Page 5 of Wolf Bane
I waited.“Reba?”
“Six,” she said quietly, darting a glance my way.“I was gonna turn ‘em loose.The hollering earlier was kind of upsetting…”
“I didn’t holler!”
“You did,” someone called from the waiting room.“We all heard it!”
“Jesus… Let me take some samples.Send the next patient back to exam room two until we get one cleaned up.”
* * *
By the timethe clinic closed for the day and I’d wrestled the last patient chart into submission, I was past ready to just go home, eat cold leftovers and collapse into bed.It wasn’t so much the physical tiredness that came from working on my feet all day but the mental exhaustion, the sheer pants-shitting levels of stress that loomed large whenever I remembered I was holding people’s lives in my hands in ways my old job at the ME’s office hadn’t required.Shutting off the car engine, I sat in the car in the driveway for a few minutes, just staring at my house as I gathered the last shreds of my motivation so I could get out and walk inside.A laundry list of things to handle waited for me once I ate, before I crawled into bed: talk to Ethan about the Clemens family again was at the top.No, scratch that.Just talking to Ethan, that was at the very top.I usually hated video chats—they felt too businesslike, too performative—but since that was the only way to actuallyseeEthan lately, I found myself looking forward to them.
At least with him.
Everyone else could kick rocks and just text me like normal people.
Slightly buoyed by the thought of talking to my man, I heaved myself out of the car and made it about four steps towards the front door when a familiar voice rang out from the direction of Mal’s house.“Hey!Wanna see a cool trick?”
Mariska didn’t even wait for me to close the car door before barreling towards me, floppy dog at her heels.After weeks of name changes and title endowments from the little princess, Mal had firmly but very… dad-ly, I suppose, insisted she pick a name.So Pupper of Many Names was now, officially, Boo.And he and Mariska stuck together like peanut butter and jelly.Boo was hot on her heels as she gangled my way, his huge paws slapping the ground in time with her growing feet.Mariska skidded to a halt with a twist of her hips, and after a brief flail when Boo crashed into her legs, grinned up at me.
“I’ve been practicing my quick stops, so when Dadfinallylets me get roller blades, I can show Tomas I’m better than him.”
“Always good to plan ahead,” I said solemnly.
Mariska cackled, her expression morphing from delight to upset as a sudden cough caught her square in the chest.“Dang it,” she gasped as it slowed.“Stupid Tomas.”
“Whoa there.”I stepped just enough to the side so she couldn’t rocket off again immediately.“You getting sick?Where’s your dad?”
As if summoned, Mal came galloping around the side of their little bungalow, wide-eyed and clutching a bottle of that gross children’s cough syrup that tasted like where grape bubble gum went to die.“Mariska!Seriously?”
“It’s boring inside,” she complained, dragging—literally dragging—her feet back towards Mal.“I had to double check that the weird guy wasn’t outside my window again.Besides, I wanted to show Uncle Landry how I can already do the cool quick stops.”
“What weird guy?”I asked, on alert.“There was someone around here today?”
Mal rolled his eyes where Mariska couldn’t see.“No?—”
“Not today,” Mariska cut in.“Like, night before last?Maybe it was like really early morning?It was super dark out, but Iknowhe was there.I heard him breathing.He was like…” She waved one arm in the direction of the green space behind our houses, a swath of land that dipped towards the creek hidden behind scrubby plants and a few thick, overhanging trees.“He was there.Iheardhim!It wasn’t just an animal, Dad,” she added with a glare.“Iknow.”
“Baby, we checked, remember?There wasn’t a soul out there except some squirrels and a bunch of annoyed birds.”
Mariska set her chin mutinously.“I know what I heard.”
“Sometimes, brains are weird and play tricks on us,” I offered.“Ever hear of hypnogogic hallucinations?They can happen when you’re half asleep, or really tired.Your brain thinks it’s hearing or seeing something that’s not really there.”
She leveled an unamused look at me.“I know what I heard.”
Mal raised his hands helplessly, shaking his head.“Well, I know what I didn’t find.But just to be extra safe, we’ll make sure to put a broomstick under the doorknob and double check all the locks.”
Mariska didn’t seem very mollified, but she nodded.“If the bad guy comes back, can I bite him?Tomas said he peed his pants one time when he thought their house was getting broken into, and I bet I’m way braver than Tomas.”
“I’m pleased your eternal rivalry with Tomas hasn’t been affected by your cold.C’mon, back inside.And you’re gonna need a real shower this time, kid.Not just a bird bath; I can tell when you’re not actually cleaning, you know.”
Mariska muttered something under her breath that Mal and I both pretended not to hear.“She okay?”I asked once the door slammed behind her.“That cough didn’t sound great.”
“It kicks in when she’s riled up,” he said, rolling the cough syrup back and forth between his hands, eyes on the house as if he could see through the walls and make sure she was actually doing what she was told.“Tomas, her eternal rival, had something similar apparently.”
“Kids.Just adorable little petri dishes.”
