Midnights

Chapter Nine

Anna Lia

I watched him go, tears flowing down my cheeks. I hugged myself because the wind picked up, as if it was following the wolf. I gasped as chills went through me.

    When the wolf went through me I it was so different. It was like I wasn’t me anymore - no, it was like I was more then what I was.  I could feel his feelings of rage and urgency. I could feel his...soul. And when he left, it gave me such a transparent feeling. Like I was fading...

    Peter grabbed me roughly by the shoulders. “Anna Lia!! Anna! Are you ok? Oh my God, you’re cheek. He got you! Does it hurt? How deep is it? Anna Lia!”

    I managed to stutter out. “I-I-I’m f-fine!”

    “You’re freezing! Get inside, now!”

   He dragged me into the house and called out, “Hello? Mr. and Mrs. Anders!”

    My mother ran into the room. “Peter! What on earth happened here?”

   Peter made me sit on the couch in the living room and he wrapped a green blanket around me but it did little, I was so cold.

    He spoke to my mother, “There was a wolf! It attacked us, and almost killed me. It got Anna Lia, see? We need a doctor.”

    “I-I’m o-okay!”

    Peter and my mother both ignored me. My mother said, “I’ll call the doctor, you need to sit down, dear. Goodness Peter, you’re so brave!”

    I turned away from Peter when he sat next to me. I didn’t want him to see the glare on my face; he had just been trying to protect me, I knew that. I shouldn’t feel angry at him for being a good friend. But I was.

    My mother came running back in, breathless. “The doctor said he’ll be here soon. Oh, Anna!” Peter moved so she could sit next to me. She grabbed me in her arms and sighed, “Oh, Anna, darling! Thank goodness you’re ok! Oh, you’re pretty face.” she frowned as she saw the scratch the wolf had given me.

   “It doesn’t hurt,” I stood up, the fading feeling started to leave me. I wrapped the blanket around me and walked to the kitchen to put on the kettle.

    Peter and my mother followed me in. My mother was saying, “Dratted wolf! I bet your father can organize a hunt later today,”

    I turned to her sharply. “No! They’ll get hurt, mother. It’s not a wolf, it’s a spirit!”

    I regretted telling her that at once. Her face turned red and she nearly yelled, “Damn those spirits! They used to torment you at night, and now they actually hurt you physically! That is too much!”

    I tried to make her understand, “Mother, not all the spirits are bad! And this one wasn’t trying to hurt me, he was trying to save me.”

    Peter looked indignant, “From what? From me?”

   I nodded, “Yes, I think he misunderstood that you were trying to save me from him.”

    Peter rolled his eyes and said, “I think he wanted me for lunch, and you for desert!”

    I slammed my fist on the table. “Thats not it! He needed me, and when you took me farther away from him he must have panicked.”

     “He needed you to fill his stomach, thats why.”

     I was about to start yelling at Peter, but I closed my mouth. It was no good. They would never understand me.

    My mother sighed and said thoughtfully, “Well, it must be a different kind of spirit. It as able to touch you both, meaning with the right tools we should be able to touch him too. We need to kill that thing before the party tomorrow,”

    That’s when I lost it. “Party?! Mother is that all your worried about?”

     “There will be a lot of people there, and I don’t want them to fear that the wolf is still around. I’ll get your father to gather a hunting party soon.”

      I was outraged, fresh tears came into my eyes. I threw the blanket at them and ran to my room, slamming the door behind me. I collapsed on my bed and nearly screamed in rage, but instead I sobbed. Oh, what is wrong with me? I’ve never cried this much in my life. I was never one to cry, not over anything. Not over boyfriends, cuts or bruises. Not eve an ankle popped out of place.

      I sat up straight, realization flowing through me. The wolf, his purple eyes. I’ve seen him before, but when and where? I couldn’t remember the dates. I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on the memory that was dancing just out of my reach. I tried my hardest to surface it so I could know exactly where I’d seen the wolf before, but then I heard my father say, 

    “Wolf you say? Well of course I’ll gather a hunting party!  That wolf will regret the day he messed with my daughter,”

     No! My heart began to beat faster. I have to get to the wolf before my father does.

     But how? And where was he?