Page 66 of The Lone Wolf Café
I pressed my fingers against the door, bracing myself behind it like a shield.
I had no idea what awaited me on the other side.
I pulled the door back a few inches, and it let loose an awful metallic groan. I froze, wincing at the grating sound.
This couldn’t be done slowly. I needed to pull the door open, in one fell swoop, to minimize the amount of noise I made. It was like ripping off a bandage. Or pulling loose bits of tree bark out of a puncture wound.
But nothing popped out. Once the old creaky door stopped moving, the cottage was completely silent.
And dark. But once I stepped into the doorway, I noticed a faerie fire lantern on the end table. I picked it up, and the single-room downstairs burst into dim yet vibrant purple light. In the few brief seconds between the light turning on and me being able to see the room, I chuckled at Rowena’s choice of lantern color.
She always did love purple.
Bathed in the shadowy light, the cottage appeared simple and nondescript; no different than what I’d seen of the other cottages in Wisteria Grove. An old, sagging couch and a puffy rocking chair occupied the living room. There was a small kitchenette, in far better condition than mine, tucked into the back corner. A narrow bookshelf, taller than I was, held dozens of colorfulhardback tomes. And of course, lined up on the kitchen counter, were glass jars full of loose-leaf teas.
It made me smile. But it also made me sick with guilt.Who am I to come barging into Rowena’s home, suspecting her of being some sort of criminal? I don’t even know what Juniper’s words meant. She won’t tell me why Rowena is…
Then I saw it. It was in the back of the cottage, past the kitchen, in a dark corner where the light of the faerie fire lantern couldn’t quite reach.
Yet the crisscrossed silhouette, just barely visible in the darkness, was unmistakable.
A cage.
A large, iron cage, just large enough for a human to crawl inside.
I went back to the end table and grabbed the lantern, making sure nothing crept up behind me in the process. My fist trembled as I held it up in the air; partially from the weight of the heavy lantern, and partially because I was terrified. Even before I reached the cage, now with plenty of light to see the details, I knew Juniper’s warnings were true.
But why would Rowena have this here?
Who… or what… is supposed to go in it?
The cage was shoved against the wall, pressing against the thick curtains that blocked the windows. The iron was too thick to be a crate meant for pets. I tried pushing it across the floor a few inches, but it wouldn’t budge. It was ridiculously heavy.
Something metallic rattled at my feet as I walked. I jolted, aiming my lantern down at the floor.
Chains. Heavy metal chains, dumped in loosely coiled piles like angry pythons, glinting menacingly in the purple light. I scampered away, panic coursing through my veins as if the chains were actual snakes.
Then I bumped into a strange, oddly-shaped object.
It was also on the floor, next to the crate. Just dumped there. I lifted the object, holding it up to the lantern. Like with the crate, it was far heavier than I’d expected it to be.
Crisscrossed metal joined with thick leather straps, secured by a series of buckles.
Just the right size and shape for a large dog.
Or…
A wolf…
The muzzle fell from my hands, metal clanging against hardwood as it hit the floor.
I hunched over, clamping my shaking hands on my knees. It felt like my rib cage was folding in on itself, tightening with every breath, crushing my lungs like a straightjacket.
Gods, I can’t breathe.
I stumbled to my feet, my steps staggered and wobbly like a newborn fawn as I scrambled to erase the evidence that I was there. I kicked the ensnaring chains away from my feet, ensured the muzzle was tucked back where I’d found it, and placed the lantern back on the table next to the front door. I’d just managed to turn the faerie fire off before my panic overtook me.
But this time, it wasn’t just my ears and tail. My whole body succumbed to the raw, feral fear, and I ended up sprinting in my wolf form back to my own cottage.
