Once Upon A Time ~ Book 1

Chapter 89 - The Killer Wolf

Ruby drove Emma's yellow Bug by the forest and pulled in by the toll bridge. She stepped out if the car, into the late evening air, on her phone to Emma.
"I mean, what am I even looking for?" she shut the door.

Emma still stood in the hospital on the other end of the line. "Anything out of the ordinary. Something that doesn't belong there."

Ruby walked down the trail, by the woods to the river, beneath the toll bridge. "And if I find something?" she said nervously.

"Just follow your instincts."

She went down in her honkers next to the river, on the damp rocky, sandy, ground, next to a rotten, piece of furnished wood. She put the phone down on rock next to her and threw the piece of wood away. Beneath it was perfectly flat sand. She took a stick from the ground next to her and began to dig into the sand with it. Then she hit something hard with the stick. She scrapped the sand away, and saw a some wood with a golden crest on it. She brushed the rest of the sand away with her hands to reveal a lid of a box.
"You can't give me a clue what I'm looking for?" she said to the phone, smiling.

"Anything of Kathryn's." said Emma.

She pulled the little, wooden jewellery box from the sand and held it in her black, gloved hands. She stared at it, fear in her eyes.

"Ruby? What's going on?" she asked when she got no reply.

She brushed some more of the sand from the box.

"Did you find something?"

Ruby closed her eyes an breathed heavily, her heart pounding on her chest.then she flipped the lid open and closed it the moment she looked inside, screaming and shrieking, horrified. She panted heavily, the box lying closed in the sand.

"Ruby?...... Ruby?" she said loudly.

Ruby whimpered loudly, tears in her eyes mingled with fear.

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Snow lay in Red's bed, Red's red cloak wrapped around her, the hood over her head.
She listened as footsteps approached the door, then it opened, letting a beam of light into the dark room. Granny stepped inside.
She looked around the room. "Where's Mary?" Granny asked.
"Come on, girl, wake up. We best bar the door." she said, stepping closer to the bed. "If Mary's not backup now, she'll have to take her chances." she pulled her around.
Snow looked up at her as she gasped in shock, stepping back.
"She's in no danger." reassured Snow.
"What have you done?"
She sat up. "No, it's okay, it's all right, it's fine."
"Where is she?" she demanded from Snow.
"Well, she's with Peter, and I know you don't like him, but that's really beside the point."
"You stupid, careless, ridiculous girl." she spat.
"No, you don't understand. Peter isn't........ This is going to be difficult to accept. You just have to trust me...... He's the wolf."
"You think Peter is the wolf?"
"Yes. This terrible creature is also human....... It's okay, though. He won't hurt her. She's got him tied up."
"He's tied up?"
She nodded.
"Oh.....That poor boy." she ran quickly from the room.

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Peter stood by the tree, tyed up with the metal chains. They chlanked loudly as he shuffled and tugged at them, fear in his eyes as he looked ahead. "Red! No! Red!" he shouted. "It's me! Don't! Don't, please!"
Opposite him, slowly walking towards him, the huge, grey, wolf stood in the snow, growling at him.
"Red! No!" he shouted, panicking, nearly crying now. "Red!"
The wolf stepped closer and closer to him, paw after paw, her jaws long and fearsom, sharp as knives.
He tugged and attempted to escape. "Red! No......." he stared one last time into the wolf's dark, eyes and then in pounced, growling deeply, it's jaw opened wide.

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Emma and Ruby stood in the Sherif's station, the wooden jewellery box lying open on the desk in front of them.
"Is...... Is that what I think it is?" asked Ruby, her voice quivering.
"Yeah." said Emma.
Ruby turned her head and stepped away. "I can't look."
Emma closed the lid of the box with a blue plastic glove and Ruby stood at the other end of the room, tears rowling down from her dark, shadowed eyes to her pale cheeks.
Emma sighed and stepped closer to Ruby. "Are you okay?"
"I don't know what I am." she said quitly.
"Its gonna be all right. We can figure our want happened now."
She nodded and leaned against the desk.
"Ruby, you did good."
"This is doing good?" she glanced at the jewellery box.
"Yeah. It's amazing. First you found David, and now this. I know you say you don't know what you are, but whatever it is, I gotta say, I'm impressed."
She smiled. "Don't be. I was scared out of my mind." she brushed away the tears rowling down her face.
"But you did anyway."
She smiled again.

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Snow and Granny trudged quicky through the snowy, dark forest, the only light being, the lanternd in Granny's and Snow's hands and the pale moon in the sky. A wolf howled in the distance, breaking the silence.
"You knew?" said Snow.
"Of course I knew. Her mother was one too before a hunting party killed her. I thought maybe Red didn't get it, but when she was thirteen, it started. I paid a wizard for th at cloak. It keeps her from turning, but she doesn't wear it, and she's found some way out of the house."
"Why didn't you tell her?"
"I didn't want her to have that burden. It's a terrible burden."
"That story you told."
"That was her grandfather." she explained. "He marked me that night, then cane back, found me, turned me."
"Turned you. You're........." she quickly stopped in her tracked ans stared at Granny ahead of her.
The wolf howled again in the distance.
"Granny? How are you tracking her?"
"By smell..... I still have that, even though the rest of it has faded away....... Gods, I was a fool to think I could keep this form her. I am a fool, and I've cost so many lives."
"You didn't mean to. That's the main thing."
"Is it?"
They heard the wolf howl again, closer now.
Granny handed Snow her lantern. "Here."
Snow took it and Granny held up her crossbow. "A silver-tipped arrow will drop her."
"Ohh......" she whispered.
"Shh..... Follow me."
They walked slowly and quitly on the snow.
"We're approaching from downwind, so we have a chance." said Granny, still holding the crossbow up, her head bent a little.
Snow followed uneasily behinds, fear in her eyes.
Down, by the edge of the forest ahead, they saw the wolf, Red chewing and tearing apart Peter's body with her razer sharp teeth.
Snow put the lanternd down as they slowly and carefully silently approach the wolf from behind. Then suddenly Snow stepped on a twig and it broke, making an echoing sound.
The wolf turned quickly, growling fearsomely, her jaws dripping with blood.
Granny shot the silver-tipped arrow from the crossbow and it went straight into the wolf. She fell back and whimpered.
"Cloak!" demanded Granny.
Snow pulled Red's cloak from her and pulled it over the wolf.
Snow stood straight and looked up, spotting the blood and guts splattered in the snow ahead.
Golden magic whirled around the red cloak.
"It's too late." breathed Snow. "He's gone." tears filled in her eyes.
"Who's gone?" said Red's voice as she shuffled beneath the cloak, she got up onto her knees, confused.
"Get up, girl! Get ready to run!" said Granny.
They helped her up and Snow pulled the hood tighter over her head.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"Come on, Red."
"Don't you heat them?" said Granny.
Voices of men shooting and screaming could be heard in the distance.
"We have to go." said Snow.
"Go? I door understand."
"I'll explain it later. We must hurry."
She looked from Granny to Snow. "What? I'm confused. What's happening?" she tryed to turn around put Snow pulled her back. Then finally she tugged away and looked ahead. "Where's Peter?" she asked and turned back to Snow, panting heavily.
"He wasn't the wolf." said Snow.
Red eyes widened in realisation, fear grew in her eyes. She looked at Granny. "Granny?"
"I was wrong to keep it from you. But now you have to go."
Red gulped in fear as she stared at Granny.
"Red, go!"
"It's me?" she cryed.
Snow looked ahead to see flamed torches behind the snowy trees.
"Oh Gods, it's me." she sobbed, losing her balance ans almost falling into the snow.
"Red, go!" shouted Granny.
"No, I don't want to go like this!"
"You have to."
"No. No, no, no, no." she sobbed as Granny and Snow helped her from falling to the ground.
"It's okay. It's gonna be okay." sais Snow.
"Mary, there's no time."
"I know........ I'll get her out of here." she pulled Red away as she sobbed, tears streaming down her face, again nearly falling into the snow.
"Go." Granny watched Snow pulled Red away, deep into the trees as the glaring flames lid up her wrinkled, old face.