Page 1 of Protected By the Wolf

Lira

The bathroom floor was the last place I wanted to be. I pulled my knees in tight so they didn’t show on the other side of the stall and hoped no one would come in and find me. But it wasn’t meant to be.

“Lira?”

Maybe if I didn’t respond, Lillian would go away. The last thing I needed was for the owner of the gallery to find me here.

“Lira, I’m worried. This is the third time you’ve gone missing for more than fifteen minutes. There are clients on the floor.”

Don’t say anything. She doesn’t know I’m here. I heard her feet walking closer, stopping at each stall. I internally groaned. If I stood up now to stand on the toilet, she would hear me. Before she could make it to my stall at the very end, I stood up, wiped my eyes, and opened the door. “I’m right here.”

“Ah, Lira,” Lillian said, coming to give me a hug.

I stood stock still while she squeezed me. When she stepped back, she stared at me intently, as if she saw right into my very being. I couldn’t break from her gaze.

“You’re a witch,” she said softly.

I was so shocked I didn’t know what to say. Lillian had known me for all of one week, and here she was, already aware of my deepest, darkest secret. One I hadn’t fully accepted.

“Come,” she said, wrapping an arm around me and steering me out of the bathroom. “This calls for a nice hot cup of tea.”

An hour later, I was feeling a little bit calmer as I sat in Lillian’s office, holding a hot cup of blueberry tea. “I just felt faint, that’s all.”

Lillian looked up from her cup with those piercing eyes, and I knew she saw right through my lie. No other words were needed.

I sighed. “I should have called in sick today.”

“You’re not sick, and you know it. You’re a witch, and there’s no denying it. I can see it in you; it’s one of my gifts.”

“Your gifts?”

“I can see who people really are. I can also see you are very new to this world.”

Shocked, I stared at Lillian, with my cup halfway to my mouth. She laughed, and the sound had me unfreezing.

Aware the game was up, I confessed, “Weird things have always happened to me, but I’ve never met anyone else who would understand until Charli.”

“Charli Wu?” Lillian asked.

“You know her?” I placed the tea down before I spilled it. “She’s training me. Or at least she’s trying to.”

“Yes, I know of her. My grandmother knew her better, though. How is she?”

“She’s . . .” Wait—Lillian knew my great-great-grandmother?! I must have stopped breathing, because Lillian brought my hands to my teacup and wrapped my fingers around the porcelain, sending warmth into my hands, then up my arms and into my brain so I could finish my sentence. “She’s a ghost,” I finished on a whisper.

“Yes, I know.”

I waited to see if she’d say anything more, but instead, she changed the subject. “Before you went to the bathroom to hide, did you happen to start having a vision?”

I nodded, feeling a little relieved that Lillian understood why and wasn’t judging me. “It’s always the same guy. He’s holding someone’s hand.”

“Do you know who this guy is?” Lillian asked.

“No, I’ve never seen him before.”

“How long have these visions been going on?”

“Almost every day over the last couple of weeks, though they’ve been happening on and off for almost a year now.”

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