Little Red Riding Wolf (Book 1 of Red Shoes and the 7 Dwarfs the Series)

Chapter 6

Red

Red stared in shocked silence as soon as she heard those words. She was beginning to feel that the dwarf was right.

"Mr. Marley was killed by a wolf," she said in fear. "Are you certain?"

"Yes," replied her mother. "For his body was covered in claw and bite marks, and from close inspection they proved that it was a wolf to have done it."

"You don't think that I-" she said too scared to finish her question.

"No," said her mother with absolute certainty. "Of course not. You would never do something like this. Especially since you never the house at night.

"She's right," agreed Granny, putting a comforting hand on her granddaughter's shoulder. "You are good person Red. Only a heartless monster would do something like this."

"Besides," said Mama. "They said it was done by a regular wolf, not a werewolf."

"That's good I guess," she said, relaxing a little, though now she was confused. "But I still don't understand how Mr. Marley ended up near the woods since he hardly leaves the village? Why would a single wolf leave the woods to kill a man, when they don't usually do that? That's kind of impossible, especially since no wolf has been seen in there since..." After her Great-great-great-great Grandfather got cursed into a werewolf.

He was so fearsome that all the regular wolves fled Edeilweiss in fear. Even after he left town they didn't return. The only most fearsome creature now in those woods were bears, who only attacked when angered.

"Red, the proof is on him," said Mama. "Besides you shouldn't think on it and not get involved. Especially since it endure keep your secret is still kept safe from anyone finding out. All we can do is give our condolences to Mr. Marley's sons for their loss."

Red sighed in defeat, knowing her mother was right. She wanted to know why this sudden wolf attack happened, but she knew that if she did it would somehow risk revealing her secret being revealed. If that happened they would know she was a monster and kill not just her but Mama and Granny, even Davey! It was one of her worst nightmares!

So she turned away all thoughts of looking into this mystery case and nodded her acceptance. Mama, Granny, and Davey's safety were more important to her than than anything.

Once that was done they started getting back to work, because soon after customers started coming in. They also put away herbs that were delivered. Caught up in their work, they briefly forget the day's recent events.

By the time they finished helping the last customer it was time to close shop and and a few hours till sunset.

"Granny is a little late," said Red. Granny went out a little hour ago to get groceries and should have been back by now, "I hope nothing's happened to her." Even more so since after hearing about what happened to Mr. Marley. She would would lose it if the same thing happened to Granny.

"I wouldn't worry about her," assured Mama. "It is your Granny after all and she is not afraid of wolves."

"Your right," she said. "It's just that what happened with Mr. Marley has me nervous."

"I know, me too," Mama said in concern. "It is times like these we need to be careful."

Red nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly.