Heartsong (Green Creek 3)

I pulled them on, letting them rest low on my hips. My wallet was in the back pocket. The front left pocket was bunched up, and I reached in to push it down.

Something was inside.

I pulled it out.

A small piece of paper. A sticky note. Bright orange

There were two letters written on it in my own handwriting. Dashes too.

I _ _ _ _E

I didn’t remember writing it.

I knew what it meant. It was a game from my mother, like Hangman. She used it to teach me how to spell.

INSIDE

I stared down at it. When had I put it there? When had I written it?

I went to my closet and opened the door, shoved aside the hanging clothes. There, at the back of the closet, was a small wooden panel. Even if someone was looking for it, they’d miss it. Ezra didn’t even know about it. I’d waited until he was out of the house the second week I’d been in the compound before I made it, cutting the wood at the back of the closet.

A hint of claw grew from my right index finger, and I pushed it into the hairline crack at the top. I pulled.

The panel fell away.

Inside (INSIDE) was a box that carried all my secrets.

I pulled it out and sat on the floor, the box in my lap.

It was plain and made of pine. It’d once been a jewelry box, but my mother had sold all its contents to fund our escape.

Now it was filled with little details.

Her driver’s license. She wasn’t smiling. I touched the small photo before setting it aside.

Sitting in the box in a corner was a stone wolf.

A gift for the one who would complete me. It’d been carved by the Alpha who taught me how to shift. He said I needed to keep it safe. Keep it whole. It was small and made of black stone, the ears perked, the tail curled around the wolf’s legs. I lifted it out and—

Underneath was a folded… card? I didn’t recognize it.

I set the stone wolf aside.

The card fell over in the box, opening slightly. A cartoon wolf at the top. I HOWL FOR YOU!!!

I picked it up and opened it.

A phone number and four more words.

FOR WHEN YOU’RE READY.

I frowned down at it. I didn’t know where it had come from. I thought back over the past few days. I’d… what? I’d gone to see Michelle a couple of times. She’d summoned me. Told me I was a good wolf. That she was proud of me. Ezra had been there. He was smiling. It was fine. It was great. It was wonderful. It was

(can i trust you)

just on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t remember, I couldn’t

(wolfsong)