Girl in the Red Hood (21 page)

Liesel stared at the letter for a long time
without opening it. So many times, she had come close to escaping.
She didn't know if her heart could take another fall. If there was
even a hint, an aroma of hope, and she took the leap, she could
still fail.

And if he found her trying to escape, what
would Kurt say, even if it was for the pack's good? Would he
believe her or resent her forever? She was tempted to simply
refuse. At least for now, her intended had some sort of affection
for her.

And yet, a memory flitted through her mind.
A boy and a girl, bent over a book, plotting the twists and turns
of their one-day adventure. How sweet the air had seemed those
days. The world had been theirs. They only needed wait a few years
before gaining the freedom to chase their dreams. A part of her, an
irrational part, still dreamed as that girl had. She still imagined
the boy holding her close as they set off on their travels. She
could almost sense his warmth beside her as she closed her eyes
each night, whether under stars or roof. She could almost feel his
lips caressing her own, smiling beneath hers as they watched the
sun set over the ocean. With shaking hands, she broke the seal.

Dear Liesel,

I knew who you were the moment I saw you,
and in that moment, my heart both mourned and rejoiced. I mourned
because I knew what they were taking from you. I rejoiced because I
knew you would bring much happiness to my son. The Maker knows he
needs it.

Kurt has told me you're losing your
grandparents. I was seventeen when I was marked for Garrit, though
I wasn't called back until I was nineteen. The pack does it that
way, marking girls long before they need them. It's easier then if
the current Pure Blood dies suddenly, the next one is nearby. It
sounds cruel, but I suppose it makes sense.

I have instructed Lora to deliver this note
to you before you wed my son because what I have discovered is of
the utmost importance. Unfortunately, I learned too late, but the
moment I saw you, I knew you could be the one to break the spell.
You have life in you still. It hasn't been beaten out of you like
it has so many of the girls by the time they're brought here. (At
least, that's what I've been told.)

I'm writing this now because I can sense the
life within me draining. My husband would deny it, but the pack
unwittingly draws life from the Pure Blood. There's nothing in the
legends that says so, but I can feel it. The world has lost its
color, and I can no longer taste the sweetness of honey. I pray to
the Maker that this slow death is never yours, nor does it fall on
any other woman. If you can stop the spell, it won't.

As I said, from the time I die, the pack has
thirty days to carry on without a wedded Pure Blood. Tradition
gives them four days before a new one is joined, three for
mourning, and one for a wedding. You must leave before you are
married, for if you leave after you are wed, the people will be
lost. Your only hope of this is to convince Kurt to let you go.
Because of his place in line, he has the authority to suspend the
magic and let you go, just as he had the authority to call you. But
this must all be done before my husband realizes you are out of the
forest. Even with Kurt's blessing, you cannot escape Garrit's
summoning while still within the bounds of the woods. If you can
escape those, however, you're free.

Once you are out, you will have no more than
twenty-six days to find the way to break the curse and return.
Sadly, I cannot tell you where to find that. A fairy, perhaps, or a
wizard could help. I can only hope someone shall know.

I have told you this in the absolute faith
that you care for Kurt. I could see it in your eyes the day he
found you near our home. If you decide to run, or are too late to
return, everyone here will lose what humanity they have left
forever. So consider your choices wisely.

Tell my Kurt that I love him. Although I was
taken against my will, I have no regrets, except that I couldn't
save them myself. The Maker has given me three beautiful children,
and I would not trade them for the world. And don't be too hard on
Garrit. He is gruff and obstinate, but he means well. My husband
was actually much like Kurt as a young man, and he wasn't always
the way he is now. Over the years, he's given much of himself to
the wolf to keep order in the town. With each piece he sacrifices
for others, he loses a bit of himself. He's a good man, and like
Kurt, never had a choice in what happened two hundred years ago.
They're as much prisoners in this forest as we are. They cannot
leave, and they cannot let their people die. Please be the one who
breaks this cycle of evil for all our sakes.

Sincerely,

Wanda

Liesel's heart hammered within her as she
folded the letter back up, afraid to read its contents again. And
yet, hope had already sprung up within her. Breaking it out once
more, she memorized the lines. That the spell could be broken she
had no doubt. As to how that could be done in only twenty-six days
was another matter entirely. The suggestion that she use the plan
as a ruse to escape danced across her mind, but she knew she
couldn't do that even before the thought was complete. As Kurt's
mother had stated, it would be impossible to leave Steffen and his
sister and grandfather and all the others to the spell's sentence.
And Kurt. She couldn't do that to Kurt.

Was Lora right? Was she in love with
Kurt?

Liesel had to wonder at her girlish
assumptions about the future. Though they had never discussed it,
Liesel had always assumed they would marry. It would be the two
them and the rest of the world. She would give him children, and
they would be happy, just like her grandparents had been. How
little she'd known when she'd dreamed up such ambitious plans. But
somehow, she still wanted them. Despite all that had happened, she
still wanted him.

But if they failed, if Kurt said no, or if
she was just too tired to try, the outcome was simple. She would
return and live out her short existence here, as Wanda had done. It
would be the easy thing to do. She would only have to follow the
rules. She could still be his wife and the mother of his children,
and they would stay together until death did them part. In fact,
the ease of simply doing as she was told was tempting. Liesel was
tired of fighting. Would it be so bad to simply let the spell have
her?

"Lora said I'd find you here," Kurt sat down
on the stump next to hers. Liesel turned to tell him that she would
do as he wanted. She would marry him. The pack would live. She was
done fighting. As she looked into his eyes, however, something
stopped her from uttering the words.

As she watched, a strange look came over his
face. His eyes glazed over, and his jaw went slack.

"Kurt?" Liesel frowned and leaned a hair
closer. When she got no response, she gingerly reached out and
touched his shoulder. "Kurt, what's wrong?" Slowly, Kurt turned his
head toward her, but his eyes were still vacant. It was the same
look she'd seen on him that morning, when she had tried to ask
about the early deaths of the pack wives. The emptiness in his eyes
made him look...other, and it frightened her. What had happened to
her friend while she was gone?

Without warning, a deadly determination
burned within Liesel. Whatever was happening to Kurt had to be part
of the magic, and a strange urge to protect him from it suddenly
raced through her. It seemed odd that she should feel any need,
much less harbor any ability, to guard the one who had been her
guardian. But none of that mattered, Liesel decided, if Kurt's
mother had been right.

So Wanda's plan it would be after all,
Liesel resolved as Kurt blinked back to life, completely unaware of
the change that had just taken place in his friend. She wanted to
ask about whatever had just happened, but decided it could wait for
later. They had more important matters to discuss.

"I've been thinking," she began slowly,
hoping he was ready for such conversation. "You want me to marry
you for the sake of the pack." A myriad of emotions crossed Kurt's
face, but he finally gave her a simple nod. Liesel took a deep
breath. "I will do so on one condition." Kurt raised an eyebrow,
but said nothing. "We must use our month's time to try and break
the spell." Her words rushed out faster as he looked more and more
skeptical. "I can go back to my grandparents and ask if they know
how it can be done. They've been all over the world, Kurt! They
knew where my father could have found a real cure for my
mother-"

"You know we only have twenty-six days. You
miss that, and everyone here becomes a wolf forever. We'd have to
find another Pure Blood in your absence." The look on Kurt's face
was accusatory, as if she had already abandoned him. "We would have
no way to communicate, no way to know if you were alive or dead,
whether you'd found the answer or not. You might return on the last
day to find some other woman in your place simply because we didn't
know." He shook his head. "It's just too risky." Liesel could see
that she was getting nowhere. In desperation, she thrust the letter
at him.

"Read this!" He gave her an odd look, but
obliged. Just a few lines in, he made a choking sound.

"Where did you get this?"

"Lora gave it to me." As he read further, he
began to pale. When he looked up finally, tears were in his eyes.
"We killed her," he whispered in disbelief. Liesel sighed.

"Kurt, you know it wasn't your fault. The
magic killed her, just as the magic turns you against your will."
Kurt stayed still though, staring out into the trees. When he
finally spoke again, his words were soft.

"The legends say the first Pure Blood lived
nearly as long as her husband. As the years have gone by, they've
begun to live shorter lives." He groaned. "How did we miss
that?"

"Perhaps the larger the pack grows, the more
humanity they need to continue. Perhaps it isn't a broken heart
that kills them after all. Maybe their own life is how they sustain
the pack. Some people were just meant to live longer than others,
and those women make more hardy Pure Bloods." Liesel suggested.
Kurt stood and began to pace, his face suddenly filled with angst.
After a few long moments he strode back to her, and taking her
shoulders in his hands, he said,

"My mother only lived twenty-two years after
marrying my father. Our pack had thirty less back then!" It took a
moment for Liesel to realize he was talking about her. Suddenly,
Kurt's shoulders straightened resolutely.

"So I can go?" Liesel's heart leapt.

"Not by yourself!" He looked at her as
though she'd lost her mind. Liesel huffed.

"You don't trust me to go alone?"

"Do you have any idea how dangerous the road
is for a young woman traveling alone?" Liesel nearly smiled.

"Who knows? I might be taken by a pack of
weasels or bears who need my magic." Kurt scowled at her.

"Not funny."

"Well, if I'm not allowed to leave, then
what do you want me to do?"

"We're going together."

"But you're not allowed to leave the
forest!"

"I can leave if I'm with you," he took her
by the elbow as he'd done when they were children and began to lead
her back toward the town.

"When are we leaving?" She suddenly felt
breathless with exhilaration, lightheaded with joy. Kurt
paused.

"Well, considering the wedding is first
thing tomorrow, we had better go tonight." They'd begun to walk
again, when a man with gray hair, the one who had escorted Liesel
through the woods, stepped out of the trees and onto the path ahead
of them. His arms were folded, and he did not look pleased.

It was
a moment after he found them for either Kurt or Liesel to know what
to say. After a long stretch of awkward silence and withering looks
from the old man, Kurt finally pulled himself together and managed
to lose his look of shock. Liesel didn't fare quite as well quite
as quickly. But to her surprise, it was the old man who spoke
first.

"The two of you are going nowhere alone.
'Tisn't proper for a young lady and a man not her husband to be
traveling the road together." He raised an eyebrow at each of them
in turn. Liesel felt her face redden, and Kurt looked annoyed.

"We wouldn't-" he began testily, but Johan
held up a hand to stop him.

"That's why I'm going, too."

"You're not going to tell them?" Liesel was
the one to find her voice this time. The old man shook his head and
grimaced as he rubbed his bristly chin.

"Nah, I know what you're planning. Lora told
me." Who else had the girl told, Liesel wondered. "Besides, your
mum made me promise to take care of you. And that is what I'm
doing."

"You know my father won't take lightly to
this, Johan," Kurt said quietly. "If they catch you, it will be far
worse than last time." Liesel startled a little when Kurt spoke the
old man's name.

"Johan? You were the one who ran with us
when Kurt sent me away?" The old man simply nodded before turning
back to Kurt. As he did, Liesel shuddered a little to think of what
his punishment must have been after he helped Kurt with such an act
of defiance.

"So where are we going?"

"But I thought you lost all control when you
turned," Liesel interrupted.

"Remember, some don't mind giving more to
the wolf," Kurt murmured to her before turning back to Johan.
"We're going to ask Liesel's grandparents for help. They live at
the foot of the mountain."

"We don't have much time."

"I know. That is why we're leaving tonight."
And so they planned their escape. Johan would run in either wolf
form or human form, depending on the need, but Kurt would carry
Liesel. "My tracks are all over this forest," he explained when she
protested. "It won't take them long to find our scent, but it might
delay them just enough for us to make it out of the woods."