised his head and glanced at her skeptically. “The safeguard’s been flickering a lot, actually,” she finished. “Don’t do this. Don’t give yourself over to them. End this right now. I never knew that this was part of our family history,” she continued. “But it needs to end today.”
“I’ve kept my silence for so long,” her father said then, brokenly. “For so long, I’ve tried to do the right thing…”
Morgan stepped forward and affectionately, tenderly, gathered her father into her arms and hugged him tightly. “It’s all right, Dad,” she said, her voice soft. “It’s over.”
Morgan turned and glanced at me, holding out her hand. I took it again, and again, the two of us stood together, shoulder to shoulder, as we stared up at the fairies.
“We are no longer in need of your services,” said Morgan coldly. “Leave Wolf Town,” she intoned. “And do not return.”
As
I watched a million reactions and emotions flit over the fairy queen’s face, as I watched Morgan’s father turn away from the fairies, as I watched Morgan, this beautiful werewolf woman stand defiantly, her face upturned to the fairy queen on her luminescent mount, I was afraid, yes, of what the fairy queen would say.
But I was prouder, by far, of Morgan. That fierce pride and love poured through me, and I squeezed her hand tightly. I saw the generations of the MacRue clan shifting as I held her hand, as I watched her father turn away, as I watched her make that decision. I knew then that Wolf Town would eventually be Morgan’s to help, to protect, to keep safe.
And mine, too.
And all of ours.
“Farewell,” spat out the fairy queen, and they were all gone in a flash, like they had never been there.
Morgan sagged against me, and I wrapped my arms tightly around her, brushing my lips against her cheek.
“You did the thing I never had the strength to do, sweetheart,” her father said gently, with a deep sigh. “Thank you.”
Around us, I could feel the last bits of energy of the safeguard evaporate. But that was all right. Already, I could feel the vibrancy of the town behind us, could feel the vibrancy of the Halloween festival already in full swing, full of amazing, strange, weird and wonderful people who would band together, who would, in the coming days, reach out and help one another more than ever before.
“We’re wolves, Dad,” said Morgan then, quietly, flicking her intense, green gaze to me. “We’re not afraid of anything,” she said, squeezing my fingers tightly.
We walked back to the Halloween festival, the forest around us silent and dark…but I walked with the wolves.
I was in love with a wolf.
And I wasn’t afraid.
Epilogue
The old town hall seated about a hundred people. Which was about how many townsfolk there were in Wolf Town.
Which meant that, on Halloween night, the town hall was packed.
Wolf Town Page 17