by E. A. Copen
Sal closed his eyes and tilted his head to the side. “Nina’s too far away still for me to get much, but I can sense her anxiety. It’s overpowering how pissed off she probably is. Shauna and Daphne and Ed are all generally worried. It’s no wonder. I called them late last night and told them what had happened. They’re doing shifts at the hospital with Valentino. Valentino and Leo...” He trailed off and then winced. “They’re both in a lot of pain. Even if I’m not concentrating on it, it’s always there. Makes it hard to focus. All I want to do is go lie down.” He opened his eyes and offered me a weak smile. “But I’ve got things to do. Gotta help you find a way to help Valentino. Doesn’t matter how tired I am. I have to keep going.”
I smiled back and chuckled. “Kind of reminds me when Hunter was younger. He was wild. Between raising him and work, I got maybe three hours of sleep every day. I bet it is sort of like having kids.”
His smile faded.
I realized what I’d said all too late. Sal and his ex-wife had never been able to have children, even though he’d always wanted a family. That disconnect was what eventually drove them apart.
“Sal—”
He held up a hand. “It’s alright.”
“Being responsible for anyone else is indeed exhausting,” Logan said from the sofa. “Especially one who isn’t able to see the consequences of their own actions.”
Sal and I exchanged glances before we both came back to the living room. Logan hadn’t moved a muscle, but Bolt had come to lay at his feet, resting her head on her paws. The dog didn’t seem to mind being in the same house as a werewolf, which was surprising to me. I’d always assumed that werewolves and dogs might not get along. I don’t know why I thought that. Maybe it’s because I’ve never met a werewolf with a pet. Smaller animals always tended to get spooked around werewolves.
Sal brought out his pack of cigarettes, took one out and offered it to Logan, who had finally opened his eyes. Logan took it, but tucked it behind his ear instead of putting it in his mouth. “If you want to know about Zara, you must first understand that she is not human, no matter how human she may appear. She may walk and talk and live as a human, but she will never be one of you.”
“She seemed...” I trailed off, looking for the right word.
“Naïve? Immature? Touched in the head, perhaps?”
“Innocent and childlike.”
Logan grunted and sat forward, taking his feet from the table. “Zara was not born for this world. She was born of magick, very old magick, and brought into this world for one purpose and one purpose only. That purpose was vengeance against the Creator who her makers believed had turned his back on them. The people were riddled with illness and misery and blamed their Maker, and so they bid their leader, a powerful medicine man, to create a tool of vengeance. He refused, of course, because it was not their way. He instructed the people to bear death and disease as part of life.
“But the people could not. They came day and night, begging him to relieve them. Still, he refused. That is, until one day when his daughter became very sick. No medicine could cure her and the girl died. In his grief, the medicine man turned his back on his vows and used dark magick to imbibe his daughter’s body with the power of Uktena who was said to have the power to destroy the Creator spirit.”
While Logan spoke, I slid back over to the chair and sat down again, but his story brought me to the edge of the seat. “According the legend I read, Uktena failed to destroy God.”
Logan nodded. “That’s correct, but not because of anything any god did. It was her own father who stopped her. The spirit possessing his daughter did not understand death and consequence, only vengeance. In her quest to destroy the Creator, she drowned every child in the village, including her own, for her song was so beautiful that none could resist.
“The old medicine man knew she had to be stopped, and so used the same magick to transform himself into the one creature that could stop her.”
“Thunderbird,” Sal whispered.
“Thunderbird took her away, locked her in a place where she could no longer harm the living.”
“That would be Galunlati, which Zara was telling us about,” I said. “But what happened to the man who became Thunderbird?”
Logan sighed and leaned back, crossing his arms. “It became his job to watch over his daughter’s prison. He did his best to keep her happy and comfortable, to teach her. But she couldn’t be sated. She watched as her children were born and reborn, and died and redied, mourning them every day. Her tears made the rain and her furious grief the hurricanes that strike the coast. She would stop at nothing to have another chance to be with her children.”
There was a long pause. No one dared speak. I could sense that Logan wasn’t done with his story, but it seemed he was caught in a memory. When he finally did speak again, it was in a quieter voice. “One day, when the old man was sleeping, she escaped her prison and came back to the place where her village once stood, but the village was gone. The land had changed. She found she no longer understood the world, but she would not give up the quest to find her lost children.”
He raised his gaze from the top of the table he’d been staring at. “Zara does not understand consequence. She’s so taken by her own grief that she’s unable to process much else. It’s broken her. The danger Zara presents is that she is powerful and driven to a goal without any morals to limit how she might achieve that goal.”
“Who are her children?” I asked.
Logan’s face went blank. “What?”
I threw my arms up. “She’s looking for her kids, right? Why not just show them to her and be done with it?”
“Because,” Sal said, “according to those beliefs, when souls are reborn, it’s never in one piece. Even if she only had one child, the parts of him would be scattered from one end of the Earth to the other. It’d take decades to find all the pieces.”
“And she was a mother of two,” Logan said, nodding. “If she remains, she will be doomed to search the entire Earth for an eternity looking for children that are no longer. Even if she assembled all the pieces, they wouldn’t know her. All it would cause is more pain and suffering.” Logan turned to me. “I must take her back where she came from.”
“She’s not going to go willingly.” I remembered how desperate Zara had seemed. She’d painted the Thunderbird as an uncaring monster when he was really just a father riddled by his own desperate grief.
“I can force her, but she would only find a way to escape again,” Logan said.
“Then what do you expect us to do?” Sal sat down on the arm of the sofa furthest from Logan. “If you can’t talk to her and convince her, what makes you think either of us can do anything?”
“Judah, you saw the white scale on her forehead?”
I nodded. It had stuck out like a sore thumb to me, though it looked the same as any other scale when I wasn’t looking at her aura. I’d only be able to see it if I concentrated on her aura.
“It is the source of her power, the thing that allows her to change shape. When she is a human, it will be just as visible here.” Logan pointed to his forehead between the eyes. “Remove the scale while she is in her snake form, and not only will she be unable to shift, but I can take it and craft a remedy for your sick werewolf friend.”
“No offense, old man, but isn’t she just going to get more pissed off if she can’t shift anymore?” I asked. “I still don’t see how that will help us talk her into going back with you.”
“I promise once you remove the scale, all will be clear.”
I frowned. I was getting real tired of all the vague speech, even if that came with the territory of talking to old Cherokee demigods...mythical beings...whatever. Why was it that no one could just give me a straight answer?
I huffed and let my shoulders deflate. No point in arguing. Like Sal said, Logan wasn’t the kind of guy I’d want mad at me. “Fine, but how do we get her to come back out and shift? And when she does, how am I suppose
d to peel off one of her scales? I imagine she’s not just going to let me do it.”
Logan smiled in response. Judging by the smile, I knew I wasn’t going to like his idea, no matter what it was.
Chapter Eleven
“That’s a terrible plan,” I said after Logan had finished detailing what he had in mind.
Sal, who had remained seated on the opposite end of the sofa, shook his head. “No. We won’t do that. I’m not putting one of mine in harm’s way.”
“You’ve already done that by interfering.” Logan leaned back against the cushions and crossed his arms. “You have a man and a child lying in the hospital right now. I hear the boy has some fractured ribs, but is expected to make a full recovery. The one called Valentino, however, likely grows worse by the hour. Your people are already in danger.”
“He’s a child!” Sal growled, forgetting his plan not to make Logan angry.
Logan, however, didn’t react other than to quirk an eyebrow. “That boy is no ordinary child. That child is a werewolf. It was not so very long ago that boys his age fought and died in this world. Let him help. Or will you let more die? How many are you willing to put at risk to save one of your own? Are you willing to bury Valentino?”
Sal jumped up and leaned on the arm of the sofa, baring his teeth at Logan. “We do not sacrifice one to save another. That’s not our way.”
“That isn’t Chanter’s way. Correct me if I’m wrong, Saloso, but you have a record of doing just that. Did you not kill two to save one in Montana all those years ago?” Logan gave an amused smile when Sal’s face went blank. “I know about that, yes.”
“That was different.” Sal’s voice was strained. I couldn’t tell whether he really believed what he was saying or not. “I was a kid. I didn’t know better.”
“Are you saying you would have let the boys’ parents beat him to death had you known? Do you think you could have walked away?” Logan’s grin widened and he lowered his head. “I don’t think so.”
“This isn’t the same. I’m not putting Hunter at risk for Valentino. Valentino wouldn’t want that, and Hunter’s not involved. There’s no reason to risk his life like that.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. Sal agreed with me. That was comforting. Hunter wasn’t a full member of the pack yet, and there were several in the pack who didn’t want that to happen. A few of them would have turned away and said they were under no obligation to protect an outsider like Hunter. If the pack hadn’t decided to protect him, I sure as hell would’ve. There was no way I was letting my eleven-year-old son be bait for a supernatural monster.
“Pack is his reason,” Logan answered. “What kind of pack is this where one is not willing to risk his life for another? What kind of alpha will you be that you should forbid making the attempt? And you—” He turned to me. “—don’t you think it’s time for Hunter to start making some of his own decisions? You will not be here forever.”
“No.” I shook my head firmly. “Not this decision.”
I looked to Sal to support me, but he was staring hard at the couch cushion, eyebrows drawn together and jaw squared.
“Sal?”
“He’s right,” Sal said after a long moment and then gave me an apologetic look. “Personal feelings aside, it’s a sound tactical decision. I have a duty to protect those in my care. I’m Hunter’s sponsor into the pack. My gut is screaming no, that he should be protected. But if we protect him from everything, how’s he ever supposed to have the opportunity to prove himself?”
“You can’t be serious!”
“It’s not our decision.” Sal closed his eyes and turned away. “It’s certainly not yours. This is a pack matter. Just as I have a duty to protect the weakest and most vulnerable of my pack, so does he. Everyone does. That’s what makes a pack strong, the willingness of the strong to defend the weak. Normally, Valentino is one of the first to step in when that needs doing. Today, he can’t.”
“Then get Shauna! Ed! Anyone!” I stood and went to grip his arm.
After Nina, who was out of town, Shauna was the next highest-ranking werewolf in the pack. Shouldn’t she have been his next pick? Even Ed should have come first, and Ed was at the bottom of the pecking order entirely.
“It wouldn’t work,” Logan said. “Zara’s weakness is for children. Her oldest would have been about Hunter’s age when he drowned. Perhaps she’ll see that in him.”
“But they’ve met before,” I pointed out. “In my living room. She barely reacted to him.” Their interactions had been brief, and I’d sent him away to keep him uninvolved every time he tried to figure out what was going on. If she was going to react to him, though, she might have done it already.
“Not the way I will present him.” Logan waved his hand as if he were batting a fly. “I will make him appear to her as her lost son. No harm will come to the boy. The three of us will be close by and ready to act.”
“It has to be his decision,” Sal said. “His informed decision.” He finally met my eyes. “I’ll get him in to see Valentino. We’ll be open with him about what’s going to happen, lay all the facts out. Then, he can decide what he wants to do. I’ll be sure he understands he’s under no obligations and that this isn’t a condition of his admittance into the pack.”
I chewed on my bottom lip. There was no way I was ever going to be okay with Hunter being involved in any kind of plot that could get him killed. He wasn’t helpless; I knew that. It had only been a few months since a wendigo ate his finger and trapped him in a furnace where he barely escaped with his life without being burned to death. The kid had been through some harrowing things over the last year. He was strong, but I didn’t want him to have to be strong. I wanted Hunter to stay like he was forever—small, innocent, my baby. It was never going to happen. Both Sal and Logan were right to a degree, even if I didn’t want to admit it. For Hunter to grow up and be a functioning, well-adjusted adult, I was going to have to take the training wheels off.
I gave a resigned sigh. “Fine. You can approach him with the idea, but you have to do as you promised and lay everything out. If I even suspect anyone is manipulating my son, that giant snake is going to be the least of your problems.” I shot Logan an icy glare.
He chuckled. “Of that, I have no doubt,” he said and rose. Bolt stood with him, panting and alert. “Take all the time you need. However, remember that the longer you take, the more difficult it will be to save your werewolf friend. In the meantime, I will do some recon and search the area. If I haven’t heard from you by sundown, I’ll have no choice but to go with plan B.”
“And what is plan B?” I asked, almost not wanting to know.
“Plan B means nobody gets a choice and I do whatever is necessary to save as many lives as possible.” Logan nodded to each of us and moved for the door with his dog at his heels.
When he was gone, I turned back to Sal, who raised his hands defensively. “Look, Judah, I hate this as much as you. If there was any other way—”
“Promise me you’re not going to let anything bad happen to him. I don’t want him to get hurt.”
Sal reached out to squeeze my upper arm. “No way I’m letting anything happen to that kid. Or you. Nobody else gets hurt. You’ve got my word.”
Promises have their own kind of supernatural power. It’s not binding, not in the sense that an oath spoken three times to a fae would be, but just hearing him say that made me feel a little better, even if it didn’t make any real difference.
The egg timer on the oven buzzed and Sal turned to frown at it. The squash hadn’t come out in time to share with Logan as he’d planned. It was just as well. I didn’t want to break bread with someone I couldn’t trust.
I patted Sal’s arm. “I’ll go get Hunter for lunch over here if you don’t mind. He likes your cooking better than mine.”
“Sure. Go get him. I’ll have things ready when you come back.”
The walk from Sal’s place to mine wasn’t far, but it felt like miles. The few inc
hes of water on the ground I had to slog through didn’t help. By the time I reached my front door, I was wet again from the knees down. It didn’t feel like drying off would do any good, not with all the water that was still out there, so I just leaned in the front door and called his name.
Hunter came down the hall barefoot and still in his pajamas. His eyes were a little red and he was massaging his right thumb. He must’ve been playing video games. “What’s up, mom? What happened to the naked lady?”
“She turned into a giant snake and slithered away.”
He paused, his face twisting in confusion as he tried to figure out if I was joking or not.
“Get dressed, Hunter. Sal made some lunch and he wants to talk to you.”
“About the snake lady?”
I pinched the bridge of my nose, feeling the headache coming on. “Just get dressed, Hunter.”
Not wanting to stand ankle-deep in the water while I waited for my son to get dressed, I stepped inside the door and stood in the kitchen, dripping water everywhere. The kitchen was already a mess, so it didn’t matter too much. There were dishes piled in the sink, the trash needed to go out, and I’d already tracked in mud and dirt the night before. Once this was all over, I’d have so much laundry to do. Thankfully, there was a twenty-four-hour laundromat just down the street. If they’d replaced some of the washers after the werewolf murder that happened there dented them all up, maybe I could do it in a day. I really hoped they’d get the electricity back on soon and the water would all evaporate so we could get on with our lives.
After a few minutes, Hunter came down the hall in a pair of silver nylon shorts and a baggy black t-shirt advertising some band I’d never heard of. His hair was an uncombed mess. I tried to run my fingers through it to right it as he passed by, but he batted my hands away.
“Stop! You’re going to mess it up!”
“Mess what up? Looks like a hamster died on your head.”