Chapter 167: The Lost Boy

The field went dark and the whole of it was silent and the whole of it was cold.

And then the moon came up over the ridge and the whole of the field was white and the whole of it was lit and the whole of it was the full moon.

I stood in the circle with the blade in my hand and the whole of the line behind me and the whole of the Council in front of me and the whole of the north on the ground.

And then the tunnel opened.

It was the tunnel under the circle and the stone came up out of the ground and the whole of it was warm and the whole of it was lit and there was a stair going down.

And a boy came up the stair.

He was eleven years old and he had sandy hair and he was dirty and thin and he had been in the tunnel for three days and he was not crying.

It was Dale's son.

“Alpha,” he said. “I have been in the tunnel since Tuesday.”

I went to him.

“How did you get in the tunnel?” I said.

“The man in the gray coat put me in it,” he said. “He said the whole of it was going to be decided at the full moon and he said the whole of it was going to be decided in the tunnel.”

“What man?” I said.

“The man with the burn on his face,” the boy said. “The one who was in the mill.”

I stood in the circle.

“The keeper of the east,” I said.

“The keeper of the east,” the boy said. “He told me the whole of it was a lie and he told me to stay in the tunnel until the full moon and then to come up.”

I put my hand on his shoulder.

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

The boy looked at me.

“My father,” he said.

I stood in the circle.

“Your father is in a cell in Boise,” I said. “And the whole of it has been decided and he is going to be in the cell for twenty years.”

The boy looked at the ground.

“I know,” he said. “He told me.”

“He told you?”

“He told me before the man in the gray coat put me in the tunnel.” The boy put his hand in his coat and took out a paper. “He gave me this and he told me to give it to the Alpha.”

I took the paper.

It was in Dale's hand and it was dated the night before the full moon and it said: Alpha. If the whole of it is decided and I am not there, the whole of it is going to be decided by the pack. My son is eleven years old and he has no mother and his father is a murderer and the whole of it is going to be answered for by him. But the whole of it is not his. The whole of it is mine. So I am asking you, in front of the whole of the pack, to let the whole of it be mine and let the boy be the pack's.

I put the paper down.

“The whole of it is his,” I said. “And the whole of it is not yours.”

The boy looked up.

“What?” he said.

“The whole of it is your father's,” I said. “And the whole of it is finished. And the whole of it is not going to be yours and you are not going to carry it.” I put my hand on his shoulder. “You are going to be a wolf of the Circle Pack and you are going to go to school and you are going to grow up and the whole of it is not going to follow you.”

The boy stood in the circle.

And then he put his arms around me and held on.

I held him.

The whole of the field was silent.

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

“Alpha,” he said. “The whole of the Council has voted and 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 his hand on his chest. “And there is a thing about the boy. The Council has ruled that the boy is the son of a murderer and that the whole of it is going to be answered for by the pack.”

I stood in the circle.

“The whole of it is not going to be answered for by the boy,” I said. “The whole of it is answered for by the pack. The pack is going to raise him and the pack is going to keep him and the whole of it is going to be the pack's.”

The Alpha of the Alphas looked at me.

“You are going to raise the son of the wolf who killed your brother,” he said.

“I am going to raise the son of the wolf who killed my brother,” I said. “Because the whole of it is not his and because the whole of it is finished and because the whole of the pack is going to be one pack.”

The field was silent.

And then the whole of the pack moved.

It was Thomas the old wolf with the hoe and Mrs. Pike and Harold and the Corrigan boys and the whole of the co-op men and the whole of the farmers and the whole of the ones who had been cast out and the whole of the ones who had stood with the Council.

And the whole of them came into the circle and the whole of them put their hands on the boy.

“The whole of it is the pack's,” Thomas said. “And the whole of it is going to be raised by the pack.”

The boy stood in the circle with the whole of the pack's hands on him and the whole of it was silent.

And then the ground answered.

It came up out of the stone and out of the whole of the circle and the whole of it was white and the whole of it was warm and the whole of it was the ground.

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 pack is the pack 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 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 answered for.”

The field was silent.

And then a wolf came into the circle.

It was the speaker of the east and she had a staff in her hand and her face was gray.

“The east has been answered,” she said. “And the east is going to answer.” She put her staff on the stone. “The east has been keeping the lake for two hundred years and the east has been keeping the room and the east has been keeping the whole of it. And the east is going to answer for the whole of it in front of the whole of the territories.”

I stood in the circle.

“Then answer it,” I said.

“The east is going to answer it,” the speaker of the east said. “And the east is going to answer it now.” She put her hand on her chest. “The east is going to give the whole of the lake to the line and the whole of the room to the line and the whole of the silver to the line. And the whole of it is going to be the line's.”

I stood in the circle.

And then the whole of the east went down on one knee.

“The east is going to answer for the whole of it,” the speaker of the east said. “And the east is going to answer to the Luna.”

I stood in the circle.

“Then get up,” I said. “The whole of it is finished and the whole of it is not going to be answered for on your knees.”

The whole of the east got up.

And then the whole of the field roared.