Chapter 102

Atwood

The last time I slept in the forest, I was just a pup.

It was a warm summer night. Lawrence, Freya, Paul, Kayne, and I had spent the day playing and hunting in the woods where it was cooler beneath the shade of the trees. Eventually, we became so exhausted from our day of playing “grown ups” that we all flopped down in a big pile beneath the pine trees, still in our wolf forms, and fell asleep right then and there.

I remember that I had felt so much bliss that night. It was as though sleeping outside was in my nature. Even when my mother punished me the next morning for not coming home that night and forbade me from ever sleeping in the woods like a “scoundrel” again, I never regretted it.

Now, as Ruby suggests that we sleep in the woods tonight after our hunt and our animalistic sex, I feel the same bliss that I felt that summer night all those years ago.

And my mother isn’t here to tell me I’m not allowed.

Ruby and I shift back into our wolf forms and find a good spot beneath a fir tree to curl up in. She falls asleep before I do, but eventually my own nerves subside and I find myself falling into a peaceful sleep.

I could sleep anywhere so long as I’m with Ruby.

While I sleep, I have peaceful dreams; nothing like the nightmares that I used to have. I dream only of running through the forest with Ruby, of the feeling of the wind in my fur, the smell of the woods in my nostrils. There is a deer ahead, but we never catch it. It’s more fun just to chase.

At some point during my dream, however, I suddenly come to the realization that I am running alone. Ruby, who was once running by my side, is now gone. Her scent fades, then dissipates completely.

I wake with a start, hoping that Ruby will still be sleeping peacefully beside me.

She’s gone.

I jump to my feet, swiveling my head frantically. There is no blood, no sign of a fight or a struggle, and besides -- I would have woken up anyway if something bad was happening to Ruby right next to me. It’s as if she just got up and walked away.

As I look around, I can’t see her anywhere nearby. Thankfully, I can pick up her scent leading in one direction of the woods. Maybe she just got up to relieve herself or stretch her legs, but I feel safer looking for her regardless.

Lowering my nose to the ground, I follow Ruby’s scent through the woods. She took a strange path, I realize, as I weave around trees and boulders and sometimes even double back before heading back in the same direction again. Was she sleepwalking?

The trail goes on for some time. I start to follow it more frantically, quickening my pace as the thought of my mate sleepwalking into a ravine crosses my mind.

I knew sleeping out here was a stupid idea. My mother was right all those years ago.

Ruby’s scent grows stronger, which means that she must have passed by not too long ago. I must be catching up. Hopefully I can stop her before anything horrible happens.

Finally, I make my way to a clearing. Ruby is standing in the middle and I let out a sigh of relief as I approach.

She’s shifted back into her human form and is standing directly in the middle of the clearing. Her head is tilted back to look at the nearly-full moon; perhaps she just got restless and wanted to see the moon? But I find it hard to believe that she would wander so far from me in the middle of the night like this just to see the sky.

When I approach, however, she doesn’t look away from the moon or even acknowledge my existence.

It’s as though she’s in a trance.

I shift back into my human form, biting my lip as I consider how to get her to safety. I’ve heard that it’s not safe to wake up a sleepwalking person, since they might hurt themselves accidentally; but I can’t just let her stand here like this all night.

Suddenly, a twig snaps in the woods behind me. I whip my head around, narrowing my eyes and using my night vision to see if there is an intruder; it’s only a deer. When it sees me looking, it leaps off into the forest again.

“It’s… a new… era…”

The sound of Ruby’s voice startles me. I turn back toward her, hoping to see that maybe she’s woken up.

But she hasn’t. She’s still standing there, with her head back, staring unblinkingly at the moon as she mumbles incoherently.

“Ruby?” I whisper, going against what I’ve been told about not waking sleepwalkers and reaching out to touch her shoulder. She doesn’t stir, not even when I shake her shoulder and say her name louder.

She just continues mumbling. Curiosity getting the best of me, I step closer to her so that I can hear her better.

“A new era… Almost here… Just a little… The fate…”

None of what she’s saying makes any sense. A new era? Fate?

Something about this feels sinister. Suddenly, I don’t feel like she’s only sleepwalking.

“Ruby,” I say again, this time louder as I gently tap her cheek with my hand in the hopes that she’ll wake up and it will turn out that she was only having a strange dream.

All of a sudden, Ruby’s eyes close; when they open again, they’re no longer a vibrant red color.

They’re completely black.

She snaps her head up to stare at me, a blank expression on her face.

“R-Ruby?”

“The kingdoms will fall,” Ruby says. Her voice has a strange cadence to it, almost as though there is a second voice just under the surface.

I take a step back, my eyes wide as my mind scrambles to understand what’s happening.

Before I have the chance to act, however, Ruby’s body suddenly begins to lift off the ground. I try to lunge forward and grab her to hold her down, but whatever force that is lifting her up is too powerful and it rips her from my hands. She levitates out of reach, her small body a striking figure against the dark night sky with her long white hair billowing out behind her.

From my angle, the moon aligns perfectly so as to sit behind her head like a halo. If I wasn’t so frightened for my mate’s safety, I would be captivated by her beauty.

“All shall hail the White Queen,” she says, her voice still a sickly combination of two, “the Ruler of Them All. She shall strike fear into the hearts of men. Destruction lies in her wake, and with it, a new era shall begin.”

She begins to lift her hands, palms up toward the sky, outstretching her arms like wings.

The moon disappears momentarily behind a cloud. When it reemerges, lighting the forest again, the shock of Ruby’s transformation causes me to stumble backwards and trip over a rock, falling to the forest floor.

She has wings again; but they’re no longer white like they were that day during the blizzard. This time, they’re pitch black.

There is a long, palpable silence as Ruby continues to hover above me, her great black wings outstretched like a demonic painting on the canvas that is the night sky.

But then, something else happens. A small, white light begins to emanate from Ruby’s chest. It’s dim at first, but soon grows brighter, so bright that I have to shield my eyes.

The light grows so bright that it’s blinding. Around me, the forest has become so bright from her light that it might as well be daytime. Frightened nocturnal creatures that were previously approaching out of curiosity skitter away into the woods, twittering with discomfort at the unnatural light around us.

Just when I think the light will become so bright we’ll all be set ablaze, it flickers.

In a painful instant, Ruby’s wings disappear. Her eyes close and she begins to waver in her levitation.

She falls.

Everything feels like it’s moving in slow motion as I scramble to my feet and dive beneath her, my arms outstretched to catch her. Somehow, I manage to get myself under her, my back against the forest floor, before she hits the ground.

Ruby crumples into my arms like a rag doll. I don’t care about the pain in my body from her impact, or the feeling of a rib cracking in my abdomen. I only care about Ruby.

“Ruby! Wake up!” I shout, sitting up with her in my arms and gently slapping her cheeks. She’s still breathing, thank god.

Finally, her eyes crack open.

“Wh…What happened?” she asks, looking around confusedly.

Truthfully, I don’t know what happened -- and I don’t know if I should tell her, at least not right now.

“You were sleepwalking,” I say, gathering her up into my arms and holding her close as I rock back and forth on the forest floor. “Just sleepwalking.”