Page 73 of Raised By Wolves

“ARE WE THERE yet?” Holo wants to know.

“Dope, you know where we are,” I say grumpily. It’s dark, I’m tired, and I feel like I’ve been beaten.Human world 1, Kai 0.

“But I’m all turned around,” Holo says.

“This is why town life is bad for us. You’re forgetting what really matters.” Sure, I’m leading us on a weird, twisting way to where we’re going—but still.

When we come into a meadow, I point to the starry sky. “Now do you know where you are?”

Holo looks up. Shrugs. “I guess I’ll just follow you,” he says.

Of course you will, I think.You always do.

We cross a stream on a fallen log. Frogs sing; the water burbles. We’re getting close.

I hike my backpack farther up my shoulders. It hardly weighs anything. I left Lacey’s hand-me-downs behind, and all of the new things she’d bought me, too. The only piece of clothing I brought was the T-shirt I wore when I danced withWaylon at the Bearclaw Cafe. I couldn’t help myself. I imagined that it carried some hint of his touch. His warm, boyish smell.

I brought a journal, too. The copy ofHamletthat Ms. Tillman gave me, to remind me of all the things that I don’t actually need to know. And my knife to remind me of the things I do.

I also brought the sausages that the chief was going to cook for dinner.

Sorry not sorry.

We pass a stand of blackened stumps, burned in a forest fire before we were born. The new trees are already a little bit taller than we are. We’re ten miles from Chester’s, fifteen from town. They’ll never find us.

But the wolves will.

Dawn’s still a ways off when we come to the big pine that has always marked the edge of their territory.Ourterritory. I don’t have to call them this time. This time they just come.

They rush at us in an explosion of fur. Jaws snap, tongues loll, tails wag. Bim wiggles and whines. Ben spins in dizzy, happy circles. Harriet comes charging out of the woods, yipping excitedly. When she jumps on Ben’s back, he whips around and snaps at her muzzle. It looks like they’re trying to maul each other to death, but their tails are wagging like crazy. This is play. This is pure, wild joy. A family reunion.

“Calm down, you guys,” Holo says, laughing, but it’s useless. There’s just too much happiness to be contained. He falls to his knees, and Bim licks his face all over with her giant pink tongue.

Beast is there, too, and her pups, who prance and play under everyone’s feet. I throw myself into the middle of them. My pack, my family.

Why did I ever leave?

A light flicks on. A golden square—a small window—illuminates the dark. The wolves and I lift our heads.

More light spills onto the ground as the door to the forest cabin opens.

“Well, well, well,” says a voice.

CHAPTER 56

IT’S SEVEN A.M. and the men are going slowly now. They’re sore from a night of walking, broken only by an hour of half sleep on hard dirt. Chester is jittery, impatient with their progress. He takes a bite of a protein bar that Lacey must’ve slipped into his pocket and wills himself not to yell “Hurry up!”

Sam Dean holds out a little thermos of coffee. “Joe?” he says.

“That’s kind of you, Sam,” Chester says. But considering that he saw Sam make the brew from a packet of instant plus water from a Buffalo River tributary, he declines the offer. “I like sugar in my coffee,” he says. “Not giardia.”

“I’ll take some,” Waylon says. He’s the only chipper one in the group. “I like to live dangerously. Right, Chief?”

Chester watches as the kid takes a sip, grimaces, and then swallows.

“Delightful,” Waylon lies.

Reginald Hardy has taken the search party lead. His narrow, mean eyes sweep the forest floor and the underbrush, looking for signs or tracks. His rifle’s slung across his shoulder.He’s bowlegged but surefooted. Chester’s grateful to the man, even though he can’t stand him.

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