A Tale of Red Riding: Rise of the Alpha Huntress (The Alpha Huntress Series Book 1) (23 page)

Chapter 25

In the moment before she woke, Red thought she was still in the city, living in an orphanage. The events of the last few days seemed far too surreal to have happened. It made more sense to believe she had conjured it all up in her overactive imagination.

As her eyes opened and came into focus, she was astonished to be looking up at the ceiling of her bedroom in Granny’s house. She was still in Wayward, far, far away from the life of loneliness she had left behind. Her name was Red Riding, a super-powered Alpha Huntress with an epic battle against evil awaiting her in the Moon Temple.

Her body ached as she pushed herself up to a sitting position. The pain brought back the memories of what had happened in Eyona’s cave. The fear she felt during her battle would haunt her for a long time to come. She would not soon forget the many lessons learned along the way. There would be little chance of surviving in this treacherous world if she continued to blindly leap into action.

She let out a long sigh of discontent upon glimpsing her reflection in the mirror. The ratty and ripped clothes that hung on her body were bad enough. Seeing her face caked in so much dirt that she couldn’t recognize herself was far worse. The frazzled state of her hair was a matter beyond words she would ever mutter out loud.

Her true concern was for Wolfgang. From what she recalled he had died in her arms the night before. She could only hope that Grenda had managed to pull off a miracle. The idea of having to face his death was more than she could endure. There was far too much unfinished business between them.

“Granny, are you here?”

Red stepped out of her bedroom and into the hallway. The savory aroma of Grenda’s blueberry muffins scented the air. The house stood so still and quiet that one could have heard the tapping of an ant’s feet crawling across the floor.

“Father? Dote? Ash? Is anybody here at all?”

She stood at the top of the staircase, desperate to hear a response, but there was not a bit of sound in the house. A hollow feeling struck in the pit of her stomach as she walked down the stairs. Wolfgang was lying on the couch as still as a corpse, and with a ghost-white complexion.

“Wolfgang?”

Red’s eyes filled with tears as she slowly walked across the room. She begged to see the faintest bit of movement, or hear a sound that would let her know he wasn’t gone.

“You better not be dead, or I am
so
going to kick your butt.”

She approached Wolfgang and stood breathless for a lingering moment. Her hand trembled as she reached out to touch him. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead. A ringing erupted in her ears. Her heart pounded so hard she could feel it in her fingertips. The tension was so intense it was enough to make her scream.

“Would you move already? Take a breath or something. Don’t just lay there looking …”

Red poked a finger into Wolfgang’s side. He instantly lunged up to a sitting position. It was so startling that Red screamed out, flipped backward into the air, and landed in a crouch on the other end of the room.

“Red, what is your problem? I’m trying to get some shuteye here.”

“You’re alive.” Red shrilled with joy and dashed over to Wolfgang. She threw her arms around his chest and smothered him with a hug.

“Go easy, Red. You trying to strangle me?”

Red slugged him in the arm. “How could you go and make me think you were dead?”

Wolfgang recoiled and rubbed his aching arm. “Of course I’m alive. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You don’t remember? I ran across Wayward with you in my arms for hours. You’re a lot heavier than you look.”

“What are you going on about, Little Red?” Wolfgang’s face was overcome with a troubled look. “Why did I just call you that?”

Red had a nervous twinge. “So then you don’t remember?”

“Remember what?”

Wolfgang felt around on his chest and cringed from a stinging pain. He frantically pulled up his shirt, revealing ten round bandages. Each covered the spots where Eyona had stabbed him with her fingernails. “What did you do to me?” Wolfgang began to rip away the bandages.

“You shouldn’t do that,” Red said.

Wolfgang pulled the last bandage away, revealing ten round black scars on his upper chest. “Who did this to me?”

Red took a nervous gulp. “Don’t you remember? In the cave? With your …”

Wolfgang shook his head. “No. She wouldn’t do this to me. Not my own mother. Tell me my mother didn’t do this.”

Red wiped a tear from her eye. “Wolfgang, I’m so sorry.”

“Now I remember.” Wolfgang sat back and pressed his hands over his face. “My mother tried to force me to kill you. She told me we could take the Alpha Power back, but that’s before I knew you. You have to believe me, Red.”

“I do believe you.” Red put an affectionate hand on Wolfgang’s shoulder. “You were being controlled by your mother’s spellcraft.”

Wolfgang leaped up in a frantic fit. “Red, you don’t understand. I was in on the plan from the beginning. I saved you at the ball so Ice wouldn’t get the power. My mother only put the spellcraft on me because I was wimping out.”

“That’s not true. You realized it was a mistake and decided to do the right thing.”

“Plotting to kill you to restore my family’s so-called honor is not doing the right thing. All I did was prove that we Helheims are the bottom-feeding scum that everybody in Wayward thinks we are.”

Red grabbed Wolfgang and pulled him close. “Stop saying that. You are not like them. I can see the good in you. Someday you’ll be able to see it, too.”

Wolfgang tried to pull away, but Red tightened her grip and wouldn’t let go.

“You’re making a huge mistake, Red Riding.”

“It’s mine to make, Wolf Boy.”

As they gazed into each other’s eyes, Red moved in for a kiss. The instant before their lips met, the front door swung open. Ash and Dote entered and stopped cold. They gave Red a look of deep disappointment.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Ash said.

“This is hardly the time for getting all kissy-face,” Dote said. “We need to have a serious talk, young lady.”

Ash pointed a finger at Red. “You can’t just go running off into the woods at night without telling people where you’re going.”

Red had been worried that her friends would be upset over the way she took off the night before. From the look in their eyes, it was a lot worse than she’d expected. “Listen, I know I made a huge mistake.”

Ash gave Red a stern glare. “You’re darn right you did. I can’t even tell you how freaked out we were.”

“How could you make us worry like that?” Dote asked. “We’re your best friends and the first members of your clan.”

“We sat up all night worrying about what could have happened to you,” Ash said.

“For all we knew, you could be lying dead in a ditch somewhere,” Dote said.

“You need to understand that Wayward is not a safe place to just go gallivanting around alone at night. Or the day, for that matter,” Ash said.

“If this ever happens again, you’re going to be in serious trouble,” Dote said.

“More trouble than you can even imagine,” Ash said.

Ash and Dote spoke in unison, “We’re deeply disappointed in you, Red Riding.”

Red looked away in shame. “You’re both right. I didn’t stop to consider how my actions could affect other people. I’ve been alone so long. This friendship thing is still new to me. I promise that it will never happen again. It was selfish and immature. I put myself in terrible danger because of it.”

"I’m glad we had this talk and set you straight on some things,” Ash said.

“Wait. Did you say you were in terrible danger? Dote asked. “As in you very nearly died sort of danger?”

“Tell us what happened,” Ash said. “Don’t leave out a single detail.”

Wolfgang looked to Red with a shameful glare. “Go ahead, Red. Tell them all about what I did.”

Ash raised his fists, ready to fight. “Yeah, tell us. I’ll bust him up if he laid a hand on you.”

“Easy there, boy.” Red smiled at Wolfgang. “He saved my life from a dangerous monster.”

“That makes you a hero, Wolfgang,” said Dote.

“Yeah, we’re all totally impressed,” Ash said with a tone of sarcasm.

Red turned away and slumped a little. “I hope you two can forgive me, because you’re my best friends. I would be lost without you.”

Dote hugged Red in her loving, yet strangling way. “Red, don’t be sad. We only got mad because we care so much.”

Ash put his arms around Dote and Red. “You know we could never stay angry with you.”

“I knew you three would make up,” Grenda’s spoke out.

Red looked up to see Grenda and Ethan walking down the stairs.

“Papa, you’re all healed.” Red dashed over and hugged Ethan.

“Red, I was deathly worried about you. Running off like that was dangerous,” Ethan said.

“Not to worry,” Ash said. “We already set her straight on that. She won’t be doing it again.”

Wolfgang cleared his throat. “As precious as this all is, we don’t have time for it. Ragnarok is going to make a big play for getting back into Wayward. Unless you’re all cool with that, we need to make some major plans.”

Red casually shrugged. “The way I see it, if he needs me to pull him through the gate, all I need to do is stay clear of the Moon Temple.”

Wolfgang clenched his teeth. “Grenda, I’m getting the idea that you didn’t fill Red in on how this all works.”

Red glared at Grenda. “No, she’s kept a lot of things from me. Like not mentioning that she stole the Alpha Power from you and gave it to me.”

“Well played, Granny,” Ash said. “I always knew you were a crafty little lady.”

Dote gasped. “A spellcraft like that must have come with a terrible cost.”

“So now you know the truth,” Grenda said. “Saves me the trouble of having to tell you about it later.”

Red paced in a fit of anger. “That’s all you have to say about it? You’re lucky I don’t walk out of here and never come back.”

“Go easy on her,” Wolfgang said. “She did it for the greater good, and we all know it. I’ve let it go. I think you should, too.”

Red closed her eyes and calmed herself. “I’ve had all the half-truths and deceptions I can take. As the Alpha Huntress, I order all of you to tell me everything you know about what’s going on here.”

Granny cleared her throat. “Okay, Alpha Huntress. Here it is, so listen up real good. The clock in the Moon Temple is counting down. It’s about a day and a half shy of five years.”

Wolfgang added, “There are also five celestial stones, one marked Alpha. At 9:59 tomorrow night, at the moment of our births, that stone is going to power up. At the same time, the gate will open a bridge to a prison inside the moon where Ragnarok is trapped.”

Ethan said, “The celestial stone will remain open for seven minutes. The first danger you face is that if somebody were to destroy the stone during that time, the Alpha Power would be free for the taking.”

Dote said, “The next danger you will face is far more dangerous, because during that time you could help Ragnarok come back into this world.”

Ash added, “Or you can keep him trapped in the moon until the next stone opens a year from now.”

“Oh” is all Red could say.

“The good news is that you’d never help Ragnarok,” Dote said.

“Wasn’t that my point to begin with?” Red asked.

“It’s not so simple,” Wolfgang said. “Ragnarok knows you wouldn’t do it willingly, so he’s going to find a way to force you to do it.”

Ash gave Wolfgang a suspicious glare. “And how would you know that?”

Wolfgang flailed his arms. “Because that’s what power-obsessed gods bent on world conquest do. Am I wrong here?”

“He’s right,” Ethan said. “If given the chance, Ragnarok will use all of us against you.”

“You mean he would try to kill you?” Red said.

Grenda put a comforting arm around Red. “As much as I hate to say it, that old tyrant will stop at nothing to get back into this world. You cannot allow that to happen, no matter what the cost. Even if we have to sacrifice our lives.”

“Granny, you can’t mean that,” Red said.

“I can, and I do.” Red saw from Granny’s eyes that she meant it.

The idea that Ragnarok would kill Red’s loved ones consumed her heart with a surge of fury. It reminded her of the feeling of hatred that swelled inside her during the vision where she had become the tyrant queen.

Red wondered if losing those she loved all at once could be the very path that would lead to such darkness. With this terrible truth staring her right in the eyes, the time had come to face her destiny.

“If Prince is still here, please ask him to join us,” Red said.

“He’s outside sharpening his rapier.” Ash opened the front door and shouted,
“Hey
,
Prince, get your pretty boy butt in here. The Alpha Huntress needs you.”

Red cracked a much-needed smile. She looked at the photos of her mother on the mantel. There was no question what Jenna Riding would do if she had been given the Alpha Power. This truth gave Red a feeling of pride. She resolved that she had come to Wayward in search of her family and a better life. There was no way an evil lunar god was going to take it from her without a fight.

“Fear not, Alpha Huntress.” Prince charged in through the front door with his rapier at the ready. He dive-rolled across the floor and took a battle stance. “I will slay all who have invaded the sanctity of your home.”

It was so absurd that everybody just stood grinning at him.

Red stepped up to Prince and nudged his sword aside. “Easy there,
Sir-Just-A-Little-Too-Eager
. We’re not under attack.”

Prince sheathed his weapon. “My most sincere apologies. The way the boy cried out so frantically, I feared the worst.”

“Hey, I’m not exactly a boy here,” Ash said. “If there’s hero work to be done, I’m not staying on the sidelines. The choice is mine to make. This time nobody is going to tell me otherwise.”

Ash’s words brought Red an unexpected revelation. It wasn’t up to her to decide if he should risk life and limb in battle. She didn’t have to ask her friends to make such a sacrifice to stand by her side. The choice was theirs to make and theirs alone. Her job was to honor their decision and stand tall as the best leader she could possibly be for them.