“I don’t know if I want to be a Wolf,” she says.
I smile carefully as my hand falls from her face.
“You can be whatever you want. At this moment, at least. You’ll always have that freedom with me.”
“I think he killed Vlad.”
“Who?” I ask.
“Sebastian. I think he killed him.”
“Why do you think that?”
“There are so many backward rules in that village,” she says.
She isn’t making any sense, and I don’t know how to decipher any of it. I want to ask questions. I want to probe her mind until I can put the pieces together myself. But she’s too shaken up and too scattered to tell me anything. Her mind is flooded with too much chaos, and my questions will only add to that.
My fingers trace the ring on her finger.
The jade ring I gave her on the plane.
“Whatever I want?” Clarissa asks.
Her head pans toward mine, and our eyes connect. Her hands are squeezing mine tightly. Hoping and praying for a positive answer.
I nod my head, and she stands up from her chair, then pulls me to my feet. She’s strong. Very strong. She pulls me so hard I almost
lose my balance. I stumble toward her and knock into her body, and it presses us against a wall.
I see the panic rising in her eyes as I quickly step back. My eyes narrow as her head whips around. Sebastian’s howls die down to a low growl, and I can hear Penny singing to him. A horrible, terrible, off-key tune that makes even me want to cringe.
“Take me away,” Clarissa says.
I’m not sure I’ve heard her right.
“What?” I ask.
“Like Japan. And our adventure. Take me away, Toshi.”
I feel a spark in my chest as I entwine our fingers together.
“Make me forget like only you can.”
I nod at her before I pull her from the room. We sneak past Penny and Sebastian, keeping our feet light as Penny continues to sing.
We scurry down the hallway without a sound to our steps, and I burst us through the door before we descend down the stairwell.
As fast as we can move, we scale the hotel levels. Counting the floors until we’re met with the ground level. I push us through the doors, and I can feel her behind me.
Clarissa.
With her soft hand and her desperate want to leave with me.
We burst out onto the busy Russian streets, and the snow is falling all around us. I can feel Clarissa shivering, so I duck us into the first store we come to. I buy us coats and hats to wear on our journey, then I flag down a cab for us to take.
I open the door for her, and she slides in, eagerly awaiting my descent beside her.
The cab takes us away, the hotel receding into the rearview horizon. Clarissa settles next to my body and lays her head on my shoulder. Her right hand in entwined with my left, and I can feel her ring pressing against my skin. Reminding me of the beauty she brings to my world and the comfort I hope to bring to hers. I keep my eyes peeled along the landscape, looking for our first big adventure.