Chapter Eight
Kiara didn’t know how long it would take to get everything set up to do the spell, so as soon as the sun started to fall she went to retrieve Spence. From his bedroom she snuck downstairs to where his parents were in the living room doing paperwork and watching TV. She cast a charm on them so they wouldn’t go upstairs to check on their ill son.
Then she bundled him up in sweats and layers of shirts, wrapped a blanket around him and helped him out of the window. Dropping out of the window was still easier than trying to cloak them both to get him out of the front door with his parents right there. He shivered, despite the warm night. She gave him a warming potion that she’d luckily thought to put in her tote bag, which seemed to help a little. They walked into the woods, Spence half shuffling.
It took a long time for them to reach the clearing where they did their magic. She drew out the circle of the spell with her toe in the dirt. In her bag she had all the ingredients needed, and she placed them in the correct places around the circle. She gazed up into the sky. The sun had gone, but the moon wasn’t high enough yet. She clenched and unclenched her fists. Was it too soon to get the wolf? What if she waited too long? She hadn’t found any sort of cage, but she had a rope.
Eventually, she couldn’t wait anymore. If the wolves had gone out to hunt or left their nest for another reason, she might have to follow their scent for a while. This wasn’t the time to take the chance that they wouldn’t be available when she needed them.
“I’m going to change and go get the wolf,” she said.
Spence sat on the ground, leaning against a tree, clutching his blanket tight. He nodded at her and turned his head to cough up more blood. The cough was getting worse; the blood was getting worse. He looked more and more green and had thrown up so many times that he had only been able to dry heave for hours.
She cast her usual protection spells and shifted into dragon form, then cloaked. “Can you see me?”
He shook his head, then whispered, “You’re so cool,” before closing his eyes and resting his head against the tree.
Kiara went to find the wolves. Their scent was clear and vivid to her as a dragon. That part always amazed her. Humans were so cut off from the animal world. They had no idea of most of what was around them. Even though she spent a lot of time as an animal, when she was human she couldn’t access the same sense of smell and hearing that she could while in dragon form.
She crept up to the wolf den, where it appeared that they were all sleeping in a big pile. They looked so cute, all together like that. But this was about Spence. It was either one of these little pups or a person, she reminded herself. And it was meant to be a sacrifice. As he’d said, there’s always a catch. If it was easy then everyone would do it. This was meant to be difficult. And it was.
It almost wasn’t fair. They could smell her, but they wouldn’t see her coming. There was so little they could do as she walked over and gently lifted one of the cubs into her mouth. The adults stirred and growled and bit at her, but without seeing her they only had her scent to guide them. And she was out of there before they knew what was happening.
She hurried back to the circle and set the pup down. Then she quickly changed back and grabbed the rope.
“It’s just like a puppy,” Spence said.
“I know. Don’t look at it. It’ll just make it worse.”
The wolf pup sniffed around and went to Spence. He reached out to pet it and the pup licked him.
Kiara dropped her head in frustration. “You’re going to make it worse. Plus, don’t forget that it’s a wild animal, not a cute little puppy. I will get you a puppy tomorrow, when you’re alive because this one died to save you.”
“Thank you, wolfy,” Spence said, scratching behind its ears.
Her throat grew thick at the sight. How in the world was she going to be able to go through with this? She tied a circle of rope and made a leash for the wolf. Then she secured the other end to a tree. The last thing she needed was for the wolf to run off when she needed it.
She looked up at the sky and the moon shone back, bright white against a deep blue sky. Was it dark enough? Sindri hadn’t said anything about it being dark, just that they needed the moonlight. And moonlight was what they had.
“Okay.” She nodded to herself. “I think we can start.”
Spence looked up at her, his hand resting on the sleeping pup, who had curled up by his side. At least the pup had been treated well before his death. Maybe he even liked Spence.
She began the ritual, standing in the center of the circle. The plants and herbs were burned, the opening words of the spell spoken. She went to the wolf and, with a deep breath and after casting a sedation spell, she opened his mouth and poured the potion in. He whimpered a bit, but licked his chops and swallowed it.
The sound of wolves howling echoed in the forest behind her. No, not now. She listened but couldn’t hear with her human ears. She changed into dragon form, but by the time her transformation was complete the wolves were there. They had found the scent and had come for their lost pup. Five adult wolves circled Spence, eying up the pup, who sat still by Spence’s side.
Kiara crouched down and growled at them. They snarled back, revealing their sharp teeth. She took a step forward, hoping they’d be scared and run off. Instead, one swiped at her with his paw. He missed her and caught the side of Spence’s leg.
Spence howled in pain, four bright lines appearing through slits in his sweatpants. He gripped his leg, pressing his fingers into the fresh blood.
Anger flared in Kiara. She swatted her huge paw through the air, knocking into the wolf who’d hurt Spence and sending him flying into the air. The wolf slammed into a tree and hit the ground, whimpering.
The other wolves descended on her. The biggest one snapped his jaws at her and took several swipes, but she was too big for them and too strong. The wolf’s claws glanced off her hard scales. He came back to attack again but couldn’t get to her soft belly—the only place she was vulnerable.
The fight felt unfair to her. She swiped her paw and sent another wolf flying. It was too easy. She didn’t want to hurt them, but they needed to leave them alone to do the spell.
Three wolves remained. They fought their hardest, trying to circle around her and catch her off guard. But she spun, whacking one with her thick tail. The wolf ran off with a limp after hitting the ground. The last two took off running when she bared her teeth and growled at them. She ran in the direction they’d all headed to chase them and make sure they stayed away.
When she got back to the clearing, the moon was higher and the night darker. She changed back to human form, then dashed to Spence’s side.
“Are you okay?”
“It really hurts and there’s a lot of blood.” Spence held his leg and his face was twisted in pain.
She took out a cloth she kept in her bag for wrapping plants inside, and tied it tight around his leg. “We’re almost done.”
She went back to her bag, which sitting in the center of the spell circle, and got the knife, fresh determination washing over her. The wolves had a right to attack, sure, but they’d hurt him, and somehow she felt a little less bad about killing their pup now.
With the knife in one hand, she picked up the pup by the scruff of his neck. She carried him to the center of the circle and laid him down. Whatever anger she’d felt at his protectors was gone when she looked into his sad, scared eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered to him. She blinked away tears and held a shaking hand to his throat, the blade of the knife ready. She closed her eyes.
The blood ran down her hand as she held the cup, making sure all of his blood fell into the smaller circle of herbs in front of her. When he stopped bleeding, she laid the body on the ground on top of the blood, then brought Spence closer. She changed back into dragon form. She’d need the stronger magic to pull the spell off.
She cast the final part of the spell, watching the red and green and blue flashes surround Spence as the spell worked. The magic entered his body and he started to change.
First, his skin became a shade of silvery gray and popped out into scales. Then he grew larger, slightly bigger than her, as his bones moved into the shape of the dragon. When his transformation was complete he stood before her, a grand dragon.
But there was clearly something wrong.
“Spence? Are you okay?” Kiara tried not to panic. “Do you feel okay?”
He looked down at his dragon body. He held out an arm, watching the moonlight glint on his silvery scales. Then he ran his paw over the patch of white and gray fur at his chest. He stretched out the paw that ended in more thick fur and yellow claws and looked behind him at his tail that ended in a hairy puff instead of spikes. His yellow-green eyes blinked from a face of fur. A wolf face.