THE EVENT

by Jamie Heppner

  The General still stared up at the clear blue sky.

  "No moon. How could I have not noticed it? That would explain a lot."

  Dawn's hand slammed into Shade's arm and she grabbed hold tight digging in her nails.

  "The werewolves, I knew I felt them! We have to go back for them. Some of them might still be alive!"

  Just as quickly, she let go of him, her hand dropping down to her side. Shade's eyes went wide and his ears began to ring. The force behind her sending was so strong he felt his knee's begin to buckle underneath him. His father rushed over to him and helped him sit down on the ground.

  "What did she say?"

  Shade took a moment waiting for his double vision to fade.

  "She thinks that there might be more werewolves alive in the rift. She wants to go back for them."

  "NO" Shade's mother spoke. "No, you will not go back for them, at least not yet. You got lucky getting out of that place the first time. Greytop told us what was in there, and you too just told us what you went through. There is no way you will be going back there so soon after just getting out. You stirred up a hornets' nest; you need to give it some time to settle back down again."

  Shaking her head no, Dawn took a step backwards away from the group. She began to turn towards the path that leads back to town. Greytop made no move to stop her. He just moved to follow if she left.

  Shade shook his head trying to clear the ringing that was still in his ears.

  "That was so strong!" He thought.

  "Wait Dawn, I will go back with you, we can take the car back. It will be much faster than walking, but you will have to give me a day for the moonstone to recharge. If it works we will still get there a full day faster than if we leave right now."

  Dawn hesitated a moment. Her head looking down at the road in thought. Slowly her head came up and she nodded with a much simpler sending.

  "Okay."

  Shade pulled out the moonstone and set it down in the light of the sun, letting it soak up as much as it could.

  "Hopefully this works, or we will just be a full day behind and she won't be happy at all."

  The General pulled everyone into the cabin to go over once again the events of the last week. Greytop explained about the Nightwalkers as Shade got to the part of them having to hide from them inside the warehouse. Shade thought it would be nice to be able to put a name to them, but it only made them scarier. For the most part, Dawn sat silent, occasionally throwing in a nod of agreement. Her eyes told a different story though as the look of longing kept sneaking into them when they got to the part of leaving by car and seeing the werewolves speed into the rift.

  Greytop tried to explain to her that those that chose to try and rescue them did so of their own volition, but she would have none of it. The only reply she gave was, "We had already saved ourselves, they were fighting for nothing."

  Eventually, when the General had run out of questions the group sat in silence running the events over in their minds. The Oracle thought of a question or two.

  "Why can't I see the werewolves or Nightwalkers futures? Every time I get a vision from you, it's all muddled. It's as if you're split into a dozen people and you are all doing something different.

  Greytop's eyebrows shot up."I didn't know you could even see the future. When I first saw you, I thought you were Nightwalker. Your eyes are very close to the same. It didn't take me long to figure out that you weren't though. Your thoughts are still your own while theirs are not. I don't know why you can't see the wolf’s futures though but I could guess why you can't see the Nightwalkers. They are dead, or very close to it. Their bodies still move and their hearts still pump, although very slowly. As these two have seen their blood still flows but so slowly it's a mystery how they live."

  The Oracle listened intently and tried to understand how the dead were animated. She didn't much care for the comparison of eyes but for the time being she pushed it aside.

  "Okay, then secondly, what are you going to do about the leadership of the pack? From what I understand, Dawn is your leader now. How will the rest of the pack accept that fact given she is only about sixteen as close as we can guess?" The Oracle turned to Dawn. "Sorry hon. We never did figure out when you were born or how old you are. We will have to pick a day to be your birthday so we can celebrate it too."

  Dawn's lips cracked into a smile and she placed her hand on the Oracle to respond."Thank you that would be nice."

  The Oracle's eyebrows shot up in surprise."I didn't know you could..."

  The General interrupted her and addressed Greytop.

  "What do you think the pack will say about this?"

  "I can't speak for the pack; however, I can say that a lot of them will not be happy about having a woman lead them. Even less will be happy that she is so young. It doesn't matter to me though. From what I have heard of their travels and the fact that she sits here in front of me now when so many other wolves have been defeated there, she will be a leader to me. Her wish is my command." Grey top bowed his head towards Dawn. "Those two things won't be the largest problem she will face in struggling to keep a division among the werewolves though."

  "What would that be?" The General asked.

  "Her biggest problem will be that she isn't a werewolf."

  Chapter 12

  "I told you I felt something." Bonetwister tried again to engage his last remaining brother from their doomed rescue. The third had fallen sometime while they had slept in the middle of a clearing. The sun's light shone down on them while they rested, keeping them safe from the Nightwalkers. No matter what the Nightwalkers could do, they did not go out in full light. If they did, they ended up tearing out their own eyes and falling to the ground, never moving again. Brokentooth lay on the ground beside him his eyes closed to the sunlight. His body had mostly healed and only a few scars remained to tell how close he had been to death only hours before.

  "And I tell you that I felt nothing. I did see us all slaughtered though. We were so outnumbered; it was a fool’s errand to be sent into that."

  "You know as well as I do, it was our choice to go. They gave every one of us the choice to stay, yet fully half the pack tried to be one of the ten. We wanted a chance to strike back for so long and when we got it, we jumped at the chance. Now we get to see why the old leader didn't want to risk a frontal assault. It's as dark as night in that place even at high noon. The Nightwalkers can move freely about inside no matter what time of the day it is. It might have been a fool’s errand to rush in like that. But we were the fools that did it."

  Brokentooth grumbled under his breath for a moment.

  "No, it's the leader’s responsibility to take. He is the one that sent us there and when we get back he will have to have some answers for us."

  Bonetwister stood up and began moving down the path again. His strength had come back, and could turn to a wolf and easily run the rest of the way back to the cabin. Brokentooth needed a little more rest though so they both walked for now.

  "I told you, there was something else on top of that rift. I could feel it before we ran in. It was strong, it pulled to me."

  "You can ask the leader when we get back then, but only after I ask him my questions though." Brokentooth angrily hurled the words out as he tried to catch up.

  Bonetwister looked down the road ahead of him. The trees had almost overgrown the road and in another six months, it would be almost impassable. At best, a small foot trail would be maintainable.

  "I'm still not sure it actually was the leader that sent us, something is missing."

  As they grew closer to the cabin, Bonetwister and Brokentooth came upon a car in the middle of the road.

  "I'm pretty sure this wasn't here before." Bonetwister whispered as they searched the car for any clues.

  Brokentooth turned the keys in the ignition but nothing happened at all.

  "This car has the same scent as was in the warehouse!" Bonetwister exclaimed. With a shimmer the two remaining werewo
lves transformed and ran full force down the road. Night was falling but they would be at the cabin before it came.

  Dinner was quiet. The five had decided to eat a little earlier at Dawn's insistence. She would be leaving at first light, with or without help. Greytop had quickly assured her that he would follow wherever, and whenever, she wished.

  Shade kept glancing at her to trying to read her mood, but she always had her head down. She barely even touched her meal. The last thing Shade wanted was to go back into that rift. They had come so close to death, and it wasn't something he wanted to experience again. The memory of Dawn standing on the rooftop came back into his mind and he had to look down at his plate quickly for fear of anyone seeing his blush. No one noticed.

  The General stood and began clearing the table for those done. As he turned to put the plates in the sink that they had salvaged from the old cabin the door burst open. The bang was so loud that everyone at the table jumped. A man stood in the doorway, Shade instantly knew it was one of the werewolves. He didn't look good. His eyes darkened and his skin flushed white. He was breathing very heavily from exertion and his eyes cast around the room to alight on the General.

  "You...You sent us to be wiped out!" The rage in his voice was unmistakable. His whole body was quivering with it."Tell me why I shouldn't kill you right now."

  The General cast around for one of his weapons but they were all out of reach, blocked by the werewolf himself. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Shade carefully draw his dagger. His son rarely took it off since he had gotten back. Dawn hadn't moved, only her eyes were wide as she stared at the werewolf she had never seen before.

  "You won't kill him because I forbid it."

  The werewolf's eyes opened in shock and some of the tension left his body.

  "Leader... How, no, that wasn't from you. I can feel it now, you aren't the leader." The werewolf took in the remaining people in the room and saw Shade's drawn dagger.

  "Put away that pig sticker boy! I feel it now. I was a fool for not feeling it before. He isn't the leader at all. The smell was on him but that wasn't enough. The leader is..."

  His eyes fell on the small frame of the girl still sitting at the table.

  "No. NO! It won't work; she can't be the leader. This is not going to happen." Brokentooth threw back his head and let loose an inhuman howl. He spun on his heels and burst back out the door knocking Bonetwister to the ground. Shifting into his wolf form, he broke away and torn up the earth with his speed in escaping the cabin in the woods. His howls still echoed off the mountains for some time and it became clear he was moving back to the rest of the pack.

  Bonetwister picked himself up and brushed the dirt off while everyone filed out of the cabin to see him under the stars. Bonetwister glanced around the group of people and noted the two new members he had not met. The same scent was all around again, same as in the warehouse and the same as in the car. These two were the children that the General sent him to find, but they weren't children, the boy stood almost six feet tall. He was skinny, but his shoulders were wide. When he filled out, he would be a larger than his father. The girl was younger in age and very beautiful, but there was something about her. Then it hit him.

  "Leader, I am here to serve." Bonetwister fell to one knee in front of the young woman before him.

  Dawn watched carefully as the werewolf dropped to one knee in front of her. She let out a mental sigh as it became obvious he would not run off like the other one. Two left, there had been ten and only two had made it out. Dawn wanted to weep for the lost, so unnecessarily.

  "Stand, and tell me your name."

  Bonetwister's eyebrows rose at the words inside his head but he did as he was directed. He looked around at the others standing and waiting to see what he would do. It didn't appear that any of them had heard the words.

  "My name is Bonetwister. You're the leader. I can feel it, and I have felt this before, just outside the rift. You were there weren't you?"

  Dawn nodded gently.

  "How can you speak inside my mind?"

  Shade leapt forward at that, dagger still raised in defence.

  "What? What do you mean, she didn't touch you."

  Dawn brushed her fingers against Shade's arm."I can speak to them without contact." Her hand fell to her side again. Her eyes remained locked onto Bonetwister’s. Something about them seemed different. Her eyes sparkled in the starlight.

  The Oracle broke their gaze.

  "Well, now that you two won't have to go back to the rift in the morning perhaps we can all actually eat some dinner instead of just pushing it around our plates? I think we have another piece of the story to put together now as well. Are you well Bonetwister? Dawn here is a healer as well if you have any need."

  Bonetwister smiled at Dawn gently. "That is an experience I look forward to, but for the moment I am whole."

  Shade almost threw up in his mouth.

  "Great, just what we needed...a puppy." He thought as he followed everyone else into the cabin, the attention everywhere but on him.

  It didn't take long for Bonetwister to tell his story. The family had already pieced most of it together themselves. As he told his side, his eyes rarely left Dawn's face. When finished, the General asked a question to the two remaining werewolves.

  "The other one, what was his name?"

  "Brokentooth..."

  "Ok, Brokentooth, he didn't much care for finding out I wasn't the leader and our young Dawn here is. What do you think is going to happen?"

  Greytop waited but Bonetwister didn't respond he just kept sharing a look with Dawn. With a sigh, he spoke up. "I would bet that he has gone back to the pack to tell them he has discovered the true leader. That will cause one of two things to happen. Either they will laugh him out of the pack for his assumption, which is of course true, or they'll be angry as he is and look for a way to fix the situation. That way will most definitely ensure bloodshed."

  The General scratched his head absently.

  "Okay so we have a few problems. The clan is going to be angered at the deception and continued unrest. I’m not going to count on them not believing Brokentooth. Dawn is the leader since she killed the old one but other than you two I’m not counting on her being widely accepted."

  Dawn looked away from Bonetwister for the first time in a while to frown at the General.

  "I'm sorry Dawn, but it's a fact. They barely accepted me as a leader without being a werewolf. I'm pretty sure they won't accept you as a young woman and most definitely not a werewolf."

  "I could turn her!" Brokentooth exclaimed.

  The Oracle tilted her head as though listening to something for a moment.

  "No, that wouldn't work. I don't see wolves or the Nightwalkers in my visions often, something blocks them from my sight, but I do see that if you turn Dawn she would not live through it. She is already different somehow. It wouldn't work; it would be the death of her."

  The General began pacing the cabin, his hands behind his back.

  "Okay we will come back to this, what should we do about the Nightwalkers? Something is going on inside that old mall, and I think it would be a good idea to find out what is happening in there."

  Bonetwister leaned back in his chair. "Whatever it is, I say leave them alone. They haven't come here yet and I don't think they ever will. Even in the clan, they only came rarely and then in small numbers. I say leave them to their pit. I would seal them in there until they rot if I could think of how to do it."

  The General stopped pacing for the moment and nodded his head slowly.

  "Yes, so far they have left us alone. I think you are right. We will leave them be. The pack is more important right now. Let me think about it tonight. Perhaps you all should as well. In the morning we will decide what the best course should be."

  Everyone nodded agreement, as the group broke up to prepare for the night. Dawn and Bonetwister hardly moved at all. They sat still at the table looking at each other like lovesick kids
. Shade suddenly felt the need to be outside so he moved around them quietly and took a spot outside the cabin to stare up at the stars.

  "If you look really close you can still see some of it." Greytop spoke.

  Shade jumped in surprise. "You know for an old guy you still move pretty quiet."

  Greytop smiled at him in the star light. "Thanks, I like to keep myself sharp. So do you see it?"

  Shade looked up into the sky but didn't see what Greytop was talking about.

  "Sorry, I just see stars. What am I looking for?"

  Greytop sat down beside Shade and pointed off towards the horizon. "There, that’s where the moon would have been."

  Shade looked where he was pointing and strained his eyes. He was just about to say he couldn't see anything when he noticed something a little different. There was a smudge in the night sky. Almost like a dusting smeared across the horizon, pointed at either end and a little thicker in the middle.

  Greytop smiled, "Yes I see you can see it. That’s all that’s left of the moon, well that and those moonstones, including the one that you call your own.

  Shade patted his pocket with the stone inside. He had picked it up when the sun went down. It still pulled on him slightly, but it was so fine he didn't notice unless he paid attention.

  "So the moon really did disappear."

  "Yes, more or less. I've been told that it will come together again, long after we are all gone though. Hundreds of thousands of years from now maybe and when it does it will be much smaller too. Who knows what the world will be like then?"

  Shade could see it much easier now that Greytop pointed it out to him. He wondered how he could have missed it before.

  The crack of a twig behind him was all the warning he or Greytop got. Before either could react or yell out a hand slammed into the side of his head knocking his head into Greytop's. All the stars faded from his vision as he lost consciousness.