Free Blood for Wolves by Nicole Taft

candles, dishes, bits of string, papers with scribbles, metal
trinkets, small stuffed animals both real and the toy sort, dried flowers, and
more. Junk lined the corridor and filled the rooms, leaving only enough space
for a small table with a single globe-shaped candle in the center. It was like
a hoarder’s house, yet miraculously clean and smelling like my grandmother’s
house; beef stew on a Sunday afternoon.
    The old woman sat down at a round
table covered in a flowered cloth. Dozens of candles sat in the center,
silently eating up wax as they burned. There was no chair for me, so I remained
standing.
    “Do you know why you are here?” she
asked, settling her hands on her cane.
    I looked around. “Uh, no.”
    “You are here because you followed
the girl.”
    I waited.
    “You are the Guardian, but an
interesting mix. Interesting choice. You seek greatness. You wish to prove
yourself strong and smart and brave. Yet you shrink away, swallowing your
invisibility, always testing, always waiting in the dark to see who will come
and find you.”
    I shifted, tying not to look at
her.
    “Are you so insignificant? If you
test those who love you for too long, you will dwell in the darkness and they
will never find you. You will stop reaching for the stars and wait until the
end of time and cry in the dark.” She leaned back and squinted, assessing. “Or
perhaps the opposite will be true. You will reach for the stars. You will try
so long and so hard, you will forget all those around you, and burn up once you
touch them.”
    She stood again. “The decision will
be yours, child. But things will be much easier for you if you don’t tell the
Wolf.” She eyed me for a long time before lifting a few things off a peg in the
wall behind her. They glinted in the candlelight. She laid them out on the
table. Three necklaces, each one in a different style with a unique charm
dangling from the end.
    “I will give you a choice,” she
said. “Each of these contains power that can help you, but you must be
careful,” she waggled a finger in front of my nose, “because to use one means
allowing it to delve deep into your desires. You must keep the right desire at
the forefront at all times.”
    I stared at my three options. The
first necklace was made with what looked like a band of leather. Hanging off
the end was a small figurine that reminded me of a monkey, from its puckered
little face to its curling tail. The chain of the second sparkled like silver,
and attached to the chain was a pair of wings, spread out like angel’s wings,
white and intricately detailed. The third necklace was a string of woven gold.
Its charm was two shapes melded together—the sun and the moon as one.
    I pointed to the wings. “That one.”
    She plucked it off the table and hobbled
over to me. “Then take it, child. And see if it doesn’t help keep you grounded.”
    She slipped it over my head. I
didn’t thank her. Somehow I knew I didn’t have to. Instead I turned and walked
out of the house, gently touching the angelic wings resting on my skin. She
followed me out, stopping in the same place she had when I first saw her.
    Wolf was sitting on the ground,
patient but uncomfortable, my pack on the ground beside him. One leg twitched
while he made grumpy faces. He jumped to his feet when I reached him again and
then looked to the old woman. She beckoned him up as well. He let out a tiny
huff, but obeyed. She didn’t take him inside as she had me, but instead spoke
to him on the stairs. He scowled and glared, then looked at me, frowning. His
eyes glittered, but this time it wasn’t nice in the least. The woman finished
whatever she had to say and stepped back, silent. Wolf huffed and then quickly
came down the stairs and shoved my daypack at me.
    “Here,” he grunted, then walked on
into the forest.
    I said nothing and followed.

Chapter 6
    At least we had a trail to follow. Neither
of us said much as we walked. I nibbled on a small piece of