CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY FIVE
CHARLIE
I didn’t mean to see it.
I wasn’t trying to snoop or spy or dig up something that wasn’t mine. I just needed air. The house was too loud and there many footsteps, too many people looking my way and whispering amongst themselves. I told one of the patrol wolves I was stepping out for a walk, and he barely nodded.
No one really cared where I went aslong as I didnt cause any troubles and go didn’t go too far.
But I did.
The wind had shifted, carrying something strange not a scent I could place, but a feeling. The air was cold but the smell was rotten and old. It pulled me off the main path, deeper into the trees.
And then I saw it.
A shape; twisted and hunched, its back curved like it had too many bones. It was dragging something. I couldn’t see what. It moved low to the ground, half-crawling, half-sliding like it didn’t need legs to move. Its skin was pale, almost grey, like it had been drained of life.
I froze. It didn’t see me, or maybe it di
