2019 Colson Whitehead Novels & Stories

“Let’s go!” Jade was careful not to step on the small pool of blood surrounding the corpse on the floor. She averted her eyes, still shocked. That was the first time she had seen someone kill in cold blood. It wasn’t a pretty sight. “Faster!” Mei hissed. Moving faster, Jade followed Mei out of the cell and into an empty hallway. As they reached the end of the hallway, Mei raised her hand in a stopping motion. Jade noticed that Mei’s fingernails seemed longer than she remembered—in fact, they didn’t look like a normal human’s fingernails. Aside from being unusually long, they were curved, too—like the claws of a cat.

There was a guard before her father's study, and the guard began to say something to her, but she ignored him and walked inside to her father sitting on his desk, scratching with his pen, leaving inked words on a document. "You mustn't go," Anna said and felt the hand of the guard behind her. Her father looked up at her, and curtly nodded, the guard released his hold of her and withdrew out of the room. Lord White, they called him. He was the only man Anna knew who did things rationally, acting on patience, and true justice. His leadership on Crest Hill after all had kept the people from the notorious Baron's men. But now, the Baron's men seemed more persistent, and were beginning to ask so

Isla on the floor, the snow beneath her was pink with blood. And then, standing tall before her was the huge form of the White Wolf. Bigger, more terrifying. Her claws were coated with pink snow. Before I could step forward to stop her, her claws slashed across Isla's belly and Isla let out a piercing scream. I froze on the spot, my blood ran cold as I felt a chill run down my spine. Even before I could fully react to that, the White Wolf lifted those blooded claws again and with a swift move, she slashed Isla's throat open. Stripes of blood spilled into the snow with the movements of her claw.

Not Colette’s name. Elias Whitfield’s.

I was living for revenge. I waited until midnight, when the pack village was completely asleep and the patrols were focused on the outer borders. I couldn't leave my brothers here like this. I carried them, one by one, into the deep woods behind our cabin, near the hidden clearing where our parents were buried. I didn't have a shovel. I didn't have any tools. But I didn't need them. As the last surviving White Wolf, a royal lineage of pure power, there was a hidden, monstrous strength buried deep inside me. I fell to my knees in front of my parents' old, overgrown graves and began to dig into the earth with my bare hands.