WOLVES DON'T TALK

Chapter 15. WARNING! KEEP OUT!

The mist had thinned out by the time I caught up with the rabbit. I barely kept from running smack into her when she stopped suddenly. She ignored my clumsy arrival and pointed a fat paw toward the brimstone pit I knew had to be there. But I didn't see any devils or smoking brimstone or even a pit. Instead, I faced a tall fence with circles of barbed wire strung along its top and a giant sign pinned to its wire mesh. Large faded red letters on the sign screamed danger.

WARNING! KEEP OUT!

The enclosure occupied the middle of a large barren clearing covered only with mud and rocks. Unlike the surrounding forest, the place lacked all life. No trees, no bushes, no animals here. Only a soft breeze ruffling the distant forest canopy broke the silence and the stillness of this place.

I crossed the muddy boundary surrounding the fenced enclosure and peered through the wire mesh and spotted a few old trucks with faded lettering on their cabs, noting they had once been the property of a timber company.

A small wooden shack leaned dangerously on an eroding concrete foundation in the middle of the clearing next to a pool of bright green liquid. A mist rose into the air from the pool as the liquid swirled about and overflowed its banks, trickling slowly toward a nearby creek.

That was pretty much it, except for masses of rusty old barrels scattered all over the place with faded orange rings painted on them. I tried to make out the lettering on a few of the barrels, which turned out to be strange combinations of numbers and letters like 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D. The word Dioxin appeared on a few of them.

All of it seemed somewhat familiar to me, maybe something I'd heard about in one of the gifted classes that I'd tried so hard to ignore.

"This is it," I muttered in disbelief.

The place didn't seem the least bit threatening. All those stories about devils and evil and even the poor sad dirty white rabbit burning and dying seemed ridiculous. I felt disappointed as I looked around the old dump. I'd wasted a lot of time worrying about a bunch of crummy old barrels and some rusty trucks.

However, Daphne didn't share my disappointment. She thumped up and down in a rage, shaking her head and fluttering her crazy eyelashes with each hop of her huge rabbit legs.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I replied to her flopping about and rolled my eyes, completely understanding that trying to calm the dumb rabbit would be useless.

I had a key to find and wanted to get my search over with as quickly as possible so I could get back to the clearing with the other animals and make sure the wolf and Pythia were okay.

"How do we get over this fence?" I asked both the rabbit and myself.

Daphne stopped hopping and settled into a fat furry crouch on the ground and glared at me. She wasn't going any further.

"Right," I replied, acknowledging her refusal to help. I'd find the key all by myself and didn't need any assistance from a stupid creature. "I'll be back soon," I added.

Then I walked off toward the fence, intent upon following it around the enclosure, hoping to find an opening. I traveled about half its length when I spotted a large double gate with another warning sign dangling at an odd angle from its wire top.

WARNING! KEEP OUT! NO TRESPASSING!

A rusty padlock and a bunch of old chain fastened the swinging panels of the gate together, making the whole setup look very discouraging. I shrugged my shoulders in disappointment and delivered a bunch of disgusted kicks at the structure, intent upon exhibiting my frustration with the situation. I flicked my foot at it over and over just as hard as I could flick. I didn't expect my attack on the wire to do any good but, somehow, it made me feel better. So, I was more than surprised when the gate let out a loud creaking sound and fell half way down after a bunch of kicks. The lock remained in place, holding the two panels together in the center, but one of the posts bracing it in the ground at one end half toppled over.

It had probably been sagging all along; I just hadn't noticed it.

I'd also failed to see the animal tracks all around the gate until it snapped. The large paw prints cut a clear path in the muddy ground back and forth in front of the gate and then made a beeline through the broken end into the enclosure. The Great Diviner in me guessed the tracks belonged to the dead rabbit.

"Hooray!" I shouted, breaking the stony silence surrounding me as I plunged through the opening into the forbidden territory.

Once inside, I paused and raised my eyes to the heavens and basked under a blue sky with a bright yellow sun beaming its warmth at me. I couldn't resist standing there for just a moment to soak in the wonder of the world. Some bird sang way off in the distance. A gentle breeze stirred in the dead trees surrounding the barren clearing, carrying the sweet smell of pine needles to me.

The entire world felt fresh and alive. I closed my eyes and breathed in its joy. I knew I would find that darn key and go home. In no time, I would see my mother and my father and my friends again. I shivered with happiness at the thought and took another deep breath and opened my eyes.

My joy faded as I looked around. The orange stripes painted on the masses of barrels in the clearing reminded once again of something serious I should have learned in school but couldn't recall.

Then I noticed a sign on the side of the shed sliding off its foundation in the middle of the area. The huge red letters looked like they were getting ready to jump off the rusting metal plaque and attack me.

DANGER! DANGER! DANGER!

The music of the chirping bird I enjoyed just seconds earlier took up their warning, echoing through my tired brain just like the wolf's parting words to me hours earlier had.

"I pray for your children. I pray for your children. I pray for your children," ricocheted through my head.

What the heck.

"Stop!" I screamed at the orange stripes on the barrels and the deadly red lettering on the sign and the wolf snarling in my head.

I screamed both in defense and at the sudden realization The Diviner inside me had reached: I couldn't go any further into the enclosure. The danger was real. I knew that. I also knew that feeling danger wasn't good enough; I needed to know. I needed to learn about the clearing and knew just who could supply the information.

So I turned around and headed back toward the broken gate. I barely made my way past its sagging post when a shiny object lying on the muddy ground caught my eye.