Page 56
Story: Raised by Wolves
CHAPTER 55
“ARE WE THERE yet?” Holo wants to know.
“Dope, you know where we are,” I say grumpily. It’s dark, I’m tired, and I feel like I’ve been beaten. Human world 1, Kai 0.
“But I’m all turned around,” Holo says.
“This is why town life is bad for us. You’re forgetting what really matters.” Sure, I’m leading us on a weird, twisting way to where we’re going—but still.
When we come into a meadow, I point to the starry sky. “Now do you know where you are?”
Holo looks up. Shrugs. “I guess I’ll just follow you,” he says.
Of course you will , I think. You always do.
We cross a stream on a fallen log. Frogs sing; the water burbles. We’re getting close.
I hike my backpack farther up my shoulders. It hardly weighs anything. I left Lacey’s hand-me-downs behind, and all of the new things she’d bought me, too. The only piece of clothing I brought was the T-shirt I wore when I danced with Waylon at the Bearclaw Cafe. I couldn’t help myself. I imagined that it carried some hint of his touch. His warm, boyish smell.
I brought a journal, too. The copy of Hamlet that Ms. Tillman gave me, to remind me of all the things that I don’t actually need to know. And my knife to remind me of the things I do.
I also brought the sausages that the chief was going to cook for dinner.
Sorry not sorry.
We pass a stand of blackened stumps, burned in a forest fire before we were born. The new trees are already a little bit taller than we are. We’re ten miles from Chester’s, fifteen from town. They’ll never find us.
But the wolves will.
Dawn’s still a ways off when we come to the big pine that has always marked the edge of their territory. Our territory. I don’t have to call them this time. This time they just come.
They rush at us in an explosion of fur. Jaws snap, tongues loll, tails wag. Bim wiggles and whines. Ben spins in dizzy, happy circles. Harriet comes charging out of the woods, yipping excitedly. When she jumps on Ben’s back, he whips around and snaps at her muzzle. It looks like they’re trying to maul each other to death, but their tails are wagging like crazy. This is play. This is pure, wild joy. A family reunion.
“Calm down, you guys,” Holo says, laughing, but it’s useless. There’s just too much happiness to be contained. He falls to his knees, and Bim licks his face all over with her giant pink tongue.
Beast is there, too, and her pups, who prance and play under everyone’s feet. I throw myself into the middle of them. My pack, my family.
Why did I ever leave?
A light flicks on. A golden square—a small window—illuminates the dark. The wolves and I lift our heads.
More light spills onto the ground as the door to the forest cabin opens.
“Well, well, well,” says a voice.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56 (Reading here)
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92