Simon trotted to the back door of Howling Good Reads and shifted a paw just enough to turn the knob. He’d had an enjoyable morning, even if it was spent with humans, and the Wolves who had accompanied Kowalski, Debany, and the gaggle of girls had learned the Squeaky Dance game, which was great fun even if it didn’t last very long.
The Wolves from the Addirondak Mountains were arriving tomorrow, and Vlad had been a bit sharp about not getting help restocking the shelves. John Wolfgard had made the mistake of pointing out that Vlad was the one who had decimated their stock before this visit, which was why Simon was spending a couple of hours at the store helping Vlad instead of John coming in to work. Verbally nipping at Erebus Sanguinati’s most trusted weapon here in Lakeside was beyond foolish.
And even though no one said anything, Simon figured Vlad was concerned about Tolya and Nyx being so far from any Sanguinati stronghold.
Simon shifted to human form and reached for the pair of jeans he’d left on the chair next to the door. He growled at the empty chair, then did a quick search. Damn females! There was a reason he left clothes on that chair! They had to stop taking things and “putting them away.”
Not finding anything, he strode to the front of the store, hoping to meet one of the human pack who would squeak about his being naked. But he hadn’t gotten that far when Vlad called out, “Simon? Is that you?”
He bounded up the stairs and into the office. “The next time I find anything any of those females have left around the store, I’ll—” He stopped when he saw Vlad’s face. “Your kin?”
“They’re fine. Joe met them at the train station yesterday. Tolya called me last night to give me the phone number of the motel as well as his room number in case I needed to reach him.” Vlad held out the receiver. “It’s Jackson.”
Simon leaped toward the desk and grabbed the receiver. “Jackson? What did Hope do now?”
Hesitation. “What do you know about bison?”
What an odd question. “They’re tasty. Hard to hunt unless you’re with a strong pack or bring down a young one.” Things Jackson already knew. “Joe sent us packages of bison meat. They arrived yesterday. The female pack is cooking a roast to give all the humans a taste.”
“What about live bison?”
“What about them?” Then he remembered Meg’s prophecy about the River Road Community. “Meg saw some bison grazing at a mixed community we’re building—Others and Intuits.” And she saw you there.
“Hope’s newest vision drawing shows me bringing young bison to you at a place around Talulah Falls.” A waiting silence. “Is this how it works with blood prophets in the wild?”
“I don’t know,” Simon replied. “Maybe it’s because Hope, Meg, and Jean—because she’s part of this too—grew up in the same compound. Or maybe it’s because those three have a connection to terra indigene who have bonds to each other. This is new for the girls as well as for us.”
Jackson sighed. “Hope sees me traveling to bring bison to you, and she’s asking me if I’m going to leave her and Grace forever. Your Meg sees me there. I don’t know what to do. Traveling alone . . . Things feel strange around here. Close to Endurance, the human-controlled town, the water tastes sour and the air feels hot. The Intuits who have gone there for supplies felt it too.”
“You need books?”
Vlad looked at Simon and showed his fangs. Simon revealed his own fangs.
“We’re taking care of a human pup. Physically a juvenile, but you know what I mean.”
He did. “It would be good for her to have books. We’ll see what we can send.” He’d have the female pack make a list of what a juvenile would like to read.
“Nyx,” Vlad said quietly. “If Jackson is coming here, could he go to Prairie Gold first? Then he and Nyx could travel together.”
Simon relayed the request.
“I’ll do that. We didn’t have any trouble with bison being killed around here, but if trouble is heading west, I’d like to know about it.”
“Let me know when you’re coming. We’ll meet the train and arrange transportation.” He’d make a call to Jerry Sledgeman on Great Island and see if Sledgeman’s Freight could haul livestock.
“Our Hope and your Meg,” Jackson said. “They could be wrong.”
“One of them, maybe, but not both.” Not when Jean was seeing a Thaisia cleansed of so many human cities. “Vlad has a number for the motel where Nyx and Tolya are staying. He’ll call her so that she knows you’re coming.”
“All right. Simon? Tell Meg we’re doing our best to keep Hope well.”
“I’ll tell her.” As he ended the call, Simon thought about Jean’s prophecy and what it meant to the Others. He looked at Vlad. “We can’t trust humans anymore.”
“Did we ever trust them?”
“No. But we counted on their desire to survive being stronger than their greed. I don’t think we can count on that anymore.”
Dear Jean,
Earthday in the Courtyard is a day when the stores are closed and the Others stay feathered or furry for the entire day because they don’t have to interact with humans. But it was hot and humid today, and Henry said he and the Wolves usually spend time around the swimming hole on a day like this. It’s not a hole full of water; it’s actually the small lake in the Crowgard’s part of the Courtyard. Anyway, Simon invited some of my human friends to come with us. It was a test, I think, to see how they would behave in a part of the Courtyard that was usually off-limits to humans besides me.
Theral MacDonald rode in the BOW with me and Simon. Merri Lee, Michael, Ruth, and Karl rode bicycles. I’m not sure if the Others had never seen bicycles before or if they had never considered them as a useful form of transportation, but something about the bicycles made the Wolves quite excited. There was a lot of sniffing once we reached the lake, but everyone was polite and didn’t pee on the tires.
The lake is one of three that, along with the creek, supply a lot of the fresh water in the Courtyard. The Others drink it, swim in it, and catch fish to eat. Michael and Karl wanted to know what kind of fish, but no one was interested in shifting to human form to tell them, and I didn’t know, so that’s something they can discuss tomorrow.
Because the lake is waist-deep at one end and well over my head at the other end, it was fine for Wolves but not much fun for the Crows. So when Simon took over leadership of the Courtyard, he, Henry, and Blair created a connected wading pool where the water is only a few inches deep so that the Crowgard can splash around and play.
When it was time to go into the water, no one knew what to do. At least I didn’t. After staring at us for a moment, Simon, Blair, and Nathan jumped into the water, then climbed out and shook water all over us.
It was cold! Merri Lee, Ruth, Theral, and I hopped around, making noises and saying, “It’s cold, it’s cold, it’s cold.”
The Wolves jumped in, climbed out, and shook water all over us again! The third time the Wolves shook water on us girls, we were sufficiently wet that it didn’t feel that cold anymore—and the Squeaky Dance game was done. Unfortunately, I think this is a game the Wolves really enjoyed, so I suspect we’re going to be on the receiving end of surprise soakings for the rest of the summer.
But once we got in the water, it felt so good! At one point, Nathan bumped into me and I went under and came up sputtering. That’s when Ruth asked me if I could swim, and I said no.
Simon shifted to human form and just stared at me, shocked. How could I not know how to swim? All the puppies knew how to swim.