Chapter Two

AUTHOR’S NOTE: If you get tired of waiting for new chapters, the entire book is for sale on Amazon in print and on Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Skinwalkers-Distant-Thunder-Adam-Bolander-ebook/dp/B0D128VD9V?crid=24W41CTHT7EDC&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.KfDW2-M5NGa2qL0wxty7rQc5lxHh_f-10YwlqipBh4g.UFzNpMAr6R_3JpGzb6Wjyoivt59NgZ3InddvCwBhnOI&dib_tag=se&keywords=skinwalkers+distant+thunder&qid=1730566075&sprefix=skinwalkers+distant+thunder%2Caps%2C135&sr=8-1

Chapter Two

The hours crawled by slowly.

Zave's hand kept instinctively reaching for his phone, only for him to remember that it had run out of power days ago. Part of him wondered if he should just throw it away. It fit into this new world he'd been thrust into as much as a book of witchcraft fit into a church. But even when he looked at his reflection in that dark and dusty screen, he couldn't bring himself to get rid of it. It was a part of the human world he could carry everywhere with him, making it an anchor to his old life.

Would he ever return to that life? That was a question he found himself asking a hundred times a day. He wanted to go back. Or he said he did, at least. But even thought it had been less than a week since this had all begun, just thinking back to his old life left Zave with a sense of…detachment. As if, in these few short days, he had changed so radically that who he had been before was an entirely different person than who he was now, and that attempting to resume the life he'd had before would be like dropping a saltwater fish into a freshwater tank.

But that was ridiculous…right?

The silence was broken when a deep growl came from Norrin. Zave looked at him in surprise. Saying the bear-walker wasn't talkative was an understatement. In the couple of days since they'd met, Zave didn't think he'd heard Norrin speak a full sentence once. What could have been important enough for him to growl like that completely unprompted?

But Norrin's face was as impassive as ever, and he was staring fixedly down at the floor between his feet. While Clueless had been enraptured by the sight of the planes landing and taking off outside the huge windows, and even Ember was stubbornly pretending not to watch, Norrin barely seemed to register that he wasn't in the forest anymore. So why had he—

Norrin growled again, and this time Zave realized it hadn't come from his mouth.

"Zave," Glenn spoke up for the first time in nearly three hours. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of bills. "Can you get Norrin something to eat? There's enough for you and Clueless to get something too if you want it."

Clueless spun around, though Zave wasn't sure if it was the sound of her name or the promise of food that had caught her attention. For a split second when he saw her face, Zave felt a spark of hope that…

"Not hungry," she said, her expression growing sour as soon as she laid eyes on Zave, and she sat back down with her arms folded.

Zave sighed, then gestured for Norrin to come with him. To his surprise, the musclebound man did so, following him to the terminal's food court and leaving the rest of his pack behind without hesitation.

The food court was just a few yards away, where they'd still be visible to the rest of the group. Without a word, Norrin plopped down at the nearest empty table hard enough to make it groan under his weight. Scanning the restaurant signs, it occurred to Zave that he didn't know how to feed a skinwalker. Burgers? Chinese? Burritos? Having lived his whole life in the forest, eating whatever could be hunted and scavenged, were there certain things in human foods that Norrin couldn't eat? Glenn hadn't said anything, but was that because there was nothing to worry about, or did he just assume that Zave was smart enough to know these things?

Almost without meaning to, Zave turned to the big glass wall that looked out onto the airstrip. There was a fuel truck parked by a nearby plane, and the sun reflected off its hubcap at the perfect angle to shine directly into Zave's eyes.

What will I get Norrin to eat?

Almost immediately, the light became blinding, encompassing all of Zave's vision. Strangely, though, it didn't hurt his eyes. In that light, he saw himself standing in the line for the sandwich shop. He watched as the future Zave walked away with a piping hot, foot long meatball sub, which Norrin eagerly began to eat.

Then the vision ended, depositing Zave back in the present. His gut twisted at what he had just done—and how natural it had felt to do it.

Then he froze. In the few seconds since the vision had ended, he'd already made it halfway to the sandwich shop before he'd even realized he was moving. It was as if the moment his brain knew what the future held, his body would go into autopilot to make it happen. That, even more than the vision itself, horrified him. Did the fact that he'd seen Norrin eating a sandwich mean he was fated to get him that sandwich? What was to stop Zave from getting Norrin a plate of lo mein and orange chicken? He took a step toward the Chinese restaurant—

Except, Norrin probably doesn't know how to use a fork, he realized. And the mess he'd make eating with his hands would attract more attention than Glenn would want.

He paused again. A cheeseburger and fries, then? A glance at the menu was all it took to change Zave's mind. None of the combo meals looked big enough to fill a stomach like Norrin's. Fine, a burrito, then. But now that he thought of it, putting Norrin in a cramped airplane after feeding him beans and peppers probably wasn't a good idea either.

Feeling inexplicably like he had just suffered a defeat of some kind, he got into line at the sandwich shop.

But is this really the same outcome as the vision? he wondered, a touch of panic entering his thoughts. If I hadn't seen him eating a sandwich in the vision, would I have still gone through this whole thought process?

He ordered a meatball sub and, with the tantalizing smell filling his nose, made his way back to where Norrin waited. He set the tray down and pushed it toward the bear-walker, who took it wordlessly.

Would I have chosen something else if the vision hadn't made me think about all of this? Zave thought, barely noticing as Norrin ate half the foot-long sandwich in one bite. Or would I have thought about it anyway just because, you know, it was common sense?

Norrin devoured the second half of the sandwich, then stared forlornly down at the empty tray for a minute before running his finger through some tomato sauce he'd spilled and licked it clean.

Or was something guiding me toward that choice? Could I have chosen something else even if I'd wanted—

"Aren't you going to get anything?"

Zave blinked and looked up. He'd been so lost in thought that he hadn't even seen Fey sit down across from him.

Zave chuckled self-consciously. "I kinda ruined my own appetite thinking about all this."

Fey nodded solemnly, her eyes lowering, and Zave realized they were thinking about two very different things.

"What happened last night wasn't your fault," he said softly.

"It was," Fey shot back without hesitation. "The wendigos chased me and Clueless halfway across the country. It was stupid of me to think they wouldn't follow us right onto Glenn's doorstep."

"Fey…"

"If I hadn't gone home…if I hadn't been so desperate to unload my responsibilities as alpha onto someone else…then Jake, Nat, and—" Her voice caught in her throat. "And Derrick would still be alive."

"And you and Clueless would probably be dead," Zave said. "And there'd be no one to tell the other packs the wendigos are back. So maybe this is just the way things—"

"Derrick was not some kind of necessary sacrifice!" Fey snapped, her eyes going wide.

Zave's mouth fell open. "I didn't…that's not what I…"

Fey deflated a little, cringing in shame. "I know that's not what you meant. And you're right, Glenn did need to find out about the wendigos. But is there really no way we could have saved them?"

Zave looked down. "I'm sorry. I wish I had answers for you. Maybe I could have seen this happening. Maybe I could have done something. Maybe by not doing anything, their deaths are just as much my fault as yours. I don't know. I only found out I have this power a couple days ago. I still have no idea where it comes from, or what it can or can't do, or even what the hell I'm supposed to be."

"I know what you are."

Both Zave and Fey looked at Norrin in shock.

"N- Norrin!" Fey exclaimed. "You talked to Zave!"

He nodded.

Zave looked at Fey, then back at Norrin. "You…know what I am?"

"How do you know that?" Fey asked incredulously.

"More importantly, what?" Zave asked, leaning forward.

"You are," Norrin began, then paused, making Zave bite his own tongue to keep from interrupting, "a good person."

Zave stared in silence at the bear-walker for a long, tense minute.

Then Fey burst out laughing.

"You just said that because he brought you food!" she accused him, her entire body shaking with laughter.

Norrin nodded.

Zave sat back with a sigh. "I'm not sure what else I expected, but…thanks. I guess that does make me feel a little better."

"It should," said Fey, tears streaming down her face after laughing so hard. "The fact that he decided to talk to you at all means he actually respects you."

"Really? I thought he didn't talk to me because I'm, you know," Zave shrugged, embarrassed, "a human."

Fey snorted. "Norrin doesn't give a crap about things like that. If he says you're a good person, then he means it. Besides…"

Fey looked from Zave to Norrin, smiling for the first time in what felt like months.

"...it's not like you're human anyway, right?"

A shadow fell over their table, and Zave looked up to see Glenn standing there. Instantly, the mood around the table turned cold again. Looking into his eyes, Zave could see a pain inside Glenn so vast and so deep that it made Fey's grief look like a puddle in comparison.

No matter how guilty Fey felt about what had happened, Glenn had paid the price for her mistake.

The highest price Zave could imagine.

"Come on," he said. "Our plane is boarding."

NEXT CHAPTER: 11/20/2024