Redeeming the Lost (A Comforter's Tale)

Chapter 30

"Just how did you manage that?" Vera slowly asked, staring at her scarf hanging from the chandelier in perplexity. It was high enough that she wasn't even able to touch the dangling ends with her fingertips.

"Magic," I proudly proclaimed. The hardest part had been convincing Conrad to let one of the teenagers climb onto his shoulders to get it up there. He didn't want to have any part of a plan that involved the first object Vera had bought at this pack.

"Uh huh." She wasn't buying my story.

"Is our trip tonight still on?"

"Yes, but you had better unmagic that thing back down before then."

"Alas, it doesn't work that way. Just like my aura can't affect me, I can't undo most of my mischiefs."

She continued gazing at the beautifully woven silk scarf above us. "If it had just been draped on, I could probably jump and tug it off, but some thoughtful person tied it into a bow."

"It kind of looks that way, doesn't it?" I turned and trotted away. "I believe there is a ladder in the shed by the apple tree."

When she didn't reply, I decided to make myself scarce. It was rare for Vera to take her time and think things through instead of immediately reacting. Normally, the temperamental wolf retaliated like a lightning bolt of fur and teeth.

I didn't want to be around when she decided how to react to my latest prank.

 

~

 

       I wrinkled my nose as Anabel rubbed a handful of sharp-smelling leaves through my fur.

"There. They won't be able to pick up our pack scent or our personal scent. We'll just have to take care that they don't track us back." Anabel sat back on her heels and shifted into her wolf form.

"Did you roll in a patch of mint?" I asked her. The smell was practically rolling off of her in waves.

"Yes, and a few other plants to tone it down."

"Are we ready?" Vera asked through our grouplink, sitting nearby with several other wolves.

"The rogues are at the place we told them to meet us," Josh informed us from his hiding spot, sending us an image of four humans standing around a hand-drawn cart with a red-eyed wolf in a cage.

"Are you ready?" Conrad asked me.

"Yes."

Vera picked me up as Conrad took the lead. Anabel and three other wolves followed us while the others disappeared into the underbrush like shadows.

Amber passed Conrad as she loped ahead to meet the rogues first. People sometimes got a bit rattled when someone the size of Conrad emerged from the forest.

When we entered the clearing, Vera slowed down to let two of the other wolves pass while the third trailed behind. I could sense my other five friends, and from the sharp focus of their minds, I was pretty sure they were close enough to see us even if I couldn't spot them.

Amber was talking with one of the rogues quietly while the others watched our group warily. Conrad stood to the side in his wolf form, like a foreboding guardian in black fur. The rogues focused on me the moment Vera came into the clearing.

She gently set me down on the grass and lifted her head to examine the four strangers. I had half-expected her fur to be bristling, but her mind was completely still. Calm, but with an almost deadly focus and intent underneath. Like a still pond whose pristine reflection could be broken by any rock or leaf that disturbed its surface. I wasn't entirely sure where she had acquired this sudden composure, but it wasn't completely due to my aura.