"Lots of wolves now," Mags said as she rummaged through a basket filled with yarn.

"Yeah, four besides the two of us," I said and picked up balls of yarn from the floor that rolled out of the basket.

"More than four. Though they're not quite ready to talk to you yet, it seems. But they're out there. I gave one some clothes during the last full moon. And a lovely scarf. Now I'm making another scarf for another little lone wolf. They're watching you before they come into the light. Smart little pups. But they can't avoid me in my own woods now, can they?"

I didn't have anything to say to that. I put the yarn back in the basket and sat down on the sofa. Mags smiled sweetly at me and tilted her head to the side.

I realised she was waiting for me to say something. "I can't very well force them out, can I?"

"No, you have to be patient with them. Some will come forward; some will leave again without a word. Some will realise they aren't ready. You need to be patient with them."

I nodded. "I will. I promise."

"I like the girl. Meera. She's very polite. She comes by too, you know. She knits. She knitted me this sweater." She pulled out on her sweater, showing off the pretty patterns. It fit her perfectly.

"It's a nice sweater," I said and smiled. She did too.

"Patience, Gael. Patience with them all. All of them." She sent me a saying look and pulled on the yarn, getting a long string free from the ball itself.

I groaned and leaned back in the sofa, staring up at the ceiling. "Sounds like you've been talking to River."

"He comes by. How did you think he found you?"

"I dunno, supernatural ability to find me and be a pain my ass?"

Mags laughed and started rocking a little in her chair as she swung the knitting needles around. Looked like she was starting something new, but I didn't really know diddly shit about knitting.

"There will be interferences with your plans for this town, Gael, and not all will be bad. Not all will be good. But keep your eyes on the finish line, yeah? Remember what the ultimate goal is."

"What's the ultimate goal?" I asked, still staring up at the ceiling. It was made of this light exposed wood, making the little cottage even more snug.

"A refuge for the wolves. A place they can call home, just like you've done. A place to belong."

"I'm no good at this, Mags. I don't know why I thought I'd be good at it." I peeled my eyes off the ceiling and looked back down at the small elderly woman, sitting in her rocking chair, knitting.

"You were here first. You spread your scent everywhere. You made a name for yourself across the mountains and all over the valley. Them's the stakes."

"Them's the stakes?" I asked, unable to hold back a chuckle.

"Tasha taught me," Mags said, almost proudly. "She takes me shopping."

"Seems like you've got them all wrapped around your pinkie, huh."

"They all came here before they came to you. They better show their elders some respect, don't they?"

"Why aren't you doing all of this work then, instead of me?" I sighed and grabbed one of her many pillows. This one had some frilly things on it, and it was fun to fiddle around with.

"Because I'm an old lady, and you're a fine young man. Much easier for wolves to follow a fine young man."

"The young, the fine or the man part?" I asked but didn't really expect an answer from her.

She just chuckled in response and rocked a little harder in her chair.

We're running. We're enjoying the crisp cold wind pulling in our fur. We're enjoying the solitude too. For once it's just the two of us. The others haven't come around yet. We decided to go out earlier and avoid the involuntary shift, and shift on our own. It's much easier now and doesn't hurt as much. Especially when we do it before the full moon.

Me and the wolf are good buddies. I like having him around. I like letting him roam freely. He knows all the good spots in the forest. He knows what I like to see too, for the paintings.

And then we're not alone anymore. River shows up. His wolf is all white, just like him. Bright blue eyes. He stands out in the moon light. My wolf finds it dumb. What's the point of anything if you can't hide within the trees? Become one with the forest?

My wolf is a bit of a hippie.

My wolf is not happy River has joined us. He bars his teeth at him, warning him to keep his distance. My wolf wants space, but River can join in if he wants. The wolf wants to hunt.

They run through the undergrowth. I'm not sure how lucid River is in all of this. He never wanted to tell me about it. He can keep his secrets. I'm done trying to dig.

My wolf and I just want to hunt little rabbits with crunchy bones and discover more of the forest. Get really familiar with it and all its inhabitants.

We meet another wolf. It's Samuel. Only he can be that bloody huge. He's at least twice the size of me and my wolf. He raises his head in a greeting, showing off his throat.

River starts growling and I immediately shut that shit down, snapping at him. He shrinks down to the ground, showing his submission. I have zero patience.

Meera stumbled a little into the living room from the kitchen and I glanced up at her, raising my brows. She was usually very graceful. It was very unlike her to act like this.

"You alright?" I asked and rose from the sofa, offering her my hand. She had grabbed onto the backrest of the comfy chair, stabilising herself against it.

"I don't know, I feel faint," she said and coughed. A single leaf left her mouth and gently fell to the ground.

We all stared at it. Tasha, Samuel and me. Until Meera coughed again, more leaves falling out of her mouth. I picked up a leaf and inspected it closely. And then it dawned on me. I threw it as if it had burned me.

Wolf's bane. Fickle fucking plant.

"Meera-" I started but she flew into a fit almost, coughing.

She let go of the chair and staggered back, coughing violently, leaves and flowers coming out of her mouth in droves. Then she lifted her hands to her mouth, grabbing something and started pulling.

To my horror, Meera's fingers wrapped around a vine, pulling it out of her mouth, her gagging the entire time. Something came up with the gags and heaves, and it was more leaves. And then something dark and wet hit the floor.

I was completely stunned. I had no idea what to do. What the hell does one do when someone is puking up leaves and vines?

"What the..." Abel said as he came down the stairs. He rushed to Meera's side and grabbed the vine, which had now reached the floor, and yanked hard on it. Meera gasped and finally it seemed her stomach upended itself, the vine coming out fast until it finally stopped.

The poor wolf coughed and fell to her knees, and I was by her in a second, patting her back and holding her hair back as she continued to cough leaves on my floor.

I looked up and caught Abel's gaze. He shook his head and squatted down in front of Meera, taking her face in his hands.

"Where have you been?" he asked softly.

"The woods, the town, school," she cried in between coughs.

"You've stumbled on a wolf trap." He rose back to his full height and grabbed his phone from his pocket. "Calling Fred," he said, aimed at me.

I nodded and got Meera out in the kitchen, seated at the dinner table with a bowl in front of her, in which she could continue to cough leaves into.

"Don't touch the leaves," I said toward the living room, hoping neither Tasha nor Sam would have that brilliant idea.

I offered Meera something to drink and she immediately gulped it all down, while Abel came into the kitchen with the vine and dumped it in a bucket from under the sink.

"Let me clean it up, yeah?" he said and grabbed some pink rubber gloves.

"I'm not touching that with a ten-meter pole," I said and held my hands up.

"I'm so sorry," Meera sobbed, leaves still leaving her mouth. But now she was also bleeding from her nose. Profusely.

"Don't apologise," I said softly and handed her a washcloth. "For your nose."

She put the cloth to her nose and looked down. "I don't feel well."

"No, but our friend will come in a minute. Remember I told you I've been poisoned with wolf's bane as well? She was the one who helped me."

"She's nice," Tasha said softly.

"Not the introduction I wanted to your friend," Meera said, tears running down her cheeks.

"Not the one she would want either, but here we are," I said and rose to my feet as there was a knock on the door.

Abel was faster and let Fred in and went back to cleaning the floor and refusing Samuel's help.

"What is it with you and wolf's bane?" she asked as I hurried her into the kitchen. "Hi, I'm Fred. Local wolf vet, apparently."

Tasha snorted and gently brushed some of Meera's hair away from her forehead. Meera looked paler by the minute, her red hair sticking to her forehead.

"So, you triggered a good old wolf trap, I see," Fred said and took a peek into the bowl. "Thankfully that's a curse and those are my specialities. Lean back." She put her hand on Meera's shoulder and pushed her back against the backrest of the chair. Then she pricked her finger and drew a circle on Meera's forehead with her blood.

"Gael, give me your finger," she said, and I immediately did as told. She pricked my finger too and put it in the middle of the circle. She then muttered something in a language I didn't understand, my finger still placed on Meera's forehead.

Meera's eyes rolled to the back of her head, only the white showing. Red veins then started crawling up over the eyeball and Meera's breath grew shallow.

Fred then grabbed my arm and got me to shove Meera backwards, the chair tipping and Meera very slowly fell towards the floor. She didn't look like she hurt herself at all, her hair billowing out around her like a ginger halo. She had been inhaling the entire time, she had been falling in slow-motion, but she finally stopped, blinked and then her green eyes came back to normal.

"What happened?" she asked with a tiny voice.

"Literal magic," Tasha said with awe in her voice and helped Meera back up. I took the chair and put it back, letting Meera sit down again.

"You feeling alright?" I asked and handed her another glass of water.

"Not really? My body hurts." Meera took the glass from me and took a sip.

"It'll hurt for a while. You might also feel sick for some days. Like a really bad flu." Fred sighed deeply and glanced up at me. "No touching the wolfsbane."

"As if you need to tell me," I muttered and quickly stepped out of Abel's way as he came into the kitchen, his hands full of leaves, looking for a trash bag. I found one for him and handed it to Fred, so she could hold it while he shoved the leaves into it.

"Who would place a wolf trap around these parts though?" Tasha asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Lots of people, to be honest. Been trying to shelter you from... Parts of it, but it's clear that what happened before summer is still... Prevalent," I said, struggling to find the right words. "It might make some nervous that there's more wolves."

"Don't we just prove we're not here to make trouble?" Meera asked with a small voice.

"That burden isn't on us," Tasha chimed in. "We're innocent until proven otherwise. We don't need to prove shit to them."

"I agree," I said and offered Tasha a nod. "Besides, I was one of the people who uncovered the murder mystery last year and if they haven't learnt we're not the bad guys here, I don't really wanna try either. But, that said, we do need to be aware of our surroundings. We need to know what a wolf trap looks like. What wolfsbane looks like."

"I'll make a wolftrap at home and show it to you guys. Like not an actual one. But a mock-up,"Fred said. "You're all going to magic wolf school."