Elsa Crane's Arc

Chapter 23 of 66

Two mornings after Clara took Bodhi's hand across her table, Elsa woke before dawn and knew she had moved too many pieces without checking the board. Clara had a seat now. Fern had a deadline. Jasper had a boy on his knee. Bodhi had a crown and a mouth full of clever lies. Elsa needed to know if the arrangement was holding, and she trusted only one thing left to tell her the truth. She dressed, walked to the driftwood hut, and opened the door wide to the snow. The pale wolf came out of the tree line without being called. It crossed the clearing past the frozen lantern post and stepped inside, shaking ice from its fur. Elsa shut the door. The wolf sat by the strawberry-vine table Fern had left behind after her last visit, potion bottles and dried herbs still crowded across its top. Blue eyes fixed on Elsa. She sat on the floor across from it, older knees complaining, and asked the only question that mattered. "Is the boy going to be loved, or found out?" The wolf rose. It walked to the door and scratched once. Elsa opened it. Bodhi was already coming up the path with Clara, mittened hand in mittened hand, Clara laughing at something the boy had said. Elsa stepped aside and let them in. "Tell her about the Peters baby," Clara said, brushing snow from Bodhi's shoulders. "Go on." Bodhi looked up at Elsa. His face arranged itself the way it always did — bright eyes, small smile, a story ready. "The Peters baby had croup last winter," he began, "and I asked his mother this morning if he was sleeping better, and she said —" The wolf stepped between them. It put its nose against Bodhi's chest and stood there. Bodhi stopped talking. The performance dropped off his face like a mask cut loose. Underneath was a scared boy who did not know what the animal wanted. "I don't remember his name," Bodhi said. His voice was thinner. "I asked her because Clara told me to. I don't know if he slept better. I said yes because she smiled when I said it." Clara's hand went still on the boy's collar. She looked at Elsa. Her face was not warm anymore. It was a midwife's face over a bad delivery. "He can't do it," Clara said. "Not yet. He's performing me the same way he performs you. The wives will see it inside a month." Elsa watched the wolf. It had not moved from the boy's chest. She had asked her question and been answered. Clara would not vouch for a liar. The wolf would not walk beside one either. "Then teach him slower," Elsa said. "One child. One name. Until he remembers it because he wants to." Clara nodded once, not smiling. She took Bodhi's hand and led him back out into the snow. The wolf followed them to the door and watched them go.