He ran to greet her, followed by the other puppies and Skippy.
Meg opened the back of the BOW. “Get inside, Sam. Get inside. We have to run. We have to hide.”
He jumped into the BOW and immediately went to the passenger seat. The other pups hesitated, sensing something wrong in her behavior.
“Skippy. Come on,” Meg panted. As soon as he jumped in the back, she grabbed a pup and tossed her into the BOW. Then another and another and the last one.
“Meg?” Jane, the Wolfgard bodywalker, hurried toward her in human form while the pack’s nanny rushed toward her, snarling. “Meg, what are you doing?”
“We have to run!” Meg screamed. She closed the BOW’s back door.
“You’re bleeding.”
“We have to hide.” She fell into the driver’s seat, started the BOW, and shot away from the Wolfgard Complex. Sam whined and Skippy arrooed, which started the rest of the pups howling.
“Quiet! We have to be quiet!” Where to go? Where could they hide from an enemy who could do . . .
Meg swallowed hard and drove blindly and recklessly along the dirt trails that were barely wide enough for even a vehicle as small as the BOW. She glanced in the side mirror once and saw Wolves chasing the BOW. But not the Wolf she needed to see.
“Simon,” she whispered.
Then the trail ended at a dip in the land. She drove the BOW into the dip, bouncing on the way down. Flinging the driver’s side door open, she tumbled out of the BOW and ran to the back to open that door. As the rest of the pups and Skippy leaped out of the back, she grabbed Sam, who was more than a double armful now, and staggered a few steps away from the BOW.
Shaking, she sank to the ground and held on to him. Had to hide because she’d seen . . .
Her stomach rose, and she threw up over both of them.
Simon sniffed around the Wolfgard Complex. Where was Meg? Where were the other Wolves?
<The pack went this way,> Nathan said. <And Meg. Simon . . . she’s still bleeding. There are drops of blood on the road.>
<Uncle Simon! Uncle Simon!>
<Sam!>
<Help! Meg is sick!>
Simon lifted his muzzle, intending to howl. If the other Wolves had followed Meg, their reply would help him pinpoint where she was in the Courtyard. But he stopped before the sound rose. Why were the other Wolves silent? Why wasn’t Sam howling?
He and Nathan followed the road, running toward the Hawkgard part of the Courtyard. They had to find Meg. There weren’t that many roads in the Courtyard that could accommodate a vehicle, even one as small as a BOW.
<Over here!> Jenni Crowgard flew toward him. <Our Meg is over here!>
<There’s no road over there, just a wide trail the ponies and deer use,> Nathan said.
Jenni flew over their heads, back the way she’d come.
When he reached the spot, he raced down the incline. How had Meg gotten the BOW down there? And how were they going to get it out?
<Meg!> He slowed down to avoid stepping on the pups who were sufficiently scared now that they wouldn’t move far enough away from Meg to receive protection from Jane or the nanny. The rest of the adult Wolves remained on the incline in a protective circle, with Blair and Nathan at the top keeping watch.
Sam gave him a pathetic look. <Meg puked on me!>
<She’s sick, pup. She’s really sick.>
The cut along her jaw was starting to clot, but her neck was streaked with blood and her shirt reeked of vomit, erasing the usual lure of her blood’s scent.
Pretty sure that she was too sick to be confused about him being naked, Simon shifted to human and crouched beside her. “Meg? What did you see?”
“We have to hide. Have to hide from . . .” She retched. Sam whined. The other pups backed away, finally seeking protection from the adult Wolves.
“Who has to hide?” Simon asked.
“We do. The Wolves.” She focused on him. Her eyes looked weird—too big, too black instead of gray. “Joe’s face looks like that.”
Like what? Simon wondered. Before he could ask Vlad was beside him, reaching past him to wrap a hand around Meg’s arm.
<You’re between forms,> Vlad said. Then to Meg, “Did you see anything about the rest of us? Meg? Do the rest of us need to hide or just the Wolves?”
She stared at Vlad with eyes so blank Simon wondered if something had broken inside her brain.
“Just . . . Wolves,” she finally said. “And people living in little wood houses.” A pause. “Cabins. Fire. Burning.”
“Okay.” Vlad gave her arm a gentle squeeze before releasing it. “The Wolves will hide with you until it’s safe. The rest of us will send the warning to as many packs as we can.”
Simon looked at Vlad. <Jackson?>
<His prophet pup is scared sick and running, just like Meg,> Vlad replied grimly. <Both of them, in different parts of the continent. This is not good, Simon.>
Joe’s face looks like that. <Joe?>
<The warning was sent. I don’t know if it will be in time.> Vlad rose, his legs already shifted to smoke. <Stay here. The rest of us will do what we can. It’s not just the Wolves. The attack is also aimed at the Intuits.>
Everything he and the rest of the terra indigene in Lakeside had tried to do by working with humans was breaking apart. How far was it going to break?
He shifted back to Wolf form, instinctively understanding that it would calm Meg.
<Simon,> Vlad said.
<Go. Do what you can. Warn Steve Ferryman.>
<I’ll do that first. He’ll get the warning out to other Intuit settlements within reach of the bad humans.> The Sanguinati shifted all the way to smoke and raced over the ground.
<More Sanguinati going with Vlad,> Blair reported.
<We will help you keep watch over our Meg,> Jenni said as she, Starr, and Jake perched in the nearby trees.
<Uncle Simon?> Sam whimpered. <I don’t wanna lick my fur clean.>
He didn’t want to lick the pup either. <As soon as it’s safe, we’ll get you and Meg cleaned up.> And they would need to wash any of the other pups who were splattered with puke. For now, there was nothing any of the Wolves could do.
Resisting the temptation to lick her neck clean of dried blood and ignoring the bad scent of vomit, Simon rested his head on Meg’s shoulder, offering silent comfort—and trying not to think too much about what was happening to the Wolfgard in other parts of Thaisia.
CHAPTER 34
Firesday, Juin 22
Jackson trotted back to the Wolfgard cabin. While troubling, the meeting with the Panthergard had gone well. Only one of the Cats now living in the Sweetwater area had gone through the first level of a human-centric education—enough to read, write, and do sums, as well as speak with humans and make a purchase at a trading post.
Enough education to distinguish between normal human activity like farming and tending animals and activity that felt . . . wrong.
Nothing suspicious around Sweetwater’s Intuit village, but that wasn’t true about Endurance, the closest human village. Something wasn’t right there. Something had changed. But it was like trying to hook your claws into air, hoping to catch hold of the problem and deal with it.
<Jackson! Jackson!> one of the Ravens called. <Your pup is strange sick.>
He ran toward the cabin, momentarily relieved when he spotted Grace. Then Hope burst into view looking as terrified as a fawn being run down by a Grizzly.