Page 31 of The Howling
She walks away from the pair towards the end of the hall where a huge fire is burning and there is a massive table which wasn’t there before.
A table covered in food.
My stomach growls. The hunger pangs, I think, have a life of their own, and I nearly double up with the pain.
Despite this, I run, I don’t walk, to the table itself.
“Where did this…?” I stare at the spread, not even knowing where to start.
“Your Duegars have outdone themselves,” Alice says, picking up a sticky bun and taking a delicate bite. “But you didn’t need to go to any trouble,” she adds.
I stare at her, blinking as if I’m in a dream.
“Whoareyou?”
“I told you,” she says merrily. “I’m Alice and that’s Fenrother, the Lambton Wyrm.”
“I don’t…” I shake my head and sink down into a nearby chair, which along with the table, was definitely not here the last time I was in this vast room. “I don’t understand any of this.”
“Fenrother got a message”—she looks over at where the two huge beasts are still locked in a growling match—“to come here.”
She sits next to me, and it’s then I see it—her baby bump, as clear as day in the long green gown she wears. I do another fish impression, shutting my mouth with a snap when I realise she’s looking at me.
“Yes, it’s his.” Alice smiles, smoothing her dress over the bump. “We couldn’t be happier.”
So many things run through my head, most of them entirely inappropriate in terms of questions to ask her or even statements to make.
She curls her hand around mine. “I was lost when I came here, so very lost. I knew I could never go back beyond the veil, and Fenrother…” She looks over at him fondly.
He’s currently attempting to bite Reavely’s elbow as the pair of them wrestle.
“Well, once he got used to the idea we were destined to be together, and I didn’t want to kill him, he’s the sweetest, kindest Wyrm you could ever meet.”
Reavely now has Fenrother’s tail between his huge jaws and is chewing on it like a piece of steak.
“I think they’re always like that,” Alice says with a chuckle.
“So, you…”
Alice nods enthusiastically. “Once you’ve had a piece of the Yeavering, you won’t ever want to go back,” she says conspiratorially.
“I haven’t!” I gasp. “I mean, Reavely and me, we’re not…”
“Interesting choice of dress for someone who is…not.” Alice says, finishing the last of her bun and licking her fingers.
My appetite has deserted me completely. Reavely and Fenrother roll into view.
“Why not eat something if you’ve finished playing?” Alice says at the two monsters who are at our feet.
“Not…playing…” Reavely says, attempting to get Fenrother’s foot out of his mouth.
“He started it,” Fenrother says jovially.
I get the impression he’s enjoying himself as they roll away from us, towards the fire.
“Feign an illness,” Alice hisses at me.
“What?”
