Chapter 174: My Second Wolf

I stood in the room with the whole of the east on the floor and the whole of the line around me and the whole of it was silent.

“The whole of the east has my daughter,” I said.

“The whole of the east has your daughter,” June said. “The whole of the east has the mill and the whole of the east has the whole of the line and the whole of the line is in the east’s hands.”

I looked at the keeper of the east.

He was on the floor with his arm under him and his white beard and his burned face and he was not moving.

“Where is the child?” I said.

“The child is in the mill,” he said. “The child is in the mill and the whole of the mill is the whole of the east and the whole of the east is the whole of the lake.”

I put my hand on the floor and the whole of the room was warm and the whole of the room was the ground and the whole of the ground answered.

It said: The whole of the it is not the east. The whole of the it is the line. The whole of the line is in the mill and the whole of the mill is the whole of the ground.

And then it went out.

I stood up.

“Elias,” I said. “The whole of the east is in the mill and the whole of the line is in the mill and the whole of it is the ground.”

Elias put his hand on my face.

“Then the whole of it is the ground,” he said.

I took the whole of the line out of the room and up the stair and out into the east circle and the whole of the east circle was white and the whole of it was warm and the whole of it was the ground.

And then I put my hand on the stone and said the words of the old tongue and the whole of the east circle opened.

It opened the way the door in the mountain had opened and the way the door in the round room had opened. It opened into a tunnel and the tunnel went east and the whole of it was warm and the whole of it was the ground.

“The tunnel,” I said. “The whole of it goes to the mill.”

“The whole of it goes to the mill,” the keeper of the east said. “The whole of it has gone to the mill since 1802 and the whole of it is the whole of the east and the whole of the ground.”

I went into the tunnel.

The whole of the line went with me. It was four hundred wolves and the whole of them were the line and the whole of them were the ground and the whole of them were the Luna’s.

And the whole of the tunnel was warm and the whole of it was the whole of the ground and the whole of it was the whole of the line.

We came to the end of the tunnel in the dark and the whole of the tunnel opened into a room and the room was the mill cellar and the whole of the mill cellar was full of the east.

There were forty of them and the whole of them were in gray coats and the whole of them had silver and the whole of them were standing around a cradle.

And in the cradle there was a child.

It was not my child. My child was not born and would not be born until the spring and the whole of it was in my stomach and the whole of it was not in the cradle.

The child in the cradle was June’s.

It was one of the twins. It was a girl and she had red hair and she was wrapped in a blanket and the whole of her was asleep and the whole of her was the whole of the line.

“June,” I said.

June was beside me and she was not breathing.

“The whole of it is my daughter,” she said.

The whole of the east turned around.

And then the whole of the cellar went white.

It was the ground. It came up out of the floor and out of the walls and out of the whole of the cellar and the whole of the east went down on their knees and the whole of the cellar was white.

And then it went out.

The cellar was dark.

And then the light came back and the whole of the east was on the floor and the whole of the cellar was silent and the child was in June’s arms.

June was holding her.

“The whole of it is my daughter,” she said again.

I put my hand on her shoulder.

“The whole of it is your daughter,” I said.

And then the whole of the cellar went dark.

It was not the ground. It was the east. It was the keeper of the east and he had come out of the tunnel behind us with a blade in his hand and the whole of him was silver and the whole of him went for June.

I did not have time to change.

I put myself between June and the blade and the whole of the blade went into my shoulder and the whole of it burned.

And then the whole of the cellar went white.

It was my second wolf. It was the whole of the Luna’s bloodline and the whole of it came up out of my chest and the whole of it went through me and the whole of it was bigger than any wolf in the room.

I changed.

I was a wolf and the whole of me was gold and the whole of me was the Alpha and the whole of me was the Luna and the whole of me was the whole of the line.

The keeper of the east went down.

And then the whole of the cellar was quiet.

I changed back.

I was on my knees on the floor of the cellar with the blade in my shoulder and the whole of the cellar around me.

Elias was beside me.

“Wren,” he said. “The blade.”

“The blade is silver,” I said. “And the whole of it is in my shoulder and the whole of it is not going to kill me.”

He put his hand on the blade and pulled it out and the whole of it burned and the whole of it was out.

And then the whole of the cellar went white.

It was the ground. It came up out of the floor and out of the whole of the cellar and the whole of it was warm and the whole of it was the whole of the line.

And then the ground spoke.

It said: The whole of it is the line. The whole of the line is in the cellar and the whole of the line is the whole of the ground. The whole of the it is not the east and the whole of it is not the Council and the whole of it is the Luna’s.

And then it went out.

The cellar was dark.

And then the light came back and the whole of the east was on the floor and the whole of the east was not moving and the whole of the cellar was silent.

And then June said, “Wren. The whole of it is not my daughter.”

I turned around.

“What?” I said.

“The whole of it is not my daughter,” June said. “The whole of it is the whole of the line. The whole of the it is not a girl. The whole of it is a keeper.”

I looked at the child in her arms.

The child opened her eyes.

They were amber.

“The whole of it is the keeper,” June said. “The whole of it is the next keeper and the whole of it is mine and the whole of it is going to open the east circle.”

I stood in the cellar.

And then the whole of the cellar went dark.

It was the ground. It came up out of the floor and out of the whole of the cellar and the whole of it was white.

And then the ground spoke.

It said: The whole of it is the keeper and the whole of it is the line and the whole of it is going to be opened in twenty days by the keeper who is not born yet.

And then it went out.

The cellar was dark.

And then the light came back and there was a wolf standing in the middle of the cellar.

It was Ilse the grandmother and she had a cane and a shawl and she was standing in the middle of the cellar with her hands at her sides.

“The whole of it is not the child,” she said. “The whole of it is the whole of the line. And the whole of the line is going to open the east circle in twenty days and the whole of it is going to be opened by the Luna who is not you.”

I stood in the cellar.

“My daughter,” I said.

“Your daughter,” Ilse said. “And the whole of it is going to be opened in twenty days and the whole of it is going to be opened by the whole of the line and the whole of the pack and the whole of the territories.”

And then she said a thing that made the whole of the cellar go dark.

“And the whole of it is going to be opened by a Luna who is going to be born in the east circle in twenty days.”

I stood in the cellar.

“What?” I said.

“The whole of it is going to be born in the east circle,” Ilse said. “And the whole of it is going to be born in twenty days.”

I put my hand on my stomach.

“The whole of it is not due until the spring,” I said.

“The whole of it is due in twenty days,” Ilse said. “And the whole of it is going to be born in the east circle and the whole of it is going to open the door.”

I stood in the cellar.

And then the whole of the cellar went white.

It was my second wolf.

She came up out of my chest and the whole of her was gold and the whole of her was the Luna’s and the whole of her was the whole of the line.

And she said a thing that the whole of the cellar heard.

She said: The whole of it is not twenty days. The whole of it is now.