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After Azolata’s strange appearance and subsequent disappearance, the party broke up quickly. Dante and I decided to walk home.
"We should get our own place," Dante said suddenly.
The same thought occurred to me as well but right now the only thing I could think of was getting home and getting into bed. I looked over at my friend and noticed he was staring straight ahead.
"Is there something else on your mind?" I asked.
Dante was quiet for a long time, but I knew better than to rush him. We walked a way before he turned to me. "I think we should accept Celia's invitation to a pack."
We had been dancing around this very subject for weeks.
I nodded. "What makes you say that?"
"The whole thing with this new pack hunting us. Their claim is stronger if we don't belong to a pack. And if they somehow are able to figure out how to drag me away from you and the others, then they might have a claim on me. They might be able to make me stay."
I didn't know about all that, but Dante had a more thorough knowledge of werewolves.
"But the Ascendancy –" I started.
"They are after us anyway. They don't believe Celia when she says that we aren't part of her pack. We might as well join if they are going to be trying to kill us for it."
He had a point. And I had never taken well to people telling me what I can and can't do for arbitrary reasons.
We walked in silence for a little longer. "So what's this about us getting our own place?" I asked.
"I had this whole speech figured out and I was going to segue between getting our own place and joining the pack. But then I forgot most of it," Dante said bashfully.
I laughed. "Let's take one thing at a time."
***
DANTE AND I FOUND OURSELVES in the woods the next day. I was there looking for something that Azolata had told me about before he disappeared. It was something that he wanted to put in the ink of my next tattoo.
I wasn't pleased about that part either. Another tattoo and probably somewhere more conspicuous or more painful. The part was up to me. If I put this new piece on my chest, it would be more painful. Or, I could put it on my forearm where it wouldn't cause as much discomfort but would be much harder to hide.
I kneeled by one of the duende and spoke to them in confidence. "It's a flower. It has a red center and blue petals. Its stem is black and its leaves are white. Have you seen it?"
We had become good friends in the past few weeks. They were very kind and very good to me and often brought me small little trinkets. They were usually shiny rocks or other sparkly things. Artie warned me against accepting gifts from any other species because they could be used as a means of a contract. But, he allowed, these people were kind and giving and they genuinely had an affection for me.
The small man and woman looked at each other and chittered. They exchanged what I thought was a few words before the woman with the fierce-looking spear in her hand nodded.
"Can you take me to it?" I asked.
She shook her head and her face was sad.
"Oh," I said in my shoulders drooped. According to Azolata, this new flower would have given me greater control.
The woman said something to me and I swore to myself for the millionth time that I would figure out their language. She turned to her companion and mimed giving him her spear. Then she gestured between the two of us.
"Oh, you can get it for me?" I asked.
She nodded.
"I don't want to give you any trouble. I don't mind getting it myself," I insisted.
Both the woman and her companion shook their heads fiercely. The man made claws from his hands and bared his teeth at me. It reminded me of when Eli and I had been at the motel.
"It's dangerous for me? There something that could kill me when I go for the flower?" I guessed.
Both of them nodded.
I considered what they were saying and finally gave in. "Only if it doesn't put you in danger. If it does, forget it. I'll find another way."
Both the woman and her companion waved my words away and as I watched them, they both straightened up and looked over my shoulder.
I turned and found Celia seated next to Dante on a rock.
I hadn't heard her approach. I wanted to ask her if whatever power made her an alpha was getting stronger. Even Dante, notable for his strength and fighting ability, was unable to take Celia down these days.
She smiled at me. "They adore you."
"I try to keep things nice when I can. I mean, if you think about it, the forest is their home and we are tromping through it daily. I think they appreciate that."
She continued to smile at me. I wondered how she was doing. With the Ascendancy breathing down her neck and Dante and me still on the fence about joining the pack, I felt like she should be a bundle of nerves. But she seemed as calm and collected as ever.
"What was with Azolata last night?" Dante asked.
A shadow seemed to pass over her. She looked up at the trees and the weak sunlight streaming down through their branches. January is an awful month, in my opinion. There were dark and gloomy days that filled the entire month and a hangover from the holidays. It was still cold and the clouds that hung over our town were oppressive. As a pack, we spent most of our time outdoors and although it should have been freeing, it felt like there was something pressing down on us.
It was probably just the Ascendancy and their threat of unimaginable torture and death.
"I don't know. But the way that he looked at Billie and Stephen, it seems like he knew them. It seems like he knew them very well and right before he left, he looked so sad." Celia said. She pressed her lips together in a thin line. "I don't have to tell you guys that he is old. Older than any of us can even imagine. He's never told me how old, but I can feel it. And I have to guess that in a life as long as his, people that you lost a long time ago have a way of coming back to haunt you."
I looked at Dante. I knew what he was going to ask before I could stop him.
"Is that what it is? Did he tell you that he knew them?" Dante asked.
Too late.
"No. That's not what he said to me at all. In fact, he didn't say anything to me at all. I haven't seen him since last night and his shop is closed indefinitely. I don't know where he goes when he isn't with us or at his shop," Celia said.
I knew that Azolata was old. I knew that he was older than even Celia was guessing. And I had to wonder if she was right. If he was something that we didn't even know from our books. He had said as much to Savannah once.
"He said his name. His real name. Did it sound familiar to you?" I asked.
Celia shook her head. "No. And I couldn't repeat even if I wanted to. I asked Stephen and Billie if they had ever heard of it either but Stephen said he had. And Billie-" Celia sighed.
"What about her?" I asked.
As far as I could tell, as far as my magic could tell me, Billie was not a threat. Since the previous night, I knew that she and Artie were getting along great. It was like they were best friends, lost long ago, and now just found one another.
"When I tried to ask Billie if she knew Azolata, Artie told me that they were busy and would let me know everything they found out later and practically threw me out of my own house," Celia said.
"Did Artie replace me as a research partner?" I asked and put a hand to my chest, feigning emotional pain.
"It looks like it. And she's way better than you. She has graphs, computers, and more notebooks than any human has any right to have," Celia said grimly, as though she were delivering bad news.
"I guess I'll just have to accept that I have been demoted from my position," I said.
Celia smirked and looked behind me. I turned around to face them to see the two duende I had been talking to. In their hands were six flowers, the same as I described to them.
My mouth dropped open. I didn't even realize they had left. "Thank you," I gasped.
The said something to me in their strange language before disappearing once again.
I held the flowers out to their backs and waved, still speechless. I turned back to Celia and Dante. I held the flowers out to them, as though they could help me make sense of it.
"Too bad Azolata isn’t around to help you out with that tattoo," Celia said and rolled her eyes. Her annoyance with him was obvious. She still wasn't over the fact that he abandoned them in their hour of need and never offered an explanation as to why. For someone who claimed to be such a good friend, he sure did disappear at inconvenient times.
Although, I didn't have much to say about that myself.
"Well, they need to be dried anyway," I muttered.
"What did you call me here for?" Celia asked.
Now that the subject was at hand, I squirmed uncomfortably under her gaze. "Put the alpha eyes away, Celia. I swear I didn't do anything wrong."
"Alpha eyes? This is just how my face looks," she replied.
I carefully put the flowers in a velvet bag that Azolata had given to me with instructions on how and where to find the plant. When they were safely tucked away, I looked up at her. "Dante and I have decided that we want to join the pack."
Her expression didn't change. She stared at me and then turned to Dante and he nodded.
"This is a decision you shouldn’t make lightly. I hope that both of you have thought about this and talk about it. Because once we start the process, you can't stop."
"We are sure," Dante said.
Celia turned back to me and I nodded.
She stood. "Traditionally, when a pack welcomes a new member, there is a test to prove their worth. We haven't had to do any tests since the Ascendancy has put in place the new laws that put a cap on in the pack numbers. It's been decades. But from what I can remember of my parents telling me what happened is that if a new wolf wants to join a pack, he must pass a test of strength. He must fight the strongest in the pack he wants to join and he must win."
I looked at Dante. While he did have the strength, and some fighting skills now, I knew that he would never win in a fight against Celia.
"And for a Sentinel to join the pack, or even to pass the rights of age, they must take a walk," Celia added.
It sounded ominous even if the words themselves were so simple.
"A walk?" I said.
Celia nodded.
I looked over to Dante once again and wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans. "That doesn't sound so bad –"
Celia laughed. "Yeah, but you're forgetting something."
"What?" I asked.
"You aren't just any Sentinel and Dante's not just a beta. Those are just the closest examples I can give you. Whatever you two are, is something entirely different and I have no idea what you are up against."