Raised by Wolves

Chapter 40

CHAPTER 40

HOLO’S JUST SETTLING into his beanbag on Friday morning when the classroom phone rings. Ms. Tillman looks between him and his sister while she listens to whoever’s on the other end. When she hangs up, she says, “Holo, Kai, you’re to report to the counselor’s office.”

Holo closes his book and gets up. He’s seen the school counselor in the hallways. His bald head is very shiny, and he picks his nose when he thinks no one’s looking. But Holo’s always looking.

He glances over at his sister, who scowls as she gathers up her books and papers. Are they in some new kind of trouble? He hopes that whatever this meeting is about is her fault, not his.

Out in the hall he says, “Did you do something?”

“Not that I’m aware of.”

“Why would the counselor call us in?”

“Don’t ask me.”

“I already did.”

“Well, I don’t know,” she says huffily. “But I’m sick of getting pulled out of classes.”

“You don’t even like your classes,” he reminds her.

She says, “So?” Then she leans over and sniffs him. “You stink.”

“I tried the chief’s cologne.” It was a mistake. He smells like fake pine trees. He should roll in something rotten to cover it up.

Mr. Johnston is waiting for them in the doorway of his office. His head looks especially shiny today. “Please, come in,” he says.

“What’s this about?” Kai demands.

“Just a few questions,” he says.

But Mr. Johnston’s not the one who’s going to be asking them. Sitting in the counselor’s office, on school chairs much too small for them, are the FBI agents who came to Chester’s house so early in the morning.

“Hello again, Holo,” says the gray-haired, grizzled one. “Kai.”

Kai spins around and tries to leave, but the little one’s too fast for her. He shoots up and grabs her arm. Leads her to another chair. “Sit,” he says. “Remember us? Rollins and Dunham?”

Of course Holo does. He remembers Rollins’s small, mean eyes and threatening posture. And Dunham’s lean, hungry face and gray, close-cropped hair. If it wasn’t a compliment, Holo would say there’s something wolfish about Dunham.

“Make yourself comfortable,” the older man says.

“Impossible,” Kai says.

“I just keep thinking about your stories,” Agent Dunham says. “About being raised up by a ferocious pack of predators. I want you to tell me more about it.”

Kai’s mouth is a thin hard line. She looks at Holo. You take this one , her eyes say.

Holo clears his throat. He still finds it hard to talk to anyone but Kai, Chester, and Lacey. And he doesn’t really want to tell these men about wolves. They won’t understand.

“I’m waiting,” Dunham says.

“That makes two of us,” says Rollins.

Holo stares down at his hands. “When you call them a pack, you make it sound like they’re a mob or something. But they’re just a family.” He remembers Ernie, and he clenches his fists. It’s easier to feel anger than sorrow. “They’re just parents and their kids, working together to survive.”

The death of an alpha can destroy a pack. It’s up to Beast to hold them together now.

“And how would you describe your relationship to this pack?” Dunham asks.

“They watched over us. They protected us. They brought food for us, the way you bring home food from the store for your family.”

“You’d think they’d’ve killed and eaten you,” Rollins says dryly. “I mean, you’d be so easy to catch.”

“Would you kill and eat your kids?” Holo shoots back.

Kai snickers, and Holo feels a surge of pride.

“How did you survive the winter?” Dunham asks.

“Wolves are like four-legged fur blankets,” Holo says. He smiles a little, remembering the nights he lay cuddled up between warm, luxuriously furry wolves, breathing in their musky, comforting scent, feeling their paws twitch in dreams. He’d dream of running. Hunting. Feasting.

“But prey must be scarce,” Dunham says.

“It’s harder to find, but it’s easier to catch,” Holo says. “A pronghorn can’t run very well in snow, but wolves’ paws are so big and fluffy they’re like—what do you call them? Snowshoes. And a wolf’s jaws can break bones.”

“This is all pretty fascinating,” Dunham says. “Okay, so the wolves fed you and kept you warm. But they sure as hell didn’t read Dr. Seuss books to you. So how are you going to explain that?”

Holo’s hands begin to sweat. “I’m not,” he says. He looks over at his sister. She nods almost invisibly at him.

You’re doing great , she seems to say. Don’t cave.

Agent Dunham leans close. Holo can smell the coffee on his breath and the mint of his toothpaste. “We think you’re leaving out some crucial information,” he says.

“We might even say that you’re lying to us,” Rollins adds.

Holo wipes his hands on his hand-me-down jeans. Keeps his mouth shut. So what if he is? They can’t make him betray his pack.

“Lying to federal agents could result in false statements charges,” Dunham says. “Did you know that? So I want you to think very carefully before you answer this question: Do you know a woman named Wendy?”

Holo gasps. Kai jumps up from her chair and grabs his hand.

“What I think ,” she says through clenched teeth, “is that we don’t have to answer that question.”

She gives her wild, dark hair a toss and yanks Holo out the door. She kicks it shut behind them, and then they start to run.

By the time the agents burst into the hallway, brother and sister are gone.