Aiden Beaks's Arc

Chapter 10 of 10

Aiden lay on the cabin floor, his hands pinned under his uncle's boot. His arms were useless. But the black wolf had scared this man before. Aiden needed it here now, and he could not reach it with his hands. He remembered the guardian snake, the way his touch had calmed it. The power lived in his skin. Maybe it did not need his hands at all. His bare feet were free. Aiden pressed them flat against Ethan's small leg, where the boy still knelt, weeping over the scrapes. He reached down into himself and pushed. Nothing. His uncle laughed and ground his boot harder. "Still stubborn," the old man said. "Good. Breaking you slow is more fun." Aiden tried again. His feet trembled against Ethan's skin. Sweat ran into his eyes. "Give it up," his uncle snapped, and kicked Aiden's ribs. Pain flared white. Aiden gasped and pushed harder, every scrap of himself flowing down through his soles into the boy. Then something opened. Warmth poured out of his feet like water. Ethan went still. His wet eyes glazed. His mouth fell open, and words spilled out that were not English. A low chant, fast and strange, rising and falling. His uncle froze. "What is that," the old man whispered. "Stop him. Stop that." Ethan's chant climbed louder. From far off came a howl. It answered the words. Each time Ethan sang, the howl came closer. Aiden felt the floor shake. His uncle stumbled back off his hands, staring at the door. The wolf came through it like night pouring in. Black fur, eyes burning blue, a haze of light around its body. It did not slow. It hit Aiden's uncle full in the chest and drove him down. The old man screamed. The wolf tore at him, jaws snapping, ferocious and silent between the man's cries. Aiden pulled his feet back and covered Ethan's eyes. The screaming stopped. The cabin went quiet except for the wolf's breathing. Blood darkened the floorboards. Ethan had stopped chanting. He blinked, awake again, and looked at the dead man without understanding. The wolf turned. It stepped over the body toward them. Its lip curled back. It growled at Ethan, teeth bared, blue eyes fixed on the boy. Ethan shrank against Aiden. "It's mad at me," Ethan said. "I called it. I made it come." Aiden held him and waited to die. But the wolf only stared. Then its growl faded. Its ears lowered. It turned and walked out the door, calm, unhurried, gone into the dark. Aiden let out his breath. His uncle was dead. The man who wanted to break him would never touch the drive. Aiden felt for it at his waist. Still there. Still locked. He looked at Ethan, who was shaking. "You saved us," Aiden said. Ethan wiped his face. "I didn't do anything," he said. "You did." Neither of them knew yet what Aiden had woken.