Epilogue
Years later, Jake would probably tell the story wrong.
He would say the foot was the first thing he saw.
That part was true.
He would say Noah looked helpless.
That part was not.
Noah had been injured, terrified, hunted, and half conscious.
He had never been helpless.
Jake would exaggerate the amount of blood.
Noah would correct him.
Marcus would interrupt to explain the folding chair even though the folding chair happened months later.
Sofia would insist the tarot cards warned them.
Elena would say the cards warned nobody because nobody listened.
Lisa would say Jake should never have been in those woods before school in the first place.
Robert would agree because survival had not made him less of a parent.
And Noah would eventually say the important part.
Jake stayed.
That was the story.
Not fate.
Not blood.
Not a wolf recognizing another wolf.
A frightened boy woke beneath a fallen oak.
Another boy could have run.
He stayed.
Everything after that, they chose.