Serafina and the Black Cloak - Robert Beatty Page 0,49

he asked, “What happened to you, Sera? You have another run-in with a raccoon?”

She didn’t even know where to begin in telling him everything that had happened to her, and she knew he wouldn’t believe her anyway. He would think it was just another one of her cockamamy stories.

“Got terribly lost,” she said, shaking her head in shame, and it was the truth. Tears streamed down her face.

“But you’re all right?” he said, looking her over. “Where’s it hurt?”

“Just wanna get home,” she said, burying her head in the folds of his cloak. She remembered how angry she’d been at him for not telling her about her birth, and how she’d convinced herself that he wasn’t on her side, but she realized now how foolish she’d been. Nobody in the world had ever done more for her than her pa, and nobody in the world had ever loved her like he did.

When the wolves across the river exploded into howls, it made her pa flinch.

He looked around. “I hate wolves,” he said with a shudder as he put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her along. “Come on. We’ve gotta get out of here.”

She happily went with him, but as the wolves continued their howling, it sounded different to her than it had before. The howls weren’t the lonely searching calls spread across the vast distances of mountain ridges, but excited yip-howls, all from the same location. She couldn’t help but feel that they weren’t howls of menace, but of joy and reunion. You made it, brother. She thought of the wounded red wolf crossing the river. You made it home.

Her pa held the lantern out in front of them as they traveled, like a guide leading them through the night. She was glad to let him lead the way.

“You got to the river and followed it like I taught ya,” he said as they walked.

“I wouldn’t have made it otherwise,” she said.

Soon, they left the trees of the forest behind them and then continued for another mile. Finally, they climbed up the bank of the great river and saw the Biltmore mansion shining in the moonlight on the high ground in the distance. They still had a ways to go, but at least she could see it now. The faint smell of wood smoke drifted on the cold winter air and filled her with a powerful longing for home.

The local folk called the magnificent house “The Lady on the Hill,” and tonight she could see why. Biltmore looked majestic with her light gray walls and slate-blue rooftops, her chimneys and towers stretching upward, and the reflection of the moon glistening on her gold and copper trim, like something out of a fairy tale. Serafina had never been so glad to see her home in all her life.

Her pa took her gently by the shoulders and looked into her face. “I know you’re drawn to the woods, Sera,” he said. “You’ve always been pulled by your curiosity, but you’ve got to stay outta there. You’ve got to keep yourself safe.”

“I understand,” she said. She sure couldn’t argue with him that it wasn’t dangerous.

“I know you’re good in the dark,” he said, “best I ever seen, but you gotta resist the urges, Sera. You’re my little girl. I’d hate to lose you all the way.”

When he said all the way, it haunted her. She realized then that he felt like he was already losing her. She could hear the despair in the raggedness of his voice and see it glistening in his eyes as he looked at her. This was his greatest fear; not just that she would be hurt or killed in the forest, but that her wildness would draw her in, that she’d become more and more wild. More wild than human.

She looked up at him and met his small brown eyes, and saw the reflection of her amber eyes in his. “I’m not gonna leave ya, Pa,” she promised.

He nodded and wiped his mouth. “Come on, then,” he said, wrapping his arm around her. “Let’s get ya home and dry, and get some supper in ya.”

By the time they reached the mansion, the workers had come in from the farms and fields. Most of the mansion’s doors had been closed up and locked. The shutters and shades had been drawn against the demons that lurked in the night.

As Serafina and her pa headed for the basement, she was surprised to see that the stables were filled with