Chapter Fourteen #3
I pressed my weight into the tips of my toes, elevating me just enough to see Rowena’s backyard.
There was a hip-height fence surrounding a small garden bursting with foliage, just like the one behind the café.
Every bush, root, and vine were ripe with fresh produce, from blueberries to potatoes, despite the fact it was mid-autumn.
Even plants that didn’t normally grow well in Maine had no trouble in Rowena’s garden, thanks to her chloromancer magic.
But within that garden, merely a dark silhouette against the backdrop of foliage, was a middle-aged man.
His figure was cloaked in shadow, but I could tell he was wearing jeans and a thick flannel shirt.
When he turned his head toward the light of Rowena’s black porch, I saw a pale face with a bent nose and thinning salt-and-pepper hair.
He had a thick beard the same color as the hair on his head: black flecked with white. Like snow on dark soil.
Rowena stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame with her arms crossed and one foot pressing against the wall.
It was too dark for me to read her facial expressions, but her posture indicated she was annoyed.
She was silent as the man rambled on and on, occasionally offering a nod of her head.
Then, the man stopped talking and waved his hand, as if gesturing for her to follow him.
To my shock and horror, she did. She closed the back door to her cottage, locked it tight, and trudged through her garden and out into the forest. I watched as the two of them walked, side-by-side, until they disappeared out of the corner of my window.
My jaw nearly fell open in disbelief. Who is he? Where is he taking her?
I flared my nostrils, taking in a large gulp of air. In through your nose, out through your mouth. Just like Rowena had taught me.
I had to keep control of my mounting panic. If I was going to investigate where they went, I needed to not have my ears and tail pop out in the process.
I turned away from the window. Aria was sleeping on her doll-sized bed, her swirling tornado of a body dulled to a light breeze. I sighed, willing her to please stay asleep , as I crept out my front door and slowly clicked it shut behind me.
Even though Rowena and the strange man were gone, I felt like a deer caught in headlights. Like someone – or something – would pop out at any moment. I peered up at the dark canopy of trees, the soft yet blindingly white glow of the almost-full moon illuminating my green eyes.
Normally, I loved nighttime, especially when the moon was out. To werewolves, it symbolized freedom. Rebellion. Embracing our wild nature.
But tonight, I felt less like a big scary wolf and more like a meek little rabbit, twitchy and nervous and well aware of how vulnerable I was. If Rowena and the strange man returned and saw me outside, I could be in a heap of trouble. A rabbit clamped between a wolf’s jaws.
She’s dangerous.
I shook those two harrowing words out of my head and stepped forward.
Outside my cottage, nothing looked unusual. There was a heavy breeze, strong enough to creep under my cloak and make my skin prickle, but the air was silent. No crickets, no frogs, no elementals.
And definitely no werewolves.
I took a few steps forward, studying the exterior of Rowena’s cottage. Its silhouette was as dark as mine in the gloomy night sky, but as I got closer, I noticed something that made my blood chill in my veins.
There were footsteps imprinted in the thick carpet of autumn leaves. Two sets.
They both led to Rowena’s front door.
Which had the tiniest sliver of a crack, like someone had forgotten to close it all the way.
I thought back to Rowena locking her back door before she left. Maybe she’d simply forgotten to lock the front one as well.
Or maybe, because she and I were so isolated on the edge of the village, she didn’t expect anyone to come looking for her.
Especially not me.
My hand shook as I reached for the door handle. It was cold under my palms, the metal chilled by the strong winds and low nighttime temperatures. It sent a deep tingle through my nerves, like I’d been stuck by static electricity.
Rowena had never let me inside her home, and she always kept the curtains drawn so no one could see inside. The only glimpse I ever had into her home life was her dark silhouette, illuminated by her faerie fire lanterns, sipping tea and reading books in the evenings.
I pressed my fingers against the door, bracing myself behind it like a shield.
I had no idea what awaited me on the other side.
I pulled the door back a few inches, and it let loose an awful metallic groan. I froze, wincing at the grating sound.
This couldn’t be done slowly. I needed to pull the door open, in one fell swoop, to minimize the amount of noise I made. It was like ripping off a bandage. Or pulling loose bits of tree bark out of a puncture wound.
But nothing popped out. Once the old creaky door stopped moving, the cottage was completely silent.
And dark. But once I stepped into the doorway, I noticed a faerie fire lantern on the end table.
I picked it up, and the single-room downstairs burst into dim yet vibrant purple light.
In the few brief seconds between the light turning on and me being able to see the room, I chuckled at Rowena’s choice of lantern color.
She always did love purple.
Bathed in the shadowy light, the cottage appeared simple and nondescript; no different than what I’d seen of the other cottages in Wisteria Grove.
An old, sagging couch and a puffy rocking chair occupied the living room.
There was a small kitchenette, in far better condition than mine, tucked into the back corner.
A narrow bookshelf, taller than I was, held dozens of colorful hardback tomes.
And of course, lined up on the kitchen counter, were glass jars full of loose-leaf teas.
It made me smile. But it also made me sick with guilt. Who am I to come barging into Rowena’s home, suspecting her of being some sort of criminal? I don’t even know what Juniper’s words meant. She won’t tell me why Rowena is…
Then I saw it. It was in the back of the cottage, past the kitchen, in a dark corner where the light of the faerie fire lantern couldn’t quite reach.
Yet the crisscrossed silhouette, just barely visible in the darkness, was unmistakable.
A cage.
A large, iron cage, just large enough for a human to crawl inside.
I went back to the end table and grabbed the lantern, making sure nothing crept up behind me in the process.
My fist trembled as I held it up in the air; partially from the weight of the heavy lantern, and partially because I was terrified.
Even before I reached the cage, now with plenty of light to see the details, I knew Juniper’s warnings were true.
But why would Rowena have this here?
Who… or what… is supposed to go in it?
The cage was shoved against the wall, pressing against the thick curtains that blocked the windows. The iron was too thick to be a crate meant for pets. I tried pushing it across the floor a few inches, but it wouldn’t budge. It was ridiculously heavy.
Something metallic rattled at my feet as I walked. I jolted, aiming my lantern down at the floor.
Chains. Heavy metal chains, dumped in loosely coiled piles like angry pythons, glinting menacingly in the purple light. I scampered away, panic coursing through my veins as if the chains were actual snakes.
Then I bumped into a strange, oddly-shaped object.
It was also on the floor, next to the crate. Just dumped there. I lifted the object, holding it up to the lantern. Like with the crate, it was far heavier than I’d expected it to be.
Crisscrossed metal joined with thick leather straps, secured by a series of buckles.
Just the right size and shape for a large dog.
Or…
A wolf…
The muzzle fell from my hands, metal clanging against hardwood as it hit the floor.
I hunched over, clamping my shaking hands on my knees. It felt like my rib cage was folding in on itself, tightening with every breath, crushing my lungs like a straightjacket.
Gods, I can’t breathe.
I stumbled to my feet, my steps staggered and wobbly like a newborn fawn as I scrambled to erase the evidence that I was there.
I kicked the ensnaring chains away from my feet, ensured the muzzle was tucked back where I’d found it, and placed the lantern back on the table next to the front door.
I’d just managed to turn the faerie fire off before my panic overtook me.
But this time, it wasn’t just my ears and tail. My whole body succumbed to the raw, feral fear, and I ended up sprinting in my wolf form back to my own cottage.
I bolted through the entrance and heaved my furry shoulder into the door, slamming it shut. My paws scrambled for the lock, but even if I had been able to turn back into a human, there was nothing I could do. The lock was still broken.
If only I had gotten it fixed when I first arrived. Like Rowena warned me to.
My four legs gave out, and I collapsed to the floor. My entire body, from my fluffy red tail to the tips of my canine teeth, trembled uncontrollably.
If I had been a human, I would’ve been screaming. Crying. Howling out awful sobs of terror. Fear.
Regret.
Instead, I screeched out long, ear-piercing whines, burying my large wolfish head between my paws.
I didn’t know how long Rowena would be gone, but I needed to stay quiet.
I was too panicked to shift back into a human, and if Rowena saw me like this, I feared I’d be chained up in that iron cage with the muzzle bolted to my face.
I had no idea why Rowena had such monstrous devices in her cottage.
But I had theories. And none of them were good.
In between whines, I heard a faint squeak from across the cottage. I looked up and saw Aria perched on her little doll bed, ears perked up and her two front paws in the air.
It’s okay, girl. I whimpered again, this time softer. She knew something happened, and I couldn’t speak to her in my wolf form to explain things. Even if I was able to shift back, I couldn’t bear the thought of telling her. I didn’t want to relive what I’d just seen.
Instead, I hauled my lanky wolf body off the ground, plodded over to my blanket and pillow, and curled up in a tight ball with my tail touching my nose.
Aria squeaked again, but I didn’t respond. All I wanted to do was close my eyes and forget. Maybe if I curled up tight enough, I’d disappear entirely.
Aria was silent after that. But within a few minutes, I felt a cool breeze, followed by the soft thumps of mouse paws on my furry back. I lifted my head and saw Aria settling just behind my shoulders, curled up as tightly as I was.
You bold little thing , I chuckled. A tiny mouse atop a wolf’s back.
But I knew she wanted to comfort me. I wished I had my human fingers so I could pet her. So I could talk to her, and tell her everything would be okay.
But as I closed my eyes, I knew it wasn’t.
It never would be again.