Chapter 145: The Second Family

The wire was in my hand and the whole of the circle was quiet.

“Ada Kessler’s daughter,” I said.

“Ada Kessler’s daughter,” June said. “The wire says the wolf has been in the room since 1954 and the room’s records say she was brought in by a Council officer who signed the paper E. R. And the wolf has been in the room for twenty-five years and she is not right in the head and she has not spoken a word since 1961.”

I sat down on the stone.

“Ada Kessler has been in this territory since 1891,” I said. “She has been in the Kessler pack and she has been the oldest wolf in the territory and she has been sitting in a chair in the Kessler pack house for twenty-five years and she has never once said that she had a daughter in a room in Boise.”

Elias put his hand on my arm.

“Wren,” he said. “There is a thing about Ada Kessler that nobody has asked.”

“What thing?”

“She was in the trees in 1897,” Elias said. “She told us. She was twelve years old and she was in the trees with her mother and they watched the old Alpha make the bargain. And she has been alive for ninety-four years and she has been the keeper of the Kessler line and she has never once told the whole of it.” He looked at me. “What if she has a daughter in that room because the Council took the daughter to keep her quiet?”

I stood up.

“Then we go to the Kessler pack,” I said. “Tonight.”

We went over the ridge at dawn with the whole of the line behind us and the whole of the pack and the whole of the eleven Alphas of the north and we came into the Kessler pack house yard and Hannah was standing on the steps with her face white.

“Alpha,” she said. “My grandmother is in the back room and she has been asking for you since midnight.”

I went in.

Ada Kessler was in her chair by the fire with a blanket over her knees and her white hair down and her hands in her lap and she was not asleep.

“Alpha,” she said.

“Ada,” I said.

“You have come about the room,” she said. “About the twelfth one.”

I sat down across from her.

“Yes,” I said.

Ada Kessler looked at the fire.

“Her name is Ruth,” she said. “She was born in 1952 and she was the Luna’s line and the Kessler line and she was my daughter.” She put her hands on the blanket. “And in 1954 a Council officer came to this house and told me that if I did not give him the child he would take the whole of the Kessler pack and the whole of the territory and the whole of the line. And I gave him the child.” She looked at me. “I gave him my daughter and I have not seen her since and I have been sitting in this chair for twenty-five years waiting for a wolf to come and ask me about her.”

I put my hand on hers.

“Why did you not tell me?” I said.

“Because I was ashamed,” Ada Kessler said. “Because I gave a child to the Council and I have been telling myself for twenty-five years that I did it to save the pack and the whole of it was a lie. I did it because I was afraid.” She looked at the fire. “And there is a thing about the room that I have known since 1954 and I have never told a soul. The room is not a hospital and it is not a prison. It is a kennel.”

I sat very still.

“A kennel,” I said.

“A kennel,” Ada Kessler said. “The Council has been breeding cursed wolves in that room. It has been breeding them since 1902 and it has been taking the children and putting them in the room and the whole of it has been going on for eighty-five years.” She put her hand on my arm. “The room is not a place where the Council keeps its enemies. It is a place where the Council makes them.”

I stood up.

“Breeding them,” I said. “For what?”

Ada Kessler looked at me.

“For the silver,” she said. “The Council has been breeding cursed wolves and cutting them and using the blood for the silver. The silver on the wire and the silver in the knuckles and the silver on the blades. It is not mined and it is not forged. It is taken from the cursed wolves in the room.” She put her hand on my arm. “And there is a thing about the room that the Council has never known. The cursed wolves in the room are not cursed. They are the line. The whole of them are the fourth daughter’s line and the whole of them have been in that room for eighty-five years and the whole of them have been cut for silver and the whole of it has been going on since 1902.”

The fire moved in the hearth.

“Then the silver is blood,” I said.

“The silver is blood,” Ada Kessler said. “And the whole of the territory has been carrying it and the whole of the Council has been using it and the whole of it has been going on since 1891.”

I sat down.

And then Hannah came into the room.

“Alpha,” she said. “There is a thing I have to tell you. About my mother. About the room.”

“Say it,” I said.

“My mother was in the room,” Hannah said. “Not the twelfth one. The one before. She was in the room from 1954 to 1971 and she was let out in 1971 and she came back to this pack and she died three months later.” She put her hand on her chest. “And she told me a thing before she died. She told me the room has a keeper and the keeper is not Erik Renn. The keeper is a woman and she has been the keeper for forty years and she is not a wolf of the Council. She is a wolf of the line.”

I stood up.

“Who?” I said.

“She did not know her name,” Hannah said. “But she knew her face. She said the keeper had a face like the old woman in the mill and a hand with a burn on it.” She looked at me. “And she said the keeper came into the room every night and sat down and talked to the wolves and told them about the circle.”

I stood in the room.

“Then the keeper is on our side,” I said.

“The keeper is on our side,” Hannah said. “And she has been on our side for forty years.”

And then June came into the room with a wire in her hand and her face white.

“Wren,” she said. “The wire is from Boise. The Alpha of the Alphas is bringing the twelve out of the room and he is on the road and he is coming here.” She held up the wire. “And Wren. There is a thing at the bottom of the wire. It says the room was empty when he got there.”

I took the wire.

“Empty,” I said.

“Empty,” June said. “The twelve are gone. Somebody took them out of the room before the Alpha of the Alphas got there. And there is a note on the wall in the room and the note is in the keeper’s hand and it says: I have taken them home.”

I stood in the Kessler pack house with the wire in my hand.

“Then she is coming here,” I said.

“She is coming here,” June said. “And she has twelve cursed wolves with her and the whole of the Council is looking for her and she is on the road.”

I looked at the window.

“Then we go to the north road,” I said. “And we meet her.”

And then a wolf came running into the room.

It was the younger Corrigan boy and he was out of breath.

“Alpha,” he said. “There is a woman on the ridge road. She has twelve wolves with her and they are in a truck and the truck is stopped at the gap and she is asking for the Alpha of the Circle Pack.”

I stood up.

“What does she look like?” I said.

“She is old,” the boy said. “And she has a burn on her hand.”