But Doyle was right, she didn’t have the strength for the draw weight. “I?
?ll get stronger. And Bran can do something to make it so I can cock it. Would you do it for me this time?”
“Sure.” He did as she asked. “You should get used to the weight, the feel. We’ll move closer to the target.”
“No. From here.”
He shrugged. “Carbon bolt—no point wasting time with less. You need to make sure it’s set properly, or—”
“Let me try it once.” She simply took the bolt, loaded it. And in one move aimed, fired.
Her bolt centered neatly between theirs, center bull’s-eye.
“Well, kick my ass and call me Shirley.” Riley gaped at the target, let out a bark of a laugh. “That didn’t look like beginner’s luck.”
“I’ve used one in dreams. It feels the same.” She lowered the bow to study it. “I know this. FPS, you said. That’s feet per second. I know this.”
Doyle walked to the target, pulled out the three bolts. When he walked back, he took the bow, cocked it.
“Do it again.”
She hit dead center a second time.
“No, not luck. Either you beef up,” Doyle added, “use the cocking device—or see what Bran can do. You can have that, and a couple dozen bolts.”
“I appreciate the loan.”
“Take care of it. When this is done, give it back.” He cocked it yet again, stared off at the target. “I figured I’d be out here all damn day just showing you how to sight it. I’m going for a beer.”
When he strode off, Riley took a slug of her margarita. “I believe you just received the Doyle McCleary Seal of Approval.”
“Better than that.” She pinned the next bolt a whisper away from the first. “He would have stayed out here all damn day showing me.”
“Are you smelling a little team spirit?”
“I think I am.” This time she retrieved the bolts herself. Even that, she realized, felt familiar. Routine.
“I’m not going to use the cocking device. I never used it in the visions. I’m going to take this up to Bran, because I think that’s how I’m able to cock it. Until I get stronger.”
She began packing the bow and bolts in the case. “Where did you go, Riley? When you left yesterday?”
“Not far. I needed to get the jeep out of sight. And get out of sight myself. Getting naked before the change spares the wardrobe. After the sun set, I came back, close enough so I’d be around if anything happened. Which it did.”
“You don’t need to leave tonight.”
“I guess not, seeing as the wolf’s out of the bag.”
“How does it feel, the change?”
“Painful. Powerful—both ways. There’s a rush. Everything in you’s racing. And when the wolf’s free, everything’s heightened. Smell, sound, sight, speed. But I’m still me. What’s human is always in there, the same way the wolf is in me right now.
“And since I’m cut off when the sun sets, I’m going to have another margarita. You in?”
“Why not?”
* * *
In her cave, Nerezza fashioned a palace. She deserved no less, after all, and surrounded herself with gold and silver, with jewels that sparkled in the light of her torches. She was born to rule, and soon the long wait to do so would be over.