by Abby Tyson
The old man chuckled, and the woman was grinning now too.
"It's about time you came back for a visit, Pigpen," she said in a raspy voice, putting out her hands. "Help me up, you waxer."
Ren took her hand, and he and the old man helped her to her feet, though Marley didn't see how this woman who had sprinted down a city block in less than five seconds could need any help.
"Let me take a gander at you," she said. Marley wondered why his brother flinched when her hand touched his cheek with an almost motherly tenderness, but he understood a moment later when she slapped him hard across the face.
"What the dirty diapers are you bringing a van full of waxers to gawk at me?" she scolded. "Are you trying to get me killed, or worse?"
Ren reeled back, his hand on his cheek, although Marley was surprised to see humor in his brother's eyes. Ren laughed and put his hand on Marley's shoulder.
"Patty, meet my twin brother, Marley."
She reached a hand toward Marley's face and smiled expectantly at him. With a glance at his brother, who nodded, Marley braced himself for the same fate Ren had met. But instead of a slap, he received a hard, twisting pinch on the cheek.
"Ow!" he cried, jerking back.
"Never can tell," said Patty. "Makeup and masks look too real these days. So there are two Pigpens in the world?"
"Pigpen?" Marley asked, rubbing his sore cheek.
"Cuz he stinks!" Patty said with a braying laugh. "Well, he did when I met him, anyway." Giving Marley a disdainful appraisal, she added, "At least he wasn't a waxer."
Marley found it hard to believe that Ren could ever smell worse than this woman. She clearly hadn't bathed in at least a month, and had likely been wearing the same clothes for that long.
"New addition?" Ren asked, nodding at her flamboyant headwear.
Patty tilted her head and gave Ren a coy smile. "Like it?" she asked, pretending to fluff up her hair.
"Where'd you get it?" asked Marley.
Prying the hat off her head, to reveal hair as greasy as her Chinese food, she lovingly dusted it off. "Some waxer threw it in a dumpster over in Grandin!" she said with fervent indignation. She slid it back on and tapped the flower with a grin. "Mine now."
Unable to withhold the question any longer, Marley asked, "What's a waxer?"
Without warning, Patty seized a handful of Marley's hair and yanked it down. She kept her face in front of his as she pulled him sideways, until they were both leaning over. "You're all so fancy, you put wax in your hair!"
As much as Marley wanted to shove this deranged woman off of him, his sense of chivalry, as well as the knowledge that they needed her, prevented him from doing so. Instead, he had to settle for crying out, "Let me go!"
She obliged with a cackle, then picked up her plastic bag of takeout that she'd tucked into the corner of the booth. "Tell me what you and the gawkers want, Pigpen," she said, shoving past them, "before I go rip the engine out of that van and bash your pretty heads in." She reached up to pat Ren on the face, but he jerked away, making her honk with laughter.
"We need help rescuing someone," Marley said as they followed her out of the parking lot and down the road.
"Wrong," she said, taking a bite of her noodles.
"What do you mean, wrong?" he asked. A sharp jab in his ribs was his answer. He clenched his fists at his sides.
"You wouldn't understand, you waxer," she said with a full mouth. "Less people. Not more. That's the goal."
"It's an origin," Ren said.
"Even worse," she muttered.
"The young girl with us used to be an origin," Ren said, "but her animal half was killed. Her soulmate is a prisoner."
"You told her about us?"
"I thought she could save my dad."
Patty dropped her chopsticks in her takeout box and slapped the back of Ren's head. "And I thought I made it clear to keep us quiet!" She slapped him again, then stopped. They were back at the alley. "Why do I care about some origin? Origins never helped me -- never will." She leaned against the wall in the same place where she'd hidden from Ren earlier.
"We care," said Ren, "because her soulmate was the one who altered our dad."
Patty grimaced. "He's bad?"
Ren nodded, although his face betrayed no emotion.
With a sigh, Patty looked at the van, where Savi, Nissa, and Glenn were all watching them. "Who's the other one?" she asked.
"My girlfriend," Marley said quickly, afraid Ren would divulge Savi's true nature. "You can trust her."
Patty let out her honking laugh and went to smack Marley in the head, but he dodged it in time. Before he could vent his relief, however, she kicked him in the shin. "Trust is a plague," she said, leaning down to make sure he was listening as he clutched his leg and swore under his breath. "It spreads from one person to another, latching on and exterminating secrets. Trust infected me and made me give Pigpen here the secret of where I live. He was sicker with trust than I knew, and he puked up that secret on you and half the Eastern seaboard." She took an angry bite of her noodles.
"I'm s--"
She cut Ren off with a wave of her chopsticks. "Don't bother. Whatever you say, it doesn't change what you did, and it won't stop me from moving. And there's no way in General Tso's kingdom I'm helping you with whatever greasy plan you're planning."
Ren stared at Patty, unmoving, as if he hadn't heard her. She reached the bottom of her noodles and dropped the box in the plastic bag.
"Come on, brother," said Marley. "We've wasted enough time. We'll figure it out ourselves."
"I won't help you," she said, "but Kofi might. He's itching for new, stupid recruits like you."
"Kofi?" Ren asked.
"He alters every night in an unlucky clover in the city with a little band of disciples. Don't tell him I sent you," she added, "and don't you listen to any of his waxer ideas!" Patty shoved the bag of empty takeout containers angrily into Ren's chest. "He's nothing but trouble for us, filling your empty heads with dandelions and dead fish."
She let go of the bag, forcing Ren to hold it, and spun around, walking down the alley.
"Was that goodbye?" asked Marley, watching her get into the station wagon.
"Yup," answered his brother.
"No offense, Pigpen, but she's nuts."
Ren waved at the old white station wagon as it pulled onto the street on the other side of the alley. "Yeah," he said with a soft smile, "but she gave us a lead."
"A clover?" asked Savi. "What kind of a lead is that?" They were still in the van, across the street from the alley.
"An unlucky clover," corrected Marley.
"What does that mean?" asked Nissa.
"A highway clover," said Ren. He had been searching news reports while Marley told them what had happened. "I don't know what she meant by 'unlucky' though. There doesn't seem to be one that has had more accidents than the others."
"Well, how many highway clovers are there in the city?" Savi asked.
"I-581 is the main highway that goes through Roanoke," said Ren, "and it looks like there are five in the city."
"That's not too bad," she said.
"It's already late," said Marley. "We've got to head to the suburbs and get ready for tonight. We should check them out tomorrow."
"But if it's where they alter, isn't now the best time to look since they'll be gathering for sunset?" asked Savi.
"She's right," said Ren, handing the phone back to Marley. "We've got to at least try one or two tonight. You look on the map for a good spot for us if we don't find them."
Ren started the van and pulled onto the street.
"Why would they be in a highway clover?" asked Savi. "Isn't that dangerous if they try to cross the highway after they alter?"
"I don't know," said Marley. "I know we generally stay near town, since whenever we wake up away from the shed we're always in a back yard or cemetery or something, but I thought that was because we were familiar with the area. I figured other coyw
olves stuck to the forest."
"When I ran into those zoologists, the woman said coywolves were actually adapting to living in close proximity to humans -- that they're thriving in places like Central Park, traveling between towns using --" Savi paused, then grabbed the phone out of Marley's hands.
Ignoring his protests, she scoured the satellite image until she found a long, thin line that looked like a road, but wasn't labeled like the other streets were. "They said coywolves were traveling between towns using old railroad tracks. Maybe there's a -- here!"
Savi held the phone out to Marley, showing him a highway clover that had only three circles instead of the usual four. One of those circles looped very close to a rail line. "Although, for the record, I don't think three-leaf clovers are actually considered unlucky"
"Where is it?" asked Ren.
Savi tried to figure out where they were on the map, but she accidentally went to street view instead. With a groan she shoved the phone at Marley. "Your technology baffles me."
They turned out to be less than five minutes away. Marley directed Ren onto a dirt road that led to the train tracks, and they parked in a tractor trailer graveyard.
"This looks super safe," said Savi, eyeing the rusty freight containers and scrap metal piles. All that was missing was a pair of ravenous guard dogs and an irate man with a shotgun.
"You guys go find a motel," said Ren, tossing her the keys. "We'll be fine."
"But what if this isn't it?" asked Savi, as Marley leaned in to give her a goodbye kiss.
"We'll alter in the woods over there." Marley pointed to the thin line of trees between them and the highway. "Pick us up at that shopping center back on the main street just after sunrise."
Savi held his shirt, keeping his lips against hers for as long as possible. When he broke away, his eyes were rich with desire. "I'll see you tomorrow morning," he said, giving her another peck on the lips.
"Wait," said Savi, although she regretted it instantly, since her request would ruin the romance of the moment.
"What?"
"Never mind," she said.
"Tell me."
"Brother," Ren called from the train tracks.
Marley waved to Ren, then looked back at Savi. "I've got to go. What's the matter?"
Deciding to play it goofy, Savi batted her eyelashes and gave him an exaggerated grin. "Can I please have some cash for the motel, before I go bankrupt from all of these credit card charges? Pretty please with extra peanut butter sauce?"
Marley's baffled surprise at her request melted into a warm smile. "Peanut butter sauce?"
"Way better than cherries."
"I'll keep that in mind." He nodded at the glove compartment. "In there is a travel-sized plastic tissue package. Our cash is in it. See you tomorrow. Oh -- can you call my dad tonight and let him know where we are?"
Savi nodded, and once again found herself in the driver's seat, watching them disappear. It made her anxious, knowing Marley was out there, with only his animal instincts to guide him. Was she willing to spend every night for the rest of her life fearing for his safety?
Don't get ahead of yourself, she thought. Just because you're getting along doesn't mean you're getting married. Her palms were getting clammy at the mere thought of it.
"Are we going to the motel?" Nissa said from the back of the van.
"Yes." She pulled up a list of motels on Ren's phone and chose the closest one. With one more worried look at the woods, she started the van and drove away.
Chapter Nineteen
The brothers crouched in the trees, watching the steady flow of cars speed past in preparation of merging with the highway. A tractor-trailer thundered by, followed by a break in the traffic. Now was their chance. In one giant leap, Marley and Ren sprang clear across the on-ramp, disappearing into the overgrown brush just as another car pulled around the curve.
The highway clover was packed with dense, thorny brush that hid the roots of the giant trees around them. The brothers jumped into the branches to get a better look.
"There they are," said Ren. "Up ahead."
Marley could barely see the group of people through the trees, but he could smell them. The wind carried eight distinct scents, yet they all shared a common earthiness that spoke to him on a primal level.
These are my people. These are coywolves.
The brothers descended, picking their way carefully through the briars, making far more noise than they would have liked. Luckily the clover wasn't very big, and soon they reached an area that must have been cleared by someone, because the brambles were too neatly trimmed, forming an almost perfect circular barrier around the trees that cloaked the space in shadow from above. Marley could still smell the others -- but they had most certainly heard the two of them crashing around. The only sound now was the whooshing of the traffic that enclosed them, and Ren's steady heartbeat beside him.
"Hello?" called Ren. "Is Kofi here?"
Marley thought he caught movement in a nearby tree, but the shadows were too thick to tell.
Ren tried again. "We're coywolves. We're looking for Kofi."
A girl jumped down from the same tree Marley had been watching and jogged towards them. Her long, dark braids, gathered into two low pigtails, bounced on her shoulders and reminded him of Savi.
"I'm Marley," he said, offering his hand when she was almost within reach.
The girl returned his smile and took his hand. Almost simultaneously, a stinging pain shot up his arm. He looked down to see a slice of red across the top of his forearm, and a knife in the girl's left hand.
"What the hell?" he shouted, jerking his hand out of hers and jumping backwards.
Ren leapt forward to seize the hand with the knife and twisted it around her back. She gave no resistance, her other hand held up in surrender.
"Why'd you do that?" Marley snapped, holding his bleeding arm against his shirt.
"Can't pass without paying the toll," she said.
"A test," said Ren, letting her go.
"Brains and looks," she said, giving Ren a wink. "Don't worry, sweetie, you two are obviously womb mates, so if cutie here cleans up, you're both good to go."
She reached for Marley's arm, but he jumped back. With a laugh she said, "Come on, love. Let's check your ID. I'm Lila, by the way."
He glanced at Ren, then extended his arm. Lila held his wrist, running her other hand slowly over his skin, which was once again whole. Marley was startled by a hot shiver shooting up his arm at her touch. She gave him a conspiratorial smile as she brushed away some specks of dried blood, and he was certain she'd heard his heart jump. Some distant voice told him he should pull his arm away, but all he could do was stare into her dark eyes, and wonder if she would be there when he woke in the morning.
"Yes," she whispered, her lips still turned up in that soft smile.
His heart started pounding. Did I ask that out loud? Shame burned in his throat as the fear that she could read his mind took hold.
"Yes what?" he asked. He was suddenly very aware of Ren beside them, but couldn't bring himself to sever contact with this girl.
Her smile broadened and she let go of him, spreading her arms wide as she started walking backwards. "Yes, you can come in." She stuck two fingers in her mouth and gave a piercing whistle.
Now that they were no longer touching, Marley's breath returned, but a fresh wave of guilt washed over him as he realized a part of him craved that touch. He could feel his brother's eyes on him, but Marley watched the woods, searching for the others that must be coming.
A man appeared, leaping over the thorny fence and jogging across the clearing to stand at the edge of the circle. Marley thought it was Kofi, until another man appeared and did the same, taking up a different position. A total of six people appeared and scattered around the border of the clearing. Everyone stood directly across from someone else, except Lila, who was opposite the patch of brush where the rest of them had entered. Marley began to wonder if he or Ren wa
s expected to stand there, when a voice filled the emptiness instead.
"The story of the coywolf is a story of loss."
Out of the woods emerged a very old man, with wisps of white hair and a quavering voice. Gingerly he lifted his thin legs over the briars, using a tree to help him balance. "Do you know the story of your origins?" he asked the brothers.
The white noise of the traffic, which had been a constant since their arrival, went silent, as if even the woods wanted to hear their answer.
"No," said Ren.
The old man settled into his position opposite Lila. "Long ago, Anwi stole down to the sacred river, seeking relief from the relentless sun. Careless, she left her robe and necklace on the bank, unaware that coyote, too, had sought refuge from the heat, and was watching her from the shade of the cliffrose bush. When Anwi was turned away, coyote stole her clothes and necklace, racing downriver, where she put them on and adored her reflection in the smooth water."
He stopped talking, and another man, older than Marley but far younger than the old man, started speaking.
"A bear came to drink from the water, and saw coyote. Mistaking her for Anwi, he said, 'Goddess, who is more beautiful than the honeysuckle, please may I be as strong as man, so I may keep my flesh and skins?'
"Coyote so enjoyed bear's flattery, that she plucked a bone from Anwi's necklace. 'Eat this, and you will be stronger even than man.' And bear did eat it, and he became stronger than man."
The girl standing opposite the younger man picked up the next part of the story.
"Then vulture flew down to drink from the water, and saw coyote. Mistaking her for Anwi, she said, 'Goddess, who is more beautiful than the stars in your sky, please may I be as clever as man, so I may keep my flesh and feathers?'
"Coyote so enjoyed vulture's flattery, that she plucked a bone from Anwi's necklace. 'Eat this, and you will be more clever even than man.' And vulture did eat it, and she became cleverer than man."
Another woman, who appeared to be around Marley's dad's age, continued the tale.