Wolves and Men

They stood there for what seemed like hours. He pictured the pond and reaching through to the chill of the Whyte Plain but the place refused to open up to him. He would feel retarded if Charles got this before he did. Not because he thought Charles was less capable than he was, only that being the last to understand something always made him feel stupid.

Then the world misted over and the temperature perceptively dropped. William looked over to see Charles smiling. Nice going man. He meant it. He couldn’t be mad at his friend’s success. Ok guess I’m the retard for the day.

Jacob said, “Very good Charles. It took you a little while, but still very good. Now can you get us out of here?” Charles nodded and the black dome instantly reappeared around them.

Jacob looked over at William. “And then there was one. Well, William?” It wasn’t said in anger or cruelty. Just the fact that it had to be said and directed at him made his hackles rise.

He didn’t bother concentrating with what his eyes saw. By now he had memorized the curvature of the obsidian dome. Now he focused on his other senses, the air and the room itself around him. It was a little hard, knowing that Charles and Katherine had already accomplished this feat. What was he doing wrong? There had to be something he was missing.

He reached out with his senses, hearing the breathing of the people in the room. He felt for that sickly cold that he had been feeling for all day it seemed like; the chill that wasn’t really a chill, and that strange hint of warmth underneath. He pictured the mirror in his mind.

He could see himself looking back at him in the smooth reflective surface of the mirror. It was surrounded by gilded gold for some reason. It hung suspended in midair and he was looking into it trying to see beyond what his eyes were seeing. Suddenly his reflection smiled at him. He let go of the mental image and stumbled backwards a little.

“What happened?” Jacob asked. “Are you alright?”

William looked around at his pack mates and the Elder and nodded his head. He was breathing a little too hard and forced himself to calm down. The image of the mirror was still vivid in his mind. He knew what it was he had seen, that visage which had risen unbidden in his mind. He couldn’t tell his pack mates that, and there was no way he could tell Jacob.

“No, I’m fine I, uh, just slipped a little bit that’s all.” He gave Jacob a lopsided grin.

Jacob had a wary look on his face, not at all certain of the truth of what he claimed but this was a safe zone not connected to the Whyte Plain. He eventually nodded, “Very well, William. Next time be more careful.” He gestured to the center of the room. “If you please?”

He stepped forward and tried again. He ignored his sight and refocused his other senses. The mirror hung where it had the last time, where it had hung multiple times. He stepped up to its perfectly smooth surface. His reflection didn’t act out of the ordinary this time, reaching out to meet his touch. His blue-green eyes stared back at him. He pressed his hand against the mirror. Nothing happened. He had been pressing against this stupid thing all day!

He wiped away the mirror from his mind and decided instead to feel for cracks or a seam in the feeling of the rift between here and the Whyte Plain. The room was quiet. His pack mates were standing behind him, waiting for him to have his breakthrough. This was so important but he was sure that no one could help him with this. And that is what was eating at him. There had to be a way!

Then there it was. A feeling so small he was amazed that he felt it at all. It was a seam, or crease, an atom’s width between the sickly chill and the memory of warmth. In his mind he pressed against the seam…and he was standing in the Whyte Plain. He almost couldn’t believe it. He barked out a laugh and Charles clapped him on the back.

“That wasn’t so hard, now, was it?” Katherine asked with arms folded.

William laughed and nodded his head, “Yes it was hard. I’m glad you guys thought it was so easy.” He smiled at his pack mates and looked over at Jacob. “Well, what do you think?”

The Elder smiled. “If I knew it was going to take you all day I would have packed some food.” A smile spread across his face. “Well done, William.” He pointedly glanced around the misty open area they now occupied. “Now if only you could uhh…,” he trailed off not needing to finish the sentence.

William felt outward and found the seam again. He pressed against it and they were back in the black dome, just as they had been a moment before.

“Good work, lads… and ladies,” Jacob added quickly. “Well, that was enough fun for one day, don’t you think?” He looked around at the young pack and nodded to himself. “I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry, time for supper.” William breathed a sigh of relief and followed the rest of his pack and Jacob out of the dome.

The walk back to the central part of the city was just as long as the walk out to the dome. There were times when William really didn’t see the point in all the turns and dead ends and everything else that made it so hard to navigate the city. He saw the tactical advantage to how it made defending it a lot easier, but why couldn’t there just be one road that cut down the whole length of the City that they could use to get to out of the way places like the dome? They eventually got back to the Tower.

“I want to go check up on Nicholas,” Katherine said. “See if he’s back yet.”

Charles nodded in agreement.

“Uh, yeah I’d better not,” William said. “I don’t think he’d want to see me.”

Katherine and Charles looked at him. “You two need to get over this,” Katherine said.

Aceso nodded her agreement, “If we are going to be a pack, I don’t need my Scout and Enforcer constantly fighting with each other. If we are going to be anywhere near successful with what we are charged to accomplish, you two need to figure out how to work together.”

William nodded. “I know that. I just wish he knew that.”