Skinwalkers

Chapter Nineteen

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Chapter Nineteen

"Can't catch us!"

"Catch you! Catch you! Catch you!"

The waters of Lake Shane sparkled in the morning sunlight as Clueless splashed around, frantically chasing after Derrick and the two rabbit twins. Their names, Fey had learned, were Jake and Nat, and they had been added to the pack about a year after she had left. They were both manborn, but had taken to living in the Wild as naturally as...well, as naturally as Fey had when she'd first been Awakened.

Derrick, on the other hand, was a pureborn. A skinwalker born from two skinwalker parents. Those were exceedingly rare, since they could only be conceived by two skinwalkers that shared the same animal. Pureborns were considered special, even by skinwalker standards, many believing that they held powerful destinies. His talent with medicine and treating injuries was proof enough of that for Fey. She could remember when, just a year or so before she'd left the pack, she had broken her leg. Using nothing but sticks and animal hides hunted by their packmates, Derrick had whipped up a cast that any human doctor would have envied. She had healed in just a matter of weeks.

More than anything, though, Derrick was Glenn's pride and joy. Fey couldn't imagine what would become of Glenn if anything ever happened to his son.

A day had passed since their arrival, and after a night of being tended to by Derrick's skilled and gentle hands, Clueless was on her feet and ready to go. Being a retriever, she had always loved the water, and had literally jumped for joy when Fey offered to take them all swimming. With her playful, doglike demeanor, she had become best friends with the kids almost immediately.

Fey sat on the shore, watching as both the rabbit-walkers took Clueless by surprise, leaping straight out of the water to land on her shoulders.

"Dive, dive, dive!" Derrick shouted, tackling Clueless from the front. She fell over with a splash, then resurfaced a couple seconds later, spitting out water—and then pounced when the tips of a pair of rabbit ears poked above the surface nearby.

"Caught you!" she yelled, standing back up with Nat wrapped in her arms, giggling madly. "Caught you! Yes! Good girl! Caught you!"

"I'm over here, slowpoke!" Jake yelled, popping out of the water twenty feet away. "Nyah nyah, can't get me!"

Fey couldn't help but smile as Clueless dropped Nat back into the water and went after her brother. She was as dumb as a rock, yes, but there was a certain innocence in that stupidity that Fey couldn't help but admire. Untouched by the rules and expectations of both humanity and skinwalkers, the idea of holding back was a foreign one to her. Clueless didn't like things, she loved them. When something caught her attention, she would go after it with a level of zeal that Fey had never seen in anyone else.

The smile faded quickly from her face, though, when the weight of the situation pressed down on her again. The wendigos—or whatever they were—could get here any day. Jake, Nat, and Derrick were in danger because of her. So was everyone else in the pack, but watching the children play in the water with Clueless, their peril struck her as especially frightening. So young. Too young to be put through the horrors Fey had witnessed over the past few days.

There was nothing to gain from agonizing about her decision, though. The mistake had been made. The only thing she could do now was stand her ground and help make sure her former packmates didn't become the monsters' next meal.

The fur on Fey's back stood up, and she realized she was being watched. She sprang to her hooves, spinning to face the spy, and then sighed in relief when she saw it only Ember.