Page 2 of Little Red and Her Creatures of Chaos
I’m half tempted to roll my eyes like I normally do, but this dream feltreal—more so than any of the others. “What are you saying?”
“I stayed at your Aunt Darlene’s last night. I came back early this morning.” My stomach bottoms out, and I feel like I can’t breathe. “There’s more.” She rushes over to the table, sits in front of me, and grabs my hands. “I noticed some things out of place. Like your bed was slept in.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell her about the pajamas, but it feels like saying it out loud will make it completely true. “What else?”
“There were these…prints around the outside of the cabin. I followed them, and they were all around it. Several different ones.”
“What kind of prints?” My voice is barely above a whisper because I already know what she’s going to say.
“Wolf prints. Large ones.”
“The big bad wolf.”
Those laughs echo through my head, and I clutch Grandma’s hand tighter. “Radley. I need you to tell me everything.” I fill in the blanks, and she nods even as her face starts to pale. “It’s time.”
She pats my hand, stands up, and disappears into the living room. I scramble after her and find her pulling a book from the bookshelf. It looks old and like it could fall apart at any second. “What’s going on?”
“Sit.” She points to the couch, and I sit without question. She sits beside me, with the book balanced in her lap. “There have been rumors surrounding our town for centuries. But I haven’t heard anything for many years.”
“What rumors?”
She takes a shaky breath and opens the book, flipping through the pages. “I didn’t think anything of it when you first started talking about the red eyes and sharp teeth from your dreams. But I should have looked closer since you started having these dreams as a child.”
“I don’t remember that.”
“Your mother made sure that you didn’t, and she wouldn’t let me feed your imagination. Her words, not mine. Your mother never had the gift.”
“Grandma. You’re confusing me.”
“Some of the Baxter women have been known to be clairvoyant. The things that we saw in our dreams sometimes came to life. Your mother never experienced it. Almost like it skipped her generation.”
“Wait. Are you saying we’re psychic?” She hears my doubtful tone and gives me a hard look.
“Not psychics. I know you’ve never wanted to believe me, Radley, but now you need to.” She sits the book in my lap and points to a picture of a man with fangs and bright red eyes.
“What is that?” I squeak, feeling fear settle over me like a blanket. She points to a picture on the next page. This time, the fangs and bright red eyes are on a giant wolf.
“The rumors are that there are people who have the ability to shapeshift. That humans turn into a different species.”
I swallow the bile rising in my throat, unable to look away from the man and beast. “What species?”
“Wolves.”
Chapter 2
Radley
Wolves.
This woman has to be insane. Right?
Neither of us has said a word since she dropped that information. This is the stuff from fairytales. It doesn’t happen in real life. There’s no such thing as clairvoyants or freaking men who turn into gigantic wolves.
But I have no way to explain finding myself in those pajamas, my grandma being gone, my bed slept in, and the wolf prints surrounding the cabin.
“I want to see them,” I finally say.
Grandma nods without a word and carefully closes the book, laying it on the coffee table. When she stands from the couch and heads outside, I follow her out. She takes a right off the steps, and we don’t have to walk far to see the first print. It’shuge.I put both feet inside it, and it still spans way past them. “There looks like there are three distinct prints,” Grandma says. “They look like they were pacing the perimeter.”
