The following is an excerpt from an upcoming release, Into the Wild, as the third installment in the Trescott Series. To read more, click here.
*This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.*
The river pulsed with more strength than I think any of us expected. The closer we came to the dark rushing water, the more deafening it became. My ears twitched as the five of us stood at the river bank, all glancing to each other. All eyes remained on Sam, the oldest of us and the most trustworthy, ironically. Leave it to my brother, the werewolf who had been here all but one time to be left to make these kind of dangerous decisions.
Sam stuck his paw in, widening his eyes at the sheer movement of the water. Then he shook his head. There had to be another route, or another way to get across the river. If we got lost, I was so throwing them under the bus. Especially if Mom threatened to take my phone away for a week.
Sam jogged up the river bank, to the sounds of quieter creeks and the scents of wildflowers. Yes! Just a little way down the river bank, there was a log that stretched over from one bank to the other. It was the perfect path over and wide enough for us to make it on our four paws. My entire body shivered as I stared down at the water underneath. That’s not terrifying at all.
Arie nudged me, seeing the fear in my body. Helen and Jared walked across, making it look far too easy. They merely jogged across the log, without a care in the world or worry about falling into the rushing death trap underneath them.
Then Sam was next. He was far slower and more cautious than the twins. Out of nowhere, Sam’s right front paw slipped and he whelped. He caught himself, shaking as he scurried across the rest of the log. If Sam nearly fell, I was doomed. On nearly every run we went on, I was the one who slipped, tripped, face planted, or did something morbidly embarrassing. Half of those times, I ended up injuring myself.
Arie tiptoed across gracefully, blessed with her light frame and her fearlessness. Her head remained high and focused on the horizon with each step she took. Then it was up to me to make it across, except my entire body shook like a Chihuahua. Come on, Luke. You can do this.
Putting one foot on the log, there was a shiver through the timber. I eyed my brother and sister, who egged me on. At least they believed in me. Come on, you can do this. Except the little voice in my head wasn’t helping. I didn’t believe I could make it across.
I got halfway, feeling my paws on either edge. There was no turning back now, literally, because if I did, I would find myself in the rushing water, probably with a crap ton of bruising and injuries. And that would be just about the worst I’d ever done to myself. I was never going to let that happen.
Slowly pawing my way from the middle to the other side, I was nearly there. Sam and Arie grinned, flashing me their canines. Helen and Jared exchanged looks, then whipped around to check the surrounding area, as if they actually knew where we were.
Suddenly, my nose picked up on a scent. It was a werewolf, but the scent twisted in with the woods around us. Did Dad or Uncle Charlie figure out where we went?
SNAP! My ears perked up. The momentary distraction twisted my body around in a matter of a second. Then I lost my footing, on all four paws. Arie and Sam yelped as I tumbled to the left, feeling wind rush through my fur. And then the crash. Way to go, Luke!
Water surrounded me and froze my entire body. I changed back to human in a matter of seconds. Clawing my way to the surface, I opened my eyes. Helen, Jared, Sam, and Arie were nowhere to be seen. They’d started off running along the riverbank.
“Luke! Luke, hold on!” Sam cried out, now running on two feet naked through the woods. Doing my best to keep my head above water, I swallowed freshwater, nearly choking. My hands reached for anything that I could find. Twigs, rocks, the side of the river, anything. Each time I tried to grip something, it slipped out of my grasp.
Sniffing the air, my family had disappeared. Where’d they go? I trusted they were finding some way to get to me. They had to be. They wouldn’t leave me like this.
All of a sudden, a hand snatched my arm, tugging me from the middle of the river to the left side of the river. With both hands, I grabbed onto the person, feeling them pull with more strength than I’m pretty sure I had in my entire body. There was grunting, but it sounded higher pitched than anyone I knew.
“Hold on,” an unknown girl’s voice said to me, holding onto a giant boulder and slowly pulling both of us up onto the forest floor. As I tore my eyes away from the rushing river, I met eyes with my rescuer.
Soaked from her efforts, her dark hair plastered to her skin, stretching all the way to her lower back. She must’ve been my age, judging by how small she was. She was shorter than me but lean. Her brown eyes returned after the slivers of gold went back into hiding.
After realizing I was staring at her, she gave me a small smile. She began to wring out her t-shirt that read “My mom went to the Twin Cities and all I got was this t-shirt”.
“Are you okay?” She asked, her voice awaking butterflies in my stomach. I took a deep breath.
“Y-Yeah,” I stuttered, sitting up and coughing the little remaining water left in my lungs. “Thanks.” The girl smiled, then stared back down to her wet shirt, shrugging.
“I’m just glad you’re okay,” she whispered, glancing around. “Where’s your pack? What are you doing out here?” I squinted at her.
“They were running after me, but I don’t know where they are,” I trailed off. Holding my knees to my chest, I felt self-conscious all of a sudden. I didn’t know this girl at all, other than she was like me, and she had just pulled me—naked—from the river and saved my life, for all I knew. And I was still naked. For all of this.
“What’s your name?” The girl asked, standing up and offering me a hand. I stood up, sheepishly, and turned pink. Her eyes bore into mine, as if she was staring deep into my soul. Her gaze made a shiver go down my spine.
“L-Luke,” I said and held out a wet hand. She stared at me, cocking her head to the side. What was up with her? After some time, I retracted my hand. “What’s your name?”
“Amber. I’m with Conan’s pack,” she announced, as if she was addressing me officially. “I’ve never seen you around here before. Does your pack usually run around here?” I shrugged, still shivering.
“Sometimes. My family is from Lake Geneva, but my grandparents live up here. We’re just visiting,” I muttered, watching as the more I spoke, the more confused the girl became. Was I making sense?
“Visiting? So you live in one place?” Amber asked, crossing her arms over her wet t-shirt.
Sniffing the air, I picked up four scents that came closer and closer. Yes! They were coming to get me. Amber’s eyes widened and she twisted around, taking a deep breath as she sniffed out my family, too.
“That’s my family,” I told her, clarifying before she freaked out. Amber just stared at me. It was the same look Oliver gave me when I tried to sit down and tell him that I was a werewolf. It was sheer and utter confusion, like what was happening made no sense whatsoever. “They’re coming to get me so we all make it home before sunrise.”
“Home,” Amber whispered, her face lighting up. She gripped my shoulders and held them tightly, nearly making me cry out. She had a death grip, one that made me both terrified and totally impressed at the same time. “You’re a civilized werewolf.”
“Civilized? You mean…” I trailed off, still eyeing her. Then it all made sense. The weird t-shirt. The strange glances whenever I mentioned small things that would make sense to my family or my friends. She was a nomad. Just like all the stories. “You’re a nomad.”
“You’re civilized,” Amber said again, her face still wild with excitement. Another deep inhale and she frowned. “But I have to go.”
“What?” I asked, feeling the butterfly feeling in my stomach disappear completely. “What do you mean?” She shook her head, moving her head inches from mine.
I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her. One, she was so beautiful. More beautiful than Diana, which Oliver would punch me for saying. And two, I had way too many questions. I wanted to hear all about the nomads. She was the perfect person to ask. Dad had warned me to stay away but what was so harmful about her? She had saved me.
“I’ll see you soon,” Amber told me, turning around and going into a full blown sprint. Then I stood there totally nude, cold, and wet. Four sets of feet rushed up to me from the opposite direction Amber had run, all frantic until they set eyes on me.
“Oh thank God,” Arie told me, wrapping her arms around me. She pulled away when she caught a sniff of my recent visitor. “Wait, who was just here with you?” I opened my mouth to speak, but words escaped me. Did I even dare tell them?
“No one was,” I fibbed, watching as my cousins and siblings all exchanged looks. Jared cleared his throats.
“It was one of those nomadic wolves,” he complained, rolling his eyes and stepping towards me. He gave me a gentle nudge with his fist. “Good thing you didn’t run into them. They’re nothing but trouble.” Helen scoffed, shaking her head as she followed her brother.
“Yeah, really. As long as you’re okay, should we keep going? We still have a couple of hours to kill,” Helen offered, motioning forward to where Amber had run off to. I nodded.
Arie and Sam walked on either side of me, probably worried that something else would happen and they would be responsible for my injuries.
I couldn’t shake Amber’s image from my mind. She was unlike anything I ever imagined nomads to look like. Somewhere deep in my mind, I dreamed up pictures of werewolves with beards, unkempt hair, and bad hygiene. But she was none of that. She was prettier than half of the girls at my school. And to top it off, she was a werewolf. That just made her infinitely cooler than any other girl I’d ever met.
But, one sad fact came to mind: she was a nomad, and the likelihood of ever seeing her again to thank her properly was slim. After all, nomads are always on the move. I was just glad she was in the right place at the right time, or else who knows what could have happened to me if I stayed in that river.
