Wolves: Chapter 6

An owl called its mate as the sun fell behind the horizon. The lamplighter had been eaten by the wolves years before, so the streets were dark as we walked. Kailah didn’t seem to notice. Like most of the girls, she was used to the dark.

            “Isn’t it dangerous for you to be seen with me?”

            I shook my head. “See the glimmer?”

            Kailah looked at my uplifted hand. She nodded.

            “It’s a spell. It will conceal us from watchful eyes while we walk. I just wish I could do it over all the girls.” I sighed. “But the book with the spell in it was lost with Faula so I don’t know how to make it any bigger than two or three people.”

            She waited, knowing I would continue.

            “I met your aunt when she came to the Dark House, where I was working.”

            “You worked at a Dark House?” Kailah’s eyes widened.

            “Yes. For seven months, before your aunt found me. She was posing as a customer, but she cast the same concealing spell I’m using now on us to help me escape. She offered to help others…but they refused. I don’t know why. I left with her.” I kicked at the stony ground, picturing Faula’s smiling face as she raised her glimmering hand over my head, letting magic trickle down. “She did the test on me and discovered I have the ability to manipulate reality. Here, that is called magic.”

            “Wow…I wish I had magic.”

            “It is a great gift, and a greater responsibility. Like Faula, I wanted to use mine to help girls escape from Dark Houses. We worked together for a time. We would portal-jump and figure out which world was best suited for each girl we rescued. But she got trapped on the other side of one when it was destroyed by masks. The last thing she told me was to continue the work, and not to spend time trying to get her back.”

            The silence was painful as I waited for Kailah to realize I had abandoned her aunt to another world. I wouldn’t be able to explain to her Faula’s deep desire to help and her completely self-sacrificing heart. If I had spent ten years creating a portal to get her back, she would have been furious. But these things, I could not express to her niece.

            At last, Kailah responded, quietly and carefully. “It must have been hard for you to let her go.”

            I looked up at her. Her eyes were fixed on her feet but she was staring miles into a different world, as if a portal lay in her thin shoes.

            “It was. She was my best friend. My hero. She meant so much to me.”

            “But you didn’t go after her.”

            “No…all of the portals collapsed when her magic was severed from them. She had created them, you know. Your aunt was an incredibly powerful woman. I’m lucky to have created one in ten years, but she made six in fifteen.”

            Kailah’s jaw dropped.

            I nodded. “Exactly. How did you not know this about her?”

            “My parents didn’t talk much about her. She was an outcast in our family because of her magic.”

            “I understand. I’m sorry to hear that.”

            “I never really thought much about it until now. I wish I had known her better.”

            “I wish you could have. But I’ll tell you anything about her that you want to know, if that helps.”

            Kailah thought for a moment, then said, "Well...I was wondering about you, actually. I have so many questions, I don’t know where to start.”

            Eyes glowed from the forest. I knew they couldn’t see us, but I turned us back toward the house anyway. “Let’s go inside where it’s…warm. I’ll answer your questions tomorrow.”