Life On the Fjords

The Wolf Returns

Jamie found himself rather restless for the next two nights. He'd roll around in his bed feebly trying to sleep, then his eyes would close for only an hour at most.

Mary could sleep through just about anything, so his shuffling about didn't keep her up. With school now taking up most of her energy, she was no longer a willing participant in his late-night storytelling. Sometimes he would make one up for her to fall asleep to just so he could keep his mind occupied.

He could read more of the book he was supposed to for school, but he was tired of it already. Mary couldn't get enough of it and had already read two chapters ahead. This year, his class was required to study the Poetic Eddas.

Jamie didn't like poetry; the way it was written on the paper always confused him. Regular prose was much simpler to him. He also hated being told what books to read and what he was supposed to digest from them. Had he gotten to pick his own books to analyze, Jamie might be more enthused about it.

Right now, nothing about school excited him. What he once found joy in was now just another mundane part of his routine. His friends weren't unaware of this seemingly overnight shift in Jamie's demeanor. When they asked him about what adventures he'd thought of for them to do after school, he had no answer, and that was disturbing to them. Jamie always had new ideas, so the stagnation of his imagination was both apparent and alarming.

As the kids were dismissed from class for the day and they all exited the schoolhouse, Mary said to her twin brother, "Jamie, what's been with you?"

"Nothing."

"You're being weird."

"No, I'm not." He retorted.

Caleb and Claude chased them down until they were caught up. "Hey!" Claude panted. "The pond's already got some ice on it! Can you believe it?"

"Maybe we'll get to ice skate by next week!" Claude added.

"Really? It's not even snowing yet." Mary thought aloud. This autumn had already been particularly cold. October was the most unpredictable month when it came to the weather, and as they neared the chillier months, the kids knew that winter activities were not far away.

"That doesn't stop water from freezing!" Claude answered.

"You guys in, or what?" Caleb asked.

"We'd have to ask Jack." Mary groaned. "Our dad doesn't care, but Jack would flip if we went without telling him." And he was most definitely going to say no when the ice was still thin and unreliable even if the kids were expert skaters and swimmers. The twins were well aware. Cold air and cold water were not a pleasant duo.

"I bet Pippa would go with us if Jack said he'd come to watch." Claude teased even though the redhead wasn't there with them.

"You guys just wait and see," Mary mocked, "it could get hot again and the ice will melt right away."

"Okay, but you're gonna miss out if it doesn't!" They yelled as one last jab. The twins walked the rest of the way home in silence. It had been four days without the beast and they were beginning to wonder if this would be their last evening of relative leisure. That didn't stop Jack from working himself like a dog day in and day out... If anything, it'd seemed his stress had grown exponentially out of nowhere.

Whenever the twins would ask for something or try to get his attention, it'd take about five times of saying his name until they were shouting before he came out of his trance. They couldn't figure out what it could be that weighed so heavily on Jack's mind other than their father's inevitable return either the next morning or evening. Judging by the dark lines under his eyes, it was clear that he hadn't been getting much sleep—Jamie wondered if whatever Jack was going through was the same reason he was so restless.