Madly and Wolfhardt by M. Leighton Page B

spirits were turned in one direction, a direction that was straight ahead, in front of me.   So, with a little niggle of apprehension gnawing at me, I too watched the dark forest.  I wasn’t absolutely certain that I wanted to know what could catch and hold their attention so completely.
    I heard the sound again, just before I saw a black shape weaving between the trees, making its way toward the space where the Seer and I hovered.
    My pulse pounded in my ears as I watched it draw nearer.  In the darkness, I could see the mirrored flash of the moon reflected in its eyes as it looked around the forest like a predator searching for prey.
    As it padded silently over the dappled forest floor, it passed through beams of moonlight that glittered in the pelt of a fur-covered spine. 
    When it was nearly upon me, I held my breath, afraid that it might hear me breathe, but it passed by as if it had no idea that I drifted in the air so close.  I saw the lengthy nose of a muzzle and the long, pointed ears of a wolf as the creature walked in front of me.  It was walking on all fours, but I could see by its form that it could easily stand up and walk upright.
    In my heart, I knew that this was no dog, no wolf, no typical wild creature.  This was the Wolfhardt descendant and I was watching him stalk the woods.
    As I saw the thick tail swish by, I thought that I’d like to follow him, see where he goes.  And just like that, I was moving along easily behind the creature.
    He took a circuitous route through the woods, keeping his nose to the ground most of the way.  It was when the trees began to thin that I recognized where we were, where the wolf was going.
    Kellina’s.  He was going to Kellina’s house. 
    I gasped just as a light flicked on in one of the upper rooms of the graceful old house that loomed in the clearing.  A shape passed in front of the window and the wolf growled.  It was a low, deep, menacing sound.
    He watched the window unblinkingly.  He growled a second time and I heard hissing break out all around me in response to it.  I looked and saw that the tree spirits were watching.  Their yellow eyes were trained on one thing, but it wasn’t the house.  They were watching the creature. 
    The wolf quieted suddenly and I looked back to him.  He crouched low, as if readying himself to spring into action.  I glanced back at the house. 
    A shape was standing in front of the window.  It lowered, as if sitting down, and then the light died.
    With no other warning, the wolf sprang into motion, leaping from the cover of the trees and running full speed toward the house.
    A scream bubbled up in my throat.  I wanted to warn Kellina, but the hold of the Seer had me paralyzed and mute.
    As the wolf circled around to the back of the house, my heart sped up, thrumming heavily against my ribs, almost painfully.  Before I could think of a way to free myself and run to help Kellina, however, the Seer started pulling me backward, back into the deeper parts of the forest from which we’d come. 
    Every silent, motionless fiber of my being strained to go back to Kellina, but the Seer was relentless in his control.  Back, back, back we went until we were once again ascending into the sky and retracing our journey, returning to the ocean. 
    Just as it had before, the world went black but for the feeling of movement, and then I was back in my shower stall, the warm water coursing over decidedly chilly skin.
    I looked at my feet and saw the Seer disappear into the drain, his hollow eyes the last thing to go.  His absence left the stall warm and steamy, as if something cold and dark had never come to take me away.
    Shaken, I looked around, parting the curtain once more to look out into the bathroom.  There was a small, frosted window toward the ceiling that let in minimal amounts of natural light.  Through it, I could see the orangey glow of a fading sun.
    Disoriented and confused, I thought of the rainy, nighttime