“How about your phone?” Hers had long since died without the charger and was a shiny rock in her dance bag.
Adam handed her a slim mobile. She stared at the face trying to figure how to turn on the super-techy screen…then maybe she could dial. That is, if she could get a signal way down here. Adam reached over and flicked something. The gadget lit up.
Yep, Adam’s phone had a signal. Probably cost a fortune.
Coward that she was, she dialed her messages first. There were four.
The first was her mom, worried about missing her at her dressing room after the performance and alarmed that there had been a wraith incident behind the building. Thank goodness no one had been hurt. Then she circled around to Annabella’s “date” the day before and wondered aloud if she was going to be able to meet the boy. Translation: how much do you like him? Annabella liked the boy a lot, but her mom wasn’t getting details anytime soon. Delete.
There were a couple messages from Venroy, a reminder about the reception, then a reprimand about leaving so early. Nothing much to do about that except apologize and grovel. Smooth everything over in time for the next performance in two days. Delete.
The next was her mom again, laughing and saying, “You’ve got to hear this!” There was a rustle of static, a bump, then a faraway whine, which broke off almost immediately. When the sound began again, it was unmistakable.
A howl, a high, extended note that finally fell off slightly, only to climb and hold again.
Annabella grasped the ledge of the window in front of her. All the oxygen in the room had disappeared. Her head pounded. The room tilted wildly.
Her mom came back on, laughing. “It’s been doing that for hours. Got all the other dogs in the neighborhood going crazy. Sounds like it’s right outside my window, but I can’t see anything. I called animal control, so I hope I can get some sleep tonight. Anyway, call me when you can. Love you.”
A monotone female voice asked Annabella if she would like to delete, save, or replay the message.
“Are you okay?” Adam asked.
“Just have to call home.” Annabella fumbled to hang up on her messages, her fingers suddenly stupid, and dialed her mom.
One ring, two rings, three…
“Hello?”
Oh, thank God. Tears pricked in Annabella’s eyes. “Mom! Are you okay?”
“Tired,” she answered. “Did you get my message?”
“Yeah,” Annabella croaked. The wolf. At her mom’s house. Howling. Got it.
“Damn dog kept me up all night. Remember yours? The one that followed you home from rehearsal?”
“Yeah,” she said again. It was the same dog. The wolf. He’d ceased stalking Annabella and had paid a visit to her mother. To Mom.
Annabella needed Custo. She looked at him through the glass, but he didn’t raise his gaze. His attention was wholly fixed on Dr. Powell.
Her mom went on, “I must have dozed off because I saw him in the house, in my bedroom, but he wasn’t a dog.”
Wolf.
“I haven’t had a keep-the-light-on nightmare in a long, long time. Didn’t know I was capable of it anymore. All my nightmares changed when I had you kids. Nothing was scarier in my imagination than the reality of making sure you kids were safe and healthy. When your brother first got his driver’s license…I still get ill thinking about it. But you won’t understand until you have your own.”
“I think I get it now, Mom.” That kind of fear extends to anyone you love.
“Anyway, animal control never showed, but the dog’s gone now. And your brother stole the last of my good coffee, so I’m going to have to kill him.”
The wolf hadn’t been recovering from the fight with Custo last night. He’d been busy harassing her mother. The meaning was simple, though Annabella didn’t want to see it: the wolf would kill again, and someone she loved, until she gave in. Custo couldn’t be everywhere at once, and if he tried, he’d get himself killed. His bullet wound proved that. There was no time to search for another way to contain the wolf, or to drive him back into Shadow.
“Oh, and Marne from Pretty Ballerina Dance called to ask if you’d come by and talk to her advanced classes. She says you’re an inspiration.” Her mom’s voice brightened with pride.
To sacrifice dancing to end the threat of the wolf was excruciating, but conceivable.
“Honey?”
To allow the wolf to hurt her mom or her brother or Custo…There wasn’t even a decision to be made.
Annabella cleared her throat to keep the emotion out of her voice. “Yeah, Mom, I’m here. Listen, I have to go…”
Custo had given himself up for Adam, the closest thing to family he had. Annabella could give herself up for her mom and for him. Easy. No matter how scared she felt—and her terror was mounting steadily—she just had to shove it into the back of her mind. Let part of her brain go crazy screaming, which it already was, while the rest of her did what was necessary. All she needed was endurance, and she’d been training for that all her life.