The Wizard's Herbarium: The Wolf Child

Part 35

Colt had no idea where Marrok would be. He wandered the forest, hopeful that he'd find something, and yet pessimistic that he'd have to return to Kova empty-handed. It wasn't his proudest moment, but at one point, when a branch snapped back in his face, he seriously considered the lie that he'd tell the boy just so he could stop his search and turn back.

As his walked, his footsteps thudded against the ground. He kept to the path that snaked along the river. There was only one place he knew where to start, and when he came to a row of raspberry bushes lining the path, Colt stopped.

There had been a white-picket gate in between those raspberry bushes. Behind it had been a narrow pathway in all the overgrowth. That was all gone. Instead, it looked like none of it had ever existed.

When Colt explored the space on either side of the raspberry bushes, the ferns, tall grass and trees grew so thick that it made crossing reasonably a pipe dream. He'd have to do some serious bush-whacking to get through there.

Colt looked up the hill where the stone had used to run, hoping to catch a glimpse of Atticus' house or garden, even though he knew all of it was too far back. So, Colt looked up and down the path on either side of him to see if anyone was coming before he called out for Atticus. When there was no answer, he tried again, this time raising his voice more.

There was no movement in front of him and no sign of Atticus coming down. Colt called one last time before he gave it up. He wasn't that far from the town, just bare on the outskirts of it and someone could probably hear him shouting.

He felt like he'd exhausted his first and only option. Once again, lying to Kova came up as a possible solution because, what else was there? Colt didn't know the area beyond the town well, and he wasn't packed for travel, or even a day trip without water or food. He had no way of reaching Atticus and even if he did, there was no cell service anyway.

But what exactly was he going to tell Kova?

If he returned too soon, then Kova would know that he hadn't really put effort into his search. He felt like a kid again, when he'd been debating about whether he should steal a cookie from the cookie jar in his kitchen and needing to think of a lie to tell to explain the missing cookie. Having to think up a lie to tell Kova led Colt to begin walking.

He continued down the path along the river, lost in thought. Should he tell Kova that Marrok was dead? What if he asked for proof? How about telling the truth - that he hadn't found anything at all, but what if Kova accused him of not trying hard enough?

Just as he was starting to feel sorry for himself, scuffing his feet along the path as he walked, Colt saw movement in the waist-high grass on the opposite river bank. He recognized Atticus, and his heart skipped at his luck. Atticus would know where Marrok was, or maybe how to find him.

"Marrok, listen to me," Atticus was saying. "You're not yourself. You need to leave this place."

Colt called out, his voice jerking Atticus' gaze his way. Surprise and then anger flitted over Atticus' face. The grass moved as something crawled through it, grown so high that Colt didn't see the body of the huge white wolf right away. Marrok slinked free from the tall grass, his tongue lolling from his gaping jaws and rows of sharp teeth that could rip him apart.

Colt froze when Marrok splashed into the slow-moving river and began to swim towards him. Some long-forgotten instinct rooted Colt's feet to the spot and made his muscles tense up.

"Run!" Atticus shouted from the other side of the river. "Run, unless you want to die!"

The threat of death launched Colt into action. He ran, moving a few stumbling steps before his feet kept under him and he sprinted as fast as he could towards the town, despite knowing that he was too far to make it there before the four-legged creature caught up with him.