Once Upon a Haunted Moon (The Keeper Saga) (4 page)

She heard the raised voices, as the wolf-people implored her sister to help them. She watched as Wynter came to stare out the window. Zue saw the conflict on her sister’s opal face and the indecision in those blue eyes as they stared at the crow, carefully weighing the possibilities. Part of Zue hoped her sister would once again join her, together her revenge would be more sweet. She frowned as she watched Wynter’s face clear, determination set on her face as she turned her back to the window.

“My, my,” she mused, as she listened to the voices behind the walls of the spelled house, “What hast thou been up to, sister dear?”

Chapter Six
Ella

On the Hill above the Village

October 8, 1765

She felt strong arms lift her from the ground to her feet. Ella opened her eyes, and stared up into the brilliant, golden eyes of an Indian boy, who returned her stare with a slight, wary smile.

“No be afraid,” he said, “What make girl sad?” He pointed to the tears on her face.

“They’re gone. They’ve left me. I’m all by myself,” Ella said in a small, wavering voice that threatened to break.

“No, not only one. Bright Eyes here, make girl welcome. Wolf call Bright Eyes, say make girl safe,” he nodded happily, then grabbed her hand, tugging her across the clearing toward the smoke.

“Bright Eyes,” she murmured, looking at the bare back of the boy who, though, taller than she, seemed to be her own age.

He looked over his shoulder, “Hmm?”

“How is it you know English?” It seemed a strange question, surely, even to her. Out of all the questions that ran through her mind, that one was the one that made it out her mouth.

“Old Mother say all must learn. Say must be ready for white man, learn white man ways and words.” He started pulling her down the slope of the hill, where they were greeted by a handful of dogs that barked and ran around their feet. He shouted something she didn’t understand, and a flurry of people came from every corner.

Dozens of dark eyes stared at her curiously, fingers reaching out to brush her as she walked past. Bright Eyes gripped her hand even tighter, pulling her along through the crowd to a hut that stood over to the side. He announced something at the door, and a wizened, old Indian woman appeared.

“This Old Mother,” Bright Eyes confided to her in a low voice as the old woman stared out the door of the hut with milky white eyes, “Old Mother no see with eye,” he made gestures to his head and toward his heart, “but see here and here.”

The old woman said something Ella didn’t understand to Bright Eyes, who nodded once quickly and ran off in the opposite direction.

“Brother Wolf brings our people another gift,” the old woman said in a solemn voice, turning her blind stare on Ella.

In what seemed a matter of seconds, Bright Eyes had reappeared, grinning broadly, with six teenage boys trailing behind him. They were all solemn-faced, watching Ella warily. The oldest had the same golden eyes as Bright Eyes, though his had odd black specks flecked through them. His gaze flickered over Ella then up to Old Mother.

“Brother say Wolf bring girl for him find,” the boy murmured to the old woman.

Old Mother nodded, “Wolf bring her. Girl stay in village.”

The boy looked less than convinced of this news, and quickly shook his head, “How know not trap from white man? They come look for girl. Find here. They say we take girl! Make war!”

Old Mother sighed in frustration, then turned her sightless eyes to Ella, and smiled gently, “Where girl mother and father? Why leave for Wolf to find?”

Ella’s lip quivered in an effort not to cry, but the tears came anyway, “They’re all dead. The Fire Witch killed them all. The Wolf found me and brought me here. I don’t know why…” her voice broke and she sobbed. She wished the Wolf had let her stay with him. At least he hadn’t seemed to mind her company quite as much as the one boy who stared at her as if she held the key to their destruction. Her vision edged in white, and she heard a strange howl again. Several surprised murmurs echoed through the crowd and she felt someone come to stand next to her.

Bright Eyes smiled down at her and squeezed her hand reassuringly, “No more cry. Bright Eyes always stay. Not alone.”

Ella wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and looked hesitantly over to Old Mother, who seemed to be the one who made the decisions for the entire village.

The old woman smiled, then spoke loud enough for the others to hear, “Our people almost dead, when Wolf brought us first gift of Wolf Stone. Wolf Stone bring magic, bring Wolf spirit to hunt and protect, so our people live. Our people now strong,” She held out a stone in the palm of her hand for Ella to see. Four jagged scratches marked the rock. Old Mother nodded to the oldest boy, who now seemed much more at ease with Ella’s presence than he had before. He gave her a slight, wary smile.

Mist surrounded the six boys, and Ella watched in fascination as fur rippled along their bodies, and the boys vanished to be replaced with six giant wolves. The black wolf who stood in front, seemed bigger than the others, and he stood staring at her calmly through spotted, golden eyes. He whined lightly.

“Bright Eyes’ brother,” Bright Eyes informed her proudly, pointing to the wolf, “Name Running Wolf. He is U-la-gu, leader of wolf brothers.”

Ella caught herself smiling at the boy’s enthusiasm of his older sibling.

The Wolf is wise friend, he bring us girl and tell to make her safe. She now tribe. New sister name White Wolf. Make welcome,” Old Mother announced. The wolves yipped their approval and Bright Eyes tackled her in a hug.

“White Wolf now tribe!” Bright Eyes grinned happily, “Always have tribe! Never alone!”

***

“I know why they named you Bright Eyes, but why did they call me White Wolf?” Ella asked Bright Eyes days later as they gathered in corn from a field, “Is it because my hair is white?”

Bright Eyes grinned, his eyes sparkling like gold in the afternoon sun, “White Wolf not know?”

“No,” Ella mumbled as she pulled another ear of corn down and threw it into the basket.

“Old Mother see wolf magic inside White Wolf. Like magic in wolf brothers. Bright Eyes see, too. Running Wolf no believe first, now he know, too,” Bright Eyes said, as if this surely would explain everything, and the approval of his older brother had settled any other issue that could possibly have come up.

Ella wasn’t sure about having wolf magic in her, but she had seen the others turn into the massive wolves, and they seemed to have turned out all right, so Bright Eyes’s words were enough. In a world where she had been alone, it was enough that she had found a place to belong. She would be their White Wolf and learn their ways, however strange they seemed.

“Will you be a Keeper like Running Wolf, one day, too?”

Bright Eyes shook his head, “No. Wolf magic only give first son. Running Wolf first son. Bright Eyes have no wolf magic.”

Ella thought the Wolf should have given Bright Eyes his wolf magic, too. She was getting ready to say exactly that, when Bright Eyes seemed to read her thoughts and smiled at her shyly.

“Wolf give Bright Eyes better special magic. Give him White Wolf. Always keep safe.”

Chapter Seven
Brian

I dumped my favorite cereal in a bowl and reached for the milk. My brain still tried to wrap itself around the weirdness that had erupted in the space of a couple of days. Nikki had some kind of magical wall in her house that remembered stuff, Adam wasn’t sure whether to trust me or kill me, and the school librarian’s weird fairy sister was out for blood and coming to kill us all. Wynter hadn’t ended up helping us hardly at all, from what I could tell. Just gave us some really vague warnings, said something about Deadlands and told Nikki to check her attic again, then basically shoved us out the back door (which I thought was really weird, as we had come in through the front.)

I sighed, rubbing my eyes. It was a good thing none of the “normal” people of the world had asked me what I had been into this weekend, but then it was still morning, and I hadn’t seen anyone yet. I plopped down at the table, drenched my cereal with the milk and filled up a glass.

“Hey,” my mom came through the kitchen, grabbing random stuff to get ready to go to work.

“Hey,” I answered, taking a gulp of milk.

“So what did you get into this weekend?”

I choked. Milk flew everywhere. She came over and smacked my back in an effort to help, which ended up only making me hurt while I choked. For being only 5’2, she packed a punch.

I waved her off, “Fine…I’m fine…” I managed between hacks. Thankfully, the milk saved me from answering her, because I wouldn’t have been able to lie to her. She was a cop — a great one — for as long as I remembered. Of course, there was also the fact that she could smell a lie a mile off. I wasn’t that great at lying.

It wasn’t that I didn’t trust her. She’s my mom, and we’d gone through some tough stuff together. She also knew all about my wolf, which made life tons easier. I’m pretty sure Deputy Shaw knew more of what went on in Bland County than I did. Definitely more of the “normal” people stuff, but it was also probably a safe bet that she knew more about the “magic” people than she let on. Nothing shook her up; she was the toughest person I knew.

But still, she was my mom, and she was all I had, so I didn’t say anything that would make her worry any more than she had to. If it came to life or death, I’d let her in on the flesh-eating fairy dangers in the world.

“You ok?” she asked when I finally quit trying to cough my lungs up.

I nodded.

“All right, well, I’ve got to go,” she smiled; “Have a good day at school, ok?” she bent over and kissed me on the cheek.

“Ok, love you, Mom.”

“Love you, too.” The screen door slammed, and her cruiser pulled out of the driveway.

I ended up leaving later than I mean to. My truck coughed and groaned, and after a little coaxing and a lot of threatening, it finally started up. I pulled into the school parking lot, and ran to the big double doors with seconds to spare.

“What a great way to start a Monday,” I mumbled, shoving my book bag into my locker, expecting the bell to peal through the speakers at any time. What came through the speakers, however, was
not
the bell…

“Brian Shaw to the principal’s office,” the chirpy voice of the principal’s secretary announced as I stuffed my pack into the locker.

I winced at the happy voice.

I spotted someone else coming out of the office as I made my way up the stairs. Rhudy Lockhart sported a black eye from fighting on the bus with Morris Laney over his ex-girlfriend — again. I knew Rhudy, so I was betting our rotund, bald principal was not going to be in the best of notions (not that he ever was.)

I heard a crash, and the sound of splintering wood. It sounded like someone had thrown a bowling ball. The force was enough that the stairs shook.

“Man, Rhudy, whatever you said to him, she wasn’t worth it,” I muttered, grabbing the handrail.

“Huh? What’s that?” Rhudy asked. He hadn’t even noticed I was there.

“You didn’t feel that?” I asked.

“Feel what?”

Then I realized he had two black eyes instead of one. That really didn’t make me any more hopeful that he’d notice anything out of the ordinary, never mind huge crashing sounds, “Nothing, man. Never mind.” I shook my head at him, and slid on past, leaving him with the same perplexed look stuck on his face. I made it to the top of the steps and gave the door a light knock.

“Come on in,” a happy voice answered on the other side, exactly the same time another crash erupted from within the office. The glass in the door vibrated and I waited, expecting it to shatter and shoot into my skin like bits of shrapnel, “Come iiiinn!” The secretary repeated, so I held my breath and turned the knob.

Ms. Fernandez, the overly happy secretary, sat behind her desk, smiling at me as if it were the most beautiful day in the history of the world, while she picked up various pens that lay dumped from a cup on her desk. “You go right on in there, dear. He’s expecting you.”

That did not make me feel any better. I did another quick mental check to try to figure out the reason I had been summoned here. The last time I had skipped a class was a couple of months back, when I found out I turned into a big, hairy wolf, but it was kinda late to be calling me here for that.

The only other thing I had done since then was commit murder. But that hadn’t been on school grounds…

I rubbed my sweating hand on my jeans, and twisted the knob…

“…order another, please.” One pudgy hand waved me in, while the other held the button on the intercom to Ms. Fernandez, “Hickory this time. Inform them the last one was faulty.”

A happy chirp sounded from the speaker, and then I was the sole focus of Oliver Giles, school principal.

Mr. Giles was a short, fat man with round eyes that were always ready to bulge out of their sockets. My mom always said he looked “seriously stressed out.”

As I watched big, red veins pop out on his temples, I thought she was understating the stress part just a little bit. He looked like he was getting ready to have a stroke. He leaned forward, and the enormous desk he sat behind groaned, and for the first time I noticed that it was bowed, and the legs tilted inward. It looked like something had smashed down on top of it. It was getting ready to fall in.

“Ah, yes, Brian,” he looked down at a paper in the center of the desk, picked it up to get a closer look, then nodded and set it back down, “I just wanted you to know you are cleared on your afternoon periods on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Since it is Monday, you will start today. Your teachers know not to expect you, but if you should have any issues, tell them to come to me.”

“Huh?” I was completely lost. Somehow I had won the lottery and was managing to get out of school for half the day, no — nearly half the week! “What are you talking about?”

“Your classes at the reservation, of course! You must keep your heritage alive, after all. You are expected to keep your grades up there as well, naturally,” he waved at me, nonchalantly.