The Puppets and the Strings (A Werewolf's Saga Book 7) Read online

  In all honesty, he could care less. She grabbed his hand several times during the movie. Every time she did, he lost track of what he was watching anyway. He didn’t even know what the name of the movie was.

  “I know,” he answered her with a blind stare.

  They walked down the sidewalk. They headed to a small neighborhood that he had never seen before. Small houses lined the street. Small trees lined the sidewalk. It looked well lit. It was all he knew.

  “I had a great time tonight.” She saw his stare, without needing to see what he was thinking. “I’m sorry about talking so much. You’re probably mad at me for it, huh?”

  He shook his head violently. “Absolutely not…never…I would never.”

  She laughed. They held hands. She squeezed his right hand tighter.

  He melted with it. Hell, he still couldn’t believe that he was even there. He felt like someone else walking through his life. This didn’t feel real.

  “It’s okay…I do.” She only hoped that he felt the same way as she did. It was time to find out. “I get really nervous sometimes when I’m with someone I really like. I get all talky and chatty and before I know it, I run him off.”

  He almost lost his mind. She said she talks a lot with someone she likes…Does that mean that she likes me? He didn’t know what to say. “It’s cool. I get really quiet when I like someone, so opposites attract.” He laughed some. Where hers sounded sweet and erotic, his sounded like a chicken had just been stepped on. It clacked as it screamed with a high-pitched ear piercing sound.

  “That’s good then. I’m happy that both of us did.” That was just what she wanted to hear. It made her night. He made it.

  “So, where are we going now?” He knew where they were going and he didn’t like it. He wanted the night to continue.

  She squeezed his hand again.

  “I have to go home.”

  Damn, now he felt crushed. “When can I see you again?” he had to ask next. If they had to end this fabulous night, he had to make sure that they would do it again. He already couldn’t wait.

  “Well…” She started swinging his arm with hers as they walked.

  He didn’t know what it meant, but again, could care less.

  “I was hoping that we could do something tomorrow night.” She now let her left arm wrap its way around his. “If you’d like?”

  It brought her chest to his arm too. He felt her—well—everything. He lost his breaths.

  Again, she felt him tense up, and she liked it.

  He had to say something. He just didn’t know what. Over the entire night, they had talked about the music they liked. They had talked about his plans and him wanting to get into school. They talked about what they liked to watch on TV. They even talked about what they liked to eat. It felt so natural talking with her. It felt so right. He had never felt anything like this before. She nearly made him want to jump straight out of his own flesh. It overwhelmed his young mind.

  He became so quiet. He became so tense. She knew that she would have to make the move again. “That’s it then. We will meet again at the diner and go from there.” She squeezed his arm closer to her body, and let his body’s warmth caress hers.

  He loved that the most about her. She didn’t give him the time to think about anything but her. She didn’t hesitate with him. He liked that. He liked it that he didn’t have to think.

  “That’s a date then.” He felt like dancing, and let that feeling blow through his heart. At least he was thinking again too. He was already imaging what they were going to do next. There was really nothing there, but it did comfort him. He liked it anyway.

  They crossed the street and came to a small dark colored house just on their right. They stopped on the sidewalk in front of the driveway. Up at the end of the driveway was a small-detached garage on the right side of the house. There were no cars. The house looked dark, except for a small brass light at the top of the front door. It looked odd to him but in the end, it wasn’t. She told him that her grandparents had left for a week. They would be back soon.

  “Well, this is me.” She turned to him.

  Their eyes met.

  “I really hope that we can make this happen.” She smiled with a full flash.

  It made her eyes seemingly sparkle.

  “We will.” He saw her face light up again. He watched her smile and her white flashing teeth. Her full and firm lips parted, and he suddenly felt himself freeze. He wanted to kiss her right then. He could think of doing nothing else.

  She must have too, because before he could do anything, she leaned in and brought her lips to his.

  She kissed him. Her breaths filled his. His mind spilled with nothing but a flash of a bright white light.

  She released his warm lips after a good minute had passed.

  “Have a great night Casey. I will be thinking of you.”

  He gulped her taste down his throat. “You too.” He actually suddenly felt like crying, and he didn’t know why. He just did.

  She smiled one final time, before she turned. She headed up the empty driveway and headed to the side door at the side of the house facing the driveway.

  She disappeared so fast.

  He just found himself standing there and unable to move. A thousand blank ideas flashed through his head. The white light, the one he saw during their kiss had faded. It left nothing there.

  He didn’t even know how long he stood there, before he left. He felt helpless. He felt ecstatic beyond words but also felt lost within them too. It was such an odd feeling. It felt like he was coming and going at the same time.

  Did that just happen? He replayed it again in his mind. He saw her move in. He saw her eyes close. He liked that. He then felt her moist lips press against his. She even opened her mouth. He was right. It did happen. He was sure of that now.

  I’ll be Goddamned, it did happen. I just kissed her and she kissed me back. His heart burst. His lungs exhaled with one giant gust of wind. He suddenly felt relieved. I have a girlfriend. He almost couldn’t fathom it. He didn’t know how to feel, but he did feel great. He just hoped he was right.

  When he finally relaxed again, when he finally thought again and saw himself, he finally moved. He turned.

  He started walking without thinking.

  He headed home, and wouldn’t even remember the walk.

  24

  He went to the field. He brought a small aluminum bucket of water with him, which he carried in his right hand.

  He headed through the trees. He found the same clearing he was going to change in, and instead, he walked to the center of it and built a fire. He kept it small. He kept it neat. It took only seconds to build into flames.

  With the fire roaring, he took a seat in front of it. He crossed his legs. He relaxed his hands on his knees. He then closed his eyes.

  He pictured the flames in his mind. He felt his eyes begin to burn in seconds. He felt them flare, and when he opened them back up again, he looked back to the fire.

  The flames were now as bright as the sun, but it didn’t hurt to look in to them. It felt warm, but it didn’t feel like heat. He recognized it. He knew it well.

  Along the side of the fire, someone was now standing there with him, and he knew instantly whom it was. She hadn’t changed at all.

  “Hello Sima.”

  She wore a bright white gown that seemed to blow around her adult frame. It was caused from an unseen wind. It flowed around her like it was almost a part of her but wasn’t. It seemed to blow with her, through her, and a part of her all at once.

  “Hello father. It has been some time since we last spoke.”

  She looked more than just beautiful; she looked angelic. Her long black hair flowed around the top of the dress. It covered her to her neck. Her soft skin sparkled in the glow of the fire. With the fire now behind her, the flames made her look like she was glowing.

  “Yes it has. I’ve missed you.”

  It had been years since he has come
to this place to see her. He used to do it often after getting his memories back at the end times, but ever since Casey had been born, he has avoided it. It was for obvious reasons. When he did come there, it gave him the time to be with her, as he hadn’t since the days they lived together as a family with her mother. He could almost see those days. He felt them too.

  He would spend his time out tending the fields, as she stayed at home with her mother taking care of their property. In those times, the women did as much, if not more, than the men did. Sima was young, but she still did her part. Every day, he would get up before dawn, and would stay out to nearly dusk and work. When he came home, it was to her. He needed to hold her. He needed to be with her, even though he feared what he was. In the end, it didn’t bother her. She knew what he was, just by seeing inside his mind. She knew him better than he had ever known himself.

  In coming to the flames, and seeing her again as he had done, the times were no different. She saw through him as no one ever could.

  “I have missed you as well father. What brings you here now after all this time?” She walked around the side of the fire, which was now ten times the size of the one he had built in the center of the clearing. It roared, but it didn’t make a sound.

  He watched her come right up to only a foot from his feet.

  “I have a question that I need to pose to you. But first…” He turned and looked around the clearing, and looked out in to the trees. No one was with them, but in this place, you could never be sure of it. The soul could hide anywhere. They were boundless in what they could do or what they could hear. “You must promise me that this is between the two of us. No one else must hear me. No one else must see me. No one else must know.” He had to know that she would use her gifts, as she always possessed them, to keep out those who would. Not many could see through people, while at the same time keep them from seeing you as she could. She was magnificent at it too.

  She bowed her head. She now looked in her thirties, much older than she was when she died—this place has no meaning for time—he didn’t know how that worked but he didn’t care. As she did, the hair fell in front of her dress.

  “This is about him, is it not?” She looked up with the bluest of eyes. In this place, they always were. The powers of the Wanderers flowed in front of the flames. The flames were the eyes themselves. “This is about Casey, my brother.”

  He blinked with this. He shouldn’t have been surprised, but he still was. He didn’t know how far this had gone, and he wasn’t prepared for it. Even though, he probably should have been but wasn’t.

  “You know of him?”

  “I do. He talks to me. He shares with me his thoughts.” Her eyes showed like sapphires of the greatest shine.

  He blinked with hearing this. “He talks to you?” He didn’t believe this. He didn’t know what else to say. “How can he?”

  She accepted this, as she always did. “He does so without knowing he does.” She took a soft step towards him, and reached out and took him by the shoulders with both palms of her hands. She cupped him just as softly. “He is a wonderful brother for a sister that loves him.” She smiled.

  Her face was as bright as the brightest moon. “He doesn’t know that he is then.” He understood this much. “How did you know about him?” he had to know next.

  She shrugged softly. “He was born. He is a part of you, and therefore, he is a part of me. Because he is a part of both of us, and of Rana too, he is a part of this place as we are. We all are born the same.” She dropped her arms. “His life is not known to those who would hurt him.” She turned back to the flames. She looked down at them and sighed softly. “You did not come here about him.” She turned her head ever so slowly back to his.

  He watched her and felt a sudden wave of pride rush through his chest. Even though he had lost her, all those many eons ago, she was still strong. She was still powerful. She was still his daughter and would forever be as such.

  “I can’t fool you once.” He bowed his eyes, but only briefly before, he looked up again. “Rachel asked me to come here and pose a question to you. I have come to ask it.”

  She smiled with this. “Rana loves you with everything inside her. You do know of this, right?”

  He blushed some with this as he answered her, “I know.” He wasn’t ashamed anymore for marrying another woman. He knew that Alana accepted her, and that was enough for him.

  “She does. Mother is very happy for you.” She looked back to the fire, as it burned not two feet from her gown. It wouldn’t have burned her. That was not its purpose. “She is happy and pleased that you found love again.”

  He swallowed with this. “You speak to her?” He didn’t know that was even possible, so he had to ask it next. Oh what he would do if he could speak to her again. There was so much for him to say, that he wouldn’t know where to start. He knew he would know it if he could. He would never doubt that much. He also never thought he would ever have the chance.

  She held both hands out to the flames. It burned straight up in front of her and over her head. It looked magnificent.

  “Yes. I have spoken to her. I have spoken to many people that have crossed over to the flames.” She put her hands back to her sides. “And they have come to speak to me.”

  He had tears now swell up in both eyes. They then streaked down his face to his chin. “Can I speak to her?”

  She shrugged hard. “Someday you will. It is not the day for it.”

  In a way, he knew what she meant with that. He knew that one day he would die, die for good like a human. He just knew it, deep down inside him, but he didn’t know how or why. As long as the wolf was a part of him, he knew it wouldn’t be any time soon. It was just a feeling, so he left it at that. Knowing it was enough.

  “I guess you want to know why I came here.” He wiped both eyes with the backs of both hands. He dried them the best he could.

  She turned back to him. “She has been clouded. Her gifts have waned.” Her eyes flared. “She believes that Casey is causing it.”

  He now knew that Rachel was right to feel worried about this. If Sima understood it without him having to ask her, than it was far worse than he thought at first. If it were nothing, she wouldn’t have said it. She wouldn’t have known it. He knew his daughter so very well.

  “Yes, she does.”

  She bowed her eyes again. “It must worry her. It must be daunting not being able to see through one’s thoughts. I can understand her fears, but without them, she would have to lose what she does not want to lose.”

  “What does she lose?”

  She looked back up. “You know there are many things I cannot share with you, father. Decisions must be made and time must pass.”

  He could see that old familiar look in her eyes. The one she gets when she wants to tell him things, but knows she can’t. This place doesn’t work that way. Only the dead can see the full truth, while the living like him can only wait to have it answered. It felt terrible that the great beyond, the great flames, the resting, whatever one calls it, doesn’t tell you the truth about the future, present, or the past but it does have a great reason for it. One must never know of their death. One must never know about a choice before they make it. Time wouldn’t function right after it ever again.

  “It is real then—the feelings she has?” He left it there.

  She admired him as she always did. “It is.” She looked back to the fire. “Times are coming that will press them further than they ever have before.” She turned back to him. “Kenar. He is the one who will need you before the end.”

  He didn’t like the sound of this. “What do you mean?” She never told him anything that he didn’t want to hear or have to know. It meant that this was important.

  “He is in danger. He needs your help.”

  He shuddered with this. “What kind of danger?”

  She looked back to the fire.

  A shadow now moved from it, and suddenly, a person appeared just to its le
ft. Kenny now stood there. His flannel shirt looked as dry as ever. His dark wrinkled skin sparkled. He looked as dry as his shirt.

  “Kenny, what are you doing here?” He gasped.

  “I’m not here Jimmy. Remember? I am now living down there.” He pointed back to the trees behind him.

  He knew what he meant. This place carried everyone that had ever lived and died. He was there too, somewhere, living within the flames. It was always hard to think about. He tried many times, and many times, he failed.

  “Sima said that you were in danger. What does she mean?” He looked over to her and saw her staring at the flames. She held both hands out to it, with her palms facing the fire. Seeing her, seeing her reaction to it and not to them, he realized that she was somehow causing this. She was letting Kenny to be there. He didn’t know how or why he thought this, but he did. It just had to be what he saw.

  “Yes she is allowing me to be here Jimmy. Your child has one heck of a gift.” Kenny’s voice cracked and hawed.

  He sounded like he still smoked two packs a day.

  “How did you know…” he was about to ask him but stopped himself. He didn’t need to ask such a ridiculous question. He already knew. “Right.” He laughed instead.

  “I cannot be here long my friend, but Sima is right. I need your help. Joseph needs you.”

  He shook his head. “Why? What’s wrong?” He felt his heart clinch up fast. He felt his lungs clench quickly. He felt the simple; here we go again, feeling about this. He didn’t like it at all.

  “I’m sorry Jimmy. If I could have stopped it, I would have. It has to happen. The choices have been made.”

  He knew he was going to say that. Once a choice is made, even if you weren’t the one making the choice, the future was set. In other words, he was about to get involved in this even if he wanted to or not. He knew this, but he still needed to argue against it. This wasn’t all about him anymore. He had to think about his family.