Chapter Nine

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The wolves that dwelt deep within the woods howled, their spine chilling cries curling on the lonely night like ribbons. Tangling around the trees with the force of a spider's web, the skein of the threads designed to trip and entangle, drawing tight in the receding darkness.

The wind infiltrated Maebh's bedroom and manipulated the curtains, tickling her exposed skin. A single howl resounded from nearby, silencing all the others. Maebh woke up with a start. The temperature of her room attacked her at once, clouds of vapour escaping her mouth.

She crept out of bed and peered around the heavy curtains, rubbing the frost off the glass. It was a miracle she hadn't frozen to death in her sleep. A thick layer of white covered the wildflower field behind the house, untouched. Winter had come. Maebh got dressed in her warmest clothes and padded downstairs to thwart her arctic demise.

At last, the damned cast had been sawed off of her ankle. The month of immobilisation had weakened her muscles, resulting in wobbly movements whenever she put weight on her leg, but at least she no longer needed to hop down the steps and risk breaking another bone.

From within the walls, the old pipes of the heating system gurgled. The house and the garden were long done, but that did not stop Coinín from raiding her fridge or popping by to escape Maggie's hormonal fits. Maebh called out his name, assuming he had been the one to turn on the heating. But as she entered the kitchen, a foul mood knocked on her brain's door. Courtesy of the man leaning against her counter.

"What are you doing here?"

"Straight to the point, as always. Good morning to you too, Mae." Bear said, two dimples piercing his cheeks.

Moving her weight from one foot to the other, Maebh smoothed her rumpled jumper down. She had seen little of Bear when her parents were visiting. But once they had left, it became clear he was avoiding her. Sure, he would drop off Logan twice a week for babysitting duties, but that required little interaction. Hell, it had been weeks since he'd last kissed her.

He gave her that look again. Every time he saw her without her contacts, he would contemplate her like one would an exotic bird of paradise. Maebh rubbed her temples and just like that, everything she had bottled up came spilling out.

"I can't figure out why, but there is a reason you don't want others to see my eyes." She said. "The whole 'small town mentality' thing is such a load of barney! Why would you lie about something so trivial? I think by now I've proven myself trustworthy.. and it's not like I want to exhibit these eyeballs to the world. But why wouldn't you want me to?"

"Wow, wow, relax. Where's all this coming from?" He muttered, having the gall to look annoyed.

"You are unbelievable. Where do you think? You could have just been honest with me instead of making up some half-arsed excuse! Do you have some kind of fetish for abnormalities? Is that why-"

"I didn't know this was bothering you so much, but let's talk about it calmly."

Maebh could feel the steam emitting from her ears. "Don't interrupt me."

Bear rolled his eyes, and she had the powerful urge to poke them out of his skull.

"I'm well aware I haven't been the easiest person to deal with. But the difference is that I try to be honest with you, whereas nowadays you- you only ever talk to me when you dump your son on my doorstep!" she said.

Bear looked at her in an accusing manner. "You said you didn't mind watching him?"

"Of course I don't mind, that's not the point! The point is that I only see you when you need me and I'm tired of being kept at bay. Why are you leaving me in the dark?" The question softened at the end of the sentence as Maebh's throat constricted.

She watched him, searching his face for an answer. Seconds ticked by and he remained silent, looking anywhere but her.

"Why?" She emphasised.

Still, he refused to look at her.

"Either explain or leave." She said, her face now painted with two streams of angry tears which she wiped away.

The statement appeared to be efficient though, as Bear raised his eyes. Taking notice of her damp cheeks, he moved forward, his face settling into a look of regret. But as he did, she staggered back.

"I'm so disappointed in you. But most of all, I'm disappointed in myself for putting my heart on the line for someone who can't even be honest with me." Maebh said.

Bear's mouth twisted into a pained grimace. "I can't tell you. You'll leave me if I do."

"Then don't. Mutual affection is as important as mutual respect, which our so-called relationship obviously lacks."

"Respect? What does this have to do with respect?"

"You're filling in the blanks for me, already deciding what I'll do before you've even told me! You're taking decisions for me again. And if you respected me enough, you would leave the choice up to me, whether that worked to your advantage or not."

His mouth opened and then closed. Maebh had made a solid point, and they both knew it.

"I'll still babysit Logan," she continued. "But I won't let you string me along. It's for the best if we call it quits."

She spoke in a hollow tone of voice. No longer did she stand slumped against the wall, but straight and confident. Her body language supported the words fleeing from her mouth. It alarmed him.

"You're seriously going to ruin our relationship over this?" Bear asked.

"You should ask yourself that question. Please just— just go."

He sighed. "If that's what you want."

"It is."

Bear nodded and walked to the front door. Before exiting, he turned back once more. Their eyes locked.

"I left a present for you on the table. Happy birthday, Maebh."

She gazed at the door, even after the sound of his car had faded into the distance. To confirm what she already knew, Maebh looked at the calendar and searched for the day's date.

The 25th of October.

Somehow she'd forgotten she was going to be 20. She stared at the number, wondering how he had found out it was her birthday. He had never asked, nor had she ever mentioned it. Her gaze fell to the table where a plate of pastries laid accompanied by a glass of orange juice. A parcel wrapped in red ribbon captured her attention. Maebh brushed aside the pang of guilt that tugged at her heart's strings and held a hand to her forehead.

"I need chocolate."

Perhaps she should have waited until after her period to throw herself into a weighty conversation. It would have spared her the dramatics.

On a quiet Thursday afternoon, Maebh spotted the mysterious man roaming around the town centre for the umpteenth time. She gawked at him, never able to resist the temptation. Without fail, the now familiar pricks and tingles announced their presence. By then, she had grown used to the sensation —even fond of it. With a stoic expression, the man raised his eyebrows and Maebh looked away, cheeks tinting crimson.

The electrically charged waves that accompanied his presence made it impossible to erase him from her mind. It was not long before visions of him consumed her and he began showing up in her dreams. The fact she kept running into him all over Haines Junction did not help the cause. Truth be told, she looked forward to each encounter. Which wasn't typical for a person who suspected they might have a stalker.

On the second of November, Maebh spotted him exiting the door of the library and made a mental note to ask Alexandria about him later. The street was empty, no cars passing by or other pedestrians. The snow crunched under her boots and her keys jingled. Maebh walked to where she had parked her car and threw a glance over her shoulder. The man stared after her, and continued to do so until she drove off.

Maebh spent the following evening at Coinín and Maggie's. In the middle of dinner, someone who had been asleep joined them. At the sound of Maebh's recognisable loud laugh, he had woken up, leapt out of bed and raced down the stairs in his dinosaur pyjamas.

"Mae, Mae, Mae!" Logan exclaimed, running as fast as his small feet allowed.

Maggie's brother-in-law and friend were no longer a couple, but Maebh was still an important part of Logan's life. In a twisted turn of events, the two had grown very attached to each other. Hence why aunty Mags had wisely refrained from telling him of Maebh's visit and sent him off to bed early. Though as it appeared, it wasn't nearly enough to keep them apart.

The little boy jumped into Maebh's lap and buried his face in the crook of her neck, relishing in the familiar scent of jasmine, mint and violets.

"Hi Lo," she greeted him with a radiant smile which Logan returned with a toothy smile twice the size of her own. Maebh gasped at the sight of two gaping holes, and feigned shock. "Where are your teeth?!"

He giggled. "They fell out, all on their own!" Before cupping his hands around his mouth and whisper-shouting into her ear. "I'm getting big boy teeth."

They remained like this until he nodded off in her arms. Carrying him back to bed, Maebh tucked him in, pecked his forehead goodnight and rejoined the hosts at the table.

She said her goodbyes half an hour before midnight, only to be greeted by the icy temperature outside. She noticed her mystery man on the other side of the road. Because of the lowered inhibitions brought on by her inebriation, his presence didn't strike her as odd. It also made her do something that, in hindsight, was fairly foolish: she waved. And even he seemed taken aback by the gesture. He didn't wave back.

Her car's ever elusive key chain tumbled out of her slack grip and hit the ground in the darkness. Maebh crouched down, her hands roaming through the snow, searching for the cursed keys.

"Here." came from above her in a gravelly deep voice.

Maebh froze as a figure loomed over her. The moon shone down on the back of their head, enabling her from seeing their face. But the surrounding air blurred with the vigour they radiated. And so, there was no need for more light. She knew whose face hid in the shadows.

Maebh rose from her crouched position and realised how much she had underestimated his stature. He was well over one head taller than her and twice as broad. He could easily overpower her.

The stranger held out the keys and Maebh felt herself accept them from a will not her own. She wasn't sure which emotion was uppermost. Excitement? Fear?

"Err, thank you."

Keeping his mouth closed, he tilted his head to the side and studied her. A jagged scar ran through his left eyebrow, his nose looked as though it had been broken before; crooked and asymmetrical. The moon cast terrible shadows across the lines of his face, and Maebh felt a jolt of something she couldn't identify.

"What time is it?"

She blinked.

"Half-past eleven, I think." Maebh replied, surprised at the abnormality of such a common question.

With the slightest down tilt of the head, he nodded and clenched his jaw, causing Maebh to watch in fascination as the muscles worked under his skin.

Before she could comprehend what was happening, the night swallowed him whole. Open-mouthed, she gaped at the spot he had once been standing and went to her car in a daze.

Hours after she had gone to sleep, Maebh awoke with a sharp gasp. The night terror that had caused this had ceased, but horrific images seemed imprinted behind her eyes.

She laid there for a moment, before her stomach gave a sudden lurch of protest. Maebh leapt out of the bed and ran into the bathroom, just making it to the toilet before she was violently sick. She slumped down on the cold tiled floor, retching and panting, until she could control her breathing again. The flushing sound of the toilet filled the bathroom. Maebh staggered over to the sink and leaned against it, willing the room to stop spinning. She turned on the cold tap, washed her face and brushed her teeth to get rid of the nauseating taste.

The girl in the mirror looked awful, even by her standards. Her hair had rebelled during the night, escaped from its braid, and the shorter strands were flying haywire and stuck to her sweaty neck and forehead. Dark circles stood out against her skin, which looked paler than the colour of the walls surrounding her. A little unsteadily, she walked back to the bedroom. Only when Maebh neared the bed, did she register she wasn't alone.

"Lo?"

The boy sat on her duvet, naked as the day he was born, his skin covered with smudges of mud. His little eyebrows were knitted together and confusion danced across his features, causing Maebh to mirror his expression and her blood to run cold.

Sheer panic consumed her as she stumbled towards him, dropping to her knees and grasping a hold of his tiny hands. Her nausea long forgotten as she observed the dirty state he was in.

"Lo? What happened!? How did you get in here?"

Logan looked down, his bottom lip trembling as big fat tears rolled down his cheeks. "It hurts."

"What hurts, baby?"

"My canines." He muttered, pointing at his open mouth.

Focusing her attention on the gaps between his teeth, Maebh narrowed her eyes into splits. Where had been two gaping holes that evening, were now two pointy white bits piercing through his gums. No wonder the poor boy was in so much pain, his teeth were growing like weeds. At this rate, he'd have a new set of teeth by sunrise.

"Poor baby." She mumbled, wiping the tears away and kissing his temple in reassurement. "We'll get you some ice cream in a bit, alright? It will numb the pain."

Logan nodded and sniffed, burying his teary face in the fabric of her pyjamas. Taking him in her arms, she fetched the quilt from the bed and wrapped it around him for warmth. Unwilling to leave him on his own, Maebh descended the stairs and ventured into the kitchen for his promised ice cream. Handing him an unwrapped popsicle, they went back upstairs, bringing along the entire box just in case.

Not wanting him to notice her internal panic, Maebh carried him over to the bathroom for a wash. Suckling on the popsicle, Logan appeared less distressed than five minutes ago. After his bath and a second popsicle, she dressed him in the pair of pyjamas he'd left the last time Bear was out of town.

"Feeling a little better?" Maebh asked, letting him crawl under the comforter and tucking him in.

Sucking on his thumb, he gave a weak nod.

"How did you get here? With these?" Emphasising her question, she tickled his feet under the covers. He nodded, and the cheeky smile that appeared was a welcome sight.

"Do aunty Mags and uncle Coi know you're here?"

This time, he shook his head no and his bottom lip started trembling again as his eyes welled up. "I wanna stay with you."

Resting her hand on the side of his head and stroking his cheek, she shushed him. "You can sleep here, Lo, don't worry."

Her gentleness assured him of the honesty behind her words. When she was positive he had calmed down, Maebh fetched her phone from the bedside table to notify Coinín and Maggie their nephew was safe. Ringing the first number on her list, her call went to voicemail and when she tried the second, that one too, went to voicemail. As an alternative, she sent both the same text, explaining the situation.

They must still be asleep, Maebh figured, and a bitter taste of anger accompanied the realisation. How could they have been so irresponsible? The damned couple hadn't even noticed that their 4-year-old nephew had disappeared from his bed and walked to the other side of Haines Junction in the middle of the night, through the snow and with no form of clothing! He could have caught hypothermia or worse.

Testing that theory, she searched him for any symptoms. His skin did not appear reddish nor feel cold. "Are you warm?"

"Mm mm." He murmured, his eyes were growing heavier now.

"Can you answer something else for me, Lo?"

"Mm mm."

"Why were you bum naked?"

The potential answers to this question scared her half to death. Whilst washing him, she had noticed no bruises, but still...

Logan removed his thumb from his mouth. "I ripped them, please don't tell daddy."

Even though she did not quite understand, she decided against further questioning. "I won't, it'll be our secret, okay?"

In reply, she could feel him nod against her chest. They both fell silent, but after a long pause, Logan spoke again.

"The prince said you had a bad dream."

Delirious with sleep, Maebh only uttered a, "Hmm."


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