“My father used to live here?”
She smiled in a sad way and made me lie down again. “Get some rest first.”
I got up out of bed the next day, which felt like a huge improvement. And when I pulled my other set of clothes out of the backpack, I felt for the locket that was buried in one of the pouches. Maybe it was connected to the scent my father had left here, and if I showed it to Beth, she would reveal more.
It was gone.
Carefully, slowly, methodically, I emptied the entire backpack. Everything else was there, including the money, my driver’s license and my birth certificate. The documents had been hidden away in a compartment below the main compartment, so it wasn’t a surprise they hadn’t been found.
I had put the locket into one of those small pockets with a zipper up high on the back, safe from anyone slicing open the backpack to grab what fell out.
That pocket was empty.
And there was only one place where I had left that backpack out of my sight. I didn’t relish the thought of going back there, and Beth would be livid if she found out, but I would not leave my father’s most treasured possession in those cruel hands.
I just had a small problem to solve first. I had no idea where Theo’s house was. And I couldn’t exactly ask Beth. It was obvious she and her mate didn’t live in this cabin, which looked much more like one of those holiday cabins people could rent, so I couldn’t sneak in a search on their computer.
In addition, I had no real idea where I was, considering I had walked through the forest and then taken on a ride in Beth’s car. And I hadn’t even set a foot out of the door of this cabin.
It was time to explore.
When I stepped out of the bedroom, I saw Carl sitting at a table, looking through a stack of advertising papers.
“Ah, it’s good to see you on your feet, Ben. Beth was hoping that you’d be up today. She asked me to wait for you and take you over for lunch. Oh, and she said to bring your things.”
I glanced at the clock at the wall. It was almost noon.
“That sounds good.”
He laughed. “You even look hungry, so let’s go.” He folded the papers and I glanced at the first page, hoping to catch the name of the town. No such luck, so I went to grab my backpack and slung it over one shoulder.
I trudged after Carl, and saw that my cabin was indeed one of about a dozen scattered across an area planted with bushes, trees, and a flower bed or two. Two young men were riding lawnmowers, the electric kind that didn’t make a stink.
We were walking towards an old-style farmhouse that had been very well kept. At a guess, it had been in Beth’s family for generations, and instead of cattle, they now farmed tourists. Maybe it wasn’t a bad trade.
We passed a large map at the exit of the cabin field, and I took a quick look at it. It seemed we were in the mountains north of Asheton, which was roughly where we were supposed to meet. I didn’t want to stop, so that was all I could glean for now.
“We’re here,” Carl called out as he opened the door, wiped his boots and stepped in. I did the same, following him to a hallway and then through to a traditional dining room. I could look into the kitchen from there, and a young woman waved at us.
A moment later, Beth walked in, carrying a thermos and a basket of rolls.
“We’ll have more in a moment, so sit down.”
She bustled around, setting the table for us three, and then the young woman brought a bunch of plates with food. I could smell fried meat and scalloped potatoes, and my mouth watered.
Yes, the wolf was very hungry.
Beth did let me eat in peace, but as she looked as if she was bursting with news, I hurried up.
Of course, she noticed, and she smiled when I pushed the plate back and wiped my mouth.
“Are you ready for talking?”
I nodded, asking the question that had bothered me for days. “How did you ever find me?”
“Ah.” She smiled. “We had a report of an unknown howl near Theo’s house. We do try to keep a close eye on him and his… friends. And Carl has a lot of experience in how and where wolves run. He’s our expert in locating lost wolves. He hoped you’d end up at that parking lot, considering the lay of the land.”
I nodded, that explained a lot. And I wondered how well established this pack was.
Beth took a deep breath. “And now, we need to talk about you and your future. Do you think you can handle that?”
It was nice of her to ask, since she probably knew it wasn’t an easy topic. I nodded.
“Let’s start with some good news.” She smiled. “Theo has sent police on the pretext of someone sneaking around his house, telling them he thought he recognized someone from here. I told them I couldn’t let them search an occupied cabin, and they agreed. So we have that off our backs already.”
That was good news indeed. I smiled with relief.
“Now, to get you onto your own feet, what do you do well?”
That was a problem. I had no formal training in anything, but I could handle a computer fairly well, I could drive a car, repair almost every farm equipment imaginable, and I could herd sheep and cattle. We had done a lot of that in wolf shape.
Beth laughed and laughed when she heard that.
“Mal hired you out as his sheepdogs? That’s the best I’ve ever heard.”
“Well… he didn’t put it quite that way.” I grinned with her. Come to think of it, I could also track quite well, Dad had often complimented me on my wolf nose. Maybe I could make good use of that.
“I suppose police here doesn’t cooperate with our kind, do they?”
Beth’s mouth went prim, and I decided that I had asked the wrong question, so I shut up and let her carry the conversation again.
“Can you ride a horse?”
“Yes, if I have to. They usually aren’t happy with me.”
“Hmm. We could use another tour guide, but maybe it’ll be on our walking tours first. And maybe you can make a friend among our horses. We have a couple of steady mules, as well.”
“That sounds good. What kind of tours do you offer?”
“Guided tours of one to five days, both on foot and horseback, in the parks around here. Including some survival events.”
I nodded slowly. “I’d have to learn about the sights here, but I could do those with a bit of training.”
“Great. I’ll let you go out with our guides to learn. Bears have become a problem here, so I can easily justify another hand with the groups. How good are you with a gun?”
“Okayish.” I had never liked guns.
“Good enough to stop a bear if you have to?”
“Yes.” And I decided I would get some practice soon.
“Perfect. We’ll move you into an apartment today, the cabins are all booked out starting next week. Carl will show it to you and then take you around the farm.”
It was very clear who was running this operation, and I didn’t mind. Pack leaders were leaders because of their personality, not their gender.
“I’ll probably have to get a few things, I was traveling light.”
“So you were. Jen here will do a store run this afternoon, you can go with her.”
“Thank you.”
Beth stood, and I knew that I was being dismissed. That was fine, I was a new and lowly not-quite-member of her pack, I was younger than her and Carl by far, and that was how hierarchy worked. No matter what kind of scent my father might have left here.
“Come.”
Behind the farmhouse, out of sight of the cabins, a modern house rose, surrounded by trees for shade. Carl led me inside, showed me a door on the second floor and handed me a set of keys.
I quickly tossed my backpack on the bed, locked the door and followed him out of the building. That apartment could wait, although I had liked what I had seen of it. But you didn’t keep the pack leader’s mate waiting.
After a while, I had a healthy respect for the size of this tourist operation.
It had a barn full of horses, an arena, a shooting range, a basketball court and a lawn where any kind of wellness activity could happen, something that I had only seen from afar. I thought I had seen a sign pointing out a golf course, as well.
They also owned more land further out which was farmed the traditional way, and I decided Beth should know I’d feel more comfortable there. But for now, she was setting me up as a tour guide, and I wouldn’t dispute her choice.
In the afternoon, I took a seat in the van that Jen was taking to town to do the shopping for the next few days.
“Beth told me you’re still recovering from an accident, but could you be my muscle?”
It was interesting to learn what she had told her pack about me, I thought, and nodded. “Of course.”
“Perfect.”
We ended up with two grocery carts, and I loaded the heavy bags of rice, flour and other produce into the back of the van while Jen was sorting the more delicate vegetables into boxes at the side door. My own purchases lay on the passenger seat.
I was just closing the doors of the van when I heard a familiar voice behind me.
“Ben?”
Chapter 8
Sylvia
Ben turned slowly, while my heart was in my mouth. He looked fully recovered, and that was a relief.
“Hang on for a moment, I forgot to take those to the bottle bank,” a female voice called out, and he just nodded. I saw someone hurry away from the van carrying a large bag that clinked.
Would he hate me? I bit my lip.
His gray-blue eyes were serious. “Sylvie. You need to forget me.”
I hid a sigh. Yes, that would have been best, I agreed. But I couldn’t. I had so many questions, and of course, that video was still playing in my head. Now that I was seeing Ben again, his resemblance to that man was uncanny.
It took an effort to meet his eyes, but I did. “I can’t. There is something I must tell you. Something… that really matters.”
He glanced at the cars around us, and shook his head. “Not here.”
I nodded, that made sense. “Let’s meet somewhere else.”
He shook his head again. “No, Sylvie. Maybe I can trust you. But I cannot trust your family.”
That hurt, especially because he was right.
“I’m sorry,” I said almost automatically, but that didn’t even come close. I was still horrified by what they had done to him.
“Sylvie. Go home to your parents. Leave this area. Find happiness there.”
He was so calm and patient, and of course he was right. And yet, I couldn’t, I had to tell him about that man first. And the colloidal silver.
“But…”
A tiny smile lurked in the corners of his mouth, soft, caring, understanding.
“You stumbled into something very dangerous here. And…”
“All right, Ben, we can go!” That was that woman calling from the other side of the van, and something shifted in his face.
“Good bye, Sylvie.”
He turned and got into the van, and that was when I took a good look at it. It was green and bore the logo of one of the many tourist outfits of the area, Swan Valley Guided Tours. In an instant, I committed their website to memory.
The van left the parking lot and I stood there like a fool watching it go, before I collected my senses and returned to my car. Grandpa had sent me to get their groceries while Eric and he were out repairing a barn.
I sighed and wished I could forget Ben and that night of horror. But I owed him, and I was never someone to shy away from a debt.
So I sat in my car and pulled up the website on my phone. Their specialty were hikes and guided tours on horseback, and I decided that I might as well have some fun on my vacation. Housekeeping really wasn’t what I had come here for. And maybe I would see Ben again.
They offered detailed descriptions of their tours, including the first names of the guides and there was only one Ben. I hope it was him, and not some other guy. Even so, I smiled to myself and booked a hike to a waterfall called Michael Ridge Tour. A few hours in nature away from my Grandpa would do me a lot of good.
And even if I didn’t have a chance to talk to him on that tour, I could leave a message for him with the company, a way to contact me, without revealing more about himself.
I breathed more easily after having that idea. That would work in any case. I could simply write a letter to him, give him my phone number and email, and give him the option to contact me if he wanted to do so.
And if he wanted to forget me, well, that was his right.
Even if that thought hurt.
Waiting the five days until that hike was hard. Grandpa and Eric took me more and more for granted, expecting me to clean and cook for them, and I knew I would leave right after that hike. I already started spending my days in town, just to get away from that old house and that workshop. I didn’t have the money for a hotel, or I would have rented a room gladly. So I also looked for cheap accommodation that wasn’t horrible.
On the other hand, I didn’t think that Grandpa would let me rent a place and so it came down to the same thing in the end. I had to turn tail and go home.
But I really wanted to see Ben for one last time.
So I packed my things after Grandpa and Eric had left the house on my last day there, wrote that letter to Ben, put everything into my car and drove down from the mountains and across the wide valley to the home of the Swan Valley Guided Tours, as the instructions said.
And my heart immediately danced with joy, because Ben was there at the parking lot, chatting with other tourists, standing close to a small bus with the logo on it.
That would be our ride to the trail head for the hike. I swallowed hard before getting out of my car, because I knew he would not be pleased.
And he almost rolled his eyes when he saw me, only to bring up a professional smile next.
“Hello, Sylvie.”
He used the nickname he had given me, and that made my heart flutter even more. I both enjoyed and hated it.
We had to wait for one more couple, and then Ben and the other guide sent us all into the bus. The other guide was driving, and Ben started reading out some information about the region and the waterfall we were going to see.
I had a row of two seats for myself and so I simply closed my eyes and listened to his voice. It was more soothing than it should be, I thought.
The drive lasted about half an hour, and the last stretch wound into the mountains until we reached a small parking lot. I grabbed the small backpack with my water bottle and a light lunch and left the bus with everyone else.
There were about a dozen people in the group. Several of them were carrying walking sticks and wore heavy hiking boots. I only had my sneakers, but it didn’t matter. It was dry weather, and I never had any problems hiking a trail.
We headed out and soon settled into the hike, with the other guide taking the lead and Ben bringing up the rear. I made myself walk in the middle of the group, expecting he would not want to talk or even be close to me.
It was more than beautiful. The trees were settling into the summer green, birds were still calling everywhere, and once we saw a black bear on the other side of the river we were following.
After about half an hour of hiking, rain hit in a short shower, and I found that I didn’t mind it at all. The wet leaves sparkled when the sun came out again, and the world was even more colorful.
I looked up when I heard a hawk call, and suddenly, a rock turned under my foot and I slipped and fell, feeling the ankle twist under me with a flash of pain. It happened so fast that I didn’t even have time to cry out.
Angry at myself, I got up and found that my right ankle wouldn’t carry my weight. I would have fallen again, but one of the other hikers caught me.
“What’s wrong?” The tour guide was at my side immediately.
“I twisted my ankle.” It was surprising how calm I felt, my mind already working out how to deal with this. “Wh
at a stupid thing to do.”
The tour guide put a hand on my arm, nodding with sympathy. “I’m sorry. We’ll take you back to the bus.”
“I don’t want to ruin everyone else’s hike,” I said, still feeling amazingly calm. “This is not life-threatening, and not even terribly painful.”
“I’ll take her to the bus. Tom, you can keep guiding the tour.” Ben looked resigned, and I couldn’t blame him.
“Would you be okay with that?” the other guide asked me. Tom. I mentally pinned that name on him to remember it.
“Yes.” I was much more than okay with that, but Tom didn’t need to know.
The rest of the group made comforting noises, but I could tell how relieved they were to have a solution that demanded nothing of them.
“I’ll be fine,” I told them. “Don’t worry about me. Enjoy the hike.”
Tom gave Ben a grateful look. “You should have reception at the bus, just call headquarters, they’ll send a car to pick you both up and get Sylvia medical attention. I’ll handle the rest.”
They left, and I was more than relieved to see them go.
“First, sit down.” Ben helped me hobble to a rock and I sat down, knowing that he would be angry. He put his hands on his hips. “And please, tell me that you didn’t plan this.”
I bit my lip. He deserved the truth. “No, not this. But I did want to see you one last time before going home, so yes, I planned the hike, hoping you’d be one of the guides.”
He sighed. “Why?”
“I… there are a few things I need to tell you. Things I learned after… you left.” Which was a terrible way of saying that he had to flee from torture.
“I see.” He took another deep breath. “Well, let’s get you to the bus before we talk.”
That seemed like a good idea. Getting to the bus would be difficult.
Ben went to the river, removed his bandanna and dunked it into the water. Then he wrapped it around my ankle, cooling and supporting it.
“See if you can stand.”
I could for a few steps and then the pain got too bad. I stood in place and just couldn’t put weight on it. “I’m sorry.”
A Wolf's Quest Page 4