Page 26

“The cabin!”

“But I don’t see what the issue is; running will only encourage them!”

There were more howls now. They were coming from the surrounding trees. They were getting closer. It was as if they were surrounding them.

“You have to remember that these are not wolves in an ordinary environment!” Davey panted. “These doggies are hungry! Very hungry!”

Steph chased after Davey towards the entrance of the cabin where warm lighting flowed from the windows on either side of the door. Davey hammered on the door and then turned around. Steph looked over her shoulder. The howling was getting more excitable but there were still no shapes amongst the trees.

The door opened.

“Oh, it’s you. What are you knocking fo… hey!”

Davey pushed the man back inside. Steph once again found his hand upon her arm, pulling her in. He then slammed the door behind them all.

“What’s all this about?” asked a man who, to Steph’s astonishment, did not look as surprised by the intrusion as she expected one would when two people barged into their home.

Davey put a finger to his lips. They listened. There was another howl. It was close. It sounded right outside the door. In the quiet, Steph was sure that she could hear the padding of numerous paws in the dirt around the house outside.

“Ah, I see,” said the man, rolling his eyes. “You’d best come in then… or at least sit down seeing as you’re already in. Come on!”

Davey gave the man an apologetic shrug as he followed him towards a large sofa where a book was opened face-down to keep the pages the man had been reading.

SIXTEEN

“Tea?” the man asked, heading towards a kitchen area at the side of the cabin.

“Please,” replied Davey, sitting down and ushering Steph to do the same.

Steph sat down but continued to scan her surroundings. The inside of the cabin was larger than she expected. Although what she had expected, she couldn’t really say. She’d had no time to anticipate entering the cabin. The furnishings had Kelvin Handle written all over them – it was clearly in keeping with his own design themes.

The place was all open plan except for two doors at the back of the cabin. Steph assumed one led to a bedroom whereas the other must have been the bathroom. There was a large flatscreen television on the wall which cut through the rustic feel of the wood. Presently it was turned off.

The man returned with three teas on a tray and a plate of biscuits. Davey introduced the man as Roger. Steph assumed it must be the same one he had mentioned earlier.

He was an older gentleman, old enough for his hair to have gone grey. Steph noticed a bookshelf in one corner that was almost overflowing. There seemed to be no one genre to the books that denoted a particular direction of interest. It was simply everything.

Outside there were still howls and movement.

“I suspect you’ll be here for the night,” Roger said after dipping a biscuit into a half-empty mug.

“They’ll go,” Davey said, waving a dismissive hand.

“No doubt,” Roger said. “It is just a case of when and whether you can be bothered staying up to wait for it.”

“What do you mean?” Steph asked.

Roger turned to face her.

“Well, these canines are rather determined, not easily put off – even, at times, by walls.”

“So they would stay here all night? That doesn’t seem normal.”

“Is any of this normal?”

Steph conceded the point. Even so, it worried her. The balance of the place was completely off. Had it always been this way? Was the behaviour of the animals developing slowly into this unstable equilibrium or had it rapidly set into its current pattern as soon as they were put together? It was all rather fascinating. Too fascinating. There was something dangerous about its appeal. Steph could lose herself, indulging in her scientific interests and missing the bigger picture building around her. She could feel it. Allowing herself to get sucked in without stepping back could be a catastrophic mistake.

“What do you mean when you say ‘even by walls’?” she asked suddenly.