Chapter Eighteen – Cry 'Wolf'
The plane could only take them this far. Since Jack's cards, like a compass, indicated that they needed to cross the mountain range awaiting them with its treacherous paths and jagged cliffs, they had to travel on foot from this point onward.
Vince took in their surroundings as they walked in silence. Once he had been pointed in the right direction, Theodore had taken it upon himself to be their leader and walk in the front. His guardian instincts told Vince that was only an excuse for Theodore to scan the areas ahead with his keen wolf senses, ready to face any danger that might try to prevent them from reaching their destination.
Although he was caught in a fairy tale starring wolves that could turn into humans, and witches who could sneak upon you and steal all your power in a heartbeat, Vince couldn't say he was the type to let himself fall prey to superstitions and be quick to judge ominous signs for announcing who knew what doom and disaster.
The path ahead of them narrowed the higher they went. Vince stole a glance at the looming cliffs ahead; they seemed to stare back with a watchful eye. It was not like him at all to perceive inanimate objects as enemies, but given their circumstances he had to admit to himself that their surroundings appeared to be a bit spooky, even if the sun was still up in the sky.
"Brr," Jack complained, walking a foot or so ahead of him. The clairvoyant didn't seem keen on following Theodore too closely, despite his previous bravado in confronting the alpha. Or maybe he felt what Vince did, only tenfold. "Is it just me or is the air getting colder?"
"We're in the mountains," Vince replied. "Come here, and I'll put my arm around you. I promise you'll feel warmer in no time."
"I don't doubt that," Jack replied. "Only I really don't want to get on Theo's nerves more than I've already gotten."
Vince chuckled. Jack's usual banter did wonders for his nerves. He no longer felt as if something vicious was about to pounce on them out of thin air.
The sparse landscape provided few opportunities for enemies to hide. It had been a while since the grass had given way to lichen, and then lichen to granite veined with quartz. The loose gravel crunched beneath their feet, and they were truly getting close to the peaks that had lost themselves in a misty haze, even at noon.
Actually, Vince didn't know what time it was. He checked his phone only to see that the battery was dead. He frowned. He would swear he had charged the thing before leaving.
"Jack, tell me the time, please," he asked.
"I would if I could," Jack said. "I don't have my phone anymore."
"Did you lose it?"
"Yeah, somehow. That has never happened to me before. Ever. I swear it's the truth."
Vince observed Theodore's silhouette against the misty sky, the ease with which he climbed despite the slope becoming harder to navigate. Although the logical thing to do was to call out to him and ask him about the time, the way the alpha held himself told the world that he wouldn't like being bothered at all.
With a sigh, Vince cast another look around.
"Argh, a snake!" Jack shouted and jumped back, bumping into Vince.
It was a good thing that he had good physical training or Jack would have sent them both tumbling down the slope. Vince braced himself and caught Jack before the guy ended up falling on his ass or worse.
"What snake?" He looked down, where Jack was pointing, and saw nothing.
"I could swear--" Jack moaned and stopped abruptly.
It took Vince a good moment to understand the reason for Jack's sudden muteness. Theodore had turned on his heel and faced them now from a fair distance. Like Jack, Vince could feel the disapproving eyes observing them.
"Good thing I have these high boots that Theo bought for me," Jack whispered from the corner of his mouth.
That had been quite a nice surprise. Somehow, the CEO of Pembroke Industries had managed to order everything they needed for their trip and the order had been delivered in time to the cabin in the woods they had abandoned when they'd gone in search of adventure.
Maybe he shouldn't be so surprised. Theodore had the means to make things happen. Actually, the surprise had come from the act itself. When Jack had complained about not having proper shoes for hiking, Theodore had listened.
Thanks weren't a thing the alpha of Whiteflame appreciated. Vince was starting to get well acquainted with all the powerful wolfshifter's quirks. So, when Theodore had brushed off their gratitude, Vince couldn't say he wasn't ready for such a reaction.
This current response, however, signaled that Theodore was becoming annoyed with their pace. Vince would have been able to keep up, but they had Jack in their company, and the clairvoyant wasn't built for this kind of trip.
"Do I have to ask what the holdup is?" Theodore asked out loud.
"It was a snake," Jack replied, his voice high-pitched and equally annoyed.
"Did it bite you?"
"No."
"Then get moving. Unless you want to sleep here come nightfall," Theodore warned and continued his steady walking without another word.
"He's such a hardass," Jack muttered under his breath.
***
Mountain goats had to be the most underrated athletes in the world, Jack thought, as he looked up the path ahead with growing dread. There was no way his poor physique could withstand whatever Theo had in mind for their group. The alpha had obviously never heard of a weird concept called a break, and Jack really didn't want to be the one to slow them down.
But his lungs protested, and he could hear his own heartbeat in his ears. Nah, that couldn't be real. He was just imagining things because he was scared because—
Well, because the mountains were spooky. He had never been on a trip like this before, but he didn't want Theo to think that he was pathetic for never having been on a mountain trip, or Vince to pity him and offer to carry him on his strong back or something.
Jack felt compelled to fantasize a little about that part. Vince would offer if he asked, without a doubt. And Jack could even take a nap after he wrapped his arms around his companion's shoulders to keep himself from falling.
The walking rhythm lulled him into a numb state. He walked like an automaton, checking on Theo ahead from time to time, and then on Vince, who brought up the rear. Between the two, Jack had to think he was well protected.
Only—
What the hell had that been just now? Jack's eyes darted sideways, catching a glint on the sharp edge of a rock. Something that burned bright only to fade away fast. Where had that come from? What had that been? Ah, it must have been a trick of the light and nothing more.
"You know," he said out loud, only for the sake of breaking the silence, "adventurers often stop at inns and taverns and the like. And inns have beds, which are soft and inviting and so, so good." His feet were killing him, but if he dared complain, Theo would give him another of his death glares, and Jack's poor little heart just couldn't take something like that right now. As someone who had recently awakened their senses to the pleasures of sex, the behavior of his nether parts was, most likely, normal. Only that Jack had nothing – or better said, no one – to compare himself to.
Theo was a no-go, and Vince would tease him, albeit kindly.
The wind was growing stronger as they climbed and climbed with apparently no other goal in life but to climb and climb some more. A thin breeze snuck underneath his windproof garments, tickling him and not in a good way.
Jack winced as his ears prickled with apprehension. Was it his imagination again like when he had seen the snake that had definitely not been there? He could swear he was hearing… the wind?
Calling his name. Yeah, he had to be suffering from main character syndrome because why, of all three of them, would the wind call his name? Theo was the one supposed to be haunted by ghosts or whatnot.
"Nope. I'm not getting scared by ghosts whispering," he muttered to himself. "And Jack is a pretty common name. So, they might just be calling someone else."
"Did you say something, Jack?" Vince called from behind.
Jack waved, too tired to turn. But Theo, with his paranormal hearing, of course, had heard everything.
"Keep up, field mouse," came the familiar snarl from the alpha guiding them up, up, and up.
"I am keeping up," he protested. "I have seen nothing. Not even a single terrifying bird… or mountain goat. You'd think the place would be swarming with them, but nothing. Don't you find that odd?"
If he stopped talking, his teeth would start chattering; he was as sure of it as he was sure his name was Jack and… that the creepy laughter in the wind was still calling for him as if it didn't have better things to do.
The even worse part was the mist. It was getting thicker the higher they climbed. At first, Jack had found it funny that he was wading through it and it gave him an incentive to walk with longer steps so he could see his feet emerging from the fog, only to be swallowed again each time he put one of them down.
Now, the mist had risen to his knees, and it no longer seemed benign. By ignoring the 'voices' completely, Jack had managed to pretend they weren't real. Was it one voice or more? No, there definitely seemed to be more than one.
He shook his head. He needed to pay no attention to them, or they might just gang up on him like thieves.
The mist made everything look ridiculously same-y. Jack could swear that the drop to the ravine on their right was no longer there. Not that he felt tempted to check by stepping sideways. No, he needed to focus on Theo's back and continue to walk in a straight line or whatever line Theo chose.
He froze in place. He couldn't see Theodore anymore. He turned, gripped by fear. No sign of Vince, either.
Saliva thickened at the back of his throat, cutting off his ability to speak. Cold sweat covered his entire back now and he was, in the most literal sense of the word, lost.
Shapes formed in the fog. Jack trembled from head to toe, as his eyes grew wide, so wide that his lips murmured of their own accord, "Grandmother dear, what big eyes you have…"
There was no mistake. The shapes weren't just shapes, and they weren't random. They were… wolves.
Jack could see them, moving in a pack toward him. Their silver fur reflected the light of the moon – the moon? – and their eyes glowed faintly amber.
"Theo's pack…" he murmured, knowing with the certainty only his newly-discovered clairvoyant ability could give him that he was staring at the wolves who had once been Theodore Pembroke's pack.
They walked straight at him, although they didn't seem to see him. And as they moved, they turned into men and women, with white hair and drawn faces, so thin and worn that they didn't seem real anymore.
And they weren't, because they passed through Jack as if he was immaterial. No, correction. He was as material as he could possibly be despite his skinny frame, but they weren't.
"Should I cry 'wolf'?" Jack barely managed to croak.
The fog dispersed. Jack yelped as he noticed that he had somehow gotten close to the edge.
"Are you all right, Jack?" Vince asked from several feet away.
Well, he could start yapping about the wolves in the mist and how scared he was but, before this fateful trip, Jack had promised himself that he wouldn't be that guy. Also, it must have all been his overactive imagination because their surroundings could be seen in stark detail, the mist withdrawn toward the peaks they seemed unable to reach, no matter how long they walked and walked.
"Totally fine," he said, moving cautiously away from the edge.
"You look really spooked," Theo scolded him.
Jack took one step back. When had Theo gotten so close?
"You saw something," Theo accused, boring his icy-blue eyes into his.
Jack shook his head energetically. "Nope, nada, nothing whatsoever."
"Are you sure? Was it another snake?"
Jack pouted. "I really don't like your tone, mister. Are you suggesting I'm a liar?"
"You seem prone to exaggerations," Theodore said. "We are moving at a snail's pace because you keep holding us back."
Jack set his jaw hard. Well, he was doing his best. If that wasn't enough for the mighty Theodore Pembroke, so be it. He was about to open his mouth and say something harsh to that effect, but the recent memory of the wolves in the mist stopped him. They had seemed so sad, so hopeless. Theo was a meanie only because he didn't know any better. Like no one had treated him kindly.
That meant that he needed to swallow his pride and show Theo that he was willing to go the extra mile and all that jazz.
"I'm walking, I'm walking," he said and hurried past Theo, avoiding his hand when the other tried to stop him. "I'm the guy with the cards and the knowledge and all that. I know that we have to go that way," he said, turning to look at his companions, and pointing with one arm in the general direction.
"Jack, it's okay. If you saw something, whether it was a snake or something else, just tell us," Vince encouraged him.
"Come on, Vee, I thought you thought better of me than the weakling I am. Oops, that came out wrong. Let me rephrase that. Well, you see, I don't want to be the boy who cried wo--"
He didn't manage to finish his words. Icy fingers wrapped around his wrist and pulled him back into the mist.
He had to be screaming but he didn't hear any sound, so he was either not screaming, or he had turned suddenly deaf.
His entire body was cold as ice, and he was falling. All his eyes could see was the sky above, but that turned opaque soon, leaving nothing in its place but cold, grey fog.
Jack heard his own shivering first. His entire body fought what was going on, without much success. His heart was hammering in his chest, his pulse was like thunder in his ears, and tears of ice were pooling at the corners of his eyes.
He hit the ground hard. It took him a long moment to realize that his hands were touching snow. He pushed himself up, only to stagger as if he was drunk.
The horrifying scene in front of him made him shake even harder. His eyes were met with a large clearing covered in snow.
And blood.
Corpses lay scattered about everywhere he looked, bodies of dead white wolves, their eyes glassy, their maws frozen forever in a snarl.
And that wasn't all. Jack shook in growing terror as he took in the shape crouching in the middle of the disaster. No, not crouching. A wolf turning into a human, frozen mid-way, or was it the other way around?
The creature turned abruptly toward him, and Jack's eyes met bloodthirsty globes, solid red.
"Th-th-theo?"
The creature snarled, baring all his fangs. His head turned abruptly to his left, compelling Jack to follow his gaze, as well.
"Vee!" the shout escaped his chest, squeezing it painfully.
At first glance, the guardian looked like he was sleeping. Fresh snow must have covered him for hours, because only parts of him emerged from the funeral mound.
Jack tried to run to him, but his feet were frozen in place. He sensed his fingers tingling and stared at his hands. They were holding his dear old cards, and he feverishly tried to read them. The symbols mashed together, making it impossible for him to make sense of them.
And then, they burst into flame, burning his hands and turning to ashes in a split second.
He looked up from his hands, his attention caught by the same whisper as before. A hooded figure floated above the bloody battlefield.
It had its entire attention trained on him; Jack could tell, as he could tell that the sorrow surrounding him threatened to engulf him completely if he wasn't careful.
The hooded figure rushed toward him, but Jack's resolve hardened on the spot. He didn't try to dodge and faced the thing instead.
Which passed through him and solidified behind him. The icy fingers that had grabbed him earlier now seized him by the throat.
You're mine now, little seer.
TBC