Ribbon

Epilogue

Epilogue

             Tall weeping willows lined the gravel road ahead, their branches reaching out lazily to sweep the ground and aid to the mystifying atmosphere. I hadn't noticed that I'd been gripping Belinda's steering wheel tightly until Max reached over from his place in the passenger seat.

            With his hand over mine, Max spoke faintly over the radio.

            "It'll be alright," he assured me.

            "I hope so," I chewed my lip and kept my eyes diverted from his distracting russet gaze.

            Not long after our small exchange, I realized we'd come to reach the last stretch of the gravel road. With a small duck of my head, I then gazed up through the windshield at an odd sight. Instead of seeing the road open up to a property lot, it abruptly cut off into unmanicured greenery. The only indication of any civilization was the tall rod-iron gateway separating the gravel from the shrub-ridden ground. I frowned and slowed the car to a crawl, just outside the gates.

            "Come with me," Max urged as I cut the engine.

            "Where...?" I couldn't finish my sentence since Max had already hopped out of the cab and walked over to the trunk bed. I followed suit in a confused state.

            Once Max had pulled out my backpack and shut the bed, he turned to me.

            "There's no trail to the house – it keeps unwanted onlookers from lurking around. Running is the way we'll get there," Max explained with a small smile as he helped me shrug on my backpack. I frowned slightly as I gazed down at my summer flats. To aid to my discomfort, I had decided to wear a sweet sundress to put on a good front for Max's family.

            "I'm not exactly dressed for a jog through the wilderness," I chewed my lip uneasily as I looked over my shoulder at the odd gates. As I looked closer, I could make out unfamiliar words branded into the iron bars. I wondered distantly what they meant – and in what language they were written in.

            "Grace, I never said you'd be the one running."

            I turned quickly and raised my eyebrows, slightly shocked.

            "Climb on and hold tight," Max nodded seriously as he stepped away from me. I watched, rooted in place, as Max began to form into a wolf with unexplainable effortlessness. It was hypnotizing, exciting, and frightening all at the same time. Once his transition was completed, I watched the wolf's massive brown eyes meet mine with the candor of my Max – the man I'd fallen indubitably in love with.

            My earlier hesitation vanished as I managed to urge myself forward and climb up upon the wolf's wide shoulder blades. With a deep breath, I locked my arms and legs securely around the animal's body. And then, instead of heading straight into the underbrush, Max strode to face the iron gates. There was no fence accompanying the gate, though I distantly realized that there might be some sort of illusion in place that I was unaware of.

            A caster enchantment... I speculated silently.

            An unexpected groan sounded through the quiet forest as the gates suddenly split apart, sliding across the gravel by an unforeseeable force.

           

            My heart lurched into my throat as I watched the expected scene of greenery beyond the gates literally waver; the sight before my eyes slanted and gleamed, almost as if I were gazing at a pool of water rather than a forest. It would've been easy to question my own sanity in this situation or blame the apparent illusion on my tired eyes. However I knew, deep in my gut, that those explanations could not truly elucidate this instance.

            In the last moments, as the gates groaned and halted in their gapped open resting place, and I held my shaky breaths, Max's massive wolf head turned to the side so I could meet one of his eyes. In that short gaze, I was reminded of his warmth – the familiar warmth and light that I have always associated with his character. I trusted Max entirely, with my life... and my heart.

            "I'm ready," I spoke confidently – providing Max with the assurance that he has always extended to me.

            With a short howl and a breathless laugh escaping from my lips, Max crouched down before sprinting forward into the shimmering abyss.