The Snow-Wolf

Chapter 10: The Artist

Chapter 10: The Artist

Sitting at my desk, I sketched a few more lines as Seth sat perfectly motionless on my bed. He was holding the stuffed puppy Quil had given me a long time ago. He liked it because the fur color was similar to his own. As I sketched, I glanced over at him again trying to work in the last details. His eyes caught my own, and I blushed looking away. This had been a repeated action in the last half hour.

"Almost," I said. "Just let me clean up the edges." I took the eraser I hadn't used in months and cleaned up the messy lines that weren't needed. Once I was done, I smiled widely. "There. I think I'm finished."

He was excited. Jumping up from the bed, he practically flung himself at the sketchbook. I held it up for him to see. It was a portrait of him from his head to chest. He was wearing a shirt, so I added the fabric lines as well. His eyes went wide and his mouth dropped in bewilderment as he saw my skills.

"Woah! Why the hell are Jacob and Billy hiding you from the world?! You've got talent, Hannah!"

I was modest. "It's not that good. I took some art classes over the years and made it my side hobby. I tried to keep up with it because it was relaxing. It actually feels really good to get back to it. Feels like a century since I last did a drawing or anything artistic."

"You still are going to let me have one of your old works, right?!" He was staring at me with anticipation.

I set the sketchbook down. "Most of them are in boxes in the garage... if you help me get one down you can have as many as you like."

He grinned. He grabbed my hand and pulled me up from the chair. "Well, what are we waiting for?!" He pulled me out of the room, past my dad and Sam who were chatting in the kitchen, and outside down the ramp. We made our way to the side of the house toward the small one car garage that only Jacob really used anymore. I grabbed the key from under the stone by the rocky drive and unlocked the sliding door. Once it was open, I headed in and immediately stepped in oil.

I gasped as my foot slipped and I went falling back. Seth caught me easily under my arms and held me up.

"Damn it, Jake... can't clean up after himself for a second," I muttered.

Seth steadied me. "So I don't need to be concerned about a redhead killing you. Clearly it's going to be motor oil and clumsiness."

I pulled from him. "Your comment just limited you to two art pieces," I joked.

He rolled his eyes. "I don't think you can stop me. I could steal the whole box away in a blink."

I sighed. "Probably wouldn't even notice it was gone."

I stepped over to our built in shelves and pointed to a large blue Tupperware box that was eye level to me. "These are some of the ones I did last fall..."

Thinking about a time before werewolves and vampires changed my life felt really strange to me.

Seth easily grabbed it and carried it out of the garage. As we got back inside, my dad caught our action from the corner of his eyes. "What's all that?"

Sam was curious too. He tried to make a joke. "Are you moving? Running away with Seth already?"

Seth scoffed. "Like we could. Your spies didn't give us ten minutes alone last night."

Sam smirked. "I didn't send those spies, Seth. That was all Jacob."

I answered my dad's question. "Seth wanted to pick out some of my old artwork to take home. I didn't give him a present yesterday since no one informed me of his date of birth."