Chapter 166: The Unraveling

The east field lit up at dusk.

It was the stones. The sixteen from the territory and the four from the vault and the four from the east and the heart and the piece and the whole of it was in the circle in the trees and the whole of it was warm and the whole of it was lit and the whole of it went up into the sky in a column.

And the whole of the territory saw it.

I went up the ridge with the whole of the line and the whole of the pack and the whole of the nine and the whole of the room and the whole of the Council and the whole of the north and the whole of the east and we came into the east field and the whole of the east field was full.

There were four thousand wolves of the north and four thousand of the east and four hundred of the pack and four hundred of the line and the whole of the Council and the whole of it was in the east field.

And in the middle of the field there was the circle.

The trees were green and the moss was green and the stones were lit and the whole of the clearing was white and the whole of it was warm.

I stood in the circle with Elias beside me and I put my hand on the flat stone.

“The whole of it is here,” I said.

“The whole of it is here,” Elias said.

And then the Alpha of the Alphas came into the circle.

He was old and he had a staff and he had a paper in his hand and his face was gray.

“Alpha,” he said. “The Council has been overruled. The east has called the whole of the territories and the whole of the north and the whole of the east and the whole of it has voted. The Council is no longer the Council. The whole of it is the east and the whole of the east is the lake and the whole of the lake is the line and the whole of the line is going to be taken to the lake at the full moon.”

I stood in the circle.

“Then the whole of the Council has betrayed the whole of the territory,” I said.

“The whole of the Council has been the east since 1802,” the Alpha of the Alphas said. “And the whole of it has been a lie and the whole of it is going to be answered for at the full moon.”

He went out.

And then the whole of the north moved.

It was four thousand wolves and the whole of it came into the circle and the whole of the east came behind it and the whole of it went for the line.

“Elias,” I said.

“I am here,” he said.

“The whole of it is the circle,” I said. “The whole of it is the vow. The whole of it is the letting go.”

He looked at me.

“Then let go,” he said.

I put my hand on the flat stone and I said the words of the old tongue and the whole of the circle answered.

It came up out of the stone and out of the trees and out of the whole of the territory and the whole of the north went down on their knees and the whole of the east went down on their knees and the whole of it was white.

And then the whole of the line stood in the circle and let go.

It was not a thing I can describe. The whole of the line let go of the whole of it. The curse and the grief and the two hundred years and the whole of the lake and the whole of the room and the whole of the silver. The whole of it came out of the line and into the circle and into the ground and the ground took it and the ground held it and the ground did not give it back.

And then the ground spoke.

It said: The whole of it is finished. The line is the line and the land is the land and the whole of it is one. The curse is in the ground and the ground is the line's and the whole of it is finished.

And then it went out.

The circle was dark.

And then the light came back and the whole of the field was on their knees and the whole of it was silent and the whole of it was finished.

I stood in the middle of the circle with Elias beside me and the whole of the line behind me.

“The whole of it is finished,” I said.

“The whole of it is finished,” Elias said.

I turned around and looked at the whole of the line.

June was there with her hands on her stomach and her face wet. Ruth was there and Ada of Boise and Ada Kessler in her chair and Hannah and Arthur Renn and Clara Renn and Ilse the grandmother and Ilse the granddaughter and Mary the keeper of the room and the whole of the nine from the lake and the whole of the twelve from the room and the whole of the eleven the keeper had hidden.

And Silas was there.

He was standing at the edge of the circle with his folder in his hand and his face gray and he was not smiling and he was not crying and he was just standing.

“Silas,” I said.

“Alpha,” he said.

“The whole of it is finished.”

“The whole of it is finished.”

And then the whole of the circle went quiet.

There was a wolf standing at the edge of the trees.

He was young and he was thin and he had a shaved head and a gray coat and he was the Corrigan boy and he had a blade in his hand.

“The whole of it is not finished,” he said. “The whole of the north is not finished and the whole of the east is not finished and the whole of it is not going to be finished until the whole of the line is in the lake.”

He raised the blade.

And then the whole of the north came out of the trees.

It was four thousand wolves and the whole of it was in the east field and the whole of it was silver and blades and the whole of it went for the line.

“Elias,” I said. “The line.”

Elias turned and ran for the line and the whole of the pack ran with him and the whole of the east ran with him and the whole of the circle was a war.

I stood in the middle of it with the blade in my hand and the whole of it was silver and the whole of it was the whole of the north.

And then the ground answered.

It came up out of the stone and out of the whole of the circle and the whole of the north went down on their knees and the whole of the east went down on their knees and the whole of the pack went down on their knees and the whole of the field was white.

And then it went out.

The field was dark.

And then the light came back and the whole of the north was on the ground and the Corrigan boy was on the ground and the whole of it was silent.

And there was a wolf standing on the flat stone.

It was Ilse the grandmother and she had a cane and a shawl and she was standing on the stone with her hands at her sides.

“The whole of it is finished,” she said. “The whole of the north is finished and the whole of the east is finished and the whole of the lake is finished and the whole of the room is finished. And the whole of it is going to be answered for at the full moon.”

The field was silent.

And then the Alpha of the Alphas came into the circle.

He had a paper in his hand and his face was gray.

“Alpha,” he said. “The Council has voted. The whole of the Council has voted and the whole of the east has voted and the whole of the north has voted. The whole of it is finished. The whole of the line is the line and the whole of the land is the land and the whole of the lake is the line's and the whole of the room is closed.” He put the paper on the stone. “And the whole of it is going to be answered for at the full moon.”

I stood in the circle.

“Then the whole of it is finished,” I said.

“The whole of it is finished,” the Alpha of the Alphas said.

And then he looked at me.

“And Alpha,” he said. “There is a thing about the full moon. The full moon is not in two days. The full moon is tonight.”

I looked at the sky.

The moon was coming up over the ridge and it was full and it was white and the whole of it was in the circle.

“Then the whole of it is tonight,” I said.

And then the whole of the field went dark.