Summer of the Wolves (22 page)

Going downstairs, Pearl came back up with hot tea, chicken noodle soup, and ibuprofen, then quietly left again. After Nika finished her soup, Ian appeared with an ice pack and Ace bandages.

There was a charged silence between them as he examined her ankle. Was he going to make her be the first one to talk? When he first applied the ice, it burned, and Nika bit her lip to keep from complaining. Ian carefully wrapped the stretchy fabric and secured it.

“I'm guessing it's a bad sprain. The ibuprofen should help, but keep the foot elevated, okay? You'll have to stay off it until we can get in for an xray tomorrow.” He stood quickly, gathered the first aid materials, and stuffed them back into a canvas bag. With a smile, he headed for the doorway

 

“Nika? Sweetheart. Nika? How about some breakfast?”

Nika swam up through the layers of a dream until she surfaced in the bright morning light and anchored her eyes on the smiling face of Pearl. In her dream there'd been a storm. A sudden spasm of pain in her ankle reminded her, it wasn't just a dream.

“Cottage cheese blueberry pancakes this morning. And it's a beautiful day.” Pearl, still smiling, propped a crutch against the bunk bed, then left.

After struggling into her shorts and a T-shirt, Nika hobbled down the steps, the crutch in one hand, holding tight to the log banister. She eased off the bottom step. Ian, Maki, and Elinor were in the living room standing in a row. She felt their eyes on her as she crutched through and out the back door in the direction of the outhouse.

When she came back, Pearl and Maki brought plates of pancakes and bacon. They all sat down. Nika noticed that Ian's clothes looked more rumpled than usual.

Elevating her foot on a second chair, Nika wondered why everyone was so quiet. Not looking at anyone, she asked, “Is Luna okay?”

“We think she's going to be,” Ian said. “Dave said it was a miracle that the bullet didn't kill her. Bristo's aim was off. Lots of blood loss.”

Nika wanted to jump up and run all of the way over to the Camerons' to tell Thomas. Luna was okay! They had saved her!

Ian lifted his coffee cup, then put it down again without drinking. “What if his aim had been off just a little bit more?”

Nika felt a chill shoot through her body. It was hard to imagine now that she had faced Bristo with a gun.

For a few minutes no one talked. Forks clinked on plates, and food was passed.

Then Ian cleared his throat. “What you did was extremely dangerous,” he said. His voice was low. His eyes were red, as if he hadn't slept.

“You could have been badly hurt, Nika, by Bristo, or by the wolf.” He pressed his lips together into a firm line.

“I'm confused about all of this,” he continued. “For one thing, I can't help but wonder how you two knew where the wolf came from.” Nika glanced up to meet Ian's penetrating look. “And why you didn't tell me,” he added. He seemed uncomfortable.

“Thomas saw her on the island. She had a collar. We knew a wolf had escaped from Bristo's.” She looked down at her empty plate.

Placing his hands flat on the table, Ian said, “Okay, we'll get back to that. So. I know it is highly unlikely anything like this will happen again, but I think it is important to have a rule for the future. The rule is, never, ever feed a wolf! You never want a wolf to associate people with food. Period.”

“We feed Khan,” Nika said.

“The truth is, from the moment we took him from the den, Khan was no longer wild. A wild wolf that has been fed by people is in danger. I know of a guy who gave sandwiches to a wolf at his mailbox. The wolf didn't hurt anyone, but it lost its fear. That could have been what happened to one of our collared wolves that was shot last fall—his cut collar thrown into the lake.” Ian waved his fork in his hand as he made his points.

“Also, if any wild animal associates people with food and loses his natural fear, he can be dangerous. Healthy wolves are not known to attack people, but if they are starved and feel no fear, they can decide to be aggressive to get food. They might grab a pet. When they lose fear around people because they've been fed, they're called habituated. These wolves often end up dead.”

Being lectured like this made Nika feel dumb. They never would have fed a truly wild wolf. She and Thomas had been trying to help Luna, because she'd escaped from Bristo.

“Thomas made sure Luna didn't see him put down the food,” she said. “We didn't want her to starve.” Her voice faded. They'd saved Luna's life and everyone thought she and Thomas had made a big mistake.

“The reason she might have starved is that she's always been fed and she's never learned to hunt. Let me repeat. Never, ever feed a wild wolf, Nika. That's the rule. The more you learn about wolves, the better you will understand this.” Ian looked hard into her eyes.

“Okay.” She looked down and twisted her napkin into a knot. Her face was burning.

Ian heaved a huge sigh.

“Nika,” said Elinor, touching her arm, “I agree with what Ian said. The best thing is to keep a lot of distance between yourself and wild animals and just appreciate their wildness.”

Nika looked up to see the warmth in Elinor's gaze. “Thomas saved me,” she said. “And Luna.” What would Nika have done without Thomas?

“He made some good decisions. He was very brave,” said Elinor.

Elinor glanced at Ian, then reached a hand toward Nika again. “Even as skinny as she is, she's a big female. If she makes it and eats well, she should near a hundred pounds.”

If she makes it.

For a few minutes the room was quiet. Maki stood up and walked with his coffee cup into the kitchen. There was the sound of pouring and a clink.

Elinor forked some pancakes and bacon onto Nika's plate. “And if Luna survives, Bristo won't get her back. If we can, we'd like to find her previous owner. Maybe they let her go, or she escaped. No one knows.”

So after all of that, Luna could just go back to the same stupid person who'd let her go? Nika looked away, and suddenly her ankle began to throb.

Dr. Dave kept careful watch on Luna at the clinic, treating her wound, vaccinating her, and testing her for diseases. Each day Nika listened to the community messages on the radio to find out how she was.
“And now for all of you out on those faraway isles, here are the messages for this lovely summer day . . .”
The announcer went on and on, telling about how Jed should bring the chain saw with him when he came back to town, and how Melanie missed her bus in Minneapolis, so they shouldn't send someone from Sugarloaf Island to pick her up until tomorrow.

And finally, what she was waiting for.
“Dr. Dave from the Red Pine vet's office sends Nika and Thomas a message. ‘Thumbs-up for Luna. Looking better every day.'”
Not much news, but she was alive. And no matter what Ian said, Nika knew that without her and Thomas, Luna would be dead.

 

For Nika, after the xray confirmed her ankle wasn't broken, the invalid routine got old in one afternoon. Three days looked like a long time. Ian brought the mail, with letters from Zack and Olivia. Zack wrote her from his marine biology camp. He was learning about whales. Olivia's dance group was going to do an exchange with dancers from Costa Rica. She was really excited. After writing them back, Nika settled down to read a book Pearl gave her about a beaver kit called Paddy that was found and raised by a man and then released to the wild. The book told how the kit slept in the man's sleeping bag at first, just like Khan. It was hard for Nika to read the part where the kit grew up and swam away.

Maybe seeing her propped on the couch looking bored prompted Ian to decide that this was a perfect time for her to finish her wolf project. He charged into the living room with all her books and papers, and sat with her to check things off, helping her organize her note cards. Sometimes he asked her to write something over if she had done it carelessly, or pointed out something she could explain in greater detail. There were still some charts to be completed recording Khan's growth. Nika thought her science teacher would be impressed.

Finally she was able to limp up the hill to spend time with the growing pup. When she came inside the pen, Khan leaped at the gate. She knew he wanted to run, but her ankle wasn't up to it yet. Besides, would she dare to run with him again? It was hard to imagine doing one more thing that Ian wouldn't like. She was still worried he'd find out they'd released Bristo's animals.

 

Nika's ankle bruises turned from blue and red to yellow and green, until finally when she laced her boot, the pain was almost gone. It had been a little over a week.

“You're a fast healer,” Ian said one morning. “From now on, I'd like you to help with some jobs at the Center. Starting today.”

When they arrived at the Center later, Elinor was waiting inside the door. “Nika, want to fly with me today? I'm going to get readings from the collared wolves. You can write down the data on the clipboard.”

“Sure.” She'd never flown with Elinor before.

“Maybe we'll see some of Khan's relatives from the air,” Elinor added with a smile.

Elinor seemed fast and fluttery this morning, as if she was excited about something. “They finished the large enclosure, and I transferred Luna into it this morning.” Together Nika and Elinor stuffed vitamins and antibiotics into meatballs, then Elinor said, “Come see!” When they arrived at the tall fence, Luna was lying on the other side. The wolf got up and came over, watching them with her golden eyes. She was thin, but there was little sign that she had been so badly wounded just eight days ago, except for the shaved spot on her shoulder, and the bumpy stitched area of the wound.

Elinor showed Nika how to deliver the meatballs by flattening her hand against the fence, leaving no fingers to get grabbed. Luna neatly devoured the treats, then loped up the hill, where she jumped to the top of a large flat rock and stretched out with her long legs in front of her. Her head was high and proud looking, like a queen on her throne.

“It's big,” Nika said as she looked around at Luna's new home. With a heavy heart, she remembered that Khan would occupy the smaller holding pen next.

“I have an errand to do in town. Then we'll drive down to the plane,” Elinor said. They climbed into Ian's old kelly green truck, slammed the heavy doors, and turned out of the Center driveway to head toward Main Street.

“We wrote an ad for the
Sentinel,
asking for information about Luna.” Elinor parallel-parked in front of the newspaper office, one front tire up on the curb. She needed a few more truck-driving lessons, Nika thought, as they came to rest at an angle.

Elinor handed Nika the ad. “Mind taking it in? Ask for Scott.”

Inside the small office, someone in front of the counter was talking in a loud voice. Nika couldn't help but overhear. “Well, I think you should publish more about how dangerous they are. I hate them all, don't care what those tree-huggers say!” The man turned to leave so fast, he bumped into Nika. He gave her a startled look, backed up, and said, “Like your rat's-behind wolf-loving uncle!” Nika flushed and stepped aside, angry and embarrassed.

After the man left, she asked for Scott. A cheerful bearded man came to the counter. He looked apologetic. She handed him the ad, then hurried out of the office and climbed back into the truck.

Elinor slowly pulled out, went down a block, and turned, cutting across the curb at the corner with a bump. Nika held on and asked, “Why do some people hate wolves so much?”

“Yeah, I saw Bart Tyson coming out of the office. It's complicated. Everyone has a right to his feelings. The way I see it is, we have fewer wild spaces, we all get crowded, and some people get to feeling angry and territorial. They worry about their dogs and livestock. Of course, wolves are territorial, too. Dogs are occasionally killed. Deer are killed. People who live with wolves don't always agree about how to manage them.”

“So they blame someone like Ian?” Nika said.

“Some people do. And me. We try to find common ground with people like Bart, when we can.” Elinor lurched the truck to a stop next to the dock, pulled out the keys, and smiled. “Now, let's go see some wild wolves where they live.”

 

When Maki flashed the Dramamine, Nika grinned and took the package. He gave her a thumbs-up as the yellow plane pulled free from the water, rising quickly over the far shore of Anchor Lake. Elinor took out the blue boxes, set the dials, and handed a box and earphones back to Nika.

“First one is number four-four-nine, a female from Khan's mother's litter three years ago. She's usually up by Little Trout Lake with her pack, miles from any roads. She's black, like Khan.”

Pointing, Elinor shouted as they flew, “North from here there are about two million wilderness acres in the BWCAW and the Quetico. They say there are only two major east-west roads between us and the North Pole.” It was hard to imagine so few people in all that space.

The plane circled over mirror lakes and dense stands of trees. Suddenly beeps started coming through the earphones. This had been exciting the first time she heard it, but it was even more exciting now. Khan's black sister was down there, living free.

“Looks like three! See them? Resting in that clearing!” Elinor shouted.

Nika nodded, then wrote down the section numbers and lake names that Elinor read off to her. She wrote an R for “resting.” They made five passes. One wolf was black. Two were gray.

“I see another between those rocks!” Nika said, her voice as loud as it would go.

“You're right! Good eye! Another gray!” Elinor shouted, turning to look at Nika. “Okay, we have more collars to check! You okay, Nika?”

Nodding, Nika handed the box forward for Elinor to reset.

When she handed it back, Elinor said, “We wrote a grant for money to start putting GPS collars on some wolves. Then we could sit home and watch them on the computer.”