The Call (The Great North Woods Pack Book 2)

by Shawn Underhill

  Lucile arose slowly from the step with her husband’s assistance, but once to her feet she stood as rigidly planted as an old oak tree. It was a wolf, after all. A giant wolf at that, just yards from her door. A quick assessment told her that her head would fit as easily within its mouth as a tennis ball in a dog’s mouth. She couldn’t force herself any closer. Her husband would only pull so much.

  “It’s okay,” Evie said with her best effort at a puppyish yip. She swished her tail with extra zeal. “See, I’m friendly.”

  “Look at that, Lucy,” Ed said. “See? He’s talking to us! Smart as a person because it is a person. He’s trying to tell you everything’s all right.”

  “My God,” Lucile whispered.

  “Now you see why I wouldn’t quit.”

  “I … I’m sorry,” she muttered. “I don’t know what else to say. I’m so sorry.”

  Ed laughed proudly but said nothing—a gracious winner.

  “Edmond, there’s actually a human being somewhere in that body?” his wife asked. “And look at those eyes,” she said leaning slightly forward. “Oh, my goodness, he’s …”

  “Absolutely splendid,” her husband finished. “Greatest animal I’ve ever set eyes on.”

  “And you say that’s really and truly Mr. Ludlow?”

  “That’s right,” he said, focusing solely on the wolf. “Ain’t that right, Joe? Go on and tell her how it is.”

  Calmly, slowly, Evie delivered the bad news to him by swaying her heavy head from side to side. Her tail stopped swishing. “No.”

  It took only a few seconds for poor old Ed’s ecstatic face to darken and droop until he appeared twice as confused as his wife. “No,” he murmured. “No, I saw you, Joe. Saw you with my own eyes, I know.”

  Evie yipped a quick response. “Close. Not quite.”

  “No, no,” Ed sputtered on, stepping closer. “I saw you clear as day. One minute it was you, and in a flash you were this great big wolf, running full speed up the trail. I was just a kid but I know darn well what I saw. My eyes were perfect then.”

  Again Evie shook her head no. Poor old Ed stood there looking lost in his own memories.

  “What do we do?” Lucile asked him. When there was no response from her husband, she looked straight at the wolf. “Can we offer you some water?” she ventured awkwardly. “I don’t know what else to offer; we’ve never had company quite like …”

  Evie nodded sharply. “Yes. Water.”

  “Go on, darling,” Lucile urged her husband. “Put some cold water in the bucket I use for the plants. Go on now. It’s okay. We’ll figure this out.”

  Ed wandered back to the house with little energy in his steps, still lost in his memories, so close to being right and yet feeling suddenly so far.

  “Don’t let him leave while I’m gone,” he said from the porch, to which Lucile glanced back at him with the unmistakable expression of a half century’s exasperation.

  “Oh?” She said. “And how, do you propose, am I to stop him?”

  ***

  Evie stared into the face of the old woman. Her mind was focused sharply on communicating, forgetting the wolf and taking her human form while she had the chance; this guessing game could not go on all night.

  She was concentrating with such fervor that it almost felt she was poised to leap out of the wolf enveloping her—almost like she could see it happening. And as the old woman stood back staring, still too nervous to approach, Evie was relieved to feel the shift happening so quickly. In a flash she was her human self again, falling forward, extending her hands to catch herself, landing on her knees. With such short practice, her focus was improving greatly.

  “Oh, my,” Lucile repeated several times over, watching in disbelief with her hands over her fast-beating heart. “Good lord, Ed, it’s a girl. Do you hear me? It’s a girl!”

  “I tried to tell him,” Evie said with a scratchy throat, and she stood and swiped a flannel shirt from the clothesline, then ducked in behind the other clothes to pull it on. “Obviously he couldn’t understand me. Hope you don’t mind my borrowing this shirt.”

  After a few seconds of comprehension Lucile rushed over, took a pair of pajama bottoms from the line, and tossing them to Evie, said, “Here, these are mine. He was so fired up to get out in the woods he never brought the clothes in this afternoon.”

  “My lucky day,” Evie quipped, pulling on the baggy plaid bottoms and cinching the ties. “Thank you.”

  Lucile smiled nervously. “Well, as to your other statement, even if Ed could have understood you, dear, he probably wouldn’t have listened. Once he gets excited there’s no getting through to him.”

  “I see that,” Evie smiled.

  “You can … communicate that way?”

  “Yes ma’am. Just not well with people.”

  “Lord. And … are you actually one of the Ludlows?”

  “One of many,” was Evie’s answer. Her arms were crossed and she was shivering where she stood. “I’m Evie, Janie’s daughter, Joe’s granddaughter.”

  “Forgive me, Evie, but that’s not a New England accent.”

  “I was raised in the south. Haven’t you noticed my mom hasn’t been around in years?”

  The old woman suddenly stood back and clapped her hands to her cheeks. “I’m so sorry. Where are my manners? I’m grilling you with questions while you shiver. I’m overwhelmed, that’s all. Oh, and your shoulder. Come in out of this cold and wet grass. I’ll get you some warm socks and we’ll take a look at that shoulder.”

  ***

  A step or two behind, Evie followed the woman gladly into the house, grateful for the feel of dry floors on her damp feet, even more grateful for the warmth of their cozy little kitchen. The house itself struck her as a comfortable little gingerbread house in the country, small and homey, clean and good-smelling.

  As for Ed, he was frantically moving about the kitchen as they entered. He paused, looked over at them in surprise, opened his mouth, and after a few seconds managed only to say, “Ahh.”

  “Well, you were right, dear,” Lucile announced from the doorway. “The wolf is indeed one of the Ludlows. But, as you can see, this certainly isn’t old Joe.”

  With a smile and a small wave Evie said, “Hi again.”

  Ed set down an open can of dog food, doubtless intended for Evie, and stepped slowly toward her. “You … I know you. You’re the one from the car. Erica’s friend.”

  “Yup. Me. Erica’s cousin, Evie.”

  “Evie,” he mumbled. “No, no, no, I saw him. It was many years ago, but I saw Joe Ludlow turn into a white wolf right before my eyes.” He looked beyond Evie toward the dark yard, still clinging to his hope, but saw no wolf beyond the girl shivering in oversized clothes. “I know what I saw,” he muttered almost sadly.

  “Darling,” Lucile said, resting her hand on his shoulder. “Relax and let her explain. Please? I witnessed her turn from the wolf to this girl with my own eyes.”

  It took him a moment, but finally Ed gave up watching the empty yard and focused on the girl standing before him.

  “First of all,” Evie said when his attention returned to her. “Thank you for helping me back there. I honestly thought I was about to die a horrible death. I can’t thank you enough. I mean, I was so scared, I—”

  “Oh, that was nothing,” Ed said slowly.

  “And just so you know, you will never pay for another lunch as long as I have anything to say about it.”

  He smirked at the mention of the lunch and seemed to relax a bit. “Oh, don’t thank me. I hate those cougars. They’re nothing but trouble, if you ask me.”

  “Here,” Lucile interrupted, pushing against Evie’s good arm. “Sit at the table while you talk and let me look at that shoulder.”

  “It’s fine, really,” she told her as she took a seat and rolled up the baggy sleeve. “It’s already scarring over. We heal pretty fast.”

  “Don’t you just love that drawl?” Lucile commented with a glance to
her husband, then leaned over close and examined the crimson stripe under the overhead light. “This wound was from tonight?”

  “Yes but it wasn’t a cougar,” Evie said looking at Ed. “It was my sweet cousin, your favorite waitress. I was chasing after her when I ran into that cat.”

  “Her too?” he said with wide eyes, sitting at his own chair and leaning across the table. “It’s the whole family, ain’t it? Don’t tell me I’m wrong!”

  Evie nodded. “But I’m not supposed to tell anyone, ever. You have to keep this to yourself, for all our sakes. Okay?”

  “Good God,” Ed blurted. “Did you hear that, Lucy? Where there’s one there has to be more. I knew it! There’s a whole pack of ’em right under our noses!”

  “Will you calm down,” Lucile insisted. “Can’t you see the girl’s had a rough night?” She turned to Evie again. “I couldn’t help but notice your hair. May I ask—”

  “It’s part of the whole wolf mess,” Evie stated, her scowl making her estimation of the white hair unmistakable. “At this point, I don’t know much more about it than you do.”

  Ed laughed and slapped the table. “Wolf mess, she says.”

  “I see,” murmured Lucile. “Well, can I offer you a drink or a bite to eat?”

  “A glass of water would be amazing right now,” Evie answered. “Thank you.” Then, looking back to Ed she said, “Seriously. Not a word.”

  The old man waved her off. “I ain’t tellin’ a soul, you can bet on that. Now, let’s get to the important stuff. What’s going on out there tonight? Is old Joe all right?”

  “He’s not here, that’s half the problem. Those cats plotted to get my grandfather out of town so they could attack us at our weakest time.”

  “Dirty, rotten sneaks,” Ed grumbled. “I take a shot at them whenever I get the chance. Slippery as grease, though. And they don’t go down easy.”

  “So you’ve hunted them before?”

  “For decades I have, ever since they killed one of my dogs. I won’t forgive ’em and I won’t forget. They know how it is. Come near my land, and I’ll take a shot. Stay clear, and I’ll live and let live.”

  “Excuse my husband,” Lucile said, handing Evie a glass of cold water. “He’s been a nature lover since the day he could walk through a door, and he loves his dogs dearly.”

  “That reminds me,” he said and rose quickly from his chair. “I should let ’em out of the basement now that you’re, uh, no offense, back to being just a girl. Excellent noses these little guys have. They’ll warn us if there’s any more trouble around.”

  ***

  Two Beagles burst through the open doorway and rushed into the kitchen, making a beeline for Evie. Sniffing her feet and legs feverishly as she sat motionless, they whined and whimpered, and after nearly a minute of intense scrutiny, they began wagging their tales.

  “They know,” Ed said proudly. “Something’s different about you and they can tell. But they also know you’re not a threat. If they’d seen you before, oh boy, I don’t know what they would’ve done.”

  Evie leaned forward and began patting the two excited dogs. They climbed her legs and sniffed at her breath.

  “What are their names?”

  “He and She. The pink collar is on She.”

  Lucile rolled her eyes. Evie laughed softly. The dogs accepted the attention gratefully. After a few minutes of attention they began settling down.

  “Now,” Ed said, taking his chair again, “we can relax with their noses on guard. I suppose you wanna know why I mistook you for Joe.”

  “I do,” Evie said. “That surprised me almost as much as that first shot you fired.”

  “I can be mighty quiet,” he smirked, “when I have to be. As for my story, it’s pretty simple really. It all started because I love animals. All sorts of animals. I collect them, you know.” His face brightened. “Would you like to see?”

  “Not now,” Lucile urged. “It’s your favorite story. God knows you haven’t stopped telling me. Tell her.”

  Ed laughed and scratched his stubbly chin.

  “I only ask because my grandfather is very careful,” Evie said. “I can’t imagine him being careless and letting you see him.”

  “Well, missy, I’ll shoot ya straight. Joe wasn’t careless. It’s just that when I was a boy, I was real good at sneaking around. I was a terror to my poor mama back then.”

  “Back then,” Lucile muttered under her breath.

  “There wasn’t much to do in the way of fun,” Ed continued as if he hadn’t heard her—in the manner he’d learned to operate over long decades. “But I was lucky, because my idea of fun was being in the woods and spending time with all the animals I could find. Caused my poor mama fits, my never coming home and all. But I loved the woods and the critters, and felt right at home out there with them. Wished I could be one of ’em, honestly. I’d even save scraps of my lunch, wrap them up and keep them in my pockets to share with whoever wanted a bite. Squirrels and chipmunks would eat from my hand. Deer would get ten feet from me, I swear. The days would get on and Mama would be yelling for me to come home, and I’d be hiding out there, thinking I was one of those animals and belonged out there with them.”

  Lucile cleared her throat.

  “Anyway, I was only ten or eleven when I saw your grandfather. I wandered all the way up to Nash Stream fishing, catching me some nice little brook trout, when I heard something big coming down the trail. I had good senses, on account of all the practice I got being in the woods. Well, I hid myself and my gear real good, because I didn’t have permission to be fishing on Ludlow lands. I didn’t want to get caught and kicked out, and if Joe had found me and told my old man, boy, I’d have been switched for dishonesty and trespassing.”

  Evie frowned a little at the switch comment. “I can’t believe he didn’t find you.”

  “He almost did,” Ed smirked. “But I guess it was one of the others that saved me from being caught that day. Old Joe came down the trail on a horse. He dismounted not thirty feet from me and came down the bank near the stream where I was hiding. I just held still like I was dead, barely breathing, lying on my belly under some low-hung spruce boughs. He got closer—so close I could see the scuffs on his boots. And that’s when we both heard this long howl from far away. Joe turned and looked the way it came from, then ran back up the hill to the trail. I lay there peeking out, watching after him, and just poof, he turned into the biggest, whitest wolf I could ever imagine. Right there in front of me! Broad daylight! Then he took off running so fast his horse had to hustle to try and keep up. In a few seconds they were outa sight.”

  “The clothing,” Lucile said in an almost apologetic tone. “Don’t forget that part.”

  “No, no, I haven’t forgotten. I went up to the trail, wondering if I’d seen right or just imagined it. Well, I walked along a ways and found bits of his clothing strewn around. He left hardly anything for tracks. Nothing as obvious as the shod horse prints that gouge the ground. With all the leaf litter around these parts, padded feet don’t leave many marks. But tracks or not, I knew from those clothes that I’d seen right. Old Joe was a wolf. A magic wolf, no less.”

  “I’ll bet those spruce trees helped hide your scent,” Evie said, smiling back at the giddy old man.

  “I’ll bet they did,” he agreed. “But the howl is what really saved me. My God, I’ve never forgotten that day. Not in all my years. Frightening and amazing. He might not have left tracks on that old ground, but he sure made a big impression on me.”

  “It’s good of you not to have told anyone,” Evie said.

  “Oh, that’s not entirely true.” He laughed. “I ran straight home and told my mama right away. Of course she thought I was a raving loon. ‘Spending too much time in the woods,’ she said. ‘All the wolves have been driven from these parts,’ she told me.” Ed leaned forward. “But I knew better, didn’t I?”

  “He’s hoped all these years for another sighting,” Lucile explained. “H
e watches these woods obsessively, right up to the Ludlow boundaries. Lord knows I’ve heard all about it till I’m sick to death. Some boys remain boys even after their hair turns white. Still,” she smiled. “I can’t blame him anymore.”

  “It was the most amazing thing I’d ever seen,” Ed sighed. “An animal from a storybook right there before my eyes. I couldn’t just forget it. The way I saw it, forgetting would make me twice as crazy as believing and wishing for another glimpse.”

  “Weren’t you scared?” Evie asked.

  “Hell yes!” Ed laughed. “But it was that exciting type of fear. Like those crazy folk I see on TV riding those rollercoasters and screaming their fool heads off.”

  Evie laughed.

  “But listen,” Ed said more seriously. “A few years after that, old Joe gave me my first real job working at his lumber yard. I begged for a chance to go up to Maine with all the men, where most of the harvest comes from. I had my suspicions that there were more wolves up there, seeing as only certain men made those regular trips. The fact that old Joe never let me go along, even after calling me a good worker, only fueled my suspicion. I knew it couldn’t be just him. I figured there must have been a whole pack.”

  “I’ll bet he suspected you,” Evie said. “You don’t exactly hide your enthusiasm well.”

  “No,” Ed agreed, laughing lowly at himself. “I guess I don’t. And I’m no quitter, either. Ever since I got older and took over this land from my pa, I’ve kept a close eye on the boundaries, as my wife said. At night I’ve heard howls from time to time, drifting down from the north, too deep to be coyotes; they give me the happy shivers. Now, I never have seen another wolf, or found an unmistakable track, but in damp places I started discovering big cat prints; I guess they aren’t as careful as the wolves. Sometimes they keep well clear of this area, and sometimes they sneak and snoop. They’ll kill the deer when they have the chance; I’ve found the remains and they are unmistakable. So for those reasons, and the memory of my poor dog, I will shoot those cats from my tree stands when I get the chance. I know they’re after more than dogs and deer up in these woods.”