In the Mouth of the Wolf

by Nicole Maggi

  Jonah raised his eyebrows as I slid into my seat. I hunched my shoulders, not quite sure how to act. We’d had a huge victory last night—but he’d had a huge defeat. And yet . . . he wanted the Malandanti to fail now, didn’t he? I faced forward, the back of my neck hot where I was sure his gaze was. It was too confusing.

  Halfway through class, a note landed on my desk. I need to see you. Tonight, at our place.

  I bent over my desk to scribble back.

  Can’t. Going away for the weekend and leaving really early tomorrow.

  We’d gotten permission to skip school, since we had a tour at Williams College in the afternoon. I stretched my hand back beneath his desk. His fingers brushed mine as he took the note.

  Within a minute it was back on my desk.

  Can I walk you home, then? Alone?

  Yes.

  The day inched forward. I barely heard Carly and Melissa’s happy chatter at lunch. “Do you think my red sweater is too low-cut to wear to the tour?” Carly nudged me.

  “Huh?”

  “My red sweater?”

  “Oh, um, ask Jenny. She’s the fashion expert.”

  “It’s too low-cut,” Jenny said. “We want to look serious.”

  “But they usually have college students do the tour,” Carly said. “It could be a cute guy.”

  “Or a nerdy girl. Just wear the black turtleneck.”

  Carly sat back in her chair with a huff. I glanced around the cafeteria. Jonah sat in the corner; it had gotten too cold and snowy for his usual seat under the bleachers. From across the crowded room, I met his gaze. The noise that separated us disappeared. His eyes were as piercing as the Panther’s, searing into me. I gripped the back of my chair.

  The rest of the afternoon passed as if we were stuck in honey, trying to swim our way out.

  When at last the final bell rang, I burst out through the front doors. Jenny caught up with me on the sidewalk. I spotted Jonah off to the side, that same fierce look on his face.

  I put my hand on Jenny’s arm. “Um, Jonah’s gonna walk me home today.”

  She glanced at him. “Are you two getting back together?”

  “No.” She narrowed her eyes at me, and I faltered. “I don’t know. It’s complicated. Just—please don’t give me a hard time about this.”

  “Okay. He can have you this afternoon only because I get you for the whole weekend.” She danced away to where Melissa and Carly stood on the curb. “It’s gonna be legendary!”

  I laughed. I was still smiling when I landed by Jonah’s side.

  “What was that all about?” he asked, jerking his chin in Jenny’s direction.

  “Oh, we’re all going away this weekend to look at colleges. No parents.”

  “Whoa. Your mom went for that?” We started the long walk to my house. It felt easy again, and I had to hold myself back from slipping my hand into his the way I used to.

  “Surprisingly, yes. But I wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth.” I shrugged. “Should be fun.”

  “Well, you have a lot to celebrate.”

  I looked sideways at him. “I guess you saw the news.”

  He met my gaze. “I didn’t have to see the news. I felt the spell.”

  I had to swallow an apology. I wasn’t sorry. I was on the right side, not him. I took a deep breath, but before I could speak, Jonah grabbed my hand. The heat of him pulsed through my glove. “I’m glad,” he said, his voice hoarse and low. “I want to bring them down, too.”

  His green eyes were dark with longing. I flung my arms around his neck and buried my face in the smoked-earth smell of him. He held me against him for a long moment before I pulled away.

  “I’m working on it,” I said. “What we talked about. I’m looking for a way.”

  He slid my gloves off and raised my hands to his lips, kissing my knuckles first and then my palms. “I know you are, Alessia. I trust you.” He held my hand against his heart, and we continued down the street. “I think maybe you’re the only one I trust right now.” He shook his head. “Ironic, isn’t it?”

  I leaned my head against his shoulder. “I’m sorry,” I said. I had Heath and the Clan and Nerina. I trusted them with my life, every night. And even though I had to lie to them, I always knew if I had to, I could trust my mother and Jenny. There wasn’t a time I could remember that they weren’t a part of. But Jonah had no one. Even his twin was betraying him behind his back. “Things at home aren’t good?”

  He snorted. “Things at home are . . . not good.” He tucked me in closer to his side. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “You can, though. If you want.”

  “I know.” He kissed the top of my head. “And that’s enough.”

  We were at the edge of my driveway. I faced him. “I’d invite you in, but I don’t want my mom asking questions.”

  “I think that’s probably best, for now.” He glanced behind him, but the street was empty save for the swirls of old snow. I couldn’t help looking down the length of my driveway either. The farm lay quiet. Still, I shivered.

  “There are eyes everywhere,” I whispered.

  “I’ll risk it,” Jonah murmured. He cupped my face in his hands and drew me to him. His face was chilly from the winter wind, but his lips were warm. “When I kiss you, I know everything is going to be okay,” he said against my mouth. I caught the words on my tongue and swallowed them to make them true.

  A car rattled past. We jumped away from each other. I glimpsed the driver inside; he was talking on his cell phone and didn’t even notice us. I reached out and gripped Jonah’s hand. “When I get back from my trip, we’ll meet at the basement,” I said. “Maybe I’ll have news by then.”

  The shadow of a smile crossed Jonah’s face. “I’ll be counting the hours.” He dipped his head to kiss me one more time. As I walked down the driveway to the front door, I felt his eyes on me the whole time.

  Our tour guide at Williams was a cute guy. Carly shot daggers at Jenny the whole tour, except when the tour guide was looking at her, in which case she smiled so wide I thought her face would crack. At the end of the tour, the guide gave her his phone number. “Call me if you have any questions.”

  “Oh, I will.” Carly tossed her head. “You’ve been so helpful.”

  “Seriously, Carly, did you hear anything he said?” Melissa asked after the guide had dropped us back off at the Admissions building. “Or were you too busy looking at his butt?”

  “Ew,” Jenny and I chorused, falling into each other with laughter.

  “God, I hope our guide at Amherst is female,” Melissa said as we headed across the snowy campus to the car. I looked around the sweeping hills and brick buildings, a twist of longing in my chest. I wanted this future. Maybe not here at Williams—I actually had been listening to the tour guide and wasn’t sure this was the right school for me—but somewhere, far away from Twin Willows. That had always been my dream, to get out of there as soon as I graduated, but becoming a Benandante had shoved that dream to the highest, most out-of-reach shelf. Now, with the takedown of the Guild, that dream seemed a little more reachable.

  We dumped off our bags at the little inn we were staying at—me and Jenny in one room, Carly and Melissa right next door—and headed out for lobsters at the little hole-in the-wall shack Jenny’s dad had told us we had to go to. As we cracked shells and dipped the creamy white flesh into butter, the conversation ricocheted from colleges to applications to finals to the trip to Paris, which made Melissa and I fake cry into our iced teas. Thankfully, no one asked about Jonah. I’d been the last one to get picked up that morning on our way out, and I had a feeling Jenny had told the others to back off.

  When we got back to the inn, the chatty old couple who owned the place greeted us with tea and cookies and plied us with the kind of questions adults think kids like to answer over and over. What do you want to major in? What other schools are you applying to? What do your parents think? By the time we escaped upstairs to our roo
ms, it was almost midnight.

  Jenny fell into bed, and her breathing deepened into the slow, even breath of sleep almost immediately. I lay awake for longer, staring at the ceiling. Pretty soon, I’d have to have all the answers to those questions figured out. I thought I’d always wanted to major in creative writing, but my work with the Benandanti had made me rethink that. Something to do with government, or diplomacy. I’d seen how fascinating that could be just from talking to Nerina. But would I even get the chance to explore it? The time was coming soon when I would have to start gathering applications and making decisions, and Lidia was going to be all over me about it. If we hadn’t defeated the Malandanti by then, how was I going to explain to her that I’d changed my mind and wanted to spend the rest of my life in Twin Willows?

  I rolled onto my side and stared at Jenny’s sleeping form. She was so lucky. Her parents had encouraged her independence since she was born. My chest prickled. Lidia would probably be ecstatic if I told her I was staying home to work the farm. The prickling grew hotter. I sat straight up. No. Seriously? I was hundreds of miles away; how could I possibly be Called?

  A thousand tiny cracks fractured my body. Before I could break apart, I opened the window. Wind gusted the curtains inward. Jenny mumbled something in her sleep and burrowed deeper under her covers. I dropped onto the bed and let my soul break free.

  I soared out the window, opening the channel in my mind to Heath alone. Um, really? I’m in Massachusetts!

  I know, he answered right back. We just need you to listen in.

  Is everything okay at the Waterfall?

  There, yes. But we have another problem.

  I swooped over low hills, in and out of bare trees. Since I had no destination, I worked in circles, gliding higher and higher on the cusp of the cold wind.

  The next voice to enter my head was Nerina’s. Has anyone seen our mage? she asked without preamble.

  A chorus of No echoed back.

  My talons reached out and caught a thick, barren oak branch. I teetered for a moment, thinking back to school. No, Bree hadn’t been there. I’d just thought she was skipping school.

  Are you sure she’s actually missing? I asked. Jonah hadn’t said anything, but he might not have known. It was typical that one of them would skip school on any given day, and he wouldn’t exactly have asked me about her, since he didn’t know we were friends. I gripped the branch tight. Were we friends? We were fighting on the same side, working to free Jonah, but I still couldn’t count her amongst my circle.

  She was supposed to be at my house last night for training, Nerina said. She did not show. And she has not been answering my calls and texts all day today.

  Like most teenage girls, Bree was rarely without her phone. I’d seen her answer a text in three seconds flat. And I’d never known her to miss a training session with Nerina. This doesn’t sound good.

  No. It was the Eagle. I spent all afternoon scouring the town for her. I couldn’t find her.

  She hasn’t been at home either, said the Stag. I’ve had an eye on her house since this morning.

  I didn’t want to say it out loud, didn’t want to think of the possibility. But the silence that stretched between all of us was too heavy. Do you think . . . she was captured?

  She was visible, Heath said after a beat. For a brief moment, after she fell in the water. I saw her. It’s very possible one of the Malandanti did, too.

  My heart plummeted. I hadn’t seen that happen, but I had been pretty preoccupied with their Harpy. Oh, God, what if the Harpy had seen her? What if she was being tortured right now? I thought about how Dario “held strong.” Despite Bree’s tough-girl exterior, I wasn’t sure she could withstand that. But she has magic, I suddenly remembered out loud. She can protect herself, right?

  Until we find her, we must hope so, said Nerina. She went on to order the Stag to keep watching her house and the Eagle to keep sweeping the town. The Wolf and I will stay at the Waterfall.

  I closed the channel to the Clan but kept it open to Heath and Nerina. Do you need me to come home? I’m sure I can get a bus—

  It might be a good idea, Heath said.

  No. Until we know something for sure, we must act as if nothing is wrong, Nerina said. Once more, she was pulling Concilio rank. We will let you know when we hear something.

  Okay, but next time, can you just text me? I launched off the branch and flew back toward the inn. Not exactly the most convenient time or place to get Called.

  The entire Clan can’t have a conversation via text, Heath snapped. Which is why you shouldn’t be away in the first place.

  Heath . . . Nerina warned.

  Call me if you hear anything, I cut in before they started bickering. Good night.

  The pale moon wavered in the dusty dawn as I skimmed the treetops. Ahead, the open window to my room at the inn beckoned. I glided through the window and skidded back into my body. Air flooded my lungs, and I bent forward, pressing a fist to my mouth to keep from making too much noise. When my heartbeat steadied, I straightened. Inhaling deeply, I looked over at Jenny’s bed.

  She sat on the edge of it, watching me.

  My stomach bottomed out. I scrambled backwards on the bed until I hit the wall. “What—? How—? How long have you been awake?”

  Jenny pressed her lips together in a tight smile. She got up and closed the window with a snap. “The cold air woke me up,” she said, her back to me.

  I watched her climb back into bed, her face hidden from me by her long curtain of blonde hair. She pulled the covers up and hugged her knees to her chest. With a sigh, she rested her cheek on her kneecaps and blinked at me. “So you’re one, too.”

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  The Secret Revealed

  Alessia

  “What? One what?” My heart hammered against my rib cage so hard my whole body shook with the impact.

  “Benandanti.” The word sounded all wrong coming from her mouth. I stared at her. “I started to suspect when I found you at the top of your driveway.”

  “How—? How . . . do you even know?”

  “I’ve seen it before.” Jenny rubbed her hands up and down her shins. “What it looks like when your soul separates from your body.” She hugged herself into a smaller ball. “My dad is one.”

  Hardly daring to breathe, I crept towards the edge of my bed. “Your dad . . . is a Benandante?”

  She nodded, her hair shivering around her face like a veil. “He turns into a stag.”

  I inhaled so sharply that air whistled against my teeth. “The Stag,” I whispered. In my mind’s eye, I saw him, his antlers bone-white in the moonlight, his powerful hooves stamping the ground. I heard him in my head, his dry sense of humor, his no-nonsense approach to strategy, and tried to reconcile him with my best friend’s father, who posted silly YouTube videos on his Facebook wall.

  Jenny smoothed the covers over her feet. “Were you coming back . . . from a fight?” There was fear in her eyes as she lifted her gaze to my face.

  “No. A meeting. That’s all.”

  She nodded, not saying anything.

  In the room next to us, I heard the toilet flush. I cleared my throat. “Jenny, you can’t tell Carly or Melissa. Or anyone.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Trust me, I know all the rules.”

  “But your dad— He told you. And your mom, I’m assuming.”

  “Well, it’s kinda hard to hide it from the people you live with,” Jenny said. She slid down on the bed and stretched her legs long. “I mean, Lidia knows, doesn’t she?”

  “No, she doesn’t.”

  Jenny raised her eyebrows. “Seriously? How do you manage that?”

  “Um, not easily.” I got up and sat at the foot of Jenny’s bed. “How long have you known about your dad?”

  “About five years.” Jenny smoothed a long strand of hair away from her face. “I always knew something was up. Like, he and my mom would be talking about something and then I’d come in and they’d shut u
p. Or one time my dad was, you know, ‘sleeping’ on the couch, and I tried to wake him up, but my mom dragged me out of the room. Finally when I was twelve, they thought I was old enough to handle it and told me.”

  I exhaled a long, slow breath. “I can’t believe you had this big secret, and I never knew.”

  “Um, hello?” She poked a toe against my shin. “Pot kettle black. How long have you—?”

  “A few months. Since October.” I spread my fingers wide against my thighs, the fabric of my pajamas bunched under my knuckles. “The bus crash. Remember? That was the night I was Called.”

  “The crash . . .” Jenny jerked her head up. “It was the Malandanti, wasn’t it?”

  I nodded, then squinted at her. “How much do you know?”

  Jenny shrugged. “Not much. I know there’s something in Twin Willows the Benandanti are protecting and the Malandanti want. I know the Guild is somehow involved.” She looked down at her lap. “I know Mr. Foster was a Benandante. My dad was really upset when he died.”

  “I was there.” I closed my eyes, seeing the scene on the football field behind my eyelids. “I was there when he died.”

  “I’m really sorry, Lessi. That’s awful.” Jenny gnawed at her lip. “Actually, I kinda thought maybe your dad was one. That that was how he died, and you took his place.”

  I stared at her. “No. I . . .” My voice trailed off. The question that haunted me rose again. I didn’t like to think too much about the fact that I had replaced someone, and the thought that it might’ve been my dad made my gut clench. “I . . . I don’t know. Maybe. I never—”

  Jenny touched my arm. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring it up. I’m sure he wasn’t.”