She walks into the bathroom, and I place the glasses down, sitting and gripping onto my knees.
My thoughts won’t stop clashing together, bringing Ramsey into the wolf, imagining what could’ve happened if the wolf hadn’t come.
The alleyway was dark, and the cops didn’t notice, but I did – the gouges in the side of the building, the giant tears in the brickwork. My body does strange things when I remember how he scaled it, his powerful back muscles twitching with each leap upward.
I imagined clinging onto his back for a second, riding up to the stars and the moon with him.
I leap to my feet when somebody knocks on the door, the interior door to the apartment. It’s late, almost midnight. One of our neighbors?
The cops said they’d call if they had any more questions. And even if they came here, they wouldn’t knock on the interior door, would they? They’d press the buzzer.
Mom walks out of the bathroom, wide-eyed. “Who’s that?”
“I don’t know.”
I creep toward it, ignoring Mom’s hiss from behind me.“Be careful.”
My heart picks up again, but I warn myself to chill the heck out. I can’t start leaping at every noise and shadow just because…
Well, just because I saw a freaking massive wolf and was almost kidnapped.
Okay, maybe I should cut myself some slack.
“Hello?” I say quietly.
“I’m sorry to bother you so late,” the man says. “Ramsey sent me.”
A shudder moves through me as I remember his eyes, the redness in the park, and the silver of his hair, the same silver as the wolf’s fur.
My skin tingles, and I wonder if it could be true.
But there’s so much I don’t know, making my head feel like it’s actually cramping, like my skull might decide, hey, I’m going to crush this girl’s brain.
My body wants to sleep, but my curiosity won’t let me.
Am I crazy? A wolf saves me, then Ramsey sends somebody here...a few hours after the wolf runs away.
“Is it about...” I lower my voice, conscience of Mom. “Um, the wolf problem at work?”
“Wolf problem?” Mom whispers.
I glance at her, lowering my voice. “It’s a term for people who hang together in the gym and upset all the other customers. They call themselves a wolfpack. It’s so pathetic. We had some bad ones earlier.”
I turn away quickly, not waiting to see if she bought that. It sounded silly even to me.
“Yes,” the man says. “It is, in fact. Can I come in?”
“Ruby,” Mom hisses from behind me.
“It’s fine, Mom.”
“Hecould’ve sent this man.”
“It’s not that,” I say. “I know for a fact it’s not them. I promise. I swear I wouldn’t let any of them near you.”
She makes a shuddering noise. “Okay. I trust you. But I don’t understand why this is so important.”
Without replying, I open the door. A man stands there, around Ramsey’s age, with a small scar on his chin. “You’re Ruby.”