The wards, so much bigger than they’d been before. I closed my eyes as I let it wash over me. It was healing, or someth
ing so close to it that it didn’t matter.
I opened my eyes in time to see the sign for Green Creek.
At the bottom, carved into the wood, was a howling wolf.
daddy rico/hello hello
My father said, “Here it is.”
I opened my eyes and looked out the window. The trees were green and seemed to stretch on for miles. I could smell them. The scent was old. Familiar. Flashes pulsed in my head, bits and pieces of how it used to be. A tiny town in the mountains. A wolf pack running under a full moon.
Mom looked back at us. She smiled at me and Kelly, but her smile faded when she got to Joe. Mom and Dad said he’d get better. I didn’t believe them. “Joe,” she said quietly. “Do you see?”
Joe didn’t answer. He didn’t look at her.
Kelly poked him in the cheek. “Hey. Joe.”
He turned to look at Kelly, who flashed his eyes at him.
Joe’s lips twitched, almost like he was trying to smile. But he didn’t.
“It’ll be different here,” Dad said. “Better. You’ll see. Everything will be better.”
I didn’t know who he was trying to convince.
Kelly sighed and dropped his hand back to his lap. “There’s no other wolves.”
“No,” Mom said. “But that’s okay. We have each other. And you and Carter will get to go to a real school. Meet new people.”
“I don’t like new people,” Kelly said.
Mom shook her head. “You’ll learn. You have to. You—”
Joe made a noise. It was small, but there. A sigh, an exhalation. Almost like a whine. I could see Dad’s eyes widen in the rearview mirror as Mom turned around.
But Joe wasn’t looking at us.
His hands were pressed against the window. He made the sound again.
Dad slowed.
I looked back to see Mark doing the same behind us in the large moving truck.
“Joe?” Mom asked. “What is it?”
But he ignored her. He was looking out the window at a diner, a place called the Oasis. I could see a woman inside. A waitress. She stood next to a table. Sitting at the table was a kid. He looked like he was my age, but bigger. His hair was dark. He was smiling at the woman. She leaned down and kissed him on the forehead.
“Joe?” Dad asked.
But Joe never looked away from the window.
Soon the kid from the diner would show up in the yard, my brother tugging on his hand, telling us of candy canes and pinecones. Of epic and awesome.
But that was later.
My father said, “Let’s go home.”