3

With Isle Royale far behind me, I could find somewhere to live on the mainland. Maybe I’d get off the island and stay. I could settle down in Michigan or go somewhere else. All that mattered was that I would be with humans like me, and I’d be able to find my place among them.

“People will believe any sign of the divine,” I said with a smirk. “Even small ones.”

El laughed. “When did you become an expert on theology?”

“Well, I only have my own experiences. I’ll use myself as an example. I was supposedly a gift from Holo herself to be Connor Salcedo’s chosen mate once he became alpha. Look at me now. Pretending to be the goddess just to make enough to save some money.”

Five years ago, my friends and family had abandoned me. I wasn’t my parents’ biological daughter. They found me and took me in. After living my entire life in Wilcox pack lands, the place where the rich, high-class wolves enjoyed incredible luxury, I was cast out. Everyone in my life told me that I was “special”, but when I couldn’t shift, they all turned their back on me. My so-called chosen mate, my parents, and my friends, all gone. I hadn’t had contact with them in years, and on my better days, I could pretend that didn’t bother me at all.

Since losing everything, I’d come to terms with what was probably the truth about my origins. I was likely abandoned by my real parents. An unwanted child. All too often, a wolf confessed to impregnating or being impregnated by another who wasn’t their chosen mate. Given the trajectory of my life, I was probably someone’s shameful secret. It was just luck that I was taken in by the wealthy Revera family.

Revera.

I hadn’t used that name in a long time, and by now, I’d stopped thinking of myself as the old version of me.

I shook my head to get rid of those thoughts. El looked at me, her eyebrow raised, but I ignored the question. There wasn’t anything to say. If I was going to pretend to be Holo, I needed not to be so distracted by these pointless thoughts.

I saw the top of Holo’s head poking out above the trees before we reached the clearing where she stood. As she came into view, El and I both had to crane our necks to see all of her. She stood nine stories tall, including the ten-foot base. It was made from bronze, and it was old enough that the bronze had oxidized into turquoise. It was quite a lovely sight, and the setting sun made it that much lovelier.

The statue’s arms were aloft. If the timing was right, and if we stood in just the right spot, it looked like her hands were lovingly cupping the moon. A master artisan whose name was long forgotten had carefully sculpted every inch of her, the muscles incredibly defined, the dress molded perfectly to her svelte form, perpetually lifted by an intangible wind. Her curly hair was tamed into a bun, revealing her beautiful, untroubled expression. She gazed down at the land as if she was in love. The thought of her being in love with any of us made me want to laugh.

“It really is an incredible statue,” El said.

I shrugged. “I guess so. After so many years coming here, it just doesn’t impress me anymore. But you know what does?”

“What?”

I pointed at the base of the statue, where a small handful of coins glittered. “I guess someone had a confession after I left.”

El laughed as I picked up the coins and counted them. Another three dollars in my pocket. Later, I’d add them to the money I’d stashed near the base of the statue.

For now, I pocketed the change and walked behind the statue. I scaled up the base to the back of the statue’s left calf. There was a crack there just large enough for me to wiggle inside. The statue was hollow, and the knee provided a little nook I could wedge myself into comfortably. If any wolf walked behind the statue while I was inside, the crack would let them see me. But with the help of a little pix magic, I would be totally invisible, my scent undetectable.

Before I entered the statue, El flew above me and fluttered her wings. Iridescent specks of magic sprinkled over me. I held my breath because El’s magic often made me sneeze. When it was done, I looked at my hands. I was visible to myself and El, but no one else would know I was there, not unless they were already aware of me.

“All right,” I said. “Let’s get to work.”

I crawled into the statue and was fully nestled just as the sky turned black. I sat comfortably on the old blanket I used as a cushion between me and the hard metal statue. On the inside, there were cracks that weren’t visible from the outside. Things felt sturdy enough, but sometimes I wondered if an earthquake or a hurricane would take this statue down.

All I had to do was keep my eye on the crack in the knee and wait for people to come. El and I chatted quietly to pass the time, but it only took an hour before the first devotee arrived. I recognized her from the market, a woman named Heather who polished crystals she found in the forest and sold them as necklaces and earrings.

“Goddess Holo,” Heather said as she got on her knees. “Please, I have worked hard to beautify the treasures of your island, but my business has not grown the way I need it to. What can I do to interest more people?”

I took a few seconds both to think over my answer and to add some gravitas to the moment. “Hear me,” I said, my voice reverberating up through the body of the statue. Heather flinched. I didn’t blame her. My voice sounded ethereal and powerful even to me. “If an increase in business is what you want, you must increase the amount of attention on your wares.”

“Increase the attention?” she repeated. “But how?”

Sometimes I felt a little silly doing this. I wished I could say, for instance, “get popular, richer people in Den City to wear your jewelry to make them more appealing to others,” but I doubted a goddess who was thousands and thousands of years old would put it so simply.

“Consider the influential people in your village,” I replied. “Consider how they can help attract attention to your trinkets.”

She thought that over, then nodded. “I... I think I understand, Goddess. Thank you, thank you.” As she got to her feet, I heard the clink and clang of the coins hitting the base of the statue. It sounded like quite a few. El, who was sitting on my leg in the statue, looked at me at the same time that I looked down at her. Score!

The next person who came to me paid first and then got on his knees. It was Gregory, a young man who’d just had his twenty-first birthday. That put us at the same age. I wasn’t invited to the celebration, of course, but I’d heard its jovial sounds. It had reminded me of my time in high-wolf society, when I was invited to every party, every gala. I wished I didn’t miss it as much as I did.

“Goddess, please,” Gregory said. “How do I know if the woman I want is right for me?”

I rolled my eyes. The gossip was that this young man had multiple women he was considering as mates. From what I’d observed when I spotted him around town, the women all wanted to be with him, but he hemmed and hawed about which one of them he wanted most. The women grew unhappier each day he refused to make his choice.

Again, I let a few seconds pass before responding. “A maiden who desires you will make her intentions clear. Pay attention to the signs, listen to her words. If you doubt her devotion to you or her ability to be a good mate, you must consider her comportment. The maiden whose values and behaviors align with yours is a safe choice.”

I let him chew on that for a few moments, then added, “Matters of the heart are not to be taken lightly. You cannot play with her or any other maiden’s heart simply for your own amusement. If you continue to do so, you will be left with no one.”

Gregory nodded. “You have given me a lot to think about, Goddess. Thank you.” He stroked his chin as he walked away. I wondered which woman he’d choose.

Questions about business were pretty common, as were questions about love. I liked to think I gave pretty good advice. I was pretending to be a goddess after all, and I needed to give counsel that people could benefit from. So, I paid close attention to Den City and its people, taking note of the things people did that worked and the things that failed. I helped things along where I could.

For example, there was a family of seamstresses who had to throw away their sewing machine when it stopped working last week. They couldn’t afford a new one. With El’s pix magic cloaking me, I found the sewing machine in the landfill and took it home before it was disassembled for parts. I also “borrowed” a book on sewing machines from the town bookstore, then cleaned and fixed up the machine myself. By the time I was done with it, it looked and worked like it was brand new. I delivered it to their den while they were asleep—and returned the book, of course.

For Heather and Gregory, there wasn’t anything I could do to make my advice come to fruition. I just needed to wait and see.

I spent four more hours in the statue before I reached my limit. My muscles were getting stiff, and if I stayed any longer, I’d get bruises on my legs. I started to wiggle my way out.

“Wait,” El whispered. “Someone else is coming.”

I huffed a quiet breath of annoyance and pressed my sneaker to the metal to keep me in place. From that less than secure position, I peered through the crack at the newcomer. The large wolf appeared almost white in the darkness. It was lithe and healthy, its body built for running and hunting. My breath caught in my throat. The wolf looked familiar. It wasn’t uncommon for wolves to wander around in their wolf forms, and often, they had their clothes attached to them in some way. I assumed he was just a wolf who’d stopped by after going on a run… then he shifted.

I slapped my hand over my mouth. I had never seen him before but in pictures posted on message boards in high-wolf society. El seemed to realize who he was at the same time I did.

“What is he doing here?” Her hushed voice was frantic in my ear, the nervous flutter of her wings produced a small, sharp breeze against my cheek.

“I don’t know,” I whispered back.