Red Riding Hood

Chapter Nineteen: "Growing Pains"

Jack rubbed his hand, looking around uneasily. No one had seen what he'd done that he could tell. Making his way to retrieve the dagger, he stashed it into his boot and pulled out the arrows. When Geralf looked back at him, he told him with a reluctant sigh. "That's enough for today. I have other things to attend to. You may go home." Jack nodded, setting the arrows down and starting to rush for the gate. Just as he opened it, Geralf grabbed his arm. Jack tensed, curling his hand into the sleeve of his red cloak more in the hopes of hiding the wound across his palm. Geralf leaned a bit closer to him, whispering firmly. "Go straight home, boy. I'll know if you stray. And should any wolves come for you in the night... Let me know. We're on the same side now. Right?" Jack nodded but made no eye contact with him. Geralf snapped his fingers toward a man nearby. Handing off the item to Geralf, Geralf handed it to Jack, sweetly telling him. "Here. You dropped this in the woods. The contents... didn't make it. But I'm told the men liked it." Accepting the basket, Jack looked it over and uttered out a bit flatly. "Thank you." The second Geralf released him, Jack quickly walked away.

While heading through the little village, Jack slowed down and listened to the crunching of snow behind him. Upon stopping to glance back, he saw a man duck into the shadows. Sighing softly, Jack continued on his way. Geralf really wasn't going to let him out of sight this time around. He was having him followed. Reaching his house, he hesitated to go up the steps. After fighting with his parents, he wasn't in the mood to return. Turning slightly, he thought he might go back to the bakery, but found himself anxiously standing in place. The people in town were watching him with guarded eyes. Some averted their eyes and those of their kids. While others peered at him from their windows like he was a monster. One of the women passing by quickly dashed to the other side of the path, grumbling out sourly. "Witch-child." Pulling his hood forward to hide his face, he rolled his eyes. This only confirmed it. This town sucked. Gossip was practically a life sentence in shame. Walking up the steps of the porch, Jack raised a hand to knock but the door was yanked open. In the doorway, his dad started to snap out. "If you tell me there is yet again nothing you can do, Mayor, I'm gonna shove my gun up your-!"

His dad stopped talking, his expression changing as he looked him over. Reaching out, his dad put his hands on his shoulders, asking in a shaken voice. "Jack? Oh my... Are you alright? What happened? Where have you been?!" Jack opened his mouth to answer but didn't even get a word out before his mom rushed out to hug him tightly. The air was squeezed from his lungs, until his dad ushered them inside and glared out at the nosy neighbors. Slamming the door, his dad turned and asked him a bit frantically. "Jack, did he hurt you? Did the wolves get you?" Prying himself from his clinging mother, Jack backed away from them in order to tell them calmly. "I'm fine. No one did anything. I was just... hiding." His dad crossed his arms, countering sternly. "That's not what they are saying happened. They tell me that you went running off into the woods with one of them. A local boy. A damn wolf! I don't call that being fine! What did he want? Why didn't you ask for help?!" Jack set down his basket with a shrug, blurting out a bit defensively. "I don't know. Why didn't you tell me what I am?" His dad fell into silence and his mom pulled her shawl over her shoulders more. Sharing a brief look, his mom mumbled out. "I think you should answer that, Dear. It's time you tell him everything."

His mom turned away, moving closer to the fireplace to put another log on. His dad shuffled his feet, then leaned back against the wall with a grim expression. Hefting a sigh, he reluctantly told him. "I didn't want you to know. I didn't think you could keep a secret. So, I didn't tell you to keep you safe." Jack raised an eyebrow, prompting his dad to utter out guiltily. "Yes. I know you aren't very safe now... but we had a few good years before now." His mom gave his dad a light look, spurring him to say more on track. "My family is... complicated. My mother is from an old bloodline of witches. She used to be in a coven up North. They protected the woods from Woodcutters and Hunters. They were generally harmless unless provoked... but they still pissed people off." Tilting his head back on the wall, he sighed out even more reluctantly. "My father and brother joined their little coven at some point. I refused. I saw them as lunatics trying to hinder progress that would make life easier for everyone. I joined the Huntsmen, instead. My mother was pissed." Shaking his head, his dad hung his head as he admitted grimly. "I was a good Hunter once. I could hunt werewolves as easily as breathing. Then one night... I went on a hunt with some friends. We killed two werewolves. They were strong. They hesitated when they saw me... I didn't."