Chapter 9
Vanessa
“You look exhausted again,” Mary criticized the second she saw me.
“I saw him, Mary. He was right there. I’m not crazy.”
“No one is accusing you of being crazy. I was accusing you of staying up looking for him all night—again.”
“Fine, so I drove around for a while. That’s not illegal.”
“No, it’s overexerting yourself. Kyle has the best of the best out looking for them.
They may even have gotten a lead. He has a team setting up surveillance cameras to see if we can catch them.
Isaac doesn’t believe it’s the kids, but someone out there has been stealing from him and squatting in the woods near his house. ”
“Isaac? I don’t think I know an Isaac.”
“Most people don’t.”
She explained where he lived, or at least the general area. It was enough for me to understand where I needed to be this evening.
“Why does Kyle think it could be the kids all the way out there?”
“Well, it’s possible it’s just a grifter passing through, but Isaac had some hay go missing and found a nest setup in the woods. He’s had eggs missing too. He doesn’t believe it could be kids, but it’s the only suspicious activity we’ve heard and everyone’s been on the lookout for those boys.”
“When Cameron ran off yesterday, he did head in that direction.”
“Exactly. It’s just a little tricky with Isaac.”
“Why?”
“He doesn’t exactly like people. It’s a wonder that he’s never gone full rogue. He flies under the radar. Few people even know he’s out there, and those that do have spread lore about him. It keeps everyone away, so I think he’s okay with it.”
“Crazy Sac?” I blurted out.
She chuckled. “That’s him.”
“I thought that was just a story people used to scare kids from straying off too far in the woods.”
“Not exactly, but kind of. Let’s just say Isaac is more likely to shoot first and ask questions later. So don’t get any bright ideas about going out there. I can see those thoughts flying through that head of yours already. Promise me, Vanessa, you won’t go looking for trouble.”
“Would I ever?”
She dropped the conversation and we carried on the day as normal. Instead of counting my babies’ heads throughout the day, I was counting down the seconds until I could go looking for the boys again. And this time, I knew exactly where to start.
*****
“Bye sweetie. See you tomorrow,” I said, waving to my last child of the day.
Mary had already packed up and left. I was glad for it because she wasn’t there to tell me what a bad idea it was to go snooping around places I shouldn’t.
First stop was home to change into better clothes.
That only took a few minutes though before I was ready to go, sporting black leggings and a big black sweater over a black tank top.
I even grabbed a solid black ski mask that would cover the majority of my face.
I figured that way, if I ended up on the security cameras Mary mentioned no one would know it was me.
I had it all planned out.
As I drove towards the area she had mentioned, a bubble of excitement ran through me.
This time of year, the sun set early. It was already dark by the time I got to his general area. I didn’t stop driving until I found the house and then I turned around and parked about half a mile away. I planned to walk to the house through the woods in hopes of finding the boys along the way.
It broke my heart to think of them out here somewhere. It was cold tonight, closer to normal winter temps despite the warm spell we’d been having.
I pulled the ski mask over my head and locked my car.
A nervous giggle burst from me.
I never locked my car in town, so why did I find it necessary out here in the middle of nowhere?
Not second guessing myself, I left it locked and started into the woods with determination.
If those boys were out here, I was going to find them.
Even though it was very dark already with only a sliver of a moon out, I could see clearly with my accelerated wolf vision.
Even at night the woods brought me peace.
I lived in town and worked in town. Despite an abundance of places to run and get out in nature, I rarely took the time these days.
I hadn’t realized just how much I was missing it.
My wolf stirred contently, but also anxious to run.
Soon, I promised her.
I was already making plans to schedule in a run. I knew it was long overdue.
It would be easy to shift and let my wolf track the boys out here, but I worried that it would only scare them.
Sure, they were raised in a wolf Pack and knew not to be scared of wolves, but it was different when they were already out here and alone and a strange wolf ran up to them.
I didn’t want to scare them anymore than I was certain they already were.
Uncertain just how close I was to Crazy Sac’s place, I didn’t want to just call out for them either.
It wasn’t fair for me to call him that. That was terrible.
But based off the Crazy Sac stories, plus Mary’s depiction of him, I imagined an angry old man who shot first and asked questions later.
He was probably hairy and half wild with long hair and a scraggly beard.
I bet he smelled too. Was there even water and electricity all the way out here?
Before Mary mentioned it, I honestly thought this entire section of territory was just woods. It wasn’t the most popular area to run, but I didn’t know why that was. Perhaps it was because of him.
Poor old man probably hadn’t seen or spoken to anyone much out here.
Was he wild?
Did he live off the land and hunt his food in wolf form?
Was he more wolf than man?
It made me fear that maybe he was feral and that’s why Kyle kept him away from everyone out here.
How long had he been living out here?
Wolf shifters could live a lot longer than the average human. He could be ancient.
An ancient crotchety old man who probably ate children.
I froze mid-step, and my heart raced.
No! He wouldn’t eat the boys, would he?
Mary hadn’t seemed concerned about anything like that, but how could we be sure?
Maybe he was just making up excuses about the boys having been here and run off, when really, he was keeping them hostage or he already ate them.
The more I thought about it, the more horrors my mind conjured up.
It was enough to make me pick up the pace in my rush to reach them and save them from old Crazy Sac before he did something horrific to them.
Engaging my wolf nose, I sniffed the air hoping to catch any scent of them I could. It took every ounce of restraint not to yell out for them.
By the time I reached the edge of a clearing, I’d worked myself up into a full-blown panic.
At last, I caught the scent of something. I stopped and sniffed the air once more. My senses were assaulted by the most enticing scent I’d ever encountered.
What is that? I wondered.
It took a lot not to run towards the smell to find out.
I had to force myself to remember why I was here in the first place.
Focus, Vanessa. You have to find the boys. No distractions.
Taking a deep calming breath proved to be a huge mistake. All I did was inhale that delicious scent even stronger. It wrapped around me like a warm blanket leaving me with a heady feeling.
Before I realized what I was doing, I had changed course and was heading right for the scent. It was as if I couldn’t stop myself. And for some reason, my wolf was suddenly agitated, but not in a bad way. She was excited.
What the hell?
I stepped on a twig or something. The snap of wood echoed through the forest all around me.
The natural sounds changed as animals in the area became alert to my presence and sent sounds of warning out into the night air.
Was that a goat?
In my confusion, I headed towards those sounds. Why were barnyard animals all the way out here?
My curiosity propelled me forward.
I couldn’t have gotten that turned around. I had a great sense of direction and was pretty certain I hadn’t changed course until I heard the goat. Even that was leading me deeper into the woods.
A donkey?
Was that a sheep?
The sounds that kept coming were so at odds with my expectations that I was fascinated by them. I had to know more.
Where were they coming from?
What were they doing all the way out here?
When I reached the edge of the woods it opened up into what looked to be a small farm.
That scent I had been following was everywhere. It made me feel high from the saturation of it here.
I stumbled around as if I couldn’t see in the dark.
Sure enough, there were goats, sheep, a donkey, and even a chicken coop. Other shadows were in the distance. Was that an alpaca in the trees?
I was so confused. I almost wondered if I had hit my head or something and didn’t realize it.
Was I delusional?
Was this really here?
And that scent. I could happily stay here forever smelling it.
A short distance away I saw a cozy cabin. There was smoke coming from the chimney, but even that couldn’t diffuse the scent I now realized I’d been tracking.
Who lived all the way out here?
Where was I?
I walked around checking it out, but didn’t quite make it to the window because that’s when I heard it—the unmistakable sounds of running feet in the woods.
The boys.
Remembering why I was out here, I ran towards the sound as fast as I could, but about twenty yards into the woods, I tripped and faceplanted on the ground. The momentum had me skidding headfirst into a wall of stacked logs.
“Ow,” I whined.
Looking around I was confused. It looked much like a small fort, but why would it be out here?
The click of a shotgun had me frozen in place.
Crazy Sac.
My fight or flight instinct kicked in. Apparently, both worked simultaneously.
As he approached, I kicked out and scrambled to my feet.
I heard him roar followed by the crashing of the logs.
Not sure if he had fallen on them or deliberately destroyed them, I kept running. How fast could an ancient old man be anyway?
This was my flight instinct in full swing.
But I was wrong . . very, very wrong.
I could suddenly hear footsteps behind me and they were coming fast. I didn’t dare look back, but when the shotgun fired off, I froze in place.
My eyes frantically searched the area for somewhere to hide.
“Don’t move,” a deep voice said. The sound of it vibrated through my body with a strange awareness I was not prepared for.
Mine, my wolf said, and my entire world turned upside down.