Free The Wolfing Way (Lifting the Veil) by Susan Laine

acknowledgement of the mutually timed, though not shared in detail, experience.
    “Over at the stables,” he answered, bopping his chin back to indicate the direction. “I felt it, the electric tingling crawling all over my skin.”
    “The sound, that thundering whoosh that made all my hairs on my body stand up? Yeah, I remember that too.” Kris confirmed his own recollection. “I was only twelve, but I still remember it. Did you see the rippling wave?”
    “Of the Veil lifting? No, only felt it since I wasn’t outside. You saw it then?” Rafe had heard from a multitude of sources how they’d observed the rainbow-colored electric wave move across the sphere of the entire world, like a ring ripple when a stone was cast at the center of a still pond. Ground Zero, though calculated down to the millimeter, was even after nine years a point of political and religious contestation—and guarded by an international joint military force. Yeah, as though the Unveiling could happen twice . Rafe smirked sardonically.
    “Yeah,” Kris admitted keenly, his startlingly blue eyes lit up. “It was pink, and sort of purple too. For a flash, it blanketed the sky, but then it moved away, and the sky was blue again. I thought I’d imagined it—until we all saw the news on TV that night. Is it true that all those belonging to the Unseen world felt it? I only saw and heard it, just like Iz, my parents, and all my friends.”
    “Yes, it’s true,” Rafe said, staring far into the distance, remembering all too well the shudder that had nearly knocked him out cold—and scared all the horses out of their minds when a heavily armed Minotaur hunting party had appeared in their sights in the blink of an eye.
    “Why do you think it happened?” Kris asked quietly, frowning in confusion and frustration, and Rafe couldn’t exactly blame him for feeling so—even though it did hurt a lot, like a stabbing pain deep into his ribs, aimed squarely at his vulnerable heart. “I mean the world could not have been less ready for the revelation.” Rafe realized Kris hadn’t referred to the two of them but to the state of the world at large, and the ache in his heart lifted—just like the Veil separating the Unseen world and the Common Earth, as those of the Unseen world called it.
    It had been a struggle for people from both sides to come to terms with the fact that once the Veil had lifted, two separate worlds merged into one. Significant changes took place all over. Like the magical sprite grove that had appeared in the middle of York, England—and two villages standing there had vanished into thin air, leaving only confused people behind in a newborn wilderness. Or the mountain dragon’s lair—with the whole mountain in tow—eradicating four city blocks on Staten Island, New York. Where before the Unveiling there had been human settlements, now rose supernatural sites of magical power and vice versa. Where there had been highways, now dangerous and untamed wilderness had taken hold.
    This melding of two worlds kept reshaping the Earth, even after almost a decade. Rafe and his kindred—those who were half human—already had always one foot in both worlds, and to them the transition had not been as overwhelming as it had been for others.
    “I don’t rightly know why the Unveiling happened, honey. But time and space, nature and the universe don’t move according to humans’ timetables. This is the reality now, and we all have to adapt to it and not let it interfere with us living our lives. Time waits for no man, as they say.”
    Smiling kindly, Kris gave Rafe butterflies in his stomach. To his astonishment, he figured out that that had never actually happened to him before. This was certainly a day for first times—for all those around. “Have you always been a cowboy?”
    Rafe liked Kris’s curiosity, even though he had a hard time coming up with suitable answers for some of his questions. “No, honey, I’ve done a lot of