Home -- Wolv book 3

Chapter 6 - The outsider's cry

Christine stood at the end of Nadie's driveway, tapping her foot in annoyance on the ground as Nadie stepped outside, pulling a sweater over her arms.

Chrissy groaned as Nadie walked over to her. "You put me off for weeks, and than you drag me out here at seven in the morning? What did I ever do to you!"

Nadie rolled her eyes, and the two of them began walking down the gravel road around town. "I thought you wanted to hang out!"

"I did, but for goodness sakes, at a reasonable hour! This is not reasonable!" Christine's brown eyes had dark lines beneath them; the girl looked tired.

"Yeah, sorry about that, Chris. I just needed to get out before my mom wakes up." Nahanni and Nadie had spent roughly three weeks inside, sanding and filling divots in the walls, varnishing the floors, and even scrubbing mold patches from the dingy basement beneath the house. It was rewarding work; parts of the house were looking much better than they had in years...but Nadie needed a break. She'd begun to drop hints to her mother already; she wanted to get out on the water and spend at least a few days in Atikaki before her vacation ended--much to her dismay, she'd already missed her opportunity to find Humfrey in the park; his vacation was long over by now and he'd be back at work--yet, at the same time, as eager as she was to be free, she knew that she needed to help her mother.

"I tell you, once we've finished up in the kitchen, I'm hitting the river. I'm so tired of being inside!"

"Well, I would have taken you out again if you hadn't been holed up in your house!" The two of them turned down a little pathway running alongside the river. Nadie picked up a few stones, and skipped them across the waters. Christine elbowed her in the ribs slyly. "Y'know, if you woulda come out with me, maybe you would have been the one they took! Better chances outside than inside, y'know?"

"What?" Just who exactly was 'they?'

Christine's eyes widened beneath her colorful strands. "You haven't heard yet? Are you for real?" She let out a curt laugh. "No, of course you haven't heard."

"Heard what?" Nadie asked curiously. "C'mon Chrissy, spill!"

"Apparently someone got the teeth, if you know what I mean. Wolves, girl! They bit someone! Someone got bitten!" She shrugged nonchalantly. "That's the word in town, anyways."

Nadie had to bite her lip to keep herself from growling. She should have been happy; excited, even, that the wolves were still active, and that they hadn't fallen silent...yet bitter disappointment drowned out all of it.

She'd missed her chance. The wolves had chosen someone, and it wasn't her.

She tried and failed to keep the scowl off of her face. "Yeah?"

"Yup."

"An' who started that rumor?"

"Trish Tihkoosue. Y'know, Minnie's sister?"

Nadie huffed loudly. "She was Mingan's sister. Great. So what did she say?"

Christine smiled deviously, thoroughly enjoying watching Nadie trying to conceal her feelings. "Well, I've only heard things second hand, but apparently, she pulled some guy out of Atikaki a week or so ago. He had the bite on him!"

"Really."

"Yeah! I mean...yeah. I dunno. She told my Pa that the guy had been attacked by some animal or somethin.' Didn't actually say that it was a wolf bite, but what else would it be?"

Nadie raised an eyebrow at her. "So...you don't know for a fact that he's been bitten in? Whoever this guy is?"

"No, of course not! But it's a rumor. Who cares what really happened? Beside, it makes for great gossip, lemme tell you!"