Black Wolf (20 page)

Instant
motion, everyone reaching for the nearest bowl and scattering in
different directions.

It must have
taken ages for Flynn and Nick and Lori to hide all the treats that
were found: eggs painted glorious colours, pine-cones decorated in
endless ways, candies of a dozen sorts. In the crotch of a tree she
found a small object wrapped in bright cloth and tied with a
ribbon; she'd seen a few others find such things, but they seemed
to be rare.

Lori finally
called everyone back. From what Gisela had picked up, they'd
divided the grounds in thirds and each hid the treats in one,
leaving them free to help hunt the other two thirds.

"Everybody
should have a present," Lori said, once everyone was back at the
picnic table. "If someone has two, be nice and give one to someone
who didn't find one. We hid exactly enough."

There was
brief confusion while that got settled.

"Everyone got
one?" Flynn said. "Open them."

Gisela set her
basket on the ground, untied the bow and unwrapped it.

Within was a
delicate glass flower, the petals tinted amethyst-purple and the
leaves rich jewel-green, the whole thing of a size to fit
comfortably cupped on her palm.

"Okay, gang,"
Flynn said briskly, "That's enough messing around outside. There's
water hot for tea et cetera, getting warm won't hurt any of
us."

The kitchen
became a flurry of activity. As usual, the chaos resolved itself
into some version of order, everyone settled with hot drinks in the
living room—more bare than usual, since Cynthia and her housemates
were packing up to move April first.

"Everybody
warm now?" Nick asked. "And feeling pretty good?"

General
agreement.

"Good," Lori
said. "Then get comfortable, and let's look for answers, shall we?"
She placed a globe the size of a basketball, shimmery iridescent
glass, probably hollow, in the middle of the floor. "For those who
prefer to have something solid for scrying. Get comfortable and
let's go."

They tended to
use more ritual at holidays than they did for everyday; the circle
was properly cast, by whoever felt inspired to call each
quarter.

Gisela relaxed
into the easy rhythm of Nick's voice, leading them all into a light
trance. Not that she expected any spectacular visions, she'd never
had one. Her gaze dropped to the glass flower cupped in her hand,
and stayed there, focused on the purple and green. Lori's voice
joined Nick's, softly, weaving a counterpoint to his, then Flynn's
twined into theirs. The voices braided into each other, until it
seemed like all one voice, only she couldn't understand the words,
they were a different language...

She found, in
some surprise, that she was on a hill beside a lake, the brilliant
moonlight making silvery ripples on the dark water; one path curved
down to the water, another led down the opposite face of the hill
to a meadow where wolves played, chasing each other around in the
wildflowers. A third path led to one side, up a higher hill.

She wavered,
and decided to go upwards.

The top of the
hill was flat and grassy; from here, she could see far down into
the wolves' meadow.

To her
surprise, Jesse was here, as always in black, kneeling beside a
black wolf that sat unnaturally still. Crying?

She dropped to
one knee beside him. "Jess?"

"It turned
into stone," he said tearfully. "Because I wouldn't come down the
hill. Now it's dead because of me, when it should be free..."

She laid a
hand on the petrified wolf, concentrating hard, praying. Deep
within, she felt warmth, the faint rumble of a heart beating.

"It isn't
dead, Jess. Not yet. You still have time."

He raised his
eyes, tears making their darkness shimmer, to hers. "But I don't
know what to do, I never know how to fix things. Just to mess them
up."

"Try asking if
it wants to go down with the other wolves. Tell it you'll come,
since it seems to want you to."

"I don't
belong there."

"If this wolf
thinks you do, and the other wolves accept you when you go, then
you do belong there."

Shivering, he
bowed his head, hugging himself. After a moment, he reached out,
and placed one trembling hand on the wolf's head.

"Come on," he
said softly. "Let's go."

The moonlight
danced over the stone wolf, and the hardness melted into full
dynamic life. It greeted Jess joyfully, licking away his tears, and
Jess wrapped his arms around it, burying his face in its fur.

The moonlight
brightened and shivered again, around the pair, and two forms
flowed into one. The black wolf shook himself, cocked his head to
listen to the howls of the wolves below. He threw back his head and
answered the song, and trotted away towards the path down. Gisela
followed him, got as far as the lower hilltop by the time he
reached the other wolves. She smiled to herself, watching them
welcome him.

Something
glittering caught her eye, and she turned. Snagged on a short
jutting tree branch was a rope of dark sparkling stones and silver
links, about long enough for a wolf's collar. Too high up for her
to reach, though she tried.

A
narrow-winged falcon dived out of the starry sky, snatched the
collar, and despite Gisela's cry of protest vanished back into the
night.

Gisela
blinked, focused on the glass flower cupped in her hand, heard the
braided voices gradually coming apart. She smiled in satisfaction.
That could only mean one thing: Jess was going to be okay, Rebecca
hadn't done any permanent damage.

Except... what
had the collar and falcon been?

No matter,
she'd find out in due time.

14

The two black
wolves sniffed warily around the edges of the large yard. The
landscaping, just slightly wild, worked in around ancient trees,
had the kind of
whole
look that usually meant a dryad or an
earth-oriented witch had a hand in its care; the trees, whether the
gardener knew or not, bore scent traces of a wolf claiming this as
his residence. The house was medium-large, well-kept without being
overly fancy, though the wooden ramp that doubled back and forth in
front of the house made them pause briefly. Aindry could smell
wood-smoke on the breeze, a warm and homey kind of scent.

Overall, this
was probably a good place to try. If not here, well, there were
lots of other houses in Falias.

They faded
back into the woods to where they'd left their packs; a few minutes
later, human-form and dressed, they walked up to the wide front
door, and Aindry knocked.

The woman who
opened the door had a distinctly dryad scent, the dark brown in her
short curly hair nearly eclipsed by the grey. She over-topped the
two wolves by a good six inches, and out-massed either by half
again, but she greeted them with a friendly, if curious, smile.

"Yes?"

"We were
wondering if you had any odd jobs around that we can do, for, say,
a meal?" Aindry said tentatively. This never got any easier. They
dared not spend too much time in the mixed villages, or anywhere
for that matter, terrified that if they did Unity would be repeated
all over again. So, in a long circuit, they visited once each
Falias in Newfoundland and Endor in Quebec and Irminsul in
Saskatchewan and Ravenrock in British Columbia and Aralu that was
the newest, up in the Northwest Territories. By unspoken mutual
consent, they never went within a very broad circle around Unity,
and Haven was within that range, much too close for comfort, close
enough to stir memories neither wanted to bring back to the light
of day; they passed through Ontario as quickly as they could each
time. Never the same house twice, and sometimes they had to knock
on more than one door before someone decided to be generous.

"Floria?" A
man came into the broad hallway behind her. "Who is it?"

Aindry
instantly dropped her gaze and went very still, almost before
consciously identifying the scent and the casual confidence of an
alpha in his own territory; she didn't need to look to know that,
half a step behind her, Jaisan was doing the same.

"Don't worry
about earning it right now," the dryad said briskly. "You both look
like you've gone about half feral. Come on in, don't worry, Ian
won't bite you, not unless he wants me to deal with. Take your
boots off there, and we'll see about a hot bath." She backed up to
let them in, and closed the door behind them. "I'm Floria, he's
Ian, and our coven-mate Wren is around somewhere."

Aindry looked
to Ian for confirmation, before moving.

Ian simply
smiled; there were a lot of laugh-lines there, Aindry thought. "I
learned better than to argue with Flor a long time ago. Consider
yourselves welcome. The house has been quiet since the kids moved
out, and we have an extra room upstairs where you can sleep if you
need it. I'm sure we can find enough around here to keep a couple
of strong young bodies busy."

Hospitality
had always been a tradition in the mixed villages, or so Aindry had
been taught; it wasn't universally honoured these days, but the
ones who did, did it properly, she thought. Gratefully, she slipped
out of her heavy worn coat, and started on the laces of her boots;
Jaisan, waiting for her to decide, immediately followed suit. "I'm
Aindry. Jaisan's my brother."

Floria nodded,
took the two coats to hang on a set of hooks on the wall, and moved
farther into the house to yell, "Wren! We have guests!"

"Do they need
a healer?" a pleasant baritone called back, from somewhere Aindry
thought was on the same floor but towards the back.

"Not
immediately, I think!"

"Then I'll
meet them in a few minutes."

"He has a
rabbit back there that had a passing encounter with a car," Ian
explained. "Why he won't just let me eat it, I will never
understand." He shrugged, and sighed. "Healers."

"Healers are
usually pretty softhearted," Jaisan said timidly.

"And I suppose
we'd all be in trouble if they weren't, but that doesn't mean I
understand them. So. We only have one full bathroom. Who wants to
get warm first?"

"Jais," Aindry
said without hesitation. "I can wait."

Floria nodded
again. "And we'll see if we can't find something clean for you to
put on while we throw your clothes in the laundry."

Aindry
suppressed a twinge of apprehension as Ian led Jaisan upstairs;
being separated while outside hunting was one thing, but inside,
with walls and doors around them, it made her nervous. But there
were no scents of treachery or hostility or demon influence here,
only kindness and concern. With her backpack slung once again over
her shoulder, she followed Floria to a large bright kitchen at the
end of the hall—around the rather cluttered counters, and an island
in the centre with a ramp to a raised area on one side, the
linoleum floor was obviously kept deliberately clear. Even the
three chairs at a table to one end were all carefully pushed in all
the way.

Floria headed
immediately for the fridge, and produced a large pan; once the
plastic wrap was off, Aindry caught the wonderful scent of homemade
lasagne. "Kids your age need to eat like elves of any age," Floria
said. "Supper won't be for a while yet, so I think we'll just
microwave a couple of slices of this to keep the two of you until
then."

"We can't..."
Aindry began, badly torn between the tantalizing scent and her own
pride and honour.

Floria turned
around to look at her. "Your brother needs it," she said
calmly.

Aindry
recognized the direct appeal to her wolf instincts—she was alpha,
it was her responsibility to take care of Jais—but recognizing it
didn't lessen the power of it noticeably. She lowered her eyes
again. "We both do," she admitted.

"I won't ask
why the two of you aren't living with your family somewhere,
instead of wandering around with next to nothing, that's your
business. It won't cost us any great amount to feed you for a day
or two and give you a warm place to sleep, and I hope that if my
two daughters were in trouble, someone would do the same for them.
No more arguing, understand?"

Aindry smiled,
hesitantly—it felt like an expression she rarely used, these days.
"Understand." She resolved to find something she and Jais could do
to pay them back for the charity, though. There must be something
around—wood to chop, maintenance on a car, housecleaning,
something
.

"Good." Floria
fetched two plates from the cupboard, deposited a large slice on
each, and put one in the microwave on the island.

Unexpected
sounds of motion behind her made Aindry spin around; she relaxed
immediately, as a light-skinned man with a lion's-mane of silvery
hair joined them in the kitchen. He must have been in a truly
terrible accident, Aindry decided, to have been hurt badly enough
to need a wheelchair—healer gifts usually worked extremely
efficiently on their own bodies. It certainly explained all the
little oddities about the house.