Chapter Nineteen

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Chapter Nineteen

There was a noticeable chill in the air when Zave and Fey crested a particularly tall hill, and the smell of rain filled Zave's nose when he breathed in. Above them, the sky had turned gray with storm clouds again. It was still bright, but there was the unmistakable energy in the atmosphere that came before a storm, like the earth itself was bracing itself.

The mountain loomed over them now, still a few miles away but completely dominating the westward landscape. And as always, the darkest clouds were swirling around the peak, seeming to growl at the travelers below as lights flickered sinisterly from within.

Zave's hand tightened instinctively around the spear Fey had given him. He'd only had it for a few hours, and he barely knew how to use it, but he found that he felt much safer with it in his hand than without it.

"Zave?" Fey asked, stopping to look back at him curiously. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah," he answered, pulling his eyes from the mountain to look at her instead. "I was just…thinking about the future."

She nodded as if he'd said something wise. "Short term or long term?"

"Probably not as short term as I should be," he admitted, "considering what we're planning to do."

A long, low boom echoed from the mountain peak.

Fey glanced up at the sky, then said, "All right, let's take a break."

"A br…are you sure we have time for that?" Zave asked, surprised.

She found a fallen log nearby and sat on it, looking expectantly up at him.

"A few minutes won't kill us. Or Glenn." She gave the mountain another nervous glance. "So, tell me what's wrong."

Zave shook his head in disbelief. "Look, Fey, I appreciate what you're doing, but this isn't the time for you to play therapist! We need to—"

"Zave, take a quick look into the future for me."

Zave let out a long breath, looking around for a source of light that was bright enough. His eyes landed on the river in the distance—the same one he had caught his fish in, he was fairly sure—where it was still bright enough for the sun to reflect off its waters.

"All right," he said reluctantly, "what am I looking for?"

"Can you see anything about Glenn?"

He focused, holding the question in his mind. Usually his visions were random, but he had found that if he concentrated, he could control his powers somewhat. Sure enough, as the light engulfed his vision, he caught sight of Glenn.

"I see him," he told Fey. "He's at…I think it's the thunderbird's nest. And he's kneeling down and looking at something, but I can't tell exactly what."

"And this is the future, right?" came Fey's voice from outside the vision.

It began to fade, leaving Zave standing in the gloomy, gray skyed woods again. Fey was still waiting patiently for him on her log.

He shrugged. "All the others have been, so…"

"Then that means we still have time." She patted the spot on the log next to her. "So, sit down and tell me what's wrong."

Reluctantly, giving the mountain one last glance, he sat down beside the goat-walker and looked into her brown eyes.

"You don't have to do this for me," he said, suddenly feeling self-conscious.

"I'm your alpha," she said back without hesitation. "You're my packmate. Stop fighting and let me help you!"

He sighed. "All right, then I guess that's as good a place as any to start."

He paused, and she waited, her stubby tail flicking expectantly.

"I admit," he said slowly, "that I didn't put a lot of thought into what you asked me earlier. When you asked me to join your pack, I mean."

Fey frowned, her eyes widening a little. "Are you having second thoughts?"

"What? I just—"

"If you changed your mind, I won't force you to stay with us," she said quickly, with disappointment written all over her face. "Oh, God, I did just kind of spring the question on you, didn't I? I'm so sorry! You don't—"

"Fey!" he interrupted her. "I haven't changed my mind! It's just that…well, are you sure you aren't having second thoughts?"

"Why would I be?" she asked.

"Because I'm a human, for one thing!"

To his surprise, she laughed at that. "So what? I'm Tame, if Ember's constant reminders slipped your attention. I'm not supposed to be an alpha in the first place. But then Clueless came along, and now here we all are. I figure, since I've already broken one of the biggest skinwalker rules in the book, I might as well break a few more while I'm at it."

Tame. Zave had heard Ember use it quite a few times around Fey, but he still wasn't sure what it meant. He knew it was some kind of taboo amongst Fey's people. Something about having too much contact with humans. But the fact that Glenn had taken his pack on an airplane ride, and none of them seemed to have gone Tame from it, left Zave just as confused as ever.

"Besides," she went on, "Glenn said it himself: the wendigos have changed everything. Well, I say let things change! And if the other skinwalkers don't like it, they can bite my tail!"

Her enthusiasm was contagious, and before Zave knew it he was smiling right along with her.

"So, does that mean we're not going to live in the woods?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know yet. Being a skinwalker means being both animal and human—although Ember might claw your face off if she heard you say that. There will always be a part of me and Clueless that yearns for the Wild. But I've spent so long pretending to be human, and Clueless was practically raised in your world, so I don't know if either of us will ever truly be ready to leave it behind forever."

"So you want to, like, switch back and forth?"

"I don't see why I shouldn't," she answered confidently. "The others might act all high and mighty about how mankind is corrupting the planet, and how it's an honor to separate ourselves from them, but I suspect they'd change their tune pretty fast if they found out how nice it feels to have a heater on during the winter."

"But will I really have a place in any of that?" Zave asked. "No matter how much you change or how many rules you break, that won't change the fact that I'm still human."

"Glenn says—"

He looked away, and Fey stopped talking. He had enough on his mind already. He didn't need that weighing him down too.

Fey tried again, "My old pack would be dead if it weren't for you. Not just the…" She paused, emotions welling up in her eyes before she shoved then back down again. "...the kids. All of them. You stopped that from happening. You made yourself a target to save us all. That puts both me and Glenn farther in your debt than we'll ever be able to repay."

Zave turned toward Fey again, and noticed that something had changed in the way she was looking at him.

"As far as I'm concerned," she said, reaching out and taking his hand in hers, "that makes you one of us. And skinwalker or not, it makes you someone I'd be honored to have in my pack."

To Zave's surprise, a tear trickled down his cheek.

"I want to belong," he said softly. "But I'm scared. What if I put you and Clueless in more danger? What if the other packs try to hurt you because you took me in? You keep saying things are changing, but do you really think everyone is going to accept those changes as easily as you? For all you know, I might be what—"

"Zave, stop talking."

Zave's mouth snapped shut.

Fey looked him in the eye, and he could see sincerity shining in them. There wasn't so much as a hint of a lie, or even an exaggeration.

"You don't have to worry about that," she said softly, but firmly. "As a pack, everyone pulls their own weight. Everyone watches out for each other, and when one of us needs help, we all pitch in."

Still holding Zave's hand, she put her other hand on her chest.

"But the alpha carries the weight of the entire pack on their shoulders," she went on. "Everything they say, think, and do is for the benefit of the pack. They worry so that their pack doesn't have to. They sacrifice so their pack doesn't have to. They guide their pack through the dark and into the light, and if there's no light to be found, they become that light!"

"Fey…"

"So you let me deal with the other packs. And don't worry about whether or not you belong here, because I'm telling you right now that you do. You belong here with us, Zave!"

Before Zave could react, she had lunged forward and wrapped him in a hug. And then, in a voice so quiet she probably thought he couldn't hear her, she whispered,

"You belong with me."

What is going on here? he thought, flabbergasted. Could she actually…no, it has to be something else. Who in their right mind…

“Now,” she said, springing to her hooves and cutting into his thoughts, “let’s stop wasting time and go beat some courtesy into that stupid bird!”

NEXT CHAPTER: 3/19/2025