Among The Wolves

Storytime

When I was escorted back to the basement of the third packhouse my symptoms seemed to quadruple. The ache in my muscles hardly permitted me to stand, the clamminess turned to dripping sweat and shivers assaulted me. There was also a pain in bones I could not explain. I curled up with a blanket on the couch and watched Lins finish up a set of paper dolls.

"What do you think of them, Kejy?" She held them up for me to see.

I smiled, even at her young age Lins was already a better artist than I was. "You did so well! Better than I did with your dolls."

"No way! The dolls are better than these!"

"Well, look. Your dolls have all their legs."

Lins looked dubiously at her paper doll before shrugging, "I guess you're right."

I smiled and motioned for Lins to come near. "Would you like me to braid your hair?"

Lins nodded and sat on the floor between my legs. I dried my sweaty hands on my pants and then pulled out the hair band holding her hair into a ponytail. Hopefully, all these gruesome symptoms would go away at the full moon.

I divided three locks of hair on the top of her head. "There's something I need to tell you, Lins."

"What?"

"About what happened when I got here, how I am still alive and how I was able to go back and get you."

"Oh yeah! You said you'd tell me this!"

A small smile played on my lips. "Well, it started out at the skills training camp. We were doing an activity where we had to learn how to hide from a wolfblood. That's what they call themselves, instead of werewolf. They think that if you call them werewolf, then you are mean."

"Oh, I didn't know that."

"Yea."

"Do you think that Duo'Lae thinks I am mean? I've called her werewolf a couple of times."

"Is she still playing with you?" I asked, still braiding her hair.

"Yea."

"Then she probably has forgiven you."

"Oh good."

I straightened my back, getting ready to tell the next part. "Now, there was a boy in the camp. He was not very smart. He thought it was a good idea to go over the border and shoot the wolfbloods."

"WHAT?! That's dumb."

"I know! Well, I was not being very smart either. I tried to stop him from shooting the wolfbloods, I went over the border too."

"That doesn't make you dumb, Kejy. That makes you a hero."

I smiled fondly, Lins was so sweet. "Thank you, but that is how I became captive. While trying to stop that boy the wolfbloods caught me."

"But didn't they know you were saving them?"

"Most of the time it does not matter why you break the rule. If you break the rule you have to be punished."

"Oh... how'd they punish you?"

"I became a servant to a very mean lady. You see, she didn't know that customs are different for us. Like, we look into each other's eyes all the time to learn more about them and show emotion or interest. Well, here if you look in someone's eyes that means you are trying to challenge them and tell them you are the boss."

"That's so weird!"

I picked up the hair tie and began to tie the end of her braid. "I know, right? This lady thought I was always trying to tell her I was the boss but I was just trying to understand her. So because of that she was very mean. Sometimes she would hit me."