Celestial Heartbeat (Book One) COMPLETE

Chapter Three - Casters and Connections

I could see the bushes outside of my window moving from the corner of my eye as I tied my hair up into a sloppy ponytail. I could feel my heart beating a little too fast, longing for it to be my ginger wolf. I’d been collecting some meat scraps, alongside a few other things from my most recent dinners, hoping to use them as some sort of offering. There was no telling whether it would be interested in any of the food though.

I let out a long sigh.

I didn’t want to go to school.

I knew that I had another lesson about the history of Sannah. If the class alone wasn’t a bad enough thought, this also meant it was going to be another lesson of sitting next to Ren. After how he’d treated us yesterday, and the way he had stared at me… I wasn’t so keen on the idea. I wasn’t so sure if I could stand to see the smug smile on his face today.

I didn’t understand his problem. Why did he have make people feel miserable. Why did he feel like he had to be the leader of everyone? And why was he able to make me this angry, this easily? It was infuriating.

I slipped into some canvas shoes I had lying on the floor of my room and made my way very slowly and quietly down the stairs. My mum had been working a night shift at the hospital and she was sure to be asleep in her downstairs bedroom.

I knew she hated me going out to look for the wolf, but I couldn’t help myself. My heart would beat erratically when I saw him, burning for me to go see him. I made myself a couple of pieces of peanut butter toast, and grabbed my container full of scraps before heading out onto my backyard.

There he was.

The small ginger wolf, sitting there, staring back at me like he had been waiting patiently for me while I was getting ready.

The sun hadn’t risen properly yet so he was still a little hard to make out in all of the darkness, but it was definitely him.

I sat myself down on the small deck that our back doors led out onto. I didn’t ever dare try to go closer than a couple meters away from the wolf. As long as he didn’t feel threatened, I was sure I was safe.

I took the lid off of my scrap container and tried tossing the wolf some of the chicken that I hadn’t finished from last night’s dinner. It landed right in front of him, but he didn’t even blink in reaction to it. I tried a couple of other things, some beef, some fish, even a little piece of garlic bread. He didn’t even seem interested in sniffing them. What a strange wolf.

I knew they were different from dogs, but I thought they would at least be similar in the sense that when I chucked him food, he could have at least sniffed it.

Maybe Alex was right, maybe they could take care of themselves. The wolf didn’t look particularly skinny, or malnourished. Realizing this helped ease a little of the guilt I had.

I continued eating the toast I had made for myself, muttering things to the wolf.

“I don’t suppose you have jerks in the wolf world, huh?” I mused.

The wolf stared back blankly at me, just slowly blinking his eyes. If Alex had found my concern for the wolves’ funny, I’m sure me talking to one would have had him in hysterics.

“Maybe life is easier as a wolf.” I shrugged.

The wolf let out a small whimper, like he didn’t agree with me.

“Oh, is that so?”

At least wolves didn’t have to worry about stupid history lessons, and boys like Ren.

The wolf seemed to look up at the sky. I looked up with him, the sun appeared to slowly be making its way into the sky, finally making its first appearance for the day.