❝ i thought i lost the only thing
keeping me from going insane, ❞
❝ and what's that? ❞
❝ you. ❞
❝ when death takes
my hand, i will hold you
with the other and
promise to find...
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⇝
"WOLVES," PIPER SAID. "THEY SOUND CLOSE."
Octavia rose and summoned her sword. As Jason, Leo and Coach Hedge got to their feet too. Piper tried, but didn't manage to.
"Stay there," Jason told her. "We'll protect you."
Then, just outside the firelight at the entrance of the cave, Octavia saw a pair of red eyes glowing in the dark.
More wolves edged into the firelight—black beasts bigger than Great Danes, with snow covering their fur. Their fangs gleamed, and their glowing red eyes looked disturbingly hungry. The wolf in front was almost as tall as a horse, his mouth stained as if he'd just made a fresh kill.
Piper pulled her dagger.
Then Jason stepped forward and said something in Latin. It seemed to work because the big wolf curled his lip. The fur stood up along his spine. One of his lieutenants tried to advance, but the alpha wolf snapped at his ear. Then all of the wolves backed into the dark.
"Dude, I gotta study Latin." Leo's hammer shook in his hand. "What'd you say, Jason?"
Hedge cursed. "Whatever it was, it wasn't enough. Look."
Unfortunately, the wolves were coming back, but the big wolf wasn't with them. They didn't attack. They just waited—at least a dozen now, in a rough semicircle just outside the firelight, blocking the cave exit.
Hedge hefted his club. "Here's the plan. I'll kill them all, and you guys escape."
"Hedge" Octavia rolled her eyes.
"Coach, they'll rip you apart," Piper said.
"Nah, I'm good."
Then Piper saw the silhouette of a man coming through the storm, wading through the wolf pack.
"Stick together," Jason said. "They respect a pack. And Hedge, no crazy stuff. We're not leaving you or anyone else behind."
The wolves parted, and a man stepped into the firelight. His hair was greasy and ragged, the color of fireplace soot, topped with a crown of what looked like finger bones. His robes were tattered fur—wolf, rabbit, raccoon, deer, and several others Octavia couldn't identify.
The furs didn't look cured, and from the smell, they weren't very fresh. His frame was lithe and muscular, like a distance runner's. But the most horrible thing was his face. His thin pale skin was pulled tight over his skull. His teeth were sharpened like fangs. His eyes glowed bright red like his wolves'—and they fixed on Jason with absolute hatred.
"Ecce," he said, "filli Romani."
"Speak English, wolf man!" Hedge bellowed.
The wolf man snarled. "Tell your faun to mind his tongue, son of Rome. Or he'll be my first snack."
