Shadows of Darkness

12. Wolf

Losing twenty minutes to an admin staff who was obsessed with her aunt, Molly hastened through a crowded cafeteria. She could grab some fries and a chicken sandwich but failed to find a spot to sit. Freedom looked chaotic. If there was a thing to miss about her old school, it was the well-organized lunch hours.

Molly took the food, ditched the tray, and made her way to the next class—biology—which would begin in another fifteen minutes. Pulling fries from a paper bag with her teeth while rushing through the corridor was adventurous. She pushed her back through a door, contented with the smoothness of her first day. Spinning around with greasy potato sticks dangling in her mouth, she choked and nearly spat out the whole thing.

"Shit!" Mr. Carter snarled to either someone on the phone or to Molly. "Auribus teneo lupum." He huffed, his eyes on the French fries. "Talk to you later." He cut off the phone and took a long moment to react to the stunning awkwardness.

Shit, indeed. Molly sucked the fries into her mouth and regressed. Latin wasn't her expertise, but lupum meant wolf.

"I'm sorry," Mr. Carter said. "You don't have to go." Coming out of him, it sounded like 'please stay.'

Molly's entire body froze while her mouth was slowly making the clump of food under her cheeks disappear. Mr. Carter gave her a once-over, shook his head, and scoffed. That was the most splendid insult Molly had ever received, and yet he was excusable. Truthfully, Mr. Carter was the I'm-better-than-you-type-of-a-guy nobody could hate. Molly swallowed. "I didn't think this room was occupied, so I just thought..." She raised her sandwich and fries.

Mr. Carter held a bottle of water to his eye level. "Cheers." He lowered himself onto a seat and tapped the desk next to him. "Come. Sit." He looked at his watch. "Looks like we have seven minutes left." He looked defeated, although he had won the first round. His teaching was captivating. Beautiful actually. Of course, the whole school swooned over him. If a girl wasn't attracted to him, she would need glasses. And Molly had 20/20 vision.

Sitting on the next bench, Molly kept the distance. Through the quietness, she unwrapped the sandwich, and the plastic wrapper crackled superbly. This was a little humiliating for some reason, and it made Molly hate to eat. But for another wild reason of her own, if she didn't take a bite, he might be hurt and so was she. Reluctantly, she took an edge of the sandwich, chewing slowly and gracefully as she could manage. He uncapped his water bottle and drank elegantly.

"Auribus means listen," Molly said after pushing a chunk of dry bread down her throat.

Mr. Carter scoffed, the tone sounding more amused than disdainful, and turned to Molly. "In this context, I'd rather say, ears." He pointed at the side of her cheek.

Molly blushed. What do you want to do with the wolf's ears? This was the smartest question she could come up with, but she could not utter through another clump of food in her mouth. "I didn't mean to pry," she finally said. "I heard the words."

"It's nothing," he said and enthusiastically watched her handle the sandwich. "Water?" He handed her the bottle, to which she shook her head to refuse, and then he went back to look at the whiteboard in front of them. It was plain, empty, like his expression. "My brother thinks I lie. We don't do that to one another."

More than one sibling then.

Molly looked at the water bottle's open wet neck. Drinking from that would be taboo. "You talk to your brother in Latin?" She cleared her throat.

"Only when he infuriates me."

"And you call him Wolf," asked Molly.

Mr. Carter blinked and took a moment to evaluate the brain of the not-prying-girl. "Wolf is dead."

"Oh..." Molly's breath came out in a whoosh. "You mean..."

"I lost one." He nodded and pretended to smile.

My wolf is dead, too. "My mom recently passed away," she said and also beamed pretentiously.

This was like a competition of sort, the bitter and tough-to-swallow one, and both of them proudly took part. They were strong and unaffected, shielded with some self-serving denials.

"I skimmed all my students' files," Mr. Carter said without sympathy to Molly or to himself, kind of like Gail talking about Rebecca. And that made all of him loud and clear. "You're very talented."

Molly should have stopped cramming food into her mouth and patted herself on the back. A lone prodigy of the great Rebecca Wolf, the straight-A sports queen. In front of this prince, however, she hadn't been brilliant, but weird and slow. Mr. Carter was made to be intimidated and enviable. His bottle of water looked exquisite. His eyes were unquestionably what he described those of his hypothetical witch.

"Two minutes," he said and rose to his feet. "You probably need this." He left the bottle of water on the desk and strutted to the door. "Iterum te, amice, videbo."

If Molly wanted to get to know Mr. Carter, shewould have to polish her Latin.