by Holly Hook
"I thought you were different!" Brett shouts at last. "I thought you were better than the Savages!" His voice threatens to shake the cabin as it booms over me. "I could have fixed your alpha. Only my family knows how to undo the spell!"
"Quiet," Mrs. Russell urges.
Why? Brett has every right to be furious. So he never wanted to end his father. I read him wrong.
But even if I hadn't, I would have done this, anyway.
He turns away and runs down the hill.
And he's taking the cure to Cayden's curse with him.
I should let him go, but I can't. Cayden lies unconscious on the floor, drained of all energy. Dark forms dance around the periphery of my vision as I jump over Cayden and run to the door. The dark spirits have returned. But why? Mr. Hayde is dead. The ones bound to him shouldn't—
"Stop," Mr. Russell says.
Brett vanishes down the hill.
And a low rumble fills the air. Vibrations rush through the ground.
Aunt May growls in warning as a single, terrifying word rises in my mind.
Avalanche.
Maybe set off by Brett's shouting, it roars down the mountain at us.
I snap my jaws around Cayden's shoulder blade, seizing skin as he growls in pain. But that doesn't matter now. I drag him to the door as the Russells run towards the trees, the only safety. Aunt May seizes Cayden's other shoulder blade and we drag him together as one hazel eye flutters open.
Brie, run!
The roar intensifies as we pull him through the door and downhill as fast as we can. I draw blood. It doesn't matter. If we don't escape, we die. Cayden's dead weight. He can't even move, he's so weak. Snow piles in front of his form, slowing him down.
Beyond the shed, a tsunami of icy death roars down the mountain at us.
"Hurry!" Mr. Russell shouts from the trees.
It overtakes the shed, blasting boards and collapsing the roof. It rides on top of the snow for a moment before vanishing into the white, solid storm. The ground trembles and snow gives way under my paws. We won't make it.
I release Cayden's shoulder blade and leap over him, protecting him from the oncoming death. We might die together. At least we won't have to deal with this curse anymore.
I lie over his dark form.
The universe pushes me and roars, filling my airs and sucking my breath away. Either Cayden or Aunt May claws me. Darkness closes in, mixed with sparkling white. I lose Cayden. Everyone vanishes. There's nothing but powder rushing around me. It crushes me from all sides. Darkness dances at the corners of everything, both real and imaginary. Mr. Hayde's dark spirits still torment us.
At last, the roaring ends. The world stops moving. Ice hugs me from every angle and I rake my paw in front of me. A tiny bit of air. I'm on my stomach. I open my eyes, which I hadn't realized I'd closed. Snow. Blues and grays. And something warm nestles up beside me. I turn my head, which is no easy feat as the snow presses down on my back, making it hard to breathe. Panic seizes my heart until I see Cayden's landed beside me, still breathing and just as pinned as me. His eyes are closed and his nostrils flare. We have a tiny sphere of air around our heads as we lie deep in this solid ocean.
All sounds from above are strange and muffled, even to my wolf hearing. I try to suck in a breath, but the immense weight of a mountain presses down, squeezing the life from my lungs as I exhale. I claw at the snow in front of me, opening the hole a bit more, but moving my forelegs is difficult. Which way is up? If I try to dig out, I'll exhaust myself and use up too much oxygen before I get out.
"Where are they?" Mrs. Russell shouts.
"Leonora! Over here!" Mr. Russell yells. "Why did you bring them?"
"They're my friends."
"You're saying Brie's buried in that?" Noah.
"They all went under." Mrs. Russell. "They couldn't reach the hill in time."
Noah's here. Leonora's here. She's convinced her parents to join the fight. They're our only hope—and if they worked protective magic, maybe the only reason we have this tiny air pocket.
Meanwhile, Brett runs farther and farther away, taking Cayden's salvation with him.
I claw again, but it's no use moving the massive drift. Cayden forces one eye open again. What happened?
"Dig!" Noah shouts. "Help me lift this roof section."
"Why did you bring them?" Mr. Russell asks.
"I know about the werewolves," Noah shouts.
"Werewolves?" Ellie asks.
"We need all the help we can get," Mrs. Russell says. "Maybe the spell brought them here. Now search. Time's running out."
Don't go back to sleep, I think to Cayden.
Very weak.
You almost died, I think.
I'm the alpha.
His warmth and love chase away the frigid snow trying to seep through my fur. If it wasn't for that, I'd be freezing to death already.
"Ellie, don't panic," Noah says, "if we dig up wolves. They won't hurt us. I promised Brie I wouldn't tell anyone, but I think she'll forgive me."
I will.
My lungs burn and I growl. Where's Aunt May?
I growl again. I have to help dig her out, too. Things will go faster if I'm free.
"Just heard something," Ellie shouts. "Over here!" her footsteps draw close.
The muffled sound of digging follows.
My lungs burn. I can't expand them anymore. The weight settles as Mr. Hayde's spirits laugh at me from the darkness I'm slipping into. Even descent from Remus can't protect me now.
"There's a dead guy over here!" Noah shouts. He's a million miles away.
"Ignore it," Mr. Russell shouts.
I try to take another breath.
Cayden goes silent beside me as if he's giving up.
But as hard as I try, the world presses down, crushing us both in snow and ice.
"Dig!" Noah shouts. But he's so far away. The muffled sounds of his gloved hands plunging into snow and the sound of a board dragging across the surface of this silent ocean fade as the shadows close in.
Chapter Eighteen
"Brie. Take a breath."
Noah. He stands above me in the dark as my ears ring.
I manage a growl again.
"That's good. I suppose?"
"It's good," Leonora said. "I'm so glad you answered your door. The board was a great idea."
I want to ask how they found me and what spell the Russells used. Until now, I was getting a bad image of magic in my head.
But I suck air into my lungs. I lie on something hard—the board Noah mentioned—and rake a claw across it. I smell ancient paint. This came off the shed.
Beside me, Cayden growls.
"And the other two?"
"I think they'll be okay once they take a few breaths," Mr. Russell says. "We should have broken our promise to begin with." Regret fills his words.
"How did you find where they were?" Ellie asks. She's shaken.
Cayden growls again. He must be coming back because I detect an oh oh in that sound. More people know our secret.
I open one eye.
Noah stands above me. He lifts his hand and waves. Snow clings to his jeans and his sleeves. Some even got in his hair. He smells of Drama Club and the props room, and I've never been so glad to detect that scent in my life.
And Ellie stands beside him. She won't let go of his arm.
"Hey," he says to her. "Olivia won't like that."
"Like it'll last," she whispers, not taking her gaze off me. "I still don't think this whole werewolf thing is real. They're wild wolves. Let's go before they wake up completely."
"Thanks for your vote of confidence?"
Is Noah dating Olivia? The revelation hits me. Noah couldn't chat before. Is she why?
"On what? Olivia, or this?"
"Olivia."
I turn my head.
Cayden lies on a board beside me, and ten feet away, past him, lies Aunt May, breathing evenly. At least that's improved. Mr. and Mrs. Russell stand over h
er, eyeing the hole they dug her out of. How long were we buried?
Cayden snorts. We need to run.
Can you get up yet?
I don't know.
As if sensing our conversation, Mrs. Russell marches over. Instead of talking to Noah and Ellie as I expect, she kneels on the snow and faces me. I know I can get up, but Ellie might scream. And I don't want her running off into the woods where Brett is.
I cast off kindness for one second and proved him wrong.
Now he'll never help us. If he's right, only him and Karina know how to remove the curse.
"Brie, the warlock is dead. Our daughter told us you were in trouble. She told us you know about your origins. That's when I knew trying to hide you wouldn't work anymore. If the Savage King knows of your existence, there's no longer a point." She winks. "I convinced hubby to help me do a protection spell on the pack. The air pockets you all had saved your lives. That, and the arrival of your friends who helped dig you out in time. Perhaps the spirit of Remus was watching out for you. We invoked him."
I try to nod, but with Ellie watching, I figure it's better to stay still.
"We followed your prints leading from our drive," Leonora says, adding to her mother's story. "Just the snow led us here. No magic there."
"We were lucky there was snow," Mrs. Russell says.
"It looks like it's time to train you in some real, effective magic," Mr. Russell tells Leonora.
I have so many questions, but I turn my head and eye Cayden instead. He holds both eyes open now and shows no signs of losing consciousness again. But he doesn't move and thinks nothing. This is shameful to him.
"We might have to do a makeshift sled," Noah says, pacing. "We can pull them if they can't walk yet."
I won't make him do the work. I stand as Ellie screams and backs away.
"It's okay," Noah tells her. "They won't attack us. These guys don't kill humans."
"But what about that guy?" Ellie asks.
It all comes crashing back. The taste of blood has vanished and I hope the snow has washed away all traces.
"He was bad," Mrs. Russell tells her. "A warlock, working against us all. He was conspiring with the Savage Wolves, which are bad werewolves. He would have attacked any of us." She's stable as she speaks, as if she's seen this thing before. "We shouldn't linger out here in case someone else comes along."
Was Mr. Hayde really so bad?
He was trying to protect his children in the only way he knew.
Aunt May rises, shaking off snow. I look around the snow, which is all bumpy complete with chunks of compressed ice. The shed no longer stands though pieces of it stick out of the uphill ocean. Rock is exposed near the top of the peak, betraying the sheet of snow that fell.
But Cayden remains on his side.
He might not recover for a few days. The next time he protects me will be death. A heavy feeling settles in my heart. The tsunami of sadness will hit the shore.
"There's a nail hole in that board," Noah says, leaning over Cayden without fear. "I can tie a rope there and we can drag him through the woods, so long as we find a trail that's not too bumpy."
Cayden closes his eyes and grunts. He's not thrilled about being dead weight.
But I nod.
"Did that wolf just nod?" Ellie asks, eyes wide.
"Yes. She did," Noah says. "You're doing well. You're not running away screaming."
I turn my gaze over the fallen snow. There's a telltale mound about twenty feet away where someone piled snow. I smell blood. It's Mr. Hayde. The avalanche threw his body and the Russells must have buried him. It's as if they know the thought of having ripped out his throat bothers me.
You did the right thing.
It's Cayden. He looks at me again with understanding.
You did what I couldn't.
And then Aunt May's voice follows. I was too nice to that warlock.
I turn in a circle. I feel like I've punched through a wall, but what has that gotten us? The curse still hangs over our heads and Brett's now unwilling to help us. And I can't blame him. He never asked for the death of his father. And now, like me and Cayden, he has no parents.
And the Savage King waits to claim me as his own. Can I really be turned and can the Nobles go extinct without the pure line holding everything together? I am only half wolf and always was. I'm a danger.
Noah ties an old rope to Cayden's board. "I've never been to the Lowes' place. I hope they don't mind us." He looks to me and Aunt May. Aunt May shakes her head.
Cayden stays silent, which I take as an okay.
"Okay," Noah says, pulling the makeshift sled. "Let's let the cops find this mess and deal with the body. And no, I'm not putting on my Halloween costume for this."
* * * * *
"I don't know if you've figured this out on your own, but the Russell Coven vowed we would erase all evidence of Remus's line thirteen years ago," Mrs. Russell says on the walk back.
I can't respond since I'm not shifting back until we reach the Lowe cabin. Noah and Mr. Russell pull Cayden's sled while Aunt May walks behind us, checking for any threats. The woods are quiet now and even Brett's scent has faded. He's long gone. And I fear he'll never come back.
Cayden can now move his paws a little though his joints creak as he does. "I didn't realize Wolves could be so heavy," Noah says. "Go on a diet. All of you."
Cayden snorts.
"Remus's line is ancient. They've lived in this town for two hundred years thanks to the mountains dividing it from the surrounding area. Hunters came with them. So did witches. We all understood the importance of guarding the pure Noble line. But the Savages still came. The Savage King sent pack after pack. He killed his twin brother, Remus, a long time ago. Now he wants to finish the job. Hunters and witches helped the Nobles hold them off, but little by little, the Savages took out the pure Nobles."
Mrs. Russell takes a breath. She smells of adrenaline, like she's nervous about telling me this. No one else speaks for a few seconds, but then her husband does.
"We can stop there."
"They deserve the truth," she snaps. "We have to tell them."
"And me," Leonora says.
"Okay. Eventually, most of the Nobles had died, as well as many of the hunters. This includes both sets of your grandparents. That left your aunt and your father. We were desperate at that point. We had to hide your existence from other Wolves and make them believe Remus's line was dead," Mrs. Russell says as he keeps pace with me.
Aunt May snaps her gaze to her. She hasn't heard this part of the story.
"Our coven provided the pure silver pendants for your aunt and father. We did so many protection spells on them they should have lasted forever. When you were born, we provided one for you. But thirteen years ago, one of the Savage Wolves overheard two members of our coven talking about the secret Noble line at a local restaurant. The two were teenagers at the time and thought they were safe. And then the Savages attacked your parents. Since then, we vowed to pretend Remus's line no longer exists. We burned our journals and buried our spell books. We would stop practicing witchcraft and pull away from society."
Mrs. Russell looks away, but not before her eyes water. The adrenaline wafts off her in waves.
And I understand.
She and her husband let the secret out by mistake. They've suffered as hermits since then.
"And today we broke that vow," Mr. Russell says. The strain in his voice threatens to pull me back into icy death. "The Savages won't stop now."
"That's why we live off the grid?" Leonora asks. "That's why I have to wear these dumb skirts all the time and never do anything fun?"
Her parents don't give her an answer, but it hangs in the air.
I sense a power shift.
Cayden lifts his head with great effort as we near the back of the Lowe cabin. More adrenaline fills the air and I realize it's not coming from our group. In fact, Everly and Remo stand in the doorway. And Everly has the most serious glare on her
face that turns my stomach. She looks to Cayden and me and then to the Russells before pausing on Noah and Everly.
"I need an explanation," she demands.
"Go inside and we'll give you one," Leonora says. She's never sounded stronger.
I'll have to tell Everly I killed someone.
Right thing or no, it feels wrong. I broke a wall that shouldn't have come down, no matter what Aunt May says about being too nice. Every time I blink, Mr. Hayde's open throat greets me. The taste of blood returns. And now Brett has given me a fitting punishment.
Remo speaks. "Karina has escaped. I never thought werewolves could get food poisoning from bacon, but believe it or not, bacteria won us over for a few precious minutes."
Everly faces the ground. This is humiliating for her. She can't process that she screwed something up.
"What?" Leonora asks. "Karina? Who is she?"
"What did I walk into?" Ellie asks.
I sniff.
Karina's scent is gone, just like Brett's. Until now, I've forgotten about her, but now that I remember she also might have known the cure, I flinch from an invisible punch to the gut.
They're both out there, putting distance between us and them. Our chances of finding them are nil, and I have to stay with Cayden.
"Put Cayden in his room," Everly says, taking the rope. "What did you do now? Stop trying to be such an alpha, please!" Her hard wall comes crashing down with a wave of emotion. "We're going to lose you if we don't do something!"
She pulls Cayden out of sight on the sled, which makes horrible scraping noises on the floor. The impact of Karina's escape fades as I walk on all fours to Everly's room. Once away from everyone, I embrace the pain shifting back, focusing on every stretching bit of skin and shifting joint.
I'm not too nice anymore.
The Savage King wants me to walk down this new, terrifying road. I'm still Noble, right? Mr. Hayde just used me going to the other side as a threat to make Cayden lose it. And it worked.
Grabbing some of Everly's clothes out of the closet, I dress in a sweater and baggy jeans. Everly has pulled Cayden into his room. Entering, I help her lift him, still in wolf form, onto his bed. He turns one eye at me, and even though I can no longer hear his voice in my head, I get what he's thinking.